Florida. Round Two.

For some odd reason, I haven't felt like blogging. 

My Summer in Utah was full of so much joy and happiness.

But I am definitely excited to be back for year two of Florida. 

Dave will graduate with his Masters in May and then we will be on to the next step. 

PH. D. 

In order to end my blogging hiatus. . . 

I think I will just be posting every once in a while with a photo of my life lately.

And lately my life is filled with so much love from this pup. 

#leothegreat

How was your Summer? 

Home is where your Family is.

I sure do miss Dave but man I love being in Utah. 

It has been so much fun to spend time with my family. 

I miss just stopping in and hanging out with everyone. 

It is the best. 

Here is a little update in picture form: 

1. Boating in Utah Lake. 

It was almost 90 degrees that day and the lake wasn't even that cold!

2. Does it get better than s'mores?

Nope. And you can always have S'more of them too. 

3. Brady's first birthday!

I have been hanging out with this little man a lot lately. 

He is non-stop giggles, he has so many adorable tricks and he can walk!

4. The new smoker!

My dad is so amazing at smoking meat. It melts in your mouth. 

He got a new toy the week before I came and we are all reaping the benefits. 

5. These two are my favorite. 

They seriously belong in a jcrew for kids magazine. 

They are definitely my little buddies. 

6. My mountains!

This picture got cut off a bit but it is the view from my parents back yard. 

I walk outside everyday and stare. They are so stunning!

7. My first time wake surfing!

It is so much better than wake boarding, I loved it!

How are your first weeks of Summer going? 

To all you Mother's out there.

My mom rocks. 

She is my best friend. 

She has always been there for me through everything. 

She is always on my side. 

She is so loving. 

She always makes me feel like a million bucks. 

She is one of the most Christlike people I know. 

She is amazing. 

I truly hope to be just like her when I am a mother. 

And to all the rest of the moms out there...

Here are 10 things you should know from Kid President: 

Happy Mother's day Mom!

I am so glad I get to spend the day with you. 

You need one.

Isn't this print adorable? 

I found it here. 

What comes to your mind when you use the word Family? 

I realized that I immediately think of the family I grew up in. 

My Mom, Dad, sisters and brother. 

They will always be my 'Family'. 

Then I think about the other family I am in, you know.. that cute guy I married.

We have a family of our own. 

Just me and him. 

For now at least.

However, I don't think of that as 'my Family'.

I guess it is just that strange stage of life that I am in. 

Is the turning point supposed to be when you have kids? 

Then they are your 'family'?

Anyways.. those are my thoughts today. 

Oh AND..

one week from today I will be on a plane to see 'My Family'

and 

I am going to really miss that other family of mine that I am leaving in Florida!

It's Summer Time.

To say we are excited for Summer would be an understatement. 

For once, the reason I am excited for Summer is not because of the warmth. 

Yep, it has already been 90 degrees and 70+% humidity here. It is death. 

The reason we are really excited is because we are spending most of Summer in our favorite place. 

The other day we started talking about the things we are most excited about. 

It was a pretty great list we made so I thought I would share.

This will give you some insight about what we miss the most...

Watching the sunset from somewhere above.

Giggling with nieces and nephews. 

Campfires in the mountains. 

Camping in the mountains. 

Eating at Cafe Rio for Date Night. 

Cuddling with Charlie (Dave's dog).

Sunday dinners with family. 

Lunch dates with my mom and dad. 

Watching my nephew walk for the first time (hopefully).

Dry heat, no humidity!

Laying down on nice grass with no chiggers in it. 

Rock climbing on real rock. 

Laying in a tube on the lake. 

Going to the temple a lot more often. 

A lot of girls nights with my best friends. 

Eating Bob's Brainfreeze a LOT. 

Being able to visit family anytime I want. 

The list goes on and on. 

This Summer is going to be Great!

What are you most excited about this Summer?

The Easter bunny came.

We had a beautiful Easter Sunday. 

