To Infinity and Beyond!!

On this day one year ago I entered the House of the Lord to marry Curtis James Mitton. It really does not seem that long ago! But I guess in the grand scheme of things one year is not very long, especially considering that we're planning on being together until the end of time.

In the past year so much has changed! We moved halfway across the country.  We have a little house where we're responsible for grown-up things like cleaning clogged drains and fixing broken appliances and just providing for ourselves in general.  Curtis has gone back to school full-time and I'm working a real job so that we can just barely squeak by.  We've learned a lot too.  For instance, Curtis now knows how to sort laundry into whites, darks, and lights, and I've learned how to play Halo (it's all about the little sacrifices).  We've learned to think of each other's needs instead of just our own.  And we've learned how to coexist in a small place with no personal space.

With all of these changes, some things have stayed the same.  We still love each other and love spending time together.  We still have a bright hope for the future where we'll have some kids (2 boys), Curtis will get a job that he loves, I'll get to go back to school, and we'll build our dream home in the country with some land and a big library.  But we have plenty of time for all of that. We only have until the end of time..

(By the way, our anniversary was good.  We got to eat some good Mexican food, although it was so hot that I burned my tongue.  We got each other books (for our future library). And we went shopping for some new jeans because we both really needed them. It was nice to get out for the day and just have some fun together.)

A Merry Little Christmas

Well, it looks like Curtis and I have survived our first holiday season as old married people.  We missed getting to spend time with his family, but I'm grateful that we were able to be with my family this year.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year, so we started getting ready for Christmas on Thanksgiving.  We kicked off our shopping with Black Friday, of course.  I'm of the opinion that Black Friday is a holiday in an of itself.  Some people say that it's a waste of their time to wait in the lines to buy stuff for cheap. Well it certainly is not a waste of mine! I got some awesome deals (I'm proud of the fact that I got all eight Harry Potter movies for $2 each) and spent about an hour shopping.  We also got a great deal on a Christmas tree and some decorations so we were set.

The actual day after Thanksgiving we had a Harry Potter movie marathon and started decorating. I'm a little OCD so I need everything to match.  We (and by that I mean I decided and Curtis went along with it) decided to go with a red and gold theme.  We got some really cute decorations from a boutique in town because I wanted some unique things.  I think our tree was really cute!

Our First Christmas Tree

We also invested in these stockings

I'm one of those weird people that starts doing my Christmas shopping months early, so I had a decent jumpstart.  However, I kind of put off buying Curtis his "big" present until a couple of weeks before Christmas. Luckily I was able to get it and wrap it without him finding it, an endeavor that was much more difficult than I originally thought it would be.

Anyways, due to my crazy work schedule I didn't get time to do my Christmas baking until the Sunday before Christmas.  My mom came to my house to bake with me because her oven sucks and mine ranks just above sucking.  In about four hours we made four loaves of banana bread, four loaves of banana bread, and a batch of truffles.  When we were about 5/6 of the way done I burned my finger, but as this was the only mishap of the day we counted it as a success.

Christmas Eve I sent Curtis out to do his last minute shopping while I baked some cookies.  I made some gingerbread and some white chip macadamia nut cookies that turned out pretty well (there were no complaints from the menfolk of the family).  Then we went to my mom's house to spend Christmas Eve with my mom and my siblings.  It was so fun to have my little nieces and nephew there.  I love any time that we get to spent with them and to see how they have grown! They are so cute and they were more entertained with the wrapping paper than they were with their gifts!  It was a lot of fun to show them how to use their new toys and to play with them.  They are such sweet, fun kids!  And my mom got me just what I asked for a new pair of moccasins!    

Carson and his new basketball goal

Carli with her new bike

Sophie with her soft new blanket

Christmas morning Curt and I got up early to see if Santa came, and he did!!  I guess we were both pretty good this year. We both got lots of nifty new things in our stockings, and then we got to open our presents from each other and from Curtis' family.  I think Curtis liked his "big" present, as we will be going to see the OKC Thunder game when the Utah Jazz come to town (it isn't until March, but we are both excited).  Curtis of course got me everything I wanted, particularly a couple of good books that I've been wanting.  His parents also got us some great gifts, like new moccasins :)

Curtis checking out his Thunder tickets

YAY BOOKS!

After opening our presents we started making breakfast because my dad and my little brother and sister were coming over to eat with us.  We made cinnamon rolls and bacon banana pancakes, and everyone ate much more than they planned on eating, but it was great having my family here for Christmas.  Then we opened gifts from my dad which included Cirque du Soliel tickets (WE'RE SO EXCITED!!!) and a pair of moccasins. Yes, that's right, I asked for moccasins for Christmas and I'm now the proud owner of THREE new pairs!!

