busyx2

I don't know about you, but this has been the busiest spring ever!! 

Sam has been in finals mode (studying sun up till way past sun down with classes in between) for what seems like FOREVER. It's really only been two months but really who starts studying for finals that early?? Answer: Sam and Aaron (Sam's bff/my replacement). But in all seriousness, I'm really proud of them for working so hard. All the late nights, long hours, and days without seeing each other will all be worth it one day...right? As for me, I've been working 4 days a week which has kept me busy while keeping up with the regular errands, chores, and my church calling in young women's. 

But let's get to the good stuff...the few magical hours on the weekend where we get to see each other! 

On the weekends while Sam and Aaron study, I go to the beach with Cortney.

Our spouses spend more time together than they do with us but they keep each other working hard so I'm not complaining! Then we try to meet up with the boys for a quick dinner. 

Mostly involving Taco Stand, Bronx Pizza, In N Out. You know, the good stuff. 

We've gone to the beach together, even if it's only for 30 mins bc sometimes you've gotta take what you can get & bc I'm a white girl and sunburn easily...

umbrella to prevent the inevitable sunburn ^^

We've had some Sunday BBQs with friends.

We dog-sat Zeus and took him to the dog park. 

 We went on a dinner/movie date for our anniversary and those 5 hours were my favorite hours of this whole month. Ps. don't go see the new Fast and Furious movie. It is the absolute worst. 

We see each other at night to read scriptures and say prayers.
 Then I'm off to bed and Sam's off to study some more...now just rinse and repeat all week.

May 10th can't come soon enough! Until then, I'm ditching Sam during finals to party in Utah. 

Sorry babe. 

cabrillo national monument

A few days ago we visited Cabrillo National Monument. This is probably my all-time favorite spot in San Diego to visit during springtime. Two years ago we came here for the very first time and we've been back several times since, but this trip was definitely my favorite. Due to the massive amounts of rain we had this winter, everything was so green and there were wildflowers everywhere!! 

The Old Point Loma Lighthouse- they just recently opened the top for public access!

I don't know what it is about fields of flowers, but I can't resist.

We've been to the Carlsbad Flower Fields each year we've lived here and I'm working on making round 3 happen this year. Sam already hates me for it. I offered going to the Poppy Reserve instead but that's 3 hours away so I don't think that's going to happen either... so someone please visit so we can go to the flower fields together!! 

 The gorgeous trail down to the tide pools. It was high tide while we were there and we were on a time crunch because Sam had to get back to class but maybe one day we'll get there at low tide to explore all the fun coves.

 This is seriously my happy place. I never get tired of the gorgeous views and the picture perfect scenery. So if you're visiting San Diego in the spring, I would put this on your list. There is a $10 entrance fee but it is good for a whole week. Definitely one of my favorite things to do in San Diego on a budget. 

28

It's my favorite boy's 28th birthday!

Of course I just had to add a cute picture from when he was young and carefree lol. Law school is stressing him out to the max rn but he just keeps on working hard everyday and I love him for that. 

This year Sam's birthday fell on a Wednesday which isn't fun at all, especially because he has school until 10pm on Wednesdays. He woke up early to go to school but luckily was able to come home for a lunch break. My mom was in town so we decided to have a yummy brunch ready with some of his favorites--acai bowls and breakfast burritos. 

Sam has been getting so sick lately, not just from his #lactoseprobs but also from any processed food or sugar. A couple days ago he threw up after he ate popcorn! We were sad we couldn't make him a birthday cake or treat so acai bowls were the healthiest "treat" option we could come up with. Sam is so disciplined though and wouldn't even let me go pick up a donut for him. But what's a birthday without cake!? so mom and I went out for some cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory while Sam was in his last class until 10...sorry babe.
Sam was also able to go on a little lunchtime adventure to Cabrillo National Monument which is so beautiful this time of year. But more on that later.

Happy birthday Samuel!! I love you and any excuse to celebrate how wonderful you are!

"spring" break in utah

I've never been happier for spring break and I'm not even the one in school!!

Sam FINALLY gets a little break from school so we decided to take a trip to Utah to visit family. 

Thursday started off like every normal day--I went to work 8-5 and Sam went to school and took a midterm. Sam finished his test we set off for Utah at 8:15pm....yes, I know we are crazy. 

The late night drive is no problem when you have a night owl for a husband who is well trained at staying up until the wee hours of the morning (thank you very much video games). 

**Note: the one and only time in my life I will show praise to video games.

But the two things we didn't take into account were 

1.) night time drives mean cold temps dropping below the 30's & 2.) our car heater was broken. 

Talk about bad combination! So much for "spring" break, we quite literally froze our buns off! 

