I Love You Romeo!

(I'm second from the right in the red pants, Jed is in the middle...Who would've guessed that all of this would happen?)

I first met Jed about six years ago in a UVSC spring mountain biking class. The first time I saw him he was with his friend Wade. Our class met in the entry of the PE building they stood in the very back, I don't think I would have even turned around but Wade kept making loud sarcastic remarks and laughing, I couldn't help but notice them. I really never talked to either of them in the class... Jed was so fast he was always one of the first down the trail, I was inevitably the last to mosey down the trail. After one of our class rides Wade was inviting people to get food, I accepted thinking a big group of us were going...it turned out to be just Jed, Wade and me. I sat right next to Jed at Arby's and it was then...six years ago I developed a little crush on him. I started writing about Jed in my journal in the spring of 2003. I had the biggest crush on him! We went on dates off and on over the years but mostly during that time we became good friends. I always considered Jed one of my best friends. He wrote to me (a few times) while I was on my mission. That is when I started calling him Romeo since he was writing about all the girls he was dating. Jed met most of my ex-boyfriends and was always there when I broke up with them! We would sit in the driveway until all hours in the morning just talking (I was always hoping he would kiss me ;) For a long time Jed called me every Sunday just to talk. He was was always there whenever I needed someone to talk to.

Over the years many of our friends and family questioned why we were not together. Maybe all the persistence paid off! Well....It was well worth the wait!

Jed, I never imagined that I could be so completely in love with my best friend! I don't think I could've imagined anything like this for myself...and I still can't believe how lucky I am! Thank you for being so patient with me!! I love you so much!

My Journal is full of stories of Jed. I was always confessing my love and frustration of Jed "not picking up on my signals" Below are just a few one-liners directly out of my journal!! There are so many I couldn't get them all!
May 6, 2003 " I can't get Jed out of my mind." July 27, 2003 "Jed called me tonight!" August 5, 2003 "I miss Jed! He called me Sunday night and we ended up talking for almost two hours!"
February 1, 2004 " I am in love with Jed, but that doesn't mean I have to start planning our wedding"
February 27, 2004 " Jed broke my heart tonight." (Yep...like five years ago Jed told me he didn't want to date me ;))
March 20, 2004 "I went snowboarding with Jed. I love that we are still friends he is a way cool guy but I still love him to death!"
March 30, 2004 "I still love Jed!"
May 1, 2004 "I went to Moab with Jed!"
October 27, 2004 "Trying to get over Jed has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Oh That's Why

I decided late Thursday night to visit Jed this weekend. I planned to leave right after work Friday and tried to get off early but it seems like something always comes up at the last minute to delay my travels. I was of course anxious to get to Fairbanks and it was beautiful drive, with only a few people on the road. I was driving way too fast and just past the Igloo I came around a corner and a cop was coming the other direction. I obviously slammed on my brakes and had pulled over even before he had turned around.
I had my registration and license out before he got to my window. His first question was what part of Utah are you from? I hesitated, taken off guard by his question I stammered "I'm from Spanish Fork area" he quickly said "Oh Spanish F-aRK" in the voice that people use to make fun of our accent. I just looked at him like how did you know that? He said he was from Salt Lake. We started talking and talked for almost twenty minutes about the area. He talked about buying hogs from the Shepherd's. He knew a few people from that area. Then He asked what brought me up to Alaska so I told him the story of Jed and I and explained how he was in Fairbanks. So then he asked what Ward Jed was in and we tried to figure out where he lived and which ward Jed would be in. The officer was from Healy and his Branch included the town Nenana. So I told him my mission companion lived in Nenana, and told him Sister Verhagan. He got excited and said "Kristi?! Well I just had dinner with her last night!" We talked about her and our mission, how I also was in Sam's (Kristi's brother) MTC district. Well, by this time he handed back my registration and license and said "wow, you were going really fast, but tell Kristi I said Hi when you talk to her." I jokingly replied that I would slow down now that I knew someone would be reporting back to my bishop!" He said "Yeah, I know them all it's a small world up here"

Officer Ryan let me go with out giving me a ticket, even though I was going like twenty miles per hour over the speed limit. After he let me go I was driving away laughing to myself about how lucky I was and thinking that could've been a very expensive ticket...when I had a very strong impression that said that is why you pay your tithing. I felt very grateful. I have been trying to catch up financially since the move and now trying to save as much money as possible to pay for all the upcoming expenses, a ticket would have been very stressful! It was a humbling experience and I felt very humbled that even though I was in the wrong the Lord still blessed me!

