The Holidays with LEK

Last Friday, December 7th, Chris's office threw a holiday party for their LA and San Francisco offices. It was fun for me to meet some of the people Chris works with so I could put faces with all the names I hear.


And there are several other LDS people that work in the two offices so we all got to chat while sipping our sparkling cider and hot chocolate. Chris participated in a silly movie the first-year employees created which was a big hit. Overall the night was fun and a nice way to start celebrating the holidays.

We Did It!

Sorry we don't have any wedding pictures up yet but we will soon. To see some of the photographers favorites go to bykelli.com and click 'blog'
Chris and I were married in the San Diego LDS Temple on November 24th! I don't know how we got so lucky but the day was pretty perfect. We had great weather, everything was on schedule, our friends and family were there, and the reception was great.


The following day we flew to Cancun for our honeymoon. We had a layover in Dallas where we ran into friends Tom and Ashley Swapp who got married the same day as us in the Oakland Temple. They were also on their way to Cancun for their honeymoon. We did a couple fun activities with them and having each other there made picture-taking so much easier.


Our honeymoon was also practically perfect and now we're jumping into real life together and so far it's been great. Chris is working 70-hour weeks and I'm busy organizing the apartment and getting ready to start school at UCLA in January. Hooray for being married!

Encounter With a U-Haul

Last Saturday we had a fun day of moving! We rented a U-haul to move the couches, mattress, and some wedding presents up to our apartment... notice how very full the U-haul is haha. Because it was much less expensive to do a one-way trip with towed my car up to LA so we could drive it back to San Diego.

Both of us are novice U-haul drivers so the long drive wasn't a very calm one. Fortunately, our stuff, Chris, and I made it successfully and we were able to move everything into the apartment and return the truck as they were closing.

Despite having no electricity in the apartment and therefore no light the moving experience was as pleasant as could be expected. This marriage thing is becoming more real now that we've moved some of our belongings into our apartment. Yippee only 10 more days!

Bridal Showers = Fun Fun Fun

I was lucky enough to have two bridal showers. Saturday Nov. 3rd I had one in Utah since the majority of my friends are in school up there and I had another great bridal shower Wednesday Nov. 7 with all the lovely ladies around and in Encinitas. I'm waiting on some pictures from the Utah bridal shower but here is one with Jenn and Heather.

I feel it is a general assumption that one will be poor when first married and Chris and I are certainly not excluded from that generalization. We are so grateful for any help or gifts we get from friends and we have definitely been spoiled after two bridal showers!

The Future Residence of the Lanshe's

Feast your eyes on this! We found a place to live! Wow, what a relief. We spent all last saturday in LA looking for an apartment that fits our needs and still fits in our small budget. In case you didn't know, living in LA is a little pricey. I'll spare you a long boring story and just say we have spent the week waiting on the owner to accept or reject us. First, we were supposed to know by Monday or Tuesday which then got pushed to Wednesday, then Thursday, then Friday. We'd basically given up on this apartment when Chris got a call letting us know we got the apartment! We are so thrilled to have a place to call our own and can't wait to move in after the wedding.

I Smell Smoke

Sunday afternoon we started smelling smoke but with no fire in sight. Then I woke up to this Monday morning! By 8 am my parents had already started getting stuff together in case we needed to evacuate. I am in wedding mode so my first thoughts were "I've got to pack the wedding announcements!" haha. I'm planning on sending them this week and a fire will not delay that!

We packed the irreplaceables and waited until about 11 am before we decided to evacuate. The "Mandatory Evacuation" did not come until about an hour later but conditions continued to decline with no prospect of improving for at least a day.

We thought of going north to Irvine but the air quality was no good so we headed east to Mesa. We thought it was a good excuse to see Scott, Lacy, and Talie but when we hit the desert the winds were too strong and we camped out in Palm Springs.

Just in case my dad needed to come back early we took two cars. My mom and dad drove together while I drove with Della the dog. She's a great driving buddy!

