A Million of Those Moments

Happy Monday and happy 2017! Anyone else excited about another day off work? Jordan and I have both been off work since the Friday before Christmas, and it has been so awesome being at home with R and living the stay-at-home life together for a week. The weather has been amazing, and I've taken R to the park 5 days in a row! We went and got donuts together one morning, we've run errands and put away our Christmas stuff and laid around the house doing nothing, and it's just been really nice to not feel for once like I'm rushing from thing to thing. It was the perfect way to end 2016, and I'm very thankful for that time together.

I already shared some pictures from Christmas with R this year, and today for my first post of the new year, I'm recapping Christmas with my family in Texas! On Thursday I have a comparison post reflecting on different areas of my life in 2016 and what I would like to change/adjust/keep the same for 2017, so be sure and come back.

You know those moments when you just stop and take it all in? You look around and think how wonderful life is right in that second? I have those a lot when I'm with my family, and this Christmas weekend was no exception. It not always perfect, and we annoy each other just like any other family does, but really and truly these smiles are real. We had such a lovely couple of days in Texas, and even though it was 60 degrees and didn't really feel or look like Christmas outside, it was a very merry time.

Every year my mom says she's cutting back and then we wake up to this giant pile of presents. As our family has grown and we've added spouses and now a grandchild, the pile just seems to get bigger and bigger! This year and last year we've done the "want, need, wear, read" categories, so each person gets four presents to open and it's fun to see what everyone got. We also draw names so each person has one person to buy a gift for, and we exchange presents the night before. I had my mom this year, an my brother had me!

R was spoiled this year and got some fun presents. Jordan and I were surprised how into it she was. Like I said in my last post, it seemed almost like R's first Christmas this year, since last year she was 4 months old and didn't know what was happening. This year she ripped paper and pulled presents out of boxes and she absolutely loved the baby doll my parents got her. It was cracking me up, but she wanted to carry it around the rest of the day and kept feeing the baby its bottle and saying, "ba ba."

My brother and sister-in-law made R this latch board, which she loved playing with! They painted one end with chalkboard paint, and now she asks me to, "dra dra" all day long. 

She's holding the baby doll's bottle! Cracks me up.

My dad made a very special gift for R this year... he wrote a children's book and had it printed and gave it to her! Since we were little, my dad has told us the story of Falling Rock, which is a story he made up to explain the signs you see along the road that say "watch for falling rock." You might have seen those before too. Well he wrote the story out and I helped him edit it, and he found someone to make illustrations and everything! We all got copies of the book, and it's so fun!

A lot of the gifts this year involved Cubs stuff. Hats and sweatshirts and t-shirts and car decals, and my dad got the Life magazine special Cubs edition. Still celebrating that epic win! 

The weather was super nice, so after lunch we headed outside to play some yard games. We played darts (I am terrible) and wiffle ball, and a game I'd never heard of called Molkky. We played Molkky two times, and the first time I lost pretty bad, as I tend to do with anything involving my brothers. Those jerks beat me at everything. So we started the second game, and I was losing bad again. I had 2 points and everyone else had in the 20s or 30s (the winner is the first person to 50, and just to remind you: I had 2).

Long story short, I ended up staging a huge comeback and was tied for first with Jordan and my brother--all with 45 points each. I was up next, and if I hit the 5, I would win. Everyone was silent watching as I threw, and I knocked over the 5 and I won! It was super exciting, and I immediately ran a victory lap around the yard. R was very confused by why we were all shouting and clapping.

We ate way too much delicious food and Christmas treats, laughed too hard, stayed up too late, and it was all so much fun. I'm very thankful for a family I enjoy spending time with around the holidays. This year definitely had its low moments, but I feel like we're going out on a high note. And not even because I finally beat my brothers at an outdoor game involving skill. 

That's just icing on the cookie ;)

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

Being that I have no job right now, last weekend I decided to throw caution to the wind and spend three days with my family at the lake. My entire family is on spring break right now, so it was perfect timing (perfect timing as far as firings go, anyway... see how I make jokes?). 

We stayed at our aunt and uncle's lake house in the great state of Texas, and it was like camping but without tents. Mom brought the fixin's, Dad smoked a pork butt on the grill, and the six of us hung out for 3 days. Jordan had to work, so I just made sure to bring him up in every single conversation all weekend long. 

We also brought our dog, Wrigley. (Above.) He had fun at the lake too. 

