I love my baby Sage

Having the twins is wonderful, but lately German and I are really enjoying the moments we have to just enjoy one little baby. To be able to give our undivided attention w/o feeling like we need to fairly distribute how much we give. And this baby Sage has been just SOOO adorable. I can't believe how fast she is growing. She is so talkative and so fast.

FYI: March 1st is private day.

Part 6--The wedding

Our wedding announcement and our first picture as a married couple

Our first apartment was in a quaint little "gay friendly" neighborhood called North Park. It was only a little bit ghetto and very close to Balboa Park and the zoo. If you ever go to San Diego, visit Balboa Park, it's free and IT IS Beautiful! I moved in January 1st to the upstairs back one bedroom apartment of an old lime green fourplex building. Not that great, but much better than my ol' RV living space.

The day after I moved in I was watching the news and they announced that a serial rapist was attacking women in our neighborhood...like two streets over. I was scared to death. I made German come check out the closets everyday before I'd go inside. Luckily, the guy was caught a few days later. Then about a week after I moved in German was dropping me off and there were lots of police cars and an ambulance parked in front of the building. Our landlady saw us drive up and asked if I'd seen the neighbor since I'd moved in. The neighbor whose door I passed EVERYDAY to get to my door. I hadn't seen him and I noticed his car hadn't moved either. Apparently, he was a middle aged man who lived alone and kept to himself. The landlady was worried because he hadn't paid rent yet and he was normally never late. She came by to check on him and found him. Sadly, he had died of an aneurysm and nobody knew. He had been laying there dead since I'd moved in. It was really sad, but also very creepy at the same time. I quit my night job, so I wouldn't have to get home so late at night and prayed that our wedding day would come quick. It was the only time in my life that I've ever lived alone and I NEVER want to do it again.

A week before we were married German realized his resident INS card was missing. A card he hardly ever used and actually didn't need anymore because he was in the process of applying for U.S. citizenship. Yet, it was a card he needed to be able to leave the country and go on our cruise. He had to wait in line all night long outside the San Diego government building to apply for a new one. He paid over 300 bucks to get his old Argentina passport stamped, stating that the new card was on its way, so that he could go on our honeymoon. Don't know why things happen sometimes, but it was not fun.

My mom, sister and some girlfriends finally joined me a few days before the wedding and we were all busy with wedding preparations. We planned a small luncheon at the UCSD Institute building in La Jolla and that evening the Spanish Branch offered to throw together a reception.

*SIDENOTE* I did NOT want a reception. I especially didn't want a church gym reception. I wanted to be done celebrating after the luncheon and not bother with paying and planning for a reception. Looking back I still wish we had not had a reception, but certain family members (on German's side) were adamant about the need for a reception. I am very thankful to the ward members that paid for a beautiful second wedding cake, who brought food and who helped set up, serve food and clean up. Oh and there were people who offered to find and pay for the DJ (a DJ from Tijuana that couldn't cross the border and never actually showed up). Anyway, that said, I conceded to a reception and had very little to do with the planning. I did go help set up tables and string up lights in the gym the night before.

Then the dreaded night before...

Maybe it is common knowledge, but no one told us we needed a form signed by our bishop and stake president in order to be married in the temple. We thought all we needed were our temple recommends but this is sooo not the case. After a few phone calls we were able to meet with our bishop in the afternoon and our stake president that evening. Luckily.

Then we went to help set up the gym and finished around 10pm. We were all getting ready to drive home and get to bed. I went to get my purse from the front foyer. My purse, which contained my car keys, my planner/wallet with my I.D., my temple recommend, credit cards, multiple giftcards (two of which were valued at $100), all my addresses and phone numbers, my calendar, tons of personal information & mementos, had vanished. It also contained my nice fairly expensive camera, the only camera we owned, the camera I was going to take on our honeymoon. And it ALMOST contained my passport and our cruise tickets, but luckily I hadn't put them in my purse yet. Luckily. Yes, I realize it was stupid of me to leave it unattended with all that stuff inside, especially when the young men were having an activity in another part of the chapel. But we were in a church and I was extremely scatter-brained the night before my wedding...ok maybe I was a scatter-brain the whole month before. I really didn't even remember where I had left it until the next day. Everyone (about 7 people) squeezed into German's sedan and drove home. Then I lost it. I freaked out to say the least! I sobbed and felt sorry for myself and poor German tried desperately to console me, telling me we'd find it. He even drove 20 minutes back to the chapel that night to look around again. No luck. But my sweet friend Muriel loaned me her camera so we could take pictures on our honeymoon. I love that girl!

