6 Month Anniversary!

Joe and I have been married for 6 months!  Woohoo!  Happy every day that we are together!

We decided to celebrate over the weekend by doing something we never do: Going out to eat without a coupon!  This was huge for us.  We also decided to go somewhere fancy that we wouldn't normally go to.  Therefore, spoiled as can be, we went to lunch at Tucanos!  Yumm!!!

We took our time and tried to be cautious to not fill ourselves up too much, but really?  How can you resist? Everything we ate was absolutely delicious!  Joe really liked the pineapple and would ask for tons of it every time it came around.  The experience was definitely a treat for us!

After Tucanos, we walked around the Riverwoods and found a few fun treasures in the toy store called Blickenstaff's.  We had a great time playing around and taking pictures.

Another great stop on the adventure of marriage!

Wray Family Reunion

Every summer around the Fourth of July, my mom's side of the family hosts a family reunion that spans the whole weekend plus a few days.  It is held at my Uncle Steve's cabin/ranch in the adorable town of Wallsburg, Utah.  Our family has come to love this place and the whole town all the way from it's one city store (affectionately nicknamed "Jose's") to the friendly folks who give us the "Wallsburg wave" hello when we pass by whether they know us or not.  And then there is Steve's property... My family's little piece of paradise.  Thank you Jan and Steve for your generosity in sharing!


This year the Hansen Family was in charge and they chose the theme "Wray's the Bar"-- A fun play on words off of Elder L. Tom Perry's "Raising the Bar" talk given a few years back regarding Missionary work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The Hansen Family did a fantastic job incorporating missionary work into our family's activities, discussions, thoughts and actions.  Each family was able to share missionary experiences with each other and learn from the experiences and impressions of each other.

One special thing we did was called "companionship study."  For those who are not LDS or do not know, Mormon missionaries serve all around the world in companionships   Not only are there strength in numbers, but it is powerful for two young men to witness of the truth of the gospel that they know to be true and to invite the Spirit into their teaching and actions as they work together.  In these companionships, the pair studies the scriptures and gospel principles individually and together.  The time spent studying together brings unity and allows for further understanding as each shares their ideas and impressions.  In order to bring this into our reunion experience, at the opening ceremonies each person was assigned a companion whom they would study the given gospel material for at least fifteen minutes together.  To our happiness, Joe and I were assigned to each other!  Wahoo!!! :)  We loved studying the general conference talks, scripture excerpts, and guiding questions that were provided to us by my Uncle Richard.  He had put a lot of thought into which things we would study and the result was a great learning and uplifting experience for everyone.

A neat Spirit was also brought to the reunion as each family came prepared with an "I Am A Mormon" video similar to those found on mormon.org/people.  Each video had such personality and showed off the quirk, humor, and faith of each family.  It was neat to realize that I come from a family who are all faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

One of our other favorite activities included an Iron Chef America competition where we were split into two teams had one hour to create a three-course meal using the secret ingredient of cream cheese.  In order to make it fair, each team was given a basket of food in which a minimum of ten ingredients had to be used and no more than ten ingredients from outside that basket could be taken from the cabin kitchens.  Everyone had to put on their thinking caps and get creative with this one, but it turned out to be SO much fun!!!!!  Everyone from the youngest to the oldest had a blast making food that not only tasted delicious, but was presentable, creative, and overall "winning" foods.  I was on the "Wray Warriors" team (aka Team Stacie) and here was our menu:

Appetizer: Vegetable Bacon Ranch Mini Pizzas

We created a thick cream cheese and ranch sauce that was swirled on top of a baked biscuit dough and then piled it high with a vegetable mixture of freshly diced red peppers, carrots, celery, olives, and tomatoes.  Then to finish it off, we topped it with fresh bacon crumbles and slid a little sauce on the side with more bacon and sliced carrots.

Main Dish: Stuffed Broccoli Cheese Chicken with Parmesan Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Almond Seasoned Steamed Vegetables

To begin with, we created a cheese and broccoli sauce and used it to fill the center of flattened chicken breasts.  The chicken was then rolled up, tossed in Italian seasonings and breadcrumbs, and baked to deliciousness.  Then, due to our lack of real potatoes, we used potato pearls to create our base for the mashed potatoes.  But obviously nobody likes the taste of those on their own, so we spiced it up until they no longer tasted like cannery potatoes.  Using parmesan cheese, a shredded cheese mix, minced garlic, and a variety of spices, these potatoes were transformed into mounds of white perfection which, once plated, held the chicken and sauce drizzled on top. (Honestly, I was shocked that they were cannery potatoes when I tasted them.)  And then mostly for color and presentation, red peppers, broccoli, carrots, and other vegetables were cooked and tossed with almonds.

