On Monday Elisa and I bought tickets for our honeymoon. Finally. Woohoo! We’ve almost been married for six months. The tickets are for a trip over our first anniversary. We decided on going to Italy. We’ll spend a couple days in Rome, then a couple days in Florence, and then finish the week in Paris. I guess we don’t really know what we’re doing in any more detail yet. We talked about other itineraries further towards the Mediterranean but in the end it just seemed like in Western Europe we wouldn’t have to spend as much time traveling.

Elisa got the info she needed from BYU to start preparing for her school program. I have been pre-accepted. There is a 1 credit student development class I need to complete and then I’ll be free to finish my degree online. That should keep her from going stir-crazy this winter. I am thrilled to be able to take classes toward my degree again. It is starting to feel like I’ll actually complete it instead of just talk about it being done sometime. It will just be in general studies, but there are some interesting emphases to choose from. I’ll probably do psychology or family studies.

So, Elisa and I were thinking about something that I know sounds silly. We came up with a name for our house. I’ve always wanted to have a name for the house. For a few months it was once nicknamed “The Ranch” (because of the large backyard) or “The Casino” (because we were always playing poker in the middle of the night). Cheryl Smith wanted us to name it “Ché Parry.” That one’s not my favorite. Anyway, our latest choice is “Ameixas.” That’s the Portuguese word for plums, and we like it because there’s a ton of character in the plum tree in the middle of our yard. Plus I think it sounds cool. Does it sound as cool as I think? Maybe don’t answer that. I still like the idea of having a house with a name. Let me know if you think that’s a good idea. We looked “house naming” up online. It is a pretty big deal in England. They have house names rather than house numbers. One naming suggestion was to find something that was a unique feature of the place. We also like the idea of making it say something about us too. Some other words that sounded lively were “Campoverde,” “Ameixa Azul,” “L’Arbre Bleu,” “Par de Cerejeira,” “Ginjeira,” and “Âbundancia.”

I got to go to Hilary Kruetz’s baby shower for Carter. It was originally planned to happen while we were at Lake Powell but was rescheduled. I was very excited about that! Hilary has been like a sister to me forever. Her and her husband Brian adopted Carter in June. Their story is so amazing and I am overjoyed for them! It was a lot of fun to celebrate their little family.

We got to see Kindin. Yeah, for the first time we got to hold and talk to Kindin. She was fun. She was really uncomfortable with the small space and all the guests, so she was a lot unhappier than at home. That stressed out Mandy. We all had a great time and thought it was fun to play with her. Dad took her out for walks on the beach all the time, and Elisa and I got some turns at that too.

I think the favorite sport this year was Bocce ball. Waterskiing was way down on people’s list because the weather has already turned cool. I got to learn how, though, which made me really sore when I was doing “Once There Was A Snowman” with the primary kids today. I think Elisa hung on the rope really tight. She got up right away and went for quite awhile. Your Dad says that I got up in “1 ½” tries, but I think it was more like six. I went bare footing once and skiing about three times. Each time we went it took us a couple hours to really feel warm again. So we hung around the houseboat and read more often than usual.

We got beached. It was on the last day. A wind kept pushing us during the night until one pontoon had gotten pushed into the sand. Also in the middle of the night the powerboat’s mooring rope broke and we had to go tie it up again. In the morning, Dad kept swinging the houseboat left and right to get the pontoon free. Finally he had succeeded in walking the houseboat an extra 10 feet further onto the beach! The sand was soft or something so the usual techniques didn’t work. We finally had to call the marina to get a tow.

After that we hurried to Hobie Cat beach to meet the family we were handing the house boat off to. They didn’t arrive by 11 am, or even 12 or 1. Finally we gave up on them. There is no cell service there so we have no idea what went wrong. We left the houseboat on its buoy and drove away at about 3:30 pm. That gave us a pretty late start on the trip home.

When we were driving outside of Price, we drove through a snow storm. Most of the nights we spent on top of the house boat we were pretty cold. I think next year we would need for the temperature to be about 20º higher.

Friday night Elisa and I stayed with Jeff and Sarah and Sophia. Sophia was way more alert and active this time. Saturday morning we all went up to Temple Square. There was a video in the Legacy Theater called, “Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration.” We liked it. I bawled the whole way through. I guess that doesn’t necessarily show that it was good, but it was.

Now we’re back in Seattle. It’s so nice to be home. I agree.

This week has been an extra special one. Not because we are preparing for a holiday to Lake Powell or because Chad had his annual Microsoft review, (which wasn’t all that stressful after all), nor because we harvested about a billion tomatoes, but because last year on September 14th Chad and I had our first introdution at a little get-together affectionately known as The Cereal Party.

I had hoped I would be able to have a testosterone-free evening with some girls I had just met. So I cancelled a date, dressed down a bit, and brought my offering of Cocoa Pebbles. After getting comfortable, much to my dismay, a male arrived—with granola as his cereal of choice! It was unthinkable. Granola isn’t all that bad. But recently Elisa has convinced me of the merits of Chocolate Lucky Charms. Shortly he became the center of attention for the hungry ladies. I had wondered if he might know the hunky guy I knew he went to church with. I did, but Elisa never got the chance to meet him because she and I were dating within a few weeks.

The unexpected male (Chad) and I began to discuss our views on staying spiritually active in our lives. In trying to explain my point of view I might have been a bit unclear. Chad questioned me and I tried to explain myself. We ended the conversation and I was entirely certain that Chad thought I was completely self-righteous. I remembered such a different version of events. Now that we know both sides of the story we think that it’s pretty amazing that we ever got together. I remember telling Elisa that I didn’t agree with what she had said. She gave me a look that clearly showed that she had understood my concern and had already taken it into account. So I realized we both pretty much agreed with each other on the subject. And I didn’t think anymore about it, ever. I was so upset that I could come across so negatively, especially with a topic I felt so deeply about. So I went home and cried. This supported my theory on how important it is to make a big impression with someone when you meet them. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a good impression, just a big impression. 🙂

That was the first chapter in how Chad and I met. To celebrate that joyous occasion we had our 2nd Annual Cereal Party. This time we were packing last minute for Lake Powell and my Grandma Sophie, who took us to the airport early the next morning, joined us. The menu was Peanut Butter Cookie Crisp and Vanilla Milk, however we ran out and had to mix up some powdered milk to make up the difference. I thought the sugar cereal in the vanilla-sweetened milk was a good idea, because our cereal tasted more like a dessert by that point. I doubt our year-old wedding cake will be that good when we get around to eating it next April.

Overall it was much better than the first time around, though Chad insists that making me cry is a vital part of the tradition. Well, the fact that Elisa cried was what made the story memorable. 🙂 I threatened to pluck her nose hairs if that’s what it took to draw tears. But Elisa peremptorily shed some happy tears at the beginning of the evening.