Family Visit!

So, my mom, brother Makaeden, and Grandpa Darnell came out to visit us!  They got here on June 16th and left on the 19th.  They arrived on Tuesday night at about 6 and I had dinner waiting for them.  We ate chicken enchiladas and then headed out to see downtown Memphis!  Nate was working that night so he didn't go with us.  We rode on the Trolley and walked down Beale Street.  I haven't done much sightseeing myself so it was a lot of fun!

This is in front of the FedEX Forum.  It's their events stadium.

The next day Nate was able to get work off!  We went to Graceland first.  It was really neat!  It was a lot different than I expected though.  His house was not anything like I had imagined, and they had a ton of museums and exhibits to go through.  That took a good portion of our day.  I took a million pictures but I'll just post a few.  

This is the living room.  This is the first room you see when you walk in the front door.

Here is the kitchen.  Not at all what I was expecting!  Pretty much just an average 70's kitchen!

This is the "Jungle Room".  Probably the most famous in Elvis' home.  This is an awful pic but it was the best I could get.  You weren't allowed to use flash and it was dark in there...

This was in front of Elvis' plane "Lisa Marie"

After we were done at Graceland we grabbed some lunch and then headed to Mud Island!  Mud Island is a 5-block long replica of the lower Mississippi River, from Cairo, IL, to New Orleans, LA.  

You can take a tram from the mainland over to the island.  

On the island they have a museum about the transportation that is used on the Mississippi River and how it has changed over the years, exploration and settlement, music, the Civil War, etc.  They even had a life size river boat you could walk around on!  It was actually really neat.

Kaed loved the cannons

Outside playing in the "river"

It was SOOO hot and we were all pretty exhausted!

Afterwards, we drove by the Civil Rights Museum.  Unfortunately, it was closed so we didn't get to go in.  But this is the hotel that Martin Luther King was assassinated at.  The wreath on the railing is where he was standing.  I have always really admired him and actually was able to meet his widow and to talk her for a little bit in Little Rock a few years ago!  She was such a sweet lady and it was so interesting learning a little bit about her.  We were in the Civil Rights Museum there when we met her :-)  Anyways, I really want to go inside the museum next time, but for now I will have to settle for just driving by.

When we got home that night Nate and Kaed went swimming!  (Kaeden had been begging ALL day long!)

Isn't he so handsome?!

This picture cracks me up!  They were SO tired by the end of the night!

The next day we woke up early and went to the Fire Museum.  It's the same one Nate and I went to for my birthday, so I won't really post many pics.  

Nate and my grandpa were good buddies that week!

After the museum we hurried over to the Peabody Museum to watch the famous "Duck March" that was started in 1933.  The story is actually quite amusing.  They live on top of the hotel in fancy duck cage and every morning at 11 o'clock they are led down to the lobby fountain.  Then at 5 o'clock every evening, they are led back up.  It was kinda fun to go and watch!

After that Nate had to head to work so we split up and headed to the Memphis Zoo!  It was a really big zoo, but not the greatest on in my opinion.  It was REALLY hot so it made it not as enjoyable as I'm sure it could normally be.  A lot of the zoo was empty (I'm assuming it was because we went on a weekday) so it was a little bit eerie in some parts!

This was out in front of the zoo

Waiting for the tram to take us to the next exhibit

They had a fun little fountain you could swim in to cool off!  Kaed took full advantage of that :-)

Grandpa was pretty hot and tired from all the walking!

After the zoo we went to a park that we have nearby.  It looks almost exactly like "Castle Park" in Kaysville.  For those of you who don't know what that is, I apologize but I didn't take any pics of the park :-(

Then we finally got to eat dinner!  We went to Buffalo Wild Wings.  I personally don't think it's the most amazing restaurant in the world, but they have some pretty good wings!  

Kaed found a hunting game and just HAD to play it, LOL.  

It was so much fun having them here!  It was good to see them and it was SOOO nice being able to get out of the house and do some much anticipated sight seeing!  Luckily, they were able to stay with us since we have a 2 bedroom apartment.  It was nice to be able to return the favor to my mom for letting me live with her for 18 years and my grandpa for letting me live in his basement apartment for 2 1/2 (although I still have much more to do to show my gratitude)  You guys were great house guests!!  Love you!!

RIP "Grandma Jonathan"

So, this past week was not a great one.  My grandma passed away on Friday.  She was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer only 2 weeks prior to her death.  It all happened so fast none of us were ready for it.  The funeral was today and unfortunately, I was unable to fly home for it.  It was really hard realizing that I was going to have to miss my own grandma's funeral, but there was just no way we could make it work.  

