Miles & Sandy: the Story part I

After Miles proposed to me, the reactions we got were either, "WHAT? That was so fast!" or "It's about time!" The people who have known us from the start have a lot of questions about what happened between us and how we decided that we wanted to get married. And some of our newer friends had no clue about our history at all. So I figured it was time to write out the entire story for anyone who is confused about how it all went down. 

A Little Background on the Boy: Miles grew up in Northern California. His parents separated when he was 2 years old and his mom got re-married when Miles was only four. A few years later they had another child (his brother Grant). After Miles graduated high school in 2006, his mom, step-dad, and brother moved to American Fork, Utah, and Miles moved down to Long Beach to attend CSULB. 

December 2006.
I had just moved home from freezing cold Utah and was at church at the single's ward (18-31 year olds) when my friend Shatara introduced me to Miles. Holy smokes I was so attracted to Miles the moment I saw him. We shook hands and I said, "you have a really nice smile." He said "thanks." And then.....silence. "Okay, nice to meet you!" and I walked away. But I remember telling my best friend Kacey that I thought Miles was the hottest guy I'd ever met. And that's the truth. After that day, I would see him at church and we would always smile and say hello.

Fall 2007. 

One of our first dates at Disneyland with my niece Katie

I was giving a talk in church one Sunday, and was wearing a pink ribbon in my hair (that part is important for way later in the story). Miles was in the congregation sitting next to Shatara. I guess Miles thought I was pretty cute up there at the podium, because he turned to Shatara and told her I was cute and asked her to set us up. I don't know if this was the same day or not, but one Sunday I walked into a sunday school class that Miles just happened to be teaching (but of course that was not the reason I chose to go to that class...yes it was) and sat in the very front row. Shatara, who was sitting behind me, tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "don't you think he's cute." I told her that I thought he was way cute. She asked me if I wanted to date him and I told her that I hardly knew him but I'd like to get to know him better. She said, "good, because he told me he thinks you're cute and wants me to set you guys up." I obviously was STOKED! I think it was a couple weeks after that when Kacey and I were at the doors of a YSA dance, taking the money and stamping hands. We saw Miles walking towards the doors from the parking lot and my heart started pounding so fast cause I was so excited to see him. Kacey made sure I looked okay and we welcomed Miles into the dance. Throughout the night we talked and danced with our mutual friends. At the end of the dance I took his phone from him and put my number in it. A group of us went to In-N-Out after the dance where Miles and I shared fries and a milkshake. Except really they were his and I was just eating them. After Kacey and I got back to my house that night, I got my first text from Miles ever and it said "Sandy K. Smith. What does the 'K' stand for?" I texted him back, "Kristine," and he replied "cute name for a cute girl." I still get a kick out of that. After I read that text, I literally started jumping up and down on my bed while Kacey and I were screaming cause we were so excited that he said I was cute. The next day was Saturday and we were texting continuously the whole day. We had made plans to hang out the next monday but as the texting continued we decided we would just hang out that night. He came over to my house and we talked and watched Pirates of the Caribbean. We sat on opposite sides of the couch until I kept changing positions to get more comfortable and he finally said, "you can put your head on my shoulder." Awwww. I took him up on that offer and I was more than excited to be cuddling with the cutest guy I had ever met. We started hanging out a lot after that and a couple weeks later I got a text from him that said "So are you my girlfriend or what?" Such a charmer. But I thought he was adorable and I was super in to him so I accepted his offer (or whatever you want to call that) and we became official.

May 2008. 
It was around Easter time that I really started to fall in love with Miles. In May, we took a trip to Utah to visit his family. We had such a fun time and did so much fun stuff, but I will never forget our last night there. We were sitting on the couch and he pulled me in and kissed me and then said "I love you" to me for the first time. At first all I could do was kiss him and say, "you do?" But then I, of course, told him that I love him too. From that time on, everything changed for me. I fell more in love with that boy every day and could not stand to be away from him.

