Whitney Weekend

I was so lucky to have Whitney come and visit me from Washington last weekend!  It has been soooo long since I've seen her and I needed a little Whitney time!  She now has two babies and the last time I saw her she only had one...who was just a few months old at the time.

We met first at the Idaho Falls zoo.  It's a small one, but it's perfect for an 18 month old.  I'd have to say the flamingos were my favorite this time and it's hard to explain why.  But we took our picture in front of them to remember their awesomeness.

After the zoo we went to Bambino's in Rigby for a Great Bambino!  I forgot to take any pictures there... We ended up at our little apartment and first thing's first...diaper change time!  Aren't they cute??

Me and little Whitney.

And little Wade...

For dinner we grilled out hamburgers with the Duffy's and so the girls swang while the boys grilled.  They sure tasted yummy!

Val just loved Nate...awwwweeeeee.  Isn't he the greatest??

Logan Wedding

On Saturday, Nate and I drove to Utah again for a wedding.  Nate's friend, Ben, got married in the Logan temple.  We were already running late/ right on time when I realized 30 minutes into the drive that I forgot my temple recommend.  Thankfully, Nate drives a little fast and we got there in just enough time for them to look up my recommend and I was able to attend.  I'd never been inside the Logan temple so I really wanted to go!  After the sealing, we stuck around for a bit for pictures and then went to their absolutely gorgeous luncheon.  I guess luncheon's are a thing out here.  We just went to Subway for our after wedding meal haha  Everyone else went to Chick-fil-A I think.  Nothing fancy for us Tucker's!  Instead of staying in Logan all day and waiting for the reception, we decided to go home early and attend the drive-in that night.  We watched Cinderella and Furious 7.  Well, Nate watched both, I feel asleep for the second.

Our Engagement Park

After the Sunday afternoon session of conference I asked Nate if we could go visit our "engagement park" in Downtown Salt Lake.  It's been two years since we got engaged here so I felt like it was a good time to go visit.  It was exactly as I remembered it.  So cute and perfect...and swingless.  I sure am grateful that he asked me to marry him two years ago!  I can't believe all that has happened between then and now :)

Nate's Birthday!

Well, I thought I was going to be able to surprise Nate for his birthday again and have a surprise party with all of our friends.  I even texted people to let them know when to be at our house and had set up a plan to get Nate out of the house for a bit.  My plans were ruined when Nate started inviting people over for cake...  So it turned out we just had a party.

First we went to Fuji Japanese Hibachi and Sushi in Idaho Falls.  It just happened to be opening night!  We went with Nate's friend, Ben, and his fiance, friend, and sister.

To kill some time, we went to the mall so Nate could have a massage in the $1 massage chairs.  I think this was his favorite birthday present!

After dinner we went back to our apartment for cake with some of our friends from the ward.  I made a strawberry shortcake cake that turned out half decent but I definitely have room for improvement :)

He got a shirt and a water filter.  I'm an awesome wife :)

Utah Weekend

This weekend we headed to Utah for a last minute mini vacation!  Eli managed to acquire some free tickets to an exclusive Imagine Dragons concert and asked Nate to go with him!  (crazy story how he came upon the tickets and after the got these two he actually won two more!!  He gave these to some other friends.)  I didn't have to work on Friday this week and Nate didn't have any tests so it worked perfect for us to go.

We left Friday around 12:30 and headed first to Salt Lake City.  We had a free night at a Marriott (due to our Marriott card) that we needed to use by the end of the month so it worked perfect that we decided to go to Utah.  When we got to SLC we went to our hotel and Nate stayed there for a few hours while I went to visit my best friend, Alexis, who just recently moved to SLC.  It was soooo great to visit with her and her cutie patootie daughter.  Her husband is in dental school and they did shots for the first time that day so when we got home I went with them for celebratory custard :)

Saturday morning Nate and I went to the Salt Lake temple.  He went once before his mission (so like 4 years ago) and I had never been there so it was a real treat.  It was absolutely more beautiful than I could have imagined inside.  It's no wonder it took the early pioneers 40 years to build it!  I really wanted a picture outside but it was a little difficult because there were at least 10-15 weddings (seriously, probably more haha).  We had to sneak onto the picture spot in between newly married couples and since no one else was around, I asked a groom to take our picture.  Is that bad??  Nate was embarrassed.  But I was going to get a picture!