Smoking a pork butt is an all-day process, so while we waited for the deliciousness, my dad pulled out the Red Ryder BB gun, set up a target with a water bottle and two pop cans (okay, actually it was a beer can and a pop can), and we had a friendly shooting competition. 

We decided on 5 rounds of 5 shots each, mostly because after 2 rounds my dad was mad that he was losing to everyone and wanted to give himself enough time to catch up. 

My sister came out of the gate like a bullet (pun INTENDED). She nailed 3 in a row while everyone else got 1 or none. Then my brothers of course made a dramatic comeback. Because they are good at everything. (Remember when my brother Austin ran a half marathon with NO training? They suck.)

I was behind for a while, and then there was the dramatic round 4 where I tied Austin for second. It came down to the final 5 shots. Daniel nailed 5 in a row and locked in first place. Austin pulled ahead into second, and it was Sarah and I battling it out for third. We tied and entered into a 3-shot shootout. Very tense. You had to be there. 

I ended up sliding into 3rd place by one shot. The crowd went wild! 

My mom and dad lagged behind, my dad protesting every bit of it, claiming that the gun wasn't working. His logic was obviously flawed, because we were all using the same gun. 

And, okay, so my mom was struggling a bit. She hit 2 out of the total 25 shots.

But then, after it was all over, Daniel decided to try long-range shooting from twice as far away as the previous shots. After each of us took a turn (and missed), we convinced my mom to try it.

She stepped up and said, "Maybe I should try shooting left handed this time." (She's a lefty but had been shooting right.) ...

 ....and nailed the water bottle on the first try to everyone's amazement, especially her own.

So that's how we discovered that: A) my mom should shoot left handed and B) she is a superior long-range shot.

My dad, however, is still claiming the gun was faulty. 

The One Where I Win an iPad

I am not one of those people who never wins anything. 
In fact, I am quite the opposite. 
I win things from contests I didn't even know I entered. 

How's that for luck?

In this case it was an ipad 2. 
An ipad. 2.

I wish I could tell you it was some exciting story like how I stuffed this into my jacket at Walmart while no one was looking, but in fact all I did was watch a work-related webinar on online shopping cart abandonment.

And anyway, iPad boxes can't fit into my jacket. 
Don't ask how I know that.

So I watched the webinar, and then a few days later, a person from the company called and told me that my email address had been selected for the ipad drawing.
I was like, "What ipad drawing?" 
And they were like, "The drawing for the ipad that we had when you watched the webinar."
And I said, "There was a drawing for an ipad?"
Then they took back the offer because they thought I was stupid.

Kidding.

So now I have this fancy thing I don't entirely know what to do with. And poor Jordan is as jealous as jealous can be because let's just say he has an Android tablet. And let's also say that if my ipad and his tablet were in the Hunger Games, my ipad would be Katniss, and his tablet would be that kid who dies in the first scene that you don't even remember. 

But don't feel too bad. He's actually already used my ipad more than I have. Because I don't know what to do with it am learning how to share. 

Do you have an iPad? What do you use it for? Do you have any suggestions for good aps?

Seriously. My cell phone has actual buttons and no data plan. I clearly need help with technology.

i never win anything...except when i do

So I have this whole blog post written up about tithing. And when I say written up, I mean that I've been working on it for a few weeks now. Because I DO want to talk about tithing. It's been on my heart a lot this year, and as Christmas comes around, I've been thinking even more about money and material things and all that.

But I am just going to forget that for a second and talk about how freaking lucky I've been this week! I won not one, not two, but THREE blog giveaways. Amazingsauce, no?

1. A Starbucks gift card
2. A handstamped initial necklace from Danique Jewelry
3. A druzy necklace from HFinn

And yes. Thank you, I DO realize the irony in me prefacing a post where I talk about the stuff I've won by telling you how I have been thinking about materialism. I don't claim to make any sense.

I don't even know what's happening. For so long I've been all "I never win anything." And now I'm exploding with free stuff. And by "I never win anything," I mean there was also this time I won a cruise. And another time when I won signed Cat Cora cookbook. And that other time I won a Christmas wreath. 
So I guess I win stuff sometimes. 
Don't hate me.

Anyhoo, there's really no good way to end this except to say that I'm giving away a pair of earrings so YOU can have the chance to win something. Just leave a blog post comment HERE. Easy peasy. You only have one day left to enter! 

Also, here are a few pictures from a few family sessions I've had recently. I'm showing them to you because A) I'm proud of them and B) I don't really have anywhere else to put them. This is my blog and I do what I want. 

