Live to feel it all.

Friday, October 26, 2012

True Cougars!

Right after New York City (like less than 48 hours later) we boarded another plane for another adventure. We had been planning this trip since a little after we got married. We flew to Milwaukee Wisconsin to see Richard and Jenny Leake and their two adorable children. We got there late Thursday night and Friday morning we were greeting with a wonderful breakfast prepared by the beautiful Jenny! That was also when I got to meet their son little Marshall and Bridgett. Then we packed up the car and drove to Chicago to do a little exploring. The next couple pictures are of the bean in Chicago. And to be honest I had never actually heard of it, but apparently it was a must!

This is a picture of us on the reflection of the bean...

If you go underneath the bean, look up, and take a picture, this is what you get.

We really liked the feel of the city. Still city but entirely different from New York. Here is a modge podge of pictures in the city, some buildings are older with more decorative architecture and others are very modern.

Next we went to lunch. We chose to eat at Giodano's. Most people recommended Gino's, except one person said they liked Giodano's better so we decided to go with the one that maybe less people knew about. I have to say we were not disappointed! It not only very tasty pizza it was cheesy! Anyone who knows me knows I love cheese, and I was one happy girl. The real kicker is that Marshall was satisfied. The two times he was in New York he has tried some pizza and was never really pleased, so needless to say, when he said was happy with it that really meant a lot.

Here is Jenny and cute little Bridgett enjoying their pizza. Bridgett is real good at smiling for the camera. Say Cheese!

After lunch we stopped at the Museum of Science and Industry. We only had about an hour to walk around, so we barely even got a glimpse of the museum but we would dare say it is one of the coolest museums we have ever been to and we could probably spend another couple days inside.

Here is Bridgett. She is adorable. Period. Anytime you point the camera towards her she will give you the biggest smile. Me and Bridgett made friends real quick and I really enjoyed the time I had to play, hold, and laugh with her.

Here is little Marshall. He really enjoys pretending he is a dog. That is what he is doing in this picture. He even went so far as to bark at random people on the streets in Chicago. It was priceless.

Finally we made it to the Notre Dame for the football game against BYU: The Main Event.

The stadium!

I think this is called the Touchdown Jesus. haha

Here we all are, us, Richard, Jenny and the kids!

This is inside the cathedral on campus. The campus was beautiful and this building was amazing.

The Golden Dome!

This is the stadium. As it turns out our seats were the very farthest seats from the field, however we were surprised at how close we felt to the field and how easy it was to see.

Here we are at the game. This was when BYU was ahead and things look promising. It was a really good game, and that was really all we hoped for because those tickets were not cheap. In the end BYU didn't pull out of there with a win, but it was definitely an awesome experience! In the words of neature walk: BYU didn't win but we won ourselves one heck of an afternoon.

I am not sure why this picture loaded out of order... hmm? But here we are in front of the bean.

The end.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

NYC

New York City!

On October 11th Marshall and I boarded a plane headed for the great city of New York. It was somewhat a spontaneous trip, planned only a couple weeks earlier. When we found out Marshall would have to be in NYC for work on Monday and Tuesday we were trying to figure out what we could do that weekend since we both already had Friday off from work because some other plans fell through. It didn't take us long to decide to head east! We arrived early Friday morning and we were so grateful to Elder and Sister Squires, who are serving a mission in New York, for their hospitality in allowing us to stay at their house Friday and Saturday night. When we arrive at their home they made us a very big and very delicious breakfast! We chatted with them for a little bit, ate and took a nap before we began our adventures in New York.

On Friday we spent a lot of time walking around the city. Here is Marshall in from of the one world financial center. Apparently that is a big deal...

We walked by the harbor and enjoyed looking across to New Jersey, feeling the cool breeze, and just taking in all the sights.

This was a fun little treasure we just happened upon. It was a small park like area, resembling Ireland. It was actually a memorial remembering those who had passes away during a famine in Ireland, and drawing attention to all times of starvation. It was so beautiful with tall grass, neat stone walls, and lots of green!

