Day 19 - Forever Young.

Day 19 - A picture of you when you were little.

Little Katie and little Gabe..







..grew up to be big Katie and big Gabe. And when they met, they hit it off. Married on June 13, 2009 for time and all eternity. That is all.

Day 18 - Fort Blanket.

Day 18 - A picture of your day.



Let me just apologize for my little day switch on the sixty day challenge..I am sorry. Because I work basically all day on the day of "picture of your day," I traded places with day twenty five. Shame, shame.

Today, Katie and I went to the Boise Idaho Temple. It was nice. I always get lost in there though. And it's just a little building. By always, I mean the two times we've been inside of the Boise Temple. I love it! By it, I mean the temple, not getting lost. I always feel so peaceful when I leave. It's like all of the stress and worries are just lifted off of my shoulders..for a little while anyway. Until the next visit.



We stopped by Target to get some chocolate on our way home. Because it's spring break, we can do pretty much whatever we want. With the little money we have, of course. So we built a fort out of blankets. And threw some more blankets inside of our blanket fort. And all of the pillows we have to make it soft..and cuddly. Then we made taco salad and gathered all of our chocolates and our Jones soda and went inside. I even made room for Jimi. And I didn't want to share with anyone else. Just Katie. I only didn't want to share with Jimi, because he is really sneaky about getting close to my food. Jimi moves about an inch every five minutes on his stomach until he's close enough to lick whatever he can reach. And believe me, Jimi will eat anything. He eats lettuce. What dog eats lettuce? I knew if I didn't share with Jimi, he would have found a way to sneak into the fort anyway. Or Katie would have helped him in through the side.



   
   




We received our Netflix in the mail today so after the taco salad was all gone, Katie put our movie in and we spent the rest of the day eating chocolate and watching Public Enemies. We're just..so healthy. Almond Joy's, York Peppermint Patties, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. But they taste so good. And we workout. That makes us..balanced, right? I think it does. And chocolate makes us happy. Happy is healthy.

Sweet Shoppe.

Today, Katie and I went to PiYoga. I can't stretch like those girls. I don't know if I will ever be able to. It's so painful. But I made it through and I was even able to walk home. When we got home, I made some beautiful sandwiches that were super delightful. And that's when it hit me. A craving for key lime pie. After failing to find a secret hole-in-the-wall bakery that serves only the best key lime pie, we went to Marie Callendar's. Katie got her usual crock of french onion soup. It's her favorite food apparently, if soup even counts. She's in love with the stuff. I ordered a salad and shepherd's pie and when it came time for dessert, I was ready. At least I thought I was ready..until I looked over the pies again. The picture of the double cream blueberry pie looked so wonderful on the front of the menu that it overtook my craving for key lime pie. It was so soft and creamy, but my craving for key lime pie returned after it all disappeared..so that kind of sucks. Katie ordered the kahlua pie. It was so good, as always. After Marie Callendar's, we ventured off to find a candy store that I had heard about called Powell's Sweet Shoppe. We ended up in this cute little mountain village and I decided as soon as I walked through the front door that I was in love with the place! Candy everywhere, Willy Wonka on a loop, fantastic gelato, and a case full of tasty beverages. Some of the things they had are probably very hard to find. We found candy we had only heard about from people twice our age or haven't seen since we, ourselves, were kids. I seriously thought I walked into the candy shop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Honeydukes. Maybe better than both. Katie found Jones soda candy which led her to a Jones soda craving. Out of their huge variety of soda's, Jones soda was nowhere to be found. To make a long story a little shorter, we searched all over Boise, in about five different places, and didn't find it. There was just one more place we had to stop before we gave up completely. And there it was. Jones soda. And a happy Katie.

Day 17 - Social Impact.

Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.



We recently moved to Boise, Idaho to finish our education. It's had a huge impact on our lives. Mostly for the good, but there are a few side effects. We're in a cozy one bedroom apartment right next to Downtown Boise, Boise State University, and Ann Morrison Park. The Boise River runs through the park which is awesome. And a shuttle comes to our apartment complex every ten minutes to bring Boise State students to school. Although being away from our family and friends is one of the side effects, it gives us time to ourselves and time to focus on finishing school. We love our new home! It's a definite upgrade from the run down old place in the ghetto of El Cajon that we use to live in. Katie finally gets to experience the four seasons, the mountains are pretty and it's green here, it's a lot safer than El Cajon and probably San Diego in general, and to our surprise, there is actually a lot to do. But as much as we love Boise, we plan to move back to the San Diego area when we graduate to be with family. And we really miss the ocean! A lot!

Day 16 - Art and Inspiration.

Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you.

Before I talk about two people that inspire us, I just want to vent. It's about the umbrella I had to carry around all day. Katie and I decided to walk downtown this evening and she insisted on taking the umbrella. The sun is finally out in Boise. The sky is blue. And people are pulling their shorts out from their closets, but here I am, carrying an umbrella. Maybe I'm exaggerating just a little with the shorts. It's still pretty cold outside, but it's not wet..at all. "Can you please carry it, in case it rains?" she asks, pointing to the few tiny clouds in the sky. Of course I gave in because she's really cute. And she did that thing where she crinkles her nose. So I'm skipping down the street, getting some weird looks. Maybe it was my skipping, but I'm pretty sure it was the umbrella. "Look at me, I've got an umbrella..just incase it rains on this bright, sunny day!" But when we finally made it to Pie Hole, a little hole in the wall pizza joint in Downtown Boise, we ordered our pizza and I discovered the greatest thing. Potato bacon pizza. I didn't bring up the umbrella again..until now. But I'll carry an umbrella on any fine day for some potato bacon pizza.








As great as it is, Potato bacon pizza is not my inspiration. There's a guy in San Diego that does local art that really inspires me. His name is Robert Wyland. Wyland is an artist who is best known for painting large, outdoor murals of ocean life. The guy is an incredible painter and seeing his work makes me want to do great things. He not only inspires me to keep drawing and painting, but he inspires me to help protect ocean wildlife. Wyland's artwork gives me a deeper appreciation for the ocean and what's underneath.





Katie's inspiration is Blake Mycoskie. Just incase you didn't already know, he's the guy that founded TOMS shoes. First off, the guy lives on a sailboat in Los Angeles, which automatically makes him awesome. TOMS shoes was founded on a simple premise: For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. Mycoskie started his company almost by accident. He was in Argentina after losing The Amazing Race when he met some volunteers in a café who were running a local shoe drive, and he decided to jump in on the project. During the project, thoughts flooded his head, "Why does charity have to be responsible for this? Why not entrepreneurship? Make it easy: Buy a pair, give a pair – we give away a pair for every pair sold.” Inspired by his experience collecting donated shoes and delivering them to an Argentinian village, he returned to his home in Los Angeles with an idea. Thus, Toms was born. And over 1,000,000 pairs of shoes have been given to children in twenty different countries, including the United States, under the One for One movement since TOMS started. Blake Mycoskie plans on making TOMS more than just a "shoe company" and the rest of his products will also be "one for one," donating to children in need. Katie has the spirit of giving. Giving to anyone makes her happy. Except for bums. So giving to ALMOST anyone makes her happy. Especially those in need.