Moving up in the World

Sooooo, I've been promoted. Jenni has invited me to write on her Blog with her. This will be great, because I won't feel the need to write different posts than her about the same thing, but I secretly think she might regret letting me write on it, since people actually read hers...

Until then, though, that's where I'll be. Check us out at:

BrandonandJenniOrr.blogspot.com

You need an invitation, so send me your email on this post, or to my email:

Longboardladdie@gmail.com

Do I Make a Difference???

This photo may allude to the fact that I DO make a difference, but I, and now you, were sadly mistaken.

Our stake held a blood drive this week, and since I have only been to the ward twice so far I decided to do a good deed and volunteer to give blood. I was sitting next to my cousin during Priesthood on Sunday (he happens to live just down the street, which is nice), and during our conversations of who was going to get whose home teaching done first (yes, on my second week in the ward I already had an assignment, and for the record, I got it done first ;)..... Okay this sentence is getting pretty fragmented. Anyways, while we were talking we decided we needed a guys-night-out, and what better and more manly thing is there than donating blood together! So we signed up and went at the same time. We got there, donned our "I make a difference" stickers, and started going through paperwork. I got called first and talked to a male nurse who made sure I was healthy enough to donate. He then left me to answer more questions on a laptop, which I passed with flying colors, or so I thought.

After I finished, another male nurse with more piercings in his head than an accupuncturist's patient started asking where I'd been out of the country in the last year. Well, of COURSE Canada, which wasn't a problem. It was my honeymoon destinations that got me in trouble.

During our cruise we stopped at Roatan Island in Honduras. This, unbeknownst to us, is a Malaria risk zone. So, John C. told me that unfortunately I wasn't eligible to donate any blood, and asked me not to come back until next year, but to enjoy a cookie and some juice on my way out. I did, despite my feelings of having not deserved them, and pondered whether to fake having given blood to my cousin or just tell him the truth. Just then, he came out with a similar sheet of paper telling him not to come back for a year for similar reasons. He said he was ready to go, so I told him to grab a cookie on his way out and we left.

We were both slightly miffed at our unfortunate results, but decided to make the best of the rest of our male bonding. Unfortunately it was too cold to do anything too exciting and too dark to go shooting, so we went to the dollar theatre and watched Inception.

Overall, despite the lack of service on our part I think the boys' night out was a success. Free cookies and a good movie! :) What more could you ask for...

Random Thought.

So, apparently my deodorant "transforms ordinary men into legends of confidence." What does it turn legends of confidence like ME into?? ;)

Married Life

Ta-daa!! It finally happened!!! I'm a Married Spud! And it's great.

The ceremony was beautiful, pictures were fun and hectic, and the reception went very well. Of course no wedding ever happens without SOMETHING going wrong. Ours was me accidentally taking my little brother's suit to school with MY clothes (luckily there's a door connecting our upstairs neighbor's level to our basement apartment that my cousin could get into to get it... creepy too. Working on that), and Mom forgot my brother-in-law's matching tie. Luckily he wore a red one that matched enough.

The food was good, the line was somewhat unorganized, but I liked the informality. It was so nice to see people! I was surprised both at who came, and who didn't come. No hard feelings of course. There were lots of people I didn't expect to see that I did.

(We don't have our pictures yet, but I'll post some when we get them.)

The honeymoon was great. We went on a 7-day cruise. It was a bit rainy but still warm. The food was AWESOME! I didn't weigh myself before, but I gained between 10 and 15 pounds. :S

Overall we had a good time, but we were very glad to get home and get back to all the things that need to be done at home.

I LOVE BEING MARRIED!!!! No more late nights driving home without Jenni. It was kind of weird though - the night we got back we were at Jenni's parents' late, and they said we could stay there the night instead of driving home late. For some reason they never invited me to stay over before... ;)

We're in the process of settling down here still. We have lots of things to put away and organize, with little space to put it all, but I'm sure Jenni will manage. ;) I'm happy my life is where it is, and excited for where it's going.

Next challenge, get caught up at school...

6 Days and Counting

It's coming! The day that has seemed will never arrive until now. We've been engaged for

almost 7 months now and honestly, long engagements stink. I want to be MARRIED!

It's kind of interesting being less than a week from the day though. I've had mixed feelings.

Frustration. At not being married yet, STILL having to drive 45 minutes to 2 hours each way to see my Jenni. At starting school and moving away and starting a new chapter in my life without her with me.