As we were walking all around New York on Friday we came across this dress made out of spoons. When I student taught I taught a fashion strategies class and I have a powerpoint of all sorts of dresses made out of anything but fabric. I thought this dress was pretty creative!

We went to Rockefeller Center and happened upon the Lego store. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Rockefeller Center, but I did get some of the Lego store! haha! Seriously though, how in the world would you make those out of legos?

This is us on the Metro Friday night after walking all around the city. We were so tired, and our feet most of all. However I think it was worth it, because after that day we both felt like we finally knew New York City.

The first thing we did on Saturday was take a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. That was something I had wanted to do since the first time I can to New York, almost 10 years ago and I am glad we got to do it! Here I am facing the Statue of Liberty with Manhattan behind me.

While on the Island Marshall saw this boat and thought it was super cool. Pretty old-school and pretty awesome!

There she is! It was so neat to be this close to her. We also had an audio tour and we got to learn a lot of cool facts about the her. Like did you know she is made out of copper? The green color is something that has happened over time and she was originally the color of a penny.

Proof that we were there!

I took this shot on the ferry boat. I thought it was a pretty neat shot with the Statue and Manhattan all in the same picture.

This is the registry room on Ellis Island. We also had an audio tour here and we learned a lot of interesting things. Did you know that women were not allowed to leave this island on their own? They either had to wait for family to come fetch them or they had to stay there until someone came and married them. Crazy! One day almost 13,000 people came through Ellis Island. Can you even imagine that happening?

This is the outside of the building.

After Ellis Island we walked around the Wall Street area. It was Saturday so it was mostly closed, but we loved all the buildings in this area, and of course we had to snap a shot of the bull when we happened to walk by it.

Both nights we were there we tried to win Lottery tickets to the Broadway Newsies. The first night our names didn't get drawn but we made friends with Haley and Rob and both of their names got picked! They were going to give us the extra tickets but there was only one ticket left. :( We came back the next night and Marshall's name was picked! We won! And we got to buy tickets for onlly $30 when they are normally $120-150. I was so excited! I love Newsies and Marshall hadn't ever seen the movie. We really enjoyed the show!

Sunday we went to the Spanish branch with Sister Squires and then headed into Times Square. We got to spend Sunday night in a hotel right on Times Square on Adobe's dime. We walked through Central Park on Sunday. Even though the colors hadn't really started changing yet it was beautiful and we really enjoyed seeing all the different people participating in so many different activities. Later that night we also walked the high line park which was also very enjoyable.

Monday Marshall had to work so I got to sleep in and take it easy. We went to lunch at a pizza place (Marshall was less than thrilled with the food and service). And then I headed to the airport. Marshall followed the next day. It was such a fun trip and we really felt like we got to see New York and get a good feel for it!!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Wedding videos

I have some amazing friends and some amazing help with the wedding. I really appreciate my friend Chris taking some video footage of us on the wedding day. It was really nice to know we have some footage of the wedding because it was just not something we thought about until it was almost too late. Thanks again Chris! And please enjoy!

Here is the one from the reception, and for some reason I can't get the temple one to load so just clink on the link. Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZjcYk-jQEI&feature=youtu.be

Update turned reflective

It's been a really long time since my last post. And the last couple weeks I have been having the itching to write something... but a specific topic hasn't stuck with me yet. And I am starting to think that maybe what this blog needs is just a little update from my own personal life (I know you don't usually see those kind of posts on here).

It wasn't too long after my last post that I got engaged! May 27th was the special day. It's hard to believe the engagement has come and gone when I had spent so much of my life wanting and waiting for it to take place. We did have a short engagement. 2 months to be exact. And for a DIY wedding I was pretty stressed and super busy. A big thanks goes out to everyone who helped in any way possible. And another big thanks is due to Marshall. While I do think I handled myself pretty well throughout the engagement, there were still a few moments when I would just break down in tears. He was always there to listen and understand what I was feeling. I am so lucky to have a guy who knows the importance of a listening ear and is pretty dang good at it!

