I have about a hundred blog posts to write to document our three week excursion to North Carolina, the beach, Connecticut, New York, etc. I have over 700 pictures from the trip to sort through, so be ready for some very photo dense posts in the near future.

But today I wanted to just document a little experience we had in Wal Mart while doing our restocking shopping trip, post month long sabbatical from home.


Austin has always had such an incredible respect for men who have served in the military in any capacity and talks a lot about how much he wishes he could have done something like that.

So today at the store we saw an elderly man wearing a World War II veteran's hat.

Austin was kind of lagging behind me near him, and I said "why are you acting so weird?"

He said, "I really want to say something to that guy to thank him for his military service."

Me: "You really should! Go say something."

Austin: "I feel too dumb. Ugh, why am I such a wuss?"

We continued to wander around the produce section while the man looked at oranges. I continued to try to build Austin's courage with things like "it would mean so much to him" "you'll never feel bad saying something nice to someone". Finally I said, "do you want me to say something?"

He refused to be shown up in bravery by his wife, so he started to walk toward him. The sweet old man then looked up and asked Austin if the oranges he was looking at were grapefruits. He said no, and then I pointed him toward the grapefruits.

Then Austin put out his hand and said "Sir, I wanted to shake your hand and thank you for your service because I noticed your hat and I just wanted to say thank you."

The man had the most genuinely surprised and appreciative look on his face and said "I truly appreciate that."

I was of course trying not to start bawling.  After we walked away a woman came up to Austin and said "Did you just thank that vet for his service? You are so nice, people don't do that enough anymore. Thank you for thanking him. I am so impressed."

By then I was like on the complete verge of tears and couldn't say anything. I was so proud of Austin for being so appreciative, and for that woman for being willing to thank Austin. We both agreed that we will always express our gratitude to military men and women whenever we get the chance.

Big Red Truck

Today we went somewhere that Mason felt right at home...the pet store!! He was so entranced by the fish, but he loved the puppies. He kept trying to pet them through the glass and talking to them. There's also a cat that lives at the store that just roams the aisles and Mason was going nuts trying to get to it. He was yelling and trying to get out of my arms and chase it. It was so fun to watch him so overwhelmed by all the newness of it. Austin also had a big day today. He finally had his dearest wish granted...we bought a truck. We put the Jeep up for sale with the intention of buying one, but we didn't expect it to sell so fast. Austin took that as a "sign" that it was all meant to be! We bought a red Chevy Silverado from a super nice guy that owns a local dealership. Austin has been on cloud nine all day.

A sad reminder

Today I texted Austin and said...

"We did so good on our cell phone minutes this month! It's the last day of the cycle and we still have 60 minutes left"

To which he texted me back with...

"That means we're losers"


{I'm no longer excited about having leftover minutes.}

Spring Clean!

Lately our house has felt really cluttered to me. I know our little apartment is small. But there's just two of us, we should have space for our miniscule set of belongings Our spare room especially has kind of been haunting me lately. Like at work I can't stop thinking about it. It's like when I try to go to bed without doing the dishes in the sink. I toss and turn and have nightmares about the bacteria growing on last night's spaghetti, until I can't take it and I get up to wash plates at 3 A.M. You think I'm kidding, but it's happened. Something else I've inherited from my mother.

Anyway...so I resolved this weekend to clean up the spare room. Austin wasn't bothered by it, because he's a boy, but regardless of his apathy I recruited his help. Mostly his manpower to lift my tupperware bins and boxes into the outside shed. We sorted, piled, scrubbed, stacked, packed, and vacuumed until there was some semblence of an actual room. We carted out loads of junk that we didn't need, and threw out even more. School papers, scrapbook junk, gun stuff of course, etc. In the end, we realized that we had five computers in there. FIVE COMPUTERS. Three desktops and two laptops. How in the world?! So we compiled everything from all of them onto an external hard drive for our newest computer, and we are selling the rest.
I also went through all of our books and movies and posted all the ones we don't want on Amazon.
And we cleaned out my car. I mean deep cleaned scrubbed down vacuumed, clorox'ed, windex'ed, the whole bit. We are going on a couple of road trips, and we need a nice clean car to travel in for sure. We even had my battery replaced and my oil changed. She's as good as new!
And tonight the adventure continues. We're moving on to organizing our tiny box of a kitchen. We're brainstorming new ways to utilize the little space that we have. It's so nice to clear out the clutter and dejunk our lives.
I'll definitely sleep a little easier now. For a few months at least.

This blog is turning into my journal. I write all the time for a short period, then I neglect it, then I have to do an entry saying that I can't believe it's been so long since I've written and I swear to write every day from now on. And included in that entry is ALWAYS a big summary of what I didn't write about. So here's my big summary blog post, and my promise and resolve to write more!

1) Austin and I were finally released from being nursery teachers. It was fun, and it was a really great calling. But it's seriously been almost a year, and it was hard for both Austin and I to hide how excited we were to hear the news.

2) Right after they released us, they called me to teach in Relief Society. I could not be more excited about any calling!! I love doing anything in Relief Society, and I get to teach this Sunday and I can't wait.

3) Ms. Pip (or the Pip Monster as we refer to her lately) had her last set of kitty shots and will be getting spayed in about a week. She is seriously a little beast. When I took her to the vet on Saturday she was screaming and hissing and growling so much that they didn't even take her temperature cause they were too scared. And it took the vet and two techs to hold her onto the table just to give her the shots. Then we got home and she was sweet as pie and went to sleep on my lap. But after witnessing her rage side, I'm a little more cautious around her.

