we are back, and osama is dead

We got back late sunday night from our trip to Mexicana.
When my parents picked us up, they asked if we had watched the news or read any newspapers while we were gone. We laughed and said no way.
"Well Osama bin Laden has been found and killed." It was news to us. Its amazing we were in our own world for one whole week and heard nothing of this historical event. To make up for this mishap, we might have to have an "Osama Is Dead" party.

Well here is a sneak peek of our trip since I know you all (ha) are dying to see some:






:

over and out

We are heading out early tomorrow for our much-anticipated vacation.
I probably won't be able to sleep tonight. I get too excited for big trips that involve going to the airport.
I did pretty much all the packing. And for good reason. I handed Kevin our cash that we are taking and our passports (probably the two most important things) to put away in his backpack. I decided I would do a look-over his carry-on and lo and behold no cash or passports. He left them in his first backpack he started packing in. MY GOODNESS. What would the men in our lives do without us?!

We will all see you in a week!
Much love.

its about to get a whole lot better

This just came in the mail today:

This blog (hopefully) is about to get a WHOLE lot better. More pictures, more QUALITY pictures.
Now I just need to learn how to use it... good thing I don't have homework anymore!

done with the college chapter in the book called "Life of Mal: Being Mal"

Finished my last test today. And I would hardly call it that. I was a little bit stressed out about this oral test, made sure I reviewed a lot of the articles that were required during this course. But it turned out, rather than an oral test, we had a party and played jeopardy. We still had to participate, but boy oh boy was it much easier than I had anticipated.

It was weird thinking "this is the last time I will be walking to class", or "the last time I will work out in the field house",or "last day I will be called a 'student'." Oh crap what do I say now when I need an excuse for anything? I can't use, "Sorry, I can't make it I have to study, or I have class that night, or just I am a student that should be explanation enough. I am going to have to find a better one now.

Hopefully this will take some stress out of my life. I know it will. I am not saying I have a lot of stress, because my life is as good as it gets right now, but it will take out all that "student stress" that you seem to always have when you are going to school.

Well, I think with graduating, all of this stuff needs to be had:
The first one being for my parents of course. For both of their cars.




Well what is the next chapter in Life of Mal: Being Mal you ask?

Here are some options:

its getting close!

Were coming onto just a week before our vacation! Weeee soooo exciiiited (hopefully you have heard that song...actually no, hopefully you haven't).
I now have only one more thing to check off my list before I graduate:

one oral test

and thats all! Holy cow.

So of course everyday I am looking up info and pictures on Playa del Carmen. And I just found out the coolest thing. It is home to the SECOND LARGEST barrier reef, next to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. No wonder it was unreal snorkeling there. I am getting chills just thinking about it. We are going to try and snorkel it every morning since its literally right off our beach.
Some fun facts:
This reef is called the Belize Barrier Reef and is home to 500 species of fish and hundreds of invertebrate species.
Researchers say they have only researched 10% of the reef. They estimate that only 10% of the species have been discovered.
It runs on the coast of Cancun (through Playa del Carmen) all the way to Belize.
I hope to see lots of these:




And none of these. Pretty sure I would pee my swimsuit if I came upon this guy:

But I do want to see Kevin come upon one of these. He got extremely scared last time. I was laughing so hard I started choking and had to go up to breath.

streamers and binkys

I always have the best birthdays. My parents trained me from day one that my birthday was a BIG DEAL. Growing up, we usually were in Carlsbad, California with all of the extended family on and around my birthday. We would go to Disneyland, Legoland (for Tyler), the Carlsbad flower fields, get fresh strawberry shortcake, go outlet shopping, and of course eat at Harbor Fish. I just grew up thinking, heck, my whole extended family loves me so much they all come to California to be with me and celebrate with me. Well, as everyone grew up and times-a-changed, we slowly stopped doing this tradition (even though Kev took my two years ago to spoil me).
Now that we don't go to California, my parents have to make up for it (or so they think). So right when me and Kevin walk through the door Sunday on my birthday, I am greeted with "Suprise!" and my dad throwing streamers at me. And I get big hugs. And I see that streamers are wrapped around everywhere: the staircase, my birthday chair at the dinner table, and around the chandelier. I am so loved. There was even enough for me to make myself a birthday sash.
So we started the day with Monopoly. Remember my wish before? Well they agreed. I started with $3000 and never had to go to jail. Boy, did I whip their butts. It felt real good to finally win.
We then got to eat my birthday dinner. I had begged for some beef brisket. It was so darn good. And then we washed it down with the Costco All-American Chocolate Cake; the cake of my dreams. Tyler even wrote POOP out with my 23 candles. He's so nice!
Hadley watched me blow the candles out, and imitated me right after, but refused to blow once we put a lit candle in front of her face. She's learning though; last year she cried after I blew my candles out. And cried again when I re-lit and blew them out again. I am the best aunt ever.

