Blind-man penalty kicks

We love warm fall days - they're perfect to get out and play a little soccer. We hurried over to the park to catch the last of the daylight and it was so nice! After playing for a little while, I challenged Nate to see if he could keep control of the ball without ever looking at it... which turned into penalty kicks with our eyes closed. Absolutely hilarious! I missed probably 80% of the time, and it was hysterical, from either view. Nate was a lot better than me (as usual), but he probably missed 30% of the time. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and highly recommend it to anyone for a good laugh! Good luck!

My Birthday Poem and Trivia

Nate proved himself once again as the perfect husband. He surprised me throughout the day with gifts and activities. He made a trivia game, and also wrote and recited the following poem:

Janae is the best

She'll out-run anyone

in the Wild Wild West

And still won't be done

She loves to eat

Anything that's fruit

Or anything sweet

But she's not a brute

Janae's eyes always glisten

When she talks of her interests

So long as you listen

You'll be in her friends-bests

I love her more than ever

An am excited for the privelege

To be with her forever

And continue increasing in knowledge

Some the trivia questions included:

1. Who was born in 1977?
2. Whose favorite sport is football?
3. Who took dance lessons?
4. What is Nate's favorite color?
5. What is Janae's favorite car?
6. Why is the sky blue? (I missed this one)
7. What is Janae's favorite food?
8. How many Chinese people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? (I missed this one too)
9. What is Janae's favorite sport?

Thanks, Nate, for making my day a great one!

My First Bee Sting

I remember when my sister stepped on a bee as a kid, and just thinking about it brings me pain, but somehow I made it all of these years and have never been stung. That is no longer the case. 10 minutes into my ride yesterday, a bee - or perhaps a wasp - flew directly into the neck of my shirt to my sleeve, and then as expected, it panicked! And so did I! I'm lucky I didn't crash. The thing bit me so I was bleeding AND stung me on another part of my arm. And it hurt! I have so much more sympathy now for those who have been stung. I tried to remember how to treat bee stings, and poured a bunch of water on the hard dirt to make mud and covered my arm in it. And then I called Nate and he said I had to get the stinger out, but it was on the back of my arm so I couldn't see it. Lucky for me, he came to the rescue. I went home, washed off the mud and put the baking soda/water paste as instructed by the husband, and then when he got home, first he laughed because my arm was covered in that baking soda paste (because I wasn't exactly sure where the stinger was so I covered a large surface area) and then carefully pulled out the stinger, which was maybe 1/16" - much smaller than the tiniest eyelash. My arm throbbed for a few more hours, but I survived. Now I can join the rest of the world of you who have been stung!

Nate learned how to play tennis overnight

One of the best things (in my opinion) about our marriage is that we basically love to do everything together. This includes cleaning, shopping, and everything fun. Nate loves soccer, and while I definitely have a lot of room for improvement, I play with him whenever I can.  And I love tennis, so Nate willingly plays with me, though he never really learned (although he's a superstar at ping-pong). We've played together now for a few years, since we started dating, and well, I pretty much always won. I was just glad he'd go with me. We played this spring with my dad, and I think Nate was relieved that I had someone else to play. And then the last two times we've gone Nate started winning! I have no idea what happened, but now he's good. The first time I thought maybe I was just tired, but this last time, we played for nearly 2 1/2 hours, and he continued to beat me. I asked him what happened, and he replied "I just decided to be good." Strangely, that's probably true to a great extent. He finally started getting his head in the game, and now the competition is up. Watch out, we're looking for some friends to play in doubles...

Married 1 year - and looking forward to a bazillion more

Mr. Ideal Husband did a "A+" job planning our celebration, and he kept the secret a secret! We both diligently worked to be able to take Friday off, and kicked the day off with sleeping in (Nate's favorite), followed by a good run (Janae's favorite) and "Sharyn" pancakes (Sharyn's favorite). Then we hopped in the car and drove to Silverton, CO, an old town in the "Wild Wild West", which is compared to the Alps of Switzerland - and they really are amazing! Nate had reservations in a B&B, which was once a brothel, on one of the more scandalous streets from the late 1800s. We learned much of the history of the town, walked their streets, saw the still-running steam engine train, toured a gold mine, and visited the cemetery (and found a few Bawden's quite randomly). Oh yeah, and Janae enjoyed the hot tub, and watching Nate desperately try to get in the hot hot water. We still love being married! This year has flown for us with some major changes in our lives, and we're glad to be on the ride together.

