checking back in

aaaannnd i'm back to blogging again.

RECAP
I finished my finals. passed my classes-with amazing grades I might add :)

Packed up my belongings into 3 suitcases, a cat carrier, and a "personal item"

just call me a magician/super packer

Flew to Houston on Christmas eve with kitty-no accidents on the plane (thank goodness!). I drugged her up before flying so she wouldn't freak out while traveling. I was nervous that the sedatives wouldn't do much because the first time I gave them to her to test them out before we flew she didn't act any different. Well let's just say they worked on the plane. She did not move or peep once the entire 7-8 hours of travel it took to get from my house in Madison to our house in Houston. She didn't sleep either. She just sat there.

 Since she hadn't gone to the bathroom since the morning we left I was really nervous she was going to make a mess at some point, but she never did! As soon as we got to our apartment we slid her into the litter box...she must have thought that was her bed or something because she hung out in there just starring out the window of the box for about an hour. Didn't pee or poop. just sat there. kitty was super stoned haha.

 We spent Christmas as our own little family. We went to a lovely Christmas movie, relaxed, unpacked, and went out for Chinese.  Extravagant Christmas dinner...very similar to the one in Christmas Story ;)
I am currently getting settled by unpacking and buying odds and ends that I have no idea how joey has survived without for 4 months...dishes, utensils, cooking equipment, ahem....
Our 4th wedding anniversary was two days after Christmas. We went out for tacos to celebrate. After tacos (which were utterly delicious) I made a fort (for our fourth anniversary...yes I know so clever.) and we watched a Woody Allen documentary. Pretty chill. 

 Here's to our new adventure sweetheart.

Here in Houston we are starting from scratch. When Joey moved he only took what he could fit in his car. I mailed a few things to him from Madison while I was still there, but we got rid of A LOT of stuff.
It was kinda crazy and maybe foolish to get rid of all our things, but we see it as a way to simplify our lives and only have what we really need.
I am currently in the job market which SUCKS. I am applying for jobs like its my job...hehe. hopefully something pops up soon.
Houston is huge...no. Houston is ginormous. Not like NYC big where it is all concentrated in one area. Houston is really spread out and just never ends. Downtown has big buildings etc, but there are like two other areas that seem just as big that are away from downtown...I still have a lot to learn of this place and I can't wait to get it all figured out. There are shops, malls, restaurants, strip malls, and franchises every two feet.  Which is cool, but I think I am going to miss the more personal/locally owned atmosphere of Madison. I will just have to look extra hard for the cute little ma and pa shops wedged in between the slew of Whataburgers and Chase Banks.

now if you excuse me I need to write another cover letter. 

navy pier

more late photos to blog about :)

I love llamas

after waking up late sunday morning dad and i grabbed some breakfast at a little dive called mary's cafe. it was a lovely day so we thought navy pier would be the perfect spot to be before we headed back up to sconnieland. we lucked out they were having a halloween bash for kids so we saw cute decorations, performers and a petting zoo! i love halloween. i love navy pier. gosh darn it I LOVE CHICAGO

rainy night in chicago

Friday after class my dad and I hit the road for good old chi town. It was drizzling a little bit when we got there but that didn't stop us from exploring before the night was over. That drizzle turned into a downpour. We fought through the rain on Michigan Ave and finally gave in going into a store for an umbrella. We walked out of the store and of course the rain stopped. The city lights reflecting on the clouds gave the sky a purplish hue. The streets were clean and shiny from the shower. Thanks rain for making Chicago so beautiful for us tonight.

Costa Rica: morning runs

After crashing and sleeping like babies I was up at about 5:50am and couldn't go back to sleep. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I wanted to explore! I went for a run to check out the area and get my sweat on. Oh boy did I sweat! Humidity has a whole new definition there.

Our hotel had a beach just down the hill from the property which you had to hike through the rainforest for about five minutes to get to it.

 I checked out the little beach that I had to myself and after made my way back to the main road where I ran some crazy steep hills. The roads here are super steep which made for a great workout. After my run I cooled down walking around the resort checking out where we were staying. So gorgeous!

Costa Rica: getting there

ok I decided to recap the trip, but I won't bombard the posts with billions of photos and I will keep the posts short. I'm mostly doing this so I have this trip documented somewhere. Our journey started out with breezing through check-in and security at the Madison Regional Airport. We had a hotel in Orlando booked to spend the night for our overnight layover which wasn't ideal, but no problem....but our luck decided that we couldn't get to Costa Rica that easily.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 5:30. 5:30 passed, 6:30 passed, 7:30 passed...still in Madison. We had boarded the plane only to be kindly asked to deplane because the flight crew honestly had no idea when we would be actually leaving Madison. There was only one mechanic at our little airport and we needed him to pass off the aircraft so we could have the clear to go. APPARENTLY there was another plane that needed his assistance more...for about 4 hours. We got food vouchers ate some bar food, and kept on waiting when finaly we were called to board the plane!...again!

