When we're helping we're happy

Blake is very service-minded and, consequently, takes very good care of me. Yesterday, our schedules didn't allow us to go to my campus together, but when I got home, he had made two mugs of fresh hot chocolate waiting for us to share.

This morning, he helped me unstick my sock drawer, then we tag teamed on making breakfast and packed each other's lunches.

Tonight, he spent several minutes on the phone with customer service and took point with setting up our tv and internet services that finally arrived, even though he really could have used the extra study time. And after all that was done, he still rubbed my shoulders for me because I had a really not great day at my substitute assignment.

And that's just in the last 2 days!

Blake does most of our driving (unless we're going into the district). He often sees things around the apartment that need doing and does them. He frequently asks me if there is anything he can do for me and he's always willing to do anything I ask spontaneously.

I'm so blessed to have someone so thoughtful!

Someone's 'ead restin' on my knee

As much as Blake and I like adventure, I also love that I've found someone I can be comfortable just hanging around at home with. We're both introverts who need some quiet time to recharge and we've found that we can recharge together quite nicely. We have a similar balance of adventure and quiet home time and I really appreciate that about him.

A lot of our home time lately involves homework or wedding planning or setting up the new apartment, but we also enjoy reading together (I've been reading him The Graveyard Book) or catching up on each other's favorite tv shows. His favorite is The West Wing and mine is Doctor Who. It's nice to snuggle on the couch and introduce each other to these things. I can't believe I've never taken the time to watch The West Wing before. It's so good!

We also enjoy board/table games, cooking together, or just talking. I've really enjoyed getting used to having him around all the time! I look forward to many more quiet evenings and crazy adventures with this man.

We're goin' to the chapel, and we're gonna get married

I love Blake because he is taking me to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity.

I once wrote the following:

We believe that when married by the proper Priesthood authority in the proper place (the temple), a husband and wife and all children born to them can be together forever in this life and in the eternities to come as long as they are worthy. This ordinance is called a sealing. In some countries, this counts as a legal ceremony, though in others the couple is wed civilly before their sealing. A sealing can also performed after an already married couple joins the church or when an adopted child joins the family.

Blake and I are both worthy and have kept ourselves worthy to attend the temple together and be sealed together forever. A temple marriage is the only kind of marriage I have ever wanted and I am so blessed to have found the person who wants the same thing.

For other things I have written or linked to about the temple and eternal families, please see these blog posts from 2009, 2010, and 2011.

In exactly this amount of time:

We will be going here:

And I can't wait!

My great adventure has begun!

I consider myself a fairly adventurous person. As time, opportunity, and finances permit, I love trying new things - foods, music, travel, and whatever else strikes my fancy! There's a vast and interesting world out there and I want to learn as much about it as I can! In past years, I usually wasn't afraid to do these things all by myself either.

Another reason I am so in love with Blake is that he is likewise adventurous! I spent the better part of the last 30 minutes trying to find our one discussion during our first week of chatting on Facebook where we talked about traveling and adventuring. We clarified that it was Thursday he asked me out and that I was the first one to send a message (an apology for being distracted during our initial two meetings).

I also found not one, but several instances in that first week wherein we discussed traveling and places we have visited that we loved and places we want to visit and things we want to try and basically rediscovered something that I already we knew - we share a passion for life and adventure and learning and exploring! 

And now we get to do these things together! In fact, we already have and do. We LOVE road trips together and have taken several day trips to things like a Civil War reenactment, a pirate festival, the beach, Tucson (from when we were at his parents' in Mesa), Renaissance Festival, Six Flags, Gettysburg (though it was on the way home from our ward retreat), and lots of adventures closer to home since DC is full of awesome stuff. 

In fact, if he weren't around, I would have missed the Pirate Festival completely, because the friends who had invited me (before they knew about Blake, but he was welcome) ended up not going after all, and I wouldn't have done that alone. Even if I wasn't afraid to adventure on my own before, I didn't always take advantage of opportunities to do so.

We like trying new restaurants or recipes or book stores or, as in my single days, whatever strikes our fancy! One day, we were grocery shopping and he saw bottled Malta Goya and decided to buy one, just because he's been curious about it. Back at my place, we each took a sip and decided that was enough. The point was that we tried it and learned something in the process.

I'm excited about all the things we'll do together from here on out!

Blake drives to the Pirate Festival

I want some hot stuff baby this evenin'

Today's reason I love Blake? He's just so darn handsome! And sometimes he has a really nice beard!

That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me!

Blake is very complimentary of me. He frequently tells me how beautiful I am and how lucky he is. I often catch him just looking at me with a pleasant look on his face. It doesn't matter if I'm in pajamas or dressed up nicely, he often lets me know he likes the way I look.

