C & K graduate BYU-I

It's been a busy month of April. That is for sure!

As many of you know, we had two major events happen on my side of the family.

Two weekends back to back. Bring on the emotions!

Congratulations to my (baby) twin sisters Courtney & Kelsey

for graduating from BYU- Idaho!!!

What an accomplishment to get their bachelors. We are so proud of you!

Their graduations were both on the same day and at the same time. Go fig

So, when we were in CA the previous weekend, we all drew sticks.

Ya know- Had to make it fair :)

Whichever length of stick your spouse drew, you automatically went to the opposite graduation. 

Team Kelsey:

Austin, my mom's mom and my mom

(Minus Jake. He was MIA when this photo was taken)

They got the short end of the stick :) No really

Their sticks were short. Ha

Team Courtney:

Dad, my dad's mom, and me

 Jake . Kelsey . Aubre

Jake .  Courtney . Aubre

Congratulations Courtney (left) and Kelsey (right). Hats off to the grads!

C & K both plan on moving up to Utah very shortly. They are both (currently) in California (at my parents house) finishing up doctor, hair, and dental appointments, and they'll hopefully be on their way back up here soon. 

I cannot WAIT to have my sisters friends here. While I know it's important for them to date, and branch off/have their own friends, I just want to hang out with them and shop every weekend together with these two!

Now- Hurry up and do whatever it takes to get your butts up here! I keep making all these trips to your storage unit, to put "stuff" in there, that I no longer need/want anymore. You guys are in for a treat and your future apartment will be adorbs!!!! I'm very proud of your accomplishments and can't wait to see you both succeed in the future. I know whatever you set your mind (s) to, you will accomplish. Now go get 'em. Watch out world

PS- are you here yet????

Santa Monica

After taking family photos for the wedding, we headed down to the pier.

When I say we, I mean my husbter and two sisters.

The four of us pretty much stuck together all weekend. It was nice

The weather was perfect. A little windy, but then again the pier's usually windy.

It was so nice to soak in the warm sunshine, and smell the ocean breeze.

It was such a bright, sunny day and I already want to go back. Really mission California today. The pier was so much fun, and we really enjoyed just walking around people watching. You can always do that in LA

Besides- Every time Jake and I have gone home to visit, we've never really had time to go in the water, besides the pool at my parents house. So, this time, we knew we'd have to pay the ocean a visit. Though we weren't there very long, it was still nice to just soak up the sea breeze & stick our toes in the sand. Jake is such an outdoorsie person, so he definitely enjoyed it. I just love soaking up the California sun shinnin rays. 

After the pier, we made our way back to the freeway. We should've just taken the 10 which is right by the pier, but instead, we thought the 405 would have less traffic, so we made our way back to the 405, which is only about six miles away from the Santa Monica Pier, but in LA traffic (on a Friday afternoon) right before 5 o'clock rush hour, it took us an hour 1/2 to get back to the 405 fwy. The 10 and the 405 looked like they both had about the same amount of traffic, according to our phones, so we sucked it up and sat in LA traffic for an hour 1/2 and boy did my husband go cuh-razy! Our little rental car had the wimpiest little horn and my bark was definitely bigger than my bite. I tried to make the most of the traffic, but everyone was just real anxious to be out of the car, and we weren't even in our home town for the wedding reception yet!

Needless to say, we were 45 minutes late to the reception. Oops

Baby brother gets married. What?

A couple weekends ago, my brother got married in California

The husband and I decided to fly, since it'd be such a short/quick trip.

We actually ended up getting on the same flight as my sisters (flying out there).

So it ended up working out perfectly well! I was excited to fly w/them.

04/04

We took off from SLC Thursday night and landed in LAX that evening

We picked up our rental car and drove straight to the temple apartments to meet up w/the rest of my family. 

Photo taken on my iPhone

These were my wedding nails BTW

All Essie brand. "Fiji", "Mint Candy Apple," and "Set in stones."

The next morning, my brother was married to his new bride, Carlie

They had a ceremony at 11am in the Los Angeles, California Temple

Friday

04/05

Photo taken on my iPhone

Aubre . Courtney . Kelsey

Aubre and Jake 

Grandma Smith and Aubre

And here they are as the new Mr. and Mrs.

Side note: For some reason, this photo looks out of focus on my blog, but on my computer it's just fine. Weird.

The rest of these photos, are just random ones I got while we were hangin around

The wedding colors were mint green and peach. Or coral. Whatever 

They called it coral, but that aint coral folks. It's peach

Anyway- The girls wore mint green, and the guys had matching peach ties. Yup

Jake, Aubre, Austin, Carlie, Tyler, mom, dad, Courtney and Kelsey

And that, my fellow readers, is my baby brother. Married. Say what?!?! I still can't get over it. That's something I thought I wouldn't be saying for a long, long time. Congratulations to the new Mrs. and Mrs. Tyler Albert! 

We flew back to SLC the next day, and got back safely, thank you very much. Extremely exhausted though. 

To spring? Or not to spring

Come on Utah. Make up your mind

These photos were taken awhile ago, up Provo Canyon

but I decided to post them today, because when I woke up, I saw snow!

And this isn't the first time it's happened, this month.

I have learned, though, that it is expected for April (or spring) in Utah.

The berry tree in our front yard

Valentine's Day (two months later)

I was never much of a huge Valentine's Day fan

until I got married

and this is how we celebrated this year

I got Jake some much loved treats. These are all his favorite

Photo taken on my iPhone

I filled Mason Jars with carmel filled Hershey kisses

Photo taken on my iPhone

I also made these little treat bags for my team at work

They were filled with purple (grape) and pink (watermelon) taffy

Photo taken on my iPhone

I decorated our bedroom (the night before V-Day) 

and filled it with 14 red balloons

Photo taken on my iPhone

At the bottom of each balloon, was a favorite past time of ours, in a black & white picture.

On the back of the picture, was a reason why I love him

Cheesy- I know

Photo taken on my iPhone

When I came home from work the next day (Valentine's Day) our bed was covered with red & white rose pedals

Photo taken on my iPhone

Jake decided the balloons were a nice touch (with the pictures) so he put them back in our room, on our bed.

Photo taken on my iPhone

Jake also got me flowers, which he always does on Valentine's Day.

His flowers are always very well thought out, too.

They always have significant meaning.

He never just buys a pre-arranged floral arrangement from the floral shop.

He picks out all his flowers individually, with a vase.

And there's always a flower (or two) from our wedding.

Photo taken on my iPhone

Jake made an early dinner reservation for a restaurant we've been wanting to try for awhile.

It's literally around the corner & down the street from where we live.

Photo taken on my iPhone

There was a special menu for the night (for the Valentine's Day holiday), so we each got an appetizer, salad, main course and dessert.

And of course- Dr. Pepper

Seriously- Every bite... Amazing. I would say it was a foodgasm

Photo taken on my iPhone

It was so romantic. A definite well deserved night out

Photo taken on my iPhone

We talk about going back to Chefs Table, often, for special occasions. I cannot WAIT to go back and have another great experience. This restaurant had an amazing view of the mountain with snow on it, and it was just beautiful watching the sun go down with my sweetheart. I feel like every day is Valentine's Day with him. He has such a loving, forgiving personality and I'm so thankful he's mine for eternity. We may or may not have gone home and baked that night. And no, that is not code word for anything. Although, there was some of that too ;)