Is it just me, or has everyone at one point looked at their birthday cake that is sitting in front of them and wished that they could just dig in face first and tear it apart? Anyone? (Natalie, this includes you). Yesterday we went to our friend's Stacie and Brett's little girl's 1st birthday party. It was so much fun! The highlight of the party, however, was when Kylie got free reign and was allowed to literally "dig in" to her birthday cake. Someone made the comment later that wouldn't it be nice if you were allowed to just make the biggest mess and everyone thinks you are so cute for it, and even better, they will clean it up for you! Ah, the life...

Here is Kylie. She is so adorable. Despite the pained expression on her face in this picture, she really was enjoying herself. I mean, wouldn't you?

In other news, we had quite the busy day yesterday with exercising, errands, parties, and journeys to Austin. My cousin, Megan, is serving a mission for the church in an area north of Austin, and we got to take her and her companion out to dinner yesterday. She goes home in about 3 weeks, so it was really fun to see her as a full fledged missionary before she heads back home. The combination of reconnecting with family and eating Chipotle made me so very happy. 

After dinner we had about an hour to go visit Ikea, which we all know is a highly desired store to attend (especially since it's almost 2 hours away from our home). It was fun to browse through and pretend all of the kitchen models or living rooms were actually ours. We did walk away with one item that we were particularly excited about...

Introducing our first live plant! This will be a good test run to see if we can actually keep something alive.

Thoughts from a Traffic Jam

This morning as the rain was pouring down and my car was literally in park as I was sitting in traffic, I had a long, long time to sit and listen to music. One of my favorites came on, and before I knew it I was choking up. I hadn't heard "Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me" by Sir Elton John in a while, but every time I do I am immediately taken back to happy childhood days, driving nowhere with my Dad as he played the song over and over again.

I became so overcome with gratitude and emotion for my family. I thought of my Dad and how he started his company literally from our basement. He has worked so hard to provide for our family and get to where he is now. Now that I am older, I know that at times money was tight--really, really tight--but Dad never cracked. Him and my mom did everything in their power to let us kids have a happy and carefree childhood. Not only were we cared for temporally, but I know that they loved me, Jace, and Brittney more than anything, and what an amazing feeling that is. I am a Daddy's girl by heart, and I am so grateful for the example he set that helped me realize the kind of husband and future father to my kids I would want.

I wish there wasn't so much distance between my family and me. It's hard sometimes. But I know that families can be together forever, and this short time that we are separated is ironically meant to bring us closer. I am so grateful for the memories we have created, and cannot wait for the many happy times ahead.

So without getting too mushy on everyone, I would just like to say thank you family, I love you.

A picture from long ago -- ca. 1998

1/2 a year!

Last night Russ and I celebrated the fact that we had been married for 6 months. I know to many of our readers, that's no big deal. But to us that's huge. We have been married for half a year, and it's been the best 6 months of my life.

Russ took me to "Russ Ruby," the Russ Lewis version of our favorite Thai restaurant, "Thai Ruby," found in the one and only Provo. We went to Thai Ruby restaurant for our first date and then on the day we got engaged. Needless to say, we love Thai. He recreated the experience for me, and I have to say I was majorly impressed. He made a curry dish with authentic Thai rice--he even cracked his own peppercorns. He may now regret impressing me so much when I sign him up for future cooking assignments...

Birthdays and Shorts

Well my friends, this has been a busy but fun-filled week. As you probably saw in my earlier post, it was Russ's birthday this week. It was so fun watching him get so excited about everything -- but as you can see here, he was particularly excited to open gifts. He is funny because if the gift allows he will put it on as he opens another one, and so on. So by the end of a gift-opening session he is usually sporting quite an interesting look. As you can see, he just opened a "sweet backpack" and is about to open some "awesome bike parts."

We also had a fun little surprise party at one of his favorite restaurants, Rome's Pizza. Thanks to everyone who came! It helped make the perfect day. He was even lucky enough to get an ice cream cake!

The next night we hung out with our friends Reagan and Sada. Good food and good company. They were lucky enough to be exposed to Beatles Rock Band. I think they liked it.

Another one of Russ's gifts was a Texas State Park pass. This one I was also particularly excited about. You know we all love giving gifts to others when it benefits you as well. So we decided to put it to use and checked out Government Canyon state park, that just happens to be about 10 minutes away from our doorstep. Who knew?

