we had to take the towels, ok?

For our last day in California, we thought we'd take it down a notch, and spend a relaxing day at the beach. One problem... we forgot beach towels! Rather than run over to the local Target and buy a couple, we decided to just take the hotel towels and then bring them back. Not a big deal, everyone does it, right? Right. Only Alex was a little nervous, and decided rather than just carry them our in our arms, to deflect questioning, he would put them in his suit case. Ok, Mr. Casey. Whatever you say. (It's cool, I think he's cute.)

The most shocking news of the whole morning though, was when Alex informed me that he hasn't been to the beach since he was two years old when he lived in Hawaii. I was like WHAT?? Not because he hasn't been, I actually think that's pretty common. But the fact that we had never discussed that before? The beach is a very important part of my life, I just feel like it should have come up in some conversation before we got married. Guess not... so that just made me even more excited to go. 

first time on the beach. first observation? "waves are weird."

first foray into the water. I joined him shortly after, but I had to capture this moment, you know?

After a while of surfing the waves (him) and standing nervously in water up to your waist (me), we decided to walk on over to Ruby's diner on the pier. It was, and always is, a good decision.

he's very attractive.

we got seats right by the window!

his first Ruby's shake. Cookie Dough.

We were about to head back for the day, but in the end, decided to stay on the beach a little bit longer. It was a good time.

He headed back into the water, and I watched from afar. But it wasn't long, because suddenly, he was brushed by a baby sting-ray in the shallow waves, and decided that his wading in the water time was over with. It just takes a little encounter with sea life to remind you that the ocean is a little dodgy sometimes... But we both loved it, and it was our favorite part of the trip!

The next day we woke up early and headed back... back to real life! More to come on all that, hopefully.

p.s. these were all scheduled posts, so i don't know when i'll write again, but i hope you enjoyed this. whoever you are.

things really got exciting the next couple of days.

We went to Sea World! And Universal Studios! On two different days, guys, don't worry. We wouldn't overexert ourselves like that, especially considering the following...

Well, I have to admit, we were excited for Sea World. It was Alex's first time ever, and I love watching people enjoy things for the first time. So I was all set and ready to go! And then when we got there, he wanted to get straight on that crazy Atlantis ride, to which I said, "I think we'll get really wet... can we wait on that one for later?" But that crazy excited kid ignored my wishes (not in a mean way, just in a really excited way) and dragged me right up to the top. There was no line. (I wonder why? Did no one else want to get wet at 10 in the morning? huh...) He immediately got us in the front seat (after which the attendant girl told us that the front always got the most wet, cue steadily angrier Madeline...) and we continued on our journey to Atlantis. Needless to say, we were soaked, and I was unfortunately not very happy about it, and pouted for a good 15 minutes after. Alex was a good sport though, and bravely dared to have fun anyway. 

This polar bear seemed really agitated to me. He kept walking back and forth on this log with no purpose or direction.

whales. they're weird. don't judge.

these guys did nothing. super lazy.

this was after atlantis, and I was starting to get a bit happier. but little did I know, I was about to be soaked again. even worse this time. And also, I was about to get sunburned within an inch of my life. 

we saw large sharks.

and even larger sea turtles.

Anyway, the whole thing ended up to be a really fun experience. Then we tried to drive to a local burger joint, but there was some arts festival, so we ended up at chick-fil-a... which, i mean, that's fine too. I didn't really mind, because I was feeling pretty fried, and dehydrated and all that fun stuff... so let that be a lesson to you to always remember sunscreen. I may have shed a tear or two about the whole ordeal.

But I mean, I still had fun.

The next day we went to Universal Studios! And here's the thing... I accidentally slept in my contacts the night before. Which usually isn't that big of an issue, but when I took it out the next morning, my eye was like, really angry with me. And at first I was like, ok, you're not going to be a huge drama queen about this, right? We're going to get through this. But apparently my eye didn't like me talking to it in such a manner, and it declared war. So, unfortunately, I wandered through Universal Studios in various states of pain. One because of my lingering sunburn, and two because my eye was watering and wouldn't open, and was just in terrible shape. I felt really bad for having so many problems when I was supposed to be having tons of fun with my hunky husband. But he was a real sweetheart and let me wear his sunglasses and even said we could go home. But in a childlike fit, I told him no way! It was my first time there, and we had come to have fun, and I wanted to have fun, dangit! To which he gave me a raised eyebrow and a hug, and let me do what I wanted.

trying really hard to keep my eye open, and enjoy this fake double decker bus.

we went on the studio tour, and you have to wear 3D glasses, so I felt extra cool during this portion. glasses, sunglasses, 3D glasses. That's how I roll. Pretty sure the tour guide was like... hmm....

but it didn't look half bad from the front, right? you could barely tell what was happening underneath. And Alex was such a trooper, not letting my ailments keep him down.

