New Blog!

I've had this blog for FIVE years now! Wow time has flown by! And now that I am engaged and moving into a new part of my life, Caleb and I have decided it would be a great idea to make a new blog to share all of our new adventures!

So our new blog is called: Nerd Couple Musings.

You can find our blog at the following link: http://alexandcalebowens.blogspot.com/

So there we go! You can go there from now on if you would like to hear any news and updates in our lives! Thanks for reading this blog, it is sad to retire it after so long. But life goes on... at the above mentioned link.

The Engagement

Caleb and I have been through a lot together. We met on March 27, 2009 at a Youth Conference Dance. We ended up dancing together like four times that night, and Caleb went home and had to search all over facebook to find me because he couldn't remember my last name. We started texting, and we really got to know each other. I knew pretty early on in our relationship that he was going to be the guy I was going to marry. We just had so many similarities, and Caleb has every quality that I have ever pictured in who I was going to end up with one day. It just so happens we met when I was 15, and yeah that seems a little young to know something so important in your life to me too. But it happened. And I haven't looked back with regret once since I met him.

So Like I was saying, we've been through a lot of stuff. It could be said that my parents were not too thrilled at the thought of me being so serious with a guy when I was 15... and a half.

But we dated anyways, because if you know, you know.

And he came to family events that we have done for many many years. Like the Gift of Lights and going to Utah to visit my family. And I did the same with his family.

And we went to dances together because that's what high school couples do.

(Formal 2010)

(Prom 2010)

We were cute together

(Sadies 2010)

And awkward together

(Also Sadies 2010)

I was there when Caleb got his call to serve a mission in Hartford, CT

And I was there to say goodbye when he left on his mission

And then Caleb left for two years and life went on

I had a life going to school, having fun with friends, getting jobs. Life did not stop because Caleb left, I'm pretty sure a lot of people think I spent a majority of those 2 years hidden in my room crying and listening to Coldplay at full blast. (I did listen to a lot of Coldplay incidentally, but because I like them, not because their music can be depressing)

People said we couldn't do it, that two years was two long. That I would write him off or that he would come back completely different and we wouldn't feel the same way about each other.

And I graduated high school and did a year at college!

And Caleb was on a mission, doing missionary things, because we both agreed very soon after we first met, that nothing was going to stop him from going on a mission, especially our relationship, because God comes first always.

And people told him we wouldn't make it two years because NO GIRL waits two years for a guy she never gets to talk to. Because I would find someone new and someone here.

He learned a lot of great things and taught a lot of really great people

And after two years he celebrated when he was about to come home

We wrote each other at least once every week for two years, and we learned that you don't need to be WITH someone every day to love someone.

You've already seen my post about his return. We celebrated together.

And we discovered that when he came back we were both very different people than we were before his mission. The great thing about it was that we loved these new people even more than the people we were before he left!

He's been home two months now. We've been on adventures and we've become closer than we were even before his mission.

Oh yes, and we became engaged on Friday August 10Th.

And now I must tell the story of the proposal because it was basically the best proposal I could have dreamed of and everyone else should know it too.

So all of last week I was sick, so sick I couldn't really leave the couch except to go to the doctor and the pharmacist. So sick I accidentally threw my debit card away, so sick that I didn't go to work really for four days. Friday afternoon I finally started to feel better after taking a ton of medicine that the doctor had given me, because let's be honest, I knew this proposal was coming relatively soon and didn't want to be sick for it. BUT, I had no idea that Caleb would pop the question that day after I had been sick for four days. So I went over to Caleb's so we could go to dinner because I hadn't really seen him all week, what with being sick as a dog and all.

I go inside and he tells me he needs to send his boss an email and to come on in. I walk in to the room where the computer and everything are and he's standing there and he says "Come look at this antique mirror my Dad got." And on the tall closet mirror door Caleb had made a frame that
resembled the Mirror of Erised from my favorite thing in the whole world, Harry Potter. And so we're standing there in the mirror and he turns and looks at me while I'm staring at the mirror and he says, "Let me explain, the happiest man in the world would be able to use the mirror of Erised as a normal mirror and see himself exactly as he was. Right now I am the happiest man in the world." And he got down on one knee and asked "Alex. Lupton. Will you marry me?" And of course I said yes, and of course I was crying because, seriously? A Harry Potter proposal I was TOTALLY surprised by. He did good guys. He did good.