Some of my favorite wedding pictures (some people were also not very happy about my choice of wedding shoes, but I stuck to my guns and wore my flipflops)

The beautiful San Diego temple--someday German and I hope to move back.

I think I got about four hours of sleep that night. Muriel dropped me off to get my hair and makeup done and thank goodness they did I great job at JCPenney. I was very happy with it. (I'm not even going to write about having to get my nails done twice.) The morning went well and the temple ceremony was by far the best part of the day. I should thank again my mom and sister, Muriel and Lauren, Tia Norma & Betty for all they did to set up for the luncheon. It was perfect and exactly what I wanted. OH and German's institute director/instructor, Marty for putting together my bouquet and singing at the luncheon and the reception. He was put on the spot and made our day even more special.

Our luncheon cake, my colors were pale yellow and lavender

A shot of my hair at the luncheon--German was having a pretty awesome hair day himself. I actually had a veil and completely forgot to put it on.

We took some pictures after the luncheon down at the beach and then headed back to our jam-packed apartment for an hour, so I could call and cancel all my credit cards. Some punk kid had already charged about 50 bucks at a gas station the night before. Not fun.

Our ghetto green apartment (we are actually in front of the dead guy's door on our way to ours at the end). That's me on the floor calling all my credit cards to report them stolen. Got to love the brown shag carpet...

I was so exhausted and did not even want to go to the reception, but I did. And it went ok, except for the DJ not showing up. Someone in the ward went home to get their karaoke machine and German went outside to grab some CDs from our car. The music blared and people danced, so I guess they had fun. But then somehow the wrong CD was placed in the machine--A CD we did not own and all of sudden the stereo blasted a voice which said, "Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse..." Awkward.

We finally left the reception around 11pm...don't we look totally exhausted? I think I was about to pass out. And isn't German's grandpa adorable? I think German is going to look just like him when he gets old. At least I hope so. We drove to LA the next morning to embark on our blissful 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise. We were so happy to finally be married, but we'll be sure to pack some sunscreen next time. Ouchy...that wasn't fun, but everything else was awesome. I sure love my husband!

Above are some pictures from our cruise. He won 2nd place in the table tennis competition and to prove that he's a romantic, German sang "You've lost that lovin' feeling" to me at the karaoke bar. It was the only song on the list he knew and I loved it! The pic is from the "baby baby I get down on my knees for you..." part.

I've been avoiding making our blog private for some time now,

...but we've decided to do so. We both feel more comfortable knowing who's visiting our blog. If you'd like an invite just post a comment with your gmail address or email it to me. The plan is to go private on March 1st.

Thanks.

P.S. I'm going to try and finish Part 6 by next week sometime in case anyone was wondering.

Part 5--Engagement stories

Our engagement photo

You probably noticed that I skipped over the mushy first kiss and first I love you moments because well, I think I would gag just trying to write it. Don't get me wrong I love me some good romance, but those stories are personal and I want them to stay that way. Besides there isn't anything funny about them and I prefer to make y'all (some Texas talk for you) laugh.

The proposal happened pretty quick, but when you know--you know, ya know? We had brought it up in casual conversations and both of us knew our relationship was heading in that direction. And since German's mom had decided way back before we started dating that the family was going to move to Georgia, time was limited. She was planning to move July 1st with ALL of her children. When she found a house to live in, she decided to show me pictures of the interior and said, "And look Sara, that is going to be German's room." Yeah, she wasn't very fond of me, to say the least.

On June 18th, 2001, after dinner German and I went outside to chat and be alone. We were sitting in the back patio chairs, holding hands and saying all sorts of mushy ooey gooey stuff to each other. And then quite suddenly he says, "I love you Sara and want to be with you forever. Will you marry me?"

"Huh?" what the heck...

"Will you marry me?"

Silence...Is he really asking me right here on his mom's patio, right now? Isn't he supposed to kneel or something? And where's the ring? Hmmm.

"Um yeah I will."

"Really?"

Smiles, big hug and kiss and I love yous exchanged, "Sorry I can't give you a ring yet."

"Ohh. That's ok...soooo, when you do have the ring you're going to ask me again for real then right?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

It really was such a sweet and memorable experience, we were both so happy.

