Tagged

Back in August I got tagged by Quin's sister, Elena and I never did it, so here goes:

1. Who is your man? Quin C. Smith

2. How long have you been together: January 13th was our two year wedding anniversary and we dated for exactly one year before we got married. But sometimes I think we met in the pre-existence, ahhhhh.

3. How long did you date: as stated in the previous answer, we dated for a year, but about 5 months before we officially started dating, we went on 3 dates. I wasn't super interested and Quin didn't want to put in the effort. I think we just needed some time to figure things out. We ran into each other a few days before new years and decided to hang out on new years day and we have been together ever since. We distinguish between the two time periods as our first first date and our second first date etc.

4. How old is your man? Quin will be the big 3-0 at the end of March. He used to joke that he had to wait for his wife to grow up, little did he know he wasn't really joking.

5. Who eats more? Ummm... I think it is pretty tied. Which is pretty bad because he is soooo much bigger than me. Although, we will be sitting there eating a meal and I will look down and all my food is gone. He says that I ate it, but I am not so sure.

6. Who said 'I love you' first? He did, he said it in Portuguese because he was too nervous to tell me. When I asked him what that meant, he wouldn't say. A few days later he told me in English. I think I said something like, thank you. Later when I told him I loved him, he said "eww gross." I started crying and wanted to go home. He wouldn't let me. My sister called him a little while later to go jump start her car, he told her what happened and she laughed at him. Some day I am going to write a book of all the really romantic things Quin has said to me, that being the first.

7. Who is taller? He is, I am 5'8" and he is 6'.

8. Who sings better? Well he does, but that is because he doesn't have much competition.

9. Who is smarter? HMMM... that is a tough one. I am really not sure, this is probably a tie. I couldn't marry someone who wasn't my intellectual equal.

10. Who's temper is worse? Mine is by far, there is no comparison.

11. Who does the laundry? I do, that is because I don't let him.

12.Who does the dishes? we usually do them together, Quin washes the extra food off and I load them, even if he does load, I usually go through and move things around.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.

14. Who pays the bills? I do. I have been paying the bills for Quin almost since we started dating. He used to wait until the bill came in pink envelopes "because you knew those were bills and that they were serious." Yeah, we don't do that any more.

15. Who is better at the computer? He is, why should I learn, that's one of the benefits of marrying a nerd.

16. Who mows the lawn? We live in an apartment complex so the lawn guys do, but we would love to have our own lawn so he could do it.

17. Who cooks dinner? We usually do it together, but he does the majority of it. He really likes to cook and is really, really good at it (except sometimes experiment night doesn't go so great).

18. Who drives when you are together? He does with me front seat driving right next to him.

19. Who pays when you go out? We take turns, it's all on the same credit card account but we joke about who is treating whom.

20. Who is more stubborn? I think I am more stubborn, but Quin has his moments.

21. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? I am sure that if I ever were wrong I would admit it.

22. Who's parents do you see the most? I would say probably mine, but we don't see either sets enough, my parents are 800 miles away and his are 1000.

23. Who kissed who first? I kissed him first and it surprised us both.

24. Who asked who out first? Quin asked me out first and almost every time after that. I kept trying to think of ways to get out of the dates, but he was persistent. One day I woke up and realized I couldn't live without him.

25. Who proposed first? He did, but we don't like to talk about it, it will be included in the book of romantic things he has said to me.

26. Who is more sensitive? I almost don't even dare say for hurting his feelings. Quin is WAY more sensitive than I am. But I keep telling myself that having a sensitive man is a good thing.

27. Who has more friends? Quin, without a doubt. He is such a nice, good natured guy, everybody loves him. It is one of the things I love most about him. He is your friend from the moment you meet him.

28. Who has more siblings? He does. I have one and he has three.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? He calls me the President and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of the Smith Family Household so I guess that means that I do, but he is the CEO (Chief Executive Officer).

So if anyone out there actually reads this I tag you.

The perseverance award

Back in October (which, is when we started this post, but had some technical difficulties) Quin's work sponsored a golf tournament. Other than the mini kind, I had never played before and Quin had only played a few times. So of course Quin signed us up. I was not excited at all (Quin says I was disgruntled, but I don't remember that)! I finally agreed to go on the condition that if at lunchtime I wanted to go, we were out of there. I had such a blast that by lunchtime, leaving was the farthest thing from my mind.

Here we are before we first teed off. Another condition of me going was that I got to drive the golf cart.
Quin doesn't like this picture, he calls it his Jaba the Hut impersonation picture.
The Fantastic Four--we were teamed with Kirk and Dmitri, they were so nice and a lot of fun.

Quin pretending to sink a putt

This was after I had actually sunk the putt. We played "best ball' where you hit it from the best spot from your team. Here we got a birdie, which was a hole in two thanks to yours truly.

Quin played with SpongeBob SquarePants golf balls (you can kind of see it flying by the trees). One of the things that made the day so great was that Quin would hang out of the cart while I would floor it and try to grab our balls as we cruised by. One time I hit a bump right as he was reaching for it. He went flying out of the cart. Fortunately his ninja training took over and he rolled and was not hurt. The best part was, we were around a ton of his co-workers, they were talking about it for weeks.

The day was great for golf, not too hot, not too cold. The sky was clear and blue (quite a rarity for Bakersfield, usually you cannot see the sky, no joke)!!! To top it all off, T.J. Cross gave us these great matching shirts with their logo on them.

Look at my mad skills, I believe that went like 5 yards!

We had a great day! We are now golf addicts, Quin even went out and bought us clubs. Who knows, maybe we will have to go pro.

