Sarah: Leap Day

Happy February 29th everyone! 

How weird is it that a single day exists only once every four years? Personally, I think it's really strange. Who decided this was necessary?

A little research tells me it was Julius Caesar. What the heck, Julius?

Leap day is special to me. Four years ago today, my husband asked me, "Would you be interested in having a boyfriend?" I answered yes. Then we went on our first date, to Meijer, to get shampoo. So romantic.

This is the first time in four years we've been able to actually celebrate our official dating anniversary!

Happy Birthday Meghan!!

Today is mine and Kelsey's friend's birthday!

I first met Meg in college and everyone called her "Meg Han" because of the way she spells "Meghan". We first bonded when we found out that we were both from Ohio! Our love for Ohio goes real deep.

Meghan is spicy and real and one of my very best friends. Happy 23rd birthday, Meg! I hope it rocks your ass off.

Love you.

Sarah: Slowly Becoming

Things are happening. Life is happening. All the time.

ashes

creating a budget

lipstick

not quite ready

baby Lu

my love

What could be better than a Monday morning spent listening to the amazing Alexi Murdoch and feeling the excitement of dreams slowly becoming a reality?

Kelsey: Snow

Well I am obsessed. Its just wonderful. Don't mind me while I curl up with tea and blogs. Sar, the snow misses you too.

Sarah: Sleeping Habits

Guys. I love my bed. It's my most favorite place/thing in our apartment. It's so comfortable and inviting. The bedding is mismatched - there's a quilt I thrifted in college, my duvet from college, the bright blue pillow case is from bedding I had in high school, and the yellow sheets are an old Christmas gift. But still. I love it.

Want to know something weird about my sleeping habits? I can't sleep unless Francis is in bed with me. At night, when I'm more tired than he is and I go to bed it doesn't matter how tired I am, unless he's in bed with me I can't fall asleep. I'm pretty sure it's because he's usually out in the living room either watching tv or surfing the internet and my mind is wondering, "What's he laughing at?" or "When is he coming to bed?". It's like my mind can't really turn off until he's by my side.

In the mornings, it's the same kind of deal. His biological clock usually has him up around like 7am. He will usually lay in bed for about another hour or so before he gets up. But when he does get of our warm cocoon of a bed, I'm up too. It's different though when he leaves for work. If I know he's getting out of bed to get ready and then leave for work, I just keep on sleeping.

It's like I subconsciously hate the idea of missing out on any of our lives together - even to sleep.

Am I the only one who's like this?

Also, kind of off the subject, but I'm giving up chocolate for Lent. Are you giving up anything?

Sarah: Teddy & Rebecca

My friends Teddy and Rebecca were married on January 14th. And now they're taking their time on their honeymoon traveling around the country. How cool is that honeymoon?

On Valentine's Day they made their way over here to good ole San Diego for a nice little visit. They arrived early and stayed late--and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I've known Teddy since I was in the 4th grade and Rebecca since high school years. While they were here we took walks, ate good food (ahem, California burritos and sushi!!), had terrific conversation, experienced the best street performance, and enjoyed the presence of one another. I love when worlds, old and new, collide.

Here are some pictures from their stay:

Awesome street performance

She has one of the most interesting faces

Teddy and Rebecca,
Thank you for coming to our home. Thank you for your friendship.
I love you both.

Kelsey: Red

I kind of love Valentine's day. But it came too soon this year. I was unprepared. So I am celebrating it all week long.

Kelsey: Proposal

The story of how I met my fiancé... is told very differently by he and I. And it is told much better by him. He is a natural story teller. I am a natural... rambler. Basically in my version. We met in college while I was studying abroad. He was a friend of a friend, I needed help with a project I was doing on the Acholi tribe for class. Friend was like hey this dude is Acholi he will help. So Denis "helped" me. And at this early point in the semester I still could not understand most people with their thick accents. All I remember is that he taught me how to properly say the word "rwot" and then I looked all smart in class. I love looking smart.

Then I ran into him a couple days later and he was like, 'Hey do you remember me?' And I was all, "yes! you are... mmsmjhfmm." I did not remember his name. So needless to say it was not love at first sight.

A month or two later he took the same bus as me into town and we hung out the whole day. Then I baked him cupcakes in oranges and he started hanging around my house all the time. Finally he asked me to help him with his html project. Oh yeah. html. Those moves don't work on a lot of girls. But they work on me. We bonded over a bootlegged copy of dreamweaver. Sigh.

But more importantly than how we met is how he proposed!

Has Sarah told her proposal story on here? If not she totally needs to. Frank proposed to her while I was studying abroad. And he was really sweet and kept me in the loop about everything. I like to be in the loop. Even for other people's special moments.

