life lessons

Kendrick's car has been pretty sick lately... in fact, I believe we've taken it to the shop at least three times in the past three months in hopes that it will finally just get better (yes, we refer to our car as a member of the family, move along).

to our dismay, it started acting up again on tuesday after work. every time we started it up, or it was in idle, it would start shaking uncontrollably. so, we did what we had to do, and dropped it off at Big O Tires that night (it was after hours), and hid the key in the rain gutter.

the next morning, Kendrick called the shop to explain the problem, and to let them know the key's sneaky hiding place. around noon on Wednesday, he received a phone call letting him know that that repair was only going to cost $150. honestly, this in itself was such a huge relief. granted, it's not fun to spend any money on car repairs, but we both were expecting something in the $800 range.

we stopped by Big O after work to retrieve our not-so-trusty 4-Runner, and to pay the bill. we had a nice chat with the mechanic, received some helpful information on an upcoming tire sale, and then Kendrick was off to his new and improved car. what he didn't expect when he opened the car door was to see the stereo system completely ripped out, and the middle dashboard utterly mangled. we also weren't counting on our brand new air mattress, expensive roadside assistant kit, and a few other items to be missing. yep, our car got broken into.

the owner of Big O Tires was very helpful and extremely apologetic. he quickly called the mechanic, who explained that the stereo was ripped out when he got to the car that morning, and he figured Kendrick was just in the process of replacing it. so, obviously we put two and two together, and realized that the car had been broken into the night we dropped it off.

we filed a police report (for insurance reasons), and the manager pulled the footage from his security camera which displayed this horrid truth- we hadn't even locked the doors when we dropped it off. yeah, the thief walked right in.

having your property broken into, vandalized, and stolen isn't fun. actually, it downright sucks. but with the way things have been going with cars lately, we knew we had to shake it off and view the bright side of things.

• the unlocked car avoided any and all window bashing-  broken windows are a pain to get fixed
• nothing of incredibly high value was taken. Kendrick and I are prone to leaving things in the car for weeks. we just recently got back from a Bear Lake trip, and for the first time ever, we actually cleared out all of our things when we got back. this included our DSLR camera, clothing, blankets, and at one point of the trip I was keeping my wedding ring in a empty pill canister in the middle console. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if that was still in the car.
• our deductible for this kind of thing is $100, so our out-of-pocket costs for the repair will be capped at that
• the whole car could have been stolen. I mean, let's not forget, we left the key in a rain gutter in a sketchy area in Kearns. Yeah, we're lucky the car was even there the next morning. (I can just imagine Kendrick calling Big O that morning about his car, and them being like... what car?)
• we finally got around to cleaning Kendrick's car! we've honestly been meaning to do this for months and months and months, and the car has gotten to the point where it was pretty disgusting. having it broken into and destroyed motivated us to wash it, wipe down everything, and vacuum and shampoo the rugs that night.
• we realized how blessed we were. hey, things could have been so much worse!

and for a couple of life lessons...

• don't leave your car overnight at an auto-repair shop. leave a few minutes early for work the next morning, and drop it off then.
• ...and for heaven's sake, lock your doors.

bear lake

one of Kendrick's aunts owns a cabin by Bear Lake, so it is his family's tradition to all go up there every other year. Lucky for us- this was that year! kendrick and I were able to take Thursday and Friday off work, and headed down Thursday afternoon. the drive down was beautiful- I always forget just how stunning Logan canyon is!

once we were in Garden City, we had some pizza with the family, and enjoyed catching up with all of the cousins. later that night, we retreated to the cabin where we all chatted until bed time. 

the next morning started super early, like 9 o'clock early...which I realize isn't all that early, but for a vacation, it was early. we headed out to the lake, which was quite chilly, so rather than waiting for it to warm up, we decided to join Kendrick's dad in taking one of the jet skis into town (it was having trouble starting up). after dropping the jet ski off at the shop, Paul ended up treating us both to lunch. I decided on a Dole Whip and some Buffalo Chicken won tons, and they were quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten... or at least in the top five.

once noon hit, the sun was shining and we were back and out on the lake. utah has been incredibly smokey due to some wild fires in neighboring states, which in turn made the lake a pale shade of teal, instead of it's familiar deep blue color. also, you couldn't even see the other side of the lake with all the smoke in the air, which made taking the jet skis out even more thrilling as we drove out into the foggy abyss. kendrick even mustered up the courage to try out his family's kayak.. it's safe to say he didn't get very far.

for dinner, we decided that we had to try out this place, because crepes are just something I will never say no to. it ended up being one of the best ideas we've ever had, and I will never forget those gigantic, mouthwatering, creamy raspberry crepes. 

