fantastic week { cruz's b-day, 4th of july, family, etc... }

I was so happy that Cruz's birthday was on a Saturday this year... so we could spend it together.

I was able to go down to St. George on Friday and stay until the 5th. It was the best.

Cruz wanted to go to Vegas for his birthday. I told him it would be too hot. He said he still wanted to go, so we went. Happy 29th birthday love. We had a good time... cheesecake factory, pools, freemont st., etc... Cruz's co-worker also gave him the awesome hamburger cake.

 While in St. George for almost the whole week...
Cruz still had to work on Monday and Tuesday... so, I spent a lot of time at the pool. I especially loved visiting in the morning before it was too hot, and it was just me. It was completely relaxing, and got a pretty good tan for me that is. ;)

It was our first time to celebrate the 4th of July in St. George.
It didn't disappoint. They had live music before the fireworks. Then the fireworks had music and words to go with... I loved it. Made me proud to be an American. They let off the fire works from 4 locations. This was fun, because it was like they were surrounding you.

 Oh, man is it hot in St. George. Good thing they have this yummy place to help you cool down.

I headed home on the 5th of July, and went back to work. Cruz came down on the 6th to Orem because the following day we had a little family reunion on the 7th. (That means I got to see him every day of the week.... FANTASTIC!)
We celebrated our Christmas in July party at the Mt. Timpanogos Park. At first it was super windy... but after a bit it wasn't bad. We had lots of yummy food, and lots of good chats with cousins, aunts, uncles.... It was fun to see everyone. Thanks Mom and Dad for planning everything, it was enjoyed by all.

Together Again.... picnic

Picnic was June 10th... at timp park. 

Little fact... Cruz and I got engaged there exactly 4 years ago on June 8th. We always go to timp park the night marking that anniversary. We normally take a picture. We tried to that night as well... we even brought our camera... but we forgot one important thing. The SD card for the camera. oops. (Here was a post on our 1 yr. anniversary of our engagement... including proposal story.) Ok... back to this post...

Lexy planned a little picnic.

It was fantastic to see some of these faces, who we don't get to see often enough.

We had a yummy dinner, however... I didn't get the camera out until most of it was gone.

Seriously everything was very tasty. Camie stole the show with her super easy steak fries. I need the recipe. She told us more than once, but I have to write those things down. :) I will have to get it from her. 

 We got a little cold, it was still cool in the mountains once the sun went down.

 Joel brought this yummy bowl of goodness.

Ash brought heavenly raspberries and strawberries filled with cheesecake. I could have ate the whole plate. Remember when I said all the food was good... well, it was.

That pic of Ash, Lex and Camie is too funny... almost looks family portrait like. ;)

Joel ate that flower. He said it tasted sweet. :) I guess if I am hungry and have nothing to eat I will eat my day lilies in the back yard. lol. Joel told us all about the plants.  

I was super glad this guy could make it. I have sure missed him while he has been working in St. George. Wondering why he is there? If you haven't heard already we are going to be moving there. (I have kept it kinda quite... just because everyone at work doesn't know. But the big boss, and my boss know... so I figured it was ok to post it. I will post more about it later.)

Thanks Lex for planning this picnic. 

I loved it. 

It was great to see everyone.

I know it will be less often that we see each other since we are all kinda going different directions.

I know that is just part of life.

Change is good, but sometimes it is a bit sad.

We used to hang with these people at least once a week in the singles ward.

Often times we had many of activities that brought us together way more often than that.
But we are all kinda doing different things...
all good things, life often just takes us different directions and changes. Which is good too.
I would never want to do the same thing FOREVER.
I need change... I'd go bonkers without it.
It is a welcomed part of life.

It was fun to gather with our friends again. I hope we do it again sometime!

Good times.

Good friends.

Good laughs. 

and... Good night!

Still in LOVE

We had such a fun time. I got off work at 4, and since Cruz had to work until 7... I decided to put together a little surprise. I made a picnic dinner. BBQ chicken, grilled veggies, and arepas. Then when he got home I sneaked into the car and put everything into the trunk. Lucky, he'd called on his way home from work, so I knew he was coming. But he also said he wanted to go up the canyon for a ride. (Can you say perfect?!!) So, we did exactly that. We drove up Provo canyon, and I said let's walk around Timpanogos park. So, we pulled into the parking lot... and I told him I had a surprise. I opened the trunk, so he could see that I had packed a dinner. We then found "our" table. Set up for the dinner. Then this funny lady said "I hope you are at least newlyweds." We laughed and said... well, kinda. She then said "After 13 years, my husband would never do that." It was an interesting thing to think about. Both Cruz and I said that we hope in 13 years we celebrate in the exact same way. Love ya babe.

love you... more

One year ago today on 06.08.08 Cruz asked me to marry him, and I said YES! Here is the story...

I'd finally felt that marrying Cruz was the right thing, after much thinking, talking and praying. We picked out a ring together, and he even bought it when I was there. But I told him that I wanted him to "ask" me. It was Saturday when we did all of this... 

We had some unexpected things come up, and had to change plans for the evening. So, he didn't really have time to do or plan anything for Saturday to "ask" me. 

My thoughts were was that he was going to wait a few days, I was thinking Tuesday or Wednesday. On Sunday I had my usual busy RS President stuff going on, so I was pretty busy until after church, which I called him to see what he was planning on for dinner. He said to come on over, he had a lot of homework to do before Monday...

I ended up at his house, we planned to go to a park for him to work on his homework, and I could read. It was getting kinda dark so we went to the park in Vineyard, but there wasn't much light to do homework. This totally fooled me, I was kind of wondering if he was going to "ask" me, but then we changed locations. (?)  So we decided to go up to Timp. park at the mouth of the Canyon. This was a park that Cruz and I had spent a lot of time with friends and such. I went home quick to change my clothes to something warmer, and off we went.

I was totally focused on GOOD LIGHTING for his homework. :) I pointed out a few places, that looked like a good spot. He said "lets keep looking," little did I know that he had asked his friends to set up a table. 

He finally spotted the table, and took me over there. By this time it was sun-set or after. The table was all set up with little candles...

We talked for a while, and of course when I saw the table I knew what was coming. He said something that made me start to cry. He then said do you want a tissue. I said sure. He pulled a crinkled up tissue, and as I unfolded it the ring fell onto the table. He then asked me if I would marry him. I  of course said "YES!"

It's been a fantastic year. Cruz, I thought I loved you the most I could then... and now I realize that, I really love you more and  MORE each day.

-chris