Just the 2 of us . . .

Our Home Sweet Home

2012-01-30T14:52:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, Bryce and I moved a few miles down the road to a different townhome. Our old landlord decided she wanted to move back into her home, and because of this, we had to move! Although we had a few months to find something, we decided it would be best to not prolong the inevitable, and we found this place.

We really are enjoying our new place. We have a lot more space (which we don't really need, but it is nice anyway), and a nice big kitchen, which I love. So much space that we have an empty bedroom upstairs and a pretty much empty basement, but we're working on it! :)

So, as requested, here are pictures of our new abode. (*I apologize in advance about the lighting. I had a hard time taking these pics and having them turn out!)

The front of our house. Excited to plant flowers in the spring!

Our entry way as you walk in

My kitchen with lots of space to work in. :) Our favorite part of this house.

And room for a kitchen table!! If this picture turned out, you would notice how beautiful those flowers on the table are. Bryce is such a good hubby, he sent me flowers one day after a particularly hard day (which I won't go into detail about).

Our living room

I love that there is room for our piano in our living room, too.

(which we need to get fixed. It quit turning on, and it turns out the only place that can fix it is 2 hrs away! Just our luck...)

Our bedroom! When we were setting it up, Bryce mentioned how we needed a new duvet because our old one was looking kinda dingy. I jumped on that idea real quick. :)

My art room

And Bryce's office. I think it turned out great.

Well, there you have it. Our place looks much cooler in person, so feel free to come for a visit. :)

New Years Eve 2011

2012-01-11T13:07:00.002-05:00

For New Years Eve, we had our good friends the Green's and the Hill's over for a little celebration. We had some yummy food (mini corn dogs, 7-layer dip, brie and crackers, veggies . . .) and had a good time just chatting and visiting. We're quite the partier's- everyone left well before midnight, and I'm pretty sure Bryce and I were in bed by 12:01 am. :)

Our main event of the night was the burning of our grievances. This is a tradition of Gentri's, and I'm pretty sure we're going to adopt it as one of our own. :) Essentially, it is where you write down a list of all the things throughout the year that have caused you grief, and then you throw it in the fire. Kind of an out with the old type of a thing.

And oh man, Bryce and I had a pretty good list. It was actually kind of stress relieving just to see it burn. haha. Here is are some pictures and a video of our fun time!! (and I apologize in advance for my poor video-editing abilities!)

Our best group photo of the night

Bryce and I, and one of our biggest fans, Cossette

Burn, baby burn!

Hope you all had a great New Years! Here's to 2012!

Sightseeing

2012-01-04T14:39:00.000-05:00

While Bryce's parents were here, we did lots of sightseeing! With it being their first visit to the DC area, it was a definite must. There is a never ending list of things to do and see. We did a whole lot of walking, and had lots of fun. Although did you know that the week of Christmas is one of the busiest times in DC? Here we were thinking that it would be nice and slow, but there were crowds and crowds of people~the busiest we've ever seen it! Next time they come, we're hoping that is isn't so wild.

Our first stop was at Mt. Vernon. They had the whole house decorated for Christmas and even let us up onto the 3rd floor.

Hal and Iola at Mt. Vernon. It was cold and windy!

At Mt. Vernon, they had the President's pardoned turkey. I didn't even know there was such a thing, haha, but it was kinda cool!

We also went up to the temple and did a session. It was the perfect thing to do that day because it was pouring rain most of that day. The temple was so beautiful, and just as we were leaving, all the Christmas lights came on. And just look at this sunset-it was incredible!

On Wednesday, we spent the day in the city. Our main events were the tours of the Library of Congress and the Capitol. They were awesome. I was in love with the Library of Congress building, and am now convinced that I should be a docent there.

Me and the boys in front of the Library of Congress

The Great Hall in the Library. Wow!

This is a mosaic made out of over 30,000 pieces of glass, entitled "Minerva of Peace." It was so beautiful!

The Capitol was equally beautiful and interesting! Here is the Capitol dome:

And the beautifully decorated Capitol tree:

Our next stop was the Botanical gardens, which was awesome, but also jam packed with people. It was crazy. But it was all decked out for the holidays and there were giant poinsettias everywhere:

The next day, I actually had to work. But don't worry, everyone else went in to the city and had a great time! They toured the Natural History Museum, and then went to all the monuments. I wish I had pictures.

On Hal and Iola's last day here, we went up to the Arlington Cemetery. It was so wonderful. All the graves were supposed to have wreaths, but we must have gotten there a little late, and only some of them did. All the same, it was beautiful. There is such a reverence in this cemetery.

My favorite thing at the cemetery is the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. It was so quiet and respectful there, and sitting near us was a young man that looked like he had just returned home from war. He had an army backpack with him, and tears in his eyes. It really left an impact and made me realize the seriousness of what we were watching.

And just look at this view!

We were so glad that Hal and Iola came to visit over the holidays. We love them so much and had a great time! We miss you already!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-02T16:28:00.000-05:00

This year, our Christmas was very different. Instead of traveling home for the holidays, we spent it here in Virginia, and Bryce's parents came to spend it with us. It was such a wonderful, low key day.

We started the day reading the Christmas story and then going to church for a wonderful Christmas program. It was seriously so amazing. The ward choir sang at least 5 songs that were all incredible. It was so perfect to set the mood for what Christmas was all about. Here's Bryce and I before heading to church:

After church, we came home and opened up our presents. We were spoiled this year. Thanks, everyone! :) Here's our Christmas tree:

It was especially fun making a stocking for Bryce's parents.

And you all know I have a hard time keeping sercets/surprises, but this one I did! I painted Bryce 3 paintings of his favorite comic book characters for his "man cave." Here he is with his gifts! I think he likes them . . .

In return, Bryce spoiled me with an awesome set of knives for the kitchen and the Harry Potter Blurays. I'm a pretty lucky girl!

And for Christmas dinner, we did something a little different too. Bryce requested a prime rib, and boy it was delicious. Bryce was a big help. Here him and his parents are cutting into that piece of meat (Bryce wearing his awesome Christmas apron from my mom):

We had such a wonderful day talking with family and enjoying the day. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and remembered what it's all about!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

There is something about Christmas this year that I am just so excited about. Although we're a long ways from home and are staying here in Virginia this year, I have just been looking forward to it so much. I am so excited to see Bryce open his presents, and we're lucky enough to have his parents visiting us, so I'm looking forward to some family time with them. It's just going to be great!!! :)

And it brings me such joy to look at this wall in our living room with all our Christmas cards we've received displayed.

Here's some fun things that we'll be doing in the next few days:

~making lots of shrimp dip and wassail and egg nog--all musts for Christmas!

~picking up Bryce's P's at the airport and introducing them to the crazy, terrible traffic that is the Washington DC area and the metro. And I bet we'll be doing a lot of sight seeing too!

~Very much looking forward to Mt. Vernon at Christmastime and the festival of lights at the temple.

~attempting to cook a prime rib for Christmas dinner

And in case you missed our Christmas card this year, here you go:

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Our Thanksgiving

2011-12-02T11:17:00.001-05:00

This year, we stayed here in Virginia for Thanksgiving, just the two of us! Although we would've loved to go home for the holiday, it just wasn't going to happen, so we made plans to have the best Thanksgiving ever here. I decided to go all out and make all the fixings . . . which just meant lots of leftovers. It turned out sooo fantastic!! Although we missed our families, this was definitely a Thanksgiving we'll always remember. It was low key with just the two of us, and it was absolutely perfect.

Here's what was on the menu:

-Turkey (which soaked in a delicious marinade the whole day before)

-Cranberry sauce

-Iola's savory sausage stuffing

-Mashed potatoes and gravy

-Yams

-Rolls

-Haylee's "stupid salad" (aka: pretzel, cream cheese, and jello salad)

-Veggie tray: pickles, olives, carrots, and celery

-And for dessert: pumpkin pie and chocolate pie

Bryce and I have kind of joked that 2011 just isn't our year. We've just had a stream of unfortunate things happen, and it feels as though we haven't really had much of a break. I have definitely been tired of it all, and sometimes it's hard to focus on all the things that we are blessed with. Thanksgiving was a great time just to re-evaluate, and to think of the things we are grateful for. Here's a few:

-Our families

-Our friends

-The chance we had to live in beautiful California:

the people we met there, and the experiences we had.

-The gospel in our lives,

and the instant family you get when you move to a new place.

-The blessings of the temple

-Our cozy little home we live in

-Our opportunities here in Virginia, even though the transition has been a little tough

-Our education.

We're especially grateful that Bryce is now done with school and completed his masters.

-That Bryce and I met each other so young in life . . .
it has made all our adventures so fun,

the fact that we've been able to do them all together.

Just to name a few.

We hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. We sure do love you all!!

The Birthday Party!

2011-12-02T10:35:00.001-05:00

So the main event that I went down to Utah for was the birthday party. My dad turned the big 6-0, and Briley and Emery turned one. It was a very big day!!! We had a lovely party over at the church (because there were so many people), and we had some yummy dinner and cake and ice cream. Briley and Emery got quite the loot and are now set when it comes to toys. Here are some pics of the event (thanks Megan for letting me steal your pics) . . .

Here are the birthday girls. I think Megan is holding Emery, and Josh is holding Briley, but I could be way off. haha. I loved their cute outfits. They shirts say, "I am 1!" . . . and you can never go wrong with a pink tutu.

Here is daddio with his cake. I love my dad.

And here are the girls with their pieces of cake. It was so cute, they had no idea what to do with it. They just kind of stared at it, but in the end they just kind of destroyed the frosting....weren't really into eating it.

I had such a great time going home to visit!

Utah visit

2011-11-23T15:25:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I headed off to Utah by myself for a week to visit my family. It was seriously so fun and so needed!! We have liked living in VA just fine, but there is something about the east coast that just feels soo far away. So even though I missed Bryce a whole bunch, off I went, and it was perfect to just spend lots of time with my family with no real agenda.

I got in late Friday night, and this is what I woke up to in the morning. . . this is the view from my parents house. Isn't Utah so beautiful?

Both my sister's have reached pretty big milestones and have bought homes! I'm so super proud of them. It was nice to see their houses and help out a little bit with organizing, etc. Both of them are so lovely and beautiful and brand new.

This is Erin and Dan's house:

And Megan and Josh's house:

I haven't seen my nieces Briley and Emery since their baby blessing the end of January, and now they're a year old. They are the most darling babies and I love them so much. They both have the cutest personalities~Briley is snuggly, Emery loves to talk, and they both love to sit on your lap while you read them books. It was fun to hang out with them!

And of course, the main event of my trip out~ the big birthday bash. My daddio turned 60, and Briley and Emery turned one on November 11th. So of course we had a big party and invited lots of family. It was such a fantastic time. And wouldn't you know, right before the party, both of my batteries died for my camera. Pictures soon to come!!!

Bryce is a graduate!!

2011-11-20T12:08:00.001-05:00

I thought I'd give a little shout out to my wonderful husband. Yesterday, Bryce graduated with his Master's Degree. What a huge accomplishment!!! We tossed the idea around of sending out announcements, but we decided that since he was enrolled in an online program, we should just announce it online via our blog.

We're proud to announce the graduation of

Bryce Dan Blake

from

Colorado Technical University-Online

Masters of Science Management

in Information Systems Security

You are welcome to view the virtual graduation online by clicking here, typing in Bryce's name, and entering this password: msm1120116. The talks we're all great, and the whole thing was short and sweet. It showed Bryce's name and everything (and said we still live in CA, but hey, we'll still claim it!).

Bryce was spoiled by getting the Kindle Fire from his parents. Look at how excited he is! And my parents and I are getting him a new computer desk, which is still being built.

I am so proud of Bryce and all his accomplishments. He is such a hard worker and a great provider. It's so fun to look back on our 5 years of marriage and how far we've come, all the places we've been, etc. I owe this a lot to Bryce's motivation. :)

Congrats, Bryce! I'm proud of you!!

Leaves on the ground . . .

2011-11-16T16:04:00.001-05:00

Remember those beautiful leaves that I mentioned? They are still so lovely, but they are falling fast. Before too long, they'll all be on the ground. Most of the trees are pretty bare now. Here are a few pictures that I took of our back deck:

Looks like we're going to have to invest in a rake, huh?

Fall leaves!

2011-11-02T13:27:00.000-04:00

One thing that we were looking forward to here in VA is the fall leaves~ there are huge trees everywhere here. A few weeks ago, Bryce and I were in the car and he said, "I'm really disappointed in the leaves here. They're all just turning this nasty brown color." (or something along those lines) That was true at the time. They were a bit of a letdown. Well, he has since recanted that statement, because they are beautiful now! And getting more and more beautiful by the day. There is this one road we drive down every day for work, and that street is just lined with the most beautiful fall colors right now. Here are just a few pictures that I snapped a while back, all while walking around the block. I need to take more!

Beautiful, aren't they?

Mt. Vernon Trail Bike Ride

2011-10-18T12:27:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, we went biking with our buds, the Hill's (seriously, what would we do without them?) on the Mt. Vernon trail. The Mt. Vernon trail is this lovely paved walking/biking path right along the Potomac River that goes from Mt. Vernon clear up to Roosevelt Island in DC. It was the perfect weather for a bike ride~ a nice 70 degrees, and a bit windy, so it pushed us right along.

We started the bike ride in Alexandria with the goal of heading up to the airport. Here are the boys all ready to go!

We were surrounded by the beautiful fall leaves and the Potomac River most of the way (and could see the Washington Monument and the Capitol in the distance a lot of the time) . . . it's a real shame I didn't bring my camera with me. Thanks, Kat for the pics!

We passed through Olde Towne Alexandria (which is one of my most favorite places) and saw some of the most incredible townhomes that I've ever seen:

We saw sailboats:

And rode on these wooden bridges over a swamp that we were not expecting:

And just after we passed the airport, we stopped at a lovely park for a little bit to watch some planes come in. It's a good thing we stopped there because I was tired!! And for ever mile you bike out, you have to bike it back.

We had such a fun time. I'll admit that I was just tuckered out on the way back. But towards the end it was like I got my second wind or something, and I was as happy as can be by the time we finished. haha. All in all, we went about 15 miles! That is a huge accomplishment for me! :)

It was sure fun to be able to spend our Saturday out exercising and enjoying the city! Never mind the fact that we were moving pretty slow the next day . . . we're doing good now!

blast from the past

2011-10-17T18:26:00.002-04:00

Last week, I met up with my good friend Megan up in DC. We grew up in the same hometown and were buds in high school. I haven't seen her in 5+ years. She is living in SLC working my dream job (managing an art gallery), and was in need of a little vacation. It was a super rainy, humid, muggy day in DC, but we had a great time at the American History Museum, the National Archives, the Old Post Office, and we just chatted the whole time and caught up on the last 5 years. It was so great!!

