Mt Rubidoux

Last Saturday we hiked Mt Rubidoux and enjoyed the snow covered moutains in the background.

Miscellaneous

Well it has about a month since I last posted due to the fact that I was out of town for a few days, didn't have my computer for another 2 weeks and then my external hard drive with ALL of my pictures on it was not working and that really made me mad and scared. So this is what I have been up to:

Tuesday November 11, 2008 I did not have work due to Veteran's Day, so Kyle and I drove to Palm Springs and went up the tram.

We went on a small hike at the top where there was some snow and the air was crisp, and then had a picnic.

Friday November 21, 2008 we went to the LA Auto Show, seeing that Kyle loves all things cars. He was in heaven as we walked among the new up and coming cars and I found I few I wouldn't mind having:)

23-26 November 2008 I went with Kyle and his family to Dumont Dunes and rode quads. Seeing that I had recently purchased riding pants, a jersey, helmet and gloves I was set and ready to ride. I did very well for my second time and was going up some of the bigger hills.

My Civic Duty...to Rock Climb

Get this, I have been a registered voter in California for the past 10 years and never once have I been summoned for Jury Duty, until today. Funny thing is I would love to do Jury Duty and think it is kind of cool.

So, I gladly took the day off of work, drove down to the Superior Court and showed up at my appointed time, with a 95% assurance that I would be excused and not needed again until the next time... and that is why I had a backup plan...rock climbing.

Kyle and I drove out to an indoor rock climbing gym Thresh Hold and had a great, if not exhausting time. We did a few routes up the face with belays and then moved over and did some bouldering, which is free climbing sans rope.

Let me tell you, this is a full body workout and will get you tired quick, especially if you met with your trainer from 5-6 AM at the gym earlier that morning like I did.

Word to the wise, cut your nails before you go because they WILL get jacked up.

Halloween Pumpkins

Last Saturday Kyle and I went to Oak Glen and picked out some pumpkins.
Tuesday night we used power tools to carve and decorate them:)

I don't recommend eating them raw

Kyle's pumpkin "El Diablo"

My pumpkin after sitting in my apartment for 3 days, I sort of forgot to put it outside:(

The Ring

After much patience and anxious waiting I finally have my ring!!!! In a previous post I mentioned how we went down to LA's jewelry district to get it. Well, they didn't have exactly what I wanted it, so we designed it and this past week and a half, which has gone by super slow for me, they created it. The call that it was finished finally came and we rushed down there to pick it up. It is so different and unique from anything I have ever seen before and I LOVE IT!! I tend to be non-traditional in some things and this ring is definitely non-traditional.

Chapparel Sale

I was introduced to my first Chaparral sale, an event I'm sure to become familiar with as I join Kyle's family. Chaparral is a large motosport retail store and every year in October they have their end of the season blowout sale where vendors come and get rid of their merchandise from last year to make room for the new season.

At the first vendor's booth where we were looking for a helmet for me I said I did not want a pink helmet. But who knew I would quickly change my mind as we went to the second one and I fell in love with none other than a PINK helmet. It all blossomed from there as I proceeded to get black, gray and pink riding pants, a jersey, gloves and goggles. All this for $155, when normally it would have cost me $650. Now all I need is the quad...

Halloween Haunt at Knott's Scary Farm

So last night Kyle and I had a smashing ghoulish time at Halloween Haunt at Knott's Scary Farm. For the month of October they transform the theme park into a playground for beasts, vampires, clowns and other creepy and scary creatures. Only a select few times did we get scared but otherwise it was fun to watch as girls ran around screaming as clowns with chainsaws chased them.

The Historic Cottage

Let the wedding planning begin......

So Wednesday was a fun filled day. I took the day off from work so that Kyle and I could go down to San Clemente to check out the location we would like to have our reception. We both grew up beach camping at San Clemente State Beach and there is this cute little adobe home at the end of the parking lot, which we feel is the perfect spot for our celebration. So we met with Cryssie the event coordinator, took photos, asked questions and yesterday I sent in the deposit to hold Friday 10 July 2009. We are so excited to have this location as we both love the beach, especially this one. It will be a patio reception/party, which will be nice to be outdoors, the only drawback is that there is a 150 maximum capacity, which really limits the number of guests we can invite:( We got tons of ideas while we were there and have a basic idea of how things will look and work out.

