A Christmas Miracle!

It may come as a shock to some, but I have been dating Collin again for the last few months.  We dated for a year and then had been broken up for the last year and a half or so.  That whole time though, we kept in contact by talking, texting and mostly gchatting. (Weird, I know!)  Anyway, we saw each other every once in a while throughout the course of that time too.  Every time I saw him, I would always be so happy and have a great time with him. 

Then, one of those visits would make a distinct impression on Collin.  He said he saw me and just realized that he couldn't live without me.  What an epiphany, huh?!  Every girls dream come true to have a handsome man tell them this.  He told me how he felt, but of course after 18 months of NOT dating, I was a bit reluctant to take him back so quickly.  With my hesitations, he knew he had some work to do, but he promised he'd prove that he/we deserved a second chance.  It took a few weeks until I came around, but since then, everything has been so great and he's definitely done an amazing job at proving himself.

This Christmas, I was able to take a few days off of work to come home to Colorado.  I considered myself incredibly lucky, as a slave to the retail world rarely gets any time off during the holidays.  My flight arrived late on the 23rd (so late, it was actually the 24th) and I was so excited to spend time with family.  We did all our traditional activities on Christmas Eve at Grandma Shirley's house and then Christmas morning we'd do our own thing as a family.  My mom woke me up to make sure I'd shower before Amy's family arrived.  I thought that was weird, but succumbed to her suggestion.  After opening gifts, we started Christmas breakfast. Emily said she'd forgotten her in-laws gifts so she had gone home to pick them up.  Aaron was taking random pictures, as usual.  

I was naturally posing, even while buttering toast.  Then all of the sudden, Collin was 4 feet away from me, standing in the kitchen.  I was completely shocked, and extremely surprised to find out my ENTIRE family was in on the whole thing!  Even Cory, who was in Texas, knew it was going down. :)  

 He came into the kitchen, I jumped up and down 3 or 4 times and then hugged him.  I couldn't articulate any sentences, so I just asked him random questions about how he got here and what he was doing here. (Not a very bright one at a time like this, I guess.)  He got down on one knee, whipped out the ring and said, 

"Will you marry me?"  

I took the ring out of his hand and said "Yep" and just wanted to hug him again.  The rest is pretty much a blur, but just enjoyed spending the unexpected day with Collin and family.

Here is the Christmas Miracle, though!  We're engaged and getting married March 14, 2009 in the Denver Temple!  WAHOO!!! :)  I guess it's true what they say: 

            "Timing is Everything."

FINALLY!!!!!!

After a long fought season, the "Number One's" were finally crowned victorious as Intramural Champions. Thursday night, we play "Blitz" for the "ship." It was our 3rd meeting. We beat them early in the double elimination tournament. We 'let them win' in the potential final game on Tuesday. It was tied 2-2 going into a sudden deal overtime (or golden goal overtime according to the ref who wanted to be more optimistic about the win rather than the death or loss of the other team). Anyway, after no goal was scored, we went to PK's. Each team designates 5 players to shoot a Penalty Kick; 1-on-1 with the goalie. We ended up losing the shootout 5-4, resulting in an additional final game Thursday (since we hadn't lost the ENTIRE season, this put us both at 1 loss and an equal shot at the ship). Thursday, due to a prior commitment, I wasn't able to go to the game. It was quite difficult to pass up, especially since we could practically taste the win. We ended up beating them 4-1, only giving up their goal with 45 seconds to go in the game. Brooke Thulin and Jen Henry both scored 2 goals, clinching our Championship Victory! And now, I have that coveted Intramural Championship Tee! BOOYA! Special shout out to my beloved roommate, Brittany Pierce, who dislocated her knee and tore ligaments in her knee at Tuesday nights game. She is the strongest person I've ever met and one of the most deserving of any award, including an Intramural Championship!

Obsession!

