Tuesday, March 20, 2012

I'm it!

Tag has always been one of my favorite games and I've just been blog tagged by Nicole!  She's our soon-to-be awesome next door neighbor.  Her and her cadet fiance are following in our footsteps and will finally be married soon and then move out here!  We can't even tell you how excited we are for them to come here!  And get married of course!

Here's the rules for this Tag game:

1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. Answer the questions sent to you in the original post.
4. Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you've tagged them.


11 Random Things:
1. My name is Marielle, and I'm a chocoholic.  

2. As a child I was a serious Pokemon player, no not the video game, but rather, the card game.  So serious in fact, that at 10 years old I made 30 year old men cry at Pokemon tournaments by beating them.  (That was almost a TMI, but in a nerdy way...)  

3. While looking for an apartment my number one requirement was that there be a window in front of the sink with an interesting view.  The reason being, my favorite chore is doing the dishes.  It's like my zen/relax time.  When McKay does the dishes after dinner, deep down I get a little sad because I wanted to do them, but don't tell him that.

4. I love old people.

5. I don't know where this came from, but I like to save the best bits of my meal or dessert for last.  I guess it is because there is something so satisfying about plotting each bit around making the last one the best.  For example, when I eat Lucky Charms, I eat all the plain wheat cereal first and save the marshmallows for last.  McKay does the complete opposite, which could be cause for lots of fighting when sharing food, however, he has learned to take the mediocre bits from my food, because he loves me...and does not want to see my wrath!

6. I love animals, almost to a fault.  

7. My closet is rainbow color coordinated and when I put clothes away I usually have to say Roy G. Biv.  

8. I want a teacup pig and McKay told me I could get one.  Now I just have to convince my apartment building that they need to change their rule about no pets.

9. McKay and I started talking about/picking baby names for our children about four months into our relationship.  I guess that is sort of weird, no, it is weird.  We have a pretty fabulous list now though!

10. My top-right front tooth is fake.  I knocked 60% of it off as a kid while playing capture the flag with all the neighborhood boys - Right after I crossed the line, with flag in hand to win the game, I took a great face plant right into the cement.  Yes, head first...  The saga doesn't end there though.  I got the tooth fixed, but then decided that eating raw spaghetti was cool and somehow chipped it again.  They finally put a crown on it and I just hope that I never chip it again!

11. Leading me into my last randomness.  I have never broken a bone, except for both my pinkie toes.  I stubbed them a bazillion times (wow, that sentence should have been present tense).  All my serious injuries have been to ONLY my face, and are as follows:
-Had 24 stitches in my forehead from when a dog's canine tooth swiping it.
-3 stitches in my chin, two different times, from falling down while ice skating (I used to be an ice skater)
-7 stitches in my upper lip from falling off a porch
-And I fell off another porch again, your know, just for kicks and giggles, and split open the back of my head.
-Oh, and there was the time that my dad ran over me with the car, scalping the top of my head! (obviously by accident!)

Questions from Nicole:
1) What is your favorite book?
Harry Potter!  I started reading the series when I was the characters' same ages and it's as though I  grew up with them right by my side.  I can't wait to share the books with our kids.  

2) What do you do with your free time?
I go for long walks to nowhere in particular, and explore places where lots of people are because I love to people watch.

3) What is your favorite restaurant?
Being in LA has opened new doors to so many foods for us, however, McKay and I are sushi lovers.  We go to a different sushi place every time we go out in hopes of finding the "ultimate sushi restaurant".  We still haven't found one better than our favorite hole-in-the wall joint in Orem.  It's called Yamato.  Go there if you are a sushi fan!

4) What is your dream job?
This is a hard question for me because I've always been interested in so many things that even if I found my dream job I would probably get bored of it within a few years and then want to do something new.  I've never been driven by money or position, so my dream job truly would have to be being a mom.  It's a job that is always changing and I can't think of anything more rewarding.

5) If you could go skydiving or bungee jumping, which one would you do?
Neither...I'm a baby when it comes to heights.  Roller coasters are probably the highest and safest way that I would ever want to fall.  I sometimes have panic attacks on airplanes when I think of where I am and how high up we are, however I love to travel so it is a necessary evil.  While McKay was at the Academy, he would talk about how much he wanted to take me up in one of the gliders, or how he would love to have me join him for his sky diving class - I'm glad they don't let outsiders join in on the 'fun'.  Shocking, I know, especially coming from a soon-to-be fighter or bomber pilot wife!

