Princess and the Pea

We love our bed. We have a California King, basically the biggest bed possible. Now you're probably thinking, 'oh ya, well that makes sense because Ryan is such a big guy and I'm sure he needs all that room', well the truth is, not that I'm an enormous person, but I take up about 3/4 of the bed night after night. I love sprawling out as big as possible, being able to turn back and forth with room to spare. Poor Ryan gets his little sliver of the bed, sleeps straight on his back and calls it good. Also, our bed is better than ever because we spent the smartest $100 of our life and got the most amazing mattress pillow top ever. Needless to say we love our sleep. We are in bed some time between 10 - 10:30 and we sleep for a good 8-10 hours a night, it's fabulous.

High Expectations

So is it weird that I think about the 4th of July every single day? I don't know when this started, but a few months ago the thought of this joyous occasion always seemed to cross my mind. Maybe it's because it was the day after my parents came home last year so it was a big ole' party for several reasons. Maybe it's because I love the warm weather, the BBQ's, the family get-togethers, the parade, the freedom run, the fireworks, and just being a kid all over again. I just love it. I am a person that loves having something to look forward to, but we have Easter, my birthday, and much more between now and then, but the 4th of July is on the top of my mind. I guess I've set up pretty high expectations for this years festivities, but it will be so fun, I know it.

THE Happiest Place on Earth

We love Disneyland. It seriously is the happiest place on earth. Our new neighbors invited us to go to with them to Disneyland last month, and we figured had just gone in September, but why not? Ry flew in from DC on Wednesday night, we re-packed our bags and up and went the next morning. 11 hours later we rolled in to a yummy little Mexican Restaurant for dinner in Riverside California with Lindsay's parents, they are just too cute and so nice. We then headed out to our condo right down the street from Disneyland that Ryan D.'s parents kindly set us up with! The next morning, we woke up before the sun was up to be there as close to opening time as possible, we had a lot to get done! We spent all of Friday in Disneyland, went on all the big and small rides, enjoyed ice cream, churros, the works.

We actually did the "Give a Day. Get a Day" with Disney. So we made some laundry kits, and birthday kits, took them to the Food Bank and we got a free ticket to Disneyland for one day! It was wonderful! We got to serve, and go to the Happiest Place on Earth! They even gave us "Honorary Volunteer" pins :)

For lunch we definitely splurged. We went to the Blue Bayou -- the cute lantern lit restaurant near the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride. It was fabulous food, it was almost worth what we paid, ha. But it was the atmosphere and of course the memories that really made it worth it!

We went home after a busy day and grabbed a great meal at Chili's (after it taking us 30 minutes to finally find). My honey-chipotle crispers hit the spot!

As tired as we were, we woke up the next morning ready for another day! This time we went to the California Adventure Park, and spent all day there. Once again, we went on the big rides, the small ones, and spent a lot of time in the nooks and crany's of the park that most people generally bypass, it was so so fun. My new favorite ride is definitely Toy Story's new ride, so fun and creative. It's like a real life 3D video game, so much fun.

That night we went to Lindsay's step-dad's Pizza Parlor. It was roarin' with some good ole' blue-grass tunes, and a packed house. The pizza was delicious! Yum-my! It was the best pizza we've had in a long time.

We had such a fun weekend with our good buddies. Besides the long drive...I wouldn't have changed a thing! Good memories. Good times. Thank you Durrants!

Quality Sister Time

I have been wanting to go visit my sister down in Arizona for quite some time. I have been craving a bit of warmer weather, and some serious girl time. A couple of months ago Ry found out her was going to Washington DC for work for 5 days, so I figured it was a perfect time to go visit my sis, and it was! I was only there for a few days, but it was so worth it and so much fun.

The first night I was there we went and saw Mary Poppins on Broadway, it was fabulous, we absolutely loved it. One of Mel's mission companions was actually in it, so we met up with her afterwards and she gave us a quick tour back stage, it was so cool and so interesting! So much fun.

