The End of Summer

Summer has been crazy for us Hons. We have gone on a few trips, spent a lot of time with family, but mostly we have just liked being able to spend so much time together. We went to Snowflake for the annual 4th of July Rodeo and fireworks. Spencer's grandparents, family, and some of the aunts, uncles, and cousins joined us and it was really fun. I actually enjoyed my first rodeo! I like the barrel racing the most because nobody was going to get hurt. I was fun however watching my mother-in-law next to me flinch every single time the riders would fall off. (Ok, I did too!). We watched the fireworks and headed home. The next morning we raced home to teach our primary class. That next weekend we drove up to Payson for the day. We ended up taking the Bealls with us and it was a blast. It's fun to go to the same place and have a completely different experience than any other time. I got to have it as an adult this time! It was beautiful weather, a little rainy and perfect for a day outside. We got home really late and that was that.

On July 14 was my birthday!! I am officially 20!! It was such a fun day. We met up with the Hons for frozen yogurt and then Spencer took me shopping at Arizona Mills mall and I got a new shirt and two new pairs of shoes! Then we went to Olive Garden and he surprised me by having the Ayelsworths and the Bealls there to eat dinner with us! It was so fun! We met up with my parents and the Johnsons for frozen yogurt again!! We went back over to the Hons to play games after and I got to spend some time with this little girl!

My favorite trip so far though has been our adventure to California. I took quite a few pictures of the trip so I am going to try to limit the amount I put on here but It's fun for future :). We drove my dad's truck there (we were going to drive our newly acquired car but we were just a tiny bit worried and my mom wanted the space in the truck so we went with that. We had the two littlest children in our car so that made the drive interesting. They were SO good except when they got bored and got kinda noisy.  We made pretty good time except for the fact that we had to drive 55 mph all the way through Cali because we were pulling the trailor. We got to camp, set up, and spend the rest of the night on the beach. Spencer and I were on a different campsite than my parents so we got to fall asleep listening to the sound of the ocean while they got to listen to some stupid drunk people all night long! The next morning we got up and took family pictures. I would have to say that it was one of the easiest family pictures sessions ever. It was short and the pictures turned out great from what I have seen. We then proceeded to Knotts Berry Farm! I didn't take ANY pictures there except for the Snoopy on Ice show which I will DEFINITELY be posting. It was so fun, except for Katy puked right before the show started. I had given her a little hard candy and she says, "I was just smiling and then it went into my throat!" She then proceeded to cough and try and get it up until she puked. No fun but a funny story! We got Little Caesars and went back to camp. We were all exhausted so it was an early-ish night.

The next day was the worst best. We woke up to find that our entire tent, cooler, suit case, and everything else was completely infested with ants. We have never had problems with ants at this campsite but they were EVERYWHERE!!! I definitely cried a little and then Spencer and I Spencer went through all of our stuff, shook it out and got it ant free (I don't like ants). We moved all of our stuff down to the Smith lot where we would spend our last night. The rest of the day was great. We hung out on the beach, ate yummy camping food, and oh yeah I DIDN'T HAVE A VOICE! I have no idea what happened but I woke up that morning without a voice. Spencer loved playing out in the ocean with the boys. He was out there the whole time we were at the beach. Luckily we kept reapplying sunscreen because he is as white as it gets and was already a little bit burnt. That night all of the adults went to this restaurant that had hula hoops in the front. There was this crazy girl there that seriously looked pro. We all just watched as she hula-ed away. It was really fun hanging out with the adults.

The next morning, Spencer and I woke up early and got dressed in our Sunday best. We packed up everything that we needed to take with us, grabbed Whitley, and left for the San Diego temple. It was beautiful. I was so excited to actually get to go inside. All day Saturday, everything was in spanish pretty much. We got signed in to sit in a Spanish sealing session and it was amazing. Spencer loved it so much. Whitley just sat outside and, "watched bees pollinate, walked around, wrote in [her] journal, walked around some more...". It wasn't the most fun thing she could have been doing but I was proud of her for choosing to be there. We headed out to Sea Port Village and ate lunch with the family (they met us there). The pizza never lets us down. Spencer and I looked around for souveniers for a while and then decided to just get something for Tatum (my cute little sister in law) and headed home. We made great time because we weren't pulling the trailer. We almost ran out of gas near Maricopa but we made it and then got stuck standing still in the middle of the biggest dust storm I had ever seen. We couldn't see the car in front of us. We got home and went to the in-laws to give Tatum her gift. Then we went home and SLEPT. (voice still gone).

I didn't have my voice until yesterday. Weird. Anyways, our lives have been a ton of fun lately and we are excited to be getting things back into the norm. We have started waking up earlier, not even using an alarm. (I know, what are we thinking?!) We love it though. We have time to eat breakfast together, not rush to get ready, and we have started reading scriptures and saying prayers in the morning instead of at night so I'm actually conscious for it! 4 months and counting!

Sorry the pictures are all out of order, I don't have the patience to rearrange them.

This is what happened when the real rain started to fall from the sky onto the stage.

This was so neat, there was a thing to catch the water down at the bottom and the dancer were behind the water.

These were the two pro dancers. They danced in only 3 numbers but they were the crowd favorite

Eye of the tiger, snoopy

"Now the moment you've all been waiting for...Justin Beagle!!" They danced to Baby!

This was a cool skate show they have at the park. It was amazing

Piper's lollipop.....she was SO sticky!

Katy came up and laid on the ground and said she wanted to take a nap. I tried to put the towel under her but she didn't want to get up. She fell asleep playing with the sand in her hands!

Bo made a "water bed". A hole filled with water that only his butt could fit it. I asked why there was water in the whole and he said, "Cuz it's a water bed, duh!" haha my bad!

Huge jellyfish!

Dad dug a life size Bo hole. He laid in it and felt so cool

then dad buried him :)

This picture was his idea haha

There is no way to truly explain this picture. You had to be there. But I will attempt. We look over and Bo is just standing there, looking at these kids with his arms a weird distance from his body and his back slightly bent. And he didn't move. My dad actually had to go get him and take him into the water to wash off so he could go take a nap or something. It was hysterical how long he just stood there for....

Bo says, "Katy, you look like you have a beard made of sand!!"

These little boys and girls were digging these holes pretty much the entire day and they let Bo jump in.

Sea Port Village. Spencer's poor sunburned face!

I don't know if you can see but that tan spot is a dust storm

This is the line from dust storm to rain storm. It was crazy watching it from the outside

Things I Love

I love being married. It's interesting that we have been married for almost three months and I feel like we have been married for forever. At the same time, I feel like our wedding day was just yesterday! It's a weird phenomenon. Anyways, I still love waking up to Spencer every morning. I love making his lunch every day (even though I swore I never would). I love picking up surprises when I go grocery shopping (different kinds of cereal, real tortillas, sour cream, etc.). I love going everywhere together. Seriously, I can't even begin to say how much I love that. It's so nice to not have to call each other constantly to make plans and then wait for him to come pick me up and then one of us driving home pretty late at night. That was the worst. Now we can just go together, come home together, and I LOVE it!! I love that he still wants to call me on his breaks even though I would be totally sick of me if I were him. :) I love that he still loves me even though I freak out sometimes and go crazy on him. And when I say crazy, I mean crazy! Ask him yourself, I pretty much beat him up :). And he still loves me! I love seeing him all ready in the morning and knowing that he's all mine! (I'm so greedy). I love that he knows me well enough to guess when I want to eat a popsicle (no joke, he almost always knows). I love that when I am almost asleep but we haven't said prayer yet, he will basically lift me up off the bed and let me lean on him so I won't fall over, even though it's not very comfortable for him. I love that he gets so excited about whatever dinners I bring him or make him. He makes me feel like a chef!

Anyways, I just really love being married. I love Spencer, I love life, and I love that we are going to play laser tag tonight with our little married friends group :). We are so blessed!

Weddings and Oliver!

