let freedom ring

we love the fourth of july! we had so much fun celebrating this special holiday together. we woke up and played racquet ball, went running, and cooled down with some swimming! then we canceled out all of our exercising with some lunch and homemade cookies & cream ice cream. 

yum! we spent the afternoon lounging around in our pjs (what's more american than that?), doing homework and watching tv. for dinner, we wished for a traditional fourth of july BBQ, but decided a bbq chicken pizza was the next best thing. i'd say i did a pretty dang good job. 

 after dinner, we grab some sparklers and headed out the door. i've had our special fireworks-watching location planned for weeks. 

 we went to my school at the edge of west jordan, overlooking the whole valley. 

 a perfect spot on the field with an amazing view! 

we played with our sparklers and watched the skyline of colors.

(amazing picture quality, i know. blah.) 

these next two are my favorite from the night. special thanks to the empty gatorade bottle we found on the field and the self-timer app. 

i love him. 

 it was such a beautiful sight. i love our country and the freedoms we have. 

god bless america, my home sweet home! 

first year funnies

you know how people say your first year of marriage is the hardest? i agree, but i also think it's a lot more awesome than hard. it's full of changes, new discoveries, bliss, and a few tears. just because you're adjusting to this new way of life doesn't mean you can't have some freaking great times.

in fact, you need those freaking great times.

because those are what keep you going through the hard times. a year ago, i started compiling all of the ridiculous "hard things" scotty and i experienced during our first year of marriage with the intentions of posting them on our one-year anniversary. when the time came, some of these were still sore subjects... it was too soon to post. but hey, time heals all wounds and now i think they're all hilarious! today we have been married for a year and a half. so in celebration and for your comedic pleasure, here are some of mine and scotty's first year trials. enjoy.

-the first night we were married and settled into our apartment with stocked cabinets, scotty said, "so what are you going to make for dinner?" i didn't know. he asked, "how about we just make some rice and cook up two chicken breasts?" i then realized that i didn't know how to prepare rice. a basic skill that every 5 year old in china knows how to do. and i didn't. and i cried.

-on the second morning of our honeymoon, scotty woke up to the sound of me sobbing in bed. i was crying so hard. he didn't know if he did something wrong or if i was regretting our marriage or what. the poor guy had no idea what was going on! a few minutes later, i woke up from a dream of my mom dying... my pet turtle named mom.

-i fell for a freaking radio scam. i called in thinking i was paying $40 for a $300 gas card... but really i paid to learn not to trust anyone. and to talk to my financial advisor (scotty) before making any purchases.

-scotty didn't give me flowers (or anything at all) on our first valentines day. coworkers and friends, i lied to you to save myself the embarrassment. but i can assure you this will never happen again. we both learned very valuable lessons that night. 

-i was doing laundry one day and i went to the laundry room to pick up our dry clothes... someone had stolen our laundry basket. jerks.

-scotty was complaining about a stain on one of his older-than-old t-shirts, so i put my finger in one of the many holes and ripped the shirt in half.  i later found out that this was the first "class of '07" shirt he ever bought in high school and it was special to him.

-i went into the bathroom and found water on the ground.  "scotty! dry off after you take a shower!!!" i complained. "i haven't even taken a shower today!" ... "really...?" scotty came in and examined the floor.  we both agreed that it was, indeed, wet. we looked up. water was dripping from our ceiling. but wait, the story gets better! we called maintenance and within a few minutes the guy was in our apartment inspecting everything. a light bulb clicked in his head, and he went to talk to the people who live above us. long story short, the lazy people above us were using paper towels in place of toilet paper because they were all out. im sure your imagination can make the connection between my idiotic neighbors and my leaky ceiling.

-once, one of us thought it would be funny to switch the placement of our almost-identical toothbrushes. it was not. 

-scotty signed us up to feed the missionaries, didn't tell me, and wasn't home when they came. my conversation with them when they showed up at the door was pretty awkward. 

