Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Courage Mountain and The Secret Garden

Lately, I've been running into movies that I loved as a young girl. I remember whenever I'd go to my Grandma Kathy's house in Oregon I'd watch this movie called Courage Mountain. It's kind of corny but I loved it while growing up! It's funny because Charlie Sheen is in it and I thought he was so hot! It's a love and action in it, it's a good combination.




Another movie I'd watch was Hallmark version of The Secret Garden. It's funny because my brother in law's girlfriend use to love and watch this same movie as a girl. She found it at the DI and we watched it together this weekend. I could remember the character's lines and sounds of the movie. It brought back good times going over to the my grandma and grandpa Craig's home and watching it.




I recommend watching these two movies they are such wholesome movies!

My top 6 places to live

I recently went on this website called findyourspot.com. It's really cool you take this quiz about your preference on your ideal place to live. These were my top six.

1. Seattle, Washington
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Charleston, South Carolina
4. Asheville, North Carolina
5. Tacoma, Washington
6. Norfork, Virgina

The quiz is free and its real fun. It's funny because McKay is always saying how he hates living in Utah County, and on his top 6 it had Orem and Provo listed. Ha, I thought it was funny!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Jumping on the tramp

McKay and his brothers jumping on the tramp. Sorry Jon your head got cut off! It was Jon's 20th Birthday and we celebrated by jumping. Later that day McKay and I went on a motorcycle ride and got stranded at a church. It was ironic because it was Sunday!

My desk

This is cubicle and desk at Gardner Village. It is pretty nice and quiet. All of the young girls that I work with work downstairs and I work upstairs. I don't get much interaction with them unless I go to the restroom or call.
I have a nice view of the outside world through another window

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Is marriage always a happy ever after?


I've been thinking about this. Tell me what you think. . .


This happened a couple of months ago. I was sitting in church and listening to all of the spiritual testimonies that were being said over the pulpit. This one girl got up and started to say how her husband and herself have had the most amazing marriage and how they have never fought and how they love each other sooooo much while snuffeling her way through. As I was digesting this I was thinking, "Wow, my marriage sucks!" I have to be honest... McKay and I sometimes have disagreements, fights, act selfishly, and can be bratty to one another. Maybe this is because both of us are Aries. Here is a love horoscope I found off of MSN.com of two Aries:


Aries & Aries
Two personalities governed by the planet Mars are liable to lock horns frequently in combat. Each clearly stakes out a personal territory, a turf where the Aries individuality is asserted, and it requires the unconditional respect of the other. Harmony can reign only in the presence of a powerful, shared ideal which acts to channel the awesome energy of each and unites their strengths instead of opposing them. Together, they can generate megawatts! The love which binds them is impulsive, fiery, and impatient.
This is pretty dead on for McKay and I!


Back to the testimony meeting. While the girl in my ward was saying this I had a hard time believing it. First I thought that if you don't have any dissagreement then your marriage must be dull!


When my friends ask me for marriage advice I will be honest with them. I will say, "Marriage is the most amazing thing you'll ever experience. But it is also one of the hardest things you'll experience too." In my situation I was 19 1/2 years old, niave, and didn't understand the full meaning of marriage and I didn't know the key ingredients to making one run smooth. The hardest lesson I ever had to learn the first couple months of marriage was that it wasn't all about me it was about us. They say that selfishness is the number one reason why couples divorce. It was also hard to admit it when I was at fault and to sincerely say "I'm sorry." Talk about pride. Maturity was what I needed, and I can honestly say that I can see a big difference in two years.


From what you have read you get an idea how our first year of marriage was no easy walk in the park. I know a lot of friends say how wonderful it is, and I have to agree, but I wonder if they are really telling the truth? I wonder why girls aren't more honest about the reality of marriage instead of the fantasy?

Is it too taboo and honest to say that marriage isn't always a fairytale?

My Future Traveling Plans


Ever since McKay and I got back from Mexica I've been thinking of all of the places I want to go see. I guess I got the travel bug. I hope that by next summer McKay, myself, and another couple can go to Costa Rica. McKay went to Costa Rica on his mission and I've been begging him to take me back. I actually tell him that we won't have kids until we go, because I know that we won't go if we do.




I've been looking up Costa Rica on google earth and seeing the places that we would like to see. I thought it would be so much fun to go on a road trip around Costa Rica. My inspiration was due to all of the stories my friends have told me about going backpacking through europe. I thought it would be fun to do the same. I think it would be fun to not have any reservations at hotels or with people and to go where ever we want to go, and take as long as we want.