We went on a nice long hike and enjoyed the shrubs and cacti of Texas. But in reality, it was actually quite pretty, which was probably amplified by the fact that it was in the 70's.

I have a weird fear of bees. Well, of all insects that can hurt me. And apparently I carry an amber glow around with me.

Russ thought this cactus looked like a man stretching?

Oh and please notice Russ's clothing in the last picture. I wore shorts and sandals in January. And I got hot.

uh, WHAT?!?

Lasting Echo

Fictionist did it again. But not only have they done it again, they have far exceeded expectations. They have explored new territory, and excelled. They have created an amazing, legendary album.

When my sister first told me it was finished, she mentioned that at first listen it may be interesting, but then you will become addicted. How right was she? I can't stop listening to it. And you know how I'm doing that? They are streaming the album on their website for a week before it is officially released. LISTEN TO IT HERE

Lasting Echo (the name of the album) is not just your everyday rock album. It is so mature and rich that you may need to listen to a song over and over again to even catch all of the intricate layers. Once you do, you will be jamming out for days. But again, these songs are so much more than guitar solos and bass lines--there is emotion, depth, and stories woven within. A few of my favorites include The Well-Made Shadow, Blue-eyed Universe, and last, but not least Suffering Angel (click here to read an inside scoop of what/who this particular song is about). I am also willing to bet that this list of favorites will grow and change as I fall more and more in love with each song.

Anyway, give it a try and enjoy. I know you will.

There is Something I would Like to Say:

to Russell!!

I just want him to know how much I love him and am grateful to be married to him!

This morning he was as giddy as a 5 year old boy is on his birthday, as he kept saying "I'm soooo excited for today!"

Well you know what? You should be, my dearest Russell. It's going to be a great, sunny, 76 degree weather birthday.

I love you!

Do you Pojo?

While living in Provo I loved going to Liz Jones' yoga and pilates classes at 24 Hour Fitness. They were fun, she played awesome music, and her classes always, always kicked my butt. I have really missed attending those classes here in Texas, so when I found that Liz had her own company I was quite thrilled! It's called Pojo Fitness. Liz is pictured on the right, and her co-founder, Allison, is on the left. I got the "Full Body Pilates" DVD for Christmas, and tried it out last night. All I can say is "ouch."

The best part of the experience, however, was having Russell do it with me. I don't think he was too thrilled about doing pilates, but I think my taunting him by saying he would probably even think it's hard gave him enough reason to prove his manliness. He even admitted it was hard, and that he was working out muscles he didn't know he had. I realized how many "awesome husband" points he deserves when Liz calls out "come on girls! Reshape those booties!" He rolled his eyes a few times, but happily completed the DVD with me. I'm feelin' it today, but feeling sore is such a good feeling. Here's to Pojo!!

Slow down, you move too fast

Get ready for a shocker... I am at a complete loss of something to write about!!

This doesn't happen very often. For the last few days I have been at a loss for words and kept thinking, "how boring is my life right now?" And then almost instantly I felt so ashamed to have thought that. Sometimes this lack of huge dramatic stories in life is a blessing! With everything going on in other parts of the world right now (ie: Haiti), the daily nuances and incidents of my life that I may be tempted to complain or gripe about suddenly seem superfluous.

Last night after running errands, going for a long run, cleaning the apartment, attending the temple, and visiting an old friend who was in town, we got home at around seven. It really was such a good, productive day. And then we sat and watched TV. I got frustrated and thought "why are we not doing something fun right now?!" This morning I awoke and realized sometimes these mellow, laid back nights, are blessings I should not take for granted. Life moves at such a fast pace that the few times here and there we have to just relax are precious.

So in reality, I am grateful I didn't have anything to write about. I am so blessed in my life, and I am grateful for these "slow times" when I can sit back and reflect on them. Here is a video I saw on my friend Kendra's blog that I really liked. Life moves fast, but it is so, so good.

This is my friend Danielle

...AND SHE JUST GOT ENGAGED!

She and David Doty will be married this summer, and I couldn't be happier about it. From what I have heard, he is an amazing guy, which is good because she deserves the best. The only thing that makes me kind of sad is that we live very far away, and I can't be her go-to-gal as she plans this big event. Danielle helped me with a large majority of planning our wedding, including going ring shopping multiple times, wedding dress shopping (also multiple times), and many, many other tasks which I appreciated so much. I am so grateful to have her as a friend, and I know no matter how much distance is between us, we will always be there for each other.

