The Most Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!

I'm feeling rather magnanimous today so I'm going to share my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with my loyal blog readers. Only they're not just chocolate chip cookies. They're so much more. And since a good number of you lived at the Enclave during our BYU days, I'm going to let you in on another secret. I got this recipe from none other than the Culter brothers--Quinn and Drew. In fact, I call them Cutler cookies for lack of a better name since "awesome chocolate chip toffee oatmeal cookies" is quite a mouthful and I'd rather that my mouth were full of these delicious morsels.

Another secret? I LOVE cookies. I used to think that cake was my favorite thing ever, but I've recently determined that cookies quite literally take the cake (pun intended.....another sad example of how David has rubbed off on me). So without further ado, here's the recipe:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups oatmeal, powdered
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
12 oz. chocolate chips (See below)

Preheat oven to 400. Cream butter and sugar. Blend eggs. Add powdered oatmeal and mix. Sift together salt, baking powder, soda, vanilla and flour. Add in batches to creamed ingredients. Batter will be very stiff—you might need to use a spoon or your hands. Mix in chips. Place gold-ball sized pieces of dought 2” apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Do not mash flat. Bake 8 minutes

While the sugars, butter, and eggs are blending up in my Kitchenaid mixer, I powder the 2 cups of oatmeal. I use my food processor for this, but you can use a blender if you don't own a food processor. For the record, I love my food processor. It was my Christmas present from David. He felt a little guilty buying me a kitchen appliance as a gift, but I totally loved it. I love kitchen gadgets. Now, I just need a new blender. Anyway, back to the powdered oatmeal. You don't necessarily have to powder the oatmeal, you could just pour it in as is, but I like that the powder makes the oatmeal less obvious (and less chewy) and helps cut down on the need for more flour.

Once all the ingredients have been mixed together, you should have a nice stiff dough. I'll let you in on another secret. I've discovered that any baked good is only as good as the chocolate you put in it. The better the chocolate, the better the cookie--or brownie, or cake or frosting--will taste. You can use regular old chocolate chips and these cookies will still taste just fine, but I prefer to use a special chocolate bar for these cookies. It adds something extra double special.

I use Hersey's Symphony bars with toffee and almonds bits. The tiny bits of toffee and almonds really add something extra to the cookies themselves and the chocolate is very rich and delicious. Far better than some run-of-the-mill semi-sweet chocolate chip. I chop up between one to two Symphony bars (depending on size) or whatever other quality chocolate I have and dump that into the dough, like so.

And because I like toffee so much, I often pour in some extra heapings of Heath's toffee bits.

It adds some more crunch and bite to the cookies. Trust me, it's worth it.

Mix everything up real good.

Now, another word of advice when baking, especially cookies: use parchment paper. The parchment paper prevents the need of using Pam or other sprays to prevent your cookies from sticking to the cookie sheet, it reduces the mess left on the cookie sheet after baking and helps keep your cookie from burning on the bottom. It's an all-around good idea.

I like to put big globs of dough on the cookie sheet because I like my cookies to come out fat and delicious. When the Cutlers made these cookies, they were always big and round and never flattened out. I think they forgot to put in the baking powder/baking soda. I've never figured out why my cookies turn out so differently than the cookies they used to always make for open houses....

....but either way, after 8 minutes, they come out golden and absolutely delicious. I promise. These cookies will ruin all other chocolate chip cookies for you.

They're just that good.

Books Reports, Week One

Since my sister, who has a master's in children's literature, came to visit this month, I've been on a huge young adult fiction kick. I love YA books because they are often (though, I've recently discovered, not always) clean tales with a moralistic outcome filled with colorful characters and interesting plots. I've read two YA book by Shannon Hale the past week that I've greatly enjoyed. I've read Shannon Hale's Austenland, an adult fiction tale of Austen obsession and found it moderately enjoyable for what it was, but I think Hale does much better with YA books, themes and fairy tale re-tellings.

