Thursday, December 29, 2011

One year!

Tricked you all! It's not our anniversary...exactly. One year ago was the night Miles proposed.
Before THIS story, I should probably mention that a year ago we'd also just been broken up for a week and a half or so. To explain THAT story would take more time than any logical person would want to spend on a blog, so we'll skip that for now and just say that we'd been dating for a year and a half and it felt like something needed to happen. We'd been talking about marriage for months but I was afraid of making the step and thought that Miles didn't seem to be coming to any decision. Little did I know that he had, and had had a ring since October. I guess he just really wanted me to be sure all on my own, and I wanted him to be sure all on his own, and... we got all confused and broke up :) ...which ended up being a good thing, since it made things really clear for both of us. So, this is the point we were at last year...

Now, I wish I'd written more about this sooner, because even though I wrote in my journal that night it's just something like, "SURPRISE, WE'RE ENGAGED!" and tells a vague story. I'll do my best, though. However, consider yourself forewarned: *this is a love-ish sort of story and may contain large amounts of cheesyness*

This was during BYU's Christmas break, but since I was working at the MTC I was still staying up in Provo, walking back and forth from work. I would LOVE to see what I'd done with the missionaries that night...I wonder what our lesson was about? :) Anyway, on that night's walk home I finally got to the outside stairs to my apartment, and noticed two balloons tied to the railing. Looking closer, I also found an envelope with my name on it sitting in the snow on the steps.
The handwriting looked familiar, but I couldn't be sure.
The "security card?" A pack of matches

I read it (click on the picture to enlarge it), and looked around suspiciously. The only person I could see was a guy standing across the street. He looked a lot like this creepy Russian MTC volunteer that hit on me when I caught him sneaking around in the classroom building at work. Hmm. The instructions were clear, though, and my curiosity got the best of me. I'd rather face Mr. MTC-Creeper asking me out than live never knowing what could have happened, had I cut the balloon.
I released the green one, and sure enough, the creeper-look-alike started across the street. As he got closer, I was both relieved and confused to see that this guy was totally unfamiliar. He walked up and said (in a British cockney accent), "Hello! I'm Roger. I'll be your chauffeur for the evening. If you'll just follow me, my car is parked over across the street."
At this point it occurred to me that this is probably how kidnappings happen, but I WAS curious, so when he assured me that he did know someone that I knew, I went along with him. I think when we tell our engagement story to our kids, I'll have to edit that part, so they don't go around getting in cars with random strangers all the time.
All this time I was secretly hoping that it might be Miles, and secretly afraid of not knowing what I'd do if it was. I had no idea that this was anything more than a really cute date idea.
Right abooooout here. Just with a lot more snow
As Roger pulled up to the back of the old President's House on campus, I knew it had to be Miles. We'd discovered this spot in the summer and we thought it was a super secret garden. (Later I found out that just about everyone knows where this is, but we thought it was a find!) Roger came around and escorted me out of the car, complete with a carpet covering the snow where I stepped out. I could see candles in the snow and Miles was behind a tree lighting some luminary lanterns he'd made. (He later told me that I came home faster than he thought, and he'd had all kinds of hold ups along the way, including the microwave in the Wilk being broken)
We talked, and as Miles started telling me how much he loved me, he noticed that I was looking at something over his shoulder. It was a policeman, coming around the side of the house. I thought, "Wow, Miles really planned this thing!"...until I saw his face, and realized that the policeman was not part of the plan. I guess you can't light floating luminaries on BYU campus...anyway, after delivering that message, the sheepish cop left awkwardly, and somewhere around this point Miles said that he'd talked with my dad, and suddenly it clicked: he was proposing!!! He knelt down and pulled out a little ring box, and...asked.
Talk about surprise proposals! The funny thing is, I'd been thinking about things the whole week and had had so many moments when I knew that if somehow things worked out, I definitely wanted to marry Miles. I was still super freaked out to make such a huge decision, though, and it was a few minutes after he got up off his knee and we talked that I felt calm and said yes.
BEST DECISION EVER!!!
okay, so this was on Valentine's, but close enough
Lookin' our best


Colonel Mustard and Mrs. White
some engaged night or other...











We got married on April 9th of this year, and it's the best thing in the world to be married to my best friend! We have SO much fun together, and eight months, nine or so road trips, a move, a couple mini car accidents, and one awesome Christmas later, life is pretty incredibly good!






