July, Part 1

Where has the year gone?!   Our 4^th of July was super low key which was fantastic.  I made potato salad and Kirk bbqed some delicious chicken and corn.  We spent the evening at my aunts house and just relaxed in the pool, and watched what little fireworks we could see. 

I was also recently able to attend Girls Camp which was a blast! I got a text the Tuesday prior to camp asking if I could go as a cook, and I said sure!  Bright and early Monday morning we were off to camp.  About 2 hours into our day the head cook injured her finger pretty badly, and on Tuesday I somehow got put in charge while she went to go get herself taken care of.  On Wednesday I got moved from my nice quiet cooks cabin, into a 2^nd year cabin because one of the counselors went home sick.  It was not quiet sleeping with 13 year old girls, but they were all sweet.  It was fun to be surrounded by family at camp.  I had 7 cousins and 1 aunt also attending this year and got to spend time with almost all of them.  I got to see 3 of them off on their hikes, and got to be there when they came back.  I also got to slip them a little extra food, which they enjoyed. 

Also, my aunt had a baby in May and I'm LOOOOOOVING cuddling her. It's fantastic!

I know July isn’t quite over yet, and we’ve got some fun stuff coming up so eventually I’ll be back.

June

We had some fun in June.  Kirks grandparents had their 50^th wedding anniversary, which means we got to have a big party.  Almost all of Kirks extended family came into town for the anniversary party, which rolled over in to a family reunion.  We were mostly all able to go out to Monterey for a couple days and enjoy the scenery. We went to the aquarium on Tuesday, and spent some time with Uncle Pete! (He’s only a few years older than Kirk so he’s much more of a friend then uncle)  Kirk and I were able to slip away to dinner, where we celebrated our anniversary, which was the day before.  We found a little Japanese restaurant in the bay and got to sit close to the water while we had dinner.

The next day everyone else headed home and made various stops, but Kirk really wanted to golf in Monterey, so off we headed.  Yes, I went too. I didn’t have much of a choice since Kirk and Petes tee time was before we had to check out of our hotel.  So while the boys were golfing, I got to spend about 6 hours on a golf cart reading and/or finding lost things while the boys golfed. It. Was. Freezing.  The back 9 was right on the water which was beautiful, but it was so windy.  Thankfully I had a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, and Kirks jacket.  

We also finished a project I’ve been working on.  I’d gotten really tired of not having a headboard, because our wall lacked a focal point.  So, Kirk went along with an idea I got from pinterest and helped me hang these… (Uhmmmm...please turn either your head or or computer, as my computer won't upload these the correct way....)

(I know they’re not all straight, but I’m still working on that..)

Oh yeah…and I did this

My Trip to Idaho

In May I was able to spend some time in Idaho and make a new best friend. Oh Shara… That girl. She and I connected almost instantly.  She didn’t believe me when I told her I was shy, because I never acted shy around her.  She is my other half.  She immediately added me to her group of friends, and took me every where she could.  I fed her my favorite foods, and she took the filling out of my Oreos so I could just eat the cookies.  It was 3 weeks of bliss with a new bf.  I don’t have many friends I hang out with on a daily basis and spending time with Shara was refreshing.  We went to see The Great Gatsby and watching a disappointingly unreal special on mermaids.  We rode quads and horses, and she tried to make sure I got the true Idaho experience.  Words will never be able to describe my love for that girl, but I’m so grateful to have made a new friend J

I'm Not Dead!

I know I’m a total loser/blog slacker but…well, that’s just my life.  Since nothing super exciting is happening around our household, you’ll just be getting a few posts about the big things that have happened, starting with April.  What happened in April? Well since you asked… This happened.

That’s right. We went on a cruise.  I really wanted to go on a cruise before kids came into the picture, so we did.  We decided to make that our big trip for this year, and our anniversary celebration.  There was a little stressing getting there, but once we were on that ship, we were ready for a week of relaxation.

We got on the ship in Florida (which was my first visit to that state, and another one I get to check off my visited list) on Saturday and had fun exploring.  The first night at dinner..uhm yum. We met the folks we’d be eating with for the rest of the week and we got lucky.  They were all super nice, and we enjoyed being able to get to know some new people. Patti & Mick from Ohio, and Chris & Kim from New York. 

