This One Time We Went to Florida

So a little while ago David and I went to Florida to look at homes, by ourselves, sans the babies! 

We waited too long to check into our flight so we didn't get to sit together; however the flight was non-stops so at least it was short. The whole trip was AMAZING and I am just that much more convinced that we need to try to do some kind of a getaway (even if it's super cheap) once a year ~always. Its so weird how little we really did, but how much fun we had just being ALONE together. We joked that it was our way of making up for not hardly spending any one on one time with each other over the last year. Like a 7 day mega date. 

This car is called a Spark, and I used to own a car just like it (not a hatchback) back when it was called an Aveo. When we went to pick up our rental car, we had no idea what kind of car we would be getting, this little car passed us. I laughed as I thought about how tiny the car was and how small it would be to have my six foot two husband in it. Then sure enough the lady took us right to it. 

Economy Rental=Tiny

The temperature upon our arrival was definitely agreeable. This is a good time to mention that my mother was experiencing a snowpocolypse in Columbus, a city she had never visited before, alone with both of our kids.... whoops. Could not have planned that any better (sarcasm). 

We took the first day to drive around and spy on the houses we were interested in, since we had an appointment with our relator and the builder the next day. When we went to Chili's we had to park between these cars. We thought it was funny because you have the smallest version of a Ford sedan that was red, then the smallest Chevy (also in red) then the same car in black. We stayed our first night in a stinky musty hotel because it was SUPER cheap because that is what we are all about. This is a good place to mention that this whole trip was only possible because I got a random call from a company who sells time shares and got a sweet deal on our rental car, a condo to stay in and park hopping tickets to Universal (which would NOT have happened otherwise). Our trip was longer than the condo time we were given though so that's where our musty but classy 3 star hotel stay comes in. 

On our trip to Publix I saw this in their entrance. I don't know why it made me so happy but it did. It was like seeing an old friend. O T-town you will always hold a place in my heart. 

I like Publix, it reminds me of Kroger, but it seems a bit more expensive so I'll have to price it out a little when we get there. I'll blog more about the housing dealeo later, but we finished the house hunt on our second day with our first relator visit. Whole trip=done in one day! (sigh of relief)

This was the real reason why I enjoyed our stay so much. There is nothing like a girl and her favorite ice cream. This is a good moment to shamelessly (or rather not so shamelessly) admit that we ate a gallon and a half of ice cream during our 7 day visit. Between my beloved bear claw, that Kroger no longer carries (for whatever reason), and the Blue Bell we could NOT resist. Did I mention we found our house our second day there? Yea that made more time for ice cream too. 

The hair cut you see with me holding the ice cream above, I actually gave to myself. I didn't like it. I got compliments on it but I hated it. I'm going through a phase. In Florida I managed to convince David to go with me so I could get it cut... again... for the 3rd time... that month. At first he was like "yea, no"; however, he's been less than thrilled with my constant talk of getting a pixie cut so I managed to convince him that it would be fun and that he could take the scissors away from the stylist if things got to short. He agreed and I think it actually was enjoyable to be together for that. In our normal lives this would have never happened. I'm still not in love with the cut, but that is a story for another blog post. 

I went to my first teppanyaki restaurant, also courtesy of the time share deal.

Did I mention that we got free Universal tickets? Yup we did. Last May when we went it was HOT already and Diagon Alley had not yet opened. This time when we went the weather was AH-MAZing! Seriously we enjoyed ourselves like no other. 

Enjoying some fun time after all of our one day of hard work. 

12 Grimauld place

Hogwarts Express

Diagon Alley!

Going to Universal off season and for free made the ENTIRE time we spent there so incredibly chill. We enjoyed the crap out of it. 

Joke shop

And of course there was Butterbeer. We only ended up going to Univeral two times because of parking costs and because of the fact Escape from Gringotts was closed both times. It was the only ride we REALLY wanted to go on since we had already been on all the others and recently. The ride had to be closed for off season maintenance, which was very lame. It was really weird to feel so happy about only going twice, I definitely felt like we got our money's worth though. 

 The rest of the time we drove around and looked at things. Wednesday was our design center appointment (more about that later) and thats really about all we did besides our dating binge, which mostly consisted of eating out together. I'd love to say those meals were in silence because we didn't have the kiddies, but you can't forget who David married :D I gladly filled the quite, and had many a good conversation with David.

My last name alma mater on a mug. I just made that up please don't tell me it's wrong it made sense in my head and that's all that matters.

