HAPPY 2 YEARS TO US!
Time sure does fly by fast. These past two years have been great, but we have also learned how to take care of each other better. It isn’t all peaches and roses, but then that would be boring wouldn’t it? Looking back, I used to be the most independent person, & I will say it is so nice to be able to have the support that only a husband can lend. I love that I can depend on him, & well I am just so grateful he gets me more than anyone else. & as if these few sentences were not cheesy enough for you, I put together this video of our engagement for my sweet husband as a gift to him. & hopefully the bad quality of our $50 camera adds to the nostalgia. Hope you enjoy!
SOMEHOW FAMILIAR: BFA SHOW
In honor of school being over, I wanted to share pictures of my show for those who were not able to come. I had the most rewarding college experience I have ever had. I was able to learn & grow as a person, intellectually, as well as an artist. I am so grateful for my friends, family, & those at school who helped me along the way. It was a great semester! Sad to be leaving my studio at school, but now all I have left is student teaching!
Side note: I have been working really hard to have a decent website, so I have one for my art that I am still working on, but check it out here.
…HOW WE CELEBRATE
- 3/4 cup whole milk, scalded and cooled to warm milk
- 2 tablespoons water, warmed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 large eggs, lightly whisked
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- 4 cups bread flour
- 2 cups belgian pearl sugar (we buy ours from orson gygi)
- add the 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar to the milk and water and add the yeast, stirring to combine. allow the yeast to proof, or get foamy and puffy.
- in a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars. add the egg, honey and vanilla. stir together and add the yeast mixture. place in a standing mixer with the dough hook and add 2 cups of flour. mix until the dough is thoroughly incorporated, and add the remaining flour, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 4 hours, up to 24 hours. then punch down and knead in the pearl sugar. separate into 8 to 10 balls and place on a hot, greased waffle iron. cook until golden brown and serve with biscoff, whipped cream and fresh berries.
A Few Weekends Ago
So about two weekends ago, I experienced the most spontaneous and last-minute plans I ever have. Especially when you consider the plans I thought we had in order before we began these great adventures. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun..and I probably would not have gone through all the trouble on my own to experience what I did. It all started in a big blue van, the ones where you can fit 12 people in it (aka car sickness no matter where you sit). & believe me, I was car sick almost the entire time. Speaking of vans, one of the gas stations we pulled out of we accidentally left the pump in the car. Don’t ever do that, it is expensive!
Last sidenote. Go buy this yummy treat on your next roadtrip. They were excellent, especially if you can never get enough indian food.
The Plan: Drive to Las Vegas, sleep. Get up and drive the rest of the way to San Diego for an art education conference. Attend said conference, and drive on home. Seems like a pretty simple trip right?
What actually happened:
To my surprise, after we left Vegas in the morning to head to San Diego, we ended up taking a little detour. Where might you ask? We drove to the desert of Califonia so we could witness Salvation Mountain. If you haven’t heard of the area I highly suggest watching this 6 minute documentary here (you will probably appreciate these pictures more if you do). Salvation mountain ended up being a pretty cool sanctuary to stop at. I couldn’t believe a man made this. YEs, the mountain is made of haystacks! & then he painted it in the middle of nowhere. It is about making a monument about God & Love, quite the beautiful thing.
Meanwhile, all the other vans from our department arrived to San Diego. hahaha…they kept calling us wondering where we were because we left the earliest. Somehow we ended up getting to San Diego a whopping 12 hours later than everyone.
San Diego was grand. I got my fix for a California Burrito & Fish Tacos.
Yes.
I plan my day around food.
The convention was good, but honestly I think they are hyped up to be a lot better than they end up being.
I also got to know someone a little better, and really feel like we are long lost sisters! The Junior high kids even think we are related. We also wore these hats the whole convention! haha who would do that? We are at an indian restaurant, and sadly only wore them while we ate.
…..and now for the real reason I went to California in the midst of leaving behind homework in Utah. For the past six months I had been dreaming of going to Los Angeles, and making my way over to the LACMA. James Turrell (amazing artist) was having a retrospective there. It is an amazing show that would probably not happen again for a very long, long, time. The show ended the first week of April, and so I had no more hopes to actually go, but because of the conference we took one little detour on the way home to go to the show.
My favorite part of the show we waited in a big line for an hour because they limit it so only your group is in the room for 10 whole minutes! It was such an experience, and it was a gigantic white room that was being enveloped by light. The light slowly changed into different colors without you even realizing it. It was amazing because the light filled the room like a cloud, and there was nothing else to feel or think about besides the light. Luckily, here is a blurry picture of our experience we were able to get!
There are no words for how amazing it was, it was truly a spiritual and enriching experience. James Turrell, it was for real the best show ever, not even saying that to be polite.
& speaking of the best, it all ended with a trip back home to the best home cooked meal a girl could have asked for. Thanks Mr. Lund!
HEY, REMEMBER ME?
So…my final show is over, and I am back to living a lot more of a balanced life. I will admit though, it was nice devoting all of my time to my art. I mean, how often in my life will I be able to do that?
Because of my show Taylor and I didn’t really celebrate Valentines (which means he really loves me, when he is content to let me paint), and my birthday weekend was right after my show.
So…..
Taylor threw me a big surprise. I know I am the artist at heart, but he is way more creative at doing things for me. I absolutely love it that he beats me in creativity sometimes. He has so many hidden talents that I keep finding out in him the longer we are married. I have never had happier surprises in my life, and I love spending the day with him.
He gave me five envelopes on Saturday morning, and let me open the first one once we were in the car! He knew what I had been missing since I was so busy January & February, and he also knows where to find new restaurants he knows I will dig. We spent a night at a bed and breakfast, which is kind of our favorite thing to do at least once a year. So happy we were able to slow down and spend the day together. It had been far too long.