The Times, They Are A Changin'

As most of you know, Taylor and I are expecting a wonderful addition to our family in February.  We found out last week that it's a little boy and we've decided to name him Daniel Bryan.  Daniel for Taylor's middle name and Bryan for one of Taylor's beloved mentors.  We couldn't be happier. I can't quite put into words all of the feelings that I'm having about this life-changing event.  I'm terrified but excited.  Overjoyed yet doubtful.  And I suppose that every new mother goes through these emotions. 
It's fun to experience all of the little flutters that Daniel makes.  And literally see him grow, even if the only evidence is my continuously bulging stomach.  And I try to relish the feeling of it all.  To enjoy every last moment because I'm so scared that it will all just...go away.  And it's hard not to think like that.  It's hard not to remember that I could have already been a mommy.  And it's silly to mourn a child that really wasn't there, but it was real for me.  I try not to think about it, but when you feel a kick at 3:30 in the morning that wakes you up from an already fitful sleep your mind tends to wander.
But the point of this isn't to be depressing or gloomy.  I had to share the darkness of my worries and thoughts to really help you understand how grateful I am.
It's hard to believe that I have the opportunity to be a mom.  I know that there are women out there that are far more qualified and deserving.  Not that I'm a terrible person, but I know that I'm a very selfish person.  Years alone and having to take care of myself have nurtured that awful characteristic.  Taylor has been so patient with me over the past few years (can't believe that next week will be our 3 year anniversary).  But even with his patience, I'm still leagues behind what is necessary for what most would call a good mother.  However, I am going to continue to try and learn.  If there's one thing I hate, it's being stagnant.  I love the challenge that change brings.  I enjoy the opportunity to grow.  So though I may not feel worthy right now, I know that I've been blessed with a wonderful opportunity to become a good mom.  I realize that it's going to take a lot of humility on my part.  I know that I can't do this on my own.  There's no possible way that I can have all the answers without having ever done this.  I'm grateful for a husband that is loving and kind.  For his excitement of becoming a father and his dedication to such a call.  I don't know what I would do without his support.  I love that he willingly comes with me to my appointments and makes sure that I'm doing what is necessary for the baby.  I love that he loves this child, as it is right now, as much as I do.  I know that with him, I'm not alone in not only the joys of this pregnancy, but the woes as well.  I'm also especially grateful for the many family members and friends that have lent their support, ears, and hearts.  It's great to have such a network of knowledge and experience. 
Most important, I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father that has faith in me and loves me.  The scariest part of this, is knowing that though Daniel will be my son, he is His son too.  And with that comes a huge responsibility.  To know that what I do in the rearing up of my children can effect the chances of having them with me throughout eternity is nerve-wracking.  But it does provide excellent motivation to strive constantly to have His spirit with me.  To seek His counsel and guidance. 
I'm amazed at the capacity of love I feel for this baby.  I'm astounded by the desire he instills in me to be better.  Obviously I want to be a good person for my own benefit.  But I want to become a great mom for my family.  As I stated before, I cherish every little moment of the life growing inside of me.  I'm not going to take it for granted, even though I may complain about it sometimes.  I'm excited for the adventure that lays before us, and not just for Taylor and I.  I'm excited for both sets of our parents to experience being grand-parents.  To hear the joy in their voices is honestly one of the most gratifying sounds.  The proud words from a parent to child (even a child-in-law) is something that many of us strive to hear.  
Life for us is taking on new responsibilities and new meaning.  Things are changing and I think we're finally ready to see what it all has in store for us. 

Full Albums

Today a guy I work with said that (paraphrase) "Every album ever only has two or three good songs, and the rest is just filler." I very fully disagree with this statement, so I quickly ran down the list of albums on my Google Music account and the list of albums on which I enjoy every song grew quickly. I do mean EVERY song. I deliberately left out every album that was a soundtrack, compilation, greatest hits, or live performance. The list also would have been about five times longer if I had included albums with only one or two songs I normally skip or that aren't good. Also keep in mind that my google account only holds about half of my music collection, so there are sure to be quite a few albums left out.

DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL - A MARK, A MISSION, A BRAND, A SCAR

MXPX - BEFORE EVERYTHING AND AFTER

DISTURBED – BELIEVE

BILLY TALENT - BILLY TALENT

BILLY TALENT - BILLY TALENT II

BLINK-182 - BLINK-182

BOSTON – BOSTON

CPM 22 - CHEGOU A HORA DE RECOMEÇAR

CONDITIONS - CONDITIONS EP

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - DANGER DAYS: THE TRUE LIVES OF THE FABULOUS KILLJOYS

BRAND NEW - DEJA ENTENDU

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK - EVEN IF IT KILLS ME

FALL OUT BOY - FROM UNDER THE CORK TREE

HOOBASTANK – HOOBASTANK

LINKIN PARK - HYBRID THEORY

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK - I AM THE MOVIE

COHEED AND CAMBRIA - IN KEEPING SECRETS OF SILENT EARTH: 3

SENSES FAIL - LET IT ENFOLD YOU

RUFIO - MCMLXXXV (1985)