6) Would you rather watch a movie or read a book?
I love to read, I love the idea of reading and I especially adore libraries, however, I'm just not much of a reader.  This goes way back to my childhood; while learning how to read, my mom would struggle to get me sat down long enough to get through one book, but I would usually escape before that happened and journey to the backyard where my "Arctic excavation" team awaited me.  My imagination and energy was too endless to fit inside the confines of a book.  So, I would prefer movies, because then I get back to my adventures faster, and I can snuggle with McKay while watching one.
  
7) Where do you want to travel next?
After our honeymoon to Thailand and Cambodia, McKay and I started a love affair with Asia.  For this spring break, so like in three days!!!! McKay and I are heading over to Singapore and Bali (Posts to come after the trip!).  In the future we were thinking of Israel and Egypt, but as most people know, they are not the safest places to be traveling to at the moment, especially as a military member.  Eventually, we hope to see the whole world though.

8) Would you rather live in the country or the city?
For now the city, but as soon as we have a lot of kids I want to be a country girl all the way!  I would love a big backyard for our kids to run around in, along with a rustic home and warm quaint neighbor folk.  (I don't know if McKay knows this, but I'm pretty sure he would be horrified.)  Actually, I want to make an amendment to my dream job section; as a child I wanted to be a farmer's wife.  Literally.  I still remember drawing a picture of a barn with lots of animals around it when asked to draw what I wanted to be when I grew up.  My teacher wasn't impressed, alas my heart still yearns for fruit trees and animals, and McKay on a tractor as my sexy farmer husband, of course!

9) What color do you usually paint your nails?
I never paint my fingernails....This must be especially sad for you Nicole when I think of how amazing and original your nails always look.  As a harpist you are not supposed to wear nail polish as it "distracts from your playing."  However, now that I am not competing regularly, and I'm pretty sure church members would not be offended by my painted nails, I may have to have you teach me a thing or two about nail art!  To make you feel better though, I do love to paint my toes either pink, hot pink or red, and occasionally paint sparkles on top.

10) What is your favorite candy?
Reese's.

11) If you could pick anywhere in the world to live, where would that be?
Anywhere in the countryside of the UK.  Every time I visit England, Scotland or Ireland I feel like I have arrived home.  There is something so magical about the landscape and the delightful people there.  So, I guess if I combined all these answers into what I want, it would be something like this: To live on a farm in Scotland with my hot farmer hubby and barefooted rascal kids.  We'd stay grounded, eat Reese's (which might be hard to find in Scotland), read Harry Potter occasionally and travel the world so we could watch people.  There you have it!  Me in a nutshell.

Ok, now it's my turn!
Mallory
Linds
Clara Bear
Rachel
Clarissa, Joanna and Kathleen(I know you don't have a blog, but I thought I would include you in case you wanted to and had time.  Maybe you could send me an e-mail or facebook it?)


Tag, you're it! 


Answer me these 11 questions:


1) Worst date ever!  All the details!
2) What is your favorite dessert to bake?  (If you feel so inclined, recipes would be accepted/appreciated!)
3) Nerdiest fact about you or nerdiest thing you have ever done?
4) Morning person or night person?
5) What was your favorite vacation place?
6) Favorite movie?
7) Favorite midnight snack?
8) What is your quirkiest OCD habit?  (I know you have one!)
9) When are you happiest?
10) What skill/talent do you wish you had?
11) If you were a superhero, who would you be and what super powers would you have?


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

McKay is Painting Again

While on his mission, McKay had a few missionary companions that were...let's just say, fairly reticent, which drove my little social boy crazy, but only for one week.  After one week he decided to teach himself to paint...and then he read the whole dictionary (for reals!).  

I became a very lucky girl when I met McKay because he not only had one of the most spectacular vocabularies that I had ever heard, but he also had fabulous art skills.  I got spoiled throughout our dating and engagement years with poems and paintings, starting with this one.  
 McKay gave me this watercolor three months after our first date, when he came out to surprise me.  And for those romantics out there like me, this also happens to be the same day that we had our first kiss!