Dessert: 

This variation of my family's favorite cheesecake bars was made in muffin tins and placed upside-down on the plate.  It had a gooey cheesecake center, but held together well.  We topped it with a combination of strawberries and raspberries and drizzled it with a homemade brown sugar and chocolate ganache.

We all had so much fun working together to create it, but I think we can all agree that the best part was sampling each others food and the surprises in flavors that people came up with.  It was so much fun!

Happy Birthday Lindsey!

Happy Birthday Lindsey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My younger sister, Lindsey Johnson, is 17 years old today!  She is one of my best friends and I love her dearly.  I am so proud of her and all she has accomplished.  She is a talented singer/ pianist, and back in the day she even played the clarinet!  Now she is a International Science Fair Competitor for her work in Solar Technology regarding the enhancement of photovoltaic methods (Now before you google what that even means... it is the engineering process of enhancing the power of solar panels in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness.  Basically, finding ways to get the most out of a solar panel and its energy.  For more information... just ask Lindsey :)).  Yeah.  I have a smart sister.

And even beyond that, she is an amazing friend!  One of Lindsey's best qualities is her willingness and desire to give.  She is the queen of gift giving as she makes every gift a personal one.  She is always generous with what she has and would do absolutely anything to help anyone that she saw had a need.  I am so impressed with her and her big heart.

Also, Lindsey is a whiz at Family History!!!  She is crazy good at it and finds so much joy in building connections on our family tree.  With her work, our family lineage has been traced to Atilla the Hun, numerous European Kings, and most recently, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of Mary.  It is amazing to see all that she has been able to accomplish with that and also the people she has been able to teach through it. 

She is an amazing sister and I love her so much!  Happy Birthday Lou!!!!!!!!

Yep.  She is a babe.

She is one of my best friends

Sisters :)

I love this girl!

Family Home Evening

The night that I went through the Bountiful Temple for the first time to receive my endowment, a temple worker talked with Joe and two other grooms whose brides were going through the temple at the same time.  He instructed each of them to use the pamphlet "Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple" as the guide for the first few weeks of Family Home Evening that we would hold as a married couple.

We took this counsel and Joe surprised me by making a random stop at the Distribution Center in St. George where we picked up a pamphlet for each of us.  They were free so we were able to get two!  Now, each week Joe and I read from the booklet together and discuss the principles it teaches.  Although we have now both gone to the temple, studying this pamphlet together has still been a great experience and brings us closer to the temple.

I know the temple is the Lord's house.  It is filled with his Spirit and as we study the temple together, we invite Christ into our home.

"I love to see the temple.
I’m going there someday
To feel the Holy Spirit,
To listen and to pray.
For the temple is a house of God,
A place of love and beauty.
I’ll prepare myself while I am young;
This is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple.
I’ll go inside someday.
I’ll covenant with my Father;
I’ll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place
Where we are sealed together.
As a child of God, I’ve learned this truth:
A family is forever."

“I Love to See the Temple,” Children’s Songbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 95

 

Unexpected Visit

Last night Joe and I were surprised with a call from my best friend, Rachelle Stoker, and her fiance, Michael Peterson, that they were in Orem for the evening and wanted to meet up with us!  They were down for a job interview and to look at an apartment.

I am so excited for these two!  They are such a great couple together and are getting so close to their wedding!  The two of them will be sealed in the Bountiful LDS Temple on August 4th.  They are only a month and a half away!  7 weeks! Only 50 more days!!!  Although for them this may seem a long ways off, they are getting closer, anxious, and excited as it comes closer.

But anyways, we decided to meet with them at a somewhat central location-- Provo's BuyLow Market.  Joe and I brought Josh & Jocelyn along with us and the four of us had a great time together!  We sat at the tables and enjoyed soft serve ice cream cones ($0.25 for a small and $0.50 for a large. So cheap!) while we chatted and laughed.  Somehow our goofiness turned into a game though as the change leftover from purchasing the ice cream cones were spun and flicked around the table.

