The Story...

I've had many requests on Facebook to hear how Sam proposed. We've been engaged for 8 days now so I suppose it's time to share. First, let me start by saying my fiancee (hee hee) is one of the most sentimental and thoughtful people I know. She had been working on this proposal for over 3 months. And of course she went Sam style with an amazing video that took more work than I could ever imagine.

We started Christmas Eve Day volunteering at West High. (Note to anyone wanting to volunteer on that day, the only place Sam could find was run by an awesome Jewish organization called National Council of Jewish Women. Everyone else has already started celebrating.) After a few hours of volunteering, she took me to one of my very favorite restaurants, which happens to be one she doesn't like. Red Iguana. If you haven't been there take my word for it and not Sam's. It's mind blowing. After enjoying my spicy Mexican food, we headed home. Apparently Taylor and Kenna hadn't finished setting up, so we had to busy ourselves for an hour. We headed out to Layton to exchange Christmas gifts with my parents.

When we finally arrived back home, it took Sam at least 15 minutes to do whatever she was doing. This is probably the most difficult part of our relationship. I am incredibly impatient and she is ridiculously slow. Once she was ready and we had dished up our ice cream she took me into the living room. Taylor and Kenna had set up pillows, blankets and white Christmas lights in our living room. We made ourselves comfortable and she pressed play. It was a DVD full of couples' advice from a few of our friends. There were a few I hadn't seen in quite some time. In-between couples talking, she put little clips of herself telling me things she loved about me. At the end she posted some videos of us - ranging from 6 years ago to present. That was my favorite part. I loved watching the videos with music playing over it. Like my roomies said, it was like a chick flick.

When the movie ended, she pulled out the ring and said some words that are now jumbled in my memory, but something about being her wife. Of course I said yes, but it was more like an excited, "Yes, yes, yes!"

I am so lucky. Sam is my favorite person. She is the love of my life. When I was in the shower this morning she came into the bathroom and said the cutest thing. She said a lifetime isn't long enough for us. It feels so true. Hopefully we'll be reincarnated and find each other again. I'm hoping to be a fish or something in the ocean so she'll have to look for me there.

Now if I can only keep my head on straight to go to work full time, go to school full time and plan a wedding all at the same time, we'll be good. We have already had such an outpouring of love and support from so many friends. Thanks for your help in this wedding planning process. We love you all! Mark your calendars for August 4th, 2012!

Amen.

I know this has been posted all over Facebook, but I love it.

http://front.moveon.org/two-lesbians-raised-a-baby-and-this-is-what-they-got/#.TtaMf0QVakb

Nothing really left to say except, Sam and I are going to be amazing parents.

Thank you Zach Wahls.

In A Round-About Way, This Is For Thanksgiving.

I wish I could explain how or why it is so exciting to meet other people who are gay. It's like...I finally discovered this trait in myself that I believe I always carried but never understood. It's a trait that many despise or fear, but I have come to appreciate; and to meet other people who can relate to me in that way is kind of amazing. I love hearing their stories and how various people in their lives reacted to their coming out. It makes me look at my own life in a new light.

We all have history, and we all create our future in a way that best serves ourselves. I hope all the people who cringe at the gay community come to realize very soon that we are merely fellow human beings who want goodness and equality in the world.

What else is there to see in us?

I am beyond grateful this Thanksgiving season for every single individual I have met who learned I was gay and cared no more about it than that I am blonde. And for the many people in my life who do care, I am grateful that you still love me for me, and that you treat my other half with kindness and respect. I am grateful I never had to experience being thrown out or shunned by my family, and I am grateful for Elise's family who have all given me so much.

So many never experience it, but I am a fortunate person, to have found true love. So Elise, by saying how grateful I am to have discovered this piece of myself (in being gay), I suppose it all comes down to how immensely thankful I am...for you. Always.

-Sam

Sweet and Sour

We had such a good Halloween this year. We were able to share it with friends and family. We started our Halloween ventures with a party at our house Saturday night. If you didn't come you missed out on some amazing dance moves. Unfortunately, Elise was quite seriously injured when she gave herself whiplash doing something similar to Willow Smith's "I whip my hair back and forth" move. Thanks to all who came to the party and if you didn't make it, don't miss it next year!

The actual day of Halloween is Barb's birthday so we try to spend at least a few hours at her house. We wanted to do something different for her and after loving the cake Taylor and Elise did for Sam's surprise party, we decided to make her a cake! We decided to make a replica of Barbara herself.

