Good read.

This is short because I don't have lots of time.

But I really enjoyed this talk.
So if you want to feel uplifted, click over....

This is over a month late....

But Matt came home from Chile!

These are all the photos I have. 

Not the greatest. SO, it is a great thing there were lots of other people taking pictures!

We we we so excited!

To have him home, to have him come to BYU, and to fulfill our bets on when he will be engaged/married!

Escalante

We went camping/hiking in southern Utah this past weekend. I had never been down there and it was definitely a fun experience. Much different than other camping I've done. 

 There is a little slit in the canyon on the right. That is the entrance to Peekaboo.

 At the entrance.  Little did we know there would be lots of climbing and teamwork involved.

 See that stick? What you don't see is the huge pool of water that you can't really jump across but somehow have to in order to get to the next step. It has rained so much there are a few pools of water throughout the hike. 

The pathway in Peekaboo.

 I think we had to climb over a pool of water at the beginning of this section too.

 This is at the end of Peekaboo, taken from above. You can't really see how deep it is.

 This is the entrance to Spooky from the south side. Which meant we had to do a LOT of climbing UP - especially at the end. 

 It gets narrower as you go farther in - this was still at the beginning.

*** We finished Peekaboo and Spooky and were debating whether or not to hike over to Brimstone, another gulch that just gets too narrow to go through. None of us wanted to admit we were wimps so we decided to go ahead and do it.  It was like walking across the Sahara desert. Minus the luxury of camels. We just kept walking and walking. 

This is when we stopped for a break and David decided to take a break in what little shade he could find.

 This is in Brimstone. It was pretty cool and dark. 

 And you can kind of see how narrow it gets. We finally turned back when we didn't think we could suck in and squeeze through any more.  The walk back was brutal. 

 Our campsite, in the middle of nowhere.

We had such a fun time!! 

But man, our sore bodies were SO glad to be home and showered. 

Spinach Pizza

We made this pizza today and we were really happy with how it turned out.
Also, we ate before I could take a picture so you are just going to have to trust me on this.

1 pizza pouch - made according to directions. (water + pouch = dough in just 5 minutes!)

2 tbls olive oil 

1 medium/large onion chopped

3 or 4 garlic cloves minced - I'll be honest, I used 5.

2 medium-large roma tomatoes diced

2 cups fresh spinach

mozzarella cheese

garlic powder

pizza seasoning

sautee  onion, garlic tomatoes and spinach in 1 tbls olive oil. 

once it is all pretty much cooked,add a little (~1 tsp) pizza seasoning, turn up the heat and let the moisture cook off - about 5 minutes with stirring. 

roll out pizza dough to between medium and thin. then especially try to make the edges thinner. using a spoon, spread thin layer of olive oil over dough.

put sautee mixture on, leaving a fair amount of space around the edges - about an inch. shake more pizza seasoning on top another 1 or 2 teaspoons, then cover with mozzarella - however much you think would be good, I was pretty liberal with it.

then using your fingers, sprinkle a little bit garlic powder all the way around the edge of the dough - not too much though.  bake at 400-415 for about 18 minutes, starting on the top rack and moving down to the bottom around the 13 minute mark.

Yummy - especially when dipped in a bit of ranch.  

 To celebrate our anniversary, we got the "getaway" package at Little America - which included dining credit to their steakhouse:

This was definitely WAY nicer than any other place we've been and we loved everything we ate:

 Steak, fresh lemonade, mashed potatoes, pork tenderloin (!!), and a WEDGE salad (modern family, anyone?? I am obsessed with these now. They really are so good.) Even their regular veggies were good. 

Here is my anniversary/mother's day present:

Nice practice swing, babe.

AND,

I got matching pink golf balls to go with it.

We went golfing yesterday to break them in. 

Hello, sunburn. Goodbye, whiteness.

Bocce ball

We found a sah-weet place to play bocce ball.

A huge hill makes the game pretty intense because you just

 hold your breath waiting for your ball to stop rolling. 

Plus we are probably too competitive. 

SO MUCH FUN.

And then we took our traditional shot. 

(You would think that for how many times we've taken pictures just like this one, we would be able to take some that are not blurry...)

This picture has nothing to do with bocce ball. I just really like my new watch.

(macey's after giftcards - leftover from our wedding a year ago!)

Dear Andrew and Laura,

Remember how we go to the same ward (when we are not halfway around the world from you)? Well, we went to scope out our new stomping grounds since our buildings got switched. And we took some pictures for you!

 There is even a sweet treehouse next door!

Hope you're excited. And your pictures of Thailand are cooler than our pictures.

Also, David forgot you were in Thailand and almost tried to invite you to come bowling with us.
haha.

love,

The other Beans.

I'm kind of in a slump.

I guess 2 weeks really isn't that long to not post. Except it really is.

I've just been in a slump -- with blogging, with cleaning, with my sewing projects, but NOT with exercising (yay!).

I carry my camera with me all the time. And I forget I have it about 99% of the time, except when it comes to documenting certain achievements - like finally winning in bowling!

And not just because he had a bad game, because he didn't. I just finally had a good enough game to beat him. So, of course I took a picture. However I neglected to get a picture of game 2 where he CRUSHED me. I guess I need to work on being consistent. Good thing I have the whole summer to practice!

** Many thanks to BYU bowling for having $1 games on Mondays. I love summer.

Royal Wedding.

I do and don't understand why we Americans are so fascinated by the royal wedding.
No, I did not wake up at 4:30 a.m. to watch the grandeur - I didn't even set my dvr to record it!
But, yes, I did wake up and while eating breakfast at 7:45, I scrolled through pictures so I could see her dress. (Very reminiscent of Grace Kelly's, but a more modern feel.....)

So on a scale of 1-12, I went from being a 3 to being a 12. Just until I saw the dress. (and her sisters! I want that dress.) Also, I really want earrings like the ones she wore.
Now I'm back to my 3.

Time to go be a regular person and live my regular day.
Even if it is irregular by trying to snow on April 29.

I'm not normally a fan of gushing on blogs. 

But I really REALLY love this guy.

Happy birthday, babe!

You are my tong hua.

Cong ni shuo ai wo yi hou
Wo de tian kong xing xing dou liang le.

Seriously. :)