Memorable Moments...That one time...

That one time my dear friend Farnaz made us Iranian food. 

The only thing that this dessert had in common with more American dessert was the name 'dessert'. It was void of sugar.

That one time Mark got to skate on a rink overlooking Logan.

That one time I got the flu

That one time I cracked an egg only to find I'd helped give birth to twin yolks. That was a first!

That one time I waterskied pregnant with my pregnant friend. 

That one time we bought a dog named Herb Brooks who destroyed our house, most especially our carpet. 

He was a master Houdini. Guilty dog has busted the kennel! 

That one time Mark had his annual Olive Garden birthday dinner. He's the best!!

That one time I got to spend a night with the most wonderful friends from nursing school. Nothing but nonstop chatter and laughter. 

That one time Mark became an assistant defensive line coach for BYU hockey 2013-2014. And as I'm writing this, Mark informed me that a 'defensive line' is football. This is how much I know and care about sports. So what if you pitch a ball in football, and make a slam dunk in soccer. What's the diff?! 

That one time Mark had a heart attack

                                      

That one time Mark did a Raft and Run down Provo Canyon. He made his viking ancestors proud this day. 

I love Mark for his sense of humor! High fiving the crowds. 

The Action Target clan 

That one time the Ostebos family reunioned in St. George 

The Ostebo crew

The sibs

That one time Mark and Luke roasted mallows together in the dead of summer over the 'camp stove'. 

That one time I had a dog love affair. Oh wait, that's all the time 

That one time I made corned beef, thank you to Jenni Guynn for introducing me. Hers is better. 

That one time we had some General Conference casualties. 

                                                   

That one time mass producing caramel apples during General Conference became a tradition. Thank you Mama for some great quality time! 

Labor Day and Park City

I'm doing a whole lot of blogging backdating backtracking. BBB. Our lives have finally returned to some sense of normal...thank you modern day medications. It's so nice to have moments in the day where I don't feel nauseous. It all hangs in the balance of getting the cocktail right. Zofran in the morning, food every 2 hours at least, zofran in the afternoon. To not feel nauseous, I'll do whatever it takes! 

I've just become so grateful to have a healthy body that allows me to do what I want when I want for the most part. It's been really nice to get out and adventure again with Mark. We especially took two big adventure trips over Labor Day and a weekend to Park City.

Riding the Heber Creeper in, well, Heber for Labor Day. You can't live in Utah without having done this at least once. And it really is the slowest train imaginable. People who used trains like these must have been such patient, calm people. We live so fast paced now, it really makes you appreciate where society came from as far as travel goes. 

But we didn't hesitate to sit back and relax as we rode through the beautiful valley of Heber in perfect fall weather. 

They serve a pancake breakfast before the ride on Labor Day. 

Our adventure that day continued in the 4runner into Midway, up and over the mountains into Big Cottonwood canyon and then a stop for lunch at the Porcupine. Back in the 4runner, we continued on up to Snowbird in Little Cottonwood canyon to check out Oktoberfest....were bored pretty quick upon realizing the only entertainment there was really the alcohol...and then went for a quick hike to Cecret Lake. 

Beautiful Cecret Lake

Mark sometimes likes to dance in the rain...or shower:). 

One weekend we both had work off and Mark had scored some hotel points so we made a trip to Park City to maximize more of the fall weather. We stopped at the Olympic Park which neither of us had seen before. I couldn't believe this has been almost in our back yard for the last decade. It was so cool to watch olympic hopefuls in training doing aerials into the pool. 

I decided to show the place some of my mad skills. 

Seriously? Ski jumping into grass? This was so worth the drive to watch! 

We hit a few restaurants in Park City, drank hot chocolate while window shopping, and of course hit the outlets. I've only turned into a bit of a shopper since marrying Mark. More like he picks stuff out for me. But we found some good deals! We drove up to Deer Valley and stopped at the summit, which gave an amazing view of the changing fall leaves on the surrounding mountains. Then we descended back down into Midway and later on to Provo on a beautiful winding road through yellow aspens. 

Mark is our in house photographer. He takes the pictures, I do the blogging. His pictures always turn out much better than mine. 

                    

                                      

One Year Anniversary and Babymoon to San Diego

Mark and I headed off to San Diego last week to celebrate our one year anniversary and to have one last hurrah just the two of us before baby comes. 

Look who we ran into at the gate we were departing from! My dad pulled in the plane we'd be taking out. What dumb luck we have! We ran into my dad almost exactly a year ago in the airport on our way to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. It's always a treat. 

10-10! We made it! It's hard to believe it's been an entire year since we were married. It went so fast. I've loved every minute, there hasn't been one moment of regret. Mark is such an amazing man and I feel so grateful and honored to be married to him. He has already begun changing me into a better version of myself. I love our differences because I am constantly learning from him. He is such a kind, generous, genuine, thoughtful, loyal man. He is so caring and considerate of me. He has a thirst for knowledge and learning. He is a hard worker. He can be very purposeful and nostalgic. He loves me for who I am. 

Marriage has brought to our lives so much more purpose and a deep sense of contentment and commitment to each other as we have made decisions and pushed forward into the future and begun to learn to work together. It has taught us to be a little more humble, selfless, forgiving of each other, and more aware of the choices we make. 

What I have been most grateful for is the sealing power of the temple that allows us to be sealed as a couple forever. I remember right after we were sealed a year ago, I felt a special added measure of the endowment of God's power and Spirit as I knew He approved of our union. Nothing was sweeter than the feeling of knowing we had made correct decisions in our lives to get us to that point. 

We both have said how much unspeakable joy comes from the institution of marriage and living to be loyal and faithful to one person. I believe and have experienced for myself now, that the reason we are here on earth is partly to be organized into families because it is where we learn and progress the most. 

We went to the USS Midway, a decommissioned ship in the bay of San Diego. This is a fighter plane Mark's uncle flew. 

This is a map of Baghdad, the last time the USS Midway was used was in Desert Storm. The operation was planned and executed from this ship. It caused me to wonder what my dad thought about bombing the city he was born in. 

Computer control room

Mark being flight boss on the bridge. These doorways and the ship itself brought back so many memories of my 6 weeks on the USNS Mercy. 

View from the bridge 

These simple dials controlled the ship's speed

We ate lunch on the bay....these cute little birds surrounded us all through our meal. 

San Diego Zoo! 

Yeah that panda had the right idea! 

The actual size of a polar bear on his hind legs....yikes!

We were laughing that we seem to do a lot of family activities that people would do with their kids. Either we're still kids at heart, or we're parents in training!

Oceanside beach sunset...we sat on a bench on the beach and ate tacos to the last rays of the sun. 

Our last day we met up with Tara and Chris and family at Huntington beach to play for the day. We also met up with our friends Lance and Jessica Tolman. And later went out to dinner with everybody and with our friends Aaron and Whitney Johnson. 

Love this face....I've loved having instant nephews!