I then got to open presents. I asked my mom to get me Aloha soy sauce (for the best chicken recipe ever), asian toppings, and she delivered! I even got real miso (paste) soup, bamboo sticks and a japanese key chain and money My dad picked out the card and laughed so hard after I read it. He thought it was hilarious. Let me read it to you:
Hey, Daughter!
You're on the move!
You're on the go!
You're always on the run!
Here's hoping that your day is filled with high-speed, fast-track fun!

haha it makes me laugh even now. My family has a thing for finding the most ridiculous cards ever.

I also got a garlic slicer and the best dressing holder/mixer ever. I have already used it and feel rich to have such a sophisticated kitchen tool.
Now on to my brother Ty. He got me finger lights: these are exactly what you expect them to be. You stick them on your finger and they light up. Thats it. And he only got me three.
He also got me a blow up latex lion balloon. This one was cool. Hadley loved it.
And then he got me two binkys. Yep, baby binkys. It was him hinting to us that we need to have a baby (or babies I guess) before he leaves on his mission. Hopefully I can find them again whenever we do have kids. He told me they were expensive.

We then got to hear my birth story:
I guess my older sister was slow-comming, so when my mom started having close contractions, my dad was in no rush. He thought he had plenty of time to stop at the Wendy's drive-thru because he was STARVING. Well, he didn't. I'm pretty sure my mom didn't let him get his already ordered food and yelled "TO THE HOSPITAL, NOW!" I arrived 45 minutes later. But I came out blue. I guess I choked on my own...poop.... Yeah yeah "Oh malorie, that explains a lot, that's why you are so special!" Yes, that IS why I am so special.



My husband got me the prettiest flowers AND a birthday card that made me all teary-eyed. This is a huge deal for him. This boy does not do flowers or cards. It was monumentous and the best birthday present ever.

I got to take the rest of the ginormous cake home. Nothing beats having 40 billion ready slices of the best chocolate cake ever in your freezer.

I hope this lasts forever and our run-in with the law

oooohhh-ahhhh my cute little brother going to prom


Everyone thinks I am younger than I really am. Almost every day at work, I always get the "Are you old enough to serve?..." and I always like to ask them how old they think I am. I always get 14, 15, 16 years old. They are so surprised when they find out I am almost 23 and married. Just yesterday, the cooks little girl (7 years old) asked how old I was and guessed I was 15. She told me my pig tails made me look like a little girl.
Well today, my little brother had some time to spare before he went to his externship, so he decided to come hang out with the cool kids (me and the hubby). We decided to show him our typical friday afternoon: Lunch trip to Costco. We had him drive his cool orange (with a black racing stripe) mustang, because its cool. We showed him the glory of a $1.50 hot dog and drink. And then we showed him how to look at all the cameras, flat-screen T.V.'s and new 3.D. T.V.'s. I think he really enjoyed it.
On the drive home, we noticed a cop that had pulled another car on the opposite side of the road. Right when he saw Tyler's car, he pulled a U-turn, and followed us for quite a while. And then he decided to pull us over. Ugh I hate cops. So the cop walks up in his coply-manner and says he is the school police officer. He looks at Tyler and asks where he goes to school and how old he is. He looks in the back at me and demands the same. I tell him I go to the U and am 23. I am sure he just looked at my pig tails and my candy lei necklace I had sported from Tyler's back seat, and thought "liar". He then looks at Kevin. Kevin says that he has already graduated from the U and owns his own business (no...he didn't say that). The officer then goes "Well wow, I was sure all you were sluffin' school." He then asked what Tyler was doing and I (being the good big sister and all) chimed in and told him that Tyler was on his way to an externship of medical assisting and he was an awesome kid. Tyler pulled out his get-out-of-trouble-free pass and handed it to the cop. The cop asked who wrote it out. Tyler retorted "Umm ALTA DID..." in his very annoyed voice. It made me laugh. He hates cops and he hates the attention his car gets from them. They really do have a special eye on that car. After a second look from the cop to the lot of us, we were let go. It was a close one. Those school cops will get ya!

And Kevin wanted me to add that he went running with me this morning and that he is a very good husband for doing so.

That is all.