Chasing Bore Tides

My roommate and I went out on the Turnagain Arm to chase the Tide. The Bore Tide is the wave that comes in with the tide. The tide comes in so quickly it creates a wave sometime six feet tall. It is a really amazing sight to see...so we ventured out to catch this natural wonder. A few days prior to this I was out there riding the whale statues and I was freezing so this trip I brought my winter coat. It turns out it is a perfect summer jacket here! It was chilly! When we got to our view point we figured we missed it. We stopped to take pictures of the wild flowers that are just blooming, we went up to Girdwood and got some icecream then on our drive back we spotted a small wave. We quickly pulled over with a few other cars to see our first Bore Tide. It wasn't very big but it was like a big wave of water was slowly creeping into the inlet. I have video below I hope it works but it was too hard to capture how amazing it is.







This is my roommate Brook Wyatt. She was awesome and came chasing the tide with me. She is born and raised here in Anchorage but had not seen to Bore Tide until today with me. We were very excited!!

Below is a video of the Bore tide it was absolutely amazing it is so hard to capture in film though. Maybe you should try seeing it on YouTube There are a few good views of the tide!

Baluga!

Well everything is starting...the wedding madness! It is hard not to get caught up in all the craziness and I have only been engaged for less than a week. I am not sure how people stay sane through it all.
I was very happy to have my roommate and her friend ( who has been visiting from Washington) invite along to go on a long drive, they were going out to a restaurant that served really good Clam Chowder. It was way out in Girdwood which is almost an hour drive along the Turn Againarm, where I usually ride my bike. I of course had already eaten but began to get really excited to try this amazing chowder they were talking about. When we finally got there they had just served their last bowl for the evening. We were all disappointed, and instead went next door to get some really delicious ice cream.
Afterwards, we stopped at one of the view points were beluga whales are most often seen. It is not the season to see them but we were able to snap some photos of their replicas. This below is, as Jed would put it, my redneck shining through. I stayed on for 8 seconds....It was so SOOO cold there. the wind was blowing and it was in the mid-fifties. Not your typical June (well not my typical June). I am going back either tomorrow or Thursday to this point to see the tide come in it's called the Bore Tide. In this part of the tide comes in so quickly that it creates a wave sometimes up to six feet high. According to their little chart the most likely chance of seeing it will be in the next two days around 6:30pm. I think I will grab a beanie, gloves, a heavier coat and hot chocolate to sit and wait for the tide. Things are great here and I am keeping myself entertained, by riding statues of whales ;) I miss you all too much!

"FINALLY"

Hey Everyone! I'M ENGAGED!!
"FINALLY" ~ Jim Gaffigan

I am sure you are all anxious to know how he asked me! It was a total surprise...maybe not that he asked me... but the way he did really surprised me! This is the week that Jed and I were not planning on seeing each other. Since he just came up last weekend and I am house sitting until Sunday. So today, I was texting Jed a lot through out the day, since I knew he was off work and not sleeping like usual. I kept asking him what he was doing. At one point he said "Stalking you" I laughed and didn't think twice about it. More texts were exchanged throughout the day, and he asked where I was, where I was going and what my plans were for the evening. I told him I was going to the gym, but then ended up stopping at Fred Meyers. I kept getting texts from him teasing me and questioning what I was doing, and I remained clueless the entire time. Apparently, I drove right by him at one point on my way to the gym but did not recognize his truck. I wasn't even looking for it and was already in my own little world listening to radio. I left the gym early because I wanted to get home and take Champ (the dog) for a walk. I got several texts afterwards, at the time I did not think anything of it but looking back I should have been suspicious. Jed asked if I was walking the dog, and I told him I was fixing dinner first. The funny thing is I really didn't feel like walking Champ and I hesitated, I slowly ate my dinner before getting up and getting ready to go out for a walk. Finally, I started to walk Champ, I had my headphones on and completely oblivious to my surroundings; I was just enjoying listening to my Ipod. When I heard something behind me and before I even knew what happened Jed, on a red beach cruiser, had snuck up behind me. He stopped directly in front of me, got off the bike and got down on one knee right there. It was so unreal and confusing, I asked "what are you doing here?" I am not even sure what he said after that I was so confused I had to take off my sunglasses to make sure I was seeing everything correctly....I just remember "will you marry me?" I couldn't answer...I was so shocked and surprised. I did notice the bicycle though because I had been saying I wanted one for months even before I moved to Alaska I told him I wanted a red cruiser. Well ofcourse I finally said "Yes" it was a total surprise!!! He finished walking Champ while I rode my new cruiser next to them. I am equally excited about the bicycle as I am the ring. The ring is beautiful and when Jed first opened the box I thought it was really "Shiney and sparkly ;)" It is perfect. Jed picked it out himself, he did a great job since I didn't give him very many ideas of what I wanted. Yeah so we are engaged!! We don't have a date set but we are thinking October-ish, we will keep you all posted!