I have pretty much been doing nothing in the past little while but going to weddings and going to play practice. It's a fun life but it's a bit exhausting!! First was my friend Chantille's wedding. They had pretty much the longest engagement of all. I guess mormon time moves a little quicker but they were engaged on the far end of 4 months!! I could never have done that...I was there when she went through the temple and it was absolutely wonderful. I was also able to go their sealing (without my hubby...dangit!) and it was great too. It was my first time being to a friend's sealing. It was so great. I just got to sit there and remember everything that Spencer and I did on our wedding day. :) Her reception was beautiful and they are now happily the Crewse family!

We have also been able to make a group of newlywed friends. Our oldest couple (longest married) just hit six months and...they are due with a boy at the end of September!!!!! That is the Aylesworths.

 Next we have the Bealls. The Bealls are our oldest (known them for the longest) couple and we love them. We are so glad that they have stayed close because we have been able to go on dates, go to dinner, go to the temple, and just hang out with them a bunch since they have been married.

There is also the Ways. It's a little bit harder to hang out with them because they live out in the middle of nowhere (Queen Creek) so it's a far drive for them to come out to us, but when they do, it is pretty much a party.

We had a big group date a couple weeks ago with 5 couples (there was one not married couple but we gave them a break because they only had about a week left and then they were moving back to Idaho so we let them join). We all brought a dessert and played games. It was seriously fun!!

Yesterday was a really big day for one of my VERY best friends Miranda!! She and her husband were married!!!! I am so stinkin' excited for her! I was so lucky to be a bridesmaid and spend the entire day with her and her family.

Forever Friends :) The blonde, the brunette and the red head :)

We went to her sealing in the morning and it was wonderful. We took pictures afterwards for a while and it was blazing hot! (I actually ended up sending Spencer to Walgreens to get me some water because we were dying!) We ate at Tia Rosas and then had about two hours until we needed to be at the Clubhouse so we could take bridal party pictures. Spencer and I went grocery shopping and then got home. We had about half an hour until we had to leave so we were a bit bummed because we wanted a nap.... We got to the Clubhouse, took pictures, had a grand entry (so fun by the way! CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON!) and then the night got crazy! While Miranda was distracted, Spencer and I ran all over town getting supplies to decorate their car! By the time we got back it was 8:00 and they were supposed to leave at 9! We got the keys from Andy (he totally ruined the surprise, apparently they didn't want anything happening to the inside of their car) and the Aylesworths, the Bealls, us, and the Merchant sisters set out to decorate like crazy! It ended up looking really really good. We were all pretty proud of ourselves. We went back in and did one last dance and then it was time for the bride and groom to take off! (talk about cutting it close!) They had a sparkler exit and then was the reveal.

I know it's a bad picture but it was really dark and I took it with my phone!

 It was so perfect and I am so excited that they get to spend the rest of their lives together. <3 They are now on their way to California for a funfilled honeymoon at Disneyland!

Funny happenings of the day:

• Right after talking about it, Miranda got pooped on by a bird during pictures at the temple! Thank heavens for baby wipes!
• Right after saying ,"check out the benefits of wearing wedges" Maddie ran up the stairs and totally fell flat on her face.
• After the temple and before the luncheon, McKenzie, Maddie and I made Miranda really cute cards out of foam, foam stickers, and pipe cleaners. We are legit.
• Miranda's brother Dustin had to be paired up with me during the bridal party pictures and he was so awkward because I was married so he didn't want to! I don't care at all, it was just fun giving him a hard time and hearing him say, "it's nothing against you..." haha! Oh Dustin :)
• Miranda's little cousin who go to be the flower girl was so excited about her basket that she went around and had each of the six bridesmaids and two grandmas hold it. 

All in all, it was an amazing day and I was so glad I got to share it with them

The play is going good, nothing too exciting to share. We are approaching show time in about three weeks and it's going to be a good show.

I also went to the doctor about my ankle and they said, "yeah that's weird, I don't know what's wrong." Thank you for that one. Still no news and no solution. Yay! We are also loving our primary class. Spencer has found a little him and has taken him under his wing to train ( I don't know in what but I'm a little bit worried :) )