This is the view from the top of the Old Post Office. You can take an elevator up to the bell tower and there is such a lovely view. Too bad these bars are in the way though.

A view of the Capitol

this shows what a muggy day it was outside~ my poor hair that day!

When Bryce got off work, he met us in the city, and we walked around and came across the Occupy DC campground. It was pretty empty, so I'm sure the people were out and about causing some sort of ruckus, but here you go:

My good friend, Megan and I

We then walked to Chinatown (which is comprised of like 2 Chinese restaurants~ haha, nothing spectacular) and met up with another friend from high school (who Megan was staying with and visiting), Marko. He's working "on the Hill" as they call it, working for the health and human services department in health care reform. He looked very important and professional in his suit and tie, cuff links, and shiny shoes. We ate at this fantastic chicago-style pizza place, and had a lovely time. It was so great to catch up. I have been missing "home" a little bit lately, so it was nice to see a few Utahns. :)

Marko, Megan, and Me. Bryce calls this the Layton picture.

Thanks Megan and Marko for a fun time!

Roasting Some Mallows

2011-10-07T13:03:00.001-04:00

One of our purchases a while back was a little fire pit for our patio. . . perfect for the fall and goes nicely in our back yard. Last weekend we busted it out and invited the Hill's over for some marshmallow roasting action. We sure had a fun time!

We gathered around the fire pit with our camp chairs and s'more makings and had a grand ole' time, although don't be deceived by the pictures below of our roaring camp fire. It lasted like 2 minutes. And after multiple attempts of restarting it, we ended up roasting marshmallows over the stove in the kitchen. And it worked perfectly!

Me and Cossette . . . I just love her!

Look at what fun!

When we went inside, we had such fun watching the BYU game, and Ellery undoubtedly on a sugar high after eating 10+ marshmallows. It was so hilarious. :) Here is Bryce and Ellery . . . they are such buds. We love those girls and would seriously adopt them as our own. I don't think the parents would approve though.

P.S. Graham Crakers + Reeses Peanut Butter Cups + Roasted Marshmallows = Heaven!
So delicous, it was one of Bryce's greatest inventions.

Virginia Beach Vacay!

2011-09-27T11:15:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago, my daddio gave us a voucher for a free 3 day/2 night vacation to a place of our choosing~and one of our options was Virginia Beach! Not sure how he got it, but anyhow, we filled out the voucher, chose this past weekend to go, and off we went! The only catch was that we had to listen to a 90 minute lecture about buying a timeshare, but no big deal.

We were so looking forward to hanging out at the beach, getting a little suntan, and getting in the water, but it literally rained the whole time! So we had to adjust our plans a bit, but we still did have a great time. On our way to Virginia beach, we stopped in Williamsburg, and we're so glad we did. It was beautiful and historical, and I'm sure you could spend days there, but we only did a couple hours. They had these old buildings and shops and cobblestone streets, and it was super fun. Williamsburg is also home to the William and Mary College, and we walked around a bit of the campus. It would be such a neat place to go to school.

Look at this place!

Us next to a statue of, I think, Thomas Jefferson

William and Mary

We then continued a bit down the road to Jamestowne. We heard it's an incredible place and they have really cool boats and old villages, etc. When we got there, it started pouring rain, and then you had to pay to get in, so we decided that we'd forgo it and come when we had more time, so after we snapped a few pictures, we hit the road.

Bryce by the Idaho flag

a really cool fountain in Jamestowne

After getting stuck in traffic, and going through an underwater tunnel (which I never knew even existed!), we arrived in Virginia beach. A very fun place~ I can only imagine how crowded it is in the summer! And on every block there were night clubs and body piercing stores and bars, and souvenir shops. How funny.

Our first goal while there was to hang at the beach, but because of the rain, our goal then became to eat some great seafood. (which we did. we had delicious salmon, sushi, crab legs, shrimp . . . ) Our first night, we left to go to a seafood place. We walked about a block, and were equipped with our umbrella. It started pouring this nasty side rain, and when we walked into the restaurant it looked like we'd just hopped out of the shower. We were literally dripping from head to toe, and it was kinda embarrassing, but a fun memory!

And it rained the whole time we were there. We had to go get us some slickers, and once we had those, we could walk around without being super drenched. But it was very beautiful! Look at this beach:

so nice, right?

Bryce dipping his feet into the Atlantic Ocean! The water was cold,

but actually not as cold as it was in California.

The flip flops we wore all weekend foamed up like soap at the bottom. It was the weirdest thing! Bryce was totally disgusted by it (as he hates feet)

The old Coast Guard station

We did our fair share of walking on the boardwalk and atlantic avenue, but because of the rain, we went to the movies, swam in our hotel pool, got a massage . . . it was a very relaxing time! And our favorite activity~the morning we were going to leave, Bryce remembered that we had a star wars kite in the back seat of his car (thanks for the sweet party favor, Heber and Gentri!). It was only drizzling outside, so we flew a kite on the beach. Bryce did such a rocking job and that kite was up there a long time. So fun! Afterward, we gave the kite to some kiddos at the beach, and we headed home.

Thanks, dad for setting us up on that vacation. We had a great time!!!

Fall Farmers Market and Fresh Apple Pie

2011-09-22T11:40:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday, my good friend Gentri and I went off to a farmers market. All Bryce had on his agenda was watching college football, and so when Gentri called, I was glad to hurry and get ready and go. The farmers market was so fantastic . . . a lot smaller scale than the huge farmers market that we're used to in San Luis Obispo . . . but they had a lot of quality produce, and that made us happy!

My very favorite were the peaches! They were so delicious and juicy, and come to think of it, I ate them all! Didn't even leave one for Bryce. They were just too good!

And look at this picture that I snapped of Gentri while there! She's so beautiful and such a good friend- she definitely has that pregnant glow about her . . . :)

While there, we found some delicious apples, and Gen always talks about how she makes a wonderful pie crust, so we decided to make a pie together. So after the farmers market, we headed to my kitchen and got to work!

I've never made pie crust, but it wasn't too hard! A little more time consuming than, say, buying a pre-made Pillsbury crust like I always do, but it is sooo much more delicious! Oh my goodness, so much better. Looks like I'll be keeping shortening on hand at all times whenever I want to make a chicken pot pie! And for the upcoming holidays.

So we spent the afternoon making this delightful apple pie, and whipping together two pumpkin pies as well. Here we are about ready to pop the pie into the oven:

And the finished product:

Isn't it beautiful? We celebrated by ordering a pizza and Bryce and I and Heber and Gentri enjoyed the fruits of our labors! It's the spontaneous things (like learning to make an apple pie on a whim) that make life that much sweeter. Thanks Gen!

Rewind~ Emily's visit!

2011-08-30T13:57:00.000-04:00

How could I possibly forget to blog about this? Several weeks ago my good friend, Emily decided to come visit us for a few days! What a great friend, huh? She's been busy, busy, busy between work, starting up school again, etc, and needed a bit of a break. We were glad to help out and have her stay for a few days. We sure had fun while she was here!

Bryce was working a lot of the time, but we all got out one afternoon to visit the National Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery of Art. Very cool!! We are looking forward to the off season so we can spend some time in the museums without the crazy crowds.

We also spent some time in Old Town Alexandria~one of my very favorite places in this area. We had fun walking down King Street and seeing all the shops, hanging out by the waterfront, wandering the Torpedo Factory, etc.

aren't these townhouses darling? I'd live there in a heartbeat!

Then one day we went to the city. We spent literally all day walking. I walked my hiney off and was beat by the end of the day, and Emily didn't even break a sweat. haha . . . motivation to get in better shape? We walked around the National Mall, went to the White House, the Museum of Natural History, and Ford's Theatre.

Ooohhh, the Hope Diamond~ over 42 karats of bling!

the famous Ford's Theatre, where President Lincoln was assassinated. You walked through a museum before going into the theatre, and it was really neat.
Still a functioning theatre today

We had such a lovely time just catching up and hanging out. Thanks so much for coming to visit, Em! Love you!

Earthquake!

2011-08-25T11:41:00.001-04:00

Who would've thought that we've lived most of our lives in Utah/Idaho, and spent a year and a half in California, then when we move to Virginia, we experience our first earthquake?! It's pretty wild to think about. On Tuesday, August 23rd, around 2:00 pm. the earthquake struck, and measured in at 5.8 on the Richter scale. Here's a lovely map~ the epicenter was about 75 miles away from us.

I was sitting on the couch watching TV (although I promise that's not all I do all day long). It started as a low rumble, and then got louder and things really started to shake~ the windows, the frames on the wall, the TV. I stood up and started running around like a crazy person. I kept thinking, "Should I turn off the TV? Should I get underneath the table? Should I get under a door frame?" And then by the time I came to my senses and realized I probably should get underneath something, the earthquake stopped.

Bryce was at work, and at first when the earthquake started, his coworkers thought they might be under an attack, but realization hit when the ceiling tiles were banging up and down. After the earthquake, the whole building was evacuated, and he hung outside for just over an hour before they were allowed back in the building. Made for a crazy commute home because most people just headed home after the quake.

I guess there have been quite a few aftershocks, and we felt one last night. At about one in the morning we awoke to the shaking. I asked Bryce, "Was that an aftershock?" And then we went back to sleep. But it was a pretty good one~ a 4.5.

What a crazy week! And now we're preparing for Hurricane Irene that's headed our direction. Lucky us!! Our plans for this weekend: hunker down in the house and brace the storm.

First Annual Blake Family Reunion

2011-08-05T12:57:00.000-04:00

Our recent adventure was our trip to the beautiful Jackson Hole area for the first annual Blake Family Reunion. What a lovely time we had! Although it was a short visit for us, we packed in the fun~ and let me tell you, it was so fantastic to have the whole family together!!! (The only thing missing was matching t-shirts.)

The weather was so great, and it was nice to get away from the humidity. In fact, we dodged the 110+ degrees that they were having in DC. Phew! We loved the crisp, cool air in the morning. We loved catching up with the family and soaking up all the time with our nephews and new niece.

I had the hardest time picking pictures for this post, because we had hundreds to choose from. So here we go!

We had a great time hanging out at the ranch

and seeing the grandparents on Sunday

and hiking!

We went on our annual family hike. It was so fun, and so, so beautiful. Iola and Grandma commented about how, "I'd come a long way" in terms to my hiking. I guess the first year I went on the hike I complained the whole way, which when I think about it- is pretty accurate. Sorry guys!!! You've toughened me up, and now I enjoy it. :)

and when you get views like this, who wouldn't love this hike? The wildflowers were indescribable!!

We also hung out at one of our favorite places for the afternoon- String lake. We enjoyed the canoe and the paddle boat, and the icy cool water!

Bryce took this picture- the best one of the whole vacation!
It cracks me up every time.

And Amy was awesome and took some family pictures. Turned out so nice!!

We sure had a great time. Can't wait till next year!

Our 4th of July

2011-07-09T15:01:00.000-04:00

We had a fantastic 4th of July with my parents!! After a relaxing morning, and a delicious BBQ at our new friends house, we headed into DC. Turns out, the Nation's capitol is quite the place to be on Independence Day. It was really great! The metro wasn't too bad going into the city, and we went through security and found us a lovely little spot on the west lawn of the Capitol . . . perfect viewing for the concert and the fireworks. We met up with Austin, Kat, Ellery, and Coco, and had a great time hanging out until the show began.

Here is our lovely spot. It isn't very crowded in this picture, but by the time the fireworks began, it was completely packed full of people!

This might be my favorite picture ever! My parents smiling in the background, Bryce's expression, Coco in the front . . . I love it so much!

The concert was also fantastic! We listened to Jordin Sparks, Josh Groban, Matthew Morrison, Steve Martin and his band, and the National Symphony.

4th of July fun

And here is a video of part of the fireworks. They were beautiful- launched right by the Washington Monument. Unfortunately the smoke covered about half of the fireworks, but it was still a great show.

Afterward, we headed to the Capitol South metro stop (genius idea) and were able to get a seat. A few stops later, and the metro was packed to the gills . . . complete chaos! But we just rode the train to the end of the line, and it was no sweat.

We were so grateful for our parents for coming to visit, and for celebrating the 4th of July with us. It was so special to be here in DC for this holiday, and to be able to spend it with family too. We had such a lovely time!! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Mom and Dad in Old Town Alexandria

Visitors in Virginia- part 1

2011-07-09T14:41:00.000-04:00

We were lucky enough to have my parents come and visit us this past week. We had a fantastic time with them. :) They helped us out with quite a few projects around the house (why is it that when we have visitors, we always just put them to work?), and we did a lot of sightseeing as well. And the funny thing is that we just barely skimmed the surface- there is so much to do and see! We had a great time being together. Here are a few things that we did while they were in town:

-We went to Mount Vernon. This was my favorite thing that we did, and we live super close to Mt. Vernon. I'm looking forward to going again (and this time taking Bryce), and we now have annual passes. :)

-We drove out to Manassas to check out the battlefield. I guess an ancestor of ours fought in this battle (also known as the battle of Bull Run) and lost his arm. It was a pretty neat place, and interesting to learn the history of the Civil War.

-We went to the Arlington Cemetery...some place that everyone must go who visits DC. There is such a feeling there at the cemetery- kind of hard to describe- a mixture of sadness, but gratitude for all of those who lost their lives in the fight for freedom.

One of the neatest things to watch is the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

-After that, we headed into the city and went to a Washington National's game. So much fun! I think my dad was happy. The game was a little slow, until the National's won it at the bottom of the 9th inning.

-On Saturday, we went into DC. We had tickets to the Holocaust Museum, and then we were going to check out some other Smithsonian's. Well, the Holocaust Museum took up most of the time. Definitely not the most uplifting museum-it was completely heartbreaking- but it was so fantastic and well done. I have always had an interest in the Holocaust, and it was so interesting to learn about how everything came to be. Such a sad story, but one we must all learn.

Holocaust Museum

Smithsonian Castle

-On Sunday, we went on a little drive out to the temple. A much shorter drive than in CA- just less than an hour. DC is such a beautiful temple!

Stay tuned for our 4th of July fun!

Into the City

2011-06-20T15:33:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we hopped on the metro and headed to DC for a little bit of fun. We went without too much of an agenda (the nice thing about being so close by), we just wanted to check out a few of the monuments and go from there. We went early and it was an overcast day, but still humid and hot!

When we got off the metro- bam, there was the Washington Monument. So we walked that way. It was really neat, but we were bummed that the reflection pool was under construction. See:

Bryce by the Washington Monument. haha this picture makes me laugh.

