Georgia Weddin'

After growing up in California, I never thought that I would ever live in Florida. Not for any reason, just the fact that it was across the country. Well, a best friend of mine growing up thought the same thing and she now resides in Georgia. What are two California girls doing in the south?! Making memories!! I am so thankful that I was one of her few friends from the West Coast that was able to be at her sealing and her reception. It was pretty awesome! I am so glad that even when you haven't seen someone in a while, you immediately pick up where you left off. Its a great feeling!

Country Boy marries City Girl!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Joseph and Stevi Pate 

Atlanta Georgia Temple

June 22nd, 2013

 Reception @ Columbus Botanical Garden

The lovely couple

We enjoyed our mini-vacay in Georgia! Its a fun place to visit!

His Birthday

He doesn't like to make a big deal. He doesn't like all the attention. But I am sure glad I don't care what he likes when it comes to celebrating him!

He spent most of his day working. Then we went shopping for a BBQ for his birthday gift and headed to dinner. We ate at Rodizio Brazilian Steakhouse in downtown Pensacola. I had slyly mentioned it was his birthday but wasnt sure they would catch on. As were were leaving and almost out the door we hear singing and turn back and the crew is singing to an empty table! Awkward! We hurried back to enjoy the rest of the birthday song. We enjoyed our night together to celebrate my LOVE. He is not much of a cake person so we stopped by Sonic and got some shakes and I beautifully serenated him with the happy birthday song. 

Happy Birthday Evs! So happy to celebrate YOU! XOXO

My Hott Best Friend

Thank you for being my best friend! Thank you for humoring me,  loving my quirkiness and indulging in my crazy self. You are truly the best!

Mom & Jen in Florida

Our first visitors!! It was so great to have my Mom and Jen stay with us for a week. I secretly kept hoping that their plane would get delayed and they could stay here longer..pretty selfish I know, but what can I say its hard to be so far from family.

Their JOURNEY to get here was crazy! long story short they had to sleep in the airport, their bags made it to Alabama, but they were still in Texas. They finally got here the day after..Boy was I glad to see them after their journey! My Mom was a little (lot) delirious {aka lack of sleep, no shower} and was laughing at everything. It was a great way start to our fun trip!

We hit up the beaches {what Gulf Breeze is known for} and relaxed. Played in the water. Got some sun {or too much sun in Jenny's case-That darn Irish blood}.

Went to Downtown Pensacola and looked around at all the old buildings and the Pensacola Port. The humidity and heat made that little adventure short and sweet but we had fun being goofy!

LOVE these GIRLS!

There's just something special about being able to act completely insane when you're Mom comes around and finding it so funny! 

We ate at McGuires, an Irish Pub. They are known for having money hanging all over their place. People take dollar bills and write a message, then staple it on the wall. Its a pretty neat place in downtown Pensacola. We happened to go there on the 2nd anniversary of my Grandma passing away and the 28th anniversary of my biological dad passing away. It was a sad day for my Mom most especially, but we did our best to make it fun! 

We enjoyed some shopping in Destin, Florida too!

My biological Dad, has 1 brother, my Uncle Jon. The last time my Mom had seen him was at my wedding 5 years ago when he flew out with two of my cousins from Georgia. I told him my Mom was coming out and he made arrangements to come out. It was a hard secret to keep for sure! But I made it the whole week without spilling the beans. I of course told my sister so at least I had someone who knew the plans that could help me cover if anything came up. Funny thing is we got back from the bach and my Mom was watching a movie. We kept telling her,"Mom you better get int he shower.." trying to hint for her to get ready..well she did end up getting showered and dressed but let her curly hair "air" dry with Florida's best humidity! When they walked through the door she was so SURPRISED and of course started crying! I am so glad we could put this all together for her. She was able to enjoy a couple days with them before she left. We went to the beach, I rented a SUP and it was a blast to have them try it! Then we went to Alabama to eat at Lamberts Cafe. We had such a blast with all our family!!

{Jolynn,Evie,Jason, Me, Evan, Mom, Smith, JR, Auntie Rachel, Uncle John, and Jack}

Time seemed to fly by quickly! Sadly Sunday came and everyone had to leave, back to Georgia and Cali. It was nice knowing I am only a 6 hour drive from my Georgia family. But sadly, I am across the country from my other family. I will miss them tons! So glad they could visit! We had so much fun!

