Springtime Snow

As the months have passed, it blows my mind that the last time I posted a real post was over a year ago! Seriously. Blows. My. Mind.

At this point, Spencer is almost done with his student teaching and therefore has begun interviewing for jobs. So weird....looking for a career like real adults! Anywho, so about a week ago, he went to a career fair and came home with a couple soft offers. One was from a school in Texas, the other in Arizona. The idea of both was VERY appealing to both of us - no more cold and a new place that wasn't Provo!! Well, about a day after the fair, the administrator from the AZ school called and offered him a solid job - biology teacher, head basketball coach and possibly the soccer coach. Needless to say, we were over the moon!

Well, about 4 days ago, Spencer went in for a 2nd interview at Provo High. An hour after the interview, he received a phone call from the Provo principal - extending an offer to be a biology teacher and assistant basketball coach! 2 job offers within one week! Talk about feeling blessed!! After a lot of talking, prayer and processing, we accepted the Provo job offer. So, yes. It will take a few more years to leave Utah, but over all, it's an amazing opportunity, and we are VERY excited!

It's funny to think how many things are getting ready to happen within the next few months. Our little boy will be arriving in May. Spencer will finish his undergrad classes in June and walk in graduation come August. August will also be when he starts his career as a full-fledged high school biology teacher!

So much to look forward to, and so much going on! What a wonderful life!

To Catch Up A Bit...

Well... Seeing as how I am an awful slacker on this, and keep getting told I should blog because it's a great way to keep people posted AND journal, I am taking the time to log our adventures!

If memory serves correctly, I have about a year to catch up on....

Oh my lanta, I don't even know where to begin. Therefore, I will give a brief recap and then....well then we will just talk about current events. My memory does a lot better with things that are current.

So, after a phenomenal up and down rollercoaster, we got engaged (see prior post for details). Then, we got married. Pretty neat how the one is usually followed by the other. In my personal opinion, I am SO glad they did! We kept busy last summer with landscaping and house jobs - aka, tiling the kitchen, fixing the plumbing, building a fence, pulling out trees....etc. OK FINE. When I say "we" I really mean Spencer. I was more there for moral support and kept them fed. Oh, and I sliced my thumb off. (Just kidding. It was only a minor cut requiring 3 stitches...stupid watermelon).

We ran a 5k with Adam and Kaitie in Montana for McKinley.....ummm yes, ok, we walked in the pouring rain. But, if we are being honest, running and I......eh. Nuff said. Sooo.... Spencer went back to school in the fall, I began working full time...which ended in October when I came down with a horrible flu that I couldn't seem to shake. Talk about the pits! Vomiting, nausea, sensitivity to smell, achey and exhausted ALL THE TIME.

Well, come to find out, that "flu" was morning sickness. By about 4 months along, the sickness had mostly subsided and I was a little less of a blob. Thanksgiving and Christmas were spent with our families - chaotic, but fun!  Then, we welcomed in the new year of 2014. Spencer began his student teaching at LPHS, continued coaching basketball at PGHS and kept taking care of me (that all in itself is quite the task). February came and I was back to being sick and a blob....only to find out it had become strep. Thank goodness for antibiotics! Once that cleared up, we continued on with life.... Ok, well now that that task is out of the way, I can take a deep breath of relief knowing I am all caught up and be able to share our current news!!!!

MY Fairy Tale Beginning

Once upon a time, there was a princess. That is me, Heidi. (if you do not understand the context of this picture, please take a moment and go back to read the previous post).

Believe it or not, I really am a princess! I have a tiara and everything! I grew up reading fairy tales and eating up every single dream filled phrase. All I have ever wanted was for my turn to have MY fairy tale ending.

My life has been a very different style of the typical "fairy tale" that we are all familiar with. However, it is just as charming, if not MORE charming and amazing than any of the others. (just my personal opinion anyway). But seriously, It has been my family and friends that have been there every single time some nasty dragon decided to rear it's ugly head. (Do dragons rear their heads?) Well, it's my fairy tale, so we'll say yes. They do! Okay, back to the story at hand......So I'm the princess that's usually causing problems and getting into distress because well frankly, that's a princess' job, right? But don't worry, sometimes I even fix things! (Life is full of surprises, and my story is no exception)

So, please direct your attention to the right. This would be the eventual Prince charming, so I guess at this point he is like the frog prince, waiting to be transformed. (isn't it funny that the girl is always in trouble and the boy is always trying to grow up?) ...not that I'm always in trouble, because I'm not... Ok I'm digressing. So Spencer. He is from Lindon, Utah, is a little bit taller than me, at about 6'6" and studying biology. Yep, he's kind of a nerd. In a good way of course.