She was actually my mom's aunt (her mom's sister), which technically makes her my great aunt, but my mom lived with her for a while when she was growing up.  She was more of a mom to her and a grandma to me.  I love her so much and even though we're all so sad that she's gone, we're so happy that she's finally with my grandpa and her parents again.  She left behind 4 children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  We will all miss her very much.  

Every Christmas Eve since before I was born, our family would get together for our family party.  She would always play Christmas carols on the piano and we'd all sing along.  She absolutely loved playing the piano and was really good at it!  I've never had a single  Christmas Eve without her.  Christmas Eve will never be the same without her.  But even though she's gone, I know that she will always be with us in spirit.  We love you and miss you Grandma!  We will never forget all the wonderful memories you've left for us.

Finally 21!!!

(Readers beware-long post ahead)

So, yesterday was the big day!  It was my 21st birthday!!  I was really hoping that Nate would take the day off, even though he had told me before that he was going to be working.  But on Thursday night, he broke the bad news to me and I wasn't very happy.  I was really sad because I really wanted to go and play all day since I'm stuck in our apartment every other day.  

So Friday morning came and he was supposed to go and install an alarm at like 9 am.  (Luckily, they cancelled, but he didn't tell me that, so he used that time to go and get my presents.)  Before he left, he dragged me out of bed into the family room.  Let's backtrack real quick a week or so.  Nate decided to do the "21 Days Until My Birthday".  He left a present somewhere around the house for me to find everyday.  I thought it was so much fun that he would do something so creative!  It was a blast finding little things all around the house!  He stopped like a week ago and I was all sorts of confused.  But yesterday morning when he brought me into the family room, I saw that he had laid out on the floor all the gifts that he hadn't given me yet.  He told me to get ready while he was gone because he had another surprise for me.  

So I hurried and got ready.  When he got home he made me lunch while I finished getting ready.  When I walked out to the family room so that we could leave, I found another surprise in there!

He put a bow on Memphis since he was 

technically one of my birthday gifts...

My cute birthday cake!

We were in a hurry to leave for the next surprise since he had to work that afternoon.  So we saved the presents for later and hurried out the door.  In the car, he told me that he had been planning on taking me to see the Memphis Fire Museum.  I had seen a Fire Museum a couple of weeks before and had wanted to go there.  (For those of you who don't know, my daddy is a retired Fireman and EMT)  It ended up being a different museum than the one we had seen, but it was really neat!  

They had a huge collection of patches from all over the 

country and look what we found!  They also had a Park City one.

The first building had a toy fire engine collection with thousands of little fire trucks!  They all belonged to one man, whose name I don't remember now.  

These are just a few. There were tons more! He had a lot of big ones too.

There were a few antique trucks on display there-they were so neat!  I know my dad would have loved this museum!

Following in my daddy's footsteps...

Check out the name on these!

This one is too small to see, but this badge and keys belonged to Henry L. Brenner.  (For those of you who don't see the irony here, my little brothers name is Brenner.)

So, they had a fire simulation room.  It was like a really cheap version of Back Draft.  We went in with a group of school kids that looked like they were maybe in 1st or 2nd grade.  I felt like such a baby.  They were all oohing and ahhing, and I was just praying that the room didn't really catch on fire, lol.  I am SUCH a wimp when it comes to fire!

We found this gorgeous fountain while we were walking 

around town after we were done at the museum.

Nate found this statue and we decided that it belonged to 

us since we are going to be very prosperous in this life :-P

Then we went back home and opened presents!!

The first one was a squeaky toy for Memphis!

This bottom one was a new kennel for him!  He hasn't been sleeping at nights in the carrier we bought him so we were hoping that by getting him a larger kennel that we could put his bed in, we could get him to sleep better.

After that, Nate had to go do a couple of service calls and then we were gonna have the rest of the night to ourselves!  He begged me to come with him so I didn't have to sit home alone.  So of course, I had to document it with a couple of pictures of him hard at work!

On our way back we finally snagged some pics at the stateline!

But the day was still young!  It's pretty much the law that you have to hit the casinos on your 21st birthday.  So that's exactly what we did!  We headed down to Tunica which is about 30-45 minutes away from our place.  

We stopped at Chic-Fil-A and grabbed some yummy milkshakes on the way down.  (Their new peach ones are AMAZING in case you were wondering!  Nate loved the strawberry one he got too.)  Anyways, they put cherries on top and I totally tied my stem in a knot with my mouth for the first time!  I guess turning 21 turns you into an amazing kisser!

