My heart.

 

These two melt my heart.

 every. single. day. 

two point five. YEARS

This happened two.five years ago (as of yesterday). 

We totally both forgot that it was a special day. 

I realized it while we were climbing, which was perfect because... 

we were on the climb that Dave proposed at the top of. 

All that matters was that we were together, enjoying being with each other. 

I love this man so much. 

He truly does complete me. 

Memorial Day.

Last year on Memorial Day, we went climbing.

Surprise I know.

This year, I sure wish I was climbing with this goof ball.

I miss my best friend.

My babe.

I sure miss this cutie. 

We call each other babe all the time. 

There are so many different ways to say Babe... 

I always know when he is happy, mad, sad, needy, etc... just by the way he says 'babe'

Life is just not the same without your best friend beside you all the time. 

1 more month until I see him...

You need one.

Isn't this print adorable? 

I found it here. 

What comes to your mind when you use the word Family? 

I realized that I immediately think of the family I grew up in. 

My Mom, Dad, sisters and brother. 

They will always be my 'Family'. 

Then I think about the other family I am in, you know.. that cute guy I married.

We have a family of our own. 

Just me and him. 

For now at least.

However, I don't think of that as 'my Family'.

I guess it is just that strange stage of life that I am in. 

Is the turning point supposed to be when you have kids? 

Then they are your 'family'?

Anyways.. those are my thoughts today. 

Oh AND..

one week from today I will be on a plane to see 'My Family'

and 

I am going to really miss that other family of mine that I am leaving in Florida!

Fabulous Five for Friday

Friday at approximately 5 pm is my favorite moment if the week, don't you agree?
Here is my fabulous five for Friday...

UNO.  I go home in exactly 10 days.
And I get to be with my family all summer!

DOS. I got to Skype with my cutest little nephew during my lunch break today.
He makes the cutest faces in the world and giggles all the time.
I love being an aunt.

TRES. Dave's parents are coming next week to visit.
We love having visitors!

CUATRO. I didn't have to make dinner last night and I don't have to make it tonight.
#itsthelittlethings

CINCO. Dave finished his last class of his first year of his masters this week.
Yipitee yo kiyay!
#onlywaytoomanyyearstocountleft

What fabulous things are happening for you on this lovely Friday? 

Two weeks.

Have you ever left your spouse for a significant amount of time? I am not talking about the silly little one week vacation you took with your girl friends... I am talking 6 weeks (or more). See, Dave and I had never spent more than 48 hours away from each other until last August. I went home so I could go to two of my cousin's weddings. I was so happy I did and it definitely helped the transition with the move but boy, I sure missed him. I was gone one week. Well friends, I am heading home to Utah exactly two weeks from today. I am thrilled with excitement and super nervous about it at the same time. Dave isn't joining me in Utah until 6 weeks after I get there. WHAT!? yep, 6 weeks. That may sound like nothing to you people who have been married for years and years but really six weeks is a very long time. 

I am going through this strange phase of missing Utah so much. Missing my family, my girls friends, running into people that you know at the grocery store. You know, the usual stuff that you get to experiencing in the town you grew up in. Some days I miss Utah so much that all I want is to jump on a plane that very second. Now that the very second is fastly approaching... all I can think about is how much I am going to miss Dave. There won't be any Friday night date nights, late night giggles and tickle fights, dinner with just the two of us... you know, all the good stuff. I keep reminding him that we are going to need skype every night. And I keep telling him how important it is for him to eat a balance diet while I am gone. 

You see, I think about how much fun I am going to have with my family and how much I am going to miss him. It is like no matter where I am, I will miss something. (Until he comes to Utah with me, that will be the best ever!) BUT when I really think about it, I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so grateful to be so close to my family. There is not a day that goes by that I don't wish I could stop in and see them. I try to talk to all of them every week and I probably call my mom way more than the average daughter would. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family. And then I think about my marriage, I am so grateful to be married to a man that I feel like I can't live without him. Some of you may think that I am ridiculous and I need to be more independent. No my friends, I am so happy to be in a marriage that I truly feel like going more than a day without seeing my spouse is going to be really hard. So here is to 47 (i think) days with out Dave... I can do it, right? 

Any tips for me?

Twinkly Lights.

Remember how we moved? 

And I shared some photos of our new place.

While I forgot to tell you we have a balcony. 

It is really small but it is perfect for just the two of us. 

And it is so great to have a place I can sit outside during my lunch break!

We are planning to get a BBQ because we left our old one in Utah. 

I cannot wait for those nights we have picnics on the balcony. 

For now we have two chairs and I put up some twinkly lights. 

Doesn't it look fun??

Right now we are enjoying our nights in the 70's... 

because we know they are not going to last very long!

Do you have a balcony? 

Any suggestions on fun ways to decorate it?

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [Circle of Life]

Have I ever told you that Lion King is one of my favorite Disney Movies?

is the song stuck in your head now?

Naturally, I knew I had to go to Animal Kingdom in Disney World. 

Though it wasn't my favorite park, we still had a blast!

You can basically do everything you want in 5-6 hours

which is really nice because theme parks can be exhausting. 

We saw all sorts of animals I have never seen before. 

We rode on a crazy roller coaster through mount everest. 

We watched Finding Nemo the Musical 

and we watched the amazing Lion King Show... 

seriously, probably my favorite show in all the Disney parks. 

 It never ceases to amaze me how they design everything in the Disney parks. 

It all looks so real. How neat is the Tiger exhibit?

 The Lion King is basically a mini Cirque De Sole. 

It was my favorite. And the music... LOVED it!

