CELEBRATIONS!

The end of May and the beginning of June were full of celebrations for us! 

Saturday, May 25th was Mark's 26th birthday! 

 I made Mark some breakfast and then while Mark played a few games I snuck his presents onto the bed and it took him almost 20 minutes to notice them! He really wanted to open them but I made him wait a couple hours.  

It was a beautiful day so we went up the canyon and hiked up Bridal Veil Falls.  We enjoyed the cool mist up at the top and then went to the pond of fish at the bottom and tried to pet some Trout.  (Mark was successful several times).

When we got back home Mark immediately opened his presents.  He got a new pair of shorts and a T-shirt, new underwear,  "Basketball for Dummies" with a promise that I will read it, some Old Spice body wash, candy, and drum-roll...... some KD V's! He had no idea he was going to get them but he was in desperate need of some new basketball shoes.  Kevin Durant is Mark's favorite MBA player. 

We then went to dinner at P.F. Chang's, somewhere Mark had been wanting to try for a long time.  Of course, we forgot to take a picture of our food until AFTER we were almost done. It was delicious and we weren't too mad that the waitress forgot to bring Mark his free dessert.  

We then went to Orem to meet up with Brandon, Marianna, David, and Kelsey for some mini golf.  It was a lot of fun and we took a plethora of pictures.  

Of course, the birthday boy beat us all.  

We then headed over to Brandon and Marianna's to have homemade cheesecake and sing Happy Birthday.  

David and Kelsey were kind enough to give Mark a very cute puppet for his birthday.  

Happy 26th to the love of my life!!!

Sunday, June 2nd was my 24th birthday!

Because my birthday was on Sunday, Mark and I planned to celebrate on Saturday. 

Friday evening, my amazing friends Sarah and Aubrey took me out to dinner.  We met at Sarah's house first and they were so sweet to have brought me gifts!  

A few months ago, Sarah and I went down to her home in St. George and we were in the quilting store where her mom works.  Sarah is an extremely talented quilter and I saw a quilt on the wall that I LOVED.  I convinced Sarah to make me a quilt as a combined wedding, Christmas, and birthday gift.  I had not heard anything about it in a while and was not expecting it anytime soon.  When we met up at Sarah's, she surprised me with the finished quilt!!! Seriously, one of the most beautiful things I now own.  I love that I will forever have this reminder of her and our friendship in my home.  

We then drove out to Johnny Carino's, about a 45 minute drive, simply because they give out an amazing piece of chocolate cake for birthdays.  We each got one of their brick-oven pizzas and shared the chocolate cake.  So delicious and so worth it.  

After dinner we went shopping at Old Navy and spent way too much money.  (Except it doesn't count if it's your birthday, right?)  The evening was so fun and I'm blessed to call them my friends. 

Saturday morning, Mark made me my favorite breakfast-in-bed, German pancakes. After surprising me with beautiful roses and after getting ready, I got to open up my presents: A framed picture of one of our favorites from our wedding, some new perfume, a gift card to See's Candies (Good Man!),  a new movie for us, and drum roll..... A NEW PHONE!!! For years I have never known the convenience and entertainment that a smart phone can offer. Finally, I no longer had to wonder. I LOVE my Galaxy SIII.  He did such a good job!   

THEN, (this boy has finally learned and realized HOW much I love surprises) ...another surprise!!! We were headed to the zoo for the day!  I had been saying for months how much I wanted to go to the zoo.  It was a great day and even though a large portion of the zoo is closed, it was so much fun.

We had to visit the elephants a few times. 

The Bird Show was probably one of our favorites and really exceeded our expectations. Having huge eagle's and owl's wings brush the top of our heads as they flew by was pretty cool.  

After the zoo, we went to Chili's for dinner and then ANOTHER SURPRISE!  We were headed to the Salt Lake Bee's baseball game.  The game was a lot of fun and of course, we had gone to Smith's right before to sneak in some treats.  

SIDE STORY: As they were announcing the Bee's players, I wasn't really paying attention until I heard a name I recognized and my eyes shot up to the screen and I said, "I know him!!!" Mark kind of chuckled and did not believe me.  (I'm usually really bad with names and faces.)  So I got on my brand new beautiful phone and showed Mark how I was friends with A.J. on Facebook and knew him from high school. It was a lot of fun to watch him pitch the first 5 innings and it honestly helped me pay WAY more attention. 

 I had actually messaged A.J. at the beginning of the game letting him know that we were there and after the 5th inning, he messaged us back!  He told us that he could get us tickets anytime if we'd like.  So we actually ended up going to two more Bee's games because he was so nice to put tickets in will call for us!

After the game there were fireworks...which are one of my favorite things on this planet.  

It was an incredible day! BUT....the celebrations weren't over!  Sunday, we went to church at 1 and got to play with our adorable nursery kids. 

After church we went to Brandon and Marianna's for a barbecue with David and Kelsey and Uncle Scott.  They made some great bratwursts and we enjoyed dinner on the deck.  Brandon and Mare gave me some cute earrings and my favorite drug, diet Dr. Pepper.  

Thank you to all my friends and family for the wonderful birthday!