Some of our favorite memories from the year include:

• Our wedding, of course. We were married in room C. :)
• Costa Rica, Peru, and road trips across the U.S. (mainly in snowstorms since arriving in CO)
• Having our friends share our apartment last summer (they say how you start your marriage is a sign of how it will be, so our door is open for guests!)
• Getting struck by lightning
• The nasty hotel we "lived" in for over 2 months - yuck! 
• Sleeping in a parking lot, and attempting to take a snooze in a state park, only to have the police encourage us to get out of town quick as there was a mass-murderer on the loose
• When we unintentionally showed up at our realtor's church (ward) and his shocked response "What are you doing here?" 
• Visits from family and friends
• When Nate showed up the first week of our "permanent" ward with super long hair and a goatee, and then the next week after a haircut when everyone re-introduced themselves
• Christmas Dinner, at 9 pm (at least it was better than cereal)
• Playing/skiing in the snow - wahoo!
• Endless hours of attempting to prepare our garden while the dog on the other side of the fence never ceases to bark.

And our most favorite things about being married: Being together all the time (or as much as possible).

11 Months Today - We Can't Believe It!

We love being married! I can't believe how fast these 11 months have passed. We love our time together. Nate is so busy with school, and I have my usual stints of crazy at work, so we cherish all of our moments together, even though brief on some days. People laugh when I explain that I try to wait up while he studies through the night. I just like him, and I like to be around him. We were teased at one gathering because we were standing close to each other, and apparently this made it clear to others that we are still newlyweds. I'm okay with that. I hope we're accused of it years from now still. Of course, we would love to travel and go on more adventures, but we're also pretty happy just hanging out together at home, too, or going on walks or to the park. We're looking forward to planting a garden together and hiking these amazing Colorado mountains. Marriage is the best, especially to Nate.

We're the proud owners of a new (used) lawn mower

I am quite excited, actually, and rather proud of myself. I knew we would need a lawn mower soon. Our friends on the street behind us offered to let us borrow theirs, but really, I couldn't see us every week walking around the block, bringing theirs back, mowing, returning their mower. We needed our own. I've mowed lawns many times, but I've never paid attention to the brand or quality of the mower. Thanks to Dad for giving me some coaching, and craigslist. I looked into several over the past week or so, and then on Saturday I came home with our new mower! I found one that was fairly new and only lightly used. I went on my own, and the seller was rather impressed my husband let me do the research and purchasing on my own. She was fantastic, and we're definitely going to be friends. My next challenge is learning to garden, and she happens to be very experienced.  So, she and I packed the mower up in the trunk and I brought it home to a proud husband. Hooray!

Surprise!

Maybe this has happened to you, or maybe I am too trusting, or maybe someone really was just confused. I went swimming this morning, and as usual, I hang my towel up by the showers before I go to the pool so I can go their directly when I am done. But this time when I went to shower, my towel was missing! There was another towel next to the hook I had left mine, so I thought perhaps someone accidentally grabbed the wrong one? But alas, there were only a few others there and they did not have my towel. But there was also another woman still in the pool, so I didn't dare take the remaining towel and risk doing the same thing to another that was done to me. Oh well. It certainly isn't ideal to have to get dressed without using a towel first, but so it went. I especially felt bad though, because the towel actually belonged to Nate; one he brought to the marriage. :) Upon my return home, he informed me that it was one he had since the mission. Luckily, he assured me he was glad to be rid of it, and sorry for the person who has it now. Phew! May you all never lose your towel when you go swimming, and I might advise to keep it in sight (or your locker) at all times.

Skiing moguls is a good lesson on life

Nate impressed me today. He has been skiing now a total of 6 times in his entire life, and 5 of those have been with me. Skiing was a requirement to be my husband. And, he is one quick learner! We spent at least half of the day today on moguls, and I'm really not even that great anyway. Nate was stubbornly determined to learn how to ski moguls; I continued to encourage, but also offered an option out, but he was committed to be a champion. By early afternoon, he got it. He was in a groove, and showed that mountain who was boss. Skiing on the greens near the bottom (no offense to anyone who prefers them) suddenly became a bore. While we were on the mountain and I was trying to offer useful coaching, I started paying attention to my own form more, and then I got to thinking that skiing moguls is a lot like life. You have to build/rely on personal strength to face the challenge, and you have to be agile/flexible to adjust to whatever is presented. So here's to moguls. Thank goodness we also get a rest in between runs (and sometimes during).

