LOVE

ABC's of Thanks

Atonement
Books
Children
Dad!
Employment
Friends
Giggles
Home
Ice Cream
Jesus
Knowledge
Love
Mom!
Neice!
Orange Juice
Patrick!
Quiet time
Repentance
Siblings!
Turkey
Uniformed men and women
Vacation
Wedded bliss
X - my puppies! (I know there's no x, but I couldn't think of anything, and the puppies had to make the list!)
You
Zoo

Aunt Nikki

I love being an aunt and I'm lucky enough to be an aunt to the cutest niece in the world!

I love you little Lilli!

Life Lessons

On what I lovingly refer to as my two-month-aversary a good friend asked me the top three things I've learned so far. The list could go on forever, I feel like every day I learn something new, but so far these are my top three.

1. Continually remember you love your spouse and want to serve them. This makes the little annoyances go away and it's no longer a big deal to pick up the dirty socks, or wash the dish that's been sitting in the sink for a couple days. It's a blessing to be able to serve someone you love and the more you serve them the more you love them!
2. You aren't going to change someone's habits, even if you'd like to. Make sure you really know the person before you tie the knot and then be able to let those things go, don't stress out or get upset about it - you chose them!
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate! Even if the reason you're upset seems ridiculous and petty still vocalize it, it's so much easier than letting it stew.

I openly admit my husband is much better at the above items than I am, but I continue to learn and to work on them. I'm trying my best and so is he which is a great recipe for success!

Nic and America's Birthday

I am a very lucky girl and was able to celebrate my birthday for an entire week! The weekend before my birthday Pat took me to Lagoon which I've already commented on, but just to reiterate - i loved it!

On my actual birthday I had to work, which isn't the funnest thing in the world, but my dear coworkers did take me to lunch. That day Pat got sick and had to go to the doctor :( so our evening was pretty laid back, he did though make me a delicious pineapple upside down cake and gave me some fabulous presents. A few items from my very favorite store anthropology. The super cute bag pictured below as well as a couple of tops - i'm so spoiled! He also got me a couple other gifts that I'm going to keep between he and I. ;)

On the 4th of July Pat took me to the Zoo for my birthday. I LOVE THE ZOO!

So many cute animals, I could watch them all day!

That night we met up with our newly wed friends Dan and Emily to celebrate America's bday and watch fireworks in Sugar House Park. It was so fun to be able to see them!



Sparklers can be so fun...


...That is until my dear husband was done playing with his sparkler and decided to burn a hole through my plastic coke bottle. Even though I watched him do it, I somehow managed to forget 10 minutes later and took a drink spilling coke all down my brand new birthday top. Oh husbands!! Despite the coke top it was a very fun night and the fireworks were great.


The zoo asks the question "do you measure up?" and I'm here to tell you folks my husband more than measures up! He is a wonderful husband who does so much to make me happy and show he loves me. I'm super grateful to have such a wonderful man in my life!!

Lagoon!

Jana came to visit this weekend and one of the things we decided to do was go to Lagoon. I had never been before and while I realize it's no Six Flags or Disneyland I was still really excited! It'd been so long since I'd been on a roller coaster! Jana invited her friend Jordan who now lives in SLC to come with us. We got up early Saturday morning and headed to good ol' Farmington, Utah. This is me pulling into the parking lot and being super excited.


It didn't take long into the park before Jana and I realized we brought two boys with us who really don't like roller coasters!! We felt sorta bad as we ran from one ride to the next and the boys sat and waited for us, but not that bad. I thought they'd eventually toughen up and ride with us, but we never quite got there. I did convince Pat to ride a few roller coasters - the first one we went on he held on tight and yelled "oh shit...oh shit...oh shit..." the entire time! hahaha! Even though he didn't love the roller coasters he was a fan of the water rides and below is a picture of us on his favorite ride of all. ;)


It was a really fun day and super great to have Jana here. I'm also reminded how much I love my husband and appreciate his willingness to do things that he doesn't really love but knows that I enjoy!

