its about time

kendrick and i have been to bear lake three times this summer... three. the first two times were disappointingly rainy and cold. however, the third time (last weekend), was beautiful, sunny, and eighty-five degrees all weekend long. it's about time.

it was such a wonderful getaway with all of kendrick's extended family. we decided to drive up early saturday morning, as we had plans the night before. the entire day ended up being spent on the beach playing bad-mitten, volleyball, and wading in the bright blue water. for lunch, kendrick's uncle made some delicious chicken and steak tacos using a camp stove right on the beach.

after dinner, we all took family pictures, played some corn hole, and an aggressive came of trivial pursuit. lucky for me, i ended up being on the winning team! 

Got to love the matching t shirts.

grateful for weekend likes these, surrounded by some of the best people i know.

busy busy busy

holy moly, this has been a crazy busy summer. i think kendrick and i have been home three weekends in the past two months, not even joking. however, all craziness aside, this has been the most fun and exciting summer we've had together, and we want to remember all of it... so i'm going to try to get around to blogging about all that we have done so far.

oh, and best part? our biggest trip for the summer hasn't even happened yet- we leave for hawaii in eleven days (!!!!) yep, we saved the best for last. ;)

a few of the things we've done this summer (that aren't covered in a post of their own, of course):

- ran our first 5k.

okay, let's read "ran" very loosely... infact, let's replace it with jogging/walking/crawling. jade helped in organizing the "run for the refugees" up in provo, and we thought it would be a great chance to support her and the cause. while the race was free, there was a food truck roundup that took place immediately after, and all proceeds went towards the refugees... so we paid our support through some buffalo fries and cupbop. ;)

- bees games!

i think so far, we have been to three bees games this summer, which we are both totally fine with. get a nice summer night, nachos and an icecream cone the size of my head, and some opportune people-watching, and you know i'm in. 

(one of the times was with kendrick's entire extended family. so fun!)

- attended a fun luau for kendrick's cousin

kendrick has a cousin who plays in the nfl, and we were lucky enough to get some tickets to attend the haloti ngata foundation event/dinner. the night was filled with pro athletes, delicious food, and a legit hawaiian luau.

- went to my company party/luau at the aquarium

healthequity seriously throws the best company parties! eternally grateful to work for such an amazing place.

- attended kendrick's family reunion at the cabin

for the first time in years, almost all of kendrick's family (on the adams side) were in one place at one time! we enjoyed a beautiful evening at the family cabin in oakley, eating delicious food, going on gorgeous walks, and meeting new people (for me, not kendrick).

- decorated and re-decorated our place

i've gone a little crazy this summer, and have rearranged, reorganized, and redecorated our place multiple times. for the first time in a while.. i'm so happy with how it is... for now.  ;)

our cute little patio space

 new coffee table... definitely my favorite piece of furniture that we own!

our new leather tufted armchair that kendrick loves, which is really really rare.

my current project is currently the bedroom... there are so many things i want to do to it, that i don't even know where to get started!

- helped harmony and jeff move

jeff got accepted to dental school in indiana literally last minute, which meant the family had to scramble to help them pack and soak in every last minute with them. i took off work a couple of days before they left to spend some time with harmony and the boys.

it was a super, super hot day.. so obviously a kiddi pool was required.

- "ice" date night

kendrick planned and surprised me with a super cute "ice" themed date night. first, to introduce the theme, he played "ice ice baby" in the car (haha), and then we went ice skating. afterwards, we got some shaved ice. it was the perfect night with my favorite person in the entire world.

oh, i love him.

- went to keys on main
keys on main is this piano bar downtown. basically, people pay these crazy talented pianist/singers to play any song they can think of... while getting crazy drunk. it's pretty entertaining when you're the only sober ones there! it was a fun night celebrating a friends birthday while enjoying some cokes. we were sure to leave by ten o'clock before things got a little too crazy ;)

 

well, that's all for now!

how k and k met

i've been thinking a lot about how kendrick and i met, and i realize it's one of my favorite stories and still makes me smile. so obviously, i need it documented.