I Joined The Gym!

After only a month away from home and away from my normal routine I've started putting on the pounds! It is not a significant amount but enough to get me motivated. So I've been trying to get out and be active but it's just not measuring up! I went from being super active and a job that had me literally running almost twenty-four hours a day...to a desk job staring at my computer screen. So here is my new goal to look like Starla from Napoleon!
Pret-ty soon you will not even recognize me!

Jed & Sarah's Date at the Anchorage Zoo

Jed took me on a date Friday night to the Anchorage zoo. It was awesome! They didn't have any crazy exotic animals but it was very alaska appropriate. I had so much fun, I love the zoo! It was kind of cold and most of the animals were sleeping but it was a really fun date!

I was trying to get the bears to move...they looked at me once, The Alaskan animals are kind of lazy! I was tempted to go pet one but Jed convinced me to leave them alone ;)

The Black Bears were much MUCH more entertaining! They were in the trees and playing with each other. It was fun to see them interacting with each other, rather than sleeping.

The Camel may be the ugliest thing we saw at the zoo. "Very Wierd"~Jim Gaffigan

This is my very patriotic picture!

I think the polar bear was the most disappointing. I really wanted to see them up and moving around but we stopped by him twice and he didn't even move. We could hardly see if he was breathing.

The Seal was cute, swimming all around. It was one of the few moving...all the other's could've been stuffed for all I know!

This wolf was eyeing a little girl there! The little girl was probably 3 or 4 and she would run along the fence and the wolf would run back and forth with her. It was really cute, yet at the same time I don't think it was a playful gesture, I'm sure the wolf was hungry and thinking she looked appetizing!

This wolverine was so cute! It was stretching and rolling around before it fell back asleep. Reminded me of UVU--GO WOLVERINE'S!

I think this Yak is the ugliest thing we saw at the zoo!

Overall it was a great zoo date! I had so much fun! It was great to spend some time with Jed; we always have a lot of fun together! I love his stinkin' guts!

The Zoo

Jed and I had a lot of fun this week when he was here. He took me to the zoo! I am still waiting for the pictures and hopefully Jed can send them soon so I can post them. It was not a very exotic zoo, but it was really fun to see some of the bears. I will give more details when I have pictures!

Meet Champ! He is the dog I'm sitting at Nicole's place. He is a sweet dog! I have a funny story about Champ! (I tried to make it as G-Rated as possible... just a warning) When Jed came to visit this week I started telling him that Champ was the kind of dog that made me want to get a dog because he was so well behaved! Well as I started saying this I had my back turned to Champ and Jed. Jed was just watching Champ as he was lying on his bed, well as I started saying this Jed started laughing and as I turned around Champ was standing over his bed and was totally taking advantage of it, just going crazy on it! Jed just stood there arms folded laughing....I stopped mid-sentence and said never mind. We were both laughing pretty hard. But overall he has been really good--and he hasn't tried to hump my leg! We are having lots of fun. I take him for a walk when I get home and he just kind of hangs out doing his thing--and occasionally seems really bored and really wants my attention. I am sure he is lonely and misses his family! He will be glad when they are back!

Spiritually Strengthened!

