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??

Yellowstone Adventure

I've been wanting to go on a day trip for quite some time.  It has finally been getting warm and so I needed to get out of the house!  A week after Nate and I were talking about this, some of our friends invited us to go to Yellowstone Park with them.  It was the perfect adventure!  We headed out late morning.  When we left, it was probably 70 degrees in Rexburg, and beautiful, so we all dressed in light jackets and Nate even wore shorts.  Well, the day would prove to prove us not very smart.  First, Yellowstone is further north than Rexburg and it's much colder.  We did not anticipate this!  There was still snow on the ground.  It also happened to be extremely windy.  When we got to Yellowstone we were disappointed to find it had not yet opened for the season.  We did not even think to check to see when it opened!  The worst part was that our friend, Phillip, was visiting from Germany and he was the main reason we went to Yellowstone.  We had to settle with a picture with the sign since we never actually got to go in.  Somehow, we managed to find stuff around West Yellowstone to do for three hours or so.  It also got a little warmer and less windy so we could walk around outside.  All-in-all, it was a good trip, even though we definitely missed seeing Old Faithful and the hot springs.

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.

Pumpkin Patch Pickin'

Last night we were able to go to a pumpkin patch with all of our awesome friends!  It was so fun!  I can't even remember the last time I went to an actual pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin.  I ended up picking like five or six pumpkins...oops.  In the end I just go three.  One to carve and two to paint.  I'm trying to be crafty nowdays!!

Isn't my husband one hunk of hunkiness?!

None of us had stuff to carve pumpkins with so we went to Walmart and then went to the other Smith's to carve and paint!  Tess and I went the artsy fartsy way while the guys and Caroline carved.  Granted, I did hollow out the guts of ours.  Nate just carved one pumpkin since space was limited.  We have another bigger pumpkin to still carve! 

Ours looks pretty good all lit up!

The Straw Maze

Friday night date night is my favorite!  Especially when we get to go with friends!  Tonight we went to the Haunted Straw Maze with our friends Brian and Tess.  I have only been to a haunted maze one other time and a haunted house once.  Let me just say, haunted things are not my favorite!  I like adrenaline rushes from things like roller coasters....not crazy, bloody, creepy, scary creatures.  Tess and Brian actually said they were talking ahead of time about how funny it would be to go with us because we'd both be scared but Nate would probably act all tough anyways.  We haven't been friends for that long and they know us so well already :)

We had to wait in line for about an hour and then we were speedy quick through the maze and finished in about 35 minutes.  It actually wasn't too bad...although I did not let Nate get far from me!

Brian and Tess need to work on their scared faces.  We've mastered ours.

Ohio Middles

We flew from Charlotte to Ohio on a Saturday and since we didn't go to sleep the night before (on account of working on the yard) we slept most of the day.

Before I forget...in the airport this random lady sat right next to me on the floor.  And there was space all around she could sit.  But she sat a foot from me.  Awkward.

And continuing... The only reason we got out of bed was to see Meredith get ready for her senior prom that night.  She looked beautiful!  We weren't going to go see her get pictures taken but decided to in the end and I am so glad because we got a great picture together!

On Sunday, Noah gave a talk in Primary and I helped him out!  He included a line saying that yesterday was a perfect day because I came home.  It feels good to have a little person like you so much.

I also had the chance to catch up with two of my friends, Shelby and Sarah.  I had breakfast with Shelby on Monday at IHOP (yum!).  It's been a while since we've been able to just sit and chat and it was great to see how she was doing.  Then Monday afternoon Sarah came down from Wauseon to see me!  She just returned home from her mission on the previous Wednesday so it had also been quite a while since I'd seen her.  Although not the whole 18 months because I hunted her down at General Conference in October :)

I was hoping to see Seth run in his track meet on Monday but it got cancelled due to rain.  Instead, Nate and I went to see Captain America with his family.  I only fell asleep for like 5 (maybe 10) minutes so it must have been a good movie!

We spent Tuesday night visiting Eli at the gas station (he was refilling the beer when we arrived...the picture was totally posed) and eating Chinese which has become a tradition when we go home.

A Missionary Farewell

Sunday we headed home from Utah and I remembered last minute that Aleksi was having his mission farewell in Murray.  Who's Aleksi, you may ask?  Aleksi was one of our saving grace's in Peru.  He was living with his sister Liz, and her husband Miguel and we ended up living with them for six weeks.  He helped us a ton with the kids and spent time helping us get around the city.  Even though he is younger than all three of us we definitely relied on him for protection.  Basically, he's awesome!  I even wrote a whole blog post about him in my Peru blog: Ode To Aleksi.  He's off to the California, Redlands Mission on Wednesday and will do great!