Judge me if you want that I'm 18 and engaged, but I've known I was going to marry Caleb for three and a half years. I knew within the first two weeks that I met him. I knew for the whole two years he was gone and I only got to talk to him four times. I knew when my parents were forbidding me to see him three years ago. And I know now that this is the right thing to do and there's nothing and no one that could make me happier.

WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

Diet

My whole family is on this diet. And this diet is really terrible in that I really want to eat everything I see but I can't. It's a no sugar low carb diet, and the only thing I like of the diet food is the chocolate drink as hot chocolate. And the only reason I am still doing this diet is because I've seen some results, I've been on it three weeks and I've lost about ten pounds and a bunch of inches. So I'm kind of proud of myself. Just thought I'd celebrate this.

THE RETURN

The day has come and gone and now Caleb is home! This last week has been really exciting getting to know him again. The strange thing is, he isn't really much different. Everything really picked up right where it left off. It not awkward, except when everyone keeps asking me when I'm going to get married, that part is awkward and I wish people would stop so I could just enjoy this time of just being free and dating. But anyways, Here are some pictures from when we picked Caleb up from the airport

Here is Caleb with his sister Kaite!

The first hug

And then we stood there while my Mom talk a billion pictures of us.... just standing.

Caleb with his family!

Here is Caleb with his brother Brigg and his Mom and Dad

P.S.

We didn't even make it to the concert in time to go, so all of that embarrassment was all of a waste.

And now you know how ridiculous my life can me.

I still love it though. Even with a possible concussion.

I Have Problems

I am an awkward person. This is a fact that I have learned to live with and some people even like me more for it, because it makes other people feel more comfortable by how uncomfortable I can be. This problem seems to be bad at first glance because it seems like it would be hard for me to make friends because talking with people it almost painful to watch sometimes.

BUT, not so, because people never know what I'm going to say next, and I think it intrigues me. Strangers find me particularly interesting, and once someone is my friend, I swear it's like a game "What ridiculous thing will come out of Alex's mouth today!?" So this problem is good.

One problem that is NOT good, is how insanely clumsy I am, it's like I'm always trying to walk on a trampoline. This is really the most embarrassing thing about me, not the awkwardness that makes up my personality, but the uncoordinated mess that just so happens to be my body. Let me tell you a little story that made today the most embarrassing day I can remember having in a long time. (Not my whole life, but at least since I left high school.)

Today I went to the strip with my cool friend Chase, and we were trying to go to this concert, and we were going to be late.... So we were in a rush. Now, I work in an attorney's office that does work for some of the hotels on the strip, and so I KNOW all about what happens when people slip, trip, or run into things in hotels, and man is that a lot of hassle. I know better than to be a bull in a china shop when I am at these hotels. BUT, the thing is, I can't stop being me. "I'm just being Miley."

OK, SO. I'm walking into this hotel that I will not name, and we're rushing because we still need to walk through this hotel and make it to the cosmopolitan before the show starts, and I open the door that will lead us to the elevator. I try to move so I can hold the door for my friend and I slip on the tile, hit my hip and then my head on the ground, and then immediately stand up and rush into the nearest elevator. Now, this would be almost acceptable if I had hit the ground lightly and somewhat gracefully.

But I didn't, and to make matters worse there were a lot of people around waiting for elevators and they all saw that it wasn't. I know this was sad, but I also know that this was hilarious, and after the people around me got over the initial shock of me almost knocking myself out on the tile, they started to realize how funny it was... and started laughing. Now, I don't know if you have ever been in an elevator with people who are laughing at you, but let me tell you... It is possibly the most embarrassing thing that you could ever hope to experience.

And my "hope to" I mean "avoid at ALL cost."

So let this be a lesson to the world, some things about you personality seem embarrassing but are not, and then there are some things that you should try to hide so nobody EVER sees them. And Lastly, everyone should remember that hotels have slippery floors, and you should be extra careful when you are at any of them in case something happens... and then I'd probably have to do all of the paperwork for it. (Imagine if I had tried to sue and I had to do paperwork for myself... Just kidding, they'd probably fire me before I got to do that! Which is why I got right up and walked away.)