And while that's important and I'm certainly grateful, he also makes sure I know he's not just lucky because of how I look. He appreciates all of me.

We are the most polite Words With Friends competitors ever. We always congratulate the winner in the chat feature of the rematch and note really good moves. This extends to in person games too, including Jeopardy. (I really hope our newest cable package arrives tomorrow and works, unlike our first attempt. I miss recording and watching Jeopardy.) Our "What is..." are frequently punctuated by the other saying "Good job, babe!"

He always compliments my cooking. We're open and usually in agreement about how a particular dish could be improved, but he really enjoys everything I make. If he licks the plate, I really know I've done a good job.

It's easy to want to serve and love a person who is so appreciative and complimentary. Thanks, handsome!

This is his "Cheese, Grommit!" face, from a photo he sent me over text, probably being excited about me or us in some way.

Put your head on my shoulder

When we're sitting next to each other, Blake and I are the exact same height. All my height is in my super long torso, which means I have some rather short legs. Blake is around 6 feet tall and I'm 5'5". So, yeah, my legs are short.

What's good about this? It means when Blake and I hug, I can put my head right on his shoulder. He's also the perfect height for kissing.

I like this quite a bit.

Love, Me

In my last apartment, my bed was on risers on top of two cinderblocks stood end to end on one side and my dresser on other, in a makeshift loft bed situation. When you have a teeny tiny space, you have to think vertically for storage. This gave me tons of storage space under my bed, my dresser didn't take up any extra floor space, and I got used to my ceiling being an arm's length away from my face.

It also became a convenient place to for Blake to leave notes for me, since I couldn't see over the bed until I climbed into it. One night, I must have stepped out of the room before walking him to his car, because when I got back from saying goodnight, there was a cute little drawing on a yellow 3x5 card next to the pillow.

I found similar notes on other occasions.

Sometimes, the notes found their way into my backpack or on my mirror.

Of course, I started to return the favor. If you were in our ward this last Sunday and paid attention to Blake turning the pages of his notepad to the one with his talk, you would have seen a large "I (heart) U!" on the top page that I left him a few weeks ago. I totally noticed it and I wasn't even looking for it, so I wonder if anyone else saw it. I also like stuffing notes in his law books and wherever else I think to drop them.

Now that we're settling into the new place, I look forward to finding new places to hide love notes!

Have you ever had to finally decide?

Blake and I are planning our wedding together. I'm not one of those girls who has had everything planned except the groom since she was five and we feel strongly about making this OUR wedding and OUR day.

So, it is fortunate that, yes, we like a lot of the same things, but also that we make decisions in a similar manner.

Tonight, we discussed photographers and food for our wedding. At one point, I said something about the photographer and, with the next step in mind that I wanted to take to figure out to make a final decision, disappeared to grab a pair of socks. When I returned, Blake said exactly the same thing I had been thinking to say on my return.

Our logic works together and we arrive at similar decisions about lots of things. We can generally understand each other's points and work together for a compatible solution to our question.

We've had really big things to discuss in our relatively short time together thus far, and because we make decisions so similarly, we've largely been able to do so without much stress and in a timeframe we're both happy with.

I suppose that's not so much something I love about Blake, but something I love about us as a couple.

Specifically regarding Blake, it means I know I can come to him with a decision we need to make and I can trust him to be consistent in how we arrive at that decision. Together. It also means that I can trust him to make decisions without me, because he considers me and my perspective.

It won't always be this easy. But I'm grateful for establishing good communication habits and foundations now!

The picture is from the day we picked up the keys to our first place! Deciding on an apartment together was a relatively pain-free experience because of how well we can work together!

I'll go where you want me to go

Shortly after our engagement was announced, I was released from all of my church responsibilities. I'm sure this mini-break will end once we start attending our new family ward(congregation), but it's nice for now. I'm helping where I can, like playing the piano in one of the meetings today or warming some food for our ward Thanksgiving dinner this Sunday.

Blake, on the other hand, has not been released. He is on the temple committee, which isn't very time consuming thankfully, and he's very much magnifying his responsibility. Today, he spoke in church (we accept assignments to speak every so often instead of the same preacher every week) for the second time since we've been together. I, on the other hand, haven't spoken since, I don't know, maybe 2006? Definitely in Utah. He'd be willing to fulfill his assignment to work in the stake family history library next month, if it weren't the day before we fly home to get married.

In our life, home, and relationship, he is every bit the worthy Priesthood holder he should be. He dedicated our home today, we pray together, and we study our scriptures together. He stays faithful to the covenants he's made with Heavenly Father and helps me do the same. I can trust that he'll teach our children to be similar in nature.

I'm grateful for a wonderful example of faith in our relationship. Having similar values gives us a very solid foundation for our marriage!

This photo is from his mission and his companion is someone I went to high school with! Small world!