It's been an awful week.

I'm beginning to think that I've lost my wedding ring for good.

Tuesday night I was at the gym and had my ring double knotted into my shoe laces (Matt suggested I do that so I don't scratch the ring while I'm lifting weights). I left the gym, called and left Matt a message from a phone on campus (I remember thinking, "I need to put my ring back on," but then I spotted Matt and got side tracked.) We walked to the car and decided to splurge on Subway. We drove to Subway, ate, and then went to our apartment. The next morning I went to get my ring from my shoe, and to my horror—it was gone.

Did I take my ring off the shoes when I got home? I don't remember.

After hours of crying, searching, checking the lost and found, praying, re-searching, and more crying, it's still no where to be found.

It's probably really bad of me to even think like this (and I know losing a ring sounds like such a frivolous thing), but in my head I've just kept thinking about when President Uchtdorf's mom couldn't find her kids on the train during World War II, but her hope overcame her despair and she searched and search until she found them. (I know…losing a ring isn't even close to equivalent, but…) Now I'm just hoping and praying that some honest person finds it and turns it in…or I find it in some random place that I haven't looked yet.

I've never asked anyone to pray specifically for something (so this is a pretty lame reason to start with), but if you want to pray that I'll find my ring, I won't complain. I'd better stop blubbering now. :(

He Hit the Jackpot

Matt went to Las Vegas this past weekend for a SOMA (Student Osteopathic Medical Association) conference. He's in charge of the SOMA organization at Des Moines University, so he and three other students flew out for a few days.

It was pretty funny. Since we only have one phone we had to be pretty creative to get to talk to each other. Needless to say, we had a lot of catching up to do.

This is how yesterday went:
Erin: "Matt! I heard about this blog, and the husband and wife were in a plane accident…."
Matt: "The flight attendent on our flight was making fun of Salt Lake…"
Erin: "At the Sarah Palin rally there were protesters and…."
Matt: "Our hotel was seriously the nicest one in Vegas…."
Erin: "Matt, you have got to see the amazing furniture Nick and Chrissy got for so cheap…"
Matt: "Ojis won $300 the first night and lost it all the second night."

And here's how romantic we are after being apart for three days:
Erin: "Matt, I was going to do something really nice for you and make you lots of good food…"
Matt: [He was probably thinking…"Yeah right, in my dreams."]
Erin: "…but I didn't."

Matt: "I brought you something…"
Erin: [I knew Matt was just as good as NieNie's husband! ;)]
Matt: "...free bathsalts from our hotel room."
Erin: [Even better. He totally hit the jackpot.]

But seriously, it's great to have him home again. Maybe Matt will post more about his trip... ;)

Most Important Day Ever!

If you don't know, today is a VERY important day. Precisely four years ago today—October 22, 2004—Matt and I held hands. So basically, this day is the whole reason Matt and I got married. :)

Check out these pictures:

This is on Halloween 2004. We'd been dating for about a week.

Roller skating for FHE (September 2004)

This is the day after Matt and I met (Labor Day 2004). Some people from our ward went hiking to some wind caves, and Matt and I ended up hiking together for most of the time. I'm in the front in blue, and Matt's on the right in the blue hoodie.

In honor of this day, I'm going to post an entry from an old journal. Matt and I were reading through some of my journals a while ago, and we thought they were all pretty funny, and really, really cheesy (but hey, I was barely 19). So, hopefully this'll entertain you a bit.

I did write in my journal the day after we first held hands. But I rewrote it in more detail in December 2004, so that's the one I'm posting.

"On Friday, October 22, I saw Matt at Jonathan's (his roommates) swim meet, and he asked me if my apartment was going to go to Nic Packer's choir concert that night. I said probably. I was excited that Matt wanted to hang out with me, but then he asked, "Are your roommates going?" So I was bummed because my roommates had been trying to convince me that Matt was coming over to see me, but that comment made me very doubtful.

Our cross country team went to Johnny Corino's that night for dinner, which is where I shared my predicament with Shane Warner and Devin Barlow... See after getting home from talking to Matt, Lucas called me and asked me on a date for that very night! Dah! What was I to do?! I liked Matt and wanted him to get the point that I liked him, because my roommates told me I treated all guys that same... After consulting the roomies, I turned Lucas down. As it turned out we—the cross-country team—didn't even get back in time for the concert or to have gone on the date.

When I did get back, my roommates had left a note to come to our FHE bro's apartment. I did. They were finishing a game. We went to the lounge to watch a movie. I sat by Matt; there were five of us on the couch so we were pretty crowded. Matt and I were flirting and talking through the movie, and I really wanted him to hold my hand. I tried to always have my hand available to be held. There was a blanket over all of us on the couch.

After about an hour of wishing he'd hold my hand, I noticed our arms were right next to one another under the blanket. I wanted to know if his hand was near mine and if he was trying to hold my hand. So I took my thumb and kind of browsed the area around my hand and 'poke', I thought I felt his hand. I brought my thumb back. And what seemed like 15 minutes later, I'd convinced myself that that wasn't his hand (but instead was my other hand), so I surveyed the area with with my thumb one more time. This time I was sure it was his hand.

