Explicit-ish

Every morning is the same routine to get ready for work. We all have that certain routine. I usually get up before Zach does, because I leave earlier. As I get ready he drags himself out of bed and packs my lunch, makes me breakfast..which in most cases is hot water and I take something for later, and he sets the table with our scriptures so we can read together. Then the time comes for my departure to work, driving in our ugly utah traffic (crazy drivers) and Zach waves goodbye at the door. I love my mornings.

Yesterday morning went exactly like that. This time though Zach didn't stay to wave goodbye, because he had some "business" to take care of. And at that moment my mind must have been buffering as I was getting ready to leave. I got into my car, released the brake, put it in reverse, and accelerated to back up. Not realizing that Zach's bright red car was behind mine in the driveway, I rammed into it making a loud crash. Embarrassing. I immediately ran inside to tell Zach, as if he could undo it or fix it for me. I asked him to move his car, but then realized he wasn't going anywhere for a while. After which I turned around and headed out to work. I had to maneuver myself around his "conveniently" placed car. How on earth did I not notice his car three feet behind mine before? I have no IDEA. Come to find out right after my incident Lauren had trouble with her work transportation as well. Her bike was acting up. (she rides her bike to SLC every morning, she's hardcore, like a boss.) So of course she goes straight to the man of the house for some help. Anyways he was still taking care of his morning business as we were both scrambling to get to work with our transportation problems. The one time either of us had to come inside for some assistance and he is taking his morning dump! Too much pressure on the poor guy? probably.

Since I have started my new job with Marriott I feel that my headaches have gotten worse and overall motivation for activities outside of work have gone away. I just feel blah and like my brain is shutting down. Over the last few weeks I have definitely learned that there is always a storm before the calm. With that said, congratulations to me for graduating my training class today. What a RELIEF. For weeks now I have been sitting at a computer studying procedures, memorizing, booking hotels, talking to my classmates that want to quit, blah blah blah and now I am on the floor actually talking to real owners. I'm thrilled. In result of this I think I will be able to relax my mind more and enjoy my time fully while being outside of work. Maybe I'll even notice Zach's car when he is parked behind me. It's nice to feel less pressure and less stress for once.

Now all I need is a massage.




*I felt it best not to put pictures with this story.

Blue Steel

Kyle Braby, do you know him?! Well you should. He is one of our best friends from California. Kyle stopped by our house on the way from California heading back to school in Idaho...sadly I forgot to take a picture of us. Come back Kyle! Next time we'll snap one. All in all he is the coolest kid, his family is amazing, and we love them all.   

Next visit I won't forget that picture of us, and I'll be sure to stock up on our salt water taffy's. (apparently he loves them)

See you soon our missionaire friend.  

To finish off our night, this is Zach and I after our run this evening...

"I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is."-Derek Zoolander

Ooo Burn!

After work this past week I got home and saw a flyer on our doorstep. It was an invite to a neighborhood BBQ on the 24th. July 24th is a big deal here in Utah. For those of you reading and don't know what it is, it's Pioneer day. We celebrate and remember the pioneers that gave and went through so much to get to Salt Lake City for their freedom of religion. That's just a simple way to put it, but they were remarkable people who lived by faith and obedience and put the Lord first. Last year I was in Cokeville, Wyoming for the 24th and I was able to see how people spend that day. It was pretty neat. I even heard and met an apostle, Elder L. Tom Perry. That was an unforgettable moment. This year we walked down to the Norton's and indulged in some delicious homemade treats. There was a good amount of the neighbors that had showed up to spend time together. We had dinner and dessert, the kids swam while the adults conversed over their old stories and our new ones. I'm always happy to go to these gatherings to learn about the people we will end up being around and relying on the most. Thankfully they are extremely welcoming and the nicest people I have met in a very long time. As the night went on we continued filling up our plates and waited for the sun to go down.

