3.30.2010

You know you are marrying a Seare when...

You find yourself a new owner of any Apple product, or 2, or 3...

You drink Red Bull like its water, and like it.

A surprise present from your man probably looks a lot like this




After spending a week with your guy you go on a crazy cereal kick. These are my new fave



I love the Seare boys, they make me laugh and I love how passionate they are about things the they are into. I am especially partial to this one



I'm keeping him :) Sorry ladies!!!

3.25.2010

Unexpected Blessings

For those of you who know the whole story of Jeff and I you know that I have not yet met my future in-laws yet. (in person that is)Let me explain...

Jeff and I began dating only a few months before he left for school in May of last year and we did so in secret. We didn't know what was going to happen after he left nor did we want rumors or our situation, whatever it was at the time to be broadcast around the water cooler at work. As much as we love our coworkers, it was not going to happen! So when things became more serious for us after he left for school, unfortunately his parents had already left as well.. to Fiji! On a mission.

When we were engaged a few months later I was a mystery girl! haha I officially talked to my future in-laws over the phone and then got to know them over the next couple months through ichat and email. Although it was nice to see them and talk to them it still left a lot to be desired and even though I had met Becky 2 very briefly at the hospital where Jeff and I worked we still considered each other as having never met.

So last week when Becky emailed me about my schedule the next week I was more than overjoyed and of course nervous to hear that she was accompanying a sick missionary back to SLC and would love to meet!

I officially met my mother-in-law on March 25. It was really such a blessing. I met her downtown at the hotel she was staying at and we did some shopping for the missionaries in Fiji, had dinner and spent the evening just gabbing and getting to know one another. It was so much fun! I was very nervous to meet her but the second I did I was at ease with her and she is such a sweetheart. She kept me laughing all night and I know where her boys get their sense of humor from. It was a blessing to meet her and I am so glad we had the opportunity to before the wedding!

3.21.2010

Have you seen this???

Don't spend much time watching t.v. but I have seen this commercial a few times in the last few weeks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqqqaUwgbGo

So funny!!!

3.18.2010

Holy Moly!

Ever wonder what your room would look like if you were in the middle of packing, un-packing, being showered with gifts, doing 3 loads of laundry and didn't have a real closet to hang any of it in or any space to store it??? It may look a little ( or a lot) of something like this...



Or this..





Just a guess... ;)

3.15.2010

2 months!!!

Just have to say it out loud:

2 months TO THE DAY to go!!!! Let the countdown begin :)

3.13.2010

Showered with Love

I was very privileged to have my first bridal shower today. Ah, that still feels weird saying but I love it :) My bridal shower. Yeah, yeah I like that a lot. Anyway, I have 2 of the Best sisters any girl could ever ask for. Seriously, I am who I am because of their love, support and influence in my life and they love me enough to throw me the biggest, cutest, most thoughtful and fun bridal shower. We had it at my sister Abbie's church and it was decorated to the nines. Ivory and chocolate brown ribbons, table cloths, balloons, beautiful printed and framed pictures of Jeff and I on each table. Guests were greeted by yours truly and a table where they dropped off their recipes, filled out an envelope with their addresses for thank you cards that were to be put in a drawing as well as picked up bags of creamy dreamy chocolates.

We had a delicious and beautiful array of salads, pasta salads, fruit, veggies and desserts. It was both visually and tastefully? tastefully? hmm... stimulating. It was a combined shower with all 3 sides of my family and it was so fun and nice to be able to make the rounds to each table and visit and see them all. Unfortunately we are all so busy and spread across a few counties that we see our extended family at all the major holidays and life events and very seldom in between so I was so happy to have time to spend with them. My sister-in-law Jill was even sweet enough to drive all the way down in the snow to come. I was so excited to see her and get to introduce her to my family. Thank you Jill for coming, meant so much to me!

I have such a loving, giving family and Jeff and I were showered with many many gifts and gift cards. It was overwhelming the wonderful things we received, I am so thankful. I got (We got) a beautiful, slick and shiny black new Kitchenaid! Ah, I am so excited to get it out and start baking up a storm! (I may even have to open it up before we get to CT and just test it out) It's even the commercial size! Awww yeah! We also got so many gift cards that will come in handy when we are setting up our new home. Thank you family! We love you!

I of course, didn't have my camera out and don't have any pictures so those are on their way when I can download them from my sister's camera but for now you will just have to take my advice that is was a beautiful shower! I am so thankful for both my sisters and my mom who did so much work and planning for it. Love you guys so much! Thank you for a wonderful shower and day :) I am really blessed!

