oh, yeah. we went to hawaii.

i know it's been a month since we took our heavenly vacation, but when you don't have a computer, it makes it hard to sort through and edit photos. luckily, the mr. bought us a brand new laptop over the weekend, so all of that changed!

one of the perks of a husband being in the military is being able to fly space-a on military planes. travis afb, near san francisco, is a huge space-a hub and i couldn't stand the thought of leaving california and not taking advantage of that. the up side to flying space-a is that it's absolutely free. the down side is that no flights are guaranteed. after two failed attempts, we were on the verge of just getting on the next plane out of there to anchorage, ak. luckily though, the third time was the charm and we finally made it to our destination - oahu, hawaii. as much as i would love to give you every little detail about our trip {because really, every tiny bit of it was fantastic}, i also don't want to bore you to death. so i'm just going to share my favorite parts:

#1 - waking up from my nap on the plane to one of the majors baking cookies. what the random! yet fantastically awesome.

2 - the honolulu swap meet. best place to buy souvenirs, hands down.

3 - matsumoto's shaved ice. i love shaved ice!

4 - having a beach right outside our cabana.

4 - snorkeling in hanauma bay. this was definitely the highlight of our trip. it made me kinda nervous at first and i was positive that i'd be swept out to sea, but after i got used to it, we found ourselves way past the breakers and into the good stuff. coolest. place. ever.

now, without further ado, here's a video to summarize our trip in pictures. enjoy!

-the mrs.

an instagram birthday.

who has two thumbs and just turned 22? this girl. here's how we celebrated, instagram style:

{i'm sorry if you follow me on instagram. looks like you get a double dose of birthday!}



1 - there isn't anything that makes me happier than packed bags and a new destination in mind. {even if it means packing our suitcases from our suitcases.} this weekend's destination - denver, co.
2 - when we checked in to our hotel, they asked if we would like to upgrade to a suite for $3.50. umm, yes please. air force hotel suites aren't exactly what you would picture as ritzy and glamorous, but they are decent. lucky for us, this particular hotel is brand new, so it was actually pretty nice! besides, you can't complain much when it's only 40 bucks a night.
3 - we stayed up watching the game show network {big fav. in the averett household} and eating red velvet cupcakes to celebrate the eve of my birth. that's how spoiled i am by my husband - he wants to celebrate my birthday when it's not even my birthday yet.
4 - the mr. fed me a bunch of lies all week about how my presents weren't going to come in the mail in time and that he would only have one gift for me and how bummed he was about it. then i woke up to a counter full of presents and was shocked. not only did he lie about the presents, but he also lied about "going into work" last week when he was actually out buying me the new dslr camera i've been wanting for months! {note: i believe that lying is completely acceptable during birthdays and anniversaries. oh, and engagements - that was probably his biggest lie yet.} let me introduce you to calvin the canon. i love him so much already! all i need now is to figure out how to use the thing and i'll be golden.
5 - a birthday in our house can't officially start without a plate of german pancakes. or as they're called at the original pancake house: dutch babies. mm-mmm delish. i'm so glad this place was nearby so we could keep up our breakfast tradition!
6 - i've always wanted to go to an mlb game. in fact, it's on our bucket list. it just so happened that the denver rockies had a game yesterday and military got in for free. could we have asked for anything better? {the answer to that is actually yes - to not get stuck in traffic, making us miss the fly-by and the national anthem. we won't dwell on that though.} we had a blast soaking up some sun, eating ballpark food, and occasionally watching the game. ;)
7 - i've been in dire need of a new wardrobe. thanks to my best friend, h&m, i'm slowly making my way. is anybody else in love with this store?
8 - just when i thought the party was over, cue morgan and stephanie with the most fabulous birthday cake {no, that's not a mini fire in our hands} i've ever had. they sure know how to make a girl feel loved!

this is going to be one birthday that'll be hard to top. i'm so grateful for my sweet husband in making it so magical and for all the birthday wishes from friends and family. 22, here i come!