During our visit to Utah

November 2008. 
On November 9, 2008, we celebrated our one year anniversary. We had a picnic on a beach in Corona del Mar right around sunset. As a gift, I got Miles a CTR ring and made him a list of 365 reasons why I love him. He gave me a beautiful diamond promise ring. It was such a perfect evening and I will never forget how crazy in love I was with him at that time.

December 2008.
I spent Christmas of 2008 with Miles' family in Utah. My mom had all my gifts sent to their house, and Miles' mom, Jennifer, had a stocking filled with gifts for me. It was a white Christmas and it was perfect. That week we made my first snowman, went snowboarding, made gingerbread houses, and walked around Temple Square. But the most memorable part of the week was when Miles received his mission call to the Washington Spokane Mission. We were all so excited that he had chosen to serve a mission. And him preparing for his mission and receiving his call made me start thinking that I might want to go. A couple days after Miles received his mission call, we were taking his dog on a walk in the snow and I told him that I also wanted to serve a mission. I will never forget that moment because he was so happy! He had the biggest smile on his face as he said, "really!?" and hugged me so tight. After that, I started to prepare for my mission as well. It was so awesome for us to be able to grow together spiritually as we prepared for our missions.

March 2009.

My family drove up to Utah for Miles' mission farewell. He and I had flown up together and met them there. My family stayed in a hotel and I stayed at Miles' family's house so I could spend more time with him during his last few days before he left. He gave a short and sweet farewell message at church on Sunday that left me in tears obviously. My family was going to be picking me up on Monday morning so we could drive back to California, so Sunday night, Miles and I stayed up late talking about fun memories and discussing what the future would hold for us. The next morning we cuddled on the couch until we heard a car in the driveway then a knock on the door. We opened the door and let my family in the house. They said goodbye to Miles while his family said goodbye to me. Then they left us alone while he and I stood on the porch to say our goodbyes. We had our last kiss and said goodbye as I walked down the front porch steps and got in the car. I sat in the back seat by myself as my mom, dad, Steve, and Ashley started on the drive back home to California. Every once in a while tears would just start streaming down my face and my brother Steve would announce to everyone in the car, "Sandy's crying!" And they would do whatever they could to get me to smile. As soon as we got home and I was alone, I couldn't stop the tears. I knew it was going to be a long two years without him. As much as I knew it was for the best, I also knew I was going to miss that boy so much. He left for his mission March 4 and I received my mission call to the Philippines on March 31.

The day we said goodbye. 

July 2009 to December 2010.
I left for my mission July 2009. Miles and I wrote letters to each other throughout my entire mission. His letters and packages were THE BEST. He was the most supportive boyfriend I could have ever asked for and his letters got me through the toughest days. 8 months before he was supposed to finish his mission, he broke his ankle and had to come home early to get surgery. He was home recovering for about 3 months and then he went back to Washington to finish the last few months of his mission. It was hard to be apart from each other and to only be able to communicate via letters, but I always tried to remember how happy we were before the mission. But, the month before I got home from my mission, I really felt like I needed to end things with Miles. I wrote him a letter telling him that I didn't think we should be together anymore. I remember standing outside of the post office in Bauan, Batangas for what felt like forever, contemplating if I should really send him the letter or not. I finally handed it to the post office lady and walked away holding back tears. I returned home from my mission in December and kept in touch with Miles' mom about returning all of his stuff to her (he had left most of his things at my house before his mission thinking he would come back down here to be with me when he got home). I had two large boxes full of stuff (including the promise ring he gave me) sent to his mom's house and a couple months later I packed my car full of Miles' things and drove up to Utah to return them.

