Steve & Liz Starring in..."The Crater of Diamonds"

This past Monday, we celebrated our second anniversary (our anniversary is June 17th, so we were celebrating a bit late, but better than not at all). What better way to commerate an anniversary than digging for diamonds?

We got lost on our way there and ended up at the wrong state park (only Arkansas would have so many state parks that you can end up at the wrong one). After getting to the Crater of Diamonds State Park, though, we rented the tools we needed, gave ourselves a little crash course in what we were supposed to do, and hit the diamond fields (which we believe should be renamed Useless Rock fields).

We pretty much knew we were in major trouble when there were signs warning us that the diamond fields get up to 11o degrees and "fields" don't promise much for shade. When we got out to the fields and picked our spot, we stood there for a moment before Liz said, "Well, now what?" Hmm...good question...

We were given a shovel and a sifting screen, so we deduced that we should dig and sift. Yup.

This trip forced us to accept that we really aren't hardcore outdoors people. Hiking and biking...fun. Paying somebody to do manual labor...not as fun as we hoped for.

When we got back to Conway, we went out to Smokehouse Barbeque and ate food that somebody else prepared for us in airconditioning.

Digging for diamonds has a lot in common with marriage: its a lot of hardwork mixed with guesswork, has small but exciting payoffs along the way (for us it was a couple of RingPops), and as long as you picked a good partner, you'll be able to survive just about anything and leave smiling.

To all of those who have been reading, thanks for the comments! We may not reply to all of them, but we read every one of them and it keeps us dedicated while we form this new habit.

At this point, though, it is time to finish packing up and prepping for the move on Tuesday.

Steve's 25 Birthday

So Liz thought it best to let me write about the surprise party I had for my birthday. Today is technically my birthday (WOO-HOO!) but with everybody moving away, Liz thought it best to throw the party last week.

I was under the impression Liz and I were just getting away from campus and having a date night. The plans were to go glow-in-the-dark mini golfing followed by some ice cream at Shake's (I think we're both still little kids that just happen to be aging and looking like adults.).

When we got there, I was pretty excited (as you can tell). Cute girl with me, glow-in-the dark golf, and the promise of ice cream...what else could a guy really want? When we got inside, though, I was surpised to see Danielle, Rikki, and Justin (some of my close friends) waiting for us. Now at this point a lightbulb should have clicked on in my head, but no...Liz had to tell me it was a surprise birthday party.

We had a lot of fun. If you're close to Conway, its worth checking out. The place plays surprisingly good music and the entire game was close competition. Somehow (still not sure if it was a birthday gift or what) I pulled off winning by one stroke. Afterwards, everybody headed back to our apartment for our cake.

Liz created an awesome birthday cake of cupcakes. It was an Indiana Jones cake that recreated one of the scenes from the new movie. If you've seen the movie, it was the scene with the ants that devoured any people it came across. Cool, right? Along with the cake, I had a music-playing birthday card that played the Indiana Jones theme music. I had been singing it ever since I saw the previews for the movie, and seeing the movie didn't help me stop. I still sing it...

After the cake, Liz gave me my present. Well, a box that I thought had my present in it. Instead it led me to a kitchen cabinet...then to the bedroom closet. While everyone enjoyed me searching through the apartment, I found the gift and it was completely unexpected...ROCKBAND! As soon as I pulled it out of the bedroom and people saw what it was, it was like a siren went off. Everyone was up and assembling instruments, installing batteries, hooking up the Playstation 2. It was like Christmas chaos.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game, ROCKBAND allows people who have never played an instrument (like me) to convince ourselves we could have been famous rockstars. You have the option of playing guitar, playing the drums, or being the lead singer. We all shifted instruments, but Justin and I were partial to the guitar, Rikki and Liz to the drums, and Danielle stuck to the microphone. It was some amazing fun. Eventually, all the people with good judgment left and Liz and I remained playing until we were practically asleep at our instruments.

The birthday was amazing. The best part was it just kept getting better the whole time. I would have been happy just having my date, let alone getting to play with my friends. The cake and company was amazing, let alone getting such an awesome gift.

The last lesson to be learned: Liz is pretty dang sneaky when she chooses to be. Just let that be a warning.

How To: Leave Comments

Hey, everybody!

There is a lot to blog about the past week, but before the exciting stuff, we thought it would be best to provide some instructions on how to leave us comments.

If you don't leave us comments, how else will we know you are reading our blog? We'll get disheartened and develop lower self-esteems and it might even lead to dying young. So take this lesson seriously.

1) Click "comments" underneath the post that you want to write about. This will let you read any other comments people left and leave a comment of your own.
2) Type in the "comment" that you want to leave. At the end of the comment, please type your name like you would in an e-mail or a letter.
3) This is the important part: Underneath the comment box, there a bunch of options of how to submit the comment. Forget about the username and password (YOU DO NOT NEED THIS TO LEAVE A COMMENT). Just click "Anonymous." Since you left your name in your comment, we'll know its you. No problem.

Easy, right?

So do it. Seriously. Right now. Click that little comments button, tell us how easy it was, how much you love us, your favorite recipe, whatever!

For real, this is your only homework. I'll leave the first one for you.

Online Home

Hey, everybody!

You made it our blog! Since we've moved around so much, we thought this would be a good way to keep people updated with our lives and stay updated in yours. If this is your first experience with a blog, there are a few features you should know about.

1) Our newest, most recent post will always be the first thing you see when you come to our blog. The more you read, the older the posts get.

2) We would love and appreciate for you to leave us comments! Following every post, there is a small link that says "comments." Just click that link, and leave us a comment! That's also a great place to ask us for more details or any other questions.

3) Next to the "comments" link is a set of "labels." Once we publish a lot, if you want to read about one specific thing (like Steve's job), you can click "Steve's job" and it will bring up all the posts that talk about it.

Other than that, enjoy the reading! Our goal is to write once a week, but until we get some type of consistent routine, it may be sporadic throughout the week.

Woo-hoo! Welcome to our online home!