our second day on the lake was a completely different story. just like the first day, it was chilly and the water was icy. however, the main difference about this day was that it didn't warm up, at all. the entire day was gray, windy, and cold. Kendrick and I decided to brace the ice-water lake for a quick jet ski ride, but that probably lasted 1.36 minutes... if even that.

our friends Marcus and Lonnie met up with us around eleven, and we all ended up heading to the hot springs just down the street. fifteen minutes of sitting in hot water was all we needed to thaw out, and we were ready to take on the rest of the day (smelling very much like sulfur).

the last night in Bear Lake was game night with Kendrick's family. kendrick's aunt Joleen is literally the queen of games, and she has quite the reputation for thinking up the most creative things to play. we ended up playing a live version of Clue, and I had the honor of playing Ms. Scarlet. we were all scattered throughout the house, along with weapons, and different clues. All of the lights were turned out, and everyone made there way around with flashlights, gathering all of the clues that were spread out. it was honestly so much fun!

we left Bear Lake Sunday morning, and couldn't resist stopping by this pretty place on the way home. this was my first time seeing this temple up close, and it quickly made its way to the top of my favorite list (behind the Salt Lake temple, of course). while we stared at the temple Kendrick said, "I just don't know how you can look at this and not feeling something." and it's true, the peace and love you feel looking at them is undeniable. I love temples!

only two more years until we get to do this all over again...and I can hardly wait! hoping for a little more sun next time- and a lot less smoke. ;)

house-sitting

we spent the past week house-sitting (and James-sitting) while Kendrick's parents drove out to Chicago for their business. it was such a nice get-away, and their food is definitely an improvement from what we are used to eating at our own house! I wish I could say that we took advantage of our week in beautiful Bountiful, but most of our evenings were spent watching The Office and Impractical Jokers on the huge projector in their basement.

however, we did manage to get out of the house on Saturday morning to attend the temple. it was such a gorgeous day, and starting the morning off with that made my weekend a million times better. after the temple, we headed out to the Station Park outlets for a little retail therapy- my favorite!

kendrick's parents came back Saturday evening, and we had so much fun hearing about their amazing road trip and the experiences they had. they were able to stop at a handful of church sites, including Adam-Ondi- Ahman, Liberty Jail, and Carthage Jail.

during our stay, we also uncovered an album full of Kendrick's baby pictures, and after seeing how cute he was as a baby... let's just say it was terrible birth control. I mean, just look at those round eyes!

happy...

things have been going awesome for me and Kendrick, and to put it simply, all I can really say is that we are happy. we are keeping busy with work and school, accomplishing goals, and spending a lot of time with our families.

last Thursday, I got an exciting text from Aaron letting me know that Nicole was in pre-labor, and they needed us over there pronto to stay with Zoey. if there is one thing that I will never say "no" to, it's watching that little girl. she is always the easiest to watch, and we have so much fun with her! I'm certain the feeling is mutual, as every time we watch her, she just stares at Kendrick with a big grin on her face, laughing at every single thing he does (laughing with him or at him, we'll never know).

we already had plans that night with our friends Sara and Colin, but they are troopers and agreed to come over to my brother's house instead. they ended up staying until about midnight and we had a blast playing games and eating pizza. they are both such great people- I love new friends!

it was decided that we were going to spend Friday night at Kendrick's parents house, but made a quick stop on the way at the University of Utah hospital to meet our new little niece, Myla. she was absolutely darling, and surprisingly looked a lot like the newborn version of Zoey. we stayed for about an hour, and I had plenty of time to hold that beautiful baby girl (Kendrick had to repeatedly look at me and say "no", as he knew all too well that I was thinking "let's have one!")

 (just kidding, so not ready).

once we were at Kendrick's parents house, we decided on a quick scooter ride, as his family wasn't home yet. bountiful keeps on proving to me just how gorgeous of a place it is, and it was particularly pretty that night as we drove along the hills, getting a spectacular view of the valley. however, it was all fun and games until the scooter decided it had enough and ba-booom- there we were on the side of the road, miles from home, with a scooter that wouldn't start back up.

kendrick hopped off and checked to make sure is wasn't out of gas, which it wasn't, so he placed a call to his dad while repeatedly trying to start it. I sat on the curb and picked at some weeds that were poking through the asphalt, so I guess you can say we both stayed productive. after about ten minutes, with Kendrick's parents still far away and the scooter still not starting, we were greeted by the friendly older man that lived across the street. he asked if we needed help, took a look at the scooter for us, and then helped us wheel it across the street into the safety of his own driveway. we all came to the conclusion that the scooter probably just needed to cool off, so the sweet man invited us into his home, where he lead us to his amazing theater room and offered us drinks and an assortment of candy (aka my heaven). kendrick and I were absolutely blown away by this man's kindness, and we had such a great time chatting with him about his beautiful home, large family, and the mission he served with his wife years ago. this experience made me realize just how rare kindness like that is these days, and this was one act of kindness that neither of us will ever forget.