After the temple, we went to the oulets in Lehi.  We stop there every time we go to Utah now.  It's a problem.  Because we always buy things!  I never really shop for clothes otherwise so as long as we don't go to Utah often I guess it's okay.  We continued south to Provo and met up with Eli there.  He wanted us to take him suit shopping so we did that for a bit although he didn't find one he was ready to buy quite yet.

At this point it was a little after 7:00 and Eli wanted to get in line for the concert because doors opened at 8:00 and he wanted a good spot.  When we left the mall there happened to be a random crazy blizzard that started so they had to wait in the cold for an hour before getting into the building.  Both of them loved the concert though!  Nate was a little worried because he loves Imagine Dragons and was worried they wouldn't be as good live and didn't want to be expected to jump up and down the entire concert haha  He said they were even better than on their album and so he was very glad he got to go.  Eli was even interviewed for the local news!  There were only 200-300 people at the concert and they were in about the sixth row so needless to say, the "seats" were fantastic and they will probably never have the opportunity to see a major band perform that close because those seats would normally be hundreds of dollars!  Can't beat free!!

Eli on the news.

This is how close they were...the camera wasn't even zoomed!

The Velour (left) is where the concert was.

While they were at the concert, I went to go visit my friend Sarah Jane!  Its been so long since we'd seen each other and I loved catching up with her and hearing all about her wedding plans.  She went with me to pick the boys up after the concert and we decided to go out to Chili's for dinner.  I seriously can't remember the last time I laughed so hard!  The other people in the restaurant probably thought we were crazy but we didn't even care.  It was a much needed night out with friends :)

Today we slept in again and got home before it got dark and we've just been home chilling ever since then.  I've caught up on blogging (since I never do it anymore) and scrapbooking our life away.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day was the first one we've spent just with each other.  Our first one we were still dating and were on opposite sides of the country.  Last year we spent it in Georgia with Jessica and Chelseanne's families.  This year was just us.  And it was wonderful!

I got Nate his traditional gift...a puzzle of a picture of us with a secret love note written on the back.  This tradition started while we were dating.  I had never had a boyfriend for Valentine's day so I had to do something special.  I don't know how I got the idea, but I purchased a customized puzzle from Walmart of a picture of us and then wrote a message on the back.  To do this, I had to put the puzzle together and then flip it over and write the message.  Last year I did the same thing, just with a picture from our wedding.  This year it was harder to pick a picture because we had so many good ones!  Last year he didn't put the puzzle together until August so we will see how long it takes this time....

Anyways, the Friday before Valentine's Day I had to work in Rexburg until around 3:00.  When I got home I was super tired so I decided to take a nap.  We had originally planned on going to the Idaho Falls temple on Friday after I got home from work but with me being so tired and Nate working on a quiz (and for something in the mail I did not know about) we just decided to go on Saturday.  Nate still wanted to go to Olive Garden for dinner though.  He woke me up from my nap to go out to eat and when I walked into the kitchen there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers and box of chocolates.  Isn't he perfect?  It gets better!

I got ready to go to dinner and was going to touch up my make-up but couldn't find my make-up bag in the drawer where it usually was.  I asked Nate if he knew where it was but he didn't.  I thought it was weird but then just didn't think much of it.  We had a great time at Olive Garden.  I ordered a chicken and shrimp carbonara but they forgot the shrimp so they gave the dish to me for free!  Holla!  Even after ordering dessert our bill was only like $25.

We got in the car to come home and Nate drove across the parking lot and parked right in front of a hotel and announced that's where we would be spending the night!  I didn't believe him until he showed me the reservation on his phone haha  He had packed all my stuff and so that's why I couldn't find my make-up bag.  The only things he forgot were a hairbrush, toothpaste (both of which we got from the hotel) and regular clothes for the next day.  He did bring all of our temple stuff and a dress so the important stuff was covered!

On Saturday, we slept in and then went to Smitty's for breakfast/ lunch.  Nate's family used to go there all the time when they'd visit his dad's family in Idaho.  I, however, had never been there.  It was delicious!  Apparently, it used to be a chain store that became Perkin's restaurants, but this one stayed as Smitty's.

