Thursday, June 05, 2008
About four years ago this week, Spencer proposed to me. It was a surprise in some senses, and in other ways I was expecting it (the proposal) to come any day now. Since my birthday was coming up in a few weeks, I figured he'd probably wait and propose then.He was living in Sacramento, doing an internship at Intel, while I was going to school at BYU in Provo, Utah. We talked every night and chatted online, but it was still hard to be apart. I missed him terribly.
So Spencer planned a long-distance date; we would both do the same things at the same time and talk on the phone during the date. The events that were planned included ice cream (one of my most favorite treats) and star gazing. I thought it sounded like a really sweet idea, and I could tell he was trying to help me not to miss him as much. Spencer had a prior commitment with his friend, so the date wasn't set to start until 10pm or so.
I set out to Ben & Jerry's for ice cream. I'd been looking forward to that all day. Once I arrived at Ben&Jerry's, I was to tell the cashier that she was Spencer Kellis' girlfriend. Then the cashier told me that I got a waffle cone and two scoops of ice cream, and that Spencer had already paid for it. There was also a red rose behind the counter for her. This was really nice, and at the time I was thinking, 'How did he manage that from California?' -- all the girls who worked there were asking me questions about this über-romantic boyfriend of mine. I sat outside the shop, eating my ice cream and talking to Spencer on the phone. I thought the night had peaked. How romantic.
Then, it was time for star gazing. We'd decided on a field (next to Spencer's aunt's house) where she would go and look at the stars. When I pulled up, it was very dark, and a little bit late to be romping around in the dark on my own, so I locked the doors and told Spencer (over the phone) that I was going to watch the stars from inside the car. He insisted that I get out of my car. I mentioned that there were possibly boogey-men or thieves out there, and he'd most likely feel guilty if I were mugged while star-gazing over the phone with him. Regardless, he insisted that it was a safe field (?!) and that if anything went wrong, I could go to his aunt's house nearby. So off I went, into the deep dark yonder.
I walked towards the field, and as I went through the gate, I saw four tiki torches surrounding a porch swing and a small table with five dozen roses on it. Also, there was a tall man standing nearby. Once I realized that Spencer was there to see me, I ran to him and was so surprised to see him that I started crying. I couldn't *believe* that he had pulled this over on me and flew into Utah to surprise me. I hugged him and cried some more.
We sat on the swing and talked for a few minutes. Then Spencer asked if I was ready. I did not know what he was talking about. (I know, how stupid can I be, right?) Spencer got down on one knee and told me how much he loved me, that he wanted to make me happy for the rest of my life, and asked if I'd be his wife. I said, "Yes, of course!" Then, Spencer pulled a beautiful ring out of his pocket and put it on my finger. I was very impressed with the ring Spencer chose, I didn't help him to know what I wanted, but he knew me well enough to know exactly what I would like. It was the most romantic evening I could've asked for.
I love you more now than I did then, Spence. Thanks for taking a leap of faith and changing my life forever.
Labels: love, proposal, random marital events, romance
link | posted by Emily at 9:12 PM
Sunday, May 25, 2008
a tale of culinary woe.
An act of God was defined as something which no reasonable man could have expected. --A.P. Herbertthat's right, i am still hoping and praying for a miracle; one of these days i would LOVE to wake up and just have no headache. that'd be stupendous, wouldn't it? really, i can't imagine many things i'd like better. if that's too drastic, i'd settle for finding a pill or treatment that would make the pain manageable. :D
onto my tale of woe.
last week i pulled out my favorite cookbook (from Christmas) -- martha stewart's Great Food fast. in it was this recipe for Chicken Chilaquiles. my husband and i, we love mexican food. i adore cilantro, so we were all set. i got cooking. except, of course, i had to half the recipe - there's only 2 of us (cue ominous music).
you can see where this is going, right?
cooking + migraine = trouble.
if you clicky on over to the recipe, you'll see that it calls for "2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo, finely chopped (about 1 heaping tablespoon), plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from same can)"
silly me, reading it too quickly, thought it said 2 CANS chipotle chiles...
now you REALLY see where this is going.
so i smartly halved that, and dumped my one WHOLE CAN of chipotle chiles in (plus all the sauce, don't know what i was thinking there...maybe i wasn't?)
the picture should've clued me in, my dish was a lot brown-er than martha's. but really, does mine ever look as good as hers? no. so onward and upward we went. to the dinner table!
expecting rave reviews, i serve the meal. i should tell you that my husband is probably the most enthusiastic audience you'll ever cook for (my mom and sister can attest to this). he just LOVES anything and everything you cook for him. so if he doesn't *LOVE* it, you have really done something wrong.