-the mrs.

sometimes, you just need to breathe.

i feel a little freaked out right now. and what do i do when i freak out? nothing. i do nothing. that's why you find me here blogging, instead of deep cleaning the shiz out of my house like a good wife should. i wish being overwhelmed motivated me to get things done, but for some odd reason it does just the opposite - makes me want to crawl in a hole and do absolutely nothing.

we are officially out of here on tuesday. as in 6 days. i can hardly believe it either. due to some miscommunication and mishandling of paperwork, we'd been planning on having an extra week or so after graduation before we could leave. we figured that gave us all the time in the world to get things cleaned and packed up. then the mr. got an e-mail today telling him that things were sorted out and the movers will be here on monday. that was a rush. i immediately called the housing office at f.e. warren afb and apparently the 30-60 day wait to get a house on base is actually a 6-12 month wait. so here i sit now with a house that needs cleaning, living space that needs finding, and a gut with butterflies the size of the moon.

you'd think that after three moves this past year, i'd be used to it all by now. the waiting, the packing, the driving, the settling. that's what you'd think. but, i'm not. i've found myself worrying a lot. worrying that i won't find a job in cheyenne. worrying that we won't make friends - good friends. worrying that the ward won't be as welcoming as the one here. and mostly, the one thing that i try my best to push into the back of my mind - worrying about the nights ahead that are going to be spent alone. the mr.'s job will require him to be away for about 8 nights a month on average. now, before you get all judgey on me and think i'm a wimp and tell me how your husband goes on business trips for months at a time or is currently deployed somewhere, please stop. i feel for you. i really do. but just because my problems seem small in comparison to yours, doesn't make them any less big to me.

i'm not one that likes to be by myself. i never have been. all growing up, my best friend and i were practically attached at the hip. {you think i'm kidding, but i'm not.} something in me loathes being alone. put that with nighttime and you've got a mix of awful. it's not like i have a choice though, really. no matter how bad i want zachary to be home every night of my life, it's not going to happen. but, i do know that God will take care of us, so i'm not sure why i worry and get nervous and freak out. i guess that's just the 'natural man' in me that we are all trying to overcome. sometimes i just need a long, deep breath before i can push on and know that it's all going to be okay. here's to having more faith and in choosing to be happy, even in trying times.

-the mrs.

dear body,

i'm not sure what else to say other than i am sorry. so so sorry. especially to you, little arms.

you'd think that after years of getting sunburned during soccer games, bike rides, and camping, i would know that the beach wouldn't be an exception. apparently i still have some learning to do.

i will tell you this though: when i laid down my towel this weekend on that soft, warm sand, putting on sunscreen really did cross my mind. don't worry, i would never purposely neglect you. but after a struggle in my brain, and the desire to be beautifully tanned for our upcoming trip, i was left with the idea that you might have a sense of invincibility about you. what a mistake.

but now, even through the burning showers, the constant need to apply my sunburn crack {aka aloe vera} and the fact that the mr. can hardly touch me without almost sending me into tears, i think our beach day might possibly have been worth it. we went with some dear friends of ours, the dossetts, and what a wonderful day it was.

i think it was the warmest day we've had since being here.

{aren't they so cute?}

we did everything from eating ice cream on the pier to spotting some dophins in the ocean to playing football in the sand, and seeing a 70 year old in a bikini. {what. a. sight.} oh and you can't forget playing paddle ball! that game sure was fun. the mr. and i need to get us some supplies for it asap.

i've learned my lesson though, dear body. mark this as the day i vow to always wear sunscreen everywhere i go. i hope you'll forgive my stupidity and recover quickly! thanks.

-the mrs.

just another saturday afternoon.

zachary and i went on an adventure this weekend. on saturday we sent our family on their way and i found that i was a lot sadder than i was expecting to be. {of course, i knew i'd be sad. but not this sad} it hit me hard how little we get to see them and how bad i wish we lived closer. this gave reason for needing a little pick me up. so we jumped in the car and made our way to the little town of avila beach. it was just what the doctor ordered.

i've come to the conclusion that i am a sugar-aholic. no, seriously. when most people buy a bag of sour patch kids to eat over the next couple of days, i'm buying them to eat in the next hour. i guess that shows i have zero self-control as well, but that's beside the point. i am addicted to candy and all things sweet. so when we walked in to this store, i thought i'd died and gone to heaven. barrel upon barrel of taffy, jelly beans, and chocolate. what a perfect start to our day.

