A tender mercy is...

*Loving every minute of a hike in Great Falls on the Billy Goat Trail and living to tell about it. (We were seriously scaling boulders like we were billy goats, and there were a few moments when I wondered...).



*Gearing up for my hubbie to be gone all the time working with the young men (rumors were flying that he was being considered), and then receiving the BEST CALLING EVER instead when we got called in for an interview: Youth Sunday School Teachers. Working with the youth: check. Doing it together: check. Getting to teach & feel like we're making a difference (which is something I actually love, as long as it's not adults): check. Getting a break from the intense callings of our last ward that required lots of evenings away from home: check. Perfect: check. So excited: check. Inspired bishop: check.

*Getting to sit together during all 3 hours of church. Love those 5th Sundays.

*Returning home after church to see the neighbor that has been keeping us up ALL NIGHT EVERY NIGHT with a blasting TV loading up a moving truck. We couldn't help but celebrate with a little dance once we were respectably inside our apartment.

*Finally getting ahold of the right technician who could get my business website back online. After 4 days of it being down, and countless other technicians assuring me it was deleted forever and there was nothing they could do, I was beginning to panic. Then, whala. Miracle.

*Finding a new brand of gluten-free hot dog buns that taste so normal, even Brian is impressed.

*Walking in the bathroom to find that Bri has fixed the plug in our tub. It's been broken for months, and occasionally my sore joints crave a soak! (I'd tried and tried. He is self-admittedly NOT a handyman, so I was pretty dang impressed.)

*Discovering that I can make phone calls from gmail. After over a month of having really spotty coverage in and around our apartment, it was getting hard to be patient as t-mobile fixes the tower problem. Finding that I can still harass my family whenever I want to definitely helps.

*Spending a long weekend together, enjoying the pool opening, a night at the movies and just being us. Heaven.

I know more than I know anything that Heavenly Father is always blessing his kids in ways too numerous for us to count... blessings tiny, big and everything-in-between. Some days it's just easier to see the tender mercies than others. Like this weekend...and man-alive, are we grateful!

Lessons we learned in Disneyworld...

We learned lots of other things too: dancing at a pier in Downtown Disney to a live band can be very romantic...Amber is like a two year old when getting in a cold pool (20 minutes later she might be fully submerged...maybe)...Florida is definitely pony-tail appropriate & ONLY pony-tail appropriate (hot...wet...hot)... Amber can't bring herself to let Brian kill an oyster for a pearl souvenir--wanted to, but just couldn't...we might prefer Disneyland over Disneyworld...after a Disney vacation you need a vacation from the vacation...

But maybe the most important lesson: coming back to reality is tough! Yo Ho Yo Ho, a pirate's life is for us! Until next time Disney, thanks for the memories and fun!

How to get excited for vacation Amber style:

Step One: Load cheesy Disney music on your playlist (You are so benefiting...lucky lucky ducks!)

Step Two: Buy a cute, new swimdress (Even cuter with the halter strap attached)


Step Three: Buy 90 degree appropriate clothing for not just you, but your husband. And then make sure he has loaded more than one pair of shorts and one tee in the suitcase.

Step Four: Do laundry so you have something to pack, and deep clean the apartment (Mom always taught me you gotta come back to a clean place). Huh. Somehow this one keeps getting put off.

Step Five: Instead of step four, watch old Disney commercials online.

My fav:


Cheesiest for your viewing pleasure: (WHAT in the world?)


Step Six: Make reservations at Tony's (Lady & The Tramp themed restaurant), the Coral Reef (a restaurant with aquarium walls) and the Rainforest Cafe...gluten-free goodness, here I come!

Step Seven: Constantly barrage your husband whenever he walks in the door with the "Guess where we'll be in 7 days? 6 days? 5 days?..." game. (Believe me...you'll stump him every time :))

Step Eight: Blog about it. Then repeat. :)

How do YOU get yourself pumped? The countdown is ON!

How to spend a gorgeous spring weekend...

*Ooh-ing and ah-ing over all the pink frills and pretties at a baby shower for a good friend. (Congrats to Brooke and baby Olivia! Can't wait to meet her!)

*Golfing in perfect 60 something degree weather with a view of the monuments (there are perks to your wife being at a baby shower, although he'd never openly say that :)).

*Braving the crowds to see the National Arboretum's Azaleas.

*Getting in a few good smooches (yeah yeah...you're probably grossed out...but it's what we do :) MWAH)

*Walking gorgeous, forestry trails that have sudden bursts of colors from the azaleas randomly mixed in.

*Strolling a more controlled, orderly garden of azaleas (that P.S...cost $2million a year to maintain. WHOA buddy... thank you generous (and WAY too wealthy) flower donors!)

*Admiring the state flower (and tree) of Virginia--the dogwood. You should see them in pink...beautiful.

*Celebrating a 40th birthday at a good friend's Luau, and reconnecting with friends who have moved out of the ward.

*Finding out at stake conference that WE'RE moving out of the ward. 3 wards in our building have now become 5, and we were one of the "lucky" winners who got booted out of our ward and will be joining a different ward... and we'll be moving back to a 3-6pm time slot (kinda a bummer...but we're hoping to make the best of it. I'm sure it happened for a reason...some reason... :))

*Getting your bumper all scratch and gouged by a landscape truck (ok...don't recommend this one... at all. Should I really be surprised, though? Poor Tink seems to be on a 6 month cycle. Soooooooo ready for a garage. But at least my knight in shining armour is taking care of dealing with it all...love that kid.)

*Chatting about anything and everything Disney related in a vain attempt to get even MORE excited for our upcoming vacation (like THAT's possible).




WELCOME SPRING!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!