Oh! The Places You'll Go! Part: 2

Aside from the perma food baby I had while we were in Arizona, we got to do one of my most favorite things: go to the lake! There is just something so perfect about laying on the boat, soaking up the sun, eating junk food (again with the food baby) and my favorite, tubing! Side note, when I was in the middle of planning the surprise to come home, my Dad mentioned to McKenna that he wanted to go to the lake on Saturday. McKenna didn't know Joe and I would be home and invited 8 of her  friends to go out with her and my Dad. Panic mode! I told my Dad to tell her to just not invite anyone, but  I think McKenna was worried that she'd have to spent the day at the lake with just Dad haha. Nothing against our Dad, but the lake is so much fun with a lot of people! 

It all worked out perfectly because 3 of the friends she invited were out of town that weekend, so it was a squishy fit, but fun none the less. 

My two loves: Joe and the lake

Apparently, something was funny

McKenna, Bryson, Lexi

Our first time boating together :)

Me and McKenna! She's so cute

The Banana Boat: goes from comfort to chaos in a matter of seconds

Perfect wipe out picture. Poor Lexi...

We all had so much fun at the lake together; McKenna's friends are all so great and really fun to be around. Joe and I realized that we were the "old" people on the boat...how weird is that?!  I got insanely sun burned and the next two days I could barley sleep it hurt so bad. I started to peel really bad once we got back to Rexburg and Joe said that I was on the same shed cycle as his snake...rude. 

I miss Arizona!!!!

Oh! The Places You'll Go!

Have I killed you with suspense? I know it has been a while since I posted last, and that last post said I was in the workings of a very special surprise for a very special someone. I have had no time to sit down and actually write down everything that went into making this idea a reality, so to help me I decided that this post will have two parts, hopefully I'll get to the second part in a timely fashion- we'll see.

This miraculous idea came about while I was on tour in Texas. I was feeling sad that I couldn't make it home for my little sister, McKenna's high school graduation, because of my school schedule I am in school year round until I graduate which puts a major kink in all summer travel plans. I called my Dad up and told him what I wanted to do and he said that he'd look into flights and see what kind of magic he could work to get me home. I gave him strict orders that this was to be a secret and to not tell McKenna. (our family struggles with keeping things secret and or allowing surprises to be an actual surprise so I was nervous to see how this would pan out) My next phone call was to my Mom to fill her in on my ingenious plan to surprise McKenna, obviously she was ecstatic; not only would it mean a lot to McKenna to have me there, but I knew my mom was excited to have me home :) 

A few weeks went by and I still didn't hear back from my Dad and I was getting worried. No one from our family was able to make it to kenna's graduation so I felt obligated to get my bum home and support her in this accomplishment. (Let me mention that McKenna was in the top 10% of her class, captain of the dance company, a member of National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society, an avid volunteer at the Mayo Clinic, and all around amazing girl!) I'm sure I left a lot of other important accomplishments out, but you get it- she's an incredible student! 

 My Dad and I decided on tickets and when I'd be able to fly out, he even surprised me with a ticket for Joe to come too, I really do have an awesome Dad! Keeping this secret was the hardest part! I caught myself numerous times writing out a text message to McKenna saying how excited I was to see her... delete! delete! delete! 

I don't know how I managed to forget to tell Joe that this was a surprise, but I did. Just a few days before we left I mentioned how excited I was to surprise McKenna and how happy she'll be. He was completely caught off guard and said that it's a good thing that he didn't text McKenna about it and completely spill the beans...sheesh bad communication on my part!

I told my Dad to tell McKenna that our Grandma and Grandpa Hughes decided last minute to come and that she needed to come with him to pick them up at the airport. I knew this plan was fool proof, she was expecting our grandparents to round the corner at security not me and Joe! I made a poster to hold up at the airport as we walked out, Joe refused to hold it with me I think he was embarrassed :) We sent security into a tizzy because we acted really sketchy as we hid behind the corner of the exit peering out numerous times trying to get a good glimpse of where they were standing. As soon as she saw the poster she screamed and everyone in the airport had to stop and stare at our loud reunion. 

