Welcome Home Elder Bingham, Welcome Home

***Disclaimer*** I do not have a fancy camera, or Jana's skill with a point and shoot, so my pictures are not the best. Also, people wouldn't stop moving and hugging. I wonder why.

I'm a day late (but not a dollar short luckily) on this post. So I don't want to hear any complaining, or I will turn this blog around, you hear me? Ok.

I will start by heaving a large sigh of relief.

*SIGH*

I know that no one thought I would actually make it through the two years. And I'm sure there was a betting pool on how soon and why/how I would Dear John him. Sorry if any of you lost a lot of money. I can now proudly say that I wrote him for the entire two years. I credit most of this to me being stubborn and not wanting to be one of "those girls" who write them off within the first three months to a year. Also I kept telling myself, if I'm going to break up with him I will be darned if I don't do it in person. And since that wasn't an option, I stuck it out no matter what discouragement came my way. One of my friends told me "He should get an award...He is the probably the only guy that could have gotten you to wait for him." She's right. I don't think I would have agreed to write any other guy on his mission, and sometimes I think I was a little crazy when I agreed to write him. Mostly because I hate handwriting anything, and 104 (or something close to that)handwritten letters was near torture sometimes.

But since I'm sure you're not here to read about the last two years, and you only want to know how the aiport went, I will move on to that topic.

I took the morning off from work so that I could sleep in and have plenty of time to get ready before I left to meet his flight which would be arriving at 12:20. A few weeks ago I bought a cute new shirt just for this day. It's even yellow, and you all know how much I fear wearing yellow.

***Sidenote*** I had the wild idea to perm my hair two weeks ago, and so now I have curly hair. I did not spend hours doing my hair like that, 5 minutes actually.

Here is one of his nieces (not being named for privacy) and myself. I love this girl. She has the blue-est (is that a word?) eyes in the world. I told her to make a funny face with me, but of course she just smiled like an angel and let me look silly as always. And yes, I'm a little pink. I made the mistake of mowing the lawn this weekend and got a sunburn.

Here he is!!! I think his grandpa was making fun of his lack of muscle. This guy has farmed all his life and still does. I don't know how old he is, but I hope I can be half as healthy as he is when I'm old. Funny thing happened though. As you all know with this airport you can see them come down the stairs, and then they come through those automatic glass doors out of security. Right as he was reaching the bottom of the stairs his friend said "It would be funny if the doors didn't open and he was stuck." Well, the doors didn't open, and he was stuck. It took a good 30 seconds of standing right up against them before they opened.

I couldn't help myself, I haven't seen his face in two years, so I took a close up. But don't ask me what he is doing with his hand... I have no idea. Maybe it's a missionary thing...

And here is his nephew that basically worshipped him before he left. I didn't know if he would recognize Kade, and he didn't at first. But then suddenly he did and he wouldn't be more than 6 inches away from Kade at all times. He hung on him like this for about 10 minutes.

Here's the happy family. At least his parents. Myself and his aunt tried to get them to pose for a picture, but this was the closest we got. I think their family has an aversion to cameras.

You've probably seen your fill of pictures now. I know you're all saying, "Wait, where is the picture of you two together?" Oh now that is just a smart idea...good thing I'm not smart. I didn't think of it until this morning. So, nope, there are no pictures of me with him. Before he landed everyone was asking whether I planned to shake his hand or steal a hug. His mom waited for his dad on his mission and she said that he hugged every person there, and then he turned to her and gave her a handshake. I promised everyone I would keep it to a handshake. Well Kade had other plans, I was shooting away with my camera and then he comes over to me and says "Hey, How have you been?" I said "Great" (yes my vocabulary suddenly dropped to the word great, the first thing I said to him was "great." I deserve an award for my huge vocabulary) Then suddenly he leaned in for a hug. I stupidly said "What are you doing?" and proceeded into an "aaaah"(scared style) as he hugged me. Someone slap me please. I just made the best impression ever.

After the airport I planned to leave straight for work since I was scheduled from 1 to 4. His parents had other plans. They were headed to Pizza Hut and I had no option but to join them. Good thing my office is chill and let me come in an hour late. I will tell the Pizza Hut story in my next post, and oh boy is it juicy.

WWYD (What Would You Do)

So, awkward scenario. I'm at work and need to go into the bathroom. I'm walking down the hall to the bathroom and run into my boss (for my new job) and the dean of the campus. I talk to them about a few things. Now the question is, do I proceed to go into the bathroom? Or do I keep walking and come back later? Is it socially weird to walk into the bathroom right after talking to someone? I chose the bathroom option for less messy reasons...ha But yeah, awkward.

It's not just texting

So, I'm bored at work and I was thinking of the movie He's Just Not That Into You. It's a hilarious movie all about the ins and outs of dating. And since thats where I'm with all my funny dating experiences I thought I'd share this little clip.

Christine and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad dates

So, last night I went on another glorious "first date". But before I tell that story we are going to travel down memory lane.

