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

fun facts and a questionnaire.

i was tagged by my friend whitney zufelt for the "11 fun facts/questionnaire" powwow and i thought i'd play along. here are the rules:

1 - you must post the rules.

2 - post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3 - answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

4 - tag eleven people and link them on your post

5 - let them know you've tagged them!

11 fun facts about me:
1 - i have 3 brothers and 2 sisters. i'm number 4 in the bunch.
2 - i am dying to go to europe. i wish it wasn't so dang expensive or that i could just win two tickets right here, right now. but, the good things in life are always worked for, so hopefully by the end of the year we will have enough money saved to make a trip there.
3 - i've broken my arm 4 times, my ankle once, and both collar bones. breaking bones runs in my family. at one point, I had a broken ankle, my brother had a broken arm and my other brother had a broken collar bone all at the same time. it's just what we do. thank goodness my parents had double insurance.
4 - i'm ridiculously terrified of drowning and flying. i get overly anxious going over long bridges or ones that are low-down, close to the water. i almost feel claustraphobic. weird, i know. and every time i fly, i am convinced that we are going to either fall out of the sky or the moment we land the plane will catch its edge and i will burn and die. put both the fear of drowning and the fear of flying together and you can imagine what it's like flying over the ocean - pure misery.
5 -  i had never worn flip flops until i was ten years old. one of my friends let me wear her's to the manti pageant. i felt really cool.
6 - my first job was as a lifeguard at our community swimming pool. i love love loved it. i had to quit after two years because i broke my collar bone and i never went back. i still regret that.
7-  i had a nightmare when i was little that my younger brother was a giant old lady that would lay in the middle of an intersection near my house. if you touched him {or her?} with your car when you went through the intersection, he would jump up and try to kill you. well i touched him when i went through and he started to chase me. right before he got me, i woke up. from that night on until i was at least 9, i was afraid to look out the window at night for fear that the giant old lady/man would be staring right back at me, ready to kill.
8 - i would rather be freezing cold than be even slightly warmer than is comfortable. i can't stand being too warm. i retain heat like none other and when i get hot my feet swell up like balloons. not fun.
9 - i don't have any wisdom teeth. i'm pretty sure i heard angels singing the day i found that out. i'll take lack of wisdom over pain any day.
10 - i still have every note that my best friend and i wrote to each other in middle school and high school. sometimes i go read them just for fun. gives me a good laugh every time.
11 - i can't eat pork. i know for a fact that it's all in my head and it's not even that i don't want to eat it, but all i can think about is the pig that it came from. it doesn't happen with cows or chickens, just pigs. i attribute it to a fieldtrip in kindergarten where we had to watch a bunch of hogs being slaughtered at our local grocery store. it was very scarring for a 5 year old.

questions from whitney:

who is your celebrity crush?
it used to be ryan reynolds hands down, but i have developed a new-found crush on hugh jackman. he just seems like a very classy man...and happens to be very attractive.

if you had to eat one food for a whole week what would it be?

if i wasn't worried about the calories and unhealthiness of the food, it would probably be pizza. preferably margherita pizza, but any kind would do really. if i am being calorie conscious, i'd have to say chipotle bean burritos. not burritos from the chipotle restaurant, but homemade bean burritos with chipotle actually in them. so good.

what's your favorite kind of pie?
coconut cream, no questions asked.

who did you see at your very first concert?
if you want to get technical, i'd say jericho road, but i don't really think that counts. so i will say brad paisley, dierks bentley and jimmy wayne. wasn't a big fan of dierks or brad before the show, but i went away loving both of them. i still don't care much for jimmy.

do you think the chicken or the egg came first?
the chicken. adam and eve didn't come to earth as babies. why would animals?

how do you eat your oreos?
if i have milk, i just dunk and eat. if i don't have milk, i will pull them apart, eat the frosted side and throw the other side away.

