This and that

Here's what we've been up to lately...

Neighbors who rock
All of our new neighbors are awesome, we really enjoy making new friends and having so many great people so close by. Daniel and I babysat for our downstairs neighbors, Katie and Colin, while they celebrated their anniversary a couple weeks ago. Their girls were super chill, we didn't have any problems with them at all. A few days later they brought us some thank you mint brownies and Katie was wearing a Mae shirt. I almost lost it. She's been to a few of their shows and really enjoys their music. We actually have a lot of similar music tastes, I'm so glad to have another friend who appreciates the same stuff I do!

"Woo" is right! -John McCrea
We braved the Saturday night crazies and hit up Milwaukee's famous Summerfest music festival a few weeks ago to see Cake. It was kind of a mess getting in and out, but the concert ROCKED and that's what's important. Here's a taste of one of their classics...

(filmed by vkottas)

Daniel really liked being a part of the "na na na" stuff. Also, the trumpeter was incredible.

Downton Abbey
It took us a little while to get into this show but holy cow we love it! Early 1900s British English is sometimes not easy to understand, so subtitles are our friends. We watched the first season on Netflix, then signed up for a free week of Hulu Plus to watch season two. There are nine episodes and we watched four back-to-back yesterday. No shame.

Operation: Kate Middleton is a bust
My best friend from high school is getting married next weekend. This wedding is why we planned a summer trip to NC. I haven't been home since January, so naturally I want to look as cute as possible because I really don't know the next time I'll be back. I've been lucky with online shopping before, so I bought the student budget version of the Kate-Middleton-meets-the-Obamas dress and these sassy heels. The shoes haven't come in yet, but they're super cute so I may just keep them. The dress arrived on Tuesday and it's a hot mess, and not in a good way. First, they sent me the wrong size. I tried in on anyway and it was sized so oddly that I really wonder if the one in my size would work at all. I had trouble getting it over my hips (I have hips but I don't have HIPS), but you could fit a loaf of bread in the chest area (is that weird? I'm trying to say that I didn't fill out the top at all). The color is nice and it does look like the dress the Duchess wore, I just wish it fit better. Now I'm scrambling for something else, luckily I have a few days to whip up something amazing.

Amelia Jean
I love Jack's Mannequin/Something Corporate/Andrew McMahon. The Jack's Mannequin station on Pandora introduced me to this gem from their most recent album, People and Things. I just love the blend of sounds.

Distracting video? Listen to just the audio here

Baby?!
Still no baby news. Hopefully we won't have to field a lot of questions when we go home next week, but sometimes older Southern people lack a certain sensitivity, so I have an answered prepared: "We've been trying for just over a year. I've seen my doctor. I've had enough blood drawn for tests to give someone a transfusion. I take a folic acid supplement and a women's health multivitamin every day. I've done three rounds of Clomid. I've had a hysterosalpingogram. Daniel's seen a doctor. He's had several rounds of tests. He takes a men's health multivitamin every day. We're doing the best we can with what we've got, but it's not even really any of your business to begin with, so let's talk about something else instead." I might need to practice. I will say that despite our lack of success, we feel good with where we're at right now. Some days are easier than others, but we're enjoying all the young couple perks like sleeping in, one day of laundry, spontaneous dinners, and cluttered floors. Our little ones are taking their sweet time coming to us, but we know the wait will be more than worth it.

-Jenn

Mormon Humor(?)

I can't decide if this conversation was funny or strange...

Me: Trevor, I hope you don't think this is weird, but I really liked the way you blessed the sacrament today.
Trevor: I hope you don't think this is weird, but you're not the first person to tell me that.

-Jenn

Hotter than Hades

It's weeks like these that I'm especially grateful God sent me to the earth during the time of air conditioning. I know I wouldn't have been able to cut it as a pioneer. I am very thankful for their sacrifices though, I'm just glad I wasn't one of them. This week has been ridiculously hot, hotter than back home even, and with lots of outside activities associated with July 4, we had to be extra careful to stay hydrated and cool. We have absolutely no motivation to unpack anything else until this heat breaks (thankfully sometime this weekend), so for now this is kind of where we're at...

(xkcd)

This craziness didn't deter all our (read: my) enthusiasm for fireworks and BBQs and swimming and friends this week though. Daniel grumbled a bit at first, but then realized that my plans were awesome and felt better. On Tuesday we went to the biggest fireworks show I've ever seen - 60 minutes of explosions down at the riverfront. We found free parking and the BEST viewing spot ever, plus we took a virtually traffic-less route to and from, so the drive wasn't bad at all. But it was blistering hot, even after the sun went down, so when we got home that night (11pm or so), we decided to put in the window a/c unit for our bedroom. Talk about sweet relief! On Wednesday we went to Fred's house for food and swimming and it felt so good to just float around and talk with friends and eat way too much. Later that night we went to see more fireworks at a nearby park, thankfully all the young children in our group handled the noise like champs!

Yesterday we blew a fuse trying to run both a/c units, so Daniel and I have decided to make the bedroom a sort of sanctuary. We turned on the a/c and overhead fan, closed the door, and just vegged with our laptops. This morning I braved the heat of the kitchen to get us some breakfast and the 60 seconds it took to toast some Pop Tarts and pour a glass of milk were awful.

But despite the heat, we are happy and healthy and that's what important. What's also important is that we're seeing these guys at Summerfest tomorrow...

The show starts at 10pm. Thank goodness for 1pm church!

-Jenn