CAMPING!

set up the TV right at the tent entrance
Tent set up inside
smores made from the burners on the oven :)
we rented a couple movies
and enjoyed!
so fun
love this guy
yum!
good work! He set it up in like 15 minutes! Pretty quick

what a hottie

Dane and I got an awesome tent and blowup mattress for our wedding (thanks Arron and Linda) and have been dying to go camping, but we are poor, really busy in school, and I just got sick, so we weren't sure if we could make it happen, but this was not good enough for Dane... so he MADE it happen!

Married life... also I did 2 other blog posts before this, so check them out!

Me with both sets of clubs, and for some reason, glowing.
I didn't do too awesome, there was a few hulk smashes. At one point Dane got frustrated with me for getting so frustrated so I said (angrily), "well don't get mad back, just make me laugh!" So he did some crazy Irish jig and then said, "should I golf like a dork too"? We both started cracking up and problem was solved. :) Dane said he could spot me in the distance hulk smashing a few other times though.
Dane appreciation day (for those who don't know, Valentines day is for me, so we made up a Holiday for Dane. That would be his half birthday and it's called Dane appreciation day, and we just have a Dane day all day)... so for this one we went golfing!
flowers and a card from Dane... just being a sweet Husband
movie and treat night.. we blew up an air mattress and watched movies in the living room all night. The chair right there is filled with goodies
Such a fun night, the queen mattress fills up our whole living room
We moved our bed to the other side of the room, but it's a California king and at one point I got stuck in the corner
Our first home cooked dinner. Nana's enchiladas, Eriks guac, and fresh watermelon, all done by me! It turned out very yummy
us at dinner

We have been married for almost a month and have literally LOVED every minute of it. Dane and I are in a constant state of giddiness. We laugh sooo much, and love spending so much time together. We really missed each other doing long distance, and now we are both so much less stressed, and just plain happy to be together. Dane is still VERY busy with school, but he only has a week left. Dane and I enjoy spending our free time in the same ways so we have had lots of fun, watching movies, laughing and goofing off, having many "what if" convos, talking about "one day...", taking mid day naps, going on walks, making dinners etc... We went to Harry Potters midnight showing last night and got VIP tickets! It was so fun, but the movie was not as great as we expected. I Really liked it, but Dane was slightly disappointed. I told him this is what happens when you read the books...they will always be better. On the plus side we didn't have to fight for our seats cause we were in a theatre of only 50 people, and we got with that a pizza 2 large drinks and a large popcorn. Unfortunately I am sick today. Bad cold, snotty, sneezy, coughy, sore... I think my body is done with all the sugar I have put into it. Dane and I have had fun making lots of goals for our family, and starting fresh. We will try to stick to them as much as we can, and KNOW we will go in and out of accomplishing them, but so far so good! I am just so grateful to have a family with Dane. He is soo my best friend and my favorite person. We have had nothing but an amazing time together since we have been married, and I just love him TEN times more everyday. He makes me so so happy. I never imagined I could be THIS happy. I love him.
Last night I watched his mission videos and they were so funny and cute. Him and I were dying laughing watching some of them, and it reminded me of when I first met him 4 years ago (that was only a year after his mission).
It's fun to look back! Hence the reason I blog, so that in 5, 10, 20 years I can look back on all the memories!