are you a cat person or a dog person?
both. if i really had to choose, i'd pick dogs, but i grew up with both, so i don't mind cats either.

what is the color of your favorite nail polish?
blush pink.

what was the last text you sent?
"what a lame-wad. that ticks me off. i'm sorry hun..." to my husband. someone was suppose to come look at our motorcycle and they bailed. all i want is to be able to sell the dang thing!

do you have any "made up" words or phrases you use in your family?

not really. zachary started calling me luftwaffe at some point last year as kind of a joke because he thought it sounded like something romantic. luftwaffe is the name of the german air force. it's now turned in to a term of endearment for us and has stuck pretty well.

if you could splurge on one fashion item what would it be?

jeans. a really nice pair of jeans. i have a hard time justifying spending more than 30 dollars on pants, but they seem to always wear out faster than the expensive ones. luckily i found some ones that i really like from the gap outlet that weren't too pricey, but i would love a pair or two that i absolutely love and don't feel guilty for buying.

my questions:

1. what is your favorite holiday and why?
2. if you had to pick between having hair all over your back that you couldn't shave or being bald and not being able to do anything about it, which would you pick?
3. what is your best memory of high school and why?
4. if you won the lottery, what would be the very first thing you would buy?

5. how old were you when you got your first real kiss? {12 and under doesn't count}

6. what is your biggest regret in life?

7. what's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?

8. what is something you are looking forward to?

9. if you could visit any country for free, which would it be?

10. if you could eat as much as you wanted of one food and you would never gain weight, what would it be?

11. in your eyes, what is the perfect date?

be sure to check out these lovely ladies' blogs to see what their answers are:

arika averett

meg clifford

kynslie giddens

chelsea montgomery

kaitlyn averett

rebecca scott

whitney cazier

amber ence

eleshia steinfelt

laurin wilson

brianna robinson

hope you're having a fabuloso monday!

-the wife

top five friday.

here are this week's top five favs:

#1. love notes. ever since i've known zachary, we've had an ongoing game where we hide love notes for each other and see how long it takes for the other person to find them. he's always been better at it than me and has made it months before i've found some of his notes. it's a pleasant surprise when one pops up. kinda makes my day actually. sometimes he doesn't actually hide them though and leaves them out in the open for me to find. he's really good at the i-want-to-cheer-you-up-because-you're-grumpy kind, but my favorites are the just-because kind. this week i woke up to one of those little beauties taped to our fridge and i'm pretty sure it left me smiling all day long.

#2. cereal. i may or may not have had cereal for 11 out of 14 meals this week. don't judge. you would think i was pregnant for how much i crave the dang stuff. {don't worry, i'm not.} it could be just the cravings or it could be the fact that i have no motivation to make up a grocery list and go shopping for real food. therefore we've lived on cereal and pancakes all week long. my conclusion is that you can never have enough breakfast foods.

#3. beautiful scenery on my run:

we are lucky to have a huge park right behind our house that we go running in every night and this is the view we get when doing so. it's even more breathtaking in person.

#4. this article from the most recent issue of the ensign. holy cow it's good. for any of you that are looking to strengthen your marriage, {cause let's be honest, no marriage is perfect} then this is one article that you have got to read. it was the focus for our family home evening lesson this week and it definitely gave us a lot to think about.

#5. my husband proving that he's really just a kid at heart. i was in the other room and noticed he was talking to himself. when i walked in i saw him playing with his remote control helicopter, acting out the parts of the pilot and co-pilot in a british accent. this video might not even be funny to you, but i couldn't stop laughing. maybe it's one of those things that you just had to witness to appreciate.

what are your favorite things this week?

