The semester is finally drawing to a close. I took my last undergraduate final yesterday so I'm finished but Jeff has finals through Thursday...2 more after the one he's currently taking now.
We have been very busy this semester, so busy that I haven't posted since the first week of school. Along with being very busy, we have been very blessed. We have been blessed in more ways then we probably realize. This semester was taxing-emotionally, physically, and mentally.
Jeff has worked 2 jobs this semester. He started off working at the USU bookstore and Elements restaurant and a few weeks ago he quit the bookstore because he got an accounting job with the college of engineering on campus! What a great resume builder! He also took 2 accounting classes, calculus, and an economics class. He was a trooper the whole semester. As for me...I just went to school. Now now, I did take 19 credits of upper level courses, including putting on a Senior recital, and passed the Music content praxis! As long as I pass all of my classes this semester (which I'm not too worried about...) I am all set to Student Teach in the spring at Mountain Crest High School.
I will begin my student teaching each morning at 6:45 in Hyrum (a 15 minute drive from Logan). Scrapping the car at 6:15 every morning is going to get old fast in the long Logan winter. However, I chose this student teaching because it has a 0 period (a period of class before the official school day begins). Since I will be student teaching the 0 period I will get to leave class early. I scheduled it this way because the Utah State University Chamber Singers have been invited to an international festival in China this coming May! Utah State has been very helpful in trying to raise funds so this trip is a manageable price for all of us. There were only 5 choirs from the WORLD invited to the festival only 3 of which came from the United States-and Yale has dropped out already. It will be quite the opportunity to participate in and I am very excited for it. That did mean I had to go get my name changed with Social Security though. I had to get a new SS card, so i can get a new license, so I can get a passport! So, it is official, I'm Chelsea Andrus Curtis now. Hopefully I'll be able to find a job to work with my schedule in the spring to help cover the costs of the China trip. Depending on funds and assistant-ships I may be starting graduate school here at Utah State in the fall in Choral conducting. The program is being instated this fall so the timing is working out perfectly if everything else works out....
As for Jeff next semester he will keep plugging through his accounting program with his 2 current jobs. He's taken a little bit easier class load though and has a very ambitious plan to get up with me before 6 am every morning to go to the gym.
As for now Jeff is trying to make it through finals week alive and I'm gearing us up for our trip to Virginia next week. Being able to go back and be with my family for a few weeks will be the best reward I could ask for after this semester, and in reality, this college career! I love and miss my family everyday and I'm so grateful for their constant support. My In-laws have been a fabulous support to Jeff and I too. They have been so good to come to all my performances and always help me feel of their love. I'm glad to know I have a second family so close when mine is so far away.
As for the senior recital, it went better then I could have imagined. My biggest problem is always me getting in the way of myself, and that night, I just sang and had fun and it couldn't have been a better experience. I'm grateful for all those who came out to support, and for those who couldn't make it I have it recorded if you'd like to see it.
I'm also grateful for my great ward. I'm really starting to get to know so great people and families and it's been really fun! I love to watch all the 6-12 month old kids in church....although it makes it harder to stay focused on what's being taught. :D
Speaking of babies- I'm very excited that Kami will be joining us this week. My sister in-law is being induced on Friday and I'm very excited to be an aunt x3! It's a very exciting time of year for Jeff and I with Christmas, and the semester ending, and a new niece!
I'm going to try to be much better about updating the blog next semester. Hopefully things will be a little less crazy. But, if I could sum up the semester this is what I would say:
We worked hard, we prayed harder, and we were VERY blessed.
With Love,
The Curtis Family
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
The First Week of School Fever
And Thus begins happily ever after. Jeff and I landed safely in Utah on August 24th to begin the mayhem. We slept at his parents’ house that night then in the morning, loaded up the car and headed to Logan-and boy was it loaded! Something like 6 suitcases? Who knows? Jeff had come to the apartment and gotten all the furniture moved in, etc and some of his stuff put away but Thursday was a LONG day of unpacking. We got mostly everything that we had there put away and my parents helped get the rest of it there. After a long day we had no choice to call it quits and go to bed. We had to go to bed bath and beyond to buy a fan first though cause we have no AC in our apartment. Thank you all those who gave us BB&B gift cards! You saved our lives that night!
The next morning we drove back down to West Jordan for the open house. We spent all day setting up and preparing and Jeff’s family was AMAZING. Everyone came out to help put things together and it turned out beautiful. I wish I could have had my reception in DC come together like that without having to do anything but show up. A BIG HUGE thanks to Jeff’s family for doing all that for us.
