Life-Changing Revelation

When we were getting ready for bed last night, I told Graham that I had a life-changing revelation today. His first response was, "is this serious, or are you joking about makeup or something ridiculous?"

Ok, so I do joke a lot about important and stupid things... which is kind of what this blog is about.

Maybe you already know this, but it took me 36 years of my life to realize this.. Guys don't like funny girls/women.

Why was this such a shocker for me?? Even as a woman, I personally don't like a lot of female comediennes, but this is different. I like guys with a good sense of humor. I always have. I'm not unique in this trait, but I always assumed that because I found a funny guy attractive, that a guy would also be attracted to me because I am funny.

My journal entries throughout high school and college are filled with the mystified thoughts of why guys didn't like me because I was: 1) smart, 2) funny, and 3) cute. I thought these traits should make me irresistible, right? Some of my journal entries from high school and college are written below:

“I just don’t understand why I am a friend girl to everyone! I thought guys liked funny girls.. 
I thought being myself would help also. However—nothing seems to work!"

 "I just thought guys liked funny girls… 
From my track record, that would be a loud, resounding NO.”

I came to the conclusion in my 20's after I was married that most teenage boys and college guys absolutely do not give an F about #1 and #2. Some might, but most are concerned about looks.

And finally in my 30's, I have realized that most boys/guys/men do not want a woman who is funny in her own right.. and this is backed by science. There are many psychological studies that demonstrate that women find humor attractive in a male, but this is not reciprocated by men. Men find a sense of humor attractive, but it falls under the category of "humor appreciation". This means women who laugh at men's jokes are found to be more attractive. Men find some funny women (especially those with a male or aggressive sense of humor) to be a challenge or a threat, whether it's to their ego or whatever.

#notallmen

The same study states, however, that some men find funny women attractive. These men are usually older, more educated, and have higher self-esteem. Maybe you're a guy and you're reading this, and you're offended by this because you like funny women.. Good for you. More power to you. I like you already.

Also, I wanted to clarify that the study does specify that while men may enjoy jokes from women, they "rarely want to marry them". That's a sad generalization.

As I've gotten older, I've also realized that the kind of humor I employ has an effect on others. I love self-deprecating humor. I make fun of myself a lot, and sometimes I assume others do too... Poor assumption, I know.

Case in point... I was at a young single adult church activity with some friends and some people I had never met before. A guy I had never met was calling a girl to ask her a question about something. She didn't answer, and the guy said, "oh, she missed my call", to which I teasingly responded, "Oh, she's probably just avoiding your call". He gave me a look of death and asked rudely, "Do I know you?" I should have known that joke wouldn't be funny to him--he was a law student. He was much too serious to laugh at himself.

Another example... I was at another church activity. It was field day races, and a cute guy was on my team. We were doing potato sack races, and when our team won, I flirtatiously remarked, "Oh, you must be good in the sack." He laughed nervously, and then never talked to me after that night. Turns out that some Mormon guys are uncomfortable with sexual humor. Awk-ward.

I also learned that sarcasm can be a little funny, but is not really desirable in a long-term relationship. In high school and college, I was probably wayyyy too sarcastic and mean. I had some self-esteem issues that made me insecure (still do actually), and sarcasm was my deflection technique. I dated some sarcastic guys in college, and while they made me laugh, it really wouldn't have worked out. Eventually sarcasm can be mean and degrading from a romantic partner.

Thankfully, I met Graham. While he admits that he was a bit intimidated by me (I am older, funny, and smart), he has enjoyed my humor since we met. To me, Graham has the perfect mix of all my favorite kind of senses of humor: goofy, self-deprecating, and some sexual. He made me less sarcastic and less mean. Is that what love does to humor? Is your sense of humor dependent on your mood and your relationship?

Anyways, I still love to joke with men.. just to mess with them a little bit. I love some good clever and witty banter. But the last thing I'm now wondering about me is if this is considered to be flirting...? I'm going to chew on that for a bit.

I'm willing to say that most of it is based on the situation I'm in. I do joke with my patients at work to make them feel comfortable, but I don't joke flirtatiously (although I'm fairly certain some of my male patients have taken it that way). As far as my interpersonal relationships with men and other friends, I try to be really careful with how I joke because sometimes I take it too far (just ask Graham's family).

