Not the Best

Obviously, I am not the best at keeping up on this blog thing. But we are still alive and still in love, so that's all that really matters, right?

I donated my hair back in August (Locks of Love). It was my little sister Katie's idea, but she got me in on it too, along with another sister - Kelsey. I guess we're just all really generous people! I hated my short hair in the beginning (first time for me) but It's growing on me. haha-literally! It's grown almost two inches since the Big Cut. But also, I've grown to like this shorter look. For now.

Got to visit with Annie (and the cutest baby in the world until I have one) a couple times last week which was SO fun. We had fun reminiscing about the "good old days", making the most difficult sugar cookies, and talking about how crazy our lives have been. Especially that fact that we have both ended up living in the same state thrice. Our friendship is definitely meant to be.

I'm on Round 2 of the Practice Motherhood game. While my mom has been enjoying Mediterranean cruises and other exciting adventures (like cleaning the house in Germany and packing up the rest of their belongings and helping my dad move back to the States), I have been holding up the fort here in Washington. It was fun the first time, but definitely an eye-opener (who knew deciding what to make for dinner could be so stressful?! I mean Steve just eats whatever I make without complaint, but finding something that all three kids are happy with - not as easy as I thought). So I think I'm much better prepared for it this time. At least my expectations have become more realistic. Also, it has been fun to see David and Jennifer (more siblings!) who came to visit last time I was here. Hopefully they'll visit again.

Steve is working, working, working. Busy Season is fast approaching. I'm not sure what to expect, but I know it won't be fun having Steve gone so much of the day. And of course it won't be fun for him! But he's great at what he does, so I just hope I can be supportive. And we still have Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to before his work gets too crazy. We're both excited to spend the holidays with family.

I am working on a novel, hopefully to be submitted to a contest at the end of December. So that, along with trying to finish up my 100 books this year, is what keeps me busy. Life is pretty easy at this point. I think that's why we got called into the Nursery. Something's gotta keep me humble and trying to take care of nine 3-year-old kids once a week does a pretty good job of that!

Honeymoon

Also, Steve and I DID go on a honeymoon. We're not like some couple that just didn't go on a honeymoon!! (mostly because if we were "that" couple, Annie would be severely disappointed...) and in case you're wondering, we went to Mexico. to Puerto Vallarta. just like everybody else! (Emily and Christian, Lauren and Ryan... I'm sure there's more...) anyway, to prove it, here's a picture of me drinking pina coladas and flaring my nostrils...And here's proof that Steve came with me...

oh no wait! that's Steve dancing in his garbage bag shirt right before I butchered (I mean "cut")his hair. how did that get in there!? oops... ok here's one of him in Mexico FOR REAL...

he's so pensive! and yes we were both there, together, at the same time! LOOK!

awww, the "honeymooners" (said with a Mexican accent many times during our trip)

some other highlights included...
Steve getting food poisoning
the ceiling in our first room leaking water all over the bathroom
almost dying on the waverunner....

just kidding those aren't the highlights!! here they are for real, with brief commentary included (prerequisites for reading this list are about a 4th grade reading level and 1st grade level math skills)

zipline tour of the jungle = awesome! really really awesome!
riding the waverunners twice = scary for me, awesome for Steve, fun for both
catching 8 feet of air on the waverunner = (see above + painful landing for me)
getting a free ride on waverunner = sweet deal
Steve's free back massage = I don't know I wasn't there
city bus tour = decent
free upgrade to the best suite in the house with ocean view and private balcony = really nice!
buffet food = edible
restaurant food = slightly more edible (except for the food poisoning)
special order authentic taco dinner = amazing! + I love guacamole!
towels folded into the shape of animals = surprisingly fun
watching a kid named "Nacho" play pool soccer with his brother = hilarious
TWO "free!" tequila tasting tours = whatever
all you can drink pina coladas = what more could you want?!

the point I'm trying to make here is that we had a really good time and took lots of pictures and got a good chunk of frequent flyer miles on our United accounts. so I recommend a honeymoon to anyone who likes those kinds of things (minus the food poisoning, of course).

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... a birthday cake???

You know how "they" say you should be sure of what you're getting into before you get married? And how it's important to really, truly know this person before you enter into such a serious arrangement? And if you get married two months after meeting someone you're CRAZY because how could you know anything about them?! What were you thinking?!?! Holy cow!!! Well, I agree. And I listened. And I waited a year after meeting Steve to start dating him. And then it took us another year before we got married. Two years. That's a pretty good amount of time, right? We should be ready for anything! Well it wasn't enough to prepare me for this...

Fact: Christmas is my favorite holiday.

