HRC, DWC, KU, and Chipotle

Mom and Dad joined us for a few days in Boulder last week. We kicked off the visit at the KU basketball game, where Tony joined us to watch KU *tie* with CU (at which point Dad was very worried) before finally winning in overtime. Amazingly, we ran into one of my grade school classmates at the game, too.

On Thursday, I took Mom and Dad for a walking tour of downtown Boulder. Just as I pointed out the Chipotle on Pearl Street, there was Jake! He'd had Chipotle for lunch, and before he hopped on his bike to head back to the library to work, we snapped this photo.

We also got to meet Mom's friends Amanda and Britt, we watched The Second City do their Chicago-style comedy act at the Boulder Theater, and the guys went out for a man-date to see Avatar while Mom and I fought the great Mall beast and talked wedding plans.

We Get to See Beth

Beth visited us from California this past weekend.

We took her on a drive up into the mountains, and took turns getting our pictures taken with her:

She took us out to Indian food, we saw Avatar IMAX 3D together, we toured CU, we watched 27 dresses to get wedding ideas, we moseyed around Pearl Street, and we attended the Boulder Wedding Showcase (where there were many chocolate-covered strawberries calling our names: Beth! Sam! Jake! Eat me please!).

Thank you for visiting us, Beth! Please come back soon :)

Salt Lake City, Woo Hoo!

Since we were in Salt Lake City last weekend, we got to see lots of fun folks, lucky us!

On Friday night, we took a snowy trip up to Park City, where we had a mini-iGoogle reunion with Ingrid, Kai, Jess, and George, who were apparently there to see some movies or something :)

Then on Saturday night, I got to meet Jake's extended SLC family for the first time. They're fun and lively all over the place! First, with a couple of Jake's cousins, Adam and Andrew:

Baby Niya, Summer, Amanda, and Stephanie:

Bellydancer (courtesy of the restaurant, not actually part of the family...) with Grandpa Q:

Grandpa Q and me :)

(the bellydancer is a hard act to follow...)

Jake's Uncle Rodger and Aunt Christie:

Jake's Aunt Lisa and Uncle Scott:

Jake and his Dad:

It was quite a party. Jake and I both embarrassed ourselves attempting to bellydance, Grandpa Q enjoyed flirting with the bellydancer, and much fun was had all around.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Dad!

For the first time in 11 years, I got to be with my parents on my Dad's birthday this year.

We celebrated on 01-20-2010 -- a pretty cool date.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We're Engaged!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, WeBeBloggers became WeBeEngagedBloggers this Christmas.

And it was all thanks to our blog!

Well, maybe not *all* thanks to the blog, but it did play a part. Here's the story.

On Tuesday, Jake and I head to Kansas for Christmas. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my family. Then, late at night, when not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse (except Jake and Sam)... Jake says he's ready to celebrate our Christmas together.

So we snuggle up on the couch. But wait... first, he says, he'd like me to take a look at this blog post he's drafted. (We do this sometimes, review each other's blog posts before they go live.)

The post turns out to be a whole history of our relationship, from day one. Just as I'm thinking it might be a little long for a blog post (it's extremely long with dozens of pictures, and probably pretty boring to anyone who isn't us), I start to read about the history of our dating life in December. It talks about how he's been shopping for the perfect gift, and then...

...it mentions something about him going to visit my dad for lunch that previous Monday. At this point I think he's just making stuff up. He was in Boulder with me that Monday, and I could distinctly remember having dinner together with Jake that night, the day before we headed for Kansas.

But just as I start to say "That didn't happen!," I see these pictures...

So maybe he *did* have lunch with my dad.

At this point, my mind starts racing. I can think of one good reason he might have a secret meeting with my dad a few days before he gives me my Christmas present... but maybe that's not it, maybe there are other good reasons he would have done such a thing. I try to think of them. But I can't think of any.

So I start thinking harder about Monday, and I start to piece together what happened. Apparently he woke up at 4am, took a flight to Kansas, rented a car and drove to Topeka (where he was in the late morning when I called him to ask where the printer cable was), he had lunch with my dad, and then made it back to Boulder in time for dinner with me.

Wow! I realize it did happen.

So I finish reading his "blog post draft" (See! I told you the blog was a part of it!!),

and he hands me his gift...

...which, of course, turns out to be my engagement ring...

...which, of course, I gleefully, giddily, unhesitatingly accept

with shock and awe and all the love in my heart.

And there you have it. We're engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting Moved In

We arrived in Boulder on December 13th, and ever since, we've been moving in.

When we arrived, everything was neat, tidy, and bare:

But that changed quickly.

First, we unloaded a UHaul full of Jake's stuff and a storage container full (and when I say full, I mean really, really full) of my stuff.

Then, once our apartment looked good and messy...

...it was time to start furnishing and decorating the place.

We had to make tough decisions, like: what color should the hand towels be? It's so hard to envision these things without seeing them. So! Here's Jake, and then my toothbrush, each posing and a hand towel.

Then, where should we store our things?

Our costume supplies, for instance?

(Side note: trying on all of your costumes as you're working on storing them turns out *not* to be the most efficient way to unpack.)

And finally: how to decorate our place?

This lamp, which I saw in a store, most unfortunately did not get selected.

The good news is, we're getting close.

Today, our apartment looks something like this.

And soon, we'll be able to do things with our time other than unpack and spend money on furniture. Just think how much blogging we'll be able to do then!!! :)

Our First Hamburger Helper Casserole... EVER!!!!

It is official: Sam and I now know how to make Hamburger Helper. 

We were both astounded by how tasty our casserole turned out to be.

It's only our 4th night in Boulder, and we've already mastered the art of casseroles. 

We are very proud of ourselves.