Our Blog :)

We’d like you to meet…

2012-02-03T17:42:00.001-05:00

Our sweet little Olivia! She turned three weeks old yesterday. The time has flown by, and yet it also feels like we’ve been a family of three for much longer than just three weeks. She is the sweetest little baby girl, and Thomas and I feel so blessed.

Olivia Marie Dearden was born on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 5:02 in the morning. She was 7lbs, 9oz and 20in long.

She came happy, alert, and ready to grow! She has astounded all the nurses at the pediatricians office both times she has weighed in – she is already close to 10 pounds and has almost grown 2 inches! Baby girl loves her milk, and apparently mom makes ice cream :)

She is a very verbal little baby (even the pediatrician noticed it) and makes all kinds of coos and grunts and noises when she’s awake, nursing, asleep or waking up... So pretty much all the time :) We think we might have a talkative one on our hands!

We love you, Olivia! It’s been a wonderful three weeks!

The Waiting Game

2011-12-31T18:14:00.001-05:00

Well can you believe it? 2011 is almost history! My mental checklist/countdown to baby is running out!

~~Thomas’ Birthday~~
~~Thanksgiving~~
~~Katie’s Birthday~~
~~Thomas finishes semester~~
~~Christmas~~
~~New Year’s~~
3rd Anniversary
BABY TIME!!

I’m glad that I’ve had a lot going on to keep my mind occupied.. but now it feels like all we are doing is waiting.

But waiting has been fun, so far :) It’s just Thomas, me, and the baby bump hanging out. We’ve been nesting and going out on little dates.

On Thursday (39 week mark) the weather was beautiful, so we went out to Brown County State Park and spent some time hiking amongst the barren trees. It was incredibly beautiful in it’s own, golden, wintery way.

I felt pretty accomplished after lugging my belly around on those trails for a couple of hours :) But it felt SO GOOD to be out in the woods again. It’s that crazy obsession with trees again, I guess! I love it.

We’ve done some exploring and found some cute shops here and there, we’ve been watching movies, playing games, cooking, and went out to lunch. I sure do love being the two of us, but we are pretty excited to be three!

Okay, baby.. You’ve done A LOT of growing.. Now come see what it’s like on the outside! We can’t wait to meet you!

Showered

2011-11-13T17:47:00.001-05:00

So Mom Dearden and lovely friend Erica teamed up to throw baby girl and me a baby shower last week. It was so much fun! I wish we would have gotten a picture of the table of food Mom Dearden made, because it was amazing. So here are the lovely ladies who came to shower us. Thanks so much, guys, your support means so much.

And then here’s me and some of the loot :) and me and Mom Dearden (and baby, of course..).

I go through and re-fold the clothes now and then whenever I need a pick-me-up :) Nothing cures pregnancy mood swings like some tiny little sleepers and cute baby socks.

(P.S. Thomas thinks it’s funny when I sometimes inadvertently refer to myself as “we”. Hehe. That’s what you get when you have a 24-7 companion attached to you.)

____________________________________________________________

So things are going well over here at the Dearden home. Thomas is earning mega points by attending the wonderfully awkward birthing classes with me. Two and a half hours long. On Saturdays. For two months straight. I know, right? What a trooper.

SO yeah. Here’s a wonderfully cliché side-belly-pose for posterity from last week. We’re just over 32 weeks along now. I’m starting to feel huge. Crazy to think how fast time has flown/will fly!

October Mischief

2011-10-26T16:44:00.001-04:00

So you might be wondering what a little pregnant lady like me does all day while Thomas is at school.

I make mischief.

The kind with fabric, paint, puff balls, and a hot glue gun.

Some of the mischief recently has been Halloween-themed. I made a bunch of little spiders and it’s been fun molding their little legs and “hiding” them all around the house.

You’ll see them peeping over our picture frames and hanging from the vases. I feel like they all look a little different, depending on how their eyes are positioned, how their legs are bent, and what angle they are hanging at. They each have their own little personalities! They make me happy.

Another little project was these fun pumpkins. I think most of their charm is drawn from the fact that they have real pumpkin stems. You just can’t beat those crazy, naturally-twisted stems!

And then I made this for our door. I can’t take credit for the center ghost (the cutest part of it all); it was inherited from Mom Dearden. So thanks, Mom Dearden! But I had fun doing some painting and putting it all together.

I had a partner in crime for this one. This little guy has been sitting on our porch for a few weeks. We carved him at a get-together with some friends. I should have taken a picture of him earlier, here you can see that he’s all black inside and his top teeth are curled in.. He’s actually going to spend the rest of the Halloween season in the dumpster. But we have enjoyed him thoroughly!

So there you go. Some Happy Halloween spirit for you.

Sometime, I’ll have to show you some of the baby-themed mischief I have been up to :)

Catch-Up Post

2011-10-10T16:36:00.001-04:00

Hello, blog world!

What is it about summer that makes me so bad at blogging? It’s kind of ridiculous.

But we are here, and we are alive, and we are well. We had a lovely summer. Some of the highlights of our summer involved exploring some of the many State Parks that we have here. We had a lot of fun hiking through the limestone canyon at McCormick Creek State Park,

with our friends at Turkey Run State Park,

and around a little lake at Brown County State Park.

Another summer highlight was when Thomas participated in the Warrior Dash in August. It was a crazy, five-mile obstacle race, complete with fire and a barbed-wire-covered mud pit at the end. It was a lot of fun to watch :) and Thomas did really well! I’m thinking that maybe I should bring out my warrior side and try it next year?

The reason I didn’t do it this year?

BAM! This is at 26 weeks. We’re having a little girl! She should be here around January 5, 2012, and we are so excited :)

I saw this silhouette the other week, and had to do a double-take. We don’t have any full-length mirrors in the house, and so seeing my baby belly like this really surprised me. It’s so wonderful being able to feel her move and wiggle and squirm and twist inside me. Thomas was able to feel her move the other night for the first time, so that was special.

So things are going well here. We are getting excited about Fall. I’m not sure how long it will take me to get used to seeing so many trees EVERYWHERE. Whenever we go out for a drive or to a State Park, or even just walk around some old neighborhood, Thomas laughs at me because I am SO FASCINATED with all the TREES. I really love it. And it has been all the more magical as the trees have started donning their Autumn apparel. We have some beautiful fall colors all around us, and the weather is getting that lovely, crisp feel. We moved, and so I had to say goodbye to that beautiful pink tree outside of our old apartment, but was so tickled to find that the huge tree outside our new place turns a brilliant yellow in the Fall. It has made me so happy.