The sun had set, we set up our chairs facing the street and put on a firework show. Right before that had begun one of our neighbors went to go get their golf cart, Zach tagged along and got to drive it for a few minutes, Zach was so excited. We are the only ones on the street with NO toys whatsoever. They took it to some dirt rode a street over and rolled around for a bit. Once they came back we had the fireworks ready to go.That was pretty awesome, and very scary. Mostly scary. Our neighbor across the street has a friend that works for a pyrotechnics company, so we were hooked up with some big boy stuff. The kids were the ones mainly lighting the explosives, which was not the best idea I've seen in my time. At one point our friendly neighbor Brody, who is about fourteen, was holding a Roman Candle in the street. It was a pretty cool firework that I haven't seen before. Just a reminder, it is illegal to light fireworks in Rancho so I'm still getting used to the whole idea. But he was holding this thing that was shooting out from this "candle" and suddenly he throws it on the ground because it got too hot. Well that wasn't part of the plan and of course it was directed straight towards a young girl and shot right at her. Leaving her hair to catch on fire and a hole in her shirt. Poor girl, her hair smelled awful! At that point I was on my feet and always ducking behind someone else when they would light them. It was pretty great...definitely an adrenaline rush. Here are a few pictures from our night, excuse the blurriness...

this one is too funny...

Friday was our three month wedding anniversary. We went out to eat at a place called Neal's and had some crispy fries and delicious unhealthy grub. After which we tried a frozen yogurt place called Red Mango, not a big tart fan. But they did have a chocolate and peanut butter which we definitely went for, add that to our unhealthy list. We then drove out to SLC for a movie night at the drive in. I have to say, the drive in is one of my favorite summer things to do. I grew up going to the drive in and I just love them. All the families around us took out the seats in their vans and set them behind their vehicles. We even saw one couple in a truck with a blow up mattress in the bed of the car, pretty dang smart and funny. I counted about six families eating hot and readys, and saw only one nasty man with his butt crack hanging out....drive in's usually have some gross dodgy people, and that was definitely one that qualified. We saw Turbo and Grown Ups 2. We laughed during the second one, they were both just average movies but definitely enjoyed the second movie the best. Turbo was lame for our taste. We snacked and stayed out late for the first time in a long time...which was much needed.

MERICA 

Yesterday was the best day of our summer yet. We got a pass of all passes, which allows us to get in for free to some places and also have discounts to other fun activities. So Lauren, Zach and I headed out to Provo for a day in the "sun". We went to a water park called Seven Peaks, it was a lot of fun. Also we were expecting a storm yesterday so the weather was a bit sketchy. It was sprinkling at one point, but nothing too crazy. The highlight of being at Seven Peaks was meeting up with Teichert (Sullivan) and Michelle. Teichert served his mission in San Bernardino and became a really good friend of mine and my family as well. He lives in Wyoming with his awesome wife Michelle and they came down for the weekend. So of course we had to meet up and hangout. I loved it. They are pretty much the coolest people.

Before heading out to Provo yesterday Zach told me he was going to wear his speedo under his shorts and surprise everyone with it at some point during the day. So of course he did. But what was even better then him just stripping into his speedo joking around was when he really surprised us...so what happened was Teichert, Michelle, and Zach were going to do a really high and steep slide. I wasn't quite up for the scarier more intense slides, in fear of my loosing my life, so I stayed behind with Lauren to watch them. Here is the slide...they did the blue one...

Yeah, that'll give you a wedgie. 

 As you can see you lay on your back and go through a tunnel at the beginning and top of the slide then the tunnel ends and it shoots you out to drop. So Teichert and his wife went first and then we were all waiting for Zach. And sure enough we see him coming down in his SPEEDO. What first looked like a naked man though...But how he did it was while going through the tube in the beginning he managed to take his shorts off with enough time to still set himself up for the drop. WILD CHILD I tell you! It was so dang hilarious, only he would do that and actually pull it off....literally. I don't know where he gets his ideas but it was pretty awesome. No shame whatsoever.

Lastly...this is my dad and Magnus on Wednesday at the airport. I can't wait to hangout with him in the upcoming months.

I'm getting a new brother!