Friday, December 16, 2011

Professionalcrastination

Definition: the skill of putting off the big, important, and possibly crucial things on your to-do list by thinking up every possible combination of little things that suddenly are super important to do. Like passionately organizing the drawer full of sheet music that no one sees instead of practicing the violin. Or making diligent lists of projects that need to be done, while putting off making a phone call to find out what kind of dental benefits are covered by your insurance. Just some examples.
Anyway, that's my excuse for not posting anything on here for a long time. :) I'm telling you, it's one of my best skills!

We're great here in LB, though, and loooooving walking around in short sleeves in the middle of December. Ok, in the morning you might need a jacket, but by the afternoon we're ready to pull out our bikes! Speaking of which...

Hmmm. I can't get the camera to load pictures right now, but next post will have some bike-fixing pictures. We brought home an old bike from Miles's parents' place, and it's getting all fixed up! The only thing we have left is making it pretty now! Well, pretty in the manly sense of the word, of course.

The other big update that I can think of right now is that I'm now focusing full-time on violin teaching. 
In case you weren't in on the last few months, while Miles has been at work I've been working as a nanny for two kids. They were hilarious! Plus, the kids went to their dad's house two weeks out of the month, so I could still keep things running smoothly at home and run errands and stuff on the weeks that I wasn't nanny-ing. The only downside? My hours changed to full time a month ago, which meant we had to get up at 5:30 to get Miles to work before I had to be at work at 7:15. I kept debating about if it was worth it, but I loved getting out of the house and playing with kids, so meh, two weeks each month wasn't so bad to wake up that early, right? I kept thinking about violin, though, and going back and forth about quitting the nanny job, because I wanted to do more with my violin studio. This was NOT going to happen while I was working full time, because I want to fill my days with violin and leave our fun after-work-do-whatever-we-want-time the way it is. This dilemma had been popping in and out of my thoughts for a couple of weeks, and I finally thought, "well, I'll see what happens with the mom's new work schedule, and make a final decision. For real this time!"
I finally got around to texting the mom about her new hours, and ...came to find out that in the two weeks I'd been off, she'd found a preschool for the 3-yr-old, and is going to put the 2-yr-old in daycare. 
Wahoo! Perfect timing, right?! I think on that one my meaning-to-really-ponder-and-pray-about-it-and-make-a-strong-decision got to the professionalcrastination stage, and Heavenly Father just took over and made some things happen. :) thanks, tender mercies!!
I'm so excited to start up my studio efforts again, and this time around I have awesome violin advice from BYU friends and a bunch of friends in the area to help me get a solid start. 
And of course I've made a to-do list...

Friday, October 14, 2011

What can't you do with cardboard?

So...I have to confess that I have a hard time throwing away old cereal boxes, cake boxes, anything made of cardboard...because I just might need it someday, right? My other confession is that I do need it pretty often, and so I keep saving it and making little things out of it. On my mission it was a salt shaker, with my roommates it was a mail keeper and shelf dividers, and well...Miles and I laughed the hardest when he found the "outgoing mail" box I'd made out of a squished mac'n'cheese box, some tape, and a sticky note. I was shooting for functionality on that one, but hit somewhere more around trailer park. :) However, it graced the front door of our house for several afternoons until one day I forgot to bring it back in after the mail went out, and Miles happened to see it when he came home. We are now mail box free again.

Anyway, this week I decided to make a weekly dinner calendar, as part of my quest to become a good cook someday. I thought about printing one out, then changed my mind and got out stuff to draw one, and... yep, you guessed it...it somehow turned into a cardboard project. This time, though, I was determined to make it apartment worthy, and after a lot of experimenting, some tape, and about a million trips back and forth to the craft cupboard I think it turned out cute:
knew that this wrapping paper would come in handy someday!
Also, the roughly 500 little wedding dinner and sealing insert cards left over from our wedding invites are the perfect size to cut in half and write my dinner plans on to put in the pockets each week. Score again!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Jess and the big 25

Best birthday ever!!!
Okay, so it was not another Six Flags adventure, but we did have a blast! Miles had work that morning, so I worked on making my cake and cleaning up the house for all the upcoming birthday festivities. :) And hey! Thanks for all the cards and funny phone calls! They made my day!
Miles's card "made out of recycled materials"

Thanks for all your cute cards and birthday wishes!
That night Miles surprised me with a card he'd made at work, which was adorable. Let me see if I can put a picture of it on here...

