beach time and baseball

we woke up on saturday morning feeling drained from all the sun we had the previous day, but anxious to get out of the hotel and explore. our first stop was a small shopping district, where i found a cute little crepe and gelato shop. i treated myself to a strawberry, cream, and chocolate drizzled crepe (healthy, oh so healthy). for kendrick, we found a sea food shop nearby, and he ordered some mouthwatering marlin (i don't usually do seafood, but marlin, i most definitely can do).

after our brunch, kendrick found some comfortable benches while i did a little shopping. once i was finished, i decided to join him. it was then that i had the wonderful idea of taking advantage of our beautiful surroundings, and putting our self-timer to work for another picture. I strategically propped kendrick's backpack up on the bench across from him, and set my phone on top of it, making sure that the picture was in focus and even. finally, i set the self timer and was about to make my way over to sit by Kendrick for the picture when... a nice old man came a plopped right down. hahahaha.

i just love kendrick's confused face as he tried so hard not to laugh.

yep, still laughing.

we then took a lyft (just like uber, but since we made a new account, we had lots of free rides to redeem!) over to del amo fashion center, which was a super nice mall. the first thing i saw when i walked in was kate spade, which in my opinion is just one of the best sites. and of course, i had kendrick take my picture with it. it's tradition.

while we were at the mall we discovered a car rental service attached to the sears. while taking uber and lyft the past day was all sorts of fun, we decided it would be easier to have a car for the last day. and luckily, there was a cheap rate and it was a done deal!

after the mall, we headed out to newport beach for one last look at the ocean. i absolutely love newport beach- it may just be because that's where the show the o.c. took place, and i feel a weird sense of nostalgia being there- but either was, it really is gorgeous. we walked the pier for a bit and took a few pictures. 

and the most handsome husband award goes to...

again with the palm tree pictures. #cantstopwontstop

after we got our beach fix, we drove to our next hotel in anaheim, which was about an hour away. the hotel ended up being in the perfect location, as we had tickets to an angels game that night, and you could honestly see the stadium from our hotel room. after changing into some slightly warmer clothes, we walked the short distance over to the stadium (which also meant not having to deal with parking, score).

when we first got to the stadium, we asked a man to take a picture of us, which turned out like this:

#blurry and hello, kendrick's awkward left arm!

so naturally, we found someone else to take a picture.. who ended up being a slightly intoxicated blonde girl, who was chugging some pregame drinks with her friend (yeah, not the best choice of a photographer on my part.)

anyways, here is the picture of us in front of the stadium that she took:

oh, that's right. she didn't take one! haha she was honestly so drunk, that she held up my phone as if she was taking one, but must have missed the button. #fail

then, she asked us to move over to get a picture next to the big hat:

just tilt your head a little bit, it will look better, i promise.

and lastly, she told us about the "perfect" photo opp, where you take a selfie with the hat behind you, and its supposed to look like the hat is on your head.

nope, didn't work. kendrick still looks quite hat-less here.

we decided to give up on trying to get a decent picture in front of the stadium, and headed in to find our seats (after buying kendrick a new baseball hat in the gift shop, of course! #tradition)

finally, a picture i like!

the game was a blast- filled with nachos, hot dogs, and all the dipping dots you could ever want or need. sadly, the angels lost... but let's be honest, i was just there for the food.

the game ended with some fireworks, which not only topped off our day but our whole trip, as were were flying back out to salt lake the next day.

now, we're just counting down to our hawaii trip in.... 84 days!!!!! please come faster.

love me some beach time with the cutest guy i know. 

a weekend on the beach

back in march, i was sitting on the couch thinking of fun things we could do this summer. i knew the summer would be filled with carnivals, frequent sno cones stops, plenty of time with family and friends, and a few trips to the lake. however, i knew one thing was for sure, i needed to see the ocean this summer (yes, needed.) so right then and there i hopped online and bought kendrick and i two round trip tickets to los angeles over memorial day weekend. 

well, the weekend quickly came and gone, and i must say, it was a pretty good idea on my part. 