Then we continued onward to the Lincoln Memorial. It is my most favorite place so far. I've always been fond of Honest Abe.

Bryce in front of the Lincoln Memorial

We then headed over to the White House.

Me in front of the White House

We contemplated whether or not to go into some Smithsonian Museum's but we decided to leave those for another day, because we were so hungry, and we knew of a place we wanted to go for lunch. Are you guys ready for Man vs. Food experience #2?! (Paul and Ainsley, we know you'll appreciate it!)

Ben's Chili Bowl:

Ben's Chili Bowl is a famous little place, and it was jam packed! That is sign of good food. We both ordered a chili half smoke (Bill Cosby's favorite), and shared some chili cheese fries. Oh my gosh, guys . . . it was delicious!!!

Bryce with his chili half smoke

Our chili cheese fries

Well, that was it for the day-our first adventure into the city. And the best news- we can go back!

Welcome to our Home!

2011-06-20T11:08:00.000-04:00

Since we are semi-settled in our new place, I thought I'd give you a little picture tour of where we live. You know I love that!! :) So, welcome to our little townhome!

On the main level:

Our kitchen: you can't tell too much from the picture, but it's quite small. Small, but updated, and very nice. It would be perfect if there was a pantry.

Our living room: We love our new couch! It is so so comfortable! But it is also just a tiny bit too big for our space. It looked so small at the furniture store, but once we got it in our home, it's a bit of a tight squeeze. You will notice in this next picture.

Dining area: our poor little table has to be squished against the wall, and notice where the couch is. Very interesting predicament we have. Not sure what the solution is going to be. But for now it'll work!

Upstairs:

Our bedroom. I actually really love the green walls.

My art room- am I spoiled or what?

And in the basement:

The man cave. We definitely didn't pick out this fire engine red color, but what can you do?
We think the basement will be perfect in the winter time if we had a chair and ottoman to snuggle up and read to next to the fireplace. Perhaps someday . . .

And I won't forget the backyard:

We love our deck and patio! We're also excited to plant some flowers to make the yard colorful. We have worked on the yard a lot so far. It used to be full of weeds and leaves. Now it's ready to go. :)

So welcome to our home! We are really enjoying it so far. I think we'll like it. If you're ever wanting to visit the DC area, you know where to come!

The National Zoo

2011-06-14T14:58:00.000-04:00

On Memorial Day (and the last day before Bryce started work), we went with our friends Austin and Kat and their sweet little girls to the National Zoo. We thought it would be fun to figure out the metro and to get out a little bit. It was HOT! And by that I mean 95 degrees and a zillion percent humidity. Crazy hot. We drank a lot of water and sweat a ton. But we did have a good time!

Here is Bryce with his metro pass! Consider us locals now . . . kind of. Locals who will be acting like tourists for quite some time!

us in front of the Zoo.

There were lots of beautiful animals at the zoo, and the best part . . . it's free! That's the beauty of living in the DC area-- lots of free activities! :) Thanks, Smithsonian!

Great time at the Zoo- the trek back to the metro: not so fun. The heat made us a little delirious, but we had a great time! Here's to many, many more times taking the metro and exploring the city

Gaylord Opryland Hotel

2011-06-05T13:43:00.000-04:00

One of our must see stops along the way was the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. As a high school student I went there on a school trip, and Bryce has heard me rave about what a fantastic place it is . . . so I wanted to make a stop to show Bryce the hotel. We planned on going there and walking around for a little while and then just continuing down the road. Well, we pull up the drive to the hotel and what do you know? The parking is $18.00! What a rip! So after some thinking about it, we decided that instead of paying $18.00 to park, we may as well just, you know . . . spend a lot more . . . and stay there for the night. Awesome! It was pretty much an anniversary gift to ourselves since we didn't really do anything for our 5 years, so happy anniversary to us . . . it was fun acting like rich people just for one night.

us inside the hotel

Everyone who goes to Nashville at some point has to go there! It is the most incredible, huge hotel that you will ever go to. You could (and we did) get lost in that place for hours finding your way around that place. There were beautiful atrium gardens and fountains and waterfalls, lots of little shops and restaurants. It was nice to eat dinner there, walk around, enjoy some Haagen-Daz ice cream, and just relax!

After dinner, we sat down and watched this incredible fountain show that was about 30 minutes long. It was so much fun to watch. At one point, this Latin music came on and all the dads watching starting dancing with their little kids. That part made us sad . . . but it was really cool. And I don't consider myself a great photographer, but look at this photo. Sweet, huh?

Short trip at the Opryland, but we had a great time. And with that said, I'll leave you with some more cool pictures of the place.

Walkin' in Memphis!

2011-06-02T07:12:00.000-04:00

It was so lucky that our road trips route went right through Memphis, TN, where Haylee and Justin live. We always meant to visit them there at some point, and we hadn't seen those nephews of ours in over a year, so it was perfect!!! We were so grateful to crash there for a little bit and get out of the car, even better that we got to see family.

Here are a few fun things that we did while there:

Bryce and I in downtown, by the Mississippi river and the famous bridge

-We did have some fun walking around in downtown and checking out Beale Street. We visited the Peabody Hotel and walked by BB Kings- but boy, I was so worn out and tired from it. We didn't even walk around a ton; I am still trying to get all of my energy back.

Downtown Memphis-Beale Street

-We went to Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken. It was phenomenal! Bryce and I first learned of this fantastic little hole in the wall on Man vs. Food, and Haylee and Justin had heard good things about it too, so off we went. It was by far the most delicious fried chicken I've ever had- very juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and it had the perfect amount of kick to it.

-And of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Memphis without going to Graceland! Bryce and I went, and it was really neat! Afterward, we had Elvis songs in our head the rest of the day.

We had a lovely time hanging with Hay and Justin just like the good old times, we even went bowling to commemorate the times we were on a bowling league. And spending time with our nephews was really the icing on the cake. Thanks for letting us visit!!

Road Tripping

2011-06-01T08:04:00.000-04:00

We made it!!!! After 48+ hours of being on the road, we've finally reached our destination. And boy, does it ever feel good to be out of the car. I'm not sure if I would recommend driving from California to Virginia, but it was kind of cool in some ways. We had some funny experiences and we saw a lot of the country. We started the drive along the pacific coast, driving alongside the ocean (how we'll miss that!), then drove through the desert through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas (which was quite boring.), and once we got to Oklahoma, it started to get really pretty, and the views just got better and better!

Explanation of above picture: our first night we stayed at America's Best Value Inn. 4 doors down from us was this "Beware of Snake" sign. I about lost it. What if the said snake could crawl through the vents and come into our room? It was a little sketchy. So we decided to stay in places a step up from that the rest of the way.

And so we made it to Virginia. It is very out of our element, extremely hot and humid, but we're here. Hopefully we'll like it! We did make a couple really cool stops along the way, which deserve a blog post in themselves, but we're glad the road tripping is over.We are staying with the Hill family, who have been so gracious in letting us crash at their place for a little while (Thanks guys!).

Well, that's all for now!

Things we'll miss . . .

2011-05-24T08:02:00.001-04:00

Well, adios, California! We're officially on the road. We decided to make a pit stop at Justin and Haylee's in Memphis since it was literally right on the way- 31 hours down! It's nice to have a little break. I just got to thinking about our home in California and all the things we'll miss. Here's a few:

-The perfect, mild weather. We'll sure miss that sunny and 70 with a slight breeze
-Our friends we met. Especially Tom and Steph, and their beautiful baby Presley
(and Bryce and Tom talking about movies all the time)
-Avila beach
-Avila barn
-The strawberries! Being able to just pull off at a stand at the side of the road and buy some
-The Santa Maria BBQ! It really grew on us- and it was so delicious!
-My girlfriends at work
-Our trips to Solvang

We had some really good times and some really awful times there. It was a great start to Bryce's career, and what a great little place to live nestled right in the central coast. Goodbye, Santa Maria! On to different things . . .

and the battle wounds continue . . .

2011-05-17T16:52:00.000-04:00

Hey all! I thought everyone deserves a little update with our lives. Bryce and his mother are busy packing and cleaning while I am relaxing in bed, so I figured I could write up a blog post. Apparently the Blake household is getting quite the hit lately, and we can't seem to catch a break. Bryce and I have appreciated all the sweet comments and words of sympathy, but folks- that unfortunately wasn't the half of it. The story continues . . .

Last week I had good days and bad days, but I had a particularly hard day on Thursday. I was having some pretty severe cramps and bleeding, and I just kept thinking, "Man, this D&C just must be a B**** to recover from!" I had my follow up appointment that day with my OB, and when he told me that pathology did not detect any pregnancy related tissue from the D&C, that set off the first red flag.

He had me go get my labs done right away to check my HCG levels, and they were still far too high, so he made an appointment for an ultrasound early the next morning to rule out a tubal/ectopic pregnancy. The funny thing is that before we did the D&C, he did a pretty thorough ultrasound, and we had thought that was already ruled out.

That night (during American Idol, actually...can you believe James got sent home?), I started having the worst pain in my life. I seriously felt so miserable, I thought I was going to die. And after calling the doctor, we headed straight to the Emergency Room.

We got there at about 9:30, and they got me back there relatively quickly. The ultrasound tech started doing an ultrasound on my belly and saw a lot of free floating blood and fluid and was positive that I would have to have surgery again. Although there was too much fluid in the way, she suspected a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.

Thank goodness for morphine, because at about 2:15 in the morning I was wheeled into surgery. They removed a big blood clot, about 1 1/2 cups of blood, and my right fallopian tube, as well as the ectopic pregnancy.

Now I do have some very gruesome pictures of my surgery and incisions, but I will spare you and give you just a picture of my bruised up hand from the IV. This one is even worse!

We have been so lucky to have such supportive and loving family and friends. My sweet mother dropped everything and flew out here the same day to take care of me and help us out. Bryce's mom is here now helping us out too. With our move just 2 days away, we needed all the help we can get, because trust me, I'm not doing anything.

Bryce and I are so, so grateful for our wonderful family and friends throughout this whole ordeal. Our friends from our ward have been amazing. Our families have been great. My coworkers all visited me at the hospital, gave me gifts, and said goodbye. It has made this whole thing somewhat bearable.

We are absolutely devastated. I don't know how else to say it. We are mourning the loss of a child, and it is the most heartbreaking feeling in the world. I would not wish this upon anyone. There are times when I've almost felt numb and like all my tears are gone, but then I have another little meltdown and cry again. But we do know one thing for certain. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much. He knows what we are going through, and He is heartbroken with us. I don't know why this was allowed to happen to us. I honestly don't. We've tried for 3 years to get pregnant, so why couldn't that be our obstacle? But I know that some day, eventually, Bryce and I will be parents. And we will be the most grateful, appreciative parents in the world.

We will be leaving California here by the end of the week, and we are in such a need of a fresh start. We'll have a nice long road trip, but Bryce and I need each other emotionally right now. It will be a good time for us to reflect together, and I hope Virginia will treat us well.

Battle Wounds

2011-05-07T15:40:00.000-04:00

What a roller coaster this past couple of months has been! Seriously, it's been quite the ride. From wondering where Bryce would find a job, to learning we'd be moving across the country, to getting into a car accident, to this story . . . hopefully it's not too personal.

It's no secret that Bryce and I would love to be parents. We've tried for a very long time, and have been going to see an infertility specialist for the past couple of months. A few months ago, we decided to give intrauterine insemination a go to see if it would work. To our pleasure and surprise, it did!! We couldn't have been more thrilled. I was so excited to start a new life in VA, and to prepare for bringing a little one into our home. We couldn't have been more grateful.

On our way home from our vacation, we stopped at the doctors office for our first ultrasound, only to find that there was nothing to be found-no baby. We were told that it would most likely end in a miscarriage, but that we'd do another ultrasound in a week to see for certain. After days of praying and hoping and fasting, when we went to the doctor again, it was bad news.

Thursday I went in for surgery to have a D&C done. Although the surgery went well, this whole process has been so frightening, and emotionally and physically painful. I know my mother and my sister have gone through this experience. Many people do. But it's hard to completely comprehend the pain until you go through it yourself.

Look at this bruise from my IV! For some reason, I'm so proud of it! It looks so cool. When Bryce commented on it yesterday, I said, "It's just a battle wound from my sucky life." That was mostly a joke- I am not unhappy with my life. Just going through a tiny little rough patch.

I am not writing this post for sympathy or anything like that, I just want to remember when I go back later on and look at our experiences. Hopefully this will be one little bump in the road that has shaped who we are. I know that someday we will be lucky enough to be parents, and when we are, we will truly appreciate it. I guess it's just not our time right now.

Although this past week has been very rough for Bryce and I, am so grateful for the Savior and for the love that He has for us. There have been many instances when I have felt so much love and comfort from Him, and I am so grateful for the knowledge and the happiness that this gospel brings.

And with that said, I'm going to continue my movie marathon and relax on the couch. Doctors orders.

Easter Getaway

2011-05-07T15:20:00.000-04:00

Over the Easter weekend, we decided to make a quick trip back to Idaho and Utah to visit. That's how we spend our time when we have some vacation- we go visit our families! It was very much needed, especially with our upcoming move. So off we went to LA to catch our flight. We landed in SLC, and made the drive up to Idaho.

It was sure nice to be back there and to see everyone. It had been a year and a half since we'd seen Lane and Whit! We got to meet our beautiful niece, baby Melaina. She sure is a sweet little thing, and we're so happy for the proud parents, Lane and Whitney.

It was also lots of fun to see our nephews, Easton and Noah. They were so excited about Easter, and had their fair share of sugar on Sunday . . . here they are coloring their easter eggs.

After a few days visiting in Idaho, we went back to Utah for a little bit. It was so lovely to be there for a short time, I love it there. The crisp air, the mountains . . . I've missed it. I should have taken more pictures while there. But it was great just being able to see my family and to spend some time with my grandma.

So that was our trip in a nutshell. It was just the break we needed. Now we're back in our little home in California for only a few more weeks, and we need to get everything situated for our big move!

Lucky to be alive!

2011-04-29T15:35:00.000-04:00

Two blog posts in one day . . . can you believe it?! I decided to play some serious catch up.

A few weeks ago, I got into a pretty scary car accident on the way to work. It shook me up pretty good. Here's the story.

I had just merged onto the freeway, and there was an old white car going super slow in front of me, so I signaled to get over in the middle lane to pass him. The lane was clear, and so I started to get over. Little did I know, there was a very impatient car in the far left lane who wanted to whip around a car real quick, and without signaling, he got over too. He honked at me to move, and sped off! Well that freaked me out, and I swerved to the right to avoid being hit, but the white car was going so slow, that I moved to the shoulder to avoid hitting him. He slammed on his brakes, and hit me. From the momentum of getting hit from behind, I spun through 3 lanes of traffic, and ended up on the median facing oncoming traffic.