-the wife

top five friday: new year's edition.

since it's a new year, i think it's only appropriate to share my top five things from 2011. here we go, in no particular order:

#1. we started our crazy adventure, which is taking on the air force life. we packed up and took the 1,856 mile trip to montgomery, al, only to pick up 6 weeks later and drive another 975 miles to del rio, tx. then, unexpectedly {and gratefully} we left 7 months later on a 1,395 mile trek to cali, where we are now waiting until the day we make the 1,280 mile drive to cheyenne, wy. whew. that was rough. looking at that, you may wonder why it made it to the top five list. it sounds hard and painful and sometimes it was, but at the same time, it has been so very rewarding. i've loved seeing the sights of this wonderful country, learning how to be a grown-up and do things for myself {mostly} and my very favorite part - meeting so many incredible people. seriously. we've made some friends that will be a part of our lives until the day we die, i'm sure. on top of all that, zachary and i have grown together more than i imagined possible in one year. yes, we have kind of been thrown into it, being away from family and such, but it really does a lot when you are all each other has to rely on. when you are the only person each other knows within a 1,000 mile radius. what a blessing in disguise it has actually been.

#2. we welcomed in a new member of our family. a member that is here to stay. {unlike the fish we got for christmas. or the puppy back in april. or the motorcycle. sheesh.} her name is stella.

you might laugh when i talk about a car being part of the family, but let's see you go shopping for one and then tell me how you feel. it has to click and you have to love it. i had the biggest butterflies when we drove her home for the first time. never mind that her tint job is bubbling up, causing her to look like a car straight from the hood. never mind that her night lights are very dim, making it hard to see what i'm doing. and never mind that she happens to be a manual and has embarrassed me many times as i've stalled her in the middle of an intersection. she's perfect and we adore her. i'm so glad we never have to live in one-car-purgatory again.

3. our many trips to utah. we went four times last year and each time it was incredible.

{alex and jodi's wedding - march}

{snow creams - july}

{the bestie's wedding - july}

{bryce canyon 5-mile run - august}

{temple square -november}

{black friday shopping with the sils - november}

#4. i got a job! my first job in over two years. there can be some serious down times:

but i am so so grateful for it. it really is a good job. i have prayed for this for months now, so i am grateful to have been so blessed. it's been a serious miracle. i like the people i work with and i love feeling all secretarial like. i can't even tell you how many times i've felt like pam from 'the office'.

#5. i know it wasn't 2011 when we got married, but come on. it was only 3 days before the new year! i feel like when something happens after the new year, then it's kind of old news, but trust me - my wedding is not old news. at least not to me anyway. someimes i will get on pinterest and see all the cute things that i couldn've done if only it had been around at the time. it bums me out and makes me resent the brides of 2012 that will all have perfect ideas. but then i realize that those perfect ideas will be done by more people that you can count and at least my wedding was an original design by me.

there's nothing like reliving the most perfect day of your life through pictures. it really was like a dream come true.

what are your favorite things from 2011?

-the wife

do you remember?

my dearest luftwaffe-

do you remember one year ago to this exact day and hour?
we were running around downtown salt lake city, freezing our bums off, watching the fireworks, while stealing kisses every chance possible.
what a perfect honeymoon.

can you believe it's already been a year since we sealed the deal of our lives?
one year since we promised to love each other for forever and nothing less.
it feels like it was just yesterday.

remember how early we had to wake up to get ready?
no wait, that was just me.
4:30 came much too soon after staying up until midnight to put the final touches on our reception decor.
remember picking me up from the hotel room where i was getting my hair done with the girls?
my heart skipped a beat when you walked through the door.
the day had finally come that i got you for keeps.
remember how late we were in getting to the temple?
it was a good thing they couldn't start things without us.
remember how beautiful our sealing was and how great it was to have our friends and family with us in the Lord's very own house on our very own wedding day?
remember how you stepped on and ripped my wedding dress in front of all of those said friends and family?
don't worry babe, there wasn't any major damage done.
remember how cold it was taking pictures outside?
it chills me to the bone just thinking about it.
remember how perfect merilee made our luncheon?
remember all the wonderful things that our loved ones said about us there?
do you remember how handsome you looked in your air force blues?
it still melts my heart.
remember how great our reception looked?
i couldn't have asked for it to have turned out any better.
do you remember all the people that came to wish us well on our special day?
remember the great food that was served?
me neither.
next time we get married, let's be sure to eat some of our own food that we took weeks to plan out.
remember the drive up to salt lake and the countless number of times we looked at each other and yelled, "we're married!"?
remember getting to the hotel room, you in your tux and i in my dress, and hearing all the oohs and ahhs from passerbys?
remember the first thing we did {well, almost the first thing ;)} was order pizza because we were starving?
remember the feeling of being able to snuggle up and fall asleep, knowing that we'd never have to say goodbye and part ways again?

