You're Simply the BEST!!!

For Jeph and I, there are quite a few holidays to celebrate this week: we’ve been married for 6 months now, Jeph celebrated his 22 birthday, and then of course Valentine’s Day. In honor of all the holidays I decided to come up with 10 of my favorite memories from the past year spent with Jeph!!!

10. Las Vegas: Last March we took a few days off to go down to Las Vegas and meet up with some old friends. We got so lost while we were driving around and it was all my fault. Jeph now hates Las Vegas but the good news is that we did find Simmons Street while we were wondering around. As for the rest of the vacation, it was filled with two very exciting Dave Matthews Band concerts and hanging out with friends we hadn’t seen for a while.
9. Clean checks: At the beginning of last year I lived in the college apartments in Provo. As we all know college apartments have wonderful clean checks before you can check out at the end of your contract. Well the last day that I was to live there my key to the apartment ended up missing and I hadn’t done any cleaning and some of my stuff was still in the apartment. So come 9:00pm when I finally got off work I went to check it out and there was Jeph with my key in my apartment finishing up all my clean check assignments. What a sweetheart!
8. Engagement: Jeph and I had talked about getting married last year and August had come up as our planned date. Well, the months just kept passing and it kept getting closer to August and still no proposal from Jeph. I was starting to get worried because after all it was June already. I finally told Jeph that I would have a summer wedding so either it was now or next year, but he’d better let me know as soon as possible because this was ridiculous. He gave me assurance that we would get married this summer but that I needed to be patient. He knew my sister would be in town and that would be the only chance I would have to go shopping with one of my sisters so he gave me permission to go look around with her. We looked and somehow we found a great dress at a great price and couldn’t resist. I bought the dress and yet I still had no ring to prove that I needed it. Well luckily that night Jeph took me on a special date to the Jordan River Temple grounds where there was a picnic all set up and he finally proposed.
7. Jeph’s return: Just two days after Jeph proposed he and his family left for their two-week vacation. They would be gone until the end of June, leaving us just 5 weeks from the time he got back until the wedding. Well, I did as much as I could over those two weeks to keep myself busy with wedding plans and work but I still missed Jeph more than anything. I think one of the most glorious days from the past year was the day that he finally returned. I was so happy to have him back and I didn’t want to let him out of my sight. (And he looked like such a babe!)
6. Wedding: Of course, it would not be a good list if our wedding didn’t make it somewhere on here. What a great day! It was so beautiful and we were surrounded by family and friends and everything went so well. It was simple and beautiful, just like I wanted. And of course how great is it when you get to marry your best friend for eternity! (I’m not going to lie though, the sealer had me lost for a good portion of the ceremony, asking all those questions that I didn’t care about at the time, all I wanted was to get married but finally he got to that and I was happy!)
5. Gorge: Our first family vacation. Though this trip had its rough spots, overall it was very enjoyable. I would also like to thank Mike and Mike for the fine entertainment on the ride there and back. We got to stop in Missoula, Montana to see Beth and Andy and also witnessed Trevor proposing to Marianna. And the highlight for some would have been the Dave Matthews Band Concerts but for me it was great company, my first camping experience in the last five years, and Mike laughing so hard he threw up.
4. Coffee table: When we finally got our cable all set up, I became addicted to HGTV. I love it!!! They are always fixing things up and doing way cool projects. Well Jeph and I decided to embark on our own little fix it up project. We went to the DI and found a cool coffee table but unfortunately it was painted this green color that we didn’t like. We decided it would be worth it to buy the table, strip the paint and repaint it. Well after days of stripping the paint and repainting the thing, we finally finished, unsure if the adventure had been worth it. The table is far to big for our small living room and might have been better left at the DI for someone else to find and love. But in the end, it doesn’t look that bad and we had fun completing the project.
3. Christmas: Jeph spoiled me this year!!! We set a limit on how much to spend and Jeph spent way over the allotted amount. I ended up with a keyless entry / remote starter for my car, which has proven to be one of the greatest inventions ever, and a cool ZUNE MP3 player, and many other great treasures. It was fun to get each other presents and to just spend the holiday season together!
2. Tire day: See previous post!
1. Jeph’s birthday: Because Jeph had gone all out for me on Christmas, I wanted to do something great for him on his birthday. I thought about the things that he loves most in life: Dave Matthews Band, Utah Jazz, and me, and decided this year would be a Jazz year. I got us both Jazz jerseys, Korver for Jeph and Boozer for myself, pretty decent tickets to the Jazz vs. Chicago Bulls game the day before his birthday, and dinner at Benihana’s. It was fun to take Trax downtown (which reminds us both of Russia so it is tradition that we only speak Russian while riding) and totally surprise Jeph with both dinner and the game. And then topped off the night with a big hug from Marcus and a few rounds of roller-skating. Happy Birthday Jeph!!!

Jeph, thank you for a wonderful year full of fantastic memories! я тебя люблю!!!