May 2011- September 2011. 
Miles returned home from his mission in May and soon after, moved to Hawaii to go to school at BYU-Hawaii. I messaged him on facebook to welcome him home and to catch up. We messaged back and forth a little but that was mainly because Miles thought that when I returned all his stuff to his mom, I forgot to bring his body board. But I didn't see his body board anywhere in our garage and told him I didn't think we had it here. He asked me to keep an eye out for it cause he was sure he left it in our garage. These facebook conversations about his body board led us to small talk every once in a while. Until one day in September when I got a super long message from Miles telling me that he wanted to know what had changed for me and why we broke up so that he could get closure and move on with his life. I replied to his message asking him if we could talk on the phone about it. The next day I nervously called him and heard his voice for the first time in 2 years. While we were talking, everything felt like it went right back to normal so quickly. It was sooo easy to talk to him. We talked for SIX hours that night. I tried to explain the best I could why I ended things and he was really cool and understanding about everything. We also had so much fun talking about our friends and family, our missions, school, work, and old memories. This conversation led to a handful of other super long phone conversations which led to us talking about the possibility of getting back together. We decided we needed to see each other so I booked a flight to Hawaii for November.

November 2011.

As it got closer to the time I would see him, our phone conversations had slowed down and we talked less and less about getting back together. I was still excited to see him though. I started my trip to Hawaii in Maui with some friends and when they flew home, I flew to Oahu. I landed in Oahu, took a bus to Waikiki, dropped my stuff off at the place I would be staying, and then walked around town while I waited for Miles to be done with class. He texted me when he was on his way (Waikiki is about 45 minutes from his campus) so I went back up to the room and got ready. I sat on the balcony and watched the sun start to set over the ocean when I heard the door open and saw Miles walk in the room. It was surreal. We hugged and talked without any awkwardness. Everything was back to normal except without all the relationship stuff. The trip went way better than expected and when it got close to the end, I wanted it to last so much longer. Miles and I said a surprisingly emotional goodbye when he dropped me off at the airport. I walked away sobbing. I think it was mainly difficult because we hadn't figured anything out concerning our status, and we didn't know when or if we would ever see each other again.


April 2012.
At this time, we were both dating other people and we were totally just friends. He came to southern California with his dad for spring break. Kacey and I were on our way to Disneyland when I think I saw on facebook or something that Miles and his dad were also at Disneyland. I texted him telling him we should meet up. So we met up with them and talked for a little while then went on our separate ways. Again, it was so good to see him but it wasn't enough, so we met up at Starbucks the day he was heading back to Hawaii. We got breakfast and talked and talked and talked. I was totally content just being his friend, but I can't deny that I still had feelings for him and seeing him again just made the feelings stronger. We said goodbye for what felt like the one millionth time and I left Starbucks that morning wondering if I would ever see him again.

To be continued..

Stereotypes.

I haven't blogged in foreverrr but I just really wanted to post this picture that I saw on a friend's facebook. I don't know why but I'm in love with this image. Sometimes we are so quick to judge people based on stereotypes and what not. But we'll never really know someone until we know them so let's skip the judgements and start getting to know people! Pretty soon we'll all have a butt load of new friends!! Yay for new friends!

Fred Wise, my Grandpa.

I started this post a few months back and never got around to finishing it. It's a moment that I will cherish forever and decided that it is seriously time to write it down somewhere before I lose my memory or something. So here it goes..

On May 5th of last year (2011), my dear grandpa, Fred Wise, passed away. He was one of a kind and an absolutely amazing man and example. He cared so much about all of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Honestly, I could go on forever about how wonderful he was. Forever. Because he really was that wonderful. Before Grandpa passed away, I had the opportunity to stay the night with him and my grandma a couple times a week. Usually Grandpa would help Grandma get ready for bed, but he was becoming too ill to take care of her like he used to. That's why I would stay there; to get Grandma ready for bed and to make sure Grandpa was comfortable. One morning I woke up, got them their breakfast, and then got ready for school. I was getting ready to leave so I kissed Grandma and said goodbye. Then I went to Grandpa, kissed his cheek and said goodbye. But I honestly felt something different in that goodbye. So as I walked away, I turned back to look at Grandpa and he looked at me then blew me a kiss. In my heart I knew that would be the last time I would see him. And it was. He passed away later that day.