Moccasins for all occasions :)

We then went to my Grandma Crain's house for dinner with the family and it was wonderful to be surrounded by so many people that we love.  I'm so blessed to have my family around me and to be able to spend so much time with them.  My favorite thing about Christmas is being able to spend so much time with the people I love, from baking secret family recipes with my mom, to making breakfast for my dad and siblings, to creating new family traditions with Curtis, I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be with the people I love, particularly during Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

I could use a Christmas Miracle.

Christmas is fast approaching and I suppose it's time for me to put my wish list out there.

1. I could always use new clothes. American Eagle is pretty much the only place I buy anything (particularly jeans) but if you don't know my size gift cards always work.
2. I also love Bath and Body Works, pretty much any scent except Japanese Cherry Blossom.
3. Socks. Black, short.
4. Here is my Amazon Wish List but feel free to buy any of the items on the list from somewhere else. I'm not particularly attached to Amazon.
5. Lasik Surgery (A girl can dream...)
6. I would also love the new Dell XPS Convertible Ultrabook.  It's so cool!
7. Of course we could use money, I mean we have lots of bills...
8. And this pair of moccasins. 

Size 8 por favor.

I'm sure there are a million and one other things that I need or want, but this is a good jumping-off point.

The Last of the Greats

Last Tuesday, July 3, I lost my last great-grandparent.  I've been very blessed to have known (and remembered) four of my great-grandparents and even one great-great-grandparent.  Since I got the news that Grandma Pearl died I've been thinking about how her death is the death of our link to the past.  Grandma Pearl was born in 1919 and she lived through so much.  She was a child of the great depression.  She was a woman who not only made it through the second world war, but she served our country by working for Boeing.  And then she raised three boys, including my grandpa.
Grandma Pearl was not the most warm-and-cuddly of my grandparents, but I always had a special bond with her.  When I was little we would go visit her and she would send my siblings off to play but she always wanted me to stay with her and talk to her.  It made me feel so special that she wanted me with her.  In her later years when I would go to visit her she would always remember me, even if she wasn't so sure about everyone else.  I only regret that I did not take the time to talk to her about her childhood.  As someone who is obsessed with family history it is so ironic that I would neglect this link to my past. This may not be the best tribute to her, but this is for you, Grandma Pearl, and for all of the other "Greats" with whom we never seem to have enough time.

Grandma's Obituary

I'm a big kid now!

About a week-ish ago I informed everyone that I had an interview for a "real" job.  Well the day of the interview came and I was starting to get pretty nervous.  Luckily, my mom was kind enough to come to my house and distract me so that I wouldn't stress about it too much.  Instead of my normally frenzied behavior on interview days (usually I'm ready about 4 hours early and then I sit there worrying about everything that can go wrong) I deep cleaned and organized pretty much my entire house (much less erratic, I know).
Finally I allowed myself (and by that I mean my mom gave me permission) to get ready for my interview.  I got to the mental health center about 15 minutes early, because as everyone knows "if you're not early, you're late."  So there I was, sitting in the reception area waiting to be called back, and instead of feeling jittery, I felt completely calm. It was like all of a sudden I felt completely at peace.  I wasn't worried in the slightest, which kind of worried me.  Anyway, they finally called me in and I walked into this conference room and three people were sitting there waiting to interview me.  I felt completely comfortable with them all from the very beginning.  They asked me the usual interview questions, and after most of my answers at least one of them would say, "That's exactly what we wanted to hear!"  It went so smoothly.  I walked out feeling like I rocked it.
The day after my interview I got a call informing me that I would be informed about their decision by the end of the week.



The end of the week came. And then it went. No call...



Then something amazing happened. I got a call! They offered me a job as a children's case worker.  Today I had to go in to sign some paper work.  Then I had to go to this place to get tested for drugs.  They made me put this sponge thing in my mouth until it was full of my spit. It was kind of gross, but at least I didn't have to pee in a cup.  And I start training at my new job on Monday! I guess this means I'm officially an adult...but I'm not sure how great being an adult will actually be..

Blessings in disguise..