Spring break in CT

As all good vacations come to an end… mine did too. I am a mix of emotions as I think about the wonderful week I had the privilege of spending with my love. It was one of unexpected adventures, time spent with friends, apartment shopping, baby showers, exploring CT a little more, staying in and enjoying our time together, shopping for both rings and suits for Jeff and even an adventure into the big apple and Manhattan Temple. I wish I was better at remembering to keep my camera with me and take more pictures. That is something I’m working on but we did have a good time and if I had a picture of Jeff in his suit I would post it just so everyone can see how devilishly handsome he looks in it. I am one lucky girl that is for sure!

We got quite a lot done despite the Emergency room visit turned 3 day hospital stay that started our time together. Just glad Jeff is doing better! He is a tough guy. I did have the privilege of driving for the time he was in the hospital and a few days following while he was still on painkillers and it turned out to be a very good thing. I feel confident about finding my way around Hamden and was doing better everyday driving us around where we needed to go without too much verbal direction from Jeff. That is a wonderful thing and I look forward to getting to know the rest of CT as well.



Wednesday Jeff and I headed to NY to hang out and stay the night with some friends in White Plains. Thursday we got up and headed in the city to do some baptisms at the Manhattan Temple. I love the Manhattan Temple, it is so cool and unique and while there Jeff and I talked about how cool it is no matter what temple you are in or what it looks like on the outside, you always enjoy the same feelings and spirit when you go inside. What an awesome thing! We did some baptisms and were even privileged enough to have the temple president come and do the ordinances with us, that was really cool. Sitting with Jeff in the temple I couldn’t help but to picture the next time we will go to the temple together and look forward to it even more. It is quite a funny thing stepping out of the temple and right into the chaos and wonder that is NYC, but very cool. I am glad we got the opportunity to go together!



As most of you know I don’t have the greatest track record when it comes to air travel. We’ll just leave it at that and say that after being stuck in traffic for close to 2 ½ hours and even being ‘blessed’ with a 50 minute flight delay I ran into the airport only for them to tell me I had missed my flight by minutes! Actually, I hadn't technically missed anything.. my plane was still sitting at the gate but they refused to issue me a boarding pass, so lucky for me after some haggling I was able to get another flight out of a different NY airport the next morning for FREE-NINETY-NINE and got to spend one more night with my man! (That sure makes missing your flight feel like a blessing instead of bad luck) we went back to Mark and Kaitlyns’ and enjoyed some dinner, ice cream and laughs. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip!

Just a quick shout out to my man.

Jeffrey,
So glad you are feeling better! Thank you for a fun trip and for always navigating and taking care of us! I appreciate it so much. You rock babe. LYG.
Jo

3.10.2010

Casablanca baby

I give Casablanca a solid 3 thumbs up. I liked it even though it was in black and white! (Everyone looks so glamorous in B&W I kinda like it ☺). The movie had a great story line complete with war, crime and a twisted love triangle. It must have been so scandalous in the 30s Ha All in all it was enjoyable and I would even go so far as to say if you haven’t seen it, maybe you should think about. At least think about it...

3.08.2010

Dinner and a movie

Jeff had the brilliant idea to start from the beginning and watch all of the Best Picture winning movies from the oscars. We decided very quickly however, after looking at the list we would start with Gone With the Wind and work our way down the list one movie, one week at a time. I love that we have already started our first tradition as our little family. So fun, and what a great way to be able to plan on spending time with my sweet guy! It really doesn't get any better than cuddling up with him and watching a movie.



We decided to start our little tradition tonight and made a quick stop at the Hamden City Library where we picked up the first two movies on our list... GWtW and Casablanca. We both had the same reaction when we realized there was four discs in the GWtW case.. oh boy! We had no idea what to expect, but I assure you it wasn't what we got! ha Jeff started the movie while I started dinner. I made a delicious and very garlicly potent dish of roasted tomato and asparagus pasta with shrimp. Mmm.. it was delicious but like I said.. potent. (why garlic must you be so delicious and so awful at the same time?)



Isn't his new haircut so handsome?! Can't get enough of him...

Anyway, we had dinner and a visitor and had barely made it to disc 2. We started disc 2 and were happy to find out that 3 and 4 were actually only bonus footage. Phew! It was still made for a looong night. Nice and relaxing but long. I think are both in agreement that while we were glad we had finally sat down and watched GWtW it is definitely a once in a lifetime kind of show. What a great way to spend an evening though. Dinner, movie, handsome guy :) like I said, it really doesn't get much better than that.

Tomorrow night: Casablanca!

