The Surprise I Found

My work has different incentive programs and each quarter you get tickets. Then they pull tickets out of a jar and you win prizes. It's actually way sweet. People have won t.v.'s and iPads. In the very first drawing I won my beautiful, amazing Kindle. It changed my life! I LOVE IT! I've won lots of gift cards, and a popcorn maker. Anyways, I love company incentives. 

So, after I started dating Casey I won this little beauty.

Casey loves Noodles and Company. He was excited! We went to dinner a few weeks later. While at dinner, he asked me what else I had won. I told him some of my prizes and also mentioned I had won a video camera a loooong time ago but hadn't done anything with it because I don't have babies and what else do you film? Casey asked all about what kind it was and etc. The next day I took a picture and sent it to him.

Home boy was freaking out. Apparently, it's way legit. (side note: if my boss sees this. I really do love it and am grateful I won. I just never did anything exciting enough to film. We use it like crazy now!) Since he loved it so much, I let him keep it at his house. He always seemed to take it with him which was helpful when we got engaged. After, I asked if I could take it home to put the pictures on my laptop so we could document the blessed event and look at the gem I found.

He and some of his teammates wanted to work on their swing so they made videos from different angles. I have many a more videos like this. 

I love him.

Granny's Birthday 2012

Remember that week where we had a million and a half things going on and mid week we went and saw Gran for birthday lunch?
Let's discuss why Gran was so important.

I freakin love this lady! Look how cute she is!

 You're jealous. I know.

 We call her Granny because she thought "Grandma" sounded too old when I was little. She's pretty spry so "Granny" works. When I was little she'd give me 40 crows and tip me upside down and pretend to sweep the floor with my hair! Awesome right? Anyways, we had to go visit Gran to extend birthday wished and to show her my new rock collection.     

We made the trek up to Idaho to take Gran to birthday lunch. When we got there we ran to the salon to get Granny a pedicure. By ran to the salon I mean- ran to the salon, ran to the gas station ATM to get cash and charged a fortune for it (small town businesses don't use debit cards), went back to the salon, and barely made it to Granny's before she got home from work.

Granny picked Stevo's for lunch. It's a yummy, yummy burger joint! We should have took more pictures. I got a Caesar Burger. So good. Casey and Gran got burgers too, but I don't remember what kind. Then, Casey decided they needed a shrimp appetizer.

Apparently, we should all take note of this Stevo's establishment because these shrimp are more jumbo than normal.

We went back to Granny's for Casey's nap whilst Gran and I worked on the dreaded wedding guest list. (I love all the people we are inviting, but making sure we get addresses correct is a stress! My mom does NOT keep current addresses from anyone so thankfully Gran does)

Before leaving we HAD to see the garden. It's doing very well this year and Granny is very proud. I had to text pictures to all my aunts.

She's presh. Love her. 

Happy Birthday Gran Muff.

 







    

Family Weight Loss Challenge Competition

Right after Case and I got engaged we (my parents, Case and I (Madison just rolls her eyes and plays along)) decided it was time for "Family Diet". Now don't get me wrong, I don't plan on being stick skinny. It's just not my body type, but I would like to be LGN- ya know?
So....Family Diet goes like this. Everyone puts $20 into the diet jar. Whoever loses 10% of their body weight first gets ALL the money. (5 people = $100) Now do you see why Madi plays along?
Our levels of commitment vary. I'm pretty sure both the men folk say the word "diet" and immediately drop ten pounds! So frustrating.
I may need a little encouragement. I love food! A LOT! No reward will ever stop me from loving this! I just need to learn to love healthy foods.

Here's the rules:

Yes, we do hang them on the fridge. We are THAT classy.



The foods I should cut out of my diet include:

- Coca Cola Classic
- McDonald's
- french fries, bread, chips, and pasta
- Coke!!!

I hope I can do this. I love me some soda. After all, it's drink-ability did just official get approved.



...wish me luck! I'll need that $100 to buy some new pants!

Slow Down and Enjoy Being Engaged

     Some of the best advice I've gotten in our two weeks of engaged bliss so far has been to slow down and just enjoy being engaged. A soon as we got engaged, EVERYONE asked if we had a date picked. Don't get me wrong, I'm so thankful people are happy for us and want us to make it official. I love it. I can't wait to make it official either. If you know me though, I don't ever stop. So, I thought guest lists, budgets, dresses, dates, and receptions. It was kind of an overwhelming week anyways and we just kept adding more to-do's.
     Right now, we took a step back and we don't have a date anymore. It's okay. Once things settle down (like the end of this week! :) we will pick one again. We'll decide a location. We'll decide on his ring. Right this minute, I just want to be engaged. All this planning and crafting will get done in time. I just wanna enjoy my main squeeze.

Cuz I kinda love him a lot! 

The Two Best Days at Wolf Mountain

      Casey and I usually have Sunday dinner with his family at his mom's house. He text me and said we had spent the whole day with everyone the day before and asked if he could make me dinner at his house instead.

Inside I was in a panic, I was hungry! What on earth was he thinking he could cook? Who would turn down family dinner? It's good!

