Being Home

Being home has been SO nice! But of course I miss Kade:( I always miss Kade when we're apart. One of the first things I wanted to do when I got home was take Shilo out to the property. She loved it, and so did I:)

I swear Fairview is the promised land:) At least that's what Kade always says....and I think it's true. 

Shilo was loving the little bit of water spraying out. She gets do hot during the summer!

Me and Cass being crazy....it's been so fun hanging out with her:) She has stayed twice already! Lucky me!

My nephews wedding at the Salt Lake Temple was awesome! It was so neat being in the sealing room with a lot of my family. I love hearing an actual temple marriage ceremony, they are so beautiful!

This little guy is getting SO big and I just can't get enough of him! He's so cute and so fun and he's walking all over right now, which I haven't seen yet!

The new Mr. And Mrs. Oliver! They look great together!

Oliver Fam

I stayed the night at Katie's house with my sister to help her get a lot of stuff done and we were up until about 11 making these beautiful center pieces for the luncheon! I LOVED the Quaky trees that they used throughout the wedding! SO pretty!

The reception was beautiful as well. They had it in a barn and had dancing afterward. 

Oh I love this kid! Colt makes me laugh! He'll never smile for me! But at least he let me get a pic of his face!

Again, you'll notice they used a giant Quaky for the bottom of the cake! Love it!

It was a beautiful reception with lots of yummy food! A buffet style!

We got a little carried away with the bubbles during the send off! 

And last but not least, I'm loving my flowers! The yellow ones Kade and I replanted in the fall, but the pink and purple ones I planted yesterday with my bro. I love enjoying my house during the summer, just wish Kade was here to enjoy it with me:)

Morris Island Lighthouse

 On Sunday, we came home and took a nap....we're getting into a pretty good routine of getting a quick nap in after church so that we can go see stuff :)  Its nice though, I feel like sometimes, and especially with this job, you have to have a power nap!  I've been wanting to see Morris Island lighthouse, which is on Folley Beach, on the North end.  We didn't know that last time we came to Folley or we may have checked it out then, but that's ok.  Its a very old lighthouse, not in operation anymore.  Its so old that its out in the water now, because over time the erosion has taken it out to sea.  Its such a pretty place even though we didn't get to go inside it.

 There was some fun washed up wood that made picture taking more fun :)

 And the dolphins came to see us again!  I wish so bad I would have been by the shore line when we saw the dolphins because one of the dolphins was only about 8 feet from the sand, I could have waded out mid calf, and petted it!  I ran to see if they would stay, and if they would let me get closer but they were already moving along. 

 We're getting pretty good at taking pictures by ourselves!  We just set up the camera and run for it! :)

 It was a hot walk (about a block) to the beach but when we got here, it was so nice!  And it was just the two of us! No one was on this entire stretch of beach but us!

I'm getting ready to go home for a visit and I'm going to miss Kade a lot.  We have had a lot of fun together just hanging out, the two of us so it was nice that we got to spend time together all day!  And had we have known that there wasn't going to be any people we could have brought a picnic and planned a little better.  Oh well.  Still fun.

 I loved this old washed up wood.  It was fun to sit on and watch the dolphins swim by. 

I love lighthouses.  I think they are so pretty and they have such a great meaning behind them. They are to help those who are lost at sea, find their way back, they stand as a beacon, shining forth their light.  There are so many analogies of the lighthouse that we can relate to things in our lives, like letting our light shine to those around us to help bring them back to Christ.  Or looking to our Father in Heaven who shines through all the darkness of life.  Or, this particular lighthouse no longer has its light, which could mean, never let your testimony fade, make sure you keep it strong so that others don't look at you and loose theirs too....Lots of things can be related to a lighthouse.......I LOVE THEM!

Anniversary Time

On Sunday, we went and celebrated our anniversary which I will write about as you scroll down.  But our actual anniversary day, Kade had to work, but I thought I would make him a yummy dinner anyway for when he got home(he never likes to eat a meal late at night).  We had salmon with brown rice and steamed spinach, and I made a apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for a treat after.    

 Kade loved his dinner, he was surprised.  But I was even more surprised when he came through the door with a big bunch of roses! :)  Made my whole night! 

 I had a little tiny bunch of silk flowers that I had put in the middle of the table, but those were soon replaced with this much more beautiful arrangement!

We were able to attend the Columbia temple for our anniversary as well, which I really loved.  It was so nice to go to the temple.  Its been difficult to go because Kade is so busy with the office and the temple sessions don't start until 9, which puts us 12:30 getting back to the apartments and their meeting starts at 12, so we haven't been able to do it yet, but we were able to this once and I'm so glad! :)

 

Drayton Hall! Kade surprised me and got a package deal on the Drayton Hall and the Magnolia Plantation!  He knew I've been wanting to go to both of them so that's what we did.  Drayton Hall is one of the oldest original plantation homes in the US. 

 Drayton Hall has been preserved, and will continue to be preserved, not restored. They wanted to keep everything original.

 Even the paint is original from way back!  And the stairs were awesome! This place was completed in 1742, so its 271 years old!

 It was cool seeing this home and picturing how the people lived back then. 

 It was also interesting hearing the facts about the slaves(or servants).  They were always kept behind closed doors unless they were serving meals and things like that. 

After Drayton, we went to the Magnolia Plantation.  We actually didn't go inside this home.  We spent our day out in the gardens.

 The gardens felt like they would never end, which I was very much ok with.  I think we saw 10 different bridges that crossed water.  The bridges were everywhere and they were beautiful!