We got married July 27th in Bountiful Temple. That was the first temple Marshall and I attended together way back in November of 2010 when we first started dating. The Bountiful Temple also has some significance in Marshall's family. As it turns out, his grandfather actually owned the land where the Bountiful Temple sits before the temple was there. It was neat to be married there and a nice middle ground for our families coming from different directions.

I could probably go on for a while about my wedding day, but I think I will spare you the details (my journal has them all if you are ever interested). I think it will suffice to say that it really was the best day of my life and it was gone in a flash. At the end of the day I remember thinking, wow, it's over, it all happened too quickly. I was a bride and now I will never be one again. I am so grateful that for me the wedding day was definitely not the end goal, so there was so much more to look forward to and progress towards. And this best part for us on the wedding day was being able to see and talk with all the people we love most! Thank you so much for making the effort to come out to celebrate with us!

Now we have been married for 6 weeks. In one sense it feels like we have been married forever, in a good way. In a way that says this is all so natural, it feels like it has and always will be this way. And the weirdest part about being married is that it isn't weird at all. I remember when we first starting dating and I was talking to friends and family about this new guy and our relationship and I would describe it as natural and comfortable, and that is exactly how I would describe married life with him.

It would seem that with married life being so great I would wish that it had happened sooner in my life, that we could have met sooner in our life, or not dated for quite so long (over a year and a half) before we got engaged, but the truth is: I wouldn't change a thing. The truth is that the Lord really does know what he is doing. I know that I needed to have some life changing experiences before I would be able to meet and want to date Marshall. I would often tell him that if we had met even a year earlier there is no way we would have ended up dating. Trusting in the Lord, that his plan for you really does include happiness, is usually hard (at least for me anyway), we think we are the only ones looking out for our welfare. Man! We couldn't be more wrong. Heavenly Father is 100% aware. Of us. Of our circumstances. Of what we need. And yes, even of what we want. My bet is we are only like 10% aware of what is going on. I am not eluding that marriage is the end of his plan or the only place where happiness can be found. Sometimes the plan that Heavenly Father has for us doesn't even involve marriage in this life. So it isn't about getting the plan that society has deemed the right plan, it is about trusting and accepting the plan He has for us, because He knows better. Time and time again he has shown me over and over again that He knows better than me. It happened when He told me to go on a mission when I didn't want to. It happened when He told me to get my Masters at BYU instead of out of state. He knew better. And in the end His plan was better. Too bad better doesn't always mean easier, more fun, quicker, or without trials.

I know that Marshall and I will have our hardships and trials in our marriage and family. Some of those will probably be things that happen to us, and others will just be between him and I, our relationship, and how we choose to respond and react to each other. At work when I listen to couples who have been married for any number of years complain, blame, and vehemently believe their spouse is the problem to their other wise happy life, I always wonder what had to take place for them to go from the engaged and newly married couple who couldn't get enough of each other to the couple who cannot seem to say one nice thing about their spouse. We all know it didn't happen over night. Things don't change that quickly. So instead it was something so small, so unnoticed that it just crept into their relationship without either one thinking twice about it. And then it sat, and festered, and grew at such a slow rate that neither noticed it was even growing. Can it be reversed? Absolutely. And I can think of nothing harder. And I pray I never have to experience that, at least at a large scale (because I bet we will all experience that in one way shape or form). When we went in to the stake presidency to receive our interviews to get married, he gave us some good advice. He told us to talk about our relationship for 15 minutes everyday. I really like his advice and need to do better about living it. He mentioned that most days it would be us just super gushy and cheesy with each other, but on some days we would have some legitimate feelings/concerns/issues to discuss. He cautioned us to just talk for 15 minutes about it and then put it away to finish discussing it the next day. What a great way to not let those small things creep in and fester in our relationship. I hope we really can start to be better about that... I guess we will have to start tonight and it will start with me.

Well I guess my mind went from an update to just some of my thoughts anyway. I do plan on posting pictures soon... as soon as we get them. But here are a few from the day we took bridals and groomals. Our photographer was awesome! Super flexible, talented, and easy to work with! And let's be honest, she had one good looking couple to work with! Enjoy!