Bibbidi, Bobbidi, Boo

That whole going to sleep thing is not working for me tonight. It might have something to do with the fact that I woke up at 11 am. Yikes. It was completely not planned, I assure you.

My current lack of sleepiness might also have something to do with things I have running through my mind at full speed.

In order to relax and pass the time in a way other then staring at a dark wall I decided to watch Cinderella.

This movie, right here.

I adore the classic animated Disney movies. (who doesn't though?) It is so hard for me to pick a favorite. I stress over it. I toss and turn. I just can not. Usually I say my favorite is Beauty and the Beast because, face it people, that movie is amazing. However, it is my favorite by the teeniest-tiniest sliver. Most of the other movies follow after that in 2nd place and 3rd place categories.

We all have movies that make us feel nostalgic and have a calming sense of familiarity about them. We remember watching them on VHS. We remember acting them out maybe? We remember asking our parents to watch it over and over? You know what I'm talking about, right? For me, one of those movies is Cinderella.

My Mom has told me this and I have read it in her journal she kept when I was around 2 years old. Apparently, I loved to pretend to be Cinderella. I would wake up and say, "Come on, get up you say. Time to start another day!" Cute, right? I think it just shows how early I loved watching this movie.

I do not know how many times I have watched this movie over time...it is a lot... I went a while without watching it. When I watched it after that long absence (only a couple years) I was surprised at how familiar it was! Especially the opening when the gold book opens to begin the story. It makes me smile. It makes me feel carefree. It makes me feel like no matter how bad things are, little mice and birds and a fairy godmother will help me...

(Just kidding about that last part.)

Cinderella is such a wonderful classic fairytale. I love the story itself. I could get even deeper and analytical about why and what not..but I think I have rambled on enough.

Here are a couple more Cinderella related pictures for your enjoyment:

Halloween 2006. I dressed as Cinderella. One of my all time favorite Halloween costumes. I am holding a figurine of Gus Gus. I love him. (PS. I got that dress at a thrift store. It was awesome.)

Honeymoon to Disneyland in 2007. She asked if I had found my Prince Charming (about Danny).I told her I had. I might have giggled too.

Actually, I think that last picture was taken in California Adventure...I don't remember for sure.

For the record:
Danny is doing well. He likes his job. He likes Texas. He loves me. He thinks our turtle is anti-social.

I am doing well. I like Danny's job. I like Texas. I love Danny. I think our turtle merely tolerates Danny and me.

Visiting Utah

A couple of weeks ago Danny and I went to Utah specifically to eat at this delicious place called JDawgs. His family met us there. Wasn't that nice of them? We had a pleasant and yummy lunch, then went on our separate ways.

See, here we are at JDawgs. You should eat there. Everyone should eat there. The Polish dog with the sauce is what dreams are made of.

Okay, okay. So maybe we did a few other things besides eat polish dogs for lunch.

Danny graduated. Did you know that? Really he has been officially graduated since December but we went back to BYU for the pomp (and circumstance) of it all.

The Bakker family came up from California. It was terrific to see them again. I am so happy they could be there to cheer for Danny with me.

Here we are surrounding Danny! We are all so proud of him!

Danny's dad had never been to Cabela's. It is definitely a place to go. There are fun things and and animals to look at.

The Bakker 'kids' in front of Cabela's. I adore my sibling-in-laws.

On Thursday, to kill time before the University wide Commencement, we went to the Bean Museum. It is full of stuffed (taxidermied?) animals. They are fun to look at. There is one animal, in particular, that I enjoy. Her name is Shasta. She is a Liger.

Tigers are one of my favorite animals. I guess that interest transferred to Ligers. They are half tiger after all. And they are "bred for their skills in magic". Do you remember the movie Napolean Dynamite? I have no interest in watching it ever again, but I do still love that part. Napolean says that Ligers are his favorite animals because they were bred for their skills in magic.


We had a great time in Utah. Danny and I enjoyed seeing our dear friends again. We also enjoyed seeing my Utah family again. I really loved being able to get to know them better while I was at school. Danny and I spent a good amount of time with them while we lived in Utah. For that, I am grateful.

Visiting Utah was wonderful. The best part was, we were only VISITING. It was refreshing to visit Utah instead of visiting Texas and returning to Utah.

So, now we are back in Texas and back to our happy little lives.

Out With the Old. In With the New.

I was having a difficult time falling asleep. In my quest for feeling sleepy I was playing around on my computer and I thought to myself, "Hey, I haven't updated the good ol' blog in a while. I should do that." I really did think the phrase "good ol'"

So, here I am. Hello blog.