Sometimes blessings come disguised as poopy diapers.  I'm talking about this in a literal sense.  Today I was working (if you can call playing with little kids working) when one of my little boys had a dirty diaper.  He's super cute so I wasn't too upset about it.  I took him inside to change him and I set my cell phone on the table where I could see it.  Usually I keep it in my pocket but this for some unknown reason I took it out.  I was literally in the middle of changing the diaper when my phone started ringing.  It was on silent, so I only knew it was ringing because I could see it.  I saw that it was a local number so I answered it.  So I was wiping a little kid's booty and holding the phone to my ear with my shoulder and it was a lady calling me from the Mental Health Department wanting me to come in for an interview! Not only does she want to interview me for the position I applied for, but a manager from another department wants to interview me as well!  So next time you're in a "poopy diaper" situation, look for the blessing (it might not be very hidden).

My exercise conundrum

For the last several years I've been trying to make myself get back into shape. As I frequently have to explain to people, just because I'm skinny does not mean I'm in shape! These attempts have been half-hearted at best. Even when I was preparing for my wedding I struggled to try to make myself work out. When I'm in shape I actually enjoy running and whatnot. However, it's brutal getting to that point. I love the idea of running a marathon some day, I just cannot seem to make myself run. I'm just so exhausted by the time I get home everyday that all I want to do is veg out on the couch. But not anymore! I'm taking a stand. Starting now I'm turning over a new leaf.
I've realized that I really have to take it slowly. If I do too much too quickly I just end up with my screwed up back killing me! So I've started slow. I have started doing crunches again, just 100 a day for now (I used to do at least 500 a day). And Curtis and I are going to get active.  We have decided that we're going to play basketball or tennis at least every other day. I know it isn't much, but I have to start somewhere. I've never been great at tennis, but I discovered today that since I last played several years ago, I'm now truly awful! It's ok though because it's fun.  I know that this isn't a huge amount of working out, but at least it's something.  And I figure that since I've written this down, I'm committed now!

KC, MO

Curtis and I outside the Kansas City, MO temple

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the open house for the new Kansas City, Missouri temple with two of my aunts and some family friends. It was a very good experience. Our reservation was for 7:45 in the morning so the original plan was to go up the night before and stay in a hotel so we could get up bright and early and go to the temple. Well, we did go the night before, it just didn't turn out quite how we planned it. Every hotel in Kansas City was booked, thanks to Nascar, so we didn't have anywhere to sleep. We ended up leaving at 2:30 in the morning so that we could get there on time. It was such a long car ride because Curtis and I were exhausted. Neither of us is any good at sleeping in a car, so we were dragging when we got there. We ended up getting to the temple about an hour early because we didn't hit any traffic. The upside to this was that they let us go through with an earlier group so we didn't have to wait until our reservation. Even at that early hour the place was packed! The volunteers working there told us that because of so much interest they had to extend the open house an extra week and they were expecting over 240,000 people to tour the temple during the open house period. The first part of the tour was a video in the stake center next to the temple (I should just mention that the stake center itself was beautiful, it even had a courtyard). The video talked about the history of the church, particularly in the Kansas and Missouri area. I thought it was really neat when they said that the first stake in Kansas was organized in Wichita in 1962, which was one year before my grandparents joined the church. After the video, we walked over to the temple to tour it. We put plastic covers over our shoes to protect the carpet and then we were able to enter. It was so beautiful! The design was so intricate. One of my favorite features was right at the front desk. Behind the desk is a stained glass window depicting the tree of life. It was really neat. All of the wood was beautiful dark wood and the chandeliers were amazing! I don't even have the words to describe how beautiful it was!

The front desk

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to attend the temple open house. Even though the temple is in Missouri and we aren't even in that temple district (OKC is closer), it still feels like it's "our" temple. It was such a wonderful experience.

I changed my mind!!

After realizing just how intense spelunking actually is, I have determined that I will NEVER do that. Not only is it extremely stupid, but I'm super claustrophobic. So if you look at number 27 on my list, you will see that spelunking has been removed and replaced with something exponentially better; writing a best seller. It should be more fulfilling than spelunking!

#47. Go to the Logan Temple

I didn't just go to the Logan Temple. I did one better. I got married there!

Ever since I was a little girl I've always said I would get married in the Logan Temple. It's true, you can ask my mom. I've always thought it was the most beautiful temple, and it looks like a castle. It also didn't hurt when I found out that my grandparents were sealed there. So when Mr. Curtis Mitton decided to get down on one knee and propose marriage, I knew my dreams were about to be realized. However, it wasn't as easy to get married there as one might think.
The original date that we set was January 7, 2012. (I found out later that it was my grandparents anniversary.) I was so disappointed when we learned that the temple was not only closed that day, but it was closed for maintenance the entire month of January. We considered getting married at a different temple, but when Curtis saw how upset I was, we decided to move our wedding date up one week to December 30, 2011, which in retrospect was good for tax reasons.
Anyway, the day before the wedding we had our reception and it was beautiful. After the reception my mom, sister, and I went up to Logan for the night so that we wouldn't have to get up too early the next morning. Then bright and early the next morning we went up to the temple to get married. The temple was absolutely beautiful. And it was great to be surrounded by our families on our special day in my temple :)

