Rob's Birthday

On March 14, Rob had another birthday! The big 2-3. Wow he's getting old. We had fun celebrating it together- our first birthday to celebrate as a new family.

This boy got 4 birthday dinners, and 3 cakes! Holy Moly. I think he enjoyed all the attention. The weekend before his birthday we spent all of our time driving around going to dinner with family. Friday we went out with his parents to the Purple Turtle, a childhood favorite of his. If you haven't tried it, we highly recommend it! On Saturday we went to the Draper home and had Hawaiian haystacks with his family, ate cake, and opened presents. The next day, Sunday, we went to the Burrup residence for a joint bday dinner for Laurel and Rob. Funny enough, we had Hawaiian haystacks and cake! It was comical.

Finally on Monday it was time for our very own celebration. Rob stayed home all day while I went to school and work. I made him leave for a half hour when I got home for work so I could collect myself and get ready for the celebration. I bought Cafe Rio, Rob's favorite, and put it on plates to look like a homemade meal with candles to make a romantic candlelight Cafe Rio dinner. I also made a giant cupcake shaped cake! It turned out pretty good for a first try. He loved the meal, and was almost convince I made it! JK. For his present I got him a light up frisbee, tennis balls, and racquet ball balls. We're excited for the weather to be warm so we can play!

After dinner we went to Trafalga and mini-golfed. I won by 1! I should have let him win.. oh well. Then we splurged and rented Megamind! One of our new favorite movies! If you haven't seen it, you can borrow it from us :) We bought it with some of our wedding money! All in all we had fun celebrating his birthday together, and I love my 23 year old man!

The Little Things

The blog is almost finished! I decided to keep the title of the blog as "The Little Things," and I'm going to tell you why.
For our honeymoon we went to California. Our main purpose for going there was to visit Disneyland. Both of our families helped us out immensely in making our trip possible. Thanks to Kristen and Derek who payed for our hotel & Disneyland/California Adventure Tickets, Rob's parents for giving us money to spend on food and fun things, and Mom and Dad for lending us their car and paying for our gas. We are full of gratitude for the sacrifices that were made in order for us to enjoy the best honeymoon!
Rob's Dad gave us money on one condition: we find a souvenir while on our trip that we can display in our home, which will always remind us of our honeymoon and getting married. We succeeded. We found a figurine of the old Mickey and Minnie titled "Real Sweetheart".
Why did I want this to represent our honeymoon? And why is this specific souvenir the item to represent the title of our blog? When I saw this in the store, and read the title, I wanted it to represent our marriage and relationship together.It's the little things that make life the most meaningful and happy. It's also the little things that really matter in having a successful relationship, and more importantly, showing our love for each other. This is a reminder for us to do little things for each other, and together. These include:

1. Holding hands during our nightly prayers together
2. Reading conference talks and studying scriptures together
3. Holding hands in the store
4. Making the bed
5. Doing a household chore without being asked
6. Continuing to go on dates
7. Writing notes to each other
8. Laying in bed at night talking
9. Genuinely Listening to each other
10. Saying "I Love You"

I could go on and on with a list of things that we do for each other, but the point being: this figurine is a reminder to us to continue to show our love and care for each other every single day through the little things :)

Hidden Identity

Have you ever thought about your hidden identity? What does your name mean? Is it significant? Have you checked your horoscope lately? I've never really been interested in horoscopes, or thought that they were significant in any way, but the times that I have taken the time to check them, I've found a few parallels to my life, but I don't necessarily believe them. In my boredom at work today I decided to look up my name and horoscope. Here's what I found:

Tiffany= the appearance or manifestation of God.

What a compliment :) Mom & Dad knew what they were doing the day they named me...

I am a VIRGO, and today, this is what horoscope told me:

Some of the people around you today are difficult to understand. This does not necessarily mean a different language. It could be that people are visiting around your work area and causing distractions. (Boy do I wish this were true... I've been bored all day!) You may feel the need to become involved with their conversation but it would be best to tend to your own work now. (I have been putting off all my work today. Now I'm feeling guilty.) You have a strong need for nurturing others just now and this energy could be best spent in a volunteer organization. Many organizations would be happy to have you working with them--think about this. (I do! I work for LDS Philanthropies and we are bombarded with calls to donate to Japan. I guess it's not called volunteer if you get paid, huh? Dang. I am going to clean the church today! There we go! Volunteering complete.) Your family may want to join you in this endeavor so it may be time to sit down and talk about helping others and responsibility. (Rob is cleaning with me. Done and done.) This is an outgoing and very expressive cycle of experience for you. You enjoy creating new things. (Yes I do! I'm trying to create our blog as we speak!)

