I love...

to see the temple, I'm going there tomorrow!

Yay!

food is the way to marci's heart

Food makes me weak in the knees. Isn't that awful? Don't worry, I watch my caloric intake. Sometimes. Diabetes (Type 2) runs in my family so I do have to be careful. That's why I rarely make things as good and fattening as these babies.

Muffins That Taste Like Donuts

They were really good and saturated with fatness. 

This is what I'm going to prepare Willy for dinner tonight. It should taste pretty darn good due to the fact that the recipe came from Pioneer Woman. I visit her site daily. I think I'm an addict. 

Chicken and Dumplings

dais

Daisy is a funny dog. She is Joseph (bro-in-law) and Jen's (sis-in-law) dog. Daisy was found by a dumpster, therefore, she gets the name Dumpster Daisy. They are in fact our neighbors, they live just upstairs from Will and I. We pretty much think it's the coolest set up. I'm grateful we got a chance to be so close in distance, it's going to be a shame when we won't have them as neighbors anymore. You just won't find neighbors as good as these. Maybe, but I doubt it.

Sometimes when Jen and Joseph are off making the monies. I let Daisy come down stairs to hang out with me. Seriously, guys, it's not that bad. I'm pretty good company. I think. This is what keeps me so entertained....

somewhere over the rainbow

What was I thinking when I decided to move out to Utah?! Yes, most of my siblings live here. Yes, the school I wanted to attend is here. Yes, I met my adorably awesome husband out here. Yes, there are a lot of reasons why I moved here. But, why couldn't it have been Hawaii or somewhere with a sun? It's just too dang cold for my non-circulatory body.

This is what mother nature gave me for my Christmas gift this year.

Will and I went to a tree farm, adopted our own Charlie Brown tree, stuck it in our tiny trunk, and brought the tree home to nurture. We're charitable like that.

Yikes. Can you tell it took us 5 minutes to put this tree together? Shh.

Check out that bow. I did that!

banana split goodness

I know exactly what you're thinking, because I'm thinking the same thing. I'm making this.

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.