My silly sign

The next day was graduation AND McKenna's 18th Birthday! We went to our favorite breakfast place, Butterfields and McKenna opened oodles of presents along with graduation gifts. I forget how easy it is to rake in the dough at graduation! Sheesh!

Butterfields :)

One of the many envelopes of cash

Everyone loves a little box from Anthro

My Dad got her quite the gift card to Anthropology :) Lucky duck!

Happy Birthday McKenna!

I think McKenna should give me the Anthro gift card :)

This day was filled with food, family, and laughter. Everything a Birthday and Graduation day should be, right? After we opened presents at our Dad's we headed over to our Mom's house for more food and even more presents, this girl made bank in a matter of hours. I decided I need to graduate asap! :) My mom had planned a BBQ and relaxing afternoon with family and friends. Our Grammy Barb made it our for McKenna's graduation too! 

The yummy food at our Mom's

Mommy and McKenna

Our beautiful Mommy

Mommy, Me, McKenna, Grammy Barb

Candid

Totally awkward, but too funny not to post :)

Happy!

After a fun filled afternoon of eating and watching McKenna open even more presents we all headed back to get freshened up for the Graduation ceremony! I got emotional only a few times, once when I read her seminary graduation excerpt about her. Each parent of a graduating senior wrote a little something special for their graduate and then they were all spiral bound and handed to each senior during seminary graduation. The first night we were home I read it out loud to Joe and my Dad and sister. I honestly didn't expect to break down and cry like a little baby, but I did. Leave it to McKenna to make any situation humorous by saying, right as I start to cry, "NO! You are not honestly crying right now?!" 

Our awesome Dad!

Thuggin' haha

Hahaha perfect

Much better!

Joe!

"Do something funny!"

McKenna and Joe came up with a secret handshake and left me out of it, pretty typical ha! These are pictures capturing their handshake... 

Leaving me out...

Who knows with this one...

You did it!

Photogenic, I'd say!

All the graduates walking out

It was so weird to be sitting in the audience watching graduation, because it felt like yesterday that I graduated and sat exactly where McKenna was sitting! It's hard to believe that 3 years has gone by and how many things have changed so much in such a short period of time.

McKenna is second to last

As the students line up to receive their diploma most would wave or smile at their families...not McKenna. We couldn't even get her to turn around and try to find where we were sitting! It's funny comparing the two of us, because when I graduated I was posing and workin' it for the camera haha. So, all I have are pictures of McKenna's back...maybe when she graduates from BYU she'll turn and look ;)

She did it!

McKenna and her friend Taylor

Lexi and McKenna! Such cute girls!

I am so proud of you McKenna and all the hard work you put into every aspect of your life, you truly are an example of all things wonderful in this world. I am so excited for your new adventures and a brand new life at BYU! You're going to do so well and have so many wonderful experiences there, I am so proud of you and all the choices you've made in your life to get you this far! I love you so much baby keena you're the best little sister anyone could ask for! You're going to knock BYU off its feet! Go Cougars! :) 
As Dr. Suess would say:

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look’em over with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air.

A Surprise Too Good To Keep To Myself

I sure do love a good surprise, although I am not the easiest to surprise(my superb snooping skills can get me in trouble) I love, love, love planning surprises for other people.  I have a little somethin', somethin' up my sleeve that I am just bursting at the seams to tell everyone about! But, I can't. And I won't...well at least not until later this week :) I bet the suspense is just killing you! 

