A Year, a Fish and some Cake

June 26, 2011.

Today my dear Watson and I have been married for 1 year.  One whole year.

To celebrate, we went back to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple where it all began.  Then we went to IHOP for lunch--which has no sentimental significance, we just hadn't been there for awhile and that was our choice. Then we went fishing at Deer Creek.

I loaded my hook with a big fat juicy worm and went to sit down in my chair which was placed in as much sun as possible. I like to try to get a tan while I fish.  I cast my line out and then reeled it in a few times. I was looking around in my bag for something and when I looked up, I couldn't find my bobble (a bobble is the round red and white thing that helps your line float. I call a bobber and my dear Watson calls it a bubble so often it comes out of my mouth as a bobble).  I felt a few tugs, but I was trying not to get too excited lest my excitement made the fish at the end of my line turn into moss or a stick or something.  My dear Watson yells "you got one!" and I start reeling in, still a bit in shock.  I was expecting the experience of catching a fish to bend my pole in half because the fish was so hard and heavy to reel in.  It wasn't that hard at all so it was just hard to believe I actually got one.  The fish was only about 8 inches long and it slipped out of my dear Watson's hands before I had a chance to take a picture; therefore, it's as if I never caught it.  But what luck! That was our first fish of the season. Such a fun Anniversary gift.

We didn't catch anything the rest of the evening. Well, that's not entirely true. My dear Watson caught 2 tiny fish. He saw the fish swimming close to him so he dropped his pole in the water and moved it around their mouths until they bit :).  He was testing which kind of bait they liked best (worms). They were like 3 or 4 inches long.

The only part of our wedding cake that was real was the top tier. We wanted to freeze the top and eat it on our first anniversary. My dear Watson remembered before I did and surprised me with the top of our cake. We had a piece of it today and I thought it was actually pretty good.

Our BEAUTIFUL cake made by Macey's, flowers by Betsy and photo by Valerie  at www.valeriemaeling.com 

The top of our cake 1 year later.

mmmmm. Tasty! I forgot I asked for raspberry filling! I'm glad I did because it was good. I'm wearing my new pair of earrings that my dear Watson bought for me.

My dear Watson got me tickets to Rascal Flatts for our anniversary (they're coming in September), and some jewelry. He even fixed my favorite pair of earrings that I had thrown away because they broke.  He dug them out of the garbage and made them look better than new.

I got him an ipod touch. Let's just say, he was excited. That little piece of technology is amazing. I took a picture of our cake and emailed it to myself...just.like.that.  SO cool.

Well, Happy Anniversary to us. I love being married to my dear Watson. We have such a fun time together and he always makes me laugh. Thank you my dear for being the best husband in the world! I love you times a million plus one more than you can ever say!

See. Tiny fish.

We were at Deer Creek long enough that all the boaters went home and the lake (reservoir) was sooooo calm. 

It turns out, I wrote about Goals

I made a list 2 weeks ago. A "Things to do this Summer" list.  So far, 4 things are crossed off (because we actually did them) and one thing is Xed out (because we didn't do it, and it had a time constraint). I love reaching goals, it feels so good. Speaking of goals, I think now is a good time for me to bust out the New Year's Resolutions and see how I'm doing. I usually do really well because I don't believe in setting goals that I'm not serious about reaching. I also have a hard time sharing my goals with other people, because I don't want to be held to anyone's standard but my own. If I share with you my goal to sing a song every time someone knocks at my door, and you come a knockin, I don't want you to think I'm a failure because I forgot to sing. I'd rather quietly remind myself of my goal and do better next time, without any outside pressure--lest I begin trying to fulfill my goal to live up to everyone else's expectations, and no longer because it brings ME satisfaction.