Everyone at the table had put ‘private table’ as a preference, but I’m glad they stuck us together for the week.  They were all so nice we even ended up doing things with them beside eating dinner.

Sunday was our first day on an island.  We woke up to the beautiful view of Princess Cay on the island of Eluthera.—check spelling--   We got on the little boat that took us to shore, and just marveled at the color of the ocean. It kept changing colors from emerald green to the clearest turquoise, and colors in between. It. Was. Gorgeous.  We spent about 6 hours on the island taking in the relaxing atmosphere.  We were able to bring our own snorkeling gear which was a huge plus. I spent a little time in the water, and Kirk spent a lot of time in the water.  We both applied sun block multiple times, and both still ended up with awful burns. I’ll admit that it was quite frustrating since we were both trying to be very careful.  I spent a lot of time in the shade, and he was in the water.  It wasn’t the way that we wanted to start our week, but thankfully I’d made sure to bring lots of after sun lotion full of aloe and Vitamin E.  There were 2 things that day that were quite memorable. The first thing was that Kirk was out in the water and some random lady thought Kirk was her husband and started yelling at him to come back and to get out of the water.  I couldn’t tell at first who she was talking to, and by they time I realized it was Kirk she was yelling at, she’d followed him halfway down the beach.  Eventually he realized she was yelling at him, and was able to let her know that he, obviously, wasn’t her husband.  The second thing.. Well when Kirk was snorkeling he found a beautiful shell. He brought it to me so I could see it, and we were trying to make sure there was nothing currently residing in the shell before we decided to take it back to the ship with us.  He and I both checked as well as we could and decided it wasn’t a home.  We took it back to the ship with us, and left it on the counter in the bathroom while we got ready and went to dinner.  When we got back to our room Kirk went into the bathroom to get something, and I heard a (girlish) yelp! I ran over (more like took a couple quick steps) to see what was the matter, and it turns out there was indeed a little crab living in the shell.  We quickly tried to decide what the correct course of action was.  They had made lots of announcements about not throwing things over the side of the ship, so that was out.  Then we though maybe I could pretend to be seasick and kinda drop the shell over as I was ‘being sick’ but figured that also wasn’t really a feasible idea.. Eventually we decided that we’d be to our next island by Tuesday morning, and it was already late Sunday night, so we put a little water in the bathroom trash can, along with the shell, and we’d just take it off the ship with us and release the shell along with its crabby inhabitant. Sounds like a good idea, right? Well, it turns out that crabs can’t live out of salt water that long… The next morning Kirk had to send the crab to its watery grave, and I got to feel bad about unintentionally murdering an innocent creature. 

Thankfully Monday was much more eventful. I took a photography class and after dinner we watch a “Movie Under the Stars”.  The cruise line we were on had a giant screen above the swimming pool that they played new-ish movies on.  They also passed out blankets and popcorn. We watched Jack Reacher which turned out to be a pretty great movie.

Tuesday we arrived at the island of Curacao.  We didn’t have any pre-planned activities in mind, so we spent a bit of time when we first got there just wandering around, and I did a bit of shopping. We found a tour bus that took both of us for only about 20 bucks around the island and to a quite beautiful beach.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the beach till it was time to leave.  The tour guide said they’d be picking us up at a specified time, and when that time came around there was no one in sight.  The other people from our group that were on the beach with us were also no where to be found, which started spelling disaster.  LUCKLY there was another tour bus heading back to the port that let us jump on and ride back with them.  The only stipulation was that we had to sit on ice chests, as there were no seats left. And that we had to act as ‘bar tenders’ and pass out the rest of the drinks.  Both were things I could handle.  By the time we got back we had a bit of time to wander a while longer.  The buildings were so beautiful and colorful, and we got a new camera so I had some time to play with it.