P.S. Did you know I got a Twitter? Follow me if you like marginally interesting tweets from my office desk.

Check back later this week for a post on tithing. I'm going to need a dose of reality after all this winning.

10 Things I'm Afraid to Tell You

Earlier this week I read this post, which linked to this post. Apparently there's a blogging thing going around. I missed it, as usual--I'm often behind.

For some reason, the idea of writing a post with some confessions immediately appealed to me. This is partly because I feel dry of interesting blogging material at the moment and partly because of this video I watched yesterday, which has been on my mind and heart ever since.

On this blog I write about all sorts of funny happenings, and I post pretty pictures. 

But my life isn't always funny, and it doesn't look pretty all the time.
{I've probably been the most honest about this here.}

It's Thursday, May 10. 

My 1-year wedding anniversary is in exactly 4 days.

My 26th birthday is in exactly 2 months.

And here are 10:

{these are in no particular order}

1. I hate my skin. It's better now, but I still struggle with it (and seriously envy Jordan's smooth skin). Before my wedding, I went to the dermatologist because I refused to walk down the aisle looking like I had chicken pox. But during my four years of college and the three years since, I refused to let anyone get near my face. I recoiled if anyone tried to touch it, and it became a habit to pull my sweatshirt up over my chin so people couldn't see the acne.

2. I worry about getting fat. I notice myself getting anxious about it if I haven't gone running or done some type of exercise in four or five days. Then I head out for a 4-mile run or do a Jillian Michaels video, and I eat an entire gallon of Breyer's mint chocolate chip ice cream (because it's the BEST), and all is right with the world--at least for the next four days. (I should add that I enjoy working out, so it's not like it's something I have to force myself to do. But when I don't do it, I start feeling frumpy.)

3. I wish I had more money. Jordan and I are extremely blessed. We have much, much more than enough. But I still have to daily fight down that twinge of jealousy when I visit someone who lives in a bigger house than I do or has fancier clothes than me. The past year of consistent tithing has really been wonderful in helping me think about "my" money as not mine at all but God's. I need to care less about "stuff."

4. I love Jesus. This obviously isn't any kind of dark confession, and it's certainly not a bad thing. I know I've talked about church and God on this blog before, but just in case there was any confusion: I love Jesus. Am I the perfect Christian? No. But I love going to church and playing the violin in the worship band. Oh, and I listen to KLove. That's right.

5. My dream is to be a freelance editor. No 9-5. No set schedule. Just me editing books. My secret hope (not-so-secret now, I guess) is that someone will find me via this blog and my monthly writing tips, and that will launch my freelance career. 

6. I used to scoff at cheesy pet names. But here's the truth: I love that Jordan calls me "babe." I remember exactly where we were the first time he ever said it (driving in his truck on the way to a softball game). It gave me goose bumps. That might be when I realized I loved him. (Okay, I totally made that last part up, but it could be true.)

7. I hate how competitive I am. Just once I want to play a game and not get upset if I lose.

8. I wish I were a faster runner.

9. Pinterest stresses me out. So much creativity in one place.

10. And last but not least is this dear blog of mine. I've been writing for almost 2 years now, and I love it. But I'm not going to lie: I wish I had more followers. I know that's silly. Who cares how many followers I have? The people who read this blog want to read it, and do I really want people "following" who don't even read? The obvious answer is no. Still, I can't help but see people with thousands of followers who get hundreds of comments, and I wish that were me. But then I realize that if I did have thousands of followers, that would be a lot of pressure, and I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. I am thankful for this creative outlet and the faithful friends who comment and read everything (you know who you are). (Shout out to Audra, follower/commenter/supporter from the beginning.)

*  *  *

So that's a few things about me you probably didn't know.

And I've just decided to write a follow-up post titled:

10 Things I Like About Myself/My Life

Because for every thing I wish I had or wish I did better, 

I have five more blessings I could name.

And those are important to recognize too. 

I might make it a link-up (since I know how to do those now).

Stay tuned.

And thanks for reading. 

* * *

{I'm going to tack on a shameless plug for my new weekly photography linkup: 
Alphabet Scavenger Hunt. 
You can link up until tomorrow with an A here. Or come back on Monday with a B!}

Trending in My Life Right Now

One of the items for this week's scavenger hunt is "trending." While I figure out how to take a picture of an ambiguous subject, you can read a list of 7 things trending in my life right now.