Since my last post Danny and I have moved into a new apartment and bought a new car. How very adult of us.

I think I will focus on the apartment in another post. Now, I would like to discuss automobiles.

Danny and I had a car full of personality. His name was Mill "Lenny" M. Falcon. We called him Lenny for short. This car lived a long and happy life in the Bakker family. Danny's grandpa bought the car back in 1992. A week ago last Monday, Lenny died while Danny was driving to work. To summarize, the repair was just too expensive to do on a 20 year old car. So we donated Lenny to a charity and bought ourselves a shiny new car.

Here is Lenny being taken away by the charity.

This is our new car. A 2011 Hyundai Sonata named Kenobi

I am in love with that color.

Danny and I had been planning on getting a new car soon anyway. Lenny was to be our second car. Now we still only have one car but, as my family has expressed, they do not worry about us being dependent on this car. By 'us' I mean, Danny having to drive so far to get to work.

Danny and I had a few stressful and emotional days. Stressful because buying a new car is stressful. Period. It was emotional for a few reasons:

1: Danny had this car in his family for a very long time. It is the type of sadness that accompanies something comfortable and familiar not being around anymore. (part of that is true for me too. I knew the car for almost 4 years and it was our first car together)

2: I am crazy and get attached to inanimate objects. Of course calling him Lenny and joking about him having a personality did not help things. I had to remind myself that 'it' was just a car and did not actually have feelings. Hey, I'm just being honest here.

3: There was stress. Stress is an emotion. So I guess stressful and emotional is a bit redundant.

This experience did have some high points. I was able to observe some blessings in our life.

1: Lenny lasted a long time. We did a major repair on the transmission that bought us 2 1/2 more years. He lasted just long enough for us to be in a situation where we could afford a new car. That is what we hoped and prayed for while we were in school.

2: Danny's family giving him the car to begin with.

3: Danny's fantastic coworkers who were so willing to give him rides. Especially the coworker that lives near us and took Danny to and and home from work.

4: My wonderful parental units who drove us to car lots and took me grocery shopping and helped me do research. And Danny's dad who has much car buying knowledge. He gave Danny some good pointers and info.

5: Being able to buy a car on the last day of the month and the last day of a quarter. Because of the timing we were able to get all the financial stuff how we wanted. (Danny was an amazing negotiator!!)

6: The auto-shop that offered to allow Lenny to stay in their lot until arrangements could be made and the Dallas Can Academy that picks up cars in any condition.

And that is that. Everything happened fairly quickly and within a week the old car was gone and the new car has happily taken its place.

In case anyone is curious, we originally intended to get a gently used car but with some discounts and the Sonata not being an expensive car to begin with, we decided to get a new car with only 15 miles on it as opposed to an older one that already has some wear and tear.

We will always remember Lenny. We have some fun stories about him that we figure will be our version of "walking uphill in the snow both ways". Come to think of it, we DID walk uphill in the snow both ways to get to school!

I promise to post apartment pictures soon.

A thought about Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was yesterday. I love Valentine's Day because it gives me an extra excuse to spoil Danny. Not that I really need an excuse.

I was thinking though (uh oh). I am so blessed (or spoiled) to be married to Danny. Valentine's Day for us is a bit superfluous. I think that is how it should be though. Or at least, how it should be for us. Danny is so good to tell me, everyday, that he loves me. He also shows me that he loves me by how he acts and what he does to take of me and to take care of our lives.

So, while Valentine's Day is a nice holiday, do not forget about the other 364 days of the year. Love is okay everyday!!

Christmas 2009

(We really need some nice recent pictures of both of us, together.)

Hippo Bird-day

What has two thumbs, loves Star Wars, and was born on this day??

THIS GUY!

Usually to celebrate his birthday we have a really rockin' party with friends and delicious food and Star Wars decorations. This year we are not. I did make him lemon cupcakes that I will go put some strawberry frosting on in a few minutes. That is a good thing. Don't worry. He likes lemon cupcakes with strawberry frosting.

February 2nd is one of my absolute favorite days of the year. Besides being Groundhog's Day, it is also the day that a pretty fantastic and amazing guy was born. I love this guy. His name is Danny. He is my husband of 3 and a half years. I could go on and on and be all mushy about how awesome he is and how much I love him. But if you know him, you probably already know that for yourself. Besides, he gets embarrassed when I brag about him. Ha! Suffice it to say that I love him.

Here are some other pictures for your enjoyment:

I have used this one on the blog before. Oh well. I love it. Look how cute!

Wedding picture. What a good-lookin' fella.

He is cool enough to dress up as Jedi Voldemort

Here he is observing the snow last month.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANNY!