3 things

1. First, and most importantly......

My boyfriend's back!

He's been up in Dillon, MT planting potatoes but we finally saw each other on Saturday night.
And it's good to have him back. I was not enjoying sleeping all by myself in our creaky house.

2. Yesterday while we were getting ready for church, Kolton was entertained by watching me fall off the bed.
I was putting my shoes on and swung my leg up to strap my tootsie in, but I overestimated my swing, lost my balance, and as Kolton describes it, "With eyes as big as saucers and flailing arms," fell onto the floor.
To add insult to injury, Kolton didn't even try to help me. As he saw me falling he took one tiny step forward in an attempt to grab me and then realized how much funnier it would be if I actually fell, so he stopped himself short and just watched the accident unfold.
And got quite a kick out of it too, I might add.

3. I was entertained yesterday by hearing Kolton's foot get caught in a mouse trap. He was washing his hands in the bathroom when I hear a "SNAP!" and then a second later. "ARGGGHHHH!"
Oh, it was so. funny.

Goll, do we love each other or what!?

christmas break part 1

Okay. To continue on with the lovey dovey story. Let me just first start off by saying that things like this never happen to me. like, ever. I didn't get my first "boyfriend" {okay, so maybe we were just "going out"} until I was in the sixth grade. I was practically an old maid in grade school years. And get this: I  had to ask him out. And we never even held hands. No sir, all we did was throw snowballs at each other during recess and one time he threw a 100 Grand candy bar at me while I was on the swings.

So you can imagine my surprise when during my freshman year of college Christmas break I had three boys vying for my attention. And I'll just be honest...I wasn't that upset about it. At the beginning, anyway.

So Kolton and I had chatted a little bit before the break and I was hoping, hoping, hoping, that I would be seeing a little more of him. When I got home, I was at my sister's basketball game and talking to Kolton, via text, when he asked if I wanted to ride over to the singles ward the next day. I wasn't actually even considering going to the singles ward, but there was no way I was going to decline that invitation! So the next morning, he showed up at my door and I was a happy, happy {and nervous} girl. {this is giving me butterflies talking about it. I'm nervous all over again!}

During Sunday school, I had {conveniently} forgotten to bring my scriptures so we got to share. So we're turned towards each other sharing his scriptures, {I'm trying really hard to focus on what the teacher is saying}

And then he does it.

He ever so coolly and casually, slips his arm around the back of my chair.

And then I died.

and all thoughts of listening to the Sunday school lesson were sooo long, lost, and forgotten.

{disclaimer: I know that someone putting their arm around the back of a chair may not seem like that big of a deal. but let me tell you, it is. Especially if that someone is someone you have teasingly told your friends multiple times, "that you're gonna marry someday".....just so you know, and just so I don't sound quite so pathetic}

Anyway....

when I finally came back to life, it was time to go home.

So we climbed back into the pickup and on the way home we started talking about a neighbor who was building a ginormous house. Kolton told me that we could probably sneak in and take a look

{Only in Monteview can you do this kind of thing}

so we stopped by and as we're going up to the house, there's a little 2x4 ramp we have to walk up to reach the front door. And of course I'm wearing really dumb high-heeled boots. {I make a really good damsel-in-distress} so I start up the ramp doing a little balancing act and praying I don't slip and fall and land in the snow/mud, when I feel his hands on my waist guiding me up and ensuring I don't slip and fall and land in the snow/mud.

And then I died again.

When I came back to life we had walked through the whole house and were back in his pickup headed to drop me off.

He left me at the doorstep with the promise that we would be seeing each other again soon.

Oh, did he ever fulfill that promise...

friday the 13th

I have a Friday the 13th story  that I just had to share. Now, just so you know, this was a couple years ago when things were much more dramatic and life-altering, and I was a silly little teeny-bopper. (okay, so maybe not that much has changed)

The story starts on Thursday the 12th, in June sometime, I think.

Late at night my little phone bling-blinged and when I opened it up I had a text from a boy I thought I was totally in love with. I was on top of the world because we didn't talk very often, but I just knew that he was beginning to realize he loved me too.

