Happy Anniversary!

This past weekend was quite eventful. I got Friday off work and went with Ben, my sister Brenda and my niece Kerry to breakfast at Guasti's, "home of the 25 cent cup of coffee" and "giant pancakes". Too bad none of us drink coffee but the pancakes are amazing. They are HUGE! We were able to share 1 between the 4 of us and still have some left over.

Brenda and Kerry enjoying a cup of hot cocoa

After breakfast Ben had to go study at the library so Brenda, Kerry and I went to the "Lemon Festival". It was so hot but we had a lot of fun. The petting zoo (always a must stop) was the best I've been too. All the animals were so friendly and just wanted to be petted. Even the chicken's were friendly.

Pretty good for a barefoot 4 year old

That night Ben and I took Mom, Ron and Rachie to dinner. We went to Ben's favorite pizza place "Rizza Pizza" (aka "Better than Crack Pizza"). Then we went to my favorite ice cream place "Bert and Rockies" for the famous "Elvis" drumstick.

Then on Saturday (our 5th wedding anniversary) Ben and I went to the Redlands Temple with our ward. We thought we were supposed to meet them there at 9:30am but the session was at 9:30. So we just waited till the next one.

Then Ben and I went to the "Lemon Festival" just so Ben could get a "Bacon Wrapped Polish Hot Dog on a Potato Bun". YUMM!!! We also went to a couple of antique stores (one of our favorite past-times). Again it was sooo Hot!

That night Ben and I went to the Los Angeles temple where 5 years earlier we were sealed for "time and all eternity". It was such a wonderful day. We tried taking some pictures but they weren't coming out very good. That's when we just decide to take pictures making funny faces. Those always come out good. Or at least we already know that they are going to be bad so there's no surprises.

"Puny Humans, You won't like me when I'm ANGRY!"

We know we're Hot!

My poor husband does these cheezy things that I ask of him.

That's how I know he loves me

Sunday was also a great day! Church was really good. It was our Ward Conference. Then Sunday night was our traditional dinner at Dad's.

It runs in the family

I love weekends! I can't wait till the next!

I've Been Tagged!

I’ve been tagged! Twice! I don’t mind though. I think these things are fun. It’s really long though. Hope you enjoy.

Where did you meet your husband?

Ben and I went to high school together (Chino High – Chino, California). We actually never talked to each other in high school, but we did know who each other were. I knew Ben as the shy boy with long hair and flannels.

What was the first thing said?

I totally remember this. I had gotten baptized in August of 1998. Ben left on his mission in October of 1998. I went to Ben’s farewell with my other family, Callie Mama and Sarah Wright. Callie had told me that when men leave on their missions that their girls will “wait for them”. When I saw Ben at his farewell, I whispered to Callie that Ben was who I was going to “wait for”. He looked mighty fine with his missionary hair-cut, brand new suit and glowing with the Spirit. Well after Ben gave his talk he walked up to us to say “hi” and “thanks for coming”. When he saw me, we both said at the same time “Congratulations!”, him to me for getting baptized and me to him for his mission call. What’s really sweet is that I just asked Ben if he remembered the first thing we said to each other and he remembered exactly. Even all the details of where we were sitting in the chapel.

What was your first date?

This one is actually kinda hard. Ben and I hung out a lot. I thought we were just friends but he thought we were actually dating. When Ben got home from his mission we were reunited at the Single’s Ward (Chino Valley). We went to a couple of activities and firesides together but nothing romantic. I had a huge crush on Ben but he just treated me like a friend. Then Ben went to Utah for few months then when he came back we started hanging out more. First with a bunch of friends then slowly, one by one our friends started hanging out less and less and then it was like just Ben and me. The first outing I can actually really remember when it was just the two of us was when we went to a pumpkin patch around Halloween. We went into a little haunted maze that the boy scouts had put together and I was acting like I was really scared. It was so dark and Ben grabbed my had and guided me through the maze. I was floating on air that night. I thought “Oh My Gosh! He’s holding my hand” and I’m sure he was just thinking, “Oh My Gosh! I need to hurry and get this annoying girl through this maze”. Our first actual real date that he had planned was to Huntington Beach. We went and had dinner at BJ’s then we had a note on my car from Sarah and Greg that they were at the beach too. We met them at Duke’s for dessert and then we walked out on the beach at night.