Stress. There are LOTS of things to do before you get married! Insurance, a place to live, finances, work, school, planning...

Excitement!!! It's almost here finally! I get to be with Jenni ALL the time! We've learned a lot about each other the last several months, and I truly feel like I'm marrying "up." She's so good to me and always tries to make me happy. She laughs at my stupid jokes. She overlooks my weaknesses and shortcomings and is always complimentary and loving. She makes me feel like I'm bringing sexy back. ;) Our personalities get along really well, and I love being with her. She's my best friend. We've known each other for close to 8 years now, and have always gotten along well and always had interesting things to talk about, and my love for her has grown deeper. I love her with all my heart.

That makes everything worth it.

YoseMIGHTY!!!

Well, apparently people ARE reading this, because there have been comments about my lack of dedication to posts, so here's another one.
For years my cousin Spencer and I have talked about climbing Half Dome in Yosemite, but although we have been on lots of adventures over the years, we haven't seemed to ever make it there.
Finally, with my marriage fast approaching, we decided that this summer was the best time to do it, so we made it happen. We left Monday July 19th. It took us FOREVER to get out the door, and after a stop at Wal-Mart to buy a new digital camera (YAY!!!) and a stop at the grocery store to RECHARGE said digital camera and to spend WAY too much money on food, we headed out. We didn't end up getting out until that evening.

Several hours of desert driving, singing at the top of our lungs with the windows rolled down, running over 1 mouse, 4 rabbits and narrowly missing 16 others, stopping in the middle of nowhere to admire the AWESOME view of the stars, stopping to hang out and jam with the border guard for a while, and 6 cans of carbonated beverages later, we made it. And that was only the first night of the trip.

IT WAS THE BEST TRIP EVER!!!!!

I'll try to stick some photos in and tell some of the highlights.

The Nevada Stop...

We made good time. I'm still not sure it was worth the $272 speeding ticket I got though...

This is our new friend. By night he's a California border guard. But during the day... That's right. He writes music and plays in a band. He played us one of his songs and it was actually really good. We jammed a bit with him and showed him our Youtube videos and went on our way.

As soon as we got there we had to sit in line for a few hours to get a campsite. Apparently most people book them 5 months in advance... The 2 guys in the back were nice to let us sit on their pad.

After we got there we slept for an hour or two then went rock hopping below the Yosemite Falls. Tallest falls in north America!

Spence decided he wanted a walking stick to take home. He spent most of the trip carving it...

We climbed up to the top of the lower Yosemite falls. Oohhhhh yeah.

HALF DOME!!!! This is us taking the bus to the trailhead. The guy in the back is a new friend of ours from New Zealand. He hiked up with us.

AWESOME views!!

He we go!!!

Climbing up the cables. Scary...

We made it!!! GORGEOUS views!

The next day we celebrated with steak. Unfortunately somebody forgot to pack the utensils.

And what's a road trip without a little longboarding...

Yep. There you have it. I have more photos, but since this has already taken me 2 days, I'm going to leave it like it is. Yosemite was an awesome trip.

One of the things I liked about the trip was how many friends we made. Not necessarily the kind you keep in contact with, but we all got along and helped each other out. I'm convinced nature is a kind of heaven on earth that helps bring out the better in people.

MONTH One?!?!

Jenni got after me a few days ago for writing on my blog. Kind of silly, considering anything I put on here probably isn't something new for her... ;) It's good to put it in writing though.

I was pretty surprised that I hadn't written in about a month, until I read the last post. Oh yeah... Marathon training... *sigh*

I didn't EXACTLY reach my goals for marathon training, but the last week or so my running has started to get back to regular intervals. This morning I ran then spent some time in the steam room and hot tub at the gym. Ahhhh....

Despite the lack of Marathon Trainage, the month of June wasn't a complete bust:

1. Church Music - I completed the month listening to only church music and talks. It was really good for me, and I've continued listening to talks in the mornings. It's nice to be able to run to something with a beat again, but I think I appreciate the spirit that I get from listening to "the good stuff" more.