Thanks horoscope! You saved me from 15 minutes of boredom at work, and you made connections to my life today, which gave me a better sense of who I am. Ha ha. I'm sure you could connect any horoscope to your life today. Need a little entertainment? Go find your hidden identity!

Blog Under Construction

Please forgive me for the clashing colors and designs. I'm in the middle of recreating and designing my blog to be mine AND Rob's blog. I guess that's what happens when you get married. You have to share everything? Well, not everything, but this I am willing to share. As if he'll ever post anything anyway ha ha. Gotta love him!

So in the meantime... ignore the red polka dot title and header and the purple and orange plaid background. In due time I'll have our blog put together along with the rest of my life :) Thanks for your patience!

Just Got Rid of My Training Wheels

I am destined for greatness- or at least this is how I feel lately. I have been tied down, stripped of my powers, and been using training wheels for almost 2 whole years! No, not real training wheels. For my entire life I have been physical fit and active. I enjoy running! You heard me... I ENJOY RUNNING! It is exhilarating, stress-reducing, and energy boosting.
Unfortunately I have had 2 ACL surgeries in the past 12 months. You heard it! TWO. Well, I went to an operation follow-up appointment yesterday, and I am officially 3 months out of surgery, and one month away from being able to engage in full activity. BUT... I can run! I have been cleared to run, and I can't wait to muster up the courage to get out and do it. I have been feeling like a lazy, fat, couch potato and I can't wait to get back to my slim, healthy self again!
New Goal: lose the unneeded surgery weight!
I'm just so anxious to get active again. Everyone needs exercise in their life! Have you been slacking? Get out there and do it! You'll feel so much better :)

Trunkie!

Usually this term in the LDS church refers to a missionary's longing to come home. I have given it a new meaning...

Trunkie: The act of collecting junk over a span of time.
Can you believe how much junk you can accumulate over the years? I had no idea! I've been working through my room this past week trying to get everything organized, thrown out, or saved before I move to our new apartment. What a headache! I found 30 pair of shoes! No one needs that many shoes. NO ONE... yes, even you who is thinking "What's wrong with that?" I use to be that person.

A leisurely activity of cleaning my room with Rob became a night filled project with 3 helpers, a huge garbage bag, little space to work with, and categorized piles everywhere. I realized how ridiculous my reasoning has been to keep certain things. You don't need 4 pair of camping shoes- especially when you go camping once a year on average. You don't need to keep pens that don't even work, or pictures of classmates you don't remember the names of. As much as it pains me to toss out my college text books that could not be sold back, they take up too much space, and lets face it- if I didn't read the book while taking the class, why would I think to read it later?
I had to face my past and decide what was worth keeping.

So here is my challenge to you:
Don't be a trunkie! Throw out that old ______ that you've been keeping for years and haven't even noticed was there b/c you don't use it! You will feel so much better.

Bitter- Sweet Week!

I hesitate to start this post for fear that I might ramble, or start to panic. You know when you think things couldn't get any more hectic or crazy? They always do. This is the story of my life right now. Just 2 more days!!! What am I referring to? My wedding of course! The one, most single, important day of my life that I've dreamed of every since I was a little girl. I have the perfect dress, perfect fiance, nicest apartment with the greatest rent deal, the most beautiful temple (I only say that b/c it's now going to be our temple AND it's named after us!), the colors for the reception I've always dreamed of, and everything is as perfect as can be.

Does all of this make getting married easier? Yes, and no. What's better than marrying your best friend? Nothing. This trumps all the negatives. However, I never knew moving would be so difficult! How does one person accumulate so much junk over the years?! No, Rob has very little compared to me. It is my junk I'm talking about. What a time-consuming project!

You would think that everyone would have the respect to cancel all school and work while I'm gone, right? But no, work and school continue on, and I just have to work around it. What a pain!

Family comes into town, but this is a positive point! No matter how wonderful it is, the house becomes so crazy that occasionally you think you may lose a few hairs.

I'm going to be a part of someone else's family? And someone else's traditions? I have to share Christmas and Thanksgiving?

These thoughts have been running through my mind the past few days, and I'm about to go crazy. But no matter how chaotic and crazy this week has been and will continue to be, I wouldn't trade it for the world! To be sealed in the temple, in a beautiful white dress, across from the man of my dreams is more than I could ever have hoped for. It is worth it all! It's worth the shared holidays, new family, sharing everything with someone else, and adjusting to everything marriage brings. Bring on the challenge! I'm ready for it!