We had one of his younger siblings take these pictures of us that night. Such happy goofballs.

Two weeks later, I moved to another cheaper apartment, so I could save money. I quit my job at the paper store because my boss wouldn't give me more than 30 hrs/week and I got a job at a call center. German helped his mom pack up the truck and drove across the country to Georgia. He planned to stay for two weeks to help her get moved in and then fly back to live with a family from the Spanish branch until we got married. We talked on the phone everyday except one (it was a sad day). I also quit the call center job after a week. Call center work wasn't my thing.

Then German and I had our first argument over the phone. I have no recollection of what we argued about, but I remember crying and thinking German was so mad at me and that he didn't want to marry me anymore and wouldn't come back to California and feeling like the world was crumbling to pieces around me and more drama drama drama. (Why are we girls so dramatic?) Since I had no job and no other obligations, the best thing for me to do, obviously, was buy a next day plane ticket to Georgia for $600. I mean when you are already in debt, isn't it wise to get into more debt? Besides, I missed my fiancee WAY too much to go out and look for another job. Although, I'll admit that it was not too smart at the time to spend so much money on a plane ticket, the memory I have of seeing him in the Atlanta airport is one I'll always cherish. We'd only been apart a week or so, but it felt like FOREVER. Let's just say when people saw us in the baggage claim area they were either smiling or disgusted and I'm pretty sure I overheard someone say "Get a room."

German special ordered my ring while he was in Georgia. He drew a picture of what I'd been describing and had it custom made. The day after I arrived German and I went to the mall to do a bridal registry at Williams-Sonoma. I used to work there and LOVE that place. So as I was clicking away, he turns to me and says, "Hey, I'll be right back ok." I figured he was just going to the bathroom or something, so I continued registering. After 30 minutes or so I started getting annoyed, where the heck did he go? I wanted to do this together. He finally returned and was acting all weird and nervous.

"Where did you go?" I asked.

"Uh nowhere, I just had to go check something."

"What?" I inquired.

"Oh nothing. Are you done here? Should we go back home?"

"Well, I did want to do this registering thing together and I thought we could walk around the mall some more, but whatever."

"Oh yeah, sorry. Well, ok. Uh, let's go then." Weird, what is wrong with him?

It was around 11am and as we walked to the car, I noticed he had his hand in his pocket and he looked like his mind was a million miles away.

"Are you ok? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Um, I want to show you something." When we arrived to his mom's minivan, he opened the trunk and told me to sit down. He took the velvet ringbox out of his pant pocket and sat down next to me.

"Here, tell me if you like it." He opened the box and handed it to me.

Silence again...Is he really giving me this right here in the mall parking lot, right now? And again no kneeling down on one knee. Oh well, forget it, I give up. Doesn't really matter anyway, right?

"Yes, I love it! It's perfect. Thank you."

A makeout session ensued in the back of his mom's minivan. I know sooo romantic, huh. I still tease German about his two proposals, but to his credit he had no one to offer him advice or suggestions on how to propose. He was also super stressed dealing with his family, none of them were very happy or supportive of us getting married. He really is such a romantic guy.

We flew back to California together and started discussing a date for the wedding. We thought about setting it for November 16th, since we both returned from our missions that day. Then reality hit. It was late July, he had no job and no money. I had no job and negative money. We decided sometime in February would be a bit more reasonable. German worked full-time at The Home Depot and also got a job a few days a week cleaning swimming pools in the mornings at 5am. I got two jobs as well. I worked M-F from 8am-5pm as a receptionist at an insurance company then 6pm-10pm at Sportmart (now Sports Authority) as a cashier four nights a week. We hardly ever saw each other and when we did we were always so tired.

Then in October I moved out of my cheaper apartment into somewhere even cheaper and much more ghetto. A family in German's ward had an old RV parked in their backyard and they offered to let me stay in it. They lived just a few blocks away from the family German was living with, so I was excited about us living closer to each other. They plugged in the electricity for me and I used a bathroom in the house AND it only cost me $100 a month. Eventually, by mid-November it was getting too cold for me at night, so they let me sleep in the house as well. Looking back I must have been deliriously happy and foolishly in love because it should have been a nightmare. (Ok, so some nights I did cry myself to sleep wishing we were just married already.) The spiders that lived with me in that RV were huge and there were a ton of them, too. (Darlene you would have died of fright.)

My RV home for three months. Oh, how I love the ghetto life.