Let me let you in on a little secret. My parents had 1 boy and then 3 girls. They'd learn their 5th would be another little girl. Of course they were excited (plus, they had no choice in the matter), but they secretly wanted a boy. Almost 2 months after their angel of a daughter was born (me), their friends, Craig and Sheri Denney, had a little boy (they had wanted a girl). They joked about how noone would even know if they switched us. Luckily they didn't. I look exactly like my sisters and Brett is ALL Denney. (If you haven't met him... he's 6'huge'' and BIG). One of my best buds for sure!! So, even though I've turned into a little lady over the years, I'm still OBSESSED with sports. Growing up, in the summers, you would have found me in the dugout, keeping the actual scorebooks for my dad's softball games. In the winters, I'd go to basketball games and tumble across the gym floor during timeouts and halftimes. This is where I also learned how to whistle, dribble, spin a basketball on my finger and other valuable life lessons. Now that I'm "all grown up," the obsession continues. When I used to have more time for tv, I'd claim "SportsCenter" on ESPN as my favorite show. I love keeping up with the guys and talk sports. Even more, I love to play! Anything and everything! Still living in Provo, I've become addicted to Intramurals. There have been times when I was on up to five or six teams at once (including city leagues of course). My personal favorite and forte is volleyball. This season, my girls team went to the Elite 8 before elimination. My co-ed team just got knocked out last week, only to the ex-BYU players (including Rob AND Brian Congelier, Chelsea Goodman and Josh Jorgensen). Are you kidding me?! We actually put up a great fight and took them to 3 games. Loved every second of it.

Aside from volleyball, basketball and flag football have always been fun for me. This year was my first, though, taking up soccer. I was never put in the sport growing up, because I was always busy with tennis, gymnastics, track, volleyball and basketball. But who knew it was so much fun?! I have the best team in intramurals. Of course, I have mostly ex-BYU players on my team (Brooek, Davia, Char, Theo, Caroline, Jen, Nikki, Erica, Ali, plus some other amazing players like Brittany and Athena). It's so much fun though!

WE ARE IN THE FINALS on Tuesday! We're all super stoked. I'm especially worked up on the idea of getting an Intramural Championship t-shirt (this pic is actually from the Congelliere's). It's a coveted piece of life here at BYU, and hopefully it will be mine Tuesday! I'll keep you posted!!

A Thornton Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I was lucky enough to go home to Colorado for 2 whole days. Believe me, even that short period of time is a blessing as a slave to the retail world. After work Tuesday, I went straight to the airport (I left work around 4:30pm with my flight departing at 6:10pm). Good thing I've got traveling down to a science: Boarding pass. Check. Easily removeable shoes for security. Check. Zero metal pieces of clothing. Check. Zero 3.0oz liquid containers. Check. Carry-on luggage only. Check. Ipod. Check. I was ready to go, with time to spare. The flight went well and both my parents met me at D.I.A. I still think it's the best airport around. Hands down. (Ok, maybe I'm partial, but still...)

Wednesday and Thursday were simply spent with family. Running errands with my mom. Watching sports with my dad. Decorating their house for Christmas (they let me decorate the tree all by myself while they worked on the lights outside).

Helping out Grandma and Grandpa as much as possible (they hosted the 50+ guest Feast). I even got to spend some time with Amy's family before they left for New Mexico. Being home for the holidays is always so special, especially since I'm living in Provo.

I loved seeing cousins, aunts, uncles, friends. I was especially excited to see grandma and grandpa. After spending the last few months in Utah without a trip home, I was definitely eager to spend some time with them.

I am 100% in love with my nieces and nephews. I can't get enough of them! We played and watched movies and snuggled and ran around the house. They are SO cute. Kudos to my syblings for having such adorable, fun kids. :)

There ya have it! A few of my stinkin cute cousins. I'm obsessed. Thanksgiving was fantastic and I can't wait to go home again for Christmas!

P.S. Sorry about the super long time between T Chats! I won't make it a habit!

The 1st of Many

Ok! Many of you know that I am a novice at this whole blogging thing. I will at least attempt to keep up with those of you die-hard bloggers, though. If you do have any suggestions or words of wisdom, please share! I will be the first to admit that I have some serious learning to do. Alright! You may be asking yourself what "tChats" is all about. Well, I'll let you in on it. If you know me, you know that I love to keep up communication with my family and friends. Ok! Constant Communication! At any time of day, I can be reached by various channels of correspondence. When I'm at home, I am usually connected to the internet ... which includes but is certainly not limited to gmail, facebook, facebook chat and now my new blogs to keep me occupied. When out and about, I have my handy, dandy, phenomenal, technological blackberry curve. I love this phone. Why? Because it was made for me! Not only can I access my ESPN (irrelevant, I know), but it is perfect for keeping in touch. I have texting, picture messaging, MSN messenger, BlackBerry Messenger, AIM and my personal fav -- gChat. For the uninformed and deprived, gChat is to GMAIL what AIM is to AOL. It's the best! I'm sure you've guessed it already, but this is part of the inspiration for my new blog. With a little help from a friend, I have entitled this bad boy "tChats". I will be including the goings on in my life here in Utah, of course, as well as bits of insight from my little noggin. Keep your expectations low, so as not to be disappointed and we'll all have fun! Hasta la proxima vez... * T *