Ireland

Hello! It's been awhile. Let's catch up.

Steve and I are both finished with school. Steve has endured through 3 years of law school and I finally finished my undergrad in history ("ohh... what are you gonna do with that?" "Uhhh... be someone who knows things about history? IDK? Was I supposed to have thought about that before I chose my major and graduated?").

ANYWAYS, big point here is that we are DONE. FINISHED. FINITO.

OKAY, this (blogging) is going to be rough. I can already tell. Maybe we should bite the bullet and dive into this together? I promise I won't go on too many tangents... LETS DO THIS!

*~*IRELAND*~*

We landed in Shannon, on the west coast of Ireland. When we got to the Emerald Isle we were obs and completely floored by its beautiful and dramatic landscape.

The first day of our 3 week journey was the only day we decided to rent a car. Steve and I hopped into our rental car, exchanged anxious glances and zoomed off into the Irish countryside.

Narrow road in Ireland

Steve did a great job driving on the left side of the road. Was it terrifying for both of us at points? Yes. It was. We were both very concerned about our respective sides. "Right, honey. Please go a bit more to the right," I would gently remind him.  He'd calmly respond, "Thank you, but darling if I follow your advice I fear we will crash into the cars that are on our right. I feel we are correctly positioned." Except our conversation was nothing like that.

All joking aside, Steve was a rockstar driver and it was a thrilling adventure.

First stop in Ireland: THE CLIFFS OF MOHER

This is one of my favorite photos of Steve EVER

Just spectacular. This place gives you chills! We walked all around the cliffs, jumped the protective barrier and walked right along the jagged edge. Steve and I were so giddy to be in Ireland, to finally be on this trip that we (I) planned. Steve kept repeating, "I can't believe we're really here." It was really like a dream.

From the Cliffs, we drove three hours in the rain to Killarney. 

KILLARNEY:

Killarney was sa-weeet. We stayed here for 3 days. It's just what you think a Irish town should be like. Tons of pubs with live bands, colorful buildings and a big castle. 

We went to Ross Castle and took a boat ride to Innis Fallen, an island in the loch that had 6,000 year old ruins. 

Ross Castle

Boat ride to Innis Fallon

Then we went to the Gap of Dunloe, Torc Waterfall and Killarney National Park.

Killarney National Park

Gap of Dunloe

Poor Steve was allergic to the horse :( 

Torc Waterfall

Every night we'd go into town and pick a pub at random and get some dinner or sodas (we thought about getting a pint of Guinness, but thought better of it). EVERY pub had live music playing either traditional Irish folk or pop songs. Hearing "I want it that way" by the Backstreet Boys being sung by some drunk Irish men in their Irish accents was definitely a highlight of the trip. We did hear and learn a lot of Irish folk songs and boy are they catchy! Steve and I are still singing them. 

DUBLIN:

Took the train from Killarney and went to the big city! We had 3 days in Dublin.

We saw:

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Dublin Castle

Temple Bar

We also did a Celtic Nights Dinner and Dance show that was AMAZING. We saw a full band play all traditional irish music and had an delicious dinner and saw some pretty cool irish dancin'.

Lastly, we took a day trip to a town about an hour away from Dublin called Howth. It's right on the Irish sea and we saw some Irish seals!

GIANT Irish Sausage I got at the farmer's market

Ireland was captivating and so full of life. We loved you, Emerald Isle. 

Off to SCOTLAND we go!!

An Essay on Me, Steve & Marriage

Being married has its perks.

Most of you know me pretty well. and you know i'm a weirdo. Seriously, a WEIRDO.

And honestly, Steve handles it so well. I love being able to act, sing or dance anyway that I want. I can do whatever my brain thinks is funny in that moment and Steve will smile. A lot of times it's making up songs about the little things I'm doing. Like right now, it would go something like this "I'm writing a blog, yeah. It's gonna be cool, yeah. yeah, yeah, yeah." (obviously with crazy runs during the yeahs to show off my vocal talent). Other times I will burst out into real song (not written by me) and inevitably screw up the words. It's actually one of the longest running jokes Steve and I have. I always forget the words to songs. And instead of pausing and reflecting on which words go where... I just make up words that I think would work well in the song. NOTE: They NEVER go well together.

I'm one of those people who cracks themselves up. I really think I'm hilarious. I don't think everything I say should elicit exclamations of approval from everyone around me. I don't even think other people should find me funny. I have had my share of blank stares and awkward silences (given, I only realized them after I was finished laughing at my own joke). But, for me, I'm pretty good at making myself laugh. Luckily, Steve thinks I'm funny and I think Steve is even funnier than me. And Steve thinks it's funny that I find myself so funny. We make each other laugh constantly and it's something I wouldn't give up for the world.

Steve is so encouraging. He looks at me with this gaze that makes me want to conquer mountains and learn archery and milk my own cow! I'll be doing something stupid to get his attention and he'll just look at me with those blue eyes and I promptly become a puddle. I have made up so many weird dances, songs, phrases, etc to get a glimpse of that gaze.

But don't you worry, all of you faithful readers. Steve knew what he was getting himself into. I decided early on in our courtship that I wasn't hiding nuttin. Seriously, the first time we texted I was so amped on red bull that I thought for sure this guy is NEVER going to talk to me again. Who would want to date the weird girl who was texting you about german spoons and random facts about the ocean? STEVE, THATS WHO. While we were dating, I made Steve watch Big Cat Diary with me.... almost every night. (For those of you who don't know, Big Cat Diary, aka BCD, is an educational nature show that follows lions, leopards and cheetahs in the Masai Mara in Kenya). Steve and I watched like 8 seasons AND WE KNOW TONS OF LION FACTS.  I'm not kidding. So, guys-- he knew, he knew.