#28. Go to an aquarium

I have always thought it would be cool to go to an aquarium. And I'm not talking about the fish exhibit at the zoo or at the Cabelas. So I started looking for one to go to. After much searching I decided to do a little better than just going to an aquarium. I decided to go to Sea World!
Last summer my sister, Allie, and my mom went out to Utah and picked me up and we all went to California. We had some excellent adventures on this trip. We encountered everything from crazy traffic, to getting pulled over in Vegas, to dealing with my mom's and my sister's crippling fear of heights. Eventually we made it to the beach and we spent several days there. We spent one day out on the ocean in a whale watching boat. It was so amazing to see the whales breeching (jumping out of the water). I even got whale spray on my face at one point. It was awesome!
On our last night we decided we needed to stay in a hotel close to San Diego. So we booked a hotel about halfway between L.A. and San Diego. We used our trusty gps and of course it took us to the wrong hotel. Eventually we got it all figured out and we made it to our hotel. Allie decided to try out the pool, but of course, California in August is like 70 degrees and the water was freezing. I can't understand why people flock to the beaches there when it's always relatively cool out and the ocean is always frigid!
Anyway, our last morning in California dawned cloudy and cool and it looked like rain. We headed to San Diego anyway to go to Sea World. It was amazing! Immediately when we got there we headed to see the dolphins. People were crowding around the dolphin pool putting their hands in the water and the dolphins were swimming right up to them. We all got to touch the dolphins. It was really cool. Then we went to see the sharks, which are my favorites. They were in a large building and we walked through and got to look at them all, and then near the exit to the building there was a huge tunnel with sharks swimming all around and over us. Right next to the sharks were the turtles and they were all really cute. I loved the turtles and the sharks, they were my favorite part of Sea World. Then we went to the Shamu Show and that was really cool. It's crazy that they can train those huge animals to perform like that! It was too cold and gross out for us to go on any of the water rides while we were there, but we did ride up the observation tower so that we could see the surrounding area. I think we saw just about everything there. We even went to the Arctic exhibit and everything!
Sea World was so cool! It was kind of like a zoo on steroids, and I love the zoo! I absolutely loved it, I just wish they would have let me swim with the sharks while I was there.

This day was top-notch!

Roswell, NM is #48!

Last summer I went on a road trip with my mom and little sister. We went to California and spent some great time on the beach. We also went to sea world, but that's a different blog post. On our way back to Kansas we drove through Arizona, which was so stinking hot. It was like over 120 degrees outside. Then we went through New Mexico. We decided to take a little detour through the back roads of the state and check out the alien capitol of the world, Roswell, NM.
The trip there itself was pretty eventful. As we were driving past the White Sands Missile Range in the wee hours of the morning, with no other cars on the road, all of a sudden we came to a military check point. Imagine, sleeping in the back seat of the car and out of nowhere you hear someone tapping on the window to have you roll it down. Then there are all of these military guys shining their flashlights in on you and checking out everything that's in the car. And all the while you're completely disoriented because you've been woken up in the middle of your REM cycle. Well, luckily we were carrying nothing illegal and they let us go on our merry way. When I woke up the next morning I thought it was all a really weird dream until my mom affirmed it.
Anyway, we made it to Roswell by morning and we were greeted by a charming little town with lots of alien themed stuff. We went to the alien McDonald's for breakfast, and then we went to the UFO Museum. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have more stuff in it, but it was entertaining and they had a ton of information on the crash that happened there in the 1940s. I really enjoyed it because I am a nerd and I love the alien stuff. I think it's intriguing. I wish I had more time to spend there.
I'm glad that I got to go to Roswell, but now I really want to go back for the UFO convention some year. Maybe I should add that to the list. It could be number 101!

Outside the UFO Museum

(P)Ark City, USA

Curtis at Newman Park.

If you're poor and you love being outside, there isn't a better place to live than good 'ol Ark City, KS. This town has so many parks in it! There are three within easy walking distance of my house. But there are also some really cool ones a little farther away. Since Curtis and I are poor and we love to play outside and just do fun stuff together, I decided we should start going "parking." You know, playing in the parks. We have starting going to different parks on Saturdays for picnics and it's been a lot of fun!