Unfortunately, it has dropped so many leaves already. But they are the crispiest, most satisfying crunch-through-the-leaves type of leaves.

We have been enjoying the fall trees in other ways, too! A couple weekends ago, we went to Anderson Orchard and did some apple picking. It was a really fun outing, and we came back with a half bushel of delicious apples of all different kinds.

So far, we made some apple butter and the most delicious apple pie that my friend Allison introduced to us. We still have a lot left to continue our fun fall baking!

Well, there you go. A big catch-up post. Here’s to an awesome Fall!

Mother’s Day

2011-05-08T18:53:00.001-04:00

Happy Mother’s Day! We have had a beautiful couple of days after a LOT of rain. Okay, here’s a side note… :)

We were driving down to Louisville to visit the Temple, and on the way, we saw that all the fields had turned to lakes. It was crazy, the water came right up to the road in some places and completely covered some of the side roads that lead to people’s houses. We saw canoes just laying by the road – and on the way back, what we saw confirmed our suspicions: the people had to park their cars by the side of the road and then canoe to their homes! What an adventure…

And so Thomas gave me the spoiled treatment (as the mother-to-be of his future children, of course :) – I was telling him that I have gotten Mother’s day treats since I was a Laurel, and he thought there was something wrong with that). We went outside and he grilled me a delicious, summery meal.

And then afterwards, we went on a hike to check out our own little lake that we like to visit. It has swelled significantly since our Autumn trips!

I love Mother’s day. It’s wonderful to take some time and really reflect on all that our moms do for us. Thomas and I are so blessed to have been sent to two extraordinary women and loving mothers. I often think back and marvel at how they dealt with us.. all that they sacrificed for us.. but they never gave up and still continue to be a major part of our lives. I don’t know what we would do without them!

What wonderful examples as to what I would like to become one day. Thank you both for that.

Happy Spring!

2011-04-26T20:51:00.001-04:00

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. And even got together with some friends to make egg art. I call it egg art because Thomas can get so creative! I love it.

I mean seriously. Look at that. All dye. And tape. That’s it. I’m such a proud wifey :)

Too bad we’re gonna have to eat it! Most of his little egg friends are already gonners.. made into Thomas’ first ever egg sandwich. Seriously though, HOW did he ever make it through all Easters in his life without ONE egg sandwich? One of life’s mysteries.

We are enjoying our spring weather and the many blossoms it brings. These tulips from Mom Dearden’s garden graced our table last week.

Happy Spring!

Chopped

2011-04-19T20:09:00.001-04:00

So a few weeks ago, I did the crazy thing of chopping off all my hair. It’s the first time that I’ve cut off enough all at once to donate. (Pantene has a charity whose minimum is only 8 inches.. cool huh?) And it’s my first time ever having it THIS short. I went through the phase of double-takes whenever I walked by anything reflective and squirting out way too much shampoo and conditioner in the shower. But I can now say that I am pretty much used to it.. and it’s a lot easier to care for!

So here you go. And even though that freakish detached ponytail really gives me the creeps, I still had to get a picture of it. Purely for sentimental reasons. It’s really not rational, but I get really attached to my hair. Not in a vain way, but more in an it’s-a-part-of-me-and-been-with-me-through-the-years kind of way. I know, I know. Irrational.

Spring Break Travelogue

2011-03-31T20:14:00.001-04:00

The title is also a warning.. It’s a long one! :)

Thomas and I had a lovely Spring Break. We both had the week off, so we seized the opportunity to take a road trip over to Maryland and Washington, DC and see how much tourism we could squeeze in. So we hopped in the car with a map, cooler full of sandwiches, and an iPod loaded with songs (and my very first Dirk Pitt Adventure novel-Thomas wanted to educate me). It was so nice to get out on the road and see some different scenery. Growing up, my family would do a fairly long drive at least once a year, and so I was feeling due. And I was not disappointed. So many rolling hills and so many trees! It was wonderful.

We stayed with some of Thomas’ family, and so I got to meet some of his cousins and their families. And pretty much everyday, we took the Metro (a fun first for me!) into the city and explored.

One of the first things we saw was the DC Temple. It was so beautiful. And it’s size surprised me; for some reason I imagined a smaller one. I learned something new: The Washington, DC Temple is the tallest LDS Temple in the world! So now you know, too. :)

The first Smithsonian we visited was the National Air and Space Museum. It was pretty awesome. (We had some beautiful weather for the whole trip.. I couldn’t resist to snap a shot of the beautiful BLOSSOMS we found.. I can’t wait for Spring!)

All of the Museums had so much to see, we really had to do a much quicker run-through than I would have liked to have done. But we still got to see some cool things – Here we got to see Amelia Earhart's plane! We got to walk through a Space Station, and saw all kinds of rockets.. but I have to say that my favorite thing at that museum was the “Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System” exhibit; it featured photographs of the planets and moons taken by unmanned interplanetary probes. It was just amazingly beautiful and completely awe-inspiring.

Then we did a walking tour of the cool government buildings. We saw the Capital Building, The Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court Building.

And then we visited the Museum of Natural History. What a cool place that is! We saw all sorts of crazy stuff, including a coral reef made entirely of crocheted yarn and the T-Rex that was featured in the movie Night at the Museum. What more could you ask for?

We also got to see the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art, which was very interesting. They had FREE audio tours. Beat that! :) We also got to see some things at the National Museum of American History, including the “original” Star-Spangled Banner and the the First Ladies’ dresses.

Then we got to see the other side of the “mall”: The Whitehouse and the Washington Monument…

The World War II and Vietnam Memorials…

And the Lincoln Monument.

Needless to say, we did a LOT of walking. :)

We took a half day to go to Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the place that inspired what is now the national anthem. It’s where The Star-Spangled Banner yet waved! It was a very interesting visit; I really enjoyed learning more about the history behind it. The museum was just the right size.. I almost got to read EVERYTHING! And it was my first time seeing the east coast.

On our last day, we went to see the Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, the location of the bloodiest one-day battle in American history. It was such a beautiful day, and had the same kind of somber yet peaceful feeling of visiting a graveyard.

