The Blog Duet

The Proposal - Each of our stories. :)

2012-05-30T18:00:00.003-07:00

Steve's Perspective
Coming up to the proposal weekend, Taylor had a sore throat all week and wasn't sure if it was something bad or not. Throughout the week, I (Steve) was hoping she would get better, because I knew I wanted to propose to her on Saturday with a picnic and a hike. Finally... on Friday, when I went to go pick Taylor up from her house after work, she said she was feeling back to normal, which I couldn't have been more excited about. So, then Saturday roles around and we have a wonderful breakfast of Belgian Waffles with whipped cream and syrup, I had strawberries and Taylor had some cherries (she loves cherries).

After breakfast, we worked in the yard. Taylor worked in the garden and I did some more general maintenance: mowing, spraying weeds, edging and stuff. We also had a bed arrive at about noon for one of the guest bedrooms so people could stay in, and then we had a nice lighter lunch. We ate and then went to Costco, I (Steve) love Costco. I really wanted to get a bouquet of flowers for the kitchen table, however they didn't have anything that was that great, everything was geared towards for the Memorial Day weekend, and I wanted to get something special for us. Prior to leaving for Costco, I put the ring in my pocket, I had stored in the nightstand next to my bed while Taylor was getting ready. I knew I needed to be able to have the ring handy and didn't want to her to think anything of it if I tried to get it later, prior to going for our picnic. After going to Costco, we just got a few random items. I was really hoping that I could've gotten flowers for when we got back from our hike to have at home.

After our nap, we made got everything ready for our picnic, I really wanted to try and get Taylor excited about going and try to make it fun. So we got everything packed and ready and made it on our way to a large park nearby with a large river that runs through it. When we got there, and started walking, we realized that there was very few people on the trails that day, which is very unusual, and Taylor was thinking there might be an abundance of people there because of it being a long weekend. This couldn't have been better for me because I didn't want there to be a lot of people around when I proposed to Taylor. It was something that I wanted to be special for the both of us, and have it as just our time together. We finally made it to the end of the trail and sat in a resting area at the end. We were there a few minutes and I wanted to say something before asking, but then I finally decided to just pop the question, so I let Taylor know that I had a question for her, before getting down on one knee, pulled out the ring from my pocket and asked. I couldn't have been more excited and emotional, to ask the woman I love to marry me. It was a very special moment and happened at about 6:45 in the afternoon. She said "Yes" and we both had tears of joy. It is definitely one of the most exciting times and couldn't imagine being with anyone better. After calling up our families and talking to everyone, when I called my family, they couldn't have been more excited and the phone got passed around to everyone. When I asked Taylor, It was on our 11 monthiversary, at the same time that we would have finished our first date we had way back when too.

Taylor's Perspective :)
The day started off with Steve making Belgian waffles - Topped with syrup, whipped cream cherries, for me, strawberries for him.
Steve reminded me that it was our 11 month anniversary. I completely forgot.. haha.
We sat outside eating our breakfast, and discussed the day. - Yardwork, first, then run some errands, then picnic/hike.
Steve had been waaay too excited about this hike/picnic for about a week. he was very pumped... sure we get excited but not that excited... :)
After breakfast we changed into our 'yard clothes' and worked outside, I mainly just weeded and did some stuff in the little garden.
at about noon there was a bed delivered for a guest room, so we called it quits after they arrived to deliver it. then we ate a little lunch, freshened up a bit. then headed out to Costco to go get a few things. When we arrived back at the house, we both really wanted a nap, so we took a good nap, then we got up, and got our food all ready to go, then we headed out.
We went to River Legacy Park where we walked on the trail, there wasn't many people out on the trail at all, which was surprising since it was memorial weekend, the picnic areas were packed, but the trails were extremely quiet.While we were walking, we found a perfect spot to eat our dinner, but we did not stop... we continued on, and we said we'd finish up the trail, then come back to eat there. So we continued on for a few more minutes before we reached the end.when we reached the end, Steve asked if I wanted to to take a break for a minute, and sit down... theres concrete benches there -

We sat for a few minutes, drinking our water, and not saying a whole lot- Steve was beginning to get emotional.(so I knew that something was about to happen)... after a few seconds, he said to me as he began to fiddle with something in his pocket"I have one question for you." i said "oh you do? huh?" He then got on one knee, and asked me "Will you marry me?" I reapetedly said "Yes" and we both were extremely emotional (so thankful that there wasnt anyone around) after a few minutes of hugging, we regained some composure, and then he put the ring on my finger. it was so wonderful.

We then began to call our families - I was only able to talk to my dad, and my brother. We were able to talk to Steve's parents, older brother, and his fiancee, later that night we were able to talk to his little brother. It was truly amazing.
it was about 6:45pmwhen he proposed., now 11 months ago at this time we were wrapping up our first date... at that Starbucks that Sunday afternoon. ... which was really neat to coincide with.
I could not have asked for anything better or more wonderful.