 I can't ever pass things like this up.. 

I think they are so funny. 

 We went on a safari through 'Africa'

We saw so many neat animals I didn't even know existed. 

They even uprooted some of the trees from Africa to be in the park. 

 This big guy was literally right next to me. 

 I loved the musical entertainment in the streets. 

These guys are from Africa and they put on a good show!

 And of course, the classic picture 

in front of the Tree of Life!

Well, that's an end to Disney for the year. 

We used up our three passes for residents. 

We Loved it. 

Definitely the most magical place on earth. 

A Quality Marriage.

Can we just press repeat and live the weekend all over again? 

I always tell Dave that my favorite moment of the whole week is Friday at 5 pm. 

Don't get me wrong, I love my job but I love spending time with Dave the most!

This weekend was no exception. 

We had a fabulous date night at our favorite Gainesville Restaurant, Chuy's. 

We went to the local Art's Festival Saturday and got the best Mother's Day gifts!

And.. 

it was General Conference weekend!

Seriously every time the last session ends, I am so sad. I just want it to keep going!

In honor of one of my favorite weekends in the year, 

I am dedicating the blog this week to my favorite snippets of conference. 

Because boy, I sure did love it!

This was one of the BEST talks on marriage I have ever heard. 

You can watch it here. 

I am so grateful for the gift of marriage.

This talk gave me a renewed determination to serve my husband.

And to put him first always. 

Because

'A quality marriage is OUR gift to Him.'

Beach Baby, Beach baby.

We spent last Saturday in St. Augustine. 

Seriously, my favorite beach town. 

We shopped at the outlets for a bit and found some sweet deals. 

We ate at our favorite taco shop and ritas.

Spent a couple hours on the beach before dusk. 

And then walked around downtown. 

Did you know that St. Augustine is the oldest town in America? 

It was founded in 1565. 

They have the most beautiful architecture. 

Sorry. I had to. 

 This guy hasn't washed his hair for 2.5 weeks. 

Don't you worry, that story will get a blog post of it's own. 

 Again, I wish we had our own photographer to record our memories for us.  

I was born a beach baby. 

Always have been and always will be. 

Thank you for a fabulous Saturday St. Augustine, 

we will be back soon. 

What is your favorite beach spot? 

The Easter bunny came.

We had a beautiful Easter Sunday. 

It was 85 degrees here in Gainesville.. maybe a little too hot. 

We spent the morning at Church 

and all afternoon with friends from Dave's school. 

We got to watch little kiddies hunt for Easter eggs. 

and I even convinced the 'Easter bunny' to get us some new clothes. 

We ate delicious food.

And skyped with both families and friends. 

Isn't he a cutie pie? 

I wish we could have our own personal photographer. 

That would make memory recording so much easier. 

He is always so serious in photos... it kills me. 

Three fabulous gentleman. 

Oh and I made Easter cake balls. . . 

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the recipe!

How do you celebrate Easter? 

Dave thinks we shouldn't pretend there is an easter bunny for our kids, ridiculous I know. 

The 1 day I get to act like a FOOL.

 ... is one of my favorite holidays. 

Dave hates it. 

This year I am going to play one of my absolute favorite tricks on him. 

Credit goes to by brother in law. 

He did it to my sister when they were dating and it was hilarious!

Drum roll please....

This fabulous stuff is going on the toilet seat downstairs.

 I will let you know how it goes.

Happy April Fooling!!

What tricks do you have up your sleeve today?

Five FOR Friday

Here is to five fabulous things that are happening as of late: 

1. Dave randomly just decided to celebrate for really no reason 

and take me out to dinner on WEDNESDAY night. 

We never go out mid week and it was a treat!

2. I get to go visit my family a lot sooner than expected. 

Details to come on this but it is GREAT news!

3. Dave only has FOUR weeks of school left this semester. 

Summer here we come!

Oh wait, I have a full time job. . . 

4. This article was a treat to read during all the contention 

this week about gay marriage. You should read it. 

In case you are wondering, 

I believe marriage should be between a man & a woman. 

And don't worry, the article is light hearted. 

5. It is Easter Sunday this weekend and Monday is April Fools Day.

Seriously one of my favorite holidays. 

Now I just need to think of a nice way to Fool Dave this year :)

Kermit... the frog!

Have I ever told you how being married to my husband is like being married to a Manly little boy? 

That sounded strange... 

He is truly a kid at heart and I love that about him. 

He is always giggling and always on the go. 

He loves catching creatures. 

Every time we would go climbing, 

he would want to catch a lizard or snake. 

Now, in Florida, it is frogs. 

They are every where here and he loves catching them. 

The other night he caught one and he really wanted to keep him. 

What the heck, right?

Dave made him a home out of an old juice container. 

He immediately went outside and got dirt, sand, braches, leaves to make him a good environment. 

He even has a little mini water dish inside and Dave got him live crickets at the reptile store here. 

Side note: have you ever been to a reptile store? You must go, they are SO COOL!

We named him Kermit. 

And he is just a little tree frog. 

He is actually pretty cute. 

Dave feeds him first thing in the morning 

and gets him out of his cage to jump around first thing when he gets home from school.

They are already best buds. 

He is going to be a good father one day.

No I am not comparing parenthood to taking care of frogs. 

Yes I know it is WAY harder than that. 

haha. 

After having Kermit for just three days, 

I highly recommend a frog as a pet for little kids. 

He is totally harmless. 

Easy to maintain. 

And he is super fun to hold and watch jump around. 

Plus, he is pretty cute huh?

 Ribbit. Ribbit.