I hope this dream will come true because if it does I will graduate with my bachelors degree and then we will go to paradise.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Megan's Wedding




On Saturday McKay and I had the great opportunity to go to my old roommate's wedding. We went to the ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple, ate brunch, and went to a beautiful reception. I loved the reception I thought it was bombay! They had authentic Thai food, candy buffet, cake, green punch, and I absolutely loved her photographer. Megan you looked so beautiful! Chad you look good in green.


Megano and I were roommates down at SUU for a year. She has become one of my closest friends. Some of the greatest times I've ever had was with her and Erin.
I remember the time Erin, Megano, and I decided for my birthday we would do something that I've always wanted to do. That was to run around naked somewhere. I've always heard of how much fun Erin had doing that in high school and it was my 19th birthday and I wanted to try it! We went to the football field and we didn't get naked, but we got down to our undies and ran around the track. Megano, felt uncomfortable, so instead she took pictures of Erin and I.
Another good time was when Megano and I went to the Institute dance where we dressed up and jumped into a water fountain. It was so funny because everyone at the dance thought that we were drunk, but we were not! Then we went and sand Kareoke.
Another great time was when we went over to McKay's neighbors house where we played ultimate spoons. We put the spoons at the bottom of the stairs and put charis, couches, and tables in front of the stairs. So whenever we ran to get the spoons we would end up rolling and falling down the stairs. Then one time we ran down the stairs, Meg and I fell down together and both of us peed our pants. For some reason Erin told all of the boys that we pooped our pants, so they thought that we were freaks! A week or two later Megan ran into on of the ultimate spoon boys cars. It was so funny!

Megan or Megano as I like to call her, met Chad (her now husband) the first semester of school. My story was the same, I met McKay the first 3 weeks of school. It's kind of funny because I remember Megan coming back to our room and telling me how much she hated this kid named Chad in her stats class. She would say how annoying he was. They became study partners and started to hang out with each other. I remember her telling me about their first kiss and how she thought he was weird. I have to admit I didn't like Chad at first. They dated for 2 1/2 years! That is like a decade in Utah dating time. Over those 2 1/2 year's I've come to like and love Chad. He is perfect for Megan and she is perfect for him. I'm so happy for the two of them. I hope you two both have a beautiful and happy life together.

I HEART U MEGANO!





Monday, May 5, 2008

Mexican Riveria Cruise!


We got to meet Richard!


McKay, myself, and my whole family went on a week long cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Were we stopped in Puerto Vallatra, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Our friends the Zollinger's came with us too. We left on Sunday April 27th and flew to Long Beach California. We took a fun and crazy taxi ride to the boat dock. We had to wait in line for 2 1/2 hours to check in! I felt like cattle in a concentration camp. I was excited to get on the boat. This was my first cruise so when we finally got on the boat, I couldn't believe that I was finally there. My family booked this cruise over 8 months and thinking about sitting on the beach in Mexico was the only thing that me going the last few weeks in school.








The ship was so decadently detailed and rich in furnishings I felt like I was on the Titanic. We walked up to our rooms and it was small but the balcony overlooking the ocean made the room feel so big. I loved the bathrooms they were very small but it had so much storage!







The first three days it was fun day at sea. My family and I engaged in miniature golf, eating all you can eat ice cream and gourmet food, going to comedy shows, swimming, sun bathing, and taking long naps. By the third day I was ready and excited to get off the boat. Our first stop was Puerto Vallatra. My family was going to go zip lining through the jungle. We had to take a boat to this beach, where we got on a bus up to the camp, when we got there we took mules up the mountain to reach the zip lines. On the way up there I had a couple of the guides tell me, "Senorita, you the whitest person I ever seen." Some of the zip lines were over 600 feet tall! It wasn't scary at all! We repelled, went over rope bridges and went over suspended platforms. One of the funnest parts was zip lining through a waterfall. One of our guides, named Carlos was ridiculously flirting with my sister Melanie. He asked her if she had a boyfriend and how she had eyes of a doll. Also he told her that she was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. It was fun and cute watching him. When we finished the zip line he went up to Mel and asked her to leave her e-mail address. I can say that Melanie has a "Latin Lover." Later that night Dad, Melanie, McKay, and I went to the Wal-Mart across the street from the port. It looked just like the Wal-Mart in Orem because it had a lot of Hispanics there.