Wednesday was the island of Aruba. Yeah, baby…  Talk about a vacation. Kirk had a friend that spent a week there and was able to give us some great ideas on what to do.  We ended up renting an ATV to ride around the island for the day.  Conveniently we were able to get the price from $150 down to $80, and got a couple more hours then they wanted to give.  Turns out I’m really good at playing the cheap wife, to the more accepting husband.  We spent the day going from beach to beach, and to a couple other island sights. 

Wednesday night we also celebrated our anniversary. They brought us a delicious chocolate cake, and decorated our room door with balloons and a ‘Happy Anniversary’ sign.

Thursday and Friday were both on ship days, where we did things like watch an ice carving demo, went on a tour of the kitchen, and enjoyed a formal dinner when every one at our table tried escargot. We got to enjoy, or at least watch the on board shows (which to be perfectly honestly, could not compare to troupe cabana shows.  I’m fairly certain that if 10 troupe kids had 2 days to practice we could have put on a waaaay better show.) and play lots of trivia games.  We watched another Movie Under the Stars, which was The Life of Pi.  I’ve decided it should be illegal to show movies about sinking ships, on a ship. It was a great movie, maybe just not one to watch on a huge ship in the middle of nowhere.

Unfortunately on Saturday our week of fun in the sun came to an end and we had to return to normal life.  Boy was it fun while it lasted though..

Thoughts that won't go away

As most of you know in October general conference last year they lowered the missionary age from 19 to 18 for boys, and 21 to 19 for girls. (For those of you who don’t know, twice a year the Latter-Day Saint church has a world wide broadcast via satellite, cable, internet, and radio, with talks by the General Presidencies and various members of the General Authorities in our church.)  As soon as I heard that announcement I immediately thought of one of my cousins who was 19 and I just knew that she’d be taking this announcement seriously.  I didn’t really have any reasons to think she would decide to up and send in her papers, but I just really felt like this announcement was important for her.  She started filling out her papers and preparing for her mission the following week.  3 months later we were sitting in her church building listening to her farewell talk.  She’s faithfully serving in the St. Louis mission now, and I could not be more proud of her.

I have another cousin who’s 17, and done just about every sport there is for girls to do in high school.  She’s smart, athletic, kind, and thoughtful and basically one of the most amazing people I know.  She recently was accepted to BYU-Hawaii, where she’s planning to attend after she graduates this summer.  I used to baby-sit her until she was old enough to not need a sitter anymore.  I helped in her kindergarten classroom once a week, then she was my maid of honor in my wedding.  I’ve watched her grow up and just blossom into a beautiful young woman.  I see how nice she is to other kids her age, and how good she is with her siblings.  She sends me texts that are so thoughtful, and it baffles me how in touch she is with other peoples emotions and I can’t believe she’s only 17. I already know that even though it’s a while off, she’s going to be an amazing mom.  I’m so excited for her and for everything she’s going to get to experience.

I also have lots of other cousins that are growing up and turning into these amazing girls, which I know are going to make such a difference in this world. 

Basically, it just amazing me how outstanding all these young women are.  I know I wasn’t anywhere close to where they all are now.  At 17 I wasn’t focused on college, even though I was attending.  At 19 I was too selfish to put my life on hold for a year and a half to go knock on doors to share the gospel.  I look at these girls, and I’m so proud to call them my family.  I am in awe of them all the time.  They have no idea how much I look up to them, and how proud of them I am.  I know I’m supposed to be the example because I’m the older cousin, but I don’t think anything I’ve done or could do would be more then what they’ve already done.  I look up to them so much and just hope I could be like them one day.  I’m so lucky to have girls like these around, and especially am just thinking about how lucky my *hopefully* future daughters are going to be to have all these amazing examples around.  Even though I am biased to my family, it’s not just my family that I’m in awe of.  I see the young men and young women in our ward and in our stake, and I hear stories of other youth and I’m amazed with them too.  The youth in the world these days are just stellar kids!  They’re dealing with stuff that I didn’t have to deal with as a teenager, and it wasn’t even that long ago.  They’re setting such an example for the younger kids, and I’m grateful for that considering I’ve yet to have kids, and they’re going to need an example more then ever.  I know they’re going to look up to my cousins just like I do.

