one year.

we've been married one year!!!!!!

i've said it a million times, but i can't believe how fast the year has flown by. it seems like just yesterday we were sealed for time and all eternity in the salt lake temple. that truly was the happiest day of my life, and it's been the happiest year too! i love anj so much and i am so lucky to have him.

because we decided to snag my sister's birthday for our wedding day, and because our anniversary fell on a sunday.. we had our big celebration on saturday. 

the day started off great when anj purchased two perfect chairs at a garage sale...

 and surprised me with a most beautiful bouquet. 

 right before anj got home from volunteering at the hospital, he texted me to get a bag together "in case we stay somewhere tonight" !!! i was in for a night of surprises.

the man did good!

after tricking me about 7 times, we finally reached our destination: park city.

last year on our wedding day we went to park city for dinner, and another table in the restaurant overheard that we had been married that day. we later found out that they paid for our meal! they left before we could even say thank you, and it was truly a tender moment that i will never forget. that great act of kindness made me so grateful and made me feel like we really were doing something right. 

anj surprised me by taking me to dinner at this very same restaurant, buona vita, and it was just perfect. 

i had gnocci, and anj and pizza, and it was G-O-O-D!

last year and this year: two desserts on the house!

(and holy cow, the crème brûlée was the best thing i have ever tasted.) 

i talked about it all weekend!

 to continue with our tradtion, anj took me to the outlets to do a little shopping. 

(we went to the outlets to buy each other wedding presents last year)

i ended up with a sweet new pair of nike running shoes! 

 i got anj these really great socks. who doesn't want to sport jazz legends on their feet?

 when we arrived at our "luxurious suite" we discovered a kitchen, a dining table, a fire place...

and this really awesome bed. it added some humor to our park city getaway.

there was some really nice polar bear decor too.

wildlife forever.

the next morning we went for a scenic drive, and when we got home anj made us some scrumptious omelets. 

 on our scenic drive we stopped at our favorite bridge up in midway and took some sweet pics.

church was great. anj wore his whole wedding ensemble, and though i was tempted to wear my wedding dress (it is still hanging in my closet), i decided to go with just the wedding shoes.

 love.

 after church we had a parrr-tayy for miss j's nineteenth birthday.

 i was trying to go for a honduras theme... it worked out pretty well. 

anj was the master decorator and even took on the responsibility of the birthday chair!

 i love this sister of mine so much. it was great to have her and her besties over for dinner and angel food cake and birthday songs and fun.

she has grown up so much the past year!

 we enjoyed testing out our new chairs. 

 it was an overall great way to celebrate april twenty-first.

 we ended the night with some law and order and a few rounds of skipbo. i won, of course. 

how else would you end your anniversary weekend party extravaganza?

and in case you haven't seen enough pictures, 

here's a little throwback to our honeymoon adventures in mexico.

wishing we were back here right about now!

well folks, it's been a year. one whole year. i can't wait to see what the next has to offer!

here's to many, many more.

happy anniversary anj!

(he's the very best!)

spring break

as the old adage goes, "if you don't have it, make it."

(or is it "don't want what you can't have"?)

and as many people know, BYU does not have a spring break.

this is a serious problem, because getting a little break full of sunshine and happiness and springtime is necessary, especially during the dull, busy, still wintery months of march and april in utah. 

so every year i've decided to take a spring break anyway and have a little weekend getaway to some seriously sunny places. 

some images of spring breaks gone by:

 an arizona escape with mindy and mallory

 and a fabulous trip to italy and switzerland

 i loved visiting this tiny italian coast town with james and allison. 

this year we decided that having an easter getaway with the fam at our favorite place, the camelback inn, was definitely a must!

you can't beat the place where time stands still. 

we headed out for easter weekend to spend some quality time with my family in arizona. 

before we left though, we had to get some egg dyeing in. 

having traditions is important. and also fun.

 dyeing eggs is one of my favorites! we ran out of vinegar about half way through, so we ended up trying to use lemon juice. it was only somewhat successful. 

easter egg lovin!

pretty eggs

then the next afternoon we drove to the airport, arrived super early, had our flight delayed multiple times, walked a mile to get pretzels only to find they were all out, and finally took off and were on our way. we did get to witness this fine example of "utah style"...

 we arrived just in time to put on some luscious robes and do some quality hot tubbing. 

the next morning we got up extra early to hike camelback mountain, which to our dismay was closed! (who knew you could close down a mountain?) we ended up heading to squaw peak instead, which was also great.

how good is this guy's hair?

i love my mom and my sista sista. this is probably one of my all time fave pics of us. 

wildlife inspires us.

the rest of the day was spent sunning by the pool, sharing smoothies, playing a wild game of three flies up, and a taking few naps here and there. 

fierce.

we had a delightful dinner at a place i've wanted to try for a long time - la grande orange.

the pizza was divine, and the company was wonderful. 

the red velvet cake was the best i have ever had!

we had another night of tennis and tons of fun. 

we woke up the next day for a beautiful easter church meeting, our traditional see's candy egg hunts, and of course, easter baskets!

can't get enough peeps!

easter is a holiday that is so special and so full of meaning. i loved being able to celebrate the resurrection of my Savior, Jesus Christ, with my family. because of his sacrifice and his resurrection,  i know i can be with my family forever! 

the words of one of my very favorite hymns capture the joy i feel on easter,

"He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days’ prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory."

Hoorayy!

to continue celebrating, we went to the fabulous easter brunch, which is just too good to be true.

cotton candy for all.

it was so fun to be with all of our cousins and family, and we all ate way, way, way too much.

four hours later we were able to move from the table to take some family shots.

love my guy.

it was a perfect, pretty day.

after post-brunch naps, we had an easter egg hunt with all the fam!

we had some great catching up on life with everyone, and then andrew had to go back to school.
(not fun)

we had another great tennis night, and got some rest for another sunshine day. 

it was a day of cucumber coolers, mango smoothies, and naps by the pool.

a much, much needed break.

 we enjoyed pretty arizona blooms,

and a pedicure at the spa. 

and after another great family dinner and more tennis, it was time to pack up and head out!

(some pretty shadows on a wall near our room)

leaving is never fun, but it's always good to be reunited with anj. 

and now we are back to the daily grind.

i must say, that was the best spring break we never had!