The first book I read by Shannon Hale is called The Goose Girl, which is a re-telling of the Grimm's fairy tale of the same name. It is her first novel. I love re-tellings of fairy tales, most especially because the Grimm Brothers did not really sugar coat anything and modern authors add interesting twists to the tales. I'm not familiar with the original version of the story, but Hale's version tells the story of Anidala (Ani), the Crown Princess of Kildenree. She was born with the ability to talk with animals, taught to her by her aunt, but her parents dissuaded her from enhancing her gift and she was kept away from most animals, except her horse Falada. After her father died after a horse accident, Ani was told that her younger brother would become king and that she was to marry the prince in the neighboring kingdom of Bayern. On her long journey to Bayern, Ani's lady-in-waiting, Selia, turned on her and Ani was forced to flee and become a goose girl, tending the king's flock of geese while Selia masqueraded as the Crown Princess from Kildenree. Through her work as a goose girl, Ani re-learns how to speak to animals and control the wind and is able to confront Selia and her guards and take her rightful place as Princess and Bayern's future queen. Though the plot was, at times, rather formulaic (with all the usual and predictable twists), I still really enjoyed The Goose Girl and would recommend it to anyone. There are two books in the Bayern series (Enna Burning and River Secrets) which I've checked out from the library but have not read yet. They follow minor characters from the The Goose Girl.

After The Goose Girl, I picked up Princess Academy, another book by Shannon Hale. This is another fantasy book in the same mold as The Goose Girl and was, quite honestly, much different than I was expecting, but no less enchanting. Here again, we follow the story of Miri, a young girl born and raised on the distant peaks of Mount Eskel in Danland who is forbidden to work in the linder quarries with her father, sister, and the rest of the residents of Mount Eskel. Miri believes that her father considers her too weak and unworthy to work alongside him. Then, a royal messenger announces that the priests have discovered that the future princess of Danland will come from Mount Eskel. All the eligible girls of the town are taken to the "Princess Academy" where they learn to read, write, dance, and understand all matters of commerce, diplomacy and conversation in preparation for a ball with Prince Steffan, who will then choose his bride. During her time at the Princess Academy, Miri learns the truth of why her father won't let her work in the quarries and discovers that her new education can help improve the lives of her friends and family on Mount Eskel even if she does or does not become the princess. It's a quick read and a very enjoyable story, though I enjoyed The Goose Girl more.

Rounding out the books I read last week is Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, by Amanda Foreman. This biography was the inspiration for the recent movie The Duchess starring Keira Knightley (ick) and Ralph Fiennes. It's a very engaging biography of Georgiana Spencer, an ancestor of Princess Diana, who, at age, 17 become the Duchess of Devonshire when she married the Duke. Georginia was a fashion arbiter, amateur politician, hopeless gambler, and a friend to some of the most famous people of her time, including Charles Fox, Charles Grey, and the Prince of Wales (later George IV). Despite her beauty and social graces, she was largely unappreciated by her husband and took many lovers, including Charles Grey, the future British Prime Minister, while her husband had a long affair with their mutual friend, Bess. The Duchess was beset by many debts from her gambling addiction and her extravagant lifestyle and, in her later years, by ill health and a loss of self-confidence. But, until her death, Georgiana reigned as the most beloved and vilified aristocratic woman in Britain. Foreman's biography of the Duchess (her Ph.D. dissertation) is not over-bloated and long (a problem with MANY biographies I have read) though the chapters on the complicated political matters of the day dragged a bit. Foreman does a good job of placing the Duchess in her political context, but I wish she had had offered a more in-depth look at the social and cultural world that Georgiana inhabited. Also, the Duke is an ever enigmatic character in the book and I wish Foreman had perhaps delved a litter deeper into the Duke's personality, motivations, and biography as well. Overall, I found it to be a rather interesting biography of a very fascinating woman.

So there you have it. What do you think if you've read these books? Do you want to read them? Also, if you have any recommendations, please send them my way. Happy reading.

Ode to John Steinbeck

To begin a new series (I hope) of posts about the books I've read recently, I thought I'd kick it off with an ode to John Steinbeck, my favorite American author. (Inspired in part by Emily's latest blog post. Thanks Emily!)

Like most American teenagers, I read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath during Honors American Literature my junior year of high school. Well, I should clarify: I read half of Steinbeck's classic tale of the Great Depression and then read the Cliff Notes. Because that's what my crazy, leaf-picking, bird-calling honors English teacher told us to do. Lady was crazy. And not in the good way either.

Needless to say, I did not appreciate Steinbeck then. In fact, I think I've blocked out a lot about the Joad family and their dusty flight from Oklahoma in my mind. It was way beyond my comprehension or my literary maturity at that point. (I was, however, quite enthralled by Emily Dickinson and The Scarlett Letter though.)