Last, but definitely NOT least, I have a great story about how our time share hard sale went. If you are still reading this lucky you because it's funny, or at least we certainly thought so. We got an older man, tough life, smoker, Easterner, married to an expensive New York lady, has 3 daughters. He was telling us "if you move to Orlando you don't want people to visit you so if you have a time share then you can have them visit there instead". It made me laugh because we DO want people to stay with us and that is a HUGE reason why we got the house that we did. Then while touring the time share condo he brings David and I into the master bedroom and after closing the door behind us he says "what do you see?" we mumbled our answers with whatever because we had already realized he was a little different from us. He then cut us off by exclaiming, rather loudly, "Privacy! I'm not going on vacation to not have sex with my wife!" Awwwkward and uh eewww! Oh man and that wasn't all he did. The hard sale was only supposed to last 120 min and he went over, we felt like we were there forever. Right as we were finally getting to leave and had told them we weren't going to buy anything (which we told him from the VERY beginning) he says "I guess I'll go home and kick my dog in the nuts!" Like I said he was so full of charm and this is where I'll leave you. 

Wicked

This post is a long time coming and let's face it no one probably really even cares anymore, BUT here I am writing about it anyways. In May after we (our graduated siblings and our family) all went to Disney World, David's mom planned a couple of days for us in New York City to see two Broadway shows and do a little sight seeing. I was actually not looking forward to this potion of the trip. At the time I really wished we didn't have to re-pack AFTER going to Disney and accumulating more stuff only to fly to NYC and stay in a smaller hotel. Add my fear of flying two more times (it was actually 4 because of the layovers) with a little boy who had been throwing up every flight and I was actually quite irritated. I know, I know I was literally complaining about my blessings and opportunities but packing two kids around on airplanes and in big cities is not ideal. Not to mention the fact that I really don't care that much about big cities like New York.

So there I was annoyed all the way around and to top it off my MIL had bought tickets for us to see Wicked... ugh, I was like wut ev! The tickets are free right? The reason behind me being so negative was varied. I'm a little bit of a reverse culture kind of person. When skinny jeans became popular I didn't like them, so I didn't wear them for quite some time. When flats became popular I hated them forever (I still can't believe they are as popular as they are it's been like 10+ years). Some of it is just to not follow other people and some of it is because I genuinely don't like MANY of the "new" trends at first.

 Wicked has a similar story for me. I won't go into vast details but during High school in drama class there were people I liked and others that I did not for any number of reasons. When wicked came out it was huge! Some of the kids I did not like had gone to NYC to see it, some with their families and some for a Drama club field trip. Either way there were girls that loved the show that I did not like and they talked about it all the time. You could say I was experiencing a bit of transference. I didn't like these girls and I was transferring that dislike to Wicked. 

Going into the show I had low if not almost no good expectations, I was sure I was not going to like it. I should also add that stories, movies and TV shows today often love to have the "twist" in the plot be the "bad" guy is actually a "good" guy and the "good" guy is actually a horrible person. I don't like that. I think it's confusing and that many times our culture does that to make kids think that bad people are not actually bad. To a point this is appropriate because black and white situations are not common, but not the way our society portrays it nowadays. I was sure the show was going to be about how horrible the wicked witch of the West was and yet somehow she was also simultaneously the "good" guy. 

Totally random- Look! It's Roy! This add was in our playbill and I was totally wishing we could go see it!

Brian and Anna (they liked it too)

I'm pretty sure there are only about 3 people reading this post still. So I am going to go end this quickly without talking about the plot other than to say I did not feel like wicked did this. For those of you who have seen it you know what I mean and for those of you who haven't... well you SHOULD definitely see it. I LOVED the show. I thought it was great! I loved the music, the characters the story and I even cried a little at the end. I was so glad I went! Thank goodness for a Mother in law who forces you to do things (Haha I'm kidding ;). This literally ended up being my favorite part of the whole trip. Who'da thought?!

Moral of the story? Try new things. Wow, you would think I had learned that by now.

Ode to Idaho Falls

Oh, Idaho I love you. There are so many things about Idaho that I love. Coming "home" to Idaho, however, has changed. In the back of my mind I always thought I would most likely come back to Idaho, specifically Idaho Falls. Even though many of my relatives and closer friends live here I'm starting to really wonder if I want to move back. There are literally times when my heart aches as I watch friends and family do things in Idaho while we are thousands of miles away. 

Birthdays and Beauty school. Also please note this was the most random sampling of photos I could come up with that had pictures of as many of my friends as I could find. Unfortunately a LOT of my pictures are old school and I'm not about to scan them.

And yet I have grown to feel a sense of safety living in a town where my past does not exist. I'd love to completely blame it on certain experiences that occurred in 2009, but the truth is there is more to that. I drove around a couple of nights while we were in Idaho Falls over Christmas to my old houses, friends houses, schools and places we used to hang out and for some reason I felt a great deal of sadness. I'm sure that some of that is easily related to the pain I constantly feel over the lightning speed of time, but I sometimes wonder if it's more than that. 

