July, part two...

We were lucky enough to spend two weeks in California this summer!  We spent our time-

whale watching,

 

 swimming in the pool at Stephanie and Scott's condo,

 finding creatures at the tide pools,

 swimming and sunning at the beach,

going to Hollywood,

 

celebrating birthdays,

 going to Disneyland,

riding bikes on Coronado Island, 

cooking,

 

exploring at the Getty,

eating at Pink's and all of Patrick's favorite restaurants,

visiting the Santa Monica Pier,

and playing in the backyard! 

We had a fantastic trip!

July, part one...

 On my 24th birthday I woke up to this!

Our friend Jennifer returned from her mission. Another friend Carolyn flew in from Utah and organized a get together for her in Grand Haven which is on the west side of the state. 

We spent a Sunday with them and played a ton of games. We discovered our love for Monopoly Deal during the trip.

June continued...

 In Michigan it's common for communities to have their firework display before the 4th of July. 

So after work towards the end of the month we rode our bikes around to find a good spot to watch them. After some searching we found it.

 We sat on a blanket and ate popcorn as we watched.

 Here we are at the Sagebrush Cantina celebrating our upcoming Birthdays with my side of the family. We celebrated  a  little early since Taylor was home from school for the weekend.

 Then we headed to my parents house for cake!

What we've been up to...

A lot! We decided to post some pictures to highlight the last few months. 

May:

We bought new bikes in April and loved riding them around town.

 

Here we are on one of our rides to my school.

 June: 

 

We went up north to run a 5k called the Dirty Dog Dash. We raced with Danielle, Chad, and a couple of friends I grew up with.

 

We dressed as Polly Bleaker and Juno. 

While up north we drove a little farther to a park called the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

We played in the dunes and got horrendous sunburns. You can see them already forming on my legs. The burn lines are still there! Luckily Patrick didn't burn so bad.

Happy Anniversary...

We celebrated our First Wedding Anniversary in May! For fun here are a couple of wedding pictures.

To celebrate our anniversary we decided to cancel all of our other normal commitments and spend the entire weekend just the two of us.

I found this on the table when I got home from work on Friday.

We made BBQ chicken pizza for lunch on Saturday after we exercised.

For dinner we went to the Polish Village Cafe in Hamtramck. We've been there a few times before. We went there when we were first dating and it was one of my favorite dates. That night we stayed out so late that my dad called Patrick's phone asking where I was. The food was still great and this time we did not have to worry about my dad calling.

Patrick made me breakfast on Sunday morning! He made me a heart pancake just like he did each morning while we were on our honeymoon.

We planned on going to one of our favorite places, Cranbrook, to have a picnic lunch and walk around. But it rained all day. So instead we had our picnic inside and watched a movie with our lunch.
We did get adventurous and decided to brave the rain as we went to a park down the road later in the afternoon.

For dinner we had Cornish game hens, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

We also ate the top of our wedding cake. Danielle and Chad warned us that their cake tasted bad and so we were prepared to eat a tiny bite. To our surprise it tasted like it was just made. No freezer burn here!

We wanted to start the tradition of eating fondue for every anniversary since that is what we ate on the day Patrick proposed to me. So we ate the cake and fondue in bed!


It was such a great first anniversary. I can't believe that we have already been married for a year and I am looking forward to all of years to come. I am so lucky to be married to Patrick!

Stephanie and Scott's Wedding...

In March we flew out to California for Stephanie and Scott's Wedding. We were so excited for them and excited to meet Scott. It was a quick weekend trip and we loved every minute of it. We kept busy running wedding errands, helping set up the open house, eating tasty food, and spending time together with family.

Patrick and I posing outside the temple. It sure made the Detroit temple look tiny.

The siblings all together!

Kaden and Raquel playing before the reception started.

The new couple at the reception in Ramona.

Sorry Scott I think this picture is funny. Stephanie danced with Devin and Patrick and here it looks like Scott just can't take being away from Stephanie.

The beautiful open house in Grand Terrace.

Patrick and I forgot to sign in.

Spencer threw a grape at Patrick while he was sleeping and it started a grape throwing frenzy. Raquel loved it.

Devin and Kaden playing.

The couple opened cards and presents after the open house. Raquel decided to help keep track of who gave which presents.

We had so much fun and can't wait to go back next month!