Love...

What is it really?  Does it change?  Do we see different kinds and levels of it?  Why does it seem like there is never enough of it to go around?  Catherine and I are in love.   There is no other way to describe the force that pulls us together and makes us want to be near each other every waking moment.  For some reason, in this world we live in today, many think of this as a young love.  The love that lasts in newlyweds lasts only for a short time, but why is that?  Why is it that "lasting love" requires the compromise of work and hobbies and sports and movies and girlfriends and bros and so on and so forth?  Why is it that in the world we live in today the ideas of the important from the unimportant are so cloudy and faded that the importance of family is hard to see?  I have heard the advice that couples need to make sure that they have given each other enough space that they can both accomplish their carreers and do the things they want to do in life.  But really, in they end, all the fame, education, promotions, and accomplishments will be water under the bridge.  No matter if I'm a doctor saving a life or the maid cleaning up in the hospital, it is not worth it if I have no time for my family.  I don't care how much I accomplish in life as far as work goes. If my family doesn't know they always came first in my life, what is really the point?  Now, is it really still possible to have the life I want?  Is it possible to live in a nice home with a white picket fence without selling my soul to my job?  Is it still possible to give my family the time and attention it deserves?  I believe it is.  I believe it comes down to the fact that we all need to stand up for ourselves and take hold of our lives.  I have seen too many families fall apart because one or both parties involved are more commited to other things in life rather than each other.

I knew that Catherine and I were right for each other when we both realized we cared more about talking to each other than doing anything else in life.  I need someone I care about more than anything else.  I want to want to come home from work.  I want to be excited for every moment I get to hold her in my arms.  She became my best friend in 6 months and my eternal companion in a year and a half.  I will always have her with me and I plan on making my life one in which I can be with her as much as possible.  My life choices will be based out of how it will allow me the quality time I desire with my family.  I may leave some money on the table and some wonderful job opportunities may fly by but in the end it would all be tedious if it took away from my sweet Catherine.

So what really is love?  It is the desire with every fiber of my being to bring happiness to someone else.  The people we love are those that we want to spend all of our time with.  I love you Catherine.

I love my husband

I don't have a long time to write because I've been gone all day and Mark will be going to bed soon (he has to get up at 5 every morning and because I can't stand being up while he goes to sleep, we always go to bed together even though it takes me forever to fall asleep cause I sleep in late since school hasn't started back up yet) so that means I will be going to bed soon and want to spend a few precious minutes with him before the day runs out...

But I just wanted to take a few minutes and say how awesome he is.  I baby-sat all day and he gets home from work at 3:30.  When I got home at 7:30 he had a delicious dinner waiting for me and now he's busy working on trimming my resume's for me perfectly with a straight edge because I can't ever seem to get it right and he just finished that and now he's putting cookies in the oven because I said I wanted some.  I mean, isn't he just the absolute sweetest guy ever???

I love him soooo much and I am the luckiest girl ever to have him for my sweet husband.  My patriarchal blessing even addresses him as 'my dear husband' when talking about him.  I'm so happy I found my eternal companion.

Happy New Year!

2014 is here!  I think 2013 has been the best year of both our lives so far but I'm thinking 2014 might be even better!  I love starting off this new year with  my sweetheart by my side.  Life is so much better when you have someone to share it with!

At this very moment, Peanut is behind me in the kitchen making strawberry-banana waffles and dancing his cute little butt off to "Got to be Real" by Cheryl Lynn...it's a real girl power song that reminds me of "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" that came up on our "Walking on Sunshine" station on Songza.  He looks pretty adorable! :)

I guess I haven't posted since Christmas...the big gift I got Mark is a tablet!  I got him a Nook HD +.  He needed a laptop really bad but I couldn't afford to get him a great laptop so I just got him a great tablet instead, which is practically the same thing and just as good for what Mark does anyway (read sports articles, watch sports videos, and check his email).  He was pretty excited!  I loved spending Christmas with my love.  He got me Hunter boots!  We also got really spoiled from my parents...they were so worried we weren't going to have that many gifts that they got us more gifts than Sean and Stephanie, haha.  After they had finished opening theirs we were scrambling to open all the rest of ours as quick as we could but we had so many!  Mostly because my mom wraps every present individually and she got us a lot of DVD's and this fairy tale collection of books so that was like most of our presents.  We also got Christmas ornaments, picture frames, Mark got a robe and keyboard for his Nook, and I got more Wizard of Oz memorabilia than you've ever seen!  Haha, I do love Wizard of Oz but my mom went a little overboard there...but I loved everything!!

