Paris, je t'aime

A very, very small part of the gardens at Versailles. 

Man oh man, has life been crazy busy. July was a crazy busy month with 2 weddings, some camping, starting a new full-time job, and visiting more family... it's life and it's great.

I'll never fully catch up posting pictures of our trip. We literally took HUNDREDS of pictures. These are mostly from Versailles, Notre Dame, and the Opera House. 

We went looking for the Phantom and the Hunchback in the same day.

I'm still reliving it just by looking through these... Paris is for lovers, my friends. 

             

 

You'll notice we got really good at taking selfies. #selfienation

Climbing to the top of the Notre Dame calls for duck lips and bug-eyes.

Versailles

We never did find Quasimodo. But we climbed to the very top and saw the bells and gargoyles. 

After a few days in Paris, we went up to Normandy. What an incredible place that was.

We stayed in the darling little town of Bayeux and basically had a private tour for part of the day from Utah Beach in the North, down to Omaha Beach and Pont du Hoc and everywhere in between. It's so humbling to think of what happened in these places 70 years and a week to the day we were there. It meant a lot to us to be able to be there. 

German Batteries - the huge guns are still in there...

American Cemetery

Omaha Beach

Omaha beach

Bayeux

Let's Be Adventurers

Just a lovely afternoon in Battery Park in NYC - stripes were winning that day.

To say the last (almost) 4 months as newlyweds have been an adventure would be an accurate way to describe it. 

Every single leg of the big trip from this last month has been an adventure:

Serious tornado warnings in Nebraska the night of my Jazz gig - so the show was cancelled.

Driving all 2100+ miles myself from Utah to New Jersey.

Driving through Midtown Manhattan on a Friday afternoon in my new car to get to the airport. (Shoot me now.)

A really inconvenient strike on the Paris public transportation system.

Driving back from NJ to UT in TORRENTIAL downpours in the midwest with flash flooding all over the place.

(Just to name a few things...)

But, man oh man, Matt and I were basically on a honeymoon for 3 weeks and it really was like something out of a dream. We were with each other non-stop for 3 straight weeks and not only did we not get sick of each other, we had the time of our lives together and loved every moment realizing we'll probably not have an opportunity like that ever again.

So now were getting back to the daily grind, but the adventure doesn't stop!

There are two wedding in my family next week - there will have been 4 weddings in 4 months just in my immediate family. Crazy! 

Ending this post kind of awkwardly, but oh well. Ha. More details on our France trip coming up!

Scenes from my weekend.

"Some people are your relatives but others are your ancestors, and you choose the ones you want to have as ancestors. You create yourself out of those values."

Ralph Ellison

Things have been pretty busy around here since our wedding! Our wedding day was a dream and I can't fully express how thankful I am for everyone who came and shared that day with us and those who supported us and especially to my family that helped the day to run so smoothly. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. I still can't look back on it without getting a little misty eyed and all that sappy stuff. Ha. More on the awesome events of that day another time maybe... for now here are a few things we've been up to the last 2 months of wedded bliss!


People were SO very generous to us with wedding gifts and we couldn't have been more grateful. But our tiny apartment was COVERED in boxes for days! I don't even think the pictures do it justice. It really was terrible. And just when we'd get everything organized and put away and all the boxes thrown out, we'd get a delivery of more gifts (which we were super grateful for of course) and our little hobbit hole was covered in cardboard again. Also, I've got to say I really love my gas oven. It's about the size of an Easy Bake oven, but it's probably the best oven I've ever used. Ha. Love it.

With Matt in the military, his hair has to meet certain regulations. Being the poor newlyweds we are, we decided we could save some money by having me cut his hair at home. Now, I was pretty frank about not being good at cutting hair, but Matt told me there was no way I could mess it up if I was just buzzing it shorter... so I buzzed it and I didn't butcher it!

It's been a busy semester for Matt in the Air Force ROTC. He's now a completed cadet and will commission when he graduates in December. After that we'll go to Goodfellow Air Force Base for some training for a few months and from there, who knows! But with his job in the AF it could be anywhere in the world from Ramstein AFB in Germany to Mountain Home AFB in nowheresville Idaho. (I have a prayer in my heart every day that it won't be Mountain Home!)

In between all that, I've been teaching a lot of voice lessons and became a Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay! So come over and we'll play with makeup :) We've also had lots of fun as the weather has been warming up going to BBQs and spending time with friends and family.

Next up:
   In a few days Matt leaves for a study abroad in France and will be there for 3.5 weeks. Woof.
I'll drive out the NJ the first week of June and fly out from JFK to Paris where I'll be reunited with my love! We'll finally get our honeymoon and play in Paris and with day trips to other places in France (Normandy is at the top of our list). We'll be in France together for 10 days then we'll come back and hang out in NJ, NY, and Philly before road tripping it back to Utah for the rest of the summer to get ready for the little sister's wedding! This life is an adventure. I love it!

My Letters

Dear Monday, please be kind. It's going to be a crazy week and I would appreciate your cooperation. Dear Jack Bauer, I'm glad I finally introduced you to Matt and I'm glad to see you two are getting along really, really well. We love spending time with you and are excited to see you in London this summer. Dear Time, feel free to pick up the pace a little for the next 11 days (we're almost to single digits people!!!) Dearest Matt, I miss you when you're gone, even if it's just for 24 hours. I love your little notes. And also you.

Heaven is here.

"Heaven is a place, but it is also a condition..."

"it is home and family..."

"it is understanding and kindness..."

"It is interdependence and selfless activity..."

"It is quiet, sane living;

personal sacrifice, genuine hospitality, wholesome concern for others..."

 "It is living the commandments of God without ostentation or hypocrisy."

"It is selflessness.

It is all about us."

"We need only to be able to recognize it as we find and enjoy it."

-Spencer W. Kimball