My parents and younger brother Trevor came out for the open house and it was a great turnout! I got to see some of my extended family that I hadn’t seen in a while and got to meet a lot of the people Jeff had told me about from his past (not that I could remember all of them…). My parents also got to see their old college roommates, etc that came. I was a little disappointed that some people didn’t make it out but you can’t win them all! A big thanks to those who did take the time to come out and see us though! We love you all!
Well, after we went to sleep that night Jeff woke up in the middle of the night and started crawling around. I didn’t know what the heck he was doing but apparently he wasn’t feeling well. We got him some medicine and he finally made it back to sleep. He hardly made it through opening presents the next morning though. After spending some of our target gift cards on presents we hadn’t received that we needed (pots and pans, a vacuum,etc) we headed back up to Logan once again. We got there and once again unpacked. Ha.
After all the packing Jeff crashed hard core. In the middle night, Jeff woke up again and this time he had a fever of 104! It took major work to get his fever down. We hung out at home all day Sunday until we took him to Instacare that night. Come to find out he had some sort of bacterial infection in his throat. Yikes! So, Jeff didn’t go to school the first day because he was practically on his death bed! Day 2 he was well enough to go though.
While all of this was going on I had developed a sharp pain in my ear and jaw so I went to the USU doctor on Monday. Apparently, with all my traveling, my ear still hadn’t popped! The doctor gave me some over the counter suggestions and just told me to try and pop my ear. He said if it wasn’t better in 2-3 days to come back. Well, sure enough on Friday I was back at the doctor. Apparently since my ear didn’t pop the fluid was stuck behind my eardrum and it was turning into an ear infection-so I had to go on antibiotics too!
Well, now it seems as if everything has gotten itself cleared up medically, just have to finish up all our meds. So, we started our marriage with a shake (the earthquake on our honeymoon that forced us to come home early) and a bang (all our illnesses)! Sure, it wasn’t the ideal way to start married life, but that’s the thing-it’s life not a fairytale! Through sickness and health we’ve got each other and that’s what really matters. Let me tell you, neither one of us wanted to go through that first week of school alone, especially not with everything that happened to us. It stinks that it happened that way, but I’m glad I had my love and support, my husband to get me through it and I think he would say the same.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Wedding Day
Wedding Day 8/19/11 (recorded 8/24/11)
The day started way too early on August 19th, 2011. I woke up at 5:30 after getting to bed past midnight the night before. I got in the shower and tried to relax which kind of worked, but not really let’s be honest. I then got out around 6:00 and had to get my hair dry before Jen arrived to do my hair at 6:30. I then realized my good blow dryer was in Utah….so I pulled out a very crappy blow dryer from my early high school days (it was probably 7 or more years old…) and went to town. After about 10 minutes and very little progress I went to get a box fan to put in front of myself. So, for the next 20 minutes I stood in front of the fan, blow dryer in hand trying to tame my mane of hair. It got dry about 2 minutes before Jen got there so all was well. Jen then did a beautiful Job on my hair and my stomach wouldn’t stop making noises the whole time. I didn’t feel nervous though, just excited. I then did my make up, grabbed my stuff, and my mom and I proceeded to the temple.
We left 2 hours before we needed to be there and didn’t hit any traffic so we were there VERY early. Jeff and his family did the same. Jeff and I did see each other though contrary to tradition before we were married because we had to be together to check in at the front desk of the temple and make sure they had our marriage license…we didn’t exactly think that one all the way through when we thought we could keep that tradition. It’s not important.
After all the little things were taken care of I went up to the Bride’s room with my mom where she helped me get dressed for the ceremony. I wore my wedding dress in the temple and I was able to tie a hankie my mom had given me into the sash of my dress. It’s a family tradition. My mom carried a hankie from my Grandma the day she was married as well. It was great to have that memory of her so close to me as I was married.
Jeff and I were then taken to the celestial room to be together-and it was a bit of a wait. That’s okay though, I enjoyed the wait. We then went to the sealing room where we were married for time and all eternity with our close family and friends there to witness it.
The people at the sealing were:
My parents, Jeff’s parents, Brooke, Scott, Casie & Joseph Wilcox, Fayone & Steve Gabrielson, Bro & Sis Sweeney (our marriage prep teachers), Grandma Giles, Grandma Andrus, Brian & Jill Andrus
After the sealing my mom helped me finish getting ready with my veil and other accessories. I met Jeff and we exited the temple. It was a glorious morning and we then proceeded to take a MILLION pictures. It was really great to have Deborah there as our photographer because she has such a good eye and was so willing to take the pictures that we wanted. After all the pictures and getting all hot and sweaty in the sun (it’s better then getting rained on!) Jeff and I left to go check into our hotel. After that we found some food at the house and headed for the Stonehouse (reception hall).