2. Fathers Day - For Father's day I gave my Dad his old childhood .22 rifle that he hadn't seen for years (which is a fun story I'll have to write about later). I somehow managed to keep it a secret until Father's day. He was SO excited to see it! I thought I had a photo of his face, but I don't. :(

3. Never ending Father's Day Project - Dad has had 2 big HAM Radio towers on the side of the house for years, and decided he wanted help putting them in for his Father's day gift. I didn't want to tell him I'd already gotten him a present, so I went along with it. And I'm still going with it... It's taken a lot longer than we thought, due to the dangers of the high-altitude antenna installation. We almost died trying to get it up the first day when the wind started blowing (especially me, since I got to wear the SWEET climbing gear and do the high stuff). Now we're putting it up piece-by-piece.

So apparently making these photos line up like I want them to is tougher than I thought...

I had more than just these 3 things to write about, but it's going to have to do for now.

:D

Cheers!

Week 1

It’s been a week since I officially posted my goals for the month. Today is a “rest day” in my marathon training program (actually a cross training day, but I was tired...), but for some reason, instead of just resting from going to the gym, at 6 this morning, I rested from a lot more...

I slept in until 9:30, talked on the phone until 10:15, THEN decided to get up. It wasn’t entirely a lazy day: I did get a lot of things done around the house that needed to be done. But I didn’t actually shower and change out of my pajamas until about 3 this afternoon. Then I was sitting here deciding whether I should practice my drum for the pipe band competition this weekend, go out and get some work done, try and fix the mirrors that seem to be simultaneously falling off my car, etc. Then I decided, I’m going to update my blog! Responsible, I know...

Week 1 has been a good one. I’ve been running 3 miles consistently and doing some good strength training workouts after. I’ve been a little tired and worn out due to lack of sleep and drinking more liquids and gatorade than eating, but altogether I think I’m making good progress.

I guess I can’t say that I’ve been eating better if I’ve been eating less, but on the bright side, I HAVE been eating less junk food... :)

I’ve done pretty good at listening to uplifting music and Conference talks this month. I’m loving listening to the talks. It has definitely helped put my mind and heart in a good place. I recently decided that although it is a good goal for a certain period of time, I will NOT be listening to only church music forever. I’ve been going CRAZY without my running mixes! I have a hard time running without a good beat to listen to. I also have found myself singing popular songs randomly out of nowhere...

So, life is good.

Here goes week 2.

Lift Your Vision!

I haven't written on this in a while! Two months, and so much has happened.

It's interesting to look back and see how much changes in a short period of time. I've had a lot of both good and hard experiences, and feel like I'm better because of them.

I turned 24 last week. I tell people I turned 26, because I'm pretty sure I've aged more in the last few years than any person should in that space of time.

We had a barbecue in the back yard, and noticed a "sundog," a rainbow circle around the sun. I'm told means something about the weather, but I came up with a theory of my own. It was a rainbow, signifying God's promise to never again put me through the flood of emotions I've gone through this last year. Like Noah! Haha. I thought it was funny anyways...

I've done some reflecting on myself and who I am, and although there are good things I see, I'm still not happy with myself and the progress I've made. I want MORE! So, I made some goals that I think will help me with that.

1. First of all, I feel like my spirituality needs to improve. I always say my prayers, and read my scriptures somewhat regularly, but I still feel like I have a hard heart, and would like to change that. I was pondering it in Church, and there was an amazing talk in sacrament meeting on hymns and how they are a form of worship and inviting the spirit, and I decided that that's what I want in my everyday life, not just on Sundays, and what better way than through music! I LOVE music. Singing the hymns in meetings is one of my favorite things, and during the week, I listen to music to "unwind" like most people probably watch TV.

So, I decided that for the month of June I'm going to only listen to Church/Spiritually Uplifting music, and conference talks. I loaded a bunch of them on my Ipod, and have been enjoying it already.

2. Like most people, I go in and out of good eating and excercise habits. Lately I've been on the "out" end of that more than "in," and I'd like to change that. I haven't made any specific goals about my eating yet, which will probably prove to be a bad thing, but I want to start by being more conscious about what I eat, and not eat out so much.

3. This one's the clincher. I love to run. Weird, I know. I decided I liked it after highschool, and before my mission I trained and ran my own little Half Marathon. 12 miles. I would say this is a great accomplishment, but it was in process of training for a full marathon, which I failed to do.

I recently decided that I was going to start exercising more regularly, more than longboarding, and I have a gym pass, so Tuesday morning I got up (late, as usual) and headed to the rec center to start. I was running, and originally planned on just doing a quick one, but the church music must have inspired me a little too much, because I realized that I wanted more than just good habits: I wanted to do something that would make me a better person. So, I decided to train for and run a Marathon.

A Marathon...

