Face to face

Ander and I were messing around the other day and made some stupid videos. They're pretty stupid, but they made us laugh.

Somethin' about squishy faces... I don't know.

Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses

This last Friday night Ander accompanied me to the nerdiest thing we've ever been to in our lives. We attended the Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses concert at the Long Center in Austin. It. Was. Fantastic.

I've always been a huge Zelda fan. Honestly, I remember my dad and brother playing the original Zelda together and I've been a fan ever since. It doesn't really get much better than a little guy dressed in green running around with a sword. And he sure has come a long way since the old Nintendo days.

1012

1987            

Link is the perfect video game silent protagonist. He can basically do anything. There really hasn't been a bad Zelda game yet, although Majora's Mask for the N64 didn't ever really interest me. The music is classic, and at this concert they pulled out all of the stops.

 The Austin Symphony were the ones that played the music all night, and on that big screen behind them they showed gameplay and scenes from every single Zelda game that has ever been released. It was even timed perfect with the music. It was really impressive.

 The second kid from the front of this balcony is wearing a little pointy Link hat... I don't know if you can see it very well, but... there were a lot of those. A lot of people in full on green tunics/tights/boots too. And just in case any of you are wondering: I do draw the line somewhere. I wore nice jeans, a dressy top, and heels. No costumes for me.

 This was the line for the bathrooms. Cell phones all around. It blows my mind that this generation is in a perpetual state of looking down. No one looks up and around anymore... they might miss something on Facebook Mobile.

 The line for the bar during intermission was huge. I don't really know why, I thought these people were enjoyed the night, not trying to dim it by alcohol.

This was the most impressive costume of all. This girl MADE this whole thing herself and subjected herself to every nerd's dream by standing there in the middle of the foyer and letting everyone take pictures of her (and with her). Of course she loved every minute of it, and milked it for all it was worth. I was very impressed with her sewing skills.

The concert was so magnificent, I loved every minute of it. Even though we were surrounded by people playing their Nintendo DS's during the intermission, and people in full costume, it was TOTALLY worth it! The music arrangements were to die for. What better music for a symphony to play than the classic Zelda theme?

Original

Symphonic

Big purchase

This is the new 39 television that Ander FINALLY let me buy. I've been begging him for a new TV for a long time, and he finally made that dream of mine a reality. I'm amazed how much of a different experience it is when you watch a movie or play a video game on a large screen. Hopefully someday we'll just have a projector and use one wall as our screen, but this is so wonderfully perfect for now. I'm so happy!

Diamonds in the rough

I found these pictures on my computer a couple of days ago and have NO idea why I didn't post them. They're so awesome.

 This is how lessons are taught in MY Young Women's classes (when it's not me doing the teaching) Be defenders of the family!!

 Our fur baby

 Some of my sweet YW girls: Brooke, Naomi, Korynn and Korynn's nonmember friend Cadie (far left with dark hair)

 Crazy dog

 I made these cute little snacks for my clients for Saint Patrick's Day. Rainbow Twizzlers and Rolos. How awesome is that!?

I made these cake balls for my brother Joe for his birthday. They are supposed to look like Metroids from the Nintendo game franchise. (on the right) They look somewhat like metroids, right? He got a big kick out of them. Especially since I shipped them to Utah for him!

 I found this when I came home one day. 

These next pictures are hilarious. This never gets old for me and Ander.

HERE I AM!!

Ah ha! I had you all fooled. I had you all fooled that I had fallen off the the face of the blogger planet, didn't I? You all thought I was gone... yet, hark! Here I am!

Before you all get your panties in twists, I am AWARE that I fell off the face of the blogger planet for a while. I couldn't even really tell you why... maybe because our lives here in Austin are, well, BORING. Yes, even life in the Meine household can be boring at times. It's not that life is bad, things are going quite well in our little abode, but things are just... the same as ever. So I did get into a little bit of a blog funk because I felt that I didn't have a whole lot to share.

BUT

This last Easter weekend in April we both went home to visit the fam in Utah. Ander actually spent a few days down in Southern Utah to visit his family at the beginning of the week too. Hooray for families within driving distance!!

Ander's favorite Mexican restaurant of all time is in Orem, Utah. It's called Beto's. I think it's kind of gross, but that's just because I don't really appreciate super greasy Mexican food that comes from a shop that defies all health standards... but that's just me. These briefcases full of meat we have in our hands are the $3.50 breakfast burritos Beto's has to offer. I only at about 1/4 of mine, and Ander ate the rest later on in the trip.

And of course we had to visit one of MY favorite restaurants in Orem, Zupas. Oh, Zupas, how I miss you. I miss your fresh salads, sandwiches, and soups. This visit was right after we visited the Timpanogos Temple in American Fork (where Ander and I were married over five years ago)

Most of our time was spent chilling with the fam, and since Ander was gone for the first half of the week, I got to hang out with my sister Katie. My mom commissioned us to help her choreograph some songs for her 2nd graders. That was a hoot!

We could all be sisters, couldn't we?

 And here we ARE sisters!!

 The last night Ander and I were there Katie and I busted out my Wii and our favorite dance games. My step-mom Colleen's kids were all visiting just for a minute, and came downstairs to see what all the fuss was about. We all ended up doing Zumba for a good half hour. It was so awesome.

And of course the dancer out of all of us (Ander Meine!!) chose to sit out. Party pooper. Even Colleen got into it for a little while. She was my favorite. By the end of the Zumbathon my hair was coming out of it's style, everyone was sweaty, and everyone was exhausted. But on the bright side, we had just eaten Mexican food, so a good portion of that was burned off.

We had such a great time in Utah for out trip. It was so nice to be surrounded by my very favorite people in the whole world while I was there. Dancing, good food, family, what more could I ask for? Success!!