P-town.

So, Chris spent the last few days down in good ol' P-town. Okay, I went up to Salt Lake for a bit as well, because that's just what happens when you get invited to family birthday dinner at Tucano's, yummm. (And also, I totally win. Chris's mom gave me a hug and called me 'cutie' and LittleSister pretty much hug-attacked me as we were leaving. I am SO FREAKING EXCITED, seriously, it's almost better to 'win' the family over than to have them love you right off the bat, like Nine Toes's family did. I can't really get a handle on Chris's dad, but he seems more reserved (like father, like son) so we'll have to see. And LittleBrother... oh my gosh, who knew seventeen year olds's lives were just so... lol. He cracks me up SO MUCH. He might be my favorite. JK! Chris is my favorite. But no matter. I won over LittleSister and Mom and that's what was important to me. Okay. Moving on.)

We went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes, our first movie in a theater together (sigh, what a milestone!!! lol) and it of course did not disappoint! I had heard great things and had great expectations, and they were met, nay, exceeded! So good. Go see it. Now. That was my first movie in a theater since HP7.2, which Chris thought was ridiculous, but hey, I'm poor. OH WAIT, just kidding, HIMYM took me to 50/50. Which was also awesome, bt dubs. One thing that I noticed at the theater we went to for Sherlock was that they 'ID' for rated R movies... at least they said they did, whether they actually do or not is yet to be seen, but I found that interesting. Most theaters don't even notice, and at the very most they'll ID you when you buy your ticket. Whatever.

Anyway, we pretty much just hung out, did a bit of Quidditch practicing, where I learned how to properly tackle people who are bigger than me (an important skill for a keeper!) and played around in my sexy new cleats. Yeah, gotta love sales at Sports Authority! :) They're fly, I'll post a picture soon.

Another picture I need to post soon is of the gigantic bruise on my leg, seriously, it's eleven inches long by four inches wide. It's huge, and it's gross, and it hurts. :(

Sigh. Sometimes I wish we lived in a world where we didn't have to work, and we could just play all the time. Because if we didn't have to work, we wouldn't have to go to college, and if we didn't have to go to college, we would have absolutely no reason to keep living 45 minutes apart. We could live 2 minutes apart, see each other all day every day, and do nothing but play. It would be awesome. I guess that's one tough thing about winter though, it's COLD, and there's not as much playing to be done. Chris keeps telling me that girls always dump him during the 'second winter' because during the first winter, the fact that all he wants to do is cuddle and talk and watch movies is a novelty, and it's fun, and such. But after the summer, when apparently he plans/does cool stuff all the time (not gonna lie, definitely looking forward to all of the cool dates he's supposedly planning on taking me on "when it's warm"), they a) grow to expect him to plan/do cool stuff all the time and b) the novelty of cuddling/talking/watching movies has worn off, and they get bored, and leave. I think that might have been a really long run-on sentence, but I don't really care, so deal with it. My blog, my rules. Suck it, grammar. JK. (Oh little tangent, one of my friends is getting married on the fourteenth and her wedding announcement invites me to a reception in "there" honor. :/ Merf.) HOWEVER, I highly doubt that I'll dump him ever, especially during the second winter, because frankly, besides skiing, there's not much else I like to do in the winter besides cuddle/talk/watch movies. I will admit that watching movies with Chris generally tends to end up with him asleep and me being a little irritated, because I swear that boy sleeps more than any human being I've ever met. I mean, I know I shouldn't be irritated, because he works nights, and when he's with me in the daytime he's given up his normal sleeping time, but when there are nights that I KNOW he slept, and the next day he's still falling asleep all over the place? Sigh. It gets kind of annoying. I think mostly what annoys me is that when I'm with him, which is less often than I'd like, I want to be with him, enjoying his company, learning more about him, making him laugh and laughing at things he does, and, I will admit this without shame, falling more in love with him. If we end up falling asleep on the couch, sure that's great that we're comfortable together, but what did we REALLY gain from that experience? I dunno. This little rant makes it seem like it bothers me way more than it really does, because honestly it doesn't bother me all that much. We still talk WAY more than I have with any other boyfriend I've had, and we literally never run out of things to talk about. The kid is a genius, and will bring up topics of conversation that deal with things I've never even thought about to have an opinion on, but are admittedly super interesting. I guess that's what happens when you put a thinker and a doer together. I'll end up teaching him to do stuff, and he'll end up teaching me to think stuff. Not a bad trade, if you ask me. I like thinking, and he likes doing. So basically, I can't let little things bug me, because overall, we're almost too perfect for each other. Seriously, the fact becomes clearer to me every day. And I love it. :)

Potassium, longest paragraph ever, sorry. Last thing, Chris's present came in the mail today (while he was here! I had to run upstairs and sneak a peek at it) and it is so freaking cool. Oh my gosh. It turned out way cooler than I thought it would, I am SO EXCITED for him to open it. :)

Working tomorrow... ughhhhh. I don't like reality.

Sequel.

Dinner at Chris's parents for the second time yesterday... infinitely better. So, that's a relief, because honestly I was concerned that it would be awkward forever. Thankfully, it is looking up.

