Date Night

Mark and I have been super busy lately and don't always get as much time together as we would like. Luckily we had Saturday evening free and I planned a date night for us. We are quickly approaching our 9 month anniversary of our first date. I thought it would be fun to recreate our first date. 

For our first date we went to Wing Nutz and watched the Saratov Approach. We had a great first date the second time around! We even sat at the same table and ordered just about the same meals. There was even baseball on, which is what we watched on our first date. 

I'm no expert, but ladies if you are trying to plan a date night, do this! We had so much fun talking about that first night and all the things that have happened since. We loved being able to snuggle up on the couch and watch the movie and talk about how 9 months ago we had no idea we would be getting married in 3 weeks! 

I love my guy so much! I'm glad that when I put this basket in front of him and he opened his eyes he knew exactly what it was. He said aw...we are going to have our first date! He is a keeper!

Fiesta!

I'm the luckiest girl in the world! I have the most amazing friends. I've been blessed over the years to have some wonderful woman come into my life. Yesterday we celebrated with a Fiesta!!! It was so fun to have some of my most favorite people all in the same room. 

I'm in love with this invite! Amanda did such a great job putting it together. Got to love a great Evite!

 Lisa and Nicci worked their magic with the decor. They went all out and I loved it all. These flowers are still hanging up in my dining room and I have zero plans of taking them down any time soon.

 Bridal Shower and my girls = Margaritas!

 I loved the flower arrangements. Such a cute idea to use Jarritos bottles and bean cans.

 The food...OH MY GOSH! Homemade taquitos, Dave's yummy guacamole, cowboy salsa, warm bean dip, chips, chocolate tacos, popsicles, gummy bears, and swedish fish. I'm pretty sure we all ate way more than we should have, but loved every minute of it!

 I loved all the bright colors and the cheery vibe around the house!

It was a wonderful shower. I was spoiled by all these lovely ladies! I really should have taken a picture of my sweet friends that came. I was too busy eating otherwise I would have :)

3 weeks!!!

Feeling Spoiled!

With the wedding right around the corner (28 days) I have been busy! I'm never too busy to party though! I have amazing friends and family who have showered me with love this last week. I don't know how I got so lucky to have the friends that I do and to be marrying into such a wonderful family. I'm very blessed.

On Wednesday Kim and Shanel hosted an adorable shower for me! This was for work friends that I have made since I've been at Riverton Elementary. Some people are teachers, some are parents of former/current students, some were students. I say it all the time, but I love where I work. The people I have met over the years at Riverton will always hold a special place in my heart. 

These pictures don't do the shower justice. It was adorable! Yummy food, great friends, and perfect weather! There were even 3 little babies! 

Today, my mother in law and sisters in law hosted an awesome Bride to BEE themed shower. I thought it was the cutest idea and it goes with my yellow color as well. I felt so loved as they planned this shower and put so much thought and prep work into making it so great. I can't wait to be part of their family. 

 Everything had bees, yellow, honeycombs, etc. It was a nice cool day outside and we had a wonderful time chatting with each other. It was so nice to get to know more of Mark's family too. Some of them I had never met and I was so happy that they would come and join in the celebration.

We played a few games, but this one was my favorite! My mom sent Kasana pictures of me at different ages and we had to guess how old I was in each picture. I only got 7 out of 12 right! I loved going down memory lane with these pictures. 

Thank amazing friends and family for being the greatest out there! I'm lucky to have you all!

An Adventure to Remember

Date Night turned into quite the night! On Friday I suggest that we go for a little hike. My roommate had recently done this little hike to a waterfall and I thought it would be such a fun way for us to spend some quality time together. I was thinking of one hike, Mark was thinking of another. We ended up in Bell Canyon. The start of the hike was pretty up hill. I was already worried as the climb just kept getting steeper. We finally got up to the reservoir and it was gorgeous!

I love lakes so I could have spent all day here. We came for a waterfall though, so by golly we were going to see that waterfall! Mark knew we had to go around to the other side of the lake to get to the waterfall. We were on our way!