It was so nice to be able to have the long weekend to begin to soak up being 'engaged' truly wonderful.

The next several months will be fun and interesting. but we plan on enjoying this stage of life. And plan on enjoying this time together and as we plan our wedding together.

Saturday Surprise

2012-05-25T13:59:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Steve surprised me (Taylor) with a lovely evening -

he came to pick me up at 4pm, we went to his house, he changed clothes, then we hopped back in the car...
All I knew was that I was to dress nice- like a summer dress.
I was good to go.

So we headed out. no idea where to...

But as we drove, We took the 'downtown' exit... so I knew we were doing something downtown... no idea what...
as we were driving downtown he told me "we're going to go to starbucks, and get something to drink, maybe eat a little bit. Then we're going to see a movie.. "Battleship" (in my head "oh great...")
So we parked, then we walked, then I tried to turn to stop at the starbucks near the theater, but he told me that we were going to keep going, so I asked.... are we going to the otherstarbucks."
he basically told me not to worry about it.
so I went along for the ride. - So we kept walking, until we were about to cross the street, he told me "there it is"- he was looking at the italian restaurant straight ahead--
He said "do you know what we're doing? "italian!?"
"yep."
So that was dinner.
During dinner, he told me the real plan.
- dinner, then ice cream, then comedy club.

We had a blast!
I really enjoyed it. :) was a really lovely evening :) nice to get out and do something different.

Fun filled family weekend ;)

2012-05-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

The weekend started a little early on friday, we both got off work early to go to my (Taylor's) Uncle's Graduation from college.

The graduation was a very lovely ceremony it was quick (1hr!) but really nice. :)
Afterward we all headed to a mexican restaurant and finished celebrating Uncle C graduating. :)

Saturday we were worn out, we did take a nap, we ran some errands, we worked out (P90x) and enjoyed a simple dinner.

Sunday after church we went to Granny's for a mother's day gathering. we ate, and visited and had a good time.

Cherry Pie

2012-05-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

I (Taylor) have had a list going for about 2 years now "101 things to do in 1001 days."
Slowly I have been crossing things off the list.

One thing on the list was "make a homemade pie"
Well back in January (I think?) Steve and I attempted to make an apple pie, but did not succeed.
Then Steve surprised me with one a few weeks later. :)

So I wanted to do one all on my own.
Steve set it all up that we would do it this weekend - to have lobster ravioli, and a cherry pie. as a special dinner.

So we went to the store, got everything we needed, then that afternoon I got in the kitchen and began to make the pie.
It was tough. wasnt hard - just have to be precise, more time consuming and i was tired afterward, it took awhile to really get it going.
but it was fun

Steve was in charge of the Lobster raviolis that evening, while I sat and took a break :)

It was a really yummy meal, felt like we should have been celebrating something....

Think we concluded that we were celebrating "one more thing knocked off the 101 list." :)

Special Olympics, Main Street Arts festival

2012-04-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning began bright and early for us, we were at the UT Arlington Stadium for volunteering for Special Olympics by 8am.
The morning began slow... We were helping out the atheletes get from the stands to the starting line.

It really was a humbling experience to help out, and realize of how much we truly are blessed. The people that we helped were some of the nicest people, and they were very competetive... they all were going to be in "first place" but they were so excited to be there, and to run, it really was nice. all of them were just so excited, and so happy.
Our "shift" was from 8am-12pm.
our races ended a little early (11am) and we ate lunch at the group tent - then we had a group picture, and we were headed back to Steves house at noon. :) we went to his house, took a little nap and got

About 4ish we headed back out, went to Fort Worth for the Main Street arts festival. We only spent about an hour or so out there, (lots of people, didnt see a whole lot that interested us) so we went back and made dinner. :)

Camping at Lake Mineral Wells

2012-04-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

Steve had never been camping.

Taylor had been camping since she was 'knee high to a grasshopper' ---

Steve had been wanting to go camping, so we decided to go camping, it was a quick decision. we had about a week to prepare.

Taylor suggested a place just a bout an hour and a half away (just in case if something happened)

We watched the weather-- as the week was going on , they had anticipated rain during the week, but then kept pushing it back, then the weather people said "it will be raining this weekend...."
we were very much hoping that it would either fizzle out and not reach us, or they could push it back for a few more days.

Nope.

We went anyways-- we loaded everything up in the car... tent, sleeping bags, blankets, pillows (well we actually forgot pillows.) lantern, flashlight, chairs, food, icechest... cameras, everything we needed.
and headed out west about an hour and a half, and arrived at our destination, in time to set up our tent...

set it all up got it all ready, then pulled out our dinner (sandiwches) got everything out, began to make our sandwiches and then was getting dark... the bugs came out all of a sudden, (irritating) then we quickly ate dinner-- then we headed to the tent - had an early bedtime.

