The List

Hubby and I spent the day today waiting for our dumb Comcast friend to get here and install our internet.  They said he'd be here between 9-11....  definitely showed up at 2:15. (Thanks bud).
Anyways, while we were waiting (ALL DAY) we had time to sit down and come up with some ideas for our bucket list.  We've been meaning to do this since, oh New Year's week, but... well.... you know how life gets.
Here's the start of the list. And by start I mean we spent about 20 minutes on it and we got this many ideas. 
We're big dreamers people.
What about you guys? What's on your bucket list?

Enjoy!

Our Bucket List:

Own a dog
Play with a meerkat
Visit the Louvré
Stay at a Spanish Villa
Own a vacation home in Mexico
Hang-gliding
Scuba diving
Go on a cruise
Skinny dipping
Climb Mt. Rainier
Run a half marathon
Build a fort
Run Ragnar
Have a walk-in closet
Have a massive library for 30,000 books
Own a nice telescope
Learn a foreign language together
Create own recipes
Try Indian food
Go on a mission
Find an ancestor through genealogy work
Have x amount of kids
Debt free
Own a Jetta
Keep the Jeep
Build a developing room for b&w photos
Have a wall of clocks
File taxes in January
Paint on canvas
Make a snowman over 15ft tall
Hike Mt. Timp
Visit all the National Parks in UT and WA
Go surfing
Attend the temple weekly
Perfect the art of making dough
Host a Christmas party that Santa Claus comes to
Work at a soup kitchen on Christmas Day
Have a greenhouse
Go river-rafting
Camp in our hammocks
Go snowboarding/skiing
Go to a fair
Go duck-hunting
Build our own house
Live out-of-country
Try gelato in Italy
Ride in a gondola in Venice
Visit the Pantheon
Spend a day in the Library of Congress
Visit every temple in America
Get yearly family pictures
Backpack through Sweden
Visit the tulip fields in Denmark
Ice blocking
Learn how to play a new instrument
Write a book
Take pictures of the cherry blossoms in bloom in DC
Own an iPhone
Learn how to speed read
Read all the biographies of the latter-day prophets
Go paintballing
Ride in a hot-air balloon
Float down Provo River
Make a snow-cave and sleep in it
Play tricks on the kids
Develop our own secret language
Learn Morse Code
Re-invent the chonga bagel
Create a recipe book of non-edible substances (ie: sticky notes, adhesive, explosive, concrete etc.)
Visit Central Park
Learn how to change a tire
Learn how to drive a stick-shift
Share our talents in church
Go to a masquerade
Take time to smell the proverbial flowers
Enjoy simplicity
 

Living Simply

For quite a while now I've been pondering what it means to live simply. How does one simplify their life? It's not as if you can stop participating in lives' activities; the show must go on! How then does one embrace this concept?

Is it living minimalistically?
Is it going green?
Is it choosing to be happy despite your circumstances?
Is it knowing every household trick and tip of the trade?
Having a clean, clean house?
Paying your bills on time?
Getting assignments and projects completed early?
Eating organically?
Exercising?

Is it all of those things? Can we realistically be super-heroes and live simply?

This thought was swirling in my mind a couple nights ago while I was reading Daughters of my Kingdom and one quote I stumbled upon answered my question with such clarity, it could not have gone unnoticed.

"Lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better."

Maybe living simply doesn't necessarily mean living uncomplicated. Maybe it just means resetting our priorities so that the things that matter most are where they should be on our to-do list.

Our Very First Valentines

During high school I had this uncanny ability to break-up in October/ November and to start "dating" in March so I never really had a Valentine. I mean, I got gifts and such, but I wasn't ever TRULY dating someone over this lovely lovely holiday. This year though, both Kyle and I are celebrating our first ever time of having a Valentine to call our own :) Crazy right?

I've never been opposed to celebrating today. Granted, I think our commercialism has gone to the EXTREME in promoting: "money buys love" (seriously, Valentine's day commercials are the sappiest things you've ever beheld. They put Nicholas Sparks to SHAME) but I don't think that it's a bad idea to celebrate the joy of love. As with all holidays, it's important to remember the "spirit" of why we celebrate.

I celebrate today because "I've got a love and I know that it's all mine" (Natasha Bedingfield reference. booyah)

I celebrate today by not focusing on what things I might get or not get

I celebrate by giving and serving.

I celebrate by loving the heck outta my husband and being grateful for the good times.

So here's to bed in breakfast, over-stuffed, stuffed animals, roses by the dozen, chocolate up the ying-yang and PDA everywhere you turn :)

Happy Valentines Day!

half marathon

Cliche as this is, Kyle and I decided to run a half marathon this year (well... I decided to, and since we're married now, he decided to join me :) )  We officially started training this week and.... holy moses I am sore.  I hadn't actually gone on a run since like... oh.... last October (being engaged may or may not have had something to do with that) . In preparation for this week I decided to try running a couple miles (and by "couple", I literally mean two) last Saturday and I was shamed by how difficult that was.
Going to the gym isn't one of my favorite things to do so when funny things happen there, it just makes my whole gym-experience so much better. For example, on the aforementioned Saturday I was on the treadmill jogging when this group of four women came in. It was pretty obvious that they were the "we're-setting-a-New-Year's-Resolution-to-workout-more-so-let's-all-get-gym-memberships-together-to-support-each-other" kind of women. Like matchy-matchy too tight yoga pants with too tight black tanks and the same running shoes type of women.
Anyways, they come in and they're talking yelling about how their "good-for-nothing husbands never remember to pick up after themselves" and "how it was just a terrible week" and "OMG! didn't you hear about Kourtney Kardashian?!?!" all the while getting on the treadmills.
Somewhere in between ranting about the husbands and the kids, (I had tuned out of their convo by now) I hear a "CRASH" and I turn around in time to see one of the women getting shot backwards off the treadmill because she had tripped.