But after three months I got out of debt and was able to move into our first apartment on January 1st (a little less ghetto than an RV, but still quite ghetto). And now I'll be able to tell my daughters, "Hey, if you want a big fancy wedding with ice sculptures, caviar and pony rides then you'll have to get two jobs and live in an RV to pay for it yourself!" They'll hate hearing it...muwha ha ha!

German's aunt kept us pretty well fed with her amazing cooking. Mate, pastafrola and panettone, yum yum yum!

Thank you, tia! And isn't abuelo the most darling old man you've ever seen?

And for your laughing pleasure, you get to enjoy more silly photos of us. Which engagement photo would you consider the MOST awkward? I think the middle one is the absolute worst, although the bottom right is a close second. They are all pretty bad, huh?

*Our photographer is an awesome family friend. He takes photos as a hobby and he took our engagement and wedding pictures all for free. German and I just didn't know how to pose properly. AND he even flew down to San Diego with his wife for our wedding and did such an amazing job! Thanks Bill.

Part 6 will contain a few stories about the days prior to the wedding and our wedding day. We had a very small budget and so many people helped us out. Luckily, I wasn't one of those girls who had envisioned the details of my wedding day since I was 12, so when things went haywire I was fine. As long as I was marrying German I was happy.

Lunch of Love

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches w/ apples and cheese.

And if I could've made hearts out of baby food I would've.

I really do love my girls.

Part 5 will be posted tomorrow.

Our story...Part 4 of 6 (I think)

*Ok, for some reason I really thought I'd get everything out and written down in just three posts, I just finished this post and I keep thinking of more and more stuff that I want to write down before I get dementia. These girls are slowly sucking out all of my brain power, so my memory loss could come sooner than I think. Not sure how many posts I will write or when I will get them done, but I am going to keep plugging away until I get to our wedding day.

Don't worry mom, I will also posts more pics of the girls in between.

German picked me up about 30 minutes later and had to wait for me to finish getting ready (again, some things never change). I wore some jeans and a white Gap short-sleeved cotton blouse. He had on a navy blue Argentina striped soccer polo shirt that he still wears and some khaki cargo pants. I could tell he had dowsed himself in cologne and it was quite overwhelming. I have never been a huge fan of colognes/perfumes, I prefer fresh clean scents. I love good smelling shampoos and deodorants.

(this is a pic taken in '08 of German wearing the same shirt)

The drive to SDSU Institute from my apartment took about 10 minutes, we didn't talk much. I remember feeling a little worried wondering if he could dance or not because sometimes tall guys look goofy trying to dance. Of course, I should have realized that this guy was LATINO. The ability to groove and move is in their blood. We danced together the whole night and we both had so much fun. The dance ended around 11pm and we chatted quite a bit as we drove back to my apartment. We found out we had alot in common.

We both returned from our missions on the same day, November 16th, 2000.

Both of our birthdays were in March (although I was bummed to find out he was a year younger than me, but I got over it pretty quick).

Our families moved around alot when we were younger and both of our parents divorced when we were teenagers (he was 16 and I was 14).

And we both liked mountain biking.

When we arrived to my apartment I asked if he wanted to come up and see my Gary Fisher mountain bike. He oohhed and aahhed at my XT components, then we sat and looked through my mission pictures from Argentina. It was so great to be able to share our mission stories together. It was almost 1am before we decided to call it a night, I thanked him for coming to pick me up and gave him a big hug. He told me he'd look for me Sunday at church.

The next morning my roommate wanted to hear all the details and I remember her telling me how he seemed like one of those 'diamond in the rough' kind of people. I thought she was probably right and knew he was really sweet, but being a somewhat vain girl I said, "But what about his braces and that strong smelling cologne!" Then she said something I'll never forget, "Oh no, honey, those things are temporary and can be fixed. Don't let him get away just because of that."

*Bytheway, I grew to LOVE the Gucci cologne. When it was gone, I asked him to give me the empty bottle and I kept it in my car for a couple of years. I wish I still had it. The smell would drive me crazy if you know what I mean. (And I know you know what I mean!)