Home, Sweet Home

Home, Sweet Home

Amazingly enough, that’s how I felt when I had the chance to go to Utah.  My aunt was blessing her beautiful baby and since my grandparents were headed up, they said I could tag a long. Man did I forget how long that drive was. It had been over 4 years since I’d moved home from Utah, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it.  Of course I missed my family and friends who were still there, but I also just missed the state.  I did NOT miss the snow, but it’s just a different feeling there than here.  Less hostile maybe?  Anyway.  I was able to stay at my house and play with her adorable kids, which was a blast.  My parents decided to join the trek up which gave us even more people to play with.  The first day there I went with my parents to Scheels Sporting Goods, and my mom and I had too much fun.  They had these little photo booths set up all over the store and we sure took advantage of those.  She and I got ‘separated’ from my dad and eventually got the “where are you” phone call.  After playing around shopping at Scheels, and a couple other sporting stores, we had lunch at Tuscanos. Holy. Meat.  Here’s the deal with Tuscanos…. It’s a Brazilian restaurant where they walk around with different kinds of meat on skewers and carve it right onto your plate.  You get this little thing that’s panted in 3 sections, Green, Yellow, & Red.  Just like a stoplight, when it’s green the servers bring food, and when it’s flipped over to red, they pass by your table.  That is one of our ‘must eat’ places when we’re in Utah and boy did we EAT!!  Ate way too much, but I figure if I’m only getting it once every 4 years, I’m going to shove as much in as I possible can. Gross? Maybe. Delicious? Most definitely. 

Friday night I was able to see one of my BEST FRIENDS in the whole world who I hadn’t seen since I moved home.  She and I worked together at Bed Bath & Beyond when I lived up there, and we’ve been friends ever since.  I should clarify that they did stop scheduling us at the same time because we didn’t actually work when we were there at together. She and I went to the store just to look around to see how it’d changed, which was fun.  I was sad that there wasn’t anyone there that I knew.  We went to dinner together and it was so awesome to be able to sit and chat and catch up.  She’s one of those friends that no matter how long it’s been since you’ve seen them, it feels like no time has passed at all.  I accidentally left my coat in her car and she had to bring it back to me, so it was like double prizes.

Saturday night my cousin Jennifer who also happens to be one of my close friends came over and had dinner with our family.  We got to spend the evening chatting and that was so great.  Jennifer and I grew up less then a mile from each other, and we’re only 10 months apart in age.  We used to have sleepovers every Friday night and watch T.G.I.F.  In high school we both partook in Ping-Pong Club activities, and hung out at church dances. I used to endure extra hours at church so I could go to Sunday School and Young Womens with her.  We did Joy School, Kindergarten, and Girl Scouts together.  We pretty much did everything together, and that trend seems to continue.  It was so nice to be able to just sit and talk to someone who’s in the same stage in their life as I am, and can relate to things I’m going through.  She’s cooler than me though cause she’s a teacher to a bunch of 4^th graders. I could never do that.

Sunday was the baby blessing which I didn’t actually get to attend.  Because of some of the circumstances surrounding this darling baby, people who were or had been sick were kindly asked to not attend as to not risk getting the baby sick.  I’d been dealing with what I just thought was allergies, but they didn’t clear up with allergy medication I figured it was probably a cold.  As bummed out as I was to not be at the blessing, I was able to watch some of my other cousins so their parents could attend without worrying about their kids. That night we did have a big family dinner, and my aunt was able to come up for dinner so at least I got to see her then. 

I did, of course, get my Pork Barbacoa Burrito from Café Rio and even found a few cute skirts at Walmart that could totally pass as DownEast skirts, but at like a fourth of the price.  One day we were at a emergency supply store and I saw an employee that looked very familiar and I got a little giddy.  Turns out I was right, and it was one of my favorite dining hall workers from when I was in Nauvoo.  My dad thought I was crazy, but I did get a picture with him, and did a little dance since I haven’t seen anyone from Nauvoo for a very long time.  I got to visit with my brother in law which was nice since we don’t get to see him very often since he lives in another state, but we sure wish we got to see him more often. And of course I got my hair done by my aunt who is an amazing cosmetologist, which I am so grateful for. I’ve gotten my hair botched too many times by people I don’t know.  I mostly don’t trust anyone else to touch my hair anymore.