LINKIN PARK – METEORA

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK - MY DINOSAUR LIFE

COUNT THE STARS - NEVER BE TAKEN ALIVE

OFF BY ONE - OFF BY ONE

SAY ANYTHING - SAY ANYTHING

AFI - SING THE SORROW

RISE AGAINST - SIREN SONG OF THE COUNTER CULTURE

ARMOR FOR SLEEP - SMILE FOR THEM

NEW FOUND GLORY - STICKS AND STONES

DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL - SWISS ARMY ROMANCE

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - THE BLACK PARADE

BRAND NEW - THE DEVIL AND GOD ARE RAGING INSIDE ME

MAE - THE EVERGLOW

FURTHER SEEMS FOREVER - THE MOON IS DOWN

DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL - THE PLACES YOU HAVE COME TO FEAR THE MOST

RACE THE SUN - THE REST OF OUR LIVES IS TONIGHT

COHEED AND CAMBRIA - THE SECOND STAGE TURBINE BLADE

ARCADE FIRE - THE SUBURBS

BAYSIDE - THE WALKING WOUNDED

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET REVENGE

WEEZER - WEEZER (BLUE ALBUM)

FINCH - WHAT IT IS TO BURN

CONDITIONS - YOU ARE FORGOTTEN

TAKING BACK SUNDAY – TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE – PLANS

BRAND NEW – YOUR FAVORITE WEAPON

The Brian Setzer Orchestra - The Dirty Boogie

CONDITIONS - FLUORESCENT YOUTH

FALL OUT BOY – TAKE THIS TO YOUR GRAVE

HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH – CRACKED REAR VIEW

JACK JOHNSON – CURIOUS GEORGE

SPYRA GYRA – MOST OF THEIR MANY ALBUMS

THE USED – THE USED

THE USED - IN LOVE AND DEATH

Mini Vacations

Well, I guess since it looks like Rikki has given up on writing any blog posts, I'll guess I'll be filling one in. Over the last few weekends we've been able to do little mini vacations with family and friends. Over memorial day weekend we went up to Bountiful and spent it at quite a few different family gatherings. Before we could leave on Friday night however, we had to invest quite a bit into long overdue car repairs. We put on a new windshield, two new tires, flushed the transmission and changed the oil. Then while we were doing the safety check for the registration, the latch that holds the hood down broke and quit working completely, and they wouldn't pass it. So we just ended up riding up with my parents which was fine.

Saturday early afternoon we had my grandma's 75th birthday, and it was great to see all of my extended family. I ended up spending most of the time playing horse with my cousins. After the party, I made a quick trip to Lagoon with Sierra and Kiera, and Rikki went shopping with parents and grandparents. It ended up pouring rain the entire time we were at the park and we only ended up getting on a few rides. Still nice to spend time with my sisters.

Sunday we went to church early, and then headed up to my Uncle Steve's house for a celebration of all the Klemm May birthdays, and there are quite a few of them. The food was awesome as always, hamburgers and bbq chicken. So in the two days we got to see pretty much all of my extended family. The next morning, most of those same women got together for my cousin's baby shower. My dad and I were supposed to be having a nice golf outing, but when we woke up to snow we scrapped that and went to IHOP instead. Not as good as golf, but still quite nice.

The next weekend we headed down to Vegas for a friend's wedding. We got in late Thursday, and early Friday my dad and I finally got around to that golf. We played a course called Rio Secco, and it was without a doubt the nicest course that I've ever played. A lot of holes were built into the natural cliffs, and quite a few had gorgeous views overlooking the whole city. It was Really REALLY nice. That evening was the wedding, and it was quite nice too. Congrats again to Josh and Stephanie. It was awesome to see how happy the experience made him. Saturday we spent pretty much the whole day visiting old friends and with Rikki's family. Sunday was church early again, then a nice family dinner with both mine and Rikki's family. Then the long drive back.

(We've been listening to The Hunger Games audiobooks as we've been doing all this driving, and I have to say I'm convinced.)

Then finally this past weekend we were invited by our friend April to go up to her family's cabin at Mammoth Creek, up above Cedar City. It was quite seriously the nicest cabin I've ever seen. We spent the weekend riding ATVs, playing board games, and watching movies. We had nothing we had to do and no one we had to see, and we just had the whole weekend to relax. It was great, not to mention that the food was awesome. Hope we can go back again sometime, they were all awesome people.

Hopefully Rikki will update soon with all the projects that we've been working on around the house...painting and redoing the yard mostly.

Interesting to say the least.