Not like that ya weirdos...tomorrow is the day that my distant cousin, my mom's cousins cousins son (or is it just one cousins?), Magnus comes to America to live at the Lacayo home for a year. Unfortunately I'm living in Utah and not in California so I don't get to be around him and have some killer times, but I am really excited for him and also for my parents. For those of you who don't know, I did the same thing Magnus is doing. A month after high school graduation I moved to Denmark. As I moved over there another distant cousin moved to my house. We swapped places, literally. It was a great experience that we both had. I had also met Magnus and his family during that time, they are awesome people. So with that said, I know Magnus is going to LOVE California, and especially my wonderful outgoing family. He really doesn't know what he's getting himself into. (both good and bad haha) Also another cool thing about it is that my parents have never had a son...so that will be pretty cool for my dad for once. My poor dad has been surrounded by girls for years, including our three female dogs. He/they will love to have Magnus around.

So I mentioned so much about that chest I got, but didn't put up a picture. Durr-kah. Here it is...don't judge if you hate it, I think it's perfect for our living room.

Also something that was about to make me or break me. Costco was in our schedule yesterday...we passed these drooling and wishing that we weren't trying to be "healthy"...

And went for these instead...BORING.

Another fun fact, I felt the concern from everyone so dear to me so I thought I'd share...yes we did get our internet modem today, hallelujah! 

I like my modem well done, make it extra well done.

Our internet modem blew out from a lightening storm last week, which led us to no internet. Actually, we still have no internet. I'm using one of my neighbors internet access, don't know which neighb exactly, all I know is that I have to sit in our office to get it. Found that out today. Woot.

We get wild summer storms quite often here. When mom and dad were here two weeks ago we got hit hard with a rainstorm. They come and go pretty quick as well. This past week was different, the lightening was right over our house. It must have struck our electric poll because while we were getting dinner ingredients out of the fridge that light made a noise and flickered, then we heard the POOF of our modem blowing out. Of course Lauren and I screamed, and legitimately for the first time in my life I was scared of a lightening storm. We ran down stairs and hung out there for awhile. Leaving Zach and his friend to finish cooking dinner, I was fearful that if I touched even a metal utensil that I would be toast, literally. All during this time Zach's old mission companion was visiting with us. Elder Schmidt is in Utah for two months visiting from Germany. It was great to meet yet another best friend of Zach's. These guys shared so many stories and laughs together. They learned a lot from each other serving in the field and I can tell that they appreciate one another just as much. I was thankful that the storm had past, but bummed that our internet was a goner. That meant Lauren would be spending time at the local McDonald's doing her homework with their free internet access, and Zach and I would be postponed to finish Prison Break. (the show that we don't care about anymore because it's become lame, but we watch it to see how it ends)

  

All the fun that went down this week involved my time when I was not working. I worked a fifty hour week, you know it! Both Marriott and Five Guys this time around, and even more of it next week. That didn't stop me from having a good time this weekend though. On Friday I waited around for Zach to get home from work, which may I add, he went from part time to full time. That's my boy! He is awesome. Hard work does pay off people, just do it -Nike. Because of his new hours Zach is working long days. So Friday night I waited for what seemed like ever until he pulled up in his little tin can, and then we decided to have a....a what? a date night! We don't get out too too much, so we decided that he wanted a burger and I wanted frozen yogurt and then we'd come to an agreement and go to the dollar theater. What a fantastic idea it is to have a dollar theater. Our movie date was a woppin' $2.30ish. It was legit. And the theater wasn't a dump either. We will be going there often, because we can afford to treat ourselves to an estimated $3 date night.

 It was one of those times where you don't count your calories... 

Saturday was eventful. Zach and I went for a run in the morning after an ab workout. Lauren bought a really nice road bike two weeks ago, I mean it's a real pretty thing, she rode ahead of us then became our water girl and DJ on the way back. After our workouts we cleaned up the house while listening to the Pitch Perfect sound track, ah-mah-zing. we decluttered our living room and while we were sitting in there straightening up I remembered a piece of furniture that I saw at an antique shop about a month ago.