We took advantage of a couple of the free birthday dinner offers (score! although the IHOP server totally recognized us and I think she was suspicious) and then we headed back to our apartment to share some birthday cake with friends from the ward and down the street from us. It was funny to be celebrating without family all around, but we did end up having a great party, so much so that we didn't all go to bed until about 11...oops! This was the first time we've really had people over just for fun, so it was awesome to find some people our age to hang out with and make up for our missing adventures w/Clint and Aubree and Rebekah and Steven and our Provo friends. So fun!

We also discovered the most amazing game ever. Carcassone. We got it as a wedding gift, and put off playing it forever because the box looked boring to me, but the other day we opened it and now I think we've played it something like five times in the past week! Except Miles has beaten me every single time we've played! You can expect to be entertained by it when you come to visit us, because we're dying to share it with someone else :) Anyway, we're excited for the upcoming visits with Miles's side of the family, and I can't believe how fast time is flying past!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Miles turns twenty seven!

Miles's birthday this year was a blast. I noticed a week or two before that Six Flags was having "Mormon Family Day" on the 17th (thanks, ward bulletin), which meant that we could get super discounted tickets. Sold!

The festivities actually started the night before, when we had all  five of the missionaries over for dinner and cake. Miles let me make his cake, and although you can still tell it's not from a famous bakery, I had fun and I think it turned out pretty good! And it was sooooooo delicious! Here's the missionaries singing, and Miles working on blowing out those candles and filming at the same time:

The day of, we took off for Six Flags and had lunch on the way. It's amazing how fast a one-hour car drive goes when you've driven to UT and back three times in the past few months! Neither of us had been on any roller coasters since high school, so Miles was stoked and I was a little nervous. As it turns out, we both still have it in us! Well, there was one moment on the first drop where we both blacked out a little, but after that we were champs! Take that, highschoolers!

Miles is sporting his button. I am sporting
some good rolled-up jeans :)

We also heard somehow that if it was your birthday you could report to Guest Services to pick up your "birthday button." OOOooo! We thought that would definitely get us through some lines a little faster, and made a beeline for Guest Services. When we got there and proudly told them that we wanted a birthday button for Miles, the girl behind the desk pulled out a blank "happy birthday" button and wrote "Miles!" in the name slot. It turns out that that's it...no free rides, no ice cream cone, not even a birthday ring toss game, just the privilege of wearing the button. Nothing to do but wear it with pride!




Ta-daaaa! the birthday man himself!
One of the best parts was that in one of the lines we met a couple from Anaheim and really hit it off. We had two hours to talk with them, so the topics ranged from where the best camping places are to what a temple marriage is. They were so much fun, and hopefully we'll be able to hang out with them again sometime soon. That ride was worth the wait, too--they strapped you in the seat like normal, but then as you took off the seats tilted back, so half the time you were hurtling through space with nothing below you. I was terrified, and remember screaming, "Never again!!!," but once we landed safely, I was sad that the line was so long that we couldn't do it again. That one was Miles's favorite. :) Also--James, this is for you--we did the Superman. It shot you backwards up a huge half arch, so you were hanging face down, then dropped you back. Quick, but fun. We did a bunch of other fun rides and made it home by about 10:30, just in time to sing again and have one more piece of birthday cake. Keep in mind that the missionaries had some, too--we did NOT eat that much cake all by ourselves, hehe! But on second thought, I think we could have if there had been more...that was some yummy cake!
There are now only 7 candles. Easier to get your wish!

It was a super fun happy birthday for the best husband ever!







p.s. I posted the beekeeper pics in September...don't miss that one!!!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Greek Fest!

So...we wanted to do something fun with the whole free day on Labor Day, and I saw the perfect thing advertised on the back of a bus--The Annual Long Beach Greek Festival!
I did a little investigation and found out that admission was free from 12-5, so we spent the morning washing our car, and garage door. By the way, have you ever seen anyone washing their car by hand in California? We have not. It worked great, though, and with a little help from Aunt Cinda and Uncle Brian's village car wash materials, we now have a shiny new car! We also took some wire from the fan to the battery and found out that our fan is not broken--it's probably just the coolant temp sensor. Yay!
We left for the Greek Fest sometime after one, and ended up parking in a little mall a few blocks away. Who knew that this would be the cool place to spend your free Monday? Now, we were expecting a lot of costumes and food and booths, and I even suggested that we could dress up like Greeks (shot down), but the surprise was... greek fest, as far as we can tell = county fair

My favorite parts:
1. There were the most random booths! I mean, I guess the Russian booth kind of fits the cultural idea, and the same goes for the Indian clothing booth, but advertising sheet sets? the "tutor doctor?" What does this have to do with Greeks?
2. The tour we took of the Greek Orthodox church. A guy even sang us some chant. Cross your fingers, I'm going to try to upload this one. :)
One funny thing is that we asked what the difference between the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches is. "Nothing, just the language." BUT why, then, is there a different Bible, different cross, different church shape, different iconostas, and different worship service rules? Suspicious. I was dying to go back to our friend at the Russian booth and ask what he thought, but his booth suddenly got very popular, so we never had a chance. Here are a couple of pictures I took of the inside of the church.
