Stake dances, and dates

When I am in Idaho Falls I feel like I am constantly looking over my shoulder to see people I know. Not necessarily for people I don't want to see. When I am in Idaho Falls I feel as though my mind runs through "what if's" way more then I like. I can't explain it more than that. I say that I grew up in Idaho Falls because we moved there when I was 9. Basically the time I spent in Idaho Falls was when I started to remember things more clearly. The years before are much more random memories. 

While I lived in Idaho Falls I started young women's, started Junior High (aka the worst couple of years ever), attended seminary, had my first real crush, my first kiss, my first love, learned to drive, finished high school, bought my first car, went to the temple, got married, graduated beauty school, got divorced, had my first baby and then moved away. I think its safe to say, barring few exceptions, that I experienced most of my larger emotional experiences in my life up to this point right here in Idaho Falls. 

Commencement 2005 and the last day of school 2003.

What's interesting though is how my sense of safety and familiarity has changed. Am I more aware of how much I went through? Maybe. Am I less sentimental? Possibly. The best way to describe it is that I feel as though I'm not able to look forward as well when I am here. It's like I am caught up in nostalgia, which is NOT necessarily a horrible thing. When I am in Ohio (where we currently live) I don't question myself as much. I look to the future and I most definitely don't second guess myself the way I do in Idaho Falls. In theory though none of this matters because even if I wanted to move back we wouldn't be able for another five and a half years or in 2020.... that's weird. 

boyfriends ;)

Beauty school again 

Sweetheart dance Junior year
 
My mama and I.

 Seniors fall 2005

 Met a random guy at Taco Bell after work one night and he asked me to homecoming. One of THE best dances I EVER went to.

 Edward's summer movie dates

 Senior commencement

 Graduating

 Going to the temple with my friends. Obviously that is the Rexburg temple, but I don't have pictures of my friends and I at the IF temple.

Maybe I will feel differently then. Maybe, even though it's been 5+ years since my most difficult experience I've ever had, I'm still not ready to go back now that I have moved away. The longer we are away the better it gets, but lets just say for now when people ask me if we plan to move back I can honestly say I'm about 50/50 on that subject for now. I am really excited to put roots down in Florida for a while and see how that goes before I can more fully decide on that question.

Hiatus

Just in case you were trying to find me on Facebook, I am not there right now. If only blogging was a little more connective... or people decided to use Google+ the way they used Facebook, am I right? Because we all hate Facebook a little, myself obviously, included. I try to/want to have a disconnect once or twice a year and by this I mean completely deactivate my account.

 I deactivated 2013, but last year I got this crazy idea that I wanted to try and take a picture each day of the year instead. Turns out it's basically impossible to disconnect when you are expected to post a picture everyday. Don't get me wrong the grandmas and grandpas were eating it up, but it was tricky to post daily and in case you hadn't noticed I stopped mid-October or so.

This year is different. I'm really starting to try some new things and of course we are moving again. I cannot wait to MOVE! We have no idea where we will be in Florida but there is no way it will be this cramped. In Toledo we live in about 979 square feet here in Columbus we enjoy about 200 square feet more. However both of the bedrooms are smaller, and so is the kitchen, and the cabinets, and the living room so basically the extra 200 square feet is an uncarpeted basement room with our boxes and the washer/dryer. Shoot. When we move to Florida I will feel like our lives as "official" adults will truly commence. We will have been together for 6 years, we have two kids and we will FINALLY live in a REAL HOUSE! I am so antsy I don't know how I have made it this long. This one year internship deal feels like a one year sentence to be patient... wow very funny life because we all know I am so good at that right? 

ANYways

 I really REALLY promise to write more later I just figured I would let you all know that I'm still alive ;) I just don't have Facebook. Stupid Facebook.

This is Davie jamming to this super cute dump truck song my brother used to like. He kept telling me he wanted to hear the "cosy song, cosy song" (not cozy). I was very confused. I figured it out when he said dump truck song because the chorus says "it's so cozy to ride in my dump truck"

Look at that hair.

Davie feeding his piggy bank. His aunt and uncle gave him moneys for his birthday so he could put them in his bank.

Look at her, always hungry. She eats better than Davie does any day. 

Always a pretty girl.

Hypocrisy

Recently I have realized I am super annoyed when my friends don't update their blogs. I mean how am I supposed to know what's going on with them if they don't write blog posts? Or be entertained when my friends only update their blog once a month... then I realized I've been just as bad lately AND worse. It's been over 2 months since I updated on here and I'm ready to admit that it's not to lack of time. It's due to my desire to veg. So here is my promise to do better, at least for now. 