3.05.2010

March Madness! (and not of the basketball sort)

Got to CT safely Tuesday March 2. Spent a great half day with my man before he went off to school, Jeff got home and we were headed with 2 other friends who are also classmates of Jeff's to see an apartment. Jeff wasn't feeling to great but we went and saw the apartment and I got really excited. They are so cute and best of all the second we walked in I could immediately see us living there. I didn't get any pics of the actual apartment we looked at but we looked at 2 different floor plans that they offer. Both lofts, how fun is that?! One of them had a spiral staircase that led up to the loft that was adorable but I'm not sure entirely practical for those of us who need to potty in the night, the other had about 3ft more space and a straight staircase. They both have full brick walls that I am in love with, the down sides Jeff and I discussed was the bathroom placement, you have to come downstairs, through the living room, kitchen and closet to get there.. also not to great for the night pee'r but I'll make do. Ha You also can't have puppies, bummer. But that really is okay I guess, we will have plenty of responsibilities and leaving a puppy home alone all day would break both our hearts, so down the road. Anyway, I love these apartments, they are affordable and so unique from anything else I have seen. We are still looking but they are definitely on the top of our list.
Here is a picture of the loft with the straight staircase and brick wall.



I love the brick!

After our apartment showing we headed over to Jeff's school where he was going to study for a few hours for the test and 2 quizzes he had the next day. He was still complaining about the abdominal pain he was having and as the next hour passed I started to get really worried when he couldn't even make himself study; Jeff is a great student and studies under the most awful of circumstances so I think at this point we were both thinking it was definitely more than just stomach pain and gas. We decided to go home and see if sleep would be the key but didn't even make it out the door before my poor guy stopped at the restroom and threw up a couple of times. A few of his classmates came out to talk to him and try and diagnose him.. PA students are so funny. Every opportunity is a learning opportunity which is great I just wish they weren't having to practice on my baby.

We got him home and after about another half hour of worsening pain and throwing up I put my shoes and told him I was taking him in. He was reluctant of course and got his stethescope out to listen for bowel sounds and was reading a few of his school books trying to pin point what it could be but after a few minutes of this I gave him his coat and we headed for Saint Raphael's Hospital. We were the only ones in the waiting room and got in pretty quickly but being employed in the emergency room myself I of course was upset when they made us walk back and find our own room.. the labs were drawn a half hour after we got there.. I shouldn't complain because they did an excellent job and the staff was great but it's definitely hard going from the staff to having a loved one be a patient and in a new place. I was just worried. He was examined by the doctor and as soon as the doc pushed on his lower right abdomen he called it was Appendicitis. He told me as they rolled him away to ct scan he wanted it on the record he called it first. My funny guy, he's going to make an awesome PA someday!

Sure enough it was his appendix and they had him on the list for surgery, we weren't sure when but they came back and told us it would be first thing in the morning and they admitted him. I wasn't able to stay in the room with him that night because he had another roommate so I stayed in the OR waiting room and was able to see him before surgery the next morning. I kissed him goodbye and then sat and twiddled my thumbs for the next 3 hours waiting to see him again.

Waiting for a room upstairs...



Best Dang looking patient I have ever seen in the ED.

I couldn't believe how good he looked when they brought him back up to his room after surgery and he was makin' jokes within minutes of getting settled. He is so funny under the influence of drugs. Apparently someone had dared call me his girlfriend in the OR and he quickly corrected them. He also was doing impressions of himself in pain the night before including facials and noises. I was laughing uncontrollably! Oh he is a hoot. Every new nurse that came into the room knew that he was a first year PA student at QU, I am his fiancee and got into town only 24 hours before this all happened, etc. It was so cute, the staff was so good to him and very accomodating to me as well letting me stay with him after visiting hours. I was so appreciative of that. It was no IMC facility but I was very reassured by the awesome staff they had and they took very good care of my baby.

I left him wednesday night to go home and get some sleep and for him to be able to rest as well (neither of us had slept since we got to ER the night before) I felt like the worst fiancee' ever leaving him and may or may not have let my emotions get the best of me as I left him and went home alone.

Well, Jeff is making fun of me right this minute for the novel I am writing on our blog. So I will wrap it up. Picked up my man this morning and he is doing better, still a little sore and stiff from surgery but in much better spirits. I am doing my best to take the best care of him and we are both just very thankful for the timing and that I was able to be here with him. In the words of my mom, "It would have been ugly!" If I was stuck in Utah while this all went down. So maybe March is a lucky month, not lucky that my babe got appendicitis but if it had to happen the timing couldn't have been any better!

Happy Lucky March!