San Francisco!!!

Weston and I talked about going to San Francisco since we got married. Last August we were going to go, but it ended up not working out so we did a staycation. This year I told Weston that we were going whether we had the money or not because it would be our last big vacation before we try to have a baby. We decided to drive my Mazda3 since it is older and we didn't want to put the miles on our newer car.

We left Friday around 4pm to head up to Bishop, CA. Two hours into the trip, around Beatty, our air conditioning went out. It happens every so often, but turns back on usually. Well, it wouldn't turn back on this time. It was so hot! We had to drive through 3 windy roads to get to Bishop and it was pretty scary driving that at night. We got to our hotel safely, and sweaty, and went to bed a couple hours later.

The next morning we got up early to get some Freon to see if maybe that was the problem. After putting in Freon our AC was still just as hot. We went to a mechanic after that and they found a leak in our high pressure AC hose, but couldn't fix it since they didn't have the part. We decided to just drive on since the weather wasn't too hot and we would be in the mountains most of the day. We ate lunch at a cute pizza place in Mammoth Lakes while I called around to find out if any of the Mazda dealers in San Francisco had the part we needed. We drove up to Yosemite and then down to the valley floor. It was beautiful in Yosemite, but such a long drive and I think we were just ready to get to our next stop. We watched a video about Yosemite and stopped to take some pictures then headed out to San Mateo. We got to San Mateo, which is South of San Francisco, and were ready to sleep after another day of no AC in our car.

Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. We parked our car and walked about half way down the bridge. It was was really foggy so we didn't get that postcard picture of the bridge we would have liked, but it was still amazing being there. We were told Muir Woods was worth going to because we would see huge trees. I think we were both hoping for Sequoia size trees and were disappointed. We just drove the windy roads and headed back to a park by the Japanese Tea Gardens. We took a nap on the grass and walked around. It was expensive to go into the Tea Garden, or any museum for that matter, so we just walked around some more. I didn't buy Weston anything for his birthday so we decided to go look for shoes since Weston needed new volleyball shoes. He ended up getting two pairs of shoes because anyone that knows Weston knows he loves shoes. We ate dinner at BJ's and headed to bed early because we had an early morning the next day.

Monday we got up at 5am to go down to Fisherman's Wharf and wait in line for tickets to Alcatraz. It was Weston's birthday and he wanted to go to Alcatraz that day. We waited too long to buy tickets online so we waited for an hour and a half in line for the limited tickets they sell for same day trips. We got our tickets though and almost froze to death waiting! Weston wanted French toast for breakfast so we ordered IHOP to go and went back to the hotel to shower. We drove back into the city and took a ferry out to Alcatraz. They provide an audio tour and I'm not usually a big history person, but this was probably my favorite part of our trip. It was amazing to hear the stories of the prisoners and the history of the prison. When we got back to Fisherman's Wharf we went to get Weston some clam chowder for lunch and I had fish and chips. After lunch we walked around Fisherman's Wharf, went to the Maritime museum, the Ghirardelli Factory, and looked at the Trolleys. We took a street car to Union Square and walked around then headed back to the car near Fisherman's Wharf. Since this day was all about Weston he decided he wanted sushi for dinner. Mmm my favorite (sense the sarcasm). We walked around downtown San Mateo till we found a good sushi place with not too long of a wait. We ended up sitting by the nicest couple who eventually asked if we were LDS. I was so confused and asked if my garments were showing, but the husband just thought we were and they were too! Such a small world.  It was a busy day, but so much fun!

Tuesday we drove an hour outside San Mateo to a Mazda dealer that had the part we thought we needed. They told us our entire AC system was out and it would cost us $1700 to fix. Well that didn't sound so good, so we decided to finish up our trip and get it fixed when we got home. We went to the Exploritorium for a couple hours and then decided it was time to head out. There was a lot more we would have liked to see and do, but we were so tired and ready to go home.  We drove to Bakersfield and slept there that night so we could drive home early the next day before it got too hot.

Our trip was stressful at times, but definitely worth the memories. We would love to go back someday when we have more time to explore the city, but for now it is one city checked off our life to do list!

2013 So far...

January - I had to work New Year's Day this year so we didn't even stay up past midnight. We went to Disneyland at the beginning of January before Weston went back to school and it was so cold, but we had a lot of fun!