1. Snow! 

Yes, it snowed in Oklahoma last night. Maybe the stupid groundhog was right about this whole winter thing. It took me twice as long to drive to work today, because salt trucks and snow plows do not exist here. I drove 6 miles to work on an ice rink of a main road and almost slid into oncoming traffic twice.

2. Valentine's Day

Jordan doesn't believe in Valentine's Day. Yeah, he's one of those. But I'm a girl and get to decide things like what we do or don't do for Valentine's Day. So tonight we're going out to eat, and tomorrow we'll exchange cards. No presents this year, and I'm perfectly okay with that.

3. Brain Age

I'm sort of obsessed with this game Jordan has on his Nintendo DS. I feel super old school playing it, because it's probably from the 90s and plays lame techno music. But it's an awesome game that gives you brain teasers and puzzles to solve and then tells you how old your brain is. The lowest age is 20; I don't know what the oldest is. 

It can change daily based on the type of game you play and time of day. Saturday night my brain age was 25, which is how old I am, so yahoo! Yesterday I was at 27, which wouldn't have been so bad except that Jordan hit the elusive 20, and he seriously would not stop talking about how smart he is. 

But then, while he was pumping his self-important fist in the air, he stabbed himself in the eye with the tiny pencil you use to play the game. I didn't think he was so smart after that.

4. Pies

On Saturday, I attempted to make a chocolate pudding pie. 

Utter failure is too kind a phrase to describe what resulted. The pie did not become pudding; it became chocolate water. And I had to throw the entire thing out. 

I had made the pie for Jordan's sister's birthday, so not only did I fail at pie making, but I was forced to make that failure evident to his entire family so I could explain why we weren't able to come over and bring pie for everyone.

But last night I made a chicken pot pie from scratch, and it was delicious. So that sort of made up for the other pie, even though I didn't share with Jordan's family, so they no doubt still think I fail at making pie.

5. Downton Abbey. 
If you haven't seen this show, you should. I had heard people at work talking about it, but I dismissed it as being another one of those shows that everyone likes but I don't for a reason I can't explain (The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, to name a few). But Downton Abbey is so good, and season one is streaming on Netflix. So you have no excuse not to watch it immediately.

6. No cable.

After six months of full cable channels, including the sports pack and DVR, we now have nothing. No ESPN, no Bravo (and three episodes from the end of the current Top Chef season, I might add). But it's not as terrible as I thought. It's oddly freeing, actually. 

I'm here to tell you that if you feel strapped to your cable like a skydiver to his parachute, there is hope. I've been, to quote the infamous Bilbo Baggins, there and back again. And life is just fine.

7. Last but not least is my recent sprint to get back on the running wagon. 
The wagon left me behind a few weeks ago. I jumped off at first because I was lazy. But then I got sick. So this week I set a goal to run every single day. It's my over-the-top attempt to rejoin the exercise wagon and prepare for the upcoming 10k (at the end of February) and half marathon (at the end of April). 

I ran Saturday and Sunday, which means I only have to run for the next five days in order to meet my goal. After that, I'll hopefully be back on the wagon and ready to resume my normal schedule of running at least three times a week.

A Pig Trophy

On Sunday, I played tennis for 6 hours in the annual Oklahoma City Tennis Association Pig Tournament. It was hot (yes, in October), and I got sunburned. And the next day I was super sore.

But it was totally worth it. 

Why?  

Because my hard work earned me this:

Third place!

This is the only trophy I've ever won. 

I've gotten plaques and medals, but never a trophy. 

So of course I was pumped.

Note: the trophy says 8 [point] 0, not 80. 

Last night Jordan said, "Ha! It looks like it says 80 and up, like you're playing with 80-year-olds."

So, just to clarify, no, I wasn't playing in the 80+ group. I don't think I'd be as excited about getting 3rd place if that were the case. It's 8.0, which was the highest-ranked group.

Anyway, to conclude, obviously I'm awesome. 

And now I have an awesome trophy to prove it.

How Being Competitive Relates to Writing

 It's no secret that I'm a sore loser. 

Just ask Jordan how I handled losing to him the other night while we played Wii Sports Resort. Wakeboarding. Archery. Bowling. Canoeing. Sword fighting. Ping Pong. I lost at all of them, and I did not handle it well. 

(And before you get all, "You play tennis! You should be good at ping pong," let me stop you right there. They aren't the same at all.)