The Young Women and some other sisters from the ward had set up the stonehouse and it was absolutely beautiful. The cake decorator refused to let Brooke take the cake in her small car so he ended up delivering it. Other then that, the night was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for more. We talked, we laughed, we danced, and cried. It was a dream. My dad told me as we were dancing, “This has been one of the best days of my life.” I would have to say it was the same for me. Jeff drove off in the stick shift and we pulled off into a parking lot and switched drivers. It was, my fairy tale wedding day and I’m so grateful for everyone who made it that way.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Events Surrounding the Wedding
Wedding Festivities 8/24/11
Jeff and I are sitting on a plane right now, headed back to Utah as I write this and he looked at me and said, “where do you start? “ That really is the question….I guess we’ll start with the day Jeff’s parents arrived to town.
They arrived the evening of Tuesday August 16th just after dinnertime. They came over to the Andrus home to eat and we all sat around and talked for a few hours. Nothing too exciting happened on Tuesday night. We all attempted to go to bed early that night because of the early morning we had the next day for my endowment appointment. We weren’t very successful however because Grandma Giles also arrived Tuesday night and we wanted to stay up to visit with her. I think we probably made it to bed around midnight that night.
We all awoke early the next day to leave for the temple so I could receive my endowment. That’s a whole other journal entry. After the temple, we all went to lunch at Olive Garden and had quite the interesting server there. The first thing we noticed was how sweaty he was and hoped it didn’t get into our food. But, we had a great time visiting with each other and eating.
Next began the errand-running, pick up the tux, etc. etc. After all that, the girls went to get their nails done and My dad and Jeff met Jeff’s family in DC for a tour of the monuments.
I then again attempted to get a good nights rest but with no luck. My mom and I left early Thursday morning to pick up the flowers. That’s where the day from satan’s crib began. We got to the flower shop and the man rustled through papers telling me he had no order or flowers for me. After calling upstairs, and a couple different places he finally found my order and we got the flowers. For that 15 minutes, I thought I was going to have a heart attack I was so stressed. That was only the beginning. The man who we picked up the flowers from said they needed to sit in water for 2 hours before being un-packaged. So, we took them home to get them soaking.
This put us back 30 minutes later then planned but that didn’t seem to be a big deal at the time. The boys were going to go out to the batting cages and golfing while we did flowers- until we found out Brooke’s car wouldn’t start. So the boys had to delay their trip to help Brooke and we had to start the flowers without her (she was the one who knew how to do them the best). So we pressed forward, the blind leading the blind.
After beginning the flowers, things started coming along okay. I then found out Brooke’s car had to go to the shop so she couldn’t pick up any of the things she had volunteered to pick up that day. She was supposed to get the Stonehouse (reception hall) key and the rental linens. So, another thing was added to my own list of things to do. We got done with all the boutonnieres, corsages, and bouquets and then Brooke and Deborah finally arrived. I pulled the bridesmaids flowers out to work on them and my creative juices were fried. Luckily Deborah (being a photographer having been to a bunch of weddings) came up with very cute corsages with the daisies we had left.
After that I had to run to get the rental linens with Jill and Mom went to get the stonehouse and mechanical closet (for the church, for the rehearsal dinner) keys and went to Sams club to get some things for the reception. Well, when she got home she discovered her wallet was missing-another thing to add to to the mishaps list. Well, she ended up finding it in a crevice of the car so that worked out okay.
We all then ran to the church to set up for the rehearsal dinner, which went very smoothly: many hands make light work. We got back to the house just in time for a shower and to intercept Casie and Joseph before we returned to the church. We got back to the church and everyone was STARVING. Well, after the catering was 10 minutes late I made a phone call to Boston Market. They had NO ORDER for us. So, luckily they pulled it together. We placed an order then and there on the phone and yy mom and Grandma Giles went to pick it up. The food was 45 minutes late. I will say, it was probably much more appreciated by the time it got there. It was delicious, and everything else with the dinner went quite well-we just didn’t have food for a long while….
We packed up everything when we were through and tried to load the cars in the pouring rain. We ran out of room for people but luckily Julia showed up to pick up her bridesmaids attire right as we were leaving. After a rushed goodbye with Jeff (we thought we wouldn’t see each other again until the celestial room) Trevor and I got in the car and headed home with Julia.
I stayed up way too late that night because I hadn’t packed for the honeymoon yet and I was still worried about everything for the reception. After about 4-5 hours of sleep the wedding day began….
Jeff at the rehearsal dinner...
Friday, July 8, 2011
July 4th Adventures
Jeffrey came into town this past weekend! It was VERY refreshing to be able to see each other after the long month and a half of being apart. It was also fun to finally be able to show him around Sterling and the surrounding area, where I grew up, all that fun stuff.