Saying goodbye to Seattle

Me and my sis. saying goodbye.
The last 2 years have been hands down the BEST of my entire life. I moved to Seattle 2 years ago last September and my first 6 months there I grew soo much. Much thanks to my family. I don't think I could ever adequately describe what my family has meant to me, especially in these last couple years. I will TREASURE the memories I had living with and by them for my entire life. My family have all been so good to me, but a special thanks goes out to Jen, Kelly, Isabel, Erik, Jodi, Luke and Mercedes. Each one of these people played an essential role in my growth and happiness when I moved to Seattle. Chloe and Liam were not born yet. :) I hope one day we get a chance to all live near each other again, including other siblings. I miss you ALL and could never thank any of you enough! Here are some of my favorite memories with each of you!
Jen:
-Her reading twilight to me in the rainy, forksy, seattle weather (me sitting on one end of the couch, Jen on the other, me being read to) This reminds me of our sleepovers reading books under Jen's desk when I was little.
-Talking about her and Kelly's love story over and over at my request.
- Jen driving me through downtown Seattle, imagining with me my new life I would soon have. A bell town apartment, school at Cornish, fancy shopping, cute little restaurants I would eat at, "people watching" for the types of people I would hang out with... none of this ever actually happened, but it sure helped give me alot of hope, to imagine what my life might be like one day. Instead I just met the man of my dreams, a pretty good trade I would say :)
- Walking Green Lake together with Isabel. Remember that Idyllic day on Green Lake, running to keep up with Isabel, meeting George the huge dog, and the perfect weather?
- Having many inspiring conversations
- hanging out at your house with Dane, and you and Kelly and finally having my somebody!
- Fourth of July
-Halloween
- learning there are certain cases I love to shop in. Remember that day we went with Isabel downtown and went to all sorts of cute boutiques and ate at Serious Pie? What a blast. I think we usually got lost when we went downtown, because we would get SO caught up in conversation
-laughing sooo hard trying to figure out a good meal plan for Kelly, "Will he eat things that have to be microwaved"?
-trying to inspire each other in the eating healthy/workout realm
-going to University bookstore
- finding new music together
- coming over to Jen's and gorging on endless fruit and veggie trays (it's no wonder i lost 2 pounds my first couple days in Seattle)
- driving from Boise to Seattle together
-making fun mixes, and relating them to life

Kelly:
- laughing LOUDLY and endlessly at who knows what? If something funny hits Kel and I at the same moment, the laughing will continue for awhile.
- Always interesting conversations.
- Kel helping me feel better about what Jen has FREAKED me out about... "I'm just gonna go home and hug my beans".
-Kel helping me make big decisions in my life (schools to NOT attend, like the EXPENSIVE Art Institute, and help with life decisions). This advice always had to be solicited and was ALWAYS appreciated.
-Kel introducing me to the new music on the scene
-Kel introducing me to great designers such as Chloe

Isabel:
- going on dates
-relating to being a daughter of Jen. Her and I are TOTALLY on the same page :)
- Belle only letting me brush her hair because she knows I will be gentle, because I too hated when Jen would brush my tangly hair when I was little.
- Helping Belle get ready for Halloween
- MANY MANY hilarious, and fun conversations.
-Writing stories with Belle
-Helping her write songs
-Making up dances with Belle
-reading with Belle
-babysitting and watching movies together.
-Belle meeting Dane for the first time... this girl made some serious competition for Dane's attention.
-Belle thinking that one day she too would sell jewelry at Nordstrom with Aunt Jilly and be my roommate. This is either really cute or really sad.. haha!
-Endlessly loving me and always being a bright spot in my day.
-fun Isabelisms like "I keep my whits about me" and "Isabel of plumbers end"
-her funny sense of humor and desire to make others laugh "the peach popped in the cup"
-imitating Aunt Jilly's laugh (a little frightening to hear thrown back at ya)

Erik:
- Watching American Idol together and having the EXACT same opinion on every contestant.
- watching bachelor together and laughing... ALOT
- making lots of Yummy food
- staying up LATE LATE LATE talking, singing, playing piano, guitar, games, ugly dancing, or just laughing.
- Living with him and Jodi in general was so fun
- Him an Jodi setting up a room for me at their house complete with a t.v. for me to watch TLC every night before bed! I loved it!
- Playing settlers, Rumi, or the train game.
- 4Th of July at his house and a yummy BBQ
- Halloween at his house
-lots of family get togethers at his house, playing games and all of us catching up
- Erik giving me TONS of great advice
- Dane and I hanging out at Erik and Jodi's tons eating yummy food and hanging out.
- Me and Erik discovering some major similarities, while Dane and Jodi discover they are much alike as well. (The conversation this night was hilarious)
- picking Erik up multiple times at random locations because the 20 yr. old Camry had died... AGAIN...we had fun conversations on these nights though
-Green lake with the WHOLE fam.
-church with Erik when I first moved to Seattle and sitting in the foyer with him and Mercedes... this was fun.
-finding new music we love
-funny conversations and weird things like the Russian accent, or "snakes and folklore"? haha that one still makes me laugh out loud.