I did not reacquaint myself with John Steinbeck until I moved to Monterey. If you know anything about Steinbeck, you know that he was born and raised in Salinas, an agricultural immigrant town some twenty miles from the beautiful bay of Monterey. Many of Steinbeck's novels are set in California--particularly Salinas and Monterey--and they have a very distinctive and almost tangible sense of place about them. To read John Steinbeck is to taste the dirt of Salinas's rolling hills and to smell the salty sea air hanging over Monterey's Cannery Row.

For months after I moved to Monterey in 2005, I would pass this statue of the author along the boardwalk of Cannery Row (now a tourist destination) on my way to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where I volunteered on the weekends. And every week, I would think to myself that I should really read something by Steinbeck, seeing as how he'd written about the very place I was currently living.

So I picked up Cannery Row at the local public library and I fell in love with Steinbeck's prose and the almost effortless way in which he breathed life into the people and the places that he wrote about. In the prologue of the book, which is really a compilation of stories about Doc Ricketts (a real person) and the men who worked in the sardine canneries that give the street its name, Steinbeck essentially tells us how he sets about to capture the world through his words:

"How can the poem and the stink and the grating noise--the quality of light, the ton, the habit and the dream--be set down alive? When you collect marine animals there are certain flat worms so delicate that they are almost impossible to capture whole, for they break and tatter under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and then lift them gently into your bottle of sea water. And perhaps that might be the way to write this book--to open the page and to let the stories crawl in by themselves."

And since reading those words, I have loved John Steinbeck. And that love was reaffirmed when I read East of Eden while in grad school and which, in my opinion (and his), is Steinbeck's best work and one of the most beautiful pieces of literature written by an American author. It starts rather slowly as a quasi-autobiographical tale of Steinbeck's family, and then it begins to intertwine itself with the tale of Adam Trask and his two sons, Aron and Cal as an allegorical re-telling of the story of Cain and Abel. If you haven't read East of Eden or if your only experience with Steinbeck is your high school reading of The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men, then I encourage you to read more. You will not be disappointed.

I bought a collection of Steinbeck's most famous works for my birthday. There's only one book in the collection that I haven't read yet (Travels with Charley in Search of America) which is at the top of my to-be-read list but I can't wait to re-read East of Eden or Cannery Row, The Pearl and yes, even The Grapes of Wrath. Maybe now, I'll appreciate it a little more.

Ultimately, I just love the way Steinbeck works with words and how he expects more from his readers. In East of Eden, Steinbeck writes about the way two men, a father and son, read books:

"Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands." (East of Eden, page 280)

And if you read Steinbeck, you can't help but get it all over your face and hands and heart. There's a reason the man won a Nobel Prize for his writing.

And you too may discover the beauty of the word timshel.

Up next, reviews of three of the books that I have read recently. I know you are all sitting on the edge of your seats in anticipation.

Post-Partum Aunt Depression

Shocked? I know Anna is....it's been a loooong time since my last post.

In my defense, I'm having a serious case of the blahs. Sometimes when life gets too busy--or too boring--I shut down and become incapable of doing anything productive even though I can think of twelve thousands various things to do. Also, I'm in withdrawal right now.

I miss these two. Those big beautiful eyes! Those pouty lips! And the chubby cheeks. I need some chubby cheeks to squeeze....and soon.

Aww, look. A little smile. James is such a good big brother, when he remembers that he has a sister....

Is this picture killing anyone else? Babies! Asleep!**

Due to the ever reliable and efficient way that military flights run, I got to spend two extra days with my sister, her husband, and her adorable children. But before I could let Anna go, I thought I'd teach her a thing or two about accessorizing.

She really loved my red necklace. Besides, as her aunt, it's my duty to make sure that she is always adorable and looking fabulous.

Perhaps next time, I should teach her to accessorize with her clothes. You know....when she's actually wearing some.

Just a thought.

I promise to be back with more posts soon. I've got some pictures to share of the cats (yes plural, heaven help me) and I thought I'd start blogging about all the books I've been reading lately. Or I could tell you all about the joys of getting a root canal and the subsequent pain I have been experiencing, but I have a hunch ya'll might not be as interested in that as kitties.

But I could always be wrong.

