Our vacation to the beach

Last week, we went to Newport Beach. Because JaNae and Dallin were on the church history trip and Trevor is on his mission, it was only my parents, Devin and me, and my grandparents (for a few days). My parents bought a Marriott timeshare there about two years ago, but this was the first year that we actually went. We had a lot of fun and it was wonderful to have a vacation; especially since Devin and I haven't had a vacation in a while and I have been working six days each week. We loved it! Here are some pics of the trip....I actually REMEMBERED to take some pictures this time!

Here are my parents playing powerball. We all had tournaments to see how many times we could hit it before it hit the ground.


Here is Devin coming back from boogie boarding. He went out a lot more times than me because I got sick of it after a little while. Plus, we saw dolphins pretty close several times; so, my logic is...if you see dolphins that close, there must be sharks as well. I'm not much of an ocean fan for that very reason....not to mention, I have seen several shark attack shows lately. That doesn't make me feel much better. Devin is a lot more fearless than I am.

And grinning....


I buried him in the sand. :O)


Dev and the parents on the beach outside the timeshare.


All of us at the Newport Beach temple. It was paid for entirely by the people in the Newport Beach area. I think that is cool. It was really beautiful and as always, was very fun to be able to go to a session with the family. I can't wait until all of us can go together! We met some missionaries who are very acquainted with that temple and perfect picture places and they took the pictures. It will be a fun tradition to continue in the future. (We get to go each summer)


We saw a HUGE butterfly on the flowers on the grounds. I am a sap for nature; so, I just had to take it.

We rented a four person bicycle to ride up and down the beach. It was a blast! At one point, three Newport beach residents (pre-teens) jumped on the back of the bike and we dragged them along for a while. My mom saw a pamphlet she wanted; so Devin jumped off to get it and was going to catch up, but then one of the boys jumped into his spot and started peddling really hard to get away! We were all laughing pretty hard; especially because we had NO IDEA who those boys were....and couldn't believe their audacity. It was a fun, leisurely bike ride along a beautiful beachfront!

We went to Disneyland/California Adventure to celebrate my birthday...AND the fact that I had won vs. Devin during March madness. Although we were head-to-head most of the tournament, I pulled out on the Kansas-Memphis game at the VERY LAST SECOND; so he owed me a trip to Disneyland. It is NOT his favorite place in the world. Surely, the fact that we walked for at least 14 hours that day didn't help very much. This particular picture is about halfway through the day. He was a great sport about it; I'm sure that he'll like it even more when we take our own kids someday. He was actually quite fascinated with the firework show and Fantasmic. We are Mickey and Minnie Mouse here. Don't we look like 'em?!

We found Pluto! Man, I wish I had a dog again! Seriously though, I can't tell you how hard it was to ACTUALLY get a picture with this guy! We truly had to force our way in amongst a group of kids whose parents were shoving them in before we could get a chance.

When my mom was little, her parents took a picture of her with the chipmunk. She was NOT a happy camper. We wanted to get a picture of her all grown up and happy with the little guy. Lucky for us, we found him! She did a great job!

This ride is the ferris wheel at California Adventure. It made everyone really motion sick; including my mom and dad. I was just fine, as usual! Normally, my parents don't get motion sick; so considering Devin gets motion sickness very easily, I understand why he had to sit on the bench for about an hour and a half afterward. Luckily, no food came up! :O)

Devin is SO strong! He stopped the spinning ball at Disneyland! Here is his proud face!

At the beginning of the day....not-so-tired faces.

I took a picture of the picture of us on the drop of Splash Mountain. I just think it's funny because my dad is screaming SOOO hard! And it was a REAL scream! lol


Eating at the expensive restaurant Disneyland has to offer!

Pretty parents at the beach!

Pretty us!

This was funny because they were all sitting in a row on the bench in this order. Well, I told them to move and put their arms around each other. This is what they did! We were all laughing pretty hard cuz I really meant for them to sit by their own SPOUSE and put their arms around each other!

Me and the parents~

We love one another!

The grandparents on the beach. They really were much happier than this shows!

My mooter..

This is Devin, Mom and Dad, and Grandpa. They were looking for crabs. (I am on a cliff above them)

Looking even closer for the crab.

And he caught one! It pinched a little, but he managed a little smooch!

He conquered this little crab!

And last of all, us on the beach! We had a blast! Thanks for coming along!

Disaster Strikes!

Last night, I wrote the blog entry but couldn't get the pictures to work so I had to wait to post it. Since that last entry, this is what happened to the halls on the bottom floor of our apartment complex.....








These are our friends (and us) doing clean-up. Some of the apartments were flooded pretty badly. Ours really didn't get much because we were elevated more than they, but we were still woken up to screaming and water rushing at like 11:30. Devin is convinced that the world is against him going to bed early....every time he tries to (cuz he wakes up at 6:00), something ALWAYS happens to keep him awake.