Jodi:
-late night craziness (at approximately 10:30 pm and on)
-yummy brownies and cookies or late night trips (that I would take) to go get me, Jodi and Erik treats after the kids went to bed
-Prison BREAK! (I forgot this on Erik's)
- lots of conversations about her and Erik's love story, and advice, and good talks.
- eating LOTS of Jodi's yummy dinners.
- playing games
- Jodi's amazing Halloween dinners, and the many family events she hosted at her house.
- sleeping a few doors down from Erik and Jodi with no door to their bedroom. I would sleep with my door open sometimes and it was like a big slumber party. ha ha... the 3 of us would sometimes have conversations from our bedrooms (ha ha... I'm sure Erik and Jodi were wondering why i didn't just close my door! I'm not really sure why I didn't!)
- Wedding planning every weekend in the beginning. We had SO much fun getting ideas and organizing them all. Such a BIG help.
- hanging out in the backyard with the kids.
- lots of convos with Jodi while she cooked dinner
- late night dancing ( I love Jodi's dance from when she was younger... the shuffly one)
-Jodi teaching me and Jen to tap dance... this did not work out too well
- Me Jodi and Jen getting in the mood for TREATS EVERY time we all got together
-talking twilight and harry potter with Jodi and Jen.
-talking about how dumb the bachelor girls are
-putting together a cute stocking for me on Christmas, setting up my room for me, letting me borrow a couple clothes, and making me lots of yummy dinners.

Luke:
-my first date in Seattle! We went to Cold stone. I payed, and was the one to open the doors, but I gotta say he was an AMAZING date
-many many "Lukey" conversations about life, Iron man, my outfits, incredible Hulk, loving me, batman etc...
- Luke logic... it's so much fun to hear
- Playing pretend with Luke but only if the play room was all in order, and clean first (this was Luke's rule not mine... he is so his mother's child)
-babysitting Luke
-him coming downstairs with mom's scrap booking tape ALL over his arms and confessing (very quickly) what he did. It went something like this, "Aunt Jill, Look what I did!" (flashes his arms over the stairway long enough for me to see them COVERED in white tape and then running back up the stairs)
-me getting back from a trip and Luke laying with me on the couch for WELL over an hour catching up with me. This was one of my fav. Lukey conversations... he had REALLY missed me.
-Dates
- him telling me how I should wear my hair, and what outfits he loved and did not.
-him constantly hugging me and telling me how much he LOVES me.
- hanging out with him and Dane (he loved having a big guy around to Wild play with when Dad wasn't home)
-Luke's questions and comments like, "Aunt Jilly why can't you cook?" or "oh Aunt Jill only drinks water" and i miss this one "I'm just nervous at you!"

Mercedes:
-being so nargaly.
-hearing her learn to talk has been SO fun.
-her cute little voice and ways that she says things... Dane thinks she has the CUTEST little kid voice ever
-listening to her singing abilities grow. They started with "ooooooo" at a VERY high pitch, and a very rounded mouth. They have now expanded to "straw ba ba ba berry, extro-o-ordinary, shooortcake". The funny thing is she sometimes doesn't know how to end this song, so she continues for a looong time and then makes up an ending.
-lots of nargle hugs
-being hulk smashed
-nargle conversations... so so fun/funny
-lots of cuddling
-her first date with me Dane and the big kids. She was SUCH a big girl and carried her own little diaper bag. It was pretty darn cute
-her sprinting to the door, trying to beat Luke, so she can give me a big hug.
-The constant question of "Where's Dane?!" her and every other cousin that is.
-tucking her in at night to comforting sounds of the womb... ha ha!
-giving her stuffed animals that HAVE to be slept with (sorry Jodi for the HUGE lady bug... I'm sure that ones hard to squeeze on the bed)

There are SO many more memories than just these, but these are some of my fav. I could not be MORE grateful for my time in Seattle. It was nothing but great! Dane and I have our entire dating memories there, and I have a HUGE memory bank filled with family memories, that I will hold on to till the next time we get to live near each other again!

