Lincoln City

For our anniversary trip and Dustin's break between quarters, we took a little weekend trip to Lincoln City over Easter weekend.

The best way to start a road trip is with an ice cold Sonic (not available in Portland, which is what makes it so exciting!)

We stayed in the exact same room that we stayed in last year, which I loved because it's the jacuzzi room. :)

We spent some great time relaxing at the beach, shopping the outlet, and eating good food.  On Saturday we went on a whale watching boat tour down in Depoe Bay.  It was so cool!  We hadn't seen Life of Pi yet, but I felt like the moment when the whale jumps over the small raft.  Of course it wasn't that dramatic, but it was really cool to be boating right next to a pod of 6-8 whales.  I got soaked on the way out from the Bay. SOAKED.  Good thing it was nice weather and I could laugh about it.

It's a whale! And we're so close to it!

Being at the beach felt like a little piece of heaven.  After such a crazy time at work it was a much needed getaway!

Taking a Night Off

Lately things have been SO crazy busy for us!  I thought life didn't get crazy busy until you were running five kids to five different sports/music/school activities.  I was wrong.  Between school, work, and church, we are busy busy bees!

Things at work have been a little crazy too... people taking vacations and I fill in for them; people getting married and I fill in for them;  people giving 2 weeks notice and I have to contemplate if I want that job.  Which I decided not to take.  But until we find a replacement, I'll still be doing that job.  Work is just madness! I hope and pray the day soon comes when my work will be in the home with adorable little babies that are pooping and screaming and throwing objects.  That sounds like a dream.

Dustin started the Masters of Exercise Science program along with his doctorate of chiropractics this quarter (have I already mentioned this?)   He was able to apply and get into the program a quarter earlier than they normally do which is FANTASTIC because that means we could be graduated the end of September 2014 instead of December 2014.  It's only 3 months difference but think about how much better it would be to move in September vs. December.  Yeah.  It's a big deal.  It also means his work load is a lot heavier with an extra class and extra weekend labs.

Church callings keep us busy busy too.  I'm the 2nd counselor in Primary (I feel like this post may be redundant and I don't know if it's cuz I've blogged this all before or just in my head.  Sorry if it's redundant!)  and over the cub scouts... which I know nothing about.  Sure, my mom was the Webelos leader when I was around that age, but I never paid much attention, those boys were gross.  For some lucky reason all my months of teaching sharing time this year have 5 WEEKS instead of the normal four.  And does the primary manual have lessons for those extra 5 weeks ever? Nope. Which means I get to make up lessons!  Blarg.  I will be teaching in March and while February has been a super exciting month of the creation and bodies, my lessons get to be the heavy Atonement, Death, Resurrection type lessons.  Yikes.  Our primary is SO young so I am struggling to find ways to teach little babies these deep topics.  It will be an adventure.

Look how adorable this Primary is.  This was when we were trying to take a picture for a Thank You card for the previous presidency.

Dustin is the ward mission leader and those missionaries sure love us!  They keep him busy with weekly meetings and frequently ask him to go out with them to lessons.  The Relief Society and Music Director have also asked my help in enrichment activities, sacrament meeting numbers, and so on.

We are super grateful for my job and that Dustin is progressing well in school.  We also like our callings and want to help the ward.  But MAN are we stressed out. a lot. and often. 

That is why we decided to come up with the "taking a night off" rule.  One night a week we get a break from everything: no cooking, cleaning, school, work, church, budgeting, nothing.  We can do what we want to relax and de-stress from every day life.  One night of quilting, reading, blogging, Nintendo time, working out, just whatever we want to do!  It has been a life saver! Because we know that we can't really have a night off, we switch off weeks so one of us can still keep the house running smoothly.

Tonight is my night off! Which is why I get to present to you a blog post!  I also got to watch some Survivor, work on my latest quilt, and I'll probably read more of Bossypants  when I'm done with this post.  Hopefully these nights off will mean that you, my dear friends, will get to hear more on this blog.  Maybe I'll resurrect my long lost recipe blog.  Maybe I'll make a cookbook from all my pinterest recipes I'd like to try.  Maybe I'll organize the millions of pictures on my computer that are lost!  The possibilities are endless!

And this keeps us sane.  Best idea ever.

Maybe you should give it a try too? Take a night off.

