Summer Vacations

This summer we were able to take two vacations, one to visit my family in Oregon and the other to visit Mykel's family in California!  We had so much fun with both our families and wish we could have had longer vacations with them.

The first week of July we both took work off and drove down to Oregon!  Instead of making a long one day trip like usual (about 13hours) we decided to leave Friday after work, stay in a motel, and finish the drive Saturday so that we could get there at a decent hour and not be quite so tired.  I think it was nice doing it this way for a change, but lets just say I don't ever want to stay in a motel like that again haha... We slept on top of the blankets and brought our own pillows in, basically just needing a bed to sleep in.  My dads birthday was on sunday July 3rd so we went out to dinner to celebrate that Saturday night.  Then Sunday we headed to Redmond, right by Bend in Central Orgeon, to stay in a vacation home for a few nights!  It was a blast going golfing, watching the fireworks, going swimming, eating out and then going white water rafting on our way home.  Unfortunately my parents still have the pictures of the white water rafting so I don't have any copies to post on here.  But let's just say even though I thought we were going to die a few times, it was an absolute blast!  Mykel and I will definitely go white water rafting again when we get a chance.  The rest of the week was spent at my parents house.  Mykel and I were able to go to OHSU, the dental school in Portland, and get a tour and find out more about it.  He will be applying to dental schools next year and this is obviously my number one choice so it was cool to go and check it out.  But wherever he gets in is where we will be meant to go!  We also went shopping, of course, and my mom took me to get mani/pedis!  We also were able to go to the Portland Temple for the first time and do sealings with my parents.  The trip went by so fast and next thing we knew we were headed home the following sunday back to good old Provo, Utah.  Then we counted down the next three weeks until we would be driving down to California!!

The first week of August was our trip to Cailfornia to stay with Mykel's parents.  It was really cool because for the first time since we've been married his brother Tanner, his wife Amanda and their adorable one year old daughter Addie came down for the week as well.  It was a perfect little family reunion/vacation with lots of time to relax and enjoy the beautiful California sun!  We spent a lot of time swimming in their pool, which I loved, and on Monday we went to the beach.  Even though it was a windy day the sun was out, the skies were clear blue, and the scenery was beautiful.  Mykel and Tanner spent a lot of time body surfing/boogie boarding while Amanda and I layed out on the beach.  It definitely made Mykel and I miss living near the beach, and hopefully wherever we move to next we will be near one!  Another fun thing we did in California was go to a place called MB2 Raceway, which is really fast indoor kart racing.  I had been to a place like that before but not for a long time and it was so much fun.  On the final race it was just myself, Mykel, Tanner and Craig and I actually got the fastest best lap time out of all of us!  It was definitely a fun trip but was definitely not long enough. 

And so the blogging begins...

Well it's about time that Mykel and I become part of this blogging obsession. I guess I should begin with a little introduction about what's going on in our lives!

Mykel and I met in September of 2009 at a local dance club here in Provo, Utah. We were both going to BYUat the time and started dating pretty quickly. Afterdating for about 8 months he proposed and another 4 months later we got married in the Manti Temple on August 14th, 2010! I think we both would agree that this was one of the very best days of our lives. I'm so glad that we found each other and were able to get married for time and all eternity. We were then blessed with the opportunity to go on a 5-day cruise to the bahamas! We had an absolute blast and experienced so many new things. The excursions we were able to go on included an all day hiking/canoeing/privatebeach trip on one island, snorkling on another, and believe it or not, parasailing! The only thing we would change about it is going for longer. 5 days just was not enough, and we definitely plan to take more cruises in the future.

Now on to my hubby, Mykel.

Mykel just turned the big 22 last week on July

15th! We celebrated with golfing in the morning. I wish Mykel was able to go golfing a lot more because he absolutely loves it. But it can get expensive and we are just way too busy. It took him a few holes to get back into it but once he did he started doing great. Although I admit it's not the funnest sport to watch, I enjoy going with him and watching him play (as long as I get to drive the golf cart!) After golfing, we went to lunch at Tucanos. And for those of you who do

n't know what Tucanos is, it's this sensational Brazillian grill restaurant where they give you a little wooden "cue" that has a red side and a green side. Green obviously means keep the food coming, while red means stop! The servers bring around all kinds of amazing grilled meats and grilled pineapple and vegetables. It's pretty pricey but a really fun experience and fantastic food! Luckily for us they send you a card in the mail for a free meal on your birthday so Mykel's was free. After Tucanos we got to wait in the line to see the new and final Harry Potter.

I'm definitely not an obsessed HP fan and don't exactly love the movies, I mean they're decent but I can only watch them so many times, but Mykel read all the books and really enjoys all of the movies. It turned out to be really good though. It's crazy that it's all over now but they did a good job with it! After the movie we came home and had warm apple pie, and then let's just say we did some other celebrating. :)

Anyways! More about Mykel he's still going to BYU and is majoring in exercise science. He should be graduating in April of 2013 and hopefully getting into dental school that fall!! Currently his summer job is working full time for Vivint, a security call center as a customer service rep. I think it's a love hate relationship with him and his job but overall I think that he likes it. I guess it depends on the day and how many angry customers he hasto deal with haha.. Overall though he gets paid pretty well, they give him lunch everyday, and it's a really cool company. I'm glad he was able to get his summer job there, and when fall comes and he starts school again he will work part time on campus at BYU. It's not the most exiting job but they work with his school schedule really well, he doesn't have to work too many hours, and it's definitely convenient.

Now on to myself!!
So my birthday was just a month before Mykel's on June 4th, and I finally turned 20! The morning of my birthday I had to help my brother and his wife move into a house in West Jordan, not exactly what I would have planned as a birthday celebration... But they ended up getting me a really great ice cream cake and it turned out to be really nice! After that we went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (where they have the second best filet mignon I've had yet -the best was on our honeymoon cruise in the bahamas).

Then we drove to Salt Lake City and stayed at the Anniversary Inn. We discovered this place by s

earching hotels/B&B's online and I seriously want to spread the word about it, I thought it was really, really cool. It's a little bit cheesy but I like that kind of thing haha. All of the rooms are themed and are completely decorated for that theme. We stayed in "Carriage Suite" and our bed was in an actual carriage! My mom booked the room for us and was so sweet to get us a special romance package, and the room was covered in rose petals when we arrived! Talk about fairy tales. The room was painted beautifully and had all kinds of incredible decorations. It also had a fireplace and most importantly, a huge jetted tub! It was an amazing little get-away for the two of us and we are so thankful for my moms sweet gift. I also was able to go and experience a 4 hour spa package thanks to my mother-in-law! She sent me some birthday money and a beautiful Tiffany's necklace. And I definitely put that money to the best use I could, with the help of City Deals I found a spa package on sale! It included an hour and a half massage, hour and a half facial, and an hour pedicure. I definitely needed it and was thankful to be so spoiled for my birthday this year!

Currently I am working for Golds Gym in the tanning salon in Provo. I work full time and enjoy the girls that I work with. I am actually at work right now so as you can tell I have quite a bit of free time during the summer while at work! It's nice not having a stressful job right now and I will keep working here part time as I start school in the fall. And for those of you who don't know I am finally starting cosmetology school!!! I start on September 19th at Aveda Institute Provo and will graduate about the same time that Mykel graduates BYU. Aveda is such a great school and I can't wait to start my education there. My schooling will only be 3 days a week, but 10 hour days. It's a blessing that I found a school that I love everything about and also allows me to still work on my days off.

It's going to be a pretty hectic semester for Mykel and I as we both have school/work 6 days a week, but we're one step closer to our future!

Until then we are going to enjoy the rest of our summer!