Honeymoon! Warning: Lots and lots of pictures!

Devils washbowl
Scary!
I was sooo scared
Dane and I saw a sign for this on our drive home to Idaho... so we stopped by
At a beautiful dinner hosted by Jeff in Kennewick
dust devils game in Kennewick, where I waited in line for OVER an hour for a snow cone. Anyone who knows me well will not be surprised by this for two reasons.
1. I love treats
2. I am too stubborn to give up after I had already waited 20 minutes
My niece Maddi is soo gonna take after her Aunt. Although I don't think Maddi would wait in line. My guess is she would just go up and grab a snow cone... it's OK guys... she's only 2 :)
so much fun
Us and Kat. We can not WAIT for this girl to get to IDAHO!
Our Kennewick hotel... slightly different from the Woodmark. ha ha We had a blast
distracted by the TV
Tio and Laile (sorry if I spelled her name wrong )

saying goodbye officially (till we meet again in November) to my big sis. Jen. I have LOVED the last year living by you!
Eating at the Bin Vivante. This was our last day at our Hotel and I made sure we ate at least breakfast here, because the name sounded so fancy to me. :) The food was great! We ate right on the lake.
blue cheese fries at Joeys. YUMMIEST fries ever!
having dinner at Joeys... yummy yummy restaurant
It was a bit cold
Daners
Dane had to do one homework assignment on our honeymoon so we both pulled out our laptops and I believe I watched the Bachelorette while he worked... you can only see a tiny sliver of his laptop but it's there :)
This is our hotel... we are walking down to the library bar
paddle boating on our favorite lake (Green lake)
On our way to paddle boat

sorry for the sideways pics, I don't know how to flip them... still getting used to a mac
our view from our hotel room
looking up a place to eat, don't worry this wasn't the theme of our honeymoon... me on the lap top and cell phone :)
Looking Yonder
Dane's classic stoic pose
Cute cute husband
Our Hotel on Lake Washington from the dock
We had so much fun on our honeymoon. We stayed on BEAUTIFUL Lake Washington and lived like royalty for a a few days. We got dressed up and ate at yummy restaurants, valet parked all week, relaxed in our robes overlooking the Lake (fancy huh?), and went on walks on the pier. We also spent a day paddle boating on green lake, and we even went to see a drive in movie. Dane and I had wanted to go when we were living in Mill Creek, but never did. however, we left early (by like 10 minutes)... we had our fill of the drive in. :) We also picked up a bunch of presents from my brothers house, so while we waited for the movie to start we opened up our presents in the car. :) It was fun. We spent a few hours at my brothers house with my dad and everyone of my siblings for Fathers day. That's a little lame for a honeymoon, but we both wanted to say hi to everyone and we had a blast! We spent our second half of our honeymoon in Kennewick. Kennewick was a little less honeymoon, and more so family time, but we had planned it that way. It's not everyday that Jason and Aleece are in town. Kennewick was so fun and Dane's brother was SOOOO nice to let us take their truck home so that we could fit ALL of our stuff in one load. So, we took the truck and spent three days getting back in school and organizing the house. On the 4Th day we headed back to Kennewick. We spent 4Th of July with the fam. and had so much fun. This time we stayed at Nana and Papa's house. This was the first time Dane and I felt like, "Wow, we are sleeping in the same room?! Is this a little inappropriate"? We have stayed at Nana and Papa's alot during our dating, so it just felt weird that we could now sleep in the same room there! Anyways... our wedding and honeymoon was so memorable, and Dane and I loved every minute of it.