The Quintessence of Life

Sidenote: This makes me miss my longboard

"To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls,

draw closer, to find each other, and to feel.

That is the purpose of life."

On Friday, Colt took me to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty at the dollar theater. 

We saw it when it first came out in theaters, and we both loved it, so we went and saw it again this weekend. 

If you haven't seen it, go. 

It's funny, sweet, contains a great message, and it has Jose Gonzalez on the soundtrack. 

So,

it's basically perfect.

We liked the movie a lot the first time around, but this time, the message touched my heart and it felt kind of personal.

Over the last couple of weeks, Colt and I have been trying to decide between a few different job opportunities to pursue after he graduates in April. We finally made our decision: 

after my contract is up in May, we will be moving to Philadelphia, PA 

so Colt can begin his internship with Boeing.

We're moving there with the assumption the city looks exactly like this. Don't disappoint me, Philadelphia.

Boeing has been our first choice since September, 

but when the opportunity finally arrived, 

we really had to sit down and think about it.

We are a little bit scared (me most, probably).

Our life is in Utah. I've been living here for almost eight years; 

Colt has been here for over five. 

When I moved here for college, I never thought I would start to think of it as home,

but that's what it has become. 

We have a life here. 

My job is here, we have family close by 

(not to mention the family that lives out of state is still just a one day drive away), 

we have wonderful friends, an indoor soccer team, an apartment we love. 

We met here, got married here. 

I know my way around SLC, Provo, Highland, Spanish Fork. It's familiar.

It's home now.

I cried the night we made our decision to leave. 

"Are we sure it's the right thing?"

I've never been further east than Colorado.

We are west coast kids, born and bred.

We have no family over there. 

No friends (yet).

I'm 72% sure I will get mugged.

I feel like a country mouse moving to the big city...

And I'm not even from the country. 

Plus, if all goes according to plan and Colton gets hired on full-time with Boeing, it's likely we won't be staying in Philadelphia. So it will be tricky for me to find a job for three months and figure out where I should look for a job in the fall, since we likely won't know where we're going until the end of the summer.

However...

Neither of us can deny the sense of calm and excitement we feel when we think about Boeing and moving to Philly. 

It feels like a good decision.

It feels like the best choice for our family. 

It feels right.

But at the same time, the thought of leaving with no plans to return-it's sad. 

Anyways, that's where Walter Mitty comes in. 

The quote posted above is the motto of "Life," the magazine that Walter works for.

His love interest also said something that resonated with me:

"Life is about courage, and going into the unknown." 

Not going to Philadelphia because we're sad and scared to leave Utah aren't good reasons to stay here.

In fact, if you're scared of something, I think that's a pretty good indicator you should give it a try.

In the movie, Walter makes poor life choices and hops on board a helicopter with a drunk pilot. I'm hoping our move to Philly is slightly less reckless.

Life isn't about sticking with things that are familiar and comfortable, just because striking out and doing something new makes you afraid, or because it's inconvenient.

It's about drawing closer to each other, seeing the world, finding yourself and God, having new experiences and learning from them.

I feel like Philadelphia is an opportunity for us to really start living our life...

and we don't even have to fly to Greenland, or scale the Himalayas of Ungoverned Afghanistan to do it, like Walter did.

Maybe we will one day. 

But for now, Philadelphia is enough.

East coast or bust, yeah?

Plus...

These homies live in Philadelphia.

Look how happy they are.

Valentine's Day

6:05 a.m.

I wake up early to make Colton heart shaped chocolate-chip pancakes and eggs. 

We even have blueberry syrup, because it is a special day. 

The pancakes come out looking more like kidneys.

Delicious, chocolate-chip kidneys.

7:00 a.m.

We eat the kidney pancakes. 

Colton receives his hand-crafted Valentine from me. 

7:30 a.m. 

Colt leaves for work. 

I had to do preschool testing with the district, so I got to go in a bit later.

Happy Valentine's Day to me!

Then, one kid took an hour and a half to test.

And he didn't even know it was Valentine's Day.

Four year-old goober.

3:10 p.m. 

Colton sends me a text asking when I'll get off of work. 

I tell him I'm leaving in five minutes.

3:35 p.m.

I actually leave work.

3:55 p.m.

I get home and our front door is locked. 

I'm a little annoyed, because I know Colt is home,

and unlocking the door is hard for me.

Always has been, always will be.

I walk in the door (keys stuck in the lock, per usual)

and our wedding playlist is on full blast 

(Ray Lamontagne's "You Are The Best Thing" at this particular moment).

On the counter is a calendar Colt created using pictures of us from specific months 
(with sweet notes on each page),

two sugar cookies from Swig 

(the best ever, which I've been craving for weeks)

and some pretty red roses.

He also had an itinerary all written out: 

Dinner at Magleby's at 5:00, Saving Mr. Banks at 7:30, etc.

5:00 p.m.

We drive to Magleby's and wait to be seated.

5:15 p.m.

We are seated. 

We've never been to Magleby's before, and as luck would have it,

our waitress tells us we picked a great night to come. 

Instead of providing dinner menus like usual, tonight is buffet style. 

This means that, for only $40.00 per person, you can get however much of whatever you want, including their renowned seafood selections. 

We thank our waitress, and she leaves to get us water.

5:17 p.m.

We sneak out of Magleby's.

5:30 p.m.

We drive to the actual Magleby's we intended to eat at in the first place 

(i.e. a more casual dining experience) 

and order ourselves a delicious burrito (for C) and a Philly Cheese Steak sammich (for me)

 for $8.00 a plate.

Ah. That's better.

6:00 p.m.