oh how in love i was with you that day and how even more in love with you i am today.
happy {late} anniversary honey.
thanks for one fabulous year.

love,
your wife

top five friday

#1. zooey deschanel. she has come a long way since 'elf' if i do say so myself. i've seen her in movies like 'yes man', '(500) days of summer', 'failure to launch', etc., but my all-time fav is her tv show 'new girl'. oh my hilarious! you've got to watch it. i think if i could have any actress' hair, it would definitely be hers. what i wouldn't give to be able to pull off those gorgeous front bangs! anyway, since this weekend is new years', it just so happens that i came across zooey and joseph gordon-leavitt performing a cover of 'what are you doing new years eve?'. i thought it was too cute not to share, so i hope you enjoy it as much as i did:

#2. one of my good friends from high school got hitched today! this is kind of a bittersweet top five. i am so so happy for shandi and her beau, but boy would i give anything to be with them on this special day. they are basically a match made in heaven. they dated throughout high school, he left on an lds mission and they kept in contact and then she left on a mission too and when she came home, they got engaged within weeks. such a cute couple and i'm sure she made a beautiful bride today. congrats shandi. love ya girl!

#3. these boots. they will most definitely be a near-future purchase.

#4. this photo found on ellen degeneres's facebook page:

she posted it and said, "people need to realize that a diamond isn't the only thing that's forever." *laughs* seriously though...who would make something so pointless into a tattoo? if you're going to get one and especially that big, at least make it worth it!

and coming in at #5, {last the best of all the game} was the greatest, most wonderful thing that happened to me this week - being able to celebrate my one year anniversary with my honey!

we went to san fran and oh. my. gosh. it was one of the best vacations i've ever been on. it was like a second honeymoon! there will be more pictures and stories to come soon. i promise.

i hope you all have a wonderful and happy new year and that you get lots of treats from the new year's fairy. over and out.

-the wife

merry christmas.

hope you had a fabulous day!
we sure did.
it was filled with sunshine, good friends, lots of food, and sandy toes.

wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season from the west coast.

love,
the averetts

top five friday.

i'm going to try something a little different here on the blog.
this is my introduction to "top five friday"; a weekly post where i will share five things that i love.

here are this week's:

#1. zachary and i both didn't have to work today. {and don't have to for two weeks. holla!}

#2. this video from david archuleta:

isn't that just the sweetest thing ever? i may or may not have cried a little with him the first time i saw it.

#3. these super easy christmas tags:

after using up our entire christmas budget, i realized we forgot to buy present tags. what's cheaper AND cuter than some kraft paper already on hand and stamps?

#4. this photo found on pinerest, captioned "this is why you marry your best friend."

pretty much sums it up. i'm so glad i married my best friend that makes me laugh everyday.

#5. new jammies. we do a christmas pj swap every year and i've dubbed these as the ones i want. think this is a big enough hint to the hubs to let him know which ones to get?

{found at target.com}

what are your favorite things this friday?

