oops...

Life's been crazy and I never finished.

Day 29- Your testimony.
I know that Heavenly Father is there to guide us to the right path if we just ask Him for help. I know that everyone makes mistakes, but through the power of the atonement we can repent and become better. I know that Christ not only suffered for our sins, but He felt our heartaches and He is waiting for us to reach out to Him so He can comfort us. I know that families are meant to be forever, but that can only happen by the proper authority in the temple. I'm so grateful that I'm sealed to my Jonathan and the rest of my wonderful family. :)

Day 28 - A person I love

Everyone knows that I love Jonathan, so I'm gonna go ahead and do someone else.

Since I was a little kid, I've always had a pretty good relationship with my mom. We didn't always get along, of course, but for the most part, I've always felt really comfortable talking to her about things going on in my life, and, for the most part, she hasn't been too naggy or lectury (if those are words...) and has sat back and let me make the mistakes that I needed to make in order to learn. Over the years, we've only gotten closer, but it wasn't until the last year or so that I've had some things happen in my life (including getting pregnant and becoming a mother myself) that have made me realize how truly wonderful she is. She raised 5 wonderful kids who are all best friends with each other and are doing great things with their lives. She had us all reading before we went to kindergarten and helped us throughout school and we've all gone to college. She taught us all the gospel and that we were children of Heavenly Father, and still today gives great advice on how to apply the gospel in our lives. I'm so grateful that we have an open honest relationship. I love you, Mom!!

Day 27 — A place I love

I know it's super cliche, but I love the beach! I was born in California and have so many fond memories of roasting hot dogs and climbing rocks at Corona del Mar, going of field trips to the tide pools, and wave jumping with my siblings. Growing up so close to the beach was fantastic!

Here is my family, the year before we moved to Texas. :)

We go back to visit pretty often, which is really great! We always have tons of fun with the Shinodas when we go!





About a month after we started dating, I went with Jonathan and his mom to Galveston. we stayed at a little resort that was about 100 yards from the ocean. It was December, so no swimming, but it was so much fun! I left him this in the sand.





A few months after that, we went with my parents to South Padre Island for spring break. It was there that he left this little note for me in the sand.



And I said yes! :)

Day 26 — A child I love

This one's pretty obvious.. and since I haven't really done a post about her birth, I'll take this moment to talk all about my darling little girl.

First off, here is me; 3 days overdue, about to head to the hospital to be induced. Holy cow! I totally forgot how huge I was...

We got to the hospital at 6 am, and started the pitocin drip around 7:30. Around 8 the doctor broke my water. At some point I asked for an epidural, but before I could get one, the anesthesiologist got called into an emergency c-section and I had to wait like another hour and a half... it was awful! But once I got it, the pain disappeared and it was wonderful!! My friend, Katie, stopped in for a little while to visit, and it was really great! She's one of the first friends I made when we moved to Texas 14 years ago, and it meant a lot to me to see her. After they left, the contractions got worse and they felt just as bad as they did before the epi. I started pushing around 1, and on November 30 at 1:22 pm, Cecily was born!

She'll be 7 weeks old tomorrow.
She has been pretty consistently sleeping 6 hour stretches at night.
She is extremely particular about the way she's held, and hates to be put down for longer than 5 minutes.
She's got a birth mark on her ankle and another one (a tiny little red dot) on her back.
She LOVES her granddad. She can be screaming her head off and the second he picks her up, she is putty in his hands, but I think the feeling is mutual for both of them.
She is super strong and has been holding her head up and rolling over on her side since we got back from the hospital.
She's been smiling more and more and has the cutest dimples!
She loves it when people sing to her, especially primary songs.
She's been super chatty lately with all her gooing and cooing.

Day 25 — A funny (true) story

Oops... I totally fell off the bandwagon. It's been a loooooooong week.

Hmmm, a funny true story.

Last year, Jonathan and I went to a Maroon 5 concert at UTA with some friends. The opening band was one that no one had ever heard of, but they were really good and their music was perfect to dance to! ( http://fitzandthetantrums.com/ ) So, naturally, Jonathan and I started dancing and having a good time. Mid-song, we stopped and looked around. We were the only ones on the entire floor section that were even standing up. Every single other person was sitting in their seats, most of them not even bobbing their heads. It was so lame, but kinda hilarious. Jonathan just shrugged his shoulders and kept dancing, so of course, I joined him. It was one of those moments when I realized how perfect he is for me. (I did hear later, however, that there were some people dancing in the balcony section.)

Then, of course, when Maroon 5 came out EVERYONE jumped out of their seats screaming. I think it's sad that just because no one had heard of this band, they couldn't dance and enjoy their music.

Day 24 — Something that makes you feel better...

He's cute. He's cooking me food. And, he's wearing the cute apron that I made him. He definitely makes me feel better!

Day 23 - A travel story

Day 23 — A travel story
When I was 10, my dad had to go on a business trip to DC, so the whole family came along. We went up the east coast all the way to Canada and it was a blast. The following are highlights from "Chrystal's Vacation Journal". I'm not sure why, as a 10-year old, I decided to write in my journal everyday on this trip, but I'm so glad I did!!

