Live in the Now

It has been a month since my last post due to the fact that we were getting ready to go on vacation, went on vacation, got back from vacation, and had to adjust to life back from vacation and get caught up on work, school, and everything.

Our time in Hawaii was amazing. We visited both Kauai and Oahu. The bulk of our trip was spent in Kauai and I am very grateful for that. Kauai is more laid back and a lot less congested than Oahu. It provided a more relaxing environment and enabled us to leave our worries and stress back home for a couple of weeks. I'm not going to do a full on post of how our trip went and include a ton of pictures at this time, but here are a few of my favorites that either Ben or I were able to capture:

Beautiful peacock at Smith's

Final sunset on Shipwreck Beach

Waves crashing at Brennecke's Beach

Hiking at the last lookout of Waimea Canyon

The Napali Coast

My private beach!

Date night!

Sunset at Shipwreck Beach

I'll do a more in-depth Hawaii post later this week (I hope).

The real purpose of this post is to share something that was said in one of my online lectures. The class is all about self improvement, and one of the very first lectures really made me think. The professor was discussing living in the now. Instead of focusing on what you want in the future (i.e. I want to be active in my community in the future. I want to live in this city in the future. I want to go to grad school in the future.) and planning for what you will do in that future, work on it now. Do it now. If you want to be more active in your community "in the future," get off the couch on your weekend and go do it. Etc. 

If you have talked to me or read the blog lately, you will know that it is my desire to further my education once I earn my bachelor's degree.  Instead of focusing on "When I get into X school, I will do Y", I should really focus and put my efforts fully into the coursework I am working on now. 

The same goes with Ben and me currently living in Cedar Rapids. Instead of focusing on when we can vacate and go live somewhere that seems more exciting, I should put my energy into making the most of our time here. We are close to both of our families, we have great friends, we have our lovely home. . . there is a lot to enjoy now. 

With all of that said, I am going to go enjoy time with my husband and fur babies for the remainder of my Sunday. 

FOREVER

Our beautiful wreath. . . that I made. :)

As the title of this particular post points out, I have not written a post in FOREVER.  Why? Because I'm friggin' busy, that's why. Although that is not really a great excuse because my sister-in-law is able to maintain her family blog regularly and she has 2 kids. But I digress. . . 

Ben & me at a friend's wedding.

Much has happened since my last post. . . like 9 months ago.  Ben has continued to do well at school and build the music program at Prairie. He has begun to take on singing gigs at weddings, which is really exciting! He first sang at our bff Marc's wedding in October of 2014 and has since been asked to play in about 3 or 4 others. I will be joining him in one coming up in the next year and a half or so. :):):) Ben has also begun to do a bit of research on where he may want to apply for Ph.D. programs and what it is that he really wants to do. If you want to know more, ask him. 

I was promoted at work at the beginning of this year from legal secretary to legal assistant which has been an excellent thing. The legal assistant position uses my skills and talents a lot more effectively and challenges me on a daily basis. I have to do a lot more legal research and analysis which is great prep work for law school! I continue to work on completing my bachelors and plan to graduate in Spring of 2016. I am SO EXCITED to be able to walk across that stage and get my diploma and be an OFFICIAL Hawkeye! :) It has been a huge uphill battle for me to get my bachelors, and it is going to be like gold to me! I am going to sign up for the LSAT in October and begin applying to law schools in the fall. Fingers crossed all goes well.

Precious prince. <3

Ben and I recently added a new puppy to our household. Grover loathed him at first, but I think that has changed into just "dislike". Growth. 

Here is our Odin:

Odin is 3 months and 2 days old as of today. We often call him "Odie" for short. He is doing well with potty training and has begun to sleep through the night.  

See - growth. 

As anyone who talks to me on a regular basis knows, Ben and I are traveling to Hawaii at the beginning of June for a 13 day vacation! We are going with Ben's parents, siblings, significant others, and nieces to celebrate Bill and Glenda's 40th wedding anniversary (which is today - April 12). That is such an amazing accomplishment and I am blessed to be able to celebrate with them.

Bill and Glenda on their wedding day. (Photo stolen from Jamie).

Ben and I commonly reflect on our time spent in Dubai and most of what we miss (besides the AMAZING people) is the food and experiences. This Friday I declared that we needed a date night and so we decided to try an Indian restaurant not far from our house. It was stinking delicious and the aroma of that place made me long for more days in Dubai!

Doesn't that photograph just make your mouth water?! We ordered samosas (which were promptly downed and therefore did not make the picture), naan, chicken biriyani, and butter chicken to share.  It was all delicious! We will be returning to Taste of India more regularly.

Other things we have done this year: 

We saw Phantom of the Opera, We Will Rock You, and Book of Mormon (BofM with Ma & Clif) at the Des Moines Civic Center. We will be attending Lion King in May

We saw Mannheim Steamroller at the US Cellular Center with Ben's parents.

We traveled to Lanesboro, MN where we camped, rode bikes, ate delicious pie, and went to see a play at the local theater. We did this as an anniversary trip.

We purchased 2 kayaks and are PUMPED to get to use them soon!

We've continued working on our house and are having carpet put in later this week. We've painted, decorated the guest bedroom, done yard work. . . 

We went to Spring Green in the fall last year and saw Much Ado About Nothing at the American Players Theater. We made our usual stop in Galena to pick up fine cheeses, meats, and wine for our picnic before the play. 

We traveled to Nebraska, Minnesota, and south to visit friends and family. (We are still working on getting out to Colorado to visit family. We never get to see Ben's brother Jon and his fiance, Bri. AND I've never actually met Ben's extended family.)

I found out I am fructose intolerant with a dairy sensitivity, so we have been eating a lot better than we used to in order to accommodate that.

