Disney anyone?

Patrick and I decided to take a nice trip to Disneyland. We took advantage of the 80 degree weather and headed out for the day! It was great. Just us two and getting on pretty much every ride super quick and being able to actually go on every ride we wanted to!

Patrick had never been on the Toy Story ride so we decided to go for a spin. Lo and behold I actually beat him at the game (; at least by a couple of thousand points. I thought HE would be the better shooter but I guess I surprised myself.

Toy Story is ALSO one of my favorite Disney shows and so I HAD to get a picture with Jessie's hat. 

We also got to wear a few 3D glasses on many rides. What is funny is that I didn't even realize he was making a funny face until the day AFTER we took this picture.

Until next time...we love Disneyland and I will for sure miss it. We probably won't be going back for a LONG time, but it was sure worth going the day we did as it was not packed and such beautiful weather. Like Patrick, I love living in California. AND being so close to all of the theme parks around!

 Valentine's Day and the Kabocha Squash

Valentine's Day? Success! My wonderful, handsome husband whom I love brought me some beautiful roses at work PLUS my favorite mint M&M's. Haha believe me...I ate one whole pack at work and couldn't stop eating they were so delicious!!

Yup they were beautiful roses. With some yummy M&M's.

Yeah this was the day he proposed and one of the most memorable ESPECIALLY since it was on a hot air balloon ride (: 

So this past week I have been wanting to experiment with new foods and try new things. I came upon this lady's blog and realized she used a lot of "Kabocha Squash" which I had never heard of! Apparently it is this extremely healthy Japanese Squash that fills you right up in which it did, by the way. However I was a bit skeptical if it would be good. SO after a couple weeks of searching I stumbled upon it at Whole Foods. AND I decided to try it for dinner since I had a lot of time on my hands on a Friday night waiting for my husband for a few hours. So here is what it looks like...

Yeah it looks kinda small and you think you can eat it all but there is NO way. Believe it or not I was able to eat half of the whole thing with some chicken, veggies and lettuce, but I was so full after I couldn't move. NEVER underestimate a Kabocha Squash.

It also contains seeds...pumpkin like seeds which will be yummy when I roast them tomorrow for dinner! Hopefully Patrick likes some of this squash and the seeds because it may or may not be one of our main staples of food...

I decided to roast some with cinnamon, some with indian spices and some with just rosemary with a tad bit of olive oil plus salt and pepper. Low and behold, my favorite had to have been the rosemary since it is my favorite spice BUT all of them tasted delicious regardless.

So now if you are wanting to try something new and branch out, try some Kabocha! It is delicious, filling and definitely different. Here is what my dinner looked like...I also added some hot sauce and a bit of chile powder to add some flavor. I wonder if BBQ sauce would be good on it? I will have to try it next time! And here is a picture of my delicious dinner as it buries my veggies and chicken. Next time if Patrick likes it...I will have to try it on pizza or something crazy haha.

Outta da Apartment for the day!

Yesterday was quite the eventful Saturday. Patrick and I got to spend our first Saturday (in a couple of months) together and outside of the apartment out of the house! He has been studying for his CPA exam, which he took on Monday, but we don't know the results for another few weeks. HOWEVER, it was super great to be able to spend the day with him and to be able to just get out of the apartment. We woke up nice and early and decided to head to Laguna to go on a nice, short run.

Yeah I know...it was quite early for both of us, but we needed to go running earlier rather than later. Haha you like our morning faces?

Then during our super short run we came upon a magnificent find...Farmer's Market! I am one of those nerdy girls who HAS to stop at Farmer'r Markets to check out the goods. The fresh fruit, homemade candles, cute little headbands? Yeah, I love it. Patrick was dragged into exploring it with me (:

                                         

Isn't it cute? These were some DELICIOUS smelling candles. Too bad we didn't have our wallets or we would have spent more than we would have expected. 

Next stop? Fashion Island after the run. I had only been there once many years ago and so when we got there it was crazy how so many of my favorite stores were just waiting at the entrance for me to come in and explore their cute clothes. We stopped at lululemon where I got a couple of SUPER cute, new running shorts. Anthropologie and Kate Spade were next, but unfortunately no good finds. Patrick and I had a wonderful time though going to all the stores and seeing all these people on such a beautiful 75 degree weather day that was overcast.

Hahaha the sad story is...after the running and shopping we were quite tired. So we went home before we had to get ready to chaperone a 3 hour stake dance. Once that was done at 11:30 we felt a lot like this kid as we rolled in to bed...

