Tuesday, December 21, 2010

silver lake--camping trip '09

Will and I made our second trip up to Silver Lake. We hiked two and half miles in to our camp site. No, I did not want to do this a second time, but being the wonderful wife that I am, I planned this trip for Will's birthday! He had no idea until he found a little sticky note sitting on the table, titled "Will's Awesomely Amazing Birthday Camping Trip!" Yeah, I'm that lame and didn't realize this note had fallen out of my purse. Don't ever ask me to put on a surprise party for anyone because I will fail you. Will was adorable and acted as if he had "no idea" what I was going to do for his birthday. He told me he knew the day before we were going to head up American Fork canyon. I felt sheepish. He couldn't tell me enough how excited he was to do this for his birthday, that helped. The hiking portion did seem a little easier this time around because I knew what to expect, the first time...well, I wasn't a happy camper. Heh, get it, happy camper. ANYWHO. It turned out to be an awesome trip. We pre-made T.F.D's (ha! Bet you can't guess what that acronym stands for, whoever guesses right will win a virtual hug from me), and these bad dawgs were tasty. Will, of course, pulled out his man skills and made us a toasty fire which he of course was proud of, and we brought blow-up pads this time around so I slept like a baby (minus the fact that I am freaked out when it comes to bears). Don't worry, we bagged all our food and walked it a mile away from our campsite. I'm glad I was able to create a memorable birthday for Will, because we obviously didn't make an impression on our 2nd anniversary because we still cant remember what we did to celebrate. Pathetic.





farewell aptos, ca

Some may know this, others may not, but my dear Meema (grandma) is from the beautiful (busy) state of California. Aptos, California to be exact. My family and I made annual trips to visit her because she lived in this trailer that was inside an awesome old people neighborhood and we were literally five minutes from the beach. I don't remember one time kicking and screaming because we HAD to go to grandmas house. I only remember counting down the minutes til we got to visit her. My Meema always made our visits worthwhile, she would call each of her grandkids up and ask what our favorite cereal, cookies, and ice cream was before we made our trip to see her. Who wouldn't love that? I adore my grandma more than anything because she has always thought of everyone (literally everyone, not just her kin) before she thinks of herself. Selfless lady. Sometimes she's a little too selfless. Can you be too selfless? Eh, I don't know the answer.


This is us taking a break from driving down to California-->

                                                          


Anyway!
(Summer before I got married. Jeremy, Meema, and me in her darling Mercedes)

(Boardwalk)
(About to get on the Giant Dipper)


(The Warf)


(Santa Cruz Beach)
(You can kind of see my grandma'a garden, it is bee-you-tee-ful!)


Will and I made our last trip to Aptos, California this last summer with my grandma living there because it was time for her to move to an assisted living facility, because she wasn't able to take care of herself no mo! What a sad trip! I mean, it was enjoyable because we were with my grandma, mom, sister (Lindsay), brother (Chris), and sister-in-law (Becky), but definitely hard to say our goodbyes. We made sure we would make a traditional, special trip to Eriks (the best sandwich place in the world), the Boardwalk (Giant Dipper), the Warf, O'neill shop, and the Santa Cruz light house. We tried to enjoy every minute. Except when we'd take our anger out on each other not realizing that it was because we were so sad to leave this beautiful place. A place we had visited since we were munchkins. Will and I still want to make traditional annual trips in memory of my Meema, but it just won't be the same without her there. She made up 98% of the trip. SO, maybe we shouldn't go if the level of fun is 2%. I'm just glad we were able to be there when my Meema handed the keys over to the new owner of her adorable trailer. Oh, how I'll miss my grandma teaching me ALL about her flowers she grew in her garden, my, she had the most beautiful, large garden of flowers. I'm going to miss watching movies with her while we ate our orange sorbet, the smell of the beach that was barely two miles away, and just the wonderful feeling of being there with my grandma in her home.

Wow, excuse my chapter book, but this definitely hits close to home. Both Will and I love making this trip, it definitely won't be the last for us.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

oh boy!

My nose is glued to my chemistry book for the entire day, literally. Last final is tomorrow morning, I can't breath until I take that last step out of the testing center. Will and I have a numerous amount of fun activities in-store in celebration of school being out for a couple weeks.

-Snowboarding
-Work Christmas parties
-movies, lots of movies
-gym time...tis the season to be shedding
-Christmas at Bear Lake--yippi
-family time
-Hot Cocoa with Tim Tams (what happened to shedding?)
-Ice skating
-CHRISTMAS--Santa is coming, peeps!
-Depressing farewell 


 Such fun we were having!
 You can't tell, but Melissa was really happy! :)
Me, Sandi, and Melissa
(Not pictured: The Babe (aka Juliet)

The worst part about this month coming to an end is my dearest friend that I love above ALL :), is moving all the way to Los Angeles, CA. I couldn't be happier for Melissa, Dan, and the babe, but I'll miss being so close and wish I had taken advantage of the close distance. But, I'm supper happy they get to move closer to my other awesome friend, KaRynn that moved to Los Angeles not too long ago. Disneyland this summer, we're staying with you, Melissa!