Then on Sunday, it was all rainy so we couldn't do much outside, so we planned for some nice indoor activities. We made cookies, a yummy dinner and pampered ourselves. We scrubbed our feet, painted our nails and did mud masks -- we loved it!

On my last day down there we enjoyed the warm weather, went out shopping, out to lunch and to the driving range! We were the only girls there with a whole bunch of 50 year old men, but we were keeping up with them!

Thanks for letting me come visit Mel & Ryan! I love you tonz!

Crash

It was so good to me. Many hours of stressful pounding. Many hours of fun and games. A few movies here and there. Many hours of entertainment. And now many hours of nothing. My poor little IBM ThinkPad is no more. 5 years later, I think it was ready to throw in the towel. It crashed on me once before, the week of finals my Junior year at BYU, that time around, I lost my pictures from Europe, and a 12 page paper I had due in 2 days. 'Why didn't you back it up? Why didn't you save it on an external hard drive?'. The truth is I never thought it would happen to me. I never thought I'd lose it all. And I did...again. So, thanks to my blog and facebook most of my pictures are saved somewhere else. And there wasn't much else of importance to me anymore that was saved on there. Boo. It still is so frustrating and so annoying! Hmm... oh well.

Delightful Dinner Dance

We had the perfect Valentine weekend, it was a lot more than just a day! Friday - we went to dinner at Zupas and saw the new movie 'Valentine's Day', which we laughed and loved (but if you didn't like it, then forget I said that :). Saturday - I made delicious heart-shaped sugar cookies with bright pink frosting, they were fluffy, and I didn't burn one batch, they were probably the best batch of sugar cookies I've ever made! Ry brought me home the most beautiful flowers, I love them so much, especially since he picked the arrangement out himself, who needs a florist? He also washed and vacuumed my car, and took me shopping in the afternoon. He's the best hubby ever, I love him to pieces.

Then that night, we got all dolled up and went with our friends Ryan and Lindsay Durrant to the Thanksgiving Point Valentine's Dinner Dance. We bought our tickets a month ago, so it was so nice to not have to worry about crowds, or reservations, or anything! They had a delectable 3 course meal, pictures, candy, and a live Jazz band! We definitely got our grove on and danced the night away. It was such a fun date. We were probably the youngest people there, but were the most entertaining on the dance floor, ha!

I wanted to make a yummy Valentines breakfast for Ry, so I made his favorite pudding rolls. Once again, I seriously think this is the best batch I have ever made! As we were about to eat, Ry asked me, "you're proud of those aren't you?", you bet I was!!

It was the best Valentines weekend ever, I love being with my best friend all the time, he is so handsome, works so hard, is so smart, has such a powerful testimony, and I can't wait to spend eternity with him!!

4 years ago today was our first kiss? Cute eh?

The Drama

I've never watched The Bachelor. I haven't been a sucker for the drama, the love and the undeniably staged passion. I have never anxiously waited for Monday night to see how relationships were going to grow, and the least loved chick was going to go. But I have to admit, this season has sucked me right in. I crave the drama, I analyze the stupid small little details, and I look forward to what each episode will bring. My new neighbor and buddy, Lindsay, is a Bachelor fanatic and has been since it has been on the air. She is actually the real reason why I started watching this dumb show, but I don't blame her one bit, it wouldn' t be nearly as much fun watching it without anyone else there to criticize and laugh at how foolish people can be. That's why they have the show isn't it? To make you realize, man I love being married...I love not having my husband date 6 other girls the same time as me...I love not having to win someone over in 5 weeks or else I'm out of the lime light and out of a chance at love. Anyway,the second biggest reason I watch the show is because our husbands, both named Ryan, get together and get to spend good quality man time, we like to call it their "man-date". It's healthy to have a little guy time, with no crazy-silly girls around. We look forward to our Monday nights.