This simple get together was a blast and we loved catching up with Rachelle and Michael.

Ah... the joys of friendship! :)

The Lakenan (+Johnson) Family

To begin with, sorry for the long post with no pictures, but it all happened so spontaneously that I wasn't prepared with my camera.

So yesterday when Joe and I got home from work, we were welcomed by a great surprise! New neighbors!  Their names are Josh & Jocelyn Lakenan and they were moving in to the apartment complex right next door to us.  The couple is just barely younger than us and are also in their first year of marriage.  Josh & Jocelyn have two dogs, Pouch and Burton, whom they adore and even though I don't like dogs too much, I have to admit that their little pups are cute.

When Joe and I showed up, they were in the process of unloading the family trailer.  Joe and I helped them carry their things into the new apartment and sort the remaining items based on which child's stuff it was (the family currently has three children attending Brigham Young University, two of which are married).  We were with them for most of the afternoon and enjoyed talking to them throughout the time.  After introducing themselves as Lakenan family, the parents and six kids told us all about their family and their trip to Utah as we unpacked, sorted, and repacked the trailer.  We were able to tell them about us as well and found that we actually had a lot in common.  It turns out that their family does homeschool, so with my Elementary Education background, Sister Lakenan and I definitely had a lot to talk about.

The Lakenans are such a bright and cheerful family that we loved being with them!  They made us laugh and feel comfortable around them so easily.  One funny coincidence was that their youngest daughter was named Emily as well.  She is six years old and along with her eight year old sister, Hannah, the two were delightful and fun little girls to be around.  They had fun being the "water girls" and always made sure people's water cups were full from the family water jug and were running around being great little helpers!  Being at college and in a Young Married Ward, I don't get to be around kids this age much, so that was fun for me.  I formed a fun friendship with these girls and completely adored each one of them!

Another thing I noticed about the Lakenan family was the love that they had for each other.  Not only were they all smiley and playful, but they never said a negative comment about each other or complained about the work they were doing.  They worked together as a family and everyone happily did their part.  Joe and I felt lucky to be included as a part of this for a while.  Also, Hannah was cute as she talked about how much she was going to miss her older sister who is moving out to college for the first time.  After listing off a whole number of things that she loved, she said that she would miss her sister more than all of those before running and hopping onto her sister's lap.

Once all of the stuff had been taken into the apartment or reorganized into the trailer, we all stood and enjoyed talking to each other just a little bit longer.  Who knew moving could be so much fun!?!?  But we really had made some great genuine friends and the time had escaped us as we worked together, laughed, and chatted away as if we were the oldest of friends.

Then to Joe and I's surprise, they decided to continue the fun and spoil us by taking everyone out to dinner.  Although we insisted they didn't need to do that, they wanted us to come and told us that not only was this a family activity, but Joe and I were now considered "part of the family!"  We couldn't say no to that.  So we piled on in the family van and after dropping the trailer off at the hotel, made our way over to Provo's famous Brick Oven!!!!

Yumm.

Our party (family) of ten stuffed our stomachs full of pizzas, garlic bread, pasta, sandwiches, calzones, salads, and Brick Oven's Old Fashioned Root Beer.  We all enjoyed every single bite and left full of the cheesy pizza goodness (and PLENTY of leftover boxes as well).

Unfortunately the family fun had to come to an end at some point.  The family still had some errands to run, so Joe and I along with Josh & Jocelyn (our two new neighbors) were dropped back off at home.  One thing we had learned at this point was that one thing we had in common was our sense of humor.  All four of us were able to tease, laugh, and joke with one another, which we did for the remainder of the night.

We had an absolutely fantastic day and are extremely excited about our new friendship!  We will hopefully get back together with them soon and have more fun times like we did today.

Frozen Yogurt

At one of my bridal showers, my mom and sisters spoiled me by giving me a Cuisinart Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt, & Sorbet Maker.  I couldn't wait to use it and so on Monday night, Joe and I pulled it out to make our Family Home Evening refreshment.  Following the machine instructions, but not necessarily a recipe, we ended up with a Peach-Strawberry-Vanilla Frozen Yogurt.  With fresh fruit, skim milk, and honey, it was deliciously healthy and sugar-free!  My favorite!  We both enjoyed a big bowlful and still were able to save a bunch for leftovers!  We love our machine and can't wait to try more yummy yogurt and ice cream concoctions!