Jeffrey arrived on Saturday morning EARLY in the morning. He had to take a red eye from Salt Lake to Long Beach, CA then on to Washington Dulles. I know-what an obnoxious travel schedule, go west to get east-but it was really inexpensive which is hard to find in the DC area around the 4th of July. So, my cute little fiance toughed it out and got here around 5:30 am on Saturday. That meant I had to get up early to go get him, but I didn't mind so much, especially because I couldn't sleep from excitement. :D
Meeting at the airport was a shock to the system, we both hadn't held someone's hand in so long it was weird for a few minutes until everything sunk back into place again. I made him coupons for valentines day and one was a wild card, he used it when he got there and said to me "just don't let go." I know....cheesy but I love my sweet boy. After retrieving his bag from baggage claim we got in the car to begin our adventure.
Both of us felt wide awake, so at 6 am I decided to take him on a driving tour of sterling before we headed back to my house. We drove down Sterling Boulevard and he got to see Park View High School and other important landmarks. Then we headed back and had some donuts for breakfast. After an abbreviated house tour (since everyone was still asleep), and looking at pictures, we decided we were tired after all so we decided to take a nap before really beginning the day.
After well-needed sleep, Brooke and Zoey came over and we hung around the house for a while. Then we headed over to Great Falls National Park-one of my favorite places in the world. We wandered the trails and Jeff got to see the falls. We tried to wander a little closer to the water, which usually isn't an issue, but it didn't work so well. We got to sit and observe the water from a closer distance for about 15 minutes before a park ranger came and shooed everyone back onto the trails. We were confused at first because I always went closer to the water then the given trails, not super close, but closer then the park rangers had wanted us to leave. We found out later that someone had drowned at great falls the day before, so security was really strict that day, especially with the number of people in the park since it was 4th of July weekend. So, we moved on down the trail and found some rock climbers that we watched for a little while. After that we headed back home to delicious pulled pork my mom had made. She had asked me what Jeffrey's favorite foods were before he got there and she made almost all of them over the course of his stay-how spoiled! :D
The family then headed over to the Sterling Golf, Swim, and tennis club to hang out for a while before the fireworks. We found our squatting ground and talked, played with the ipad, and ate cotton candy-who can pass up the pure sugary goodness of this delicacy? The fireworks were pretty good for local fireworks if you ask me-nothing compares to the nation's capitals fireworks though. The Sterling fireworks did have a star shaped firework though which neither of us had ever seen-pretty cool if you ask me. After that we headed home and I made Sunday dessert and Jeffrey finished the night by watching the Twilight Zone with my family-a nightly tradition my dad started-I'm not sure if he wants to marry into my family anymore after that. Only kidding...
Sunday was fast Sunday which was a little rough with having to finish the dessert but I made it through alive. We attended the first 2 hours of the singles ward and Jeffrey got to meet my Bishop. It was fast and testimony meeting and Jeffrey was having some trouble staying awake because of his red eye flight and jet lag. Well, Bishop Axleguard got up and started to bare his testimony. He said, "I had the pleasure of meeting Jeffrey Curtis this morning..." and continued to talk about Jeff and I and our upcoming wedding. I had to squeeze Jeff's arm to wake him up since the bishop was calling him out from the stand. I feel bad because he was just so sleepy, and my mom had encouraged him to sleep through church (my dad's really good at doing that...). I guess that's what happens when you sleep through church! I have to say, it was pretty fun looking back on it though. We attended the temple prep class which started that day then left before the third hour so we could make it to the temple and back before family dinner.
So, we got on the road to get to the temple. Jeff had seen pictures from 495 that the temple spires come up over the trees and was disappointed when he didn't see it before we exited the highway. We got there and he saw it, and it was overwhelming to be there together. It made the whole marriage in a month and a half thing seem MUCH more real. We checked out the visitors center then took a leisurely walk around the outside of the temple and the grounds and took some pictures. I told Jeffrey as we gazed at the temple that this was our castle, he told me he would remind me I said that too him one day-I hope he does.
After the temple we came home to another delicious family dinner-Navajo Tacos (another Jeffrey request). My whole family-brothers, sisters, in-laws all made it to family dinner which was really fun since Jeffrey got to meet everyone. After we ate, we played games as a family (pandemic, farkle, skip-bo, the works). After the brain work-out of some of those games we decided we couldn't take anymore and sat down to talk. Jeff then asked for embarassing pictures of me but instead he got home videos. He got to see the all too famous video of me putting a bag on my head and running into a wall when I was about 2 years old. He thought he was marrying someone smart...little did he know! Ha! We spent a long time that night going through old family videos and it was really quite fun. After a few hours we called it quits and went to bed.