McKay continued painting, but his most prolific era was down in Mexico on his study abroad, where his work load was much easier than at the academy.  Up until then he had only painted sceneries and landscapes, but decided to attempt a portrait.  I never dreamed, ever in a million years, that I would have a painting made of me, however I am discovering that, being with McKay, all my dreams seem to come true!  
And Yes, those are our future children.  
I adore this one.  McKay captured the tenderness of motherhood so perfectly.  I look forward to being a mother one day and this painting reminds me of that every time I see it.
Now, back to the title of this post.  I want to announce that McKay is painting again!  Hopefully not because of a reticent companion this time though ; )  For Christmas he was so excited to make these three little ones for his youngest siblings.  They were so tiny and adorable that I was a little sad to see them go, but I knew that they would be appreciated and taken care of by his wonderful and deserving siblings.
This year McKay started his biggest painting yet!  My heart just sings every time I see him paint!  He gets so concentrated, and therefore exponentially irresistible, yet untouchable....What a dilemma!  
I still love attack him.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Birthdays! Birthdays! Birthdays!

February was the month of birthdays for all our friends, a fact which McKay and I were thrilled about!  There's nothing better than getting together with friends, eating delish food and then finishing all of it off with stomach bursting amounts of cake!  In the below birthday celebration we got to party with most of McKay's wonderful cohort.  His PhD program is very small and they have grown to be a very close-knit group.  We feel extremely blessed to be here and particularly blessed for McKay to be in his academic program with all these lovely people.
Obviously, our friends have good taste in food...Mmmm
(McKay's party blower didn't work - It was hard for him to recover from this tragedy)
Later in the month we celebrated with our dear friends from church, Lindsey and Spencer, for Spencer's birthday.  Lindsey decorated her home so cute with these fun banners and made the most fabulous Italian meal to get them ready for their trip to Italy!  They are going to have a blast!  We are so excited for them! McKay lived in Italy for two years as a teenager, so we are hoping to one day make a trip over there also.  One day...
The whole gang
Later, Spencer and Lindsey won over McKay's heart by initiating Game Time!  I can't even tell you how much McKay LOVES playing games.  He even wore his Carcassonne shirt for the occasion, which he wore proudly during this game of Carcassonne.  See I told you, just look at his face!
We WILL be playing again soon...

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Birthdays at the Aquarium

McKay and I have walked or run over the Santa Monica Pier dozens of times, but never knew about the little pearl of a place that existed below it.  It wasn't until we were invited to party with these two adorable birthday boys that we discovered it!
Due to his excitement about the jellyfish, I could only catch a back-picture of one of the birthday boys, but you may remember him from my post about FUNgebob.  As you can see, he is still pretty obsessed with the characters of Bikini Bottom.
Our favorite part was the touch tank, where you could touch the sea creatures.  I proved to be more of a chicken than McKay...and the rest of the kids.
 I did touch a shark though!
 SUCCESS!


Friday, March 2, 2012

Happily Forever After, Part III: Our Reception

In deciding where to have our reception we both knew it could only be held one place.  It had to be at our favorite place on earth, where everything happened - And by everything, I mean all the magic!
It's where my knees magically went weak upon opening the front door to first meet McKay.
It's where McKay magically appeared (not nearly enough times) to surprise me after long lonely months apart. 
It's where cakes, 
pizzas,
 pies and all sorts of delectable treats appeared...
and magically disappeared.
It's where we snuggled in for many a movie...
only to cry, because we knew that we would be saying goodbye the next morning.
It's where we laughed, played, cried and surprised -
It's my home, and the place that our hearts became one.

I think you can see why we are in love with this place. 
For our reception each table had a different theme and color scheme.
The incredible Kayde and Laurie planned and made all the food.  It was absolutely delicious!  
What a blessing they were at our wedding!
We wanted a homemade touch to the wedding, so we included my homemade apricot, peach, plum and blackberry jams.  All picked and bottled fresh at my home.

This is actually the garage!  My mom performed a magical transformation.
It was such a joy to see so many of our dearest friends and family come to support us on this most sacred and cherished step in our lives.

Love the likeness of these two photos!  The acorn does not fall far from the "Oaks" tree.
In case you missed our reception, or just want to relive it, here is a short video I put together this last Christmas for McKay.  
I can't wait to watch this every anniversary!
Thank you to everyone that made this the most magical night of our lives!
Love, McKay and Marielle


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