Assembling the machine

Picking ingredients

In the machine! So excited and ready to eat! :)

Springville Art City Days

HELLO SUMMER!!!

One great thing about Utah in the summer is the carnivals and celebrations in each of the major cities.  Now I don't know if Springville is necessarily a "major" or landmark city in Utah, but they sure found enough reason to celebrate and we did not complain!

To kick off our participation in the Springville festivities, we met up with our cousins Aubrie and Aaron Butler for the morning parade.  We loved watching each of the creative floats go by and visiting while we enjoyed the exciting event!  We laughed as the kids in front of us collected candy, water bottles, t-shirts, otter pops, coupons, etc.  All of them were definitely spoiled with treats and we even got a few for ourselves.  It was a hot sunny day--perfect for a parade!

At the parade

After the parade, Joe and I headed over to the car show.  We found some fun "dream cars" with all the neat fixings for us to look at.  My personal favorite was the jeep with the bright purple paint job. So fun!

Springville also had a carnival which we attended that afternoon.  We walked around looking at the fun booths and vendors that were there.  There was so much to see and enjoy!

And then there was the food... over-priced, sinfully delicious, sugary fried foods.  One vendor had scones bigger than my face!  Literally they went off the edge of the plate. Crazy.  Some of the food vendors had samples though, which Joe and I thoroughly enjoyed.  Our favorite was a Belgian Waffle stand that served Brussels style waffles rather than the typical Liege style.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I have never had such a delicious piece of waffle!  Unfortunately it was only a sample, but the temptation to eat more could have definitely been an issue.  Why does unhealthy food have to taste so good?

That night we met up again with Aubrie and Aaron for the free concert in the park and fireworks show.  By this time the wind had picked up and it had gotten chilly, so the four of us bundled up with sweatshirts, blankets, and bags of fresh kettle corn.  And if anybody doesn't know this about me...

I. Love. Fireworks.

They are definitely one of my favorite parts about summer.  I love how they light up the sky and fill everything with color.  I guess I find a sort of magic in watching them.  It was a great end to our full Saturday together!

Picture Wall

Seeing where Joe and I are now makes it fun to look back and see how it all began.  The two of us really have grown up together over the past few years (this September we will celebrate the 5 year anniversary of us meeting) so we have lots of great memories to look back on!  Luckily for us, a lot of these have been documented with pictures over time.

At our wedding reception, in order to show a bit of our personality and history, Joe and I had our decorator (Lisa Kellogg from LK Events) create a picture wall display with matted pictures of us throughout our dating time.  The whole thing turned out beautifully!

At the Wedding Reception

But now that the wedding is over, instead of wasting these fun pictures, we decided to put them to good use!  We used them to create our own photo wall in our room!  Right above our couch we have this fun reminder of all the fun steps that brought us together now.  With lots of fun colors, smiling faces, and great memories, this display adds a fun element to our place.

Home! :)

My favorite part is the way this makes our apartment feel a little more like home. Through these small things, we are making our apartment our own.  We will be living here for the next year or so, so adding a little bit of "us" to the apartment has been fun.  I like deciding together how we want things decorated, where we are going to put things, and rearranging things to fit our likes and personalities.  It is kind of a funny feeling being head of the house as real adults now, but we are enjoying the adventure.

Neighbors

We have the absolute best neighbors!!! 
In the house that Joe and I live in has been divided up into three separate apartments (one full upstairs and two small basement apartments).  The two basement apartments are reserved for married couples like Joe and I, but the upstairs is rented out to 4 single college girls. 

The couple in the basement apartment next to us are Caleb and Megan Hunter.  They got married just two months prior to Joe and I and are a joy to have as neighbors!  We have loved getting to know them and have actually developed a really great friendship.  So far we've had them over for homemade salsa and chips, gone to church together, and joined them for a fun Family Home Evening of rock climbing and Cold Stone Creamery ice cream.

Our joint family home evening was a great adventure since Joe and I had both never been rock climbing before.  Caleb, however, is an avid rock climber and Megan enjoys it as well.  Now that it is summertime and the weather is fitting, this Monday night was perfect for being outdoors.  The four of us piled in the car and drove up to Rock Canyon in Northeast Provo where we hiked a little ways up to a place that Caleb they liked.  We were climbing top rope style, so once we were all set up and Megan put on the harness, she started us off by climbing to the top while Caleb belayed her.  Joe followed after her, then me, and then Caleb finished us off with Megan belaying him.  It was great to climb to the top, repel down, and to watch each other do it too.