And then the graveyard itself.

Even though we saw a fraction of all there is to see over there, we felt that we had made a good effort.. and it satisfied even my love of reading plaques in museums. All the history I learned in school just felt so real over there – it really was a great experience all around.

Ice Ice Baby

2011-02-01T12:56:00.001-05:00

I always hated that song. And then I heard “Under Pressure” by Queen and realized that Vanilla Ice completely stole the music. And oddly enough, it gave me more respect for that “dum dum dum da da dum dum” baseline.

Well ANYWAYS, we are having an ICE DAY today. It’s like a snow day, except everything is just completely covered by a sheet of ice. Amazing, right? This is my VERY FIRST ice day. I went outside and then came running back to Thomas to tell him that all the trees were covered in little icicles! I wish I could have better captured what it looks like, the pictures do not do it justice. Pretty much all the schools in Indiana are closed today, including IU. So Thomas gets a day off today, too! We’ll probably spend it watching movies and playing Castle Crashers. We’re cool like that. :) Or maybe I’ll take some time to finish all the little knitting projects that I started when I was unemployed. Got to get all those wintery things done before it’s too warm to wear them!

As far as other news goes, Thomas and I both got new callings in the ward. He is working with the scouts and I am teaching 6 and 7 year-olds in primary. It’s been a lot of fun so far, and I have a lot to learn since it’s my first time teaching primary. It’s funny that I got called to that age group, since it’s the age that I work with at the elementary school, too. It’s a fun age. The kids sometimes say the funniest things. They are just so straightforward and say exactly what they are thinking. It can be a little refreshing. :)

Perfect North

2011-01-30T15:08:00.001-05:00

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we headed up to Perfect North with Thomas’ brother, Sam, and we all hit the slopes.

Some of us hit the slopes harder than others. (It took me almost two weeks before I could sit down comfortably!) It was my first time on a snowboard and I just have to say that I am really terrible at it. The pictures you see here are pretty much the only times I was standing. :) But it was still a fun learning experience. And Thomas was a great teacher, he was really sweet and patient. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of Thomas snowboarding. He is so graceful on that thing, it was really fun to watch. After we were tired and sore, we spent our last hour or so tubing. Which rocked. I’m really good at THAT! ;)

We’re still enjoying our first “wintery” Winter together. I have had three snow days at the school I work for so far, and am trying to get used to the feel of driving in the snow. Thomas is still studying and writing and reading and studying and reading; he’s doing well in his program and learning how to speed read. We had a nice Christmas, New Years, and 2nd Anniversary. Maybe I’ll have to post about it all “flashback style”.

Life is pretty swell. :)

Snow Day and Beginnings in Indiana

2010-12-04T13:48:00.001-05:00

We woke up this morning to a good 5 inches of snow. So beautiful! So we got all bundled up and went to the park to play :) This is our first big snow, but it was snowing a little earlier this week, so I went to a recess in the snow for the first time since first grade. (I’m working part time at an elementary school, so I get to go to recess with kindergarteners.) They were all looking at me a little funny as I was walking around in amazement, trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue. It’s magical! And so this morning, we fulfilled some of my other childhood fantasies. We threw snowballs, made snow angels, and made a little snowman.

It was a very merry snow day.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I know that I have been super lame at updating the blog recently.. But we have been really enjoying our new Indiana life so far. Thomas is doing well in school (he is constantly reading and writing!) and I started working at a nearby elementary school as a special education inclusion aide, and also do some tutoring.

Our Fall was fabulous. After living in an eternal Spring, I was just floored by all the colors. I fell in love particularly with a bright pink tree right outside our apartment.

And everyone has been telling us that it has been a comparatively dull Autumn, due to the recent drought. Imagine that! We discovered (by happy accident) some beautiful places to hike and collect geodes. We went hiking a few times, and it is clear which ones of us carried around the camera :) Our posterity will be very familiar with Thomas’ backside.

Here we are geode hunting near Monroe Dam:

And hiking near Griffy Lake:

So there you have it, this is what it looks like to be in Indiana with a couple of brand-new Indianans. We are enjoying the new scenery and being close to where Thomas grew up. We have had a Happy Halloween and Thanksgiving with Thomas’ side of the family, and are looking forward to spending Christmas with my side in a few weeks. Happy times indeed!

India - Summer 2010

2010-09-01T21:15:00.002-04:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Thomas and I went to India this summer to volunteer with Food for Life Vrindavan. They have, among many organizations and projects, a school that educates the poorest of the poor. We worked with Dr. Miller and a group of interns from BYU-Hawaii to gather data and run research to determine the outcomes of the organization. We had an amazing experience.. It is overwhelming to think about trying to explain everything and talk about all that happened. But here is a compilation of pictures that we took over our 6-week stay.

Guh-rad-U-A-shun

2010-04-25T21:10:00.001-04:00

Ta-da!! We did it :) And our awesome brother Liam was there to support us! What a sport! Thanks again, Liam, we loved having you there, and I feel SO DUMB that we didn’t get a picture with you… What were we thinking??!

The graduation ceremony was very nice, we got our little fakey diplomas and got to shake Elder Cook’s and President Wheelwright’s hands. The talks were really good too, but I didn’t even think about bringing a pen to take notes. Oh well.

And so then after we got some beautiful leis, of both candy and flowers. Thomas got the most crazy lei I think that I have ever seen (and that’s saying something if you’ve seen the kind of leis that people think of). It’s not in the picture, but one of the ladies that he worked with made him a pan of his favorite banana cake and hung the whole thing around his neck with a string! The thing was huge, it was so amazing. And delicious :)

Sunday was very nice, it was sad to say good-bye to all our friends in the ward. Aloha ‘Oe and more leis. We truly loved being a part of that special community.

This is Thomas on Monday with all our things after we got checked out and locked out. We were lucky that our neighbors were nice enough to take us in for a while before we headed to the airport with Liam and Jess. They even fed us! Thanks Harrisons! :)

Saying goodbye on Monday before the airport was heartbreaking. We have loved this special time in our lives, especially being so close to family. I’m tearing up now just thinking about it, but I know that good things are ahead for us, too.