This is my life.

So Close and So Far

I know you would expect this post to be about the fact that there is only a month left until the missionary comes home. BUT NO, This post is to celebrate the fact that there is now LESS than a month until the abominable Whitney moves to Germany.

I don't know if you know this, but I work with the devil. Literally, I think it was like the body snatchers and she has a daemon living inside of her. I have lived for nine months with this women over my shoulder at work, and I only have to last through one more month of incredibly annoying stories. This means that there are only a limited number of "oh my gosh my dog is so cute, she's a four pound chiwuawa who poops rainbows and cures cancer with her eyes" stories and even less "my husband has been gone for four months, it's so much worse than your boyfriend being gone for two years!" talks. I will only have to endure her endless updates of "Oh my gosh my Hubby is so smart! He got a 99% on his test, I just want to make out with him, oh and he's so hot" (no he isn't). I will only have to listen to a few more weeks worth of phone calls to the air force where she sometimes screams at them "What do you mean I have to put my dog in a kennel! I can't do that! She's my baby! WAhhhhhhhhhh! Why are you trying to ruin my life?" or "Hello, my husband has been in basic training for four months, I am not trying to be the annoying wife (IT'S NOT WORKING), but can you just get me a house that lets me keep my dog with me!" I swear, this dog is her freaking life, I've never met it and I want to punt it across a football field!

She is part of the party planning committee with me, and I just convinced her today that it is not a good idea to throw HERSELF a potluck to tell everyone goodbye at work for her last day of work. She is ridiculous, every one's world needs to revolve around her, she never leaves our office without me. She makes me go with her to the bathroom, the kitchen, and the copy room. I swear her parents never taught her how to do anything on her own, it's like she's afraid she'll be kidnapped on the way to the other side of the office.

Basically this is a call to everyone to rejoice with me that I will only have to endure THREE more weeks of this torture before I AM FREE. Thank you Lord for this gift of solitude that will be bestowed on me so soon. I could cry in relief of this burden. How I have prayed for the Lord to give me patience, and he answered my prayers even better than I could have imagined, He decided to send her halfway around the world. I KNOW THE CHURCH IS TRUE.


PS. I got bangs. I have gotten mixed feelings on them. Girls tend to love them and compliment me everytime they see me, boys hate them and ask me why I got a haircut. My boss saw me and said "You got a haircut... you should warn us next time." So, there you go.

Dear World,

For your Information, I have gone to the doctor and received the news that I have Bronchitis. Basically I am miserable. I cannot talk, I can barely breathe, and other than going to the doctor I haven't left my room for three days. THIS, is not cool. THIS is miserable. I just wanted to document this as being the most miserable I have been in a VERY long time. The last time I can remember being THIS bad, I was eight and I had just been attacked by a dog, and my face stung and stank of antiseptic for weeks. So there you go, it's been a long time.Thank you world, hope to talk to you again sometime soon.Alex

Great Weekend

What a great day Saturday was! I had to wake up early of course because Saturday was THE COLOR RUN!! Woohoo! It was amazing! Here are some pictures because it was so amazing!

We started out all white and clean!

AND THEN!....

It happened!

Things. Got. Real.

AND THEN:

We saw how real it was from behind. AND THEN...

Things started to heat up

Here's me and my Dad. Love it.

Here we gooo!

I have a huge nose. It's a fact.

Cleaned up a little bit but still colorful!

After the Run I went home and cleaned up and then I went to the UNLV game with my Dad and my friend Chase. We won, and it was pretty fun, and my voice still isn't back to 100%

Later that night I went and saw "This means war" which was actually an awesome movie. I would recommend this to EVERYONE for one major reason and here it is:

Chris Pine is just the most gorgeous man who ever lived. Whether he's Captain Kirk or a super foxy spy, you need to see him in everything. And this is no exception,

Then I went to cheesecake factory, and man I loved that place. Anyways, It was an awesome day!! Hoping more days like that will come!!