There is our day in a nutshell!

Christmas Tree Shopping?

It is officially December 4th and we didn't have a tree. Patrick has been wanting one for the past two weekends and after a lot of searching...we decided on a real tree this year! We walked across the street and then walked our tree back to our apartment.

Definitely was proud of Patrick as he carried the tree ALL the way across the street. Thank goodness he was there to carry it!

                                    

He even set it up mostly! He definitely had to get on his hands and knees to make sure that the tree was stable and in its stand. 

The final product? Fits PERFECTLY in our little apartment! I love it. PLUS we were told our whole apartment was going to smell like a Christmas tree. Too bad that is as close to Christmas we are going to get with our 60 degree weather during the winter here. Haha the one time we miss the snow is during the Christmas season, but our tree will do the job as our apartment will smell like Christmas time! I cannot wait to start hanging the ornaments!

Birthday/farewell/family/thanksgiving!

Late post! It was great...Patrick and I were able to spend my birthday weekend in Utah. My brother had his mission farewell on my birthday so we got to celebrate that and it was nice to be with the family during that time. We spent some time shopping with Grayson...

Kolby really liked being with Patrick all day...they even dressed alike! Haha we joked how much they looked alike all day.

And lastly Grayson was able to get his eagle. Patrick and I were lucky to spend the day and watch my two brothers make great accomplishments. I was REALLY happy to go home to visit and this upcoming Christmas we will be doing that again!

What an eventful week. On top of that we were also able to purchase our new iphone 5's! I love mine. Patrick loves his. It worked out very well. However, the hardest part of it all is that not many people are selling iphone 5 covers quite yet. A bummer.

ALSO HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We were able to spend this Thanksgiving at Patrick's house with his parents. Patrick only has one sister who also lives in California, but his parents were great to make a HUGE meal for the four of us! We stuffed ourselves to the max because there was so much food to go around. We were both able to help in the preparation of the 12 pound turkey as well. It was one massive turkey...I feel like we pretty much ate most of it between the four of us.

...AND Patrick got an awesome hat that flattered him. I feel that this should be a new tradition of him wearing this new found hat.

BEACH Weekend.

FINALLY. Saturday. With both Patrick and I working full time (my first week was this past week) we have not had the time to do things that we like. So...we decided to go to the beach this weekend and get some sun. It was 80 degrees today and sunny! Patrick was so excited to go surfing and I wanted to lay in the sun and read my book. This is how beautiful it was. Seriously, who WOULDN'T want to live in California and go to the beach when it is snowing back home in Utah??

Yeah it was really nice and relaxing. Patrick spent most of the time out surfing and this is what I was doing...reading my book and eating a little lunch I packed for both of us...which actually was already eaten before taking this picture.

                                

I hope that we have MANY more weekends with this kind of weather. It really is so beautiful here. I am grateful that Patrick and I had the opportunity to live here in California. Irvine is beautiful, the beach is so close, the weather is nice...PLUS we both were able to find jobs. Speaking of jobs...I did just finish my first week at the job I received. I work at the Opthamology Institute of Orange County. After my first week I have become EXHAUSTED with everything I need to learn and remember, however, it will come with time. Patrick is on his third week now and is starting to study for his 4 CPA exams he needs to take.

Anyway California is great so far! We love it. It was a big change, but things are slowly beginning to get easier as the days go on. Hopefully each weekend is just as exciting as the last!

Wedding / One Month!

On to California!

After our beautiful wedding on September 15, 2012 in the Bountiful temple we had a wonderful reception at my house. The wedding day cruised by...which leads into our cruise the next week to Cabo San Lucas and Puerta Vallarta. We went parasailing, scuba diving, side shopping, zip lining, and relaxed both on the beach as well as on the boat with all you can eat food. Once the cruise was over, we then headed to a week in Hawaii. There we went scuba diving, surfing for a day, Dole plantation, found a delicious place called "Scoop of Paradise," found out how DELICIOUS acai berry is, and stayed at the Turtle Bay Resort in O'ahu. It was a wonderful two weeks! We flew in the Saturday morning, had another reception in Las Vegas and are now through with the wedding.

Now...today is our one month anniversary! It has been so great moving to Irvine and getting all settled. I love it here.

Weather? BEAUTIFUL. People? Nicest people around. I cannot wait to see what else is in store for us! However, he is on a business trip until Friday. So maybe when he gets back we can take our trip to the beach which is about 15 to 20 minutes away (: