marriage/new york/you have a fire/mugginess

this has to be one of my favorites from the wedding. how beautiful does julie look. i love seeing julie every day and thinking wow that is my wife. i can't believe how time flies. it seems like just a minute ago that i was sitting there taking this picture with my beautiful wife of a couple hours. now all the sudden it has been nearly a month and half and we are here sweltering in Microwave City aka New York City. it was 97 today with enough humidity to make your body wonder if you are at the center of the earth or something. the good news is...it will be 98 tomorrow.

but who am i to complain. i am here in my favorite place with my favorite person. it has been so incredible to experience all of this with julie. here in new york, on our own, walking into this whole marriage thing. we learn so much about each other each day, and things just keep getting better. i am loving her a little more every day. it is so crazy to go from being single, (being your own self, doing what you want, when you want) to being married where suddenly you aren't making decisions for yourself anymore, you are making decisions two. what an incredible transition it is. so fun in so many ways, so tough in a couple of ways, but mainly just an awesome ride and a part of our lives that julie and i will certainly never forget.

it is so amazing to always have someone to turn to for advice. or to turn to tell a story, or someone just to talk to. and to know that that person loves you as much as you love them. it is just something you can't really imagine until you are there in the moment. all of you married people who are reading this are probably like "man just wait for this or that, or you don't know what the heck you are talking about" but really, i am just telling you what i am experiencing.

it has been an awesome week, and couple of weeks now that we have been here. one of my mission companions and his wife were in town, had some fun with them catching up. mark, one of my best buddies from childhood was here with his dad as they were passing through on their way home from europe. we have had a lot of fun with noah an kristi, including a trip to Hershey PA for some good chocolate, a sweet 1.5 star hotel, getting into Hershey Park for free (a theme park there with some wicked awesome roller coasters, we asked like 30 people to let us in for free, finally someone gave in and let us in (tix were 60 bucks a pop) so we lucked out), and some awesome amish country and amish people. see the pics below.

one quick story, the other day, julie and i went out for our "sweet we made it throuhg the first month of marriage" dinner at this awesome thai place that julie found. anyway so the food was awesome, there was this greek guy and his girlfriend sitting next to us, probably in the 50s or so. and throughout dinner they asked a couple questions about nyc and the states as this was their first trip. so julie, got up to go the bathroom and while she was gone, the guy asked me if i knew any night clubs in the area where they could go have a drink. i tried my best to think of somewhere to send him (really had no idea what i was talking about (i gave up clubbing in 9th grade). anyway so he is in the middle of sentence in a thick accent and he says in the same tone "you have a fire," and i was like "what?" then again he says, "you have a fire" in a total monotone voice. just then i see something out of the corner of my eye. my napkin was on fire. i picked it up and tried to shake it out which just made the flame bigger. so i had a pretty nice fire going in the restaurant when this sweet asian dude comes running over and just like me, he picks up the napkin and shakes it, only to make the flame a little bigger. so then he grabs my big glass of water and starts dumping it all over the the table, and finally the fire went out. it was hilarious though, you kind of had to be there. but just imagine a monotone accented voice saying "you have a fire" then the confusion or a big fire on your table and then an asian guy dumping your water all over the table. that might make you chuckle a little. and oh ya, the cause was that i accidentally pushed the napkin over the candle where it was sitting.

so anyway life is awesome here in new york. it is hot and muggy, but that is all part of the experience. thank goodness for cold showers and refridgerators. not thank goodness for B.O. and the nasty smells that the heat does to garbage bags on the street. here is a pic or two of the hershey adventure, more pics to come when i load them on my computer. hope life is beauty in your neck of the woods.