***Flashback swirls...Christine has short red hair and is studying***
It was my senior year, just like any other senior I was busy with projects and papers and picking colleges. Then there was band festival. I wasn't there, but my friend Joe was. And at band festival like so many guys do, he fell for a girl. So he wanted to impress the girl. As so many guys do he turned to his best friend for the perfect date. They decided to make Ryan's famous Italian nachos and watch Bourne Ultimatum. Ryan needing a date (and I'm sure in an act of desperation) called me. It sounded fun and easy enough. Go make great food and show Joe's new infatuation how amazing he is. It all started out easy, grating cheese, dicing tomatoes, cooking the sauce, and then came the jalapenos. I volunteered since I have had extensive training in jalapeno safety and knew I would be the best suited for the job. They refused to provide me with rubber gloves...this was my first mistake. I cored, seeded, and diced the jalapenos with no incident and was relieved. As we sat and talked and laughed my bangs fell in my eye, I then brushed it out without thinking...And that's when it happened...My eye began to sear and burn and I knew I was going to die. Okay not really, but I was going blind from the pain. I stumbled through the kitchen and turned my head upside down in the sink and ran the water through my eye like crazy. I came out of the water with no make-up and soaking wet hair and still burning eyes. His mother swooped in with eye drops and put some in my eye, but made me lie on her bed with everyone staring down at me to do it. It still was burning just as bad as before. Ryan so kindly provided me with a frozen bag of lima beans to keep it cool. I spent the entire movie with the beans on my eye and every attempt to remove it only resulted in more pain. At the end of the date I ever so sheepishly gave him a warm mushy bag of lima beans back. Needless to say, he never called me again.

***Flashing forward a year, Christine now has longer blonde hair and is living in Salt Lake***
It was freshman year...just like any college freshman I had no homework, nothing to do, and I watched TV shows on DVD...wait that's not all college freshman...oh well...Anyway, being at a Mormon school and being the beginning of semester it meant meat market time. I had a guy that I would study with for one of my classes...More like he'd come over to do homework and mine would already be done. Regardless he decided to ask me on a real date, not just come over and study. Being Hawaiian he was set on showing me real cultural food and got really expensive Hawaiian that he said was just as good as in Hawaii. We went back to his apartment to eat it because it was premiere night and The Office, and ER were both having season premieres. The food was good, it reminded me of Chinese a lot. We watched The Office and had a lot of laughs. Then ER came on, I began to feel a little strange but ignored it. Then the feeling got worse and worse...Suddenly I knew I had about 10 seconds until I was going to puke up everything I had ever eaten...I got up and sprinted as fast as I could to his bathroom. I collapsed over the toilet and lost it all. He hadn't followed me and didn't seem to hear. So I carefully combed my hair and splashed some water on my face. I looked dead, but luckily the lights were low and he couldn't tell. When I came back he said "You ok?" I said "Oh yeah...just got a little hot and needed some air..." He left it at that and we finished the date. Yet once again...he never called me for another date,or even to study...So I almost wonder if he knew.

***Flashing forward, present day, Christine has long blonde hair and is working at ISU***
It was like any other day in the office, quiet, boring, no excitement and I was falling asleep at my desk. When suddenly this guy came in and wanted to know what kind of information we had on careers and choosing one. I told him the best thing to do was to meet with our career counselor and talk to her. He was cute, so I told him to save him time he should stay and fill out his paperwork so he wouldn't have to come early before his appointment. We talked and laughed and shared misery stories about Mormon schools and trying to find a career path. He was nice, so I decided to schedule his appointment on a day I would work so we could talk again. On the day in question I even got up early and did my hair and wore a springy skirt to look more girlish. He came into the office just a couple minutes before his appointment, said hi, but then sat and pulled out a magazine. I thought "oh well, nice try, should have put on foundation..." He had his appointment with Julie and as they finished she took him to student services to talk to advising on applying for a program. I commiserated to myself "Julie, why'd you do that...Now I'll never see him again." I went back to surfing the Internet dejectedly. Then suddenly he's back. "Sorry, I just had to talk to student services" Oh...wow...he came back, what does that mean? He asked if I wanted to do something sometime, I said a strong yes and gave him my number. Last night we made dinner at his house, went to the river and fed the ducks, played a dice game at his house, and watched Brian Regan. I left and thought "Has the curse lifted, did I just have a good first date?" Then I got to my car...There was something all over my windshield...anchovies...anchovies and all the sauce and even the can. I had a bottle of water in my car and prayed it would be enough to get it off without having to go back to the door...It wasn't, it only helped smear it. I very awkwardly went back and knocked on the door. He came and was like "Hi?" I said "I've been anchovied" he stared at me confused. I then explained my windshield was covered in anchovies and I needed some water. We got a pitcher.. that wasn't enough. We got the hose from the back yard and I really hosed the car down. I then got in and knew I was in trouble...my car smelled terribly of bad fish...It was in my vents...I gave up and came home knowing it was bad. Today I went to the car wash and got it all off, but when I turn on the vents for the first few minutes all you smell is anchovies. I'm already assuming I don't get a second date with him.

And now I really....don't....even...like...fish.

Maniac Monday

Monday...I just thought I'd make a post to kill some of my boredom. Here's a video to start off...


Previous to working I didn't understand the meaning of this joke....oh i do now...and it's not really a joke anymore. This was our entire office this morning. And the time change has only made it worse. I used to be a morning person and would just pop up like a daisy at 6:15. Ha... I am definitely not that anymore.

Change We Can Believe In

Well I would like to formally annouce...I'm finally a working woman! haha I was just hired on campus for a part time position. Phew! It's been a stress trying to get a job in this climate. In Idaho Falls it's nearly impossible to get a job right now. It's been talked about a lot in the paper here, which was really discouraging. But anyway, the point of this is that today is actually a record day in history, nationally we have the highest unemployment rate in one month sice 1949. And guess what, I got a job on the day this report came out. So who knows, maybe there's a little ray of hope in this crappy economy.
Interesting, eh?

Pay it Forward

So, here's how this game works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!