It was about this time that I had to pause my run due to the lack of oxygen that came from laughing hysterically.

The very best part though was that the entire gym went dead quite and the three other women just looked at their friend with shock and concern written on their faces. They had no idea what to do. I actually ended up just leaving the treadmill because I couldn't control my laughter!

Going to the gym seems so much better just knowing something funny is going to happen!

Also, Kyle and I ordered some Camelbak water bottles and they came today!!
as evidenced by this:

Oh, and I was wondering if you guys had any good cross-training ideas.  We've been following Hal Higdon's training program and we're looking for fun things to do on the non-running days. We'd appreciate any and all feedback!

Happy Hump Day!

Everybody is having babies!

It's true.

2 more of my friends announced the other day that they were due! And one of my good friends recently just had her baby shower for her first born due in March.
This morning I was reading through my Aunt's blog as she had just updated, and I cannot begin to describe how cool she is. All my life I've looked up to Megan because of how much happiness she brings with her (....and maybe because everyone has said we look a lot alike. see the resemblance???). Megan has been a huge influence for me; it's because of her that my favorite number is 4, that I play volleyball, and that I currently want short, brown hair.
Megan is a phenomenal mother.  I've never seen a mom be so utterly pleased to be her children's friend. She plays with her kids constantly and teaches them ideas like gratitude and service in such simple yet fun and profound ways.

As babies have slowly been coming to the brain (no... I am NOT expecting!) I've been really evaluating how I am going to approach my motherhood.  This week while I was waiting for Kyle, a mother with her baby boy came and sat next to me.  I turned to look at the baby to give the ever-cliché silly face to him, when he promptly spit up all over my backpack.
Things like this really don't inspire me to have children.

The thing is, I just don't feel like I'm ready for it all. I still call my mom almost daily with questions ranging from household tips to "I can't do it all!" freak-out moments.  How am I ever going to be responsible or knowledgeable enough to do that same thing with my own children?

Megan inadvertently answered that one.  She wrote a post after her youngest and last child's first birthday that explained how panicked she was at first at the thought of being a mother. After having 4 children now she's in love with babyhood.

I'm realizing that it's ok for me to feel unprepared for children.  Honestly, what expecting mother ever feels truly prepared for the next chapter in their life? No one is asking me to be the mini-van driving, lunch making, laundry doing, house-cleaning, dinner-making, children-scheduling mother right now. Those things will come, but not all at once. I'm not going from 0 to 10 kids overnight! Motherhood is a process and when it is time, I will know; and while I may not be prepared for it, I'll be ready to embrace the experience.



But when I do have kids... I hope they look a lil' somethin' like this:

Its been a month, my dear

So crazy how time flies!
The first month has been such a big blur of traveling, unwrapping, unpacking, decorating, scheduling, prioritizing, planning and communicating.
I'm so glad though to be married to my best friend.
I thought it would be fun to share 10 things that I've learned about my husband!

1. I've learned he can eat nearly twice as much bread, eggs, noodles, juice, pizza.... food than I can.
2. I've learned that he tends to go to bed later and wake up later than I do.
3. I've learned that he is surprisingly more cuddly than I! (he'll probably deny that one though...)
4. I've learned that he is more patient than I gave him credit for
5. and he's less stubborn than he thought
6. I've learned that he has an aversion to paper towels
7. and an obsession with Nerds
8. I've learned that he HAS to have the bed made before he goes to sleep; even if that means making it 5 minutes before going to bed.
9. I've learned that he legitimately loves reading his textbooks. I don't understand it.
10. Most importantly though, I've learned that he loves me more than I ever thought someone could.

Love you hun.

Wedding Pictures and a Surprise!

Well, a couple of really amazing things happened this week. Actually, one thing, but it was AWESOME.
Mom was kind enough to send us a package with: 1. my phone! (which I had left at our honeymoon destination) 2. A Target giftcard that was sent late for our wedding and 3. OUR WEDDING PICTURES! And of course, being my mother, an assortment of Valentine's decorations. She has a deep and abiding love of decorating for ALL the holidays.
I posted a couple (aka: 80) pictures to my facebook so if you want to see those... you'll probably have to friend request me. But here are an additional 30-35 that I haven't posted already (blogger was taking forever to upload so I just put them to an online photo album)

Also, I finally decided to switch my major (sociology) and Kyle got out of his boring Biology class. He's taking Microbiology (actually molecular biology... he just corrected me...) instead. cuz he's smart.

Oh and.... we got callings this past week. Kyle and I will be teaching the eight year olds this year.  Apparently even though there are four of them, they require two teachers; I'm not entirely sure what that means... Either way though, they were pretty good today. That may or may not have been due to the large bowl of candy we brought. That's right. We know how to win friends.