Happy birthday to me (yesterday)! I celebrated my 29th birthday for the first time… I’ll probably celebrate a few more times over the next several years 🙂 Rafa and I had a lovely evening at home, watching the snow fall. And fall. And fall. He made me a delicious dinner: He called this amazingness “cacahuete gai pan.” Cacahuete is peanut in Spanish and gai pan in chicken in Chinese. He.. Read More

I feel extra-understanding of Mary this year. I think being engaged helped me know how she was feeling a little more. Poor Mary, engaged to be married and saving herself for that night. When she became pregnant with our savior, she received the biggest blessing any woman has ever received. She also begain on a path that would cause her tremendous heartache.When Mary found out she was pregnant, she had.. Read More

We booked our honeymoon tonight and we booked basically the complete opposite trip than what we were talking about a week ago. Rather than snuggle up in a cabin up north, we are going to hop on a plane and spend a week Maya Rivera, Mexico. Basically, it was this: Or this: Rafa was the one who changed his mind first. He said he had just been thinking about it.. Read More

Something that I really admire about Rafa is his pursuit of excellence. He does so much, but he’s not just a passive participant – he works hard to do things well. I really missed having him around this weekend, but I understand. The life of a full-time employee and full-time student gets a little rough around finals time. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.. Read More

Someone finally asked me.I was waiting for it, really. The whispers around our short engagement, coupled with the fact I may have added a few lbs, meant that it was only a matter of time before someone asked.Innocent curiosity.Her: “So, do you think you’ll have kids right away?”Me, non-committal, not willing to share too much information: “Yeah, soon-ish, we talk about it…”Her: “Are you now?!”No. Ha. She was totally sweet.. Read More

Happy Birthday, Jennifer! We had fun celebrating Jennifer’s birthday tonight. I made some tasty pot roast for Jennifer and her friend, Stephanie. Rafa joined us a little later and we all had cake. It was very fun! Poor Jennifer was so tired because she stayed up until the wee hours of the morning working on her paper. We watched her open her gifts and now she’s off to bed –.. Read More

Rafa has always been so good to me. So good. But lately, he’s been extra good. Or I’ve been extra needy. I’m not sure which. Either way, I have just been reminded over and over how lucky I am that he loves me. He cooked me some delicious squash. He found an amazing recipe and really outdid himself with this one. He drove me home to Iowa for Thanksgiving, even.. Read More