The next day (Saturday) he sent me this email:

Hey Sara!!!‏

From:	Galasoinc
Sent:	Sat 4/14/01 2:10 PM

Che Piva, como te va??? I found your mission homepage and wanted to drop you a line. It wasn't easy though, my computer has been acting up. Well, I loved seeing your mission pics last night, Next time I'll show you mine...all 10
albums!
Portate Bien y no cometas ninguna macana!
Chaucito
German

I thought it was so sweet. I called him from work that night, but he didn't answer, so I left him a message. I told him not to forget to bring his mission photo albums with him tomorrow to church and that I looked forward to seeing all 10 of them. Our church meetings started at 11am and I took FOREVER to get ready. I was pretty dang excited to see him. I left a nice open space next to me in the pew and all throughout sacrament meeting I kept looking back at the door to see if he was there. The whole 75 minutes went by and he was a no show. The meeting ended and I walked down the hall to Sunday school feeling a bit glum and also pretty stupid for getting my hopes up so high. Then right as I was about to reach the classroom door, I looked up and there he was smiling at me. Gosh, he's cute...

He said he went to church with his family earlier that morning and everyone was at his aunt's house for lunch. He asked me if I wanted to come meet all of them and have lunch. Then he paused and said "We can stay for Sunday School if you want?" And being the staunch church goer that I am I replied, "Um, nah that's ok. Let's go."

Hey don't judge me ;o)

Eating lunch with his family was like being back in my mission. We ate asado (Argentine BBQ), everyone was speaking Spanish and drinking mate. I loved it, I especially fell in love with his sweet grandpa. The next day (Monday) I had the day off, so we watched Remember the Titans in my apartment complex clubhouse. It was a great movie, but all I remember is that I wanted him to hold my hand and he didn't. I was bummed. You see, guys usually considered me a friend, a cool chick. I was used to it and my insecure self was afraid that our relationship was headed in that direction. He sent me the email below that same Monday night. It is in Spanish, but I don't need to translate it because all you need to know is that it contains nothing exciting, it's nice and sweet, but also a bit blah. To me it says "just friends."

RE: Hey Sara!!!‏

From:Galasoinc

Sent:Mon 4/16/01 11:01 PM

Che flaca (te molesta que te diga flaca?), como te va??? no me habias dichoque me mandaste una cartita. Que linda sorpresa. Recien llego y estoy re-agotado pero contento porque me fue mas o menos en mi clase de biologia marina. Por lo menos no me quede dormido. Te gusto la pelicula de hoy??? Me alegro que la pudimos ver. Me encanto el lugar donde la vimos...vamos a tener que hacerlo mas a menudo. Te cuento que si he escuchado la palabra papichulo pero solo en Miami (de cubanos) nunca de un argentino, pero como te dije vos sos mas argentina que yoasi que sabras mas. Bueno piva, te dejo...despues charlamos mas...chaucito! Portate bien!

El Chungo

We continued to hang out almost everyday. We both really enjoyed being together, but the next Friday night our date went just OK. I came home and told my roommates that it wasn't going anywhere, I was pretty sure we'd just be good friends. Finally, after about three weeks, we went on a date up to Carlsbad to go to church and visit families that he had met while serving as a missionary. It was Sunday, May 6th and the day was perfect in every way. I was able to see him interact with people who adored him and goof off with old companions who were still serving their missions. It was really fun to watch him and it was then that I decided "Man, I really like this guy!" That evening as we were driving home, I took a bit of initiative. He had his hand on the stickshift and instead of taking his hand, I pointed to it and asked "Can I have that?" (I know--cheeseballorama, huh?) But luckily, he said 'Sure.'

The best way to eat ice cream

It took until Thursday, May 10th for him to kiss me and from that point on we were kissing fools. I'm sure NONE of you out there know what I am talking about right? A few weeks later he told me he loved me and on Monday June 18th, he proposed, but that's a whole other story.

This picture is from the first time we attended a temple session together. My mom came with us, we weren't engaged yet, but from the moment she met him she knew he was a keeper and that I was a goner.

I bought two tickets to see Dave Matthews Band at Dodgers Stadium before I even met German. My roommate was going to go with me, but she bailed out and I took German instead. When German's family emigrated from Argentina, he was five years old and they moved to Los Angeles. We took the whole day to visit his elementary school and see where he used to live. We also walked around the L.A. temple and took some pictures.

I made German take this picture of me...can you say hint hint?

"Hey German, LOOK, I am a precious jewel, you should marry me."

Part 5 will contain the proposal and some engagement stories (we were engaged about 8 months). And hopefully Part 6 will be the wedding story. It's kind of funny. Sorry if this is getting boring, but I'm actually really glad I am finally writing it all down.