Isn't he so cute?!

After lunch we finally made it to the Idaho Falls temple.  It was a fantastic experience and I'm glad we got to go before it shuts down in March for 18 months for renovations and updates.  By the time we got home on Saturday it was almost 5:00.  It was a great Valentine's Day weekend!!!

Idaho Falls Temple

Today I had a work meeting in Idaho Falls and so Nate met me afterwards so we could go to the temple.  I've been there before for baptisms and Nate doesn't ever remember going there.  Nate's parents were married in this temple so I've wanted to go for a while.  In March they are going to be closing it down for eighteen months to do some renovations and I thought it would be good to go before they make a bunch of changes!  We sure picked a snowy day to go!  We didn't have time to do an entire session so we just did sealings.  I guess we just have an excuse to go back now!

High School Musical

In some ways I feel like Nate and I have tons of high school memories and then in some ways I feel like we barely have any at all.  Last week we went to the local high school's musical and it brought back all sorts of fun memories!

Fall 2007 The Wizard of Oz - Junior year of high school I was one of the assistant directors for our high school musical and Nate played the part of the Tin Man.  I honestly think this show was where we started to become real friends and not just people that went to church together.  We could laugh and joke around and-- dare I say it-- flirt a little.  Gosh I just thought he was the cutest thing ever.  Sadly, once the show was over and we didn't have an excuse to hang out everyday, we stopped hanging out every day haha  I can't find a picture of us together so this one will have to do.  Ain't he adorable?!

Fall 2008 The Christmas Carol - Senior year I somehow convinced Nate to try out for the fall play (even though it wasn't a musical).  I still have no idea what I said that got him to go along with it but I'm sure glad he did!  I was cast as the Ghost of Christmas Past and I'm not even sure what exactly his part was called...a village person I guess haha  Well I also was cast as a girl named Caroline who was a poor married woman that Scrooge screws over.  At the time of the first read of the script, the part of my husband hadn't been cast.  Guess who got the part??  You got it!!  Our scene together was literally one page long and it seriously took every fiber of our beings to not crack up each and every time we did it.  Nate and I trying to play a concerned and loving husband and wife??  It was the most hilarious thing I'd ever heard of!  And I secretly LOVED it.  Especially at the end when he would put his arm around me as we walked off stage.  And we would put our heads really close together and just laugh our way off the stage as quietly as we could.

Nate is on the far left wearing the hat.  I am the ghost in the back.

I can still hear Nate say this first line of our scene.  It has been a running joke of ours ever since then.  A friend was being funny and edited this picture shortly after the show and I still love it.

Fall 2012 Beauty and the Beast- After Nate got back from his mission we started hanging out quite a bit.  I asked him to go see Beauty and the Beast with me at the local high school.  It was kind of last minute and we got there maybe 30 minutes before the show started.  It was definitely a popular show because there was a HUGE line for tickets.  We were seriously doubting if we would get into the show and almost left but stuck it out and were literally some of the last five people let in.  Sadly, once we got in, they dimmed the lights (it was already quite a bit past the time they were supposed to start) and there were only single seats available!  There wasn't anywhere for us to sit together.  At the time, I think I just wanted to see the show so I picked two end seats for us that were a few rows apart.  Nate was obviously frustrated we weren't sitting together.  Later, I would learn he was certifiably ticked since he didn't care one bit about the show and was just going to be with me.  Well, 10 minutes into the show the kid next to me threw up and so that family left and Nate was able to come sit by me.  Hooray for sick children!

Fall 2014 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers- I had the urge again this semester to go see a show and so we decided to see the high school musical again.  We showed up an hour early to avoid long lines and easily got into the theater (we were literally some of the first five people this time).  It was nice this time around to be able to hold hands and rub shoulders without feeling awkward ;)  My back was killing me throughout the show though so we left at intermission.  Oh well!

The empty theater and my new boots.  Booya!

The moral of the story is...we have a lot of fun going to shows and I love it!  I'm glad I'm able to share my love of live performances with my very best friend and that we have so many memories together!

