New Shoes!

Following my pattern of not buying clothes and/or shoes until I can't possibly live without them anymore (see previous post, New Jeans), I have been without a good pair of normal shoes for the past 5 years. I have a pair of socky shoes and a pair of snow boots that I have worn to the bone, but nothing in between. Sooooo.... Quinn bought me a pair of Vans!!! He's the best! I love them and I even wore them to school today with the snowy snow everywhere and I didn't even slip! Not once! So much better than trudging around in my snow boots and ten times better than slipping and sliding everywhere in my socky shoes. I love my practical gift-giving fiance!

It's been pretty warm here in Provo, but the sky fell down today in the form of snow.
It's pretty, and now that I have my new Vans, totally conquerable. :)

Settling

I stole this from Ashley, but I thought it was cute... and true!

Settling is the worst. If I had settled, I wouldn't be marrying Quinn.

And I'm so glad to know that Quinn didn't settle for me, because I think that might be a worse feeling than being the one settling. 

Anyway, I spent a lot of my single life being told I was too picky, but I don't think I was.

There's a difference between finding little flaws in people and letting that ruin your chances at happiness and recognizing that you wouldn't be happy with someone and so not pursuing it. 

Our Story

This post is really for something else, but I thought I'd post it here too just in case anyone was wondering how Quinn and I know each other...

Little Quinn

Little Becky

I was born into the LDS Church and spent my youth as a member of the Fullerton, CA stake in Orange County. So did my fiance, Quinn. We met at a stake dance, back in about 2003--yes, you can find the love of your life at a stake dance when you're 15. Never underestimate the power of stake youth activities. Little Quinn was a year younger than me and rocking a pretty sexy mullet (for a 14 year-old) and I remember thinking to myself, "Oh baby, if I were younger, I'd be all over that." That was pretty much the last time I thought something like for the next four years. During those years, we were friends and hung out every once in a while (we still debate whether or not our hang outs were dates or not--doesn't really matter anymore). Word on the streets (or rather, in the stake) was that Quinn had developed a crush on me and it never really went away. All I knew was that he was adorable and younger than me and in high school, that meant he was off limits. We dated different people and remained friends.

One of our trips to the beach in 2007--I nailed him
with the straw wrapper. :)

A year or two before Quinn went on his mission to Puebla, Mexico, we had our first kiss. We had gone to the beach one night and were about to get in the car (I may or may not have locked the keys in the car) and Quinn just grabbed my hand and pulled me in and laid one on me. I was NOT expecting it, but it was a pleasant surprise so I went with it. :)

Skip ahead a few more years... Quinn's back from his mission and Facebook chats his old friend Becky. I was pretty excited to hear from him since I had missed him while he was on his mission--but just in like a friend missing a friend sort of way. My friend Mallory and I took a trip to California to see the sights and spend time with my family and I called up Quinn to hang out with us the first night we were there. It was fun seeing him again and we had a fun night at the beach and then I invited him to go to Disneyland with us the next day, kind of on a whim. He got work off and came with us and then we hung out with him and his friend Brett every day for the rest of the trip. By the time we left, I was pretty smitten. Little Quinn was not so little anymore and I had developed a little crush of my own. We also had our second first kiss that week--but this time it was me who made the move. Someone was still a little weird from the mish. :) But he was still so cute. I couldn't resist.

Quinn and I at Crab Cooker my first night back in California

Mallory thought it would be funny to pose us like we were dating
when we went to Disneyland. We didn't mind.

From this point on, I pretty much knew we were MFEO (meant for each other--Sleepless in Seatle), but Quinn was in California and I was in Utah. We continued to do the long distance thing when Quinn moved to Idaho to go to BYUI in the fall, where I visited him every weekend he couldn't come visit me. We were already considering itemhood (Benny and Joon) but we decided to make it official in early fall. Quinn moved to Utah in January and we've been together almost every day since. 

Us on one of my trips to California in July

Us on one of my trips to Idaho in September

Us on our trip to Vegas in October

Us on one of Quinn's trips to Utah in November

Quinn proposed on January 21st and gave me the most beautiful ring in the world. Ever since then, I hate to be parted with it or him. We've been counting down the days until our sealing on April 23rd in the Newport Beach temple and have been having a lot of fun planning for the big day. I'm so excited to marry Quinn, I can't even stand it!! 

My ring!

Team Quinn

Hard to believe, but I finally found a better team than either Team Jacob or Team Sawyer.

