The Harts Come To Visit

So this past Saturday, my family came all the way up to Chicagoland to come visit us! Boy was it fun. Saturday night we went to the Pinewood Derby with our new ward here, (because of my new calling, cub master) and Chance won the entire thing! We had a blast! :) On Sunday, we were bad, but it was the only day they were supposed to be here that would be nice enough to play outside! So we skipped church, and we went to Downtown Chicago. We started off the day by taking the 8:40 a.m. train into downtown, and walking down to the Sears Tower (Now Willis Tower) and enjoying Skydeck Chicago! We were 103 stories in the air, and stood out on a glass ledge where we could see all the way down to the street! It was terrifying! 1) I'm TERRIFIED of elevators, I get sick in them, and I just can't stand the feeling. This elevator was no normal elevator, it took us like 1 minute to get all the way up to the 103rd floor - which is like 2-3 floors per second. In my old apartment building, it took about the same time to just get up to the third floor. So basically, I was terrified, almost cried, and Devin held my hand the entire way up. My ears even popped on the ride up! We were higher than the Eiffel Tower! I just can't believe how high we were, even now. So basically - it was a big fear that I CONQUERED on Sunday :)

103 Stories above the ground, with only a few inches of glass between us and *SPLAT*!

YIKES!

           

 After the Skydeck, we found a couple taxis, and had them take us to the Schedd Aquarium. If anyone doesn't know what that is - it's a GINORMOUS aquarium with just about everything from whales to pirañas. It was incredible. They had the cutest little sea otters who were snacking on giant ice cubes that were flavored like some sort of treats, and they were playing so hard, jumping around, and going crazy. It was hilarious watching them. We also got to see a Sea Lion be trained and fed. The trainer was throwing little fish at him, and he would catch it every single time. She told him to wave at the audience, and he waved, she told him to salute, and he saluted, she told him to swim, he swam. Monkey see, Monkey do. It was super incredible seeing how well all these wild animals can be trained and I can barely even get Zoey to sit down so I can pick her up!

Sammy the Sea Lion

 

 After the Schedd Aquarium, we caught a couple taxis and headed over to Millenium Park - I hope you know that taxi riding is the most terrifying thing in the world, and had 3 taxi rides that day. They seriously drive like crazy maniacs, weave in and out of traffic, get up to 50 miles an hour and slam on their brakes all within a block. They are crazy, no doubt about it, and I hate riding in taxis. So anyway, after we get out of that dreadful thing we find the other half of our group and meet up at the big Bean in the middle of Millenium Park. So basically - it's a GIANT bean that is made of mirror materials. You can walk underneath it, and at one point you can see yourself like a million different times, or something like that. It's neat, so we took some fun pictures :)

            

 We then took off to walk down the 'Magnificent Mile", so if you don't know, the Magnificent Mile is Michigan Avenue. It has the most incredible shopping you could ever think of, it can also be called the "Million Dollar Mile" simply because it wouldn't be hard to spend a million dollars by the time you get to the end of the mile. (That is, if you HAVE a million dollars to spend, which I DON'T.) So we just stick to the name Magnificent Mile. So they have Tiffany's, Crate&Barrel, Allen Edmonds, Rolex, a 6 story Nordstrom, Burberry, all the super high end brands and stores that you love to look at, but would die if you bought. So basically, it's just super fun to go in and out of all those stores and see what these crazy rich people can afford to buy. Haha:) At least it's fun for Devin and I. Finally, we made it down one side of the mile, and back down the other side and made it all the way back down to the Chicago River. So I've failed to mention that this day is St. Patrick's day and apparently everyone in Chicago celebrates St.Patty's by dressing up super goofy, matching everyone in their group, and just drinking til their heart's content. It's pretty crazy and packed. So since Chicago has such a high Irish population, they celebrate St. Patty's Day by dying the Chicago River GREEN. I don't know how on earth they do it, or how they undo it, or why they really do it, and what the heck was going through their minds, but it looks like some sort of chemical waste that you would jump in and come out with freaky super powers. But apparently it's just plain old river water, just bright green for a few days (or weeks).