We made it to Orlando around 1:30am. We cancelled our hotel reservations because we didn't want to pay to stay in a hotel for 4 hours. We didn't feel like sleeping on the floor either. We ended up getting a room at the Hyatt Regency in the Orlando airport. I was pretty excited we got to stay here because growing up going to Florida every summer I have been in this airport LOTS, and have always wanted to stay in this hotel!...I was a weird kid.

MURPHEY! We were so tired at this point haha.

 Joey tried to get a deal since we were only spending half a night in a room. The concierge gave us a conference room for cheap. Inside the room they opened up a Murphey bed for us. It was awesome. The conference room had everything a regular hotel room had so it worked out perfect.

We slept for 3 hours and got up around 4:30am to go through security for our flight to Miami, then finally to San Jose Costa Rica! When we got there we met up with Joey's parents and his younger sister Kimmie. From there we got our rental car, and I was desperately trying to find some wifi so I could turn in my homework. I didn't realize we still had a 2 hour drive to the town we were staying in, and I needed to get my paper in by 5:00 Madison time (stressed). Luckily there was a Denny's just up the road from the car rental place! I camped out there while submitting my Rhetoric of Religion final.

so happy to have homework while on vacation!

After what seemed like forever getting our rental car we were on our way to Manuel Antonio! If any of you have driven in Costa Rica you know what a crazy adventure that can be! Luckily we had a GPS to guide us along the way. There were crazy bends and steep hills on super narrow roads. All of a sudden we would whip around the corner to find ourselves at a one lane bridge...or be going up a road that would have been a freeway exit in the States, but here it was both an exit and a road you could drive up? It was crazy but made it really fun. Getting to Manuel Antonio was only supposed to take a couple hours, but there was construction along the way that made the drive take FOREVER!

It is winter in Costa Rica right now so we experienced a few showers. It was coming down so hard at one point I thought we were going to get washed off the highway.

When the rain stopped we saw the most beautiful sunset behind us. I was deciding at this moment that this trip is going to be amazing.

After driving through the most curvy, steep, and narrow road I have ever been on somehow we showed up at this beautiful place. Finally we could say we made it! The hotel staff scooped up our bags and gave us some delicious mango juice stuff and scented towells.

 We got a tour of the resort grounds and got to our room. There were chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us! They were delicious...until I saw that hundreds of little bugs thought they were delicious too. We got the treats out of our room ASAP. After all this traveling I was ready to crash, but I had to get some more homework turned in before the midnight deadline rolled around. I did my homework on a porch over looking the pool and ocean...not too shabby. As soon as my homework was turned in I crashed. We slept like babies.

Sorry it was still a long post. meh don't read it if you're bored lol. That was day 1!

All thanks to my dad

 Anyone who knows John White doesn't need me to remind them that he is seriously the most amazing man alive. He can make you laugh like crazy especially at the most inappropriate times...like inside the temple. He can golf like a pro. Cries watching almost anything...this video...or this trailor of les miserables (but who doesn't?) Cooks like his mama showed him. Spoils his kids rotten. Has been to every musical. Can sing any song by heart. He is the best person to travel with. He knows how to seize the day and live life to its fullest. Most of all he raised an amazing family that I am so happy to be a part of.

Now that I am married I am lucky enough to have two fathers in my life! Joseph Rue Plater III is the best father in-law I could ask for.

He is super silly, but is also very sweet. He is very smart, athletic, funny, and  a world traveler. My sister in law sara gives a much better shout out to him than I am attempting right now. Joey (my hubby) is basically a spinning image of Joe. It is funny seeing how alike these two are...and sometimes it is down right scary.

Clones? Maybe. It is so good to know though that if Joey keeps being like his dad our babies (in the future) will have the most wonderful father. Love ya Joe!


These pics are from sunday dinner with my fam last week. Thanks dad for making our family and lives so wonderful! Love you!

beckham and taylor

my brother jake

view from my house. it never gets old.

taylor and lucy

she is such a pretty girl!

lucy cracks me up. she is so independent!

my nieces! taylor, lucy, samantha (who carries a backpack just like her big brother wilson) & ali bug

the boys: beckham(wasn't having a good day), wilson with his backpack, and T (talmage)

i love watching my nieces play with my old barbies!

my brother jared and little tay tay!

wilson getting his big teeth!

ali loves my barbies

thanks costco for the cake

this is what i wanted for dessert. best donuts everrr.

me and jason!

naughty!

pre-bday celebrations

just the girls eating their cake

best buds

notice samantha and wilson with their backpacks! they never take them off!

me and nanners

samantha, jojo, and me. she is so gorgeous! awesome yogi too.

best sunsets in bountiful, ut

a toast to a lovely weekend!

goodbye sun

goodbye everyone! can't wait to be back in the 801 again!