And I've always viewed the day after my birthday (July 26) as the start of the holiday season for me. I can't help it. From December 26 to July 26 is as long as I can hold out! After that, I just stop trying... But I learned this year that marriage changes everything. "They" were right.

Fact: Steve's birthday is July 27, the day after my birthday, the day I like to start Christmas!!

But (surprise!) he wasn't so happy when I started humming Christmas carols on his special day. And he was right. It wasn't fair. He deserved to have a birthday too. And I needed to learn a lesson in patience. Which means... From now on, I will be postponing the start of Christmas until July 28, in order to respectfully observe my husband's b-day.

eARthSHaKe!

I survived my first California earthquake early this morning! (or "earthshake" as they say on Land Before Time) We felt it about 2:00am, and found out later it was about a 3.0 on the Richter Scale, and was located about 10 to 15 miles from where we live.

Of course I was asleep at the time and dreaming about the crazy asylum board game we had played last night with some of our neighbors, so the scary rattling noise coming from our closet fit perfectly with the monsters I was battling in my dream. Luckily, it was enough to just barely shake me into consciousness and hear Steve ask, "did you feel that?" so I could say "yeah" and he could explain "that was an earthquake!" and I could say "really? weird..." So it turns out the rattling wasn't a monster but a tremor caused by movement of the Earth's crust, who knew?!

A couple minutes later, still awake, I decided to check the time and realized that the power had gone out. Brave Steven got a flashlight and went down to check the breaker box but to no avail. So we were without power for an unspecified amount of time, because it really doesn't matter if the lights aren't working in the middle of the night, so we went back to sleep and found them fully functional when we woke up...again, this time on purpose.

It was nothing compared to the earthquake I experienced my sophomore year of high school in Washington, but it was enough to make me count my blessings... and think about life... and food storage... and 72-hour kits and... then I drifted back into sleep and had another dream and in this one we had adopted a kid who insisted on wearing a furry monster costume at all times and couldn't or wouldn't talk at all, except to cry and make monster noises.

Great Expectations

So... I read The Alchemist yesterday, thinking I could add it to my list of favorite books, with all the wild praise it's received. It didn't quite make the cut but it was a really good story, much better than Eragon, and bumped me up to 26 books read this year! (which puts me right on schedule because we're halfway through the year and 26 is halfway to 100!!....wait...)

Also I bought a digital piano thinking I would be Mozart in a week. I'm not. Ok I didn't really expect to be but I had to be consistent with my title! Actually I'm doing better than expected in my "do-it-yourself" piano lessons. And I love having it in the house, and it adds variety to my days. so it's great! In fact, to give you an idea of just how stinkin good I am, as Steve puts it, "She can almost play Jingle Bells!" so you can see how proud we both are of my progress...

Went to my first major league baseball game last night! With Steve of course, and some friends. The Oakland A's! vs. the (Detroit?) Tigers. I didn't expect too much excitement based on the college and minor league games I had been to, but it was still lots of fun just to be there with people and enjoy the atmosphere. And listen to little kids scream for their parents' teams until they lost their voices. And the cold, cold wind... and the free muffins from Otis Spunkmeyer! provided by JD and his new job. I just wish I had remembered my camera. Now you all think I'm lying. I was there! I promise!

In other news, we went to Alcatraz about a week and a half ago which was really interesting. Did the audio tour and everything. Really cool. (See pictures below - the first is of a ruined building on the island and the second is inside the actual prison looking down one of the upper level cell blocks). Steve also let me ride the cable car (think: Rice-a-Roni) and we had bread bowl soup at Boudin's Sourdough Bakery, just to add to the excitement of the day! it was delicious.

Last Saturday was spent garage sale shopping around town. Found some REALLY old books (like Divine Comedy from 1892 and Nicholas Nickleby published in 1906) and a good sturdy table for my art. I'd say it was a success. And a good time. Steve spoils me!

All in all, life is good. Got some free bread from Safeway this morning. Planning on making sloppy joes for dinner tonight (that right there is cause for celebration!) I have some new art supplies to keep me busy, thinking of opening a shop on Etsy.com, and I'm reading Lord of the Rings-the Fellowship. The sun is shining, the tank is clean, and we are gonna get out of here! (10 points if you can name the movie...)

Well that's it for today... Time to start living!

Catching up...

Yes, Ketchup. I'd like to put some on everything. On reading books on my "to be read" list, on writing thank you notes, and on cleaning the bathroom. Also on legally changing my last name.

Interesting fact I've learned about myself: when it comes to writing thank you notes or cleaning the bathroom, I choose the bathroom. Probably because the toilet doesn't ask for any emotional or mental commitment in getting the job done.

