Living in Texas Pt 1

Sam and I live in a town called Humble, Texas. But don't pronounce it like it's spelt, the town is Umble, Texas. Sam and I pretty much slaughter every towns name down here. Texas is really pretty and green. Trees everywhere! It's hard to tell where you are even going. And it's now clear to me I don't know my North and Souths, I just knew where the mountains were in Utah! Now I get so flipped around! Some of the highlights of our Texas summer so far is going out to Galveston. It's a cute Beachy town with a pier and lots of fun tours and things to do. I ate at my first Whataburger and we stopped at a Flight Museum on the way home. The Village of Tiki Island was amazing too. The prettiest homes right on the lake and Sam and I were envious of it all! We also took a temple trip to Spring, Texas to see the beautiful Houston Temple. It was a different experience than going to the Provo Temple but it had the same feelings of peace and comfort just like all temples do. We also went with some friends to an Astros baseball game. It was dollar hot dog day so you can imagine how many hot dogs we consumed. It was fun catching up with old friends and the Astros won! Sam and I have also enjoyed eating barbecue, yummy Texas steak, being near Lake Houston, going on drives and seeing pretty Texan neighborhoods and babysitting the precious little kids we live with on Friday nights! Our summer in Texas is turning out pretty great! 

Disneyland Duo

I had been begging Sam to take me to disneyland and even before we were married he promised me a trip there. So for Valentines Day I was excited to see some homemade Disneyland Tickets. Sam and didn't want to have all the fun, so we invited my brothers and sisters along for the trip. We only got to spend two days in Disneyland so we woke up early the first day and scrambled into the park. Practically running to Indiana Jones, then to Haunted Mansion, and then to Pirates of the Caribbean. Then the lines picked up and we didn't get to do as many rides in a hurry. But we caught most of them! When we waited in line at Space Mountain we played charades on our phones and it turned into everyone around us playing charades too. I get sick if I go on too many roller coasters, so I went on California Screamin only once and Justine waited with me. The others went again and Justine and I went to get fast passes to Radiator Springs Racers. Sam and I enjoyed some ice cream at my favorite parlor on Disney Main Street, and enjoyed tons of other fun rides. Unfortunately Splash Mountain and Tower of Terror were closed, but we still had tons of fun. All 6 of us stayed in a ghetto hotel so we could save money so Sam and I volunteered to be on the ground on a blow up mattress. Talk about style. The third day we went to a beach to try to catch a tan before heading home. Disneyland is so fun but even more fun with my favorite five people. 

A Costa Rican Honeymoon

I didn't dare dream of a huge honeymoon. My whole life I was content with going to Park City or California. So when Sam took my to Costa Rica, I was more than happy, I was ecstatic!!! Our first stop was San Jose. It was a really big and pretty city. We stayed in a nice hotel called Grano De Oro that had a fabulous breakfast!! We then took a baby plane to the other side of Costa Rica to a town called Tambor. We ended up at a resort called Tango Mar. Everyone there was European and older. People probably wondered what is two American kids were doing there. It had about three pools that lead into one big infinity pool that looked right out into the ocean. The beach was seriously ten feet away. Our hotel was a cute tiki hut with a ocean view. By this point I was feeling extremely spoiled. We did so many fun things while we were there. Sam and I went scuba diving, our to Tortuga Island where we laid on the white sand and made friends with a little javelina island Mascot. We rode horses through the jungle and onto the beach, spotted lots of howler monkeys and even took a hike to see one of the only waterfalls that fall directly into the ocean. We saw tons of Dolphins swimming and jumping when we were on a boat ride and saw about five sting rays up from a look out point. One of my favorite days we spent ziplining on a canopy tour that led to a waterfall Sam and I jumped in. It was one of those days I'll never forget! One morning Sam and I woke up early and watch the sunrise. I remember being so full of happiness and gratitude for me amazing husband and this amazing world. I'm glad we did such a fun trip for our honeymoon, because you only get a true honeymoon once. I love you Costa Rica! 

London with my Love

Sam and I had planned a weekend in Hawaii. We made all the arrangements and packed our bags. But because Sam and I fly on standby, our dreams of going to Hawaii was crushed when everyone else had to same idea as us. I got really bummed and Sam and I started heading home. This United Airline worker came up to us and said "why don't you go to Munich this weekend? Or Cancun?" And he was right, why did we have to go home and call it quits? We found an empty flight to London, switched our swimsuits for jackets and took the 8 hour flight to the UK. Sam had never been to London, and this being my third time I felt it was important for me to be his tour guide ;) We went and saw Buckingham Palace, (unfortunately a 5k race stopped the Changing of the Guards from happening) Big Ben, Westminster, rode a double decker bus over Tower Bridge and spotted St Paul's Cathederal and The Tower of London. Sam had injured his foot a few days before but he was a champ and limped all over this beautiful city. The best part of this trip was going home. We wanted to save money so we thought it was a good idea to stay at the airport instead of paying for a hotel. It was 9pm and we took the Underground all the way back out to the airport just to find out that the airport closes and we couldn't stay there. There was a small corner in the airport that didn't close, so we found a chair and got ready to wait there for 12 hours before our flight. Oh what we will do to save some money!!! Let's just say by the time we got home we had gone three days with maybe three hours of sleep. But it was worth it! London is still just as magical of a place and I loved seeing it with my baby love!