What a story. It was seriously the most frightening thing that has ever happened to me, and I am so grateful that it wasn't worse. I am now very cautious on the freeway, and a bit nervous to pass anyone. I am sure I'll get over that.

So here are a few pictures of the $2700 worth of damage that I caused. The insurance is going to fix the car, and I should have it back in business next week sometime.

The crunch from behind

a flat tire from being spun around

So with all that said, I'm lucky to be alive! :)

We're alive!

2011-04-29T09:56:00.000-04:00

We have been starting to get some comments about how we haven't blogged in such a long time . . . so to the few of you who faithfully read this blog, we're sorry!! It must seem like we dropped off the face of the planet. But we're alive!! For a while there, we just had nothing to blog about, no news to report. Then life just got really crazy. And here's the craziest thing . . .

Bryce just accepted a great job offer. His job here in California will be coming to an end here in a few months, so he has been diligently looking for other jobs within the company. Well, he found one that we think he will love, and guess where we'll be moving to?!

Virginia.

He will be working here:

And we'll live about a half an hour from here:

We are really, very excited about it! We do realize that it is literally from one side of the country to another. It is really far away. We've become west coasters here in this beautiful state of California. But who's to say that we can't be east coasters too? This step is going to be really great for Bryce's career, and we're excited about all the opportunities heading our way.

So in a few short weeks, we've gotta be out of CA, and we have a LOT of stuff to figure out. Not to mention a very long road trip.

Pebble Beach, CA

2011-02-20T19:25:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we had the fabulous opportunity of going to Pebble Beach, CA for the AT&T Pro Am golf tournament. (A special thanks to our friend Austin, who gave us the tickets! I saw that he was giving them away on facebook, and we acted fast!) It was awesome!! Not only was Pebble Beach one of the most breathtaking places we've seen, but we both crossed off things on our bucket lists- Bryce, to go to a golf tournament, and Jamie, to see a celebrity. :)

We had a fantastic, long day of walking, watching golf, taking in the views, and enjoying the perfect 75 degree sunshine! We started early in the morning and followed Tony Romo and Bill Murray (I love Bill Murray! I still quote What About Bob), and then we were able to catch up with Phil Mickelson at the back 9. We watched him for a while, and then went down to the 18th hole and watched some players finish up. Phil Mickelson=my very favorite! I've always thought he has so much class, plus he's a lefty! I was totally star struck. And he's an excellent golfer.

We also saw Kevin Cosner, Ray Romano, George Lopez, among others. Bryce and I both agreed that Kevin Cosner was our favorite celeb! He was so charming- blowing kisses to the crowd and everything!

Now for the pictures. I'm lucky I got this one below because cameras were not allowed in. Only cell phones in specific areas. I got yelled at numerous times for attempting to take a picture of the ocean and the views, and a few times for texting. Sheesh! So here is my one illegal picture.

The 18th hole

I was able to take a few more of the view in a cell phone approved area. Pebble Beach is so, so beautiful. These pictures don't nearly do justice!

We ended the long day by making a stop to Carmel By The Sea for a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner. Also a very cute, charming town. One that my mother would love. And then we made our drive home. A very wonderful, fun filled weekend!

*Thanks Austin and Kat for the tickets and for letting us stay with you! You guys rock.

Our sweet little nieces . . .

2011-02-05T17:18:00.000-05:00

We finally were able to head out to Texas to meet these darling little nieces of ours and to see Megan and Josh. We went for the special occasion of Briley and Emery's baby blessing, and we had a fantastic time. It was especially wonderful that everyone in the fam was able to go, even my grandma! It was a family reunion for sure.

And just look at how beautiful they are. They are such good babies, and they already have their cute little personalities showing through. And they love their little vibrating bouncers.

We spent a lot of time snuggling up to them and feeding them bottles. I had a lot of extra opportunity as my mom and I had baby duty for 3 nights. Soaked up every minute of it! Even at 2 in the morning.

Look at what a natural Bryce is! He's going to make a great father one day.

Here are a few pictures of just after church:

My parents, Megan and Josh, and Briley and Emery (not sure which baby is which)

4 generation picture
Us and the twins. Poor little things were so zonked out with all the picture taking.

And I won't forget the dog, Lily!

We really had a wonderful weekend catching up with the whole family . . . now it's back to the grind!

Wandering around Solvang

2011-01-25T16:49:00.000-05:00

The past few weeks in California have been divine. High 70's, sometimes in the 80's, a slight warm ocean breeze. Wonderful. It is times like these when I think to myself that I never want to move again . . . although I am sure we will. At any rate, we have to take advantage! :) Last Saturday, we went to the beach and laid out on the sand. It was so warm! This past Saturday, we went on a little drive to Solvang and wandered around town for a few hours. Solvang is officially one of my favorite places to visit.

We went there in hopes to find my mom a birthday gift. We wanted to find a souvenir shop because she loved Solvang so much when she came to visit. We thought- Solvang t-shirt-perfect! Well, we wandered for hours and didn't find one souvenir type place (sorry, Mom!) . . . which ironically is one of the things I love about Solvang. It's not really a tourist trap- there are just lots of quirky little shops full of antiques and other interesting things. For example . . .we went into this antique store and found a beautiful oak grand piano. I wanted it right that second. But it was $24,000. Never mind!

While there, we stopped at a place called Shelbi Ranch where my coworker told me of a .99 fabric store. Rooms and rooms chuck full of fabrics that you just cut yourself and pay for. If I had a project in mind or curtains to make, I'd have been all over it! But just upstairs there was a cafe where everything was $1! One dollar hot dogs (which were claimed to be world's best), hamburgers, drinks, $2 shakes . . . we were all over that! :) What a fun time!

Bryce with his delicious chocolate shake

Me with our country boot drinks

And the most embarrassing picture of me known to man-
devouring the "world's best" hot dog. It was pretty good!

As we were there eating, there was a group of elderly people eating next to us. One older guy was such a crack up. He kept telling us jokes. One of which was about superman, which we didn't get. But as they were leaving, he pulled out a measuring tape, measured how tall Bryce was, and then said, "You measure up!" It was cute! It's little experiences like this that makes us realize that we made the right decision moving out here.

Our Sledding Adventure

2011-01-09T22:36:00.000-05:00

While we were up in Idaho Falls, we thought it would be fun to take the boys out sledding. I thought the idea sounded fun! I've always had fond memories of going sledding as a kid. So we head up to the park, and I was looking forward to it, until I tried walking up the hill. It was sooo icy, and my little tennis shoes did not have much traction. I tried getting up, but was having troubles. Easton even asked if I needed help. Well, I crawled up the hill. Apparently it was quite humorous.

See the person on the left? That's me crawling up the hill.

I didn't even dare sledding down that icy hill, because I knew once I went down, I'd have to crawl up. And I figured trying to crawl up with a sled in tow would be quite the feat. So I watched. It was so cold and windy standing up there. But look how much fun the boys had!

Look how much fun Easton is having! He was quite the little daredevil and went on his own many times. He even faced a fall and a bloody lip, but after a few minutes, he was ready to keep going.

Isn't Bryce the best uncle ever? He loved sledding with Noah, and Noah wanted to go over and over again! :) If you ask Bryce what his favorite part of our Idaho Falls visit was, it was hands down sledding with our nephews!

As for me, I enjoyed watching. And then it got really cold. So I watched from the car.

*Thanks Amy for the pictures! :)

New Year and lots of hope!

2011-01-05T15:24:00.000-05:00

Here I am sitting at work on my lunch break, and I thought I'd make another post. Can you believe that it's already 2011? It is almost hard for me to fathom. There is something about the new year that I love--it is so full of hope. Full of everyone setting goals and trying to become better people. (Often those goals don't last all that long, though. haha)

At this time of year, I can't help but look back on 2010 and realize how very blessed we are. Just last year Bryce and I were getting ready to make our big move to California. Now we've been here about a year and we have learned so much living "away from home." We have had some great times. And some not so great times. But we've grown together. Last year I made a new years resolution post. I made some pretty lofty goals:

-Love where we live. Have a good attitude and enjoy California and everything it has to offer.
It has taken me some time. But I really do love it here. There are lots of little aspects that I love. I love Avila beach. I love the people we've met here. I don't regret our decision to move here. It's been a wonderful experience.
-Finish reading the Book of Mormon. Still not finished . . . I've only made it through 2nd Nephi. But I'm going to finish it!
Still working on it, but I'm a lot further along now! :)
-Continue pursuing getting my children's book published, and get my art website all up and running.
It's getting published! And will be out sometime this year! :) It's a long process.
-Have a more active lifestyle. This includes eating healthy, exercising, and hopefully losing a few lb's to get my insulin resistance under control. If I can control that, it will help in our efforts in having children.
We're working on it, but it's another work in progress. We've done a lot of good things: joined a gym, got a trainer, and have been to what seems like a million doctors appointments. I guess we're on the right track?

So now for 2011:

-Bryce's goal is to read more than he watches TV. That's a big goal (because we watch a lot of TV), but definitely a great one!
-Adapt to change and be happy with where our lives are taking us. Bryce's project with his job is ending soon which will most likely mean another move. We're not sure where we'll go next, but wherever we do we'll make the best of it, and love wherever we move to.
-Make scripture study a daily habit.
-Live a healthy lifestyle: make more homemade meals, exercise more, do more yoga to calm my mind, etc.
-See those sweet little nieces of mine, Briley and Emery! If only we lived closer. Maybe that should be a goal?

So here's to 2011! Hope it's a great year!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-02T18:59:00.000-05:00

This year, we were able to go home for the holidays to see our families. We were planning on leaving on the 23rd of December, but with the passing of my grandfather, we took off a week earlier than planned. Kind of bittersweet, but it meant more family time. We drove all day Thursday (a 14 hour drive) . . . we left at 5:30 in the morning, and rolled in around 7:30 pm. What a drive! If I had the choice, we'd split it up into two days.

We were able to spend more than a week with my family in Utah. It sure felt good to be home with my family . . . it had been about a year since we'd been there to visit, so it was really nice. We had such a lovely Christmas there, and watched lots of old home videos, which brought back lots of funny memories.

As always, my mother prepared an excellent Christmas Eve dinner with ham and turkey and all the fixings. I also made Iola's delicious egg nog.

Everyone gathered around the table for the Christmas Eve feast

We also had a very nice Christmas Eve Recital, just like the old times, and we were very spoiled on Christmas morning.

My mom's beautiful tree . . . it looks like Santa came!

Bryce and I on Christmas morning

one of Bryce's Christmas presents . . . it's beginning to be a tradition I think.

After our great Christmas in Utah, we traveled up the road to Idaho to see Bryce's family. Todd and his family were there too, and we had a great time with our nephews! We didn't take one picture while we were there. Not one. But I assure you, we had a great time! We went sledding with our nephews, did some shopping, saw Tron, baked some bread . . . we were busy!

We were planning on staying a little longer than we did, but there was a big storm rolling in through Idaho and Utah, and we decided (a little last minute) that it would be best if we beat the storm. So after a few days in Idaho, we left for our own home sweet home. And after 2 weeks of being away, it felt so good to be back.

We hope everyone had a great holiday!

Grandpa Hanni

2010-12-30T20:06:00.000-05:00

On December 13th, 2010, my Grandpa Hanni passed away. His health had been going downhill for a while now, and for the last 6 months of his life he was bedridden. Although we will miss him, it really is a blessing. Now he's on the other side . . . not in pain, with lots of loved ones, and I know he is happy.

Grandpa really was an amazing man. I will always have fond memories of his immaculate garden, his lessons on how to pick the perfect raspberries, and his sports talk, among other things.

His funeral service was really nice. My sister, Erin, took some really lovely pictures of the military honors, the casket, and of the family. Maybe I will post those later. But until then, this is his obituary.

Until we meet again, Grandpa! We love you.

Our LA Adventure

2010-12-19T13:37:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, we met up with some of our great friends, Paul and Ainsley, from our good ol' Rexburg days in the big city of LA. Our goal: to pack in as much fun stuff to do in one day. We did, and were totally tourists! We had fun catching up with each other and exploring the city. We didn't have so much fun in all the traffic. (I guess I should say I didn't have so much fun in all the traffic)

Our first stop: The Getty- a beautiful museum that overlooks the city. Great views of thy skyline, lots of really neat exhibits, and a very complex architecture.

Our next stop: The Grove- a fantastic shopping mall and farmers market. We had the most amazing Brazilian BBQ there. Paul served his mission in Brazil, so he told us all the yummy food to get. They had great shops there, and a huge Christmas tree. It looked so festive there!

The Christmas decor at The Grove

Paul, Ainsley, and their beautiful baby, Cailin

Bryce and I at The Grove

Bryce with Cailin. Awwww!

Here is our view of the Hollywood sign. It's a tiny little speck, but hey, we were pretty excited about it.

Our next stop: Hollywood!! Little did we know it was the World Premiere of Tron, so it was crazy busy. The street was all blocked off for the stars, the paparazzi was all there, and they were giving out free Coke Zero. I was so looking forward to seeing someone famous, (my goal while living in California) but to no avail. They had it very blocked off. I was kind of surprised that Hollywood isn't as ritzy as I thought.

Tron Premiere

And our final stop: The Staples Center for a hockey game. The LA Kings were playing the Minnesota Wild, and it was lots of fun. It is Bryce's favorite sport to watch live now, because it is so fast paced and there were lots of crazy fights!

All in all, it was a very fun, very long day! We ended up getting home around 2 in the morning, and were so exhausted! But it was sure nice to catch up with our friends, and now we feel like we've truly had the LA experience.

Busiest week of the year

2010-12-02T19:04:00.000-05:00

Is it weird that I think that the first week of December is the busiest week of the year? Maybe that isn't necessarily true, but it sure seems like it. If you don't agree, just think about it. This week we've sure got a lot on our plate between work, the ward activity, office Christmas party, etc. I feel like I'm running around like crazy trying to get things done.

Today I got home to find things cluttered. The bathrooms need cleaning. I need to cook dinner. But I decided to prioritize. I am going to just sit down, listen to the new Glee Christmas album (that I just downloaded) and paint on the the computer- while sitting in the living room by our Christmas tree.

Good decision, don't you think? I suppose cleaning and cooking can wait.

ps- highly recommend the Glee Christmas album

Oh Christmas Tree!

2010-11-27T18:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we decorated our little home for Christmas. We searched for the perfect tree this past week, and are very pleased with our choice! Although there is no snow on the ground, and no family close by, it's feeling like the Christmas season now! :) Here's a picture of our beautiful tree:

Thanksgiving at Home

2010-11-27T18:19:00.000-05:00

This year we were blessed to have Bryce's parents come and visit and host Thanksgiving at home. It was so wonderful to have a simple holiday here--we had a great time. It was nice to have them here this week. Tuesday, Bryce and his parents had lots of bonding time visiting the barn and Pismo beach. Wednesday we discovered how delicious danish pancakes are, and had lots of fun cooking and shopping.

Thanksgiving morning, we woke up and went to Oso Flaco for a nice little walk to the beach. We figured we ought to burn a few calories before our big meal. And the rain stopped and it was beautiful all day that day!

Afterward, we headed back to our place and put all the final touches on our Thanksgiving meal. We had all the fixings-- a delicious turkey, stuffing, potatoes, yams, the whole shabang. Iola and I were a great team and we made a great meal.

The cooks!

Family gathered around the table

This was a perfect Thanksgiving to enjoy food, family, and really reflect on all the blessings we have. We really have so much to be thankful for!!

Halloween Details . . .

2010-11-04T23:59:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was full of Halloween festivities. It was sure busy, but we had a great time. On Friday, all of us at my work dressed up and we had a delicious potluck. It feels great to be working with such awesome ladies! :) I feel very blessed.

Susana- dressed up as an Indian
Bertha- a cougar
Louisa- a French artist
and me- a skeleton

Saturday was our ward Halloween carnival and trunk or treat. Since I am in the activities committee, it took up most of the day. It turned out lots of fun, and it seemed to be a big hit for all the kiddos. Bryce and I went in our costumes, and it was pretty fun. Although Bryce was roasting up in his costumes . . . I guess those muscle costumes hold in a lot of heat! We didn't get pictures of the event, we were so busy the whole time.

On Sunday, we went over to our friends Stephanie and Tom's, who hosted a lovely Halloween get together. They went all out! Just look at these yummy desserts they made:

Lots of couples showed up and we all had a great time. Here are some of the awesome costumes of the night (notice Bryce's costume is simplified):

I especially loved Stephanie's "mother earth" costume!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

2010-11-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

Happy (late) Halloween from the two of us (all dressed up as the flash and a skeleton)!

We had a great Halloween, and more pictures of the festivities are to come.

In the Halloween spirit!

2010-10-23T19:33:00.000-04:00

It's been quite a while since our last post, but we're still alive. We've just been super busy between work and everything else going on. Halloween is fast approaching, and for some reason I'm super excited about it!! I think it's the first year that Bryce and I are going all out for our costumes, and they are going to ROCK! Wait until next week and you will see the awesomeness of our costumes. :)

Last Saturday we got into the Halloween spirit by heading up to the barn with Steph and Tom to pick out some pumpkins. That place was jam packed and so crazy- pretty sure everyone on the central coast had the same idea as us. But they had TONS of awesome pumpkins and as always, a bakery that does not disappoint. We got the yummiest pumpkin bread there.

After that, we all headed over to our friends Scott and Kelli's house and we had pizza and carved pumpkins. It was a great day to get in the spirit!

It's about time!

2010-09-27T19:30:00.000-04:00

I am very pleased and happy to announce that I have a job!

I am sure many of you are in applause right now. Or perhaps thinking, "It's about time." It is about time, I would say. It took me 8 months to find a job here (Besides that little one month period where I did have one, just an awful one. And let's just forget about that, shall we?)

Anyway, I am now working for a general surgeon here in town as a medical assistant. I do everything from scheduling patients, answering phones, taking patients into their rooms and doing vital signs, etc. It's been a great job so far. I'm learning a lot. Everyone I work with is super nice, the hours are great, no complaints.

So now I'm a working woman, just trying to get used to having a crazy schedule . . . juggling working 30 hours a week, taking care of the house, finalizing everything with my children's book, and trying to manage squeezing in some time for the projects that I want to be working on. Good times, good times.

But I am so happy and so thankful that I have a job. We feel really blessed and feel like we are where we're supposed to be. Lots of love to everyone!

My Playlist

2010-09-13T18:04:00.000-04:00

Like everyone else, I love listening to some good tunes. I always have music on in the background whether I'm cleaning the house, quilting, painting, you name it. We also got a gym membership recently, so I bring my ipod--that way I can focus more on the music and not the fact that I feel like I'm going to die. Anyway, here are a few songs that I never can get enough of:

1. Blink 182- I Miss You
I've always really loved this song. I've had it memorized ever since high school when I worked at Anchor Blue and they played it all the time. The lyrics are really twisted and a little creepy, but I think that's one of the reasons I like it so much. Weird.
"And as I stared I counted the webs from all the spiders, catching things and eating their insides--like my indecision to call you, and hear your voice of treason . . ."
Kinda creepy right? I love it!

2. Brand New- The Quiets Things That No One Ever Knows
I love guitar part in this song. In fact, this song is one of the reasons why I wanted to learn how to play the guitar. I tried the guitar, and didn't really like it. I just checked it off the list of one of the things I've always wanted to do. But this song is awesome!

3. Jimmy Eat World- 23
I could put up any of their songs, I am totally obsessed with this band. I love them, love them, love them. Especially this song. It's a really long song, it just keeps going and going, but in my opinion, it could go on forever and I'd be happy. :) It's a great song to sing along to, and it really makes you think.

4. The All American Rejects- Breakin'
A really fun, upbeat song! It's nice to hear those every now and again. And it brings back great memories of our summer in Colorado Springs, simply because this album came out then and I listened to it a lot.

What's on your playlist? I'd love to hear your favorite songs and add them to my music!

My new do!

2010-09-11T16:08:00.000-04:00

So I cut my hair! Thanks everyone for your advice. I ended up going with the last picture, only a little bit longer version. I figure I can work up my bravery and eventually go shorter, but I still cut off a lot of hair . . . about 6 inches. I am super happy with how it turned out. I've never had an a-line cut before, and it's nice. I feel so much lighter too!

Here's the before:

And the after:

i have a bit of a dilemma . . .

2010-09-08T23:54:00.000-04:00

So I've been growing my hair out for quite a while, and it's getting so long! Here is a picture. Not the best one, but it does show how long it has gotten:

Some days I really like it--I haven't had this long of hair in a very long time. But other days I think it's a lot of work. I have pretty thick hair, so it takes a long time to blow dry, style, etc. I find myself just throwing it back in a pony tail pretty often, just because it's easy. My dilemma is this: should I keep it long, or should I go for a little change?

Most people know me with this signature style: shoulder length hair, layers, and side swept bangs. Should I go back to that look? I've always liked it really well. Here's a picture at my sister Erin's wedding:

Or should I do something completely different? For Bryce's birthday, we went and saw Dinner for Shmuck's with our friends, Stephanie and Tom. It was the most awkward, strange, not very good movie. I don't recommend it. But this lady in the movie had the cutest, cutest short hair. I loved it!! Probably the only thing I liked about the movie is how fabulous her hair was. Here it is:

So, what do you think? I am definitely open to suggestions . . . should I continue with my long hair, or should I change it up and get a new style?

well, silly me

2010-09-08T19:27:00.000-04:00

It didn't even occur to me to take a picture of the whole quilt. So for those of you who requested more pictures, as you wish! :)

That's all for now!

Happy Quilt

2010-09-06T14:47:00.000-04:00

I just finished a new quilt! I've been working on this one for several months for our bedroom. It's been a work in process, but I hand stitched the whole quilt all last week. My fingers are so sore, but it turned out so nice!

I was hoping to make it a queen size, but it's not quite that big . . . more of a full size. But it is perfect to put on top of the bed and pull up when it's cold, etc. And I decided to recover one of our old pillows with some of the same fabric. When I asked Bryce what he thought of the finished product he said, "It's a happy quilt!" That's what I was going for! You know me, I love those bright, happy colors! :)

And someday, someday, I will have a bedroom set! I'm okay with the fact that it might be a ways down the road. But I would like one that is solid wood painted white, or a kind of shabby-chic green/turquoise one. A girl can dream, right?

outlet shopping, clam chowder, and a condo we definitely can't afford

2010-09-06T13:44:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning we woke up and decided to take a short little drive up to the outlets to do a little bit of shopping. Bryce was in desperate need of some new jeans. We had lots of fun looking in all the shops (am I lucky that Bryce likes to shop too, or what?), and before we knew it, it was well past lunch time. So we ventured off toward Pismo Beach to get some of the best clam chowder in the world at Splash Cafe. We weren't really expecting to head toward the beach because we knew it would be crazy over the Labor Day weekend, but sometimes those spontaneous decisions can be the best ones.

So we ended up parking about a mile away and walked to our destination, and when we got to Splash, the line was wrapped around the building (I should've taken a picture of that)! So we stood in line and waited about 45 minutes to get to the front. We ended up getting our chowder to go, and sitting out at the pier to enjoy our lunch. It was so yummy!

It was such a perfect day to hang out at the beach. The weather was nice, a little bit of breeze. I didn't take my big camera with me . . . the only thing I had was my camera on my phone, but ended up getting some pretty good pictures.

look at that view!

and since we never really post pictures of Bryce and I, here's one! Not a very good one, I might add, but that's ok!

PS- when we were headed back to the car, we saw a condo for sale. It was in a beautiful spot, ocean view and everything. It said there was an open house, but the door was locked and everything, so we couldn't walk inside. But I just looked it up, and oh my gosh. Look at it here!
We think it would be quite the lifestyle waking up to the ocean breeze every morning.

Santa Monica Adventure

2010-08-30T15:39:00.000-04:00

On Saturday Bryce and I went for a day trip down to LA to go to the temple. It was stake temple day, and we hadn't been to the temple since the previous stake temple day, which was . . . over 6 months ago . . . so it was definitely time to go again. It's been an adjustment from having the temple be 2 minutes away, to 3 hours away in smooth traffic. To those that live close to a temple: take advantage! It's such a blessing. We were so glad to be at the temple, and we felt such a peace while there. It definitely lifted our spirits and was just what we were in need of. We are going to make it a point to go more often, and are already planning our next trip in October.

Afterward, our good friends Stephanie and Tom took us out to Santa Monica. They are awesome tour guides because they are from LA. We went to the Promenade shopping center, and oh my. Tiffany's. Michael Kors. Louie Vuitton. Bloomingdales. Anthropologie. All these fancy stores that, for some reason, I am so excited about!!! I can't even fathom spending a few hundred dollars for a t-shirt, or thousands of dollars on a purse, but it was fun seeing the stores!

Santa Monica Promenade

There were also all sorts of crazy performers out on the street. One person did a balancing act, and it was so cool, I wish I could've gotten a picture. Anyway, we had dinner there, and then walked over to the famous Pier. It was crazy. There were sooo many people there, and there was a roller coaster and a ferris wheel on the Pier.

walking to the Pier.

We had such a great time and had a fun, long day! Next time we head down there: Hollywood! :)

One of my favorite days of the year . . . Bryce's Birthday!!

2010-08-04T13:04:00.000-04:00

Saturday was Bryce's birthday!! :) I honestly look forward to his birthday more than I do my own, and it was a great day. Bryce even was surprised by a few of his presents, which never happens! It was a pretty low key day, really. We slept in, and when Bryce woke up, he walked into his geek room and found this:

Bryce's "geek room" . . . all revamped! Bryce knew I was refinishing the furniture in there--that part was a little hard to hide in our small place. But he was very surprised by the office chair (and the seasons of How I Met Your Mother). It turned out great! My favorite part about the room: chalkboard paint! The red color is chalkboard paint and you can scribble all over it, no problem. It has actually worked out great. Bryce has used it to write little reminders for school, etc.

The rest of the day was a little low key . . . we went out to Denny's for a free grand slam, Bryce had class online, and then we went out to a movie and dinner with our friends Stephanie and Tom. Afterward, we came back and had some delicious cake and ice cream!

Happy Birthday, Bryce! I love you so much!!!

My parents came!!

2010-07-28T18:14:00.000-04:00

I'm a little behind on blogging this, but a couple weeks ago--after us living here about 6 months--my parents were able to come for a visit!! They stayed about a week and we had a really great time. I think they were pleased to find that we had a nice place and live in a good neighborhood. Bryce wasn't able to take any time off work during the week, so I showed them a good time! I took about a zillion pictures while they were here, but I'll try to keep this post to a minimum.

-We headed to the Santa Ynez Valley and stopped in Solvang . . . one of my favorite little towns. It has a lot of European charm and cute little shops.

Solvang has a Danish bakery on practically every corner, and if you don't stop in one of them while there, you're nuts!! We stopped for a little snack. I think Bryce was upset we went without him simply because he wanted an eclair, but we brought him home one, so it's all good.

Mom and Dad at the bakery-- Mom with a blueberry muffin, and Daddio with a ginormous eclair.

-We also stopped in Santa Ynez to check it out, and it was cute too. Solvang tops it all I think, but Santa Ynez is fun too--the whole town is "western" themed. I snapped this beautiful picture while there:

-The next day we went and explored the beaches. We went out the the dunes, to Pismo, and to Avila Beach! It was a beautiful day for the beach, and I even got mom and dad to dip their feet in the ocean, even though the water is ice cold.

-We went to the Farmer's Market Thursday night. No pictures . . . but we did get some yummy tomatoes and zucchini.

-On Friday, Mom and Dad helped me with some projects around the house. Aren't parents the greatest? Bryce got off work a little early and we headed out to see the movie Knight and Day. When we got to the theater, the projector for that movie was broken, so we saw Inception. It was a great movie! :)

-On Saturday, we headed up the coast to Hearst Castle. We stopped in Cambria for a little bit beforehand, and they had some great little antique shops. Bryce and I will have to go back and spend some more time there. And here are some pictures of the Hearst Castle . . .

Two cute couples, if I say so myself!

The famous pool

The inside of one of the rooms

Well, that's all for now. We sure had a great time with my parents and were so glad that they came to visit. They came at the absolute perfect time, just when I was feeling a little lonely. We love you, Mom and Dad! Come visit again!

4th of July weekend & Oso Flaco

2010-07-08T15:19:00.001-04:00

We had a really wonderful, relaxing 4th of July weekend. We didn't have any huge plans . . . we pretty much just took it easy. On Saturday we went to a 4th of July stake breakfast, and it was really great! It was a huge to-do . . . there was lots of food, some bands that played, a display of firearms, and a speaker who talked about patriotism. It was really awesome!!!

After church on Sunday we stayed at home and grilled some steaks with some friends. We didn't even go out to see the fireworks, but we were okay with that. We just didn't feel like fighting the crowds. We actually saw a few fireworks from our window. Yay!