My story...Part 3 of 4

My brother hooked me up with a posh apartment in Mission Valley living with some sweet LDS girls and I had so much fun living life. San Diego has an awesome LDS single scene--dances, BBQs, beach bonfires, activities almost every night, so so fun!

My roommates Lindsay (hair stylist) & Karen (beautician-wax guru) before going out to a boatdance...I think we were supposed to dress up as famous people. They were Charlie's Angels, not sure what I was, but I am wearing bell bottoms.

*note* dating German only a month+beautiful city lights at night=lots of kissing

I should add that my sense of style only improved a little. I was not making very much money, so instead of thrift store shopping, I got my clothes on clearance or at Ross. I worked at Papyrus paper store in Fashion Valley Mall, one of the swankiest malls in San Diego. Since I had no car I rollerbladed to work and I'm sure those fancy schmancy shoppers thought I had no class as I skated past. I worked right next door to Mont Blanc (who pays $500 bucks for a pen???) and across the way there was the beautiful Tiffany's. I LOVED going on break, I fell in love with Forever 21 & Charlotte Russe, oh and the food sold around the mall was DELISH! Needless to say, I wasn't doing a good job at saving money, actually I was getting into debt. San Diego is such an expensive town and there were so many fun things to do. And well, not much of it was free.

And now on to the reason why I started writing these posts...

Although life was fun, I was realizing that things were too expensive and I wasn't going to be able to accomplish my goals living this way. I was considering packing up and heading back home to live with mom. On my birthday in March, I went on an overnight Bear Mountain snowtrip where I was shocked to see guys going down the mountain with no shirts and girls snowboarding in bikinis (that just doesn't happen in Utah). That Sunday, March 18, 2001, I went to church as usual with a sunburned face from snowboarding and in the same red shirt I have on in the picture above (red hair, red face, red shirt, what was I thinking?). After the closing prayer of sacrament meeting, the bishop stood up as usual from the pulpit and asked the congregation if there was anyone new or visiting today. I was sitting in the back and up in the front on the left side I saw a tall dark-haired guy stand up and say,

"Heyloww, myy nayme izzz Hairrrrmawwn and I am vizzitin today wit my frrriendzz. I ammm frrrom Arrrhentina. Haappy to beee heere." He said it with such a thick latino accent (think Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride) and I thought, "oh cool, maybe he's from an area where I served my mission. I've got to go talk to him." The meeting ended and I started making my way through the crowd to say hello to this guy. I greeted him with my signature missionary handshake and my best Argentina Spanish. We exchanged some small talk and I found out he was from Mendoza (not in my mission) and I distinctly remember thinking as he was talking & smiling at me, "He's cute, probably 18 or 19 years old. Oh well, nice kid."

For some reason, I thought when he said he was 'vizzzitin' he meant visiting from Argentina and that he'd be going back. During the following week I saw him at a couple of the ward activities and I wondered how much longer he'd be 'visiting', but didn't think much more about him.

Yes, German had braces when I met him, he was 22 in this photo, doesn't he look like a teenager still? And no, this is NOT our engagement picture, just a pic his mom wanted us to do shortly after we got engaged.

Almost every Friday night SDSU institute held dances and they were loads of fun! I love dancing to fast songs, still do, but growing up I NEVER ever got asked to dance during slow songs. So at the San Diego dances, out of habit, I walked out to the foyer to hangout and 'wait' with the other folks who didn't want to dance the slow songs or at least didn't get asked. One time as I was walking toward the door, I walked past German. He was slow dancing with some girl and he waved and smiled at me. I smiled back and thought, "uh, awkard...hey maybe he'll come talk to me or ask me to dance later." He didn't.

That Sunday there was an evening devotional speaker at the institute building. I went and guess who was there. After it was over, people munched and mingled and German came to talk to me. I asked him when he was going back to Argentina. And then in perfect English with no accent he said, "I don't know, why?" He explained to me that the girls he had come to church with dared him to speak with a thick accent, so he did. He actually grew up in the States and now lived with his family in south San Diego. We chatted a little more and I found out he had recently returned from serving his mission in Carlsbad just up north. (ohhh, so he's not 18?) My roommates were REALLY into the TV show Friends. They invited people over to our complex clubhouse every week to watch the episode together and even though I wasn't a big fan of the show, I went to just hang out and meet people. I invited him to come that week (I think it was on Thursdays) if he wanted to. He then asked me for my phone number and said he'd come.

