Nephews in Twos!

Jason and Heather are having a baby boy!  We are so happy for them!  That makes two new nephews this year.  Brandon and Breanne are having a baby boy in about a month!  I am sure Katie is excited for two new playmates to arrive as well!  Congratulations!  We love you all!

Teething

Oliver and I are pretty sure that Katie has started teething.  On the verge of being just four months old, she is an early teether.  I feel so sorry for her.  She has been running a fever and has been quite grumpy.  The worst part is that when she is the most upset, she will not use a teething ring, a cold washcloth, or one of her parents' fingers.  Her silapap drops are her only friend at this time, except the fact that she hates the stuff (her parents also hate cherry flavored medicine).  

In addition to teething woes, I am hopefully getting over an infection in my lungs that caused an awful thing called Pleurisy.  This is when the lining of your lungs becomes inflamed, causing horrible chest pain, similar to if you were having a heart attack.  The pain has been less common and less painful lately, which is a blessing.  But now, Oliver and I seem to have caught some other bug.  Lucky us...  But to cheer everyone in our home up, we bought Katie a jumper/activity center/walker, that she loves.  This has led to some big smiles.  Oliver and I also have the goal of making her laugh, but we have only succeeded a few times.  We hope to get her laughing more often soon.  She has quite the cute little giggle. :)

Katie Laughing For the First Time

A Surprise...To Drive

Oliver picked me up after work, and he said he had a surprise for me. He also told me that he almost decided to blindfold me with his tie, but he decided against it in the end. We went to eat at Diego’s, where they got the order wrong. Oliver tried to pay for the mistake, but they would not let him. I was really impressed with his determination to do the right thing.

Then, Oliver took me to the surprise part of the date. He took me to the football stadium parking lot and asked me if I was ready to drive stick. I had told him before that I could not drive one, and that I wanted to learn (his GTI had a manual transmission). I was not perfect at it, but I did not do a horrible job either; I only killed it like three or four times. Oliver was really reassuring and helpful about the whole thing. He said that I was doing better than anyone else he had taught before, and I wanted to ask if I was the only one he had ever taught.

We went back to my apartment. He told me that he had realized that morning one of the reasons that he liked me, that I made him want to be a better person; a sentiment which I returned. Then, he came in, and we watched the end of Hercules with my roommates, Liz and Sarah. After that, we watched the first half of Despicable Me, which was really cute. But sadly, we could not finish it together, because it was midnight, and Oliver had to leave. 

Virtual Meeting and Facebook Official

That night, Oliver came over. I made toffee bars and Parmesan pasta. We ate dinner together. Then, we went to my other brother’s house for Oliver to meet Jason and Heather. Everything went well, including Oliver being told a few embarrassing stories.

Oliver’s family kept texting him that they wanted to Skype that night so we went to my apartment and Skyped his family. I got to know them a bit; it was weird to meet someone for the first time virtually. Oliver and I talked afterwards. He said he was so lucky. He told me how impressed he was with my prayer the day before and how I meditated afterwards. Oliver said that he struggled to do that, and not everyone does that. He told me that I was wonderful, and that I didn’t even have to go on a mission. Oliver said I was great already. To this praise, I blushed, because I know I have a long way to go. We also spoke about meeting each other’s family and that we did great. I spoke to him about coming home to meet my whole family, and how excited I was for that. That night, Oliver requested to announce our relationship on Facebook. Yep, we were now Facebook official.

The Future In Sight

Oliver picked me up to go to his apartment to make hamburgers with his apartment and some other friends. On the way there, his parents were really excited to meet me, but then they decided because of the price and timing, that we should wait to go to Missouri together. While making hamburgers, Oliver told me about his conversation with his dad about me and our relationship. His dad had asked Oliver what he liked about me, and they discussed what he should be looking for. After eating, we went to the BYU football game together.

Before we headed back to my apartment, we had talked about a decision together. We decided to pray for guidance on what to do, and we made a decision based on the answer we received. We asked each other about goals and we decided on ways to improve our relationship in order to meet those goals. We decided to do more study dates, study the scriptures together, make time to talk about important topics, etc. That night, Oliver told me that I was wonderful and at that point, he thought that I was the one he was to spend his life with. We discussed how quickly things were going and how weird it was, that it felt right. We discussed how he had asked Heavenly Father if I was the one, and he received the answer to wait two or three months and ask again to receive an answer when he was ready for it. He also mentioned that he would like to go ring shopping at some point to get an idea of what I liked. We found out that we like the same kind of rings, with one stone and simple classic design. We then said goodnight.

Al and Mae Capone

Oliver had asked me to his ward’s dance, where everyone was supposed to dress up as couples. We decided to dress up as Al and Mae Capone and got our costumes ready. Oliver came to pick me up and waited for me to finish getting ready. We took some photos and headed off for the dance. I told him that he looked handsome, and he told me that I looked really beautiful. Everyone said how “legit” we looked. While at the event, we ate dinner and danced. Once, while taking a break, he asked me if I would want to meet his parents. He said that he would like me to fly home with him for Christmas to meet them, and then he agreed to come home for Thanksgiving with me. We were both pretty excited. Then, we danced some more and cleaned up after the dance. We kept staring and smiling at each other.

Oliver and I went to his apartment to watch part of a movie with our group before it was midnight. I was in a dress so Oliver offered to let me change into some of his clothes to be more comfortable (which when I got home, I realized his clothes smelled like him). When we got back to my apartment, he unlocked my door, opened it for me, gave me a kiss on the forehead, and said goodnight.