Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Trip Back Home and Beautiful Nauvoo

Man alive, my friends.. I can not believe how hard it has been to keep up with life lately.
I feel like my homework and my list of things to do getting settled and going through gifts and figuring out everything we have and still need.. is never going to end.
[And boy guys can I just say we feel SO blessed..
Thank you so much
for the support I can't tell you how much we needed it and appreciated everything everyone has been doing for us since we have gotten married.. LOVE you guys.]
 
But anyway moral of the story I am just.. behind.
I wish I had more time to keep everyone updated.
 
I'm just going to have to take it like I'm taking all of our other million things to do..
One day at a time.



So our trip to our honeymoon, our honeymoon, and our trip out to the east coast was very exciting and eventfilled and EXPENSIVE..

So we decided to limit our stops on the way back to the West AND we thought we would enjoy the end of summer and save a little money by making use of our new present.
:)
So we camped on the Mississippi River.


One of the stops that we decided we HAD to make was to the beautiful Nauvoo.
& The morning after we got there we got to get up early and go visit this temple.
For those of you who don't know anything about Nauvoo this is t replica of the temple the olden day pioneer built in the 1840's.
And it is absolutely breathtaking I think.



Then we had a chance to visit Carthage and the Carthage Jail where they held the prophet Joseph Smith until a mob broke in and ended his life.


They kept him here under absolutely no real charges..




And we got to spend time in the room Joseph and his brother, Hyrum, were killed/martered in.
I can't even describe the experience of being here after you listen to everything and once you really know how great of men these were you can't help but cry or be moved.
It was an experience that I am so greatful for.


This is a bullet hole through the bedroom door that one of the mob members shot.

I know have said this before but I just feel like it's important.. 
A lot of people think that the Mormons worship Joseph Smith..
and we don't we worship God and His son Jesus Christ.
[So yes.. this question comes up a lot too.. we are Christian]

However we believe Joseph Smith was an amazing man.. and he was/is. And he was killed for his convictions..
And with all of my heart I believe that he was a prophet of God, and I am so grateful for his life and that he was faithful enough to give it so that I can have all of that I have now.


 
 This gospel is beautiful.
& I am astounded at how amazing some of these people who have lived on this earth.

I think everyone is so lucky to have such great people to look up to.

& I am grateful for the special experiences in life that motivate you and keep you going and strong in what you believe because
I think that someone who knows and lives what they believe is a person you should hang on to in your life.

I sure love you all and hope that life is not running you over like it has been me!
haha..
Maybe one day before I graduate I'll figure out how to keep up with homework.
:)
Have a great afternoon & wonderful Thursday my loved ones.


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Saving the Best for Last.

 
SO basically ever since I found out that we could.. possibly.. ever.. have the slightest chance of living by New York City..
[& yes. probably way before I knew it was a realistic desire as well..]
I have been dying to go to a Broadway Play.
 

So here is the last time we are going to be able to be in New York in a while..
And we are finally attempting to bite the bullet and make going to one of these wonderful plays a reality..
 


Now lets talk about how NYC is glamorized a little bit..
[Not that we didn't absolutely love it.. because I was even surprised at how much we did]
But one of those things they don't tell you is..
The Subway is really hot.. and kind of smells like Pee..
[yeah gross.. I know.. but I'm breakin it to ya hard]
The second thing you really don't realize until it's a real part of your life..
Broadway Plays cost about as much as a SMALL HOUSE.
[Okay.. maybe a little bit of an exaggeration..]
It's like 200 dollars for a ticket!
And for a poor.. newly married.. college student..
That's just insane.
 
 
Luckily however they have Broadway "Lottery"
[yes litterally it's called that]
& You can put your name into a drawing and if they draw your name you can get like 25-30 dollar tickets!
 


What they don't tell you is that you have about as good of a chance of getting drawn as in the REAL lottery..
There are hundreds.. thousands.. everyone in the world..
Of people who also believe the ticket prices are crazy..
 


So your odds could be better..
But who isn't dying to see Wicked on Broadway..
So we figured that we might as well try right because that is the only way we are getting in..
 


 
Yes this is what a girl would look like who just got all of her hopes and dreams CRUSHED in New York City.. 

So as I am holding back my tears..
And Blake seems to be feeling bad that I am so heart broken..
[& then sometime later..]
We decide to HAVE to make a Plan B.
 

Yeah that's right we aren't going to let anyone knock us down our last day in the city..
 
