anza borrego, ca.

at the end of january, jonathan had planned a camping trip for us. i am not one for camping. when he finally gets me to go, he makes sure that he's the nicest to me and that i am catered on so that i'll go with him again. that's how you do it, my friends!

 this picture is really important. it's important to jon because he likes seeing all of the off roaders getting ready to go on trails, and it's important to me because i fell in love with Gordo who's running towards to photographer who i wish was me. on this vacation, i realized that i love dogs of all shapes and sizes. i think that's a really good thing because in June we are moving in with my in laws until we find a home and we are bringing two dogs and a cat and they already have two dogs and a cat. we've been joking that we are going to start a petting zoo.

 they really do think i'm joking.

the first thing we did when we got to anza borrego was explore a cave. these caves were cool, but they were a bit of a downgrade compared to what we saw in texas last year!

jon is totally in his element when we go camping. he enjoys being out in the wild breathing in fresh air, but he mostly loves to test his cars limit. sometimes i close my eyes.

we were driving through the desert when we heard a weird noise. then we heard the car get louder. we should have known, but we didn't think anything of it until jon's buddy was honking behind us. jon's muffler fell off!!!

here he is trying to get it untangled from under his car. the worst part about this was that it was really hot and we couldn't just leave it in the desert. so we had to wait until it cooled off and then put it in the back of the car with all of our stuff. 

the darndest things...

it was a fun and beautiful day. i can appreciate the outdoors, i really can. i just wish there was a really nice personal bathroom following me around (kept at a 40 ft distance of course).

here is my main man, cooking up some luxury breakfast for us. 

we get patchy service while we are out there, but i was lucky enough to receive this photo from my sister. she and audrey had a sleepover the night before. cutest.

pumpkin patch. 

 ever since we went to anza borrego last year, i've been wanting to see these mystery statues in the desert. this man placed all these statues throughout the desert (not sure when), but they are awesome! they are so detailed and i can't help but wonder how long each one took.

 this one is awesome. the road runs in between the humps in his back.

it was a fun trip and i'm so glad jon is patient with me when we do things like this. i'm liking it a little more each time.....but not enough to not have him worry about me the whole time. ;)

the next weekend we got to enjoy this ones company! she is working as an assistant trainer for the BYU rugby team. they had a game at SDSU and one at UCLA, so jessie finagled a way onto the bus here and got to stay with us for the weekend! she came to school with me and everything, it was so fun to have her here. it was cool to see her in her element at the game and jon enjoyed it, too. (he played rugby in high school) we even saw someone at the game from church, which shouldn't surprise us, but it always surprises me to see people i know out and about here!

weekend in january.

holy cow, how is it the end of february already! i can't believe how fast time flies. 

in mid-january, we both had a saturday morning off so we decided to go to to cabrillo national monument. neither of us had ever been there before, and it was nice weather. so we made a little day trip out of it.

 it is so easy to forget how close we live to mexico. it's funny to have little reminders like this.

 the tide pools were nothing to write home about, but the view was beautiful.

i wish i could have gotten better pictures inside the light house, but it was really crowded that day. what's better than a 'house museum' where the rooms are all set up and you can get a peek into the past? nothing, i tell you, nothing.

it was a really nice way to start the spring semester. my last one at SDSU, i can't believe it.

by the way, this is my 400th post. 400th!! 

five years.

five years ago today, i wrote my first post. my, how time has flown! i still feel the same age as the young girl in the big, new and scary city. (i have never prided myself on my maturity.) so much has changed since i first started my blog. my first few months in nyc were rough, i had no friends and didn't even have any contacts out there. i missed the boys i was dating and my sisters, father, grandma, and friends. after a few months, the sky started to get bluer, the trees got greener, and the streets filled up with people. the city came alive and i loved it so much. as much as i wanted to stay i knew i needed to come back, though at the time i wasn't sure why. 

since i wrote that post in 2008, i have:

 lived in harlem, queens and manhattan. sugar house, murray, and san diego.