after about thirty minutes of watching America's Got Talent with our new friend, Kendrick ran outside to see if the scooter would start- and it did! we both said goodbye to our wonderful host, thanking him profusely, and then were on our merry way back home. when we arrived at the house, Kendrick's parents and brother were finally there with a couple of fierce looking jet skis. we spent the remainder of the night grabbing dinner, chatting, and discussing our impromptu jet-skiing plans for the very next day.

saturday started early (like 6:30 AM early), but it was all in the name of some savvy deal-finding at some awesome Bountiful yard sales. kendrick had left at about the same time to play tennis with my brothers, so it was just me, James, and his parents. I had such a blast going from sale to sale, grabbing great finds for practically nothing. in the end, I scored 3 dvd's, a set of gold silverware, a ceramic gold box-type thing (still have no idea what I am going to use it for, but it was pretty and $3, sooo...), a beautiful jar, and two gold frames (one is super large with a gorgeous ornate frame that I plan on turning into a mirror). and your guess for all of this? don't guess too high, because it was all only $10. yeah, I definitely plan on doing that again (the 6:30 AM thing and all).

the entire afternoon was spent on Echo Lake, jet skiing and having the time of our life. the jet skiis that Kendrick's parents had purchased were super high quality, and we were able to take incredibly sharp turns without tipping over once! as soon as three o'clock rolled in, we were both exhausted, burnt, and I had a particularly mean cut on my toe, so we were ready to call it good and get home to the shower.

our last plan for that evening was dinner at Rocky Mountain Races (my dad gets free tickets from work and he's always been so sweet to share them). while I'm not one to enjoy watching a race car go around, and around, and around, we certainly don't mind free dinner. however, this time we decided to see what the fuss was all about, and stayed to watch the races. after about an hour, Kendrick was getting really into it and turned to me and said "I think I have found my crowd", in which I quickly grabbed his hand and got us out of there real fast.

(if you've ever been to Rocky Mountain Raceways, and have seen the people that attend those races... you'd surely understand where I am coming from, I guarantee it.) (no offense to them, I'm sure they're great people... all of them)

did I mention we are just happy?

on sundays we picnic

sunday was an absolutely beautiful day, and Kendrick and I both felt like being somewhere other than a dark basement (which has lately seen quite an influx in spiders). it didn't take long for us both to agree on a picnic at Daybreak Lake. as soon as Kendrick was finished with his home teaching, the food was packed, the blanket was folded, and we were on our way (along with a particularly cute and fluffy brown thing).

we had a wonderful time enjoying the scenery, reading our books, and eating the delicious food we packed. Maizee also definitely didn't mind being out of the house, and enjoyed running around and seeing all of the other dogs. while Kendrick took a short nap, I walked Maizee over to the lake, where we both cooled off our feet in the shallow water. 

let's just say... I'm cool with all Sunday's being like this. 

definitely cool with it. 

into the wild...

we really wanted to do something fun and free for the 24th, so the idea of camping was pretty much a no brainer. granted, we didn't have any camping gear of our own, but after the help of an Amazon gift card and some awesome deal-finding, we had a nice tent and air mattress purchased for around $40 (these purchases were obviously easy to justify, as they can be used over, and over, and over). 

we had already recently scouted out some camping spots in the Bountiful mountains, so already had the location picked out as well. We were ready!

kendrick was off work around 2 'o clock on the 24th, so as soon at that hit, we were on the road and on our way. once in the mountains, it didn't take long for us to land upon the perfect camping spot. we set up our tent, blew up the air mattress, and got the bed put together.