And so now we are with Thomas’ family in Ohio, and we are having a great visit so far. We’ve been having a lot of fun and trying to be a little useful on the side, too. Doing a lot of dreaming and scheming of how to set up our new little place in Indiana for the fall. We actually got to do a little road trip last week to see the campus and get housing all arranged. And I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, I’ve seen pictures of the place, but I was just so astonished at how beautiful the campus is. It is so breathtaking, right out of a fairy-tale, with all the different castle-like buildings, stone pathways, and blossoming trees. I really should have taken my camera, it was such a gorgeous day.

So we saw it like this:

And I’m way excited to see it like this:

And extremely nervous for when it’s going to be like this:

BRRRRRRRR!! Beautiful though, huh?

It’s kind of funny, in all the stores that we walk into, I keep expecting to find winter clothes and blankets in stock. Instead they’re all filled with shorts and swim suits! I can’t believe that everyone is thinking about summer.. Don’t they know what’s coming??! I’m just all mixed up, my perceptions of the seasons are so skewed. We are coming out of a three-year spring and so it’ll be interesting to see how we do with seasons that actually change! I’m excited to give it a try :)

April Already??!

2010-04-02T14:25:00.001-04:00

Yes, I guess it is! And I’m a day behind at realizing it! But April means good things, and exciting things.

March had Thomas gone for a week visiting Graduate Schools while I held down the fort here. Even though I missed him like crazy, it was good that he was able to get a feel for the options.. And we are now looking forward to starting at Indiana University in the fall, and Thomas will be in the Criminology PhD program. We’ll be crimson and cream “Hoosiers”. Funny, huh? I was doing a little research into what a “hoosier” is and it turns out that it’s a nickname for Indiana-ites that goes back pretty far. There’s a somewhat funny and witty article about its ambiguous beginnings that I found here. We really are quite excited for this next leg in our adventure.

Thomas and I got our caps and gowns this week, and can’t believe that graduation is only 8 days away! Craziness. We’re facing a week of tests and final projects with an added side of moving out of our little apartment here. It’s been weird to see what everything looks like half-furnished as we’ve been trying to sell some stuff. It’s going to be an exciting week, to say the least!

AND we are getting excited for general conference! What an opportune time it is to be able to sit down, take a break, and hear from the prophet and the apostles. It will be a time of peace amongst all the other madness. This Mormon Message YouTube video was getting me SO excited for this upcoming weekend.

How blessed we are to live in a time of prophets and apostles, special witnesses of Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful way to celebrate the Easter weekend!

So here’s to April… wish us luck!

The Quest for the Waterslide

2010-03-15T03:02:00.001-04:00

This weekend was SO MUCH FUN!

Thanks Liam, Jess, and Ezra for some great memories.

Take a Hike

2010-03-11T15:04:00.001-05:00

When I first arrived on the Island, I was amazed by the profound beauty that lies inland. I had seen countless pictures of the sunny beaches and white sand, but not nearly as much of the incredibly lush and mountainous landscape. I was delighted to find a trail of such abundant beauty so near to campus. Some of my favorite memories are of times when I have been out on Laie Trail with family and friends, exploring the diverse landscapes and basking in the splendor that nature has to offer. There is so much to be seen, from the low side trails and rolling dirt tracks to the shady pine forests above. However, the views of Laie Falls and the all-seeing lookout from Laie Summit seem to get all of the glory. For this particular study, I wanted to get a closer look at some of the many little wonders that contribute to the natural beauty of this breathtaking trail.

(rollover for titles)

One of the things about Laie Trail that never ceases to amaze me is the incredibly colorful dirt. There are places where you can find all the colors of the rainbow in a single square foot of caked soil. What astound me further are the many patterns and designs that can be found in the dirt. Coral-like textures to spotted craters and cracks – every little bit is different. I had a lot of fun trying to convey, through painting, my new-found love of dirt!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mommy and the Tsunami

2010-03-05T01:46:00.001-05:00

It rhymes! Kind of…

Things are so much more adventurous when you have visitors…

What a wonderful week we had with Mom Cornelison! Nice morning walks on the beach, wading to our “ankles” (which means chest for mom ;) yummy dinners all together, playing the “pass the baby” game and cooing at Ezra, Hale’iwa, Manoa Falls trail, looking at turtles, trying to celebrate Ezra’s birthday, rhyming games, and surviving a tsunami together were just some of the highlights.

After being woken up at 5 on that momentous tsunami morning, Thomas and I started getting our house ready for potential flooding and whatnot. We packed up some survival stuff and reconstructed our 72-hour kits (which we had started eating because of our upcoming move.. go figure, huh?) and went up to Kaaawa to spend the day with Liam, Jess, Ezra, and mom. We actually went to the store with Liam to pick up some baby stuff, and so Thomas and I were excited to see what it would look like to see an emptied-out store on the brink of eminent disaster.. It was a little disappointing – all that was different was everyone had toilet paper in their carts (haha) and the workers were re-filling the huge vats of top ramen. BUT we did get to see the huge line of cars waiting at the gas station.

When the time of the tsunami drew closer, we headed up the hill to see the wave.

Ok so maybe it didn’t look exactly like that… BUT we did get to see a lot of whales from up there!

ANDDDD we got tired of waiting for the tsunami (as mom said, “Tsunamis are boring” … and we are SO grateful for that!!), so we went swimming in the pool (which is up on the hill, too, so we were safe :) to wait for the “all clear”.

Ezra is so fun in the pool! He loves splashing around in the water, and he plays a “swim” game where he reaches out to someone and swishes his arms and kicks his feet as he is transferred from person to person.. and he just smiles and laughs and claps.. adorable :)

And here is what Jess and Ezra look like from underwater (left) and what Thomas looks like from under the water (right).. in case you were wondering.

Hehe, you’re welcome!

Cordially Invited

2010-03-01T23:48:00.001-05:00

You are all cordially invited to my senior art show next week.

And for those of you who don’t happen to live on the same island as me, I’ll make sure to get them up here on the blog sometime next week (when things hopefully slow down a bit!)

New Recipes

2010-02-17T21:10:00.001-05:00

We’ve tried some new recipes lately! Thought that I would share.

On Monday I made some Homemade Cliff Bars, after Jess recommended them and this site to me. She is a culinary genius. And the bars tasted SO GOOD! They are almost gone already, I’m thinking that I’ll have to start making these now and then, they are so great to take for quick lunches and snacks. Thomas doesn’t think they are spot on, but likes them a lot anyway. I, however, haven’t had as much experience with cliff bars and think that they are really close. Either way, the homemade cost is a lot better!