(the sky was absolutely stunning as we flew out- pastel colors everywhere)

the best part about the flights was that they flew out on thursday night at eight pm, allowing us to get all of our traveling out of the way that night and wake up friday morning in our beautiful hotel room in sunny california. our hotel the first night was incredible and had a balcony that overlooked the sparkling blue swimming pool. 

can i just say- it's really hard to get pictures when it's just you and your husband traveling alone? i mean, am i the only one that hates asking strangers to take a picture? anyways, i really wanted a picture of us on the balcony with the pretty pool in the background and that's when the backpack tripod, self-timer setting, and a cardboard stabilizer came into play.  

(yes, i realize that you can't even see the pool... but the picture is clear and somewhat even... so we'll take it).

after our mini balcony photo shoot, we checked out of the hotel and walked the short distance to a breakfast cafe nearby. after breakfast, we had an uber pick us up and take us to our next hotel (we were going to stay two nights in the first hotel, but found a much cheaper rate at one nearby).

once our things were unloaded in the second hotel, we had another uber pick us up and take us to the beach. the driver of this uber was a super cool old man that gave us plenty of tips on great beaches, things to do in los angeles, and even took us on a mini tour through a gorgeous neighborhood that overlooked the ocean.

he dropped us off at hermosa beach- neither of us had ever been and apparently there was a festival taking place there all weekend in honor of memorial day. as luck would have it, the festival wasn't officially starting until the next day (when we'd be on the other side of town), but we still had fun walking through the shops and enjoying some of the attractions that were already set up.

the next four glorious hours were spent laying on the beach, enjoying the warm sun and the sound of the waves rolling in. yes, it really was that relaxing and we really did lay out that long (my very, very burnt body can testify of that).

once the winds started picking up, i decided it was cold enough to justify leaving the beach for a bit (yes, only i get cold in seventy degree weather). we wandered over to a nearby creamery called "paradise", and i couldn't think of a name more suited for the place. hands down, the best ice cream either of us have ever had. i would be in serious diabetic trouble if that place found its way to salt lake, not even joking.

afterwards, we headed across the street to a really cool restaurant to grab kendrick some lunch. he settled on a burger called the napoleon, and i kid you not it was about the size of my head. 

once lunch was finished, we contemplated getting another uber to get us back to our hotel. however, after punching the addresses into the app, we decided to do some walking to cut down the fare a bit. not only did this allow us to walk off some (a tiny fraction) of the food we just ate, but it also gave us a chance to see some beautiful houses in the neighborhoods lining the beach. 

and lets just talk about this beauty of an entrance- wooden trellis and doors, vine covered walls, quaint yellow house, and bistro lights strung across the yard. yes, yes, and yes. 

(and i can assure you that once this trip was over, my phone was full of palm tree picture).

once we reached manhattan beach, we decided to take an uber the rest of the way back to our hotel (our walking had split the fare in half!) the rest of the night was spent hot tubbing at our hotel (which eventually lead to quickly jumping in the freezing pool due to our aching sunburns), and then hanging out in the hotel room. 

you could say it was a successful day to start off our weekend on the beach.

mothers day weekend

my family continued our annual mothers day tradition and stayed up in park city for the weekend. i honestly don't know what it is about this weekend... but it rains every single year. i'm all for a relaxing, rainy weekend... but these park city trips usually revolve around baseball games and playing at the park. once again, those things were put aside, and the weekend was instead filled with blackjack, swimming in the indoor pool, and shopping.

my favorite part of the weekend was definitely shopping (surprised?). nicole "hired" me on as her personal shopper for the day, and i had so much fun helping her pick out items and create outfits at j.crew and old navy. and the best part? i got my shopping high while not spending any of my own money (kendrick appreciated that, haha). win win!

another favorite part was being with all my nieces and nephews. i can't believe how big they are all getting and i love seeing their little personalities shine through!

on sunday afternoon, we let park city and headed out to kendrick's parent's house for dinner. i love that his parents live in salt lake and that we were able to be with both of our mothers on this day.

i have so much respect and admiration for mothers and definitely have some amazing examples in my family. they all better gear up for when i finally become a mother... because they will be receiving lots of three a.m. calls and awkward questions.

and speaking of my becoming a mother... i sure am excited for the day that i get to see this guy become a father. ;)

 happy mothers day!

radio silence

sorry about the radio silence lately! however, our past few weeks can be summed up into one icky word- finals.

thankfully, kendrick's last final is tomorrow and then we can party hard. well, at least for the following two weeks before summer semester begins... but i'll take what i can get!