I was not really into the whole gambling thing.  I played a couple of bucks in the slots, but didn't really get into it.  We spent most of our time walking around and just exploring the casinos.  It was pretty hilarious how bad all the guards sucked at math.  When they would look at my ID they would sit there forever trying to figure out how old I was.  I told the one guy that today was my 21st birthday (this was at like 11:30pm) and pulled out his phone and looked at the time and was like "well it looks like you have about 3o minutes until you can go in".  I just rolled my eyes and said, "Um no, TODAY is my 21st birthday.  The 5th, not the 6th."  He was like, "Oh ya, I guess you're right."  I wanted to say, well no duh I'm right, I think I know when my own birthday is.  But I just laughed and walked in.

This was the first casino I ever gambled in!

  

Here's a pic of my first time at the slots!

We ate dinner at a fancy little restaurant in the casino called The Atrium Cafe.  My traditional birthday dinner is chicken cordon bleu and mashed potatoes.  I was sad that I wasn't going to be home to have my mom make it for me :-P  LOL  But guess what the special of the night was at the restaurant?!  Chicken cordon bleu!!  Unfortunately it came with pasta and they couldn't substitute potatoes, but it was still really good.  The waiter even gave me a free slice of cheesecake since it was my birthday!  Can anyone guess what my favorite dessert is?  Yup, cheesecake!  I didn't even tell him that, he just brought it out!  I was really happy!!

So, that was how I spent my 21st birthday!  It was such an amazing day and I only have my husband to thank for that!  I love him with all my heart.  He never ceases to amaze me!  He is definitely Mr. Romantic.  Thanks for making it such a special day Honey!  I love you!!

First Big Scare as a "Mom"

So Thursday, May 28 we took Memphis to see the vet.  We just wanted to have him looked over to make sure everything was ok and to get him on Frontline for the fleas.  When I filled out the paperwork I put that he was about 6 months old, because that's what we were told.  However, when the vet looked at his teeth he said he guessed that he was closer to 5 or 5 1/2 months old.  So because we weren't exactly sure of his age, the vet said that he wanted to make sure that he was current with one particular vaccine.  So we had him give it to Memphis.  He told us that he looked healthy and strong and was very pleased.  So we went home and Nate left for work.  

Later that evening I noticed that Memphis had green boogers coming out of his nose, which I thought was kind of weird.  The vet was closed by this time so I called the animal hospital they refer their patients to for after hours care.  They told me that they wanted to see him so I asked Kate if she could take me.  When we got there the vet checked him out and said that he had an upper respiratory infection.  So he gave him an antibiotic, a pain killer (he was really sore from his previous vaccination), and one other shot.  He told me that Memphis would be really tired and would probably sleep all night (which I was excited about since he NEVER sleeps at night!).  

On our way home he was laying on my lap.  I looked down at him and realized he was panting really hard and was drooling all over himself.  He was laying on his front paws and they were completely soaked with slobber.  I was a little concerned so we turned up the AC, but I figured he was probably just hot and thirsty.  By the time we got home (it was about a 35 minute drive) he was really limp and totally not himself.  I went into my apartment and Kate left to go meet some people for dinner.  I sat down on my bed with him and noticed that he was breathing really funny.  He was totally weezing, he was non-responsive and was limp like a noodle.  He was almost lifeless.  They had told me he'd be really tired, but this just didn't seem right to me.  So I freaked out and called Nate and was trying so hard not to totally lose it.  He rushed home so that we could take Memphis back to the hospital.  

By the time he got home I was totally freaking out and I was hysterical.  He took Memphis from me and I just laid down and cried.  He called the hospital and they said that we could bring him back if we wanted to.  After a little bit we both decided that he seemed to be doing better.  We stayed up with him for a while to make sure he was ok.  I slept next to him on the couch and like most moms with sick kids I hardly slept at all.  I woke up to every little noise and was constantly checking to see if he was breathing.  

By the next morning he was much more responsive and seemed to be doing a lot better.  He still has a boogery nose and a little cough, but overall he's doing much better.  That was such a scary experience for me!  I can't believe how much I love him after such a short amount of time.  He drives me crazy sometimes, but I don't know what I'd do without him.  

Our New Puppy!

Well, we finally got our puppy!  We picked him up on Saturday.  He is so dang cute!  He is now about six months old.   He is a very outgoing and friendly puppy.  He definitely loves his mommy and daddy.  He follows us everywhere we go.  The first day we brought him home he followed me everywhere and wasn’t too fond of Nate.  He quickly adjusted to Nate and now is comfortable with both of us.  He isn’t afraid of other people which makes us very happy.  He still has a bit of a cough from the Kennel Cough he had, but other than that he is doing very well. 

Yesterday was Memorial Day, but it wasn’t a fun day like it always has been for me.  Nate was gone from like 10 in the morning until midnight, I found out Memphis has fleas, and I was sick all day.  So unfortunately we didn’t get to have a fun Memorial Day celebration, but we’ll find something fun to do soon. 