Didnt sleep much during the night, it was windy, and made the tent flap - and make noise... so would wake us both up, so we didnt get a good nights rest whatsoever.
Just before daylight, before the birds were even chirping, we were about ready to go ahead and get our day started....
right at daybreak, we had breakfast. (bagels, yogurt)
then we headed out for a hike.
we hiked for a few hours, it was about 10 am when we headed back to the campsite (ready for a nap)
kinda glad we had gone out so early, we had the trails to ourselves, so nice and peaceful.

We got back to the campsite, and ended up taking a 2 hour nap, since we didnt sleep well at all the night before.

We had lunch (sandwiches again, i know very original here.) -

Then we decided to head to town- we needed some things for dinner- so off we went to get ice and charcoal. We were going to make burgers for dinner. so we got our stuff, as we were out, i was keepign an eye on the weather on my phone...

high chance of storms during the night.

We went ahead and did some things that we wanted to do -
We went for a nice hike, then Steve wanted to go for a swim, so we went to the swimming area for about 30 mins or so. When we got back to the campsite we talked on what we would do - do we stay... Stick it out, and deal with it?... Do we stay and at last second pack up?... do we go ahead and pack up and get out of here?....
So we decided fot the time being we would go ahead and pack up things that we knew we wouldnt need, stick around for dinner, then during the night when it got bad, then we would take down the tent and would head home.

so we began to pack stuff in the car. then I (Taylor) got to thinnking of how miserable that would be--- the wind will be picking up, if we couldnt sleep last night because of the wind, we definitely wouldnt be able to sleep that night because of the high wind.
So I suggested that maybe we need to think about going on and heading home - (everyone else was packing up their tents....so that was a good indicator) I knew that we wouldnt get much sleep, then it would be raining, so would be just muddy and just difficult trying to take down the tent, get it in the car and everything while raining, possibly hailing, then driving home while storming, all the while we are exhausted. just knew it would be a complete disaster.
Steve agreed that would be best to do that... just go ahead, pack up and head home.

so we werent rushed - we packed everything up, and we headed out... we stopped on our way out at a church (sister church to mine.) and we took some pictures of some flowers and stuff out there, then we went on back to steve's house and we cooked dinner (bug free!)

Steve does want to go back out and go camping again, so we will definitely be doing it again, hopefully it wont get cut short from storms.

San Francisco for Easter

2012-04-12T09:14:00.002-07:00

This past weekend we went to go see Steve's family for Easter out in California.
We got out there Thursday night, and didnt do a whole lot,
Friday Steve took me to go to Trader Joes, a store out there, that is coming to Texas... I wanted to see what it was all about. I walked in, and loved it, (especially the prices) and some good food too. :) I absolutely cannot wait until we have one here in Ft worth. :)

We then went with his parents, and went to the ferry - rode the ferry across the bay into San Francisco.

then we spent the day in san francisco, spent quite a bit of time in a building, like a market place then we had lunch with his brother and his Fiance

, then we went and hopped on a cable car and rode that for a bit,

jumped off, and then spent a few minutes down by the wharf, then we headed back we were running short on time since we had to be at the ferry by 4:15, we waited in the line for a cable car, but the line was long, and the cable cars were slow, we decided to "hike' back to the ferry.... then we took the ferry back and then went back to the house we rested/ napped, then we went to his brothers house and had dinner with him and his fiance. it was a fantastic time, we really enjoyed our time with them. then we headed out....
We were supposed to go see a movie with his parents and younger brother, but we left too late, and we would have been about 30 mins late... plus we both were tired, so we went back to the house and went to bed.
saturday morning we got up and went to go look at his high school, then we went to a coffee shop "Peet's" was delish!

then we walked a little bit of a trail, then went home real fast and we then all went to a skydiving simulater thing... they all did it...i was the photographer.. they all had a wonderful time, and I had a fantastic time watching taking pics and video. :)

(Jon, Kendra,Steve,Jeff)

Steve Flying

We then went back home and started getting ready and went to church (I really liked it)

then afterwards Steve and I stopped at the store and got a few things so we could make a carrot cake that evening... then we went to the house had a wonderful dinner of Smoked ribs and chicken and all the fixin's :)

then we all got in the kitchen and we all were working on desserts and such, for the next day. it was really good.

then we all went upstairs and we watched "baby videos" then called it a night.

Sunday morning we got up and got ready for the day - for brunch with the family at Grandma's, did that, was delicious and we had a good time, was good to see all the grandparents. then we went home and rested and took a little nap, then Steve and I took a walk, and then some other family came over and we had appetizers, and then they left and we all had lamb... was delicious.then we went and started packing since we were leaving at 5:30am...
The next day we left and came home.
it was an absolutely wonderful trip. I had alot of fun, it really was nice to spend so much time with the family. I am so happy that I was able to go. and cannot wait to go again.