Monday morning, we went out to Oso Flaco on a beautiful little nature walk out to the beach. We went with a group of friends from the ward. We're lucky to have such great friends that know lots of cool spots! Here are a few pictures:

Oso Flaco Lake

the walkway through the nature preserve

and the walk ended here, at the beach!! :)

That afternoon, we headed back to our friends Josh and Tiana's house and we had an awesome BBQ! We were going to have a pool party as well, but it was actually kind of chilly outside and gray--probably our first 4th of July where it didn't get above 60 degrees.

It was so wonderful to spend the 4th of July weekend together, just Bryce and I!! Holidays with just the two of us are very different than with the whole family, but they are very special. I'm very grateful to be an American and to celebrate the holiday! Yay for USA!

I'm officially declaring myself "in a slump"

2010-07-08T14:42:00.000-04:00

I am not really sure why I am writing about this, but for some reason I feel like I should, so whatever! I don't want friends and family to think that I am a whiner, and one things that I really despise is when people use their blogs to vent and complain. So please don't take this the wrong way.

Our move to California has certainly been a transition. We've now been here 6 months (can you believe it?) and we finally feel like we're settled here, at least for a while. Bryce is really loving his job and learning a lot. Without a doubt he's doing a fantastic job at work, his coworkers like him, he's been in charge of some pretty big tasks. He also has started his master's program and he's crazy busy. And California is really beautiful. We like it here, love our ward, and have made some good friends.

But I'm not sure how to describe it. I feel like I'm in a slump and I need to get out of it. A few months after moving here, I finally did find a job. I was working every evening Monday-Saturday, I never saw Bryce, and I was thoroughly unhappy. The work environment was not great, and I'd often come home stressed and in tears. After working there almost two months, I quit. I just felt like it something I needed to do, just to get out of a bad situation. So now I am unemployed again and on the hunt for another job, hopefully one a little bit more suitable.

Now I found out that my children's book is getting published (as many of you know), and I am so thrilled! It is like a dream come true! This is what I went to school for-- a huge accomplishment. And yet I still get down on myself. I feel like I need to have a full time job to help out financially, I feel like I'm not contributing to our little family for some reason, even though I know that's not true. And then I sometimes feel bad that I quit the job that I did have without finding something else first. Help!!

As I was looking on the computer this morning, I found this video that lifted my spirits a little. I love Elder Holland. I just need to keep on plugging away and realize that there are always good things to come. Hope this video helps you out a little too. Love you guys!

Our trip "home!" Part 2

2010-06-26T13:52:00.000-04:00

We really wanted to see my family too and thought about driving down and spending a few days in Utah while we were planning our trip, but it would have been a lot of driving, so my parents graciously offered to come and see us!! :) And to make things even better, Erin and Dan decided to come up too . . . it was a party! We had a lovely time hanging out at the ranch, and if anyone knows my talented sis, Erin, we went on lots of walks down the road and took lots of pictures. I am sure her pictures were much better than mine, but that's okay!!

The famous Moulton Barn

Moulton Ranch

Iola's beautiful flowers

The pink house down the road

There were a few things causing quite the stir along Mormon Row. There were some Great Horned Owls that had a nest in one of the trees. There were two cute baby owls and the parents. We went over there a few times to spot the owls. We saw the two babies and one of the adult owls! Here are mine and Bryce's best shots:

The adult owl

baby owl

The other thing causing quite the stir were the coyotes. There was a coyote den nearby with the mom and babies, and many photographers were trying to get some cool shots. We never did see them, but we sure heard them. Bryce and I slept outside in the tent trailer so everyone else could have a bed inside, and one night we awoke to that coyote howling seriously right outside the trailer. It was so loud. Bryce got up to go see what was going on and decided to walk outside to scare the coyote off. I was so worried that he would get hurt or something. I begged him not to go! But he walked outside anyway and sure enough, it worked. A few minutes later we heard the coyote howling toward the den, right where it belonged.

We decided to head up to the Rockefeller Preserve and go on a little hike to Phelps Lake. It was lots of fun! Then we went over to Teton Village and had lunch and explored the shops, while Dan and Bryce went disc golfing.

Dan, Erin, Bryce, and I at the Rockefeller Preserve

My cute mommy and daddy

Daddio at Phelps Lake

Me, my mom, and Erin. Cute! The only one missing in this picture is Megan. We missed you, Meg!

Phelps Lake--look how clear that water is!

We also celebrated some birthdays too! We decided to celebrate mine with the family, and it was also one of the cabin guests, Ruth's birthday later on that week. She has been a guest at the cabins for 8 years, and it was her 90th birthday! What an awesome woman she was! And it is Dan's birthday coming up too (tomorrow, I am pretty sure), so we had a nice dinner outside and some yummy birthday cake.

Ruth, me and Dan! Happy birthday to us!

It was so nice to have my family come and visit! We had lots of fun hiking, relaxing, working (as there are always cabins that need to be cleaned and yard work to do), and playing games. We found an awesome moose dice game in the house that was lots of fun!

Thanks, family for coming to visit! I love you lots and miss you all the time! And thanks so much, Hal and Iola for letting us (and my family too) come and visit! It was great because we were able to spent time with both families! :) How lucky are we!

Our visit "home!" Part 1

2010-06-25T19:25:00.000-04:00

Last week we were able to take a week off and head "home" to visit our family. It was a much needed vacation. We had so much fun and the week went by so fast! We thought a week would be oodles of time to do everything that we wanted, but I think we needed two! :) I have lots of pictures, so I will break this up into two posts.

We drove down to LA to catch our flight and left super early to give ourselves plenty of time. After a little delay of getting pulled over by some cops (and not getting a ticket), and a 2 hour delay for our plane, we finally made it to Idaho. Bryce's sweet grandma picked us up, took us out to eat, and chatted with us at the house. Bryce best friend growing up, Derek, came to visit us too! Him and his darling wife, Kelli, have a new addition to their family that we hadn't met . . .baby Jack certainly is a charmer!

Kelli, Grandma Gardner with baby Jack, and Derek

In the morning we went and saw some of Bryce's old coworkers, chatted with our friends Warren and Becky, and then headed up to Rexburg. Boy, it has changed in just a few months! We also surprised our old landlady, Joyce . . . it was so fun to see her! We also went to Winger's . . . our favorite restaurant in Rexburg. Our trip wouldn't have been complete without some sticky fingers! And then we continued down the road to Jackson Hole . . .

And it was so lovely spending the week in Jackson! We sure do love it there. It was so nice to be with Bryce's mom, Iola, and to see these views:

Home in Jackson

outside the kitchen window

looking out the back window

and just outside the front door!

We spent a lot of time relaxing, cleaning a few cabins, and one day Bryce, Iola, and I went on a lovely day hike around Jenny Lake. It sure was beautiful, and we got a good workout! Just look at the lake!

the trail

cute!

Bryce and his mommy . . . Love you!

Hidden Falls

Stay tuned for the next post! My parents and Erin and Dan came to visit too, and we had great fun . . .

Also, I did receive some good news last week. Check it out here!

Santa Barbara

2010-06-09T21:39:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we decided to go to a day drive to Santa Barbara. We heard what a fun, gorgeous place it is from various people--we've been meaning to go for a while, so off we went!

Santa Barbara is, in fact, so beautiful, and such a fun atmosphere! I would daresay it is one of my favorite cities on the central coast. They have a fantastic downtown with lots of shopping! Although we didn't have the funds to shop, we enjoyed walking around because there was a lot to see, and lots of people were out and about on their beach cruiser bikes too! I also thought I might be successful at seeing someone famous (it is a goal of mine to see someone famous while we are here in CA), but no luck there!

Here are some pictures of our little day vacation:

These "purple trees" lined the streets downtown, and they were so beautiful!

City Hall

Our first experience eating sushi. Bryce really liked it a lot! I wasn't a big fan though.

me with a random statue of Benjamin Franklin

Memorial Day Weekend~ California Style!

2010-06-04T13:20:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we had lots of fun with our friends Stephanie and Tom. It was nice to enjoy the long Memorial Day weekend and hang out with them. On Saturday we drove up to AG (Arroyo Grande) and went to the strawberry festival. It was significantly better than the one we went to weeks ago in our town, thank goodness!! There was tons of food and a million arts and crafts booths, etc. Between all of us, we sampled a wide variety of food, did lots of walking, and almost melted in the sun. It was 91 degrees outside!

Our friends, Steph and Tom. we won't hold it against them that they are huge Laker's fans. They still are pretty cool.

Bryce and I at the festival

When we got back, we headed straight to our place to make some strawberry jam. Ambitious, I know. I don't think I ever paid much attention when I would help my mom make jam growing up, so this was definitely an experiment. Stephanie and I laughed that we didn't know what we were doing. And we really didn't . . . but the good news is that the jam ended up tasting great, so it turned out in the end!

Our strawberries (we bought them at a stand here in town), freshly picked that morning!

Bryce and Tom hard at work, taking all the greens of the berries. They're the best.

our mess

Stephanie and I working at the stove. I think we're skimming off the foam on the jam.

Some of the finished product! We ended up with 11 jars. And we realized we should have filled the jars clear up to the brim, because now there is empty space at the bottom. But oh well, live and learn!

We enjoyed the rest of the weekend by relaxing on Sunday and then playing games with our friends Kelli and Scott that evening. On Monday we went to a ward BBQ and then went to Iron Man 2 with Stephanie and Tom, which, by the way, is a must see!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A little giveaway . . .

2010-05-25T19:12:00.000-04:00

I'm doing a little giveaway on my art blog here. I'm pretty excited about it.
Check it out, and I hope everyone enters!

And since every post is a little better with a picture, here is our patio, with all our plants and flowers growing like crazy and looking so beautiful.

Adding a little color!

2010-05-19T18:57:00.000-04:00

Since we've been married, we've inherited a lot of furniture from our families. They're so good to us! I know my mom did a lot of work finding us some pieces and painting them for us while we were in Jackson (4 years ago!). We're super grateful.

I will be honest, though, our furniture is a little mismatched. It will be for a while longer. It gives our home some character, I suppose. :) Perhaps one day we'll get a bedroom set, a nice computer desk, etc. But until then, we'll work with what we've got.

Back on subject: I was getting a little bored with some things that we have. I went through a phase right after we got married where I wanted all black furniture. Black is sleek and classy. I like black. But I love color! I was feeling a need for some change, so I refinished our night stand. It was once black, but look at it now:

And this project has been in the works for a while. This dresser was once in our bedroom, but is now in my art room. One day I would like it to be in a nursery. Here's the before:

And the after:

Not too shabby for my first real refinishing experience! The color is "Sea Song" by Disney, and then I used an Ebony stain to antique it. I was going for a kind of shabby-chic look. What do you think?

Way to go, Bub!

2010-05-17T17:26:00.000-04:00

Bryce was accepted into a graduate program!!! I'm so, so proud of him. It all happened very quickly. Just last week Bryce decided to look into the options of going back to school, and now he's already enrolled. haha.

Starting July, Bryce will be hitting the books again (or the computer, more like). He will be doing an online program through Colorado Technical University, and pursuing his degree in a Masters of Science and Management in Information Systems Security. I think it's pretty cool that the University is called CTU (does anyone else watch 24?).

We're super excited about this opportunity for Bryce. I know he's excited, anxious, and nervous to be going back to school. Way to go, Bub . . . I love you! And I know you'll do great!

Newport Beach

2010-05-11T15:22:00.000-04:00

The day after our Disneyland adventure, we had the morning to spend with Todd and Amy, so we decided to head over to Newport Beach and hang out for a while. By the time we got there, we only had about an hour before they had to head to the airport and catch their flight, but we had a fantastic time!

It was cute watching the Easton play in the water! He was so fascinated in the ocean, and even said at one point, "Mommy, can you make the ocean come closer?" hehehe. And Noah just had a kick out of playing in the sand and running around.

What a cute family!

Bryce, Easton, and I!

And I think this next picture wins the best picture of the day . . .

After Todd, Amy, and the boys had to part ways, Bryce and I stayed at Newport for a few extra hours. We soaked up some sun, had a yummy lunch, and walked down the boardwalk and all the shops. I even found the perfect floppy beach hat. Don't make fun, I think they are awesome! And I've been looking for one ever since we moved here. Now I'm all set for the beach:

While we were walking down the boardwalk and seeing all these fantastic beach front houses, we wondered how people do it. If anyone knows the secret to living that lifestyle (ie. being able to afford having a fantastic beach front house and being a beach bum all day), let me know! :) We'd definitely be interested. haha.

And since we had to head back home that evening, we drove up Hwy 1 right along the coast most of the way. Highly recommended . . . beautiful drive!

The Happiest Place on Earth!!!

2010-05-11T14:43:00.001-04:00

Last week, we went to Disneyland!! But it wasn't just for any old reason. Bryce's brother, Todd, and his family were in the area for a work conference, and we decided to meet up at Disney and spend some time together. Oh my gosh, it was so fun! Disneyland seriously is the happiest place on earth . . . I loved it. I want to go back!

Here's Bryce and I at the entrance. awww.

Todd, Amy, Easton, and Noah

As instructed by my dear mother-in-law, I took lots and lots of pictures of Todd's whole family! Amy is typically the one behind the camera all the time, and so her beautiful face isn't always shown, and a family picture with all of them together is hard to come by. So now they will have oodles. :)

Riding the Rocket Ships

Meeting Goofy. Noah wasn't too fond of him.

He thought Mickey was pretty cool though.

We were only there in Disney for one day, but we packed it all in and went on a lot of the rides! The kiddos were able to do a lot of them. I think Easton's favorite was Winnie the Pooh. But he was a champ and went on the Matterhorn. I'm surprised that he took it so well! We took turns on the adult rides, and my favorites were Indiana Jones, Pirates, and Splash Mountain.

There was a really fun parade at the end of the night with lots of singing and dancing! Easton was in awe the whole time, and Noah had fun dancing to the music.

But our favorite thing about spending the day at Disney was soaking up all the time with our cute little nephews and chatting with Todd and Amy. Seeing family is the best, and when you don't get to see them all that often, it makes the times that you do all the sweeter. I mean, look at Noah's smile!

Anyone else want to go to Disneyland again? I do!

I am proud to announce . . .

2010-05-03T19:09:00.000-04:00

the launch of my brand new art website!!

This has been a project that has been in the works for quite a while now, and I'm so glad that it's finally finished (or, relatively. we still have a few little tweaks we need to do)! I designed the website in Photoshop, and Bryce did all the web development and actually made the website a reality. He's the greatest.

I know some of you are aware of my old website, www.jamiebug.com. Well, that one will soon be no longer. My new website is updated, a whole lot easier to use, it's more in sync with my artistic style (because I designed it!), and it has a blog!

So check out my website--add it to your bookmarks. www.jamieanneblake.com!