How long did you date?
Well I thought that we were just friends hanging out but to Ben we were actually dating. If you ask Ben he’d say from August to December (4 months). If you ask me I’d say December to January (our first kiss to our engagement – less than 1 month). Crazy I know.

First kiss?

Keep in mind Ben is thinking that we were dating this whole time and I thought we were just friends. Well Ben invited me to spend Christmas (2002) morning with his family. Then the day after Christmas, Ben and I went to Vegas (hold on, don’t get all excited, just keep reading)… to help my mom and step-dad move. On Friday night, December 27th Ben kissed me for the first time and right after he kissed me he said, “So, what do we do now? Get married?”. I was thinking he was kidding but the poor guy was quite serious. I responded by telling him that I thought we needed to date first and his response was, “I thought that’s what we are doing”. Talk about miscommunication. I just told him that I thought we should date more and see if that could be the next step of our relationship…The next night we went to Tiffany’s in the Bellagio to look at rings. Crazy I know.

Where did you get engaged?
This is a good one. By January 11th we were seriously talking about marriage and we set an appointment to look at rings on the 16th. We went to Robbin’s Brothers and Ben found the perfect ring. It was too big and needed to be resized so he didn’t take it home right then. Then the next night, Friday the 17th, I went over to Ben’s moms to meet Ben so we could hang out. Well I asked him if he picked up the ring yet and he said he tried but it wasn’t ready yet. I could totally tell he was lying. Ben cannot lie. (I am so grateful for that). Then he said that his mom was holding it for him. I was so excited because I knew that it was going to happen that weekend and I couldn’t wait to see how he would do it. I always wanted this great story to tell my kids about how their father proposed to me. Well before we went out Ben had said that he needed to drop off some “New York Times, Crossword Puzzles” that he had been collecting from work to our dear friend (and 3rd mother), Callie Mama. We went over to the Wright’s but Callie wasn’t home. Spud was but he was lying in his bed and called us to his room. He asked Ben if he proposed yet and Ben said, “No, not yet.” Then Spud said, “What are you waiting for?” So Ben looked at me and said, “Well will you marry me?” I was shocked! Was this the story I was going to tell my children. Was this the proposal that I had been waiting for since childhood? Did my future husband just propose to me in front of a half naked man lying in his bed? I just looked at them and said, “You don’t even have the ring”. Then Spud said, “So! Are you going to say Yes?” After a long pause I said, “I guess”. Well after about 6 seconds of sadness for the lack of a crazy romantic proposal I got excited and we left to go get the ring from Ben’s mom… Keep reading, it gets better I promise…On the way there Caroline, (Ben’s sister) called and said that her and her fiancé Aaron were right by my house and wanted to see my new little puppy (Peanut). So we headed over to my house which was just down the street so that I could straighten up real quick before they got there. When we were walking up to my house I had noticed that the living room light was off and that that bathroom door was closed (I could see this through the blinds while I was unlocking the door). I started to panic because I knew someone had been in my house and I was worried for my dear little Peanut. I opened the door and found that all my furniture was moved to the side and in the corner of my living room there was a beautiful white pedestal with red wine glasses of different heights arranged on it. In each glass there was a lit candle and in the center glass was the opened ring box! (they even attached a little Maglite to my ceiling fan so that it would be shining right on my ring) When I finally realized what this was and that this was my real proposal, I turned around to find my Ben on his knee. He told me that he loved me and that he wanted to get old with me and return to Heavenly Father with me! Oh My Gosh! It couldn’t have been any more perfect. Now I had this wonderful story that I could tell my children and who ever is reading this!

Where did you get married?
Los Angeles Temple on April 26, 2003.

How did the reception go?
Just perfect! Our wedding was red, black and white and had a Chinese theme. It was held in Ben’s Mom’s backyard. We had a dance floor and surprisingly we actually danced! I didn’t think we would besides our wedding dance. I had the most beautiful bridesmaids and my Mama (Ben’s mom) and Caroline had worked so hard to make everything so perfect for me. We had so much fun and even a year after we still had people telling us how fun our reception had been. If I could do it over again, I wouldn’t change anything except our photographer.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

We went to Pueblo Benito, Emerald Bay in Mazatlan, Mexico. It was wonderful. We had so much fun (except for the cockroach in my pants - That's a whole other post!) that we said that we would compare it to every vacation we had after it. We really felt like the rich and famous. We were treated so well.

Do you have a song?

Yes. On the night before Ben proposed to me he walked me to the car and we were hugging and we both just started singing, “Always and Forever”. This became our wedding song.


Where were you 10 years ago?
10 Years ago in April 2008 I was working at Hogi Yogi and Brea Center Baptist Church. I lived in my father’s home in Ontario with my dad, sister Brenda and little cousin Eric. My friends were Steve Wright, Sean Bennett, Tommy Cady and Josh Lyman-aucker. I was almost a year out of high school and taking classes at Mt. San Antonio College. I felt like I was going absolutely nowhere in life. My soul was hungry for something and I had no idea what it was. Little did I know that just a month later on Mother’s day that I would be getting my first copy of the Book of Mormon. I didn’t know it at the time but this event was exactly what I needed. A few months later on August 2, 1998 I was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This was the best year of my youth and is what has helped form me into who I am today.


5 things on my to-do list today
(1) finish work (2) go to class (3) spend some "quality time" with Ben (4) make Ben's lunch (5) finish this post


5 snacks I enjoy
(1) apples with Tajin fruit seasoning (2) pineapple (3) carrots with “Dilly of a Dip” (4) Charles Chips Dill Potato Chips (5) Tim’s Maui Spicy BBQ Kettle Style Potato Chips (#4 & #5 I don’t get very often and I try not to eat it very often but when I do I can eat a whole bag to myself.)


What I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire?

First, I’d pay $100,000,000 to tithing. Then I’d buy a huge lot of land in Central California and build a bunch of self sustaining houses for any of my family (Wright's included) that would want to move there. Finish paying off Ronald’s plane so that he could fly us back and forth to see our family and friends that don’t move with us, (wait…that’s pretty much all what my Mama’s (Ben’s mom) dream is). Put my husband trough medical school so he can become a plastic surgeon. Send Isaiah to the University that he wants to go to (I think its in Japan – This is actually what Ben wants to do with the first house we flip, but if we were billionaires then we could just send him) Put my cousin through school and start college funds for all my nieces. Take everyone at work out to dinner and pay for Susan. Give a $1,000 to each of my friends. Send Jackie anywhere she wants to go in the world. Take DIY classes for all sorts of different things (gardening, remodeling, landscaping, building, sewing, cooking etc.). Get really good at photography, then have my own studio and photography business. Go on that National Geographic Cruise Around the World (with Ben of course). Start a scholarship for Veteran’s and give a bunch of money to the Church so that we could build more Temples and Church Universities around the world. And make lots of babies of course!


5 of my bad habits
(1) play with my hair – I find a really kinky one and I pull it out. I also pull out a really long hair from my head and weave it in and out of my fingers till it’s tight (I only do this when I driving) (2) I don’t put my clothes away – they are just piled up in our second bedroom. It’s basically just a huge 2nd closet (3) I sneeze really loud (4) I love fried chicken (5) Ben (even too much of a good thing can be bad)


5 jobs that I have had
(1) Rainbows End – My family’s Sportswear store that we had growing up. I just found out that Ben’s family used to buy from us when we were younger. (2) Cake decorator at Pak N Save (Von’s sister store) (3) Metz Air Control – we did the air conditioning for 2 of Snoop Dogs Houses (4) Activities Director at Marriot’s Brighton Gardens – I was basically paid to play (5) Hogi Yogi – Professional Sandwich Maker Extraordinaire!


5 things people don't know about me
(1) I’m very controlling (2) My house is currently a disorganized mess (3) I am very anal about certain things (4) I can not focus on more than one thing at a time (5) I am very afraid of the wind.