i was working at captioncall as the front desk receptionist. one of my reoccurring tasks was making badges for new hires, or simply for anyone who had lost their badge. kendrick started captioncall on the sales team sometime in may 2013, and apparently i made his badge (i honestly don't remember the first time i saw him). honestly, i didn't even really notice kendrick until around the end of june. i remember always seeing the group of guys from the sales department walk past my desk as they headed out for lunch each day. soon enough, i started noticing the cute guy with the black curly hair that was in the group. who was he? soon enough, i found myself eagerly waiting for him to get in each morning, so that i could say "hi", or even smile at him. nine times out of then, i chickened out, and quickly looked down at my keyboard as he walked by. one thing i remember is that he always entered the building wearing his ray-bans and talking on his phone until he got to the elevator, it happened every morning. i thought he was way too cool for me.

i soon became friends with two guys on the sales team, ryan and alex. we started instant messaging during the days, and eventually they asked me to join their team for lunch one day. knowing that this meant having lunch with the cute guy with the black curly hair... i was so in. 

i started going to lunch with the sales team weekly and slowly started talking to kendrick. the group would always take their lunches up to the fourth floor break room, and eat them until the lunch hour was over. at first, kendrick and i would linger in the break room once everyone left so that we could talk alone for a few minutes. eventually, we found ourselves sitting their for half an hour, getting to know each other better and better. lunch time was suddenly my favorite time of the day.

to say my crush on kendrick sprouted over night is an understatement. in the words of carly rae jepsen, i really really really really really liked him. part of my job duties were delivering mail and stocking office supplies throughout the entire building. i found myself overly stocking the paper cabinet near kendrick's desk... and then stocking it again for good measure.  if a letter or package had to be delivered on the opposite side of the building... i'd still take the route that would pass kendrick's desk. i was crushing hard.

however, for some reason... i did not think he was into me! maybe it was due to the fact that he hadn't asked me out yet, or even gotten my number. part of me was sure that he had a girlfriend. either way, i was determined, and i knew what i wanted. 

once august hit, kendrick's friend alex (on the sales team), invited me to the kid cudi concert that the group was going to. i asked who was going, and sure enough kendrick was in. so naturally, so was i.

on the day of the concert, i had an upset stomach and wasn't feeling great. however, i knew that wasn't about to miss some outside-of-work time with kendrick. nope, no way, we all picked up some chik fil a for dinner, and then headed downtown to pioneer park for the concert. 

(side note: to this day, kendrick is still trying to convince me that this concert was "our first date"- which it was not. because first off, he was not the one that asked me to go, and second off, in no world does our first date take place in pioneer park with kid cudi and weed. nope)

it's safe to say that the first half of the concert did not go as planned. kendrick was texting another girl the entire time! i was pretty frustrated and started questioning why i was even at that stinky concert, trying to get the attention of a guy that wanted nothing to do to me. it was here that i pulled the smoothest move of all moves (kendrick still teases me about it to this day)

i simply said "my back hurts"

to which kendrick replied "have you ever had your back popped before?"
"no" i lied.

it was then that kendrick wrapped his arms around me and popped my back, and after that, he didn't leave my side for the rest of the concert (still have no idea how that move worked so darn well). when going through crowds, he wrapped his arms around me to protect me. when we sat down, we flirted and threw grass at each other. when we were getting ready to leave, he gave me a piggy back ride to the car (naturally, all of our coworkers were getting a little confused)

when we got in the car, kendrick grabbed my phone and texted himself with it so that he could have my number. when i got home, i immediately got a text from him, asking if i got home safely (seriously, so many butterflies at this point). we talked on the phone for the next two nights, and hung out for the first time that sunday night. 

three days later, on august 28th, we were sitting at city creek where i slyly asked "so... are you my boyfriend?" i'm telling you, there were no games. we both knew what we wanted and were upfront about it. and i think that's what i love so much about our story.

naturally, our relationship wasn't perfect. there were brief breakups, fights, and difficult conversations. but in the end, i know that i was where i needed to be when i met kendrick three years ago, and to this day, we are both where we need to be, married and with each other.

forever grateful that i snagged the attention of the cute, curly black haired guy from work. 

and for old times sake, our very first pictures together:

 our very first picture together- the night i asked him if he was my boyfriend

kendrick had these delivered to my desk for my birthday, when we had only been dating for three weeks. i knew early on that he was a keeper....