It was a beautiful night. Perfect weather, perfect scenery, perfect guy.... 

The hike started to get a little harder. We kept going up. We would cross a bridge or see the river, but never saw that waterfall!

We aren't quitters so we kept our search going. We saw a lot of people coming down the mountain and they were all happy and smiling. My legs were killing me! Oh my gosh. When I say straight up, I mean STRAIGHT UP! These short legs were struggling to keep up with Mark. He was so patient with me though. I needed a few breaks and some words of encouragement and he was there for me. 

We started our hike about 7:30 pm. We were expecting a quick 45 minutes hike. We didn't have water or a flashlight with us. We were so determined to find the waterfall though so we just kept going...UP! The sunset was gorgeous and about this time people told us you are so close, only 15 more minutes, it's amazing, etc. We kept climbing. Literally at times climbing on my hands and knees trying to make it up this mountain. 

You can't beat the views we saw. It really was incredible. We finally reached the TOP of the waterfall (we think) about 10:00 pm. We never actually saw the water falling, but it was a pretty view where we were. Ha ha. We rested for about 10 minutes and then I was worried about heading down because by this point it was dark. Mark led the way as we now scrambled down this steep path in the DARK. It was hard enough on the way up and now we couldn't see and were trying to not to get hurt as we guessed where the rocks were. 

Needless to say I started to worry while Mark kept his cool. At one point I asked him to stop and pray for us that we would be safe on our way down. I felt so much better after that. We stumbled, we got some scratches, but we did make it down the mountain. We were so lucky it was a warm and clear night. The moon was a huge help for sure to see where we were. A few times we had to use my cell phone which was quickly losing battery to help us see where we were going. I wish I had taken an after shot of the view and us. We finally got back to our car a little after midnight. We were pretty sore and dying of thirst! We headed to 7-11 for a GIANT SLURPEE! That was all we wanted. I've never been so happy. 

It really was an adventure! I don't think we will go hiking again any time soon, but next time we do we will make sure to have some supplies and maybe know exactly where we are suppose to be going! I'm grateful that at least I had my best friend there to help me get through and enjoy our date night.

Engagements

I was worried about engagements. I HATE taking pictures. I was so excited for Jessie to capture our special moments, but I was worried about how I would look and if it would all turn out how I envisioned. I LOVE MY PICTURES. They are perfect. I couldn't be happier with them. 

We had a blast taking the pictures and I'm so glad we love them. We couldn't ask for a better photographer!

Jessie Alexis Photography

A little bit of love...

Our love story is pretty simple.
We were set up by his aunt & my coworker.
We texted.
He took me out.
We texted.
We went out again.
We both knew.
We went out again.
We are inseparable. 

When we tell our love story sometimes we laugh because people always want to know more. It really was from date two that we both just felt like we were together. We didn't need a DTR to figure things out. It just happened. He will tell you that after the first week he told his cousin he thought I was the girl he would marry. We loved being together and hated being apart. A couple weeks after we met he went to Mexico with his family. As I dropped him off at the airport I remember thinking, man this sucks. By noon I was so sad that he was gone. I already missed him. A few days after he got home, I left for Thanksgiving in California. My family quickly picked up on the fact that I couldn't stop talking about this guy, texting him all the time, and missing him like crazy. It wasn't long after I got home that we both said I love you. He came to California over Christmas break, we spent New Year's Eve together, started talking marriage, went ring shopping, etc. All the pieces just kept falling together. On our 4 month anniversary he proposed and we are planning our wedding. 

We just hit out 7 month anniversary and it really feels like he has been part of my life for years. There is no one I would rather be with than him. I can't wait to be his wife. We are 40 days away from being married for time and all eternity and the thought melts my heart. It's everything I've ever wanted x 10. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. 

I write this because he is the love of my life. I want our children to someday read this and smile because they will see that our love was real from the beginning and maybe be more understanding when we kiss in the kitchen and embarrass them in front of their friends.

I love our love story.