July

So... It's been a while.

Life has been so, so great I haven't been able to think about blogging about it all. So sorry!

But something exciting happened and there is no way for me to put into words how incredibly happy I am about all of it. He couldn't have surprised me more or done it more perfectly. I love Chase more than anything and am so so excited to share my life with him.

Quickly after we got engaged I was lucky enough to coach the BYU lacrosse camp. I had such a blast getting to work with the girls that came out. Lacrosse is easily one of my favorite things to do, and I got to hang out with great teammates and a bunch of girls that love lacrosse too!

The 4th of July was during this week so we celebrated that night by watching my cousin play in a pick up game called Lax of July then got to watch Stadium of Fire fireworks from the lacrosse field. It was so much fun to play with cousins and to just hang out after playing lacrosse and being outside all week.

Pretty soon after that we left for my family's annual trip to Lake Powell. I've said this before but Powell for me is heaven on earth. I couldn't love it more. I had so much fun showing Chase something that I've loved for so long and trying new things with him like cliff jumping and double skiing. It couldn't have been a better week in my opinion.

Driving the kids on the tube and Beckham fell asleep on my arm haha

The one time I jumped off the cliff

That's Chase in the middle doing a backflip

Cutest cousin award goes to...

Skiing together

Rainbow bridge!

Love him to death

Sidenote: Julia managed to get more ugly pictures of me this week than I've ever had taken in my life. I think it's hysterical, but in all honestly didn't know I could make my face look like that.

Right after we got back my whole family went to Airborne (the trampoline place). It was a lot of fun, but most exciting was that I finally learned how to do a backflip. It took being talked into quite a bit and getting over my nervousness, but I was so glad I did it!

The very next day my whole family and I went wedding dress shopping. It was so great to have all of them there. I loved getting my brothers' and dad's opinion about the different dresses I tried on and to have my mom and Julia help me in and out of them. I actually decided on the very first dress I tried on in less than two hours. Way easier than I had anticipated and I LOVE it. Here's a picture from the dress shop (with me in my dress)

The next week it was Chase's birthday. I had struggled for a while trying to figure out what to get him when I finally decided to take him skydiving. He had never been, but had always wanted to go really bad and I loved seeing the look on his face when I finally told him the surprise I had been keeping. We had so much fun and it was great to celebrate with him doing something I knew he had wanted to do.

Add to the list of the reasons why Chase is the best ever: on his actual birthday he let me go to a concert with Julia instead of staying and celebrating with him. Julia is now one of his biggest fans ever, because it wasn't just any concert he let me go to. Julia and I had tickets to go see One Direction. Not normally the music I listen to, but Julia might actually be the biggest fan they have that I've ever met. I seriously had such a blast. Julia cried and that was so fun(ny). There was more teenage girls screaming in a room than I ever thought I would experience, but they're actually really entertaining and it was so awesome to see Julia so, so happy. (I have no idea where my pictures from this went. Maybe they're actually on Julia's phone and not mine, but they were good haha)

Before we knew it, it was time for us to leave for Mexico with Chase's family. Before we got all the way to Mexico we stopped in Arizona to meet and spend time with some of his extended family that wasn't going to Mexico with us. I also met most of his siblings for the first time (after a very long 11 hour drive - and I'm pretty sure I was half asleep, oops). I don't think that I have ever met that many people in such a short period of time, but everyone was so welcoming and nice and made me feel so comfortable.

Mexico was a dream vacation. We played volleyball, skim boarded, body surfed, played on the beach, buried Chase's siblings in the sand, rode four wheelers through sand dunes, and played all sorts of board games (I even got roped into singing a song for karaoke). I seriously couldn't have asked for a better vacation to get to know his family. I'm so excited to be a part of it in less than 2 months!!

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone, but oh my gosh it's flown. I feel so blessed and seriously feel like I've been living in a dream. In fact, here's something I wrote in my journal the other day that I think sums up how I'm feeling pretty well:

Essentially this has by far been the craziest and probably the best month of my life thus far. I've tried a lot of new things, met a lot of new people, gone to a couple new places, spent time with the people I love most, been to some of my favorite places, done some of my favorite things, and fallen further in love every day. What more could I ask for?

National Sibling Day

In honor of National Sibling Day (which is apparently today?) I figured I would make a list of my favorite things about the coolest people in the world. I love them to pieces.