Dev & I posing at the Chicago River

Chicago River Rockin' The Green

     

 So we all had the best time with the Harts staying with us, the house was always crowded, loud, and full of laughter and fun:) We played card games and board games every single night, had Portillos and some true Chicago pizza. It was just a blast. Zoey got so much attention all day, every day that she just didn't take any naps (when usually she sleeps most of the day and plays at night time).. so needless to say she was absolutely exhausted by the time everyone left. She just absolutely loved all the attention and play time that she got. When she needed a breather, she would always go and lay on Derek's lap. For some reason, she just fell in love with Derek, she was never mean or aunery to him, she just gave him lots of kisses and lovins and laid next to him (could have something to do with him being sick while he was here), but she was oh so sad when they left. They went out the front door and she sat there and stared at the front door waiting for them to come back in, when she realized they weren't coming back, she cried for a few minutes and immediately went to sleep. Here's an adorable little picture of Zoey just POOPED after a long, crazy weekend for her. Her 'Papa' (My dad) got her a raccoon to play with. She's like our child, already getting spoiled by her grandparents. haha.

Exhausted Zoey

 

 Hart Family we miss you already and can't wait until you come and visit us again! :)

Valentines Day!

Valentines day was on a Thursday this year, and fell on an extremely busy week for both Devin and I, but we had a blast! We had a tasty Noodles and Company dinner in candlelight (just like our first Valentines together) and decorated sugar cookies shaped like hearts. We had a great time with the few hours we had together before we both passed out from exhaustion! :) I love my husband every single day of the year, but Valentines day is a day that you show everyone else in the world how much you love them.. Haha, so I thought I'd write a cute little blog about how incredibly much Devin means to me. Are ya'll ready for this? Devin and I met about a year and a half ago, and I didn't have any interest. We were in the same Family Home Evening Group at BYU, same ward, same apartment complex, and we didn't even know each others names. A few weeks later we had a fun activity where Devin and I actually interacted. Shortly after that activity, Devin added me on Facebook and invited me to play games at his apartment with his roommates. That was the most awkward night of my life. I knew ZERO of these men and I was playing card games with them. The next day we played tennis all together, and I hit Devin in the back of the head with the tennis ball. I don't know what the heck he saw in me after those couple days, but then he asked me to go to a BYU football game with him, then to General Conference with him.. And suddenly we were practically attached at the hip. I don't know how it really happened, or when exactly it happened, but I do know that it was the greatest blessing of my life. Devin snuck up on me when I wasn't expecting anything, anyone, or any relationships, but he snuck up on me and found a place in my heart immediately. He showed me what it was like to be treated like a lady, to be taken care of, and to be happy. We spent every single night together playing card games and board games and just having fun. Then Devin asked me to be his wife on December 31st 2011, and of course I said yes! On April 21, 2012 Devin and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. That day was truly the happiest day of my life. Every day since then I've had Devin by my side, we've had our struggles as a newly wedded couple, but we sure have figured out how to handle things. It's been the greatest almost year of my life! Devin Eric Despain, I absolutely love every single thing about you. You make me laugh and smile when I don't want to, you take care of my when I'm sick, you do all the little things that make a girl happy. You bring me home flowers and teddy bears when I've had a hard week and you make me feel special every single second of every single day. I remember when I was about 12 years old in Young Womens, our leader had everyone make a book about our perfect prince. I remember writing silly little things like "I want him to have blonde hair, blue eyes, be an RM, blah blah blah.. You know, the usual. But of course I never thought that I would ever get exactly what I had hoped for! You are truly exactly what I wanted when I was a little girl, what I dreamed of every single day as I grew up, and what I hoped to find when I moved away from home. I don't know how or even if I deserved it, but Heavenly Father blessed me so much when he gave me you. He gave me someone who was not only perfect for me, He gave me someone who was more than I asked for, cuter than I ever imagined, more than I ever needed, and better than I could ever imagine. You are the best thing that has happened to me. I love you more every single day of my life. Today I love you more than I ever thought was possible, and I know that tomorrow it'll be even more, even though I can't see how it's even remotely possible to love someone more than I love you right now. I'm so grateful for all the things you do for our family. You take care of me, you support me, you work so hard just so we can have a nice life together, and you always help me. I'm so grateful for the example you set for me daily. You are always suggesting prayer and scripture study when I regularly forget, and you are always doing the little things in life that make our marriage so much stronger. You are the best man I have ever met, and I am so glad that I get to spend eternity with you learning about you, learning from you, and holding your hand through the hard times and the good times. You are my world, my everything, my eternity, and I've never been as happy as I am with you in my life and knowing that you'll always be there no matter what happens. I love you to the moon and back a million times. For time and all eternity. Amy Despain There you go peeps! Now you know how stinkin' adorable and cheesy I am when it comes to loving my sweet husband, Devin. We make you sick, don't we? :) Heavenly Father has blessed me enormously, and I thank him daily for what an incredible man He brought into my life. Happy Valentines Day!!