Disclaimer: Steve and I are incredibly grateful for all the gifts we've been given! We feel very blessed for everything we have received and we would never ever ever trade that for a toilet and I hope no one was led to believe otherwise.

Well I'm off to write some more thank you notes and NOT clean the bathroom yet! (except I will have to clean it eventually, I mean let's be reasonable...)

Just Married!

I think the title says it all, but I'm going to say a little more...

Steve and I have been happily married for eleven days now, so I think it's pretty obvious that we're going to make it in this world. Steve had to go back to work today, so I have a little extra time on my hands to do things like update this!

It's nice to be *home* and relax after our whirlwind wedding adventure, (which included a luncheon and three receptions and lots and lots of picture-taking in three different states) but it was great to see so many friends and family. We started in Salt Lake, where we were sealed in the temple (the day after my brother David and I graduated from BYU). We had a family luncheon in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (fancy!), then a garden reception that night at my cousin Lindsay's house (amazing!), took a couple days to catch our breath and flew up to Seattle. We had a reception there at the church, everything was beautiful, and it was fun to see old friends, especially some from high school. After that we dashed off to Dubuque, Iowa, hometown of my husband. I was surprised to find so much of interest here. I think the most exciting part was seeing the Mississippi River, and absolutely LOVING it!I don't know why I felt so connected to that big, muddy river, but it was pretty much love at first sight, and I didn't want to look away. First of all, I think I felt like I had stepped into a Mark Twain novel, which was awesome. Also it was just so much bigger than I had ever imagined. And the landscape surrounding was beautiful. Loved it!

Steve's dad gave us a great tour of the city, complete with commentary and historical background on just about anything you could see, including a tower used in Civil War times for making ammunition. I enjoyed the ride up the "4th Street Elevator" (a cable car contraption constructed by a banker in the late 1800s who didn't have enough time to ride horse and buggy all the way up and around the hill to his home for lunch) and the view from the top, and the visit to the real-life "Field of Dreams" movie site! That was pretty cool since it's one of my favorite movies.

So, after our final reception in Iowa, which was just as beautiful as the first two, we packed our overflowing suitcases with generous gifts from all over the country, said our sad goodbyes to family, and were excited to get home and start our new life together!

And that's pretty much what we've been doing since we arrived Sunday night...we spent all our gift cards and stocked up our kitchen. Steve's back doing the 9 to 5 (actually the 8 to 4) and I'm trying to catch up to my sister on our goal to read 100 books this year (she's at least 10 books ahead of me...in fact I can't believe I've taken so much time on this, I am picking up a book right NOW!)

Suspicious Activities

Steve and Christie were last seen fleeing the state of Utah. According to airport security, both had legitimate boarding passes, but a check to the Southwest computer system just three hours before their flight proved that only Steve was planning to fly that night.

"It was just a last minute decision," explains Christie. "Steve was visiting me in Provo, and instead of going back alone, he asked if I wanted to go with him. Since I recently finished at BYU, I had nothing holding me back. Of course I agreed to go with him!"

Plausible, perhaps, if the couple had not checked FOUR suitcases for their "weekend getaway". When questioned about the unusual amount of luggage, Steve confirmed that Christie's visit was unplanned, and would only last five days. The suitcases, he claimed, were full of clothes, books and other possessions that she was moving to his new apartment in Martinez. Allegedly, the couple are getting married in a few weeks and wanted to get things in order early so they could more fully enjoy their wedding celebrations.

Behind all their smiles and ready explanations, Christie's behavior is still questionable. After Steve left for work, she spent the morning searching every corner of the apartment. What exactly was she looking for? Money? Stolen jewels? Traces of blood? We bugged her cell phone to find out. Here's a transcript of what we heard:

Steve: Hello?
Christie: Hi! How's work?
Steve: It's fine. So you're using your new phone?
Christie: Yeah, I took some pictures with it, of the apartment, to show my mom.
Steve: Oh good. So what else have you been doing?
Christie: Well, I searched the place for spiders.
Steve: Did you find any?
Christie: Five so far, there could be more.
Steve: I'm so sorry! I don't know what to do
Christie: Don't worry, I'll take care of them.

Unfortunately, our eavesdropping inspired more questions than answers. What are these "spiders" and why do they have Steve so worried? How exactly did Christie plan to "take care of them" and why did a neighbor, who prefers to remain anonymous, report hearing Christie tell Steve when he got home that she "freaked out" and "killed them when they tried to get back in the house"?

"They were really just spiders," Christie told reporters, "just regular eight-legged spiders. Well, OK, one of them only had seven legs, but you know what I mean!"

No, Christie, we don't.