Weekend Getaway

So last week we took our much anticipated trip to California to see our families and to go to Disneyland's 24 hour day.  It was a blast.  The kids in my family didn't know we were coming so we got to surprise them again. My oldest brother and his girlfriend chose to go to Disneyland's 24 hour day instead of prom so we got to see them there a lot too.  Dennis mom's birthday was also this weekend.  So we got to celebrate that.  To top it off I chopped off my hair again. Dennis says its like a Maggie from Walking Dead or Tangled at the end hair cut.  We were only there for 3 days.  So we barely got any sleep.... Not the most relaxing vacation.  Very fun though.
To pictures.

Me, Prince Charming, his sister, my cousin, my brother and his girl

 So this is my cousin.  She's like. My Bestie.  Our story runs very similarly to that of the opening song for Swan Princess.  We were thrown together.  Didn't like each other.  After awhile we became super good friends.  She also almost cried when she got to see Captain America

Took us less than 2 minutes to pose and get off.  Pros.

Fireworks.  Love their faces.

So this one is our first time picture.  It only says 10:30 I think.  We were pretty proud.  We'd been there since 10 in the morning.  There is another time picture after midnight but the silly cast member put his finger on the lens.  We stayed till 4 for World of Color.  We may have also fallen asleep on the warf in California Adventure...  As you can see in this picture, club Disney is going on in the background.  Not a fan. Made me kinda sad actually that they used the castle for a club.  We joked that Walt was facing away from the castle because he didn't want to know.  California Adventure was a total wreck come nightfall.  They should not have allowed alcohol in the park.  Overall the day was super fun. The night was weird.  But we love Disneyland. 

Unrelated to Disneyland, but this is my brother in his home made camouflage. He taped plants all over himself. I hope our kids are as creative and fun as he is.
Also.  I don't have any pictures yet of my new hair... Maybe next time.

Summertime...

So.  I have this love/hate relationship with summer.  By which I mean I do not necessarily enjoy summer. Right about now Olaf is just crying with shock.  I'm much more made for fall or winter.  I don't own a single piece of clothing that is summer appropriate.  I don't even have a proper swimsuit this year yet.  I dislike shorts.  I prefer to be cold because how can you fix being hot?  You can't.  Cold is simple.  You get a blanket or a coat. However, there are a few redeeming things about summer and all things hot.
* Dresses. I love dresses.  Unfortunately, my job isn't exactly dress friendly.
* Sun drying my hair.  It just feels so nice.
* Sleeping in the sun.  Basically I'm a cat.
* Camping/hiking.
* We got married in the summer.
Aaaannndddd that's all I got.  Sad but true. 

Summer hike 2013

T-Minus 5 Days

These last two weeks have just been rough.  (see: last post)  But really.  They have been just annoying.  I'm ready for Disneyland.
Yes.  You read right.  DISNEYLAND.  The land of hope and dreams.  The place Dennis and I spent most of our date nights.  Basically my favorite place to be.  I just have to survive this week.  Then happiness.  Hopefully... I worry that because I am so stressed that one thing might just completely set me off.  Then that would be sad.  So!  Let's hope we survive. 
Dennis had a whole week off last week through an accident in scheduling at work.  He's been working this week.  I've missed hanging out with him all morning. 
So.  It's kind of nice when one or both of us doesn't have work.  We get to hang out. 

Our last trip to Disneyland. 

I might have puke for brains

Our weekend was so fun. I ran for the first time in months (more walk than run but I'm proud of it).  We got called to the nursery in our ward.  Which apparently is the most hated job in our ward for some reason?  Some of the women in our ward are child haters.... So now I work with kids 6 days a week. But I love nursery. So its ok.
Today though.
Today has been rough for us.
I work with kids with autism.  Most days are not a walk in the park. Some days are more rewarding than others.  Today was an extreme mixture of both. Mostly rough. With some good.
I can't go into detail.  But.  Basically.  I cleaned up a massive amount of puke with no thanks. Not only that I was told that the child was not sick and they were offended that I was not over enthused about staying.  I don't mind puke. But really...?  I was so incredible frustrated by how inconsiderate the family was.
It was just an abnormally bad day. There was a bunch of really weird little things as well.  But. Blah.