We spent New Years at Esther and Jacob's.  She made us delicious teriyaki chicken and rice and we spent the night playing movie charades.  We were pretty entertained by Yosh most of the night and he kept us up until midnight when we went on the roof of their apartment and watched fireworks.  Pretty good New Year's!

Here's to our first full year of married life!  I can't wait!!! :)

Home for Christmas!

Well, after many long hours and delays, Mark and I finally made it home for Christmas!  Friday was crazy packing and cleaning and running errands.  Duncan picked us up at 5:00 p.m. to get to the airpot by 6 for our 7:00 flight.  But we were a little late running errands so we didn't leave until around 5:20.  Being rush hour on Friday night the weekend before Christmas there was just a little traffic...we got to the airport at 6:13 and had two minutes to check our bag.  We both said prayers and luckily when we got there, we were able to check our bag and then because of our gate's location we were directed away from the massive line of people to a completely empty security center and we got to go through a special security where we didn't have to take off our clothes or take our laptops out or anything!  And then our gate was right when you stepped out of security.  So we got through the entire process in 5 minutes and were there exactly on time for boarding.  Look at how God answers prayers!!

However, sometimes God has other things in mind.  We were sitting there all proud of ourselves waiting to board when we hear an announcement that our plane had been having mechanical issues and boarding was going to be delayed.  About 10 minutes later we get another announcement: Our flight has been cancelled and we will all be put on another flight the next morning at 6:00 a.m.!!!  This has never happened to either of us before.  Mark was sort of standing there in shock and I just yelled, "Get in line!"  They were handing out hotel and meal vouchers and our entire flight was crowding around us trying to get to the front.  Luckily because of where we were sitting when they made the announcement, practically already in a line towards the front, we only had to wait for AN HOUR to get our vouchers.  We were near the front of the line.  That line went out the terminal and around the corner so those people were waiting at least two hours, maybe three.  Mind you, this was for a 7 p.m. flight so some of those people didn't get their vouchers until 10 p.m. and they were telling us to be back at the airport by 4 a.m. because of how crazy it was going to be tomorrow!!  You might as well just sleep there!

We laughed about it but overheard people panicking needing to catch their connected flights and one girl who was all by herself and had no money or phone who was just there on a layover from somewhere else.  She was freaking out quite a bit too.  We both felt lucky we had each other and could look at this as a fun adventure instead of a huge inconvenience and lonely misfortune.

We used both our breakfast and dinner vouchers (we didn't think we would be getting breakfast at 3:30 in the morning) for dinner and it's a good thing because let me tell you, airport food is expensive!!!  We went to Ruby's Diner...more like a cheap expensive imitation.  The cheeseburgers were $11 and unlike the real Ruby's did not come with unlimited fries.  The shakes were $7 (okay no one told us we had to get a shake but it's RUBY's!!!) and didn't even come with the rest of the shake in the silver cup!!  We got one to share but it was delicious so we would have appreciated the extra amount.

After dinner we hurried outside to catch our hotel shuttle.  The hurrying was extremely unnecessary.  We ended up waiting an hour and a half for a shuttle to take us to the hotel a mile away!!!  One shuttle got there after 30 minutes but it was full and we didn't see another one until an hour later.  Meanwhile, shuttles for all the other hotels were coming by every 10-15 minutes!  Of course, the busiest hotel that's hosting an entire cancelled flight would have no shuttles.  We actually reasoned that because they had so many people to take, they were probably filling up before they got to us but we never saw any other full ones go by so I'm skeptical of that theory.  Either way, it was really unfortunate since we had to be up so early.

We got to the hotel at 10 p.m. and it was such a nice hotel!  It's a shame we didn't have much time to enjoy it.  We got 4 hours of sleep and got up at 3:40 to head back to the chaos.  We I was a little worried that we would have the same shuttle problem getting back to the airport but luckily 4 a.m. is a very busy time for them and they had plenty of shuttles for us.  Go figure.  We got to our gate plenty early and just tried to relax.  Oh but this time we had to go through real security and disrobe.  Annoying.