Then on Tuesday night, after coming home from my night class, the boy toy surprised me with some orange chicken from scratch! It’s a recipe that he found that is supposed to be like Panda Express, but I think that it’s BETTER. The best orange chicken I’ve ever had. It made me finally understand why they call it ORANGE chicken. Not just for the color :) Superb.. Gotta love him <3

He found it in this free downloadable recipe book. Maybe we’ll have to try some of the others!

Dearden Family Visit!

2010-02-15T02:14:00.001-05:00

Oh goodness, what a lovely visit we had…

Walks on the beach, snorkeling, boogie boarding, eating out, sand fortresses (Sam owns when it comes to making sand fortresses), Hanauma Bay, Hale’iwa, PCC Night Show… it was a lot to fit into a week.

Here are some pics of when we were snorkeling off Hukilau shore.

top left: Sam

top right: Katie (mostly, at least)

bottom left: Thomas and Sam (awww.. brothers :)

bottom right: Sam

Kahuku Grill

2010-02-15T01:27:00.001-05:00

We went with Liam, Jess, and Ezra to the Kahuku Grill on Jan 30. Yes, I’m behind :) But we love that place, they do really yummy burgers and fries, and their shrimp might even be better than Giovanni’s.

Ezra was being cute…

Thomas was being cute, too… But he threw water at me when I tried to take pictures of him.. :) (No fear people, I was using the waterproof camera.. and eh, I probably deserved it ;)

So you just get Ezra today! (Isn’t it amazing how much he looks like Liam in the top picture? I think so… )

This happens…

2010-01-31T18:47:00.001-05:00

His face. My face.

Sometimes I feel as if it tells all :)

This is from a hike that we went on early in the month with Liam, Jess, Ezra, two really cool friends of theirs, and their little girl. The Hau’ula Loop trail. <<cue flashback>> It’s one that Thomas and I did way back in our first semester here (Dec 07) for our “Hawaiian snow day”. That’s what we called it because they cancelled school due to some heavy wind and rain on the other side of the island? or something like that.. whatever it was, it knocked the electricity out, but the weather on this side was so beautiful; so we hung out with friends a bit (I think we played some football first) then Thomas and I biked up here and hiked the trail. I recall being barefoot for some reason.

So needless to say, it was fun to do it again, this time with shoes and some more friends. And oh look, since writing I found photographic evidence of the 07 hike! Thomas had the camera, so there’s only pictures of me and the trees.. But you’ll have to believe me that he was there.

Yep, just as I thought: bare feet, and wouldn’t you know it?.. that face again. Oh dear.

Well here are some pictures of the hike (Thomas’ pictures from 07 – since I pretty much didn’t get any shots other than that first one).

Oh goodness, I love this place.

New Scrapbooking Program

2010-01-03T20:49:00.001-05:00

So I tried it out, mom. It’s a lot of fun! And I have a lot to learn. But here is try number one :)

Saturday at the Studio…

2009-12-06T15:38:00.001-05:00

… my stud created a masterpiece. After we went for a morning walk around our little town, gazed at the ocean for a while, and treated ourselves to dollar menu fruit and yogurt parfaits at McDonald’s, we then decided to stop by the art studio to do some painting. I had some paintings to work on for my class, so I dragged Thomas along, set him up with an easel, brush, and paints and we painted together for a while. It was quite a lovely morning. And I was so tickled by the piece of art he produced; I honestly still can’t get over it, I love it so much. It is titled “Dog on Boat”.

I love the way he captured Dante’s poise and regality. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but there is so much life in the texture of his fur and in the scrubbiness of the trees; I love the strokes in the sky and how they balance out the weight of the bottom of the composition. It’s so simplistic yet so expressive – he handled the difficulties that oil paints pose so gracefully! I can’t wait for it to dry so we can find a way to hang it up in our home!

Christmastime!

2009-11-29T16:24:00.001-05:00

We are getting so excited for Christmas around here! And it is certainly getting a little colder, too! ;) We have been enjoying Christmas music for a few weeks now (sites like Pandora and Last are SO GREAT, they make it so easy to listen to all kinds of Christmas music). We have already received Christmas packages, too. I honestly don’t know what we are going to do when our moms disown us or decide that we don’t need packages anymore.. They take such good care of us and send us so many fun things! Thank you moms, we really appreciate the packages and feel the love that comes with them.

We didn’t waste any time – the day after Thanksgiving we decorated our mini-tree! At first we were using the bib (that Mom Cornelison sent to Ezra) as a tree skirt.. and it worked SO great – until Ezra came over and needed something to wear while he ate his sweet potato baby food. We put the reindeer figurine that Mom Dearden sent us a tree-topper! I think it looks great!

So here it is. There are only two more weeks of school before break.. I can’t believe that it has come so quickly! My how the year flies. Exciting things for sure. Merry Christmas!

Double Days of Decadence

2009-11-29T15:59:00.001-05:00

Liam coined the phrase, but as I beat him to the blog, I get to steal it. And what a decadent pair of days we had indeed! Thanksgiving started in the morning when Liam, Jess, and Ezra came over to make us a special breakfast: orange rolls, cuties, and hot chocolate made with nutella. (mmmm.. you have to ask Jessie about that! So good!) We got to spend Thanksgiving afternoon with family here on the island, Uncle Pat and his crew. They were so generous to invite us, and we had SUCH a great time. We enjoyed a full-out Thanksgiving feast ending with pumpkin pie and all. After lunch, we played foosball, ping-pong, and Rock Band. We were so glad to be able to spend Thanksgiving with such delightful family! That night we went back to our place and Jessie made us some appetizers to enjoy (because we were too full to eat a full dinner). We had bacon-wrapped chestnuts, cream-cheese stuffed olives, and cheese and crackers; then Thomas made some pumpkin bread for us! And this was only day 1!

The next day, Liam, Jess, and Ezra came over in the afternoon and we had round two of feasting. Thomas and I cooked a turkey for the first time, which was exciting. I couldn’t find the pack of giblets in the turkey and had to ask Thomas to dig around to find them! It was kind of funny :) We injected the turkey with sparkling cider and put apple-halves in the cavity of the turkey while it roasted. It was maybe a little bit too appley, but it was fun to try! Thomas made some delicious wheat dinner rolls and a sweet potato dish. Jess brought creamy mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. It was a feast all over again!

