Simple Pleasures

Every once in awhile, life can be a lot to handle. Luckily there are little things that get us through. Even if some of them are silly, and maybe its just me who gets excited about some things. Things like:

a new tube of mascara.

sugar snap peas.

a hard working husband.

having a pool in my back yard.

a new pack of socks.

cupcakes.

softball games on a summer night.

sunsets.

Harry Potter. It never gets old.

drive in movies.

chapstick.

video chats.

fireworks.

encouraging text messages.

clean towels.

a new book.

flip flops.

goldfish crackers.

otter pops.

recognizing your blessings.

Anyway. Those are just some of them. Sometimes I forget to take a minute and think about those things.
 Isn't life great?

Happy 2 Year Anniversary!!

It is still so weird to think that Ethan and I have been married for 2 years!! Time has never flown faster in my life than it has since I've been married. Which I must say worries me just a bit- I don't want the rest of my time with Ethan to just fly by! I want to enjoy it. So I will. It will just also fly, and there isn't really much I can do about it.
As promised, I am going to write about our little anniversary trip. Unfortunately, there really isn't a whole lot to write about. But I'll tell you anyway.
We knew we wanted to get away to somewhere for our anniversary. We also knew that to go anywhere it would require quite a lot of driving. We were all for Six Flags in Dallas until we realized that it was the first weekend school was out- we'd already missed slow-ish time of year to go. Ethan works so hard that we just needed a relaxing weekend, really. So, we found ourselves in Lajitas, Texas. This is a little (and I mean so little) resort town on the border of Texas and Mexico. All that is in this town is this tiny golf resort. It was great! It was almost completely deserted because who really wants to go to the hottest place in the world in the middle of June? We're not afraid. We went. And it was SO HOT. But there was some beautiful desert scenery, and we could literally throw a rock at Mexico. The resort was right on the Rio Grande. Which was really a misnomer, at least in Lajitas. More than anything, it was just nice to spend time together.

In those buildings ahead was our room.

On the boardwalk in the little resort. As you can see, Mexico is only 0.25 miles away.

A view of the golf course. Those mountains are Mexican! :)

It was a great, relaxing weekend. It was so nice to have 3 whole days to ourselves!  We swam in the pool, I got a massage, and we ate some yummy food.

He was hungry. Hence the look.

On the boardwalk, about to go to dinner.

This place wasn't much to look at during the day, but when the sun started setting the scenery was beautiful!

On Sunday, we decided to drive home through Big Bend National Park. It was cool to see the desert formations. We drove down to the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon, where one side of cliffs is Texas, the other side is Mexico. It was pretty cool!

So hot. So sweaty. Please don't judge.

Skipping rocks. He's very good.

Left side Mexico, right side Texas

Well, that was pretty much our little weekend! I'll post again soon! Chelsie is coming to visit in 2 days and I couldn't be more excited about it! Until next time... Happy anniversary to the best husband a girl could ask for! I love you, Ethan.

So here we are in Texas...

Well, we are getting off to a good start here in Texas for the summer. Ethan has had to adjust a lot to the temperature difference. He went from working in 50 degree weather on ice to 105 degree weather on artificial turf which raises the temperature even more. It is so hot here! Poor Ethan... but he is such a good, hard worker and he is getting used to it. We are living in our travel trailer in the back yard of Lynn and Sterling's house. We are so glad to have our own place to stay. Its a pretty sweet little set up- Ethan even put turf around our trailer so its like we have our own yard! :)

its put together from scraps of turf from other jobs, but it still looks pretty good!

Home sweet home!

that's my hard worker!

Luckily Ethan and Sterling are able to keep busy-probably busier than they can stand. We are secretly glad for no rain because it means Ethan and Sterling stay in business installing artificial turf.  I just got a part time job at a preschool down here. I teach music to the kids twice a week. Its only a few hours a week but it is something to do, and definitely something to put on my resume that is applicable to teaching, so that's good. Basically, I swim. A lot. It is definitely nice not to have to worry about lifeguarding anyone in the pool. Sometimes I might still reach for my whistle or fight back the urge to tell people not to run... but otherwise I'd say I'm making the transition nicely. :) Hopefully soon I'll get to start teaching swimming lessons here.

Its hard to complain too much when this is how I get to spend most of my time...

We got right into the ward too. Ethan was called to be a Sunday school teacher, and I'm now a ward missionary. In Texas, that means you actually have something to do. I guess that's what happens when your husband's uncle is the bishop. 

Ethan joined a softball league with his cousins and friends, so we have fun watching the games. We've loved being here- Ethan gets to see all of his people and I love getting to know them.

Don't you just love summer nights?? They are seriously the best.

Also, in case you couldn't tell, there are some amazing sunsets down here. I miss my Utah mountains SO much, but the sunsets almost make up for it. 

Last weekend was our 2 year anniversary. Soon I'll post about that and put up some more pics!