The next morning was an early one, we had to get up to go the annual 4th of July breakfast at the church. Jeff got to meet some of the members of my home ward that my family is close too which was...interesting for him-only kidding! After the breakfast we came home and got ready for the day and packed lunch for our DC adventures that were soon to come. After we got all ready to go we headed to the metro and took the metro into the city. Jeff ended up leading us around the city to the museums even though I had been there time and time again throughout my life-I'm notoriously bad wit directions.
We went to the American History museum first which was PACKED. All the museums were pretty busy but the American History museum was by far the worst. We went through security and as Jeff had the backpack checked the security guard said to him- "Aren't you supposed to be at a barbecue or something?"-The back pack was full of snacks and dinner for our picnic later. It was pretty funny. At the American History museum Jeff got to see the star-spangled banner, dorothy's slippers, cat-woman's suit, the first ladies dresses and more. Unfortunately the LDS sun stone had gone into storage and wasn't at the museum though. We then headed over to the Natural history museum and saw the Hope diamond (biggest diamond ever) and some other impressive jewelry along with dinosaurs and other fossils. Our last museum stop was the Air and Space museum where Jeff got to walk through a spaceship and experience freeze-dried ice cream for the first time. He asked "do we need to wait until we're home to get the amount of water right?" Little did he know you eat it as is...
After all those adventures we headed over to the mall security to go meet Brooke and Scott. They saved us great seats for the fireworks show that evening. It took a while to get through security but that's too be expected. We found another funny security guy as jeffrey got the backpack checked, he said "she packs it, you carry it, right?" I was afraid that Jeff was going to have to be wanded when we went through security though because they were wanding all the guys wearing cargo shorts-Jeff has a piece of metal from a broken bone right where his pocket is-luckily we dodged that bullet. We met up with Brooke and Scott and had our picnic and hung out until the fireworks started. They were AMAZING. Jeff turned to me as we were watching and said -"These are the biggest fireworks I have EVER seen." After the fireworks ended and we were packing up our things, it started to rain ash on us because we were so close to the action! We headed to the metro and it was actually suprisingly easy to get home. Usually it takes forever and the crowds are huge but they opened a new train right when we got in the station so we got a seat and everything. It was a long day and we were VERY tired by the end but it was super fun.
Tuesday morning was take care of business day. We ordered Jeff's wedding ring, ordered the catering, and took care of some wedding things. Not a very exciting day but necessecary. We then went and saw Brooke and Scott's house and Jeff practiced driving the stick-shift car. After all that we headed over to the Sterling pool for a relaxing afternoon. We then came home, ate dinner, caught fireflies-Jeff had never caught one before, and had a campfire in our backyard to roast marshmallows. A less busy, but also fun day.
On Wednesday we were so pooped from the week we just spent the morning hanging out playing games and watching movies instead of going to the Zoo like we had planned. Then Wednesday afternoon we went to 5-Below and the dollar store with Trevor. Both random stores but we had a good time. Trevor bought a kite that ended up having a flying horse (like a unicorn with out a horn) on it. Jeff named it the nemesis Pegasus to make it seem less girly. We all had a good laugh over it. On Wednesday night we ventured back into the city so Jeff could see all the monuments. My dad is quite the tour guide and knows as much about those monuments as a lot of the park rangers do. The weather actually wasn't to bad and Jeff got to see all the rest of the sights. It was a great end to a great trip.
Thursday morning we just got up and headed off to the airport-then it was back to reality for the both of us. Only 33 days until we're reunited again and 42 until we're married.
Pictures of our adventures will be coming soon-they're on Jeff's camera so hopefully I'll get them soon.
Until next time-we love you.
Chelsea & Jeffrey
Jeffrey arrived on Saturday morning EARLY in the morning. He had to take a red eye from Salt Lake to Long Beach, CA then on to Washington Dulles. I know-what an obnoxious travel schedule, go west to get east-but it was really inexpensive which is hard to find in the DC area around the 4th of July. So, my cute little fiance toughed it out and got here around 5:30 am on Saturday. That meant I had to get up early to go get him, but I didn't mind so much, especially because I couldn't sleep from excitement. :D
Meeting at the airport was a shock to the system, we both hadn't held someone's hand in so long it was weird for a few minutes until everything sunk back into place again. I made him coupons for valentines day and one was a wild card, he used it when he got there and said to me "just don't let go." I know....cheesy but I love my sweet boy. After retrieving his bag from baggage claim we got in the car to begin our adventure.