I'd have to say that the most memorable part of the camping trip was getting the fire started. there were some scraps of bark and branches laying on the ground, but certainly not enough to keep a fire blazing until night time. also, a lot of the wood that was on the ground was wet from the rain that we had a few days prior, so none of that was really even usable. so, we had to resort to what made the most sense at the time- setting large rocks underneath fallen down trees, and having Kendrick jump on one end, in hopes that the weight would get the wood to snap. after much trial and error, we were finally able to cut the wood into fire-pit sized pieces by having Kendrick run over it with his car. ridiculous, yes? impressive? you betcha. admittedly, I wouldn't let Kendrick purchase a hatchet before this trip because I really didn't understand the need (he tends to make impulsive purchases whenever he finds something "cool"), but I get it now, honey, I get it!

before we got dinner started, I took a short stroll to get a good view of the sunset (and to take some pictures, of course). I don't know what it is about Bountiful, but it just knows how to do a sunset.  

while we still had a little bit of light, we decided to bring out the pellet gun and do some shooting. kendrick set up empty water bottles on severed tree trunks, and we took turns shooting them down.

our fire burned until it was dark, which allowed us to roast hot dogs and s'mores, the two components of any respectable camping trip. when it was time to call it a night, we realized something else we forgot- water to put out the fire! sure, we had a cooler with about 3 frozen water bottles, but those were the "ice" that was keeping everything in there cool. it was at this point that one of our worsts habits paid off for us as we were were able to round up about six half-full water bottles in the back seat of Kendrick's car (we are both terribly guilty of drinking a water bottle halfway, forgetting about it, and then chucking it in the back seat when it's too warm to drink).

it was a particularly cold night, but that could be due to the fact that we brought a few blankets rather than sleeping bags. once morning came, we were up and ready to head out. we were going to make breakfast, but our camp stove wasn't functioning right and Kendrick obtained a pretty gnarly battle wound from trying to break a large branch off of a tree.

we were on the road and headed home by noon (after some scenery pictures, of course). 

kendrick and I are both really excited to get more into camping, as this trip was a huge first step in learning what we need and don't need... because basically, we needed everything that we didn't bring. but, I'm always up for any kind of adventure with my best friend. :)

the big 25

as silly as it sounds, I've been excited to celebrate Kendrick's birthday since we got married. something about "married birthdays" has always seemed like so much more of a party. so, you better believe that by the time Kendrick's birthday came around, I was ready to go big.

the weekend started early, as we both decided to take Friday off work. we spent the morning at Lagoon, trying out the new roller coaster Cannibal (amazing... seriously), and then doing a little shopping at Nordstrom Rack. I let Kendrick pick out something for his birthday, and he decided on an awesome button up shirt. I have a hard time leaving a store empty handed, so grabbed a couple of darling candles that were on sale.we headed home after shopping, and took a quick power nap before our dinner reservation at the Copper Onion. 

the Copper Onion is an awesome restaurant downtown, and the food certainly did not disappoint. I settled on the carbonara pasta, while Kendrick stuck with the obvious choice- steak. in retrospect, I wish I had gone with another option, but Kendrick loved his dish- and that's really all that matters!

(I let him open a couple of presents at dinner- he was pretty pumped, as you can see)

we walked around downtown a little bit after that- which of course included City Creek.

saturday was a long and ridiculously fun day. the morning started out with some sleeping in, and then breakfast at Eggs in the City (one of our favorite spots). after breakfast, we headed over to the Cinemark theater in Sugarhouse where we saw the new Terminator (Kendrick's choice- obviously). this was hands down the best theater I've ever been too! it was recently remodeled, so all of the seats are huge, comfy leather recliners with foot rests. pretty amazing. 

we met up with Tawny and Keegan later that night, where we had dinner at Zupas, and then played some laser tag at Laser Quest. kendrick scored higher than all of us that night- he takes his laser tag pretty seriously.

sunday morning started out with me bringing Kendrick breakfast in bed. I made him eggs, hash browns, bacon and toast- and I was sure to make everything look super nice on a pretty silver tray- that included the smoothie being presented in a tall and fancy glass. however, as fate would have it, once Kendrick had the tray on his lap, he scooted up a little to get more comfy when BAM- there goes the smoothie, all over Kendrick, his food, and the bed sheets (you never really notice how sticky smoothies are until they are all over everything). luckily, all but the toast and half the hash browns were still dry, so Kendrick was still able to enjoy his breakfast in bed... just with a little less bed sheets this time. ;)

that afternoon, we had a birthday party at Kendrick's parent house. my parents ending up coming as well, along with our great friend Kamiya.  Kamiya surprised us by walking in with this huge present for Kendrick, which ended up being about five different sized boxes and lots of packing peanuts, which eventually lead to the beautiful Nixon watch that Kendrick has wanted for a while. well done, Kamichi! 

we ended the evening with a drive around beautiful Bountiful, looking at all of the gorgeous homes and enjoying the view of the valley. our last stop was at the Bountiful temple, where we had the perfect view of the sun setting.

also- I have to mention, Kendrick's birthday is also the day we got engaged last year, so it was fun reminiscing about that perfect day in Hawaii one year ago.

happy birthday Kendrick! 25 sure looks good on you, you handsome thing you.