That night McKay and I got to meet and mingle with Richard Simmons. He was on the boat to help motivate obese and overweight people how to lose weight on a cruise. It was called "Cruise to Lose." A cruise would be the last place where I'd go to lose weight. By the way, I ate so much on the cruise. I brought some capri pants that were way baggy before the cruise, after they fit quite snug. I've never ate so much rich food in my life. If you haven't been on a cruise you eat almost every two hours. I wasn't use to eating so frequently. The whole week I felt grossly full. Probably the best thing I ate on the cruise was their steak salad. Of all of the things I loved that the best. The best dessert was their melting cake, a chocolate cake with chocolate sauce inside the middle, with a scoop of ice cream. McKay ordered one of these every night!




The second port we went to was Mazatlan. We were able to negotiate and bargain and got a good deal for a tour guide to take us around the town and show us the sights. We went to the old part of Mazatlan, and I liked it a lot. It was very authentic looking, I don't like the touristy part. We went to the flea market where I got a purple Mexican dress and McKay got a soccer shirt. After shopping our tour guide drove us around to see the newer part of the town. We stopped and got some real Mexican nachos and guacamole. It was so good! We sat in this restaurant that was right on the beach. I liked going to Mazatlan because we got to see and experience the authentic part of town.




The third and final port was Cabo San Lucas. Cabo was very beautiful. It was rocky and more desert looking, but it did have the clearest water out of the two ports. We walked to the market and shopped and I bought a hand carved and painted porcupine. We took a boat taxi to get to the famous "Lover's Beach." It's a beach on the most southern tip of the Mexican Peninsula. On one side of the beach is the Pacific Ocean and the other the Sea of Cortes. The Pacific side was very dangerous and the waves were big. We saw a bunch of sea lions chilling on the rocks. It felt great to finally get on the beach. The water was very warm and the sand was white. We played on the beach for a while and then sun bathed. McKay and my Mom got sunburned, and of course my bangs were crazy looking. When we were at the market I was walking around in my modest one piece swimsuit and this local kid came up to me and said, "Oh, senorita you so sexy!" Then he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I told him that I was married and without any hesitation he asked me if I would want a second husband. I have a hard time keeping track of one. Then he told me that I was perfect and that I was very beautiful. I laughed about it because whenever you're feeling ugly, go down to Mexico, the men will make you feel like a model. Mexican men are so forward, I find it really interesting how they are so blunt about their feelings. I guess it's their "machismo" to blame.



The last day and a half on the cruise were very chill. We ate, slept, went to a lot of comedy shows, and made fun of the cruise director Butch "Pack the suit case" and "Tanzanite Tamara" (inside jokes). I'm going to explain why we made fun of these two people, and I hope it makes sense. Butch is the cruise director. He is tall, skinny, has big hair, and has a voice of a sports announcer. In the beginning of the cruise he taught a disco dance class where they taped it and it was replayed on the TV. One of his dance moves was called "packing the suitcase." It was so stupid looking that we started to do this dance move whenever we saw Butch on the boat. Caitlin and I dared Melanie to go up to him and say, "Hey Butch, pack the suit case," while performing the dance move. She failed and never did it. The other person we made fun of was Tamara. Tamara was the port shopping expert and she held a couple of lectures about where to shop in the ports. We went to one of her lectures and all she talked about was Tanzanite (a bluish gem) and how rare and beautiful it is. It was a huge advertisement/publicity stunt and all we heard and saw at the ports were signs that said "Tanzanite." It was so annoying that we started to call this chick "Tanzanite Tamara." This sounds really dumb and immature but making fun of these two people kept us sane when we were at sea.


My fabulous sister Caitlin has an amazing voice. She entered into the karoake contest and won for the best impression of Aretha Franklin. There was this drunk guy that would come and karoake everynight. One night he asked if Caitln would want to do a duet with him. He ended up in the production too, and was hammered. We saw him allover the boat that week and everytime we did he was drunk. Anway, Caitlin was in the final show on the cruise called Carnival Legends, where she sang her rendition of R-E-S-P-E-C-T. She looked so hot in her black wig.


Overall the cruise was a blast! I loved it. I never slept so well in my life. The best part was waking up every morning and having the ocean outside your window and balcony. It is hard for me to take naps because I can't turn off my brain so I can relax and sleep. On the cruise I took a nap everyday. It was so relaxing. Just what I needed to start my two internships and work. Thanks mom and dad for inviting McKay and I to come! We love you!