 They had this cool wildlife overlook that you could climb 4 flghts of stairs to get to.  It was cool to look out over the Ashley River.  It was also nice to be above the trees for once! :)

 I think this was my favorite bridge, only because of the trees that hang right over your head and the green swamps below and you could see the Ashley River through an opening in the trees to the right. 

 There was actually a petting zoo at Magnolia Plantation, and this deer decided that I  tasted good, and then she decided that she wanted to eat my dress! :)  She was cute.

 I feel like South Carolina is kind of a tropical feel.  It is very humid that's for sure!  Its pretty hot but not unbearable yet.  I'm sure that come July, it will be SUPER hot. I'm glad it wasn't too hot for our visit here.

 In this picture, there is an alligator on the very bottom right of the pic.  We didn't realize he was there when we took the pic, but he snuck his way into my photo!

 I also loved this bridge.  So pretty!

 And another bridge!  I'm not sure how much we walked but probably a few miles at least!

 The edge of the gardens is bordered by the Ashley River.  I was taking pictures and I saw and heard something come to the surface.  It was dolphins!  They kept coming up to the surface for a while so we sat and watched them :) So fun!

 In this pic, you can actually see two bridges, one on the left through the trees and one on the right.

 We saw lots more alligators again!  Only this time we got even closer to one.....Kade could've held a yard stick and reached out and touched it!  It kinda made me nervous!

 Alligator behind Kade!

 I love the trees here.  I can't get enough of them.  I love all the moss that grows on them.

 

This peacock was showing off for everyone that day!  He just kept fanning out, so I took advantage of the moment and got lots of pics of him!  Fun day!  Thanks Kade for a great anniversary!

Happy Anniversary

Where did 8 years go?  Happy Anniversary to my eternal companion and love of my life.  Its been the best 8 years of my life.  We've shared ups and downs, happy and sad, crazy and......more crazy and SO MUCH FUN! Looking back, everything that we've gone through, even the hard times have been a privilege!   Kade is my rock and I am his.  I feel we have, from day one, always played on the same team, and worked together.   I can't help but look back on our lives and especially each year on our anniversary, to see how far we've come.  I knew I loved Kade when I married him....but sometimes that love is indescribable now. 
I remember when we started out, we lived in a little two bedroom apartment (owned by Kade's brother) with brown carpet.  I remember cooking meals in that little place and shopping at garage sales to find some furniture to fix the place up nice.  I remember getting free couches from Cherish's friend Jill(which we still have, now in our basement and still very much appreciate). I also remember having a BBQ with Kade on the back steps of our apartment with our little charcoal BBQ that I think we got for our wedding! And I remember getting roses at that same doorstep.....I followed the pedals and they led me to the bouquet!  That's were we started our little family, just the two of us.  Sometimes, we live in the moment, but we don't realize how good the moments are until they're in the past!   I look back on those days and they are such wonderful memories for me!   We've always made wherever we are, our HOME.
We then moved to Orem and bought our first home(townhome) together!  It was awesome!  I remember going from our 2 bedroom apartment with one bathroom, to a 3 bedroom townhome with 1 1/2 baths felt like I had just moved into a mansion!  That place was so fun! We met so many wonderful people, who are still our friends to this day.  We had so many fun times there.  I remember, Christmases there, where I got my beautiful picture of the Savior.  And our Charlie Brown Christmas tree that the needles all fell off of!  I remember having our townhome friends over for fun dinners, and Christmas parties!  I remember Kade carrying me up the stairs to put me to bed, OFTEN because I fall asleep during movies!     I remember game nights of canasta and nertz.....always winning canasta and always losing at nertz!  I remember going over to the Orem park and laying a blanket out to play games, pretty much every Sunday during the summer.  I remember going to the temple often with Kade cause we lived 15 minutes from Provo and 20 from Timp.  So many wonderful memories, and again, we made it our HOME.
After Orem, we moved to good ol Fairview!  With exceptions of summer sales, in which we move to different locations during the summer months, which have been Arkansas, Hawaii, California, Texas, and now South Carolina.  All of which we have absolutely loved and have had many wonderful experiences!  We both knew that we wanted to be back in Sanpete county and we finally made it!  We bought our home there in Fairview and I remember the day we moved our stuff in.  Brandon was there to help us unload our borrowed snowmobile trailer full of stuff!  We had to remodel a lot!  So after we moved our stuff in, we set up for remodel mode for about 30 days!  WHEW!  It was such a long time....but I sure had fun knocking out a wall with a crowbar!  This is where some of our fondest memories have happened.  This is where Kade gave me my beautiful Shilo puppy who I just adore!  This is where we have worked along side each other on the basement, and yard to make this house our HOME. This is where pranks happen.....where I pour cold water on Kade in the shower and he holds me down and tickles me as I yell, "STOP" and he says, "You must like it, your laughing!"  This is where we have 'slide across the hardwood floor' contests in our soft socks to see who goes the furthest.   This is where my brother moved in with us, whom I love with all my heart, and many talks and tears were shared with him.  This is also where I learned that I could love someone elses kids as if they were my own.    Hopefully its HOME for.....ever! 
One of our greatest treasures has been,  being able to attend the temple once a week, wherever possible.  This has brought the spirit of our Father In Heaven, into our home.  The temple has always been one of the highest priorities in our lives and we have felt the blessings because of it.   We truly love our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ.
We look forward to the day that we will be blessed with children.  This has been something that has not come easy for us and though we have tried for many years now, we know that we will be blessed with children some day, whatever the circumstances may be.  That is something that we very much look forward to, something that we know will add blessings to our lives. 
It has been a wonderful ride!  A wonderful 8 years!  I look forward to the next 8 and more!  I LOVE you Kade!  Thank you for making my life so happy!   Happy Anniversary!