I found this picture online and this is somewhat how it will look except with our wedding colors instead.

After leaving San Clemente we drove up to Los Angeles where we met Kyle's mom and her friend and went to her jeweller in the jewelry district so that we could buy me a ring. They didn't have exactly what I wanted so we designed it and they are making it and it should be done soon, but it is all paid for:)

The Future Mrs. Clark

My relationship with Kyle started on Saturday 26 January 2008 and has been fun-filled and loving ever since. But this past week things got a bit more intense...

Tuesday 16 Sept 2008 was his birthday and I told him to pick a place for me to take him to dinner. He chose El Torito in Dana Point, seeing that it was at the beach and it's nice to get out of the IE every once in awhile. After dinner we parked near the marina and walked out onto the jetty. We sat on the rocks and were talking about how neat it was that we both grew up beach camping at Doheny State Beach and how we looked forward to doing that with our future children, when he whispered in my ear, "Will you marry me?" I looked him in the eye and asked if he was serious. When I saw that he was I said, "Yes, a thousand times yes!" Kyle then proceeded to pull a ring pop candy from his pocket and placed it on my finger. There were a few tears, some hugging and a whole bunch of kissing.

Some people have known that Kyle and I have been discussing the issue of marriage for some months now or knew from their own intuition that it would eventually come to be, but I personally did not expect the proposal to come for at least another 2 months, possibly around Thanksgiving time. So it was quite the surprise when he asked me Tuesday night and completely took my breath away.

He did not propose with a ring basically because I did not want him to. I am rather picky about the ring that I want, seeing that I will be wearing it for the rest of my life. But I also did not want to go ring shopping together because if we started doing that it would be a matter of a few weeks before he would propose, and I wanted that to be a complete surprise. So I had told him that he could propose with a $10 fake ring, a Cracker Jack ring or even a ring pop for all I cared. Then afterward we would go ring shopping together, which we will be doing this Wednesday.

Tuesday night after proposing he then asked how we wanted to announce it. Did we want to tell people right away or wait until Friday night when we were having a birthday dinner with his whole family and my parents? We decided to wait until Friday night at dinner and surprise them all together. Half-way through dinner Kyle says nice and loud, "hey Aunt Kim, we are going to need Sarah and Andrew's mission addresses so that we can write them and tell them we are getting married!" A hush and silence for about 2 seconds comes over the whole group as people are processing and then someone asks, "Is that you guys announcing you are engaged?" A round of congratulations and a series of questions bombard us as we inform them all of how it happened.

Friday 10 July 2009 will be the blessed day in the San Diego Temple.

Dreams of Nauvoo

This is for my Nauvoo people out there. The other night I had a dream that we were going back to Nauvoo for a semester and we were all excited. That is until we found out that we would have to not only live in a pioneer city but also dress and live like them too. Yep, we dressed like we were back in the the 1840's, showered like back in the 1840's (or lack of shower), cooked, cleaned and basically lived how they early saints did while in Nauvoo. It was a hard adjustment but we did much better adapting than the new people who had joined us. And then I woke up.

I am grateful for the semester I spent in Nauvoo with an amazing group of young people who have gone on to do many wonderful things. Thank you for the many wonderful memories.

Lake Arrowhead

This Labor Day holiday Kyle and I took a quick half day trip up to Lake Arrowhead and Blue Jay in the San Bernardino Mountains. I hadn't been up there in over 10 years and it was fun to go up and explore, but even better to escape the heat and smog of the valley.

NASCAR

Sort of funny that I live 1 mile from a NASCAR race track but have never before been, but then again I never really had the desire to go either. But when Kyle's dad had free tickets for us in a suite I couldn't say no. The whole NASCAR thing is completely new to me and I had a ton of questions, but I learned a lot and it was actually sort of fun. Friday night was only the qualifying races so there wasn't that much action on the track but interesting nonetheless.

Busy Excuses

Sorry for the lack of posting, here is what has been keeping me busy:

Thursday, 14 August 2008 my beautiful sister, Erin, married Richie in the San Diego temple.
Went to Sea World for the day with Brad, Holly and Chase who are out from Texas for the wedding; my mom, brother Brian and Kyle.

Got rear ended while stopped at a red light. The scratches don't look that bad but there was more internal damage than what meets the eye.

This is what Kyle did to my rental car the day before I had to return it.

New York