-the wife

27.

someone had a birthday yesterday.
and i'm not talking just any someone, but a very special someone.
my handsome husband turned a whopping 27!
we've kind of made it a tradition that the birthday boy or girl gets breakfast in bed on their big day.
german pancakes to be exact.
sad story though - i set my alarm to wake up with enough time to make everything and catch him before he got up and in the middle of the night....my phone died. {if only i had a dollar for everytime that happened.}
i guess whether it's breakfast in bed or breakfast at the table, it all tastes the same right?

i gave it my best shot in trying to be creative this year. and by creative, i actually mean snagging an idea from 'the dating divas' and customizing it. his present consisted of a flow of presents all day long in the form of envelopes.



there was one envelope for each hour of the day, that he got to open on that hour.
the envelopes consisted of an iTunes gift card, coupons for a "man night" or dinner date, etc., a "choose a gift" card, and letters from nearly our entire family!
i really couldn't thank both our families enough for helping me.
it meant so much to hear from all of them and will definitely be something he will remember.

since we both had to work all day, it was nice to be able to send him on his way with a few envelopes, so he could still open presents when i wasn't with him!

the moment he got home though, we went to dinner at Yanagi Sushi and Grill.

fun fact about zachary: he love love LOVES sushi.

fun fact about me: i don't.

and yet, it was still incredibly delicious.

{zachary drinking his miso soup aka tofu and dirt.}

{yes, vegetable sushi is still sushi.}

to top it all off, we had some friends over tonight to eat cake and ice cream. {while watching the biggest loser. oxymoron?}

{can you believe he was able to actually blow all of those out? sheesh.}

after all was said and done, i think my favorite present was the remote control helicopter:

we played with it for hours after opening it. {we're children at heart.}

it wasn't even my birthday and i had a fabulous day.

i am so grateful for my charming man and for the things he does for me everyday.

he really is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

happy birthday, babe.

i can't wait to spend many more together!

-the wife

o christmas tree, o christmas tree...

we've tried super hard to make it feel like christmas here. it feels so different having sunshine and 60 degree weather in december. {i really can't complain} we've tried to decorate and do christmas activites to get us in the mood though and we even got our very first christmas tree! behold:

ain't she a beaut? i got all excited at the beginning of the month thinking it would be cool if i made all of our ornaments. yes, those are homemade, but as you can see, there is a serious lack in the number of them.i got so burned out in making things these last couple weeks that i don't even care how shabby it looks anymore. all that matters is that it is a real tree and nothing less. {i joke, i joke. fake trees are cool too...kind of.} although i am mighty proud of that tree skirt. lots of fabric and multiple hot glue burns later gives you this:

i followed this pattern and thought it didn't turn out half bad. i've seen it in burlap and red too and it's super cute.

i'd be lying if i said the holidays aren't making me a bit homesick. we agreed on going home for thanksgiving and staying here for christmas, since the air force wasn't going to give zachary much time off. so i was sad not to be with our family, but at the same time i was super excited to have our very first {married} christmas together and be able to start our own traditions. now i just want to bag the whole idea and drive to utah tomorrow. good thing zachary is planning us a sa-weet anniversary trip three days later, or i might do just that.

anyway, happy sunday.
i hope it was merry and bright.

-the wife.

i believe...

...people wearing santa hats around town is adorable.

...money creates way too much stress for a person to handle.

...i should never have been introduced to jack in the box. i'm now an addict.

...in kissing hello and goodbye.

...decorating for christmas has exhausted my creativity fund. and my bank account.

...car shopping is a pain in the #$%.

...scentsy is a dream in a warmer dish. i'm obssessed.

...this {almost} one year of marriage has been the best and craziest year of my life.

...ellen degeneres is one of the funniest people i've ever seen. seriously. how does she come up with this stuff?

...a trip to europe is in order next year.

...talking with meg clifford at work makes the day go by much faster.

...back tickling from the hubs in the middle of the night because of a bad dream is like heaven.

...the soundtrack to breaking dawn part one is a much needed future purchase.

...cake and ice cream for dinner is okay.

...shopping for gifts is hard.

...watching movies and snuggling are necessary to maintaining sanity.

...pinterest could possibly be the greatest invention ever.

...everyone has a hard life. be kind.

what do you believe in?