The Routine

Although a normal day for me isn't thrilling, I'm content. My day to day routine doesn't vary much, yet it is filled with things to be grateful for.

This is a unique time in our marriage -- we are both going to BYU and working on campus. Christian is majoring in computer science and has about two years of schooling left. I am a communications major with a print journalism emphasis and will receive my bachelor's this August (Yay Stacie, yay!). Christian works at the BYU Bookstore as the e-commerce web guy. I work for The College of Physical and Mathematical Science as a writer/reporter.

I admit, I get stuck in the routine and tend to complain pretty regularly about how I wish I could be done already. But this morning I was thinking about all the little things that occur in my life on daily basis. These things may seem insignificant, but truly are blessings.

• Christian and I wake up together to get ready for work at 8am
• We walk to campus/work together 
• We meet for lunch at 12:00 noon and spend a half hour eating together and catching up on each other's day so far
• We get off work at the same time (except for when I have class)
• We walk home together
• We make dinner together
• Make our lunches for the next day
• And then spend the rest of the night just hanging out together

The common factor in each of these bullet points is togetherness. We go to work. We make lunches. We take turns using the bathroom mirror in the morning as we're getting ready for the day. Being with Christian is what makes the routine fun, and on bad days, bearable. I realize that not all couples go to the same school, have the same work schedule, or can even go to bed at the same time. It's realizations such as this that make me grateful for the routine.

Our Weekend in San Diego

This past weekend, Christian, my siblings Steph and Michael, and I took a little trip to San Diego. Well, that statement isn't completely accurate, it was a really long trip -- the driving part at least. Despite the 10+ hours stuck in a car just to get there and the same amount to get home, it was a super fun get away. We had ourselves quite a little adventure :)

Our fearless leader. This guy drove the entire way. We joked that he should write a story about driving to San Diego. "There and Back Again," a ginger's tale by Christian Carnley :)

On our way there, we decided to stop in St. George for a fill-up. Turns out, we needed more than just gasoline -- our tires were bad. Good thing we stopped for gas! So while Christian was getting new tires put on the car, Steph, Michael, and I bought these cute little string dolls out of a coin machine. Steph got a superhero, Michael a ninja, and I got a little green man.

They're kind of cute huh?

Three dashboard dolls and four tires later, we were off again! We finally made to to our hotel later that night. The next day the fun really began! We woke up bright and early Friday morning and headed to the San Diego temple. Why? Because one of my favorite people in the world named Heather Lee Miller (Flint) was getting married!! We drove all the way from Provo because I just love her so much :)

Christian and I being super excited to go see Heather and Caleb!

The GORGEOUS San Diego temple!

I am so grateful Heather and Caleb shared their special day with us. It was absolutely beautiful. They both looked so happy, and we were sure happy to be there! I cried.

After the temple, Steph, Michael, Christian, and I headed to Coronado Island for some much anticipated beach time. It was a little windy, but other than that, the weather was perfect.

Eating lunch at an outdoor pizzeria.

The beach!!! There is some sort of military airport base thing close by Coronado
Island. We saw numerous helicopters, fighter jets, and airplanes fly over our heads. We even saw battleships and submarines off the coast. This was Christian's favorite part :) 

Enjoying the sun :)

The water was a little chilly, but totally worth it. Michael and Steph even found some tide pools with little fish, friendly hermit crabs, and regular crabby crabs in them.

After we had our fill of the beach, we headed back to the hotel so Christian and I could change back into our church clothes and head over to Heather and Caleb's reception.

Look! We're both married! (Please ignore my nasty beach hair.)

And that was only day #1! Our second day in San Diego was dedicated almost entirely to the zoo. I was so excited for this part of the trip and had been looking forward to it for forever, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! (Except for when we were totally going to feed the giraffes but the tickets were already sold out by the time we got there...that was disappointing.)

Taking the tour on the top level of the double decker zoo bus.

These hippos were squished right up against the glass. It was pretty cool but also kind of weird looking.

See. 

Cutie Steph next to these funny little monkeys.

Having a great time!

There were tons of flamingos at that place.

Christian and an orangutan, because they are both red heads.

There were these three huge gorillas who were also squished up against the glass. They refused to turn around for me to take a decent picture.

One of our favorite parts was the aviary. There were tons of beautiful birds diving and swooping everywhere!

Riding the sky ride thing across the park.

Polar bears are huge!

Doesn't Christian make a cute seal?

Our trip to the zoo was super fun. We saw so many awesome animals and just had a great time. But wait, even after hours of walking around at the zoo, the day wasn't over! After that we headed to Balboa Park. I could have spent a whole other day there. It had amazing architecture and gorgeous flowers. Michael and I were in heaven.

I counted at least 7 brides taking wedding pictures. I don't blame them, this place is beautiful!

Michael and I enjoying the park.

Gorgeous huh?

Our weekend vacation was jammed packed, but absolutely wonderful. I got to hang out with Christian, Steph, and Michael non-stop, go inside the San Diego temple, witness a good friend get sealed to her hubby, relax at the beach, take a picture with a hippo, and enjoy the prettiest snapdragons I've ever seen. I'm ready to go back.