**Dear Cassy,
Thank you for coming to visit and bringing your babies and making my womb jump with joy and think it wants a baby of its own. Thank you SO very much. Also, can Brigham come visit again? He's such an excellent dishwasher.
Love your sister who is NOT pregnant,
Liz

Visitors

It's official.

I'm in love with this face.

I mean, how does someone resist such a face?

They would have to be made of wood. Or iron. Or steel. Whatever people who do not melt into puddles of blubbery goo are made of when faced with such pouty lips, chubby cheeks and rolls of fat.

They simply can't be human. But me? I a big glop of blubbery goo when faced with my niece's adorable face.

My sister, her husband, and their two children arrived in Hawaii late Wednesday night. They spend a few days on Oahu with David and I and are now spending this week on the Big Island. I already miss Anna.

Also, James is now huge. He's two going on five. Seriously.

On Thursday, we went for a hike to Makapuu lighthouse (see below) and then to Bellows AFS, my favorite beach on the island.

Bellows has the softest, most powdery sand of all the beaches, is the least crowded (because only military can access it on the weekdays), and has hot showers.

James enjoyed playing in the sand and destroying sand castles. And even though he used to LOVE beaches when he was younger (like 6 months ago), he was suddenly very afraid of the water.

He just wanted to play in the sand.


But as he watched his parents swim in the ocean he just couldn't stand it anymore and ran into the water.

The water is also a really pretty color at Bellows.

Look at that fist! He could so beat up on kids twice his age.

And once again, I'm a blubbery gloop of goo.

Geez, she doesn't even have to try, does she?

On Friday, my sister and her family went to the Arizona Memorial and then I sent my sister and her husband away to go to dinner while I watched the kids.

For the record, Anna is a terrible flirt.

Especially with David. Apparently, she has no respect for our marital vows.

We tried to feed James dinner and David taught him how to growl and shake his fists while eating.

And when I would point my camera at him, James would lean over and give me this face.

I mean, what's an aunt to do?

On Saturday, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the day. Of course, it rained the whole time we were there, but it was still fun and James enjoyed running around and watching all the female hula dancers and the drummers. Anna just giggled and gurgled as she always does and charmed every one she met. I can't wait to see them one more time before they leave the islands forever. I really miss having family around.

Please welcome....Su-Yom!

So I wasn't in a very bloggy mood and then I told the story of David and Liz and then I wasn't in a very bloggy mood again. I've got several things I've been meaning to post--from our joint birthday celebrations and my education in all things Korean--but that will have to wait. First, I must introduce to the newest member of our family.

This is Su-yom. It means whiskers in Korean. On Tuesday night, I was cooking up dinner when David received a call from our friend Jenn. She and her husband (they of the awesome parties) are also moving to Korea, but a month before us. They have two small kids and two cats, and Jenn was stressed to her max with the thought of moving all these living things to a foreign country and so she asked if we would like to adopt their sweet-natured one and a half year old all black cat. (They took her in a year ago from another girl who could not keep her.)

David and I of course had talked about getting a cat but we had not made any decisions about when to get this cat. (My parents have adopted my cat Emerson, pictured in the last post, but he's so spoiled living with them that I don't think he'd adjust to a small apartment in Asia.) We wanted to get an older cat (i.e. not a kitten) but we wanted to be sure that she had come from a good home and had a gentle nature. It seemed like a perfect opportunity but we were still a little hesitant. I hated the thought of transporting a poor animal to a foreign country but whether she came to us or stayed with Jenn, Su-Yom was going to Korea. Also, Jenn gave us all the things we needed: cat food, cat litter, litter box, playthings, food bowls, etc. All we needed to do was come pick her up and take her home with us. And if it didn't work out, we could take her back and Jenn would find her another home. And we already knew that Su-Yom was a very sweet cat who still had a bit of playfulness still left in her.

Besides, how can you say no to this face?

Or these little paws?

We couldn't. And so Su-Yom (no idea how it's spelled) has been with us for the last three days. She's a bit skittish at times, but she can also be quite cuddly when she wants to be. (She snuggled up on David's lap, purring away, while we watched TV last night.) She's totally an indoor cat, which is good since we can't let her outside and she's very well behaved and not afraid of children, since she was previously living with a 4 and a 2 year old. She doesn't jump on counters like some cats I know and she doesn't whine a lot either. She's still rather small for a cat and she doesn't eat much but she's already begun terrorizing the geckos in the air conditioning unit, which I am quite in favor of. Aside from scattering some cat litter on our bathroom floor, she hasn't scratched or torn anything yet, doesn't shed a great deal and is extremely well-behaved.