Erin Made My Day

My roommate Erin thinks Quinn is like the cutest boyfriend in the whole world--and she is absolutely right. Last night, she was talking to her friend when I walked into the room and he told me she was telling him how she respects our relationship and wants to be like us when she gets engaged. That made my day! I've always wanted  someone to say that about me when I'm engaged/married/have a boyfriend because I think people can tell if you and penguin really have something special. There have been like a handful of couples that I've known that I could have said this about and they were awesome! So it just makes me so happy that someone is finally saying it about me! I mean I know that Quinn is like the best person in the whole world and I lucked out big time, but it was just nice of Erin to say that she thinks we have a good relationship. :)

If think something nice about someone, absolutely always tell them. It will mean more than you know 96% of the time. (See how easy it is to make up statistics? Don't believe everything you read... But this is probably accurate.)

There's No Place Like Home

“Home is not where you live, but where they understand you” - Christian Morganstern

People seem to think there are a lot of definitions of “home.” I looked up quotes on the word “home” and came up with all kinds of stuff from:

“Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest” (Robert Montgomery)

to 

“Home is where you can scratch where it itches.” 

My definition of “home” is still under construction, but I know that I’ve had many homes in my life, some that are gone and some that still exist. But something about homes that I’ve realized is that they change, despite what some might say. They change because of the people who are in them and they change because the people in them change too. And so, there is a kind of tragedy in homes to me because you can’t hold on to them like you can a teddy bear or a photograph. They slip away almost as unnoticeably as they are formed. One day, you are talking to someone or thinking about a memory and realize that that home is gone and another one has been created in its place. The worst feeling is being “homeless” and I’m not talking about walking around with your belongings in a shopping cart. This is feeling like you have nowhere to turn that’s safe, nowhere to rest your head with peace in your heart and someone who loves you near by, ready and willing to help you with anything should you need it. I haven’t felt like this very often in my life (if ever, really), but it’s not a good feeling to have.

Anyway, since I’m getting married soon, I was thinking about how that will change my “home.” Up until now, everything about my home has changed numerous times, except for the fact that I was in it. But now, everything about my home can change except for the fact that I will be in it and Quinn will be in it. I’m excited to have another permanent addition to my home--and one that I love so much. But it got me thinking about all the homes I’ve had in my life and I wanted to write them down because I’m grateful for all of them.

First and longest lasting is my parent’s house. I spent the first 18 years of my life in this home with my sister, my mom and my dad. This is still one of my homes as far as I’m concerned, and always will be thankfully. I love my family and owe a lot of who I am to them. 

Erin's Graduation 2006

When I moved to Utah, I gained more homes than I could possibly ask for. My first home in Utah was probably my dorm room with my roommate Amy. Amy was so sweet and I loved living with her! I could be myself and relax and I met some wonderful people that year, including Abby, Mykle, Megan, and Briahnna that made me feel like I was at home too. Even though I wouldn’t do freshman year over again, if I did, I would definitely do it with the same people.

Deseret Towers 2006

Then we moved to the Riv and that was a good little home for me too. It was fun living with Mykle, Megan, and Briahnna. They were all so sweet and I felt like we could be ourselves at home and we were all friends so it was great.

Then Sammy and Susan moved in and we made our own little home for the next two years. Oh, the days of Bathroom Holla. I think about all the good times living with Sammy and Susan on a daily basis. I wish we could somehow all live together still even though Sam’s married and I will be soon too and Sue goes to the U now... 

Apartment Christmas 2008

One of my other favorite homes was Mallory--yes, she gets her own category. We only lived together for two weeks technically, but whenever we are together, I feel completely at home. Let’s add on to this the entire Phillips family. They are the best and make me feel like part of the family every time I see them. They are my family away from my family. :) 

California, Summer 2010

This might seem strange, but I count Los Hermanos as one of my homes. A dysfunctional home? Yes. One that I am okay with being done with? Absolutely. But, I made some of the best friends I’ve ever had there and I spent a lot of time working there for 2 ½ years. I will always look back on working there fondly even though it was also not so fun sometimes. I just had to give it a shout out.

Tessa's Farewell, Summer 2009

Now, I live in the cutest little house with Kate, Lisa, and Leah (and Hilary, Erin, Savy, Nick, Big Wave, Andrew, and Quinn). I love our little home. :)

Sometime in January 2011

And I’m so excited for my new home with Quinton! :) He’s the best and I couldn’t ask for a better permanent roommate. But I will miss all the other homes that I’ve had over the years too.

Christmas Break 2010