We made it to Hollywood! 

He's just... really good looking.

I have good news. My eye eventually cleared up a bit after we got back to the hotel, and really cleared up for the next day. We forgave each other, and moved on. And I'm happy to say, despite the pain, I still managed to have fun at Universal Studios. So I would say that means I won the war Eye vs. Madeline.

p.s. tomorrow I will finally talk about the last day of the honeymoon! aren't we all thrilled?

basically there are a lot of photos of the two of us together in this post, so if that's not sounding great to you, sign off now.

this one was for my  mom. she was a little bit upset that i didn't walk in my graduation... what can i say? i thought getting married that day sounded better. 

L-O-V-E. That's what I'm talking about. Also, Space Mountain, right? Best ride ever.

It rained. Quite a bit actually. But nothing could make us unhappy. We even got Dole Pineapple Whips right after and sat on a wet bench. I love Disneyland. 

Typical picture in front of the castle. Also, I'm too nervous to ask people to take our picture... so there were a lot of selfies going on here.

Until a really nice couple offered to take our picture...? That was really great.

I happen to think this guy is the greatest. and the handsomest. 

and we both think that pizza is the greatest. and handsomest. in a pizza kind of way, of course...

on this day we waited for the shuttle for like 40 minutes and we weren't sure why. but it was still ok. 1. because we were in california, and 2. because we are married now.

Whoa! change of scenery! Gotcha. It's actually Cars Land, which rocked. Everyone needs to go there.

We found a picture of cars on their wedding day, and obviously it was our favorite.

We're happy and stuff.

Best seats in the house for World of Color. I'm telling you, if you haven't been, you are missing OUT. That water show is basically a spiritual experience.

And that about sums up our happy adventures in Disneyland. I mean, you can't really describe Disneyland... the only word that comes to mind is happy, and I think i've used that one too many times in this post, so here I am... signing off for the day.

p.s. more honeymoon to follow. what's that? you thought disneyland was all we did? well you've got another think coming.

Road Trippin!

You know, I really think you can tell if you and someone else are compatible if you take a long drive with them. Think about it. You're bound to run into any number of obstacles while road tripping. There could be traffic, car trouble, rest stop issues, where should we eat? issues, and even who should drive issues. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes people just don't deal well with issues, and it's hard to handle.

The nice thing is, Alex and I had an awesome drive to California. Ok, let's back up though. I mean, we woke up at the Grand America Hotel... which I think is pretty synonymous with "you're going to have a great day". So, I guess maybe we didn't really stand a chance. But the drive home was just as good. So who knows. So, we started off energized by the most luxurious breakfast of my life. Then we jumped in the car, and headed south toward good ole Anaheim California. Of course, we had to stop at the Scipio petting zoo, where I fell in love with some baby goats, and we looked through strange books, and Alex bought some sunglasses. After which, we traveled to a secret location and swam around in a natural hot spring. Ok, truth be told, I did nothing but sit on that rope and side-eye the moss most of the time. But it was still really cool. After which we saw this low tire pressure light come on, so we stopped at the world's most reliable gas station with tire help in Beaver, Utah. They filled up the tires, and we took pictures on their giant chair. Then it was off again! Off for some hamburgers at In-N-Out in St. George and straight into "Going Home Traffic" on the way from Las Vegas to Barstow, which incidentally lasted two hours. But did we let it get us down!? No! We played games and sang songs, and tried not to give into the desire to just pull over and sleep until morning.