3. We tried some Baklava. Good, but I like our rich american desserts better! Give me a brownie and ice cream any day! Miles agreed--I guess we are just not the eastern cultured type yet!

We came home and to finish off our Greek festivities, I found a recipe for pita bread online, and we had our own version of souvlaki (thanks to some of that bottled elk :)) for dinner. Yummy!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Another reason that Miles loves his job

Apparently the LDS church down here has been having quite a few run-ins lately with bees building hives in steeples, walls, etc.. Miles has been telling me about them, and how they have to get people to come out and extract them, and then ONE day, he came home to tell me about another hive they'd found in one of his buildings. The bees had gotten into a wall from a little pipe left sticking out, and they'd built a hive inside the wall.

When Miles showed me some pictures of him trying on a bee suit, I began to realize that this was going to be no ordinary work week. On the 14th we stayed up late working on a bee smoker--you know, the smoke you blow in the hive to calm them?--but we didn't get it done in time, so that just barely got finished.

Instead, Miles left for work with his bee suit, some cans of wasp spray, and some tape to make sure there were no gaps in his clothes. I spent some good time in fervent prayer that morning! Sometimes I let my imagination run away with me, but I was also excited to see the pictures he promised to take. Here are some of the best ones, and since they tell the story pretty well, I'm not going to write a ton more.

First Miles (and some helpful painters) taped off the hallway so that no bees could get inside the church

he could hear the bees and knew he'd opened the right section of wall. Now for the flash...
An entire hive! See them in between their honeycomb? SO COOL!
Miles demonstrates the safe gear for any bee removal tasks.
This wall is going to need some repair. No more bees, though!
Honeycomb, dead bees, and...a rat! Gross!
 Since Miles is at work and can't type this himself, here are some of the videos he took, so you can hear him explain. Pretty cool!


Thursday, September 8, 2011

The job. s.

After looking for what seemed like forever, suddenly in the past two or three weeks everything has fallen together. I'm trying to think of what I learned from my four months of unemployment, because I know that whenever things don't go according to MY plan, it's always been because there's a better plan out there.
I was thinking, and some of the blessings I can see from that long wait are: I learned to type (finally! that has been looming over my head for years), I had time to set up my violin studio the way I wanted to, I really really REALLY value the time I have together with Miles, had free time to get to know some people in our ward and go on adventures, and learned that my attitude has everything to do with how I feel about my day. Also how much work I put into things!

Anyway, so now the waiting is over. I have three great little violin students and have a part time job as a nanny for two kids that live at the beach. Here is a pic of one of my work days...at the beach! ---------->














<---this part here actually was hard work, and I still don't really know what possessed me to go down all those stairs with a stroller. Don't worry, though; I had the older one walk and held the little one, and we went slow, despite the 3-yr-old's encouragement to "let go of the stroller! Let it bounce down all by itself!" :) I know it's not the most prestigious job in the world, but it is one of my very favorite things ever!

Monday, September 5, 2011

The long-awaited Neal visit!

Jenn and Matt came this weekend with their kids, and we had a BLAST! We love playing hosts, and Jason and Cory cracked us up...we never knew that our futon and Russian stacking dolls could provide so much fun for so long!
We went to the beach to dig for crabs, and again tried our luck with fishing off the pier, but again...no bites. I even pulled out all the stops and baited the hook with some leftover chicken, but those fish would have none of it. Shame...it was good chicken, too! It was Jenn's first time fishing, and maybe Matt's too? You never would have guessed from their amazing technique and finesse, though.







It gets pretty cold out there on the pier, so Jason borrowed "Uncle Miles's" jacket. He lost his arms a couple of times, and mainly flapped around looking like a sailor. So cute!




Miles and I decided to make things really festive, and we pulled out one of our new favorite recipes. HOMEMADE EGG ROLLS! Man, they are sooooo good, and now we finally have a second opinion! Jenn wanted the recipe, so I thought I might as well post it on here and share it all around. They're SO easy to make, and amazingly good.  I mostly pulled the recipe off Allrecipes.com, but the purple parts are my additions or helpful hints. Enjoy!