I will never ever forget the last time I saw my Grandpa Fred and that sweet kiss he blew me. And I will never ever ever forget how he never failed to make me feel so incredibly loved.

Grandpa had a love for Abraham Lincoln and his famous speech, The Gettysburg Address. For as long as I can remember, he encouraged all of his grandchildren to memorize that speech and even promised to give us $50 if we could recite it from memory for the family on the Fourth of July. Forever I would start to memorize the speech and either give up or lose interest. After my mission I decided that if I could learn a foreign language, I could easily make my grandpa proud by memorizing a short meaningful speech for him. It was the beginning of February when I made the decision to memorize the speech. Because Grandpa Fred's birthday is February 19, I decided that I would recite the Gettysburg Address for him as his birthday present. I went over it again and again everyday until I finally had it down perfectly. During Grandpa's birthday party, I brought him with me into the office, and I recited the speech for him. He looked at me with proud eyes and had the biggest smile on his face. When I finished, he complimented me and said he would get me my "well-deserved $50," but I replied, "No Grandpa, I don't want the money, that was your birthday present!" He gave me the sweetest hug then held the back of my neck (his signature move) and told me that was his favorite birthday present. I'm so grateful that I was able to share that with him for his birthday, because he was gone before the Fourth of July.

Grandpa Fred will forever be one of my greatest examples in life. In my eyes he did everything right. I love him, and I miss him like crazy. But I have memories such as these and many more that I will keep close to my heart for the rest of my life.

What Would Lincoln Do?

This is a story I read in the book, How to Win Friends & Influence People. I think this is something we should all try to apply in our lives.

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought during the first three days of July 1863. During the night of July 4, Lee began to retreat southward while storm clouds deluged the country with rain. When Lee reached the Potomac with his defeated army, he found a swollen, impassable river in front of him, and a victorious Union Army behind him. Lee was in a trap. He couldn't ecape. Lincoln saw that. Here was a golden, heaven sent opportunity- the opportunity to capture Le's army and end the war immediately. So, with a surge of high hope, Lincoln ordered Meade not to call a council of war but to attack Lee immediately. Lincoln telegraphed his orders and then sent a special messenger to Meade demanding immediate action.

And what did General Meade do? He did the very opposite of what he was told to do. He called a council of war in direct violation of Lincoln's orders. He hesitated. He procrastinated. He telegraphed all manner of excuses. He refused point-black to attack Lee. Finally the waters receded and Lee escaped over the Potomac with his forces.

Lincoln was furious. "What does this mean?" Lincoln cried to his son Robert. "Great God! What does this mean? We had them within our grasp, and had only to stretch forth our hands and they were ours; yet nothing that I could say o do could make the army move. under the circumstances, almost any general could have defeated Lee. If I had gone up there, I could have whipped him myself."

In bitter disappointment, Lincoln sat down and wrote Meade this letter. And remember, at this period of his life Lincoln was extremely conservative and restrained in his phraseology. So this letter coming from Lincoln in 1863 was tantamount to the severest rebuke.

My dear General,

I do not believe you appreciate the magnitude of the misfortune involved in Lee's escape. He was within our easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended the war. As it is, he war will be prolonged indefinitely. If you could not safely attack Lee last Monday, how can you possibly do so south of the river, when you can take with you very few-no more hat two-thirds of the force you then had in hand? It would be unreasonable to expect and I do not expect that you can now effect much. your golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasurably because of it.

What do you suppose Meade did when he read the letter?

Meade never saw that letter. Lincoln never mailed it. It was found among his papers after his death.

My guess is-and this is only a guess-that after writing that letter, Lincoln looked out of the window and said to himself, "Just a minute. Maybe I ought not to be so hasty. It is easy enough for me to sit here in the quiet of the White House and order Meade to attack; but if i had been up at Gettysburg, and if i had seen as much blood as Meade has seen during the last week, and if my ears had been pierced with the screams and shrieks of the wounded and dying, maybe I wouldn't be so anxious to attack either. If I had Meade's timid temperament, perhaps I would have done just what he had done. Anyhow it is water under the bridge now. if i send this letter, it will relieve my feelings, but it will make Meade try to justify himself. It will make him condemn me. It will arouse hard feelings, impair all his further usefulness as a commander, and perhaps forces him to resign from the army."