I've been meaning to update this.  I really have.  Unfortunately, I get too side-tracked to do so.  Well, now I have a bit more time on my hands, so maybe I can keep up with this.
Golly, I don't really know where to start with this.  I suppose I could just share what's been lingering on my mind the past few weeks.
Well, Taylor and I had been trying to get pregnant for some months now.  It's been quite the trial for me seeing as how I was told as a teenager that any attempt for me to have a baby would be a difficult one.  Shortly after our two year anniversary, I found out that I was pregnant.  But just as quickly as it happened, I had a miscarriage.  So that was quite a blow for me.  Taylors been great about it, so sweet and consoling.  I'm doing better about it now though, especially after being laid off from my job.  A blessing in disguise.
Now it's just a matter of starting the hunt again.  Looking for a job that is going to help support Taylor that way he can finish school.  Nothing is more important than that one goal at this point.
As far as work is concerned though, I know what I want to do.  It's just a matter of gaining the experience needed to do it though.  Hopefully I can find something at a design firm, start from the bottom and work my way up.  My job gave me a small severance to tide us over til the new year at least, so that allows for some time to find something.
Other than that, things are well.  Taylor is working at BYU Broadcasting and is loving it.  He's also doing very well in school.  We miss our family a lot.  I know that I'm certainly looking forward to Christmas so we can go to Vegas.
Oh, and for those that have yet to see Deathly Hallows.  DO IT. NOW!  It was phenomenal.  The best thus far.
Thankfully I have lots of craft ideas to help keep me busy and sane, so I'll be doing a lot of that too.  If any of it is good enough, I'll post it on here.  :)

Gettin crafty!!!

So a couple of our dear friends that we met over the summer just a baby boy (as of 11:30 this morning), and I wanted to make them something special for his arrival. So on Saturday morning, before I went into work, I drove down to Michaels and got all of the necessary materials. And this was the end result...

 

I really hope Gabi and Nick like it and that it didn't come out too girly.  I personally love it cause it has all of my favourite things (ie. argyle, stripes, and polka dots) the only thing that's missing is plaid.  Anywho, that was just one of my many projects that I've done thus far.  So many babies and weddings coming up that I fear I'm gonna be a very busy girl. 

OH! And any input or suggestions that you may have would be great. 

I loved my Cherry Coke!

So, tonight, me and the wife went to see Avatar in 3D for a much needed date night. The movie was amazing, one of the top i've ever seen, but that's not why i'm writing this blog.

Before we went in to the movie, we each got drinks. I a Mr. Pibb, Rikki a Cherry Coke. I put them on a tray which we took into the theater with us. Somehow, the two got switched when we sat down...i noticed when i took a sip and it was a lot sweeter then i had expected. I then wished i had gotten Cherry Coke, it hit the spot very well. I looked over, and Rikki seemed to be enjoying the pibb, so i left it alone.

On the drive home, we were talking about how awesome the movie was, then Rikki says, "...and man, i really enjoyed my Cherry Coke!" I busted up laughing, not only that she hadn't noticed that the drinks were switched, but had enjoyed it so much. When i told her what had happened, she got upset at me for not telling her right away, but neither of us could stop laughing for a few minutes.

This doesn't seem as funny as i type it, but it was hilarious. Let me know if it's funny or not.

Tender Mercies

Today has been one of the best days this year. Nothing radical or amazingly exciting happened, rather an extraordinary blessing was bestowed upon Taylor and I.
As most of you know, Taylor and I have been struggling to find employment since we returned home to Utah at the beginning of November. Living off of savings and the kindness of friends and family, we had run out of any possible income to get us through January. As you can assume or maybe you yourself have experienced, I was rather worried and distraught. Prayers became more pleading and fasting became quite frequent. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that a glimmer of hope was restored. We met with the bishop for tithing settlement and were instantly comforted. He gave us wonderful words of hope, reminded us of great promises, and shared valuable experiences with us that not only filled our hearts but strengthened our testimonies. I can't tell you how truly grateful we are to have such a bishop as a newlywed couple and as members of the church. So after meeting with the bishop, we finally started getting calls for interviews. As a matter of fact, Taylor had four in that first week. I started getting more legitimate leads for places to apply. Though it wasn't a job offer, it was still a step closer than we were before, we were moving forward.
After I dropped off a friend at work this morning, I felt the need to check our mail since I hadn't done so in quite a few days. In my mind, I made a simple joke "It's not like someone sent us a check." Once I got home with the mail, Taylor and I sifted through it. We received a couple of Christmas cards from family and of course the infamous 'ads'. But as Taylor was reading the annual Christmas letter from his parents, I found a letter from my old insurance company. Confused, I opened and found attached to it a check for $500. I was so overwhelmed that I started to cry. I had heard stories and testimonies given about Christmas miracles such as this, but never really expected to really have my own. In my hands was a tender mercy from the Lord.
The check was a reimbursement from a minor accident that I had in June of last year. A gentleman rear ended me damaging my rear bumper. It was a good thing that a month prior to the minor collision, I added the 'uninsured motorist' coverage to my policy, because this guy didn't have insurance. So, needless to say that when I called my insurance company to report the accident they told me that I would have to pay the $500 deductible myself unless they could somehow convince this guy to pay it. I was left with no hope. They did however send me a check, at that time, to cover the damages totaling over $1300. I put that check towards the principle balance on my car, allowing me to pay it off sooner. However, my company dropped my coverage after that. I still had a damaged bumper but at least I was closer to owning my vehicle. So the fact that I get a check, a year and a half later from them really amazes me. As I said to Taylor's parents, I knew from whom this check had really come from. It reminded me of a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar in general conference a few years ago, in it he said:

"Some may count this experience as simply a nice coincidence, but I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord’s timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them."