The Holloways Honeymoon in Hawaii

Pat and I were fortunate enough to spend our honeymoon in Hawaii, it was lovely and we were able to make so many fun memories! However, before we headed off to the islands we shared a lovely dinner at the Happy Sumo the night of our wedding with a few of our out of state friends before they all left town. I know I've already mentioned it, but we really did love having them all there! So much love!!


After a very long day and with bellies full of sushi it was time to go to bed! Our first night as husband and wife was interesting to say the least (not in the way you're thinking, sicko). I apparently am not as good of a sleeper as I thought I was and Pat is quite the snorer and this all became very evident on our wedding night! At about three in the morning I woke up to the lovely sleeping sounds of my husband and could not fall back asleep, so I made the decision to go lay on the couch in the other room where I immediately broke into tears waking Pat up. Pat comes out to find his new bride sobbing and as he kindly took my hand and asked me what was wrong I expressed "I am just so exhausted and I need to sleep and now that we're married I'm never going to get another good nights sleep in the rest of my life!" I was distraught to say the least! I think it was a traumatic experience for us both, but he was so sweet and held my hand until I calmed down and was able to go back to bed. And now of course we're laughing about it!

The next morning we woke up and were on our way to Maui!! After flying all day we were so excited to get to our lovely resort and pleased as punch when they informed us we'd be upgraded to the Ohana Suite! As the bellboy escorted us into our upgraded room he said "oh, I hope you're okay with two double beds" ...um, hello, honeymooners! I obviously wasn't okay with it and come to find out our "upgrade" was a result of them not having any of the rooms we were suppose to be in available. They promised us they'd move us the following day. That night the only thing we managed to do was eat dinner, drink our complimentary sparkling cider and then sleep in seperate beds. We were really on a role with this whole sleeping thing!

Our first day in Maui we spent just checking the area out, taking in the beautiful scenery and shopping. We're probably the only couple in the world that does their shopping on the first day instead of the last day. I am embarassed to say that we got suckered in by one of those crazy pearl ladies and our $15 pearl ended up in a $200 pearl necklace, oops!



Day two started very early in the morning - very early! We're talking 3 a.m. early. Pat and I decided one of the things we for sure wanted to do was to watch the sunrise from the top of Haleakala and then bike ride down. We decided to go with a tour group that picked us up in the middle of the night and then drove us to the top of the volcano. It was so beautiful but also SO COLD! I had no idea you could even be that cold in Hawaii. Luckily some good friends had warned us so we brought pants and sweatshirts and then the tour group also gave us windbreakers otherwise I probably wouldn't have made it. The sunrise was beautiful and the bike ride was amazing. Many of you know that I was pretty old when I learned to ride a bike and I'm still certainly no expert so I was really nervous about the ride down but I overcame my fears and made it all the way and I'm so glad I did. The sights and smells going down the mountain were fantastic! Plus it was the easiest bike ride in the world, I think we were only required to pedal three times!


The rest of day two was spent playing on the beach and in the ocean!

Day three brought us our snorkeling adventure. Pat had snorkeled before but it was my first time. We first snorkeled at blackrock where we saw lots of fishes before the waves started to get to me and I felt a bit motion sick and decided I needed to get out. Pat kept snorkeling and saw a turtle, I was so jealous. A few hours and two motion sickness pills later we went out again at a little bay called Honolua it was fantastic snorkeling but the pills didn't help me and yup, I lost my cookies in the ocean - gross! I loved the snorkeling but the snorkeling didn't love me.


That night we went to a luau at our resort the Sheraton - we sat at a table with some other young couples, so the company was good, the food was great and the show was fantastic. At one point Pat even got on stage and did a little love dance for me! Sadly he was hiding between an old man and a buff polynesian so it's hard to see him in any of the photos, but he's in there, see if you can find him, it will be like a fun game of "where's waldo?"


Thursday we jumped in our convertible with our packed lunches and headed down the Road to Hana. I'm pretty sure it's the most beautiful drive in the world, words can't describe and my pictures don't do it justice. Gorgeous green rainforest, wonderful waterfalls, and beautiful black sand beaches. The total mileage is only about 60 miles but between all the things to see and the twisty, curvy, one way roads it took us about six hours to finish. Everyone told me with my motion sickness that I shouldn't do it, but we went and I handled it just fine.