 {i thought it was just so cute to have jelly bellies individually wrapped that i had to take a picture.}

even though the wind was picking up and we could see the clouds rolling in, we made sure to take a walk on the pier. i've never held on to my flip flops so hard in my life. the cracks between the boards were huge. i'm surprised i didn't fall in myself.

 the view was gorgeous.

and we even spotted this little guy doing barrel rolls in the waves.

we stopped at the avila barn, which reminded me a lot of the red barn in santaquin, utah - produce, jam, kettle corn, etc. but what the red barn doesn't have is red-eyed, demon-looking emus.

{creepy}

anyway, we had a very good time. i sure love our little santa maria and all there is to do here. and when we move to cheyenne, i know it's going to be wonderful living so close to our families. life is kind of great right now. and my favorite part? being married to this guy:

happy monday!

-sarah

p.s. we started jillian michael's 30 day shred today. any success stories/advice out there? wish us luck!

the big dl.

if you think zachary looks the least bit upset in this picture, it's probably because he is. this was taken right after we walked all the way to disneyland, only to find out that it was closed. yes, closed. i was shocked too. apparently, there was a suspicious package found near the entrance, so they called in the police department and bomb squad and wouldn't let anyone in the park. turns out it was some college student that was geocaching and hid a streamer in a pvc pipe. what a smart kid. only after we decided to drive home and were 20 minutes away did we see on twitter that they were letting people in again. we weren't going to let a beautiful day go to waste, so we turned right around. as inconvenient as it was, the whole fiasco actually worked to our advantage. it caused a lot of people to go home, so things weren't nearly as crowded as we were expecting.

the moment we walked in to the park i felt just like a child again. all i wanted to do was skip around all day long. i won't bore you with all the little details because i'm sure the majority of you have already been to disneyland {if you haven't, you need to reconsider what you are doing with your life} and know the joy that it creates in your soul, but i will leave you with a few pictures from our magical day:

 {thunder mountain railroad}

{i sure got a keeper}

 {some random goat on a barrel. we thought it was funny.}

{big star wars lover right here}

{getting ready to go on the star tours ride}

{i don't think i could finish this sucker, even if i wanted to.}

one of the best parts about the entire day was seeing this guy. {if nobody in this picture looks familiar to you, then you need to get with the times and start watching 'modern family'. funniest. show. ever.} we walked past him and zachary turned to me with his eyes real big and said, "that was dylan from 'modern family'!!" we then proceeded to chase him {he must have been walking really fast because we had a hard time catching up} and snapped this picture. he apologized for being in the way, but little did he know he was the reason we were taking the picture in the first place. we are kicking ourselves now for not just stopping him and getting in the picture too. it was still pretty dang sweet though.

it sure was one incredible day. i'm already gearing up to go again in two weeks! can't wait.

-sarah

averetts 1.0

here it is.
the moment you've all been waiting for.
drum roll please...

a post on our anniversary trip! *crickets chirping*

my gut tells me that this will be one of those 'this-is-what-we-did' posts that none of you could care less about and that the only reason i'm writing it is for my kids and i to look back on 20 years from now and honestly...i'm okay with that.

after watching the bachelor last night and seeing them go all over san fran, i got really excited being able to pick out the places that we've been too. first of all, i was blown away at the fact that it was even time for us to celebrate a year of being married. it didn't feel like it had been that long at all, but we were happy we were able to go somewhere fun for it.

our first stop was to get something to eat because that's the best part about traveling - eating at cool places and not having to cook. i dunno about you guys, but zachary and i love the show diners, drive-ins, and dives on the food network. guy fieri is awesome. it just so happens that there are a dozen or more diners, drive-ins, and dives places right in san francisco, so we knew we had to eat at at least one of them. we chose rocco's cafe - best choice ever. it really was so good and the staff was super friendly! i definitely recommend it. {p.s. you'll have to excuse the terrible quality of pictures that you're about to see. we forgot our camera, so our phone cameras had to make do. they're kind of hit or miss.}

we then checked into the hilton hotel at union square. i don't really want to get into details about it because honestly, i'm still a little peeved about our stay there. not only did they give us two queen beds instead of a king and told us we'd have to pay an extra 40 bucks a night to upgrade, but the rooms weren't anything better than a best western. disappointing for an anniversary? you bet. luckily we weren't there much and it was right close to our bus stop and union square, so i guess that sort of made up for it.

when we go to big places like sf, we turn into real tourists. we strap on the backpacks, stop to marvel at how big the buildings are, and try to make sure we can see every famous landmark possible. one of the best decisions we made was to buy tickets for a hop-on hop-off bus tour. they put you on these double decker buses and go to every site possible in town.