Spring Break

Dustin's second quarter ended March 23rd so we ditched the city and headed out to the coast for some fun and relaxation in Lincoln City. Our hotel room was amazing. Seriously worth the $10 to get a nicer room with a fireplace and two person jacuzzi tub! Just look at how relaxing this looks!
So many bubbles!! On Friday night we went out for a couple sushi rolls and then saw The Hunger Games! We weren't necessarily planning on going opening night since we were on vacation, but we drove by Lincoln City's little theater and there was practically NO one there so we just HAD to go. Oh. my. goodness. I love The Hunger Games. I loved Katniss and Peeta and everyone. I thought it was such a good fit from the book!Saturday we had the best time shopping at the Tanger Outlet Mall. So many good stores and so many good deals! After shopping til we were ready to drop, we went to Mo's for some coastal clam chowder, fish and chips, and shrimp.
The great thing about Oregon coastal towns is that they are so quaint and calm. Not much to do, nothing that HAS to be done, so you can just relax and enjoy the coast! The weather was cloudy and a bit rainy, but we were at the coast so we duh, we went to the beach! It was beautiful! Rocks, kites, sunset, bliss.


We had dinner at a yummy restaurant that was on stilts over the water, which means the view was awesome, and then spent the night just relaxing in our jacuzzi and cuddling by the fireplace.

Sunday we were sad to go, but we stopped at another part of the beach for some beach combing (where we found nothing), and frisbee.

There were some stairs of death to get down from the parking. Stairs of death looking down....And the view looking back up.Happy at the beach!

We decided to drive home along the coast and it was so pretty! We found some great lookouts and a gorgeous beach with a monolith in the ocean and where a bunch of people were surfing.We ended our drive home stopping at Tillamook Cheese Factory for a little cheesy tour where Dustin was so excited to see a cheese jam in production. We had to get some goodies so we grabbed some ice cream, cheese, and fudge.

Now Dustin has had the past two weeks to play nintendo, watch baseball, and clean the house while I've been at work! 3rd quarter starts again on Monday and in 3 months we will be able to say that we are done with the first year of grad school! Wahoo! The countdown begins!

Hola Cancun!

A couple people have been asking for a Cancun post and I finally uploaded pics from the trip to my computer, so I guess it's about time to get writing! I'll give details of the trip and then an abundance of pictures, because I didn't know what to leave out and of course, I wanted to make you all jealous. Let me know if it worked. :)
Our trip was wonderful and very RELAXING, which is just what I wanted. It was so nice being able to just go to the beach, go to the pool, go eat when we wanted to, or just chill in our room if we felt like, instead of feeling obligated to go do something. We got to do absolutely nothing except relax and get some sun! We stayed at the Ocean Coral & Turquesa by H10 in Cancun. It was all inclusive and completely wonderful. Being a Privilege guest was awesome too. We had butler service, a privilege guest pool, our own section of the beach with little grass hut umbrellas, a waiter on said beach to bring us whatever drinks we wanted (all included), a jetted tub on our balcony, reservations to the restaurants, and oh, yeah, a privilege guest restaurant JUST for privilege guests!
My only complaint about this hotel was that the food was all just kinda... meh. They had a bunch of restaurants and a buffet, and nothing was particularly amazing. Except for the Japanese tepanyaki grill... that was pretty good! It was a show like what they put on here in Utah at Tepanyaki or Sakura, and that was really fun with really good food. They also had an Italian Restaurant (which was good, i liked my food more than Dustin liked his), Mexican, American Sports Grill, the Buffet (which had good breakfast!), and The Fusion, which was the privilege restaurant. Our last night there we had a lobster dinner at the Fusion and the lobster tasted good, but it was a WHOLE FREAKING lobster. Like, head still on with boiled eyes looking at you. Kinda made it a little gross. Mexico is weird.
One of the best things about Mexico was the Coke!!! I have NEVER been a Coke drinker, but it was so dang good. Yes, we enjoyed specialty drinks such as a Miami Vice (half strawberry daiquiri, half pina colada), but the Coke was amazing. And I drank a lot of it.
On our third day in Mexico, we took a snorkeling trip. They took us out on a boat to a deep water part of the reef and the fish there were okay, but not a lot to look at. Then we got back on the boat and went to the shallow water reef area and that was AWESOME. There were tons of fish there. Our guide even fed the fish so they would get real close and we could pet them. It was really cool. The fish and the reef were beautiful. We then got back on the boat and went back to shore for some lunch. The staff was really friendly and our glasses were never empty. We then had the option to go back out for a 3rd area, but we were kinda tired (snorkeling is good exercise!), the sun was just right, the beach was so lovely, and the Coke was so refreshing, that we stayed on the beach. It was a fun trip and I'm really glad we got to go! It was Dustin's first time snorkeling, and it was definitely a better experience for me than when I went in Hawaii! (that's another story...) The last two days were just spent soaking up the sun and spending as much time on the beach or at the pool as we could. It was kinda sad to have to come back home, knowing we'd be back to work and that another vacation like this wouldn't happen for quite some time. Now we're back to boring life before the big more in September. And as soon as grad school starts, we'll be poor as dirt. So I'm glad we got to live it up while we could. :)
Now for some pictures!!!
Here is the view from our balcony. The walk way on the right leads to the beach (20 steps away). The walk way on the left leads to our privilege pool, for privilege guests only (20 steps away). It was the perfect location! Quiet, close to the beach and pool, and beautiful!


