The Joys of Separation cont.

Chelsie is now in England and I have returned to Utah from Hawaii. For the first time, I have the experience of being in Utah alone without Chelsie. I have made it 13 hours and I already am hurting for her more and more. Chelsie is one that brings a light and happiness into the lives of those she associates. I have the blessing and privilege of being the reciprocate of some of her most tender of feelings. The rays of pure delight she brings into my life is something that I miss most about her. She can enter into a room and no matter what she looks like or how she is feeling, the environment is improved because of her magnificent presence. It moves me to know that she has such feelings for me. I miss you Chelsie. I look at your pictures every day. I can hear your voice in my head. I appreciate your patience with this distance. Know it is not easy on this end either. You are my Chelsie, and I can't wait to be reunited with you!

The Joys of Separation

A few days ago John found out that it has possibly been costing him $0.40 a minute to talk to me on the phone from Hawaii because of roaming charges so we stopped talking on the phone. Which has lead to almost no communication because of the time difference and schedule difference. We have been able to g-chat twice but only for a few minutes both times because John had to go. It’s been really frustrating and hard and I miss John a ton. But tomorrow morning I leave for Blackpool England and hopefully being away and busy with other things will help me not remember how hard it is not to be with him.

It sure seems like something does not want us to be together because so many things are trying to keep us apart. It was almost funny when we found out we couldn’t talk on the phone anymore. It was almost like, yeah we should have expected that to go wrong too. But within the hardship and the unexpected twists and turns it really does allow the room to learn and to grow.

Although these past few weeks have been really tough, the distance and space has been good for me to realize what John really means to me. I am so grateful for him in my life and I am so grateful Heavenly Father allowed our paths to cross at the right time. He is a wonderful man and I feel so lucky to be able to build a healthy and loving relationship with him.

I miss you John way more than I expected to and I can’t wait till we are together again.

California to Provo….soon to be Hawaii to England

So John left a week and a half ago and I hate that we don’t get to be together. It is hard to have the only contact you have be through the phone. These past few days have had some interesting ups and downs for us because of the distance and we have both decided that this whole long distance thing sucks. Remind me never to do it again! I guess this time I didn’t really have a choice but it still is absolutely no fun. I am so grateful for John and the effort he has put in to make things work with us even though we are in different states and soon to be in different countries. Here are a few of the things he has done…

1. John and I had a few really rough days because of some misunderstandings and miscommunication. After we talked about it a little bit, he had his brother Dan, who was still in Provo, go buy and drop off flowers at my apartment. So sweet and thoughtful! It still took us a day or two to figure everything out but as all couples know, even the best relationships take work. My love for John grew even more after we worked through things together.

2. This past Saturday I got a letter in the mail from my dearest John. Reading it warmed my heart and brought the biggest grin to my face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. This morning I was making my breakfast and I pulled out my can of oatmeal and this is what I found. The funniest part of this story is that I have used my oatmeal at least three times since he left and this is the first time I noticed the note. PS John is my very favorite!

It says CAN is my favoritest! John

Why John can't be with Chelsie right now...

So the main reason why I am stuck in California is because of the previously mentioned surgery on my left knee. My medial meniscus was torn in both the posterior and anterior horns. Removal of the torn portions was done by means of arthroscopy. For those who don't speak doctor, the cushioning tissue between the bones in my knee was torn and they needed to remove the damaged portions by sticking a small camera and other tools in my leg to dig it all out. It's a super cool procedure, so if you have a chance to see one, don't miss it! The pain has been pretty bearable (at least no vicodin) which is great, but the surgery left me a little constricted. I had to keep my knee elevated and hobble around on crutches for a few days. I'm not a big fan of crutches so I find myself just gimping around instead. Chelsie isn't here to see what it has been like so I thought I would post some pictures of it all.

After a few days with relatively quick recuperation, we took off the bandages and saw the infection free incisions! Arthroscopy is very cool! (I hope this image is not too graphic...)

I can't wait to be 100% again and be able to do all the things on our bucket list with Chelsie! But mainly I just can't wait to be with Chelsie again. Wups... is that allowed?