He didn't come and he didn't call.

Meanwhile I was getting more into debt (I bought a piece of junk Mazda B2200 truck and gas prices were atrocious). I decided I could only afford to live in my apartment another month or so and either move somewhere else cheaper or head back to Utah. On Friday, April 13th, 2001 the phone rang in my apartment (good ol' fashioned landline). My roommate was sick and I didn't feel like going out to the institute dance, so I had decided to just stay home with her and watch TV.

"Hello?" I answered. Some guy on the other line asked, "Hi, is Sara home?" "Um, yeah, this is she." I replied.

"Hey Sara! This is German. I met you at church a few weeks ago." Silence...I had no idea who he could be.

"Do you remember me? I'm that guy from Argentina."

"OHHH yes, of course, how are you?" I asked.

"Good good, hey I was wondering...do you know if there is an institute dance tonight?"

My mind raced...Wait, did he just ask me if there WAS a dance? Or does he want to know if I was GOING? Or did he ask IF I wanted to go? Hmmm. "Yes, I think so." I said.

"Oh good because I was thinking of going, but I wanted to make sure there was one tonight and I remembered I still had your number written down and I thought you might know and...Are you going?"

I told him about my roommate being sick and since I'm such a good friend I said, "I haven't decided yet, I didn't want to go by myself."

"OH, do you want me to come pick you up and we can go together?" Phew, he picked up on my cue.

Heck ya I did...

Happy Anniversary sweetheart, so glad you finally called me.

Part 4 will be placed on hold for a couple of days because my house is a disaster zone AND I have a hot date tonight...

This is the first photo we have together. It was taken about 10 days after our first date out on his mom's back patio, which coincidentally is where he proposed. We are drinking mate and eating empanandas. Some things never change.

My story...Part 2 of 4

Argentina was and is the most beautiful country I've ever visited. Nevermind that I've only visited seven or so other countries, to me Argentina will always be numero uno! Luckily, I did write alot in my journal as a missionary, so I won't go into much detail here. I mostly wanted to show how I entered the MTC still thinking of how fun and how cool a mission would be. I tried to wear 'cool' missionary attire and continued to flex my muscles in most of my pictures. I even made some of my sweet (and beautiful) companions/neighbors flex for pics as well. I was such a dork.

S. Peterson, S. Crawford, S. Tanner, me, S. Oyler & S. Jensen

Each of the pictures below has a story and/or explanation, again I won't share it now, but they all show just how much of a punk I was. Except the bottom left photo which is by far my favorite moment from the MTC. I am sooo glad I wasn't flexing or giving a thumbs up sign or something ridiculous like that, although I'm pretty sure I thought about it.

I even made the elders flex...so dumb.

Thankfully, once in Argentina I started making some attitude adjustments. My trainer exuded a love for the Savior and for missionary work. She was a convert to the church and knew why she was out serving the Lord, eventually she got sick of my punkness. With lots of patience and love she helped me to realize I needed to figure out why I was there. After alot of praying, fasting and testifying, I finally grew to not just believe what I had been taught my entire life, but know it with a deep conviction. I was sent to Argentina to teach others about Jesus Christ and invite them to pray and find out for themselves if what we taught them was true. I am so glad I learned this early on in my mission and am thankful I had a trainer who was so instrumental in changing my perspective. Thanks Clau!

Hermana Ferreira and I after an argument about how selfish I was behaving. I cried and cried realizing she was right...(can you say puffy eyes?)

This was taken about six months later in another area. Don't I finally look like a real sister missionary? And look I am wearing a jumper dress, a sign of a true sister missionary! So happy and lovin' life.

Through numerous growth experiences and working alongside other amazing companions, I returned home in November 2000 a different person. (of course I still had other issues, but who doesn't?) Two months later I visited my brother in sunny San Diego. I remember borrowing his bike and going for a ride. It was such a beautiful and warm day and it was JANUARY! I decided I just had to live there, so I packed up my things and a few weeks later moved to the most beautiful city in the USA (at least I think so). I had plans to work full-time for a year, save up money, gain residency and go to college for real this time. But a few months later those plans were changed.

Part 3 will be tomorrow...and I guess it is now going to have to be a 4 part series.

P.S. Missionaries didn't ride bikes in my mission. We walked and used the transit system, but I missed biking alot and whenever I could I'd hop on one...

...dress and all.