living room dreams.

The best part about living in this little apartment for a year, is the fact that I get to decorate it!  Right now it feels like everything is partially decorated, but we're slowly getting there.  Our living room is pretty empty, seeing as our couch doesn't get delivered for 9 more weeks.  Ha.

Without further ado, things our living room needs would look better with:

this rug

these flowers

this clock

(no, the picture isn't squished.  it's really that shape.)

this globe

this painting

And one day, one day I tell you, I'll march myself over to each store and pick up these beauties on my official "2012 Living Room Want" list.  Assuming of course that it's what I still want in 2025, because that's when we'll have extra money laying around for gorgeous rugs and fake flowers.  ;)

war zone.

Who knew that making Sweet & Sour Chicken could be so beautifully easy/ridiculously hard.  With both of us in the kitchen helping, we barely got everything done on time.  But we did it, ha.  And I didn't know that it was possible to dirty (practically) every dish you own when making one supposedly simple dish.  Fortunately, it was heavenly and worth the sticky mess on the counters/stove/floor/fridge(??).  :)

just havin' a little good news moment.

Guys.  We got internet today.  {Insert picture of B and I doing a happy dance, leaping around the living room, and singing praises to the AT&T worker who visited our apartment.  Or something like that.}  After a week and a half of no internet, the blessed day arrived.  You know, first world problems and the like.

Second, I started my first online class today!  Yay for school.

Third, I did something with my hair besides leaving it down straight for the first time in two weeks.  Saw myself in the mirror and didn't even recognize myself!  Not really.  But I'm still going to document it for posterity, or maybe just to motivate myself.

Fourth, I think I might be able to convince B that we need Funnel Cake from the super sketch truck down by the river tonight.  If he doesn't go for that, then we're definitely making chocolate ganache.  Win either way.

Fifth,    ....... IT'S FRIDAY, FRIDAY, GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY!  PARTY AND PARTYIN', YEAH!  Curse Rebecca Black and her infamous song.

Kidding.

But really.

there's nothing better than Sundays.

We spent ours going to church, taking a walk through the park, sitting by the river watching boats float by, making dinner together, reading through our old journals, and eating chocolate chip cookies.  

the first few days.

Well, we finally made it!  Over 23 hours of driving, one U-haul rental, and two cars later, we finally made it to St. Louis!  That, in and of itself, is an accomplishment.

Our apartment is small and cozy, and we were lucky enough to get brand new carpet.  Sorry for the terrible quality pictures, I left my camera in Utah and only have my phone camera right now.

After walking on the kitchen floor for 10 minutes, we realized that the bottoms of our feet were black.  So we put on grubby clothes and scrubbed that kitchen floor for 2 hours.  Check out the grout...

The manager for the apartments we lived at in Provo was a cleaning Nazi when it came to grout.  I never really understood why until now.  I guess you could say it's times like these that make us grateful for uptight ladies like Kathy.

The next day we decided to go explore a little bit.

We also took a tour of B's new school, Washington University.  Just have to say... they ain't got nothing on the BYU Grounds crew, but they've got everything on BYU's buildings.  The buildings are seriously so pretty!  No wonder tuition is $20,000/semester!  ;)  Kidding.

I guess eventually we'll have to unpack everything and put the sightseeing on hold for a day.

But being in a big city is too exciting for that.


P.S.  And for the record, I drove in a crazy rainstorm all by myself over 5 miles on a road system that resembles a bowl of spaghetti.  10 points for Lex today.

and we're off.

I keep having these internal panic attacks as we drive across Colorado when I remember that I won't be seeing my family until December. But, truly, we're so lucky to have this opportunity and to have had everything work out so smoothly thus far. So to our family and everyone else out there: feel free to come visit! ;)

caps, gowns, and the like.

Today, B graduated from BYU and we couldn't be more ecstatic in this house tonight!

We started off the day with a lunch for all of the honors students, watched B receive his medal and published thesis, enjoyed the Commencement ceremony, ate papusas at a fantastic hole-in-the-wall restaurant of a place in Provo, opened presents in the park (someone's just a little excited about his new iPad and Apple tv), and finished off the day with some BYU Creamery ice cream.

We're tired.  And most definitely up for round two tomorrow!

here's to trying something new.

In the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to try some new things.  Things like cliff jumping, shooting a gun, couch shopping, The Cheesecake Factory, fixing up an old piece of furniture, making apple pie, trying a new frozen yogurt place, our very own family Olympics (complete with a closing ceremonies and medals) with my siblings, and camping included in tonight's plans.  And it's all been a blast.

I think a lot of the time, we get set in our routines and rarely take a little time to go try something new; something that pushes our limits.  We get used to eating at the same places, or doing the same things for fun over and over again.  Personally, I get a little sick of the monotony.  So trying all of these new things has been a blast, and I hope that B and I can keep it up once we get settled in St. Louis.

What have you been wanting to try?  If anything came to mind, get out there and try something you've never done before!  (If you absolutely hate it, well, at least you can say you've tried it.  And if it's something dangerous and you hate it, you'll have a great story to tell your kiddos one day. ;)

So here's to trying something new over the weekend!