I woke up the other night to see Max with a flashlight strapped to the top of his head. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me that he didn't want to wake me up by turning on the lights - so he improvised instead.

I love him more than yesterday, and I'll love him more tomorrow, and I'm so happy that I get my funny Valentine forever.


(february 14th is never complete without this song! )

Happy Valentines Day to you and yours.

if i had to live my life over.

“If I had to live my life over...

I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the "good" living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather rambling about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculped like a rose before it melted 
in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television, 
and more while watching life.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick, instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment, realising that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's" and more "I'm sorry's"


. . . but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute . . . 
look at it and really see it . . . and never give it back.”
-Erma Bombeck

I've never loved reading something so much, (and that's saying a lot).

zion/weekend/i'm in love with max

So I've lived in Utah my whole life and have never been to Lake Powell, Zion, Bear Lake, the Grand Canyon, whatever... growing up my family just preferred hotel rooms over camping and Disneyland over boating.

So when we decided to hit the road last weekend, Max wondered if we could go into Zion for a couple of hours. At first I was hesitant, and I was in no way prepared to go hiking, but he's pretty cute when he tries to be convincing, so I thought sure, why not? We maybe went on three hikes (and by hikes, I mean nature walks) and I took a whole lot of pictures, mainly thinking about Cars Land and how we should probably go back to Disneyland again this year (Thanksgiving 2013 baby!) But, I'll be honest: for living in Utah my whole life and never having visited Zion National Park (and never really having wanted to) I was definitely impressed. It's amazing to see in real life.

The rest of the weekend was splendid, too. My camera died quickly and I forgot the battery charger so since we are without photos, I will describe it to you instead: We watched rom-coms on my laptop (because in-room-movies are $15 dollars these days) and after eating out, we'd stop by the grocery store for dessert and diet cokes and bring it back to the hotel room just so we could sit in our pajamas and talk in bed. The only bad part was pulling in the driveway when we got home, and when Max announced, "Our trip is officially over!" I started to cry (a little bit) because I hate the end of getaways, even if they last only 48 hours.

But Beyonce performed on TV last night, and I made homemade Mexican rice that didn't taste too great but Max ate all of it to be polite, and then we sat in bed again eating cookies from a box talking about all that needs to happen this week... which is a lot. So the weekend was great. And I love being married to Max.

this weekend.

Like I said in a previous post, January has been kind of a blur of craziness and stress (that's an understatement, fyi) and I've never been more ready to kick a month to the curb. Although a lot of it is exciting and (still) developing, uncertainty has never been my cup of tea. So when Max surprised me the other night by casually asking, "So what would you think about taking off this weekend?" I couldn't help but think I married a mind-reader.

We resorted to the Magic 8 Ball last night, (we're still getting used to planning vacations without parents, I guess) and thanks to the answer "yes, definitely..." our plan actually solidified itself. And I packed 6 movies just in case.

Bed & Breakfast: I am coming to you.