I know that this was not a coincidence. When the accident first occurred and I was worrying about how to handle it, I am sure the Lord was there teaching me patience. Taylor and I feel, that in a way, that accident happened so that we would be blessed, in time. Thanks to the first initial check and the generosity from Ron and Anne, we own our vehicle. I know that the Lord provided todays check for us when we needed it most. When we would not take it for granted, nor when it would go unrecognized. He provided this for us that we might be reminded of His watchful eye, His constant care, and His unconditional eternal love. I am thankful to not only have a Heavenly Father that knows me and my needs but also that he instills renewed hope. What a blessing it was, to open that letter and to feel His love in telling me, "I am here. I know. And you will be okay."  I am also thankful for a loving and supportive family who's faith, prayers, and fasting have been such a blessing to us during these tough times.  Families are eternal and, today especially, I was reminded of how lucky I am to be a part of this one.

During the Christmas season, it's easy to get lost in the luster of bright lights, never ending shopping, and constant stress.  But I testify that if we focus our hearts on it's true meaning, the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ, the spirit of Christmas will be intensified in our lives and our homes.  If we "make room, and let Him in", we will find in that a peace and joy so wonderful and amazing.  If we do that, then we will be able to experience our very own Christmas miracle.  I am so grateful that the Savior humbly came to the world, gave the perfect example, and provided a way that even I, as imperfect I as I am, can return home to my Father in Heaven.


We thank you sincerely for all that you've done for us, most in ways that you don't realize how deeply it effects us.  We love and miss you all.  May you all have a safe and beautiful Christmas.

Summer Summary

That's kinda catchy, isn't it? I just thought of it as i typed it. Maybe it should just be Summery. But i begin digressing...

We've been traveling and working all summer, and haven't really had a ton of time to update. Well, i haven't and Rikki has chosen not to...so here we go.

We spent the majority of our summer in Rochester, NY. During this time, we made quite a few little side trips around the north-eastern portion of the country. First off, we went to Niagara Falls, which was an awesome experience. We just walked around the rim and hung out for a while on the canadian side. Played video games and mini golf while we were there, and that was fun. A week or two after that we were able to make a short trip over to Palmyra and to see the hill Cumorah. The next week we were able to go to the Sacred Grove, which was a pretty amazing experience. We also made a trip down to the finger lakes with the other couples from our office, just hung out there. The scenery in New York was beautiful, if not a bit monotonous. When Sierra and Chandale came to visit, we were able to go to the Hill Cumorah Pagent, which was amazing until they had to cancel the second half due to rain. We did make a return trip up to Niagara Falls the next day though. This trip we went on the Maid of the Mist boat, which was really cool. We got some cool video from there. See:


Then for the rest of Sierra and Chandale's visit, I was working down in the hole that is Erie, PA. we did take advantage of this though to spend my birthday in Cedar Point, OH. And i do have to say, it was the best birthday I've ever had. It was the most amazing theme park that i've been to, and we had an absolute blast. Sierra and Chandale then went home, but before we went back to Rochester from Pennsylvania, we made a short drive down to Kirkland Ohio. We were able to see the Newel Whitney store and the School of the Prophets, which was an awesome spiritual experience. Then we went to the Kirkland Temple, which was a complete polar opposite. The Church of Christ now owns it, and has taken all the spirituality out of it. On the way back to New York from there, we stopped in Buffalo and went to the Anchor Bar, which is where the Buffalo Wing was invented. So that was cool.
After that we took a little break from our excursions. We did one last one before we left New York, and we went to New York City. It was great because we were able to stay with Rikki's aunt Dona and uncle Augusto, and they were able to give us a guided tour all around the city. We had brunch at this amazing little place that had pictures of dogs lining the walls. After this we took a walk through Central Park and saw John Lennon's memorial, as well as the place he used to live where Yoko Ono still lives. Then we got to go to the top of Rockefeller center which had an amazing view. Then we went to times square and had charactures drawn of us, which cost way too much money and didn't turn out very well at all. We also ate dinner at this amazing Peruvian restaurant, and finished off the night at the underground apple store. It was a really fun trip.

After that we finished up our summer in New York, but decided to do an extended stint of selling in Dallas. So while driving between Rochester and Dallas, we decided to stop at all the church history sites that we could. The first place that we stopped was Nauvoo. We stayed in a really cool hotel for the night, it was really close to the Temple. The next morning, we woke up pretty early and were able to do a session in the Temple, and it was a truly amazing experience for both of us. After seeing the rest of Nauvoo, we were able to take a nice drive down the side of the Mississippi River for a while on our way to Carthage Jail. That was a somber place, but good to see. From here we made a short trip down to Hannibal, the birthplace of Mark Twain. This little stop was more for Rikki than me, but we were able to take a picture with a statue of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Then we were on to Far West where we were able to see the temple site where the cornerstones were laid. It was a very serene place, and it was really nice to be able to go there. From there, it was a quick drive over to Adam-ondi-ahmen. That was another really beautiful place.