It was 85 degrees here in Gainesville.. maybe a little too hot. 

We spent the morning at Church 

and all afternoon with friends from Dave's school. 

We got to watch little kiddies hunt for Easter eggs. 

and I even convinced the 'Easter bunny' to get us some new clothes. 

We ate delicious food.

And skyped with both families and friends. 

Isn't he a cutie pie? 

I wish we could have our own personal photographer. 

That would make memory recording so much easier. 

He is always so serious in photos... it kills me. 

Three fabulous gentleman. 

Oh and I made Easter cake balls. . . 

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the recipe!

How do you celebrate Easter? 

Dave thinks we shouldn't pretend there is an easter bunny for our kids, ridiculous I know. 

Wedding Series: Wedding!

Love is one of my favorite things. 

I enjoy reading stories about love. 

I enjoy listening to songs about love. 

I enjoy watching people fall in love. 

But most of all I enjoy talking about our love story. 

In honor of LOVE month, I want to post more about our wedding. 

I started posting about our wedding in December for our anniversary. 

You can read more about the proposal and look at our engagement photos 

but this post is dedicated to our actual wedding. 

We were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City Latter-Day Saint Temple. 

It was one of the happiest days of my life. 

We were surrounded by so many people who love and care about us

and I have never felt so much LOVE at one point in my life. 

I was so giddy and happy all day long. 

It truly was the best day of my life. 

I hope you enjoy a few of my favorite pictures. 

Compliments to Duston Todd Photography

Don't forget to go check out my guest post over at  The Meaningful Pursuit today.

I am so excited to be apart of the 14 days of love....

(Nosotros) somos jovenes

Yes, my husband helped me with this fabulous title. 

google translate it, dare ya. 

Sometimes I plan my blog posts ahead of time. 

Sometimes I don't. 

Today I planned to tell you all about my Superbowl experience. 

I was going to tell you about the fabulous cake balls that I made that looked like footballs

 And about the fabulous party we went to with people from Dave's department at school. 

And how I totally didn't really care about the football game, 

I claimed to cheer for the forty-niners because of Steve Young, yep I am that cool. 

All I cared about were the commercials...  and yes, this one was my favorite:

I was going to tell you about how much I loved the half time show because

it took me back to all the fun times with my single lady girlfriends. 

And I was going to tell you about the most adorable baby that was at the party. 

But really. 

All I want to tell you about is how much I wished I was at my family's superbowl party the whole time. 

Celebrating the superbowl is a tradition in my family. 

Every year we go all out. 

Basically we make every party food that you could ever imagine.

There are always five different kinds of dip for chips. 

My favorite little kiddies are there to play with when the game gets boring. 

And all the men are there for when I have 'real' questions about the game and what the call was. 

It is basically a holiday to me. 

This was my first year EVER that I didn't get to go to this shindig. 

 I missed it. 

Enjoy the little things

- Last night at the climbing gym I climbed a boulder problem that I didn't ever think I would be able to climb... LOVED it. 

-Dave and I are starting a new exercise regimen and I am super excited about it. 

We even ran together this week... we have never done that, weird I know. 

-My parents and I laid out by the pool in the 80 degree weather and I got my first swim suit line of the year... I could really get used to Florida's winter. 

-I found an adorable used desk and comfy office chair on craiglist for $65 for both ... now that I work from home, I really needed these!

-I decorated our little apartment with a little bit of crafty Valentine's Day decor.

-We are the cub scout leaders for the scouts in our area and I haven't be able to go because of work but I got to go this week and it was so fun to watch Dave with those boys, they adore him!

-My sister sent me audio of her sweet baby boy laughing... only my favorite sound in the world!

-I got the best phone call last night from my best friend, I love it when her name appears on my phone :)

-Tomorrow is Saturday and Dave doesn't have homework! 

Best news ever!

Happy LOVE month!

St Augustine Beach in January!

I could really get used to the fabulous January weather temps in Florida. 