on saturday, i got to babysit my two little nephews, keegan and aiden (keegan turns three in october and aiden turns one in november). even though keegan was pretty much traumatized without his mom for the first hour, kendrick and i ended up having a really great time with them. also, i have to mention how amazing kendrick is with children- he is going to be such a great dad someday! and by someday, i mean in like.... eight years. ;) kendrick ended up having to leave around noon to study, so i watched the kids by myself for about three hours. luckily, they both slept most of the time, and it was easy peasy. (harmony was shocked that keegan was napping, as he never naps. apparently i'm just really, really boring).

on sunsday, kendrick and i both got set apart into our new callings- kendrick as the assistant ward clerk (primarily over membership records), and i as the young women's 1st counselor. i am so excited for this calling, and absolutely love the two other women that i get to work with. i can't wait to get to know the girls and to help them learn and grow! (and do some learning and growing myself!)

i did something pretty insane last night and let kendrick draw my blood so that he could take it back to the lab at work and get it typed. obviously, i trust my husband, but i am deathly afraid of needles... like even the thought of them puncturing my veins makes me dizzy.  however, i was super curious to see kendrick in action, and actually ended up being pretty impressed. by far one of the least-painful pricks i've ever gotten. well done husband. well done. 

 i did something oddly freeing and unfollowed every single fashion blogger on my instagram. don't get me wrong- they are all amazing and talented women, i just think the whole "fashion blog" idea has gotten so old and overdone. also, is it just me or does having your ig filled with pictures of yourself really, really weird? what happened to posting what really matters in life? (yes, i love fashion, but soooo many things come before it in my book). it just feels nice focusing on the things that matter again.

we booked our tickets for hawaii, and neither of us can wait. part of me wishes that the trip wasn't taking place at the end of the summer, but the deal we got on the tickets can't be beat. this trip will be exactly one month before our two year anniversary, and i'm so thrilled that we get to return to the place where kendrick asked me to marry him.

life is good. really, really good.

conference weekend

conference weekend was fantastic and sunday night left me wishing for just one more day. i'm not the only one that feels like the weekend went by too quickly, right?

saturday was spent lounging around and listening to the words of our church leaders. later that night, we went to aaron's house for harmony's birthday party. it was nice seeing the family and enjoying a delicious dinner and some present-opening. at six o'clock the guys left for the priesthood session and the girls stayed home and painting nails while watching a chick flick. talk about an extreme contrast, haha. 

after a late night ice cream trip with the family, kendrick and i decided our night wasn't over yet.... so onto nickelmania we went! i don't know if it's shameful or impressive how often we go there...

this picture is a pretty accurate depiction of how we felt about our weekend:

sunday was greeted with strawberry crepes and, you guessed it, more conference! while there were sooo many good talks, my favorite had to be elder holland's talk. i mean, can you think of a better way to end two days of wonderful messages? a talk centered around trying and striving to follow the commandments and do the best that we can. this was one of those talks that just left me speechless once it was over. i am so hard on myself when i feel like i'm not doing as good as i should be, and it was so nice to hear the loving reminder to just keep on trying, and that the Lord does not expect perfection. also, trying to live the gospel is one thing, but i also think it's important to step back, pat yourself on the back for what you're doing right, and look at the progress you've made as a person. 

 a couple of my favorite parts of the talk were:

  "we take some solace in the fact that if God were to reward only the perfectly faithful, He wouldn't have much of a distribution list" 

and 

"keep loving. keep trying. keep trusting. keep believing. keep growing. heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow forever."

i spent the rest of the evening tidying up and rearraging some things in the apartment. i ended up moving our collage wall from the bedroom to above the kitchen table, because it made no sense to have it hidden! i absolutely love how it turned out, but not exactly sure what we will do when i want to add more frames... haha

can all weekends please be like this? thanks. 

cadbury eggs and nickel slots

with easter being in richfield this year, it was a unanimous decision to head out to vegas for the weekend, and then stop by to see the family on the way home. one thing about me and kendrick is that we love las vegas. yes, it's probably not the most upright city out there (far from it), but if you take if for what it is and stay out of trouble, it really is such a good time.

we decided to stop in mesquite on thursday night, as a way to break up the drive a little bit. kendrick and kamiya headed out to the casino for some guy time, and i opted to stay in the hotel room with the laptop (but let's be honest, i was asleep within thirty minutes). once morning came and after a quick breakfast at mcdonalds, we were on our way to vegas!