-i put one of scotty's nice wool sweaters in the dryer... it went from size xl to xxxxs in a matter of minutes.

-for days and days i nagged scotty about putting away the cords to the TV, because he always left them out in the middle of the living room in order for the antenna to get better reception. after a heated discussion, i threatened him one last time (like the mean wife that i am) and gave up. the next day, he tripped over the cords and broke a piece off of our TV that is irreplaceable.

-once i had loaded the dishwasher almost full- i thought i would wait to start it because surely i could stick just a few more things in there- and i left for work. i came home later that day and my sweet husband had seen the full dishwasher and unloaded it.

-one morning, we both woke up to sharp pains from me head-butting scotty in my sleep.

-a different morning, scotty filled a bowl with cereal and about 1/3 cup of milk. there wasn't enough in the jug so he just left the bowl there to get soggy and went to work. what a lovely surprise to come home to :)

-speaking of milk, one of the hardest difficulties to overcome in a marriage is buying the right milk. do i buy a whole gallon and have the last little bit go sour? or do i buy a 1/2 gallon and use it up too fast? all i need is a 3/4 jug! someone get on that.

look at us now. so much wiser, happier, and chubbier. the first year was great, but the second has been even better. we work so well together and we really understand each other. i'm so lucky to be married to my scotty!

date night

people always advise newlyweds to "find things you both enjoy doing!" ... whatever. i go to scotty's things, scotty goes to my things. we take turns picking movies and restaurants. sure, there are places and hobbies we both enjoy, but a lot is just give and take. we love it. it ensures a wide variety of date nights :) HOWEVER, last week i was thrilled when i happened across something i knew we would both really enjoy: 

a lego art exhibit up in park city! special thanks to katherine rhodes for putting pictures of her visit up on facebook. scotty and i had a great time admiring all of the amazing lego art. take a look! 

(the castle is my favorite) 

(the benjamin is scotty's favorite) (obviously) 

then we headed over to the tanger outlets and i barely made it inside my second store before scotty took my credit card away. i still love him, though. and if you're ever in park city (or downtown slc), check out maxwell's east coast eatery. you won't be disappointed! 

i guess it is possible to find things a husband & wife both enjoy! 

upswing.

although i could hardly believe the saying three days ago, i'm finding now that "things get better." they really do. after the most hellish week of my life (add about 10 more things to the list from my last post), nothing could have felt better than a day date with my sweet husband. we spent the day together and met up with my aunt cathi and uncle kris. love them. we stuffed our faces at brick oven pizza and then cheered the cougars on at a baseball game. their son keaton has been pitching lately!

i guess the remedy for a crappy week is relaxing outdoors with family and soft pretzels. hopefully things are on an upswing in the marx household. hope everyone has a beautiful weekend.

happy crap week.

[crap] 

it's really cold outside.

what happened to spring? it's been in the 30's and 40's all week.

[crappier] 

i got pulled over.

don't cops have anything better to do than sit at the end of an HOV-only freeway exit?

[crappiest] 

scotty's computer hard drive crashed.

can you imagine losing every single homework assignment, work project, picture, etc???

[crap hit the fan] 

scotty's brand new iphone 5 got stolen.

it was sitting on his freaking desk at work. really, people?

... i'm not normally one to make public complaints about my life, so consider this a desperate plea for any prayers, uplifting quotes, or comforting treats you may want to send our way.

celebrating

every wednesday morning at my practicum elementary school, the principal plays a celebration song over the intercom. he instructs the students to get out of their desks to "celebrate and dance, because the week is halfway over!" the kids love it. i love it. i think life would be so boring if we didn't find reasons to celebrate. 

scotty and i celebrated on friday night because *drumroll* ... i was offered a teaching position for next year! i'll be doing an internship teaching fourth grade at falcon ridge elementary (aka, my practicum school!). i am so freaking excited. i can't wait to shape the minds of little fourth graders. i start in august, i'll be paid half salary, and i'll graduate as a second year teacher... we thought this made for a good reason to celebrate!