We realize we have an hour and a half to kill before our movie starts.

We drive home.

6:25 p.m.

I climb in our bed. 

6:40 p.m.

I cannot get out. 

I realize: We can either pay seven dollars to sleep at the movie theater, or sacrifice seven dollars to sleep in our own bed.

7:00 p.m.

After some finagling, we get ahold of the theater manager, who agrees to let us switch our tickets to the Saturday afternoon showing.

7:30 p.m.

I am asleep.

It's a Valentine's Day tradition, you see.

In two of the three Valentine's Day's we've had together, we've been asleep before 8:30.

Who are we to mess with tradition?

I realize that not everyone's perfect Valentine's Day involves copious amounts of delicious food 
and falling asleep before many infants.
Ours does, though.

 I hope you had the most perfect Valentine's Day for you!

Futbol

Here's some news:

Colt and I have joined an indoor soccer team called Threat Level Midnight.

Don't worry, I haven't played soccer since I was in 7th grade on a rec league team.

Don't worry, I am significantly out of shape.

It's bad.

Apparently my tiny stationary bike is not as effective as I'd hoped.

 

I scored a goal in our first game! I cheered for myself. 

End career highlights.

Other then that, I fall down a lot, run hard at the beginning and get tired quickly, lose the ball often, and occasionally do something cool that surprises myself and everyone around me.

 

Injury Report: 

Colton

 Strained quad

Tweaked ankle 

Sam

 Black and blue toenail

Half of calf bruised in the shape of the United States of America.

I'll post a picture. It was magnificent.

This was taken before it reached it's peak size and color

 

But seriously, it's the most fun.

Even though it's so low key, I still get pre-game jitters, and feel like a complete bad-a when I put on my shin guards and pull up my soccer socks.

 

I LOVE it.

 

In fact, I have pre-game jitters right now, and it's only 3:00. Our game doesn't start until 8:15.

We lost our last game (our first loss of the season), and I was really bothered. We could have beat that team.

I forgot how much it sucks to lose. 

 

Wish us luck tonight.

I don't know if my heart can take another loss.

I want a championship shirt

and bragging rights.

 

 



Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen

My babe started off the night listening to this.

By the end, he was listening to this.

And enjoying it.

New Years Eve

I don't know about anyone else, but after approximately ten minutes of watching Carson Daley and his band of misfit toys host the Ball Drop, 

I became extremely annoyed. 

How are these people on T.V? 

Why are they wrecking New Years with their asinine commentary?

Happy 2014, though!

Going For A Run?

I am. 

It's time to start up again. I miss it so much. 

Partly because it gives me an excuse to put new playlists together on my ipod.

1. Intro-M83
2. Madness-Muse
3. Take A Walk-Passion Pit
4. Counting Stars-OneRepublic
5. Tongue-Tied-Grouplove
6. Now Is The Start-A Fine Frenzy
7. Hero-Family Of The Year
8. Everlasting Light-The Black Keys
9. Lake Michigan-Rogue Wave
10. Wake Me Up-Avicii
11. Midnight City-M83
12. Stay Alive-Jose Gonzalez
13. Wherever You Will Go-Charlene Soraia
14. Punching In A Dream-The Naked And Famous
15. Dirty Paws-Of Monsters And Men
16. Walking On A Dream-Empire Of The Sun
17. Naive-The Kooks

That Avicii song happens to be my new guilty pleasure. 

It brings me a 

skip-around-the-house-clad-in-minimal-amounts-of-clothing-with-speakers-turned-up-as-high-as-they-will-go 

kind of joy. 

Don't worry. 

I will be all sorts of clad when I go running today.

It's icy.

Things I've Learned After 6 Months of Marriage

Or, maybe I should say "Things I've Learned After 6 Months of Marriage to The Hotty McHotHot I Happen to Be Married To." After all, nobody is married to the same McHotHot as me. 
So here they are, in no particular order, for me to look back on when I forget these all-important principles:

6 Month Picture, 12/22/2013

1. "Hanger management" is important. Pack snacks when you run errands with your spouse.    
2. Celebrating birthdays and special events is still important-maybe even more important than they were before getting married. The celebrations don't need to be big or expensive, but a little thoughtfulness goes a long way. 
3. It's not always the husband's job to lock up at night. But it's always his job to get up a half-hour after we go to bed to double-check that the doors are locked on behalf of his paranoid wife. 
4. Gender stereotypes may not be 100% accurate 100% of the time, but they are stereotypes for a reason. Let's just say its not Colton getting teary-eyed over videos depicting a homeless war vet's makeover on YouTube.
5. Suck it up and say sorry ASAP. It's just better this way.
6. And when the other one says sorry, forgive and get past it as quickly as possible. I'm bad at this one. Sorry babe. Good thing I have eternity to practice (I might need it).
7. "Mo' money, mo' problems" is a load of crap. Biggie Smalls obviously never had student loans to pay off. However, to be fair, perhaps mo' money yields mo' problems when your main source of income comes from selling crack and talking smack about the West Coast. Don't mess.
8. A true gentleman is one who gives his wife all the blankets at night. Even if it's only because he gets too hot.
9. Sharing a queen-sized bed takes some getting used to, but not as much as people claim. Don't listen to the haters.
10. Marriage has it's hard moments, but it's fun. It's fun having a buddy to do things with, to wrestle with, to let you win all the dance-off's in the kitchen, to sleep with at night, to sit by, to wink at across the room at family gatherings. It's a good time.  

Clearly, I'm no expert. I still have a ton to learn. But I'm excited to learn it all with my buddy.

Here's to 6 months and counting!