So here's a video of the temple. We went two weeks ago for our friends' endowments and it was so pretty.  So. Yeah. Today has been bad and here's a temple.


 

Easter and Mellow Days

This was our second Easter in Utah.  Our second Easter together as well.  This year we didn't do much.  We dyed eggs and got to hang out with both sides of Dennis' family.  Which is awesome.  I was originally uncertain how I felt about living so close to family.  We lived in Virginia our first few months of marriage where the only person we knew was his sister. Before that we had both of our immediate families and it was a little stressful at times.  So I was nervous about all the family we have out here. We really like it. Not only do we have both sides of Dennis' family, we have my dad's side up here as well.  We get to see all of them on a regular basis.  It's fun. We spent Easter morning with his aunt and all his cousins and their babies.  That evening we spent with his grandpa and all sorts of related or somewhat related cousins.

We tried the whipped cream dying method for some of our eggs and it was super fun!  They looked like chalk or water color eggs. It was neat. I was really proud of my bunny.  I drew him all by myself. 
Dennis has been playing a lot of soccer lately.  Mostly indoor but he has recently joined an outdoor team.  Or maybe two... I'm not entirely sure.  I just go when I'm told there's a game.
Oh!  The other night we came home kind of late.  I was really tired. I am still waking up with the sun (around 7:40 now). Dennis got out of the car before me and then disappeared. I opened my door to find him pointing to two kittens.  I have a really bad weakness for babies and things that are alone. So of course I needed to take care of them. I sat in the dirt at 1 am in the morning holding tiny kittens. Then I realized one was missing a leg.  First they were babies then alone and now one was hurt.  All things I can't handle put together. I was so sad. Our neighbors took the cats in the morning since we couldn't have them but all night I was heartbroken because I didn't think they would survive.
So that is my sad story for the week. 

Where were you when...

So lately I've been thinking.  Which is a dangerous thing to do. (-- Gaston song). Anyway.  I have been sort of doing a time line comparason between family and friends about where we were or what we were doing or had done by a certain age.  It's interesting to think about. Dennis and I have both had birthdays in the last month, so we were comparing mostly to our age. 

My grandpa: Was serving in the Navy.  Had not yet met my grandma.  Was not yet a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  May have started college. Had lived through 3 wars by that point. 

My grandma: Was attending college to become a teacher.  It was terribly important to her parents for her to do so.  She may have met my grandpa by this point and he may have been seeing the missionaries.
 
His grandma: Had married her childhood sweetheart two years earlier. She had just had her first baby.  They hadn't been sealed as a family yet. 

His grandpa (paternal): he had eloped with his high school sweetheart years before and kept it a secret and still continued to live with their families to maintain the secret.  By this point they had told everyone and were living together.


My parents: Had been married about a year.  They were attending college together.  My dad had been home from his mission for almost two years. My mom was graduating college and working as a chemist.

His parents: They'd been married over a year about and had just had their first baby.   His dad had been playing baseball at college and had been training with the Red Sox. He had blown out both his knees already. 

Something that is even crazier to do is to think about where we were at younger people's ages.  My brother is getting ready to leave on his mission.  His sister wants to get married.  It's crazy to think either how different or how similar our lives were then compared to theirs now.

Birthday Everything

Yesterday it was Dennis' birthday.  We both had work, so we didn't have any birthday adventures.  Yet.  We may still have one or two on Saturday in honor of his birthday.  So yesterday I made him a lemon meringue pie from scratch.  It is one of the few things I make that I don't worry constantly that someone will hate.  I only worry most of the time. Just not constantly. Anyway he really likes lemon meringue pie and he really likes when I make it.  He thinks I do amazingly.  He's so sweet. We went to Apollo burger again for his birthday dinner and he got a bunch of super awesome birthday presents.  He is one lucky dude.  New beats boombox, indoor soccer cleats, new shirts, paints... and hopefully more to come in the mail. Even though it was his birthday, I got a surprise package in the mail.  He bought me earrings.  He is so sweet.  He makes my heart melt. 

He also got punched in the face at a soccer game the night before his birthday. So he still has a fat lip.  His team is the new team of the league so they are the underdogs.  But look how adorable he is.