One Year. Ain't No Mountain High Enough Baby

Our one year anniversary was this past Sunday, March 10th.  (How is that even possible?!)  We celebrated it all weekend long.  Friday I only worked a half day and when I got off work we headed down to Salt Lake.  We saw the new movie "Oz the Great and Powerful", did a little shopping at City Creek, and then went to our favorite Thai Restaurant, Sawadee, for dinner.

Saturday we spent the day snowboarding at Park City Mountain Resort.  The weather was perfect and the resort even had 6 inches of fresh powder.  It was the kind of day when you get home happily exhausted.  

On Sunday night to finish off our celebratory weekend we finally got around to watching Skyfall and ate lots of popcorn and Trader Joe's Maple Cookies.

In honor of our one year anniversary we thought we'd leave you with a little song in the video below. The sound quality isn't the best since we recorded it on our mac, and we just learned the song tonight so be patient with us. Hope you enjoy!

-Kami (& Bryce)

Do You Hear the People Sing

Last week while driving home from work I heard an ad on the radio about a concert the Utah Symphony & Chorus were performing.  The concert was "Do You Hear the People Sing: From Les Mis to Miss Saigon" and was going to be performed by the Utah Symphony & Chorus (obviously) as well as six Broadway guest artists.  It was playing at Abravenel Hall March 1 & 2. 

I LOVE Les Mis, it is by far my favorite musical and I really like the score from Miss Saigon as well.  Bryce and I saw the movie version of Les Mis when it came out and although I thought it was good I was disappointed with a lot of the musical performance.  I saw Les Mis when Broadway across America toured in Salt Lake and grew up singing all of the songs in voice lessons, but Bryce has never seen it live.  Ever since the movie I have wanted him to hear how much better the music is in the actual live Broadway performance (I made him watch a million youtube videos of the original London cast but it just wasn't the same).  And while this wasn't the full Broadway performance, it was as close as we were going to get in Utah for a while.  I checked online as soon as I got home and found they still had some of their cheapest seats available for $29 a ticket.  I didn't think the price was too bad and thought we could just count it as an early anniversary date since our actual anniversary was the next weekend on March 10th.  I told Bryce about it when he got home and he thought it sounded like a really fun idea too.

AND THEN OUR INTERNET WENT OUT ALL WEEKEND.

Monday when we finally had internet access again the first thing I did was go online to order our tickets.  The only seats left were $90 tickets.  I was so sad!  $180 was a bit out of our budget especially when I knew we were still going to do dinner and a movie or something on our real anniversary weekend.  Before giving up I thought I would search the KSL classifieds and see if I could get lucky and find someone selling their tickets.  I found an ad where someone had posted $25 tickets to the performance on Thursday February 29th at Weber State.  My heart stopped.  The Utah symphony website didn't say anything about a Thursday performance.  My fingers flew on my keyboard as I navigated my way around the Weber State website and found it was true.  There was  a Thursday night performance of the exact same concert at the Browning Art Center at Weber State University.  There was a phone number for students to call and get tickets at a discounted rate.  I sent Bryce a text and told him to drop everything RIGHT NOW AND CALL.  He wrote me back and said he was able to get us two $10 tickets.  $10!!! 

Finally, having a husband who is still a student had a financial benefit.

(I'm documenting it because so far it is solitary in its existence)

This is the best I could get out of Bryce for an obligatory date night photo-op.  

Why do boys hate being in pictures so badly?

The concert was so good!  We both loved it so much.  The symphony, orchestra, and guest artists were all incredible.  The guest broadway artists included:

--Jennifer Paz, who played Kim in the original America Broadway tour of Miss Saigon  
--Sarah Uriarte Berry who has starred as Eponine  & Belle in Beauty and the Beast on New York Broadway
--Marie Zamora, who played Cosette in the original Paris Broadway production of Les Mis 
--Eric Kunze who starred as Marius in the London production of Les Mis & also starred as Chris in the American tour of Miss Saigon 
--Terrence Mann who held the role of Inspector Javert in the original London Broadway cast of Les Mis

I didn't realize the guests would be so many of the original performers, it was an amazing surprise.  I love a good live performance.  The music is just so powerful.  It hits you like an actual force and you can feel it in your whole body.  It's difficult to describe and maybe not everyone feels the same way about it as me, but I really really love it.  I didn't want the concert to end.  I wanted them to keep singing every song over and over.  So if you are not a student and you can fork out $90 you should really go see it tonight or tomorrow! 