This was my first time rock climbing and for good reason too.  I am not-so-secretly afraid of heights.  (Yes, I am sure you can see my dilemma here.)  So this 5.10 grade climb was quite an intimidating thing for me.  However, for those who know my dad well know that he is also afraid of heights.  Even more so than me.  So as I climbed, I thought of him and of how proud he would be of me.  For those moments when I thought I was stuck or was tempted to look down, I reminded myself "I can't wait to call dad and tell him I did this!"  That idea was enough motivation for me to shake off my fear and to fake it till I made it.  And I did!  I made it all the way to the top!

After repelling down and feeling accomplished for overcoming my fear in the moment I needed to, I told Joe of my motivational comments to myself on the way up the climb.  Yet regardless of my personal fear, Caleb was distracted by another fact.  He could not get over the fact that I didn't break a single nail!  Not even a crack on my polished French-tip gel nails from the wedding.

So yes, I rock climb like a lady.

To celebrate everyone's successes, Caleb and Megan treated us to Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream where each couple shared their own concoction.  Joe and I chose a mixture of Cake Batter Ice Cream and Sinless Sans Fat with Caramel Syrup and Health Bars in a large Waffle bowl.

(I apologize if your mouth is now watering and I have sparked a Cold Stone craving.  It is hard to resist, I know.)

Our ice creams were devoured as we talked and got to know our neighbors even better.  Hopefully we will get to rock climb with them again this summer and try our hands more at this fun sport.

Overall, here is what we learned today: Climbing + Bonding/Laughing + Ice Cream = Beginning of a great friendship!

Johnson+Butler Family Night

Yesterday to celebrate our one month anniversary, my sweet husband blindfolded me and drove me around town.  After I was thoroughly confused and felt like I was spinning in circles (later I found out we actually had because he thought it would throw me off so that I couldn't guess.  He was right), Joe surprised me by taking me out to dinner!  We went to Pita-Pit which has become one of our new favorite places. So delicious!!!  With his Dagwood Pita and my Chicken Soulvaki Salad, we left with our taste buds satisfied.

That night we met up with our cousins Aubrie and Aaron Butler for a fun Family Home Evening!  We went to their apartment in Springville and Aubrie gave a great lesson on patience using President Uchtdorf's talk "Continue in Patience."  She showed this cute and inspiring video as part of her lesson.  It was great sharing and learning together!

 

Afterwards, the four of us headed over to the park where we played tennis!  Aubrie has been taking a tennis class as part of her courses at Brigham Young University this term so we had a blast all playing together.  At first it was the two couples against each other, but after a while we switched it up to be boys versus girls. Girls won. :) Even though my skills are not where they used to be, I was reminded of the good ol' high school days on the Basha High School Freshman and Junior Varsity Tennis teams.  I gave up the sport when my family moved to Utah, but no matter what, I still love to play.

Since the boys lost, they were given responsiblity over refreshments.  Back at Aubrie and Aaron's house they made delicious strawberry banana smoothies!  Since it had been such a hot day outside, it was nice to cool off and relax before finishing the night.

We loved our time with cousins and time together as family.  It was a great end to Joe and I's first month anniversary!!!!

One Month Anniversary

Today Joe and I are celebrating our one month anniversary!  One whole month together filled with joy, excitement, and love!  The adventure has been a great one so far and we're excited for the rest of eternity!  So happy to be together!!!!!

(I apologize that I am extremely behind on my blogging and this is the first post that has actually been posted on the correct day, but I'm working on catching up and will do so soon!)

Honeymoon

Right after our reception on May 4, Joe and I set off on our first adventure together... Our Honeymoon!

For the first night, we drove up to Eden where we stayed at the "Snowberry Inn."  It was an adorable bed & breakfast and we loved our stay there.  We woke up to hot french toast sticks, bacon, eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, milk, and juices.  Yumm!  Soon the next morning we were off to continue our adventure.  The whole honeymoon was a surprise to me, so I followed Joe's lead as we got in the car and headed off!

One of our family friends, Brother Crowton, had written "Just Married!" on the back of our car before we left home the night before.  We loved having this decoration on our car and even got a few honks from passing cars congratulating us.  It was awesome!