. . . . . . . . . . . . 

We already have a busy summer ahead of us and are looking forward to what summer has to offer!

Surprise piano!

I play piano.  I have wanted a piano since moving out of my parents' house and leaving behind the green beast upright that weighs a bazillion pounds.  Well, on Saturday, April 26, 2014, I came home to a piano in my living room!

Piano as I found it when I came home!

My darling husband surprised me with this beauty out of the blue! He coordinated with our friends so that he could (1) get the piano to our house; (2) get me out of the house; and (3) have help in getting the piano up our hill and through the front door.  Well, he succeeded on all fronts.  I had NO idea that this is what he was doing!  

Earlier in the week Ben mentioned doing lunch and beers with a couple of our guy friends at a nearby bar he had been wanting to try.  I thought that sounded great and I would either chill at home or see what Johnna was up to.  Johnna beat me to the punch by asking if I would want to run errands with her and Maelynn. 

Saturday I showered and headed out with Johnna.  Ben was getting ready to leave at the same time, too, and when he forgot the address to the house so he could pick up the piano, he was sure I thought something was going on.  I didn't think anything of it.

When we were getting close to the house after our errands, Johnna had me call Ben to see if he'd help carry in the bags.  Danny and him were sitting out on the patio waiting for our return.  They helped us carry in the bags and when I walked in I did a double take and exclaimed "WHOA!".  My initial thought was, "Who are we storing this for?".  

What surprised me almost as much as the piano, was that Ben kept it a secret! He did say something midweek about how now that he has his guitar, we need to get me a musical instrument.  He also had told me that on Saturday he would have a surprise for me, but I had completely forgotten.  He received the piano from a student's parent.  They asked him if he knew anyone who wanted a piano and he said that he would take it.  He explained that I have played for years and have wanted one for a very long time.  The piano was in her family for three generations, but her sons didn't want it so they were looking to get rid of it.  Now it is ours.  :)

Doesn't this just make you want to snuggle up with a book and tea? 

Now we have the piano set up in our entertaining area and it has made the room that much more cozy.  I love it!  I especially love my romantic husband who so thoughtfully orchestrated all of this!

My happy place! 

RULES: 

1.  NO pounding on the keys.

2.  NO food or drink to be set on the piano. Anywhere.

3.  NO chop sticks. 

4.  NO making fun of my doily.

:)

This & That

I want to write a post but can't think of anything interesting to report.  

Last weekend Ben and I went back to Ft. Madison/Hamilton to spend time with our family.  Ben was able to relax and help out at his parents, and I was able to get in some much needed mother-daughter time.

This week I met a girlfriend for supper at Zins in Cedar Rapids.  Amazing food.  Amazing wine. 

I started reading The Body Book by Cameron Diaz.  Good so far.  

I am doing at least one logic game a night to start getting my brain geared for the LSAT.  I'm hoping to take it in the spring or summer of 2015.  

Ben had his 3rd and 4th grade program on March 6th (also his bday).  His parents and my mom & Clif came up to watch.  They kids did wonderfully.  Ben wrote the entire show himself - all the lines & all of the words to the songs.  Impressive, in my opinion.

Grover is cute and fluffy.  

That's all I've got.

Our Lives in Photographs: Crazy days

It is hard to believe that we have less than 11 weeks left in this calendar year.  What?! Crazy.  Somehow time seems to have sped up.  With that, my posting habits have suffered.  We seem to keep ourselves much more busy these days.  Ben has agreed that we both are more open to doing things than when we were in Dubai.  This is partially due to cost, partially due to convenience and partially due to being in our comfort zone again.

 

That all being said, here is a quick picture + caption rundown of what we have been up to:

 

We bought a house!

 

 

Welcome to the world Maelynn JoAnn Boggess!

 

Welcome to the world Maelynn JoAnn Boggess!

Born August 24, 2013

 

 

 



Johnna & Maelynn 

 

A new kind of tailgating.

Marcus & Maelynn

Evenings filled with snuggly babies. :)

 

Maintaining a yard. (And pretty mums!)

 

Work, work, work!

 

Occassional naps. . 

Perfect fall morning. <3

 

Cute fluffer butt.

 

 

Ridiculous entertainment.

 

 

Sweet Summertime - Part 1: Homecoming

A serene morning prior to packing.

Since I have been unable to keep up with blogging the past couple of months, it seems the best way to share what we have been up to is to break things down into separate posts.  That also eliminates the potential for a novel sized post.

The little poop has missed this! I think he prefers Iowa to Dubai!

Ben and I arrived back in Iowa safely on the night of June 26th.  Our flights went fairly well, but customs and baggage claim in Dallas were horrible.  The line for passport control snaked around a million times and went fairly far out into the airport. Baggage claim was worse!  There were about 1,000 people all trying to find their baggage and forming about 4 lines that had to zipper into one.  Ben and I chose the wrong line and decided to squeeze in where we could.  Some guy said the line started way back where and our response was that we had been waiting an hour already and had notice people coming in after us getting in line and going through before us.  He was welcome to go ahead of us, but we weren't moving.  Sorry, dude.  We were in our 20th+ our of travel and we were over it.  When we finally made it to the airport in Cedar Rapids we were greeted by Ben's parents and my lovely mom!  We collected our baggage (sans Ben's golf clubs - boo) and headed to the condo in Iowa City.

Grover is happy to be home!

We were back, but not rest for us yet!  We had until July 1st to pack up the condo and move out.  Our gracious mothers had packed up a lot for us already so that made our job a bit easier.  Somehow we manage to get everything together and out in time and stored in our friends' garage.

Tuckered out from packing.

Now the search is on for a new home!