Catch Up!

Well, now that I have caught up with all our honeymoon posts and pictures, I can catch up with what has been going on since we've been home.

I've been working full time at BYU Independent Study (the Testing Department, if you didn' t know). Monday-Friday, 8-5. It's tough. I really hate getting up early, haha. But it's a good habit for me to get into, plus I'll have to do it through at least December. Yuck.
I start summer classes in 3 1/2 weeks, and I'm actually pretty excited. I'm SO close to being done. Yes, I graduate next April, and it is pretty far away, but when I think about how many classes/credits I have left, I know that I really am close.
Gotta keep keepin' on.

Kyle's currently the stay-at-home husband, and he's ready to be over that spot in his life. He's searching for jobs that will give him good experience in his major/graduate school choice. So that's coming along. He recently decided he thinks he actually wants to go to graduate school in Marriage and Family Therapy, not Organizational Psych like he originally thought. BYU has a good Master's program, so there might be a chance we stay in Utah... so we'll see!

Last weekend, we went to the temple. It was my first time in the Provo Temple, and it was really great. I saw my friend Camille in the dressing room, which was really fun. We also spent quality time at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Target, returning gifts, and using gift cards. We have pretty much everything we need now! there are just a few remaining things that we'll get soon.
I love our comforter! I had a hard time picking one out before the wedding, and I'm glad no one bought either of the ones we registered for. We picked it up on Saturday, and it was a really good deal! $80 for the sheets, pillowcases, shams, bedskirt and comforter, as well as two decorative pillows! It looks like this, and our blue and white sheets that we picked out and received for our wedding go great with it!


We also spent Sunday afternoon with Nathan's family. Alan also came over, and we chatted and ate dinner. Then, it was time for LOST! The finale! I really liked it. Yeah, it may not have answered a ton of questions, but sometimes I think that it's best to leave some questions unanswered instead of trying to answer them and making even more of a confusing mess. And I loved seeing all the characters together again. *tear*
You can go here to see Sarah's thoughts, and I pretty much echo her in every way.
And I just want you all to know that Hurley is my favorite character.

Oh, Sunday we also went to our married ward for the first time. Everyone seems really friendly. The downside? Church is 2:30-5:30. What?!! Who just makes church that late? But an upside is that we have church in an actual church building, in a real chapel. I haven't had that in over 3 years. Also, the very first talk was straight from the Proclamation, about multiplying and replenishing the earth. Kyle and I both thought that was pretty funny.

Well, I think that's about it. We're still working on getting all of our stuff put away from the move. Once our apartment is clean, and cute looking, I'll take and post pictures.

Oh, and here are just a few pictures that haven't been posted. A couple from Kyle's graduation, and then a few that my lovely little sister took last week. The other one is a rainbow ended over the stadium. Kyle had to stop and take a picture, you know it's going to be a good season when the pot of gold is in the stadium! :)

Honeymoon, part 5

The rest of the time we spent on the ship was so fun.

More lounging around, and eating.

For the days we were on the ship, Kyle and I always had an afternoon snack of pizza and ice cream. The soft serve ice cream was delicious, we could eat so much of it!

My very favorite dessert on the cruise was the chocolate melting cake.

Oh, how delicious.

I honestly got this every night.

I don't think I already blogged about this, but I got a tiny bit seasick.

It was mostly when we ate dinner.

The restaurant was at the very back of the boat, and I could feel it sway.

but I never got sick or anything, just was bothered by it more than anything.

Every night when they turn down your bed, they leave a little animal made out of towels, so we made sure to take a picture of each one.

On Sunday morning we docked early, and got ready to go.

there were a few delays, but we didn't mind, because our plane didn't leave for about 8 hours anyway.

We took a taxi to the airport, and hung out there for a long while.

Finally, we got on the airport and came home!

And how good it is to be home, in our own apartment.

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo was really beautiful.

So much beach!

At Cabo we were going to go snokeling, and we had to get up super early make it
off the boat in time.

We got on another boat to get off the ship.

We then met up with our group, and got on a motorboat.

First we went around and he showed us some of the "sights" in Cabo.

The waves were really huge, and were awesome to watch as the crashed onto the rocks.

We went to the beach that we were supposed to snorkel at, but the water was too
rough that day.

We went to another place, and were able to get in the water.

Straight from the boat.

In our snorkel gear.

Now, you may not know this about me, but I am TERRIFIED of water.

Or rather, to be in the water.

That is so deep my feet won't touch.

And if my head gets anywhere near to or under the water...

I panic.
(I attribute this paranoia to the fact that when I was young my tube got flipped over in the wave pool at Seven Peaks and I was stuck underneath it.)

(and yes, I did work at Seven Peaks for a long time, but I hardly got in the water.)

So, why I thought snokeling would be a fun idea, I'm not sure.

I really was so excited, until that morning.

Maybe I thought it would cure me of my fear.

I don't know.

But it took a lot of effort on my part to get in the water.

Once I was in the water, I wouldn't put my head down.

(Uh, hello, that's the point of snorkeling).

I swam slowly to the beach.