When it comes to my sense of humor.. I'm going to leave this journal entry from 2003 to describe how I feel...

“If I wasn’t myself, I don’t know how I’d live. 

If I didn’t find humor in everything, life would seem so bleak.”

I'm too embarrassed to post any photos of me doing totally weird stuff to be funny (I have lots of those), but here's a good example of how me and my roommates tried to be funny and creative in college. 

Hawaii 2014

So, as many of you know, we took a family trip to Oahu this past month. My parents have a timeshare on Waikiki, and they were able to get 2 condos in a tower about 2 blocks away from Waikiki beach. Weirdly enough, it was the same hotel we stayed in when we went as a family in December of 1999. I wasn't super excited about going to Oahu again as I'd been there twice before as a teenager (I know, I know, I sound like a spoiled brat). I thought I'd seen and done it all, so while I was excited to go to Hawaii, I wasn't super excited to go back to Oahu.

To my surprise, I loved being so close to Waikiki as a mom. It was close enough to the beach, the hotel, restaurants, shopping, etc, and not that far of a car ride to anything else we wanted to see. It was kind of strange going to Waikiki as I felt like I was going back in time. I went in December 1999 with my family (and my high school boyfriend) and June 2001 for my high school graduation senior trip (that really makes me feel old). I felt kind of like a teenager again, and I distinctly remember strolling down the Waikiki strip with friends and walking down Waikiki Beach with my boyfriend. So, it was definitely weird to be with my husband and son walking down the same beach.

Anyways, we absolutely had the BEST time. Carter kept saying on our last day, "But I just don't want to leave Hawaii!" We know, Carter, we know... I'll just give you some brief descriptions of what we did (because I normally don't do this kind of thing--let's face it.. my life is boring and my vacations are usually to visit my family in California or Utah). I'll add some vacation pictures in here when I have better access (also posted on my Facebook and Instagram accounts).

Saturday: We arrived at the airport and my sweet mom arranged for us to get fresh leis by baggage claim. If you've ever been to the Honolulu airport, you'd know it is partly open air, so we loved that. The heat was quite shocking, though, when exiting the plane and walking through the jetway tunnel. We managed to find our family and made our way in the rental minivan to the hotel on Waikiki. We got to check in a little early, changed into our bathing suits, and walked over to the beach. The water was freaking bath-tub warm and felt amazing. We literally hung out in the water for over an hour, which isn't normally our thing. We hung out at the beach for a couple of hours and the kids had a blast. My brother Jacob's family went as well, and Carter was just in LOVE with his cousins, including Gabe, who's 17 and 3 feet taller than Carter. I don't remember what/where we ate for dinner, but I remember we did stop at Jack in the Box for lunch..  :/

Sunday: After taking an early walk on the Waikiki strip (I never really did get used to Hawaii time), we went to church at the Honolulu LDS Tabernacle. It seriously was an amazing building and grounds. Wow. It almost looked like a temple. It was their ward's primary program, which was good because we were missing our primary's program. Carter sang all the songs with the little kids. Totally adorable, except he started talking loudly about Godzilla in the middle of a prayer. We then went on a family train ride on Hawaiian Railway. We got an awesome, and very sunny, view of the West Oahu shoreline. It wasn't super exciting, but I know Carter had a blast. We then celebrated all of our family's birthdays in October and November (five birthdays!) with spaghetti and chocolate cake.

Monday: This was Pearl Harbor day. I'd already done this before, but this was on Graham's must-do list. Again, it was a touching and humbling experience and I teared up a bit during the video. Carter was actually pretty respectful as well and talks about the "ships being destroyed". My brother really wanted to get a Dole Whip (which was super amazing by the way), so we stopped by the plantation on the way to Haleiwa Beach. The beach was nice, but this was a particularly bad spot for coral. Ouch. All of our feet got torn up pretty good. We decided to avoid the traffic by taking the long way home and making a long drive around the island and the North Shore. We stopped by the Laie LDS temple to take some pictures, and we ate at this amazing taco place called North Shore Tacos.