February - For Valentine's Day Weston bought me a glow light that I kept seeing sold on the side of the road down the street from our house. We went to Firefly for dinner since we have been wanting to try it for a long time. The bacon wrapped stuffed dates were so yummy!

March - We went to Brianhead to go skiing with Weston's family. Weston got a couple of free lift tickets on campus at UNLV so we wanted to go while there was still snow. I had never been skiing before, but we went up to some high lifts anyway. I hurt so bad after, but it was really fun skiing with Weston and his parents.

April - We celebrated Tylee's 1st birthday at a park with some family and friends. Christen and Mike celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary this year and wanted someone to take care of their kids while they went to Maui. Weston and I were able to go for the first few days they were gone to take care of Skye, Larkin and Blake. It was so exhausting, but worth it to spend time getting to know those 3 cute kids :)

May - We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary by going to PF Changs for dinner. I had our brother-in-law Devan build Weston a new computer because Jace would be taking back his computer when he got back from his mission. I took a couple of days off before Weston went back to school for the summer. It wasn't much of a vacation because Weston was studying for the DAT and so I just cleaned the house and got to sleep in. Weston took the DAT and got a 22! I am so proud of him for studying so hard and getting an amazing score.

June - Weston and all his gaming friends, Devan, Bruce, Sean, and Jace got tickets to MLG (Major League Gaming) to see the professional League of Legends players in Anaheim. All the wives tagged along so we could go to the beach and get pedicures. They had a lot of fun at the tournament and I am sure it won't be the last one we attend.

July - We did our annual Durham-Milne 4th of July pool party/BBQ at the Milne's house. It was fun as usual and we had a lot of red, white and blue themed food. The annual Milne Newport trip didn't turn out how we would have liked. I started getting sick on Thursday and by Friday I was worse. We headed to California anyway because I wanted Weston to be able to see his family. Saturday my fever kept rising so we came back with Weston's family that night and I went to the urgent care. My temperature got up to 103.7 and I was told I had mild bronchitis and bilateral ear infections. After antibiotics and a week of rest I felt much better. Two weeks later we went to Los Angeles with the Durhams  to go to a couple of Dodgers games. We went to Tito's Tacos, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, and ate a lot of food at the games.

Grateful

       I guess I should be writing this after Thanksgiving, but I have had to reflect on what I am truly grateful for this week. Tuesday night, when the president was re-elected, I was angry. I don't like that I tend to react before I think about what I am feeling or doing or saying. I have come to accept, though, that that is something I really need to work on. Weston knows me well enough now that he lets me have my moments then waits for my apology for being crazy. I freaked out after the president won and I wish I hadn't. I said many things I shouldn't have and I was also angry that my husband wasn't reacting like I was. I kept asking him why he wasn't upset and he said he was, but didn't want to let it out or else he would get even more angry. I wish I was more like Weston. He is my inspiration to be a better person. I know that our country is not going to fall apart even if it isn't being run the way I would like it to be. I know that I still have my family, my home, and the Gospel. After a night of rest I said our usual family prayer in the morning while Weston slept. I realized that it was not Heavenly Father's will for Mitt Romney to win the presidency. We prayed multiple times that Mitt Romney would win if it be His will. Well, he didn't win. I know that this world needs to get a lot worse before it will get any better. So, these are just a few things I am truly grateful for:

1. A loving husband who accepts all my flaws and inspires me to be better.
2. A loving family that cares so much about us.
3. Wonderful in laws. I really have the best in laws anyone could ask for and I love them.
4. The Gospel and the temple which gives me a refuge from the world
5. A country that allows me the freedom to worship how I wish
6. A roof over our heads and food in our cupboards.
7. A job that allows us to be comfortable and provides a way for Weston to go to school debt free.
8. A healthy body that allows me to wake up each day and live my life to the fullest.

There are so many other things to be grateful for. I keep thinking about the twelth Article of Faith and how no matter who is President we need to respect that office. We live in a democracy and the majority of people voted for him and I need to accept that and move on. I need to work on not being crazy too :)

Summertime

I am really bad at blogging when we don't have anything big going on in our lives so I will just lump our whole summer thus far into one blog post. This summer has been fun filled and has gone by way too fast.

