Life is Beautiful (Part 6)

The next day was Friday again! Woohoo, time flies fast! This particular Friday was August 3rd. I had been looking forward to this Friday for a *long* time because on this particular Friday my red-headed friend Elizabeth was going to be coming for a whirlwind visit and slumber-not party. It really was quite a whirlwind. When she arrived, we immediately left again to go dress shopping (because Steven had invited me to go on the temple trip the next day, I'm maybe a little bit selfish, and Elizabeth is a good sport) and we found a cute, suitable dress right before the store closed. Afterwards we went to Red Bowl, because it's delicious and open late. :) We caught up, I was a little distracted the whole time, thinking of Steven, but we had a good time. When we got home, we watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We fell asleep at our slumber-not party (because we're not as young as we used to be ;) haha) and woke up relatively early. Elizabeth had to be back down to Savannah ASAP and I was off to the temple.

"I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday."

I got there late... to nobody's surprise, really.... but I don't think it was too late. I still got to participate in the baptisms. Before we went into the water, I warned Steven that I have terrible balance and that I'm always asked if I'm okay, but that I'm always okay, just off balance, and that he didn't have to ask. Sure enough, however, after the first few names Steven stopped and asked me if I was okay. Yep. Just totally have no technique here... later he'd finally give me a few tips that would help a lot. People always tell you to "just sit down" but when I sit down I sit back. Steven figured that out and let me know that what those people really mean is to just bend your knees and go straight down. Oh... well, that makes sense. :3 hehe

Being there with Steven, both of us in white jumpsuits, serving others, felt really, really wonderful. Everything just felt right. Even the cool room temperature, because it meant that Steven would take it upon himself to warm up my hands. He did. (Mmmmm.)

Because I'd been late getting in for the baptisms, I was late getting out of the dressing rooms, too. Steven was there waiting for me, the rest of the party had left. Mom had given me the Riverbanks Zoo pass that morning, and I suggested it to Steven, since it would be a shame to have to part ways so quickly. ;) Steven was game, and so without too much time taking off jackets and ties or whatever we were off. I had forgotten my driver's license that morning (or so I'd thought, I'd been looking for it all over, which was part of the reason why I was late. I'd eventually decided to just go without it) so Steven was driving. Lots of holding hands, singing with the radio, some dancing in the car, and, of course, we got lost a bit. It's a gift of mine. Thankfully, we didn't get too turned around because Steven has a very handy Navigation app on his phone.

Parking at the zoo was crazy, thank goodness the Prius is relatively small. Walking from our parking spot to the zoo entrance, Steven offered to buy me flip flops so I didn't have to wear my high heels. I declined, I like wearing high heels. But I kind of forgot I hadn't really broken this particular pair in, yet... I would've been smart to take up Steven's offer. But I still didn't, throughout the whole day.... I'm sort of stubborn that way.

Nina heels, man. They're cute.

We walked around and looked at all sorts of animals. We even went into the fish and reptile house, even though Steven really doesn't like being next to large tanks of water that are taller than a person. He's such a good sport. :3 I really do like aquariums. I don't think we ever managed to find the tigers, though. But we did talk about families and kids while we walked around. I remember asking, "When you picture your future family, how many kids to you see?" Steven responded, "Well, I know this girl, who's pretty perfect, and she comes from a family of eight. And both of her parents, too. I think eight's probably a pretty good number." I agree, eight is a pretty fantastic number. (Later we joked about rounding it off nicely to an even ten or maybe even a dozen.)

This, obviously, was not the aquarium to which we went. But I'd love to go to this one (Atlanta, GA) someday.

Towards the end of our zoo adventures, Steven and I took the train to the botanical gardens and walked around there for some time. Everything was so beautiful. My feet were starting to complain, but I kept ignoring them. Steven sang a little bit of Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat's "Lucky." Ahhh!!! <3 <3 <3 (I only the tune to the chorus... definitely going to have to learn the other half! :3)

I'd forgotten my camera in the car, so there are no pictures of this day. Guess we'll have to go back to the zoo with a camera sometime.... ;)

By the time we got to the car, my feet were almost screaming at me. It did hurt, but I didn't think it was a big deal, because this happens kind of a lot to me (Dad says I'm a glutton for punishment... I just think the shoes were cute... ) but I felt bad that it made Steven feel so bad. I insisted it wasn't his fault, and this was the consequence to my action, and thanked him for not obstinately insisting on buying me alternative footwear. (We did see crocs at the zoo, but no flips flops. Friends do not let friends wear crocs. At least not with a dress. Ew...)

We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to the Farrar house and picked up some stuff for chicken soup. I had so much fun making the chicken soup with Steven! It turned out really well, probably because it was made - of course - with lots of love. ;) His mom never could catch it on camera, we were too sneaky. Hehe, neener neener? She did make some very yummy biscuits to go with the soup, though.

After dinner we didn't have any plans, and we ended up going on a double date with Steven's parents to Walmart. I borrowed some clothes from Steven's mom so I didn't have to wear my dress, and I borrowed somebody's flip-flops.... I think they were Jody's, too. Steven and I played a game that involved tossing a ball back and forth while naming movies and TV shows while his parents were running their errands, and when we got back to the house we continued our game out on the back porch. Steven lit the tiki torches and we sat together on the bench swing... Mmmm... the only downside was that my legs were completely eaten up by mosquitos by the time we got around to going back inside. Oops.

When we did go inside, Steven pulled out some of his old art doodles and songs he'd written to share them with me. It was really cool to really see Steven opening up, all our barriers (on both sides) were just disappearing. Steven also shared with me Vocal Point's Nearer My God to Thee, which is now my favorite arrangement of this hymn. It's so beautiful. For a long time afterwards, more specifically after I'd gone back to BYU, I would play this video when I felt lonely and think of this incredible, wonderful day that I got to spend entirely with Steven. :)

To wrap this post up: I stayed really late, and eventually Steven simply carried me out to the car, apologizing profusely for keeping me so late and very obviously worried about my safety while I drove home. I was really sleepy, but I made it home okay, thanks to some watchful guardian angels, I'm sure. I was out before I collapsed on the couch.

To be continued! ;)