Happy Monday! :)

 

A Parking Fiasco

What is this? Two posts in one week? I'm either avoiding homework or just really excited about the parking ticket I got yesterday... So yesterday was kind of a poopy day, for whatever reason I just was not having it, any of it- what "it" is I'm not sure, I'll leave that up to your own interpretation. It was rainy, I was hungry and tired (we all know this is a lethal combination).Any who, I needed to run up on campus to buy something in the book store, so I made Joe come and accompany me (ever since we've been engaged I haven't been able to do anything by myself, well not much has changed I was like that when I wasn't engaged, it has just gotten worse ha)  

Rexburg has gotten crazy with its parking and you have to have a permit to do just about anything in this town, I have a city parking permit which means I can park anywhere on the street...or so I thought. It's great I love my parking permit, no more walking to class up the dreaded hill the Taylor building (you know you hate that hill). Well, Joe and I drove up found a premo parking spot on the street outside of the Taylor and ran into the bookstore, much to my dismay they had already closed. We ran into a few of his mission friends and chatted with them for about 10 minutes. We walked back out to my car and wabam! Perfectly tucked behind my windshield wiper and sealed with no love in a rain resistant baggy was a lime green parking ticket! Apparently, that street is considered campus parking and I had the wrong permit, give me a break! To add insult to injury I received a confirmation email later that night notifying me that I had gotten a parking ticket and that I need to observe the signs more carefully, no kidding! I have gotten away with parking on campus all day without a permit for years now, and the one time I go in for 10 minutes I get a pretty little ticket. Some might call that karma, I call it unfair! It was the cherry on top of my poopy day, I may or may not have caused a scene in front of a few students that thought my tantrum was interesting enough to stop and stare.

This morning after my dance classes I had time to run out to my car to put my dance clothes away so I don't have to carry them around all day.  As I approach my car I see this on my windshield and automatically a zesty pep is added to my step, and I start thinking of how big my tantrum is going to be if it's another parking ticket.

Obviously, the closer I got I quickly realized it was a fake ticket from no one other than Joe! He apparently had time this morning before work to find my car and write out a little love note that totally made my day so much brighter. 

Joe thinks it's really funny to write random guys names on notes he writes me, it throws me off every time haha, don't worry no one by the name of Randy is leaving sweet nothings on my car. Joe always knows how to make me smile and I am so lucky to have someone as great as him! :) 

One Year of Love

I have been a horrible blogger lately, and I really don't have any good excuse except that I have been ridiculously lazy and tired. Even though I have been home from tour for three weeks I still blame Texas for making me completely exhausted. There have been so many things that I need to blog about, but the thought of remembering all that has happened and writing it down is way too daunting so I will just fill you in on the most recent adventure Joe and I went on. (hopefully, I'll fill in the gaps sometime...) 

On April 25th we celebrated our one year anniversary! I am really bad at remembering dates so I was quite proud that I remembered this! (Joe is great at remembering all the things I forget and sometimes gets upset when I don't remember important dates...whoops)

Joe and I decided to do something for our anniversary the following weekend and just have dinner together the night of the 25th. I decided to put my "domestic wife skills" to the test and cook a dinner out of the ordinary! (we have perfected chicken alfredo, hamburgers, tacos, and salads...it is time to venture out of my comfort zone and try something new!) I called my mom the night before in a panic about what to cook. My mom is an incredible cook and can blow anyone's taste buds out of the water, so I knew I was in good hands. She rattled off a few recipes that were basically Iron Chef America worthy and I got increasingly more worried until she said I should make Salmon. I laughed a little thinking, "Salmon? Really, Mom? You think I can make Salmon?" Surprisingly, it was a lot easier than I thought, and I busted out a pineapple and maple glazed salmon and rice pilaf accompanied with a nice green salad and freshly dipped chocolate covered strawberries for dessert made with love by yours truly. 

