She Loves Me!!!

What a wonderful spring break. I'm pretty sure I spoke with everyone, but I thought I'd just place a little recap of some of the events of spring break. Going back to BYU was lots of fun, and again being the "big man on campus" of course felt great. In one of Connie's smaller classes, the teacher knew I didn't belong and called me out asking who I was. I told her, "I was just following this pretty girl (looking at Connie) who I bumped into in the parking lot, hoping to get her name." All Connie could do was blush and wait for the attention to fade.
I left my hair nice and long since Connie wanted to make an attempt at giving her first haircut. As you can see I was a bit skeptical, but welcomed the experience. It actually turned out really nice, and I told her I wouldn't cut it for a couple months until she could do it again. How nice it would be if she was to cut my hair again, and again, and again.

Some of the highlights of the week included a chicken enchilada dinner prepared by the two of us for a bunch of her friends and family. Lori was able to be among that group, and good times were had by all. When I asked for an apron, Connie thought it would be cute to stick me in the frilly purple one. Well you know how I'm a crowd pleaser, and everyone seemed to get a kick out of it.

We took a trip up to South Fork Park (just passed Vivian Park) for a nice picnic. I put together some excellent tuna fish sandwiches (it appears as though she's really got a big thing for tuna).
I spotted a perfect place to eat, which happened to be on the other side of the stream.
Right away Connie headed for the bank and said, "Let's just cross here."

Well, you all know how little of a risk taker I am, and with a look of apprehension, I of course let her go first. I was a bit taken by her bravery, and loved her sense of adventure.

On Friday night I had my bonfire party at Connie's, and I was actually surprised at how many people came out. The highlight of the evening came when Connie's mother threw on the Christmas tree which immediately billowed into one massive flame. Saturday was the big day of the Rex Lee 5K Run. Connie let me run the entire race with her, though she continually suggested that I run ahead.

It was lots of fun, and we actually kept a pace much faster than I expected. She took me by surprise with a sprint just before the finish line to beat me coming in just over 33 minutes. Little
stinker!

Later on that day we washed our cars out on the driveway, jumped on the trampoline with a sprinkler underneath, and plopped into the hot tub. We danced around in her basement to the birthday cd of slow jams I made for her. Then we looked at a couple of scrapbooks Connie had put together of pictures and such over the years. Probably more fun for me looking at all of those past memories of good years, and not so good years, though I thought they were all great. Speaking of bad pictures, this one of us before leaving for church is not among my favorites.

Sara's downward tilt of the camera combined with Connie's massive heels makes for one really small legged Taki. I don't know what it is, but girls just seem to love wearing heels around me. I think it's silly, but am learning to make to cope with my stubbness.

I came up huge like usual with a little surprise following our stroll down memory lane. Earlier that week I picked up some Pansy seeds knowing it was Connie's favorite flower. Just that day as we came home from the run, Connie asked me if I remembered that being her favorite flower. Of course I told her I did, and smirkishly grinned knowing I she was gonna love the gift. As she saw the Pansy seeds, she just smiled. Struck by the fact that I got her yet another gift, but also one with so much thought, all she could do was melt. I explained that if we planted them then, they would just be blooming when we next saw each other. So we found a pot and planted the pansies that will hopefully brighten a wonderful summer together.

Lori wows them at an Arizona stomp!

Yes, our little Coco was stomping and flying through the air at an Arizona stomp at BYU. She had a great time and is a new fan of country swing! Can you believe it? Also, hot off the press, her teacher said she had the best Cuban movement! Go Coco!

Mom and Dad rent a DVD

Well, it is true. Friday night dad and I decided to rent a video. I went to Blockbuster to get a title that someone recommended to dad from his work staff. I quickly found the video and then hoped that they would take our card since I really have never used it. I told the guy "I have never rented a video, so what do I do?" He walked me through every step and told me when to return it. Well, it wasn't a video. It was actually a DVD. Of course those who know that I jammed the DVD into the player and couldn't get it out last time, will not be surprised that I had no idea how to play it (and we all know that dad has even less of an idea). So, we tried for a while and then called Taki. He was very patient with us. After 15 minues we said "We're sure you have better things to do, we'll wait for Toshi to come home". But he was very patient with us and we finally got it running. It was a good movie and we enjoyed it. We couldn't get rid of the subtitles but we didn't want to call Taki again. I don't know why they just can't put the words "play, fast foreward, etc on these cotton picking machines."

Nothin But Fashion Back East

Hey everyone!!! So I've pretty much been just shufflin along waitin for
sping break. But I'll throw out a few highlights. Most exciting of course is that my friend Helen is getting baptized on Sunday. She was first introduced to the church by her friend Jonathan who's her lab partner at school. She's a 3rd yr. and has been coming to church since September. We've grown real close, and it's been so exciting to be apart of her
conversion.

Intramural basketball has started. By the photo you can only guess that I'm playin in style.

I drilled out a tooth for Connie last weekend. Took a bit of time, but turned out pretty good. I drilled a hole through the base and made it a keychain. Hope she likes it.

Sorry the pictures are so big. I'm just figuring this out.

Our trip East

Right after Christmas, Preston and I made a trip out East to visit DC, Taki, and preston's brother in NY. It was LOADS of fun. Here's some pics for those of you who haven't been to our blog. I posted a big long thing there about the trip and tons of picstures, but here's just a few.

For those of you who haven't been to DC...GO. It was a blast. Highlights: The tour of the capital building, the botanical gardens was really neat and a little scary (in that first pic, where I'm lookin stupid, I was in the orchid room. A small room packed with 60+ different kinds of orchids), Lincoln Memorial, and the national archives (which is where the original magna cart, declaration of independence, bill of rights, and constitution are-very cool).

If anyone wants to see the sights in Baltimore, go while Tak is still there, he's a great tour guide! We had a lot of fun sight seeing. I think my favorite was Fort McHenry. We got to see all kinds of old cannons and play around with them and we saw a film about the National Anthem, which was written by a man on a ship looking over Fort McHenry when it was being bombed. Taki of course didn't waste an opportunity to show off his own guns! I also really enjoyed the art museum that we stopped into. It had a cool asian section. It took us a while to get to it because we had to take stairs to an elevator to a link to more stairs, etc... he he. but it was cool. We also saw the first cathedral in America, which had a cript and everything! He also took me to the mini washington monument, which is at a place called Mt. Vernon, but it's not the actual Mt. Vernon where Washington is buried. Easily confused! And we went to the harbor. It was a really fun day.

Then we went to NY, which was totally rad. We took a ferry to see the statue of liberty, took a walk through Central Park (which had TONS of statues all over the place), the MET museum, Time Square, and China Town.

For travellers on a budget this is a really great trip. Everything in DC is free, all the museums and monuments anyhow. You can take the metro from DC to Baltimore for a couple bucks. You can take the Chinatown bus from baltmore to NY for 20 bucks. In NY we took the free ferry to see the statue of liberty, at the MET they tell you it's a "$20 suggested admission" but you choose how much you want to pay (we paid a total of 5 bucks because we only had 30 minutes before it closed), of course all of the sights are free, so it's really just a fun trip that's not too expensive. Preston and I give this trip a thumb's up!

Wow this is a long one. Hope you all enjoyed. Next up...I'll post about our trip to San Francisco!