Seven Weeks.

I apologize in advance to any readers who might find the following post distasteful - if I even have any readers.

However, I'm writing this blog for me, for my own personal benefit, not to entertain.

It's my journal, my therapy, my document of this journey I am on.

Therefore I will say what I want, and it's gonna get personal.

You've been warned.

I've been struggling lately (even more than normal - ha) because things are getting weird up in here.
And when I say up in here, I mean up in ME <----- *not funny? ok sorry, I couldn't resist*

It's been seven weeks since Aunt Flo has been in town. 

Yay! Is this an announcement?!

Nope. 

All of my tests have come back negative.

Which is extremely disheartening when all you want in life is for a little pee stick to show a plus sign.

At this point, I'd honestly welcome Aunt Flo.
At least then I would KNOW what's going on.

But alas, me and my trash bin full of negative pee sticks must wait.
Seven weeks.

Loves.

 

While I absolutely love my sweet husband and being with him is my favorite thing of all time,

I often find myself missing these goons.

Sure, they live like half a mile away, but unfortunately I still don't see them as often as I'd like to.

I miss being teased by my dad.

I miss talking with my mom about anything and everything.

I miss trading clothes and talking fashion with Jaidyn.

I miss being the butt of all of Brandon's jokes.

I miss snuggling with little Ella.

I miss my family, and I am so grateful that God put me here on this earth with them.

Wouldn't trade them for the world.

Centennial State.

This past week my in-laws took the entire family on vacation to Colorado.

It was incredible.

Look at this:

I honesty could not believe how gorgeous Colorado is. 

The instant I got there, I was in love. 

I probably told DJ 1,000 times that we seriously need to move there.

I'm not big on scenic pictures, personally I prefer pictures with people in them, 

but driving through the Rocky Mountains, I couldn't help myself. 

It's so pretty, I could cry.

MONDAY

We drove ALL DAY LONG.

In my last entry, I mentioned something about staying up until 4:00 in the morning to finish packing. 

Well, 3 hours later, we were up and moving, getting ready to hit the road.

Basically, I rolled out of bed and into the front seat of the Suburban.

Speaking of the Suburban, we had quite the time with the rental car company.

Kristi and Doug originally rented us a little minivan for the vacation.

When we get to the dealership, this "minivan" was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. 

It honestly looked like a refrigerator box on wheels.

I kid you not.

I wish I would have taken a picture of it.

So we go and pick up the refrigerator/box/car, and as we are driving away, 

we realize that the passenger seat door was missing its buttons (to roll down the window, unlock the doors).

We decided that that was going to be too much of a hassle, 

and since we were paying for the rental, we should get one with all its parts.

So we returned to the dealership, who's name begins with an H and ends with an ERTZ,

and they were so kind and gracious and offered us an upgrade. 

They give us a WAY nice, normal-looking van that was much roomier and did I mention that it looked normal?

While it was inconvenient to have to return the first car, we were happy with their service and impressed by how they handled the situation. Also, we were glad that we weren't going to have to embarrass ourselves by driving a refrigerator.

DJ and I are driving away in this seriously cool Swagger Wagon and all of a sudden the air conditioning cuts out. 

Again, I kid you not.

The stupid car is broken.

SO.

We return AGAIN to the dealership and needless to say, the staff at Hertz can't even believe that they are seeing us again. 

We weren't exactly thrilled to see them either.

This time around they gave us another upgrade, a 2013 Suburban.

They also knocked off the price that they charge for gas when returning the vehicle.

I think DJ told me that Doug and Kristi only spent about $120 on the rental for the entire week.

WOW.

Moral of the story, when you're renting a car, drive away, break things, return, and get an upgrade.

Just kidding.

We drove all day on Monday, and we arrived in Durango around 8:30.

DJ's parents booked us a room at this little inn in Durango and they and the rest of the family stayed in a family member's condo in a place called Pagosa Springs, about an hour away from Durango (there wasn't enough room for everybody in the condo, that's why DJ and I ended up in a hotel - but we were ok with that).

TUESDAY

Tuesday was kind of a free day for us.

Maegan was getting into town at 3:00PM and up until then, DJ and I were invited to do whatever we pleased.

We relaxed, ate some lunch at an adorable little cafe in downtown Durango.

We rented a couple of cruisers from a rinky-dink little bike shop and rode them along the river. 

It was a gorgeous day, but towards the end of the ride, it got pretty hot and I was about ready to abandon bike and jump in the river.

Looks inviting, right?

