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.

My story after high school...Part 1

This is part 1 of 3. I've decided to take a hiatus from writing about the girls and share some journal posts about me. I don't really have much written down and I just figured out how to use our scanner. So, if you're not interested in reading the whole thing then enjoy some goofy pictures of me post high school.

In high school I shopped at Savers thrift store for my clothes way too much and listened to music like 311, Lenny Kravitz, STP & Tori Amos to name a few. I guess I was a bit grunge mixed with hippie. My brother liked to call me a granola, but since I always showered and shaved my armpits, I never really was one. I never drank or did drugs either, but I often felt like other people thought I did. And for some reason, I was OK with that. During my senior year I goofed off, went to lots of concerts and had very little direction.

But then I went on this awesome graduation trip to Lake Powell with some friends and I decided I really liked outdoor recreational activities.

Muriel, Lauren, Leslie, Erin, Jen, me & awesome Bro. B (Lauren's dad)

Lake Powell 1996

Don't you love my outfit??? Savers shorts baby...what was I thinking?

Me & Leslie at Powell (I had to post this pic 'cause I LOVED that Savers shirt)

Growing up my family never went on camping trips or did outdoorsy stuff at least I don't recall any (correct me if I'm wrong, mom). Luckily, I had friends who were really into it all and they invited me to go hiking up Mt. Timpanogos at night, camping, snowboarding, rock-climbing and even skydiving. I had a blast. My friend Karen and I enrolled in a class together that fall and since I was super serious about gaining an education it was the only class I took--Mountain Biking 110. It was sooo fun and sooo AWESOME! The final consisted of a 4-day bike trip on the White Rim Trail in Southern Utah, sooo beautiful!

Mountain Biking became my passion, along with hiking and spelunking and river-rafting and other fun fun fun. I wanted to be a park ranger or get a degree in recreation because college was all about having fun. Oh, and I worked full-time at the Circle K gas station where I sold alcohol and learned what boxed Reds and soft menthol Camels meant. Very educational huh...again I reiterate that I never smoked anything. Hmmm, I have to take that back because when I was 7 years old, my older sister and I found some cigarettes in our neighbors bushes. We took a few puffs in our backyard, coughed 'til we were blue and swished lots of mouthwash afterwards to cover it up. We promised to never tell mom and dad and we never did. And that is my only experience with it.

Biking Slickrock in Moab on my sweet Gary Fisher

Spelunking in Nutty Putty Cave

(which was shut down last year because a man got stuck and rescuers were unable to get him out, sadly many people have died in the caves--looking back it was quite dangerous and stupid of me to do as a beginner)

Outside the Nutty Putty Cave

I also enjoyed the muscles that were forming on my arms. I thought I was so tough.

Again some sweet man pants from Savers--and again, what was I thinking?

I had the coolest friends (still do) and most of them were attending BYU and living the REAL full-time college experience. I continued to live at home, work full-time, waste my money on music and concerts, dye my hair and dress like a granola/grunge something or other. I took a few classes here and there and played outside whenever I could. In 1997, I took out a loan and bought my first real car for 2000 bucks--an '85 Honda Accord. I learned to change the oil, tires and spark plugs on this baby and I can still do it all by myself. Although, my manly husband won't let me, he takes care of the car maintenance around here...and actually I'm glad because I really wouldn't want to.

Why was my blonde-streaked self looking for a DANGERBOY? Good thing I never found one, and of course I am wearing another sweet Savers shirt.

(My very first car was an old '82 Nissan Datsun with a big hole around the stickshift that I covered with a towel so water and snow wouldn't splash up at me. And it had a dangling ignition switch that started with a screwdriver. What a joke! My older bro sold it to me my senior year for 500 bucks. Hey Ty--what kind of brother sells his little sister a piece of junk like that?!?! It died on me about 9 months later while I was driving home from a friends house late one night. Not cool...)

My awesome friend Muriel was and still is my most adventurous friend. She has traveled extensively, worked in Madagascar for the Peace Corps and is now a bona fide litigation lawyer in San Francisco. I love her!

I also had LOTS of fun times with my amazing friend Darlene and an old boyfriend's beautiful sisters Lexi & Vanessa. I chose this picture to show that I also did some girly things once in a while. We liked to have fun little tea parties. (We also played card games like blackjack and poker until the wee hours of the morning, but that wasn't so girly.) I love these girls so much! Darlene has three darling daughters just like me and works as a labor & delivery nurse here in Texas. It is so nice to have her around the corner and be able to hangout again. She's the twins' nursery leader at church and they love her.

No Savers clothing here, although I could've taken off my sport watch. I am wearing my senior prom dress, which actually cost me almost as much as my wedding dress.

In February of 1998, I went to teach English in Mongolia for three months with my friend Erin. It was quite a culture shock to say the least, I had never lived away from home and here I was learning to speak Mongolian, taking taxis by myself, buying and eating weird food and surviving some freakin' FRIGID weather. But the experience was life-altering. Someday I'd like to write in more detail about this, but not now. I decided traveling was super fun. I attended church at a small branch in Ulaanbaatar and for the first time in my life, was exposed somewhat to life as a missionary abroad. It looked fun and at the time, my life was about having fun. I wanted to go on a mission for the LDS church. This decision also changed me in countless ways and quite literally put my life on a new path with purpose and direction.

Erin and I eating lunch with some other teachers-- Erin is a super talented artist and just received a masters degree in creative writing. And yes you guessed it, I am wearing another Savers sweater.

My 21st birthday with my extremely smart and beautiful friends. Muriel, me, Lauren (a recent Berkeley MBA grad--such a smartyhead!) and Karen (an awesome homeschooling mother of five beautiful kiddos--this girl finished her degree at BYU while pregnant with her third child and while her husband attended the MBA program..she can seriously do anything!)

In May of 1999, two months after the picture above was taken, I left to serve a mission in Salta, Argentina...tomorrow I will post part 2.

my life as a me monster...

So, alot of you know that my life has changed quite dramatically over the last couple of years. And although I love this new crazy life with my sweet girls, lately I've been doing some self-reflecting.

I now completely forget the names of people I have met a few times. Not only that, but I have even called people by a totally different name. (I never used to do this before and it is sooo embarrassing!) I've noticed that I tend to interrupt others more or share my own experiences. I don't mean to sound like I am trying to one-up others, but I think I may come off that way. Also, I let other insignificant things that people say or do bug me...stupid things that I never even used to notice. I whine and complain more than I used to and well, it's weird to realize just how much these children have changed me.

While in some ways being a mother of three little ones has made me a better person. I fear that I am now a worse friend. I used to be a better listener. I used to serve others more. I used to be more reserved about sharing my own trials. I used to notice the goodness in others more and hand out compliments more freely. I used to be more perceptive and observant of others feelings, but lately, I fear I have become as Brian Regan calls it somewhat of a 'me monster.'

To those of you reading this that have conversed and/or associated with me over the last couple of years. I wanted to say sorry (you know who you are) and thank you for putting up with me. Here's to hoping that the recognition of this will help me strive to be better.

I also started blogging a couple of years ago...hmmm, maybe I should just blame my self-absorbedness (is that a word?) to the inherent nature of blogging and not on the little ones. They are too darn cute to blame.

Thanks Darlene for letting me borrow this jumperoo thing. Sage absolutely loves it!