After which, we cruised on into Anaheim, lugged our belongings into the Marriott, and checked into our lovely little suite. The trip was off to a great start...

p.s. just a little over a week left of school!

the day before the festivities

So, the week of the wedding, my plan was to work a half day on May 3, and then come home and help set up. But what I totally did not even think about was - no, not the fact that setting up is actually more of an all day thing - that Iron Man 3 came out the night before, and it is a tradition to go see such movies at midnight with  my sisters and brother! So, with much eye rolling from my mother (she doesn't understand, but she's still great) I drove home on May 2, and attended the movie with the siblings. It was worth it. Then, on Friday I woke up and ran down the street to get my nails re-done by the sweetest little Vietnamese lady. She had a lot of advice about being married.

So with my glitter gel nails sparkling joyously, I drove up to the barn where the reception would be held, to find my family and friends decorating. It was amazing! The chandeliers were being strung up, a co-workers son was illustrating the chalk board, and flowers were EVERYWHERE. Just like I wanted. To be honest with you, I mostly sat around all day and just watched everyone. That might sound really mean, but I felt like everyone else had pretty much grasped my vision, and they were rocking the socks off that barn. I mean, I put some table cloths on and supervised the hanging of some pictures... but I really was no help. I could not have done any of it without my mom, grandma, aunt, and friend Kelly especially. They listened to what I wanted, and really made it come to life right in front of my eyes.

It was our friend Cody who gave us those t-shirts. Funny enough, the first thing my little brother said when I told him we were getting married on May 4 was, "You can't do that! That's when all the nerds get married! May the fourth be with you!" So, no, I did not have a Star Wars themed wedding, but since it's the joke that everyone instagrammed, tweeted, and facebooked, I guess we were really in the loop with everyone else. Only our saying it had a little added meaning...

You might think setting up the day before would be a really stressful time, but I found it so relaxing. Not just because I wasn't doing much, but because I was surrounded by so many people I loved, and I knew that nothing really mattered as long as Alex and I ended up married the next day. (which we did!) We had a quiet family dinner that night, and enjoyed each others company. It was the best day before the wedding I have ever and will ever have, and I couldn't have asked for anything more!

p.s. we'll just go to the honeymoon next, since i don't have wedding pictures quite yet...

i'm back and i have a lot to say.

Well, hey there everyone! I know I have been absent for two weeks, but I have good excuses!

1. I got married, so I was on a honeymoon... duh.
2. My new house does not have internet yet, so I'm just out of the loop! (I'm at my parents house right now, and you better believe I lugged my laptop over here, ready to blog my little heart out.)

I guess I'll give you a little update for now, and hopefully get some other posts ready for this week.

The wedding was PERFECT. Seriously, most perfect day of my life. Nothing went wrong. I'll say more about it when I get all the pictures back, but let me just leave you with this... pink cherry blossoms, tulips, sunny, barn, mix and matched... anyway, it ended up really great. I can't wait to tell you all! Mostly, I can't wait to relive it myself! The perfection was over in a blink of an eye... seriously.

After that, Alex and I jetted off (and by that I mean took a road trip) to California for a fabulous honeymoon which also was perfect. And by perfect, I mean we did have some little hiccups, but it felt really perfect because we love each other, and we're totally the gross annoying love birds.

And now we've moved into our little house on the corner, and by moved in I mean, we're bursting at the seams in there. But, I love it, and it's the coziest little thing. I will hopefully take some good pictures and get them up on this thing.

So anyway, that's the major updates, and now I'll just leave you with some quotes! Because we all know everyone (Jenna) loves those.

In the Fourth Grade:

D: What do you want to do at recess today?
W: How about sparring?

S: Mrs. Casey is not nice. I will call you Mrs. CaseyNewhouse

T: I'm glad I can call you Mrs. Casey now. It's like Miss Newhouse is gone. Now I can't come and say, "Miss Newhouse I need heeelllppppppp!!!" And be really annoying.

In the Family:

Bud: The first red flag was... (the name) Jalen. I mean, he wasn't even black.

Olivia: I just want someone who has the courage to text me and say, "yo, what up girl?"

Abi: Wait! Everyone be quiet! I think I heard a cat!

Olivia: Ok, well, we have to go. Thanks for talking to us!
(No one else is ready to go.)

Olivia: I'm just so tired of talking about it. But there was this one time...

p.s. Abi leaves this week for her mission to Texas... so weird! I love that little sis of mine! 

Lets see if I get any sleep...

I'm getting married in the morning to this man.

Oh, and p.s.? Best decision I've ever made.