Egg Roll Filling (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-egg-rolls/detail.aspx)


Ingredients


1 pound ground pork (I used ground turkey--it's cheap and yummy)
1 teaspoon ground ginger1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 cups shredded cabbage
  • 2 ounces shredded carrots
  • (also I added liberal amounts of pepper and season-all to spice things up a little)

  • 1 quart peanut oil for frying (unless you have some handy, vegetable oil works great)
FOR PASTE:


  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons water

Directions

  1. Season meat with ginger and garlic powder and mix thoroughly. Heat mixture in a medium skillet, stirring, until meat is cooked through and no longer pink. Remove from pan and set aside.
  2. In the skillet, cook the cabbage and carrots with maybe a tsp of oil until they're just beginning to be cooked--the cabbage will change color a tad and be less crunchy. When its ready, combine the cabbage, carrots and reserved pork mixture. Mix all together.


Egg Roll Wrappers (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/egg-roll-wrappers/detail.aspx)

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1-1/2 cups cold water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup peanut oil (if your pan is not a good nonstick. If it is, you don't need any oil at all)

Directions 

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, cold water and salt. Mix in all-purpose flour 1/3 at a time. Allow the mixture to stand 15 minutes at room temperature.
  2. Heat a frying pan to medium/high heat. Pour about 1/4 cup batter on and rotate pan quickly to spread the batter, like a crepe. I've found that it works best if after this step you quickly spread the batter into a larger circle using a spatula, so that the wrapper will be thin and not crack when cooked. The ideal size is about a 9-inch circle.
  3.  Cook over low heat 45 seconds to 1 minute, until bottom is golden brown and edges begin to curl. ONLY COOK ONE SIDE! Carefully remove from heat with spatula and place on a paper towel, golden brown side down. These do not stick together, so you can stack all you want. Repeat with remaining batter.
  4. Allow the wrappers to cool completely. 

Making the egg rolls-Directions 
  1. In a small pot heat a couple cups of oil to about 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) or medium high heat. (we just heat it until a little piece of dough thrown in will sizzle and brown quickly) While oil is heating, combine flour and water in a bowl until they form a paste. 
  2. Put maybe 1/4 cup filling onto a wrapper. Fold in the sides first, sticking them down with the paste, then begin rolling from the bottom to the top. Use the flour paste to seal the egg roll shut.
  3. Place egg rolls into heated oil and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels or rack. Eat large but not excessive amounts with great satisfaction, and share with friends.


So good! AND if you really want a delicious meal, serve it with veggies and this teriyaki sauce:
http://www.food.com/recipe/restaurant-teriyaki-sauce-133751  (I skip the honey and drop the sugar to 3 tbsp, and it's right on! Also, it thickens as it cools, so no worries if stirring doesn't do the trick)
Teriyaki Stix has nothing on us here in Long Beach! :)

Monday, August 8, 2011

and then the other part of the adventure...


OUR TRIP BACK:
Alright, so we took off on Sunday, loaded with snacks, gas, and books that I got from the library--we were prepared for anything! Until Vegas...
At this point I should pause and explain that our little civic has no working exhaust fan, and therefore doesn't like to go slowly in hot places where there's no air flying over the engine. That said, when we slowed down around Primm and the heat started to rise, we decided to turn off the A/C. I checked the temp outside...102 F.
We were trying to hold the leftover cool air in by keeping the windows shut, but our car turned into a greenhouse within about 2 min, so we caved and opened the windows. Miracle #1...breeze!

The next two hours or so was a bit sweaty, and especially for Miles, who hadn't changed first! There was bumper to bumper traffic at every hill because of the merge-on-and-off truck lanes, and the funniest part(miracle #2?) was the semi driver that wouldn't let anyone run up the illegal side lanes. He'd see a car coming and scoot over so that no one could pass all the people who were waiting. There was one very determined little white car that he about ran off the road. I think he was taking advantage of the fact that there was no "how is my driving? call________" sticker on the back of HIS semi. It was pretty entertaining, though!
On the last big hill the heat started to get to the point where we'd have to turn the car off. Just as I was wondering how long we'd survive living out of our car in the desert, Miles remembered a trick Robert had taught him: on went the heater... we were saved! And actually, the air was the same temp as the hot wind blowing in, anyway, so it wasn't too bad :)
The moral of the story is that prayer works--I'm pretty positive we had heavenly help on this one!
Also, Miles wins the award for best husband ever, and especially because of how patient he was all the way across that desert. My award was not for patience, unfortunately, but I do take credit for the brilliant idea to drink the used-to-be-ice bags that Kira had sent with us...cold water! :) Thanks, Kira and Travis!