So short story about that...Once upon a time while my mom was here weeks back she and Zach went to an consignment shop and scrolled around for a bit. My mom and Zach thought of me and how much I would love it there. Zach I'm sure begged my mom to not tell me about it, but she did. I then went a few days later, by myself, and I fell in love. I found an old chest that had been refinished in a coral color. It was wooden, and was a trunk/shelf. It's hard to explain but I really loved it. I took pictures of it and got the price, which was way out of our budget, and went home to show Zach. He didn't ohh and ahh over it like I had hoped, so I really tried to persuade him on getting it. Probably thirty minutes later after I was wining and telling him that it would look beautiful in our living room he made a deal with me. A lame one I might add. Zach told me that if it was there in three months then I could buy it. I didn't like that idea, because usually you don't let a piece like that get out of your sight if you love it. I was obviously serious about it. But because I respect my husband's judgement I made the deal. In all reality we really couldn't afford it, but that didn't stop me from trying anyways.

Maybe a week went by and I went back to the shop to show Zach the chest, he liked it and told me if I could get them to go down to a certain price then we could walk out with it. Well unfortunately for me they had already gone down from the original price because it had been there for so long, so we didn't go home with it and welcome it with open arms into our family. My husband told me to trust that it would still be there and we would look into it when the three months was up. So now going back to yesterday, I was sitting with Lauren and Zach in our living room talking about finishing our decorating and putting more time into the house. And then I mentioned the chest again. Zach thought I had forgotten about it, but of course I didn't. By now we are better off with our budgeting and we both have been working loads of hours, so we can afford it. He actually said we can get it. I was so so excited. I called the shop right away and asked them to check to see if it's still there. The lady wasn't sure at first if we were talking about the same piece, but then we decided that it was the one and unfortunately it's time had expired and it was given back to the owner that had brought it there. Seriously? I was so bummed. I asked if she knew who the guy was, she of course couldn't give me that info but she offered to give him a call herself and if she heard back from him then she would let me know within two days. So in the meantime the three of us went out for lunch and ran some errands, to target and the bank. I asked if we could go to the consignment shop to see if maybe she had the wrong item, so we went and she was right, it was gone.

 I asked the worker, it was the girl I had conversed with earlier, she got a hold of the guy and he said he dropped it off at a shop downtown called Emily something. We googled it and found Emily Jayne in SLC. So I called and asked the lady and she/we found it! She said she would hold it for me. We then booked it to the next shop and there she was (my chest) outside beaming in the sun ready to go home. I was so happy. We shoved it into Lauren's car, Zach was still able to fit in his seat, and we took it home. It's so pretty! All that trouble to hunt down an old, come to find out, radio stand. I was thrilled. It cost more then the other place had it for and it was in downtown, but I didn't care at that point. Zach probably thinks I'm a loony? Or maybe he finds me to be obsessed? but it is a beauty. After that stop we went to Ikea, and well you know what happens there.

Zach was our chauffeur while in Target...we had a BIG lunch, just sayin.

All the joys of our Saturday. Also known as the day I almost lost my mind from being all over town for hours. No complaints, just facts.

Today Zach and I attended church and taught our little munchkins a lesson. We sat outside under a tree on one of our blankets my mom made for me years back. The kids loved it. We did an attention lesson that involved vinegar and baking soda, brought me back to my middle school science years. They thought it was cool, Zach did the experiment the first time through then let one of the girls do it the second time. Teaching them that no matter who does the experiment it will always be the same, it's a constant. Much like the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We then proceeded to teach them about Saints back in the 1800's being so obedient to God's commandments when they were going through difficult times. They sacrificed more then I ever have and probably will, and they lived completely by faith. I admire and am thankful for the Saints that were brave enough to follow the prophet and obey God. I love being able to share my testimony with the children as well. Today our lesson was ended short because it was one of our girls birthdays. Going back to when we first met them we had a questionnaire for each of them so that we could understand who they were a little bit better. We found out simple things, like their favorite color and favorite treats. Abigail's birthday is tomorrow so we looked up her answers and dressed in her favorite color teal, and we made her favorite treat. Of course it was a difficult task to do the treat part. Her favorite treat is ice cream. So in my head I instantly thought of ice cream sandwiches, vanilla ice cream smashed in between our homemade chocolate chip cookies. Duh, delicious. So that's what we did. Zach carried a little igloo cooler to church to put into the freezer, come to find that the kitchen was locked, he walked back home to put them back. After first hour was up he walked back again to grab them, he's the best. The kids loved the treats and it was a success. I love making treats with Zach, but mostly just eating them.