Dinner with Chris's friends... while I might not have impressed Smartypants as much as I would have preferred, we ARE friends on Facebook now, so I suppose that's a good sign. As for the Quidditch team, well, they already love me, NBD. Nerdy Friend (I don't think he will end up meriting a nickname, but if he does, I'll come up with something new) would have to be clinically insane if he didn't approve, because we sat across from each other and basically ended up quoting Robot Chicken Star Wars and HISHE at each other all night... Yeah, nerd Jen definitely showed herself at that particular outing. Again, NBD.

Quidditch practice with the Fliers... SO AWESOME! It was fun to see what a 'real' practice is like, rather than just scrimmaging and such. I learned a lot from Brown Wig, and even though it was honestly like the second time I've played Quidditch with other people in my life, I feel like I didn't make a COMPLETE fool of myself. Chasing, however, is definitely not my thing, especially because now that climbing season is over my hands have lost all of their strength. :/ Keeping FTW.

OKAY, so. Onto sappier matters. Today is Chris's birthday. And, having spent his entire birthday weekend with him (the weekend which included the one-month mark, which I'm not going to lie, is a big deal to me, especially in light of my recent success in the dating world) I just have to say that caring about age difference is for shmucks. Not that Chris is immature, but I think we're on a pretty good level maturity wise. Does the fact that we're over four and a half years apart make me love him any less? Assuredly no. Does he love me any less because of that? I imagine not. So. Yeah.

Anyway, I'm heading to Salt Lake once again (isn't Chris nice for buying me gas?) tonight again for birthday shenanigans. Stoked.

OH and a final note, I freaking LOVE my job at Sundance. I have gotten total ballers for students so far, and I'm just... I love it. Putting on that dang Sundance uniform makes me feel (and ski) like a million bucks.

Thanksgiving.

I'm exhausted. Part of this is because I was 'Skyping' Chris until like 1 am (my time, I'm not a very nice girlfriend) and then woke up at like 9 for family breakfast. Plus I ate tons of turkey. Not really helpful.

Today was great though. Skyrim, college football, beach, body boarding (caught some SICK waves), hot tub, beach football, and lots of delicious food. Mmmmmm.

So, it's a little cliche, but here's a list of things I'm grateful for, the important stuff at the top but not in any particular order.

I am grateful for Chris. Not only does he make me happy, but he makes me feel important/wanted/needed/desirable. He has restored my faith in finding a guy as diverse as I am. Even when he posts things on Facebook that make me mildly unhappy, I'm still pretty crazy about him. I'm thankful that he cares enough about me to help me work through my insecurities and get to a place where I can accept compliments and believe him when he tells me he loves me. (He hasn't yet, and it'll be awhile. That's fine. But it's probably going to happen eventually.) I'm grateful that I found him, and most especially grateful that he cares about me as much as I care about him.

I am (obviously) grateful for my family. Even when they drive me crazy, I still love them. I've interacted with enough people in the universe to be very glad that I have as good of a family dynamic as I do. I love them, they love me, and even when tempers run high, things never go terribly awry.

I am grateful for my unendingly forgiving parents. I know I stress them out, and yet they still love me  without pause.

I am grateful for my (admittedly very few) true and lasting friends. Scooley, Bruce, Christel...

I am grateful for my wonderful roommates.

I'm definitely grateful for all of my friends, old and new. I could list them, but that would seem... lame.

I'm grateful for my coworkers and classmates, who make my days brighter.

I'm grateful for the technology that allows me to communicate with the people I love even when I can't be with them. Texting, Gchat, Facebook.

I'm grateful that I've been provided with a car that allows me to go wherever I want to go, whenever I want - yes, most specifically Salt Lake, but also my work.

I'm super grateful that I have a (mostly) perfect body. I may not take the best care of it, but it does pretty much everything I ask of it, and most of that it does very well. Harder, better, faster, stronger - that will come with time.

I'm grateful for Hannah's mission. If she hadn't gone, I never would've met Chris, and even if I had somehow, he probably would've been married to her. I owe her the best guy I've ever dated.

I'm grateful for my passion. Without it, I never would've made it to where I am.

I'm grateful for the Gospel, the Church, and BYU. I don't think I need to go into any sort of detail on this.

I'm grateful that I've never had the misfortune of getting rejected from a job that I truly, legitimately wanted. I've always had wonderful employers, and they have always been gracious enough to give me jobs when I wanted them. Jim, Gardner, Jerry - thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will love you men forever.

I'm grateful for snow. It makes me happy, and has provided me with what I hope will be a fantastic job, as well as a lifelong passion.

I'm grateful to live in Utah. Some people don't much care for the state, but I am deeply in love with it. It is truly a playground!

I'm grateful for music. How boring life would be without it! Music says what I need when words escape me.

I'm grateful for perspective.

I'm super grateful to you, the readers of my blog! Even though this blog is pretty much completely for myself, I love knowing that you enjoy it.

I'm grateful that today isn't the only day I can express gratitude for all that I've been blessed with, because one day is not enough!

So, in the spirit of this lovely day, what are YOU grateful for?