dripping with passion

these first couple of months of two thousand and fifteen have felt like such a whirlwind of life. there has been quite frenzied traveling, huge decision making, and large changes looming. in the midst of what has often felt foggy and turbulent, i have sought peace in small, beautiful mortal moments and tiny daily joys.  a few weeks ago, the boy and i met at the oakland temple and talked about important things as the sun set over the expansive view stretching down the hill and across oakland and the bay to the glimmering city. the sky mutated above us, different colors floating in and out over new blossoms and white stone, and the crisp air tasted nice. i felt peace. we've been scrambling to prepare for our upcoming around-the-world adventure, and there's a lot of details to figure out! in slivers of time as we've been trip planning, i've felt along with my tremendous excitement and bits of stress, a sure stream of peace. wrapping up my work at my job ha

...love and adore  coming from four different states for a weekend together.  ...can throw down and eat about their body weight in deliciousness at a nice hotel breakfast buffet. ...can engage in active, excited, deep conversation for hours  by a pool. ...tend to go against the grain and appreciate challenges in many things, like walking/swimming against the current in a resort "lazy river". ...are nature freaks that can't get over beautiful vistas, unique vegetations, or especially vibrant sunsets. ...absolutely relish delicious food, and usually end up talking about how good the food is for half of any meal conversation. ...lose their phones and keys multiple times a day. ...support each other through any brand of heartache. ...worship together and study god's will and god's love together, seeking to support each other in questions, doubts, and understanding. ...love and adore daughters and nieces and want to instill in these precious

so...this morning the boy and i booked a pretty epic trip. we are going around the world in eighty days! we've been talking about a between-jobs around-the-world adventure almost since we first started spending time together, and now it is a reality! we both can't believe it's actually happening, but we are both so so so excited! it's been quite the process of determining where we want to go, for how long, what our budget is exactly, what tours/experiences were available at what time, how to best book the tickets at the best price and take advantage of miles and discounts, etc etc ... but we finally have all our flights and a semi-solid itinerary, and we leave in just thirty four days! if you have done awesome stuff in any of the places we are visiting, leave a comment - we want tips! i'm going to try to update this blog as much as possible along the way to share our adventures. here's the lineup: new zealand (north island) china (hong kong, guilin

it was a perfect first married valentine’s day … not! it started with us both being a liiiittle upset at each other, included quite a few hours in icky traffic, and ended in the emergency room. but – there was a lot of goodness and a lot of love in between. i made cinnamon rolls and heart shaped red fruit salad for breakfast (i ditched trying to make the cinnamon rolls heart shaped after my epic fail two years ago). then we hopped in the car to head towards the city. i had a whole day all planned full of both adventure and relaxing. once we hit san francisco – loooooots of gnarly traffic. we sat in the car in bumper to bumper for about two hours and rearranged my adventure plans. but! it was a really, really glorious blue day and we had good conversations. we eventually got across the golden gate bridge, finally parked our car and headed down a trail that led us to…. this ! kirby cove is a spot both of us had been wanting to visit, and it exceeded our expectations for sure. there

  i love him. and the best part is, he always will be my valentine – forever! he is the most earnest, golden-hearted, good person i know. these first few weeks of 2015 have been really crazy for him, and i am proud of him. feeling really grateful today that we chose each other.

the boy and i have been married for four months and two days. holy cow, it has been a wild and wonderful one hundred and twenty five days! every once in a while i just take four minutes to watch our wedding video and it still makes me tingly all over and so very, very happy. Charity & Ian // Wedding Highlights from Jordan Melendez // West End CG on Vimeo . we will forever be grateful to our amazing videographer jordan melendez for creating this treasure that captures so beautifully much of the joy and love at our wedding. jordan is not only incredibly talented, but outrageously sweet and just a totally sparkly, lovely person. i can't recommend the experience of working with her highly enough! jordan's new vidoegraphy/design company, west end creative group , just launched their website, and everyone should check it out! every few days, i say to ian, "seriously, wasn't our wedding just the best ?!?" he agrees :) i have learned a lot over the past

last weekend we flew down to orange county to hang out with my brother and his family, and to go to disneyland (one thing we wanted to do together before we leave california). it was a really great quick trip. we woke up on saturday morning (while it was still dark outside!) to our nephew bennett opening the guest bedroom door. i whispered, “hey buddy!” and he quickly and breathlessly replied, “i’ll go get everyone else.” then he turned around, scurried down the hall and so excitedly called out, “hey guys! they’re here!!!” it was the sweetest thing! within five minutes, we had four kids in our bed with us – a big ole cuddle puddle – telling us about school and showing us toys and asking us questions. we love these kids so so much! when we were heading out the door to drive up to anaheim, i asked kristi if she had any sunglasses i could borrow, and of course she delivered with some awesome huge purple plastic ones: we certainly had a happy day at the happiest place on earth…even th

i really really really love and am so so so tremendously grateful for my parents. i remember writing them each a letter a couple of days before my wedding and just staring at the wall for quite a while feeling at a total loss for where to start, what to say, how to even scratch the surface of adoration and appreciation running through my veins. indeed, i could write a hundred pages about how truly awesome my mom and dad are, individually and collectively, and a hundred more about how thankful i am to them for the things they have sacrificed for me, taught me, and given me. but today, just feeling so glad to be their daughter, i just wanted to share a few top-of-mind anecdotes about rick and linda. my dad is absolutely the most quirky person i've ever encountered, and my mom claims he is getting a little weirder every year. but his oddness is some seriously good stuff, and he completely owns it. he is wildly animated and energetic and imaginative a

today i feel like i simply cannot keep track of all the thoughts buzzing through my head and heart. i feel like i'm swimming in uncertainty about so many aspects of my life, and i just don't and can't know what the future holds. and in this pool of ambivalence, i've been reflecting on the gratitude i feel for the things that i am certain are certain in my life. i am certain that the boy will always be by my side and that we are starting what will continue to blossom into a really beautiful life together. i am certain that i have friends and family that will support and love me truly no matter what. i am certain that i will be able to find beauty and joy in whatever highs and lows come. and probably most of all, i am certain that god knows me and has got my back. my sister saydi shared this quote from the book heidi  with me over the holidays. i love it. heidi shouted for joy at the thought that grandmother would never need any more to eat hard black bread,

we went back to london for a few days after our day in stockholm. on friday, the boy ran to and from different meetings, and i stayed in the tiny basement studio we were renting to work (i’ve been working about quarter time remotely while we’ve been in europe, but i had a lot to catch up on by the end of the workweek). that night, we met my lifelong friend amy and her husband rob for dinner, which was super wonderful. amy was tied at the hip with my sister saydi their entire childhood and adolescence, and they’ve remained the best of friends – so amy has always been truly like a sister to me as long as i can remember. she’s seen me through every stage of life, but since she and her husband and four girls live in england, she hadn’t yet met the boy! it was great fun to introduce both amy and rob to ian and to share a meal together. love these people so much! on saturday, the boy finally had an opportunity to see some of the city! he’d been there for quite a few days but in