-Kami

Photography Homework Week 2

I finished up week 2 of my photography class, and I am loving it so much!  I by no means ever plan on being a professional photographer, but it is a hobby I enjoy and have always wanted to improve.  This class is perfect for that.  It is a one month online course through nicolesclasses.com.  The class has weekly video tutorials and weekly reading assignments that have tons of information for learning the basics of digital and film photography.  You also submit homework once a week and Nicole Gerulat, the teacher, critiques it for you.  She is an awesome teacher and is wonderful at helping you learn how you can improve your photos.  These are all the shots I submitted for week two.

 -Kami

Feeding Geese on a Sunday Afternoon

On Sunday after church and too many episodes of The Office I suggested to Bryce we go to Beus park and feed the geese.  Bryce thought it was a good idea and quickly changed into his Toronto Hockey Jersey that he got on his mission.  I have never seen him wear this the entire time we've been married.  I laughed and asked if he just wanted the geese to feel at home.  He replied stating, "No, actually I just wanted to look weird because I knew you'd take pictures." Touche.

Bryce was better at feeding the geese then me, and by better I guess I mean more calm.  They were seriously aggressive geese and if you didn't throw the bread quick enough they started pecking your legs!  I took a short turn and left most of the feeding to Bryce.

I named this one George.

Happy President's Day!  I would love making Mondays off part of my standard work week.

-Kami

Valentine's Day 2013

Last year on Valentine's Day Bryce cooked a special dinner for me so this year instead of going out and fighting all the crowds I said it would be my turn to cook a special dinner for him.  We had marinated steak, baked sweet potatoes, and green beans sauteed with olive oil and garlic. 
We agreed on exchanging cards and gifts with a $15 limit.  Bryce learned when we started dating that I am one of the few girls who would rather not get flowers.  I think they're very pretty and a sweet gesture but I would rather get something that doesn't die in a matter of days.  While Bryce was picking up my gift he saw some fake daffodils and thought he would still surprise me with flowers "that wouldn't die".  I laughed when he gave them to me.  That boy is so thoughtful.

I gave Bryce the fox card and he gave me the heart one.

 

I had a hard time thinking of a fun surprise for Bryce that only cost $15.  After a few days of brainstorming I finally came up with the idea of getting him a desk sized anatomy model.  He loves learning about the body and constantly is telling me things about it that he's learned so I hoped it would be a fun surprise for him.  He loved it.  He was so excited he put the whole thing together as soon as we finished eating dinner.  

Bryce gave me a new book, The Guardian.  He knows me so well.  Reading is my most favorite hobby.  I couldn't have picked a better gift out myself.  After dinner and exchanging gifts we ended the night with a movie, popcorn, and cuddling.  It was such a fun little holiday and a welcome excuse to celebrate Love.

-Kami

Scenes from the Weekend of our Eleventh Month of Marriage

I started my photography class last Monday so this weekend Bryce got to be my model for some of my homework. Don't let him tell you different, he loved it. 

(more photography homework- comparing aperture) 

We got a new rug for under our dining table.  A million and one people have it, but I don't care I still love it.  

I've been reading Elder Maxwell's biography.  It's goood.  He lived such an exemplary life.

On Sunday I realized it was the 10th of February, meaning we had reached our eleventh month anniversary!  We celebrated with homemade bread that had conveniently just come out of the oven.  One more month till we hit the year mark. Time is going too fast.

-Kami

Grown Up Couch

When Bryce and I first got married our only couch was a cheapie microfiber futon that I bought on amazon.  As newlyweds just starting out it happened to be one that fit in our budget.  It was a good little couch, just emphasis on the little.  It bothered Bryce all the time that we couldn't both sprawl out on it comfortably to watch movies or take naps.  Finally with the new year and a raise at work, meaning bigger paychecks, we decided we could afford an upgrade.  On Saturday we went to Ikea and bought a real grown-up couch (with a 10 year warranty, so the next time we need one I'll be 33! yikes!) and I finally got around to hanging a little gallery wall I've been wanting to do for a while.

Our couch is the biggest purchase we've made together since we've been married.  I guess this means we're exiting the newlywed stage and moving on to the stage where you buy real furniture and go to bed before eleven.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.

-Kami