Vacations & Whatnot

Hi there! It's been a while. Long enough, in fact, that my entire herb garden has shriveled up and died into a tiny forest of pitiful little brown stems. Gardening just doesn't seem to be for me. Or at least where I am in life right now, living in a little apartment complex and working full time doing mundane data entry work. Hey! Maybe someday. I won't rule it out. For now though, I'll keep to buying 50 cent bunches of cilantro from time to time and call it good.

It's amazing to realize that we're already about halfway through the summer. Data entry and herb garden death aside, it really has been a great summer thus far. Let me give you a little run down of what's been going on in my first summer as a married woman...

Prepare for pictures...! [Blogger is NOT being accommodating for posting lots of pictures, so they're all askew and formatted weird. Oh well.]

1) California Trip

This was one of the best trips I have ever taken. We went with some good friends, Ammon & Julie, who are EXCELLENT travel buddies. Never a dull moment when we hang out with them... not that we had many spare moments that could have been dull. We had a full schedule that included a beach day, the San Diego Zoo, Disneyland, and the Newport Beach Temple.

(Oh yeah! I dyed my hair red.)

This was Nick's first time seeing the ocean, so it was really neat to be there with him for that. As for me, I hadn't been to a real ocean beach since 7th grade, so I was LONG overdue. We got to go tide-pooling (a first for me), and we found all sorts of amazing sea life: anemones, urchins, starfish, crabs... neat stuff.

It was a bit overcast, so the ocean was FREEZING, but we had fun anyway building sand castles, walking around the pier, reading, eating. Plus, the cloud cover helped keep severe sun burns at bay!

The next day was the San Diego Zoo, which seriously puts all other zoos to shame. We were there almost the entire time the zoo was open, and were busy almost every second.

This bird was our favorite! He kept playing with us and didn't want us to leave.

We ended with a quick stop to the San Diego Temple. Gorgeous temple, and gorgeous grounds.

And... the next day was Disneyland day. The best day.

Whenever I've been to Disney before, it was either with little kids, or on a school trip, so there were always limits to how long I was allowed to stay. So, I never was able to stick around for the "night life" so to speak- the parades, fireworks, etc. But we did this time! It's magical. It really is. Everything is lit up and sparkling. I love Disney.

(Plus, I think Nick was converted to Disney! Woo!)

2) Local summer adventures with friends & family

I wish I could travel more, but luckily the Provo area has quite a bit to offer. Including...

...summer festivals with ferris wheels to attend with old friends...

...river floating in the canyon and Sonic happy hour with my sister...

 ..and quirky shops and restaurants in Downtown Provo for date nights with Nick.

3) Ritter Reunion in Wisconsin

We JUST got back from a really fun reunion with Nick's extended family. Most of the people I haven't met yet, so there was a lot of information overload. The good news was that Nick has an AWESOME family, and I had a blast.

As you can tell, we shoved a lot of activities into a weekend. It was awesome. Indian mounds, drive in theater, zoo, fireworks, and the Ritter family farm.

  

I'm making an obnoxious face because these goats were SO rude, biting their friends to try to get food out of my hand. I love these stupid creatures.

 And between all of these activities, there was lots... 

... and lots...

HUGE ice cream cone at The Chocolate Shoppe in Madison. It was delicious.

... and lots of food. And lots of food= happy Amanda.

This is only a fourth of a cheese aisle. I love this state.

Also, my dad served his mission in Wisconsin, and sent me an address of one of the old apartments he used to live in. On our way to the zoo in Madison, we realized that it was quite literally right on our way there. So, we made a little 2 minute stop to take a picture. Here's my dad in 1991 and me and Nick in 2015 standing in pretty much the same spot. Neat stuff!

Phew. So, that's pretty much it for now. Ideally, I'll be updating this thing way more often so you don't have to read a novel on here each time I post. 

Anyway, Happy Thursday! I'll be back soon.