Both of us felt wide awake, so at 6 am I decided to take him on a driving tour of sterling before we headed back to my house. We drove down Sterling Boulevard and he got to see Park View High School and other important landmarks. Then we headed back and had some donuts for breakfast. After an abbreviated house tour (since everyone was still asleep), and looking at pictures, we decided we were tired after all so we decided to take a nap before really beginning the day.
After well-needed sleep, Brooke and Zoey came over and we hung around the house for a while. Then we headed over to Great Falls National Park-one of my favorite places in the world. We wandered the trails and Jeff got to see the falls. We tried to wander a little closer to the water, which usually isn't an issue, but it didn't work so well. We got to sit and observe the water from a closer distance for about 15 minutes before a park ranger came and shooed everyone back onto the trails. We were confused at first because I always went closer to the water then the given trails, not super close, but closer then the park rangers had wanted us to leave. We found out later that someone had drowned at great falls the day before, so security was really strict that day, especially with the number of people in the park since it was 4th of July weekend. So, we moved on down the trail and found some rock climbers that we watched for a little while. After that we headed back home to delicious pulled pork my mom had made. She had asked me what Jeffrey's favorite foods were before he got there and she made almost all of them over the course of his stay-how spoiled! :D
The family then headed over to the Sterling Golf, Swim, and tennis club to hang out for a while before the fireworks. We found our squatting ground and talked, played with the ipad, and ate cotton candy-who can pass up the pure sugary goodness of this delicacy? The fireworks were pretty good for local fireworks if you ask me-nothing compares to the nation's capitals fireworks though. The Sterling fireworks did have a star shaped firework though which neither of us had ever seen-pretty cool if you ask me. After that we headed home and I made Sunday dessert and Jeffrey finished the night by watching the Twilight Zone with my family-a nightly tradition my dad started-I'm not sure if he wants to marry into my family anymore after that. Only kidding...
Sunday was fast Sunday which was a little rough with having to finish the dessert but I made it through alive. We attended the first 2 hours of the singles ward and Jeffrey got to meet my Bishop. It was fast and testimony meeting and Jeffrey was having some trouble staying awake because of his red eye flight and jet lag. Well, Bishop Axleguard got up and started to bare his testimony. He said, "I had the pleasure of meeting Jeffrey Curtis this morning..." and continued to talk about Jeff and I and our upcoming wedding. I had to squeeze Jeff's arm to wake him up since the bishop was calling him out from the stand. I feel bad because he was just so sleepy, and my mom had encouraged him to sleep through church (my dad's really good at doing that...). I guess that's what happens when you sleep through church! I have to say, it was pretty fun looking back on it though. We attended the temple prep class which started that day then left before the third hour so we could make it to the temple and back before family dinner.
So, we got on the road to get to the temple. Jeff had seen pictures from 495 that the temple spires come up over the trees and was disappointed when he didn't see it before we exited the highway. We got there and he saw it, and it was overwhelming to be there together. It made the whole marriage in a month and a half thing seem MUCH more real. We checked out the visitors center then took a leisurely walk around the outside of the temple and the grounds and took some pictures. I told Jeffrey as we gazed at the temple that this was our castle, he told me he would remind me I said that too him one day-I hope he does.
After the temple we came home to another delicious family dinner-Navajo Tacos (another Jeffrey request). My whole family-brothers, sisters, in-laws all made it to family dinner which was really fun since Jeffrey got to meet everyone. After we ate, we played games as a family (pandemic, farkle, skip-bo, the works). After the brain work-out of some of those games we decided we couldn't take anymore and sat down to talk. Jeff then asked for embarassing pictures of me but instead he got home videos. He got to see the all too famous video of me putting a bag on my head and running into a wall when I was about 2 years old. He thought he was marrying someone smart...little did he know! Ha! We spent a long time that night going through old family videos and it was really quite fun. After a few hours we called it quits and went to bed.
The next morning was an early one, we had to get up to go the annual 4th of July breakfast at the church. Jeff got to meet some of the members of my home ward that my family is close too which was...interesting for him-only kidding! After the breakfast we came home and got ready for the day and packed lunch for our DC adventures that were soon to come. After we got all ready to go we headed to the metro and took the metro into the city. Jeff ended up leading us around the city to the museums even though I had been there time and time again throughout my life-I'm notoriously bad wit directions.
We went to the American History museum first which was PACKED. All the museums were pretty busy but the American History museum was by far the worst. We went through security and as Jeff had the backpack checked the security guard said to him- "Aren't you supposed to be at a barbecue or something?"-The back pack was full of snacks and dinner for our picnic later. It was pretty funny. At the American History museum Jeff got to see the star-spangled banner, dorothy's slippers, cat-woman's suit, the first ladies dresses and more. Unfortunately the LDS sun stone had gone into storage and wasn't at the museum though. We then headed over to the Natural history museum and saw the Hope diamond (biggest diamond ever) and some other impressive jewelry along with dinosaurs and other fossils. Our last museum stop was the Air and Space museum where Jeff got to walk through a spaceship and experience freeze-dried ice cream for the first time. He asked "do we need to wait until we're home to get the amount of water right?" Little did he know you eat it as is...
