Friday, April 6, 2012

our love story: the beginnings.

Today when I was cleaning our house, I came across a book that I made for Paul, or I should say - that Paul and I made together.



For our first Christmas, I gave him this blank white book. I thought it would be neat to write our story, and document how we came to be what we were. Then, post-Christmas break we sank right back into our collegey lives and did nothing about it. 

For his birthday in March, I decided it would be a nice (free!) gift to get the book rolling, because at that point our relationship was rolling, and I was pretty sure it would just keep on keepin' on!

I was right. That very day, Paul proposed. 

Since we were at BYU, and apartment curfews are in place, we sat out in his 1992 Gold Toyota Camry, as a newly engaged couple and I showed Paul what I had started. He patiently filled in details of his side of the story into the late hours of the night, so that we wouldn't forget that night - or the many days and nights that had led up to it.

Since, I was a newly-budding blogger than, and since I am feeling stumped on what to write about now - I thought I'd do a little review of how we came to be so Frandtastic :)






Some events that I found, in looking over our "Excellent Adventures", that I had forgotten about:

  • The day after we met, we ran into each other in the Benson, and I was speeding through on my way to class, and he was talking to a friend and spotted me. He tapped me on the arm as I walked by and said "Hi", I quickly splurted out "Hey, what's up?" and kept walking - right after which I remembered who he was. The friend Paul was talking to said "She doesn't know you." and Paul said, "Yeah, I guess not." Whooops!
  • Paul texting me "I've got your digits, now you have mine" and signing it P§ 
  • When we cleaned the stadium in miserable conditions, and then I got locked out of my apartment afterward when I was literally nearing frostbite. Paul's sister Camie let me warm up at her house, and Paul was sweet, and loving, and smooched me on the forehead for the first time while we watched Ferris Bueller 
  • My best lacrosse practice performance the day after our first kiss (Katie Sieverts-now-Kasteler got the details during the warm up lap, and was so nice and happy for me) :)
  • Meeting his mom for the first time, and watching his nieces and nephews in their primary program that weekend (Zander was crazy, hahaha).
PS - Notice how the cover of the book is a little smeared? We had it displayed at our reception... until the rains came down. It's kind of a fun memento from our wedding day. 

Monday, March 26, 2012

Guyana Stills.

Maybe you loved watching Guyana right before your eyes, and now you want still photography of some of the action you beheld.

Perfect!









 Paul bought one of these carved coconut shells home for me that this fellow made.

 Remember old-man in the video chopping that coconut? He handed it right to Paul to drink up!






AHHHHHHHH!!!




 Did you spot this clump of brown in the video and wonder what it was? Army ants. BILLLIONS of them protecting their larva and hanging onto each other to form this giant clump. WEIRD! It's called a bivouac and wiki has more info if you'd like it.

I, on the other hand, prefer the MONKEYS!







And of course, my adventurer...





Doesn't Guyana look nice? More than 80% of it is still covered by forest - which obviously provides for lots of biodiversity. I'm so glad Paul got to go and maybe someday we can go back together.

PS - Apparently Guyanese are obsessed with the song "We Found Love in a Hopeless Place". They played it so much that Paul thought it was a Guyanese song... until he got back and realized it was by our very own Rhianna. :)

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Pink Spring Blossoms

My camera roll is chuck full of pretty blossom photos - I had to share a few. Magnolias and Cherry Blossoms seem to be my favorite. Can you tell my favorite color is pink?

I usually claim Summer as my favorite season, but this early spring has been quite a treat, both for coaching lacrosse and evening walks with Paul.


PS- Sorry for the brief absence from the blog - the truth is I have been trying to blog but had run out of photo storage. Five bucks to Google solved the problem!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Paul's adventures in Guyana

As a late birthday present, I put together a video for Paul of his adventures in Guyana.

I'm so glad he has these cool opportunities to travel the world, and I can't wait for more chances to go with him.

This trip, he got a new camera so he could capture some video - to me, it makes it feel so much more real and I can get a better feel for his experience there.

So, hey! Want to see what Guyana is like?

Check her out here:

Paul's research trip to Guyana, January 2012