And while you're at it, take a look at my blog, and add it to your google reader: www.jamieanneblake.com/blog. Check back frequently, because a lot of cool things are in the works: giveaways, specials, updates, etc.

What I would love more than anything is some input. So check it out, and let me know what you think! Feel free to leave me a comment, or just fill out the contact page on my website, and I will be forever grateful.

I hope my website portrays the love and the passion that I have for art. Here's to it being a great success!

Strawberry Festival

2010-04-29T13:22:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was a pretty big deal in our town, because it was the annual Strawberry Festival. We had heard a little bit about it from various people, so we decided to check it out. I only had to work for a few hours Saturday morning (it's a miracle!) so we had the rest of the day to play!

What we realized is that this festival was really a big carnival. There were lots of rides there, many of which to the equivalent or worse of The Music Express at Lagoon. Spinning around really fast and rolling around upside down is not really my idea of fun--I would definitely toss my cookies with some of these rides:

But this ride I could do! Isn't it cute?

So instead of going on all the rides, we concentrated our efforts on the booths. Some of them were crazy . . . like "Get your picture on a keychain!" and palm reading, it made us laugh. And there was this bizarre character who walked around singing with a train hooked on to him an a washboard as his instrument. What the heck?

We also went to a "Wildlife Experience" show, watched a toddler's dance recital, and we got lots of tasty food. We walked in with 40 bucks, and it disappeared so fast! Everything was sooo overpriced.

Bryce with his delicious corn dog: $4

two awesome al pastor tacos: $5
One thing I won't complain about is all the authentic Mexican food here!

Yummm! Strawberry cheesecake!

The only thing that would have made this event a complete success would've been taking Bryce's picture with the person dressed up as a strawberry. I insisted, but he refused. Maybe next year, who knows.

no puppy for me!

2010-04-26T19:27:00.000-04:00

There is only one thing in life that Bryce and I disagree on. We laugh about the fact that we could be on The Marriage Ref about this topic, because we could go on and on bickering about it. It's quite hilarious, really. Many of you (I'm sorry if you're one of them) have been caught in the middle of our "arguments" about this . . . although it's all in love, don't worry. Our disagreement: getting a dog.

I love dogs so much!! They are the most fun loving, loyal pets. And I want something to take care of, someone to to keep me company during the day, because I've been feeling a little lonely and blue lately. Wouldn't a dog be the perfect answer? I think so!! And so I have been nagging Bryce about getting a little puppy. He says no. He's allergic, he doesn't want a dog in the house, we don't have a yard, even though I think it will fill the void in my life missing since I can't be a mom right now, it really won't, and on and on. And really, we both have compelling arguments. If we were on The Marriage Ref, I think we both would have a fair shot at winning. Actually, they would probably say Bryce wins.

But yesterday the subject arose and I asked for the thousandth time, "Bryce, can we get a puppy?" And guess what he said?? He said that I could ask our owner, and if he agreed, we would think about it!!! =) Oh my gosh, I was ecstatic! Bryce was genuinely saying that he'd consider it! I felt like the stars were aligning and that I had to jump on the chance. Boy, I was excited.

All today I was totally getting my hopes up. I was thinking about planning our family night to the animal shelter, imagining myself taking my dog for walks, getting a pink leash, cute dog toys, etc. But reality set in when I asked our owner. He shot the idea down so fast and said the only way he'd consider it is if we'd put down a $5000 deposit!! Ummm, seriously? $5000?!!! You've got to be kidding me. Who has $5000 that they can just randomly throw down for a pet deposit? Not I.

So, no dog for me! I guess I will just have to spend my days all by myself. But mark my words, one day it's going to happen! You just wait and see . . .

Sunday Walk

2010-04-22T13:51:00.001-04:00

On Sunday, it was such a beautiful day! The weather was perfect and sunny-- just a little breeze. So when we got back from church and after dinner, we decided that we should go on a nice long walk to enjoy the lovely California weather. What better place then the beach?!

As we were driving toward the beach, however, the clouds started rolling in and the wind picked up, so it wasn't quite the perfection we expected. But we still very much enjoyed ourselves, had a nice long walk, and took lots of pictures!

Haha, I love this picture! I believe Bryce's expression is like, "Ahhhh, this water is COLD!"
And the water here is ice cold.

some cool birds that we saw on our walk

one of my favorite pictures of the day!

some good news!

2010-04-12T18:02:00.000-04:00

This post is for my dear mother, who insisted I put some pictures up of my latest artistic endeavors. And I am excited to tell you all that I actually have something to share!

Since moving here, I have jumped right in and gotten involved in the arts council and the local gallery (and might I add, the only gallery in town). Today was the art intake where they were accepting new art pieces to be shown in the gallery. Here's what I entered:

These two beautiful paintings:

This stained glass piece:

And a whole basket full of hand sewn books (some of which are in this picture):

They seemed to be a big hit. Everyone who was there at the gallery loved what I had to enter, and I can only hope that customers walking in will love them as well. That would be pretty awesome if they sold. :) So what do you think?

(Heart)Broken

2010-04-09T14:29:00.000-04:00

I love stained glass, and this beauty has been hanging in our window our whole married life. Many of you have seen it:

And since I am feeling in a sentimental mood, here are some fond memories of this particular piece of stained glass that I've made:

-Having Connie (from the stained glass shop) help me pick out the perfect pattern and every piece of glass
-Collecting those pieces of glass every time I earned a pay check
-Cutting and grinding all the pieces in the garage while listening to Jimmy Eat World on my walk man
-Being so excited to hang it in my first apartment away at college
-And being too paranoid to let the movers pack it away, I bubble wrapped it like 5 times and it rode with us in our car all the way to California.

Now look at it!

Pictures don't even do justice. We awoke at 5 in the morning to a loud crash the other day, and when I got up, this is what I found. My beloved stained glass broken on the floor. 15 shattered pieces. I instantly burst into tears, and poor Bryce hopped out of bed so fast to see what was the matter. He's such a good husband! But I definitely had a good cry over it.

I thought I was over it, but writing this post makes me so bummed out! It has more sentimental value to me than anything, so I am going to try and repair it. It's going to take forever because I will have to match every piece of glass perfectly, unsolder certain areas, pull out the foil, etc. It will be a lot more work than it was to make the whole thing. But I'm going to do it.

So eventually it will hang proudly in our window again . . . someday! Until then.

General Conference

2010-04-05T21:25:00.000-04:00

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love General Conference! It is such a special time of the year for me. For anyone who isn't familiar with General Conference and our beliefs, it is when the leaders of the church (the prophets and apostles) speak to the members and the rest of the world. I love hearing all of their inspiring words. Conference has become more and more meaningful to me . . . especially this past year or so. I used to get easily distracted or would doze off during the talks, but I've made a little habit of taking notes and it helps me to focus. And I can't even believe I used to fall asleep during these talks. They are so powerful!

Did anyone notice the reoccurring theme of love during the sessions? I also noticed there were a lot of talks about parenting and teaching your children. At first I was kind of bummed about this, because here I was thinking, "What about those who want to have children, but can't?" But I realized that I was just having a bad attitude, and even though Bryce and I aren't blessed with children right now, we will be someday. While listening to the talks, I thought about how everyone's trials in life are different. I thought about how lucky I am to have Bryce in my life. We met our first weekend away at college, started dating pretty much immediately, and got married less than a year later. I've never had rough dating relationships or lots of heartbreak. Dating and marrying Bryce just felt like the right thing to do. We were (and still are) young, but we've been able to grow up together. It's been wonderful. Now, here we are almost 4 years later, and we've been wanting kids for quite some time. While watching conference, I had the confirmation that we will be blessed with the opportunity to have children, it will just be on the Lord's time line, not ours.

I am also grateful for the true meaning of Easter--for Christ and his atonement and resurrection. Because of this, I now that death is not the end. Because of this, I know that I can always go to the Savior when I'm going through a hard time. He knows and understands everything that we're going through . . . not just our sins, but our heartache, our trials.

Enough of my thoughts. I hope that everyone else enjoyed conference as much as I did. For some inspiring thoughts about hope, watch this video. It's amazing!!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T20:26:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had a very lovely Easter! We sure did. It was pretty low key, but we enjoyed spending time together and celebrating the holiday. I thought that it was perfect that conference weekend fell on Easter this year. We were able to spend all day Sunday lounging in our jammies, eating candy, and listening to the prophets.

It was funny, because earlier this week I thought, "Oh, I should do Easter baskets for us! Bryce probably won't remember!" So I went out and bought candy for the two of us and was really excited to surprise him. Well, apparently Bryce had the same idea. He's the sweetest. So we ended up with lots of candy!

Here are our Easter baskets: (or bowls, if you will)

Isn't the Easter bunny so good? Bryce was surprised with The Blindside, and I with the Glee CD's. I've been listening to them nonstop! :)

This week I have also had a bout of homesickness. I think it was the first time that I actually realized I was living far away from family, and it hurt. So I was determined to make a fantastic Easter dinner like my dear mommy (and mother-in-law) always do. I made a very delicious spiral ham, deviled eggs, rolls, and twice baked potatoes. We planned on having some friends over, but they weren't feeling well, so it was just Bryce and I. But it was great!

Look at these magnificent deviled eggs. Oh, how I love them . . . my favorite Easter fixing.

Bryce and I with our yummy Easter dinner. Mmmm! And remember how I said that we lounged all day in our jammies? We really did. Hence the very unflattering picture.

Easter has always been a very special holiday for me, and spending it with just Bryce was so wonderful. We're such a great team!! Hope you all had a great holiday.

The Latest:

2010-04-01T14:26:00.000-04:00

I'm employable!

That's right, I got a job. I was beginning to wonder if I ever would, because I'll admit . . . living the homemaker life was quite lovely. That, and the unemployment rate here is extremely high. But I figured since we don't have kids, I may as well bring a little more income to the Blake household.

The process all happened very quickly, and I am now working at a local hair salon as a reservationist. Pros: Complimentary haircuts and awesome discounts. It's pretty laid back job, for the most part. And my work is right next to our complex. It doesn't even take a minute to walk there. Cons: Having to work the closing shift almost every night (7:30 or later) and having to work every Saturday. Every Saturday.

I'll be honest, this has been somewhat of an adjustment for me. I used to have lots of time for myself, and now my whole day revolves around my job. But what can you do? I am grateful that I was able to find something . . . it really is a blessing.

Well, then . . . that's all!

The Barricade

2010-03-22T12:04:00.001-04:00

I realize that these past few posts have not been very positive. This really is not my intention, but whatever . . . here is the continuation of our mold/mushroom story.

Turns out that the situation is a bit more serious than we originally thought. The culprit to all this damage: a tiny little chip in the tub, and a little pinhole where water was steadily leaking out every time we bathed or showered. The result: wet carpet and dry wall, some pretty nasty mold growing behind our walls, and this barricade.

That's right, our bedroom and bathroom is contained. We've had people come in for mold abatement and they've done as much as they could, but it turns out that the shower and tub need to be ripped out to fully resolve the problem. Which is fine, because our tub has a hole in it anyway.

So now we're at a stand still and are waiting to hear from our owner's insurance company on whether they will cover it. And we are once again sleeping on our aerobed! Maybe by the end of the week we will be able to sleep on our real bed? Let's hope so!

The whole situation really is kind of funny. I am sure we will laugh about it eventually, but it sure seems like we can't catch a break around here lately. I guess that's life!

Taking Extreme Measures

2010-03-15T17:57:00.000-04:00

During the past month or so, we have been getting eaten alive!! There are so many mosquitoes swarming around our place all of a sudden . . . it really is crazy. There are mobs of them swarming around our patio, and we don't know what to do. We've tried everything--bug spray, citronella candles, you name it. The past few weeks I have been wearing long socks, pants, and long sleeves every time I go out to grill or water the plants, but we still are getting bit! We have tons of bites along our arms and legs, and even more on our feet.

I went with a girlfriend on Saturday to get a pedicure and was so embarrassed that my feet were speckled with bites. The other day I found a bite on my eyelid and one on my cheek. And poor Bryce has been scratching his bites until they bleed!

Anyway, we decided enough is enough. Extreme measures must be taken, so we got one of these things:

It's a Nosquito Bug Zapper. We've had it on 24/7, and it's supposed to lure the mosquitoes to their death. Every now and again we hear a zap, and find pleasure that one of those nasty mosquitoes is toast. The thing that is funny, though, is that this morning I kept hearing a zap!zap! zap! zap! zap! and I was thinking, "Sweet! Those mosquitoes will be gone before we know it!" But some of those pesky little things are still hanging around. Not as many as there used to be, but they must not have gotten the hint to go away. I guess to them, our patio is their home, but we think they are intruders. Hopefully those bugs aren't stronger than the Nosquito!!

Does anyone have tips or recommendations to get rid of our problem?

#@!%&*#!

2010-03-11T17:40:00.000-05:00

I like mushrooms, okay (I'm talking about the kind you put on salads, not the drugs) . . . but not the ones that grow in our house. Meet the newest inhabitant of our household.

This disgusting creature popped up today and needless to say, we are not happy. We had to take pictures for documentation, have a plumber come and check it out, and then I sprayed mold and mildew cleaner and killed that sucker before he even had a chance.

So here's the problem. We are hearing a weird draining/leaking noise when we have baths, and there is a wet spot on our carpet leading into our bedroom. Then we noticed this mold problem today. They are all associated somehow, and they require ripping open walls to figure out the issue.

Which leads to the other issue. The plumber cannot do anything until it is approved by our property management company and the owner. That process might take a while and be very frustrating. I am sure that being a homeowner is very stressful, but renting can be a pain in the butt too. We hate dealing with the management. We are stuck in limbo and hopefully the problem will get fixed, whatever it may be. Until then, we'll have to deal with some wet carpet, fuzzy mushrooms cropping up, and showering in our extra bathroom.

My question is this--but I'm pretty sure I already know the answer. Is life ever smooth sailing, or is there always crap that has to be dealt with along the way?

A very intimidating calling, but a pretty cool purchase!

2010-03-07T23:08:00.001-05:00

That's right, they didn't let us off the hook too long. We now have callings! Today it was made official and we were sustained and set apart. Bryce is the new Elder's Quorum Secretary. He will do great. I have no doubt that he'll be super organized and it will be a great way to get to know all the guys in the ward.

As for me, I am the new Relief Society pianist. Yikes!! This makes me very nervous. I am very rusty and haven't played since high school until the past few weeks. And everyone knows that I get nervous making a comment in Relief Society let alone playing the piano. But I really think it might be a blessing in disguise. I have been wanting to get back into playing the piano--I've missed it. And I think the Lord knew that.