 I said, okay and at about 4 he came and picked me up.

       On the way to "his house" he asked if I was hungry. Neither of us were quite hungry yet so he suggested we go drive to Snow Basin "to see how it looked since our ski passes are there."

Side Note: The day before he wanted us to go up there to get our pictures for our passes then we had a crazy flash storm.

Should I not have been tipped off?

    Casey was pretty quiet.Once again, good thing I just talk non-stop. We drove and drove. I noticed a couple of nice spots to look out and prompted Casey to stop. He did not. I kind of thought it was a bit rude, but whatever. He literally drove us through the parking lot of Snow Basin.

 Didn't even stop!

 Nervous much?

I knew something was up at this point. On the way back down the mountain, we stopped at a look out point and Casey grabbed the camera. WEIRD! We are NOT picture taking folk. So, I talked a lot and kept walking away from him. Now I was way nervous. I learned a lot about a bird called a "warbler". (or something, like I remember now, but it was one of those nature board things)

Then we took pictures and LEFT!!!

 This day is weird. What is going on? Did he chicken out? Change his mind? Does he just like weird activities and really wanted to check out the snow less mountain?

So, then he turns left to go home instead of right (either way will eventually take you home). I say "oh, are we stopping by Grandma Holmes? (maybe we want to wish her happy birthday again??)"  Casey replied, "uh. We can. We have to go somewhere else first."

As the drive continued, I got nervous. I began talking and QUOTING the Honey Boo Boo child. I am forever embarrassed and have shamed myself once again. Casey looked at me and said, "STOP! You cannot talk about this NOW!"

We pulled up to a closed Wolf Mountain.

Side Note: I'm like Hannah Hall Monitor. I DO NOT LIKE TO BREAK RULES. I can't cross a street without a crosswalk. I can't stay out too late. I like to be a law abiding citizen.

Therefore, the caution/ closed tape and barriers we a bit rough for me. We climbed around ( :) sowing my wild oats right here! ) and walked to my favorite bunny hill. Casey tried to direct the conversation (he is SO good for me.) and asked how I felt the last time I was on this mountain.

"my pants were TIGHT"
"I can NOT board"
"this is going to be bad... I'm going to embarrass myself"

Yep, I'm the girl who went that direction with the conversation. Then, I took it sentimental, but I'm keeping that for us. Sorry.

Then we stopped walking, and stood. Casey hugged me.

I quoted more movies that WE WILL NEVER MENTION.  Casey said he liked me. Or, maybe he used that L word and got on one knee. IN THE WEEDS. I was freaking out. I told him we could pretend he kneeled.  He really did it though, and asked. Then we probably kissed. He almost dropped my ring and I told him to put it away so he didn't loose it. I asked to look at his knee. Make sure I didn't have to use the Weed Be Gone on it later.

The question "you didn't hire a secret photographer so we can keep kissing right??"

So we did :)

We took a few pictures then talked- just us. It was most definitely one of my favorite conversations ever. Casey said what he really wanted to say (he was previously a bit nervous) and it was the best ever. Oh, and that part is just for us too.

Casey,

Your future wifey loves you. Please buy us this now

Love your EC

First Real Date- March 10, 2012

     After our bunny hill adventures, Casey and I had a real date. You know- the kind where the boy asks the girl and she says "of course". For our date, Casey had a group of his friends over for a BBQ. Low key. Note: I FEAR eating in front of people. I'm not good at it. Work, dates, any eating events. I struggle! I'm left handed so I bump into other diners, scrape the plate with my knife. I need lessons! It terrifies me! Therefore, I really appreciated the chill atmosphere.
     Casey still teases me that I didn't like his grilling. Love his grilling, just hadn't eaten in front of him before. It's fine now, I eat like my cow at the feeding trough self.
      Then we played "Curses". Case ended up across the table from me so we proceeded to text each other during the game as well.
      Everyone went downstairs after to watch the Real Salt Lake game on t.v. Case and I played ping pong for a bit before chatting on the Love Sac.

Dear Love Sac inventor/ makers,

Thanks. Best second/ first date ever

 Love, Kal

      Of course, I'm leaving out a few details. Just know, Casey's cute. I have a pretty big crush on him.

Sittin On A Bunny Hill- March 7, 2012

I feel as if our posterity should know MY SIDE of our story. I foresee a Grandpa Casey giving his own tall tale many years from now. Let’s continue.

                After meeting Casey and hanging out a few times, he mentioned he liked to spend extra time on the mountain. In his family, lots of sports are played including snowboarding and skiing. Rewind a few months and you would know I just got a brand new snowboard (I had only been once in my life and for some reason felt good enough about it that I should have gear. . . uum whatever. I guess it worked out) So, I have this new snowboard collecting dust and it’s March. NEVER GONNA USE IT.

                I decide Casey and his brother Matt should be the lucky ones that get to accompany me on the bunny hills. I figured if I had a group go, they could leave me at my level and could go to the black diamond courses. Then I could say I went with a group, I still don’t have enough self-confidence to go alone apparently.