i asked the waitress to document this special moment in my life, to which she replied, "of course! i've become quite the photographer since working here!" ... then she produced the following two photos: 

how appropriate was my fortune? 

and finally, my "I'M GOING TO BE A TEACHER!!!" face. 

pure happiness.
can't wait to share all of my fourth grade stories with you all. 

now, go out and celebrate something! you deserve it. 

awful waffles

lately the husband and i have been on a semi-obsessive waffle craze. waffle trips are our new saturday morning tradition. i wish i could say we're connoisseurs by now, but ever since we tried bruges waffles, we haven't been able to stop. it's divine! my mouth is watering at the very thought. 

anyway, tonight we thought we could recreate the magic. 

enjoy a calm, low-key, breakfast-for-dinner ensemble. 

relax after a long and stressful monday. 

what could be simpler than making batter, and then pouring said batter into a waffle maker? 

the machine pretty much does the job for you, right? 

WRONG.

it started out great. the batter was absolutely delectable. like, eat-a-spoonful-at-a-time delectable (and if you are going to judge me for eating raw batter, i ban you from my blog!). but delicious batter was the extent of our cooking successes tonight. everything else was kind of a disaster.

lessons learned: 

1. don't underestimate the simple things. 

2. have a backup plan. 

3. don't betray bruges waffles ever again. 

THAT couple

ever since i was a little girl, i've always admired those old, madly-in-love couples. 

you know the kind. 

the ones who finish each others sentences.

who still have twinkles in their eyes when they see each other. 

who can perfectly order for each other at a restaurant. 

they're wrinkly and grey, but they are still so passionate about making the other person happy. 

who have hundreds upon hundreds of memories and inside jokes. 

via

i've always dreamt of having that history of love.
and i will. but right now, our relationship tree is just a fuzzy little stub popping out of the ground. it grows taller and stronger each day. i'm still learning new things about scotty. he's still trying to understand the emotional side of women. i'm becoming more open to learning about sports and cars. he's becoming quite the shopper :) i can't predict what he'll order at a restaurant, and he doesn't know what size shoe i wear. even after a year of marriage, i feel like our relationship is still so new and tender. i love growing with him and living our lives together. i love spending every day with him. and i loved friday night, when a few things happened that made me realize maybe that old-couple love isn't so far away, afterall.

1. we had a real conversation without speaking.
there we were, sitting at zupas for our friday night date. raving (again) about the deliciousness of the wisconsin cauliflower soup and trying to judge which of our two strawberries was covered in the most chocolate.

suddenly, a familiar song came on the radio. 

i looked at him, and he looked at me. 

i gave him a look, and he gave me another look. 

i gave him a look that confirmed i knew what his look was referring to.

we knew exactly what was going on.

then we both smiled because our silent discourse was a success. 

(and then i practically inhaled the rest of my soup because it is so divine!)

2. i still get butterflies.
after zupas, we headed over to the temple and did an endowment session with our ward.

it brought some much-needed peace back into my life. and while i was sitting there, i glanced over at scotty. i had this feeling of happiness fill my whole body because i know we are going to spend eternity together. as stupid as it may sound, my stomach did a little somersault because i was so excited at the thought.

3. we thought the same exact thing at the same exact time.
once we got home, we were suffering from post-temple dehydration. no water or drinks for 2.5 hours?! i was dying. i gulped down a whole water bottle, while scotty raided the cupboards for a package of koolaid. he searched and searched, then realized he had went through his last packet a few days ago. he asked how such a thing could possibly happen. i advised him to put koolaid down on the grocery list. he told me "koolaid shouldn't have to be on the list - we should just buy it every time!" haha. suddenly i needed to go to the bathroom. i left him writing on the grocery list to go take care of business.

while in the bathroom, i had a great idea. i ran back to the kitchen and said, "scotty! you should just write koolaid on every single page of our grocery list pad!" he looked up with a smirk and said "that's what i just did!" and then i thought to myself, wow. we are becoming THAT couple. 

here's to growing old together.