Which leads to the big purchase--a beautiful digital piano. It is just the perfect size for our little place. And after all, I need to practice. Lots and lots and lots every week. It has been so nice to be able to practice at home. Look at this beauty!

We had visitors!

2010-03-02T19:50:00.000-05:00

This past week, Bryce's P's came for a visit! Oh, it was so much fun. We love our family, and we miss them. So it was great to be together again and show them a good time here in Cali. Hopefully we didn't wear them out too much; we packed our days full of sight seeing and lots of fun! Here our a few highlights of the things we did:

-went to one of our favorite mexican restaurants in town, and introduced Hal and Iola to flan. deeee-lish!
-worked on our patio (see previous post)
-headed to Avila beach to soak up some sunshine!

{here are Hal and Iola at Avila. The weather was so perfect!}

-stopped at the famous Madonna Inn. It was very pink and very lavish! Loved it.

-Went to the farmers market and got some delicious dinner at one of the booths (ribs, tri-tip steak, garlic bread, and lemonade=yumm!) and then stocked up on all of our produce for the week. We got a flat of strawberries and a 10 lb bag of oranges, and ate them all while Hal and Iola were in town!

-Went to the Danish town of Solvang, wandered through the shops, and ate some delicious danish pastries.

{Just look at that eclair!}

{I love this picture of Iola!}

-went to Nojoqui Falls for a quick little hike. Don't make me pronounce the name!

-ate the most divine clam chowder at Pismo Beach, were part of the commotion at the pier with the tsunami warnings going on there, and became famous in the newspaper.

{enjoying our clam chowder!}

{one of the only people out on the beach with the advisory going on. the waves were very rough and about 4 ft higher than normal.
police were encouraging people to stay off the beach.}

-went to the Hearst Castle. It was crazy. Very cool.

{The blue picture is an indoor pool. The yellow tiles are made out of 24 karat gold. Enough said. That place was incredible!}

-and we enjoyed a nice home cooked meal consisting of delicious steaks cooked on our new grill, and all our veggies from the farmers market. yumm!

Only now am I realizing that most of our activities revolved around food! :) And it was all great. We sure loved having Bryce's parents here. We love you guys so much!!! We had a fantastic time and can't wait until your next visit.

Our patio: step one of provident living!

2010-03-02T18:35:00.000-05:00

Ever since we moved into our new place, we knew that our patio needed some love and attention. It had great vision . . . and as soon as we found out that Bryce's parents were coming to visit, I knew I wanted their help. They are both incredibly good at growing plants. Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't the nicest thing to put them to work as soon as they got here. And who knew that while they were here, we inevitably made like 5 trips to Home Depot. What can I say? I'm a slave driver. But I don't think they minded too much.

Here I am hard at work!

Iola planting our herb box. Do you recognize it, Grandma?

And here is our final project!

In our garden: pole beans, a tomato, red, yellow, and green peppers, strawberries, herbs (basil oregano, cilantro, thyme, and pineapple sage), and lots of flowers!

I am really excited about this. I have never really grown a garden before, and I am hoping things are going to grow well. We already have a strawberry that is turning red. :) One thing that we have noticed about our patio is that it attracts slugs. Yuck. I detest slugs. But with some slug bait and lots of love, I think we will be able to grow lots of beautiful and yummy things in our garden. Thanks again for your help, mom and dad Blake!

Temple Trip

2010-02-21T18:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we ventured down to LA for our stake's temple trip. This was an all day event, because it's not like the temple is a 2 minute drive, it's 3 hours! We left at 7 am, and didn't get home until after 7 at night. We really took for granted having a temple so close before we moved here. But it was such a fun day. We were able to catch a ride with our new friends, Tiana and Josh. It was perfect because we didn't have to drive in that crazy LA traffic our first time going down there.

The LA temple is absolutely huge. I think it is probably the largest temple we've been to, and there were so many beautiful murals on the walls. It was so awesome. The temple grounds are gorgeous and they rest up on a hill that overlooks the city. See:

One pretty cool thing about LA temple is that they have apartments there for you to stay and spend the night. It's about $45 a night and they are on the temple grounds. This will be perfect for us, and I am sure we will take advantage someday. We could drive down on a Friday afternoon, do a session Saturday morning and spend the rest of the day exploring LA.

Anyway, we had a lovely session, went to The Cheesecake Factory afterward, and then headed back home. It made for a really long, but really wonderful day. I am so grateful that Bryce and I are able to go to the temple, and that even though the temple isn't as close as it once was, it's still only a few hours away. We are so blessed to be able to go there, and I hope that we can make it a monthly goal. The church is true! :)

As requested . . .

2010-02-15T13:51:00.000-05:00

That's right! Pictures of our new cozy little home. Now our family can be at ease that we chose a lovely place to live and we're not in a slum or something. :) We finally feel like we have things pretty much settled here, which is nice, and we think we'll really like it here.

A few things that we really love:
-having a dishwasher!
-having three bedrooms and quite a bit of storage space
-never having to run the a/c or heat (this weather is seriously so awesome...sunny and 70 all-year-round, typically)
-it is so bright! maybe we were just used to living in a basement apartment for over 3 years or something.

This is in our entry way, and it is my favorite wall in the house. I love it!

Our dining area (perhaps not the best picture, but it will have to do)

Our kitchen. It's nice and open, which is great. The dining, kitchen, and living room are all adjoined.

Our living room, which reminds us of our old home- the arrangement is the same thanks to our huge, beastly, and very comfortable couch.

Our patio. It will look very nice once I plant some flower pots, etc. And we even have a little garden area!

Bryce's geek room/computer room/man cave/ whatever you want to call it. It will also be the guest room when people come and visit. We have most of the room empty to fit our lovely aerobed.

My art room! Oh, I love it! Plenty of room to spread out and work/create

And our nice, cozy bedroom.

And . . . I put together a little video tour of our place. Maybe I should have assigned this job to Bryce, but he's such a good husband and is at work right now. But I am not the best videographer. This movie might make you kind of motion sick or something, and I still need to learn how to zoom in and out, but it will give you a general idea. Enjoy!

I have a sweet husband :)

2010-02-11T20:01:00.000-05:00

Today I had a very unexpected surprise. I was at Michael's looking for some picture hangers, and my phone rang. The person on the other line said, "I am here at (such and such) an address to deliver flowers for Jamie." I excitedly said that I would be there in a few minutes and left the store. I was thinking it was maybe a Valentine's gift from one of the parents or something.

When I got home I saw a beautiful bouquet of three pink roses! And a little note that said "Just wanted to say I love you. Thanks for being the best!" Isn't Bryce the greatest?

Disclaimer

2010-02-09T19:08:00.000-05:00

I love looking at people's blogs. It is one of my favorite things to do. I get all excited when I pull up my google reader and see unread posts. Oh, it gives me joy. When any of these people that I follow moves somewhere new, I am so anxious to see pictures of their new home. And it usually takes a while. And I get impatient. Thoughts like this go through my mind: "Seriously, no pictures yet? How long does it take to unpack?" or "How hard is it just to snap a few pictures?" or "Awww, no new post yet."

Well, out of recent experience, I have come to this realization. Moving is a lot of work. Very much so. I now understand why it takes people so dang long to post pictures. Just know this:

-We are out of our hotel (hallelujah!)

-We are really loving our new home

-We are still unpacking, but things are coming right along and we should be done soon.

So for all of those people out there, much like me, who are dying to see pictures, (are there any?)
they will be coming shortly. I would imagine that by next week things in our home will be picture worthy.

So, until then!

We needed this weekend!

2010-02-01T14:02:00.000-05:00

This past week has been a crazy one. It really has, and I'm glad it's over. Here's how our week went down:
-Bryce had his first week of work, and that went really well. Once they start assigning him tasks, I think he'll really enjoy it. He's the greatest! :)
-I spent entirely too much time at various auto shops. First, one of our windows failed to roll back up (and still is not fixed), then we had to get the alignment fixed and the back rotors replaced. And when I thought that was the end, our rear caliper sprung a leak, and brake fluid was leaking out causing our breaks to really not work. And then our left headlight went out. Ugghh. I will say it was not fun. I had some hard days. So we really needed this weekend!

We decided to go for a drive on Saturday up the road to check out the beaches, and then we drove up to San Luis Obispo and back. Oh, the central coast is beautiful! It's really pretty spectacular to see all the farms and drive down these breathtaking rural roads.

Our first stop: Pismo Beach! That beach is pretty awesome and unique in the fact that you can just drive right through the sand, up to the waves if you want. Our poor little car would never make it, so we had to settle for the parking lot. We had fun walking along the beach, and I had fun hunting for sea shells. Note to self: Bring a bag next time to collect shells.

I like this picture that Bryce took, I love how the background it so blurry.

Here I am looking like a total nerd. I am looking for sea shells here, and notice I didn't come very prepared as I am wearing long pants and tennis shoes. Whatever, next time!

What a view!

Next stop: Shell Beach. We didn't spend that long there, because the waves went right up to the cliffs, but here's a quick video.

Our last stop was Avila Beach, and so far, our favorite! There is a pier that you can walk on, a boardwalk and lots of fun shops/restaurants, and steps that you can just sit and relax on that look out to the ocean. There was a lot going on there, and there were a ton of crazy surfers out there trying to ride the waves. The surf was so high yesterday; those people were NUTS! But for some reason Bryce is now convinced that he must learn to surf.

The pier

Those crazy surfers!

And here are a few videos of people trying to surf. Note that I am no expert in taking videos or editing them.

Hope everyone had a great week. This coming weekend: moving in to our new place!

"There's nothing like the beach in the winter . . ."

2010-01-22T19:29:00.000-05:00

as stated by a sweet little old lady today, that we met at the beach of course. We found out that she was quite right.

We woke up in the morning to this beautiful sight. What a view from our hotel room! We were hoping it meant that the rain was subsiding. And it looks like the bad weather is finally dwindling, so that makes us happy.

We had today completely free since we aren't meeting with our realtor until tomorrow, so we spent the day yet again exploring the area. We decided to drive through some smaller towns that we will be visiting tomorrow on our "rental tour", and we loved them. And then we ventured further down the road to Santa Barbara, just for fun. What a drive!! It's so beautiful here. When we made the decision to move here, I thought it would be really flat since it's near the coast, but it's not. There are so many beautiful rolling hills and mountains, big trees, it's gorgeous. And as we were driving down the freeway, we caught a glimpse of the OCEAN! It was crazy driving right along the coast.

We made it to Santa Barbara and stopped at a few different beaches, the Arroyo Burro Beach and the Refugio State Beach. We had to take lots of pictures of the ocean, of course! Bryce said it's funny that he hadn't seen the ocean until our honeymoon and now we are within a 20 minute drive. :)

Here's a little photo (and video) shoot of our adventure.

You can kind of see a surfer in the right of this picture. We watched him for a while to see if he'd go out, but he didn't. The waves were just way too high, I think because of this crazy weather.

When we pulled up to Refugio Beach, we noticed that the big area used as a park and campground was mostly flooded over with all this standing water. It is seriously insane how much it's rained, and you can tell. A lot of farms nearby have lots of standing water. See the picture:

There we met this sweet old lady who said that there's nothing like the beach in the winter. It was really beautiful. She said that the beaches aren't crowded in the winter time and the waves are much, much closer. In the summer time the waves are a lot further out and they are packed with people sun bathing and surfing.

Well, that's all for today. Greetings from California, until next time!

What do you say we leave for California?

2010-01-21T22:30:00.000-05:00

This video was taken on our drive to California on Wednesday. I hope you enjoy! Haha, we are such nerds.

Our drive was very interesting and very memorable. From Idaho to California, we experienced all sorts of things. Namely:

-a few snow flurries
-lots of rain.
-a stretch of pretty thick fog
-a long stretch of desert

and thanks to our GPS that lead us this way:

-lots of beautiful, back country roads
-grape vineyards
-orange orchards
-dairy farms
-flooded roads
-winding mountain passes

But we made it!! And I think we will really grow to love this place.

New year and lots of change!

2010-01-15T21:35:00.000-05:00

I am sure you all have gathered that we are heading to California. We are pretty excited about it. This past week has been pretty busy with talking to our relocation company, the movers, the company transporting my car, the realtor, you name it. I have realized that moving is quite stressful, even when everyone else is doing everything for us (imagine if we were doing it ourselves!). We'll go on a little road trip in Bryce's car and will make it there Wednesday night. We don't know where we are going to be living yet, but Bryce's company is putting us up in a lovely hotel until we do. Friday and Saturday our realtor is taking us on a tour to find a place to live. It's all coming together. Whew!

With the beginning of a new year we are having a lot of changes. New job, new state, totally new environment. But we are excited about that. And in light of the new year, I thought I would write down a few of my resolutions. Hopefully that's not too personal, but that way you all can hold me to it.

-Love where we live. Have a good attitude and enjoy California and everything it has to offer.
-Finish reading the Book of Mormon. Still not finished . . . I've only made it through 2nd Nephi. But I'm going to finish it!
-Continue pursuing getting my children's book published, and get my art website all up and running.
-Have a more active lifestyle. This includes eating healthy, exercising, and hopefully losing a few lb's to get my insulin resistance under control. If I can control that, it will help in our efforts in having children.

So there they are. Wish me luck. And best of luck to the rest of you in accomplishing your goals!

Spontaneous Day Drive

2010-01-15T21:16:00.000-05:00

When Bryce and I woke up this morning, his mom suggested that we get out of town and go for a little drive to West Yellowstone. Wahoo! It was fun to have a day getaway and have some fun with the family. It is, after all, our last weekend before we move . . . and it was good to have some bonding time.

Our first stop was at Chiz's in St. Anthony. Bryce and I have been there once, and oh my--it's delicious! But it was pretty much jam packed, and there was no bathroom. That was very important for us because we needed a potty break. haha. So we faked you out. We ended up not eating there and just continued along down the road.

We headed up to Island Park which was beautiful, but not nearly as snow covered as it normally is in the winter time. We stopped at Pond's Lodge for lunch, and it was very good. I love this picture in front of the lodge. I look kind of like a cheeseball, but whatever.

Our last stop was in West Yellowstone, Montana. Bryce has fond memories of going there with his grandma and hitting up the book store and the candy shop. So of course, we had to go there! We all got a book to read and a little treat. And look at Iola, she does look like a kid in a candy store.

We had such a good time and I am sure we'll always remember our spontaneous little day drive. Thanks, mom and dad . . . what a nice last hoo-rah before we move to Californ-i-a!

Overused Phrases in 2009

2010-01-01T22:11:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone! We thought we'd start a new tradition and post a video of our most overused phrases of 2009, an idea that Bryce got from his good friends, the Hill's. Hope you enjoy! Here's to 2010 . . . let's hope it's a good one!