Tuesday: This was the most chill day of them all. I worked out with my mom, us ladies got pampered by getting facials and massages, and I got my makeup done at Sephora on the Waikiki strip before my date with Graham. I chose Duke's, which is a totally touristy restaurant on the beach (as most places are on Waikiki), that I'd heard great things about. It was delicious and we had the most amazing sunset view from our table. Graham and I walked around the shops and hotels and had a great time without children.

Wednesday: This day was eventful and we planned to hike Diamond Head and snorkel at Hanauma Bay. The hike was really nice, and of course, provided an amazing view of the island. I was surprised at the ease of the hike, as I remembered it being difficult from high school. Anyways, we next went to snorkel and swim at Hanauma Bay. I am not a huge fan of snorkeling, as it makes me kind of claustrophobic and getting too close to fish and other creatures makes me panicky (I'm totally not an animal person, including fish). The bay was gorgeous, but it was freaking hot. We used a spray sunscreen that didn't work very well, and my sun allergy broke out really bad on my arms. Graham had a zig zag sunburn on his back from my crappy attempt at protecting his back with sunscreen. Also, Graham went snorkeling with the rental minivan car key fob in the pocket of his swimsuit. Miraculously, it still worked! Graham was lucky, or he may not have made it back home alive. Anyways, we did some Vietnamese takeout that night for dinner.

Thursday: Today was our zip-lining day. Not many of us had been before, so it was an awesome experience. It was practically a brand new course on the North Shore called Climb Works. They drove us up to the top on an ATV, and we took 7+ zip lines on the way down, including rappelling, climbing up a rope, and walking/running across a wood bridge. We had so much fun, especially since we died laughing at my mom trying to climb up the rope (you definitely had to be there). We headed back to the hotel, where Graham hurt his wrist playing basketball with our teenage nephew playing on a wet court outside. We all went out to Cheesecake Factory that night to celebrate my niece's 14th birthday.

Friday: Beach day. All beach. All day. I read the Green Mile that day and ended up with tears streaming down my face while on the beach. Totally normal beach behavior. Because it was Halloween, it was looking to be really busy on the Waikiki strip. We ended up ordering Round Table Pizza and eating in the hotel. We then dressed the kiddos up (Carter was Spiderman) and walked over to Honolulu Zoo. For $5, you could trick or treat there and visit their own Haunted House, Carter actually went in and wasn't very scared. He kept in character and kept trying to shoot spider webs at "bad guys" in the haunted house. A mad scientist character was holding fake brains on a platter and asked Carter if he wanted to see his brains. Carter replied, "No thank you!". We died laughing. Carter is even polite to haunted house people! Anyways, Graham and I took one last walk on the beach that night after briefly checking out the crazy dressed up people on Waikiki. Definitely not our scene.

Saturday: We went out for breakfast at LuLu's Waikiki, which is an open-air restaurant right across the street from the beach. We sat at the bar so we could all just stare out at the ocean (I know, it's the same Pacific Ocean that I have access to here in Seattle) and enjoy the delicious food. I ate Spam in honor of my last day in Hawaii (it's really good--I would eat it here more if it weren't so bad for you). We drove to the airport, all depressed and sad. We soaked up all of the sun and warm breezes that we could get before heading home.

I don't know when we'll be back to Oahu (let alone Hawaii), so it was definitely sad leaving. I will remember this trip fondly and will miss those warm nights and beautiful sunsets. Sigh...

And, just to see if you're still reading this.. We have some big news coming up...

Pictures

I have a few from our recent camping trip and my brother's family's visit.. So here they are for your viewing pleasure.. Sorry, they're totally in random order.

Me and the kids at Woodland Zoo in North Seattle. It was my favorite exhibit--penguins.

Our little tiny canoe on the Hood Canal.. I think we exceeded the weight limit

We found a dead crab and of course we had to put it on somebody.

Life jackets are SO flattering

Graham actually looks like a guy in our ward in this outfit

Nice peace sign Sherri

How many Eagle Scouts does it take to light a fire?
"What do you mean we're out of morning wood?"

The sunset--one of my favorite views.
I'm supervising the boys skipping rocks

The water we decided to cross by canoe.. not our smartest decision

Anyways, I have a ton of pictures on my camera just waiting to be blogged about.. so eventually, we'll make it to Best Buy and get a freaking USB cord and make it all better.