learned how to play the organ. 

made drapes for our house, a quilt, started an afghan and learned how to knit. 

started to learn how to cook

gone to three different schools: NYSID, SLCC, and SDSU. 

received a general associates degree in 2009, and an associates degree in interior design in 2010.

dated, dated, dated, and finally met (again) the one.
married him. 

started learning how to ride horses.

spent 2.5 years laughing with the love of my life. 

had three cats out on our own and have had one stick around. 

fallen in love with three different cities. new york city, salt lake city, and san diego. 

and, lastly, continued to write on this ol' blog. 

there is so much more that has happened in this space of time. i've become more confident in myself, comfortable in my own skin and proud of my talents and good qualities. i have begrudgingly given up control thanks to the military. i've learned how to treat people that you love, thanks to jon. (a continuing work in progress :)) i've also learned to let things go, and let it be.

through all the normal ups and downs of life, one thing that has remained a constant is the gospel. i am so grateful to have something so forgiving and uplifting as that, especially during particularly rough times. 

(quotes from elder jeffrey r. holland)

here's to another hopeful 5 years, you cute little blog, you!

a note from my six year old nephew.

this makes my heart so happy but at the same time so sad. i know that living away from home is just a part of life and is essential for jobs/school/special growth, but some times are harder than others. robbie is the sweetest little boy. 

please note jon's arms. yeah...robbie drew them that big.
(very accurate)

tail end.

the rest of our trip flew by. jon took an extra two days of leave so that we could get more done and see more of our loved ones. unfortunately, we still didn't get to see everyone we wanted to. it is difficult to balance our two families, help my dad around the house (which i do love to do), and see all of our friends. we are grateful for the friends that made sporadic time for us even though it was early in the morning, late at night, or for a short half hour visit-especially during the holidays!

 on the 2nd, we went downtown to go out to lunch with spencer. we ate at....you guessed it! city creek! i bet i have been there more than some people who live in salt lake have. that's okay though, there is always something new to see. this time it was a real life wolf! i was so jealous that richard got a picture with him, but even more jealous that the wolf licked his face. 

lunch was really fun. i couldn't wrap my mind around how legit spencer is! he works downtown in the walker center building. it was really cool to be in that nice building surrounded by other nice buildings. that man!

the next morning, mike and kim picked us up and took us to breakfast at ruth's diner! (see what I mean by making time for us, even early in the morning?)  none of us had ever been there in the winter; it was fun and cozy inside! i will spare kim's feelings and not post the first picture i took of her and mike. they were holding their glasses up close to the camera so the hot chocolate looked HUGE and their heads were tiny! that's probably why they are laughing in the photo i posted, it was way funny. the hot chocolate was necessary since it was 9 degrees outside. mike is also a legit utah citizen. he works for governor leavitt and works downtown at the wells fargo building. i never would have guessed it, but i swear that man will be famous one day. 

the rest of my afternoon was spent cooing over this adorable child and chatting with his mother. it is always so good to see lyndsi. it is sometimes draining to be so far away from her, i couldn't ask for a better friend. 

 more adorable baby photos! my nephew is really ticklish and is literally the happiest baby i've ever met. he is always smiling. more so when you hold him, play with him and don't leave him alone for a second, but still...

i couldn't choose between these two photos because his face is perfect in both. that ear.
(i was blowing raspberries on his cheek)

some day i will live in the same state as this woman!
(a note about that large wreath: it is a christmas wreath. "Having this up all year around makes taking christmas decorations down really easy!" -My Dad. also, it didn't come with a little bear on it. he put it on there because it matched and "looked cute." that dad of mine...)

we drove to st. george friday night (after visiting addie and aftynn for a short minute!). we should have been spending the night in st. george all these years. we left at 5:30am and got back to SD at 10:30. it was really great because we had the whole day to unpack, clean the house up and just lay around and be lazy. too bad this was probably the last time we will make the SLC-->SD trip.