Don't judge that we weren't planning on going to church so we could drive home and ended up having to go in jeans....

Mini Whitney

Today was a fantastic day.  Mostly because I got to spend the majority of it with my handsome husband, but also because I got to see one of my best friends, Whitney, and meet her adorable six week old, Valerie!  I feel it was truly a blessing to have her in town for the weekend and even though I only spent an hour with her and her family, it was great.  It'll be quite a while before I see her and her baby again but I am counting down the indefinite amount of days :)

Public THANK-YOUS

Boy do I have a lot of people to thank with regards to wedding things.  Don't worry, I will eventually get around to sending real thank-you cards but I was hoping to get personalized ones with our picture on them and we are just getting our pictures back.  So in the mean time, here's a thank you to everyone who helped with anything!  I have felt so loved the past few month and am so grateful for two families that will look out for me.

First, thank you to my parents.  Basically they gave me life so I could actually grow up and get married.  That's like the biggest thing ever!  But in seriousness, thank you for helping me pay for everything with the wedding and for letting my dreams come true.  Thanks for the behind the scenes work you did while I was at school, for finding addresses and organizing them, for getting the food together, for helping my friends find flights to Ohio, for supporting me in whatever I do, for loving who I chose to love.

Thank you to my grandparents who came from North Carolina.  Especially to my grandpa who was the one who sealed us.

Thank you to my extended family from Wisconsin, North Carolina and South Carolina for making the trip to Ohio to support me.  Special thanks to Uncle Ronny for being a diligent videographer and filming all of our special moments, to Uncle Harry for taking pictures at the photobooth and the reception, to Aunt Wanda and Grandma Koch for gathering weeds and flowers to use in the decorations and to Grandma Koch for sewing us a quilt, in our colors, for everyone at the reception to sign.

Thank you to the Smith family for working in their yard all summer to prepare it for the reception.  I know I can't even comprehend how much work went into it but I appreciate it all.  The yard was beautiful and the flowers matched perfectly.  Thank you for letting your house be a gathering place for decorations and miscellaneous wedding items.

THANK YOU to the Smith sisters for all of their hard work.  Thank you for throwing a bridal shower and making it beyond cute.  Thank you for your COUNTLESS hours helping and creating decorations.  For thinking of cute things to add, for making my ideas better, for purchasing supplies.  I seriously would not have been able to do a tenth of that without your help.  Thanks for working on stuff even when I was overwhelmed with how much there was to work on.  Thanks for loving me enough to want the reception to look as best it could.  Thank you for the honeymoon clothes that I love and wear all the time (ask Nathaniel).  Special thanks to Jennifer for heading up the cupcake team and making and decorating GORGEOUS cupcakes that not only looked fantastic, but tasted even better.

Thank you to all the Smith family for coming from Georgia, North Carolina, Utah and Arizona to be with us.  It was great to get to know everyone better and feel your energy.

Thank you to my college roommates who came from Utah and Washington to support me on my wedding day.  It was a blessing to have you all there.

Thank you to my very first best friend, Heather, for coming with her mother from Wisconsin.

Thank you to my AMAZINGLY talented photographer, Tessa Berg, from Starling Studio in Columbus for capturing our family, friends and the day as well as getting some stunning shots of the two of us.  If anyone is in need of a photographer for anything, she is highly recommended. (www.starling-studio.com)

Thank you to my friend Allison, for photographing the reception in Lima.  I am excited to see how those turn out and love what I have already seen.

Thank you to Kristen Topham for making a delicious and beautiful wedding cake for us.  It's just what I pictured and fit in perfectly with the rest of the reception.

Thank you to Blanca Aleman for whipping up her authentic Mexican salsa's for our salsa bar.

Thank you to the Ayers and Schades for letting my friends stay in your home while they were in Ohio.  It was a blessing to have them so close to me and not in a hotel 20 minutes on the other side of town.

Thank you to those who helped set up and take down decorations for us at the reception.

Thank you to those who came to the reception and supported our new marriage.  Your presence made us feel loved and special on our special day.  Thank you for the gifts you brought.  They have filled our home and we honestly use everything we got, all the time!  Thank you to those who gave us gifts of money and gift cards.  That money helped us get pots and pans for our kitchen, buy a mattress, get our stuff out to Idaho and pay for some of our rent.  Without your kind gifts, we would be either homeless, or living in a very empty home.

I am sure I'm forgetting people on here and I apologize for that.  Please know that everything everyone did was a huge blessing.  I probably don't even know all the sacrifices people made for me and I never will.  But I know you will be blessed because you have brought joy into my life.