So, as I have already said, Lincoln put the letter aside, for he had learned by biter experience that sharp criticism and rebukes almost invariably end in futility.

Theodore Roosevelt said that when he, as President, was confronted with a perplexing problem, he used to lean back and look up at a large painting of Lincoln which hung above his desk in the White House and ask himself, "What would Lincoln do if he were in my shoes? How would he solve this problem?"

The next time we are tempted to admonish somebody, let's pull a five-dollar bill out of our pocket, look at Lincoln's picture on the bill, and ask, "How would Lincoln handle this problem if he had it?"

i am happy.

Ganito.

I'm home. I have finished my time serving as a full-time missionary in the Philippines for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I came home on December 17 to my beautiful, wonderful family and all my fabulous friends. It was a beautiful reunion and I was happy to be home. Being home is fun.

It's exciting to re-do all my firsts. First movie since I've been home. First burrito since I've been home. First time back at Disneyland. First time swimming again. First date. First cheesecake. Etc. It's also fun to tell mission stories and fun facts about the Philippines. I love spending time with my siblings, parents, nieces, nephews, and other family and friends. I really am happy being home. But I miss my mission. I miss the way I felt every single day meeting new friends while tracting through the humidity and sweating profusely. I miss sharing what I know to be true to people I love or even to complete strangers. I miss studying the scriptures for at least 2 hours every single day. Bearing my testimony of the Book of Mormon numerous times a day.

I miss stuffing my face in filipino food because the Nanay keeps scooping more piles of rice on my plate and saying "sige pa!" Watching lives change as people accept and live according to the Gospel principles. Speaking tagalog all day every day. Attending baptisms for our investigators. I miss the strangers that would yell out "hey joe!" to me while walking down the road. The way I feel when someone says "yes" after I ask the question "will you follow the example of our Savior and be baptized...?" I miss hugging and joking around with President Anderson. I miss the food. I miss the heat. I miss the jeepnys. The beautiful clouds and sunsets. I miss the people. And I miss the name tag.

I know that just because my full-time mission has ended, doesn't mean I am no longer a missionary. I can still be an example and share my testimony with others. And I will continue to do that. It's just different when every single day is devoted only to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those around you. My mission was amazing. I loved my mission with all of my heart. I learned a lot. I changed a lot. I grew a lot (in two ways). It was definitely the best decision I could have ever made. And although it was difficult and challenging most of the time, it was by far the best 18 months of my life.

I'm grateful for the opportunity that I was given to share the Gospel in the Philippines San Pablo Mission.

Totoo ang Simbahan!

Goodbye Post.

The family rented out the beach house again! It was so much fun! I use that beach house as my "happy place" in my snake therapy sessions.



Renee kidnapped me for a day and took me on a bunch of surprise adventures. We went to Rubys, the beach, got mani-pedis, and then Ashley came along for dinner and a fun night at the Hollywood Bowl!! It was so much fun!


This fun group went the the O.C. fair! We ate so much but laughed it off.

Yes, that is a real snake. No, I wasn't kidding about going to snake therapy.


On Friday night I had a party at my house for friends to come over so we could say our goodbyes.



We danced it up!
Now I am officially a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Today was my farewell talk and the day I had to say way too many goodbyes. It was rough, but I know without the Lord's help, it could have been way worse. I'm going to miss my family more than they know. I love being around them. They are my favorite people in the whole world. I can't wait to see them again.
I can't write anything about these 3 monkeys or I'll bawl my brains out. Let's just say I'll miss them a LOT.
On a happy note, one of my favorite people in the WHOLE world, Tanner Andre, came home from his mission today. He invited me to come see him at the airport since he knew I would be leaving early the next day. It was funny when we saw each other we had to shake hands because we're BOTH missionaries! I'm so glad I was able to see him...I love that Tanner.