After DJ's family picked Maegan up from the airport, we all met up at the Durango Silverton Railroad Station and explored a little museum about the Railroad and it's history.
I am not usually one for museums, but this one was really cool.
It was a giant warehouse-looking building that had giant steam engines and ancient cars inside.
It was super cool!
After that little adventure, we ate dinner and took it easy for the rest of the night.

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was seriously the coolest day.
We got to ride a legitimate steam engine train!

Check out that bad boy.

The train ride lasted 3 1/2 hours and ran from Durango to Silverton.
In the process the train had to climb close to 3,000 feet up to the top of the mountains where Silverton is nestled.
The train was SO COOL.
Doug and Kristi reserved us seats that were in an open-window car. So there was a top, but no windows.
I'm so glad they picked that car instead of an closed one, because the scenery was incredible.

The train ran primarily along the Animas River.

We were close to the water the whole time.

I was extremely excited about this, because as an Arizona native, I have rarely seen running water.

Ridiculous, I know.

This was the view as we neared a 200-ft-high bridge that the train used to cross the river.

The only downside to being in an open-window car was that the steam from the engine contained a lot of ash and soot. By the time we made it to Silverton, we were all covered in little black spots and each of us had gotten a piece of two of soot in our eyes, which hurt like crazy.

Silverton was the coolest little town I have ever seen. 

It is located in a little "dip" at the top of a bunch of mountains. 

Apparently, a long time ago, the mountains had all been connected as a volcano and Silverton sat in what would have been the cauldron.

I always knew my husband was a planes-trains-and-automobiles type of guy, but that was proven even more when we got to the awesome town of Silverton and all DJ wanted to do was stand and look at the train.

Looks like a kid on Christmas, doesn't he?

Seriously, all he wanted to do was examine the train.

The train actually ran by our hotel room every morning, and sure enough, DJ was out there laying pennies on the tracks and waving at the passengers as they chugged by. So fun!

THURSDAY

Initially, I was not that interested in Thursday's activity.

However, after we got to our destination, I was ecstatic.

See those old buildings in the side of that mountain?

Ya I got to go in there!

We went and toured some Puebloan ruins at Mesa Verde.

SERIOUSLY SO COOL.

 We had to hike down about a million stairs and a few ladders to get to the ruins, but they were absolutely incredible. It was wild to think that people actually used to live here!

This is the view looking straight up into one of the towers.
Everything you see there was built hundreds of years ago!

This little hole is called a Kiva, and this is where the Pueblo people resided. Underground, in a circular hole. 

 We actually had the opportunity to go into one of these, but it was rather dark inside and I wasn't able to get a good picture.

Flipping amazing. I'm so glad we went!

FRIDAY
Friday might have been my favorite day of the entire vacation.
Look what we did:

YAYAY!
I have been riding horses for my entire life (thanks grandpa) and have been many times.
Besides Kristi, this was everyone else's first time riding!

We found this little place about halfway between Durango and Pagosa Springs that took tourists on trail rides.
We had the funniest guides, one of them was hittin on me the whole time, we all got a laugh out of that!

Blurry picture, but this is me and my trusty steed, Bob.

He was a stubborn butt.

He listened very well at the beginning of the ride, but about half way through, we started disagreeing.

So I sort of let him do his own thang.

DJ kept trying to pass Bob and I because he was being a poo head, and every time DJ's horse would begin to pass Bob, Bob would automatically (meaning I did not instruct him to) start trotting and he made sure that DJ's horse DID NOT pass him in the lineup.

We got a kick out of that.

This is DJ and his lovely horse named Poco.

She was a dear, I liked her more than I liked Bob.

The gang before the ride.

The gang and our silly guides after the ride.

It was an absolute BLAST getting to see the amazing sites up in the Rocky Mountains on horseback.

This ride may have even convinced DJ to buy me a horse someday...who knows!

The rest of the day was spent driving through the mountains of Colorado.

We stopped in Ouray, which is a little old mining town.

We also stopped in Telluride, which was a glitsy, old-fashioned-looking town nestled in a valley way high in the mountains.

There was this crazy waterfall, and as we got closer we realized that there is also a house up there!

NO FREAKING WAY!

Look how high that is!

Incredible.

Here are some more scenes from our drive.

Absolutely breathtaking.

I miss it.

SATURDAY

Like Monday, Saturday was a day full of driving. 

Which sucked.

But we did make a few stops on the way home.

First we stopped at the Four Corners monument!

It was pretty cool being in four places at once.

Actually it didn't feel much different from being in one place at once.

But still cool!

This is a kiss big enough for four states!