I swam slowly back to the boat.

I was done with being in the water.

Poor Kyle had to put up with me.

But the water was still really rough anyway, so he couldn't see anything.

Actually, I take that back, he saw one fish!

Anyway, after the snorkeling excursion, we walked around the arts and craft market.

We got a bag, a mexican blanket, a dress for my little sister, a magnet, and salt and pepper shakers.
(Also pictures is a watch we bought me onboard the ship).

We did pretty good.

Then it was back to the ship for us.

Mazatlan

Mazatlan was my favorite place we visited.
We got off the ship, and met our tour guide.
We hopped into a taxi (another van) and took about a half hour drive to a port.
The drive was great, I really love how Mazatlan is set up.
The little houses, the roads, the hills, etc.
I should have taken pictures, but I was too involved in just looking.

We then hopped onto a sailboat!
I've always wanted to go on one.
Ours had the name of "Patricia Belle".
We took a little sailboat ride to Deer Island.
After we got off the sailboat, we hiked up to a point where you can see out.
(that's the picture of us when you can see my awful tan lines. I got those just from walking around the ship the first couple of days. I spent the rest of the time trying to even out, haha).
Then,
we went kayaking!
It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work!
The current kept pulling us in a different way than we wanted to go.
And I wasn't very good, or as strong as Kyle, so we kept veering off.
But, we had a great time.


After we finally made it back to the shore, we played on the beach for a while.

After that, we went back on the sailboat.
And then back on a taxi.
This time it was a truck that had benches rigged in the bed.
That was a windy ride!

Then, it was back on the ship, because we were sure wiped out from fun in the sun.

Puerto Vallarta

I'll tell you this.

Puerto Vallarta was HOT.
and humid.
SO humid.

When we got off of the ship, we took a taxi to the shopping district.
I wish I would have gotten a picture of it.
It was a ClubWagon, but as a taxi.
Crazy.

We met a nice man named Pablo, who made us matching bracelets with our names on them.
I got two dresses.
We visited one of the churches there.


Walking around in the heat got the better of us, and we went back to the ship after two or three hours.
But it was a good time.
Many men trying to sell us bracelets, or drinks, or dresses.
I sure am glad that Kyle speaks Spanish!

We didn't take too many pictures, but we had fun!

Honeymoon, part 1

After our reception ended, we drove to the lovely Hines Mansion,

in Provo.

We had booked the Whispering Willows room.

We were also the only guests there that night, so in the morning we were treated to a wonderful hot breakfast, cooked just for us.

The rest of Friday, we just hung out, and I also got my stitches taken out.

Saturday Evan and Holly, and my mom, and Blaine, Brooke and Allie all came over, and Kyle and I opened our wedding gifts.

Thank you so much to everyone!

(You'll be receiving thank you cards... soon).

Sunday morning, Kyle and I woke up early!

And then we drove up to Alan's.

And picked him up.

And drove to the airport, to fly to Long Beach!

(Alan drove our car back to his place and left it there for the week, thanks, Alan!)

Our flight left around 8:15 am, I think.

We flew out to the Long Beach airport, on a little plane.

The Long Beach airport is so tiny!

From there, we took a taxi over to the Carnival port.

And ate, and checked in, and waiting until we could get on the ship.

And then we did.

It a HUGE ship.

The Carnival Splendor.

Over the next 2 1/2 days, we sat around, ate, slept, ate some more, watched movies, played minigolf, ate, laid out on the deck, etc.

Basically, we relaxed.

And it was wonderful.

The next posts will be about our exciting times in Mexico!

Wedding Day

The day was perfect, and beautiful.

The night before, Ayisha and I had gone and ran some last minute errands, got our eyebrows waxed by Em, ate pizza and chatted.
Ish slept over with me at my apartment.

I woke up bright and early, around 5:30 am.

I showered, shaved, got dressed, and then Ish and I went over to Kavita's salon to get my hair done.

It looked perfect.

Mom and Charity came and picked me up there.

We drove up to SLC, and ended up driving into the parking lot right behind Kyle and his dad.

Talk about lucky.

We went into the Temple.

It was beautiful.

We got dressed, and were able to spend a few minutes together in the Celestial Room.

Then we met our sealer, whose name was Dene Olsen, and walked into the Sealing Room.

It was beautiful, to be surrounded by close friends and family.

And then we were sealed, for time and all eternity.

Amazing.

After, we changed, and headed outside for pictures.

It was freezing! but still a beautiful day.

After pictures, we went to the Gable Room in the Lion House for our luncheon.

The food was delicious.

The toasts were lovely.
After, we hopped in the car, picked up our food, and went to the reception.

Our decorator did an amazing job.

We took pictures.

We stood in line.

We saw loved ones.

We were married, and happy.

Here are some pictures from the day... Enjoy!

And so it begins...

Here we go.

I'm going to start some blog posts.

I'll be creating a different one for each different subject, so just beware.

I am radiantly happy (if that's possible).

And I love my life.

Thanks for being a part of it by reading my blog.

I hope my happiness rubs off on you :)

oh hey

we get married tomorrow.