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