Steve definitely has his quirks too. Like he will devour a box of cereal in 3 minutes, he talks in his sleep, and has a wicked Jean Valjean impersonation. He is also the hardest worker I know and my best friend for life.

Marriage is so sweet. Like what a great deal. We're both crazy and we get to do this whole life thing together.

So, happy two years to my bff, steve. you're wise like yoda and coach k

Steve and me during our BYU days

and I love you.

2012

I don't think I'm very good at coming up with blog post names. So please excuse the vague, broad, and bad descriptor "2012." I wanted to make this a post about our Christmas vacation and stuff, but also about other things, too. So, since it is now 2013...(2013 has been cool. I've read two books already on me new kindle! #humblebrag)... this post is entitled 2012.

So, yeah.

A few weeks ago, in the midst of finals and stressy stress time, Steve, in desperation and in need of a carbonated revival, made me a deal. The deal was that if I got him a Cherry Coke he would take me to the Copper Onion, a fancy restaurant I have been dying to go to ever since 2011. (I sometimes think boys get so fixated on things, that they would literally sell their birthright for a bowl of soup.... oh, wait.) Steve has also promised me a house if I would get him a glass of water and said to me, "I will buy you a car if you get up and turn off that light."

Boys.

Anyway, we went to the Copper Onion and we got some Ricotta Dumplings as appetizers and I died. RICOTTA DUMPLINGS! with parmesan cheese, and SHREDDED CANDIED LEMON ZEST on top. Are you kidding me? Yum. I actually had a dream about them last night. So, Steve won the best husband of the year award.

 Steve knows that food and I are bffs. Whenever I'm grumpy he'll look at me for a second and then it will come to him. "Are you hungry?" I'll scowl at him and then realize that yeah... actually I am. I am not joking when I say that a steve making me a tortilla with melted cheese has settled more than one argument.

Anyways, what the heck.. this was supposed to be about Christmas.

Christmas time was wonderful!

While we were in MD it snowed! It was so cool and we were super happy to get a White Christmas!

Christmas was so fun and I loved to be with my family again. I loved hanging out with my siblings and my Mom and Dad, playing board games, getting stuck in the snow, having weird endurance competitions,

stolen from Johanna's instagram

hanging out with this beach bum

 eating scary crabs

 playing with baby jonah

 Visiting my sister in Charlottesville, going to Monticello and eating the best wings ever

and seeing my BFFS

it was a perfect trip. Oh, and Steve got me some bling for christmas... seriously, best husband.

THIS IS A LONG POST AND I'M SORRY ABOUT THAT. I know, I'm sorry... I went on for paragraphs about food. But, I'm guessing no one will complain because... no one reads blogs. They just look at the pictures, duh.

The Tsar with the dragon tattoo

Well, hey there folks.

Its finals week, so I obviously had to come off my month hiatus of blogging and get my priorities straight. blogging > finals. Or maybe procrastinating finals > studying for finals. Anyways, here I am... ready to write my second blog post ever.

I actually have been studying a little bit. Coolest piece of information so far (that will never be on any test ever) is that Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (father to Anastasia) had a sweet dragon tattoo.

It's kinda hard to see, but according to sources *nerd laugh*, he got it in Japan, it was very colorful and took seven hours to complete! yowzers. So.... yeah.

 Am I getting this whole blogging thing right?


I'll just get into what's going on with the Dents! We had a wonderful thanksgiving at Steve's brother's house. And I made my very first apple tart all by myself:

om nom nom

Delish. But now finals are in full swing and we're so close to the break! We're very excited to relax for a little before the next semester begins.

We're going to MD for christmas and I'm almost done all of the christmas shopping :) Best of all, we're gonna hang out with the Franco clan! Most excited to meet this little guy

Jonah

Jonah is my sister Melissa's first baby. I'm just so excited to hold my new nephew (and of course spoil the heck out of him when he gets older). He's just so garsh dang cute. 

Well, back to studying i gooooo. 

First Post!

Well, I finally have succumbed and created a blog for the DC bound Dents.

Steve is in his second year of law school and I'm oh so close to finishing my undergrad. We're very busy over here in SLC. 

Shall I do a little recap?

Steve and I met at BYU in a religion class... I instantly picked him out as the class hottie and knew I needed to turn on the charm. I started bringing interesting props to class hoping he'd ask me about them. My sister and I totally stalked him on facebook (something I didn't confess to steve until after we were engaged) and I was hooked. Hooked on Steve.

One time, he asked me for a pencil to sign the roll. Another time, I asked him if he liked weezer. AND THEN, I decided to be a little bit aggressive and added him on facebook. It was a bold move, but a move that paid off. 

Then on December 17, 2009 we texted. I give you here an actual primary source document about this wonderful yet stressful time.

     

"Journal, its been like 2 minutes since he last texted me! I didn't end with a question, ugh." and "YAY! he texted me back!" 

What? people don't text and write in their journal about texting simultaneously to savor the moment? is that weird?

 (Oh man, looking at my old journal is funny. Maybe if you're lucky I'll share with you some of the gems of when I was on my study abroad in a later post.)

Anyways, he asked me out and the rest is history I guess. Steve and I were married in the Washington D.C. temple on July 7, 2011. And we are as happy as can beeee! 

So there's the first post. I'll do some more recapping of last summer and stuff later. Blogging is really going to become a great excuse to procrastinate other things. So excited.