I would have to say that this trip would be labeled ‘success’ for an over all grade.  It was the longest Kirk and I have been apart in 2 years which was a little tough, but I survived.  I was very excited to be home to my own bed though.

It's My Birthday

In January I celebrated my 25^th birthday. It happened to be on the 25^th of the month, making it my Golden Birthday. As soon as I woke up that morning, let me just tell you. I. Felt. Old.   It didn't help that the first thing that Kirk said to me when I woke up that morning was “Wow..you’re old now.  You should probably start using that lotion that goes around your eyes so you don’t get wrinkles.”  Geez. Thanks a lot.  I’d decided that since we still don’t have kids, I was going to have a party!  I haven’t had a party since I was a teenager, and if I’m going to feel old, I’d like to have my friends and family around me to comfort, I mean celebrate with me.  My cousin Holly designed my super cute invitations (you can check her out here) and my parents and little brothers helped with the finishing touches on the food.  They’d probably say they made all the food, since even though I worked all day I was still stupidly behind by the time the party was supposed to start.  I am so blessed to have so many family members and friends in the area that I was able to celebrate my night with.  Kirk got me a necklace that I (apparently)  pointed out in a black Friday add, and he also got me 25 gold balloons.  Those balloons were put to use for much entertainment after most people were gone.  Two of my cousins spend the night after party which was just too much fun.  We’d rented a movie, but I’d moved the couch (and clearly by I, I mean Kirk) to a different room and didn't want to move it back to watch the movie.  So I did what any normal person would do.  I blew up our gigantic air mattress for the girls, and dragged our mattress from our room and set them both up in front of the TV. 

That is how I spent my 25^th birthday, and it was the best birthday I could have possibly asked for.  Thank you so much to those of you who celebrated with me, in any way. 

New Update for the New Year

Well, it’s been a while since my last post and I feel like nothing has even really happened since then. As a tribute to the beginning of the year I thought I’d post about the last couple months.

October – First, Kirks little brother came home from his mission in the Philippines. I made a sign and Kirk was a little jealous because no one made him a sign when he came home. I had an extra piece of poster board lying around so I made him a sign too.  Since I haven’t had any brothers go on missions yet, I was very excited to go to the airport and be there when he came down the ramp and everything and let me tell you..that just didn't work like I thought it would.  We got to the airport a hour before his plane landed but there was confusion about which terminal his plane was getting into, and we ended up being the last people to arrive at the gate and totally missed Jacob coming down the ramp.  It was a super big fail.

We, for the first time since we started dating, did not go to the corn maze.  We talked about it, and planned on it, but it just never happened.  For Halloween we went to Kirks grandmas house and just handed out candy.  There were a whole 6 trick-or-treaters so it was a super busy night.  I think I ate more candy then anything.. 

November – I survived my first Primary Program as the chorister.  I think know I was more nervous than any of the kids were.  I was kind of running around like crazy trying to make sure I had everything ready, and at one point a member of the stake presidency

(that lucky me, happened to be there that day) looked at me and told me to calm down.  I just couldn't do it.  I dropped my song book once, accidentally skipped a verse, and thanks to me the kids sang that ‘the foolish man built his house upon the rock’.  Boy did that confuse people.. Eventually it was all over, and I’m already dreading this years program.

The Saturday before thanksgiving my moms side of the family had their traditional family thanksgiving dinner.  We took our family Christmas pictures which was always fun.  We had Thanksgiving Day at Kirks parents house and most of Kirks siblings were able to make it which was really awesome.  Kirks sister, her husband, and their daughter (from the bay area) stayed at our house on Thanksgiving night and we were able to spend some time with them.  The boys went golfing and his sister and I did some Black Friday shopping.  It was so nice to be able to spend some time with them since we don’t get out to see them very often. 