Wow, 3 blogs in 2 days... That's impressive for me.

No need for a title

Ok, so I'm off work today, so I can finally do a full blog.

I'll let you in on a couple of updates in our lives:

--After a long and painful fight, I will end up working 2 out of 3 weekends... meaning I could work 4 weekends in August. A fellow dietitian is going on maternity leave in August, and our manager would not budge in changing the schedule even though we will be short-staffed for 3 months. So... my life will suck even more starting in August.

--I got called into the Young Women's presidency as the secretary... but at least I'm not the assistant TO THE secretary. Graham also got called as the Young Men's president.. which is funny since he looks like a young man himself. Another amusing tidbit.. The YW president and I, whom I had never met, have kissed the SAME GUY. How random is that?! The Mormon world is such a small world.

--Graham's best friend Jered got married a few weeks ago in the Portland temple. It was lovely and funny all at the same time. First, Graham wore white socks with his nice pants. Second, the sealer accidently said, "Eve, the mother of all evil", in the ceremony. Third, Graham forgot to bring black shoes for his black tux. We helped the newlyweds escape after the reception in their destroyed car, even though they got roped into doing some cleaning.

--We went to my family's first reunion in Tahoe... I'll just give you the highlights:
1) We drove from Portland to Tahoe via Reno. I don't know if any of you have ever traveled these lonely roads before.. but our night-long drive went through the middle of Oregon, where some deer cornered us on the highway, like in "The Ring 2" movie. Luckily, one of the punk deer looked up, and we were able to slam our brakes in time. I couldn't sleep the rest of the time, because the deer on the side of the road kept freaking me out. By the time we got to the northeast corner of California, I was seeing things, like make-believe dust devils in the fields, cop cars that were actually bridges, and a real creepy man standing on the side of the road next to a railroad. Poor Graham had to convince me those things weren't real. Something real we DID see was a bale of hay in the highway. The most common statement on this drive was "where ARE we?!". Honestly, I think that part of California is the loneliest part I've ever been to. It's like, wtf would you ever go to Alturas, CA? But, we made it safely to Tahoe in 10 hours.

2) We took extended family pictures in matching t-shirts. Cheesy? Yes. Ugly? Not really. They're actually pretty cute. Our photographer, who was our wedding photographer, took them of us on a fence in a meadow up in Tahoe. I love the background. I would post one, but pictage.com doesn't let me copy or save the pictures.
3) I was really sick with a cold over the vacation. I was doped up on sudafed, dayquil, and nyquil the whole time. I used up an entire large box of tissues. I'm still recovering, and I sound like a smoker or like someone trying to get attention by clearing their throat.

4) Tahoe was actually kind of cold. It hailed and rained the day we were going to the beach. I was really frustrated because of the clothing I packed. Last time we visited CA in March, we packed like Northwesteners, bringing all pants and turtlenecks... and it was hot! So, we were smart this time and brough all of our summer clothes, and it was cold... Lame!

5) We visited with our good friends, the Hamberlins. We got to meet their adorable little son, Tanner, who has the bluest eyes ever! I feel like I never get to see my old friends anymore, so it was nice.

6) We did a session in the Sacramento temple, where we got married. It quickly became my new favorite temple, although I still do love the Portland temple. I just love the Sacramento temple's colors, with the blue stained glass and the roses. The celestial room is just GORGEOUS.

7) We played with my brother Craig's cute kids. Emma, who is about 15 months, is adorable and staggers around the room when she walks. My other brother brought his 5 foster kids, which made things a little crazy, but the little 8 year-old girl like LOVED Graham and me. She colored a couple of pictures for both of us and always wanted to sit with us.

8) We went to a San Francisco Giants game on Saturday to top off our family reunion. It was great weather that day, and we walked around the wharf.. to get some bread and chocolate of course. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't visit the mega mall with Nordstrom and Bloomingdales in Union Square, but we didn't have much time to do anything else that day.

9) We had a LOVELY 12-hour drive back to Brem Brem on Sunday. Luckily, we brought our laptop this time, and Seinfeld made the time go by quickly. However, the accident in Eugene, OR that shut down I-5 completely was almost a buzz kill. With some handy driving skills and a shortcut through town, we were able to bypass the accident and cut off an unnecessary hour off our time.