we have a wonderful tradition of stopping at the outlets right before we hit the strip, which is always one of my favorite parts of the trip (especially because there is a kate spade that always has the best deals!) it must have been my lucky day because almost everything in kate spade was half off, with an additional twenty percent off the total price. it was then that i decided that i had to get a new bag. i mean, it would just be rude not to... right? kendrick and kamiya were so patient with me as i waltzed around the store, grabbing every purse in sight, and holding it up in front of a mirror to see how it looked. one particular sales associate kept on checking up on me, and each time she did, i had a different bag in tow. i also tried on a kate spade dress- i've always avoided trying them on, seeing that they run four-five hundred dollars, and the temptation of buying one just wouldn't be worth it- but i decided to give in and try on a dress anyway. yep, now i want all of them. who needs savings anyway?

i finally ended up deciding on a bag that had caught my eye when i had entered the store- a beautiful buttery-smooth beige leather bag with the cutest bow at the top. it's a classic color and silhouette that will last me for ages- definitely might be a new favorite!

i ended up picking up a few more things, like a skirt from j.crew, and a blouse and dress from francescas. i think the find of the day was made by kamiya who scored a pair of john varvatos shoes for fifty dollars- pricing at around five hundred dollars originally.

after shopping, we headed out to a sushi place that i had purchased vouchers for off of groupon. long story short, this place had a four-five start rating on yelp, so i figured it was safe. well, that hour and a half ended up being the worst dining experience of our life. the place was dirty, the service was the worst we've seen, and the fish was far from fresh (some of it seemed like it was going bad). luckily, we were able to get the groupon refunded and all we can really do now is laugh about it. (also, we realized that the reason they have a high rating on yelp is due to a poster in their facility asking people to write them reviews for free desserts. so, they are giving out free sugar for good reviews- go figure). 

we checked into our hotel after lunch, had a quick power nap, and then were off to the strip! i absolutely love walking down the strip (as long as you don't look at the ground, haha). the casinos and hotels are absolutely stunning, and not to mention they offer some prime people watching. 

sporting my new skirt from j.crew in this picture- the color made it impossible for kendrick and kamiya to lose me ;)

after touring the casinos, we headed out to downtown las vegas to do a little gambling (they offer fifty cent roulette over there rather than the twenty dollar buy-in at the larger casinos on the strip). neither kendrick or i had ever been to fremont street before, and let me tell you, that is where the party is. the place was INSANE. the entire street is covered by an interactive video screen that displays an on-going light show. and to top it off, there are live bands playing at every corner, crowds dancing everywhere, and a zipline that goes from one end of the street to the other. like i said, insane. 

we spent a couple of hours at the cortez casino, and by "we", i mean i stood by and watched kendrick and kamiya kill it at roulette and black jack. kendrick ended up walking away with an extra twenty while kamiya cashed out a hundred- he was all smiles the rest of the night.

we were all back at the hotel and in bed by three am... i think the last time i stayed up that late, i was nineteen. 

the next morning started with an uh-mazing breakfast at a small place called "egg works". seriously, the place was overflowing with people and the wait for a table was about thirty minutes. once seated, i ordered the strawberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast, and kendrick decided on a egg and sausage croissant skillet, and kamiya was so hungry that he ended up ordering one of each! the food was fantastic and the service was top-notch- definitely throwing that into our agenda for each future vegas trip.

next, we headed over to fashion show mall to do a little shopping. i haven't shopped at forever 21 in a while due to the quality of their clothes, but it would have been a crime to turn down the sale they were having. All of the sale items were priced down to ten dollars and under... and then an additional fifty percent came off at checkout. i scored eight cute dresses and tops for spring and summer for twenty nine dollars. 

we headed out to do a little bit of gambling at a nearby casino, but i couldn't get the sale at forever 21 out of my head, so naturally i decided to let kamiya and kendrick have some guy time and i headed back to the mall. i ended up shopping for a solid three hours. i think collectively, i walked away from forever 21 with eleven dresses, nine tops and some leggings for fifty dollars total- i kid you not. however, i'm not the only one who killed it, as kendrick presented me with a hundred dollar bill that he won from black jack. so basically- his gambling paid for my shopping all at the same time. ;)

afterwards, we walked down to the other end of the strip to circus circus. let me just say... that is a weird crowd that hangs out there. we grabbed some dinner at mcdonalds and then headed into the casino for some more fun. i put five dollars into the nickel slots, won my way up to nineteen dollars, got confident, and then lost it all. i was honestly devastated, haha. 