 

The first full day of our honeymoon was spent in Park City.  We stayed in a gorgeous Marriott Hotel right near the Historic part of Park City.  Since we were honeymooners, they upgraded us to a fancy suite and brought us chocolate covered strawberries!  Awesome!  We walked around for the afternoon, grabbed some lunch at a little cafe, rode the tram, did a little shopping, and found a few gems at the old town shops.  We enjoyed the sunny, warm weather and got to relax as we enjoyed our first day as husband and wife.

  

The next day was Sunday, so the two of us gussied up and went over to what we thought was our typical ward building; however, we found out that the Spanish Branch was meeting at that time, so we joined right in with them.  Now most people would probably think that the fact that I don't speak Spanish would be a problem (I was one of those people!), but during Sacrament meeting my Spanish-speaking husband was able to coordinate for me to have headphones where I listened while someone translated the whole meeting.  It was sweet.  The rest of the time other people helped me and I learned that regardless of the language, the Spirit was the same.  My heart was touched by the love of these people.

Next, to my surprise, (While we were in Park City, Joe may or may not have accidentally told me where we were going...)  Park City was not our final destination.  The next day we packed up again and traveled the rest of the way to warm & sunny St. George!  Our first stop: a walk around the glorious St. George Temple!

We "hit the town" the next day by exploring Historic St. George.  We stopped by Judd's Store for lemonade and rootbeer candies, read picture books at the St. George City Library, rode the merry-go-round and walked by the stream at the City Park, and explored some crazy antique shops in the area!  We didn't have a plan, but kind of just went to our own beat.  When we started getting tired, we finished the night at the cinema watching "The Avengers."

When we were in St. George, we also made a point to stop and do a session at the St. George Temple!  The sister temple workers were so sweet and kept telling us how adorable of a couple we were.  We had a really sweet experience in the temple and were surprised as we left to run into Joe's aunt Sarah who had just finished doing work in the temple as well.

Afterwards, we drove up above the condo where we were staying and found a neat hiking spot with some caves and narrow slots.  We spent the afternoon climbing up and down the red rocks and got some fun pictures with the view.  We laughed and played which made for a good, memorable time.

That night Joe spoiled me by taking us to a fancy-shmancy restaurant and art gallery called the Anasazi.  HOLY COW! SOOOO GOOD!  At this restaurant we were treated to a cheese fondue with the works: bread, apples, broccoli, and carrots.  Then Joe and I shared a steak which was brought out on a sizzling hot 400-degree stone.  The steak was nearly raw but was cooked as we sliced off pieces of fresh steak and cooked it to our own liking right in front of us, piece by piece.  Because the stone was so hot, the pieces cooked within seconds and made for the juiciest and most delicious steak we had ever eaten.

One of the days we also got to go on a big adventure by going up to Zion's National Park!  It was my first time and we loved it!  The scenery was absolutely beautiful.  We went on a few different hikes there and spent the day exploring.  We loved being out in the sun and taking lots of pictures in this beautiful part of Utah!

Oh, and we saw a deer.

As it turns out, we liked hiking so much, we decided to go again the next day!  Except for instead of going to Zion's, we went to Snow Canyon.  Here we played with the red sand that turns to clay when water is added to it (blew my mind!) and took pictures by the red rock.  On our hikes we explored some lava tubes that took us underground.  I was surprised to find that it was cold in there, but it was a nice break from the heat outside.  By the end of the day, we both had definitely gotten our share of sun and had tans/sunburns to prove it!

On the last day, we made our trek back home.  However, we couldn't go the whole way without a little excitement, so we stopped at a dollar store to see what we could find.  We picked up some silly string and kites and then went to a park for a picnic.  After eating our picnic (leftovers from Olive Garden the night before), the silly string led to a "war" between the two of us, resulting in pink and green silly string all over us and the grass around us.  We laughed so hard!  It was great!

Next we pulled out the kites!  It was nice and sunny outside with just a little bit of a breeze... perfect for flying kites!  Joe was able to get his up quickly, but mine was a tad more stubborn than his was.  Eventually, we were both able to fly our kites together and really enjoy our time at the park!  A fun and relaxing way to end our trip!

We made so many fun memories and had a great first week as husband and wife!  Thanks Joe for putting it all together!  You're the best and I love you!