Granted, some goals are easier to keep when you have a partner to help you; for example, my goal to become the best ballroom dancer in the world would be impossible to keep without filling in my dance partner. However, most of the goals I set for myself are just quiet victories that give my life purpose and meaning--not grand occasions that make me miserable because I can't reach them. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of dream big. But I'm also a fan of picking dreams on which I actually intend to follow through. Fulfilling our dreams takes time--it's one small victory at a time, and I don't want to forget about the small victories!

That was a strange conversation with my keyboard. My fingers just spoke for themselves. I wasn't intending to write about that but I did.

Enjoy some pictures of the things we have crossed off!

Fishing. This is actually a work in progress because we have to fish at least 4 times this summer  to make our fishing license worth it, and we're at 2 so far. 

Rock climbing. The real goal was to rock climb at the Quarry (and then I found a deal for the Quarry on Citydeals which was awesome!) but we had the opportunity to go rock climbing outside which is better. We'll go to the Quarry (an indoor rock climbing gym) later.

Rent a tandem.  This was SOOO fun.  I almost killed us twice when I tried to be the driver, so we let Kameron stick to the front. I was good at the back. 

We couldn't get a picture of us AND the bike. We tried real hard.  

I love this picture. See the airplane? See his determined face? This is one of our Sunbeams. We had a pizza party at our house because they were so reverent for the last 3 months.  We don't have toys so we had to make paper airplanes and throw them of our deck. This wasn't a goal, just something I wanted to show you. 

I made a bagillion cookies for my little bro's Eagle Project. I had to mix the wet ingredients in 3 different sections because it wouldn't all fit in my little Bosch mixer. I had to mix the dry ingredients in my two biggest mixing bowls. 4 hours and 40 minutes later, we had a LOT of cookies.  All because I love little brother. 

A Video of me Dancing

*** At the request of my big brother, click this link (you'll have to sign in to facebook) to see a video of my best dance performance ever: Click Me --I'm the one in the grey BYU Sweatshirt, black capris, I start out on the far right at the beginning. I have a solo about 31 sec in.   


Read the post below if you haven't already.

Dancing Makes you Happy...Even if you Stink at Dancing!

My sister’s brother-in-law got married last weekend in Salt Lake, so my dear Watson and I spent the day in the  city helping out with the 5 kids. We really enjoyed ourselves, AND we were helpful.  We took the 5 kids to see the Christus on Temple Square and then while they went to the dinner we took a nap in their hotel room and headed to the Nauvoo Café (in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building) for our dinner. I ordered a ½ sandwich thinking it would be big enough; turns out, the bread was the size of a normal piece of bread so my half was a bit small (you’d think for 5 bucks they could give me bigger bread). The sandwich was very delicious though so I’d probably go back there and just pay for a whole. 

We walked over to the Lion House for the reception and saw a few “high-ups” in the Church (Relief Society and Primary General Presidency members).  I had a dessert crepe with mint white chocolate filling and berries. My dear Watson had a dinner crepe (still hungry from our tiny dinner) with pesto sauce….mmmmmmmm. Pesto is the best sauce in the world.

We spent the rest of the evening watching all my sisters nieces and nephews and kids dance the night away while listening to the tunes of the live band. I did some dancing too because I LOVE dancing (and I’m really good at it. Ha. Ha. Ha). It was so neat just to watch all the little ones let loose and have fun. Children are so simple. They could not have been happier, and it made me happy too.

We went bowling on Memorial Day.  My dear Watson did much much better than me—but at least I broke 80. 

It has been warmer the past few days. I didn’t even wear a jacket when I went grocery shopping last night! Today the clouds are gone and those hot golden rays of sunshine are actually visible.  The only bad thing about the sun shining is that pretty soon Utah is going to turn back into Lake Bonneville when the snow melts and all the rivers and lakes flood. Well, I’ve got a wetsuit and a plan to use our closet doors as rafts in case that happens.

Signing out.

I kind of fell a little bit--that's how i like to bowl.

Nice form.

Why is all the Spring Gone?