Our friend Meghan got engaged a month or two before I did. She told me that when Jason proposed he said a bunch of stuff before he asked her the question but she wasn't really paying attention because she didn't realize that this was an important moment. Fortunately he wrote it all down so she read it all later.

I basically remember nothing of what Denis said when he proposed. I sort of knew it was coming. He took me out to a movie and I had a suspicion that he had gotten the ring earlier that day. But then he didn't have a jacket or anything and I couldn't see a ring box hidden anywhere on his person. Oh yeah I checked. We saw the movie 'Courageous' which is a Christian movie about being a Godly father. I cried probably 4 times. Including at the end and through the first part of the credits. So basically as soon as I stopped crying from the emotional movie he got down on one knee in the movie theater. And then there was the most sparkly thing I have ever seen in my life. And then I cried some more.

Ew all pictures of hands look gross. Right? Its not just mine. Focus on the ring.

We drove home and went over to a neighbors house where my parents were at a wine tasting party. Except the wine tasting had totally turned into Margarita tasting and my already loud rambunctious neighbors were on a whole new level. We walked in and showed them the ring and there was much screaming and jumping up and down. Then people who I knew and some who I didn't know started telling us how long they had been married (20 - 30 years!) and giving us fun advice, the kind of advice you get at a wine/tequila tasting.

One of the most fun and exciting nights of my life.

Sarah: HIMMH

In case you don't watch How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM), I'll tell you up front that this post title (which stands for How I Met My Husband) pays homage to that show. 'Cause I love it.

Even though Frank and I don't really celebrate valentine's day, I thought I'd share the story how we met.

I was a college freshman filled with dreams and the hope of possibilities. I had the foreseeable future planned out for myself: Go to college, meet cool people, get a degree, join the peace corps (or some other organization like that), travel the world, meet more cool people, have life changing experiences, maybe in my late 20s meet a nice guy, get married, have kids a couple years later.

Spoiler Alert: That's not how things turned out.

When I had just entered college, I had never really had a "serious" boyfriend or relationship so I wasn't necessarily looking for one. I told myself to build good friendships with people and focus on school. I had a passion for people, cultures, and service--so I went to school for missions. I had seen the Invisible Children video for the first time in high school and I felt so drawn to Africa. As I discussed my interests and passions with my older sister (who was a senior at the same university), she told me that I should talk to a guy named Francis because he's from Uganda.

Speed things up to the first couple weeks of school. I had joined the university choir, which provided a good way of interacting with various people who didn't share my classes or major. I had noticed this guy who sat behind me, a tenor. One day in the cafeteria, after choir, that same guy and I were next to each other in the dinner line. I asked him his name and he replied Francis. I made the connection that he must be the same Francis my sister told me about (after all, how many Francis' do you know?). So I made the leap and asked him where he was from. Uganda. Suspicions confirmed.

And this my friends is how, in our first interaction, my future husband shot down my dreams:

Me: I'd like to live in Uganda one day.
Frank: Why?
Me: I'd like to be a missionary.
Frank: Uganda doesn't need anymore missionaries.

And he proceeded to walk away while I, reaching for an apple, stood dumbfounded. After that conversation he kind of intimidated me.

Fast forward to February when a select group from the choir went on tour to Florida. Francis and I were both in that group. We spent a lot of time together over those 4 days. It was then that intimidation of our first conversation started to melt away And it was also when I first felt the flutter of butterflies when we talked to each other. At one point over those four days a friend asked me, "Do you like Francis?!" And I replied that I did.

In Florida together

Once back in good 'ole Elgin and out of the rays of Florida sunshine, Francis and I began to hang out more than usual. A few weeks after that, on February 29th, he asked me out.

While we were dating

Since then we've had our ups and downs. I broke up with him once and we were apart for four months. Then I realized the error of my ways, we talked about it, processed through some stuff, and started dating again. Two years after that, before I even graduated college, I was a married woman.

 

Sealing the deal

Sarah: Celebration

Here are some pictures from Frank's birthday:

I love birthdays. I enjoy celebrating the life of someone I love and trying to make their day special. Saturday, I spent the morning making him a secret chocolate cake with coffee icing. It was delicious. Sunday was mostly low-key, because that's the kind of guy Francis is. He's uncomplicated and straightforward. We went out for the Super Bowl with friends and then at the end of the night we found ourselves indulging in tasty Indian food (with a complimentary dessert for the birthday boy). So lovely.

Sarah: Happy Birthday, My Love

Today is Frank's birthday!! I got up this morning and got him Starbucks, made him breakfast in bed, we're currently watching the Manchester United game and later we're going to go out somewhere to watch the Super Bowl!

It's a day full of celebrating one of my favorite people!

Happy 33rd, my love. I hope it's everything you want it to be.

Kelsey: Sh*tuff Christian Girls Say

Sarah: Life in iPhone Photos

Happy February everyone! Where did Januaray go?