--I've been back at work this week, and let's just say it hasn't been fun (please reference my first statement). However, a job is a job, and I'm still lucky to have one.

--Graham got his independent loan officer license, so he's able to work with a mortgage firm, a bank, and a website (zillow.com). So, if you know anybody in WA that needs a mortgage, Graham's your man.

--We got an early birthday and Christmas gift from my parents. All Graham could say was, "Oh man this is so much better than IKEA." Well said, Graham... well said. We put our fancy china in the new buffet, and it looks great.
--We still haven't purchased a cord to connect our camera to the computer yet, since we lost our old one, but someday... we'll have enough money to do just that.

--I promise to you all that I'll start blogging more again. Our internet sharing friend is back, so it's all good. We signed a contract with clearwire internet, which, FYI, nobody should do... but we're going to cancel it because it doesn't work. Argh!

See you all later... hopefully sooner than that.

Lame

So, I am lame and never blog anymore. I almost never get on the computer at home.. just like once a week.

What are my excuses?
--We went sea kayaking the other night with some friends on the Hood Canal, part of the Puget Sound. My feet are totally cut up from stepping on millions of nasty sea shells. The tide was LOW and our kayak got stuck too far out. I didn't wear my flip flops because they would've gotten stuck in the mud. So, I walked all over mussels, clams--whatever was in my way--to get back to shore.
--I'm addicted to "So You Think You Can Dance". Why were the people from Seattle SO bad?
--We're going down to Portland on Friday for Graham's friend's wedding on Saturday, then we're driving down to Lake Tahoe from there for the first annual Extended Family Reunion. So, I've been getting stuff ready to take down with us.
--I just got called to the Young Women's Presidency as the secretary... which is weird because I had just gotten called as a Relief Society teacher a few weeks before... and I never taught. Now that's my kind of calling.
--I've had "house fever".. meaning I really really want to buy a house. I do all this research online for nothing basically, because we can't afford one right now.... but I still want one. We even went and looked at houses on Sunday for fun. Hopefully, Graham will make a lot of money this summer as a mortgage broker/loan office and get us out of debt and into a house (i.e.... more debt).
--It has been HOT here lately... meaning 75-80 degrees. We have been grilling like crazy and trying to get rid of our vampire alabaster skin.

So yeah, that's my excuse... But I really don't think I need one. It's warm and beautiful outside... who wants to blog?!

Oh, and California... here we come!

Longest Road Trip EVER

Longest blog EVER...

I don't do road trips. The longest I've ever driven is from Sacramento to Utah... about 10 hours. I'm a flyer.. or I used to be when my parents paid for my flights.

Now, I'm a driver. We're too cheap to pay for flights.

So anyways, Graham's aunt invited us a couple of months ago to drive down with them to Folsom because she was taking her daughters down there to visit some boys they had met at EFY. I was like, sweet.. a free trip to CA!

So, we drove down to Portland last week to meet them at their house, and everything was ok. We got up at 3 AM for the drive, packed the car, and Graham's cousin had a seizure just when we were getting into the car. She had fallen onto the grass and was shaking and moving her arms and legs. Probably one of the scariest things I've seen. I had no idea what to do!

Long story short.. They ended up not going, so Graham and I drove down to California ourselves. Wasn't too bad of a drive, although I couldn't sleep. So, we then met my parents for lunch in Folsom, and my dad showed us around his busy tax office. (Ugh.. April is the worst month.) Then, we went and played with my brother Craig's kids at their house. I love those kids! Maren, Braden, and Emma. Graham is like Maren's favorite toy. Braden is still a little rascal, but he says hi, bye, and I love you. Really a big change. And Emma is like the cutest baby ever!

We went out to Dos Coyotes for dinner and then to "Aliens vs Monsters" for the kids. LAME! Seriously did not enjoy that movie. I desperately wanted to fall asleep in that movie, but I couldn't. So yeah, that was our Friday.

Oh, and did I mention the weather? Sunny, no clouds, 65-75 degrees! I missed CA so much in that moment. However, I was dressed like a pasty Northwestener.. turtleneck, NorthFace jacket, and Ugg boots. I was hotter than ... in my outfit.