June - Weston started summer semester of school. He did well in both of his classes and I am proud of him for working so hard to get As. At the end of June we went to Mormon day at Dodger stadium for Pop's birthday since it was on his actual birthday. The next day we went to Santa Monica Pier. It was a fun, quick trip with my crazy family :)

 
July - We went to St. George for my friend Marnie's wedding. She looked beautiful and I was so happy that she found a good man to be sealed to. I love going to sealings because it reminds me of our wedding day. I cried so hard during our sealing that I barely remember it, but I know that being sealed to Weston is the biggest blessing in our lives. While in St. George we were also able to stay with Weston's sister and brother-in-law Rachel and Devan and see cute baby Tylee! She is seriously the cutest thing and we love any chance we get to see her. 

August - Every summer Weston's extended family goes to Newport for a week long vacation. This summer his grandparents took all of their sons and wives on an Alaskan cruise so we decided to have a Newport trip of our own! Weston, me, Marisa, Trent, Rachel, Devan and Tylee went down to Costa Mesa on Friday night, checked in to our hotel and went to the beach. The next day we went to breakfast and then Target to pick up some supplies for the beach. We got to the beach around noon and played for 3 or 4 hours. After we rinsed off we headed back home. It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun spending time with Weston's family.

       Last year we did a little much for our birthdays so we said we weren't going to spend so much this year. Well I have a problem with wanting to spoil Weston so he got a birthday week this year. We both took a week off of work and enjoyed being together since we don't already spend enough time together :) Monday, I took Weston to Texas De Brazil for dinner because he has been talking about eating there ever since I can remember. After, we headed to the Wynn where we saw Le Reve by Cirque du Soleil courtesy of my sister Emily's employee discount. It was the weirdest show ever. I called my mom afterward and told her "First of all, who thinks of these shows, second of all, who watches them and thinks this will be an amazing show!" It was just freaking weird. Tuesday, we checked in at the LVH since we got a Living Social deal for two days there. That night we ate at Beni Hana since it was part of the deal and we also ate there last year for Weston's birthday. We love the experience and food there, but it is a once a year kind of place. Wednesday, we slept in and then ran some errands. We ate lunch at Chili's and headed to UNLV to get some things straightened out for this next semester. Thursday, we went to the pool at the hotel and packed up to go back home. I have decided staycations aren't really all they are cracked up to be. The strip is dirty and when you have your own house you just want to be in your own bed. We decided when we have kids a staycation might be more appealing. We went to a dealership later in the afternoon to look at cars, but nothing they had was what we wanted or in our price range. Plus, I didn't know like being there at all! The guy we met with was a friend of a friend so he wasn't too pushy, but pushy enough for me not to want to ever have to buy a car at a dealership. That night we played volleyball at the church which we do every week. Friday, we bought a new car! The Honda has been giving us problems for awhile and when we got one problem fixed another one happened. We called the guy that bought Kylie's car from the auction, told him what we wanted and he came through Friday morning. We got a 2011 Nissan Altima since I wanted a bigger backseat for when we have kids. Weston's mom came over to help us paint the rest of our hallway since that was his request for his birthday. We left before we could finish so we could pick up the car and his mom did the rest of the painting. I really have a great mother-in-law. We went to see Bourne Legacy that night at our favorite theater. Saturday morning I went to a baby shower for my friend Michelle while Weston hung out at home. That night I asked where he would like to go to dinner for the day before his birthday, since it was on Sunday this year, and of all places he picks Panda Express. My husband has an obsession with Panda and it is my last choice to eat when I pick. Sunday, we enjoyed birthday cookies with our CTR 4 class (we got that calling a couple months ago). I made chicken rice casserole for dinner and we had Weston's family over. After dinner we had dessert with Weston's family and then my family came over after. I made 3 desserts for Weston's birthday! I really like making dessert, but Weston told me sometimes I need to simplify things. He was happy to have it all though! I made homemade ice cream cake, oreo cake balls, and chocolate chocolate chip cookies.

       

Our week off was much needed for me from work and it was nice to get to sleep in. I told Weston I felt like we didn't get much done and he just laughed at me. We did do a lot and I am grateful for this time we get to spend just the two of us before we expand our family.