I hate losing probably more than I hate anything else in life (except maybe robots and dead bodies). Sometimes I choose to not even start something I know I will lose. This is first of all because I hate losing but also because I'm probably in a situation where I don't want to make a fool of myself once the inevitable happens (the inevitable being me losing).

This insane competitiveness annoys other people. I know my family and friends will readily testify to this fact. But the truth is, it annoys me too. I wish I weren't so competitive. I wish I could just take things in stride, laugh it off, rid myself of this terrible character flaw; but I can't. And it's so annoying.

I often wonder why I have such a strong reaction to losing when other people have such a mild one--even none at all, depending on who you are. I have a few theories, but mostly I think it's because that's part of my super Type A, firstborn daughter, born-into-a-family-obsessed-with-sports personality. However, I recently read something that spun my theory in a new direction. 


The following line is from a friend's blog post concerning the purpose of editors and writing and how you should receive constructive criticism from your editor about your book. Here's what she said: "You are not your book." 

By this, I think she meant that when an editor gives a critique, it's not personal; it's not meant to say, "You suck as a person." How I read this is that you don't have to get so wrapped up in your book that you aren't able to see or accept anything negative about it because for some reason you think this means there is something negative about you.

Criticism doesn't mean you should stop writing; it doesn't mean you can do nothing right and that you should just pack yourself in a box and mail yourself to Antarctica. It just means that your book has flaws and that even though you can put your heart and soul into something, that doesn't mean it's going to be perfect. 

Basically, it means you have some work to do. But even then, it isn't going to be perfect, because there is no perfect book. What authors (at least the ones I've encountered) so often fail to realize is that their worth as a person is not measured by how well or poorly they write. (Their worth as a writer is measured by how well or poorly they write, but that's not the point I'm trying to make.) Their ability to love and be loved is not measured by the fact that they wrote a book and whether or not the book was good.


And that's where my insight about my annoying competitiveness comes in. 


I often feel like I have to be perfect. I should be able to just "get" something, and if I don't, well then I'll just give up. But there is no perfect book, and there is no perfect person. (Yes, Jesus, okay? But that's also not what I'm talking about right now.)

I feel like losing makes me a lesser person, that it makes me weak, vulnerable, not good enough. I say to an author, "You are not your book." But that concept applies to my life as well.

I am not my athlete achievements. 
I am not my grades. 
I am not my writing abilities. 
I am not my job. 
I am not my church. 
I am not my family.

There's no one thing that makes me me--it's a myriad of likes and dislikes, of goals and pursuits and bucket lists. It's friends and hobbies. And it's games won and lost.

Losing doesn't make me less of a person; it doesn't make me stupid or lame or worthless. 
It just means I'm not perfect. 
It just means I have stuff to work on.

But my ability to love and be loved and live is not measured by whether I won or even whether I played well. It's measured by the fact that I did it at all, that I tried, that I didn't give up, that I started when I could have just said forget it. 


I said earlier that your worth as a person is not dependent on the fact that you wrote a book and whether it was well written. Your worth as a writer is dependent on this fact, however, just as my worth as a tennis player is dependent on how many balls I hit out and how many times I can ace someone on my serve. But what I so often forget is that being a good tennis player doesn't make me a better person. I could be a fantastic tennis player and be this biggest jerk on the planet. 

I get upset when I lose, but I have a new theory as to why: 


It's because I'm basing my person--myself--on winning and losing, and I need to stop.
I am not my wins and losses. 

I may suck at wakeboarding and canoeing and ping pong and bowling and archery and sword fighting, but in the end I'm still just me. And right now I need more practice in order to stop sucking at Wii Sports Resort.

A Tale of Two Honeymooners, Part Four-San Antonio River Walk, Sea World, and Free Stuff!

{Note: In case you were wondering when I'll stop writing posts about my honeymoon, wonder no more. This is the last honeymoon post.}

{Note #2: This one's long, but it's mostly pictures, so you shouldn't have to exert yourself too much. You're welcome.}

After Jordan and I finished getting sick on free samples, we left Fredericksburg and headed west to San Antonio, were we would stay at the Westin--a hotel that faced the famous river walk, where, I might add, we were on the top floor and had a balcony. (It appears I am not a cheap honeymoon date. Sorry, Jordan.)

I drove this time, because, well, I'm actually not sure why. I think because Jordan was tired of driving. In any case, I turned on our trusty GPS, and we headed into the big city. We arrived in San Antonio after an hour and half and began looking for a place to park.

