Sean and Amy

My wonderful grandma (the one that first let me use Nair (It burned!) and would buy me Blackjack gum) recently passed away after being on Hospice for the last few weeks. Sean and I were able to fly out to California this last Thursday night and meet up with all of my family on my Dad's side for the funeral. Only one cousin was missing. We stayed at my aunt Gee's house, where 12 of us did our best to squeeze into her leftover space (and avoid getting our stuff pooped on by Gee's vengeful cats). My parents were there, as well as my brother and his girlfriend, and my cousin and his wife and two children. It was so fun to have them all there. (Especially Jaxon and Skylee. Skylee was our little friend all weekend. I taught her to say "yeehaw!" Although there never was much feeling behind it when she said it.)

Friday was the funeral. Who knew that funerals were so time consuming and that there were so many different parts to it? First there was the viewing (It was at that time I resolved to be cremated) then there was the funeral service where all of her kids spoke. Then we went to the grave site for the grave dedication. Then it was back to the church for snacks. I think that was probably my favorite part. When I die I want to be cremated, have a quick funeral, and then lots of food for everybody!

On Saturday we had so much fun! We went to the beach for a weenie roast lunch and s'mores. We got to play in the water and dig up little shells and sand crabs (well not so much the sand crabs, those things freak me out). My grandpa, who is in his 80's rode his bike 11 miles down to the beach! I think he is in better shape than me. Then we went to a family get together and everybody played volleyball and baseball, talked, and ate dinner. For dessert we went to this amazing place just down the street from Disneyland called Joe's Italian Ice. If you are ever in the Disneyland area I highly recommend going there for the best ice cream and italian ice ever! Then we went back home and had a Nuts (Nertz) tournament. It was a pretty fierce competition!

On Sunday we played a lot of Boggle and went to church and we had lots of family over for a wonderful taco dinner, thanks to Brittany and all the other helpers. Brittany also made these awesome "Oreo cookies." I will put the recipe at the end of the blog because they are that good! My friend, Cassie was able to come over too and we played so many fun games and Sean is so proud that he won a game of Nuts!

On Monday we went to a yummy brunch at IHOP and then we went to the Tide Pools at Crystal Cove in Newport Beach. I may have taken a shell or two... Then it was off to the airport for a return to real life. How lame!

Awesome Oreo Cookies:

Cookies:
1 Pkg Devils food cake
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Oil

Bake at 350 for eight minutes

Filling:
8 ounce pkg Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Butter
2 tsp Vanilla
2-4 cups Powdered Sugar

We had such a wonderful and busy weekend! We refinanced our car on Friday and then right after we went to Salt Lake City were we enjoyed the musical styling of Flogging Molly. It was my first time going to a real concert. I even got patted down for weapons! They took away my Excedrin, too. At least they didn't make me prove that my eye drops were real like they did for the lady in front of me (I have a terrible time actually getting the drops in my eye even when I'm not under pressure!) Sean and I stayed near the back and avoided the mosh pit and crowd surfers. But we had a great view of the band and sang along to every song! It was so much fun. Course we didn't get home til 2am...and Sean had class the next morning at 8 am, poor guy.


After Sean got home from class we went to the beautiful Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point (well... we took a nap first). That is where all our pictures are from. Aren't they just gorgeous? We spent a few hours walking around and trying out Sean's new camera (Its possible he may love it more than me... ;) Sean adamantly denies it, though) We saw a little family of owls nesting in the cliffs there, really big goldfish, and a quarter of a million tulips! Then we went to Costco (aka: "Mecca" for us and Gee) which is an adventure in and of itself. We got some ingredients for what is possibly my favorite Sean Dinner ever: Pot Roast! I like it mostly because we use about 1/2 bottle of Costco sized A1 Sauce. After Costco my friend Ashley came over and we made dinner and Sean made yummy cookies and played our new favorite game: Buzz. Sean beats me every time, unless I whine enough, then he lets me win. I can be a pretty good whiner. It was my mom's birthday on Friday, but for some reason I always think its the day after. (Happy Birthday, Mom)


Today was a very long day. I took my birth control for the week (Its a very effective form of birth control, known as Teaching Primary). The other teachers just had their baby so we are back to teaching all the primary. Then we went right to the birthday party. Sean had a great time meeting with friends that he hadn't seen in a long time. It was really great for him to catch up with them. And I got my first sunburn of the year! Then I went Visiting Teaching, and our Home Teachers came over, and then we had the wonderful Pot Roast. Sean is such a great cook. And a wonderful husband! He did all the dishes, too! Happy Mothers day to all you wonderful mothers out there: specifically: Mom, Gee, Carol, and Minon. I do believe that it is now time for us to pass out for the next 10 hours! Good night everybody!

Well, for 4 months for me and only a week for Sean. Last semester was pretty hectic, especially for Sean, but between the two of us we pulled off A's and B's. We haven't been able to see each other much since we got married as we both started classes within five days of getting married. This summer will be a lot more relaxing than the last eight months (I hope). This Summer Semester Sean is taking a Saturday morning class (What alliteration!), which neither of us are excited about (Sean less so, is my bet). That class is really going to put a damper on our camping this summer, and I was so excited for Yellowstone, and the Dugway geode beds, and going out to Delta to dig up some fossils... oh well. Hopefully we have a bit of time after Sean's class to do some of those things. We are excited for the adventures we are going to go on this summer. In June we are going to the Shakespeare Festival for a few days with my family, and then, on our anniversary, we plan on going to Park City for a day or two. :) We have some pretty exciting plans this coming week: City Library, Flogging Molly Concert, one of Sean's friend's son's birthday party (there sure was a lot of possessions in that last entry), and cleaning!!!! I really look forward to going through some of our boxes that we haven't opened since moving and doing a bit of Spring Cleaning (AKA: Throwing Junk Away). Wish us luck!