5 years... and forever to go

5 years ago Andy and I met and began dating pretty much immediately. He and I met after I taught an lesson in Elder's Quorum. Yep you read that right. The Elder's Quorum president thought it would be hilarious for me to come in as a surprise and teach, just your normal single's ward craziness.
After church that day we had a linger longer. Andy came up to me and told me he enjoyed my lesson. However in the middle of talking to me he ditched me to talk to another girl he had been trying to go out with. Good for him I somehow ignored that and still invited him over for our weekly pot luck at my place.
This picture was taken that night, it's not the best of me! (it looks weird cause I scanned it in from my scrapbook, yep that's right I actually made a scrapbook once!)

Andy stayed late at the pot luck and from that night we began dating










and... 1 year later we were engaged!





Andy is amazing, I don't tell him that enough. He works so hard, goes to school full time AND works full time all while being an amazing father and husband. I love you babe... and I can't wait to spend forever with you!

California Trip!!!

Thanks to state holidays and just plain good luck Andy had a whopping four days with no school or work... for Andy that is a huge vacation. We decided to seize the opportunity and make a fast dash to California. Andy has an aunt that was nice enough to let us stay in her home (even though they were not there). It was a wonderful family vacation, and really gave us the chance to make awesome memories. The car ride was long but thanks to a copy of Kung Fu Panda I was able to buy at the gas station in Nephi for $15 the kids did pretty good.
We spent every second we could at the beach. Talan was a little scared of the waves, he loves swimming but he's only used to pools! But he got in a few times if Andy held him and would let the waves crash into them. He laughed and had a great time.



Talan really just wanted to dig in the sand and fly kites.



Cohen loved the sand, and he did a pretty good job not eating it... but at times the temptation was just too much!


A main reason we went was to eat at Cafe Firenze. The owner was our favorite contestant on Top Chef. It was the BEST meal I've ever had. Andy had the chance to talk to the head chef afterwards and told him he was finishing school next year. The chef was really nice and said he was opening 3 new places this next year, so if Andy's willing to move out there after school he'd love to hire him!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW WOW WOW! Obviously that is a year away so we're trying to remember the offer may not still stand. But it would still be an AMAZING opportunity and it really gave Andy a confidence booster to know his dreams can really become a reality, and soon.

The kids had a harder time on the way home. Our normal rule is no sugar before age 1, but poor Cohen was so sad I let him have a red vine... and this was the result:


That's what vacations are for right?!?!?!