He is always teaching me about life, sometimes really weird things, that I didn't really need or want to know, but I learn them anyway. For example, the other day I learned that the 9-banded armadillo is a daisy-pod-a-day in science geek talk. I don't know when I will ever need to know that, but if they bust that out in a job interview I will nail it. Basically, I always look forward to his "did you know..." moments every day. Now that you know a little background on the 2 of us, I guess it's time for me to begin telling you OUR story.

Once upon a time, about three and a half years ago to be exact, I met this boy in my country western dance class at BYU (yes, in case you were wondering, it WAS a total blast!). I was tall, he was tall, we could both keep a beat, so naturally, we danced together often in class and practiced together occasionally. Eventually that cute little frog prince got up enough courage to ask me out on a date. So on a date we went. It was a french-themed date. We went to the international cinema and watched a French film and then afterward we made french toast. Then he took me home. It was fun enough and clever since I was working on a French minor at the time. I think it might have gone over a little better though if I hadn't of fallen asleep during the movie and drooled all over his favorite jacket. Ok, kidding about the drooling, but I did fall asleep during the movie. Can you blame me though? I had already seen that particular French flick about 4 times. And it had been a long week. College is hard...

Well after that super fabulous first date, he didn't ask me out again.... So we finished out the semester as dance partners and then went our separate ways. No big deal. No broken hearts. Besides, he had JUST gotten back from his mission and was still pretty weird. Bless his heart. As the days and months passed through the rest of the school year, we talked occasionally, he would invite me to things, I would already have plans and shut him down, we'd run into each other awkwardly on campus and catch up for a bit. Nothing ever Earth shattering.

Well, after about a year after our first date, I guess he decided he would attempt to overcome my narcoleptic tendencies and asked me out on a second date. (Brave soul). He picked me up and we went to an all you can eat pizza, salad and pasta buffet. Smart man. I was thrilled. The conversation was interesting and I found myself wondering why we hadn't hung out more often over the past year. I was sad to see the date come to a close so I knew I needed to do something quickly to ensure he wouldn't try and ask me out again. So, when he dropped me off, I smiled said "I really had a great time tonight" and then stuck my hand out for him to shake it. I don't think I've seen a more confused face.....ever.

Well, my plan worked and he didn't ask me out again. However, he was the president of a club on campus and invited me to those events regularly, we'd bump into each other on occasion or send the random text/im message saying "hey let's catch up." The time we spent together was always enjoyable but I was wary of him because he was looking for a wife and I was on a man-hating streak....again. (hence the hand shake. He seemed like a decent guy so I didn't want to have him waste his time on me). I even went so far as to set him up with another girl friend of mine within this timeframe. We were good friends and I liked it that way.

Well, December 2011 rolled around and I was in Alaska and he was still in Utah. For some reason I decided to read his blog. I laughed until I cried - it was making fun of dating and basically expressing his frustration at the whole dating situation. I was thrilled when I read that he was done with his crazy date-o-rama attitude. This is when I knew we could become better friends because I didn't have to worry about him thinking I was interested. All I wanted was a friend. And that's what I knew I could find in Spencer. At this point in time (December) he had had knee surgery. Something about a torn meniscus or ACL or some other minor thing like that.

Well, he was on crutches and being the kind-hearted and caring friend I am, I did what any other good friend would do....I made fun of him. We hung out pretty much every day and talked for hours.

We'd go on dates on the weekends (with other people of course) and then when we were done, we'd call each other and go talk for a few more hours. It was perfect. We were best friends. I could be in sweats all the time, he didn't think I was pretty and it was all completely platonic.

Well, that was until about April, when the big dummy decided that he was moving to North Carolina for the summer. Who ups and leaves their best friend like that?! Well, he did. But, that didn't really stop us. We texted and talked on the phone and skyped whenever possible. The day after he left I bawled my eyes out because I realized that I missed my best friend. He would tell me about the girls there. I would tell him about the boys here. Still just friends. I may or may not have had a girl friend of mine tell me to stop being stupid and realize that I liked him and that he liked me, but seriously, what did she know?! And just to prove her wrong, I ended up dating a boy in June shortly before I went back home to Alaska for the summer months to work. Well, that lasted about a whole 2 weeks. 

Ok, before I go any further I would just like to say that I am not perfect and I do make mistakes...and get in slightly sticky situations. So where was I? Right, so obviously Spencer and I talked a LOT less the few weeks that I was dating this other boy....and then I was single again so we started talking more. Actually, let me correct that....I started talking more. He talked still fairly sparsely. (This could be largely due to that fact that I sorta let him think I was still dating this other boy because I was panicking because I realized I might like him a little more than just as my friend).