We also stopped in Bluff, Utah and visited a little pioneer monument. 

The Church has this really cool set up of a little pioneer settlement made by the pioneers who crossed Hole in the Rock. We even found out that we were related to one of the families who came through!

We spent the rest of the day driving, and weird things started happening.

Like this.

Courtney made herself a boyfriend in the back of the Suburban...

And DJ shoved M&M's into his mouth until they started going down his throat.

But we made it home safely, and I'd have to say that this trip was one of the best trips of my life!

Thanks Doug and Kristi!

Jaws.

So before I go ahead and post about our incredible vacation to Colorado 

 (which will be quite a doosy of a post), I have a seriously hilarious story to tell. 

Sunday night before we left on on our vacation, my mom invited us over for dinner with the missionaries because Dad was out of town and they needed a Priesthood holder to be present. Rules rules. 

*We went mostly for the free meal, but let's pretend that we are a righteous couple who loves to serve.* 

So we go and meet the elders, who are HYSTERICAL, by the way.

 Like the funniest missionaries I have ever met. 

We talk, laugh, stuff our faces, etc. After dinner and dessert, we part ways.

DJ and I had to take Benny to the amazing Kirkland's home, where he would stay for the duration of our vacation.

 {Shoutout to my main girl Kylie for being an amazing friend and keeping our little monster for us.}

 By the time we were done dropping puppy off, it was like 9:30. Spontaneously, on our way home, we decided to stop back by my parent's house to grab some luggage because we didn't have enough of our own. 

*Again, we are going to pretend - let's all pretend like I am a great wife and 

didn't wait until 9:30 the night before we were going to leave to begin packing. Okay thanks.*

We absolutely weren't planning on doing so, but like I said, spur of the moment, we went with it. 

We go back to my parent's house and what do you know, about 10 minutes after we arrive the missionaries return as well. 

My grandpa had cooked some of his delicious to die for barbecue and the elders were coming back after a meeting to get their leftovers. So we are all talking and somehow the conversation turns to weird things that we can do with our bodies. One elder could turn his knee completely backwards (resulting from a football injury years before) and invert his pinky finger. Well, the other elder thought he would demonstrate his party trick and 

UN-HINGES HIS JAW. 

Yes, you read that right, the kid was like a snake. 

Apparently he has some jaw condition that allows him to pop out his jaw and pop it right back into place.

I forgot to mention that this elder had been out in the field for less than one week. He was on his way to Brazil but was waiting for his visa and some paperwork to be completed.

Again, less than one week. 

So he does his nasty trick and after a few minutes of laughing and being totally grossed out,

 he tried to pop it back into place. 

Except it won't work.

I kid you not, the elder can't get his jaw back into place. 

Like it's not physically possible.

At first we thought he was kidding. I remember telling him something along the lines of, "If you are messing with us I am going to knock the Holy Ghost right out of you."

Turns out he wasn't kidding around at all and had actually completely dislocated his jaw.

It was horrifying and disgusting and hilarious all at the same time.

Here he is with his freaky snake jaw.

He seriously can't close his mouth.

Because he can't close his mouth, every time he talks, we all bust up laughing because he sounds so ridiculous. 

Stick your tongue out, grab it with both hands, and then talk.

That's what he sounded like.

So his companion gets a hold of the mission president's wife who calls one of the mission doctors.

Remember that I mentioned that my Dad was out of town?

That means that my mom isn't able to drive them to the mission doctor's home. 

So DJ and I offer to take them, because we felt bad for the poor guy and also because it would be pretty cruel to make him ride his bike six miles with his jaw unhinged. 

Also, we are a righteous couple who loves to serve.

By this time it was past 10:00. 

We were all absolutely exhausted.

But we drove to the mission doctor's home and he tried to fix Elder Jaws.

Watching him kneeling over the elder and grabbing and forcing trying to get his jaw in the right place made my stomach turn. It looked unbelievably painful.

And it didn't work.

He told Elder Jaws that he completely dislocated his jaw and that he was going to 

need anesthesia and a doctor in a hospital to get it put back into place.

10:30PM.

Heading to the emergency room.

We spent a looooong night in the ER with the elders.

Around midnight, after a lot of waiting and some X-rays, the doctors were finally ready to put Elder Jaws under and fix him.

His companion and I had to leave the room, we were so grossed out. 

But DJ, being the curious guy that he is, decided to stay for front row seats. 

It only took about 5 minutes, but DJ said it was gnarly.

Apparently the doctor had a seriously hard time getting the jaw back into place that he had to call in another, younger doctor to do it. And even his arms were shaking as he strained to piece Elder Jaws back together. 

