Meet Molly!

       Meet Molly!  Our Golden Retriever. 

We brought her home at 8 weeks old on June 15th.  It's been a super fun 10 weeks with her. I was looking forward to sharing many pictures and videos to document her growth (and cuteness), but unfortunately I lost all pictures and videos on my phone and none were backed up since we got her. Very sad day. Luckily, I do have some on Instagram and pictures from Eric's phone. I procrastinated 10 weeks of documenting and can't any more! She is now 18 weeks old and is about 38 pounds. She will probably get close to 70 pounds. She's the softest, cuddliest puppy. And super smart, we love watching her learn new tricks. She loves her belly rubbed, playing in water and is getting used to camping. We love her so much!       
<<< Molly at 5 weeks old.
  

Molly and Sadie^^^

We couldn't choose between these two pups. They were identical and we couldn't go wrong either way.  Molly is in Eric's arms.  Two days later Eric's brother and his family went to choose one and happened to choose the one I'm holding (Sadie)!  They had no clue she was one we almost chose. 

The day we brought her home.  One last picture with her mama, Maui! 

 These two pictures are one week a part  

Sunday afternoon cuddles 

She loves the rain, but loves the mud after even more! 

Eric started a new semester of school and we hang out waiting for him.  

Haha, I could not believe how good this selfie came out.

First time taking Molly to Pine Valley mountain for some hiking and it was so much fun!

Play time

This pictures shows Molly's personality really well.  Family selfie at the end of a work day and playing with Molly!

She has loved her mini-pool on hot days!  She is definitely loves any body of water. 

I am a crazy dog mama now.  Molly is the best.  I can't believe she is ours for hopefully the next 15+ years! 

Taylor Swift Concert!!

The month of May revolved completely around Taylor Swift.  My best friends from college and I bought tickets the day they went on sale back in November and we road tripped to California!  *I don't know how to continue typing without sounding like a 15 year old fan girl, so I'm just going to go with it.*  Even if you don't like Taylor Swift's music you have to acknowledge how far she has come and how well she does it.  I can remember sitting at my yellow desk, in my blue painted room, doing my math homework at the age of 13 and listening to tear drops on my guitar.  WHAT GIRL DIDN'T LISTEN TO THAT SONG and think of a specific boy.  And when you're 15 and someone tells you they love you, you're going to believe them?!  Exactly my life.  Eric and I were crushing on one another at 16 years old.  We were best friends and only wanted to spend time with one another.  Now this was TEN years ago and times have changed cause we're married, but back then... Eric's parents had a rule that he had to take another girl out in between his dates with me.  Basically they didn't think he needed to be getting "serious" at a young age and let me tell you, when Love Story came out I felt like that song was made for us. 

We could swap many more stories about how we feel connected to a song because she writes about her real life... real feelings and events that happened to her.  So I'll skip to the details of the concert, because Taylor can PERFORM.  It is so evident that she spent hours and hours practicing for the tour because it is an insane production.  For me, one night would be fun and then I'd be like "that was exhausting, I miss my couch and netflix too much. No more tour".  But no, she performs weekend after weekend flawlessly for two hours straight.  She engages with every single person in a stadium of 60,000 people!!  And she looks happy while doing it.  

We screamed, cried, sang along to every lyric and danced.  She sang so many past songs and our surprise B-stage song was All Too Well.  My videos of the concert are random snippets and include my screaming and horrible back-up vocals.  We were surprised with Troye Sivan and Selena Gomez at our concert.  When Selena walked on the stage the screams were SO loud, you almost can not hear her singing.  Three months later and I still reminisce about her incredible show!  So I put all of the video clips and pictures into a video for myself to enjoy 😂 (And I included it at the very end)

Adventures in Oahu, Hawaii (video and pictures)

ALOHA!  I made my first video!  It is nothing crazy cool.  But it took a long time and learning so it's special to me haha.  It is a collection of all of our favorite pictures and memories for us to watch and be reminded of our time in Oahu.

make sure you change the quality to 1080p HD

In April of 2017, right around our three year wedding anniversary, Eric and I booked a trip to Hawaii!!  We had been playing around with the idea of going on a vacation and contemplated a cruise.  One day we talked about Hawaii and a quick internet search showed that there is SO MUCH to explore in Hawaii.  We knew that is what we wanted to do.  Hawaii is an amazing place!  We chose 10 days on two islands, Oahu and Maui.  I had a lot of fun researching and planning every last detail of our itinerary.  October finally came and we visited Oahu!

Oahu adventures included...

Lanikai Pillbox Hike/ Kailua Beach

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Swimming with Sharks... Cage less

Pearl Harbor

Polynesian Culture Center
Laie, Hawaii LDS Temple
Celebrating Eric's Birthday
and  Sunset Beach Pictures

We have also been to Maui now and I am so excited to start working on a video of those adventures!  Mahalo :)

Our updated Maui Video

Hawaii Sunset Pictures

In October we visited Hawaii!  I have been meaning to start posting about all the incredible things we saw and experienced but I obviously have not yet.  So I'll start with this post to hopefully get the ball rolling and myself documenting more. 

While we were there we had professional beach pictures taken at sunset.  We haven't had pictures of us taken since our wedding.  It's so nice to have them and remember us in this stage of life and our marriage.  I found this excellent photographer on Instagram.  If you are in Oahu check out Shannon Melek Photography!!  I will cherish these pictures forever!  (click on picture to enlarge to view in best quality) 

California for a Wedding!

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR.  Okay, back to July 2017.

Back in July 2017 we took a weekend road trip to California!  This was my first time driving there and spending more than 48 hours.  Last time it was a quick flight in and out.  WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!  I am looking forward to the next time we can take a trip there.  The 6 hour drive was boring (hello thousands of solar panels) but super easy there and back.  We will definitely be taking trips there more often now!  I fell in love with the beach, more on that at the end.  Now, for lots and lots of wedding pictures and fun!

(got a little bored in the car)

We arrived Thursday afternoon and I went out with my friends for Janessa (the tallest one) for her bachelorette party.  After dinner and gift giving we went to an escape room.  That was the first one I have ever done.  I'm going to be real honest, I am way too impatient for escape rooms.  If I was by myself I would give up within 5 minutes and demand to be let out.  So cheers to my group for getting us out in time! 

Friday morning was Janessa and Parker's wedding at the Newport Beach Temple!  We enjoyed beautiful weather and a reception that night that overlooked beautiful views of the area. 

The next day Eric and I met up with our friends Kelly and Paul at Huntington Beach.  While I was growing up my family took a few trips to the beach.  I have no memory of getting in the ocean and my Mom says I was too scared of it and that is why this picture of me, in a kiddie pool, at the beach, exists. 

This time around I wasn't afraid.  And I was extremely excited to be in the ocean for the first time that I would be able to remember.  It far exceeded my expectations.  The waves that day were awesome and before I knew it we had spent 3 hours at the beach swimming and hanging out.  That is the life!!  I am a beach/ocean girl at heart.