Our fifth day on the island we decided to just relax and enjoy the ocean! We rented cabana chairs and laid out of the beach, read books and played in the ocean all day! Pat loves playing in the water and I love sitting in the sun, so it worked out perfectly until one fateful moment! Pat wanted me to come play with him which I said I would once I finished the chapter I was on. He headed out without me and then I followed a few minutes later. Now I know most of you know that I don't know how to swim and am pretty intimidated by the ocean. As I started to walk into the water a large wave came in and took me off my feet and I just couldn't manage to get back on them. As the ocean is tossing me around the shore it also helps my right boob fall right out of my one strap bathing suit!!! I exposed my right girl to all of the lovely families vacationing in Maui! I was mortified but what can you do other than laugh, so that's what I did! And made Pat stay in the ocean with me until all the people who may have seen my little incident were gone!


Our last day we had to be out of our hotel by noon but our flight wasn't until nine that night, so we had to figure out something low key to do all day. We decided to drive to Wialea and I'm so glad we did. The beaches in Wialea are gorgeous! The various shades of blue are just incredible.


Our last little bit of time in Maui was spent at the aquarium. I love the aquarium and Pat is a good sport and goes with me!


Pat and I loved Mauii - we didn't want to leave! If you've never been we suggest you go, if you have been then you know you should go back! Either way, if you go, let us know because we'd love to join you!!!

Wedding Weekend

Since I'm new to the blog I figure I'll be forgiven for multiple posts in one day as well as posting about past events, especially if it's about my wedding! Words can't even express how wonderful our wedding day was, I really couldn't have asked for anything more! The weather was perfect, all of my favorite people were there and my husband was so handsome! Thanks to all who were there and helped make it so incredibly perfect. Here's a quick (or not so quick) review of the wedding weekend!

On Thursday four of my very best friends got into town - my sister Jana, my friend Bri from IL and then Lauren and Jess from PA. I had no idea that Jess was coming until she got into town so it was such a fun surprise!

Friday started the influx of family and friends. That day we had our rehearsal up at Log Haven


After getting the details out of the way we went and had a little picnic where Pat was our grill master and made sure we were all well fed! It was really low key and fun to just hang out with everyone, I think Pat wishes we would have just had our wedding there in shorts and flipflops!


After our little picnic my dear friends Emily and Marcey threw me a wonderful little bridal shower, it was so fun to have all my best friends since I was a little girl in the same room! I admit I got a bit choked up, how could I not?!?


After all the Friday fun it was finally Saturday and time for the wedding. Our wedding was at 11:00 a.m. so needless to say the day started pretty early with hair, makeup etc. but it was well worth it! My Uncle Eric is a judge in St. George and we felt so honored to have him there and perform the wedding for us.

Pat and I had a civil ceremony since he just got baptized in November, so it gave me the opportunity to walk down the aisle, not something I thought I'd ever do, but it was wonderful. As I mentioned, Eric performed the ceremony which included Pat and I exchanging vows (let the water works begin!)


After the ceremony it was time for the majority of our guests to go eat appetizers while we did about an hours worth of posed photos with the amazing Russ Dixon (I'm suppose to have the link to the professional shots by 7/3 and promise to share them with you all!) In the meantime my family managed to snap a few great shots for us!


Finally the reception started - it was really wonderful and low key. One of the first things we did after eating was say our thank you's to everyone, I cried like a baby! Next I asked my dad if he'd be willing to play a song for me that he'd written about his daughters, he was really nervous to do it, but did such an amazing job... it certainly didn't help the crying but it meant the world to me. After that we cut our delicious wedding cake and then had our first dance. We picked the longest song for our dance, we both were just laughing because we thought it would never end and we'd lost everyone's interest minutes ago! However, then we remembered that the dance was for us and not anyone else and decided just to enjoy it!


As I said, the entire day was perfect and we felt so honored to have so many of our friends and family there for us - it was more than we could have asked for!! We feel so blessed to have all of you in our lives and mostly to have on another. It's such an amazing thing to know we get to go through the rest of our lives with our very best friend.