Ohio is for Lovers

After a looooongggggg four weeks away from my favorite person in the whole world I was finally able to see him last week for a weekend.  Thankfully, I was able to get a day and a half off of work and so I left Wednesday afternoon after working in the morning.  I arrived very late Wednesday night in Cincinnati.  I will be completely honest, it was kind of an awkward reunion!  In my head I was picturing a made-for-movies run up to each other and a lengthy embrace and long overdue kiss, embarrassing anyone who was watching.  It was more like a first date...an awkward hug, no kiss, and neither of us knowing what to say to each other.  We got in the car and just looked at each other and laughed because it was just weird to be with each other in the flesh!  We both realized at this point that we hadn't had a proper kiss so we took care of that ;)  The entire car ride back to Lima (2.5 hours) we were just a little in shock, I think.  There's really no other way to describe it except that it felt like a first date with neither of us wanting to do something wrong.  By the end of the car ride we were over it and back to normal though.

We slept in Lima Wednesday night and then got up early the next morning and headed to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH (2.5 hours north...again).  When we got there is was super hot, sunny, and muggy.  Not the most fun.  I must be getting old or something because I could not handle the roller coasters like I used to.  I've never had problems riding them before but I got so lightheaded and nauseous this time.  It was really rather annoying, especially for Nate who wanted to ride as many rides as we could.  

(As a side note, our first "date" was to Cedar Point, just a month after he got back from Brazil.  I surprised him in Ohio (I was working in Idaho for the summer) and we decided to go because neither of us had been there in two years.  Until that day, I don't think I'd spent more than a few hours with him, and definitely not alone with him!  I'm not sure what we talked about all day but I guess it went well!) 

After only three rides I had to sit down for 45 minutes with my head on Nate's lap to try and recuperate.  Nate convinced me to go on a few more rides and then said we could leave after that.  Our next ride was the Magnum.  For those not familiar with Cedar Point, it's one of the older steel roller coasters.  It has no loops and you're held in by just a lap bar...it's also quite jerky.  Well, this was the fourth ride of the day and before riding I put my phone (my "new" iphone) down my shirt because my pockets were really shallow.  It was under three shirts and a bra so I figured it was pretty secure.  I was wrong.

The second hill on the ride must be pretty steep because one second all was normal and then the next second my phone was literally floating in front of my face, slowing turning over on itself.  WHAT THE WHAT?!  I could NOT believe what I was seeing, and it was happening in slow motion!  After reaching for the phone and missing I finally was able to secure it and snapped it to my chest where I held tight for the rest of the ride.  Nate missed the whole thing but for the remainder of the ride I was screaming at him "DID YOU SEE THAT?!!?  THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!  THAT WAS SUPER NINJA SKILLS RIGHT THERE!!!  HOLY COW I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!" etc.  And I kept it up even after the ride finished.  I didn't realize it but Nate said that everyone around me thought I was talking about the ride, which is not that great of a roller coaster haha  Oh well.  I wish I had a movie of it though because it was seriously the coolest thing I've ever done...and totally ninja of me.  

That got my adrenaline pumping and the nausea left for a bit.  But after a few more rides it came back.  Not that I'm going to complain about super short lines (like 10-20 minutes for the big coasters) but it didn't give me much time to recover haha  Such was the case after our second time on Millennium Force.  We got off and saw there was basically no line so decided to go a third time.  We literally (and I mean literally in a very literal sense) walked onto the ride with no wait, whatsoever.  It was amazing and I don't think that will ever happen again.

We went on the Ferris Wheel...

We ended up leaving the park around 6:30 which was just perfect for me.  I'm sure Nate could have stayed longer but I couldn't bear to get on any more rides.  We decided to go eat dinner at Chili's and then I thought we would be on our way back home for the night.  I fell asleep in the car on the way to Chili's (which was not more than 15 minutes away) and awoke to realize that we were not at Chili's but at a hotel in Sandusky.  It was a wonderful surprise!!!!  I was so exhausted and a night at a comfortable hotel with a huge jacuzzi was just what I needed.  We changed clothes and then went to dinner.  I got some chili-mango tilapia which was....not my favorite.  I won't be getting that again!

