In Between Canada Day and the Fourth of July

The Outside of my Cake... and The Inside of my Cake

This cake is a tribute to both the Fourth of July and Canada Day (July 1st). Zach liked the fact that when I cut it, the Canadian flag was ruined but the American flag was still intact... I was just surprised that it actually worked!

We moved! We love our new place. It feels like home. Plus, we have enough space that could actually play a reasonable game of hide-and-seek (which is something we were never able to do in Provo) if we wanted to. We also got to use the BBQ we got for our wedding for the first time! We've spent some good time with our nieces lately, and I even went to a Rodeo. (It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be either... though I have to admit that my favourite part was listening to my father-in-law's comments and seeing how excited he got when someone "had a good ride!" Like anyone except him, the riders, and the judges even knows what qualifies a good ride! Speaking of which, who knew there were judges at rodeos??)

Progress and... Missionaries!

We are moving in a week! We found a cute apartment in Orem that we are very excited about. Our apartment currently doesn't look nearly as cute. I finally got to pack though! I also have a great group of missionaries right now who are waiting to go to Mexico. That is our news.

Karma

So, a couple of days ago, I accidentally thought a thought that I wish I hadn't though.  Are you following me?  Call me superstitious, but I believe that you get to a point in your life when thoughts like "life's easy right now" or "gosh, we haven't had a hard time in a couple of months, how nice" etch across your mind.  And it usually means that things are going to get really hard really fast.  Those are the fateful words I thought a few days ago.   Don't get me wrong, I know that life is not supposed to be easy.  I know that I grow the most when I'm in the "depths of despair" (Anne of Green Gables is my hero by the way).
   
Anyways, as soon as I thought that everything was going smoothly, our lives are turned upside down.  I have realized that even though our lives don't go the way we think they should, they go the right ways.  I am trying to be open to God's plan for us, especially when it is directly opposite to our own plan.

I guess it's okay.  I really do like packing after all.

Anniversary!

So, it's official. We've been married for a whole entire year. It has been a great year, a year filled with lots of ups and downs. My favourite part of this year though is the fact that I got do it hand-in-hand with the man that I love. Here are some highlights:
1. May 9th 2009 - we got married :)
2. Our long vacation in Canada
3. Seeing a bear in the wild
4. Surviving a wild tubbing adventure
5. Buying our first furniture
6. Putting up our first Christmas Tree
7. Family Home Evenings and Date Nights
8. Seeing the Penguins
9. Doing home things together (grocery shopping and laundry is so much more fun with Zach!)
10. The lessons we've learnt and the ways in which we've grown in faith and together.

To celebrate our Anniversary, we went to the the Living Science Aquarium and to dinner. The penguins were so funny to watch. Plus, I just love penguins. They are so funny! Zach liked the sharks, but I think they are less funny than penguins.

Zachy - I love you very much! Happy Anniversary sweetheart. How does another million sound? :)

Oh, the dreams of summertime!

So, I want to move. I want to pack up all of our things and lug them to a brand new location. I want to endure the countless hours of unpacking and organizing. I can't help it. The good of renting is that you can move often and start again afresh, and this is what I am itching to do. We are planning to move towards Salt Lake in August. Does that mean that I shouldn't start packing now? Would that be a little bit eccentric? Maybe... Anyways, I don't know what it is about me, but I have a hard time staying still. I think I'll blame my mission where I was forced to move every 6 weeks or few months, or my years as a college student where I was never in the same place for more than 6 months or so. There, I have been trained. I can't stay still. I am going to pack.

Good Books

okI love reading. I love reading good books. I eat them up. But then they end. Don't you hate that?
I rush through good books, finish them, and then feel sad for the rest of the day that my good friends - the characters of good books - are gone forever. This hits me really hard especially with good books that are part of good series. I grew along with Harry Potter and the Traveling Pants girls, and then they die and it makes me so sad. Why, oh why didn't Rowling/ Brashares just keep writing??? Now I have to go and find a new good book with some new good friends to love...
Any suggestions?