Everyone back in Utah has freezing rain and I get to lay out in the sun...

it makes being away from home ten times easier :)

Last weekend, we took my parents to St. Augustine. 

St. Augustine Beach is by far the best beach near Gainesville. 

It was PERFECT weather. 

The beach was empty because apparently it is way too cold for the locals...

My mom is the one who taught me how to be a beach baby. 

We both love the sunshine so much. 

She almost went all the way in the ocean with her clothes on

and the water was FREEZING!

This guy was even excited to be there 

and he is a mountain man. 

He is such a goof ball and makes me laugh every day. 

My dad said he thought the sand was like brown sugar...

it totally is! It is so smooth and fine. 

There is nothing better than sand between my toes :)

If you are ever in St. Augustine, you must head to the Taco Shop. 

It is the most delicious food right on the beach. 

This up above is called there UFO.

It is basically a crunch wrap supreme from taco bell, 

but WAY better. 

And you have heard of this lovely gem before... Ritas. 

They make the most amazing treat called a 'gelati'

Have italian ice and have frozen custard. 

Mine was vanilla with lemonade frozen custard... 

TO DIE FOR!

We drove over into the main part of St. Augustine and it was packed!

This must be where all the locals go when the beach is 'too cold'

They have this beautiful Castle there that my dad was excited to see. 

It was gorgeous but with limited time, I chose to look at the shops instead. 

St. Augustine is our favorite little spot... 

you must check it out if you are ever close by,

the sunshine felt way too good!

Satchels.

Pizza is my family's favorite food. 

All four children in my family have worked at a local SLC pizzeria. 

My dad eats there a couple times a week. 

We love it. 

Naturally, I had to find something comparable in Gainesville. 

I think I found my match. 

Satchel's Pizzeria. 

If you are ever near Gainesville, this restaurant is a must. 

The decor is so creative, they basically take loads of junk and make it look really incredible. 

They have a regular restaurant section, yes you can eat in that Volkswagen bus in the picture below

And they have a section outback that you can get take out and eat on tables back there. 

They have live music too. 

Obviously, taking my parents there was a must. 

And they loved it...

This is the back takeout area...

They have a little children's play area,

Horse shoes and hammocks to lay in too!

This fence is decorated with car lights... I love it!

They have this little shop area with so many fun nick-nacks.

My dad loved it because it reminded him so much of his childhood. 

He even bought a mini rubber chicken. 

They have the most amazing cream soda that has ever touched my tongue. 

Seriously, I haven't seen it anywhere else... have you?

Please tell me where to find it, I am an addict and I don't even really like soda.

This is a door inside the takeout area. 

It basically has a million cool little things glued to it to make it look cool. 

I love it, don't you?

A fountain is outback in the parking lot. 

It basically is a bunch of things cemented together. . .

this is where their creative is so incredible. 

It looks way more amazing in person.

My parents liked it so much that we went back for lunch yesterday too. 

Don't forget to try it if you are ever in Gainesville!

A vacation of my own.

There is something about having people come visit you

that makes you feel like you get to be on vacation too. 

Having my parents in town has been a BLAST. 

I have only been working half days

and I get to play tour guide every day. 

It has made me realize I haven't seen as much of Gainesville as I would like to. 

For instance... yes I knew the Gator fans are crazy here

but really? They painted these trees blue on campus... on purpose. 

My Dad has never really been a gator fan 

but he does love college football in general. 

He is so jealous we had season tickets to the football games. 

And he was so excited to see the stadium!

'The swamp' can fit 90,000 people in it for games. 

It is the most amazing stadium I have ever been in...

it was so fun to see how excited my dad was to see it!

They have these huge fans inside the stadium because it gets so hot.

we all cracked up about the name of the company that makes them...

We had to take a picture in front of the famous gator statue!

And of course we had to take them to see a real gator!

This one was only about 4-5 feet long... that was enough for my mom :)

This lake is right outside our apartment...

so pretty!

If only there wasn't alligators in it :)