New Blog, New Adventure

I decided to start a new lifestyle blog filled with travel tips, fashion must haves and the beauties that make up everyday life. Check it out!

Be sure to follow via Bloglovin!

this weekend, B requested we check out the redwood forests.

there are so many forests to choose from and they are all about the same distance away, 

so we decided on big basin redwoods state park.

road was quite windy to get there but once we got there it was well worth it.

B believes it was the prettiest place he had ever been to (even claimed it was prettier than hawaii...)

of course he had to give a little love to the father of the forest

who wouldn't be upset? this tree was a beaut

there are so many hikes to choose from and was only $10 to enter the park!

i am sure we will be back again soon. probably next time on the bike

beach city

 there are so many beautiful sites to see so close to us so, we have made it a point to take advantage and use the weekends to explore! 

last weekend we headed to the coast of santa cruz to hike along the cliffs and bask in the sun. 

it was perfect. i felt like i was home.

after the beach, we decided to head to the crepe place to have a bite to eat (and indulge my nutella craving).

little did we know that there would be live belly dance performers to entertain us!

i was eating it all up (food, atmosphere, ladies doing their thing)

but B was a little unsure. 

it was a saturday we will never forget .

Friday Favorites

i have been fighting a cold off and on for the past two weeks. 

Not the best way to start off the new year...

but I have gotten to catch up on some of my favorite blogs and do some online shopping.

here are my five favorite finds this friday:

1. i love oxfords and studs so these are quite the combo. bonus is they are currently on sale! find here

2. i am upgrading to the 5 sometime this next week and need a new phone case. i love the simplicity. 

find here 

3. i love peplum and how this dress incorporates leather. to die for. find here

4. the homemaker in me loves bright and cheery dish cloths. they can spruce up any kitchen in seconds. find here

5. these fur blankets are a great addition to any couch or bed. i especially love the white. find here

yes, my online shopping ranges from electronics to house decor. 

oh the things i would do to have all these items appear on my doorstep

2012 in review

new year. new location. new job hunt.

here is a little look back at the happenings of 2012:

1. we started off the new year right with a new years eve party at the cabin in park city

2. packed up some of our belongings and moved to sunnyvale for 3 months where B started his internship

3. lived in a hotel in the city of angels for 3 weeks courtesy of EY

4. attended my older sister's beautiful wedding in san diego

5. moved back to salt lake city where i began work as a receptionist and wedding event planner

6. celebrated B's 25th with a murder mystery party

7. went on a cruise to the caribbean with the hawkers 

8. said goodbye to B's little brother as he left us for a mission in germany
9. celebrated our one year wedding anniversary at the hyatt in park city

10. went to maui & kauai with the tates

11. turned 22 woo hoo

12. attended B's brother's wedding in salt lake city

13. started and finished my last semester at the u
14.transformed from blonde to brunette
15. B taught me how to ski
16. moved out of our first home together

and of course loved each other more all along the way

we started 2012 in sunnyvale and we ended it in sunnyvale.

this year will be an adventure with us living many miles from both of our families
and me on the job hunt with my new degree.
i will just enjoy the ride

happy new year!

hallelujah

Guess what.

 I am now officially a college graduate!

I can't believe it. These years have flown by and as stressed as school makes me 

I was quite sad driving away from campus today. 

The University of Utah has been good to me and I will never forget the memories. 

But now I can celebrate the holidays stress free!

Well maybe not completely stress free... since we are moving to California the day after Christmas.

 

I am going to cuddle up and listen to *NSYNC Christmas

and prepare for our white elephant party on Saturday.

oh how I love this time of year...

Brunette

Never have I ever been a brunette until this moment...

I am a wimp when it comes to change so this was a huge deal for me.

 Luckily I have the best hair stylist in the world who I trust with all my hair needs. 

And I would have always wondered if I had never done it. So I took the plunge.

I mean brunettes have fun too right?

catch up

This was taken on our way down from the Hawker's cabin in Park City. If you haven't, you must go up the canyon and see the beauty of the changing leaves!

Fall is such a busy and beautiful time. I am just trying to savor every second of it so please excuse me for my lack of posts. But here is a little bit of what we have been up to lately..

1. this is my last semester at the U and it is keeping me quite busy with 18 credit hours!

2. I was promoted from intern to wedding planner assistant. woohoo no more long unpaid days

3. trying to cram in hawker family time as much as we can before the big move

4. cooking parties, date nights & motorcycle rides (before it gets too chilly)

5. a week ago we were sadly released from our duties as the sunbeam teachers. I was heartbroken. I literally cried as I heard the news. Every-time I walk into class I feel their love. They are my sunshine. I will always treasure the Sundays we had full of learning & whispering. I am also grateful that I got to serve with husband

 

Next up is the never ending search for the best Halloween costume & the construction of fall decor!

What is keeping you busy this fall?

year twenty-two

yesterday was my twenty-second birthday. i can't even believe it. 

it was a day full of love, relaxation and of course presents. 

but the best present was being able to celebrate with ben the whole entire day.

 i also got to wake up to my mom calling and singing happy birthday to me. birthdays are a huge celebration in my family and i am so glad ben has carried that on. 

can't believe this is my third birthday celebrating with ben.

sir troy

• This is the man that coached almost all of my soccer teams when I was little
• He is responsible for my flat feet and double-jointed fingers & elbows
• He taught me to laugh at life and always be true to myself
• He decided to serve a two-year mission at the age of 19 when his family was not active in the church and his father nor older brother ever served a mission
• He was on the waiting list for Harvard Law School. He is the smartest man and most eloquent speaker I know
• He is the man I wanted my husband to be like (I am so lucky Ben has some of his qualities!)
• He should be a professional dancer
• He loves my mom unconditionally and that's the best thing he can do as a father of four daughters

My dad is one of the most fun people to be around, especially on the dance floor. I admire him so much.

So here's to you, dad, on your golden birthday. May this year bring much love and laughter! 

sorry i'm not sorry

can i just brag a little bit and show you some of the cutest pictures of my little nephew Henry? i know everyone thinks they have the cutest son/daughter/niece/nephew but let me tell you, this little one should be a gerber babe. i miss him so much. 

i wish we lived in the same state as any one of my sisters. tragic really but that is a whole other story. 

yes he wore a tux with shorts to marisa's wedding. everyone couldn't get enough.

can't wait to be reunited with my whole family next month!

the saints

the next day we had the opportunity of exploring st. thomas. 

it was so much fun to shop around and have a brief sight seeing tour before ending the day at the beach. the color of st. thomas' water is like nothing i have ever seen. it was heaven.

And then our last stop was st maarten!

st. maarten was similar to st thomas with the assortment of shopping and beautiful beaches. 

we went on a snorkeling excursion & stopped at a local beach to get exfoliated the island way. it was an experience.

bermuda bahama come on pretty mama

i do realize that we went on our hawker cruise nearly a month ago but since this is the best journal i have i am still going to blog about it.

this was my first cruise and so i was very excited and a little skeptical. would i get sea sick? i hope not.  

we departed from florida and traveled on the freedom of the seas cruise ship. boy was it lovely. not to mention the luxury of getting food any time you wanted (even room service was included!). 

let me tell you for mass produced food (which i am usually not too fond of) it was quite tasty. 

our first stop was coco kay island in the bahamas. it is an island owned by royal caribbean so it was not very impressive. i mean it was beautiful but our whole cruise ship of people going to one little little island was a bit claustrophobic. nonetheless we had fun and even got to rent a catamaran for the second time! (which was a dream come true for ben who learned how to sail in cancun)

next stop st.thomas

367 days ago i married my best friend for time and all eternity. 

i can't believe it. time has flown by. 

but i can honestly say this has been the best year of my life. i knew i was head over heels for ben before we got married but i never knew how much greater this love could be in just another year. 

this first year has been pure bliss. bring on eternity!

i am also so glad i got to celebrate with all my best friends.

ps i know i should probably change my blog header now that it has been a year. just savoring it for a few days longer.

see you in zwei

yesterday was so bittersweet.

we had the opportunity to go down to provo and drop off ben's little brother at the MTC.

he will be serving a mission for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in frankfurt, germany for 2 years.

i am so so excited for him that he made the decision to go but i love adam so i will miss him a ton. 

adam is kind, caring, thoughtful & fun. 

ben & adam are such good friends i know it will be hard on ben. 

but we know he is where he is supposed to be. germany is lucky to have him!

so see you in zwei (two) adam!

freedom

today, ben officially graduated from college. 

(technically he graduated in december but today he walked so i think it makes it much more official)

my parents even flew out to celebrate with us, which made it that more special. 

i could not be more proud of him. 

he worked so hard to finish school as quick as possible and still managed to get on two honorary academic lists!

congrats ben!

PS we leave tomorrow for florida where we will board our cruise ship on sunday. wow it came up so fast and at the very perfect time. never been on a cruise so i am excited to see what it is all about! see you in a week

a quarter of a century

this little one turned twenty-five thursday.

i can't believe it. seems like yesterday i was driving up to the hawker home for one of the first times to celebrate his twenty-third. 

but his twenty fifth was one for the books

 & i was so lucky that i could spend the whole entire day with him.

we started off the day with mcdonald's breakfast in bed, since that is the birthday boys favorite.

i then blindfolded him and took him to the airport where he rented his first car as a 25 yr old. 

i had a convertible all saved but ben quickly asked for a camaro instead.

After, we raced (literally) over to pick up Adam for lunch at the kyoto.

 Ben then insisted we all go back to his parent's house and play super smash brothers. 

oh the demands of such a simple birthday boy. 

After smashing both Ben & Adam (thanks to my handicap), Ben & i headed up emigration canyon to see what the camaro could do. we are lucky hertz doesn't check the tires when you return the car because Ben was drifting around every curve possible. 

We then headed to the tennis club to play a few games. it was perfect weather. 

later that night Ben insisted he didn't want a fancy dinner but rather just pizza so we grabbed pizza to go and ate at the park. it was the perfect end to such a fun day. 

i loved surprising ben by having the whole day planned. he was in heaven.

i won't bore you with 25 reasons why i love ben or anything but i will say i never knew i could love someone this much. he is the best, most fun best friend/roommate/husband/lover. i love how every night feels like a sleepover & i love how he makes me laugh so very much.

there's been a murder

Ben is turning 25 on thursday and so we decided to have a murder mystery party last night to celebrate. the story was set at an old western saloon. it was such a blast to really get into character and guess the murderer (who ended up being the birthday boy himself!)

meet the moneys. montgomery, elizabeth and our daughter minnie

harry & henrietta high-stakes. we missed you emma!

matches spelled out 25 and lit themselves one by one as requested by the birthday boy

this was the first birthday cake i have ever made from scratch. icing and all. laura would be so proud

i love birthdays. my mom has always made them such an amazing event & now i am doing the same. this is just the beginning of ben's 25th celebration. can't wait. i love spoiling my little ben.