We found it a wonderful thing to spread the feasting over two days.. you never get too full that way, and get to enjoy everything. In the past, we have found that the appetizers fill you up so much that there’s not enough room for dinner! We fixed that problem :) And then the boys boiled what was left of the turkey and made us all a delicious turkey and dumping soup! What chefs!

Here are some pics of us hanging out on our second day of decadence. The top right picture of Thomas is him revving his electric knife to carve the turkey – he means business! Ezra was really cute, I think that he actually enjoyed posing for the camera for a bit. I would hold it up and he would smile and coo. Once, when I turned to take pictures of others, he made a small fuss, but when I turned the camera back to him, he smiled again! What a cute and goofy boy! We had a lot of fun just hanging out together and remembering all we have to be thankful for. We really are so blessed. Happy Thanksgiving!

Coupons and Ice Cream

2009-11-20T03:00:00.002-05:00

Liam, Jess, Ezra, Thomas and I headed down to the mall on Saturday. After an episode of grueling coupon-retrieving (We got free gift cards, for standing in line at the mall.. cool huh? Then we we split up to chase down the man in the pizza suit to get a coupon – and succeeded :) and an intense Jenga showdown over pizza, we stopped by Cold Stone to get some ice cream with yet even more coupons (Thomas got a coupon for a free cup of ice cream for his birthday and Jess had picked out a buy one get one ad from the paper). We had an intense coupon day! And it paid off :)

Here’s the Jenga madness

All fall down! We’re pretty much Jenga masters. (This is such a fun place to eat. It’s Boston style pizza, and while you are waiting, they have a whole bunch of games to play with. We’ve played CandyLand and Scrabble before. Fun times!)

As I said before, after the Jenga and the pizza, we all had enough room for some Cold Stone! In all truth though, when is there not enough room for ice cream? So here we are. I got a real kick out of the candid shot I got of Ezra with his arms out and his lip all puffed like that. I thought it looked like he was trying to make a “tough guy” type of “bring it on” face.. Which is cute because it’s Ezra’s sweet little personality doing it.. So I made Jess copy it so I could put the two pictures together :) I love being on this side of the camera!

ANNNNDDD… there you go! Ezra’s first ice cream experience! We knew it had to happen sooner or later; ice cream runs in Cornelison blood! He actually didn’t seem too phased by his first taste of sugary goodness. Perhaps he was just surprised at the texture and temperature. But I think that I saw a smile for a second there for sure :)

Scuba Diving

2009-11-12T21:14:00.001-05:00

Thomas and I went scuba diving for his birthday. We have been wanting to go diving again for a while, and so we took this opportunity to sign up for some exciting boat dives with our favorite dive shop on the North Shore, Deep Ecology. While Thomas has been on many boat dives, this was my first, and so it was really exciting! So we got our gear all together and drove up on Saturday morning… two adventure seekers with the world at our fingertips! This is us feeling the adventure vibe…

The plan was to dive a shipwreck called Mahi, and then Makaha Caverns, but the waves were ripping too much to do a dive close to shore, so we ended up getting to do two wreck dives on one trip, which I am told is fairly rare. So we ended up doing Mahi and LCU. These are some pictures that I took while we were on the dock, of the boat, the boy toy, and the water. All good stuff! It was a beautiful day.

Being on the boat was fun, too. Here’s Thomas and me out on the big blue wet thing before splashing in. The silhouette is of Thomas after the first dive. The first dive was really cool, we got to go to about 89 feet and explore around a wreck. There was a lot of sea life down there; the coolest thing we saw probably was a group of spotted eagle rays. There were about 5 of them, and they were really big and graceful. Their heads were shaped different than rays I have seen, which is probably where they get their name. We saw some medusa spaghetti worms and lots of neat fish.

The second dive was to a sunken Landing Craft Unit, and I really liked being able to look inside the port holes and into the bridge. There was a turtle inside, who poked out his head from a small hole to check us out before coming out and swimming with us. We saw some frog fish too, two of them sitting together on top of what looked like handle bars of a bike coming out of the boat. There was also a sunken sail boat next to the LCU, rocking back and forth in the waves. Fun stuff to explore!

Here we are at the end of the dives, ready to go back to shore, happy as can be, complete with attractive matching mask lines! Great Memories!

Reflections

2009-11-09T03:01:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!
He makes me so happy.

*So about the picture: Thomas and I went to the beach this week and I was taking some pictures.. and I have to admit, this was an accident, but I thought that it was so cool! Earlier, I was trying to get some of me in the reflection of his glasses, but this one I was just trying to get a shot of me beside him, with us looking at each other. Well when I first looked at it, I thought that I had completely failed because I cropped myself out of it.. But when I looked closer, I saw that I was in the picture twice.. perfectly framed in each of his lenses, once with me and the camera and the other with our shadows! Sweet!

Cutest Nephew EVER

2009-11-05T00:00:00.012-05:00

You might have noticed a pattern here and in recent blogs.. I like taking pictures of Ezra. He's such a cute little guy. Thomas was marveling at the fact that there were more pictures of Ezra on our blog than either he or I! Yup :)
Well, so it goes, I guess. What can you do?
So here he is again. With his wonderful mom, too!
Liam, Jess, and Ezra came to hang out Wednesday night. We had calzones and brownies with ice cream. Twas a lovely evening all around.
And Jess and Ezra were so nice to let me use their faces for some pictures.. We started late with little light, and so the images are really pixelly - and at the end it was so dark I couldn't even get the camera to focus right - but I just love the little faces that Ezra made.. so much that I couldn't pick which one to post. But I know mothers and grandmothers don't mind looking at lots of pictures of cute sons and grandsons - and they are the only people who really read the blog anyway :) - so I figured I'd just post almost all of them!

Our First Pumpkin

2009-10-30T02:48:00.003-04:00

Here it is! Our first pumpkin masterpiece! Happy Halloween!

Hanging Out

2009-10-25T18:14:00.012-04:00

This week was great! Liam was gone on a business trip (missed you, brother!), but we were able to spend some nights with Jessie and Ezra! What a fun pair they are to hang out with. Ezra is getting so much bigger, and he's learning some fun new tricks. He and Jessie will have little conversations where Ezra will imitate sounds and mouth motions Jess makes. How clever he is! :) It's so much fun to see them interacting together; Ezra so obviously loves his mom, and Jess is so loving and attentive to him. This picture of them is at Turtle Bay.

