one awesome year

one year. 365 days. that's how long lisa and i have been married and it's almost impossible to believe that's how long it's been. there's been a lot of ups and downs, uproarious laughter and moments of grief, but on the whole it is amazing to see how much we've learned. i was telling lisa that we have both grown and stretched ourselves in many ways and more than we realize, but the best part is that we've grown together and not in separate paths. that is huge and certainly makes me feel grateful, considering the shambles my life would be in if i did not have her. so that's one reason why i am madly in love with my smoking hot wife. but now onto our anniversary day and one of the main reasons why i love lisa.

so about a month or two ago when we realized our anniversary was quickly approaching, we decided to figure out how we would go about celebrating our anniversary. we thought it would be fun if each year one person planned out an event or multiple activities for the day. originally, we decided i would do this year, but then lisa realized that she would have to do all the big ones (10, 20... 70?) so she quickly volunteered to do this first anniversary. that was the last i heard of it from lisa. if you don't know lisa, let me tell you that she can keep a secret like her life depends on it. she made no peep of her secret plans until about a week ago, and even then it was quick and mysterious. so all this week she has been going about some secret activities and i have been clueless as to her plans. until this morning. I woke up and came downstairs and on the coffee table were pictures with words above them. take a look.

so lisa had been secretly wanting to figure out a way to go to disneyland (the real one) but with work, money and time it just wasn't going to work out. so what did clever lisa do? she made our very own disneyland out of utah and salt lake county. seriously, i was and am still so impressed. she got everything. frontierland, adventureland, tomorrowland, critter country, etc. and each with an equally awesome destination and/or activity. so i'll give you the tour of our disneyland-utah adventure.


our day started off on "main street usa" (aka provo center street) for breakfast at einstein bagels.




it was delicious and a nice way to start the day. and fyi, if you order the shmear, they do not skimp out. lisa's bagels were half bread half cream cheese. kind of insane.


after breakfast we made our way to salt lake city to frontierland (heritage park).

this park is a trip back to the pioneer days when they arrived in the salt lake valley. it basically is a complete replica of a typical pioneer town right down to the clothes and even hygiene. all over they have activities you can do like the pioneers did. such as making candles

caring for the local wildlife

and blacksmithing... obviously.

needless to say, frontierland was awesome and we were ready for the next portion of disneyland-utah...

critter country (aka hogle zoo)

i love the zoo. everyone should love the zoo. especially the primate building. seriously, i could sit and watch monkeys ALL DAY LONG. the way they move, eat, sleep. they're just boss.
but we can't neglect the cats. tigers, lynx, etc. this is one of the few animals crowds would stop and stare at even if the animal was sleeping. the felines just demand attention and respect. have you ever seen a tiger paw up close. those suckers are friggin huge! if i ever had the chance to get mauled by a tiger paw, i think i'd pass. i'd rather have a bear claw... mmmm, donuts. so critter country was a giant success and much fun was had by all.

after all the walking that had been done, we had worked up a serious appetite. so we headed on to adventureland (aka the mayan adventure)

this place looks, smells and feels like a disneyland feature. from the minute you walk in you're greeted by the musky smell of indoor water and the same decorations as the indiana jones ride. and that's just the lobby. soon we were escorted to our table on the 4th balcony of the restaurant right next to a giant rock cliff overlooking a pool of water. as we were eating our appetizer of delicious chile con queso, divers took to the rocks and began performing flips and twists off them while music played and scenes were acted out.

it was awesome and definitely captured the "adventureland" spirit of disneyland. awesome

on our way back home we also stopped off at ikea (aka fantasyland)

while obviously this place is not my true fantasyland (wink wink), we had a blast walking through this labyrinth of a store admiring all the awesome furniture and do-dads we wish we could afford and hope to someday have in our very own house... someday. but we got some great ideas on how to improve our house and had a great time fantasizing.

finally, we got home and finished up the last two places of disneyland, new orleans and tomorrowland.
now, for these final locations, they were more activity oriented. i love mint juleps and they are from the south originally, so lisa made those while we watched star wars, which is obviously tomorrowland (star tours is one of the greatest rides ever and i'm stoked for the new one they are developing).

so basically it was the best anniversary i've ever had (and probably beats the crap out of any of your anniversaries) and i loved it. this is why i love lisa. she is insanely creative and knows how to surprise me (which takes a lot of effort) and plan a day full of awesome stuff that is only made better by the fact that she, my gorgeous and lovely best friend, was by my side for every minute of it. it was like some sort of metaphor for our lives. pure adventure.

working it out

i know it's a little late as we near the end of summer, but better late than never. i have been on a good workout program for a few weeks now and it's been great. initially it was tough, and my body resisted pretty hard at first but i have since established a good system. i've been waking up at 6:15-6:30 every morning to go running, swimming or some other form of exercise. my flabby body has regained its endurance fairly quickly and i am working up the distances i go each day which is good. then at night, i've been going to the gym with my neighbor clint and doing more muscular activities. this has been equally gratifying, but not as quickly or dramatically as i would hope

but i've been very consistent and i'm hoping that this preemptive strike on the fall fifteen (aka halloween-christmas) that so craftily sneaks up on me will be a strong enough offensive. i enjoy working out and am not too badly out of shape, mostly just soft. but my goal is that before i turn 25 in november to be in my best shape ever. let's just hope that school and work don't kill me first.