We stayed that night in a small hotel in the middle of nowhere in Cameron, Missouri. We got up the next day and went to Far West, where we saw the temple site where the cornerstones still sit. It's kinda strange...it's right out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around it. Just empty rolling hills, but it really is a beautiful place. From there we drove to Liberty Jail. We had a really spiritual experience here as well, it was amazing to learn of all the inspiration that were received there. Rikki also had a really cool opportunity to sing there and the spirit was really strong. It was unfortunate that we had to do all this so quick, but because of our time crunch, we ended up having to squeeze it all into two days. It was still an amazing experience.

From there we finished up our drive down to Lewisville. We stayed there from a month and a half doing more alarm system sales. Not too much exciting happened there at all, except that the first weekend that we were down there we were able to drive a few hours south and see one of my old college roommates, Craig. We got to meet his wife and little girl, and were able to play a round of golf in the rain, which was a blast. The rest of the time that we were down there was pretty uneventful.

On the way back from Texas, we got to stop in Arizona for week and a while in Vegas too. But seeing as this is long enough and i doubt that anyone will even read this far, i'll end this right here and live the second part for another post.

Harry Potter-The Update

As most of you know, I'm an incredible procrastinator (I'm expecting a PhD in the art). I was suppose to give a written account of my Harry Potter: The Exhibition trip months ago, but never did it. Looking back, it's best that I did it this way because now I can incorporate my experience of seeing the sixth installment of the film as well. Two birds, one stone.

As Taylor had said previously, we had made a Northward detour to Chicago specifically for the exhibition. The timing literally couldn't have been more perfect. The exhibit had opened just a few days prior to our arrival. I had planned (more like schemed) this trip for what seemed like months, trying to work out the details and such. It was only going to be an additional hour to our journey and seemed meant to be. Anywho...you want to hear more about the museum I'm sure.
I walked into the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry with a sense of awe. The building was huge and the displays were incredible. We get to the ticket desk and right there, close enough for me to jump right into the driver seat was a lovely blue Ford Anglia the same one from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The tickets were a bit pricey, but I knew that it would be worth it (Taylor had yet to believe me). There was a massive escalator that took us up to the level where the exhibition entrance was housed. Once there we were lead through a pair of doors leading to an outside walkway. Apparently they had set up the exhibit in a tent. I was afraid that the my experience of Harrys' world was going to be destroyed via a white tarp. But as soon as the next set of doors were opened, all of my fears melted away and my dreams became a wonderful reality.

Through a set of double doors, the Hogwarts Express came into view. An elaborate display of videos were set to recreate the feeling of being on this magical train. Once we "stepped off" of the Hogwarts Express (more like we were led to the next room), we were taken to an area with just a stool, a witch, and a sorting hat. Imagine my excitement when I was picked to have the sorting hat placed upon my head. It was a no-brainer. I knew to which house I belonged. Powerful and cunning...SLYTHERIN!!! Taylor of course was sorted into Gryffindor (Dumbledore would be so proud of us, interhouse unity). Once sorted into our new houses, it was time to go to the common room. Obviously the only common room available to go to was Gryffindor (the dungeons are better!). We saw the fat lady, gave her the password, Mimbulus Mimbletonia, and walked through the portrait hole. They had all sorts of fun props and things from the movies. They even had the moving pictures that adorn the halls of my beloved Hogwarts. They had the howler that Ron gets from Mrs. Weasley in Chamber of Secrets. They set up the dormitories as well, so we got to see Harry and Rons four-poster beds. I really enjoyed seeing that especially when watching Half-Blood Prince, it's set up exactly like it is in the movie. Then we moved on to the potions classroom. We were able to see all of the ingredients that are used for the potions as well as the robes for my dear head of house, Professor Severus Snape. We also saw the office for Professor Lockhart, the sinister Professor Umbridge, the amazing Professor Lupin, and then headed out to the greenhouses for Herbology. There we got to actually pull Mandrakes from their pots. It was so much fun to see them squealing and they are oddly cute. Once we were done, we went over to the quidditch pitch. Quidditch is by far the coolest sport EVER! And as it turns out, I'm a natural, I scored seventy points from throwing the quaffle. Lovely workout. We saw Buckbeak, the outfits that Emma, Rupert, and Daniel wore for Prisoner of Azkaban. Then we walked around Hagrids hut. Hagrid is a BIG man.

If I didn't feel short before, I certainly did after I left his hut. I even got a picture of me sitting in his chair to prove how big he is.

I got to see the old and new quidditch uniforms. Another really cool experience while watching the new movie. They had Aragog, the Hungarian Horntail, and Firenze. Once we left the Forbidden Forest we left Hogwarts. Soon we were greeted with the wanted posters of Bellatrix LeStrange, Fenrir Greyback, and the Carrows. Scary blokes. We also saw the robes of Lord Voldemort (that's right, I'm not scared to say his name) and those eerie dementors. I only had to use the "Expecto Patronum" charm once, they learned not to mess with me.

Oh, I almost forgot, we also saw a petrified Colin Creevey (it felt like real flesh). Then we were escorted to the Great Hall for the Yule Ball. They had the all the outfits of the Triwizard competors plus dates and decorations from the fourth film. Plus the robes of the ORIGINAL Dumbledore. I got to see a rather naked Dobby, which was weird, but he's still cute. We even got a sneak peek of the products in the Weasleys Wizard Wheezes.
Overall, it was such a wicked cool experience. And now I can officially say that I attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for a day.

Drive Summary

Starting last Thursday very early, Rikki and I started the longest drive/trip of our lives.  It was quite exciting and late last night we finally arrived in our new and temporary home, in Fairport, NY.  It's right outside Rochester.  

DAY 1:

Thursday, we had planned to get up at 4:30 and be on the road by 5 by due to two unfourtnate 

alarm clock issues, we ended up not leaving until a little after 6.  Most of the first 10 hours of the drive were pretty routine, all stuff I've driven before.  Rikki drove the first 6 hours, then we switched off, and Rikki slept most of the time that I was driving. 

We stopped for food the first time after about 11-12 hours right outside Denver in a little mountain town called Idaho Springs.  We found a little family resturant called The Wildfire, it was actually pretty good.  I had a chicken fried steak that was literally hanging off the ends of the plate.  We finished off our food and jumped back in the car, but upon decending into Denver, Rikki heard something funny and decided to check the tire pressure.  That turned into a 1/2 hour ordeal due to lack of quarters and other people using the air pump machine, but after that we were on the road again.  We didn't quite make it to Lincoln as we had planned, but stopped somewhere in the middle of Nebraska called Lexington.  The whole town smelled like poop and the Super 8 there ended up being a lot more $ than we thought it would be.

Check out the size of 

this thing.  It was over a foot long.

DAY 2:

We had planned to get up at 7 to drive to Chicago, but typical us we woke up an hour late.  We

 threw all our stuff together really quick and jumped on the road.  Rikki went right to sleep and I burned through Nebraska and most of Iowa.  That took about 5 hours, then we switched.  Rikki didn't like driving through Iowa any more than I did, see previous post for the many reasons.  

Once we crossed the Mississippi into Illinois, it wasn't so bad.  The drive was fairly quick and

 then around 7 we made it into Chicago and drove straight to the reason for our Northward detour, Harry Potter: The Exhibition at a museum

 downtown.  I wasn't to keen on it going into it,

but it meant a lot to Rikki so we went.  But it

 actually ended up being a lot of fun.  They had tons of stuff there from the movies, but i'll leave it to Rikki to put up all the details of that.  After it was over, we drove about 30 minutes south and stayed in the most run down Super 8 I've ever seen.  It was a lot cheaper, but wow.  However, we did find a White Castle right down the street which Rikki loved.  After that experience, we both agreed that we're fine never going back to Chicago again.

Illinois, Chicago, and White Castle

Day 3:

We kinda took a different attitude by day 3.  Since it was Saturday, and we'd planned enough

 to get into New York with time to spare, we just

 decided to sleep in and get up and go when we 

got up.  We got up around 9 and decided that we'd just drive around and try to find a place to see Lake Michigan.  That didn't go so well, and we ended up driving around for 2 hours and finally leaving Chicago and driving through Gary, Indiana before we finally found a beach where we could stop and go up by the lake.  So then we jumped back on the freeway and started driving.  This was when we finally realized how much we really hate toll roads.  I think total on the trip the ended up setting us back about $40.  Yea.  The rest of Indiana was pretty uneventful, but we both really liked Ohio.  Pretty country.  As we were driving through Cleveland, we saw a road sign that said "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum".  DETOUR #2!  It took us quite a while to find it due to some missed turns, but we got there and it was pretty cool.  We also saw Lake Erie here.  It was a nice little side trip.  Then things got rough as I got hungry and Rikki realised how much she needed to use the bathroom.  Her phone froze up, so we had no GPS for a while, so we had another 2 hour aimless drive through Cleveland trying to find a bathroom and our way back on to the freeway.  We finally found the freeway before finding anywhere to eat , then drove a few miles to a Pizza Hut.  From there we finished the drive in one straight shot, getting into Fairport about 11, 5 hours behind schedule.  But we're here, our apartment is nice and it should be a good summer.

Iowa Drive-thru

Driving through Iowa, i kinda got a strange persecption of the state.  Driving wise.  I don't know how accurate this is as a whole, but this was my experience from observing the driving patterns and signs as we passed through.

Construction patterns - Cones closing off one of the two lanes, preceeded by tons of signs warning of the dangers of speeding in a construction zone.  The lane would stay closed for two miles or so without any sign of actual construction work happening.  It would say open for another 2-3 miles, then the process would repeat itself.  This kept going on and on for the longest time and i had no idea why.  One sign observed in one of these sections read: "Minimum penalty for hitting worker: "$10,000 and 14 years in prision."