The minute I thought that, I almost turned off the treadmill and went back home to bed. It made me tired just thinking about it. But I thought about what I want in life and who I want to be, and I want to be the kind of person that does hard things. I want to be someone who puts comfort and ease aside to do something that will make him better. So, here goes...

I'm going to run the a marathon on the by September. Oh SNAP!!!

So, those are my goals. I think I really outdid myself this time around, but feel confident about completing them.

One of my mission companions and I always talked about how important it was to get the people we taught to open their eyes, lift their vision, and see the larger, eternal picture. I hope I'll do that better myself and do better at becoming who I want to be.

The Date...

So, I decided to ask Jenni on a date.

I was really nervous and didn't know how to do it, but somehow with the feedback from parents and an older sister, planned it all out. Everything seemed to be harder than it should have been though.

First of all, I didn't have her phone number, so I had to call 2 or 3 people until I finally got it. By that time it felt like everybody knew I liked her.

Then I waited until Monday to call her. I didn't want to ask her too far in advance, but late enough that she would already be busy going out with some other boy (this all seems pretty silly, but I'm pretty sure this is really what I was thinking). I wanted it to be perfect.

I called her around 7 in the evening, and I think she answered the phone. She was in the middle of FHE though, and said she called me back. I said she could, and probably stared at the phone for the next hour.

When she called me back, WE were in the middle of FHE, and so I told her I'd call her back. I'm pretty sure I didn't pay attention to anything that lesson.

We finally talked, and she said she'd love to go out with me. I told her I'd bring a friend, and she would bring one too, and we'd go dancing.

So, Friday night came, and my buddy and I drove out to her town, but not before missing our exit and passing a mall before realizing something was wrong.

Once we got out there, I followed the directions (something about a white fence and a long driveway) until I got to the house i THOUGHT it was. It wasn't.

I rang the doorbell and a big scary looking guy in a fireman t-shirt came out. Luckily he knew where her family lived, and gave me directions.

We got there and rang the doorbell, and Jenni's dad let us in and sat us down in the front room. He then proceeded to have a good talk with us . All I remember is him telling a story about someone lending his car to a friend, but wanting to know that his car would be taken care of. Needless to say I got the point. And needless to say, I'd wondered if I'd gotten in way over my head... :)

Finally Jenni came out, and she was all dressed up and pretty in a skirt and nice top (which is always the case, I later found out ;). I'm sure I turned bright red, because I looked at myself, and I was wearing my favorite pair of blue jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt (which is pretty much always the case as SHE later found out ;). I felt bad, but there wasn't much I could do about it at that point in time.

We all went and picked up Jenni's cousin next door, which was a bit less stressful, and headed to the city to go dancing.

One of the things I love about Jenni is that we almost always seemed to have things to talk about. We got along great and I don't know if I paid attention to anything else but her the whole date.

I don't remember much about the actual date, except we enjoyed the dancing, and halfway through, my sister and some of her buddies showed up. I'm still not sure whether that was on purpose or not.

Afterwards we picked up Frosties at Wendys (looking back I wonder if she'd even eaten dinner) and headed back to her house. When we got to her cousin's house, my buddy got out and took her to the door, and I'm embarassed to say this, but not knowing proper dating etiquette, suggested to Jenni that we get out and walk to the door with them. And we did...

In my defense, I felt somewhat responsible because I had set them up, but there wasn't time to have an awkward moment because when we got there, there was a dead cat on the porch! HAHA!

We kind of sat there and contemplated what to do, but just then their dog came up and carried it off...

So, we dropped her off then went and dropped Jenni off (for some reason my friend didn't come to the door with us), and headed back to home.

So, overall, it was a great date. I added it up, and I think I did almost 3 hours of driving that night, but didn't regret it one bit.

I'm sure I smiled for weeks after that. It was nice to be able to spend time with a girl as nice and as pretty as her. :) Little did I know how much time I WOULD spend with her in the future!

Monday...

So, I lost my job today.

The funny thing is, I'm still trying to decide whether or not I'm upset.

Two other people in the office got fired this last month or so, so I've kind of been coming in to work just wondering when my time would come.

Well, it did.

I learned a lot doing accounting for this company, and was blessed to get the job considering my lack of experience in the field. I'm sad to see the opportunity end, and a little stressed about what to do next.

At the same time though, it's a relief that I don't have to worry about getting fired anymore. haha. And I think I'm ready to find something new to learn and do.