Here is our balcony two person jetted tub. Which our butler would fill if we wanted. And we did. Hahahaha. The even put a little bottle of shampoo in it which made it SUPER bubbly. It was awesome!
Didn't you know that Michael Jordan was number 32 for the Bulls?!?!? Bawahahaha. We thought this statue in their "American" sports grill was hilarious. Especially because my favorite number is 23... obviously Michael Jordan's REAL number.
On Friday night they had the Mexican street vendors come to US! With all the bartering and excitement that comes with it! If you've been to Hawaii, you may be familiar with the cool spray paint picture painting techniques... there was a guy in our little market that did that and it was so cool! All these pictures were done in about 2 minutes and done completely with spray paint.
Here's the beach at our snorkeling trip. Look at that water!!! It's beautiful! The boat was the one that took us out to snorkel. And the guys in the pink shirts were the staff that brought us lots of Coke. :)

At the snorkeling trip.

Our Privilege Exclusive beach area. Here is where you enter serenity and bliss. :)
The privilege area pool. La Petit Creperie was right next to it with snacks in the afternoon and pizza and crepes at night! Our pool had this cool jetted chairs built in, but they aren't on right now so you can't see them in action. Sorry!
Dustin and I waiting for our dinner reservation at Sensai, the Japanese restaurant with the tepanyaki grill.
Our grass hut umbrellas on our beach with our "upgraded" chairs. :) The umbrella had a little table thing so the waiter could bring us ice buckets with bottled water and any drink of our choosing.
You can see the jets going in the pool in this picture! This is a view from La Petite Creperie. The pool, the ocean, the palm trees... heaven.
We made a little friend while eating lunch at La Petite Creperie. This is a tejon. It looks like a mix between a badger, raccoon, anteater, and a cat. It would come up to the eating area at the same time every day and eat everyone's left over fries and nachos.
I took pictures of someone's wedding. It was right there on the privilege beach and it was so pretty that I couldn't resist. I vote that my next friend/relative getting married (not in the temple) should get married on a beach like this. It was the prettiest backdrop ever. Congrats Brad and Janie. Whoever you are.
We ordered room service one day and got a brownie. I was so excited that they decorated the plate with a white chocolate TREBLE CLEF! Adorable.
The view of the sunset (as best as we could get) from our last night while eating our lobster at The Fusion. It was a beautiful place and a fantastic vacation!!

Relax

Dustin and I spent this last weekend just RELAXING and it was SO GREAT!!!

Friday night we hung out with Tyler and Sara and went to Los Hermanos, then watched the movie 21 at our home. It was great to be able to go out and chill with friends!

Saturday morning I started teaching my Springville ACMA classes again for the semester and the classes went really well! Those kids and parents are just awesome! Then Saturday afternoon Dustin and I just RELAXED at home. I made some carmel zucchini bars, did lots of dishes, cleaned and organized a little, did some laundry, worked on some scan prep... okay, maybe this doesn't sound very relaxing, but it really was! Just to be home with Dustin and veg in front of the tv while doing some work was so wonderful! We also got to see part of the infomercial about the new Magic Bullet Express, 8 minute family meal maker! It was incredible! ha ha ha. Dustin felt a little sick at night so we stayed home and watched the Wizards of Waverly Place Disney Channel orinigal movie and had a good laugh. We ran to the grocery store quickly to get some stuff for dinners this week (so i'll actually cook and can't say that we have nothing to make!) and then just went to bed.

Sunday we went to church and I got to go to Sunday School and most of Relief Society because the sharing time was combined for senior and junior Primaries so I only needed to be there at the beginning and then the last half hour or so. I made crepe batter for some lunch but it needed to refrigerate for an hour so we decided to take a nap... and woke up 3 hours later, just in time to get ready to leave for my grandparent's house for a family dinner! Ha! oops! We didn't even think we were that tired.... I guess we were! We had a great time talking with my family and my Uncle and Aunt and their boys that came down from Washington. Also my cousin Amber and her fiance Joe! It was nice.

So yeah, just a chill weekend after a busy week of StoresOnline work and starting up the new semester of Art City Music Academy classes! Dustin started his classes at UVU and he's taking 17 credits, plus another 5 of Portugese that he will just test out of at the end of the semester! He has a way busy class schedule and will only be working like 12 hours, but I'll be busy working too! So we really just hope we'll have some time to see each other! And remember to RELAX! :)