Well everybody, I'm off to serve the Lord in the Philippines San Pablo mission. I'm so excited! I'll see you all in 18 months. Xoxo.
-Sister Smith

Sister Smith

The other day I had the opportunity to go out teaching with one of the Sister Missionaries in our ward. It was such an awesome experience and got me even MORE excited for my mission! Plus, it was a great opportunity to try on some of my missionary clothes!!

Catch Me if You Can

It seems like I've been super busy lately with nothing but fun stuff! I'm all over the place doing all sorts of fun things with all sorts of rad people.

Juice Box recently moved from Irvine to Long Beach, so now we can hang out way more often and I love it! Look how excited we are! Molly is out of school now, so work is SO fun! We play at the beach, go sailing, go to the park...the possibilities are endless! Plus, they moved into a new amazing house right on the beach(you can see it in the reflection on the picture) so we've been loving life together.

I've also had the opportunity to visit the temple often. My bishop told me to try to go a dozen times before I leave, so I'm working on that.For Shane's birthday, Sally planned a surprise party for him. He was way surprised and it was such a fun night!
On May 29, I turned 21! So, of course, I did what everyone does on their 21st birthday....got cupcakes with my sister and her kids!
Then that night I went with these fun girls to the Melting Pot!! Mmm mmm! (Look how everyone is sitting across from their sister. How cute are we?)A couple days after my birthday, we celebrated again with the whole family at Lucilles BBQ!
Oh, Scott got MARRIED! He and Christy are adorable together and I'm happy for them.
We celebrated Katie's 6th birthday with all her fun friends at her Birthday Tea Party! Everyone dressed up in their pretty dresses and partied it up!
And of course, Sarah and I got in on the dress up fun too!

I had a sleepover at my house with my girls Crystal, Tegyn and Kendra. We were baking cookies when all of a sudden the power went out!

Spooky!Finally the power came back, and I taught Kendra the dance to Hoedown Throwdown.And what's a sleepover without going toilet papering?!... ...and..this..?The next day we took advantage of the nice weather and went to the beach!One day Steve, Ashley, and I went to Knott's Berry Farm!

I got to hang out with a bunch of my camp friends: Duck Tape, Juniper, Bumper, Me(sandcrab), and Juice Box!
Can you guess what word we were trying to spell? Adorable mother-to-be's.
Shane was out of town, so Sally invited us girls over for a slumber party! We went to CPK..
...took a walk down the beach and 2nd street, got ice cream, and rented a chick flick.
I love me some LaLa.
Obviously, Juice Box and I were excited to be hanging out again!

Life is good.

oh dad.

I love my dad.
I love how he has a song for everything.
I love how after I've been trying to beat him up for a while, he'll get out of his chair and chase me.
I love how he laughs so hard at people getting hurt in movies.
I love his stories like how he put a tack on the teachers chair and then hid under her desk.
I love watching sports with him.
I love how he calls me "my dear."
I love how he watches basically six shows at the same time.
I love how every once in a while, I'll be watching a girly movie and he'll come and watch it with me. Who knew he could develop such a love for Mama Mia?
I love how he jumps a mile when you poke him in the side.
I love how he can fall asleep AND start snoring loud in a matter of 1 second.
I love how when people kiss in a movie, he says, "MUSH!"
I love how he made a smudge on his chair from his bald head.
I love when he sings the song, "El Paso."
I love how he will randomly start playing catch with me when I throw a ball to him.
I love how he will throw a ball AT me when I throw a ball at him.
I love how after he's done watching his shows, he'll throw me the remote.
I love how he's not afraid to cry or show emotion.
I love how much he worries and cares about me.
I love how much he loves me.
I love everything about him.
I love my dad.


Happy Father's Day to the coolest, most humble, hard-working, spiritual guy I know!
And tomorrow, Happy Birthday to the best dad in the whole world!
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!