4) Austin and I made the mistake of going car shopping at a dealership. We instantly regretted it, and paid for our folly by having to spend an hour and a half with a moron who didn't know anything about cars. It was pouring rain, and they didn't even take us around the lot on one of those golf carts. My feet were soaked, we were both freezing, and we weren't interested in anything they had at all. Lesson learned. And we went home more grateful than ever for the cars we own.

5) We are going on a trip to Yellowstone in July, and it is the only thing getting me through the days at work. We booked this adorable little cabin room at a lodge, and we're just going to hike for three days and see everything!

6) Our little garden is growing just wonderfully already. We have a huge bowl of strawberries that we picked, and our corn and tomatoes and beans are getting huge! We can't wait to take our little harvest up to Washington in August, and my mom is going to teach me how to can our vegetables!

7) My best friend Rache turns 21 years old today. She is adorable, wonderful, smart, beautiful, talented, clever, creative, and I am jealous that New York City has her right now. She is my favorite shopping partner, roommate, and Starbucks buddy. I wish I was in New York with her to celebrate, but we will have a belated party when she gets back!


Okay, I think we'reall caught up. I'll post some pictures soon too!!

Not-so-newlywed

Austin and I had our first big fight in a while today. It wasn't even that big, and it was over something stupid of course. But I had to go to my two hour Anatomy lab in the middle of our "discussion", and I felt pretty horrible the whole time I had to be there. I was dreading coming home to continue with said argument, and was wishing that we could just drop the whole thing. As I pulled up I was preparing my apology in my head, hoping we could resolve things quickly. So I was more than pleasantly surprised when I walked in the door to candles and roses and a homemade dinner, and a husband scooping me up in a hug and saying sorry first.

Of course we ate this amazing dinner sitting on the floor at our coffee table because we don't have a dining room table. Or a dining room to put one in for that matter. And our little kitchen was filled with pots, pans, and bowls from the cuisine creations of Austin. And we don't have a dishwasher, and just one tiny drying rack to put the dishes in. But I felt more than spoiled, and richer than ever. We spent the rest of the evening listening to Frank Sinatra while I finished the dishes and Austin fixed our $30 dryer that stopped working today.

It was so very 1950's newlyweds.

And it was so very wonderful.

Quarter of a Century

Today my adorable husband is turning 25. This will be the fourth birthday that I get to celebrate with him. So darling, as a classic birthday blog, here are 25 things that I love about you, one for every wonderful year you have been alive!

1) When we were dating you would leave me the cutest notes on my car at work or at my apartment. It was the best surprise, because I would always think they were a parking ticket at first!

2) I frequently come home from work to a spotless kitchen with all the dishes done.

3) You built me a shelf above the sink for our microwave. An estimated hour project that turned into an all night ordeal, but you finished. And I love it.

4) I have been out of wiper fluid for weeks, and you snuck out there the other night and filled it up for me.

5) You never let me pump my own gas.

6) We both love Home Improvement, and could watch it for hours.

7) We both also love Seinfeld and could watch it for DAYS.

8) One particularly horrible/long day at work, you left me my favorite Sonic drink in my car so I could have it on the way home.

9) You always take the garbage out.

10) When I go to bed you tuck me in, because you're the only one who can make the blankets exactly how I like them. I can't sleep right if you don't do it for me.

11) We both want to live on a cute farm.

12) You eat what I make for dinner no matter what, and always rave about how amazing it is. Even if you admit later that it wasn't the greatest.

13) Whenever something needs to be fixed in the house, you know how to do it. You even snaked the drain the other week.

14) We always want to see the same movies.

15) You work full time and go to school, and you never complain about it or even act stressed.

16) You thought of the cutest name for our daughter.

17) When I'm grumpy and say mean things you never get mad.

18) You always support what I want to do, even if it's crazy.

19) You are infinitely patient with me.

20) We get to go to the temple together.

21) You went on a mission, and you still talk about how much you loved it.

22) You come from a wonderful family, and I am so lucky to be a part of it. Your parents are the greatest in-laws I could ever hope for.

23) You are a worthy Priesthood holder, and it makes our home a wonderful place to live.

24) You wrote me letters on your mission, and it always made my day when I saw them in my mailbox.

25) I can't wait to grow old together, and sit on the porch swing of our big farmhouse, and watch fireflies-which I can't wait to see for the first time with you.

Happy Birthday, Austin! I'm so glad you were born! =)

Two-Week Saga

As you can see, my last post was about two weeks ago. And the reason I haven't written is because, as I stated previously, I started reading the Twilight books. I became so addicted that I finished all four books in TWO WEEKS. I'm not gonna say I'm sorry, or that I'm embarrassed, but it is a little bit sad that for the last 14 days or so, I have allowed my moods to be influenced by how well things were going with Bella and Edward. I'm sure Austin is pretty relieved to have me finished with a freaking vampire love story. I would try and explain to him why I was laughing at certain parts, or why I was so upset or sad or angry or elated, and you can't really not sound silly blabbing about vampire weddings, werewolves falling in love with children, mind-reading, etc. etc. So in conclusion world, I finally read them. I enjoyed them, and might even read Twilight again (it was definitely my favorite) but I'm also glad that people can stop hassling me, and that I never have to hear "WHAT! You've never read the Twilight books?!" from anyone ever again.