So what is there to say? The kids and I have been in Idaho Falls for almost a month now. I bravely flew solo from Columbus. The saddest part about our vacation to family this year is that David will not be joining us. He has several bad rotations in a row between November and February. Our plan for a while now has been to come out for Christmas this year and since money was tight we realized quickly that would be our only visit during this year. The original plan was for the babies to come with me and david would join us and his family for Christmas (or Thanksgiving) however short of a time. Then David was given another Intensive Care Unit rotation, and several surgery rotations in a row and now we are in Idaho and he is and will be in Ohio. No visiting for him (BIG sad face).

So what's happened this year? I know we aren't to the end of the year yet but I'm so far behind on it all I might as well create a list re-cap. This list is not exactly in order, but almost.

1. We came home from Idaho in January 3 days late due to the polar vortex in Ohio.  

2. I started my last school semester! And so did David!!

3. I experienced my first level 3 snow storm.

4. David's brother Brian and his wife Anna have their little boy! Our first nephew!

5. I had my 3rd baby and my 1st girl!

6. We found out that David matched, and that we were moving to Columbus this year and Orlando in 2015.

7. We watched a LOT of Veronica Mars and I procrastinated my 25 page thesis paper for a LONG time.

8. Macy has COLIC. (so much crying)

7. I graduated! 

9. I added Georgia to my list of states visited.

10. David, Brian, Anna, Davie, Baby Brian, Macy and I all go to Disney World to PARTAY!

11. Then we go to New York. 

12. I attended my first and second Broadway musical. AMAZING! One of theses days I will write more about that, it was my favorite part of the whole trip. 

13. I add New Jersey to my list of states :)

 

14. David graduates medical school. WAHOOOOO!!

15. Macy gets blessed. 

******WE SOLD OUR FIRST HOUSE!!!!!*****

 

Bonus we only had 3 people look at our place before we sold it. Thank goodness 

because those viewings were ROUGH on us! Apparently we do no live life in show mode.

16. We move to Columbus

17. David's first rotation as a Pee-on is the ICU and it's basically horrible.

18. Macy STILLLL has COLIC!!!

19. Macy starts to crawl way earlier then expected and is super good at it. 

20. David and I celebrate our 4 year anniversary, separately. So far our only tradition is to celebrate it separately. We are very romantic like that. 

21. David's brother Mike and his wife Lauren have their baby! I now have TWO nephews!

22. Macy, Davie and I spend a TON of quality alone time together. 

23. My least favorite rotation of David's is night float. Basically David works all night and then comes home and needs to sleep all day. It's horrible and I hate it. Also my kids are really loud.

24. We decide to start to potty train Davie. We took the 3 day approach and it works out REALLY well. It's been great. 

25. Macy was waking up several times a night for about 4 solid months. Which left this mama way too tired way too often. 

26. This leaves David and I super lazy and we spend most of our time together vegging out and watching Biggest Loser whenever we have free time.

27. Macy turns 6 months old and slowly starts recovering from her constant crying. 

28. Davie is getting so BIG, talks so well, and can be so incredibly sweet. 

29. We did nothing for Halloween, because we invited our friends over to play games. Then on actual Halloween (in Ohio they schedule what days communities get to trick or treat) it was horrible cold and rainy AND David and I just didn't want to deal with it. Grade A parents right here.

30. We all kissed David good-bye and got on an airplane to visit family for the next two months. 

Annnnd there you have it! That's the basics of what has been going on around here. So admittedly even though I have been busy and lazy those are not the only reasons I have not been blogging. Can I just say right now that I almost never ever write a blog post that isn't thoroughly thought through first. This year I got comments on a post that were quite rude and most likely from someone who I'm honestly quite shocked even reads my blog still. I also got deleted as a friend by someone on Facebook after I wrote a VERY personal, VERY long (and in my mind well thought through, as in months before I finally published it) blog post. WOW. To say I was shocked was an understatement. And while I might like to think I have thick skin, I most definitely do not. Imagine how a punch in the face feels because that is what it felt like.

I write my blog for my family first and for my friends second. Without blogs and Facebook I would feel totally alone sometimes. For those of you who have never lived a long way away from family and close friends for longer than a year you have no idea the kind of joy silly things like blogs and Facebook can bring someone. I'll openly admit that I often imagine deleting my blog and Facebook accounts and then I remember that without those I would never know what is going on in the lives of people I care about. I LOVE seeing my friends babies, your new houses, the fun places you go and any and every other fun thing you post on Facebook/blogs. I fully enjoy knowing the things you are struggling with are the same as mine and lastly I just like feeling as though I still get to be a part of your life. Even if it's just in text on a screen, it means something and I enjoy it.