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Monday, August 17, 2015

Girl's Weekend!


As all of you that keep up with my blog know, Angela and I have girl's nights on a regular basis. It makes us sad but some of our friends live out of state and can't make it. This weekend we decided to bring girl's night to one of our favorite people and this plan resulted in the most fun girl's weekend trip we could have ever imagined!

We left Thursday night and drove though the desert. We made a detour to a very unique place when we stopped at Joshua Tree National Park. I have never seen Joshua Trees that big, they looked like alien Dr. Seuss trees and driving though made me feel like I was driving on the ocean floor.
When we made it to Phoenix it was 4 in the morning and 104 degrees outside. We made sure to bring in everything from our car so nothing would melt when the sun came out. We woke up a few hours later and got ready for the day. By the time we got back into the car to go pick up a few provisions we saw this...
Unlike the heat, it was amazingly comfortable for us to be around Ashley. She's truly is a sweet, kind, wonderful soul. She works all the time and rides her bike to work in this weather. When Angela and I got back to the hotel we had fun decorating our hotel room for a Disney themed girl's night. If any of you know Ashley then you know that she absolutely loves everything Disney. Before we left for Phoenix we had to make a special trip to Disneyland to pick up a present for her and some caramel apples for us to eat. Here are some decorations we put up for our Disney Princess theme.
This is a candid photo of her opening her Disneyland 60th anniversary water bottle we got her.
We had foot soaks and stayed up all night watching Mulan, Mean Girls, and talking about anything and everything. When we woke up we had our second complimentary breakfast and spent the rest of the day at the mall trying on clothes at all the stores and smelling delicious smells at Bath and Body Works.
My wife and I have had some wonderful opportunities to road trip lately and I am amazed at how blessed we are to have the friends we do. I can't thank Ashley enough for the time she spent with us. She is so cute and bubbly and deserved to have some fun time off.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Love is a Package Deal

Angela and I saw Phantom of the Opera last week to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary. We have both wanted to see that play since we were very young. Angela has been fortunate enough to see it three times now. I related life experience to Christine's struggles and it helped me see life more clearly. It taught me just because something feels good at the time does not mean it will grant someone lasting joy. It's amazing how the wisdom from other people's experiences (like the ones portrayed in Phantom of The Opera) can save you unimaginable heartbreak.

The Phantom exploited Christine's naivety and let her believe that he was the Angel of Music sent by her late father to watch over her. After all she was a young wide-eyed little girl willing to except anything that hid her from cold hard reality. She grew up very lonely without her parents but the Phantom of Opera was there to ease her mind. However while satisfying both their needs for companionship Christine was blind to the treachery caused by the Phantom's other desires.
You pity the Phantom for his dark past and hopeless future but you realize that does not excuse him of his actions. Life is hard and everyone deals with it differently. I find with life most things come in package deals. All you see at first is a box labeled "companionship" and you think I NEED THAT! But what you get with that companionship can be toxic. That's why you need to be careful how you choose your friends. It may feel right because you're getting what you need but you may get more than you bargained for.

It's easy at the beginning of a relationship to just focus on your loneliness being relieved. It's easy to feel special just from someone's desire for them to be around you. And if they are charming you may be enticed into more than friendship. Unfortunately for a lot of people long term relationships are very complicated.
You need to keep bettering yourself or else what is the point of a new day? Angela and I have been through enough to know hiding in the shadows gets you nowhere. I wish I could shake some people that give their love blindly. In this play the Phantom is a person pulling the strings and it may be for you too, but in most of our lives it's subtle things. Everyone has their phantoms to soothe their minds. It can be an idea or obsession but eventually reality will catch up with you.  It saddens me that some people think that ignorance is bliss, they may never experience true bliss that way.

Angela and I live our days in the light discovering new things about ourselves and each other daily. We live each day living for the future. Christine only dreams of being hidden from her problems not to rise above them. Even when dreaming of the light she wishes to be hidden. Angela and I make effort to rise above all obstacles daily. Our love is not blind but pure thanks to being ever watchful for impurity. We know 2 years is not very much time and we have much to face ahead but we will do it head strong and most importantly without darkness in ourselves.