I hadn't been there before, but it's a nice beach. (You HAVE to zoom in and take a look at this little guy's hair in the silhouette - I LOVE it. It stands straight up and it is SO soft and fluffy)

Thomas, Jessie, Ezra and I went there on Friday evening to watch the sunset then Jessie treated us to dinner at Ted's Bakery. (Thanks again Jess, it was so delicious!) This is when we were in line at Ted's Bakery. I love the adoring look Ezra has when he looks up at his mom. So precious!

On the way there, I thought I would document what it looks like to drive in Hawaii at night :) You're welcome.

MAIL!!

2009-10-20T01:47:00.021-04:00

Here's the mail
It never fails
It makes me wanna wag my tail
When it comes I wanna wail...
MAIL!!!

We love getting mail. At TVA, getting mail is especially fun because we're not sure what time it comes, so that gives us the excuse to check it multiple times in a day.

AND if you get a package, then you get a pretty pink slip that you take into the office - you sign a paper and they go to the secret shelf of package heaven to find which little package was sent to you. It's double the excitement that way, you see? It's great! Today was a special mail day.. Mom sent me a new pair of glasses and some other great treats! I've been so excited for my glasses... I get to wear them to work at the library and I'll look so much more legit now. This is my shhhhhh! you're in the library!! face. I'm excited.

Plus, mom sent me some other great things... Sees candy :) And a bib and earwarmers.

Thanks mom, I love them SO MUCH!

P.S. I think that mom is going a little bit crazy, because she said something about sharing the package with little Ezra, but that's just silly. He's too young to eat Sees candy.

A Poem About This Week

2009-10-18T17:40:00.003-04:00

We had some tests.
We studied for those tests,
studied studied studied studied,
sometimes together at the library,
how romantic.
I got two tickets on my bike.
We tried miso soup and got some ingredients to make it,
we're excited for that.
We bought oranges!!
We bought fruit and vegetables at the farmers market,
which is the most genius thing the Seasider has ever done,
the pineapples rock especially.
It was payday on Friday.
We got discount artichokes and shared them with Liam and Jess,
they came over and we hung out with Ezra,
we showed him "Speed Racer".
Liam and Jess came over and shared fries and "The Soloist",
it was good, genius people are crazy,
i know because I live with one :) love you hun.
Thomas made Boston Cream Pie!
and Jessie knew what it was,
and it was delicious.
We need to buy new slippers,
because ours are almost worn all the way through,
gotta love good ol worn out slippers.
And that's about it.
The end :)

Date Nights

2009-10-11T17:31:00.007-04:00

This last week, Thomas took me out on some fun dates! Last Saturday, we went to the Haunted Lagoon that the PCC has done for two years now. They managed to do some really cool things, we had a lot of fun on it. It's so different because they can use the water and so it is really creepy to be grabbed from the depths beneath. You have to be on your guard from multiple angles. This year they had more money to put into it, due to how much success they had with the Haunted Lagoon last year.. which is evident by some of the cool animatronics they incorporated into the set up. We had been looking forward to going and were not disappointed! Let's see, and then this last Thursday, Thomas and I went to a concert on campus. Na Drua was the main band, but we really liked the openers, too. The first one played some rocked-up jazz numbers, which was cool, they did some unique things. Then some students performed, three girls and an acoustic guitar, and we were way impressed. Then when Na Drua came on, they had this whole dance floor that was laid out and it was packed with students. The music was reggae, I think I'd say, and it was fun to experience something a little different. Apparently some of them or one of them graduated from BYUH. We felt so cool going to a reggae concert late at night :)

Then when we aren't out at a banging
concert or a haunted canoe ride, we've had some quieter date nights. Though sad we were that the local video store Ohana Video closed, we were able to get a lot of fun edited movies for a few dollars each. So we've been working a bit on that collection... with our very own "his and hers" desserts... I like the mint oreos and Thomas likes the plain, so when they went on sale last week, we just got both. This isn't the first time that has happened...
But I do think that this IS the first time that THIS has happened:

While it's true that we usually have one of these babies stocked in our freezer, it's rare for us to have TWO. The truth is that we inherited one of them after a psychology club party and we had one already.. But when I saw them in our freezer together it made me laugh so I had to take a picture - they take up almost half of the room in there! Combined with our two packs of oreos, we look like an insane couple with an aversion to sharing or something :) But don't you worry! I let him have some of my mint oreos.. once in a while :)

October Time!

2009-10-03T23:25:00.016-04:00

It's October! Crazy, isn't it? Yesterday marked the 3/4 year anniversary of Thomas and me getting married and he proposed in this very month, last year. Time flies!

We're so excited for Halloween over here. Mom Dearden sent us an awesome package of Halloween goodies and decorations -and we've had our decorations up for a week already, and so I thought that I would show them to you, to get you into the Halloween mood, too.

Oh yeah, and we've also been getting ready by eating lots of candy :) Don't tell our moms.

If you were to come visit us today, you'd be welcomed by our little pet spider that lives in it's "web". It's fun, we've had a couple of kids walk by and tell us that they really like our spider and this one little boy got all excited to tell us what he was going to be for Halloween. I like the sequin eyes.

The not-as-welcoming skeletons that are hanging from our windows are fun, too. Kinda spooky, not going to lie, but I really like them. Their little arms and legs can move and I just think they're so creepy, it's great!

Then we have a whole assortment of little pumpkins, a black crow sitting on the top of our tall bookcase, a skull, and these cute little spiders all around. Thomas puts the little spiders in obscure places every time he straightens things up. We have this little sculpture of two people dancing, and one time he had a spider on their shoulder. Maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was funny :)

And in our bedroom, we have pumpkin lights! I love little hanging lights. We still need to get an extension cord so that we can turn them on, but they are fun even when they are off. Oh! And I almost about FrankenTowel! I love FrankenTowel!

So even though the trees don't turn colors here and the air doesn't get that crisp feel, we are bringing some Autumn atmosphere to our little home. Happy Halloween!

Marble Art!

2009-08-29T00:53:00.006-04:00

So I'm in an class right now that's all about methods for teaching art to elementary-aged children. As you can imagine, the class is a lot of fun! I go in twice a week and do a project for two hours - we've made mobiles, used chalk and stencils, foil sculptures, paper-mache, mosaics out of construction paper - the list goes on.

