Paul Cardall

Paul Cardall is one of my most favorite musicians.

his beautiful piano music always gives me instant peace

I read his inspiring blog,

he recently wrote a book about his story..

here is a video he posted online I thought I would share.

(you can also find it here a little bigger.)

sooo...

my birthday is coming up...

I want a pair of these really bad.

a bed would also be nice.

welcome to texas!

oh brother..

so yesterday evening we walked out to our car

(to go see eclipse, shhh)

to find glass everywhere

and our GPS gone.

looks like somebody thought they needed our gps more than us.

(they obviously haven't met me...ask carlie)

this happened in broad daylight!

weirdos.

I think I watch too much 24 and dexter...

It makes me want to take things into my own hands

..but i'll have to resist.

although....I'm pretty sure I found OUR gps posted on craigslist...

on a lighter note,

chris and I went kayaking the other day.

so therapeutic...

(we were too busy enjoying to take photos until the way home)

I am one lucky gal

although I am sitting here listening to the screaming and groaning of fictional halo characters being brutally murdered by my husband, I cannot help but smile.

yesterday I was having kind of an 'off' day.

chris left in the morning to san antonio (an hour + away)

and I woke up feeling alone and...well alone.

I love it here in austin but I miss my family in utah so bad!

and its just been an extremely adventurous but overwhelming month

moving all over and i was just feeling a bit worthless

and like I forgot how to do everything.

I ended up on the phone with my amazing mother who is always a best friend,

she reminds me that there is someone out there who

loves me and cares no matter what and to

go along and read my scriptures and pray before doing anything else.

I also got to hear my niece, Brooklyn, chatting.

"vacuum. nice...?"

oh, i miss those babies so bad!

It made me cry and smile at the same time.

so my mom sent me this photo of B..

I LOVE how because she has to open her mouth so huge

that her hand it trying to open big too. so cute.

I feel lucky to have an awesome family who is always a phone call away.

I wish I could 'zap' my self there so bad.

later in the day I made my favorite: german chocolate cake

yum!

as I was baking I received a text from chris that made me smile.

a couple minutes later noticed I was still staring at my phone day dreaming.

I was brought back to 16.

I feel the same way now that I did back then.

he sends me a sweet text and my whole body has butterflies.

I am so blessed with a hard working husband.

he's so good to me.

I feel lucky to have such a wonderful husband who loves me

no matter what.

(ice skating: winter 2005)

its raining here

i love rain storms.

i have been waiting for a good one since we got here.

now its pouring and i'm all alone

chris is working in san antonio today.

the thunder is SO LOUD!

utah never rains like this.

niagara falls.

riding the maid of the mist was pretty exciting!

I'm not going to lie...

once again Hollywood does make everything WAY cooler!

have you ever seen Bruce Almighty?? i was hoping to get way more wet, ya know when he has to go live and do a piece on the maid of the mist and gets soaking wet?? haha

It was still an awesome adventure..I was prob too busy taking pictures to 'soak' it all in. I tend to do that a lot..

well hello!!

Hi everyone! as you can see I changed my blog! yay

I have had a lot of changes lately...

last week of May..

became a massage therapist! woohoo!

these are the people I spent almost

every second of the last seven months with,

feels weird not be with them any more...they quickly become like family.

the same last week of May...

packed up our house and drove away to new york for the sumer.

Kuzko stayed in his first hotel on the way!

he was a bit nervous sometimes..

break in the middle of who knows where

We were staying in Buffalo this time.

actually, technically we were in a little town called

Cheektowaga-right outside of Buffalo.

view of niagara from US side looking at canada

**I'll put photos on another post of our Niagara Falls outing.

anywho, things didn't go as planned and/or promised

by the company chris was working for..

so we looked for other jobs and were blessed

by a very good full time (normal) job in

Austin, Texas. so...

the second week of June...

packed up again drove away to texas. yeehaw!

PEACE OUT SUMMER SALES!

we stayed with Chris' family

(whom we haven't seen since last year)

while we looked at what feels like

every single apartment in Austin for a few days.

eventually we found a place the three of us are very happy with.

so now we are just getting all settled

thank you to the local IKEA and Craigslist.

kuzko making himself cozy on our craigslist steal! I love our new couches!

we are excited to start making some moolah and

to have some new adventures!!

photos from summer of '09 in Austin

a few things are new..

number one:

wait for it....I took the christmas tree down last week!

6 months later, don't judge.

number two:

I officially took on my husband's name!

changed my name this weekend.