We are hoping we get compensated well enough for the damage and that they come in a little later looking for any mold that might have built up. I really feel bad for some of our neighbors though, because I have a feeling it's going to take a LOT of work to get the things fixed in each of their apartments--and to get the apartment complex to cooperate (they claim no responsibility for ANYTHING). At least we now have a good story for our kids someday and how "hard" our life was when we were first married. j/k

Remember, Remember

Recently, I have read several blogs/stories about families whose children have passed away at a young age. It always makes my heart ache for those people who have to deal with the incredible pain that comes along with that type of situation. It really makes you analyze your life and recreate everything the way you know it should be. I bore my testimony today in church partially on record keeping/journal writing and how important it is for us to remember. Reading those peoples' records really rejuvenates me, as well as helps me to write and remember the simple things that we should forever cherish. Here are a few of the things that have happened to us in recent weeks:

We are still feeding our raccoons. One of them is VERY brave. He is still afraid of us a little, but he will come in the house and just look at me until I give him some food. Here are a few close-ups.

A few weeks ago, they had a parade in Springville (just south of Provo) and I participated in it being the Wells Fargo frontier-woman that I am--I just walked alongside the stagecoach throwing candy out to the little children. After the parade, Devin and I met up for the carnival. We just thought it would be a cute little activity....cute and EXPENSIVE. It's a good thing I only brought a little bit of cash...cuz a lot of money COULD have potentially disappeared from our savings account that day. Here are the results:


On the ferris wheel
A lemon ade stand.
They were giving these free kittens. I wanted one...didn't happen.


This is on the ferris wheel. He loves me:O)

Just last Monday, we went to South Jordan to pick up some food storage for my Aunt and Mother, then to Salt Lake to pick up my brother and sister at the airport (they were leaving the next day for the church history trip). Between the two activities, we had a little time to kill; so we stopped by temple square for a little upliftment and some pictures. Devin especially wanted to get a picture of us right outside the doorstep like we had JUST gotten married....tennis shoes, jeans, and all! :O) He also LOVES those trees we took pictures with....they kind of remind me of the garden of Eden for some reason??? We also went into the South visitors center and listened to President Monson talk on families. It was somewhat heartwrenching to see everything of President Hinckley already replaced even though it has already been 5 months. I guess I just never expected him to go away. Don't get me wrong, I also love our new prophet...it's just hard to let go of the nearness of President Hinckley. I love that man!












The next day, I made the mistake of getting my hair done by someone OTHER than my cousins and ended up with a garfield mess! My hair was literally ORANGE! Not JUST orange, ORANGE STREAKS! And throughout my WHOLE head. It was supposed to turn out a little blonde with a little red...NOT! It was definitely orange and I was horrified. I called Devin in panic mode and we went straight to the store for a box of hair dye, which I proceeded to do absolutely immediately! It helped a lot and although I didn't get a before picture, these are the after pictures.....still some VERY RED/ORANGE at the roots, but at least I can feel somewhat decent in public. I cut the bangs myself. I wasn't going to let her do anymore to my hair. Needless to say, I shall not be making that mistake again. :O) Thank you Shelise and Tara for your help in my distress....and for never making me look like garfield or his friends.


Then, we had the Fourth of July. Not only was it nice because it was literally my first day off of work in almost two months, it was also incredible because we were able to spend a little bit of time relaxing, finishing some home projects we have been wanting to do, and EATING! We went to my favorite breakfast place of all time: MAGLEBY'S--LATE I might add, because I got to sleep in that day WITH Devin! Wahoo! Sometimes we just need that cuddle time. And OH how I LOVE it! Then, we did some painting and stuff at home. After that, I made the traditional homemade ice cream, fresh strawberries and all, and we met up with some friends. Our friend Angela (with Jay, her husband) is pregnant and still in her first half of pregnancy. She really feels the anything-but-JUST-morning sickness and had to rest in bed for a while amidst us having some fun. I was glad she was able to join us for the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We had an awesome view (but I didn't get pictures, of course) and a lot of fun talking with them. They are just THE SWEETEST people you will EVER meet in your life! Then, they went to bed because of the "morning" sickness and we went and did a few fireworks by ourselves. About half of the on-a-budget fireworks we bought were duds; so we simple lit them on fire. They proceeded to please us! :O) Here are a few pictures of us having our lovely fun!




This was the sum of our on-a-budget fireworks. We also had some cracker jacks...




This was still the line to get out of Provo ONE FULL HOUR and a HALF after the firework show....


Last of all, yesterday, Devin and I went on a rope swing in a city about 45 minutes south of us yesterday. It was incredibly high up and long and a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I had a minimal amount of space left on my memory card . I only got two pictures and neither of them show you how much fun it really was. We also got to walk around the park. It is always fun to walk with my hubby in nature, hand-in-hand and just loving each other. I love to talk with him and spend time with him. I am grateful for the simple things, and it's the important things in eternity that I always want to remember.