This is a video of my first time teeing off in the tournament

We won the perseverance award, which sounds good, but it actually means that we got last place, but they gave us these great big nice duffel bags and hats with the T.J. Cross logo on them. Hey better last place with stuff than 2nd to last with nada.

Thanksgiving 2007

Apparently we have been neglectful in updating our blog, so I thought I would post our pictures from Thanksgiving (especially since we have had a request for this one).

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Quin and I loaded up the car and drove 800 miles to my sisters house in SLC. For some reason, I really wanted to go on a car trip and was really excited to go. I forgot however that, I have a really short attention span and don't particularly like LONG car rides. This one felt like it was particularly long! SO, I guess I got it out of my system.

We got to her house at like two in the morning and instead of going to bed like sane rational people, the two of us stayed up talking forever (amazingly Quin went right to bed, I usually have to fight him, it's like making a 6 foot 230 pound two year old go to sleep). On Thanksgiving Quin and I got up and drove to my parent's house where Quin proceeded to try to smoke a turkey. Usually there is a lot of sitting around waiting for food on Thanksgiving, so Quin and I tried to keep ourselves preoccupied:

I put my mom's wig on top of my hair and the color matched amazingly well. I walked around talking like a hick about how I was going to go to a bar-b-que with my big pouffy hair.
Yes, I am holding a baby and a beer (empty bottle) because the two go together don't they?

This is actually the day after Thanksgiving and Quin hadn't shaven in a few days.

I just wanted to see if I could put cotton all over Quin's face. He really didn't want to do it, but I make Quin do a lot of things that he doesn't want to do, like floss, get man pretty, and satisfy my whims such as this one.
I like this one because it shows how pretty his eyes are

THE BIG JUDD

Almost since the beginning of Quin and I dating I have heard about "The Big Judd." It's this burger place up in Idaho that if you eat the above pictured burger, you get your picture on the wall for a year. If you eat the double, you get your picture on for life. I have always wondered if I could do it. So the Saturday after Thanksgiving we went up to Idaho and decided to finally go to Big Judd's. Unfortunately, I didn't come prepared to eat that much cow and didn't do it, but never say never, I may some day get my picture on the wall.
It was a pretty good burger, throw in fries and an Ironport soda and you have yourself a pretty good meal. (You also have the makings of a big butt and a heart attack, but I try not to think about that too much.)
I am not sure what Emily is doing here

Quin's parents enjoying their burgers (they did not get the Big Judd)

KATE'S 2ND BIRTHDAY

Elena postponed celebrating Kate's birthday for a week so we could be there for the party (which was sooooo awesome because we are so sad that we always miss everything). When Elena's older kids asked why they were waiting a week to have Kate's birthday party, Elena told them it was so we could be there for her party. Their response: Uhhh, how come Kate gets to have Natalie and Quin at her birthday party??? HA, I love it! Nice to know we are liked. A super cute picture of Alyssa, Kate, and Halle

The Utah/BYU game was that Saturday. Unfortunately Quin's team lost, but it was still fun joking around.
Quin, Halle, and Alyssa we joking around and sticking one of those pool noodles in their pants, down each leg and running around. The girls thought it was the funniest thing they have ever done, and I will have to admit we were all rolling on the ground. They looked like they had big ol' butts and bow legs. It was hilarious


I got one good picture of Kate in her dress up clothes. We got her dress up clothes because she loves to dress up and we thought, hey why fight it. Quin wanted to get her a red cheerleader outfit, but we didn't think Jarom would let her wear it.

Christmas 2007

CHRISTMAS 2007!!!

We had a really nice Christmas this year. We were unable to make the journey to the frigid north and stayed here in Bakersfield and had our first California Christmas.

This is our humble little tree. That is our "First Christmas" ornament.

The beautifully finished tree. The pumpkin ornament is really a Halloween decoration that my mom (Janet) sent down with our Christmas gifts. It is an unofficial tradition to get decor for holidays other than the holiday it really is (plus my mom just likes to get us decorations and when you see each other only 3 times a year that is when you give them).

Natalie's parents Sheri and Garth were able to make the trek to come visit us.

The traditional pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Natalie liked the ones that we got Sheri so much that she had to get herself a matching pair. She was SOOO excited to have matching pajamas with her mom. It was actually pretty funny because Natalie was wearing them and Sheri commented on how cute they were.

Natalie made me this U of U bath robe. She was able to hide the fact that she was making it from me for an entire month. She would take the scraps to work and throw them away to keep it a secret. She would also go over to her friend Stacie's house at lunch and get help and pointers. She spent as much time picking up every little red thread as she did sewing it. I was impressed when I opened it, then my jaw hit the ground when she said "I made that."

Sheri and Garth opening our gift to them. We got them the family crest and origin of the name Thornock. We have been planning to give it to them since September when we found the crest at the county fair.

My mom has been very busy working on genealogy and gave us both a 4 generation picture. It was very awesome! (Nat got teary eyed) Thank you for the great gift mom.

Manders got me a new Yoda shirt!

The day after Christmas we all piled into the car and headed over to the coast to look at the ocean. This is a picture of Nattie enjoying her car trip (note the sarcasm).

The Madonna Inn. The Madonna Inn is a rather famous themed Inn. The decor is VERY floral! The banisters are all carved to look like grapes and flowers. If people are nice to us and we like you, we may just book you a night in the Pony Room, Traveler's Yacht, or Irish Hills. In the men's room the urinal is a giant rock waterfall that takes up half the wall and is activated when you step up to it. Classy!!!

The pier at Pismo Beach.

I started to feed the Seagulls and they swarmed the car.

I was holding up a Cheez-it trying to get the bird to take it out of my hand and got bitten. It actually kind of hurt and left a red mark on my thumb for almost 2 days.