Here's my Betty in the kitchen..







I hope to get our internet up and running again...let's go modem. Until then, everyone enjoy your Sunday night and remember that you are loved.

Pony Express? No, The Postal Service

So I know you all are dying to hear about the concert we went to. To sum it all up it was, on a scale of 1-10,  AWESOME. Here's a short story of my concert past---Last summer, before the concert Zach and our friends had gone to, I had tickets for another show. I bought tickets to see Regina Spektor, yeah she's cool. I love her music and especially her voice. I was so stoked to see her live and "ooh and ahh" over her crazy piano skills. But my dreams were crushed by my lack of common sense. You see, my friend said, "hey isn't the concert tomorrow?" and I replied, "no, it's in two days from now." Come to find out, we were both wrong. You see it wasn't the day my friend had thought, and it wasn't two days from that date either. Yep you're correct, it was the day in between that we foolishly forgot about.  Even better, the day it was on was the day that I had also planned to hang out with Zach, the cute new boy I just had met. So basically, as Zach tells me, I stood up Regina Spektor. In all fairness (or to make me feel better about myself) I did it to hang out with my future husband. I don't regret it too much, I made memories regardless. And my stupidity overall DID pay off.

Back to the show...

I love the atmosphere of concerts. Sometimes they are absurd, but really you put that stuff aside and realize that you are bound to have a great time. So before the show we had some time to kill, and what better way to do that then leaving our small town and getting started on our date. I was ready to see some more city and less chickens. We started in the center of SLC for some Cafe Rio, that's a no brainer. After that I've been dying to introduce Zach to A&W root beer ice cream! I made a few phone calls to find out who serves it, and sure enough just down the street and through the dark alley we found one. Root beer ice cream is one of a kind. So we filled up our bellies and headed to the middle of nowhere, where The Postal Service was playing. We were two hours early, determined for good spot in the sweaty crowd. We waited outside for forever long and met some cool hipsters and other folks from the Utah origin. It was actually fun talking to these people. The "security" divided the men and women into two lines and then we waited another hour. We soon figured out that if we had gotten the 21 and older wrist band for the bar then we could have gotten in earlier...but we stayed true to ourselves and patiently waited for the main doors to open. Zach got in before I did, woman and their purses. I had to wait FOREVER for the security to check these ladies luggage bags, as if they were planning to stay the night. But it was worth the wait to see that Zach bolted in and got the front row. We were at the gate thing that stops wild fans from getting onto the stage. It was pretty great. As Zach left to go check out the T-shirts that were being sold, he told me to make myself big so he wouldn't lose his spot. That is more difficult then you think. These concert people can be loco. But I stood my ground and was obnoxious. We bought some cool shirts and then waited for the show to start. AND did it ever.

I can't even explain how dang great they did. They left me in tears. Just kidding. They were great though. At one point he did jump down from the stage and grabbed my hand as well as Zach's. It was like a "you're my bro" kinda hand grab. Ben Gibbard is the stuff. I loved going out on that date with my husband, no one better to be at that concert with. We sang our lungs out and sweated like crazy. At one point I noticed an arm wrapped around my very taken husband, and I was rolling up my sleeves to see what was up. This drunk young lady had worked her way to the front. Pushing and shoving us against the gate. And annoyingly telling Zach that she was on her honeymoon and she just got married. She would say, "I just got married on saturday, it's like my anniversary, please please I'm on my honeymoon I just got married June 22nd (not last week)." Then Zach replied, "That's awesome I just got married two months ago, April 26th, high five!" Now picture a very drunk woman yelling that at you with her arms around you grabbing you. Then she is whining over and over again begging and begging just wanting to get in the front. WELL LADY, back off my husband and wait in line a few hours earlier next time, then you CAN stand in front. At one point she was was touching me wanting me to move, I looked at her and told her to get her hands off of me and to back off. It was awesome. That was all apart of the experience. The worst!