The only thing is that I'm trying to decide if I should change her name. While her Korean name is very cute and she will be a Korean cat in a short time but she doesn't answer to that name. She doesn't really answer to any name really, except for Cat. And only if you keep saying it. We have a tradition in my family of naming our cats after authors or poets, but I can't think of a good female author to name her after. Maybe this is why we always get male cats. Much easier to name. (My next male cat will be named Steinbeck. Just so you know.) But then I'd feel bad changing her name so maybe I'll just find a good nickname for her.

But in any case, I love black cats.
They're so enigmatic.

Cats and Korea

This is Seoul. At night. I'm going to live there. Apparently.

Well, I've told most of my friends and family and announced it on Facebook, but I realized that I never said anything on my blog, so here's the official announcement: David and I are moving to South Korea! Now, we've known for about year that Korea was a possibility, known for about 5 months that Korea was almost a sure thing, but we didn't know with absolute certainty and we didn't know when. David got his orders about two weeks ago and we have to report to David's new duty station near Seoul on June 18th. It's much earlier than we had anticipated but we're still very excited about the prospect of moving to Asia. (And I'll certainly be WAY more excited once our paperwork is all complete because, boy, is that a nightmare!) I can't wait to travel Asia. So.....if you've ever wanted to visit Korea, you'll have a place to stay for the next two years. Please come.

Now, because we are moving half-way around the world, David and I don't expect to return to the States during our two year tour so we're planning on visiting our families during the month of June before we leave. So if you'll be in or near San Diego on May 29th through June 7 or Atlanta from June 7 to the 16th, let us know! We'd love to see you! [All dates are tentative at this point.]

The best thing about our move? You know, besides the wonderful adventures, the culture shock, and new environment, is that I finally get to have a cat again.

Because it's the only way we can live off base. (And base housing is pretty bad, we hear.)

So yay for cats and Korea. In that order.

I really love cats....

A lot.


See? So cute!

How I Became Mrs. Malone, Part VI

Just in time for Valentine's Day, here's the final chapter of How I Became Mrs. Malone (wherein, I actually do become Mrs. Malone.)

When I last left you, I had spent Spring Break in Hawaii, gone to Atlanta in May to meet David's family, and then spent a week in California together in August. After a difficult fall semester (in which I did not get to see David at all), I was very much looking forward to Christmas when I would be reunited with David again. David flew in on Christmas Eve and after a rather low-key Christmas, we spent the day after Christmas shopping for new shoes. (My Christmas present from David. He still really hates the shoes I got that day, but they are comfortable!)

I knew that the engagement was coming and I knew it was coming that night. When you have a long distance relationship, it's really hard to be spontaneous with moments like these. I knew David had the ring--and despite my best efforts, I never did find it--and I knew he did not want to wait a long time before making our engagement official. Not that everyone didn't already know we were getting married. Not that we hadn't already set the date. I'd already ordered my dress (a gorgeous Maggie Sottero ivory lace gown which I love and will love until the day I die), met with the florist, and sampled cakes. All I needed was the ring. The actual proposal was immaterial to me. And I guess I had already gotten my spontaneous and surprising proposal a year and a half before. This time, I was prepared and ready for it. And I finally knew what my answer was going to be.

The night of our engagement.

So the day after Christmas Eve, David and I got all dressed up and went to a quaint Italian restaurant called Osteria Romantica near La Jolla Shores, my favorite beach in San Diego. We had a delicious meal, during which we recounted our entire relationship from the very first moment I saw David with applesauce bulging out of his pockets to the long months of separation that we had endured. After dinner, we went for a walk on the beach. It was a chilly night--as chilly as San Diego gets during the winter--and I was surprised by the number of people still out, having bonfires. We walked until we were far enough away from the other people and David said some really nice things (I was too anxious to really pay attention by this point) and then, against my wishes, David got down on one knee, in the sand, and proposed. I quickly said yes--almost before he had gotten the question out of his mouth--and stuck out my hand for the ring. It was a simple square-cut solitaire with a thin, delicate band, but it was perfect for me. Inside, David had inscribed "uxoriously yours." (Uxorious means excessively devoted to one's wife. I would have loved to have seen the jeweler's face when David requested that.) We drove home to my expectant parents and announced that FINALLY, we were officially engaged, to the shock of no one.