So Saturday.. Graham mowed my parents lawn, I helped my mom clean out her closet full of old clothes, and watched ducks play in my parents' pool. We tried to go for a walk over the new bridge in Folsom, but there was no parking, so we were like, screw this. We went to the Folsom outlets instead. Not a fan of the outlets, but they do have better shops now (i.e. BCBG). We then really went shopping at the Rosevilla Galleria, where I got some desperately needed shirts from Banana Republic.. where they were conveniently on sale/clearance. I'm wearing one today actually. I was also able to get my disgusting wedding rings cleaned for the first time in like a year. We got BBQ for dinner at Lucille's in Rocklin, which was delicious, and we went to see "Haunting in Connecticut". It was an ok movie.. and it scared us all. Graham was so funny.. He was like, "I don't know why I picked this movie--I hate scary movies!"

On Sunday, we went to church, and hung out with my family. Emma is such a funny baby. Her word for help/look/see/whatever is "mom". She'll hold things out for you to take from her, but then she'll take them right back. Indian giver..

We drove a long 12 hours on the way home to Brem Brem. We stopped in Medford, OR on the way home to see the temple. We had a hard time finding it because the steeple is literally two stories tall. You can't even see it from the freeway. Also, my sister-in-law, Ali, had her baby on Saturday, so we were able to see little Loralei (spelling?) on the way home. She was a little tiny thing with dark hair! Eventually I'm sure she'll look like her parents.. instead of her uncle Jon.

Anyways, long drive, long blog. Looking forward to driving down to CA again in June!

Update

Most of my recent posts have been opinion posts, so I'm going to update you all on what Graham and I have been up to in the past couple of months.

--Reality. We work, come home, eat, work out (me only), read our scriptures, watch some TV, and go to bed.

That is all.


Just kidding.. Kind of. We haven't been doing anything special, just living life to the minimum and waiting until the weekends.

So, for Valentines Day, Graham had a surprise day planned out for us. However, with our luck, nothing worked out. The reservation he made for dinner fell through, we didn't go to Seattle, and I figured out his surprise present for me. So, Graham worked on my present all morning (I'll have to post pictures later since I lost the freaking USB cord for the camera), which turned out great. We then tried to go out to a non-chain Italian restaurant for a late lunch, but it didn't open until 4 PM. So we went to Olive Garden, and I had the nastiest meal. DO NOT GET THE GNOCCI. Anyways, we went to see "He's just not that into you"... which I really liked. Graham tolerated it just fine. I also loved the way the ladies were dressed in the movie, except slutty Scarlett Johansen. I also wished I was as skinny as Jennifer Connelly. So... that was our big day. Exciting right?

So last weekend, we had Graham's entire family come stay up with us for the weekend. There were NINE OF US in a 2 bedroom apartment. Needless to say, it kind of stressed me out. We also spent $90 in food preparing for them to visit, and they ate it up. I don't know how his family can be so skinny. They eat like beasts! We played Wii with his family, which was HILARIOUS because his dad kept saying what crappy technology it was, when really.. he just couldn't play very well. Plus, Graham also almost killed someone playing Guitar Hero because he got so frustrated. But, we put our massive LoveSac to good use (I'll post a picture sometime) and I made some tasty homemade lasagna.

As far as my health goes, I've really been trying to step my diet up into a healthier bracket. Being a dietitian, I know all the tricks, I know what I should be eating more or less of, and I know what to buy. So after my high cholesterol diagnosis, we went to a store and got some Bob's Red Mill flaxseed meal, which is high in omega-3's. Omega-3's are the good fats that can help lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase your HDL (good) cholesterol. So, I use about 2 tablespoons a day of this, which provides more than 2 times the daily recommended amount. I put it in my yogurt (it doesn't taste very good like this, but hey? what else can I do), my soup, or anything else I can get my hands on. I bought Quaker Squares cereal (my favorite) for the soluble fiber content, which can help lower LDL. I snack on the cereal instead of other bad or neutral foods at home. I really am trying to exercise everyday, but that heart incident scared me and I took a break for a bit.

As far as plans for the future.. we have plenty of things lined up. My sister-in-law, Ali, has a baby shower next week. Our friend Warren is getting married in a few weeks in Portland. I'm going on a road trip in the end of March with Graham's cousins to California so I can visit my family. My sister is coming to visit in May and we're going to go to Victoria, BC, and possibly Forks, WA--home of the Twilight vampires (no I have not read those books). In June, my family is having a family reunion in Tahoe, and our friends Jered and Amy are getting married in Portland. My brother and his kids may also come up to visit us. Our friend Paul is ALSO getting married in Portland in June. In July, Graham's cousin Tyler gets married and we have an option of attending 2 family reunions on Graham's side, but I don't know if we can attend either of them. Then in August/September, we plan on taking a long weekend road trip with our friends Ryan and Karen to Bend, Oregon.

So.. I guess that makes up for our boring life now.

But anyways, I promise to post more pictures next time. I have some sweet ones of the gift Graham made me. We decided to make our own wall art in December because it can be SO expensive. So, we bought some designer-grade fabric at Joanne's (half-off) back in December, and Graham did the lumber and cutting on Valentines Day. Now, we have modern, designer-like wall art. It totally matches our room, looks professional, and only cost $30!

All right people.. I'm actually at work now. I'm working my first weekend alone, and it's totally an easy day. Woohoo! Plus, I get paid $1.75 more per hour on the weekends!

How happy are you really?

When Graham's away.. I will play. I often randomly will surf blogs to either laugh at people or learn how other people live. Either way, I often end up looking at young married couple's blogs usually in Utah or somewhere back east while the husband sells pest control/satellites/security systems.

These blogs are usually so chipper and upbeat I can't help but wonder if these blogs are just facades. Can all of these people really be like this year-round? And why are all of them the same? I can honestly say that Graham and I are really happy and so in love.. but my blog isn't super happy and annoying like theirs.... right?

So.. I decided to have a post dedicated to all you of lame, fake, and annoyingly happy bloggers out there:

OMG! Graham and I had the BEST time down in Portland this weekend!! It all started out with a romantic 3-hour drive from Brem Brem to Portland. We held hands, gazed longingly into each others eyes (without getting into an accident of course!), and sang along to our favorite Moulin Rouge songs. Our AMAZING sister-in-law Ali made us a delicious homemade meal--she is a trained chef you know--chicken cordon bleu, creamy polenta, and sauteed zucchini. It was so good.. too bad I don't have pictures! We stayed up with James & Ali, took some pictures with them (because what are pictures for if not for our cutest couples friends/family?!), and chatted about her pregnancy. Which is SO COOL... I will be an aunt on Graham's side! I'm so freaked out and EXCITED.

So on Saturday, we went to the 9 AM endowment session in the Portland temple with Graham's cousin, Seth, who is super nice and going on a mission to Guatemala. So exciting!!!! So after this totally emotional and special temple experience, we went back home and took a well-needed nap. Don't you just LOVE naps?!?! So we all decided to go rock climbing that afternoon (except for Ali... of course! You can't climb when you're pregnant!) at this awesome place that allows you to climb.. get this... without ropes/pulleys, etc. There's a soft floors like you would find at a gymnastics place, except better... because we're climbing rocks! I started by watching the boys climb.. got over my fear of heights.. and started climbing. I was still a little scared, but what the heck right?! Grahan, my poor hubby, ripped his calluses off and needed some TLC from me!!

Then, we decided to take Seth out to dinner at our FAVORITE Hawaiian restaurant in Portland--Bamboo Grille--with our newly engaged friends Jered and Amy (congrats you guys!! you're the best! you're going to love married life!). We all had the delicious kalua pork, except for Graham who had the ke'e ribs, YUM! After being totally and completely stuffed, we went our separate ways and went back to James & Ali's apartment for such a fun throwback movie--Jurassic Park: The Lost World. I fell asleep during the movie (oops!), but it was so much fun remembering what life was like when this movie was in the theaters!!

So on Sunday, Seth gave his super spiritual talk (I had to wipe away my tears several times), and Ali announced her pregnancy to the family. So much fun! Graham and I picked up his new wedding ring at the mall--FINALLY--and we looked like a married couple again! Yay! I just wanted to give a shoutout to James & Ali for letting us stay in their DARLING apartment--you guys rock!

...That was exhausting. I also actually made faces while typing this post, making fun of people that would talk like this.