YUM

Oh right!

Waiting patiently

Our dear friend, Benny boy

Her voice is beautiful...Jenny Lewis.

Another ticket!?

This new job of mine has given me one too many flash backs from when I was in school doing my Star Testing. Everyday from 8am-4:30pm I am in a classroom reading more information then my brain can retain, and then taking quizzes and filling out question after question in my booklet. It really isn't as I make it seem, but school was a struggle for me, although my laziness and "I don't care" attitude didn't help, overall I never was the shining student to be first to finish something right away. This training course has a lot of information to cram into my brain in a short amount of time. I'm kinda losing it. We are learning different systems on the computer, something else I'm not the best at, BUT learning! It's kind of sad to say this but, what brings me comfort is knowing that I'm not the only one pulling my hair out and having meltdowns. I just deal with it in a different way then my classmates, I grab a peach instead of a bag of Lays. I do have the best people in my class though, they are so friendly and most of the time happy. We all have different stories and lifestyles which makes class that much more interesting, it's pretty great. Another pro would be that I get a name badge/card and get to wear a name tag everyday and feel important...it IS the little things that matter most. All in all I will keep my head up and still be thankful that I am where I am with my work career at the moment, and as Highschool Musical would say to my class, "We are all in this together!" ...yay heel click!

So for the exciting news! Zach called me on my break with some exciting news...exciting for us anyways, sorry Keds. Zach's friend Keddington, from his mission where they served in  England and Wales together, had bought a concert ticket just the day before our wedding to see The Postal Service. They are performing in SLC this Saturday. The show was supposed to be last month, the day we moved to utah actually, but sadly it was rescheduled and he cant make it. But because he is awesome he called his dear friend Zach and asked him if he wanted it...Heck yes! (Probably not the exciting news you were expecting or hoping for)  So Zach met up with  Keds and got the goods, then bought us another ticket so we can be each others hot date. I am VERY excited to see this band! If you don't know them, then you are missing out...maybe...It's not everyone's type of jam, but it's definitely one of ours! Last summer, before Zach and I were a "thing" and had our lasting "summer-fling" (not in a dirty way) we saw HelloGoodbye and Reliet K with some friends. It was great! No one better to go see a show then with my husband. But what I am really getting at is that maybe Zach and I will make it a tradition to go to a concert every summer? What do you say my love?

....he shakes his head yes. 

Needless to say, I am thankful that we are blessed with the ability to sleep and rest. My body and mind need nothing else then that right now. And lastly to share a picture of course. This was taken in Denmark, remember this day Merete?, in a garden full of all sorts of tulips. It was beautiful to say the least. I came across this old photo and dusted it off, I love the color and how fresh they looked after the rain. It makes me happy. 

The Daily Dose

This picture may not count as today's practice, but it is my collage that I worked hard on once upon a time in Denmark. I came across this on an old blog I started, but didn't get far with, in Denmark. 2010 was the year to be exact. I had a lot of time on my hands to enjoy what was around me living abroad. During a particular time I was really wanting to work on a project, and that's when I thought up of this idea. Doors. I walked the streets of Roskilde and took pictures of many doors. I still love the outcome of this, maybe my taste in editing has changed, but my artistic view is still there. 

Happy belated Birthday America!

