Spring Forward to 23!

Happy 1st anniversary of my blog (plus a few weeks)!! To be honest, a year ago I had a feeling I was going to get engaged soon and wanted to be able to share our story when it happened, as opposed to starting the blog after we were married. So I figured that creating a blog around my birthday was a good ploy. The unfortunate part was that I couldn't make my URL thestones@blogspot.com. That would've been quite a surprise to a lot of people. Oh well. And although this blog includes things about me and Loren, it's written by me so that's whose name is in the URL. 

Anywho...

My Birthday was March 10th and I turned the big 2-3. Nothing real special about that birthday except that it was the first of my married life so therefore, it was cause for celebration :) My big, not-going-to-happen wish was to go to Southern California and spend it on the beach. But that would mean having to take off work and shirk other responsibilities. It's a good thing I have Loren to keep me grounded and disciplined or I'd be in trouble, ha. We'll make it to CA eventually but for my bday adventure, we went to Park City, UT! Neither of us have been and I've heard good things about it so I thought that would be a good way to travel but not go crazy.

We enjoyed about an hour of beautiful snow covered mountain scenery as we drove up to Park City. 

Once we got there, we went up and down Main Street, looked at art galleries, shops and then got some grub. 

After our tummies were full, we didn't feel like walking anymore. So we drove up a little farther and went on the Alpine Coaster. It's a baby roller coaster that whips around surprisingly fast. I'm trying to work Loren up to going on a massive, tumbling, twirling roller coaster at a Six Flags or something ^_^ hehe. I rode it full throttle without touching the brakes once! Here's the video I took of the ride, if you'd like to see. Enjoy!

When my little cart stopped, Loren laughed at how all my hair was windblown and practically glued to the chair but then took a second look and said "your look like a model." That always makes a girl feel good ^_^  I don't think so but I like the look of my hair.

 After the coaster, we ventured over to the Olympic Park! Remember how Salt Lake City was the host to the 2002 Winter Olympics? Anyways, I've always wanted to see it. We didn't do too much but go through the museum. We could've paid $$$ to go on a sled or luge ride where the Olympians competed but our wallet wanted to hold on to our money. We still enjoyed going around looking at a few videos, the pictures, playing with a few of the hands-on activities, etc.

That's the great speed skater Apollo Aton Ono. He's Japanese-American from Washington--my mom and I love him!!

There's part of the race course

After that we just did a little more window shopping then made the trek back to Provo and saw more beautiful scenery. You'll see some nice sun reflections off my window because there was no way I was going to open the window to have 55 degree, 60mph wind freeze my hand to make me drop my phone :)

In Provo, I did a little clothes shopping at Target (thank you parentals!) while Loren played games on my phone--thank goodness for smart phones and their apps! Then we finally headed home after picking up some pizza and ice cream cake! I don't remember the last time I had one of those for a birthday. It was absolutely delicious. Loren even had a special message written on it :D  Too bad Cold Stone messed it up... There's not supposed to be two I's next to each other. Oh well, I knew what he meant.

Au Domoni Iko is Fijian for "I love you"

Of course I opened presents, too!!

For those of you who don't know what a Whirley Pop is, it's a big pot with a crank and spinning "blade" on the bottom to pop your own popcorn and then add yummy flavors to it!! Loren always wants to make popcorn but I don't like it plain. This way we can eat it all the time, in more than one scrumptious way! Thank you mom & dad in-law!!!  They also wrote a sweet note saying I'm their favorite daughter-in-law. YES!! But when Danny gets married, I'll have some competition...

This is a cute jewelry box because all my jewelry is stashed in a drawer. That's no way to keep your stuff nice for very long.  The first picture is me trying to figure out how to open the sides, ha. And Loren said he'd even paint something cool on it--I'm excited for that! This next picture depicts what my dad likes to say as "making out like a bandit!" Btw, that color blue would have been one of my wedding colors last year except that it was no where to be found! This year it's seriously all over Target!! Oh well.

Thank you family for making my not special numbered birthday great!! I was one happy birthday girl ;)

P.S. The "Spring Forward" part of the title is because the day after my bday was Daylight Savings...but we didn't know that. Thank goodness for iPhones that change the time automatically!! We woke up on Sunday feeling exhausted and making it to church on time, which is more than we can say for 3/4 of our ward...ha.