When I got home from work I was really tired--unusually tired since I'm monitoring my consumption of Dr. Pepper...It is day three and always the hardest for me to get past. All day I have been telling myself that I was going for a ride again today--NO MATTER WHAT! I got really pumped up for my ride and I was thinking of a road that I was going to ride on that I found yesterday. I changed into my spandex and everything had my water bottles filled then I remembered that Institute was at 7pm. The inner battle began...the angel on the shoulder encouraging the institute, the devil encouraging the cycling (at least in this particular moment...somedays the cycling is the angel and the couch is the devil ;)) Both of them seemed very valid this time and I thought I was going to go for a ride. I started driving and actually made a last minute decision...Spandex and all I arrived at the institute building. I saw my co-worker, Shad, who hooked me up at the Mormon Mansion. So I had someone to sit with. It was over-all a good decision. I didn't go on my planned ride but feel pretty good. I am hoping I receive a wind blessing (winds in my favor) next bike ride. Oh and I found this really cool old mormon-ad that illustrates my decision! 

Just hang in there!

So I had one of those days! When the picture above seems very appropriate.
Well I had a meeting with my boss to review the application to apply for the state certification. One of the requirements is to send a copy of your degree or diploma. When I questioned my boss about this she didn't know I didn't have a degree. I was totally embarrassed then realized I had nothing to be embarrassed about! They were the ones that didn't read my resume! Well, I am pretty sure that I can still get my certification but I just have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get it. I need to have letters from my previous employers. I need to have an official college transcript and still I am not sure if I meet all their requirements. That is okay! I'm thinking McDonald's may be a fun change of pace! Also, I will have a quick easy access to my favorite milk shakes. I'm sure everything will work out. I just worry too much.

Afterward, I pretty much lost all motivation and I was really tired. I have planned to go on a bike ride all weekend and when I got home it took hours to convince myself to actually go. I was sitting on my new couch...and just thought of a quote from President Kimball that says something like..."Do something good everyday that you don't want to do." And I really didn't want to go ride! But I was really glad I did! It was so beautiful I went on the same stretch of road called the Turnagain Arm. I just kept going because I felt really good...until I realized I had a really strong tailwind. I turned around into a super bionic head wind! I thought of Maddy and Kenz because they just finished the Little Red and Annette said there was a really strong headwind on one stretch. It was still beautiful. I finally just slowed down and took the extra time to actually enjoy the ride and not just fight with the wind.

I came home today and finished listening to my podcast--which made me laugh really hard...that Kerry Bill and Gina really crack me up! LOL! (that is not supposed to be serious just cracking a joke at myself)

I really miss all your stinkin' guts! Love you all! ~Sarah

Just another way I keep myself busy--YouTube

If you know about HotPockets ... You'll enjoy Jim Gaffigan talking about bowling!!

Keeping Myself Busy!

I'm just keeping myself busy these days. It is hard during the week since Jed is in Fairbanks. Also this week we didn't see each other so I have found all sorts of things to do. First the picture above is of the largest cinnamon roll I've ever seen!! Fortunately it was for all the Care Coordination team and not just myself, however I am sure I could've ate the entire thing! It was good but seriously missing the Icing!

The other thing i've been doing is trying to find a way to build my own "Bing-Bag" (bean bag) but the more I got looking into it the little Styrofoam beans are really expensive so I kind of gave up on that idea quickly. However, I have an awesome office mate that was thrilled to hear I needed a couch because they were trying to get rid of an old one! It is even a Hide-A-Bed!
My roommate wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of having a couch...don't ask me why. But then she thought it was a really big couch. The couch is in good condition but I still bought a sofa cover for it and a few throw pillows! and WA-LA My new couch!!!
The other thing I am working on is a quilt. It reminds me a lot of the Patchwork I did with grandma's material. I actually don't really like this one I think it looks kind of goofy and the material doesn't really mesh well but...I'll just do it as a "practice" quilt and it will be my new camping quilt that I don't care too much about. But I am really enjoying it. I am about as good at sewing as I am cooking. I was listening to my favorite pod-cast (which is just something you download onto your Ipod) I was really enjoying listening to it--I was just in my own little world, meanwhile I was making sure my blocks were really straight. I was taking the time to make sure they were REALLY straight...until I realized I hadn't been measuring! I wasted two yard of material! Because my 12x12 squares are now measured at 11x11 or 11x7 just all sorts of random, with no rhymn or reason. Well shoot! I blame Kerry, Bill and Gina and x96 (the podcast) It is kind of fun to put a quilt together.