So I bet you don't have any guesses to what we finally decided on..
:)
 
 

 
Of course..
Mary Poppins! 

 
The tickets were only 40 dollars vs. a couple of hundred..
Which was still kind of an investment for us but we justified that we wouldn't be back for a while..
& I felt like the happiest person on the world.
 


And really.. this play was worth every penny.
It was fantastic.
 
 
 


The acting was absolutely perfect.
& SO fun..
And just in case you didn't notice.. to your left Bert is WALKING on the wall..
 



Then for the Grand Finale Mary Poppins FLYS over the crowd!
 
It seriously was so cool..
 
Everything seemed so real and I was absolutely on cloud 9 every second of this play.
 

 
Even Blake when it was all over said that he was reluctant (or maybe the word is more indifferent) to go because he thought it would be boring..
[what?! anyone in the world doesn't want to go to a Broadway Play!?]
& He said that he even LOVED it!
 
I am already counting down the days until we get to go to another one..
What an amazing experience. I can't even believe still that we were blessed enough to be able to go.
 
& With the last thing checked off our Bucket List we were ready to close this chapter of our New York Adventure and head home.
:)
 
Also guys.. I know I said I'd be the best in the WORLD blogger..
I was setting my sights a little high I believe haha
With my 7 classes, 18 credits, and us in the middle of moving into our apartment things have been so hectic..
So here is my new promise I PROMISE to do the very best I can to be entertaining as often as I can.
 
I hope you all are having a WONDERFUL week that is slightly less hectic than ours.
:)
Good night my loved ones.


Monday, September 17, 2012

This One is For You My Little Marah..


Oh hello my sweet family and friends.
Who never give up on me as busy as life gets.. & just keep on caring.
 
You are the reason my world goes around. 
I really can't tell you how grateful I am to have such wonderful people in my life.

So lets get back to this whole life documenting/remembering/sharing business then shall we...
:)


So the last weekend living in New Jersey we saved a couple of special trips for the end..
This one in particular was a promise we made to my cute little sister..
If anyone can already tell where this is.. 
you will definitely be welcomed into our family.


That's right.. We took a little trip out to Jersey City to see..
The Cake Boss!


And SURPRISE we got to see lots of cute cakes..
But be prepared we also got there at SEVEN in the morning and it was packed..
When I was looking up where it was and everything it said the wait was on average  
2 hours long!

Luckily we didn't have to wait that long to explore all of the creations..


 However this was as close to Buddy as WE ever got.
The cake decorating room is downstairs from his the bakery [I believe].. and I'm not sure how often anyone gets to actually visit down there..
But from what I saw it didn't seem like you get to meet him very often there.
He is one busy cake makin man..


But we had so much fun fulfilling our promise and seeing how the television show [that's on at my family's house every day].. came to be.

 

There were definitely less elaborate cakes than I was expecting.. But there is no denying
 this man has got talent.


And we got a little "taste" of what makes up a big cake business.. literally.
haha


Then we bought this CUTE little cake to bring back to my little Marah and were so excited to make her day..
&.. unfortunately on our week journey back across the country it melted completely a little bit before we got it back..
Hope you still enjoyed the box and the taste of it all mixed together Mar! Maybe someday you'll get to try a more beautiful one.. we sure love you!

Okay.. now I have posted these once before.. 
but I can't get over how dang talented my 14 year old sister really is..




So.. moral of my story.
The Cake Boss was definitely a fun little stop if you're in the neighborhood,
 don't you get me wrong you sweet little cake lovers.
:)
But personally I was more impressed with my cute sister's cupcakes..
Watch out world.. 
The next famous cake store is happening in New Mexico.


Happy Monday everyone!
I'm going to try my hardest to be the best blog catcher upper in the world this week..
[that's right i said the world..]
Pretty high expectations I know..but I won't let you down.
:) 

love you all.

Friday, September 14, 2012

The Best News.

 
Oh boy I bet you all are surprised to hear I am alive..
With traveling across the country, catching up with family, and starting my LAST semester of school things have been crazy..
 
But I am going to catch up everything VERY soon.
[probably after this weekend]
 
:)
 
But first and foremost I just wanted to announce to the world..
My best friend Kayla is engaged!
 
 
I love you SO much Kay!
& Couldn't be happier for you.. and I can't wait to be apart of this exciting time in your life!
You deserve to be the happiest girl in the world.
:)