I have videos that I'll have to work on getting it on here...
My photo album of our trip

Gardening update

2012-04-04T20:25:00.001-07:00

We didnt do alot of work out in the yard this weekend... just some minor stuff, we got to steves house friday evening to find his trees were GONE! the people came and cut them down, when we thought they'd be out the next week... surprise surprise! - The stumps were still there, (But were out by monday)

I also had gotten my new camera in the mail on friday, so I spend alot of the weekend looking at my new camera and playing with it around the yard. :) (and I LOVE it. ah so much better than my other one, where I had to lug around different lenses :) )

heres the update from the weekend:

I planted a few daisy seeds in our little pot that we got last year :)

Blueberry plant #2

Blueberry Plant #2

Blueberry Plant #1

Blackberries

Fig

Peach Tree :)

A rose

Trees came out on friday... looks good huh? little bare right now, but you can actually see the house!! :)

Yard work March 24-25 2012

2012-03-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

We worked on Steves front yard this past weekend.
Friday we walked around the front yard, deciding basically to rip almost everything except the roses out, so all of the shrubbery and such, then we would be replacing many of the shrubs with more colorful bushes and flowers.

As we were looking we noticed that one of the trees near the front door died.. leaves still on it, but they were very crispy... so we will have to have someone come out to take them out, that is not something that we want to tackle.
Across on the other side is a tree that we do not want, it does not offer much shade, so we (well somone else) will be taking it out. On both sides of the front walk we will plant Japanese Maple trees which will look so lovely.

BEFORE

AFTER

We ripped up quite a bit of shrubbery...

BEFORE

After

Big bush is gone, alont with some smaller bushes and other plants.

BEFORE

AFTER

6 shrubs gone in front of the tree in front of the windows - this tree will be taken out and will be replaced with a Japanese maple. and some other flowers.

BEFORE

AFTER

2 shrubs taken out along with some "monkey grass" the tree on the right hand side will be removed since it is dead/dying... and we will have a japanese maple to replace it. Flowers will be planted along the window. :)

THE BIG BUSH:

BEFORE

AFTER

THE SHOVEL:
While tearing out some of the shrubbery, the poor shovel got bent.
so we had to make an "emergency run" to Ace to get another shovel, so we could finish the job.

Planting the hydrangia... it will look so wonderful when it grows big :)

THE BACKYARD.

We planted another hydrangia in one of the back gardens, it will look so nice when it grows it will be right near the window, and will be so pretty. :)

Yellow Roses ... so pretty! :)

Red rose has bloomed

Steves Apple tree is coming back! I think it heard us saying that we were going to tear it out. :) we'll see if it survives.. :)

Bud

The blackberry bush has started to bloom! - 2 blooms!! :)

Peach Tree is doing fantastic!! :)

Fig is doing great!! Its really growing! :)

The front of the house - Its going to look like a totally new house when the two trees by the front walkway are gone. I think it already looks great, but I cannot wait to add more color :) so exciting :)

Planting Flowers in Garden

2012-03-20T08:15:00.001-07:00

Sunday afternoon we decided to plant some seeds that I (Taylor) got.
I ordered some seeds from a lady here in dfw area, off of Etsy.
I got Dill, Marigolds and Cosmos.
I am so excited that I was able to plant them in Steve's garden, and be able to watch them grow :)

Starting off:
the area that we put them in had a lot of "baby weeds"--- we cleared it out not too long ago, and the rains came, then there they are spreading back up.. so we'll have to make sure to keep an eye on that.
So we once again cleared it out and worked the dirt, got rid of alot of just old roots and acorns, and just stuff that would hinder our nice little seeds to grow.

Then started making little "trenches"

and began to plant.

Sprinkling the seeds.

Found a creepy little bug...

Steve planting some seeds....

all planted, now just a matter of waiting.

Update on the other plants that we planted a few weeks ago:

Fig tree-- has quite abit of growth, leaves and such. - definitely fast growing.

blackberry, has grown some

Raspberry, has grown a little

Blueberry has quite a bit of new little blooms.

We will see how it all does :) it will be fun, Im glad we were able to get some flowers in the garden :) will be very good, im very excited about it all. :)

Saint Patrick's Day Dinner

2012-03-17T03:04:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Steve and I went to his house, we went for a little walk/ Jog... never thought I'd say this, but I enjoy going for a little jog... Im getting better at not being completely out of breath after about 2 seconds of jogging... Slowly getting better. :) which is good.

After we got back, we made dinner:

we had cheese and crackers for appetizer... Plain Goat Cheese, Goat Cheese with fig (yum) and Smoked Gouda (our fav)

Steve found some shamrock shaped raviolis.... very much like the "heart shaped ravioli" we had for valentines day. So for Friday night, we had some shamrock shaped ravioli. It was delish :) it had some kind of "irish cheese" in it. was very good.:)

Tilapia, Zucchini, Polenta, and Red Velvet Cake for Dessert Dinner

2012-03-09T12:05:00.000-08:00

We made grilled tilapia, baked zuccini, and a Red velvet Cake (from Scratch)

The zuccini: We sliced up the zuccini, put it on a cookie sheet, put some olive oil on it, then we put some rosemary on it...(Fresh Rosemary from the garden!)

