California

Danny and I went to California this past weekend with Danny's brother Matt, and it was such a necessary break from life. Not just from work, but from being in Utah and from everything that's been going on lately.  On the way down we stopped in St. George and stayed with Danny's good friend Jake and his wife Mandy for the night. They are seriously the most accommodating people ever. It was so good to see them.  I wished they lived closer, but we realized 3 1/2 hours isn't too bad! So we will for sure be going back down there for a weekend sometime later this summer.

Thursday morning we made it to California and we stayed with Danny's Grandpa David and Grandma Dee.  When we got there, Dee had a delicious home cooked meal waiting for us. So yummy! On Friday Danny and I went to Disneyland--my first time! I've always heard about how it's "the happiest place on earth", so being there was definitely an experience worth while. You have to go there to understand it, but it's much different than any other amusement park I've been to. You don't go there for the rides. None of them are super huge, or super scary.  They're all fun, but what was so amazing to me about the place was all of the details! Everywhere. There is careful preparation put into every little speck of that park! Everything was organized--they had fast passes so the lines aren't bad, and you don't have to wait more than three minutes for the shuttle that takes you to and from the parking lot. And, I'll have to admit... I loved seeing all of the Disney characters! I felt like a little kid when the parade came through. Every worker looked so happy to be there, even though I'm sure they'd done the parade hundreds of times.  My very favorite part (which of course my camera had died by this time) was a show they do every night called Fantasmic. I'm pretty sure the show is always changing and improving, but the night we were there it included parts of Fantasia being projected onto fountains of water, Mickey Mouse conducting, Pinocchio dancing, a giant fire breathing dragon, floats going across the water with Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Prince Charming, and Ariel and Eric dancing, Ursula and the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty, Ursula's eels swimming across the water, and Mickey saving the day in the end. Somehow, they put all of this together into a 25 minute story and it was so awesome! Then the fireworks started right after and Tinkerbell flew across the sky! So cool.  I don't know how you could not be impressed. The behind the scenes must be insane there every single second. Overall, it was an awesome experienced and I loved it!

Proof that I was there! (And sorry about the terrible quality--I'm way overdue for a new camera!.. if anyone's lookin' to get rid of one we are totally open to taking it!)

While we were in California we also went to the beach and I learned to wind surf! So much harder than it looks. But so fun! Matt tried first and before we knew it, he was on the other side of the bay! Whether he sailed or drifted there is up to debate...

The rescue team

Danny went next, and of course picked it up right away.  His grandpa taught him a long time ago, so it came back pretty quick and not only did he sail away, but he also managed to zigzag back against the wind! He has a tendency to make things look really easy. Especially water sports.

I went next, and since I'd never even been near anyone even attempting to wind surf, Danny's Grandpa David taught me on shore first so I could kind of get the feel for things.  When it came time to get in the water, I was a little scared to accidentally drift sail all the way across the bay like Matt, so I told them to not let me go past where I could stand. BUT, either way, I only fell in twice, and I successfully sailed across the shallow part right by shore!

 It's such a challenging sport though! Not only does it take balance in every direction, but you have to understand the physics of it all.  You have to know which direction to pull the mast and at what angle, where to put your hands, and you have to have the strength to hold the sail against the wind--while keeping your balance. And turning is a whole other story. So hard! But I felt accomplished and we're excited to go again next time we're in California!

Here are a couple of videos from the parade at Disneyland! I loved how they incorporated both old and new Disney movies. They even had Mary Poppins!

And here's the very beginning of Fantasmic! Right before my camera died.

We left Sunday morning, and of course I got sick so Danny ended up having to drive the whole way. It was kind of a rough trip back, and since Danny had work at 330am the next morning and I had work at 6am, it was a little stressful. BUT, we made it, and now we are just getting back into the flow of things!

"I kissed you cause I like you"

If this video doesn't put a smile on your face, then I don't know what will.

My Pops

Yes, just like everyone else, I'm going to talk about my dad.