My husband talks in his sleep

Yes, we've been married 9 months now, but sleeping through the night still proves to be a challenge for us, and especially for Nate. He does not like to share his space! I've been kneed during his soccer dreams, and spent many nights barely hanging on to the edge. Lately he's started talking in his sleep. The first episode he got really excited, or angry perhaps, and made some exclamation in his "Asian" speak. Most recently, I've had a cough, which has really kept him up at night, and one night he finally got frustrated and said something to me in Spanish, and put his hand over my mouth to quiet me. I can't lie, even though he wakes me up fairly regularly, I'm loving the entertainment. :)

Shuffle - providing the variety we need

So, when we hear Christmas music playing in the house in March - or any other month besides December for that matter - we know its my IPOD playing on shuffle. I'm upstairs and I hear the music play through. And then a country song comes on...but just for a second. Yes, as suspected, Nate endures the Christmas music, but not the country - not a chance!

Wanna watch a movie?

Since I've been married to Nate, I've really struggled to stick with my "early to bed, early to rise" behavior. He likes to stay up late and sleep in as long as possible. And I like simply like to be around him as much as possible, so I stay up. And then I'm tired. Lately, I've noticed a pattern. Sometime around 11, when I reach the "too tired to realize I'm tired" stage, something comes over me, and I always feel like watching a movie! So I say to Nate, "Wanna watch a movie?" And of course, his response is always a heart felt "Sure!" Now it's become more of a joke. When I say "Wanna watch a movie", we know that means it's time for me to go to bed.

9 months today

Engaged one year ago, and married 9 months. And life is great! Nate and I are loving every moment together and are really happy. We celebrated this weekend with some of our favorites - a DU hockey game (we've been wanting to go since we arrived here), snowshoeing, and french toast with pear and goat cheese (yum!). We're still working on narrowing photos for our wedding album though - we're so close! Hopefully we'll have that before one year!

I'm an aunt again!

I love being an aunt! And, this time, not only do I have another super cute niece, but she came with red hair. Phew! The pressure is off. Thank ,Vaniesa! My brother has red hair, my grandpa had red hair, Nate's sister has red hair, and five of Nate's nieces/nephews do. My mom loves red hair. So on our wedding day, Mom pulled Nate aside and kindly ordered "I want a red-headed grandchild." Who can blame her? Red hair is awesome. The only problem is, this is one thing we definitely do NOT have control over. Lucky for me, my sister took care of things, so now I don't have to worry anymore. I can't wait to meet this cute little girl!

Calling #3

My stake president at BYU continually assured that there is one prayer the Lord will always answer - and that is to ask "Who can I serve?". It's true - I've tested it more than once. For a while now, after living in really huge wards in DC among a ton of amazingly talented people, I have felt a bit unneeded. It's made me want to live in a little branch somewhere where I feel like I can help. This past week, I received one more calling in my new ward. Our bishop very hesitantly asked to chat this past Sunday because just two weeks before, I had received my second calling to lead music in the nursery (which is blast btw). And now, I get to coordinate the weekday Relief Society meetings, in alignment with Sister Beck's recent guidance. I'm really happy the Lord heard my prayers for opportunities to serve, because I need it!

Did I mention I got my wedding band finally?

At last, on our 8-month anniversary, my wedding band arrived. You may know that Nate designed my ring, and it took a little while to get everything perfect. For my bridals, the jeweler let me borrow a ring since mine was still being made. Yep, he opened up all if his cabinets, and said, "choose". It was crazy. He'd only talked to Nate a few times on the phone, and that was the first time we met. He had such a good feeling about Nate and completely trusted him. It was an amazing experience. Only in Utah, huh. So, they were able to finally get my real engagement ring ready in time, but I guess they were still in discussions about the band? I don't know. What I do know is that I borrowed a wedding band for the day of, and wore it just that one day. They attempted customizing one that they sent to us in November, but it wasn't quite right (hard to make sure without the actual one to double check), so we finally took them my ring so they could be sure to get it right. Nate gave me my real engagement ring two months to the day before our wedding, and the band arrived 8 months to the day after. Interestingly, by that point, I've gone without a ring (except for the wooden one we picked up in Peru) for 2 months now, and it feels a little strange to be wearing one again. I feel like we're newly married. I really can't believe it's been 8 months already! The good news is, I still love the ring. Good job Nate - you amaze me.

Setting the mood

Sometimes it seems like we're in a movie. We decided to try being romantic. Ironically, instead we somehow immediately became clumsy. Joking around, while cleaning up a few things, Nate threw his hat my way and tried to land it on my head. Instead the brim got my nose - ow. Shortly after, I was trying to find something good on his IPOD, and I turned to ask for help, and bam - there he was, and I got his nose. Another ow. If we didn't know better, it would have seemed like I did it intentionally to get him back! Well, so much for the romance. But at least we got some good laughs together. I guess for us romance wouldn't be romance without some laughter.