WELCOME HOME ZOEY!

So today I drove two and half hours both ways to Winamac, Indiana to go pick up this sweet new addition to our family! Her name is Zoey and she is a cockapoo puppy. A cockapoo is a mix between a cocker spaniel and a miniature poodle and they're pretty dang adorable. She's already extremely smart and only nine weeks old! She's just the sweetest thing, she loves to cuddle and loves to please you as much as she can. She's already paper trained, but she just gets a little sad when you leave her alone without you. So it's kind of hard to make her sleep by herself .. if only she could snuggle in our bed with us. As I'm typing this, Zoey is laying in front of my face as much as possible so I will pay attention to her. Devin and I couldn't have picked a better puppy and we're just so in love with her already!!! We love you Zoey!!

Zoey giving Devin loves and kisses. :)

Zoey napping in my arms. She is perfect!

Slackerrrrr!

Okay, so I've seriously been slacking off lately! I haven't written a blog post in like two whole months! What the whhhhaaat? So exciting things that have happened in my life since then .. December : Devin had lots of finals to study for and did so great, A's in everything! He's pretty much a genius, and graduated with his Bachelors in Finance! Whoop Whoop for Devin! Also, I had a pretty crazy month at work. I worked at a Great Harvest Bread Company as a baker. So normally I would come in around 4 in the morning and leave around noon. Instead I came in around 6 a.m. and left around ohhhh 8 p.m. ... for two. weeks. straight. There was a constant line out the doors for a lot of the time, and I was crazy busy and crazy tired. I don't know how I made it out alive. Then, we went to Christmas in Oklahoma! It snowed on Christmas dayy, just a little, it barely even covered the ground. You could still see the grass. Pretty lame snow, but it was a great Christmas! Devin and I got to spend lots of time with my family, play lots of games with my brothers, and broke in our new coats real quick since it was seven degrees! :) When we got back from Oklahoma, we went to see Les Miserables with Devin's parents. Seriously - an incredible movie. I've never seen the play before, but I want to see it super bad now. Then we went to Temple Square and saw the lanterns and such on New Years Eve, like we did when Devin proposed to me last year! It was great. Then we went to the Roof restaurant, the same place Devin took me New Years Eve after he proposed. It was pretty much an incredible night. :) The next day .. January 1st We left for Illinois! We drove for two days adn finally got to our new home. We had a crazy exciting adventure of putting up light fixtures, installing blinds in our windows, and building shelves and things like that. The next day our moving company and cable company came, they were here all day, it was a pretty crazy day! One week later - We're finally all unpacked, set up, and living our lives like normal people! Who am I kidding? We aren't normal! We're a Despain-Hart family ... Bahah! We went to our new ward yesterday and made lots of new friends, we were invited to dinner at the ward clerks house and had a great evening with their family! So all in all everything is great here in Chicagoland! Devin is finally finding the quickest way home from work, I have a couple job interviews this week, and we're learning our way around the neighborhood. Things are going great and I think we're gonna make it through this!

We bought a home!

It's been over a week now, but I thought I should share the news! You know that Dev and I are moving to the Chicago area in January, well we went to visit a couple weeks ago and look for a home and we found one!! We are seriously so excited. It's brand new, just finished being built, three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, it's a town home, and it's in a single family home neighborhood. We seriously fell in love with it and with the area! It's in a town called Oswego, and it's just a cute, small-town feel, but it's still completely huge! It's so cute, we have a cute pond (borderline lake) in the middle of the neighborhood, a high school on the opposite side of the neighborhood, and, then just cornfields on the other sides. It truly feels like we're in the country and we're kinda secluded (minus the other homes on the other side of our windows!), but we're in the middle of the city! I just absolutely loved the area, the home, the people, everything about it! I'm so excited to move now! We leave on January 2nd and will begin our long trek northeast. Devin's company has offered to pay for absolutely everything concerning the move. Gas, food, hotels, moving company, shipping my car. Anything you could think of. It's seriously so nice to not have to worry about that stuff! So instead of having to drive separate cars like we did when we trekked to Dallas, Texas and back this past summer, we can actually ride together and take turns! It's going to be so nice! If I don't drive Devin crazy by reading every sign I see. Seriously, I do that. We're extremely excited and couldn't be more happy to start this new adventure in our lives. We're just full of all sorts of fun adventures and many more to come! We love traveling and having all this fun! Friends and family, we have a spare bedroom, come visit us! ;)