Wrong.

After talking for a bit I not-so-subtley mentioned that we oughta hang out sometime. To which he replied,

"Um, actually I just thought maybe I should let you know that I kinda have a girlfriend"

To which I should have replied,

"Um, what the helen are you talking to me for then?"

But I was nice back then, so I played it off and was all "cool" with it.

But I was seething inside and our conversation ended quickly thereafter.

The next morning, Friday the 13th I woke up and might have still been a little (or a lot) ticked off. Then my sister suggested that we go ride horses. I thought this was an okay idea, so we got ready and headed up.

And just so you know, I'm no cowgirl. I try to pretend, but it's just not happening.

So we get up to the horses, get em saddled and are ready to go. I got stuck on Big Red, who has really never been my favorite, and this was when I realized that I'm maybe not his favorite, either.

So once I get the saddle on Big Red, I grab his reins and we start walking (I'm on the ground, leading him) toward the other horses.

And this is when Big Red decides to frienziedly and completely, manically and utterly

flip out.

It's also about this time that I realize the horse-shoers pickup is parked right in the way of Big Red's flailing back legs.

The only thought I had in my mind is that there was no way I was going to let that crazy horse lay a finger (or hoof) on that pickup.

So I grab hold of the reins with both hands and pull like there's no tomorrow. And really, I think there must be something to that "super adrenaline under duress" theory, because somehow i was able to move the horse far enough away from the pickup before I finally couldn't hold on any longer.

As soon as I let go, that crazy horse took off, and I honestly thought that was the last we were gonna see of him.

He's running down the farm road with saddle parts flying every which way, and we just all sat and stared at each other. Finally I head after him along with one of the guys that was standing around watching the drama unfold. We head towards where that crazy horse ran to and finally find him nuzzled up in a corner on the outside of the horse pasture looking gentle as a lamb.

We start walking slowly toward him and that's when I start to feel the burn.

I look down and my hands are just on fire. I had some serious rope burn from trying to hold the horse back and my hands were criss-crossed around my fingers and all over my palms with nasty open wounds.

And they hurt.

a lot.

We finally got the horse calmed down and it was determined that I had done up the flank strap (is that what it's called) too tight and that's what had caused the catastrophe.

(I have my serious doubts about that due to an incident that occurred last summer, which I have yet to share with you. My pride won't allow me to)

And as if this disaster wasn't enough to break me, we got a new saddle, someone else saddled Big Red, and I was forced, kicking and screaming, to get back on that devil horse.

I was very unhappy.

So we continued our ride uneventfully, with my hands just killing me, and then finally went home.

When we got there, I began getting ready for the day and was going to put egg whites in my hair (does anyone else do this anymore?) when I spilled the entire bowl of egg whites on the carpet in my room.

Later that day, in an attempt to salvage the day, my friend invited me to hang out with her and some friends from another school.

I think the sullen look on my face scared everyone away and barely three people talked to me all night. when we finally left, I arrived home to find my family gathered in our laundry room which was flooded. We spent the rest of the night mopping up all the water on the floor, using every towel we owned to help clean up the mess. I think we finally finished the job at about 2 or 3 in the morning.

Then we all determined that it was time to go to bed and put this awful day behind us.

As a result of the events from this day, I will forever be superstitious about the dreaded Friday the 13th.

Within good reason, I think.

Bully!

I just had to quickly share this story because I got such a kick out of it.

Last night we both got home a little late and zonked out. Pretty soon I'm awakened from my sleep from something being pulled out from under me. I look over and Kolton is sitting up in bed and has a hold on my pillow. He gives it a big yank out from under me, sets it on his side of the bed, turns over and is out.

I start feeling bad because I thought I had stolen his pillow and he was stealing it back.

No.

I look over on my side of the bed and don't see anything. So I lean over to his side of the bed and sure enough, his pillow is on the floor near the foot of the bed.

So I lean over him to grab his pillow and he wakes up and is all sorts of confused.

"Here is YOUR pillow, now give me back MINE" I say and he hands it over.

We're both snoozing away seconds later.