I probably sound like I'm complaining...we really weren't annoyed, it was just funny how many things went wrong.  Normally, that type of thing would seriously annoy me and make me angry but being with Mark made the whole thing okay.  It was even kind of fun and I just laughed a little to myself as each event got progressively worse.  Mark has a way of calming me down.  When we were waiting an hour and a half for the shuttle at the crazy airport, I looked around and saw other people waiting that just looked cold, tired, and miserable.  I was safe in Mark's arms and would nuzzle my nose underneath his neck and just feel his warmth.  It didn't matter where we were or what was happening around us.  I was safe.

The whole situation actually made me think of Titanic (favorite movie so I think of it A LOT).  The mad dash to get the vouchers with the elite "first class" going first and everyone else just trying to get a spot in line...the full shuttle "life boat" that passed us by and just couldn't make room for us...and then when we finally did get a shuttle, we passed by other people who had been waiting...we heard them begging to squeeze on and at first our bus driver said no but then she finally squeezed their luggage behind her seat and let a woman and her child on and I turned to Mark and said, "Women and children, first please, women and children!"  He thought I was a little ridiculous but come on, it was a Titanic sort of situation!!  I was Rose and felt so lucky to have my Jack with me, keeping me safe.  Don't worry...Mark does not die at the end of this story.

So after all of that we finally got on our flight at 6 a.m. and it was awesome!!!  The plane was an International one and so the seats were really comfy and spacious and we all had TV's right in front of us and we had 265 movies to choose from!!!  There were so many good ones that Mark and I couldn't decide.  We went through them all and made lists of the ones we were interested in seeing and then compared.  We ended up watching "The Way, Way Back" and "Turbo", both excellent movies!  I recommend them!!

That was just this morning but it feels like we've already been here a few days, haha.  It's been a long day.  We are glad to be home though and excited for a fun week ahead!  I will try and keep you posted on our future adventures :)  Maybe I will get Mark to post a few too!

Christmas "To Do" List

So, I'm being really selfish here because Mark and I decided we really wanted to take turns writing in the blog but he started his last entry and hasn't finished and I took my last final yesterday and so today I have absolutely NOTHING to do and I'm just counting down the hours until I get to go meet him at his office and drive down to Palos Verdes together to pick up all our wedding decorations!!!  Hence, I'm writing without him...but I'm strongly considering waiting to publish this post until after he publishes his.  Maybe I won't even tell him!  No way, I tell him everything.  I actually have a BIG surprise planned for Christmas and I can't say anything more than that or it's going to give everything away but just know that it's going to be a Christmas he won't forget ;)

Well, I am officially DONE with my second to last semester of college!!!  It's a good feeling.  Now I have about a month off until I start my last semester but I also have to do an internship next summer.  Our Masters Family Reunion is next summer too so I'm really hoping I can plan my internship around it because I want Mark to get to know all my kooky cousins and aunts and uncles and grandma!!!  They are all dying to get to know him too (at least my grandma) and our family reunions are always a blast!

Mark and I are flying home to Texas on Friday!  WOO HOO!!!  Flying is so much better with your love, let me tell you!  Sissy and I counted the number of times we will have seen each other this year and it's A LOT!  I was still there in January of this year, Mark and I flew home for Sean's homecoming, mom and sissy came and visited me in Cali and then Mark and I went home a month later to go to Disneyworld with the fam, they all flew out for the wedding and now we are flying out there for Christmas!  So that's 6 times in one year which is like once every couple months.  Pretty awesome!  I love my sissy!!!

Here is what we plan to do in Texas:

1. Christmas shopping!!!  All of it on Saturday and Monday before Christmas!
2. Visit with my friend Mollie from Connecticut and her family who all happened to move to Kingwood, my hometown!!! Crazy!
3. See "Saving Mr. Banks"!
4. Christmas caroling on Christmas Eve's eve with my family's ward
5. Drive around looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve - our family tradition!
6. Drink so much hot cocoa that we turn into marshmallows
7. Go horseback riding on my cousin Lydia's horses when we visit them on Christmas
8. Christmas dinner with the Masters!
9. Go on lots of romantic walks and kiss under the stars...hey, we ARE newlyweds! ;)
10. Kiss under mistletoe (because neither of us ever have!)
11. Watch all of the SAG nominated movies so I can vote for the SAG awards
12. Read!!!  I have bought so many good books while I've been in school and haven't had a chance to read any of them!  So i'm very much looking forward to that!
13. Work on my demo reel and Mark is working on work stuff
14. Go to Ruggles Green - it's an all organic restaurant that the R.S. President and her husband recommended we go to!  They said they have the best White Chocolate Raspberry bread pudding you ever tasted and I've never even had bread pudding so my tastes are going to be pretty sophisticated for the stuff after this...
15. Catch up in our journals (I swear Mark's last entry was right before he was about to propose to me...he didn't even finish it hahaha)
16. Write all our wedding thank you notes...not so fun BUT we are going to do this simultaneously with activity #6 so it will be okay
17. Decide on our New Year's Resolutions (well mine are already decided but I need to get Mark excited about making some of his own)
18. Catch up on Smallville and Once Upon A Time (Mark had never really watched Smallville other than a few episodes and since it's my favorite show of all time and I happen to own all 10 seasons, we started watching them like months ago but then when we got engaged and I started school, we got super busy planning our wedding and with homework and stuff so we stopped around season 4.  We plan on watching at least 2 seasons in the 10 days we are there!!!)                                                   
19. Do work out videos together (we did a yoga one last Saturday and we were both so sore! It was way fun though!)
20. Play with our Christmas presents (Mark will have a lot of fun playing with his!!!  Ahhh, I'm so excited!!!)
21. Teach Mark to play guitar (Sean will have to do that since I don't play)
22. Go bowling with the family (we have actually never done that as a family and why not start now?!)
23. Go ice-skating at the Galleria
24. Eat at my favorite Chinese restaurant
25. Visit my BFF Sarah (she has never met Mark and I'm dying for her to!)

I think that's a pretty good list!  Think we can do it all?  Well, if you know me you know I practically can't live without my lists and even when I have nothing to do I make lists of things I'm not doing hahaha.

So might not publish this yet but I hope Mark finishes his last post soon or this post will not be as fun to read after we've done all that stuff!

I changed my mind...I don't think he'll post his until after we've left for Texas so I'm posting this! Sorry babe :)

Post Honeymoon

It's been a little over a week since Mark and I got married and let me tell you...married life is great!  The whole thing still feels surreal to both of us.  Mark said to me the other day, "Isn't it crazy that we can have kids anytime we want?" I will admit, we're both extremely anxious to have children.  We want four, two boys and two girls ideally and maybe one set of twins...not like we're picky or anything though.  However, we have decided to follow the advice of practically everyone to "wait awhile and just enjoy being married."

We do enjoy being together...we just think having kids is going to make life extremely fun!  (Yes, I know all you young moms are laughing right now because I DO know it's a ton of work but if you have to work in life anyway I would much rather work raising my children than doing some other boring job!  And you can't deny that having a kid around makes life way more fun!)  Also, maybe because of the big distraction of planning a wedding or being swamped with acting at USC but for some reason I no longer have any interest in pursuing a career (terrible, I know) and just want to be a mom already!  This might have to do with the fact that I hate doing work for nothing (doesn't everybody though?) and the career I want to pursue doesn't really allow a gap of 10+ years to get the last kid out of the house.  If I decide to pursue acting, it's going to take a lot of time, money, and work that will all have been pointless the second I have my first child.  No agent is going to keep me on when I become pregnant and then stay at home raising my kids so I'm just very hesitant to do all the leg work only to have to throw it away in a few years.

Granted, I will need to do something when I graduate from school.  Right now, I'm thinking of doing background work since I'm in SAG-AFTRA and the pay is very good.  It can be fun and exciting too!  So that's the plan...and of course auditioning here and there when I can but I'm mainly interested in starting my family and soon!

Now I guess I should explain our blog name.  One day I said to Mark, "I love you...Peanut."  He gave me his "you're weird" face and then I told him I decided I was going to call him Peanut and he would just have to deal with it.  We were driving to Disney World at the time so Mark turned to Sean and said, "What would you do if Kara (Sean's girlfriend) nicknamed you Peanut?" and Sean goes, "Hey, I'd just be happy she gave me a nickname at all."  So Mark took it like a man and promptly began calling me Butter.  So...hence our blog...the tales of peanut&butter :)