some shinnanigans

 The last night Kasie was here we wanted to take her to a restaurant on the beach so she could have some seafood and see the boardwalk and ocean. It was a great idea in theory. Unfortunately it is no longer tourist season in Virginia Beach so most of the restaurants were closed. Also, by the time we got to the beach is was almost dark and was very chilly. The only restaurant open that we saw was this little Greek place, so we thought, "What's the harm? We'll go here. At least it's on the boardwalk". Except that the food wasn't all that great and I spent the rest of the evening being very ill. Ah well. We did get to take some pictures together, though.

like mother, like daughter

not the best picture of me, but Kasie looks cute

weird sauce

drunk Evelyn

happy Evelyn

took Kas to the beach and it was way too cold for that little girl, but she was a trooper.

sweetest girl alive.

The day Kasie left we made one last trip to Virginia Beach so she could see it in daylight. We ate at red lobster, seafood-check, and then went to the boardwalk and beach. Hopefully she had fun. She bought a couple shirts and a hoodie from a souvenir shop, so look out Utah, Virginia is comin' your way.

Guess who's in town?

My best friend, Kasie Fry, is in town this week. I am so excited to spend the week with her and to have a friend around. I'm not ashamed to admit that I have been incredibly lonely since we've been here, so I couldn't be more excited. I didn't sleep much last night because I was so anxious about her being here this morning. But, here she is and we are going to tear it up. You should be jealous.

Jealousy

I've been looking at pictures of my friends' houses on their blogs (that's you Jess and Kathleen) and I am seriously jealous! I cannot wait to have a real house and an actual nursery. I have so much cute stuff to decorate my baby's room with, but no where to put it, so right now it's just sitting in a box. Sniff. I can't wait to decorate my own home the way that I want to and to be able to actually paint the walls! Oh, to not have white walls, that will be the day. I guess what I am saying is this; as much as it will pain us to leave our lovely Manhattan, I couldn't be more excited to get to Virginia and be able to have more room and decorate my own home! (It won't really be ours, we'll just rent, but you get the gist)

Soooooo jealous! I can't wait to have a nursery.... sigh...

BUT, for now we are making the best of what we have. We really do LOVE our little apartment and will miss it a lot when we move as well, but since our family is expanding so is my need for more space and more freedom to decorate. That is all. Sorry this was such a rant fest.

joining the ranks

Our good friends, Tommy and Chelsea, joined the elite married group this month. We couldn't be happier for them, especially since this directly benefits us. :) New married friends to go on dates with! Yay!
Congratulations you two. We love you.

Independence

Can I just say how amazing it is that we get to live in the blessed land? I, for one, feel extremely privileged and am so thankful for our forefathers and their inspiration. That being said, here is how Americans in Kansas celebrate the day we became a free state:

Step 1: Wear Red, White, and Blue all weekend




Step 2: Family, Friends, and Dogs



Step 3: Street wide BBQ



Step 4: Buy an inordinate amount of fireworks


Step 5: Watch the most amazing fireworks show of all time


That's how we roll in America

twenty-three

Well, my birthday was yesterday. I have to say, this was one of the best birthdays I have ever had. A huge part of it being amazing was that Dan was actually here for it. This is the first time in three years that he's been here on my birthday, so he really went all out.

The day started with my mom driving up to Manhattan and taking me to eat here. Delic. I had the tilapia and it was incredible. Then, I went to see this with my mom, Kim, and Katee. It came out on my birthday and so I figured I should see it on my birthday. Ha! It was so much fun! I love those girls. My mom had to go home after that, but I went over to Katee's for a little while and we had some root beer floats and some girl talk. LOVE that woman. She made me this.
Yum



The absolute best part of the day was Dan's present. He is so adorable. He set up a game show and had me play to see what my presents were.

What the game looked like:



I had to choose which option to uncover and I could either keep that option or sideline it so I could see what the other options were. Obviously, I wanted to see all of the options and I did get to keep everything. :) So creative!

first present:
Chocolate!!


second present:
dinner and a movie of my choice


third present:
I get to plan a trip to anywhere I want in the continental U.S. for a week in September! So many possibilities.


what I won for playing:
So that we can take pictures wherever and whenever we want. I am calling him Albert the Photographer.


After I won all my prizes I attached my camera to Albert and had a really good time figuring out all the different ways to take pictures. :)




I love Dan.

Thank You Notes

Did you know that I have yet to send out thank you notes for all the gifts we got for our wedding? I still have all the cards and all the lists of people and also a bag full of thank you cards, but I haven't done it yet. Pretty bad right?
To somewhat redeem myself, I have made a huge effort to send out thank you notes for any graduation gifts I have received as soon as I get them, but I keep forgetting about these last two notes. I really need to do that today.