kamiya, who was super bummed that he had lost his hundred earlier that day, was anxious to get some winnings back in his pocket. kendrick and i then made a deal with him that he could gamble with twenty dollars from us, and if he lost it, thats fine. but, if he doubled or tripled it, he could keep the winnings and we would get our twenty back. at first, he was able to win an additional six dollars at black jack, but decided to call it quits and find something with a faster pace. finally, kendrick grabbed the twenty five dollar chip out of his hand, threw it on black at the roulette table- and it won, tripling his money! and just like that, kamiya was able to walk away with fifty and we got our twenty back. win, win, win. 

we tried to make it to richfield for easter with the family the next day, but ended up in one-lane traffic for about one hour. we also ended up hitting traffic a large portion of the rest of the way home, and didn't get in until eight o'clock. definitely not an ideal easter sunday, as we spent most of it in traffic.

however, i am so, so grateful for the opportunity to remember the Savior and his atonement this time each year. because of Him, I get to move on from my past mistakes, become a better person each day, and be a forever family with kendrick, which is more than i could ever ask for. i love the gospel of Jesus Christ with all my heart, and i am so proud to be a member of a church that teaches loves, kindness, forgiveness, and joy. 

happy easter!

miracles

a couple of fridays ago, i received a disheartening call from kendrick, letting me know that his dad had just had a stroke. he wasn't clear on the severity of it- all that he knew was that his dad was on his way to the hospital by ambulance. it was a long day of work, eagerly checking my phone every five minutes, waiting for any updates on paul's condition. once four o'clock hit, i quickly made my way over to the imc hospital to join kendrick and his mom. 

(quick humorous story- knowing that they might be hungry, i stopped at the chick-fil-a across the street to grab a few chicken sandwiches, fries, and a couple of large drinks. once at the hospital, i was unfamiliar with the parking situation, and had no idea where to park and what entrance to use. i ended up parking pretty far away, and walked as quickly as i could to the entrance- while balancing a large bag of food and two good-sized drinks. when i got to the front, i had a feeling that i was at the wrong place, so quickly turned around to head back to my car. this is when the lid flew off one of the drinks- it was a very windy day. now, being even more careful with my food haul and one compromised drink, in heels, i hobbled my way across the street to my car. halfway across the crosswalk, the paper bag started to rip and then before i could make it to the sidewalk alllll of the food poured out and the diet coke spilled all down my pants and blouse. mind you- there were two cars waiting for me to cross the street- so they got a front row seat to my graceful performance. embarrassed and sticky, i gathered what was left of the sad meal, quickly made my way to the correct hospital entrance, and tried explaining to kendrick and his mom why the sandwiches were smashed, the fries were missing, and why on earth i smelled so strongly of diet coke).

anyways- luckily, at this point, paul's condition was stable. the two main evidences of his stroke were his pounding headache and his inability to get out words. turns out, the bleeding happened on the side of his brain that controlled speech recognition, so while he knew what things were, he could not say them. frustrating, right? the biggest hurdle for him was saying what month it was- each time the nurse would ask, he would reply "i know it- i just cannot say it!". (about an hour after a nurse gave him the quiz on what month it was, paul exclaimed out of no where "it's march!"... it was pretty dang funny)

we ended up staying with kendrick's mom until about ten o'clock that night, eagerly trying to comfort her and give her any assurance that she needed. kamiya came around this time so that he could join kendrick in giving paul a blessing. while the blessing was said, i felt the spirit so strongly and started to tear up. the power of the priesthood really is so incredible- how you can go one minute from feeling helpless and afraid, to the next knowing with all assurance that God is mindful of you, loves you, and is there for you. 

long story short- after a couple of days, paul was talking normally and walking around, as if the stroke never even happened. he was discharged from the hospital after only a few says, and the doctors even commented that recoveries from strokes really don't happen this fast. we all feel so incredibly blessed. miracles do happen and prayers are answered!

(and every time we drove past the crosswalk that had a small trail of french fries leading to the sidewalk, i couldn't help but laugh).