...
i had done something wrong.
this dish was WAY too spicy. i mean WAAAAY too spicy. we struggled through, with lots of cheese and sour cream and chips. the whole time, i'm thinking, jeez, martha! why so spicy?
i should've known. another case of bad recipe reading by yours truly.
anyone have any tales of culinary disaster to share with me?
edited to add: spencer would like me to point out that he actually he liked it. additionally, he ate both firsts and seconds. duly noted.
Labels: cooking, random marital events
link | posted by Emily at 7:14 PM
Monday, April 21, 2008
i seem to be unable to move these pictures around -- my blog ability is skyrocketing (in a downward fashion). also, i can't get rid of a spam comment from one of my previous entries.oh jeez.
so i'll tell you about these pictures as they came out of the camera. :) they're from a very short hike spencer and i took last weekend down a nearby canyon. first up are my shoes, i don't know if you can tell, but they're soaked -- the only way up to the falls was across the stream. and let me tell you something -- whooeeee was that water cold!! straight from the snow, baby!
and then this picture is up a little canyon, you can see part of the falls here, and i love how waterfalls look running over rocks. mmmm...so relaxing.
more water running over rocks -- and that white stuff near the top of the frame is snow, even though it was near 80 outside. always colder up the canyon!
this is a better picture of the same thing. this is where we crossed, trying hard to avoid the slick rocks and logs. :) we didn't fall in.here's spencer, coming across. i must admit i was hoping (a little bit) he'd fall so i could take pictures of it.
of course i told him that once he got safely across, he mentioned that would've been a bad thing if he'd've fallen in with his camera strapped to his back. :( seriously.not worth the blog fodder.
that's all she wrote! if you're in the area, and want to check it out, this is called the Hidden Falls, and is up the Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Labels: Hidden Falls, hike, nature, random marital events
link | posted by Emily at 8:51 PM
Monday, October 15, 2007
Update on the trip!
Last monday was Spencer's and my 3rd wedding anniversary -- we celebrated with dinner out at PF Chang's. it was delicious and just a great night out. luckily for us, spencer had the week off of school (for a fall break), so we were able to take a short trip!we went down to Bryce, in southern Utah, and stayed the night at a little bed and breakfast, called the Arrowhead Country Inn. it was really nice, we stayed in this little cabin
(no picture of the inside, unfortunately), and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. breakfast was delicious, and we sat with some very interesting people. that's always a bonus. :)
as we were headed to the park, we noticed how PERFECT the weather was! you know, 75, sunny, a cool wind -- when spencer asked if i had brought any sunscreen. eek? i hadn't even thought about it, unfortunately. off we went to terry's country store, to buy the most expensive generic sunscreen i've ever seen. :) $6.39 for this western family brand sunscreen. sad, but we couldn't skip it -- a redhead and a blonde? no no no no. i'm hoping to avoid skin cancer for both of us.
then it was off to bryce canyon for the day! they have the park set up so that you can drive to most of the most spectacular sites, and just walk a few feet to see them. we decided this was just about perfect for us, because there are lots of little trails to hike around (for spencer) and i could still see most of the great things - we could spend time together and enjoy the park. that may not make sense to some, but to my fellow migraine-friends, i know you get it.
bryce canyon is known for its amazing rock formations, hoodoos and grottos. it was stunning. i really couldn't believe how beautiful it was.
and a couple more, for good measure.
Labels: anniversary, fun, random marital events
link | posted by Emily at 9:29 PM
Friday, June 29, 2007
at last, the HCJ pictures!
So this is where the concert was held - abravanel hall in downtown SLC. we don't have any pictures from dinner. :) this huge red sculpture is in the front entrance of the hall.
here's kind of a cute picture of spencer and i in front of the modern art - i ended up wearing my black trouser jeans and my pink wraparound sweater (just fyi) ;)
here we are talking to harry connick jr.,
(and that's my little brother in the background -- ladies? he's single and ready to mingle)and now here we are in the posed shot --
and last of all, that's harry connick jr.'s hand, he's signing our cd's. :) 
those are about all the relevant pictures i could find. hopefully it's not a big letdown - it was such an amazing night. the dinner (wow), the concert (awesome), and meeting harry connick jr., wow. it was just fabulous.