Talks In Church

So about two weeks ago the bishop of our ward asked Dev if he and I would give talks this Sunday. Of course, because he's the most worthy, willing, and dedicated priesthood holder I know, he said we would, without asking me. And then told me while I was at work so I had a couple hours to cool off! He truly is a smart man. So I, being myself, waited until about Thursday to start it, only worked on it four half an hour (after I stopped crying because I had to do it) and then worked on it for about ten minutes the next day, then not touching it until Sunday, two hours before church. It's been stressing me out for the past two weeks and I've been dreading every second that I would have to stand up there. But today was the day! My talk was called 'Living the Gospel and finding joy therein', I absolutely loved my topic. It was over Sister Ann Dibb's General Conference talk 'I know it, I live it, I love it'. It was such a beautiful talk and I just seriously loved it. I told the story about my dad's wreck, about my families sealing, and about being sealed to my sweetheart for time and all eternity. It was such a spiritual helper and lifter to me. I seriously needed to study that talk, not because I've been making bad decisions, but because I wasn't feeling as grateful as I should be. So it was a real eye opener to study such a beautiful topic and to share with everyone my feelings about it. But then a spider climbed on the pulpit. I'm sure my eyes were super wide when I saw it and someone had to have noticed it! I tried to avoid it, but then it tried climbing onto my hand and so I flicked it towards bishop. It was funny, everyone laughed when I explained what was going on. I felt that I did a pretty good job when I was finished with it and as I was going through it, and everyone was laughing at my jokes, and I even saw a few people crying! That's a sure sign that you're doing a good job, right? So I felt good, and then only left fifteen minutes for my sweetheart and he had to cut some things out, but all in all, it was a great sacrament meeting. Afterwards people told us how great we did and they kept telling me that I was a wonderful speaker and that they need to get me to do it more often. In reality, I actually liked all the attention!! I might like the calling as some sort of Youth Sunday School teacher, definitely not adult Sunday School, I'm not smart enough for that. But it was a ton of fun. I had the comment from someone, "I could listen to you all day!" It made me feel good, and another "That was a beautiful talk, you could have talked the whole sacrament meeting, you just did so well!" Seriously, I conquered a HUGE fear and it's making me feel like I can actually do it! Yay me!! That's all:)

I Voted Early!

So, Devin and I will be looking for a home in the Chicago area (to narrow it down, Naperville) in a couple of weeks and will be gone on election day! Of course I just had to vote in Utah because Romney has it so bad here and there's just no way he's going to win without my vote (sarcasm). Every one knows Romney will win Utah, I don't know why Obama even bothered campaigning here! Anyways, I felt that I needed to vote regardless and went to Draper City Hall to do so. Instead of the usual 'I Voted' sticker, I got the 'I Voted Early' sticker, and man I feel pretty dang awesome. Speaking of feeling awesome, Dev and I had applied for American Express Credit Cards to build our credit, and got them in yesterday, so we're just riding aboard the Awesome Express Train lately! I've never voted before, seeing as I just turned 20 last week, so I think it's a pretty neat experience. I feel kind of guilty about not knowing that I had to vote for at least 15 extra fields, so I just voted straight Republican. I'm sure I would have changed some votes if I had known and I definitely would have done a little more studying up on these different candidates and judges and such. Oh well, there's always four years from now, and four years from then, and so on! I've never really enjoyed politics, but this year I've loved being involved and watching the debates and such! They make me feel like an informed voter and citizen! Anyhow - I just wanted to share my pleasure in having voted in the presidential election. I now have the freedom to complain if Obama wins since I voted against him, and have the freedom to shut my mouth if Romney wins and doesn't do as well as I had hoped since I did, in fact, vote for him. Vote fellow Americans!

The Big Two-Zero!!

Today is my twentieth birthday, what the heck?! Wasn't I just graduating kindergarden like, yesterday? Time flies, like as fast as all get out. To start off my birthday, I got up at 3 a.m. to go to work and bake cookies, muffins, and scones all day, which I absolutely love, but I honestly don't remember waking up or doing any of that stuff this morning, apparently I was exhausted. I got to go home early and surprise me hubby, who was studying hard for his midterms. I shortly after fell asleep because of my serious exhaustion, and then waited, not so patiently, as my honey went to school so he could come home with my birthday cake and we could open presents:) I love birthdays, in case you didn't know, they're like the most fun things ever to me. Devin brought me home the tastiest cake in the world, Nothing Bundt Cake's Chocolate Chocolate Chip. Can you say YUM? I drool every time I see this cake!