Last Saturday we went to Walnut Park. It's a little used park right down by the Walnut River. It's really nice because it isn't very busy, like the bigger parks in town. We were able to enjoy a nice little lunch without other people bothering us. It was also really cool because we got to go down by the river to look for arrowheads (people find them there all the time).

This is the Walnut River at Walnut Park.

Curtis playing by the steamboat at Walnut Park.

Today Curtis and I went to Newman Park. I think this is probably the least used park in town. It's so cool though! It has a big fort that looks like a fort lookout post. We ate our lunch and then had fun with the equipment. My only complaint about this park is that it isn't kept up as well as the other ones in town. The grass is full of stickers and the fort is starting to get a little rundown, but as it was built in the 1920s I guess that's to be expected.

Curtis on the Fort!

Numero Seis, Leave the country.

I have always loved to explore cool places. The only problem is that for me this usually occurs not far from home. For our honeymoon, Curtis's parents were so kind as to send us on a cruise, thus fulfilling one of my lifetime goals, to leave the country.
Everything about our cruise was wonderful! We left on New Years Day on a 7-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera. We spent a couple of lazy days at sea, exploring the boat and eating a lot, before getting to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. When we got to Cabo, Curtis and I headed straight for the beach. We had to walk around the huge marina to get there and we got to see part of the town on the way to the beach. Unfortunately the part of the town adjacent to the marina was pretty much just bars, so there wasn't much of interest to me there. Anyway, it was really hot and humid, not to mention I was carrying a huge bag with our towels and books and Curtis's sunscreen, so we were ready to jump in the water when we finally got to the beach. IT WAS FREEZING!! But it was still great to cool off and we just laid on the beach the whole afternoon and relaxed.
When we finally decided to head back to the boat we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe, because that's one of my favorite places to go when I'm traveling. (I always have to get a shot glass.) We went in and sat down and picked up the menu. We then realized that the prices there were outrageous. It was $24 for a Coke! We asked the waitress and found out that the prices were in Mexican money, which made more sense. I had no idea that they used the dollar sign in Mexico!
We spent two days in Cabo. The second day Curtis and I walked around some of the shops a little bit, but they were mostly just tourist traps.
The next day we were in Puerto Vallarta. I decided to try out the ocean one more time. It wasn't freezing! Who knew that the ocean could actually be enjoyable? It was wonderful. We spent the day on the beach again. Other than having to tell the vendors over and over again that no, we did not want to buy anything, it was a wonderful, relaxing day. In the late afternoon we decided that we should walk some in town. We saw a Mexican Wal-Mart and all of the crazy drivers. I was sad when we had to get back on our boat.
We then had to more days at sea before we landed back in California. I loved our boat. It was the Carnival Splendor. The food was great, especially dinner in the formal dining rooms. Our wait staff was so awesome. They were funny and they knew us so well!
Probably the only thing I would do differently if I get the opportunity to do this again would be to research the places where I'll be going on shore so I'll know about cool things to go do.
I love traveling and I hope I get more opportunities to do so in the future. Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely no place like home and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I am one of those crazies who actually still believe in America and I think it's the greatest country in the world, I'm just fascinated with other cultures and I want to go everywhere before I die!

This is curtis and I on the beach at Cabo San Lucas. Note our boat in the background.

"I have a new name!"

...said my blog. Actually I do too.. In honor of my marriage I decided that it was time to change the name of my blog. I know what you're asking yourself..

"When did this happen?"

"Why didn't I know about this?"

"What does this mean for the future of everyone's favorite blog?"

Not to worry, I would be more than happy to answer all of these questions for you!

This happened on December 30th, so I've been married for over two months now! I got married in the Logan, Utah, temple which, as those people who know me the best can tell you, has always been my favorite! And it is absolutely beautiful. Someday I will have pictures available for all of my fans!

If you didn't know about this it probably means you don't know me very well. Not to worry, if I actually start blogging consistently like I keep saying I will you'll know me well in no time!

This won't change anything for the purpose of my blog. I'm still going to do everything on my list! The only difference is that now instead of doing it before I'm married I'll just do it before they ring my death toll!

This is where I got married: Logan, UT Temple

This is some more information about temples: Temples

It's Official!

I'm terrible at this whole blogging thing. Once every few months I start to write something and it never seems to get finished. I'm going to try to do better in the future. I just get so caught up in doing stuff that I forget to write about it. It's kind of like how I journal. I'll do really well for about a month and I'll write constantly, and then I just kind of stop. The funny thing is that I love to write. I love writing in my journal and I love writing letters and I love writing on my blog. I just don't ever do it. Especially when big things are happening to me, which is when I need to write the most. I'm so weird! I'm going to do better, no promises on how much better though..