Double Digits

I just want to mark this occasion, it's kind of big. We have reached double digits, actually, it will be 97 days left tomorrow until Caleb comes home from his mission. Personally, I think that's crazy, because it doesn't feel like there's only three moths left, but it does... but it doesn't. Does that even make sense? Probably not. ANYWAYS, Just so you know, my excitement it overflowing but I'm trying not to let it out, because I know how annoying it can be when you remind someone every day of one thing that is going to happen months from now (I might be talking about the girl I work with... who really knows?)
Side note: The color run is tomorrow, I'll probably post some pictures

Other side note: I think I'm going to go on a road trip with my friend Luisa for Spring break to L.A. I'm pretty stoked.

Big News for the PPC

Yes, it is true. I have been made head of the Party Planning Committee at my work.. Well... Kind of. I am the head of it, but this girl I work with thinks SHE'S the head of the PPC.Anyways, I just wanted to mark this momentous occassion in writing, that I Alexandria Jayd Lupton have accomplished something in my life. If I do nothing else in all my years, today, at this job at Hutchison and Steffen attorneys I plan the potluck parties.

Our first Party is for President's day, because Valentines Day is too mainstream, and obviously I'm too hipster for that.

A tourist in the City I was born in

A couple of weeks ago I went on an adventure on the strip with my friend Luisa. It really was a couple of weeks ago, and I'm barely getting around to blogging about it, but I need to document all the crazy and exciting things I did for the first time.

First off, Luisa's Dad works as the head of Security at Cesar's Palace, so Luisa knows her way around a lot of these hotels. I was glad I went with her, because it was a blast and she knew what to do. We went all over, to the water show and the beautiful gardens at the Bellagio (these are my my most favorite of ANTYHING.) I think we walked the entire miracle mile at least three times, and explored many expensive forum shops. We went and got Gelato at the Bellagio, oh my goodness, it was heaven in a small expensive cup!

We saw the Atlantis show at Cesar's, and we walked all over and saw the craziest people! It was great! Here are some pictures of us!

Luisa and I waiting for the Atlantis show to start

One of the shops was this big art gallery that had all these crazy pictures in it.

This painting was called burning the candle at both ends and there were candles IN the frame.

These two were in front of the huge aquarium at Cesar's Palace

I LOVE the water show AND the gardens!

Luisa and I had a great time! Can't wait to do it again!

Update on Life

I don't know if anyone even reads this blog, but I'm going to update on the goings on in my life anyways, because I haven't done that in a long time.

First of all, the only two things I do on a regular basis lately, are 1. Going to work, I work a LOT. And 2. Watch TV. The amount of TV that I watch would probably scare people, and all parents would scorn me.

So 1.) Work's been pretty intense, I work a LOT of hours, and honestly, some of the people at my work drive me INSANE. But, I know I need to learn to live with that, and hey, they can't work there forever right? Maybe all the annoying people will move away.

2) Television. It is a miracle that netflix was invented, because it is so much better than regular tv.

Another thing that I spend a lot of time doing lately is my Church Calling. I just got called to be on the "Heart 2 Heart" committee, it's pretty cool. It's based on the book A heart like His, by Victoria Pearce, it's an amazing book on how to open our hearts to people, and in turn our hearts will be opened to the savior. One of jobs I have is creating and running the Palmhurst Heart to Heart Committee Blog. The address is here: http://palmhurstheart2heartexperiment.blogspot.com/

If you want to learn more about this amazing book, and the experiment our ward is doing to draw closer to each other and the savior.

COOLEST THING I'M DOING: Today I signed up for my first 5K, it's called the Las Vegas Color Run, you run 3.1 miles, and the whole way they throw handfuls of color all over you, it's awesome, here's a picture from last years, imagine that these pictures have me in them, being super cool and awesome. Because that's what it's all about, oh, and getting cool pictures.

SO. ONE MORE THING, PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER!!!!

CALEB OWENS COMES HOME IN FIVE MONTHS. I just want you all to know how exciting this is, Before Caleb left, and we were talking about how hard it was going to be. Truthfully, it was hard in the beginning, but I reached a point where it started to get easier, and now we're in the final stretch. Love this. I will NOT be updating ever day on how many days he has left though. Because there's a girl at my work who does that, and it's driving me insane. So, just so you know, it's coming up, and I'm happy about it. Thanks. :)