Labels: concerts, food, fun, harry connick jr., random marital events
link | posted by Emily at 12:07 PM
Monday, June 25, 2007
today i turn 26.
my husband's been giving me presents the past couple of days, and there's one more for me to open tonight. :-) he's very sweet. he also cleaned up the apartment and washed all the dishes this morning (!) in preparation for having people over tonight. and because he knows i LOVE having everything picked up and put away.we're planning to go to red robin with some friends and family, and then afterwards back to our house for cake and ice cream. yummm.
not to put a depressing cast on an actually happy day, do you ever look at the number and think to yourself how different you thought your life would be at that age? i guess i do. i figured i'd be married, but i also figured i'd be teaching piano and possibly have a child by now. it's so interesting how life works, isn't it?
spencer got me 2 cd's - a michael buble one (i'd been hearing good things about) and the city of angels soundtrack. i used to have the soundtrack, and it got stolen out of an ex-bf's car a long time ago. i LOVE this soundtrack.
it's
Labels: birthday, food, fun, music, random marital events
link | posted by Emily at 11:33 AM
Saturday, June 16, 2007
the weekend
spencer and i babysat my sister's kids for a few hours tonight; they had a short date. it was fun to hang out with them (as it always is), and they cracked me up (as they always do).they see me at least once a week - my husband, much less frequently. so we're sitting around, and i ask T if she'd like to come sit with me. they both start climbing on him, and she kind of shakes her head sadly at me. E says, 'it's just that spencer's much more funner.' like - sorry, we kind of like you, but he is THE BOMB! why would we sit with you when HE is here?
hilarious.
a father's day/june birthday extravaganza is going on tomorrow, so i'm looking forward to seeing everyone, as i always do. hoping they'll be able to put a dent in the massive quantity of dill dip i have. :)
and as for this picture :
the edge has suggested it might be a HUGE bug. it's possible. i can't remember at all. :)
Labels: bug, fun, hilarity, kids, random marital events
link | posted by Emily at 10:26 PM
Thursday, May 10, 2007
hello friends!we're visiting Austin, and i'm loving it. we had lunch at Rudy's - delicious barBQ. and then this evening, we went to the capitol. we were walking around, when 2 guys (about our age, mid-early 20s) come up to us and says 'hey man, would you take our picture?'
i kind of laugh and say, 'gee i wonder why they asked YOU' -- my husband is a hobbyist photographer, and was carrying one of those SLRs around his neck at the time.
he comes back and says, they asked you first. i say, what? he says, they called you ma'am.
and i said -- i've never been called a ma'am before. (true story)
spencer says 'you're in Texas.'
welcome to the south, baby!
Labels: hilarity, random marital events, texas, travel
link | posted by Emily at 7:02 PM
Friday, January 26, 2007
a tale of two sofas
well. i have been -- let's say, nudging my husband a great deal recently about how much i want a 'new' couch. not a new from the store couch, mind you, we're college students. can't afford that kind of nonsense. but a new to us couch. something more comfortable than the one we have, basically. i love the couch we have, but its time has come.
we'll call this the OBC (the Old Brown Couch). the OBC just wasn't cutting it anymore. long had we loved her, long had she served us.....but things were a little.... how can i put this politely -- saggy -- for the OBC.we found ourselves a great cheap leather loveseat for $25 on craigslist. even we can afford 25 dollars. we went over to look at it, and it was great, just a little.....small. we're just used to a normal full-sized couch, and weren't ready to move to a loveseat. there is not room in our apartment for TWO couches! no room.
so while we were there looking at the fabulous! cheap! leather! loveseat, she mentioned she had the matching full sized couch she wouldn't mind getting rid of either..... sooooo we asked to see that one.
that one, my friends was the Dog Couch (DC). now, friends, the DC has seen better days as well -- it hasn't been loved. the dogs i'm sure loved it, but it has because of that gotten REALLY DIRTY. like REALLY DIRTY. and i didn't think you'd fully understand that w/o a picture.
we started cleaning, when i realized that i *HAD* to take pictures so i could blog this. consequently, in this picture, we've cleaned one of the cushions. can you guess which one??
(hint: not the right, and not the left)
so anywhos, the DC was the couch that these two HUGE DOGS basically hung out on. and now it is the couch that WE hang out on. it is still structurally sound (remember the OBC? couldn't have that again) -- and although we spent several hours together cleaning it, the DC only cost us $50. what a steal, right?
she cleans up nice.
Labels: couch, craigslist, deals, random marital events
link | posted by Emily at 8:14 PM
