the other night in manti.

Last weekend, Zac and I drove an hour and a half south, and met my family in Manti. During the summer months in Manti, a play called The Mormon Miracle Pageant is put on by the locals about Joseph Smith, and the restoration of the Gospel, performed on the hillside right below the beautiful Manti temple.

My family usually arrives in Manti in the daytime so we can spend time eating dinner, taking walks, looking at the local museums and craft fair, and scouting out our spots for the pageant. This year was no different. Once we set up camp (and put our bags in the motel rooms), we ventured out.

While at the craft fair, I bought the most darling sweater for my future, unborn child. Zac and I also bought some root beer candies and lemon drops to eat at the pageant, because we're good thinkers. We also celebrated Daniel's 24th birthday there, which explains the BBQ and steaks: his birthday meal of choice.

I'm always surprised at how many people come to these pageants. And not only that, but also how many protestors there are. This year, a protestor brought his piano to play.

I was only awake for about half of the pageant, which made me feel kind of bad. But when you're lying on a blanket next to your lover in the cold dark night, it's kind of the perfect time to fall asleep. So, sadly, I don't remember much about the pageant. But luckily I've seen it many times before.

All the while, Rachel was sick, and ended up going to the hospital where they found out she had some kind of disease in her pancreas. No fun.

The next morning, we packed up our bags, had breakfast at camp, and drove the hour and a half home to out apartment. It was really good to get away with my family. And I plan on watching the entire show next year.

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an office party.

At work, one of our account managers, Levi, is leaving us for a better paying, well-suited job. Today, for his last day of work, my boss, Dan, took him out to lunch. The minute they walked out of the door, we went to work decorating the office's break room, folding and taping Dungeons and Dragons dice (because he's into that kind of thing...), setting out cake and ice cream, and making a candy poster. I felt like I was in the party comitee in my favorite TV show The Office.

An hour passed, and as Dan and Levi walked through the door, we yelled "Surprise!" and Levi dropped his cup! We spent the next half hour eating a Captain America cake and ice cream on Star Wars plates, and talking about all things Levi. It was like a 5-year-old's birthday party. It was cool beans.

Then we went back to work, like nothing ever happened...

Good luck in your new endeavors, Levi!

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family photos 2012.

A few weeks ago, we met up with our friend, Heather, to get our pictures taken in downtown Provo--the place we lived as newlyweds. We hadn't had professional pictures taken since our wedding day, and so we thought, for our first year of marriage, we'd get some pictures taken to see how much we've changed in the last year. I have a feeling this will happen every May.

Heather is such a great photographer! Not only does she produce gorgeous, well-lit photos, but she is also super fun, and makes us not feel as awkward as we normally are. On our shoot, we were telling her about how our wedding photographer posed us awkwardly, and how we looked like an awkward, prepubescent couple in a good amount of our wedding photos. Heather was incredible at posing us so we looked natural, and also telling us when we looked weird (because, honestly, both Zac and I are the opposite of photogenic--don't let this here blog fool you; I only post pictures I look pretty in). And yes, my legs are that white.

Before taking pictures in front of the light blue house, Heather knocked on the door and asked its residents if we could shoot there. They agreed, and as we were getting ourselves situated, the sprinklers came on. The three of us laughed and laughed, because I think the residents of the house did it on purpose. It was quite the experience.

As soon as I saw the finished pictures, I was ecstatic! I mean, look how perfect they are. And dang! Zac and I look hawt! I am thoroughly impressed with these little babies. To see more of Heather's work (and hire her, because you know you want to), go here!

This last picture was taken right when a man walking down the sidewalk stopped and looked at us, and said something along the lines of, "You two are a good looking couple!" This was our reaction.

Thank you, stranger, for making our day!

+++++

Oh, and as a side note, we went to eat at Terra Mia tonight. It was gross. I wouldn't recommend it. Especially when you're paying $20.00 for soggy pizza and burnt breadsticks. The service was good, though!

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a happy list.

Ya know what the best blog post is for Mondays? A list of everything that makes me incredibly happy. Lately, I've been a downer for no reason. I have so many reasons to be happy with my life. And even though there are things I don't necessarily like in my life doesn't mean I have to focus on the negative.

So, starting every Monday, I'm going to create a whole list of things that I love--things that make me happy beyond belief.

Things that make me happy today:

• a husband that will clean the bathroom while I eat ice cream on the bed.
• the warm weather and sunshine.
• reading peoples' blogs.
• art.
• getting our pictures back (see above--more on that later).
• spending last weekend with my family.
• finally getting internet, and being able to watch The Office on our TV instead of our computer.
• walking into our apartment and smelling the peach air freshener.
• carpooling with Zac in the mornings.
• seeing a bunch of lavender bushes on the way to pick up our pictures.
• driving through Provo weeks after moving, and seeing all the old buildings and trees where we used to call home.

See? I feel much better.

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erik's homecoming.

When I was in High School, I was in a band with my two friends, Emily and Erica. We didn't play very many shows (maybe 5 or 6, tops), but we were the bee's knees. At least, we thought so. The perks of being in a band, though, were having friends who were also in bands. We played a few shows with all of our band friends, and went out to each with everyone after each show at the Denny's off the freeway in South Jordan. I think that was the only good part about High School.

A couple of weeks ago, one of our band friends, Erik, came home from his LDS mission. Emily, Erica and I went. I haven't seen those two for months, and it was nice to catch up and goof off with them like we did all those years ago.

We also got to see a few of our band friends (I'm just realizing now that we were the only girls in that group...) which was hilarious, because I'm sure at least two of them were high. Not that being high is hilarious... Especially at an LDS mission homecoming... Anyway... It was nice to see Erik after two whole years, and he was just as excited to see us. "Oh, no way! Emily, Megan, and Erica?!"

Welcome home, Erik! I hope your first few dates are as awkward as a tall, skinny, 14-year-old boy going through puberty!

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when we tried to make dinner on a wednesday night.

After work today, Zac and I had plans to go home and make a lovely dinner of grilled chicken with black bean salsa.

Then I remembered that I needed a few things at the grocery store for it, so we went.

While at the grocery store, I remembered that we have a few ripe avocados that need to be made into guacamole, and then remembered we're out of chips!

So Zac made the decision to go to Costco, because their Food Should Taste Good brand chips are the best thing that has ever happened. While waiting in line, my sweet tooth kicked in, and I wanted gelado.

So for dinner, I had a waffle cone piled high with gelado, and Zac had a hot dog topped with the works. When we came home, we realized that we didn't need to make dinner anymore.

And it was kind of funny.

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a utah valley sunset.

On a whim last night, Zac took me to watch the sunset on the roof of a particular building (which we may or may not had permission to be on). We almost missed it, as the sun set at 9:02, and during that time, we were still driving there. But we made it up to see the sky's pink color slowly turn into darkness, and it was kind of magical, on top of that roof, just the two of us--not to mention the gorgeous view of the lake just below us. And you better believe we smooched about a dozen times.

Later on, when it was darker, we stopped by Arctic Circle to treat ourselves to a couple of ice cream cones (up until a couple of years ago, I had no idea that Arctic Circle was just a Utah restaurant). And I don't know about you, but I just might think Arctic Circle's ice cream is better than McDonald's.

Tonight we have plans for a group date with my brother, Matt, and sister-in-law, Stephanie, and my parents. We're catching dinner at Ruth's Chris in one of our favorite Utah cities, Park City, and also catching up with everyone (I haven't seen Matt and Steph for weeks!). As excited as I am, I'm not much of a steak person.

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