After all those adventures we headed over to the mall security to go meet Brooke and Scott. They saved us great seats for the fireworks show that evening. It took a while to get through security but that's too be expected. We found another funny security guy as jeffrey got the backpack checked, he said "she packs it, you carry it, right?" I was afraid that Jeff was going to have to be wanded when we went through security though because they were wanding all the guys wearing cargo shorts-Jeff has a piece of metal from a broken bone right where his pocket is-luckily we dodged that bullet. We met up with Brooke and Scott and had our picnic and hung out until the fireworks started. They were AMAZING. Jeff turned to me as we were watching and said -"These are the biggest fireworks I have EVER seen." After the fireworks ended and we were packing up our things, it started to rain ash on us because we were so close to the action! We headed to the metro and it was actually suprisingly easy to get home. Usually it takes forever and the crowds are huge but they opened a new train right when we got in the station so we got a seat and everything. It was a long day and we were VERY tired by the end but it was super fun.
Tuesday morning was take care of business day. We ordered Jeff's wedding ring, ordered the catering, and took care of some wedding things. Not a very exciting day but necessecary. We then went and saw Brooke and Scott's house and Jeff practiced driving the stick-shift car. After all that we headed over to the Sterling pool for a relaxing afternoon. We then came home, ate dinner, caught fireflies-Jeff had never caught one before, and had a campfire in our backyard to roast marshmallows. A less busy, but also fun day.
On Wednesday we were so pooped from the week we just spent the morning hanging out playing games and watching movies instead of going to the Zoo like we had planned. Then Wednesday afternoon we went to 5-Below and the dollar store with Trevor. Both random stores but we had a good time. Trevor bought a kite that ended up having a flying horse (like a unicorn with out a horn) on it. Jeff named it the nemesis Pegasus to make it seem less girly. We all had a good laugh over it. On Wednesday night we ventured back into the city so Jeff could see all the monuments. My dad is quite the tour guide and knows as much about those monuments as a lot of the park rangers do. The weather actually wasn't to bad and Jeff got to see all the rest of the sights. It was a great end to a great trip.
Thursday morning we just got up and headed off to the airport-then it was back to reality for the both of us. Only 33 days until we're reunited again and 42 until we're married.
Pictures of our adventures will be coming soon-they're on Jeff's camera so hopefully I'll get them soon.
Until next time-we love you.
Chelsea & Jeffrey
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Full Engagment Story
It's your lucky day! There's a post and we're not married yet. :D This is a journal entry I (Chelsea) wrote the day after Jeff and I got engaged. So...it's a little old but, Enjoy!
4/7/2011- The Engagement Story
As of yesterday, April 6, 2011 Jeffrey David Curtis and I are engaged to be married for time and all eternity on August 19,2011 in the Washington DC temple.
It took a while for me to finally make the marriage decision. Well, once I finally made up my mind Jeff asked my parents and bought a ring. He did a pretty good job of keeping it a secret for a while. Well, as much of a secret as it could have been kept at that point since we already knew we were getting married.
Well, on Tuesday (the day before we got engaged) things slipped a little bit. I was telling Jeff a story of something that happened that day in class. Amy Garner Cropper (a fellow music major) turned to me before one of our classes started and said, “you’re getting engaged soon aren’t you?” Everyone then turned and started to question me because apparently they hadn’t caught on like Amy had. I didn’t know what to say to them because I didn’t want to lie and say no, but I didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag before I was actually engaged. So, I didn’t say much of anything I just tried to play things off until class started.
After I told Jeff this story later that night he said, “Little do they know that to…..I mean.” So, I kind of knew that the proposal was happening the next day. It was hard for me to get to sleep that night too because of what I knew was coming.
Well, Jeff and I had been planning to go to elements restaurant to eat for a few weeks or so. We had a coupon for a free dessert and he had gotten tipped on a gift card once so he got store credit for that tip. I was excited to go because it’s where Jeff works and I had never even been inside before.
So, we got halfway dressed up, Jeff picked me up, and we headed off to Elements to eat. We were/are on kind of on a tight budget so we decided what price meals we would order before we went in so we could stay in a reasonable price range. I know that sounds unromantic, but it’s practical and we didn’t need to order the most expensive stuff on the menu in order to have a good time, or to feel classy. When you’re young, less then well off college kids, you have to take those things into consideration. I wasn’t bothered by it. J
Well, we went in, and the hostess that seated us accidentally gave us lunch menus (which are cheaper then dinner menu) so they let us order from them. Jeff had a booth picked out special but someone had reserved it so he picked a different one. His manager, and the manager for that night was our server. Her name is Sasha and I actually worked with her when I worked at Andy’s. It was fun to have her as our waitress and she took really good care of us.