                I write Casey on Facebook (loser alert) and tell him we all should go boarding. He agrees and we plan a night after work to go night boarding (grown up jobs that make you work all day. BOO) Casey tells me to meet at his house at 5:30.

                I spent the day looking into nursing schools- great for my future, bad because I did not leave enough time to go shop for extra gear (goggles. Didn’t have time to get a helmet. STILL NEED ONE! Maybe for Christmas this year? Cough, Case?)

                I got to Casey’s house around 6. His brother Matt was just getting home off the mountain. I panic, I’m supposed to be going with everyone. If it’s just Case and I it’s like it’s a date. This can’t be a date. It’s a group thing. I CANNOT BE THE ONE THAT ASKED HIM OUT FIRST. UGH. I’m that girl. For forever.  Bad, bad, bad.  So, Matt takes one look at my board and starts laughing. I had put the bindings on all wrong- thank you google search. Fail. He and Casey begin to fix it as I go change. While changing I realize my snow pants from junior high are a little tight. Weird. Suck in the muffin top and let’s go. I walked out and asked Casey and Matt if this place took cards or I needed to run get cash. They looked at each other and said, “both”. (side note: I am famous for making things awkward, I’m still thinking/ wanting no date here. I asked him. Gross)

                The drive up to Wolf Mountain was so fun. Previous to this day, I thought Casey was nice and I wanted to be his friend, but that’s all I knew. He was quiet. And…mature. I just didn’t realize I was feeling his vibe. Back to the drive, I’m decent at coming up with enough random questions to fill drive time so that was good. I learned a little about Casey.

                We get to the hill, and begin gearing up- boots, hats, goggles (remember , I had to showcase my new purchase). I pulled out my debit card and asked Casey to hold it in his pocket. My pants were kinda tight. Just saying, don’t know if I could have held a debit card on my personage. He said “you don’t need this”. I exclaimed that I definitely did and he did not need to pay for me as we were just boarding and it was my idea.

                (oh, ps. Casey skis. Who is going to help me now? ) We go to the window to get our tickets. Casey buys two . He’s cute like that. I thank him and feel like a dweeb. Now he’s wasted money. I only bunny hill! He wasted money for me to bunny hill!

                Here’s where he starts raking in the points. I can’t even make it to the lift I’m so bad. Poor boy continues to sit with me every time I fall, help me up and just wait super patiently. I let Casey know that I definitely DO NOT do ski lifts. He assures me we will be fine. He had to essentially pick me up and put me on the lift. This “date” is so embarrassing! We get to the top. I’m beyond nervous. This is where I’m really really bad at snowboarding. Casey put his arm around me, pulled me in close, and carried me off the lift. Seriously, he is the sweetest boy in the whole world. I’m swooning. He didn’t leave my side for the next three hours. 97% of those hours were spent SITTING on the bunny hill. He was there every time. Never once did he leave to go ahead of me. He never once rolled his eyes, told me to hurry, or questioned why he came with me. He started making videos on his phone of my skills. …Maybe he just wanted to enter America’s Funniest Home Videos? He was a gem. Complete perfection. At the very end of the night, I did insist he go down a real run. I waited at the car happily. Snowboarding is freakin’ exhausting people!

                On the drive home, we talked more. I found out he went on his mission to Russia (find out more about our church here). I asked him to speak to me in Russian. And oh, speak to me he did. Amazing. Swooning. In Heat. Whoa, baby. We got home way too fast.  He helped me load all my stuff in my car and played with my phone for a really long time. (side note- of course he was doing some kind of number exchange, but let’s all pretend he was really sneaky. Good for a man’s ego)

                Sadly, all perfect first dates must come to an end. Sooner than we wanted since someone had to work the grave (yeah, snowboarding, grave, full day of work the next day. I’m a horrible scheduler).

                On the way home, I had a perma- smile. It hurt it was so big. You know how they tell you one person will be different? He is. I knew it right then. Of course, I tried to call my mom. She had a migraine and I got Dad instead. He was really happy and excited I had a lovely evening, but it wasn’t quite the mom reaction I was hoping for. I called Ash, his cousin. Then Allie. The smile just never left. It was too good. He is just perfect, everything I’ve ever needed.

                I got to Brigham City and decided to check out my phone. I had texted a strange number “hey. How are you?” Oh so Casey texted himself from my phone. I responded with “well, I don’t know how are you?” It continued from there. We haven’t stopped texting, calling, and spending time together since.

Whirlwind Week (9/3-9/8)

Sunday- work… then ENGAGED! 

Monday- really really long work day

Tuesday- NEW JOB! 

Wednesday- work

Thursday- Idaho for Gran’s Birthday

Friday- work, and letter from Company Pres

Saturday- shopping with Ash!

     I'm not complaining at all, it was a great week! I am just freakin' exhausted!

Oh, Hey Blog World

Hi. 

I’m Kalli.

He’s Casey. 

We decided to start a blog for fun.

Sometimes we go on crazy adventures.

Usually, we are pretty random, and make our own fun.

Thanks for stopping by!