did i tell you that every nightmare i've ever had involves my house burning down?

So last night after dinner I went to turn off the oven light and everything started flickering and then went out, then we saw the entire sky light up outside our kitchen window. We look outside and can't see anything. So i suggest we look out the front of our apartment. We look to the left, nothing there just a few people standing outside looking around. We look to the right and Daniel says "uh, we gotta go." I just get a glimpse of flames before we start stumbling around the house in the dark trying to find coats and shoes and pack Rocky up, knock on our neighbors door and out we go. We've decided these pictures and video don't really do it justice to how scary it was, but that pole is about five feet from our bedroom window. And that brand new Kia that is getting smothered in flames down below? That's where we usually park. By the time we got outside the firefighters had just got there and were just standing around watching it. They had called the electric company on emergency response but after 35 minutes of standing outside we went to our friends house and they still hadn't arrived. Luckily we had power again by the morning. Of course it happened on the coldest day we've had this winter. Needless to say I didn't really sleep last night due to my intense fire-phobia but gladly we're all safe and sound.

PS Thanks to Katie and Aaron for keeping us warm!

PPS Yesterday when I was blogging I felt like I didn't really have anything that exciting to blog about. Be careful what you wish for.

why is ikea so wonderful?

daniel and i love wasting time at here testing out couches and chairs and beds, watching the big screen tvs, dreaming of our future house with an entire room of bookcases (not full of random swedish books). yesterday we got free massages for their national chair massage day, i like to think of it as a reward for our frequent patronage.

who needs a dog?

ok i know i just posted a video of rocky, but he really is the best cat ever.

he likes to do this like three hundred times in a row.

rocky's first encounter with the helicopters

best family home evening activity.

Sometimes it pays to get screwed over.

So daniel and i bought some student tickets to the orchestra last night for our date. They were understudy tickets, basically we fill the seats that aren't taken, but its different then rush tickets because you're supposed to be guaranteed a spot. Or so we thought. So we check in an hour before the performance, the very first students to check in. They tell us to come back at 10 min before the performance, which we do and by that time there's a ton of people standing around. All of sudden, a few minutes before the concert starts, this tiny, little old lady usher gets in the middle of the crowd, says (in a barely audible voice) "it's sold out tonight so we can't guarantee anything," then she runs off and everyone starts running after her like a stampede. Next thing we know Daniel and I are running through the building, up and down levels asking if they have seats and getting turned down at every door. A few minutes later, we are confused, panicked, sweating, and locked outside of the hall as the orchestra begins. At this point we are livid. So after a few ushers try to help us and a few other ones act like they could care less, we march over to the box office and demand some answers. We bought our tickets in advance, got here on time, and are now standing outside while the concert has already begun. The guy looks at our tickets and says, oh yes you were supposed to have priority seating. So he refunds our money, then gives us two reserved tickets to use after the first number. After the first song ends, the usher takes us in, kicks two people out of our seats and we then get to listen to Beethoven's 5th from $160 seats in the orchestra section. For free. After all our airline messups, it feels that we have mastered the art of getting screwed over.

This is a terrible picture I know but it was my first time really wearing red lipstick! Success.

Back to the grind soon.

I haven't posted in forever, luckily its because I've been too busy having fun rather than too busy with school! Daniel and I feel like we've been traveling all over and are grateful to not have anywhere to go for the next few months but we had a blast over the last few weeks. And thank goodness, no sicknesses this trip! Thanksgiving turned out to be our most expensive vacation ever with that medical bill. Ugh. Well, first we whisked away to Utah for our anniversary and the wedding of one of Daniel's mission companions. It was a busy quick trip filled with work parties, weddings, reunions, and Christmas with Daniel's family.


Mmmmmm how I miss these cupcakes.

Daniel's sister Linzi had another baby while we were there, such a cutie. That meant we got to spend time with little Maylee, here she is enjoying her chocolate covered Oreo. My kind of girl.

Daniel's friend got married the same day, same temple. Kind of funny and kind of nice at the same time.


I can't believe we've been married a year. I never thought on that day that I could be even more in love with Daniel today. I'm so glad he asked me to marry him. Even though neither one of us is perfect, we both try hard to take care of each other. He is such a good husband and I love him more than anything in this world.

We picked out cards for each other in Walmart and took pictures so we wouldn't have to pay for them. And Daniel got free flowers at the wedding. Score!

We spent a few nights together in Salt Lake. It was nice to just relax and enjoy each other. We ate at Benihana's and saw the lights at temple square and walked 4 miles. Yes 4 miles to get a bagel. Not sure that was worth it.


After that we snuck back to Philly for a few days to get in a teeny bit of Christmas before heading out again. Rocky watched Rudolph while I decorated the tree. Our teeny little tree only had four ornaments but was still cute (thanks Mom for stocking us up for next year!)



We don't even like coke but these were too cute to resist.




For Christmas, we headed to my parent's house in Oregon. We had such a fun time hanging out with my parents and my sisters family.


So many Christmas trees.




Downtown Portland

How cool is this?


Aviation and Space Museum - Daniel had SOOOOO much fun here.

Why are the kids sections of museums always the most fun?

This is a water park - with a real plane on top!


This was the best meal I've ever had - steak and lobster @ Claim Jumpers. I just had to post it because it was SOOOOOO amazingly delicious!

Shopping with Mama. She's so cute.

Making cookies.

We were supposed to be home for New Year's Eve but our flight got delayed so we stocked up with snacks and a movie.

Such a fun trip, thanks to our families for everything! The next few months are going to be really busy and lots of decision making, but we're excited for all the fun things ahead of us!