And, strangely enough, I feel a little more freedom. What should I do with my life next? I've seriously considered leaving the country, or maybe the state to do something "adventurous" and new, but my responsible side kicked in, and I think I'll stick around here for the time being.

So instead of crunching numbers for small businesses today, I went to the gym and got a good workout in, then went home and stared at the long list of things I have to do. It was a little discouraging to see that despite the extra free time I now have, there's still an endless amount of things to do, and I didn't feel like doing any of them!

So I took some liberties and blew them all off for the day to try and maintain my sanity. I went to visit my brother, and we went shooting up the canyon, drove to the lake and back, and after we stuffed ourselves with mexican food, he forced me to sing and play the guitar with him in a ward talent show.

This day didn't start OR end how I expected it to, and I'm still kind of in a daze, not knowing how I feel about anything, but we'll try again tomorrow.

As a wise Canadian once said, "keep your stick on the ice. I'm pulling for ya. We're all in this together."

Amen.

In the Beginning

Disclaimer: All the stories I will be telling are from MY side of things. Jenni’s side of these stories is sometimes different. We’ve talked a lot about what we were each feeling and thinking at the time, and it’s hilarious sometimes the miscommunications we had. So, you’ll have to hear the other side from her. J

Anyways, In the Beginning…

I don’t have a picture of this one, but I wish I did!

Jenni and I met a little over 7 years ago, sometime in January 2003. We were both homeschooled. I had gone through a leadership class for a few semesters, and we were having a youth conference to introduce homeschoolers in her area to the program as well. I was invited to come along and tell the kids there about my experiences and what it was like.

I remember walking into the building with my brother and he stopped in the hallway to get a drink of water. I walked a little farther and stopped to wait for him. I’m going to quote my journal now: “I walked in the building, and there was a girl walking down the hallway. She smiled and said hi. I was impressed. Okay, that sounds cheesy, but not every girl will just say hi to you!” Yep. There you have it. Love at first sight. Haha. Well, maybe not that, but I knew from the beginning that she wasn’s just “any girl.”

I don’t remember much else about the rest of that day, but the next day we all went to a ropes course, and divine providence put us in the same group. I think it was the cow group…

One of the ropes course activities we did was two wires tied between 3 trees like a “V.” Two people would hold hands and walk along each side of the V and see how far they could balance with each other until they fell. Jenni and I did it, and according to my journal, “I think we made it the farthest. Anyway, I fell for her hard on that trip, and decided I wanted to ask her out on a date.” I might add that after we got done, I awkwardly tried to put my arm around her shoulder. Don’t think it lasted very long… but DEFINITELY a good start. ;)

I’d been 16 for about 6 months by this time, but hadn’t gone on any dates yet. After meeting and getting to know Jenni, I decided it was time… So, I asked her on a date. That story deserves its own post, so prepare yourself for that one.

I found a picture of the Trust V thingy online. Imagine me staring at Jenni at intently as this guy is at this girl...

To the One I Love...

Sometimes I honestly wonder if anyone but me ever reades this blog… J the only comment on it is from me testing to see if comments COULD be posted, and I’ll bet all the visits are probably just me seeing if anyone’s made any comments.

That’s okay.

The next few postings I’m going to put up are dedicated to someone MORE important than "yours truly" though. They’re for the girl that has opened my eyes and lifted my vision to the happiness and bliss I can have in my life: the happiness I feel when I'm with her.

Jenni has been an important part of my life for years, even when we haven’t been in contact with each other, and when we’ve been in our “own little worlds.” She’s been both an indirect and a direct positive influence on me, and still is more than ever.

I seriously doubt anyone besides her family has loved her as much as I do (prideful, I know).

I love her with all my heart! She's an amazing woman, and I feel very blessed to know her and be a part of her life.

So the next few postings will be about our story, how our love has "smoldered over the years" as Aunt D. so lovingly put it :D, and some of the feelings I have for her.

So, if anyone reads this, stay tuned!

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!

Yep. That's about it.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!! We got engaged on the 21st of February. It may come as a surprise to some, while others are saying "it's about time!"

I tend to agree with the latter. It's about time. Just to give you an idea (and possibly incriminate myself a little), we went on our first date in 2003... Five years later I held her hand for the first time... two years after that I kissed her... and a month later we were engaged.

She's as close as they come to being the "love of my life."

I've never felt this happy before.

So, it's about time.

Further details to come shortly. :)