We then put it in the oven, just to heat it up some.

It was delish!!

Grilled Tilapia:
We made 5... (we made extra so Steve could eat some throughout the week)
-We sliced up one orange, two lemons, then got one of those already sliced packets of bell peppers and onions.
We put the fish on a piece of foil, rubbed the fish with some olive oil,
then we put the fruits and veggies into each packet.
we also added (fresh) rosemary and some basil.
we put it on the grill for a few minutes, turning them every so often,
then once they were done, put it on the plate, and we added some feta cheese and avacado.
DELISH!!

We also made palenta.
(Taylor actually did it, it definitly was a "hit" between us and Steve enjoyed it... considering she'd never heard of palenta in her life.. haha.!)

Red velvet Cake...
From scratch...
We had a recipe, so we threw all the ingredients together, and then baked it, then came out to be more like a fudge than anything.
I (Taylor) think we should have looked and paid more attention to how exactly we were to make it, rather than just throw the ingredients together... just me though.
it was good, very dense.
the frosting was not homemade... we bought that.. :)

Getting ready for Spring 2012

2012-03-05T12:21:00.000-08:00

As a part of getting ready for spring, and trying to enjoy the beautiful weather we were having at the time, Taylor and I (Steve) decided to get out in the yard and do some yard work on Saturday and Sunday. Although, on Friday after work, we went shopping to get some ingredients for a Red Velvet cake (which we didn’t quite make this weekend but plan on it next weekend), and also some ingredients for some soft tacos. So on Friday, we made some awesome Soft Tacos, which were really good, and I have to thank Taylor for wanting something Mexican to eat too J. On Friday, prior to seeing Taylor, I went to help out at the Church and spread some mulch around the playground with the Pastor and Taylor’s boss along with some other church members.

So, Then Saturday, I went back to the church to help out and finish off at the church spreading the mulch with the men’s fellowship group. It was a lot of fun to get outside and help out and were able to finish by about 9:30 or 10:00. After that I picked up Taylor and then stopped by Lowe’s and picked up some fruit trees/bushes (blackberry, rasberry, blueberry, and a fig tree). We then went home and planted and watered them along with pull some weeds. The flower garden is looking much better now than what it was previously. We also exercised a little bit at the end of the day too. For dinner, we had another wonderful meal of cheese and crackers, sliced pears, smoked salmon and wine.

Then, on Sunday, we tore out some bushes around the garden, which helped open things up and make things look a lot better and some weeding. We also did some more exercising as well afterwards. At the end of the day, we made a really good meal with ravioli’s with pesto sauce.

a "relaxing" weekend

2012-02-29T13:29:00.005-08:00

This past weekend Steve and I didnt have really anything planned (which was nice) so we took it easy, got some stuff done around his place and enjoyed the weather outside.

Friday: we got together, Steve came by and picked me up, then we headed to his house and we made some ravioli (Can you tell we eat pasta quite often?- what can we say, we like it, and its easy...) this was a mushroom and sausage (I think) ravioli, it was very good. we also had one of our favorite desserts, Ice cream (with chocolate on top, of course... chocolate syrup, chocolate covered almonds, and pieces of a chocolate bar... MMMM...) We watched a movie called "Fireproof"
It was a really good movie. I really did enjoy it.

Saturday Steve came and picked me up after his Toastmasters meeting, we went down to his house, and he wanted to excercise.. (i really wasnt int he mood, but figured I'd better, sure enough i felt better as I was exercising and afterwards) we went for a walk/jog around the neighborhood as well, it was very nice out. :)
We both were absolutely starving when we got back, and made the most delicious sandwich, putting all kinds of stuff on in. -- i dont know if it truly was that amazing, or if I was jus That Hungry, but either way, I loved it, and then of course I got sleepy... I turned on a movie, and Steve wanted to do some stuff out in the yard, so I sat this one out, I watched a movie, and fell asleep... :) then later we watched "All the Presidents Men," had Asian noodles for dinner (another easy favorite of ours) then had root beer floats :) mmmm...

Sunday:
Church, then we had sandwich for lunch, and then we were out in the yard for a good portion of the afternoon and made a big dent in the garden area (well at least I think it looks much better)
then we read some, and then had breakfast tacos. :)

It was a nice weekend I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Steve's Make-Up Valentine's Day Surprise

2012-02-18T16:30:00.000-08:00

So, Steve decided to Surprise Taylor with a late Valentine's Day Dinner on the weekend after Valentine's day and do something really nice for her. I (Steve) did not want Taylor to know what was going on, so I had told Taylor to dress up as if we were going out to do something and that I'd pick her up at 4:30. In the meantime, I prepared a nice meal which consisted up heart shaped ravioli with some smoked salmon, a salad, and prepared an apple pie (which was made all from scratch). Prior to leaving to pick Taylor up from her house, I had laid out my clothes I was going to dress up in because I had planned to bring her back home to eat and have everything prepared to do so. A few minutes after I left to pick Taylor up from her house, I gave her a call and told her I was a few minutes out and that I was on my way. I rarely call her to let her know I'm coming to pick her up and I usually text her to let her know I'm leaving my place, that way she knows that she has about 20 minutes before I get to her place. I wanted Taylor to think I was actually out and about doing something, other than home making something. When I called Taylor, I informed her, I still needed to change and was running a little behind, even though I was getting to her place a few minutes ahead of the 4:30 timeline I had previously set. So, I was able to pick Taylor up and bring her home, where I was able to quickly change and put the ravioli in the oven to heat, at a very low temp. while we went out. I had to take her out again so our food could heat up, and prior to getting on the freeway, I pretended that I forgot my wallet at home and needed to go back. Once we got back, I pretended to look around for a little bit while Taylor waited in the car, at which point I asked her to come in and help out to find my wallet. At that point I decided to go ahead and surprise Taylor with bringing the food out of the oven, along with the salad and salmon from the fridge. It was a nice surprise, especially since Taylor thought we were going out to do something. We also watched a really nice movie that night called Courageous, we both enjoyed it and had a wonderful Valentine's Day that we were able to make up. Taylor also had a wonderful Valentine's Day gift of a cook book holder and a mouse-pad with a lot of our pictures on it, which was very thoughtful and kind. I did not expect anything from her and it was wonderful to receive those gifts.

Taylors perspective:
I had known for several weeks that Steve was planning on something for me for Valentines day for that weekend after, we had discussed we would actually do our valentines day the weekend after, because the weekend before he was going hunting and whatnot, then we did get together on that Tuesday, but Steve wanted to do something special for me.
So over the course of about a week, he initially told me to dress up.. something nicer.. one of my nice dresses then a few days later he said, well no, not one of the nice dresses, but a casual dress, he told me "like the yellow dress you wore when we had sushi that first time.."--( i was shocked that he remembered what i wore... but was so nice... anyways--) I told him that was a summer dress, but i'd wear something nice. :) -- So the days went by... he told me he "had to get things set up" and told me that he would be at my house at 4:30 to pick me up...
Friday afternoon I was at work, I looked at our calendar (we share a calendar on Google Plus...) and I Gasped and said out loud (i was at work) "OH NO!!!"...
There it was... plain as day--- on the calendar for 7pm, at the American airlines center.. "Lady Antebellum Concert"-- I couldnt believe that I saw it... I couldnt believe that he put it on the wrong calendar...--- really not like him to put something on the wrong calendar... (he also has a calendar thats just his calendar... ) anyways... so I didnt k now what to do, I told the girls at work what was going on... I was debating in my head, whether to either tell him that he put my surprise on the shared calendar, or if I should just pretend that I didnt see anything, the more I thought about it, the more I truly thought that it was just a ploy...
the one thing that really kept me from believing that it was the concert, was the fact that I knew Steve had to "set stuff up" all day saturday... and I knew he was up to something on saturday, because I know he enjoys our time together, and he wouldnt give up that time together if he didnt have to.. If it was the concert then he would still spend that time with me, and then we'd go to the concert...
So, I decided not to mention that I saw it on the calendar...
BUT... Friday evening I did casually try to get a feel for if he would react when I would mention the concert... after work, Steve came to pick me up, and as we were driving, the station was playing a Lady Antebellum song, and I casually said "man, the stations are playing alot of Lady Antebellum songs, probably to get ready for the concert sometime this weekend..."... he agreed... in my head I was just thinking "its not phasing him, so thats either not it, or hes just doing really good acting..."
we went about our evening.
Saturday, I just hung out at my house all day, still no idea what he had up his sleeve, i knew he was busy all day, but no idea what he was up to. he made sure I knew hed be at my house to pick me up at 4:30, so I assured him i'd be ready to go that way we could go on our way...
He called me to tell me that he was on his way... (normally he texts me to tell me that he's leaving his house) he calleed at 4pm, saying that he would be at my house in 15 minutes, he was running ahead, but running behind.. ( i didnt know what the heck he meant..) then he said "I've got to go home and change clothes, I didnt have time to go home and do that..." Ok, so in my head : hes been elsewhere setting stuff up and getting things ready...
so sure enough he showed up like hes been out and about all day, busy busy... kinda out of breath.. -- so i was all ready to go, my dad teased Steve a little, since we all had no idea what hes been up to, and just saying that it seems like its a "big surprise..."--- anyways, finally we were able to leave, we headed out, and we headed to his house, he told me "ok, Im going to run inside and change, I'll be back in 3 minutes or less..." so he ran in, changed clothes, came back out, gift in tote... so i KNEW we were going some place... Then we were off, we headed out, we started going, and then he realized he forgot his wallet.. so we circled the neighborhood, and then got back to the house, he ran inside, to get the wallet, after about a minute, came back out, and said, "hey, will you come in and help me find it..." So got out of the car, and kinda looking around, he was focused in the kitchen area .... he said something like "hey look..." --- and he pulled out a plate of food from the oven, I thought it was appetizers or something (i very much had it in my mind we were going someplace..) -- so then i realized that it was real food (pasta) -- so he put it on the table, pulled out salad, and salmon and then he pulled out a handmade apple pie. (something that he and I have been working on together... but he did this one all on his own, it was so wonderful... (gonna admit it all brought tears to my eyes, it was the sweetest thing anyone could have surprised me with... already made dinner, and just have me think that we were doing something else.... after a few minutes and realizing we were in fact staying at his house and eating, I took off my coat and then we werent hungry yet...
So he had bought a movie (I'd heard some great things about ) "Courageous"-- we sat and watched it for awhile, then we had our wonderful meal, then afterwards we continuted the movie..
The food was delicious. :) I really did enjoy it and was completely surprised, He did an absolutely wonderful job.
As far as his gift goes, I was extremely excited to give him the gifts i got for him, I got him 2 items, one was a cookbook stand.. (something he definitely could use..) i know when we're cooking together, its hard to keep that book open to the right page, so this will be so much easier. :)
Then I "made" him a computer mouse pad... one with our pictures on it and such, I really did like the way it turned out, so i was very excited about giving it to him, I figured he'd be able to use it at work :) (Sure enough he is, and got lots of good comments on it.)
Steve's gift, well he had me a little worried that I wouldnt like it, apparently some people informed him that it was a bad idea, and it was like giving a woman a vacuum cleaner or blender or something.
It was work out clothes, but i LOVE them, its shorts and a shirt, the shirt is a really pretty turquise-y color, and the shorts are black with that same turquise color stripe down the leg, anyways, they fit and i love them. :) he did a wonderful job. I even wore them the next day when we worked out. :)
It was such a wonderful valentines day. :)

