I was strolling through the park one day...

So, last night I was desperate to get out of the house for awhile. We've only been married 3 weeks and already I feel like we're in a dinner, movie, bedtime rut. Hence, I decided that we should take an outing.

While Steve was on his way home from work I popped over to the grocery store to purchase some picnic supplies. We made some scrumptious sandwiches (I always make mine too big, but never learn), tossed in some cookies, fruit snacks, lemonade, nectarines, and a special dessert surprise, and jumped into the car. We took a lovely drive through town and finally arrived at Red Butte Garden.

We parked the car, walked inside the very modern lobby building, paid our entrance fee, and started our trek through the park. I wanted to eat over by the pond and the waterfall garden, but little did I know we'd be sharing it with 5 (yes, 5) brides-to-be getting their pictures taken. (Sidenote: I am SO glad I was a low-maintenance bride. Every single one of them seemed so high-maitenance, and almost 'zilla-ish) Anyway, we found a lovely little corner near the bush-rustling quail and laid down my handy-dandy picnic blanket. We ate our food, watched the sun drop behind the mountain, and quietly made fun of the prima-ballerina brides. The best part was when we had one bride beg to take picturers near where we were sitting because she was quickly losing her light. Don't mind our romantic picnic, getting your picture taken next to a specific tree is MUCH more important...

Anyway, we finished up our meal, had our lovely dessert surprise (60% dark Ghirardelli's chocolate squares), packed up our stuff, and went on our way. We took a short walk through the oak tunnel, ventured into the herb garden (it smelled DIVINE!), and played around in the childrens garden for a bit (I especially enjoyed getting "swallowed" by the giant snake and wandering through his belly). It felt so great to get out, watch the sunset, smell the garden, and be with Steve.

My only regret? I forgot my camera.

Bella Should Never Name Children

So much to blog, so little time...

First and foremost: Breaking Dawn. I must say, that as a huge fan of the Twilight series, I was hugely disappointed in this book. I won't spoil anything for anyone that might not have completed it yet, but I feel like Stephenie Meyer went to every extreme possible to wrap up the story. All in all, I feel as though it was sort of a waste of time.

Secondly: Married life and the honeymoon. So far, I am LOVING married life. The only tough part is that neither Steve or I is getting much sleep (and not for the reasons you'd think!!). Pretty much niether one of us can get used to sharing a bed. Well, I think more me than him. I'm used to having that whole queen size bed to myself, and when it gets too hot on one side rolling to the cool side. Problem: Now there's a body on the other side of the bed. Also, it doesn't help that even with a fan going and the ac turned on our room feels like it's about as hot as the gates of hell. As for everything else, it's going just swimmingly. Our honeymoon was a blast (well, the Zion part anyway). That, too, was hotter than the Sahara in mid-July, but it was so much fun that we really didn't care.


While we were at Zion (the national park, not one-heart-one-mind-where-the-saints-will-dwell) we had a lot of fun. We stayed at a lovely little B&B (Red Rock Inn, for anyone interested), ate at some really great local restaurants, and went into St. George one night to see Sound of Music at Tuacahn. Let me just say: it was phenomenal! I really dug most of the cast, except Captain VonTrapp, but Liesel was my favorite. Anytime she'd start singing I'd break out in goosebumps. Serious set of pipes.


And now, a few honeymoon adventures:
1. Hiking Emerald Pools. I don't even want to think about how out of shape I am, because this hike that is usually no problem for me, kicked my big bahookie. Oh well, point is: we made it to the top and it was gorgeous (minus all of the fat, hairy, middle-aged, European men scattered about).
2. Cheeky Squirrels. Now, there are signs all over the place stating not to feed the squirrels. Why? Because they end up fat, uninhibited, and kind of weird me out. We went on the River Walk and there were squirrels running right up to the tourists. I have a picture (somewhere) of one sitting on top of somebody's lunch box, begging for food. Cheeky buggers.
3. Weeping Rock. Okay, this alone was worth the $25 it takes to get into the park. I highly recommend it for anyone who has not partaken. It was very short, but a steep climb. As we started out up the path we could hear what sounded like drums and tribal chanting. The higher we climbed the louder it became. Upon reaching the top of weeping rock trail we discovered a Christian Youth Choir, complete with bongos, shakers, and guitar, singing praises to Jesus. I literally cried. Being in the middle of one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen and hearing praises sung to God moved me to tears. I still break out in chills just thinking about it.
4. Heat rash. Yeah, that's right, all of our lovely time in the sun made me break out in heat rash up and down both arms and across my chest. Thank you, Mom, for the lovely genes that cause honeymoon heat rash.
5. Jump start. While in Vegas we jump started a Mexican man's super-old Subaru behind the Luxor. He didn't speak any English, but he paid us $10.
6. Zach's mission call. Now, I realize it was my honeymoon, but I spent one evening on the phone with my family. You see, Zach recieved his mission call while we were gone. I fell really bad for him having to spend 2 years of his life in the Honolulu, Hawaii mission. Poor bugger.

I think that's all the updating for now, next blog will be purely pictures.

Oh, and for anyone that hasn't seen them yet:
http://www.visualimprint.com/annieandsteve
http://www.visualimprint.com/annicka_bridal

Pictures!

Alright, there are about a million pictures from the wedding to post, so I'm just going to give y'all the link...



www.visualimprint.com/annieandsteve

Thank you to everyone who shared in our special day!