a weekend in montana

kendrick has some family that live in west yellowstone, and one of our favorite things to do is drive out there and visit them while enjoying the beautiful scenery that montana has to offer. the last time we were there was two winters ago, and we spent the trip snowmobiling up and down the gorgeous snow-covered mountains. this year, to switch it up a bit, we decided to make the trip during the summer.

as soon as we were off work on thursday afternoon, we began the four hour drive, putting us in montana around eleven. obviously, we went right to bed.

kendrick's cousin, shelby, was at girls camp until around noon the next day, so we decided to get some time in alone before she got back. we grabbed some breakfast sandwiches and pastries at a local bakery, and then drove into the park.

i have not been to yellowstone since i was little, and honestly forgot about how pretty it is! .. and stinky. ;)  (warning: picture overload)

it was a super hot day, and we quickly decided not to stay in the park long (we were both in long jeans, while everyone else was in shorts). however, before heading back, we obviously needed to make a stop at old faithful.

we assumed that the geyser would be going off within fifteen minute of our arrival... well, joke was on us.. because we ended up waiting for about an hour and fifteen minutes. once it finally went off, we snapped our pics, said our goodbyes, and then went on our merry way.

once back at the house, we met up with the rest of the family, and headed over to the grizzly and wolf discovery center. my favorite park was watching the bears- they are the cutest yet most terrifying animals. 

after that, we all headed into town for some dinner at the taco bus, and to do a little shopping. i found myself in a fur shop, dressed up as an animal pretty quickly...

later that night, we all went to see the new bourne movie. kendrick's aunt and uncle own the theater in west yellowstone, so it didn't cost us a cent, which was obviously pretty cool. the movie was pretty great, and now kendrick and i are currently having a bourne marathon, as i've never seen them before now. (wife of the year right here!)

the next morning was an early one, as we went to an old car show parade. kendrick and his cousin drake particularly enjoyed it, as they both love old cars. i was just there for the candy.
we headed to the park right after, where all of the cars were parked, and you could walk around and take a closer look at each. i immediately loved this van, that even had a table and benches in the back of it. um, road trip anyone?

after the park, we all headed out to the mountain man trading post- which was a huge circle of white tents, all filled with really cool things for sale. kendrick and i made this goal, where every trip we go on, we have to bring back a unique piece of decor for our home in lieu of a typical souvenir. i used to be all about the key chains, and magnets, and shot glasses.. but in the end, those just look tacky sitting around your house and you don't really know what to do with them! our goal is to have our home filled with all sorts of fascinating and unique things that will remind us of all the places we've traveled together. so with this in mind, i found a few nice things that day that would fit into our place nicely. 

(funny side note- all of the booths sell real animal fur, and one in particular was selling strips of beaver fur. i kid you not, it was hands down the softest thing i have ever touched... so i ended up buying one for two dollars. literally have no idea what i'm going to do with it and it was definitely the most irrational purchase i've ever made.... but it was just so soft) 

once we were done at the trading post, we had a quick lunch and did some shopping around town. after that, we all met up at the house, before heading out to the ranch for some horseback riding.

 this was the part of the trip that i was looking forward to the most, because i had never been before! it's been on my bucket list since i was a little girl. 

Still laughing at the fact that kendrick ended up getting a mule.

i feel so fortunate that my first horseback riding experience took place in the beautiful mountains of montana. you really can't beat that, it was honestly too pretty for words. 

my horse was particular hungry, and literally ate EVERYTHING that she walked past. she had a mouthful of grass, flowers, and weeds the entire time.

we rode our horses down to a gorgeous scenic lake to rest our legs and so that the horses could drink some water.

(thank you kendrick for this super majestic picture)

as you can see from the dark clouds, a storm started rolling in pretty fast. we seriously could not have gone at a better time, because by the time we got back to the ranch, it was pouring rain and they ended up having to cancel the group right after us.

before heading out, i took a quick selfie with my new friend.

that night, kendrick, shelby, and i went hot tubbing (super, super sore bums). it was the perfect, relaxing way to end our trip.

sadly, we headed back home the next morning. it was so, so hard to leave! 

already can't wait for our next trip.