Part of the class involves presenting a lesson plan that incorporates a different art project, and we have to bring samples... so Thomas and I got down to it and did some intense marble painting. Here's Thomas getting his paper all ready to be colorified.

You've probably heard about it or have done it when you were young, but I hadn't ever done it before. You get a marble (or multiple marbles), cover it in paint, and roll it around on a paper taped into the inside of a box. We also tried a bigger marble that was wrapped in a few rubber bands, and it was cool to see how the trail was different. Thomas got really creative and curved his paper so the marble skated back and forth. It was pretty fun, and so I took some pictures and thought that I would share our masterpieces :)

Our New Home

2009-08-03T00:25:00.007-04:00

So, we moved. It's amazing how even though we were living in a small studio for only 7 months, we still managed to collect a lot of stuff. But we got it all over here in only 4 trips with the wonderful help of brother Liam (sorry again that we woke you up so early, you're the best) and new neighbor Micah.. Thanks guys!
I would have gotten pictures of them doing all their manly manual labor, but we had packed the camera already and couldn't remember exactly which box it was in. Go figure, huh? It ended up being one of the last things that we unpacked.
BUT here are pictures of our new home. Being on campus has been really nice; lately, I've been able to bike to work, class, and the store. I bike home on my breaks. It's great.

Here's the living room:

And then the kitchen.. yay for more counter space!

And our bed's new comforter, the one that traveled with us on that exciting trip back from Ohio.. It's been to a lot of airports :) (You can't really see, but from the bedroom there's a lovely view of the swings. I love swings.. we went out on them this morning, and Thomas did a great job of pushing me high)

And that's a pretty complete tour, minus the closet, the bathroom, and the wall in our bedroom that connects to the living room, with the desk.
Home sweet newly-wed home!

MY sweetie PIE

2009-07-30T00:38:00.004-04:00

While chatting on the phone, my mom asks what I'm going to make for dinner. Deep sigh. I have no clue. I'm trying to rack my brain for something that sounds good, but no inspiration comes. What's a girl to do? I bike home from my painting class, preparing to throw something random together. I step inside and to my utmost joy I find my angel husband putting a chicken pot pie in the oven. I'm almost positive I saw the halo. A CHICKEN POT PIE. I've never even attempted one. But here he is, baking a pie from scratch with a recipe that he found from AllRecipes.com.
I'm in love.
And to make it even more fairytalesque, the pie is delicious! The inside is oh-so-creamy with all its chicken and veggie goodness and a flaky crust surrounding it all.
:)
Another deep sigh. Though one of a different nature.

So I'm hardly done digesting this wonderful dinner when my hubby says that he's ready for dessert. I'm thinking a scoop of ice cream or a cookie.
BAM. He pulls out pie number two from the fridge.
Banana cream.

Oh man.
And I thought the chicken pie was good.
I have never tasted a banana pie like it. Or any pie like it, for that matter. He made a sweet crust and topped it with a filling that was - yet again - completely from scratch. I thought it was a rule that you had to make cream pies with boxed JELLO pudding. I'm happy to stand corrected. I'm going to have to get you all the recipes once I get hold of them.
So needless to say, I'm feeling pretty loved. He does stuff like this all the time though. Sorry to brag, but I've got the best husband ever.
:)
But just as a disclaimer, I loved him BEFORE he cooked so many great things for me...

The Zoo

2009-07-08T16:51:00.035-04:00

We went to the Honolulu Zoo with Jess and Ezra on the Fourth of July. We met lots of new friends there... Some human, some animal. Unfortunately, due to a freak boogie-boarding mishap, Liam couldn't join up with us until later. His morning was spent a little less pleasantly. But we took pictures so that he could later experience the joys of the zoo on a bright Saturday afternoon! And now we are going to share some of those joys with you, too. First we saw elephants taking a dirt bath. They were Ezra's favorite. He was very sleepy for most of the afternoon. But he still liked listening to all the animal sounds!

There were a lot of active animals on this particular trip. One of my favorites was when Thomas and I met the meerkat on watch duty. He was just standing there, staring at us. He hardly moved at all, it was so funny to see him just looking at us as if we were the ones on display. At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to catch him on camera or that he would move away after I took a picture... but he turned out to be the perfect model! He stayed and posed for us for multiple shots. Thomas and I had fun catching the funny little faces he made. We are posting only a few, but you can almost see his little personality. We became fast friends.

The hippos were also fun to watch. They had this ball that they kept chasing around, in and out of the water. I had never seen hippos so active before, it was crazy. And their jaws are huge. Let's just say that I am most grateful that I am not the ball they were chasing around and chomping at. Thomas caught some fun action shots of the hippos playing together. They were a definite highlight.

Then there were the monkeys. I decided that my dream home is something similar to what the orangutans inhabit, with hammocks and rope swings and ladders all over, all up in the trees.. it was magical. There were a lot of fun ones, but my favorite monkey I saw was the one I brought with me :)

Overall, it was a great trip to the zoo, followed by a delicious dinner and a great fireworks show. Ezra loved the fireworks and wasn't upset by the noise at all. Driving home, we were all tired, but satisfied with the great day we had shared.

Kahana Bay

2009-06-22T00:42:00.009-04:00

We got a new waterproof camera! And a new boogie board! So we decided that this last Saturday would be good day to try them both out.. So we walked down to Kahana Bay Beach Park for a morning in the sun. It was a little rainy at first, but that turned out to be short lived and it ended up being quite beautiful. There weren't a ton of waves that were really ideal, but Thomas still managed to ride some in to shore.. and I caught one of those times on camera - on my first try :) I'm pro already. Even though I have to admit that Thomas took better pictures. Liam said now that we have an underwater camera, we can post things on our blog. Apparently just having a blog isn't cool enough. You've got to post stuff. So here we go!

And here's our first blog video! Yay!

Wedding Pictures

2009-01-23T00:28:00.003-05:00

Hey I thought I would put up some wedding photos for all to see

The Start of Our Blog

2009-01-20T23:08:00.000-05:00

So Liam and Jess told us upon hearing that we were engaged that we had to start a blog. Apparently, all the cool married people are doing it. Well we're cool. And we're married. So here's our blog to prove it.