Arizona - Vacation in the SUN!

These past few days have been so great - I got to meet several friends on a trip to Phoenix!


Mike had been spending a few fun filled days in Florida with his parents - on Thursday I flew down to meet him in Arizona and we reunited for a fun little trip there!


First we stayed in Mesa with John, and his cute daughter Paige - who just loves Mike!! 


Then we drove through some beautiful desert to Eastern Arizona, where Mike went to college.  We drove past some really pretty spots!  I really like the Saguaro Cactus.  Mike taught me that these cacti (which are only in AZ!) grow the arms as a defense from winds so they don't lean.  This one was HUGE!  

This is part of the canyon that we drove through.  So pretty. :)

After we drove through the pretty canyon (and I took a nap :) ) we arrived in Thatcher where EAC is.  It was fun to see Mike's old stomping grounds and hear some college stories!  Finally got to see where some of my man's funnest memories were made. 

After we went to the College we drove to Pima, where Kimberly & Emmett live.  We spent the night there & I really enjoyed meeting their cute family!  On the way, we stopped at the Gila Valley temple, it was really pretty... Needless to say, I was NOT missing the cold Utah weather!! :)

The next morning we took off and went to Coolidge, & hooked up with Mario & Holly.  We met Mario at the golf course, and we had some fun at the driving range!

After all of Mike's tips, I was a pro!! Just kidding.  Not at all!  But I did enjoy learning some golf lessons!

After the driving range we headed back to the house for a little R&R time... Holly was having a baby shower, so while I met all the girls, this is what Mike & the boys were doing...

Soooo much fun meeting all the friends!  The last day in Arizona I went to my first Renaissance Festival!  It was so fun.

 Eating my humongous turkey leg!

Mike trying on the creepy Pharaoh hat.... 

Delicious chocolate covered fruit!

Mike was... excited. :D

By a medieval castle!

The Renaissance Fair was fun!  There were a lot of really funny people there too.

After the fair, we drove to the Mesa Temple... LOVED IT!

And love him! :)

Engagement!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.

Mike asked me to marry him this last weekend while we were in San Diego.  It was totally unexpected.  We had to drop off our car in LA to be shipped to Hawaii - it takes a month to get there!!  So, we decided to road trip it up and ship the car this past weekend.

We drove down on Thursday all the way to LA, arriving in the evening.  Just enough time to have some dinner and a nice relaxing soak in the hot tub.  It felt SO nice outside and we enjoyed winding down from a LONG day of driving.

Friday we initially planned to drop the car off at the docks, then go to Disneyland.  The last time I have been was when I was like ... five ?  Anyway, I was super excited to go - but when we woke up it was pouring rain!! Bummer... So, after driving through the ghetto of Compton & successfully turning in the car, Mike asked me what I wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon.

I told him that the San Diego temple was my favorite, and I'd love to go see it.  So.. We drove down to San Diego, and I took the BEST nap on the way. :)  When we got there the rain stopped for about 15 minutes... Literally just enough time for my handsome man to execute his plan!

While I was turned around taking this picture -

Mike got down on one knee.  I took a minute just soaking in the beauty of this temple, and the thought crossed my mind to turn around and tell him - "We should just get married in HERE and have our families fly out and meet us halfway..."  I turned around and started to say this, and there he was with the ring -  I stared blankly for about 15 seconds after he asked me.  super surprised.

He gave me the ring and then gave me a huge hug, and of course I started crying.  I told him how much I loved the ring and how perfect everything was - not even realizing I hadn't answered.  So he looks at me and says.. "Uhhhh... are you going to answer me?"

Of course.. I said YES!  I really can't think of a time in my life I have been happier.. so far. :)

  

After Mike proposed, we went and saw a beautiful beach spot... It was really muddy but still so pretty!

Sorry he's hott... Not a lot he can do about it.. :)

After that we went to a ritzy shopping district in San Diego and walked around some shops and went to another little beachy place - this one had some seals flopping around.  Seals are ugly.  But the baby ones were kinda cute.  Just kidding, I changed my mind again.  Still ugly.

For our engagement dinner we ate at a fancy smanshy restauraunt called "Forever Fondue."

delish!

It was PERFECT.  I love Mike & I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!!!

I'm unemployed! Please join me in yelling FREEDOM!

                                                    


Okay, so I am officially unemployed!  (gainfully unemployed though... Mike just taught me what that word means and I feel pretty safe using it to describe my current situation).


Ever seen Braveheart?  Mel Gibson very dramatically yells the word, freedom at the end - and I re-enacted that as I walked out of the doors this last Friday.