On the Fourth Zach said he wanted to name our future child Merica. He thinks he's so funny. Also a year from that day, the fourth, Zach asked me for my number. I don't know what took him so long thinking back on that, I was already hanging out with him for a month at that point, what a noob. But it all went by so fast, I love it! For fourth of July morning we went to a neighborhood breakfast. It was pretty cool. It's been a fifteen year tradition that the whole neighborhood meets on one of our neighbors lawn for some activities and being able to visit with one another. There were old cars lined up on the lawn to "ooo and aaah" at, a pancake breakfast was served with eggs, sausage, bacon, and fruit, and games for the kids were set up. I loved it. Zach and I had signed up to be in charge of the fishing game. We got whacked in the head a few times when they would swing their fishing line over, but then we would tug on their ropes and they would struggle to get their catch. It was fun to say the least. Later on for lunch we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Walton's for a BBQ. It was nice to be around the Walton family, the few that were there at least. In the evening Bill and Wendy came over to hang out for the night. Mom made dinner and after dinner her and Lauren went to pick my dad up from the airport, he was flying in from the Bahamas (work related). He was supposed to be here the night before the fourth at 7:30om, but it was delayed until 7:30pm on the fourth, and then luckily it was switched to him being here at 4:30pm instead. That of course fell through so long story short my dad got to my home at MIDNIGHT. While Lauren and mom were gone waiting for my Dad the rest of us played games and ate cookies and ice cream. For the fireworks we went on our roof and watched all the shows in the valley. It was really something to see. I loved being surrounded by the fireworks. While we were up on the roof and looking in the sky we saw exactly one plane going by. About five minutes later I got a call saying Dad landed. I'm definitely pretty sure, maybe, that that was the plane my dad was on.



NOW..
Let me rewind, because news flash I have been absent for about a week. But absence does not mean laziness. I have been working hard left and right. Last week I was able to be a second shooter at a wedding. It was HOT! I nearly drowned in my own sweat that day. Just hours before heading up to the Timponogas Temple I got a letter in the mail from Marriott. It was my congratulations and blah blah blahs, but also my new dress code information. And slacks was on the list of acceptable to wear. So Zach and I went shopping and spent the last of our wedding gift cards at target for some professional attire for me. I ended up wearing those thick pants to the photo shoot to look a little bit more put together then usual and the result of that was dying in heat. It's different from California heat, I'm telling you it's bad. Anyways the shoot went well, I learned a lot from observing and being there listening and helping out. I just felt so bad for the poor bride wearing that heavy heavy long layered think dress. Poor gal.

After the shoot I headed home and mom arrived shortly after. She drove grandpa's van up, which always means business. Right when we had finished unpacking everything and settling in to our new place, another van load of random junk pulls in and gets unloaded to the space that was shortly clean and organized. I was bummed. It's always nice to have mom here though. Dad gets in tonight as well! We are all so excited.

Saturday was the best day. It was SavvyDay! Zach and I love and adore our niece Savannah. Especially when she refers to us as Zachlena, that's us with no specification. We are as one and that's how she likes it. We had planned ahead of all the fun activities we would do with her. So once her mom and dad dropped her off we headed to the Gateway Mall to play in the water. Well Savvy wasn't digging the idea so much once we got there. She was excited when she saw it, but didn't like the idea of being in it as much. I can't blame her though, the water would shoot up about twenty feet above her head, it seems terrifying. At one point Zach stood in the middle of the water and all of a sudden the water shot up around him making him disappear, that's when Savvy started crying in fear that her uncle was gone. It the sweetest thing. Once Zach got out she wanted him to hold her and this was them after that happened.

But it only got better from there, because we had to redeem ourselves...this did it for her.

And all was well. She loves her Uncle!

We had a great day there. Once we got back home we hung out and played some more with our niece. Alisha and Mike came back over and I went with Alisha to a photo shoot she was doing. She let me second shoot with her and get some more practice in. She's helped me so much with learning my camera and answering my questions. The shoot went well and the whole day overall was loads of fun.

This past week on Tuesday and Wednesday I started my new job. And so far it's pretty great. I've sat in a class room for hours both days, and the questions I answered right I got candy for. So it's not bad at all. Also the pizza party on Wednesday still left me with no complaints. After both those days my brain was pretty tired and I slept for hours once I got home, pretty pathetic I know. But in all seriousness the people are great and talk very highly of their job, and I'm definitely ready to get out of the food industry and try something new with a different level of profession. I start training full time on Monday, those will be long and exhausting days. And one more thing, my GM asked me to transfer with him to a different five guys store, so today was my last day in South Towne and I will be in American Fork next week. Great changes happening for my work-life.

Since then I have been back at work and just enjoying every second I can with my family, both the Lacayo's and Walton's. I have the best family. I married into a wonderful family and I can not wait to get to be around them for the next few years here in Utah. That's all and Happy Friday!