This morning we talked about it and got quite a good laugh about it. He didn't remember anything except for when I woke him up and handed him his pillow.

So funny. 

we are officially......

Plugged In!!

And it's a wonderful feeling.

for those of you that don't know what "plugged in" means {which is understandable, i think i made up that phrase just now} it is code for....

WE HAVE THE INTERNET!!

Maybe I should have said, we are officially "online". But that may be misleading. For now I'll stay with "plugged in," because in actuality all it took for the nice internet man that just stopped by to hook us up was to plug in a fancy little cord into my computer.

Which, by the way, I don't actually like fix-it men all that much. Don't get me wrong-they're nice and definitely helpful but I just get nervous when a strange man is standing on my doorstep and I'm home alone. Granted, his pickup said "Rocky Mountain Power" on it, but you just never know these days...And then there's the awkward to "make small talk or not to make small talk" question. I never know how engrossed they are in their work and if they just want me to go away and sweep my floor or something or if he actually wants me nearby to give him some company, or more likely, share some important information pertaining to the device he just installed. again....you just never know these days....

Talking about this has reminded me of a leetle story.

One day shortly after moving in to our house I had been working, working, working all day since practically sunrise and was just pooped. {that may or may not be an exaggeration} all this working had just plum tuckered me out so I lay down on the couch to take a little rest.....

okay....maybe I was being a titch lazy....

Nonetheless...I was quickly a-snoozin there on the couch when I heard a scritch-scratching sound. I immediately froze because I just knew it was a mouse {yes, I'm paranoid and have a phobia. I'm trying to seek help}

Then I thought I heard muffled voices. One can never be sure after just waking up, but they sure sounded like voices. And I knew it wasn't Kolton.

Basically I was a little groggy, not quite functioning, and had no idea what exactly was going on.

So I get up and follow my ears to our cracked window above the kitchen sink. I look out the window and lo and behold! Two strange men are in deep discussion outside my window.

I may have jumped a little bit, because I was NOT expecting that.

I took a couple deep breaths, gathered my courage {that didn't take long, on account of there wasn't much to gather} and headed outside to confront the strange men.

They were a little surprised to see me, but quickly introduced themselves and explained that they were here to fix our broken window.

Whew! 

So I went back inside to finish up my nap. No, just kidding, but I'm sure I did something super important. 

And that's all I have to say about that.  



after the big date

To continue on with the lovey dovey story, I thought I'd share a little bit about what happened after the big date. (aka our first date)

As Kolton dropped me off at my house we faced the awkward "to hug or not to hug" question.

We hugged.

And it was only semi-awkward.

Then as he was walking down my front steps to his pickup I yelled out to him, "Hey baby, why don't you come back here and say goodnight like a man!"

Not really.

But I should have.

Instead I said something along the lines of....

"I'm glad I could help you with your service project of the month"

He chuckled a little confusedly and waved before he tore out of my driveway like a bat outta.....heck eager to get away from this crazy lady.

He was halfway to his house before he got my joke.(He's a little quicker nowadays)

Then he texted me a very nice text about how I wasn't his service project on account of my dad paid him to take me out.

Okay. Not really. I don't actually remember what he said.

But the conversation ended with me not-so-subtlety mentioning that we would have to go out again when I came back for Christmas break.

So I went back to Provo, back to the boy I was semi-dating at the time (I made sure not to mention that fact to Kolton. Yes, I am a hussy) not exactly knowing what exactly was going to happen between me and the boy down the road.

Throughout the next month we texted about once a week or so and he called me a couple times.

The first night he called me we were just chatting about everything and when we hung up I was shocked to see that we had been talking for an hour.

An HOUR!! That's sixty minutes my friends.

I quickly texted Andra to tell her the good news (that I had talked to dream boy on the phone. Yes, that is how pathetic I was.....am.)

She sent me back a message that said something along the lines of....

"Kolton Hansen.

KOLTON HANSEN called YOU!!"

I wasn't sure whether to be offended or not, so I chose "not" since I was thinking along those lines myself.

Like I said, we talked a little bit, not a lot, over the next month before Christmas break.

And let me tell ya.

Christmas break was a real doozy.