Around midnight it was already 47 degrees in our car. Bad sign when we still had about 5 hours to go. By 3am it was 26 degrees in our car and we couldn't feel our faces/noses/fingers/toes/bums. I swear we got frost bite everywhere. I was wearing all the sweaters and coats I had, fuzzy socks, Ugg boots, and I used a blanket to make a tent over my body to keep the heat in. 

Sam was totally bundled up--I still don't know how he managed to steer with his hands under the blanket or use the gas and brake pedals with his feet pushing through the blanket.

We were pushing speeds of 100mph, anything to get to our destination faster so we wouldn't die. 

We finally made it to Utah at 6:30am and I've never felt worse. Probably the most miserable I have ever been in my life! Totally laughing about it now but I'm never doing that again. But the cold kept us awake for the drive so that's a blessing I guess.

  

Anyway, back to our trip. 

After a long Friday of road trip recovery, we started off the weekend with Gregory's baptism.

His family just moved back from Australia so it's been awhile since we've seen them. The last time we were together was 2 years ago when we visited them in Ireland. (You can see more about that trip here.) 

We went biking with Meg and Sara to get Cafe Rio because we miss that place like no other!
PS. I almost died biking down the hill on behind Sam's house because I'm the worst at riding bikes and couldn't brake properly. Flashback to when I was around 12 years old and I fell off a cliff on my bike and almost rolled into the river! My family says I am being dramatic when I recall that story but it was very traumatic and bikes have forever been my enemy since. 

Exhibit A:

We had a huge Sunday family dinner with the Plothow gang.
PS. Love you long time Hannah! You're going to be a great missionary in Zimbabwe!

We got to meet our 2 week old nephew Everest Leon Raymond.

And my sisters kept teasing me the whole time about needing to have a baby so they can be aunts. 

We went to Denny's at 11pm with this fun crew just like old times.
You can never get enough of Abby and Landon or Abby's tears over her own jokes. 

We visited some of our Buckley cousins and Bridger.

 We had a yummy brunch at Waffle Love thanks to Sara. Sam forgot his wallet...

Spring break is the best but broken heaters are the worst. It was definitely a trip I will never ever forget. Also I'd like to publicly thank Sam for driving the whole time there and back. He's the best bc he never gets mad at me for straight chillin or snoozin in the front seat.  Love you babe! 

wils ft. valentines day

Hi, and welcome back to another installation of WILS -- Why I love Sam.

You can read previous "wils" posts here, here and here.  

I thought Valentine's Day was just going to be just like any normal Tuesday--

I would go to work, Sam would head to school, I would cook dinner and have it ready for him when he got home at 10pm. Because of our crappy Tuesday schedule, we wouldn't see each other at all on Valentine's Day. But the previous weekend we decided to celebrate in advanced with a fun dinner in Solana Beach. Hence, I was not expecting anything at all on the actual day. 

But much to my surprise I came home from work to a table filled with flowers and a few of my favorite things! I was over the moon excited! It's little things like this that are why I love Sam.

And the best part was I didn't even have to cook dinner after a long day of work because he thought of everything! 

There was a bag full of donuts! 

'

And some rice, beans, and chips- a combo which is one of my all time favorites! 

It was the happiest night! I love Sam so much and am so glad he's my Valentine forever! 

day to day

I've been really bad about updating my blog recently with just the day-to-day happenings. One of the reasons is due to work. Yes I have a job. Yes I love it. Yes it's a little crazy sometimes. We are starting an office remodel in 2 weeks and we have an employee on disability leave so I've been pitching in and am now working 4 days a week. 

Sam came to visit me at work for the first time which was really fun! Well, I sort of forced him to come so I don't know how much fun he had...I had a cancellation one day so I called and woke him up and told him to come get his teeth cleaned. He hasn't been the dentist for 2 years (back when I was still in school) but still had zero cavities!! The dentist was super impressed.  Sam's so sweet for saving the day so I treated him to lunch afterward in downtown La Jolla. You can tell from the pictures how tired Sam looks in the first one compared to the other two hahah.

The below pictures are from back in September when we volunteered with Team Smile and The San Diego Chargers to do a free day of dental work. Tons of kids came for a school field trip and it was exhausting but so worth it. 

And here's a picture of me at an office I temp at regularly cleaning the dentist's teeth. Talk about nerve racking!! 

 

 ....

The other reason for the blog being on the back-burner is because Sam is so busy with school. Most of his time is spent at school or studying in the library. But every Friday night we watch The Bachelor with our friends and every Saturday we try to get out of the house and do something fun. 

One Saturday we went long boarding around the bay. 

We bought some cheap tennis rackets at Target and try to play doubles with our friends once a week.  

We went to the temple one Saturday night per request of Grandma Lola as her birthday present. 

And we watched the sunset at Sunset Cliffs one Sunday night before the busy work/school week started again. 

Even though it's nothing crazy, I love our regular day-to-day happenings.