"7/22/00 -- ...Then C.J almost ran the car off the road... "

"7/23/00. Chrystal’s vacation: Day 2. We’ve been riding in the car forever. It took like 16 hours to get to South Carolina. ...Carrie is going to work on her southern drawl. It’s pretty funny being in the South. Chrystal doesn’t know what a southern drawl is. Oh, well. (journal entry by Carrie) "

“7/24/00. Chrystal’s vacation: Day 3. Last night we couldn’t find our camp. Today we went to Washington D.C. first we couldn’t find anywhere to park, then we had to walk down a really long road to see the tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. ...I got a cut. I think it was from my tuna can. It still stings. ...In the car Me and Julie told G-man to turn around and he started yelling my dad got really mad and slapped Gideon and Carrie. He meant to only hit Gideon. Julie and Carrie were talking and Julie laughed and dad yelled at her! It’s hectic! ...Today I saw the statue of 6 men putting up the American flag.”

“7/25/00 Chrystal’s vacation: Day 4. ...After that we walked about 6 blocks to the White House to eat lunch. There was a carnival set up in the backyard. They had everything. Well the park had tables with chess Boards on them and these guys next to us were playing like in the movies! then we walked to the National Aquarium (everything here is national) there we got to see the pirhanas be fed. It was cool! All of them dove for the food at once."

“7/26/00 Chrystal’s vacation Day 5. Today we went to the zoo (national) ... We saw girafes, elephants and other common zoo animals. We saw sea otters, (my favorite thing) beavers and a whole building full of small mammals (2^nd favorite) ...then we went and ate dinner at the FBI academy. The cafeteria had every state flag in it. It was cool! after that we went (with Dad) to the memorials and monuments. First we saw the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, Vietnam Wall, Lincoln Memorial and Korean War in that order. It’s been a loong day. I’m so tired. I’m going to sleep now Bye!! Chrystal von Bose :)”

“7/27/00 Chrystal’s vacation: Day 6. ...This Japanese lady wanted a picture with me. (Because I have Blond hair.) ... We went to another Art Gallery and Mom got really mad at me. She told me I could stay on a bench and pout or go with the family and stop pouting. I stayed and pouted. 5 min. later she came back and yelled at me! She lied! We then went to these glass pyramids. Mom then got mad at C.J. ...Well we came back to the cabin and I get the sleepy giggles and everybody looked at me funny and made me laugh harder! I laughed for about 15 min! I couldn’t stop! Finaly I stopped and started writing. Well see ya! Chrystal von Bose :)”

7/28/00 Chrystal’s vacation: Day 7. We drove to Philedelpia to see the liberty bell and Independence Hall. Then we drove some more! We got to the campsite 10 MIN LATE! They wouldn’t let us go to our campsite but that didn’t stop us. We did it any way! Chrystal von Bose :)

“7/29/00 Chrystal’s vacation: day 8. We went to NEW YORK CITY! We rode the New York subway, got postcards, went to central park, went to the natural history museum, went to an aircraft carrier, saw the fastest plane in the world, went to the 86 floor of the empire state building, and The Top of the World! The New York Subway is not what I expected. It is smelly and dirty. There is grafiti everywhere. It does go pretty fast, a lot faster than the one in Washington D.C. ... The Empire State Building had a super long line. everyone in my family, except me and gideon, got some thing called a city pass that already had tickets my mom didn’t want to wait in line so me and gideon snuck up without tickets. It was only the 86 floor! I was sooo mad! Well, after that we went to the top of the world. It was a building that had 107 stories we went to the very top! it was freaky we were sooooo high. We could see the Statue of liberty. It is called the World Trade Center (Twins towers for short) Chrystal von Bose :)”

“7/30/00 Chrystal’s vacation Day 9. We drove and drove and drove. It was soooo boring. We got the campsite set up camp and slept Chrystal von Bose :)”

“7/31/00 Chrystal’s vacation Day 10. We walked along the beach and saw dead jellyfish washed up on shore and took a picture of it. There were also a ton of live ones the dead one was as big as dad’s hand! Other than that we drove to New Hampshire.”

“8/1/00 Chrystal’s vacation Day 11. We were supposed to go to the Alpine slides but it was closed. Then we drove, and drove, and drove! Then it was raining and the campground was closed so we stayed at Motor Inn. It was really nice sleeping in a real bed. Wow! If we had gone to the Alpine slides we wouldn’t have flush toilets! Well Bye, Chrystal von Bose :)”

“8/2/00 Chrystal’s vacation Day 12. Today we went to Palmyra and saw Hill Camora, Joseph Smith’s house, the sacred grove and the Palmyra temple Then we went to niagra falls. We ate dinner at a place called Giovanni’s. It was an Italian restaurant. Me and Carrie got spaghetti. It was probably enough for 4 people instead of 2! CJ got ravioli for 2 people and not 1! Gideon...”

Then for some reason, I didn't finish that last sentence and I didn't write for the rest of the trip. Weird. Sorry it was so long! Props if you made it all the way through. :)