{check out that person's face behind us. not quite sure if it's a chick or dude...}

once you get off, you can stay at that place for as long or little as you like. then you just jump back on one of the other buses that are circling every half hour. {hence the hop-on hop-off} we saw seriously everything there is to see in san francisco. we walked on the golden gate bridge:

checked out pier 39 and fisherman's wharf:

walked around chinatown {which really did feel like china}:

visited alcatraz island:

met zachary's hero, yoda:

saw the painted ladies:

rode the cable cars:

and we also went to ghirardelli square and union square. it was a blast. i think my favorite thing we did though was our dinner date on our actual anniversary. the reservations we made were for a place called forbes island restaurant. it was on this little island just off of pier 39 and the coolest thing about it was that the only way to get there was by boat.

after being dropped off, we then had to go downstairs to the eating area, which happened to be underwater. it made for a super romantic atmosphere.

then we topped off the night by drinking some bubbly {sparkling cider} and playing 12 days in europe. {funnest game ever.}

we've seen a lot of places on our travels, but i think san fran has been my very favorite. the city has so much personality and lots to do. have you ever been to sf?

-the wife

cali baby.

after weeks of no internet, we are finally back in business! and boy, does it feel good. there is so much to share, i don't even know where to begin. first off, can i just say that i have never been so happy to see this sight in my entire life:



yes my friends, that would be del rio, texas floating away in our rear view mirror. i honestly miss our friends so much, but i am oh so glad that i will never have to set foot in that town again...hopefully.

it took us three long days to get to vandenberg afb. in which time, there was lots of laughing, way {and i mean way} too much junk food eating, and tons of stress. the dingbats at home depot failed to reserve our truck that we asked for, so we were stuck with the only one they had left. which happened to also be the largest one available.

{look at the size of that thing!}

take that and add on a trailer and we figured that we were pulling around 55 feet of truck. phoenix and los angeles were pretty scary to go through. i had to make myself look away several times because i was sure we were going to wreck. not to mention the anxiety attack we got everytime we had to fill the dang thing up. luckily, i have an incredible husband that can handle anything. he really did such an amazing job of weaving through traffic and taking care of things in this whale of a vehicle. i'm glad i married such a manly man. we learned a valuable lesson though and that is that we will never do a full-dity move again. ever.

anyway, moving right along. it took us a while to find an apartment and get settled in, but the wait was well worth it. i absolutely love our new place. it's nothing extravagant, but it definitely has a homey feeling to it. i'll have to post pictures once we get it cleaned up.

santa maria is like living in a vacation world, no joke. so many people have told us it's quite the "sleepy" town, but we have come to find that there is so much to do and see here that we are wondering how we're going to fit it all in. i think what i love most is how much variety there is. vandenberg itself is nestled back in the mountains about twenty minutes from town. in the couple days we were driving around, we saw 5 or 6 coyotes, so that gives you a good idea at how tucked away it really is.

then as you are driving into town, you come across acres and acres of vineyards and strawberry fields and you are just sucked into that country, hometown feel. it makes you want to sit on a front porch and do nothing but drink lemonade and play the guitar. then ten minutes later, you are in the middle of the hustle and bustle of santa maria. which, by the way, happens to have a joanns, michaels, target, and a frozen yogurt store. i could live here my whole life if possible! on top of that, you drive another half an hour or so, and you find yourself right on the beach. pismo beach to be exact. that's where we visited this last weekend.

we were only there for a couple hours, but the whole time, i kept thinking to myself that i can't believe this is the life we are actually living. it felt like something from a movie. even down to the fact that we saw dolphins from the pier:

it was incredible! we also happened to be visiting at 11:11 on 11/11/11, so we had someone snap a photo for us at just the right moment.

i feel so happy and blessed to be here. we have a great ward and have already met some incredible people including this couple. seriously? they. are. awesome. i'm so grateful for their open arms in welcoming us here. they've definitely made us feel a little more at home. i'm very excited for this new chapter in our life and can't wait to see what it has to offer!

-the wife

p.s. remind me next time to introduce you to the newest member of our family. ;)