Valentine's Day Photo Album

Went to First movie in theater :)

2012-02-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that Steve and I have been dating for 7 months and we have yet to go to a movie... in theater? Neither of us were super interested in any movie in theater for the past several months, but when I saw the trailer for a movie, I told him I wouldnt force him to go, but I'd be seeing this particular movie... but maybe with one of my friends or something... he told me he'd love to take me to the movie... This movie was coming out valentines weekend... but he told me he'd take me the weekend after valentines day... (i was very much ok with...maybe less of a crowd...) so this gave him a few weeks to "prepare" or whatever to go see this movie...

So on this evening, Steve came, picked me up, then we went to his house, he worked out, I made some dinner, then we were off to go see this movie....

As you probably can guess it was a "chick-Flick"..... "The Vow"

I was excited to go see a movie... It occured to me that the last time I went to see a movie, I was with my friend, Nikki, and she and I went to go see a chick flick, and she told me about eharmony.... and that night I signed up for it... (thats what started the whole thing with Steve and I :) ) anyways, sorry for random thought...

So we went and saw the movie, Steve said he enjoyed it... I know I did.

We had fun :)

We already have plans to see a "Guy" movie. :) haha :)

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day, Taylor made a wonderful "Zesty Italian Chicken With Veggies over Rice" dish for when Steve came over to visit. It was a wonderful surprise for Steve, especially since he did not expect Taylor to do anything for Valentine's day. Since Steve had family in town and went out on a hunting trip the weekend before Valentine's Day, he had asked if he could do something special the following weekend on Saturday and surprise Taylor with. It was a wonderful evening and exchanged cards and had some of the box of chocolates that Steve had brought over for Taylor. I (Steve) hope that I can surprise Taylor as much as Taylor surprised me with dinner and as special too :)

Cooper's BBQ and Steve goes Hunting with Family

2012-02-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Steve's family came into town and everyone went to Cooper's BBQ in the Stockyards in Fort Worth. It was a lot of fun and always nice to have some great bbq. Steve's little brother had never been there, so it was a neat experience for him. The next day Steve's family went out to Madisonville, TX to do a night hunt of some wild pigs. Although it was really cold, everyone had a really good time and enjoyed the use of the high tech equipment, especially since they used night vision and night vision scopes with suppressors. It was a one of a kind experience for Steve and his family and when Steve got back, he told Taylor all about what had happened. On that Monday, Steve took Taylor out to lunch and the resturaunt gave Taylor a nice flower due to Valentine's being the next day. (Steve took Monday off because they stayed up all night Sunday night and didn't finish hunting until about 1 A.M. that morning and didn't get back into Fort Worth until about 11:00)

While Steve was out doing Manly things... like hunting pigs with night vision and heavy duty guns, I spent the day (Sunday) cleaning and organizing my closet. I know its very interesting... probably more interesting than the hunting trip that Steve and his family went on (just kidding) but it was very nice to get my closet re-organized and to get some things done around my house.