I am SO ready for Spring. Heck, I'll even skip right to the 100+ degree Summer for crying out loud. No more rain. No more tornadoes. No more snow. I'm ready to move to St. George. 

We had Stake Conference last weekend. I really enjoyed the Saturday night adult session. A woman played Joseph Smith's First Prayer on the piano and it was absolutely beautiful.  I closed my eyes and saw the last 3 years of my life flash before me. I only saw the good stuff. I realized just how much Heavenly Father has blessed me with, and it made me more grateful. The blessing I feel most grateful for in the past 3 years is that I got to marry my dear Watson. Happy 11 months tomorrow honey! 

Our last bunch of pics from  D.C.

Up close at the Capitol

The tiny Washington Monuement

The White House.

The Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial is being renovated so it was completely drained. I was so sad.

Vietnam War Memorial. When we walked up to the memorial everyone was so quiet and respectful. It almost felt reverent. Neat.

Isn't it beautiful? I was most excited to see the Lincoln Memorial. He was my favorite.

Jefferson Memorial off in the distance.

World War II Memorial -- look at the cool sky!

The ghost's on the Korean War Memorial

See? No reflecting pool. :(. Ugly.

Lincoln. 

More D.C.

Days 2 and 3 of our vacation were spent with Rob and Tina (Kam's brother and family). We did some hiking, some walking on the boardwalk, visited the Naval Air Base (where Rob works), played games, watched American Idol, ate good food, and visited a muscle car shop. Thanks to Rob and Tina for such a great time!

Me and Tina at the Chesapeake bay.

Muscle car.

My dear Watson, Me, and Kale!

Hiking.

A little frog we found along the way. 

The boardwalk at Solomons Island. That's the Patuxent river.

Washington D.C.

I love vacations. Most of the time when I go on vacation I say it’s nice to be gone but nice to come home; not this time. I did not want to come home.  Washington D.C. was so cool. We walked the same path as some of the most influential people in American History.  It almost felt like I already knew the city well because of all the movies I’ve seen that were filmed in D.C.

Day One:

Take Metro into the city, White House Tour, Union Station, Lunch, Natural History Museum, American History Museum, National Archives, Ford’s Theater, Dinner, Take the Metro back to Branch Ave and drive to Rob and Tina’s in Lusby, Maryland.

This was our expensive transportation day because it was a weekday which meant we had to pay for parking. We also had to travel during a peak rush hour time in the morning which they charge you extra for. We waited around in D.C. until 7:00 pm when the other peak rush hour time ended so we could save a little money on the way home.

My favorite museum was the American History. I loved seeing the flag that inspired Frances Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner, and the dresses worn by all the First Lady’s at the Inaugural Ball.

The Declaration of Independence and Constitution were AWESOME! I saw John Hancock’s John Hancock!

Dinner was at a place called Austin’s Grill. Tex-Mex, and kind of nasty.  Our weird waitress told us that they offer a free Queso dip to all their first time customers. Of course when we heard free we said bring it on.  I asked her if there were any beans in the dip because my dear Watson is allergic. She said no and brought us the dip a few minutes later.  We tried two chips worth and thought it tasted gross—like melted Kraft Singles or something.  She comes back a few minutes later and the first thing she says is “But it is made with our Picadilly Beer”  I don’t know if she said Picadilly but something that sounded like that.  I was shocked. My dear Watson smelled it and sure enough, we could smell the beer. It probably wasn’t cooked out either, just poured in. I was surprised she didn’t say anything before because people with religious and moral standards are not the only people who can’t have alcohol. I’m sure there wasn’t much beer in the dip and we had a good laugh after the initial shock wore off.

I'll post more pics later!

Inside Union Station

Outside Union Station

That's THE Capitol in the background.

Archive building behind me. It was my favorite building as far as architecture. So Greek.

Ford's Theatre (where Lincoln was shot)

Outside the Natural History museum.

I'm there, kind of small at the top. National Archives again.