 I'm disappointed I didn't take any pictures, but you can rest assured that dinner was hit! I was so proud of myself for making a real meal all by myself without any help from Joe! :) 

Fast forward to Friday April 29th...Joe gave me strict instructions to pack for a weekend away and to be ready at 3:30 sharp! I'm out of class at 3:00 so I was a little concerned with how I was going to pull it off, but somehow I managed and was only 5 minutes late.(this is huge people!) I had no idea what he had up his sleeve, all I knew is that we were heading to Utah. I slept for a little bit (Joe will argue that I slept for hours, but really I didn't it was more like 45 minutes). We pulled up to his friend Zack and his wife Hilary's house. Zack is one of Joe's old mission companions so it's always fun for them to get together and reminisce on good 'ol mission days.  We had dinner with them and then we were whisked away for a fun filled night of go karts, bowling, and a lot of laughs. We had a blast racing and trying to spin each other out. We got in trouble quite frequently, definitely put their little whistles to good use! All of the kids working there were in high school and definitely power hungry.

Zack and Hilary 

It was so cold that night!

 After we were frozen stiff, we went inside and played a few arcade games.  It was so much fun to run around and be a kid again, competing to see who could win the most tickets was my favorite- I actually beat Joe at a game! That happens very rarely... After we were done at Boondocks, Zack and Joe had a guys night and hung out in Zack's "man cave" while me and Hilary stayed up gabbing and talking about anything and everything! It was so much fun, Hilary is so sweet and had some really insightful marriage advice for me. Her and Zack were Married in August of 2009 so she had some great input and helpful hints for me. It was getting late and Hilary and I were so tired and the boys showed no signs of settling down, we were tempted to lock the door to their bedroom and fall asleep leaving them to sleep on the couch. Don't worry we weren't that mean :) 

I was nervous for Saturday, if you some how forgot, April 30th was the date Joe and I were supposed to get married so it was a bittersweet day. As we ventured out for the days surprises and festivities we were greeted with a gloomy, snowy, and frigid cold day! I couldn't have been happier to see snow! Joe said he was hoping and praying that the day turned out crappy, in hopes of avoiding a mega meltdown on my end.  

Our first stop of the day was Temple Square! The thing I love most about Joe is that he can make any situation completely hilarious and entertaining. We all have been to Temple Square a million times, but with Joe it is so exciting and so much fun. 

Lost in the parking garage

I don't think I've ever seen him walk down stairs

 We walked around the temple grounds and went inside the visitors center in hopes of finding my favorite Sister Missionary, Sister Hardy but no such luck. I asked around to see if any of the sisters knew where she was, and they all raved about how great she is and how she is all over the place, definitely no surprises there! :) I enjoyed watching the brides flood the temple grounds almost as if they were fighting for the best picture spot. All I could do was think how happy I was to not be in a wedding dress in the freezing cold that day. Don't get me wrong, I want nothing more than to marry Joe, I am just glad it'll be warmer when we finally get married! 

We played around in Salt Lake spending some time at the Gateway, of course we made a stop at the Apple store, Joe is obsessed with all things Apple and wants nothing more than to have an ipad. We had dinner reservations at a Brazilian steak house called Rodizio Grill. I was so excited because I have never been to a Brazilian steak house before, my Dad rants and raves about how amazing they are so I was super excited! We were seated and the feast began immediately with deep fried banana's glazed with a crunchy sugar coating, they were heavenly! They had an amazing salad bar, my favorite was the coconut pineapple coleslaw! 

If you've never been to a Brazilian steak house I'll explain how it works: You're given this little wooden token with one side painted green and the other side painted red.  When you're ready for the meat you flip your token over to the green side, and you are instantly flooded by men with huge pieces of pork, chicken, and beef on skewers eager to serve you.  The slice off a little piece of meat with their massive knives and you grab it with tongs and gobble it up and wait for the next man to bring you something different. Things can get a little crazy, because before your eyes your plate is getting filled with a wide assortment of meat and other goodies. You can't blink without having another guy at your table offering you savory items. We ate so much that we both had to loosen our belts haha embarrassing, I know. My favorite was the grilled pineapple that they brought around, so yummy! 

Happy and full :)

  Our weekend away to celebrate our one year anniversary was so much fun! I love being able to get away and not have to worry about school and enjoy one on one time with the man I love! Just a little side note, we get married in 136 days! YAY! :)