Hole in one! Sort of....

Many of you might not know my new hobby - GOLFING! I've wanted to learn for years and lucky for me I married someone who likes it! Adam bought me a set of golf clubs for my birthday, and although it was just this last weekend, he couldn't stand it and gave them to me back in April. Since then we've gone out several times to the driving range and did 9 holes a few weeks back with my grandparents which was a blast!

Well this weekend, we traveled to central Oregon to see my parents and took the clubs along. Saturday morning we went to a putting course with my mom and dad. The course is fun its like mini-golf but with real grass, hills, sand, water hazards etc. Its a great place to practice putting! Well I did awful. Later that day Adam and I headed to another course to practice hitting at the driving range. As our balls dwindled down Adam suggested I try aiming for a flag about 70 yards out. So with my last handful of balls that's what I did. Rather than trying to whack the heck out of the ball, I had to lay back and try to figure out how hard to hit it. Most of the balls were not even close but as I got to the last few I got closer and closer and then with the last ball I made it in the hole! We saw and heard the ball hit the flag pole and then drop down into the hole. It was awesome! I just stood there and laughed and Adam was in shock. I know it wasn't a hole-in-one on a real course, but still it was awesome!


This is the cute set Adam bought me! Its blue and purple with flowers on it. Adam's been a great teacher - very patient with me and doesn't make too much fun of me when I stink!

I'm an Aunt!

I am so excited I'm an Aunt! Little Brycen was born on Monday, May 19th in Arizona- sadly we aren't there to welcome him but we send bunches of love and plan to visit him real soon! I wish I had some pictures to share, but the only ones we have are on Adam's phone and he's is California. But he's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Now I can't wait for my first Niece to arrive in a couple months!

Moms

I know its a few days late, but I just wanted to say a little bit about my (our) moms. How grateful I am for both of them. My mom is great - shes supported me in everything I have ever wanted to do. She's been a great example in so many ways. One of the greatest thing I have learned from her is that you have to find time do things that are important to you- to take time for yourself. From her example I've learned that the best way to be happy in your relationships with others, is to be happy yourself.

I've just become a part of Adam's family, but how grateful I am for his wonderful mom as well. I am so thankful for her for raising Adam and helping turn him into the wonderful man he is. I know it must have been a lot of hard work to make him what he is! Additionally, I can't imagine a better mother-in-law (and entire family I might add). I felt immediately welcomed into the family and right at home with them from the moment Adam and I were engaged.


I am so lucky to have two great moms and am so excited for the many more years we have to further grow our relationships. I LOVE YOU MOM!

STOP!! BACK AWAY FROM THE SMALL KITCHEN APPLIANCE!

Do you ever have those times where about 30 seconds after an event has occurred you wish you would have taken a picture? This morning the Vitamix and I had a moment. And it was a very brief moment. Since Adam has been gone this week, I have had to make my own breakfast smoothies; and I thought I was getting the hang of it.... I think I was very wrong.

Let me describe what happened. I cleaned my carrots, cut the peel off my oranges and kiwis, cleaned the grapes and hucked it all in the machine along with a handful of spinach and some frozen berries. I started the machine on low and slowly raised the speed until it was nice and smooth... and here's were things went very wrong. I turned the machine off. Bad idea. I proceeded to grab the milk and a handful of ice cubes which I put in through the whole in the top of the machine. I switched the Vitamix back on - I put it on low again, but then I tried to speed it back up and that's when it happened BRIGHT RED SMOOTHIE went EVERYWHERE! And how did I react? I laughed so hard. You know when you have those moments to choose whether to get upset or just laugh? Well I didn't even think about being mad, I just laughed and laughed and laughed. There was smoothie everywhere - on the wall, the counter, the window blinds, the floor, the Kitchenaid, in the Kitchenaid bowl.. By this point I realize I am going to be very late for work. I have no choice, I have to clean the mess because if I don't do it now it will be much harder after work. But I laughed the whole time. And then laughed the whole way to work. And then laughed as I recounted the whole event to my coworkers. And then laughed 4 hours later when I realized it was all over my shirt - why I didn't look before, I don't even know.

After I cleaned, I wished I would have taken a picture, but as funny as it was I didn't want to recreate the event a second time. I'm pretty glad that Adam wasn't here to witness it happen, he'd probably ban me from all future use. I think I'll wait till he reads this to fess up....who knows I may even get away with it......

Reception # 2

I don't have pictures from our first reception in Mesa, but I thought I would post some from our Boise Celebrations. I wanted something pretty simple so our food theme centered around fountains - we had 3 fountains: Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Carmel (the PB was amazing!). We also served cupcake trees and my aunt made delicious homemade lemonade:










We had lots and lots of things to dip in the fountains... creme puffs, oreos, pretzels, marshmallows, ritz crackers, celery, apples, strawberries, pineapple and bananas! The table of goodies looked amazing - it was the creative genius of Adam's mom... you'd never know that there were 3 primary chairs stacked on that table for all the layering! This is me trying to enjoy the treats - Adam was behind this - he shoved a peanut butter covered marshmallow in my mouth - yeah, try to chew on that without milk!

For decorations we had a iron backdrop and an archway which we decorated up with fabric and flowers:

You can also see in the picture my own personal creation. I spent hours folding tissue paper flowers to hang from the ceiling. I made over 120 in 2 shades of pink, lime green and orange. I worried how it would turn out but it was awesome! I must thank our dads, Adam and my sister Kena for spending a good hour or more poofing all of them out - I don't know how I survived all the groans and moans of that job!


My good friend and former roommate Tonya made the beautiful centerpieces which we accented with real limes (later we juiced them all, froze the juice and now have delicious limeade or virgin margaritas whenever we want!).

We spent all day decorating and getting everything looking great and it turned out so much better than I thought! I had detested the idea of having the reception in the gym and was worried that it would look so cheesy in there, but with lots of help everything was beautiful!

It was great to have Adam's parents up to celebrate with us in Idaho.

My sister Kena came over from Eugene.






For those of you who think this is a normal family picture... look closer at my dad. Yep that's no photoshop, he's wearing converse with a suit! In Mesa he wore a stunning 3-piece suit - the first time I ever saw him in a suit and tie (at least the tie is green!) but in Boise he borrowed this suit and showed up in Converse! If you know my dad, you'll fully understand and appreciate this- for those of you who don't I grew up seeing my dad in nothing but converse tennis shoes (I'm just surprised he didn't show up in green ones!)










I had lots of great friends come. Two of my former roommates, Kaila and Kayla, helped with the refreshments





Cindy and Bridget are former roommates as well that drove all the way up from Utah to celebrate with us.

And of course the best thing that ever happened to me, my dear sweetheart ADAM!