December – To Kirks delight, we went to a Broncos game. In Oakland. Crazy right?  We decided right away that we weren't going to risk wearing any Broncos colors. We took the Bart in and were surrounded by Raiders fans the entire time, and much to my dismay Kirk kept talking about how excited he was to see Peyton Manning play live very loudly.  Watching football live is much more entertaining than watching it at home. We made it through the night in one piece, and Kirk now says that going to the football game was his favorite thing we've done together.

 To start off the Christmas season we had Kirks Company Christmas party the first weekend of the month.  I’m always stumped at what to wear to those things, but this year I knew exactly what I was wearing.  I got a color block skirt from Kohls that is just amazing.  The dinner was at a nice Greek restaurant which was different.  They gave us drink tickets, but obviously we don’t drink alcohol but we thought we could still use them to order soda, but it turned out soda was free which was awesome.  We don’t usually get anything but water when we go to eat, so I just had to get something.  That something turned out to be 4 Shirley Temples.  Kirk decided to get one and they had so much sugar in them that he ended up having a total sugar high and kind of bounced around the room the entire night which was entertaining.  For dinner I had ordered the steak and when they brought it out I think my jaw dropped.  It. Was. HUGE.  By huge I mean like 16 ounces.  That is 4 servings of red meat.  Holy smokes.  (His co-workers wife thought I was a vegetarian and asked me if they brought me out the wrong plate.  When I told her no, she replied “good girl”.)


Kirks company did a "Gingerbread House" building contest again this year, and I think they should take the "house" off the name, because no one really does a classic gingerbread house.  This year Kirk decided he wanted to do the Birdsnest from the Beijing Olympics. He really has a knack for picking hard things.  It took us a long time to do, and it was a lot of work.  I was hoping he'd win since he worked so hard on it, but he didn't! His boss told him he "got robbed" and another co-worked said there should be a recount. I told him we should boycott next year.

The outside was made with red vines

The soccer ball is a white gumball, and the players are Teddy Grahams

Kirk, his old roommate Eric, and I attended the wedding reception of a different previous roommate in the bay area.  It was a nice evening and nice company.  At one point I asked Kirk to go find me a piece of cake so like a good husband he did.  I was sitting alone at the table and a little boy who was maybe 6 came up to me and asked me “whats wrong?”  I told him “I’m waiting for cake.  Where is it?  You didn't bring me any?”  He replied that he’d go get me some and that he’d be right back. I figured I’d never see him again, but before I knew it he was back with cake, a fork, and a napkin.  I was quite impressed.  Kirk came back and was confused at how I was already eating cake.  They thought it would be funny to stack all the empty cake plates in front of me.  The little boy came back and saw all the plates and kind looked at me funny.  Eric told him that I’d eaten all 4 plates and this little boys eyes got all big and just goes “Wow….”

The Saturday before Christmas we were able to go to a family Christmas party in Pleasanton, which was always a good time.  I made these Boston Cream Cupcakes and I was so excited and they just really really really didn't work out.  Kirk was super good sport and even sat on Santas lap for a photo. 

Christmas Eve …to start the day off right, I got a new toy.  Kirk and I have been talking for a while about getting a nice camera and we’d been saying we’d get one when I got pregnant that way we could practice with it before the baby came.  Well, since that’s taking so long we didn't really talk about it much anymore.  Around thanksgiving we’d been offered a used Nikon for a pretty unbeatable price, and we knew that the seller took really good care of it so it was pretty much as good as new.  We decided to just go for it, and now I have a new baby.  We had dinner with Kirks family and we were all able to visit and have a nice evening.

Christmas morning we opened presents at home next to our beautiful Christmas tree (that Kirk had a lot more choices in decorating this year.  Well, more choices about how many ornaments went on it).  We had a small Christmas this year, but I got a nook which was exciting.  We had brunch with my moms family, then dinner with my dads family. 

New Years Eve – Kirk decided we were just going to stay home for the night.  We rented the newest Batman movie and had steak and cheese fondue for dinner, and chocolate fondue with fruit for dessert.  I was a little paranoid most of the night about if I was hearing fireworks or gunshots.  Something hit our house at one point of time which did actually freak me out a little. 

Well…that’s the summation of my last 3 months.  Nothing very exciting but that’s been our life lately.