But people, hear me out here. He was my best friend! Best friends don't fall in love. If they do, it's only ever one of the friends and then...friendship over. I was NOT having that. So, having a boyfriend seemed like the reasonable thing to do. Well, that was until we only talked like maybe twice a week and then a couple weeks before I came back to Utah he wasn't hardly saying anything but one word answers. Talk about horrific!! I had no idea what had happened, but I could tell he was mad. I knew I had to figure out what was wrong with him, so I eagerly awaited my flight back to the lower 48 to run and jump into the huge hug I was sure would be waiting for me in his nicely toned arms. Then I could fix whatever was wrong in his life.

 Well, the night I got back into Provo,  his answers were still short and rather rude. But, he agreed to see me that night.....after his date (naturally). He came by my house and picked me up. Instead of the embrace I was waiting for all summer I got a super crappy awkward side hug and a "hey." That was it. Something was definitely not right. Well after about 4 hours of a rather....heated discussion that may or may not have escalated to screaming on occasion, the truth finally came tumbling out.... How I had lied to him all summer, how he hadn't told me how he really felt (not even after he flew into Provo in June to surprise me for the weekend), how mad he was at me, etc. I will not lie. I was slightly frightened that evening....I had never seen him that angry...woops. But really, I mean, if he had just told me how he felt, things could have been a lot simpler. I could have shunned him and we would have never had to deal with that whole ugly situation. I say ugly because when I cry, it is NOT pretty. In any way, shape or form. He looked great...minus the bulging veins in his neck and angry expression in his eyes.

Well, after all the drama and what not, we came to the conclusion that sure, why not, let's give this thing a shot. So, we started dating - casually, while still dating other people, because frankly, I don't really do commitment. However, it didn't take long and we were going steady. Cute right? Yep, he was pretty excited about getting a real chance, and I have to admit, I was pretty okay with it too.

Multiple panic attacks, date nights, homework parties, heartaches, road trips, late night gallivants, walks, family gatherings, wedding receptions and game nights later, he asked me that question. He took me up the canyon trail where we have gone hiking often, the place where he kissed me for the first time, the place where we would sit and talk for hours and he gave me my Christmas present. I opened it up and inside was....a book. Definitely not a ring. However, it was no ordinary book. It was our fairy tale! He had written OUR fairy tale, complete with pictures from the past years. (I'm telling you, he is seriously the best boyfriend EVER!!) Well, he made me stand on the trail, in the snow, and read it out loud. There was a certain point in the book that just left a blank. That's when he took the book away, got down on one knee and asked if I'd help him finish the fairy tale. Well obviously, I said yes and, ta da!! We are now engaged. And I could NOT be happier.

Oh....and he really loves having his picture taken....

He is one of the MOST amazing men I have ever met in my life and he truly treats me like a princess.... even when I don't deserve it most of the time. So, there you have it. I have found my happily ever after....complete with the frog prince that became prince charming. But I guess, really, to be accurate, it's not really a fairy tale ending as much as it is a fairy tale beginning! March 28, I will be marrying my best friend and I can't think of anything that would make me happier! WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

Preface

So, I considered titling my fairytale fishella or fuelerella, but it just didn't have the same effect as Cinderella. Weird, right? Suffice it to say, I work in a harbor in Alaska, washing fishing boats and working on a fuel dock. Yes, I may have a couple of the most feminine jobs in existence and before you even say this is not princess material, don't! Cinderella scrubbed floors, Snow White was a servant, Rapunzel was a prisoner and Mulan fought in a war. I haul hoses, pump fuel, dock boats, and scrub up fish slime. Sounds like prime princess material to me.

I'm hoping that in the near future, I can trade my coveralls, hardhat, boots and rain gear for something a little more elegant, like a business suit and cute heels. But until that time, these less-than-flattering articles of clothing will remain a part of my summer attire - no tiaras anywhere in sight.

Working in a harbor may not be every girls dream job, but college is expensive and money doesn't grow on trees. Trust me, I've tried planting it and the only thing that happens is your dirty money just gets dirtier. So, until prince charming decides to show up with oodles of money or at least a slightly less yucky job for me, I get to continue to learn the importance of hard work, budgeting, not gagging when dealing with fish or fuel and having icky calluses.

I make no promises on the quality of this fairy tale. It will most likely contain far too many mistakes, broken hearts, awkward moments, and clumsiness. I can promise you it will also contain hysterical moments, tears, family, multiple learning experiences, and most likely, a little too much ridiculousness on occasion.  I am well aware of the fact that my prince charming probably got lost, didn't want to stop and ask for directions (after all, he is a man), and therefore, still continues to wander aimlessly. However, if you've ever read a fairytale, you know that the prince doesn't show up until they are ready for the "happily ever after" and my favorite part of the story!