Registered

We are registered at

Bed, Bath, & Beyond
Crate & Barrel
and Anthropologie

Wedding Events

Bridal Luncheon

Saturday 11.3.2007

11:00-1:00



The Covey Residence

Orem, Utah



RSVP Katie Covey

801.318.7362

By Invitation Only

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Bridal Shower

Wednesday 11.7.2007



The Toolson Residence

Encinitas, California



Details TBA

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Sealing

Saturday 11.24.2007

11:00 am



San Diego Temple

7474 Charmant Drive

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Reception

Saturday 11.24.2007

5:00-8:00



The Rane Residence

2402 Calle San Clemente

Encinitas, California

Getting "Fiancéd"

Kristen's Perspective:

I was so excited for our trip to San Francisco. I had never been before and I hoping Chris would propose there since the timing and location were right. We only planned on staying for three days and the first day was spent in the city with Spencer and Mardee Clive (Chris's friends). Since there was no opportunity to be alone I didn't suspect it would happen that day. The second day Chris and I rented a tandem bike to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. How perfect! I thought this must be the day he'll propose so I did my hair and wore an outfit I wouldn't mind taking pictures in. But when we embarked on our adventure I couldn't find any hint of him having the ring. He didn't have a backpack to put the box in and I would definitely notice if it was in his pocket. I started wondering if he was really going to propose on this trip or make me wait longer. How cruel! I was still excited for our day's adventure and ended up getting more of a workout than I anticipated.

We biked up the hill to the bridge and took some pictures along the way. About halfway across the bridge I asked if he wanted to take pictures but there were a lot of people at that spot so he suggested we bike a little further. We stopped at a place where no one else had stopped and got off the bike to rest and take a few pictures. Chris had his arms around me and started saying sweet things to me which isn't unusual (I'm grateful for that). I'm keeping the mushy love stuff to myself but just know it was good! Then he asked, "are you ready for this?" then got down on one knee and pulled the ring out of his sock! I was so surprised and pleased. He asked me to marry him and of course I accepted.

It was a perfect trip, perfect day, and perfect location to get engaged to my perfect man.

How We Met

Just like many other BYU students, we met in our church ward while living at Foxwood Condos. Chris had lived in the ward for two semesters already when I moved there in May. I had my eye on Chris for several weeks before we met at Church. He was assigned to be my best friend, Jessica’s, home teacher and after I saw him talking to her at church I immediately inquired as to whom this handsome young man was. She told me his name and that he was unavailable.

Despite the obvious obstacle of him being unavailable I was not deterred in my quest. I jokingly told friends I was convinced that if Chris would just date me he was sure to see that we were meant to be. But while he was unavailable, my dream could not become a reality so I just admired him from a distance.

I will admit I occasionally visited his facebook profile to check for updates…like a change in relationship status and to my delight there was! I didn’t want to appear eager so I just hoped that he would ask to be my friend and my wish was granted. I proceeded to do some minor flirting via email and voilà! We talked the following Sunday at Ward prayer and he got my number.

He didn’t waste any time and invited me golfing the next day. I am not big on games so I cut out his guesswork and followed up by inviting him swimming the following day and we’ve seen each other everyday since—and every day in the future.

A Mini Biography of Chris & Kristen

Christopher Michael Lanshe was born in Rota, Spain on January 16, 1982. He is the second of five kids, Sarah, Chris, Shaun, Josh, and Zach. The Lanshe family moved a lot living in places such as Malaysia, Colorado, California, Korea, and Texas.
He graduated High School in Austin, headed to BYU for his first year of college, and then served a two-year mission for the LDS Church in Baltimore. Following his mission he returned to BYU and graduated June 2007 in Finance. After interviewing with several management consulting companies he accepted an offer from LEK at an office in LA.

Kristen Marie Rane was born in Brussels, Belgium on July 6, 1986. She is the third of four kids, Diane, Scott, Kristen, and Laurie. The Rane family briefly lived in Rancho Bernardo and Connecticut but has lived in Encinitas, California for the last 14 years.
Kristen graduated High School from La Costa Canyon and spent the following three years at BYU. After a brief attempt at majoring in History she decided to change to Clothing and Interior Design as a Home and Family Living major. She has about one more year left of her undergraduate, which she will complete at UCLA.