Dates and Cards

Tonight Hans took me out on a date. We went to one of my favorite restaurants (Macaroni Grill). It was such a treat.

On a completely different note, some of you know that I sew cards, but I've never pictured them here. The images kind of suck, but you get the idea. I'm having lots of fun making them and I'd like to find enough time to make enough to sell.

LIFE

Well, life has been quite abundant this past week. Hans got a promotion! Yay! He's got his own store now in Palos Verdes, so if you're ever out there, go visit him! My grandfather got married. Yes, he's 84, she's 83, so there's no wasting time! We had a small, family-only ceremony in my folks backyard this weekend. Then we celebrated my sister-in-laws birthday and had a baby shower for my cousin! Needless to say I was asleep by 9:30 last night! Here's a few pics:

In celebration of Hans' promotion, I took him out to play miniature golf. This is his hole in one shot.
Me and the man at Grandpa's wedding.
Me and Maddie Jo. She's the smiliest kid I know!

Pictures

As many of you may have noticed, I'm not big on writing, so here's a few pics from recent events in my life! (Apparently, my camera comes out the most when my niece is around, but can you blame me?)

Me and Hans at the Dancing with the Stars wrap party on Tuesday night. Yep, it's over already! Congratulations Shawn Johnson!
Madeleine and her Granny.
For some reason Maddie opens her mouth really wide when you try to kiss her. It's cute now, but someday it might need to be stopped. (maybe she's part bird? ewww, regurgitated food)
She loves me!

Ok, I look a little freaky in this pic, but it's just so cute of Maddie Jo.

SO Overdue

Ok, some of you have had two haircuts since last I wrote. Anyhow, Hans and I just went on a fabulous excursion all the way to Memphis, Tennessee. We visited Mom and Dad Stokke and Elvis' home. Below are a few fun moments.
Here's Hans with the King. Our camera ran out of batteries at our trip to Graceland, so this is as close as it gets. Thank you very much.
Ribs. We ate a LOT of ribs. mmmmmm
Here we are on Beale street. Not a lot to do unless you want to get drunk, which many people (and goats) were.
This is where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. It now has an adjacent building that is the Civil Rights Museum. Very interesting, but also very lengthy.

Camping!

Hans and I got a chance to spend some time in the great outdoors this week! We pitched a tent and everything. I've been wanting to get away for a mini-vacation for a while, so Hans took Wednesday and Thursday off and away we went to Jalama Beach. Just about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara. We played cards, read books, threw horseshoes, surfed, walked, drove, cooked hot dogs and had an all-around fabulous time!

Life's Little Updates

Life has been busy with the little things. Here's a few wee updates. Brianna and I finally had a photo shoot for our delicious cookies! Below is one of my favorites of the lemon cream cheese cookie.

I finally got a frame for the Scotchbake recipe my grandmother wrote me before she died in July last summer. She wrote this for my shower and it's one of those forever treasured things. It reminds me of her every time I cook.

After 6 months, I finally got a bedside table for Hans! He claims he has no need for it, but I'm sure one of these days he'll put something in the drawers and on that day he'll be thankful for me and the bedside table. (Got the table for $15 and fixed it up for another $15! Impressive, eh?)
Lastly, I chopped off all my hair. Well, to be fair, Tiffany chopped off all my hair. She had a great time cutting away while I watched in horror. However, after it was all over, it looked pretty cute. Plus, it takes me all of 8 minutes from start to finish to get it looking cute!

Update

Right now life is moving at a pleasant pace. I enjoy working back at Dancing With the Stars, and with my cousin, Brianna. Hans and I have really begun settling into a fun and joyful marriage. We're enjoying our apartment. Hans is enjoying work (and we're just thankful to both be employed right now. Tom Bergeron was saying the other day that keeping your job is like the new raise.) We're also looking forward to spending time with Mama and Papa Stokke in Memphis in May. (Just bought our tickets last night.) And we're thankful for family that lives close by to enrich our daily lives.

All in all, I'd say life is really great. And mostly, this reminds me that God is great. There have been so many things to adjust to in my life lately, and yet, I've been enjoying every one of them, and that is the Lord showing me the good.

Happy Birthday Hans

Ok, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, and for that, I apologize. Since I last wrote, much has happened. I started working part-time with my sister at a financial planning office and I've started back at Dancing With the Stars. Both are an answer to our prayers for a job and something for me to do to keep me from absolute boredom. PLUS, yesterday was Hans' birthday, and in our family you get a whole birthday week, so we've been celebrating all week long!

This is the watch my parents and I got Hans. It tells the tides of 200 beaches! So now he can surf any time, any place and know when the best time is to paddle out. He was really excited about it.

Hans went on Splash Mountain without me. Amy likes to stay dry on cold days, call me crazy!


On Sunday night, Hans' grandparents treated us and Hans' uncle Lars and family to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Walts Wharf. Earlier that afternoon we celebrated Hans' birthday with lunch at my folks house, of which, I have no pictures for some reason.
Thursday night, Hans went to a 12:01 am showing of The Watchmen with some buddies from work. What I didn't realize when he told me these plans is that he was dressing up as one of the characters in his bathrobe! Suddenly, I was glad I wasn't going . . . He had a great time and got home around 3:30am!

On Hans' actual birthday (Friday) we spent the day at Disneyland. Since we're already annual passholders, he got a gift card to the park. What we didn't know is you can't use this giftcard for any food items, only Disney merchandise. We should have assumed there was a catch. But Hans found some really nice board shorts at one of the shops, and he bought me lots of delicious candies! It was a great day!