{Our photoshoot}

{A little silly fun on the way to the airpirt}

BACK TO CALIFORNIA Y'ALL GO! MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU!

Father's Day

 Happy Father's Day to my amazing hubby! 

Your love and kindness are immeasurable!

I LOVE YOU!

Local Grindz:

Korean Beef Bugogi

Kahuku Style Garlic Shrimp

Garlic Chicken

The dates we go on

After a few hours playing in the Gulf and laying on the beach, we decided to hit up a movie for our Saturday evening fun! Buttered Popcorn and Cherry Pepsi for dinner. With some Wendy's chicken nuggets and a bacon burger on the side afterwards. Love our time together!

Mother's Day

I have a Mother who has given me (and Evs) a whole lot of LOVE. She has begged to take our trials and carry them for us and has always been there for us, even if behind the smile is a sad heart that we moved across the country. A lot of who I am, I get from her. I love that I talk to her almost every other day and we can chat about anything. There are a few things I hope to be when I grow up, but I hope I will be the kind of Mother that will always give my children a whole lot of LOVE just like my Momma.

My husband has a Mother who has given him (and me) a whole lot of LOVE. She has been through a lot with us and has never judged us for our choices but gave her parental suggestion. A lot of who my husband is, he gets from her. I hope I will be the kind of Mother that will always give my children a whole lot of LOVE just like my husband's Momma.

Right now, these babies get a whole lot of LOVE!

My Mother's Day Carrot cake! 

I may or may not have eaten the entire thing in 24 hours...by myself.

Mother's Day

We love you!

And the winner is...

EVAN!!! At the start of the season we each chose our top three teams of who would win The Amazing Race. Tonight was the season finale and I am sad to admit but I only had ONE of my chosen teams left in the race out of the final 4. Evan had TWO with his other team out of the race due to a ruptured achilles tendon (He stands by the statement that they would have made it to the end if that didn't happen). In a landslide win the Hockey Players/Brothers took it all. Evan cheered, clapped, and rubbed it in my face that my team came in third... (real big on sportsmanship in our family)

Until the next season of Amazing Race I'll have to listen to Evs gloat about his win... I'll get him next time.

Fairy tales

I was reading a talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf called Your Happily Ever After. Its an amazing talk given to the young women of the church in 2010. He starts out by simply sharing about how many fairy tales begin with the magical phrase, ONCE UPON A TIME.  He goes on to say how these words promise something.  This is one of my favorite quotes from his talk: 

" Heavenly Father's love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of 'once upon a time', complete with your own true story of adventure, trial, and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage and love. And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all-eternal life-and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own 'happily ever after'. But such a blessing does not come without a price. It is not given simply because you desire it. It comes only through understanding of who you are and what you must become in order to be worthy of such a gift." 

I have realized that this life certainly comes with our own wicked stepmothers and evil stepsisters, a frightful-looking beast to save a family member and having to sacrifice our home, living locked in a tower by an old lady, being given a poisonous apple because we were the fairest one of all..I could go on and on, but the point is that there is an opposition in all things. And many obstacles attempt to roadblock us. But as President Uchtdorf teaches, it is our reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life's story will develop. I always wondered what "lesson" I was suppose to learn from certain trials. I realize now that its not the specific event that I am suppose to learn from, its how I handle the event that will make my life better and more fulfilling or just a load of crap on a stick.

Local Grindz

L&L BBQ Chicken, Mac Salad & Rice

Chicken Long Rice

Seaside, Florida

There is so much country to see around here! I enjoy getting to explore and since Evs lived in paradise his whole life, he mostly enjoys being drug along. There is an old movie that came out in 1998 called The Truman Show. Its about a guy whose life from birth is filmed and he never realizes it until later in life. I had heard about it and recall seeing parts of it, but Friday night we watched it to get a feel for the city we were planning on visiting the next day-

SEASIDE, FLORIDA

We headed there in the afternoon and our noses led us to a yummy place called Great Southern. We ate delicious burgers and sweet potato fries. We walked around all the very expensive little shops and walked out by the beach. It was such a cute little touristy town with restaurants, food trailers, farmers market, shopping, bike riding, kayaking, paddle boarding..etc.

 Beautiful pastel homes and buildings everywhere!

SEASIDE

A SIMPLE,  BEAUTIFUL LIFE.

(my phone pictures don't do the color of this town justice so I stole some from the internet)

We ate a late lunch in Seaside and had dessert at Cold Stone in Destin. Fun day of exploring together!