Semi #1 - Overturned in the ditch between Eastbound and Westbound I-80.  Totally destroyed.  Wondered if driver survived.

Sign on Semi #2 - "DO NOT FOLLOW INTO WORK AREA"  How many cars followed that truck off the road into a construction site before they decided that they needed that sign there?

Sign on Semi #3 - "INEDIBLE - CONTENTS NOT MEANT FOR HUMANS" How many people tried to eat out of a random silver tanker truck looking like it could be hauling gasoline before this was inscribed?

Semi #4 - In the same ditch 60 miles down the road.  This one had been carrying construction vehicles, and was in worse shape than the first, although not overturned.  Wheels completely broken off and axels completely missing and a catipillar tractor half buried and still attached to the bed, which had been seperated from the rear 8 tires completely.

When we got to number four and we saw the ambulance pull into the lane blocked off by cones, it dawned on me that they leave cones up permenantly around common semi crash sites, so the ambulances can get to the mangled truckers faster.  It was the only thing that made sense.

Finally, it all came together when I started to see signs reading, "See the world famous I-80!" and the like.  We came up over the hill and saw the last sign before this actual I-80 place, reading "THE WORLD'S LARGEST TRUCK STOP!"  Behind it spraweled acres and acres of gas stations and fast food places and parking lots.  It was quite a sight to behold.

Summary:  Driving through Iowa, not pleasant, not safe.

Here I go again...

So Taylor keeps getting on me how I was the one that set this whole blog up, but never update it. So here I am. (Take that Honey!!!)
Life has been quite interesting the past few months. Still adjusting and learning about one another. Still realizing that there's a "We" and not a "Me". Still trying to wrap my head around being married in general. Just celebrated 5 months. WOW! But we're good and enjoying life together.
Taylor is finishing up yet another semester at BYU and can't wait till it's done. We're both very anxious to go to New York for the summer. I think I'm more anxious than he is, mostly because he likes Utah while I believe that Utah is...well I won't tell you what I believe it is, just that it's not good. Don't get me wrong, the state itself is lovely. I'm just not one for it's residents. I'm not a huge fan of over-bearing and incredibly close minded. But again...I'm adjusting. I think that it's because I'm out of my comfort zone here. I know hardly anyone, and the people I do meet I have NOTHING in common with. I just miss my friends and family back home.
I've been looking into changing my major. Entertainment Business. Sadly, UVU offers no such degree and so I've been looking at new schools as well. As much as I enjoy Geology, I think I chose it for the wrong reasons. I want to do something that I'm truly passionate about, and thats music. So...we'll see what happens.
But yeah, we're just keeping our focus on New York right now. I have an entire road trip planned for the drive to Rochester and a bunch of activities for when we're there. Hopefully while we're there we'll make some good money, if not, then just being out of Utah is worth it for me.
OH YEAH! So Taylor and I are rarely able to have a date night (with schedules being so crazy and all) so when I won tickets to see one of my favorite bands Escape The Fate (also the band we saw on our first date) we got really excited. So I took a video at the show and it was AWESOME! The mosh pit covered the entire floor at one point and the guitarist had this incredible solo...anywho...it's hardcore with some screamo...so if you're into that kind of stuff (cause I most certainly am) then take a look. ^_^

Spanish Pork

When Rikki got her Cricket, the box that the carrying case came in was labeled as coming from Spanish Pork, UT.  Made in china.

Christmas Decorations

This on is just a picture of us on thanksgiving at my grandparents...

Merry Christmas!

Putting the top on...

Wrapping it with...stuff...
My first cricket project...
All set up!

Well, we just got most of our christmas decorations up...mostly just the tree...we dont' have much...but i still need to put the lights up on the balcony.  We won't be able to go down to vegas till Christmas eve cause rikki has to work right up till then, but we'll get to spend the whole week after thru new years down there, so that'll be nice.

Wedding

Wow...so we actually got married.  That's still weird for me to think.  Everything went as perfectly as it could have gone i think.  

Friday at 2 we got married in the St. George temple.  Rikki and I were supposed to be there right at 1 to get all ready and things, so when 1:15 rolled around and Rikki still hadn't shown up, i was getting sorta stressed.  She showed up soon after that though, and it turned out not to be that big of a deal.  Everything went really smoothly and the temple session was amazing.  After that we took pictures for several hours, but it wasn't as bad as i thought it'd be.  After that we went to a country club that my parents had rented out where we had a big dinner for everyone who had come to the temple.  That was really nice...especally everyone standing up to tell everyone embarassing stories about us. 