Justin:

-- He is one of the most protective people I know, even though he probably wouldn't admit it if you asked
-- He loves to tease me but rarely takes it too far
-- He sometimes still lets me pretend I can beat him up
-- He laughs at my dumb jokes
-- He puts up with my teasing
-- He is an extremely hard worker, when he puts his mind to something I know better than to get in his way
-- He makes me breakfast when I come home :)
-- Last but not least, he sees what's important to the people around him and helps them achieve those things

Julia:

-- I should probably start by saying she's my best friend in the whole world
-- She sends me funny snap chats
-- She is the best road trip copilot and traveling buddy ever
-- She puts me in the funniest moods I think I've ever been in
-- She is patient with my messiness and even helps me clean it up
-- She is already a better athlete than I'll ever be
-- She makes the best brownies and cookies ever
-- She is one of the most diligent and organized people I've ever met - pretty good combination
-- She pushes me to be better in so, so many ways

Joshua:

-- He gives the best hugs in the whole world
-- He is always so excited to see me, it makes it 10x better to come home
-- He is the first person to include someone else and ask them to play a game with him
-- He is the best Monopoly player I've ever met (I don't think he's ever lost to anyone in the family)
-- He's one of the best story tellers ever - just ask him about the scar from a shark bite on his leg ;)
-- He loves to cheer the rest of us on at our sporting events and still likes to play them himself
-- He is extremely independent and can fend for himself super well
-- He loves to read books and remembers crazy details about all of them
-- He writes the best notes ever and asked me to be his pen pal while I'm at school

I'm the luckiest sister in the whole world. These three are my favorite ever and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Sorry for the picture overload... I struggled to pick just a few haha.

 

 

Have I Mentioned That My Family is the Greatest?

Sundays are usually pretty great for lots of reasons, but especially because I get to talk to my family. Sometimes I'm even lucky enough to get to skype them...

This usually means all craziness breaks loose (something about actually seeing each other I think - that or seeing how crazy we are ourselves just makes it escalate quicker). The things that get said, teasing that happens, and funny faces that get made make me homesick faster than anything else.

I wouldn't have it any other way...

Yup. That's Justin flashing me

So naturally Josh wanted to too...

We think we're really cute

I love them more than anything

Some of my favorite things that got said:

"Oh no... Now we need two waaa-mbulances!"

"And then you repent and your hair grows back!"

Feeling Blessed

I feel very blessed today.

I got all the way moved into my room... which feels like nothing short of a miracle if you ask me.

I got to teach this morning and have my girls do SO well.

I got to find notes and pictures from people that I love while I was unpacking things.

Last and definitely not least I got to skype with my family for FHE all the way across the country...

I promise we were more excited than we all look...

That time I face-planted on the beach...

... and other adventures in Puerto Rico:

This year my dad decided that he wanted us to escape the cold for a few days and so we decided to go to Puerto Rico! Obviously I was in full support. Here's a quick recap of our trip:

While in Puerto Rico I decided I wanted to try authentic food as often as I could... now most of you should know that this could be a struggle for me. After our first night there I was convinced I had made a very good decision.

Super good.

We were lucky enough to go ziplining. It was SO much fun. I got told at every break to, "Stop braking so hard..." to which I replied with an awkward laugh. My siblings also thought it was hysterical. We all had a blast though and really liked the oversized gloves and helmets we wore.

The next day we decided to go to the beach. The boys convinced me to go in the water, but I probably should have stuck with my gut decision, because my face ended up looking like this:

Long story short I got thrown by a wave face-first into the sand. I came up with a bruised eyebrow, scraped forehead and cheek, and a bloody lip, gasping for air. If you want a more detailed story I'm sure my sister would love to share it with you. She thinks it's hysterical and we've spent lots of days laughing about it and people's reactions to it. 

We also went to Old San Juan. I LOVED the little town. All of the buildings were painted fun colors and there were so many cool little shops and restaurants along the cobblestone streets. My favorite restaurant (named for the breakfast I ordered) was La Mallorca - delicious.

 Old San Juan also has a really cool fort in it. 

Some of the people that got locked in the dungeon drew these really cool pictures on the walls that they've since preserved:

The next day we went fishing in one of the local lakes. Everyone was really good at it. Justin and Joshua caught catfish (and eachothers lines), Julia and dad caught peacock bass and red devils, and Annette and I got jaguar bass. I was surprised by how pretty the fish were. I also managed to make it through the day without touching a single fish - successful day in my book.

Our last dinner was my favorite food of the whole week. It was so, so good. We finished with a dessert made of cream cheese stuffed crepes, topped with cinnamon-sugar and frosting with ice cream. It was the perfect way to end the trip.

I had such a blast and couldn't have asked for better people to spend it with! Now I just have to figure out how to survive the -6 degree weather in Provo right now...