Elder Jaws tried to grab the doctor and move him away in his sleep, which I guess was pretty hilarious.

WILD.

I'm so glad I wasn't in there.

Here's Elder Jaws making his way out of anesthesia.

Which was also hysterical.

Wanna get a missionary to "talk about poop in front of a girl"?

Watch him come out of anesthesia.

You can't see us in this picture, but his companion, DJ, and I are all busting up laughing at the things he is saying as he is waking up. I'm pretty sure the hospital staff was ready to kill us.

Elder Jaws was discharged around 1:15AM and we didn't get home until 1:30. Thankfully they live in the same apartment complex as us so we didn't have to go far.

All in all, a hysterical evening. Never had one like it before, probably never will again.

Elder Jaws and his companion are, as mentioned earlier, SO funny, and DJ and I had a blast getting to know them. 

Even though body parts had to fall off to make it possible.

Staying up late and packing until 4:00 in the morning (and waking back up at 7:00) was not very fun.

But that's a story for a different time!

Old Fart.

Well my cute hubby turned 25 last Friday.

He's growing up so fast.

This year we realized that DJ is half way through his twenties, five years away from being 30.

Then we realized that I am still a decade away from being 30. 

And we awkwardly looked at one another and I assured him that he really isn't a cradle robber.

.......**crickets**.......

He's the Old Fart and I'm his Kid Wife.
But we're cute so who cares.

To celebrate DJ's leap into Old Fart-hoodom, we drove to the cabin on Friday afternoon after work.
Just me, him and Benny.

This is the cute puppy monster snuggled in my lap on the way to the cabin:


He doesn't really like car rides, so instead of coping with his emotions like a big boy
he just falls asleep whenever we drive anywhere with him.
Although I am a believer in facing your fears and giving them a round-house kick in the rear, I cherish Benny's car-ride sleepiness because it's the only time our snuggles aren't forced.
Isn't he absolutely a peach?
Too bad he also happens to be a very, very small terrorist who loves trying to eat people.

We arrived at the cabin around 8:00PM and for the first time in a couple of weeks we did nothing.
It was heavenly.
DJ cleaned his guns, I did a word search, Benny munched on a rawhide.
 No plans, no pressure, just relaxation.

This trip was Benny's first to the cabin.
I'd say, overall, he had a blast! DJ and I sure had fun watching him explore.
We threw him in the water at the Blue Hole and for a second we weren't sure if he was going to come back up. DJ was ready to jump in after him when he finally surfaced and swam back to the shore.
A little while later, after we had hiked a bit more, we went back to the Blue Hole and DJ jumped in with Benny. DJ pretended that the water felt great and totally convinced me to jump in with my clothes on, too.
Ya, it was freezing.
I totally understood why all Benny wanted to do was get out.
For the first time ever I actually found it difficult to breathe in the water because it was so cold.
That was a little bit scary but thankfully I didn't panic and was able to get out of the water.
Benny did NOT appreciate being tossed in the water against his will twice. We learned this when we passed some other hikers going the opposite way on the trail back to the cabin and Benny made it abundantly clear that he would rather stay with them than with us. We sort of felt bad, but at the same time we were really excited that he knew how to swim. Also he looks pathetically cute when he is wet, so dunking him in the water was totally worth it.
This picture isn't from the cabin but it captures just how pitiful Benny looks when wet:

Melts your heart, huh?

Well we came home from the cabin on Saturday afternoon and spent some time with friends later that evening. Sunday came and went, but on Monday we did something really really cool.

As a birthday present, I bought DJ concert tickets to one of our favorite bands, Imagine Dragons!
The show was AMAZING, like I can't even stress that enough.
It was my first concert (DJ's, like, bazillionth concert), and it was such an awesome experience.
The band is super talented and they create incredible, unique music. I really appreciate that they create that amazing music and leave all the unnecessary profanity out of their songs. I have pretty thick ears, but I respect them more because they maintained their standards on stage, unlike most other popular bands.
They did a great job connecting with the audience, and I think that DJ and I had a ton of fun.
I would totally pay to see them again.

So that was the birthday weekend for my Old Fart.
He truly is the greatest blessing in my life.
He's my biggest fan, and I truly believe that I could not face many of my trials without him.
I don't think I could walk through this life or the next with a better man by my side.
I'm so lucky that he is mine forever, and I wouldn't trade a single day with him for 100 years the other way.
He's my main squeeze, my home-skillet biscuit.
I love you, Dougy.