We slept in the next morning and then headed down to Columbus at noon.  We got there just in time to see a movie at the Easton Mall.  We watched Guardians of the Galaxy in IMAX.  I quite enjoyed it!  After the movie, we went to exit the theater and followed the wrong exit signs because we ended up in the behind-the-scenes area of the mall and "exited" out the loading dock area hahaha

After the movie we drove to the other side of town for dinner.  Nate had made us reservations at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  We ate there the night we got engaged last year and wanted to go on our engagement anniversary this year but it's in Salt Lake so we couldn't.  Celebrating our one year wedding anniversary seemed like a good occasion though!  They were so kind to us and even had rose petals on the table for us :)

Their ahi tuna is to die for!!!!

He's so cute.

They also treated us to dessert which was heavenly.  It even included a candle for us to blow out!

My sister Meredith just moved to Columbus to start school at Ohio State and so I begged Nate to drive us to see her even though it was a bit out of our way.  It was great to get to see where she lived (which is basically a dump...sorry Meredith) and meet one of her roommates.

Bad quality.  Good picture.

Friday night we also spent at a hotel in Columbus.  We watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman (we started it the night before and neither of us remember falling asleep....) which is hilarious and I definitely recommend it!  It's a kids movie but I thought it was really well done and unexpected.  

Saturday noon we finally headed back to Lima so I could see my family for a bit.  We hung out at my house, got my "new" phone activated (I had it at CP just to take pictures since Nate's camera on his phone doesn't work) and went out to dinner with mine and Nate's parents.  My phone died before I could snap a picture so I'll have to get it from my mom sometime.  We went to a Japanese steakhouse in town.  Our waiter probably thought we were crazy because we stayed for an hour after our meal was over and just talked.  The place wasn't busy at all though so we didn't feel too bad.  

Sadly, my flight was to leave at 7:30am out of Dayton so we had to leave my house at 4:45 am.  

Oh, also, my family is moving November 1st to North Carolina so this was the last time I would be in our house that we've been in for 11 years.  It was kind of sad to say goodbye to everything but I'm happy for my family so I just tried not to think about it.  I was going to go swimming one last time and swinging one last time and sit in the hammock one last time etc etc but couldn't really bring myself to do it.  It was just too sad.

Back to the story.  Nate dropped me off at the airport at 6:00 and I was an absolute wreck.  I couldn't stop crying and just looking at him made me cry more.  I don't even know how I made myself walk away and into the airport.  But I did.  And then I called him as soon as I got through security (which is a breeze if you are TSA precheck, by the way!  I highly recommend it for anyone that flies even just once or twice a year! SO worth the money.).  At 7:00, the airline attendant came over the intercom and said that our flight was going to have some weight-balance issues (whatever that means) and that they needed 6 people to change their flight before they could take off.  They offered $400 delta dollars to anyone who would change.  I figured I was in no hurry so I got some information and called Nate to see what he thought.  The flight they would get me on wasn't going to leave until 12:15 so long story short, Nate turned around and came to pick me up so we could spend a few more hours together.  As if that weren't great enough I told the lady I would change for $500 instead of $400 (that Peruvian bartering spirit works well for me sometimes!) and then she transferred me to another lady to give me my voucher and that lady ended up giving me $600 since that's what she gave the guy before me.  SCORE!!!!  That's a roundtrip ticket home for Christmas...for free!!

Nate got back to the airport around 8:00 and we decided to go get breakfast at Bob Evans.  That idea lasted until we parked in the Bob Evan's parking lot and realized how incredibly tired we were.  So we settled for cuddling in the back seat and both sleeping for two hours.  It was wonderful!  It actually really was.  When he dropped me off at the airport for a second time it was so much easier.  I think we were both less tired, less grumpy (not early morning) and we were just so grateful for the extra time together.  It was "easy" to give him a hug and a kiss goodbye and be okay with the fact that I wouldn't see him for three more weeks and that it was all going to be okay.  We both felt 100% better with the second goodbye.  Switching flights was a blessing in so many ways!

Now I've been back for a week and there are only two weeks left!!  And only one more Sunday (which is usually the hardest day).  I cannot wait to have him back at home with me.  And to have him cook for me.  I eat worse than I ate when I was single haha  I went to Winco and bought five (FIVE) frozen dinners which I basically never buy.

I love that boy with all my heart and he planned the perfect weekend/ anniversary/ birthday celebration for me.  He's the best!!!!