We decided to just drink water (I try to avoid soda because of my voice and all the sugar anyways) and we ordered our entrees. Well, Sasha, being the manager, went to the bar tender and asked her to make us some nice fancy drinks on the house. So, a few minutes later we had really nice fruity drinks in front of us (a pina colada, and some sort of strawberry something). Jeff started with the strawberry one and I the pina colada then we tried each others and decided that we should switch. Sasha also brought us some bread and according to Jeff she gave us the really good spread. She brought us our meals and we just had a really, really nice dinner. Then we used our coupon for free desert, which was also delicious.
Little did I know, Jeff had told all of his co-workers the day before the he was going to propose the next day so they were giving us very special treatment. Of course we ended up having way too much food so we got it boxed and headed out on our way.
We got in the car and Jeff almost forgot to open my door. He like yelled at himself out loud which I thought was adorable. We started to head in the general direction of both our houses when he asked if I was ready to go for a little detour. I of course said yes because I was pretty sure I knew what was coming. He took me to a park in the island that has a bridge over a little river/creek thing.
Jeremy Taylor (his roommate and best man), and Julia Simmons (my friend from home) and her roommates had decorated the bridge and the trees over the bridge with streamers. We got out and started to walk onto the bridge. As we were walking up, all the rose petals that were on the bridge blew off and into the river. We walked out and watched them float down the river. It was funny, but cute. In the middle of the bridge there was a heart made out of tea light candles. It looks like everyone who was setting up only got about 2 of the candles lit before we got there, and those two had blown out in the wind. It was the thought that counted though, and I liked it anyways. Inside the heart of candles there was a bouquet of half a dozen red roses and there were some fake flowers stuck in the railing of the bridge. There was music playing when we walked up and it was the song, “I like I want to marry you.” After that song, some of the songs that mean a lot to Jeff and I as a couple played.
Jeff looked at me, and he said that he was excited to spend the rest of eternity together. He then asked me if I was ready to do the same, I responded by saying I couldn’t answer that question until he was on one knee. He smiled at me and told me that he was getting there but that he wanted to make sure he wasn’t forgetting anything he wanted to say. We just stood there for about five minutes hugging, and basking in the moment. Some neighborhood guy came and started hollering and making noise at us. We just kind of laughed it off. Jeff then got on one knee, pulled out a ring box, and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes. My eyes started to water up but I didn’t quite cry.
He then picked up the bouquet and said “I was supposed to give these to you before I proposed. There’s a rose for each month that we’ve been dating. “
Then Julia and her roommates started screaming and came over to congratulate us. Jeremy, had been hiding under the bridge, and recorded the whole thing on his camera. You can’t hear anything in the recording, but you can see him get on one knee and ask me.
After everyone came and saw the ring, etc, I heard the stories of all the things Jeff planned to do but didn’t end up doing because he was so flustered and excited. He had an elaborate fake proposal planned out with candy hearts. They said something like, your hott, marry me, love bug, say yes. They were attached to a string hanging over the edge of the bridge and a fake engagement ring was at the bottom of it.
Jeff and I then headed on our way back to his house to tell his roommates and call a few people. By this time it was about 6:30 and he had to be at class by 7:00, which really stunk. So, we called my parents, and another person or two then he went on his way to class. While he was gone, I called a lot of my extended family and some friends and then we called his family when he got home from class.
It really was a perfect day, and I’m excited to be able to marry Jeff for time and all eternity. I love him with all my heart.
When I called my grandma Giles (who has not met him before) she asked if he was tall dark and handsome, I responded, “He’s kinda tall, not very dark, but he sure is handsome.” I love that boy with all that I am.
First Post
Hello All,
In an attempt to keep everyone up to date on our lives Jeff and I are going to start a blog together. Plus, this makes the whole "journal writing" thing a lot easier....We probably won't post a whole lot until after the wedding and we officially start our lives together (especially since we're currently thousands of miles apart) but, keep your eyes out...you might get lucky!
With Love,
The Future Curtis Family
In an attempt to keep everyone up to date on our lives Jeff and I are going to start a blog together. Plus, this makes the whole "journal writing" thing a lot easier....We probably won't post a whole lot until after the wedding and we officially start our lives together (especially since we're currently thousands of miles apart) but, keep your eyes out...you might get lucky!
With Love,
The Future Curtis Family
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