The NEXT day, December 27th, I went to the San Diego temple to take out my endowments for the first time. It was wonderful to have my family there--my mom and dad, grandmother, Jason, my sister-in-law Elisa--and David. Afterwards, we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Fidel's, in Solana Beach. The rest of our Christmas break together is a bit of a blur. There were wedding preparations to contend with, engagement photos to take, decisions to be made, etc. I wanted to get as much done as I could while in San Diego since I would not be back until two weeks before the wedding. And though it can be done, it is mighty difficult to plan a wedding in San Diego when you live in Washington D.C. Thank goodness my mother has done this 3 times before and knew just what to do.

One of our engagement photos.

New Year's Eve was not as eventful. David and I had both gotten sick and we just laid around all night. I'm not even sure if we were able to make it to midnight before falling asleep. On January 3rd, both David and I flew to Chicago and then I boarded a plane headed for DCA (Reagan airport) and David got on one for BWI (Baltimore). David had finally managed to get enrolled in a language training class near Fort Meade for 5 weeks, which meant that he was now only an hour away from me. We spent as much time together as we could. He would borrow the rental car assigned to him and the other girl attending the class to come see me during the weekdays while I would take the commuter train up to BWI on the weekends and then we would rent a car and travel around. We went to Mt. Vernon, Gunston Hall, the Baltimore Aquarium (and ate at Roy's for the first time, which has become one of my favorite restaurants), made several trips to the D.C. temple, ate at Chipotle's approximately 10 times(since there none in Hawaii), went on a tour of the West Wing (compliments of my friend Jen who worked at the White House), and visited Old Town Alexandria. Over Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend, David and I rented a car and drove up to New Jersey to see Jason and Elisa. (Luckily, David and Jason get along really well because they both share a love of Legos and Star Wars.) We drove into New York City on Saturday and did a session at the Manhattan temple, went to the top of the Empire State Building, and then visited Times Square. It was my third time to NYC and David's first but I think you could spend your life there and never see everything worth seeing. Still, I like my NYC in small doses.

Me David, Elisa and Jason on the top of the Empire State Building

While David was tackling Korean during the day, I had just started my last semester of grad school which included an internship at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. I worked with a curator in the Music, Sports and Entertainment department to assist her with the publication of a new book on the museum's collection of puppets. I spent time researching, organizing and re-cataloguing the collection and untangling string after tangled string of 100 year old puppets to be photographed for the book. I did, however, get on a first name basis with Kermit the Frog, Howdy Doody and Charlie McCarthy. Oscar was there too but he really is a grouch. (Just kidding...)

At the Smithsonian with Howdy Doody, Kermit and Charlie McCarthy.

I also had a class on race in America (which ended up being one of my favorite and most thought-provoking classes even though it was the one most outside of my academic comfort zone) and a class about vernacular architecture (loved the subject, HATED the professor).

We spent our birthdays together and then David flew back to Hawaii on February 9th, the day after my birthday. We went back to our long distance lives, me busy with school, work and my internship and David with work and his first semester back at school. I wanted to go to Hawaii for Spring Break again, but the tickets were incredibly expensive and so I opted to go to Utah for Spring Break to visit my sister and do research on a paper I was writing for my vernacular architecture class on Mormon tabernacles. I flew into Denver, where Cassy had been visiting friends, on March 14 and then we drove back to Utah together, stopping in East Carbon to visit my grandmother, grandfather, and my parents and sister Bobbi, who were also in Utah that weekend. It was the last time I saw my Grandpa before he died in October.

Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Temple Square

While in Utah, I visited a bunch of tabernacles (Brigham City, Bountiful, Salt Lake, Provo, and Heber) and went through a temple session in Provo and Salt Lake (so gorgeous inside!), did research, visited family, ate at all my favorite places, and played with my absolutely adorable nephew.

The absolutely adorable nephew helping me research at the Bountiful Tabernacle.

I flew back to D.C. on March 21st, and got down to the business of graduating. I turned in my application for graduation, studied, took, and passed my comprehensive exams, and finished all my coursework (though I cut it close this semester). My friends threw me a bridal shower and my high school friend Whitney was able to come, having come down from Massachusetts to visit that weekend, which was a real treat.


