Four Years

I just blinked and we hit our 4-year anniversary.  This year we spent the day in San Diego amidst family (again)!  I have to post my yearly sap because I always have an anniversary post and I am a creature of habit.  So, here were are, and look at those sweet baby faces:

(Yes, I realize we still have those baby faces.  Yesterday at the temple, one of the workers did a double-take and asked me if I was old enough to be in there.  The funny part is, this is not even the first time this exact scenario has gone down...)

Love (of the 4-year variety) is...

...eating a lot more salad than any man would ever choose to eat.

...leaving work early even though there are still lots of things to do.

...suggesting we go browse dishes at Home Goods on a Friday night.

...realizing your 7-year-old self would be thrilled to know you did actually find someone who will play board games with you every day.

...pulling into Baskin Robbins on the way home from the library without any discussion.

...giving the longest back scratches in the history of back scratches.

...saying, "Sounds great," right after you play some truly horrendous notes on your rusty violin.

...going downstairs late at night (every night) to check if the garage door is closed, because what if it isn't?  (You leave it open one time, and you're stuck with a lifetime full of fear.)

Obviously this gem needed to get dug up...umm, what on earth...?

A Return to Music and Awkward Neck Markings

I'm playing my violin in church in a few weeks which means I had to locate my violin, practice, and be reminded once again that I am no longer...shall we say, skilled?  *laugh* *cry*  Next time I feel myself getting too prideful about anything, I'll just dig up my senior piece and attempt to play it because I am now put. in. my. place.

Exhibit A:  The Wieniawski Polonaise...

Exhibit B: My version of this piece today...

Aliens must have taken over my body in 2008 because the person I am now can NOT play the Wieniawski.  Of course, it never sounded like Antal Zalai because that man IS an alien from another planet, but I did learn it once.  Normally you don't start sweating in this piece until about the 4:00 minute mark (watch Antal above), but I get to that point within about 40 seconds now and it's all downhill from there. Oh well, it's been fun to visit Youtube and listen to the real deals play all my performance pieces instead.

After the initial shock of wow-I'm-so-rusty wore off, practicing again was great fun.  Unfortunately, after a few minutes of practicing, my violin hickey returned, and I feel that this is ten times more awkward now than it was back in the day since of course no one questioned where it came from back then.  Anyway, luckily the piece I picked for church is pretty harmless (famous last words).  There are a few lines of double-stops and I probably will just play the top notes because  aintnobodygottimeforthat. Jenny Oaks Baker, if you are reading this, I apologize.  

San Diego

We are back from a trip to the dreamy palm trees of San Diego.  Coming back from vacation always makes me contemplate the meaning of life.  Why am I here (and not in San Diego)?  Where did I come from (how did I not always live in San Diego)?  Where am I going (preferably back to San Diego)?

There is much to say about this vacation, which usually results in me saying almost nothing (see my last 3 vacation posts here, here, and here), but I'm attempting to be more descriptive this time!

In the space of 5 short days we did the following (good things):

• Visited Sea World, Legoland, the USS Midway, Balboa Park (and about 5 museums therein), and the San Diego Zoo
• Did sealings and baptisms at the San Diego temple
• Visited the Mormon Battalion site & a Catholic mission
• Risked our lives racing go karts
• Rode electric bikes around Coronado Island
• Kayaked and snorkeled in the ocean
• Surfed
• Rode around the harbor on a cruise
• Visited many beaches (La Jolla, Silverstrand, Coronado, and Point Loma)
• Celebrated our 4-Year anniversary
• Ate delicious Mexican food at Old Town
• Spent lots of time in the car with Grandma and Grandpa
• Prank called the family pretending to be President Obama (...you had to have been there)
• Watched Full House marathons every night

In the space of 5 short days, the following (bad things) also happened:

• Scott's wedding ring got lost at sea during a surfing wipe-out. Sniff. 
• Brooke got stung by a sting ray.
• I made the mistake of asking Rach to sunscreen my shoulder.
• Many suffered through blisters from the amount of running walking we were doing.
• It felt like we spent close to $5,000,000 in parking fees.
• We got stuck under a tree during a freak rain storm.
• We went to the wrong museum for an IMAX movie, but it turned out the rest of the family just slept through it anyway.
• A forest fire blocked our route home.

Bruening vacations are clearly the best.  We crammed so much into that week, but who needs R&R on a vacation?  

You know you had a good time when you took 500 photos. Here are some highlights:

Normally I stick with just photos of Scott and I on the blog, since if I tried to include everyone in this family, there would be NO END to the megabytes of this blog, but look at that face! He is the funnest.

Somehow Scott is really good at surfing...who knew?