travels: part 3

the last part of our trip landed us in:
maui!!!

it. was. amazing.

my first time ever to any hawaiian island, joe's first time to maui.

as i mentioned earlier, i planned this trip and kept all the details a surprise from joe.
this was the first picture i took of him in hawaii, waiting in line to get our rental car.
notice his nervous, forced smile?
he won't admit it, but he was a wreck all morning.
he hated having no control over our plans, and i know he was very nervous that something was going to go wrong. (ok, i was nervous about it too).
but everything worked out perfectly, even better than i had imagined!

we were blissed out the whole time.

we snorkled, body-surfed, shopped, slept in,

saw a turtle!
(no picture of course)

soaked up the sun, explored, played in the sand,

ate pina coladas every day and shaved ice every night

i'm ready for round two.

on our last day in maui we celebrated our one-year anniversary!

[we started off the celebration with breakfast at the gazebo restaurant. 

joe was in heaven with his pineapple pancakes and coconut syrup!]

i can't believe a year has already gone by.
being married has been the best thing ever.
the past year has brought a lot of changes and firsts
and joe has been so supportive through all of it.
i've learned so much about him, and maybe even more about myself.
i'm so thankful such a wonderful man chose to spend eternity with me.
i love my mister!

travels: part one + two

island park

i love joe's family cabin. i first went there when we were dating

in fact, that was where joe and i first exchanged "i love you's"

so i have very nostalgic feelings toward that place.

i love spending time with family

exploring yellowstone

swimming in the boiling river

seeing mesa falls for the first time

4-wheeling

shooting guns

and roasting marshmallows.

definitely one of the prettiest places on earth.

joe's new bff: baby eliza. 

she is so so cute and i loved watching them together. 

he loved her, she loved his hat. win-win!

utah

was fantastic, as usual.

kayden and koby cracked me up, as usual.

it went by way too fast, as usual.

i might love those children an unhealthy amount.

we found koby's halloween costume.

kayden impressed me with his love for sushi.

keslyn still seems tiny to me, and her hair kills me.

thanks to both of our families for making us feel so loved everytime we come home! 

the rest of the trip will have a post of its own. coming soon...

jet setting

i've been trying to write a post but can't seem to bring myself to think about anything other than our upcoming vacation.
we leave tomorrow.
4 days at joe's cabin in island park
one day in utah
6 days in an undisclosed location of my choosing for our
ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

we decided it would be fun to take turns planning our anniversary trips each year.

to start us off:
joe planned our whole honeymoon
and managed to keep it a surprise until we got to the airport
(plus he even had a few more suprises up his sleeve after that)

this year, its my turn!
and this just might be one of the hardest things i've ever done...
not planning it (although that wasn't easy)
but keeping it a surprise for joe!
i can't tell you how many times i've almost spilled the beans to him.
and i've told way too many people where we're going, just because i am too excited not to tell someone!

so to those of you i've told: thanks for keeping it a secret!
to those of you who don't know: check back in a couple weeks to find out.
and to joe: if you've found out where we're going, thanks for pretending like its still a surprise.
this is a tradition i'm really enjoying so far.
plus, one year of marriage? that's pretty awesome, too!

i'm 24!!!

i love birthdays - anyone's - because who doesn't love a reason to celebrate?

but i felt kind of weird about turning 24.

there's nothing "cool" about it and it seems sooo much older than 23.

luckily, my sweet husband planned a super fun weekend for us to celebrate my birth

and to take my mind off becoming an old woman!

on saturday we packed our bags and headed south.

we stopped in san fran to eat at my favorite restaurant, scala's.

eating there was my one birthday request so joe made sure to fit that in.

<< they change their menu daily, and each day they put a different quote at the top.
this was the quote the day we ate there. fitting right? >>

this was my first time driving down highway 1

(or california state route 1 to be exact)

which runs down almost the whole pacific coastline.

it was gorgeous!
we stopped several times to take pictures of the gorgeous scenery.

i don't care how long i live here, turning a corner and seeing the ocean will always be exciting for me.

we spent sunday in monterey.

we went to the aquarium which is huge and amazing and it took us hours to see everything.

we loved it!

instead of talking about it, i'll just show you a million pictures

we walked around cannery row
and finished the night with dessert at ghirardelli

on monday we did the 17-mile drive around

pebble beach.

they have 21 stops along the drive with different landmarks and tidbits of history.

the last stop is the 18th green of pebble beach golf course.
it was so crazy pretty. and i don't even golf...

<< this is the "lone cypress tree" - the official symbol of pebble beach >>
the drive ends in carmel.

we stopped there for some lunch at a place called

400 degrees gourmet burgers and fries

joe ordered a salted caramel shake that i quickly made my own.

it might have been the best shake i've ever had.

then we did a little bit of shopping in the cute (mostly overpriced) boutiques.
i loved it.
they had a cute little "sweets cottage" full of yummy old fashioned candy
and a store FULL of only christmas stuff. i wanted every nutcracker.

as if all that excitement wasn't enough, joe also surprised me with some awesome gifts.

he got me a super nice backpack so i can finally go camping with him
(soon, hopefully)
and one of those white, plush, super comfy bathrobes!
(i wore one everyday on our honeymoon at the hotels/on the cruise and loooved it.
but i don't have one of my own so i've been missing it. he knows me so well.)

it was such a fun weekend!

huge thanks to joe for planning such a fun getaway

and spoiling me rotten!

and thanks to everyone else who sent birthday wishes!

i'm thinking 24 just might be my best year yet...