"Giant" The musical

2012-02-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

We went to go see the play, "Giant" at the Wyly Theater in Dallas. -- The play was based on the Book "Giant" by Edna Ferber.
Taylor has been reading the book, and the movie is one of her Favorites.
It was a must see... even though the reviews on it were a little rough, we still had to go see it.
It was a musical - The movie is not a musical, so thats what made it different to see..
Steve and I have been watching the movie a little at a time, because it is a 3 1/2 hour long movie .
The play was good, i feel like they left some stuff out that I wish that they hadnt... they managed to kinda get the story in there, they sang about what happened.. but was kinda hard to follow the singing was very fast on some of the songs, but overall we had fun.
It was at a theatre that i'd never been to, never even heard of before going to the play - it was newer, I think, it was definitly different, nothing like Bass hall - it was nice... it was a smaller theatre, the seats we had were up as close as we could get, up on the top level, it really was some great seats. :) we had a good time :)

(Steve was only able to get a photo of me, we were trying to get a pic of both of us, when we were informed to not take photos.) :)

Fossil Rim Wildlife

2012-02-04T23:29:00.000-08:00

We pretty much explain everything in the following videos / pics.... Steve planned this trip, and surprised Taylor with it. :) Taylor was very surprised, and was very excited.

Intro Video

Second Video

We Made it!

Fossil Rim Photo Album

Dallas Zoo

2012-01-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon we went on a true adventure. We ventured over to Dallas. Normally we avoid Dallas at all costs... but Steve had the idea of going to the Dallas Zoo (Taylor hadn't ever been.) We went... even though it was 50*, Cloudy and windy. Steve was very insistent on going to the zoo... He even told Taylor that she didnt have to go if she didn't want to... but she did anyway. :) It was alot of fun, we saw some animals, ate some lunch and walked around. We both agreed that we enjoy the Ft. Worth Zoo much better.

Dallas Zoo Album

We tried getting a good picture of us in front of the flamingos, we we're going to try and do it ourselves, but someone else offered to take a picture of us. We kind of missed the flamingos behind us somehow.

That evening we went and saw a Muscial at Taylor's high school "Grease"- It was a fantastic Show the students did a fabulous job, and we thoroughly enjoyed watching it... it was very well done. :) Hard to believe that it was high school students.

Rodeo time in Texas

2012-01-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time at the Will Rogers Coliseum watching the Stock Show and Rodeo. It was a lot of fun and enjoyed it a great deal. We were wore out at the end of it though but it was a lot of fun, even with the drunk college students behind us who were spilling beer all over the place.

Rodeo Entertainment

Rodeo Album

Music of Paul McCartney at Bass Hall

2012-01-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Taylor's parents gave Steve 2 tickets for "Music of Paul McCartney" At Bass Hall, in Ft. Worth. So of course Steve would take Taylor to it. :) It was fun, we sat by a very interesting lady who was very interested in who we were and how we met and such. :) the music was great, Taylor knew some of the songs, while Steve only knew like 2 of the songs. we had fun, even though we were the youngest people at this concert. :)

Kemp Family Reunion

2012-01-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

My (Taylor) Family has a family "reunion" every year, the saturday after new years. (or something like that..) anyways, its my moms side of the family, her aunts, uncles cousins... and people that i really have no idea how they are related.. theres normally between 25-35 people there.. I dont know how ma

ny there were this year.. but I think it was about 25 people. This year we had it at some one elses house -- we used to have it at my great uncles home, but this year they changed it - they had it at one of my moms cousin's house. It was fun - we did "our game"- Its basically a "white elephant" type of game, but its usually "who can bring the most ridiculous item... and to not get stuck with the crazy items... It was fun. Steve opened up a metal turtle thing... but in the end he cleaned up, he ended up with a nice pitcher and serving plate. :) I don't even remember what I opened up, then I stole a cookbook, then the cookbook was stolen from me, so I ended up with a Curious George game or something. it was alot of fun, I was glad Steve met the extended family... kinda cool that he met the people that i see only one time a year...

After we went to the party, we then stopped at the "founder's Plaza" at DFW Airport, basically you can see the planes take off and land. it was cold, but we all had fun... we had some fun with some statues.....

Dinner with family friend of Taylor's Fam

2012-01-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

A family friend of my family invited us for dinner.. They have been closer with Daniel (my brother ) over the years, but they kinda wanted to get to know Steve (I think) :) but we had a lovely time. It was Kathy and Larry (fam friends) - Daniel & Lexi, then Steve and I.
Steve and I were the first to get over there, Daniel ran into traffic after he picked up Lexi.
So we got over there, visited with them, and had a wonderful time, it was just about 20 minutes later that Daniel and Lexi arrived. We ate, and had a wonderful visit, then we headed out.
The rest of them were going out dancing, Steve and I opted to not do that, this time. :) We told them next time we would. :)
It was a wonderful evening.