Take a look for yourself...

So it doesn't look much like Barb, but she is a witch so we created her secret identity. Sam named the witch, Wanda. We loved her. The ride to Layton was a tense one and we were relieved to put her down safely. She was quite delicious and we're excited to do our next cake!

We had a post-Halloween scare while cleaning out our tub drain. Sam isn't too excited about sharing these pictures in the same post as our delectable Wanda, but what do you do?

Wait for it...

We got sick of standing in a foot of water while trying to shower. Anyone in need of a toupee?!

My Latest Craze...

I gave into what my parents, Sam's parents and some friends have had a lot of success doing. It's an app on the iPhone called My Fitness Pal. I LOVE it. Some say I obsess over it and I call it a control issue but nonetheless it's amazing. Not that you care to hear, but it tells me how many calories I should have a day and I enter in everything I consume and every calorie I burn. I don't know that I have lost weight in the week I've been doing it but I feel better. The crazy thing is I had no idea how many calories I was eating everyday. It definitely made me a lot more aware of what I put in my body. I also now have more of an incentive to work out because that means I can eat more!

So it's my day off and since the elementary school where I volunteer has a short day I had to find something productive to do. Thanks to Carolyn (one of my favorite cooks and bakers) I did. She gave me an awesome recipe for some delicious low calorie muffins. 42 calories a muffin?!?! I was all over that. Thank you Carolyn. I was lucky enough to share some with my little sis and one of our dearest friends when they came to visit. They loved them as well, but since there wasn't chocolate in them my attempt to force them down Taylor's throat was unsuccessful. Here is me being proud of the very difficult recipe I had to follow (2 packages of spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin), and the second picture of me is saying, "Don't you want one of these?" The last picture is Frankie and I enjoying.

(not sure why my eye looks googly)

I'm now onto my workout and then hopefully an amazing night with my very favorite people! I love you Wednesdays!

One more thing, thanks to my very lovely girlfriend for going on this calorie counting quest with me! Always easier with a partner. AND congratulations to mine and Sam's parents on their success with My Fitness Pal. You all look amazing!

"Utah, people working together!"

I'm having a bit of a rough morning. As anyone who knows me, I have been baby hungry for as long as I can remember. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've posted on babies previously. Sam is always back and forth on the baby topic but currently is on board. She killed me yesterday forcing me to play the "Yes or No" game with all the baby clothes at the store. She keeps saying we should look into adoption, so this morning I did.

Basically, unless we lie we cannot adopt. If we were to "break-up" and live apart for a while we could get around it. It blows my mind that I can adopt as a single woman but the two of us couldn't do it together. We happen to live in 1 of the 3 states that makes it impossible for a gay couple to adopt. (The other two are Arkansas and Florida for those who are curious.) So sad. Thank you Utah.

Sam and I were finally ready to make a life here in Salt Lake, and then found out we cannot create a family through adoption. You're probably thinking we shouldn't be surprised, after all it is the Mormon state. I don't want to just move and leave Utah to keep it doing this to every gay couple. It will never progress if we do that. We have to be the change we want to see. So the next thing we look at is trying to get one of us pregnant. Sam doesn't have that desire to carry a baby which is fine, so we look to me. First things first, getting me pregnant isn't going to be easy. Other than my families' history of the trickiness of being able to get prego, I have endometriosis. So a lot of money later there's a good chance we still don't have a baby.

I guess at this point I'm not completely discouraged because I don't know enough. I've been doing some online research and reading a lot but I know there is still more to learn. If anyone is knowledgeable on this topic or knows a gay couple in Utah who was able to adopt I would love some info. I know Sam and I could make some amazing parents. If you have some extra sperm laying around we'll take that too!

Six Years Today

Some of the day today I thought, "I can't believe it's been SIX whole years since we first hung out," and other parts of the day I thought, "I can't believe it's ONLY been six years, it seems like longer...".

September 8th, 2005, she picked me up in her black Mazda 3, named Ebony, and Meatloaf was playing in her CD player. I said how I loved Meatloaf, she laughed that contagious laugh, and then I knew she was going to be important in my life.

We've been through so much together Elise, I can't even begin to describe the emotions we've pulled out of each other, or the feelings that go along with each precious memory. I love you and your quarter of a shaved head more than you can imagine. I always will.

Happy 6-Years-Since-We-First-Hung-Out, Love. Here's to eighty more.

-Sam