Note to self: replace fan before hunting season trip across Nevada

Another adventure

We made it back, everyone! Story on that in a sec, because it was epic...
First, this weekend we had a whirlwind trip up to UT and back: we left at 11:30 am on Friday and got back at 10 pm-ish on Sunday! Best parts:

1. Ashley and Tony's sealing! This was the first temple wedding we've been to since our own, and it was soooo cool to listen to the instructions and promises all over again, and understand them better. (Uncle Lynn was right; I don't think we would remember a whole lot from our own except for the fact that Jenn and Matt wrote down all that they remembered! :)) Eternal marriage = best! And Ashley and Tony were so cute and happy. This is them riding away on Tony's motorcycle after their luncheon

2. We still can't believe how perfect it was that Aunt Jan invited everyone up to Spring Haven on Saturday! It was awesome to see everyone, and I can't believe that Ella and McKelle are talking all over the place. Also, the high 5-pound-kiss with Ella and James was hilarious!

3. Telling funny stories on the back porch with my Mom and sisters, with the may-or-may-not-have-been-working citronella candle. I think I saw Brother Wilson coming out to see what all the noise was--that was so fun! And hey, we even managed to bring your hanger back, Mom! :) Too bad we left our pillow at Kira and Travis's house, huh?

4. Hanging out with Aubree and Clint and their kids at church. They have about the cutest little family in the world, and between McKelle skiing around in Aubree Ann's(sp?) flip flops and almost shutting her head in the door, and Brinlee's interpretive dancing, I was laughing the whole time. You guys are the best, and I'm so glad we managed to see ALL the siblings this trip. Ok, minus Steven and Melissa and the out-of-staters.


Friday, July 22, 2011

The big news

After about a million years, or really just sixteen or so, I've finally learned how to type! And along with that, I also have some mad backspacing skills.
Okay, so somehow I made it through all those middle-school programs by memorizing what I had to type and looking at my fingers. The result: I could type about 40 wpm with three of my fingers but was lost in a dark room :)
So... this week I found a free typing teacher thing online, and now I'm up to about 30 wpm NOT looking at one little finger. Yay! No laughing, all you master typists out there...I don't think I could have even typed 10 wpm before without looking!

The other GREAT news is that after playing in church on Sunday, a couple moms came and asked about violin lessons! I totally forgot that that might be a side benefit of playing in church, and I'm glad, because I would have felt guilty if I felt like I was advertising. So now I'm in the process of setting that all up and emailing back and forth with the moms, and hopefully this will be the beginning of my little studio that I've been working on. I'm so excited!


Thursday, July 7, 2011

Surprise date night!

Yay! I know you are all excited for another blog post! well, here it is!
Okay, so no, we did not take either of the pictures above, but they could have been taken by us. If only we didn't always leave the phone in the car on these occasions. Shucks. BUT to explain the pics, last night we decided to go to Seal Beach. We live 15-25 min from the beach, and we decided that it had been way too long since we took advantage of that fact.
Anyway, we got there and walked down the beach a little, when suddenly Miles got all excited because he thought he saw a snorkeler. Here I should pause and explain that snorkeling is on Miles's top ten list of BEST things in the world. I looked closer, and no, it was a fin! SHARKS! There was a loudspeaker telling everyone to stay close to shore. But I was wrong again. What we saw were actually 3 or 4 dolphins, just swimmin along, only about 50 yards from us! Funny, I've never seen a single seal at "Seal Beach," but now I've seen live dolphins for the first time in my life.
The other non-sealy animal abounding at Seal Beach is sand crabs. One of Miles and my favorite pastimes is catching these little fellas. You dig around a little right after the wave comes up, and you are sure to find some of these. They're SO fun! Some are just teensy, like pinky fingernail size, and the biggest we've found was maybe a tad bigger than the size of the one in the picture. I have thought of making them my pets, but Miles wants to eat them. It looks like the latter option is more probable since a Hispanic family passed by with a catch of their own and told us how to properly fry them up. I guess we will add some seafood to our feast along with the watermelon, peas, and beets?

Man, we are so lucky to be here! We miss you all and LOVED having Miles's parents and Kira and Travis down this last weekend--we can't wait to see you all again, and we're looking forward to seeing my family at the end of July!