Congratulations Daniellio!! I love you!

Pot sticker pad thai anyone?

The swatch book is paying off!

A few months ago I made a "recipe swatch book" with some recipes for easy access. You know those times when you are in the grocery store and you can't remember all of the ingredients to make that one dish?? Well now I just pull the thin swatch book out of my purse and VOILA! I know what to pick up.

Anyway, we tried it out tonight. I whipped out my swatch book in the grocery store and within an hour we were home and eating "Pot Sticker Pad Thai."

yummmmmmmmm


{recipe found here}
*Because I don't want to bombard the blog with so many gadgets from Heritage Makers, if you'd like to view this handy little swatch book in a similar fashion to the scrapbook below, just let me know. No pressure...

The Documentation of 2009

I finished my scrapbook! Thanks to work being painfully slow, I have now finished documenting 2009 with help from my good friends Sada and Heritage Makers. I have kind of become obsessed with this process. Honestly, I was kind of opposed to digital scrapbooking before this website... but now I have realized how easy, convenient, and significantly cheaper it is. Oh, and did I mention slightly addicting? Anyway, you can have a little looksie into my booksie if you'd like.



Happy scrapping!

Home is whenever I'm with you

My dear friend Catherine made me a mix of happiness for Christmas. I loooooove getting new music. The whole CD is amazing, but this one song in particular I can't get out of my head. I'm slightly obsessed.

This song by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros just exudes happy vibes. And you know what? It's telling the truth. Love really is like coming home.

Decrypting.

So my mom said my last post was cryptic.

My apologies. I didn't mean to be so vague; I was just trying to avoid being a major whiner. But to keep my most loyal readers (which means you) from losing sleep at night, I will give a quick synopsis on some of the not-so-good-luck moments Russ and I have experienced in the last few days. Here goes.

It started New Years Day when our already plan B activity (seeing a movie) was sold out. No big deal, right?

The next day was traveling back to San Antonio day (which also means traveling back to reality day).  My original plans the night before to say goodbye to my sister didn't work out, so when our plane was overbooked and we quickly offered to stay an extra day I was thrilled. We'd get $500 with US Airways and I'd get to hang out with big sis one more day! Oh wait, just as we get things worked out with Brittney the nice man at the desk tells us the seats have been booked in the short time he was taking our information. Long story short, emotions got high, Camille starts crying IN the airport. Not my finest moment.

We get home and realize my scriptures are not with us. It's okay, we took care of it later.

Sunday = last day of freedom.

Monday, back to work, except I have no work. I spend 8 hours feeling completely useless at my job.

Tuesday, icing on the cake day, I got in a little accident on the way to work. No worries, everyone is fine. Just a fun insurance claim and a broken front headlight. (And I am ashamed to say it technically was my fault, thanks to the nice Filipino woman who is brand new to the US and decided to come to a complete stop before merging onto the freeway).

Wednesday, Russ gets stuck in traffic going to work. FOR TWO HOURS. Meanwhile I'm at work getting in trouble for not doing something no one ever told me to do. While Russ drives home, he finds out that his dear canine friend, Bandit, was hit by a car. Bandit is now in critical condition. Pray for Bandit.

So that's it. I apologize for whining, and you don't need to feel sorry for us, I just wanted to assure some people that everything really is okay.

And actually, looking back at everything, it's all kind of funny.

Just remember, if you find yourself in one of these funks, just keep calm and carry on.

Let's be honest...

Not such a great way to start 2010

In opposition to the optimism in my last post, I feel like these last few days I just can't catch a break. Bummer after bummer after bummer. Hope y'all are having a better day/week than me.

A Great Way to Wrap up '09

This is Russ. We are on top of Snowbird (my favorite resort). We experienced two feet of fresh powder and clear blue skies. A perfect way to end 2009 and bring in 2010, if you ask me.

Happy New Year my friends! It has been fun reflecting on this last year. It was most definitely an epic year for the both of us. Within one year I experienced the following:

Getting engaged

Graduating from college with a degree in accounting
Traveling to Australia
Sending my one and only brother on a mission to Japan
Getting married
Moving to a brand new city and state
Starting my career

No big deal, right? It's been an awesome whirlwind of a year. I am so grateful for all of my many blessings. There are too many to list, but my husband, family, and old and new friends rank pretty high. Life is unpredictable, and I love that. I am excited to see what is in store for 2010. Here's to the new year!