The next day we were back down in vegas early for Rikki to get her hair done, meanwhile i watched byu barely scrape out a win over UNLV.   Then we went to the chapel for our ring ceremony/reception.  Both our families had spent quite a lot of time there getting everything set up, and it looked amazing.  The ring ceremony started, and Rick Stout, who was performing the ceremony, was obviously a little nervous.  He called me Ron the first few minutes, and by the end had soaked his tie with sweat that was visibly dripping from his shirt.  He really did a great job though.  We were really happy with it.  After that, we got to stand in line for a really long time giving hugs and handshakes.  I think by the end of that, we were both dead.  However, that's when we really had to start moving around.  Right after that, we cut the cake, had our first dance, danced with our parents, and took a bunch more pictures.  The whole night went by in an absolute blur.  Everything i remember was great though.  At the end of the night, we both got to play 4 square and Rock Band, both of which i had friends set up so we could play, but which we didn't have but 5 minutes to spend playing them.  But it was a blast.

All in all, i don't think anything could have gone better.  I personally am just glad that whole portion's over...it's nice to be married.  No complaints thus far.

I love my wife.

4 days away...

Holy cow.

He Got Me...

What can I say? The man knows how to motivate me. Had he not said, "hopefully this will get her to write on here too", then I probably wouldn't have touched this thing till our kids graduated from high school. I'm terrible with things like this.
So far things are going really well. Things haven't been easy, not by a long shot, but we're working on it. Taylor and I have found a really good balance with each other. We're learning to be more comfortable with each other by sharing those insecurities that only our Father would know. It's helping us to build a deeper love and trust toward one another.
As Taylor had mentioned, we are very much enjoying our eternal marriage class. I think that has made it more real for me. So much of this engagement has been so surreal. To think that three years ago I was standing in an airport waving goodbye to the young man that would never know my true feelings for him. Never imagining that he would ever love me as I did him. But sitting in that classroom, listening to gospel doctrines on marriage with him, and planning the rules and foundation for OUR home made it all real.
We now have, gosh 29 days or so til we kneel at the alter and I couldn't be more excited. I enjoy the time that we spend together now. Looking at him with anticipation to be his wife. I know that it is just a taste of what is to come. To spend the rest of eternity with him and feel that spiritual bond between us will be a feeling that even I won't be able to explain.
Sorry it's not much of an update like Taylors was, I just felt impressed to share my feelings with Taylor and all of you.
We look forward to seeing all of you soon.

One month left...

Okay...so since Rikki hasn't been writing anything here like she said that she would...i guess i'll get everyone up to date.  I'm back in Provo now going to school at BYU...i'm living with my uncle until the wedding.  Rikki's going to school too at UVU, i don't think either of us is enjoying it a ton, but we're going.  

We finally got our invitations all printed up and they're mostly sent out at this point i believe.  Hopefully Rikki will put a picture of one up for those who don't get it.  Everything else is planned or in the final planning stages from what i understand...i haven't been incredibly involved in the whole process, but it seems to be going along well that way.

Rikki had her first bridal shower in Vegas this past weekend and it was really nice from what i've seen/heard.  She got some cool presents that should come in handy with the new apartment.  It had a movie theme and al the presents were based around a movie...she'd be able to fill everyone in a lot better on all of this, and i hope by writing this maybe it'll prompt her to write a little too.  

We've also started our Building an Eternal Marriage class at the UVU institute, and it's been really good.  We both really like our teacher, and he's provided a lot of cool insight into the stuff we talk about.  One thing i liked was our discussion on qualities that we want for our children's relationships with each other and how should want those same qualities for our own marriage.  I made me think a little bit about the time that i spent with my younger sisters and how much i cherish those times.

I'm excited for the future.

We finally got our engagement pictures!!! Now, we just need to get our invitations. LOL.

He Beat Me To It...

He's amazing. When I read his post I started crying, mainly because I don't really believe I deserve his love. He's incredible in how he serves, pure in the way he loves, and selfless in how he gives. And then I look at myself and see that I could do so much more to be like him.
I heard in a BYU Womens Conference talk given by a sister (I can't remember her name) a saying that her and her husband would say to each other often. "Thee lift thee, and I'll lift thee, and together we will ascend." I want to have that as our theme for the wedding or at least have it made up and framed for our home. I think of that saying and am reminded of the plan that our Heavenly Father has for us. How he has provided us with wonderful and loving companions to help us reach our destination. I am so grateful to have found mine in such an incredible man. Taylor is more than I could have dreamed, which is why it's been so hard to believe that we're getting married. It's been so surreal and so remarkable at the same time. I've been thinking about the family we will have and the home that we want to create for them. I contemplate the kind of wife he deserves and how I will do my best to help support him in his role. I doubt that much of this makes sense to anyone other than myself (I'm not good with words). But I do know that I love Taylor and am so very grateful for him.
On another note, my roommate taught me how to make Oreo truffles. And she gave me the basics on how to make her famous raspberry cream cheese icing (it's to die for). So slowly but surely, I'm learning how to nurture and feed my future husband. I can now ensure that he won't die from malnutrition the first few months of our marriage. I just need to learn some more recipes....like pot roast to extend his life expectancy. :)
And although Taylor has already made a brief mention of this, truly my sky was empty before he came. I look at Taylor as my sun, being the light that warms me and brightens my way.