371 days later.

bout time

number three:

we just celebrated our ONE YEAR anniversary!

yay we made it ;)

I love chris so much more everyday.

I cannot believe how much we have learned and how far we have came.

we finally feel like we are starting to get the hang of things,

marriage is so hard but so rewarding.

couldn't ask to go through life with any one else.

number four:

I graduate in 4 weeks!! yay!

this summer we are moving to Buffalo, New York for Chris' work.

he leaves this weekend and I will leave a month later when I graduate :(

booooohoooo!

I cannot wait to be done with school and officially be a massage therapist!

I hope the time goes faster than ever!

(chris and I recently took the trax into SLC, so fun!)

california love..

We went to San Diego!

I never have a break from school, I go throughout the week and then even on Saturday. But, over Valentine weekend it worked out out that I had a 5 day weekend!! INCREDIBLE!!

(we get to chose ONE saturday to have off, so somehow it worked out for me to have my break over a holiday weekend). Chris is also so busy with work and school all the time so we were both so happy to get away for a few days and relax and think about nothing.

we got a hotel on the beach and mostly just sat around, hot tubbed, watched a lot a waves and sunsets, visited almost every beach in San Diego area, and best of all...went to the San Diego zoo!!

DELISH.

the Gorillas were by FAR our favorite.

we watched the family play and eat and play and fight for a VERY long time. it was so amazing. I really wanted to take them home with me....I bet Kuzko would like them. :)

we didn't save time to do a session but we walked around and hung out at the temple for a while! yay

...and they lived happily ever after! the end.

flying time

then

now

(Lily)

I cannot decide if time has stopped or if its going too fast to tell.

I feel like school should be over but I still have 4 months left...and its going so slooow.

I feel like I've learned so much but still don't know anything...

hmm..lets just say I cannot wait until May. hopefully it'll come sooner than I think.

On a lighter note...I am starting to cook!!!! wooohooo!!

this is actually pretty big news.

I cooked one of our most favorite dinners tonight!

Chicken Tetrazzini

(amazing dish!!! my mom gets all the credit)

for the first time, I looked through a recipe book and planned a menu!

Chris is especially excited. If anything was ever home cooked, he made it.

This is one of my new goals. I'll definitely keep ya posted.

ice ice baby

The other day chris and I went to Utah Lake for a little drive. It was all frozen!!! don't ask me why but I wasn't expecting a frozen lake when we decided to go. (I wish it was summer, I am in denial.) it was chris' first time ever seeing it!..so that was exciting.

any who, it was the most beautiful day!!

I am usually not up for cheesy..

but, I am feeling overwhelming love. for my husband. If you don't like sappy...I am sorry..

I have to get it out somewhere. He had to go to Las Vegas for a work trip...only for a couple days..but I am a baby. I've only gotten to talk to him very briefly. I feel like life just keeps going and keeps going and it is so easy to take the people in your life for granted. Chris is probably the number one person I take for granted...which is really dumb. I have never had a better friend than him. I don't know how he puts up with me really. I usually have to do a lot of venting and venting at the end of my day and he always just listens. and like any man, he tries to come up with solutions for any problem or emotion I am feeling. I cannot believe the patience he has. He is so supportive to me in everything...emotionally and physically. I have wanted to go to Massage Therapy school for a few years but I could never imagine how I could afford going and I couldn't even think about the commitment, I feel so grateful to Chris for supporting me with school and pushing me to go. financially and mentally I just would not be able to do it with out him. These couple nights of coming home from an almost 9 hour school day and only being able to blab my little head of about my day to my dog is kind of depressing. And then getting into a cold bed and the only thing to warm you up is an electric heating pad, I mean goodness!! is it just me, or am i just a little baby. lets me honest here.

Any way. my point is. I don't know what it is. Just LOVE. :)

I love you Christopher Ian Barborka! You're my bestest friend! thank you for everything you do and especially for putting me and you through college!

our first fire!!!!!

we finally made a fire in our house! (when i say "we".. i mean "he")

It was so exciting.

I hadn't had a real crackling fire in a house for years. At my parents you just flip a switch...it's still pretty awesome but not as cool as a homemade one! Thank goodness for husbands. He made the fire and then we drank hot cocoa and played games. so much fun. I dont know how often we will be able to make them though :( The house smelled like it went on a camping trip afterwards.

oh yeah, I thought i'd post a photo of our tree too! yay for Christmas!