Honeymoon numero dos.

After we were sealed in the temple, we figured we deserved another honeymoon to celebrate this new step in our lives! We decided to brave the open seas and take a cruise - Kendall's first one! Our ship left from Los Angeles, and after 6 hours and a broken water heater, we made it.

Our first stop on our cruise was Catalina Island, just outside of Los Angeles. We had to take a small motor boat out to the dock. While on the island, we ate chocolate from their old fashioned candy store, kayaked around the bay, snorkeled, and laid out on the beach. It was the cutest little island I've ever seen!

 Our next stop was Ensenada, Mexico. Kendall and I LOVE Mexico, and even though Catalina Island was beautiful, Mexico still topped it. We took a small bus up a hill to see one of the only few blowholes in the world. It was pretty awesome! We got soaked while looking at amazing views of the crystal clear water.

Back in town, we ate tacos at authentic Mexican food restaurants. On our way back to the ship, we saw a painting outside of a shop of Joseph Smith, which really surprised us! We went in to find out who was selling the painting, and the clerk told us that the man who painted it was in the shop. It turned out that this man was getting baptized into the LDS church the following weekend! He told us (ahem...Kendall, because I don't speak Spanish) about his journey to finding the church. It was such a great experience that I'll never forget. Kendall and I always seem to be at the right place at the right time.

On the ship, we ate amazing food, drank Dr. Pepper like it was going out of style, jacuzzi'd, Karaoke'd our hearts out, and took lots of selfies.

I found out that true love is bringing food to your spouse when she has sea sickness for an entire day of a cruise, and not once making her feel guilty about it. A happy anniversary to us!

Sealed.

"Eternity was in our lips and eyes, bliss in our brows' bent; none our parts so poor but was a race of heaven." - Shakespeare

On our anniversary, March 18th, 2013, we were sealed in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple for time and all eternity. It was the best day of my life! I have a hard time expressing my feelings from that day. From that moment on, it was like Kendall and I were no longer just married on this earth. I feel like we have a string connecting us to each other at all times that cannot be broken. I am crazy about this human that I get to spend my life and more with!

My first GenCon

In April of 2013, Kendall and I were lucky enough to take a trip to Utah with Kendall's mom to see General Conference for the first time! General Conference is a bi-annual conference held by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints where we are able to hear the prophets and apostles of our church speak. Not only is General Conference an amazing part of our year, but Utah is also amazingly beautiful and one of my favorite place to visit...even if I hate the 10 hour drive there.

Our first stop was a little town about an hour and a half outside of the Salt Lake City area called Manti, where Kendall's aunt and uncle live. There we visited with family, played with Otto on the farm, and saw the most beautiful temple my eyes have witnessed since becoming a member.

Otto definitely belongs on a farm...we'll get to that later!

Next, we drove up to Spanish Fork, UT, about 40 minutes outside of Salt Lake, where we stayed with Kendall's cousin, visited with family, and visited with Kendall's favorite mission buddy, Colin, and his wife. We had tickets to both the General Conference session and Kendall had tickets to the Priesthood session, which is for the men of the church who have received the priesthood.

Utah in the Spring is breath-taking -- I miss it so much! We are so lucky to have amazing family and friends around us that share these experiences with us.

Adopting Otto

A few months after Biff died, we decided that it was time to look for another little pup to join our family. We were lucky to find a breeder pretty close to our house, and she just so happened to have 2 black male pugs up for adoption.

We went to her house to meet the grumble of pug puppies, and were surprised by about 20 baby pugs running around her backyard! It turned out that two of her mama pugs had pups within a week of each other and she had a HUGE litter. We both gravitated immediately toward the two black baby boys. As I was cuddling the runt of the litter, the bigger of the two incessantly pulled on my skirt while making the cutest little snorting noises. Kendall couldn't handle the cuteness and decided we needed the tugging pug to be our next little friend.

We were a bit nervous adopting another black pug, thinking maybe that he would be too similar to Biff, remind us of Biff, or we would be bitter towards the new puppy for not being Biff. Boy, were we wrong! If any dog is perfect for me and Kendall, it is Otto.

Enjoy his cute puppy face with all the heart eye emojis:

I really think there is nothing cuter than a pug puppy. Otto has brought so much love and joy to our house, not to mention he has us laughing daily. I can't imagine our lives without him!

Birthdays!

Moving right along with catching up, Kendall and I have both had THREE birthdays since I've been a journaling slacker. THREE. I can't promise that I remember everything about these birthdays, except that I'm glad I get to spend them next to my favorite human.

2013:

In 2013, I turned 22 and Kendall turned 23 (if you couldn't tell by his clever cupcake candles). We spent most of the day with each other, family, friends, and our sweet puppy Biff.

2014:

The following year, we spent my birthday in beautiful Sedona, thanks to our sister-in-law Ashtyn generously lending us her family's timeshare for the weekend! It also happens to be our puppy Otto's birthday as well, so I had to take a picture with him. Kendall's birthday was spent at home and then we had a birthday dinner at Cheesecake factory. He ate the biggest burrito ever made and didn't regret it for a second.

2015:

This year, we took our pups Otto and Sirius to the dog park and on a hike for my birthday, and for Kendall's birthday we ate out and stayed in.

Every year I feel so grateful for this little family of mine. Even if we don't do anything amazing for our birthdays like we used to, being with each other is enough.

And of course, eating cake. That's always important.