I am so thankful for my family and, right now, most especially thankful for my extended family. Everyone has been so nice and so generous and I feel so blessed because of how wonderful they have all been. I am thankful also for my in-laws. How blessed am I that I know, love, and get along great with my mother and father-in law. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am to have such wonderful, loving, and understanding in-laws. How did I get so lucky?

I am also super thankful for all my friends. Where would I be without all of your support and uplifting words? I'll tell you, nowhere.

And, of course, I am thankful for Dan. He is so good to me and I often feel like I don't deserve it. He is always taking care of me and making sure my needs are met before anything else. He really is the kindest, most charitable, and most loving person I know.

Sorry this post was so sappy. I would update on my life as of now, but it consists of:
-going to work for a couple hours in the morning
-watching lots of TV shows and movies on the couch
-sometimes cleaning or running errands
-watching more TV or movies
-making dinner

Pathetic

Lately I've been feeling lonely. Not in the sense that I have no one to talk to or that just hanging out with Dan isn't enough (because who could ever get enough of him?), but I have come to the realization that slowly, over time, I have lost all my friends. I don't have any real friends anymore, and I have to say that most of that is probably my fault. I have been so preoccupied with being married that I have forgotten about everything else and no longer make the effort to hang out with anyone. Some of it isn't my fault though, to be fair. Lianne moved to Dallas, Kasie moved to Utah, and Jessica got married. So, along with me being unmotivated to call anyone, everyone has moved away or are too busy to do anything. So, because of this, I find myself longing for a gal pal to just hang out with sometimes. Dan and I have several couples friends that we hang with quite a lot, but I would really like someone for just me. Is that weird? Am I being over dramatic? That's totally possible... I don't want anyone to think that I am unhappy, because I am the most happily married person on the planet and my life couldn't be more blessed, but I guess I'm just really missing my friends. Kasie has been telling me all about all these fun things that she is doing with her new friends in Utah and I just miss her. I miss going out with the girls and doing things. Anyways... That's my pathetic ranting for now.

Vacation

Well, we had a marvelous, albeit short, christmas and new year's vacation. We spent a week with my whole family in Wichita and then drove to Utah and spent a week with Dan's whole family. His little sister got married on the 29th in the Mt.Timpanogas temple and it was so much fun. She really picked a great guy and we all love him already. It was great to get to see everyone all at once because that hardly ever happens. Both families only get together like once a year, so we really cherished every moment. Of course, when you are in large groups of people there is always going to be some confrontation, but all in all it was a blast and you could really feel the love everyone has for each other. While my whole family was together, Justin decided to have Camryn's baby blessing and it was amazing to get to be there for it. All of the men in the family were there and got to participate because they are all worthy priesthood holders and I couldn't help thinking how blessed we all are and what a special moment that was.

Besides Ariel's wedding and Camryn's blessing, in both families we mostly just hung out together and watched movies.

Getting all dressed up for the nativity reenactment


Elijah, Camryn, and Elliette


Our family



Our drive to Utah was pretty interesting. Because we stayed for Camryn's blessing, we had to drive it in two days. The first day we made it to Ft. Collins, but with considerable difficulty. All of Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado had terrible weather. There were 60mph winds, snow, and ice on the roads. It was really scary but we finally made it to our hotel. Without actually saying it out loud, I think both of us were wondering if we were even going to make it. The next day had really good weather, so the drive through Wyoming was just fine, but man, I don't ever want to make that scary drive again.



I was able to visit my best friend Kasie while we were in Provo. That was awesome.


I'm sad that I didn't get any pictures of Dan's family, but I just totally forgot. :(

People should stop moving

I miss her


and her


Everyone has moved away. How sad. I am now taking applications for new best friends. Any takers?

Last couple of weeks

So over the 4th of July weekend I got to go down to San Antonio and spend the weekend with Dan. It was amazing and just what we needed. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch on the riverwalk and wandered around the mall after that. We then ordered pizza and watched a movie. A seriously perfect day. The next day we went down for the complimentary breakfast, which was awesome, and then went back to the riverwalk, walked around for a while and watched the new transformers movie. On Sunday we went to church together and then I had to leave. Sad. It was seriously an amazing weekend. For my birthday Dan wrote me a long, sweet letter. It was the best birthday present ever combined with actually being able to be with him and have him read it to me. So nice.

For my actual birthday, my friend Jennifer took me to Worlds of Fun. It was a blast! My mom made me my traditional fried chicken and I ended up getting lots of books. So exciting! I love books and reading. I'm reading Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson that my wonderful mother-in-law sent me.

As most of you know, I was called as assistant camp director. So.... camp was this last week. It was a lot of fun, but mostly it was a lot of work. Looking back on my girls camp experience now I appreciate more what my leaders did for me and how much work they put into it. I think total I got 6 hours of sleep through 3 nights. 2 storms and some girl drama makes for little sleep. But, I'm resting now and feeling great.

Only 17 days until my Husband comes home.