Fifteen minutes later, when I'd given up completely and decided that I was a moron and that he didn't like me, BOOM! He took my hand! (Ahh! I was in heaven.)

The next day his sister, Laura, came to visit him...We all went to the football game together. It was very cold, and a blanket was over all of us. Matt said, "Is your hand cold?" I said, "Yeah." And he took it and held it between his. Later he asked, "Is your other hand cold?" I said yes, and he warmed that one as well..."

(Wasn't Matt such a smooth guy? I was the first girl he'd ever held hands with, and I think he did well.)

Happy four years of holding hands!

FYI: New Kickboxing Class

The Wellness Center has asked me to teach kickboxing on Friday mornings—so the new class will start this Friday at 6:15 a.m.

If you haven't done much turbo kickboxing, now's a great time to start. We'll be doing parts of Turbo Kick 101. Basically it's a little bit simpler choreography, so we can master the basic punches and kicks. But don't worry, it's still a tough workout. We'll be doing this in all my classes for the next few weeks. (Mondays at 6:30 p.m.; Thursdays at 5:00 p.m.; Fridays at 6:15 a.m.) I'm excited; it's a fun workout.

Okay, I feel like an infomercial, so I'm going to stop now.

Eights List

Natali, this one's for you. I do read your blog! :)

Erin and Matt: June 2005

Eight TV shows I like to watch...
The Office
Everybody Loves Raymond
Sometimes Designed to Sell at the gym…
I don’t have any others; I don’t watch too much TV.

Eight restaurants I like to eat at...
Cool Basil
Winger’s
Bajio
Olive Garden
Texas Roadhouse
Subway
Johnny Corino’s
Cheesecake Factory

Eight things that happened today...
Woke up
Practiced Turbo Kick
Got ready for the day
Bought a few groceries at Wal-mart
Drove to work
Ate breakfast
Read emails
Wrote a pointless blog

Eight things I am looking forward to...
4:30 today when I get off work
Recipe Club on Thursday
Matt getting back from his trip (He’s not even gone, yet.)
Thanksgiving break
Christmas
Matt being done with his second year of medical school
Owning a house
Having kids someday

Eights things on my wish list...
Shoes
A new wardrobe
A hair cut
The internet at our apartment
Someone to cook for me so I never have to
To lose five pounds (I’m typing this as I’m eating candy, so I must not want it that much) :)
Kids
A house

Eight people I tag...
Laura B., Amber L., Nathalie B., Kristelle L., Kamala S., Jordan H., Cassie L., and Hilery S.

Top Five Laughs for the Week

Which is your favorite? Mine is the last one.

5. Last Sunday Matt randomly started racing from our front door to the bedroom and back, over and over.
Erin: "What are you doing?"
Matt: "Can't you tell. I'm running from the door to the bedroom."
Erin: "Umm, why?"
Matt: "Because I feel like it." (He's weird, I know. But I think it's cute.)

4. A few friends came over to watch The Office with me.
Kelly: "Do you think this'll have too much adult content for Austin (her four-year-old)? He might pay attention to it."
Erin: "If it does, we'll call Matt to come and get him." (Matt was at a neighbor's watching football. Like how I volunteered him?)
Five minutes later
Erin: (on the phone) "Matt, can you come get Austin?"
The second Matt came into our apartment, Chase (Kelly's 20-month-old) ran up to Matt and wanted to play. He loves Matt.

3. The Office. I love that show!
(P.S. Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. everyone is welcome to come watch it with me.)

2. At work two co-workers were talking by my desk about weird things certain religions do.
Co-worker I didn't know very well: "I knew a Mormon, and they had like SIX kids!"

1. A little girl was talking to me.
Little Girl: "My mom got stitches."
Erin: "Oh."
Little Girl: (very emphatically) "But I'm not telling you where!"
Erin: "Okay. I hope you're mom's feeling okay now.”
Little Girl: “It’s in the special parts—well the girls’ special parts.”
Erin: “Oh.”
Out of the blue a couple minutes later:
Little Girl: “I know how to spell it.” (I wasn’t sure what she was talking about.)
Little Girl: “B-O-O-B!”

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is Matt's mom's birthday. I was going to try to get him to post something on here for her, but he's swamped with school. He'll be out of town for a few days next week, so he has to take a test early (along with studying and taking other tests). But I did get a chance to ask him about what stands out to him about his mom.

Here's some things Matt said he loves and appreciates about his mom:

• That family is everything to her


• That she's always happy


• That she's sacrificed so much for her kids when they were young (and she continues to sacrifice a lot of us)


• That she's willing to do or give anything for her kids and grandkids

Patti is one amazing woman. I personally am grateful to her because she did a great job training Matt, and now I am the lucky recipient of her training. :) She connects with everyone—whether they're adults, teenagers, or young kids. She always makes holidays and birthdays special, and she takes care of everyone. Matt and I have lived with them for a total of 11 months since we married, and I've noticed that Patti is always the first one to reach out to someone who is sitting by herself or is new to the ward. Another reason I love her so much is that she always has a stash of chocolate in her drawer. Mmm, yum!

Happy birthday, Mom! We love you!