I graduated on May 16, and my parents had flown in that day, while Jason and Elisa drove down from New Jersey. We spent the rest of the week exploring. I took them on a tour of the American History museum, we visited monuments and memorials, the Masonic temple in Alexandria, the Udvar-Hazy extension of the Air and Space Museum, went to several baseball games, and visited some Civil War battlefields. My parents left on May 22nd. I spent the next two days packing, shipping my books and other belongings to Hawaii, and saying good-bye to friends and then I left D.C. for good on May 24th.

Family photo with Kermit.

I had two weeks until the wedding and one week until I would see David again. There were details to finalize, dress fittings, another bridal shower to attend, and some freaking out to do. I wasn't really worried about getting married at this point, but more stressed with getting everything organized and arranged, with all the friends and family coming in for the wedding, balancing between spending time with my family and with David's, who were all flying in (minus one sister) from Atlanta for the occasion. We got our marriage license, went to the Wild Animal Park, went to a Padres game, had tuxedos fitted and us girls had our nails done. And then, it was the day before my wedding. All the days leading up to June 6th are now a big blur of activity. I can't even recall how I felt, if I was nervous or anxious or just excited.

Me with my bridesmaids: Jen, Cassy, me, Bobbi and Kara

I woke up the next morning, did my hair and makeup, and my mother and I drove to the temple together where we met David and Jacob a little before 10am (they spent the night at my grandparents' house). David and I were whisked away to be attended by many different people and we were finally brought in the sealing room at 11 am. I wish I could remember what Brother Kirby said (I know there a something about our children) but all I remember is looking at my friends and family watching, some of them crying (Kara!), and then being told that I could kiss David and thinking he was just a little too enthusiastic about that. After the ceremony was completed, we were able to greet all our guests and then we went outside to take pictures in my gorgeous, beautiful wedding dress. (My dad even told me that of all the wedding dresses worn by his daughters, mine was his favorite.)


After all the photos were taken, David and I checked into our hotel at the La Jolla Hyatt and then drove back to my parent's house were we had an informal early dinner for close friends and family on the back deck. We had Mexican food, catered by the best little taco shop in Poway, El Ranchito. I really wanted to have a dinner with just my close friends because I knew I wouldn't get much of a chance to talk to them during the reception. After everyone was done eating, my mom proposed a toast, which took most of the participants a little by surprise. So after chatting with everyone, and helping to clean up, David and I drove back to La Jolla, to our fancy little hotel room, to spend our first night as husband and wife. (I'll spare you the details.)

We came back to my parent's house in the afternoon and David and I took Jen and Jacob (the maid of honor and best man, respectively) out to lunch at Mimi's Cafe and then returned home to help with the last minute reception details. David, however, had to finish a paper for one of his classes, so I helped while he worked on that downstairs. Of course, we were both late getting ready for the reception and we ended up being 15 minutes late (I hate not being punctual). The reception was held at Templar's Hall in Old Poway Park and it's a beautiful location for a wedding reception. The centerpieces consisted of brown urns filled with purple and white flowers on top of a stack of antique books. I called the theme of my reception "literary romance."

The centerpieces.

We had a beautiful cake and cupcakes, lots of fresh fruit, sandwiches, salad, and pink lemonade. We danced our first song to "Blue Eyes" by Carey Brothers, but I forgot to toss my bouquet. It was a beautiful reception, though not a terribly fancy one, but I mostly enjoyed getting to wear my dress and talking to all the guests who had come to wish us well.

My high school friends: Nicole, Kara, me, and Tessa

After cleaning up and saying our final good-byes to friends and family (who we most likely would not see again), David and I drove up to my parent's cabin in the Palomar Mountains where we spent the next two nights. We came home, packed up all our belongings and then flew to Oahu together on Monday, June 9th and I saw my new home for the first time. (For the record, David did carry me over the threshold.) The next day we flew to the Big Island where we spent the next four days at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We hiked into the volcano, trekked through a lava tube, saw breathtaking waterfalls, went swimming on a black sand beach, and visited the only historic house on the island. I even built an entire puzzle by myself while David wrote his last paper for his class. :-) It was a wonderful honeymoon and a great start to our marriage.



I can't believe it's been eight months already. It's certainly always entertaining being married to David and the next two years that we'll spend living in South Korea will certainly be quite the adventure. Thanks for letting me share our story with you. I'm sure you'll get to hear lots more about our adventures together as they happen.