cause i can't come home from my (mental) vacation

in my mind i'm soooo still in california. yikes usually breaks help rejuvenate you? not this time. i'm SO stuck on vacation. we're slowly getting back. slowly.

^^exploring Santa Monica for the day

^^After explaining to jord that since he has to permanently replace my sisters that includes taking silly pictures of everything, and each other, and pretending we're models like all the time. he grasped the idea with an 

"Okay! Work it, ya now grab your hair and look that way, okay now try flipping your hair around, touch your jacket, turn around and look back."

i'm all like. okay no. never mind. 

^^^Cute little seal that kept wanting to come say hi! 

^^^WOO. finally made it back Disney. where all our dreams really came true. except the one where we rear/side-ended another car on the way into the parking garage IN his sisters car. really? don't remember ever dreaming up that one. 

^^^Um malibu beach was GORGEOUS. especially considering we had it all to ourselves. (it may have been private. oops) oh and of course we have to fit in our exercises!

^^ so hot right now.

^^Shopping at the cute tier shops!

^^Playing on the beach allllll day long :)

^^Cause pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen is actually way better IN california. ;)

^^Bree's cute house in Valencia! AND hearing Kirby Hebourne speak in sacrament meeting. UM COOL! Jord wouldn't let me track him down for a picture and autograph after the meeting though… that apparently isn't appropriate at church. ;)

^^It would probably be too good to be true if we didn't get stranded 24 hours over night at LAX. We may be smiling in those pictures, but trust me a few hours later this was NO smiling matter. Worst experience ever!

weekend away

>bad quality cellphone pics

>good quality weekend away

jord and i are so busy it seems the only time we get to devote to each other is if we escape!

so we spent valentines/presidents day in st george and it was soooooo great.

PS angels landing is checked off the bucket list and sure to be revisited!!

"Babe, take a car selfie with me!"

"Wait open your eyes though"

"Hold on, again. You were blurry"

"Oh now we are both blurry"

"WAIT don't give up"

"One more, please I promise we'll get it"

"Ok maybe not. One more"

"Yikes. Just forget it."

red

february is for red jam

and quality time with your mom

wedding day video

It's a beautiful Sunday up in Park City today! 

Jord and I haven't been back since the week after we got married, and how fitting that I got my wedding video back!! :) 

I am SO grateful that we had video coverage of our wedding day, I cherish the memories that it brings back with my whole heart. SO thankful to Mark Keysor for capturing it for us. 

It allows me to relive that day just a little bit over, and over, and over and brings back those feelings of the temple, seeing my husband for the FIRST time after being married, feeling so much love and support from family and friends, and honestly having the time of my life celebrating our marriage that entire day!

truly the most magical thing to me. 

link to Mark Keysor's Vimeo

sister anderson

sister julia mae anderson… MY sister, now a sister to everyone. Sister Missionary!

Back when she got her call it felt like we had all the time in the world… 18 weeks ago, one wedding and holiday season later and she is off and it flew by! 

she's so ready, and SOO full of excitement and the spirit to get out in the field! Her farewell was last sunday, she bore deep testimony of the atonement and her belief in changing to become like Christ, so truly beautiful. 

Getting her off was a bit of an adventure itself…

One week before she left: visa, passport, all travel needed essentials arrived and she was set, yay!

Monday night our family went out to our "last" dinner together for a while and enjoyed some Habit Burger (our fav) then went back to our house where the stake president joined us and we held the most beautiful meeting and ju was officially set apart as a full time missionary for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints! What a cool thing! 

Tuesday morning I left school early to rush home to spend those last couple hours with my sister before we took her to the airport. She was packing up last minute must-haves and trying to stuff photos in any extra space she had in her suit case, we laughed so hard, and couldn't believe she was finally leaving! We were about to head out and mom got a text informing her of julia's flight being delayed. Sweet! We had time for one more "last" lunch together, we all went to Plates and Palettes, ran a few more errands, and to make a long story short… her flight got SO delayed to the point where she missed her connecting flight from San Francisco to New Zealand. There weren't any more flights to get her there until the next day! So…. after julia had said goodbye to her house and "drove down her street for the last time," we brought her back home with us. We were pretty excited to get one more day with her, but she was distraught and trying so hard to be so strong! 

Ju finally made it on an airplane to Los Angeles Wednesday night after a day of pedicures, and "one for reals last lunch together" at Zupas! ;) We hung out with her in the airport for a little over an hour until she absolutely had to get through security and to her terminal. 

I'm gonna MISS HER SO MUCH. Goodbye was so so bitter-sweet. I think I had more nervous/excited butterflies than she even did. But of course about half an hour before she had to go she tells us,

"Guys don't feel bad if I don't cry when I say goodbye to you, okay? I really love and i'll miss you but I don't feel sad about this."

haha pretty sure we all made up for the crying.

She was able to call my mom Thursday afternoon (Friday morning in New Zealand) and let her know she had arrived safely! Oh joyous news! Her MTC president's wife greeted her with hugs and her mission tag, fed her breakfast and Julia was so excited to be there.

For anyone who is interested I will be keeping a blog of pictures and emails that Julia sends home while she is out on her adventure. 

You can find it HERE: sisterjuliaanderson.blogspot.com -sister in new zealand

what a year

^^some highlights of the incredible 2014, just to name a few.