Okay, maybe not that dramatic... But I am VERY excited to have some time to get my affairs in order before making the move to Hawaii.  Between finding a place to live, looking into schooling, deciding what to pack, what to get rid of, what to move into storage, looking for employment - this move is STRESSFUL.  But I couldn't ask for a better moving partner - or movie destination for the matter!

The first few days of unemployment have been great!  Mike & I went out with Dan & Krystal this weekend and had a delicious lunch at Gabor Brothers followed by a fun photo scavenger hunt (pictures to come)...  Krystal also taught us a new word, and I kind of enjoyed the conversation that ensued, so I think I'll share ...


                               Pooper
                              [poo - pur]


                              -noun


                             1. The politically correct way to describe the act of passing gas.

Unfortunately for her, Dan & Mike have been taught a different meaning for the same word, and I feel like the jokes just may never end.  :) 


Molly turned 2 this weekend!  Today to be exact!  She is our little Valentine's princess in the family.  We had a family party for her, so after the photo fun we celebrated Molly. 

That night we had a cousin's party that was awesome.  We rented out a cultural hall and all the family came - just the couples, so it was more romantic without a million screaming kids. :)  We had a delicious catered dinner from Hug Hess, followed by games & dancing.  It was a lot of fun - Mike is slowly getting to know the family... With such a big family it's a good thing families are forever because it will take eternity for Mike to meet ALL of us. :)

I also got to spend an afternoon shopping with my amazing sister in Park City.  She is what I will miss about working at Nissan - we just play off each other's personalities and it'll be so weird not having her to motivate me at my new job!  But she'll carry the KG Nissan Internet team to success... so it's okay. :)

Definitely a time of change - but it's good!  Change is what cultivates growth and learning so I am excited for these  new experiences and seeing what the future will hold!

"Mere change is not growth. Growth is the synthesis of change and continuity, and where there is no continuity there is no growth."

                                                  -CS Lewis

Superbowl Weekend!

Superbowl weekend was awesome.  So many good things, where to start?

Our friends the Mulder's came up from Cedar City to hang out.  Super bummed that I had to work and miss out on some of the fun... But we made up for it.  Between the episodes of Tosh.0 and updating each other on the latest and greatest YouTube Videos... we had a blast.

Saturday Night we went to Nicklecade...

Currently in this photo, Justin & Elissa are trying to decide what squishy ball they want...  It was the goal to get enough tickets so they could take one home as a souvenir.  And.... we did.  Because were cool like that.  Also, my slight gambling problem most likely contributed to that... :)

Dang.  Needless to say, we felt pretty awesome.   I love that place.

Sunday... the famed Superbowl 45.  The Steelers vs. the Packers  -  Disappointing game for sure .. with some family members being Steelers fans, I chose to cheer for the Steelers for this Superbowl.  You would to when this kid asked you who you were cheering for - right?

 Yep.... His Mom is a Broncos fan , and his Dad is a Steelers fan.... So he may have some identity issues down the road, but today he felt pretty comfortable wearing.... Black & Yellow, black & yellow...

The famed Mexican Steelers Poncho.  No shame.  Until after the game anyway.. Then the Steelers Poncho got put away.

Jana showed up sporting her Broncos jersey... 

What do you call 60 guys watching the superbowl at home? 

THE DENVER BRONCOS! haha!  To me, it'll never get old.

Trying to sway the kids into cheering for the Steelers.... Grant is hard at work!  Note the Roethlisberger jersey... cough cough Rapelisberger cough cough...

Dan and Krystal also came - bringing some delicious cheesecake with them... MmmMmmMmm.  I really wish I could make cheesecake... but everytime I try it's an embarrassing failure.  SO i'm thankful THEY made it and it was delicious. 

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend.  Good people, good times.

                       

Aerospace Museum

Saturday was my day off - I love my days off.  I will usually start the day off with a huge completely unmanageable list of things to do... Which I'll hit the first three (so I try to make those the most important) and then spend the rest of the day relaxing & spending time with the people I love.

Well this Saturday...  I got to spend all day with Mike! It was so great.  We went to run some errands up on base - and while we were there we decided to go to the Aerospace Museum, which I had never been to.  It was pretty great - and I loved have my own personal tour guide who just happened to know all the names of the planes and some cool facts about them too!

Like this one -

I can't remember the name of it... But I do remember it goes so fast that every time it flies, all the paint disintegrates and they have to repaint it black!

And I think... the next one shows the bullets on an F-16 - But I could be 
wrong.  We looked at a TON of planes!

The next picture is an eject seat... which totally freaked me out thinking about actually having to use one of these...

  Note the super hot guy demonstrating the proper way to use one of these! :)

It was really fun.  And the best part was just watching Mike light up while he told me about everything.  Seriously.  I am so glad I am in love with a genius!