Sewing patches - Is this what I signed up for?

We recently received new callings in our new ward, and Nate is now the scout leader for the Webelos, the 11 year olds. Basically that means he gets to be a kid again and play every week. For their first activity, they went to a Denver Nuggets game. No I’m not bitter. I just never liked scouts (okay, maybe it is because they get to do fun things and I was never invited). So…Nate has to get a new scout uniform (he tried his old one, but it turns out he has grown since he was 12, a little bit), which entails a very expensive, very ugly tan shirt; and several patches which must be applied to the shirt. He asks if I would sew the patches for him and I willingly agree. Now, I am 100% certain he could have done at least as good of a job, or possibly even better; sewing is not one of my strengths. The night before his first “official” meeting, he pins all of the badges for me. A couple of hours before his meeting I begin to sew. And then I start thinking about it more, and I imagine him returning home, seeing my work and saying that it must be re-done. Oh well. I’ll try anyway. Well, sure enough, upon his return, he laughs and declares that it isn’t right. Why? Because he didn’t pin them in the right place!!!! I sewed them exactly where he pinned them. So, for his first week, Nate got to go to scouts with a ton of straight pins in his sleeve holding the patches in place, and some thread hanging down. Luckily, nobody noticed. And then I got to sew them all over again... Nate could do it, but this IS what I signed up for - not sewing, but serving. He's worth it.

Muse - finally an artist we both love

So, if you know Nate, you know he LOVES Depeche Mode. More than any other artist. And tragically, for him, I don't care for them, at least I really don't like the lead singer. Due to this fact, Nate seriously thought twice about marrying me. Actually though, I like about the rest of his music collection. I also even went to a Depeche Mode concert with him this past summer and we had a fun time, and I do like the backup singer.

Well, a few months back, I was visiting Nate's sister in Washington, and her son (Nate's nephew) introduced me to his favorite artist, Muse. I loved it! The other night, while Nate and I were driving, he was flipping through stations, and passed the intro to "Uprising", but I recognized it, and insisted he go back. And then we both started jamming and realized how much we both love this group. Nate swears he already introduced me to them, but I am certain it was his 12-year old nephew. Either way, we're excited we found a group we are both so excited about, and decided we would have to save up for a concert (only to find out they are coming to Denver in April, but they're already sold out! Next time...probably after graduation anyway). I pulled in a couple of their songs for your pleasure.

Setting up House

Over our short holiday, we made what seemed a never-ending list of "to-do's" on the house. Admittedly, I was anxious to utilize Nate's time while he was out of school. My top priority - blinds. I couldn't stand looking directly into the neighbors windows (and knowing they were watching our dance parties and pretend boxing) - it gave me the creeps. We worked rapidly to get as much done as possible before Nate's parents came to visit for New Year's Eve. Surprisingly though, it was the garbage can that was the best adventure.

We learned when we moved in that garbage pick-up is not included in our HOA fees, which didn't make us happy, but we went ahead and set it up. We then learned that if you want an actual garbage can, that is also for purchase - a mere $80 plus a $30 delivery fee! Unbelievable! So, we decided that simply did not fit into the budget, so we diligently put out our garbage sacks on the curb each Monday morning for several weeks. Upon another phone call, we learned you could get a used garbage can for $40, plus the delivery fee. We considered this, but decided it would have to happen later. And then last Monday, the one just after Christmas when we had bags of boxes and wrapping paper to dispose of, the truck came about 2 hours earlier than usual. Since we don't want critters getting into our trash, we've been putting the trash out in the morning, but this time we didn't get it out early enough (how we were to know they'd come early???). That did it. Now our garage was taken over with garbage. We were finally convinced that a garbage can had to make it's way into our budget. This time on our phone call, we learned that we could avoid the delivery fee if we picked the can up ourselves, and just had to call ahead to make sure they had a used one available.

We made the call, and they had two. But then we couldn't get there until the following day. Lucky for us, Nate didn't shower that day (sort of lucky), and just put some workout pants on and a baseball hat (and a shirt) while he worked on several projects. He went inside, and the lady informed him that she had just sold both garbage cans to another guy. Nate stood quietly, trying to decide his next move. He must of looked like someone in real need, because quickly after, the lady offered to sell him a brand new garbage can at the used price! Wahoo! We were thrilled! We're counting our blessings - $70 saved. That's a lot when you're counting pennies. :)

Of course, then there was the task of getting it home... thank goodness Colorado drivers are SO conservative!