It's important to note that we had made a few major adjustments based on the previous day of driving. 1) I was driving, which negated my being a backseat driver and annoying Jordan. 2) We were not hungry. 3) We were not worried about our GPS taking us to the middle of nowhere. 

Still, for some reason, we reached our low point. Wednesday, May 18, was the day we got into our first married fight. I'm not going to go into it; we survived and we still love each other, so the details aren't important. What is important is the fact that we made it to our hotel, saw the Alamo, said, "I love you," and decided we weren't going to fight ever again...

...until later, when we argued because I wanted to go exploring and Jordan wanted to lie in bed and watch more Man vs. Food on the travel channel. Like I said, low point. 

But our smiles are genuine. I promise. Even at our lowest point, we were still happy to be together on our honeymoon. And our view was pretty cool too, so that helped.

See? Jordan wanted to lounge about. 

But I made him walk to the Alamo with me.

When we got back to our room, we found chocolates! Actually, a guy came and dropped them off for us along with a note that thanked us for spending our honeymoon at the Westin. That's why you tell people it's your honeymoon...free stuff!

Then I told Jordan we were dressing up and going to dinner on the river walk. And we finally found someone to take a picture of us! That whole holding-out-your-arm-to-take-a-picture thing gets old. 

When we got back to our room, we found this:

It had come with a box of chocolates and a note thanking Mr. and Mrs. Hampton for spending their 20th wedding anniversary at the Westin. Since we didn't want to be charged for champagne we didn't order, we went down to the front desk to tell them about the switch. We were informed that the first box of chocolates (the ones that had been hand delivered) hadn't been for us. This, however, was ours. I thought that sort of thing only happened in movies. Not so, my friends, not so.

Again, that's why you tell people you're on your honeymoon.

You might get free champagne and more chocolate! 

The next day was Sea World day! We had talked about finding admission coupons, but it never happened, so we were resigned to paying the full $60 per ticket. But when we got up to the counter, I decided to try something I'd seen my parents do on occasion.

"Hello!" I said cheerfully.

A bored-looking girl stared at me, most likely confused by my cheerfulness. "Hey."

"How are you doing today?" I asked.

She smiled slightly, and I knew she was warming up to me. "Fine. How are you?"

"Great! You know, we're here on our honeymoon. You don't happen to have any coupons for honeymooners back there, do you?"

She shook her head.

"Nothing?" I asked again, looking sad. "You sure?"

She laughed. "No, ma'am. Sorry."

"That's okay! Just thought it wouldn't hurt to ask."

Then she said our total was $101 and some change. I looked at Jordan, and he shrugged his shoulders. We looked at our tickets later, and sure enough, she'd given us both the "child" price.

I couldn't believe it. "It worked! I saved us twenty bucks!"

So that's apparently how it's done, people.

We took a picture by the entrance and then headed in. We saw a couple of shows, some animals, ate lunch, and headed out six hours later. It was a good day.

As you can see, it was a bit cloudy, but it didn't rain on us, and I think it kept the people away, because it wasn't crowded at all.

 

We got back and went out to dinner at County Line. 

We sat outside on the river walk and ate a lot because it was delicious. 

Then we went back to the room and played Scrabble while watching the Thunder game, which they won. Wanna know who did not win? Me. Never mind the fact that I had four 30+ words; Jordan ended up winning by adding an s to some of my words and getting a bazillion points while I tried to come up with real words of my own. Don't worry, though, I'm not still mad about it. 

I tried to take an artsy picture of the board, but all I really got was a shot of the terrible, useless letters I had. Seriously. This is what I had to work with.

We left the next morning, and I didn't take any other pictures besides a few attempts to get a good one of the sunset as we drove home. All we got was a blurry picture of a truck, and I didn't think that would interest anyone. 

So there you have it--our honeymoon tales in four parts. If I learned anything from my week with Jordan, it's this:

--Eat often/bring snacks

--Announce your honeymoon status and get free/discounted stuff

--Take pictures and journal/take notes so you'll remember it all later and annoy your friends with lengthy blog posts (oh wait, maybe that's just me)

--When taking pictures, embrace feeling awkward and "touristy." You'll never see these people again.

And the important one...

--If your new husband groans about anything (exploring, taking unnecessary pictures, eating out, etc.), use this magic phrase: "When will you ever go on a honeymoon ever again?" He'll do what you want every time.

So basically I learned that manipulation is the key to a successful marriage.

The end.