Drroooolll..! After we finished dinner, and I drooled over the cake a little bit, I was then finally allowed to open my birthday gifts! My mom had sent me a big package full of lots of gifts from her and the family earlier last week that I have just been dying to open. And now I finally got to:) So my mom got me cute 'fat chef' kitchen stuff, pot holders, jeans, fuzzy socks, homemade jam & apple butter, caramel apple suckers, and a cute pill case (due to my recent amount of prescribed medication given me). Devin let me choose my present this year. He got me a gorgeous pair of brown leather boots, which I've been begging him to let me open for over a month now! Finally I get to wear them! And finally, Barbara, Eric, and Devin all pitched in to get me something I've been wanting for a while, a Cricut! For those who haven't heard of this, it is a machine that sort of looks like a printer that cuts out cute shapes and letters for those who like to scrapbook. And I love to scrapbook, so I was pretty dang excited. All in all, it's been a great birthday. I wouldn't change it for the world, though I would really like to have the other half of my family with me. This is the first year ever that they weren't with me! It was kind of weird to tell you the truth. But, I'm twenty years young now. Now in the same decade of age as my husband, and may be judged a little less when strangers find out that I'm already married at my young age. What can I say, life's good. Thanks for listening. :) Or shall I say, reading.

Devin lighting my birthday candles:)

Strugglin' to blow out the candles in one breath .. failed. Well, Happy Birthday to me!

Birthday Date!

Devin surprised me with tickets to the local(ish) theme park for my birthday, Lagoon! They were doing frightmares at this time of year too, so it was the best thing ever! It was a cold, rainy day and great for a good scare! As soon as I got off of work on Saturday, I got ready super fast, hopped in the car, did my makeup in the car, as he sped off to Bountiful! We started off with the oldest roller coaster I think I've ever seen, and I might have been a little scared that it was going to collapse as we were zooming our way through the air, but it didn't, so all was well. We started off with a few different roller coasters that terrified me, but oh my goodness they were so great. I loved every single second of it! Even the long amounts of time standing in line while creepy dressed up people jumped at me to give me a fright nearly constantly! We road a water ride that no one was in line for (because it was so cold) and it was so fun switching around in the seats trying to avoid getting wet, as we did so, both of our butts got soaking, his dried quickly, mine stayed wet ALL NIGHT LONG. Seriously. It started to get dark and I started to freeze to death as we stood in the lines, nevertheless, it was the greatest time of my life. Devin pretty much forced me to get on a ride called Rocket Re-Entry and conquer my worst fear ever, free fall. Seriously, I still haven't forgiven myself for giving into that temptation. It took us up SLOWLY to 200 feet in the air, and after an amount of time not known, they suddenly drop you all the way down. I started screaming, shortly after, lost my breath, started hyper ventilating, then crying as it went up and down, up and down, up and down. I thought I was seriously going to die even though I had watched many, many people get off quite alive as we were standing in line. After the ride, I felt like I was going to fall over, I was STILL terrified. That happens to be Devin's favorite ride. So I'm sure as we go to more amusement parks in our lifetime, I'll be riding similar rides many times, and I'm not so sure the feeling of death is going to grow on me.. We will see. On the plus side, it made the other roller coasters SO much easier to go on and have fun without screaming the entire time! That was so great! In the end, I didn't want to leave. I told Devin that I wanted to stay forever, and I'm sure he did too, if they weren't closing in 15 minutes, I'm sure we would have stayed for HOURS longer. It was the best birthday date ever. I am seriously so grateful for a husband who knows how to have fun, HE IS SERIOUSLY THE BEST.

I think I've figured this thing out!

Hallelujah! I thought I would never figure this thing out! I have been trying FOREVER now, well at least it seems to have been forever, who knows? :) Devin is laughing at me because he never expected me to give into the temptation of blogging AND tweeting in the same month. Who knows, I'm turning the big 20 tomorrow, I may have new adult temptations? It's way fun being able to have some sort of way to vent all my feelings about life and different things to a webpage and sharing all that my sweet husband and I have been doing in our fun adventure together! I'm also super excited to share recipes and fun ideas that I have had (or pinterest has given me, you all know the feeling that pinterest can give) So to all, thank you for being patient as I construct this thing (I have much more to learn). If you have any suggestions on how to work it, or any fun tutorials to help me, that'd be great:)