Growing up, I thought that every dad was like my dad.  I thought that every dad could just go outside and build a shed if he wanted to. I thought that every dad could build a deck, finish a basement, put in a sidewalk, and build a bridge.  I thought that all dads could build a computer and fix any mechanical problem presented to them.  I thought that all dads could fix up cars and I thought that all dads could identify any type of car, including the year, with just a glance.  I thought that every dad had a goatee, and could speak with as  powerful and stern of a voice as my dad can when he's making a point.  I thought that every dad had his own wood shop down in the basement and owned every tool you could imagine, and I always thought that every dad knew everything about just about anything.  But nope--that's just my dad :)

There's not a single exaggeration in that paragraph. I remember one of my friends telling me a few years ago that sometimes she wished that she could have a mini Ryal Cox in her pocket at all times because he can fix anything and everything.  Seriously, there is no other man within 50 miles of my parent's house in Delaware that is called more often than my dad for help with pulling a car out of a ditch, installing something, fixing something--my dad is really the go-to-man. How lucky am I to have grown up under his care for 18 years?  And still now, I'm almost 21, I'm married, and my dad continues to watch out for me.  He's very sneaky, and he does it in silence, but I notice the things that he does and I appreciate them so much-probably much more than he knows.

My dad is the best, and even though to this day, all of my childhood friends will claim "Brother Cox is so scary!", he has one of the most generous hearts of anyone I know.

Love you dad!

Lately

Surprisingly, a lot has happened recently! But sadly, I only have a couple of pictures to show for it...

I met my brother-in-law Matt! Haha finnnnally. He came and stayed with us for a weekend and it was tons of fun having him there!

I hung out with my freshman roommates, and some of my best friends, Kelsey and Callie. We went to Brick Oven, got some ice cream, and caught up on life as I am now married, Callie is about to move across the country, and Kelsey has a boy coming home soon!

I love these girls!

My sister, Charisse, was also in Utah this past week because her best friend was getting married up in Idaho. So, as a result, I got to hang out with her! Annnd, we hung out with some of our good family friends for a bit. Really, I should just call them my cousins. But our friend Beth just had a little baby girl named Corinne and she was just too cute and tiny!

We went to a surprise birthday party for Danny's Uncle Clark, and that was fun. The food was delicious! Unfortunately, we missed the actual surprise, but it was a lot of fun seeing everyone.

Matt's homecoming!  He gave a good talk, and then afterwards there was a big feed at a park by Danny's parents house. It was packed!

We had a Cox kids (minus Dalton) get-together since Charisse was in town. We went over to Destin's house and apparently Charisse promised him some of my mom's delicious home-made rolls, so we made some rolls (I think there were 58 of them and about 20 minutes later there were only about 8 left. Yea, they're pretty good...). We also watched the NBA finals game and it was so fun watching the Mavs take out the Heat!

So those are some of the things we've been doing lately between work, and well... more work. I've been training to take over someone's job for the next month at my work, so work has been pretty busy for me, and meanwhile, Danny's been working over 60 hours. That crazy boy.

I Love Family.

So, I kind of married into a big family. A big family primarily dominated by boys. On Wednesday at about 1am I finally got to meet Matt, Danny's brother who just got back from his two year mission to Tonga. Danny's the oldest and Matt is just two years younger, so it was really cool to see them together. I don't think I have ever seen Danny so excited to see someone or so antsy for a plane to land. In the past four years, they've only gotten to see each other for a few days, so it was a precious little reunion ;) And, might I add, the similarities between the two of them freaked me out just a little bit!

And to demonstrate just how big my new family is, here are the three youngest of my new siblings: 

Connor (6) and Jami (3). And yes, you better believe they are sitting out on the patio in their bathing suits squishing ants on a lovely summer day.

And here's my new little sister Gracie! She is just too cute.

All together (is that supposed to be one word? For some reason I can't figure this out...), I have six new brothers and three new sisters. It can be pretty crazy at times, but it's so fun and I'm so glad that Danny and I live close enough to see the little ones grow up (at least for now)!

On another note, my sister Charisse is going to be here this Wednesday and I'm pumped. My sister Caitlyn is pregnant and gets to find out if it's a boy or a girl in a couple weeks. My brother Destin has a girlfriend (who I totally approve of), and my genius little brother Dalton just finished 10th grade! Sometimes I think about it and it blows my mind how fast a family grows up and gets scattered across the country.

prego, married, teenager, mother, grown up.

I just love my family, and I'm so excited that we'll all get to be together again this Christmas!