Premiere of Blackpool Medley’s

John went back home to California to get knee surgery. He tore his meniscus back in February in a car accident. But because he had to go get surgery he couldn’t come to my pre-tour show for our tour in England and Scotland. We danced our Medley’s for the first time in our new dresses and I kept telling John how pretty these dresses were. He told me to take pictures so he could see, so here are the standard medley dresses.
This is me and Scott my dance partner. There are so many rhinestones all over each dress, each person on the team had to put 20 hours of stoning in and there are 32 people on the team! That is a lot of hours! These are my two favorite girls on team, Becky and Christina. I don’t know what I would do without them on team!

20. Cook together (once a week)

We made this fabulous meal the day I got back from Women’s Trip. It was Thai Chicken with a Peanut sauté sauce….not exactly sure what to call it. When we were putting the ingredients in I kept thinking oh dear these do not sound good together but surprisingly it turned out really good. We each decorated our own plate and had a contest to see whose plate looked better.

Guess whose plate is whose?

First plate is Chelsie’s, second plate is John’s.  

Glass Flowers

So for this is the first time John really surprised me. He knows I love surprises and for the first time he did a really good job of actually keeping it a surprise. I knew we were going on a double date with his brother Dan and his girlfriend Emily but he wouldn't tell me what we were doing. Then the day we were going I was with John and Dan and they told me we were going to the Dinosour Museum up at Thanksgiving Point. And silly me I believed them! Eventually I figured out we weren't going to there when we pulled up to an Art Studio. I would have never thought of this myself but we made glass flowers! Such an awesome idea! Inside the whole place there were tons of glass art and platters and things.
John and I made a flower with a white stem and purple petals. It was super unexpected and so fun!

49. eat a meal with no hands

Spaghetti with no hands, the perfect idea for a hilariously looking date! Before...


and after...

18. Splatter Painting

Our first adventure! The four of us (Chelsie, John, Ashley, & Mark) got together and splatter painted. As you can see the paint magically appeared all over us as well as on the canvas. We each made our own painting and then we made one each as a couple. Chelsie and John are very proud of their black and white masterpiece!

Our Bucket List

Our story is far from over has taken a lot of fun and exciting leaps of faith that has lead us to this crazy adventure. Chelsie told John, if she ended up staying they were making a bucket list. And so a few days after she decided she couldn't bare to leave without seeing where things took them they made a bucket list. So here are our 50 adventures with the goal to accomplish them all by the end of the summer!

Boy meets Girl

John first noticed the girl of his dreams among the first few days of fall semester 2009. He thought she was out of his league so he felt it best to be a fan from far. To his great pleasure and delight, she was also in one of his classes in the winter semester!!! He was simply stunned and hoped he would get a chance to sit next to her one day so he could introduce himself. One day near the end of the semester, she found a seat next to him and a number of mutual friends. He leaned over and introduced himself and she thought hmm, cute kid and didn't think twice about it. John of course thought she thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

A few days later John found himself competing in Dancesport and to his surprise, Chelsie was cheering for him on the floor level! She had been sitting by a friend and said to herself, "man what's his name...I think its John." The girl replied, "you know John? He's in my ward." As Chelsie cheered for John she had the thought (although she was dating someone),"Gee, I'd like to go on a date with him, he seems like a fun guy" But soon chased the thought away. John asked this friend Chelsie had been sitting by what Chelsie's status was and found out that not only was she dating someone, but also planning on going on a mission. Deflated, John moved onto other endeavors.

Some few weeks later, Chelsie had ended her relationship to go on a mission. She began casually dating just for fun and the John popped into her head and she thought I want him to take me out. Her dances partner was in John's ward so she told her dance partner, "I think this boy in your ward is cute, I want to hang out with him. Take care of it." It just so happened that that weekend was the Festival of Colors. They went together in a group and had a good time, but weren't able to get any alone time. The next day, Chelsie's dance partner organized a double date game night at his house for them to attend. John was beyond excited and Chelsie was entertaining the idea. The night was full of laughs! As John hugged Chelsie goodnight, she realized she could be interested in this boy...John was still in disbelief that he had just spent two days with the untouchable girl! The rest is beautiful history!