Unfortunately, like I mentioned before, I found out yesterday that he has fleas!  I freaked out and was bawling.  I didn’t know what to do so I called Nate and he asked Kate if she could come over and help me.  So we gave him a bath and vacuumed the apartment.  Nate bought flea spray on his way home and I sprayed all the carpet and furniture.  We are going to take him to the vet and get him some flea medicine.  I haven’t been able to see fleas on him today so I’m hoping that we caught it early enough and they won’t be too hard to get rid of.   

Anyways, he has definitely given me something to do!  I’m always complaining about how bored I am and he definitely keeps me busy  :-D  He is a very good puppy, but he is not house trained so I’ve been having to deal with that.  Overall, it’s been a lot of fun and I’m so glad that I finally have my puppy!

The Proposal!

Ok, so this is REALLY random, but I've had a lot of people that have wanted to hear about how Nate proposed and I've been saying forever that I'd post it on here, so I've decided to finally do it.  Normally I just give the really watered down version because I get really tired of telling it over and over, so now you can all just read about it!

So, last May Nate left for Florida for a month to do some work down there.  He was supposed to fly home on June 15 and I was going to pick him up from the airport.  Well, being the creative romantic that he is, he came up with a better plan.  He flew home on Friday, June 13-but didn't tell me.  

Now let's rewind a few days.  My best friend Abbey said that she wanted to take me and our friend Emery out to breakfast for our birthdays on Saturday, June 14.  So I agreed and Saturday morning her and Emery came to my apartment to pick me up.  I had NO idea that the two of them were in on the proposal with Nate.  We headed towards Salt Lake to go and eat.  Keep in mind, Abbey wouldn't tell me where we were going for breakfast.  Emery and I (that little stink) kept asking and asking where we were going.  Emery was a great actress and was totally playing the whole thing up.  She was acting completely clueless.  Abbey just kept saying that it was a surprise and we'd find out soon.  

After a while, I realized we were heading up to Snowbird.  Snowbird has always been mine and Nate's "place".  That was the first place we said I love you.  Also, we had been up there another time and that night after we got back to my apartment was when Nate first brought up marriage.  We had been up there a few times and just fell in love with it.  It was just really special for us.  So, when I realized that's where we were heading, I was a little suspicious, but just for a split second.  Then I reminded myself I was supposed to pick Nate up at the airport the next day so this had nothing to do with him, and all suspicions went away. 

But I asked Abbey why we were going to Snowbird and she said that she thought it would be fun if we rode the Tram to the top of the mountain and then grabbed breakfast.  I was a little hesitant at first because I'm so afraid of heights, but decided that it would be fun.  I had totally been texting Nate all morning and the whole way up the tram.  I was telling him that we were going to Snowbird and he was like "Abbey better not be trying to steal our place!"  He totally played it up!  When we got to the top it was SOOO cold!  It was the middle of June, so of course I had on shorts and flip flops.  There was a lot of snow on the very top and I had to walk through it.  My feet were frozen!  

I had no clue that Nate was waiting at the top of the mountain in the medical trailer thing.  He saw us come to the top so he started trying to call my cell phone to get me to turn around.  But the call wouldn't go through.  Then somehow he accidentally called my parents house and my dad answered.  He was so caught off guard and told my dad he was about to propose and he hung up the phone.  Needless to say my dad was a little flustered!  

But since the phone call thing didn't work he decided to just walk up behind me.  Abbey and Emery saw him coming so they tried to distract me.  They had me counting all the peaks I could see and reading signs that were forever away.  I was completely clueless!  Then I felt somebody put their arm around me, but I just assumed it was one of them so I didn't think anything of it.  Then out of the corner of my eye I saw flowers.  When I turned and saw Nate standing there I scrame so loud!  Everyone on the mountain turned to look and I was totally embarrassed.  Even at that point I had no clue what was going on.  He had been gone for a month, so I totally just assumed he was surprising me by coming home early.  We hugged and kissed and we were so excited to see each other!  Then, he got down on one knee.  I started freaking out!  I just kept saying "Oh my gosh" over and over.  I was shaking SOOO bad!  I am honestly so surprised I didn't collapse.  

When he pulled out the ring I freaked out!  It was the ring that I had dreamed of for so long!  I had found a picture of this gorgeous ring a few years ago and I cut it out and saved it.  I showed it to Abbey and when she found out we were talking about getting married she stole it and texted a picture of it to Nate.  He went to a bunch of different jewelers determined to find that exact ring.  His persistence paid off and he found a jeweler that had it.  Lucky for him, they were about to ship it out the next day because it hadn't sold for so long so they were just going to return it.  Needless to say, I was so impressed at his determination to find my dream ring for me!  

But after the proposal and lots of hugs Abbey and Emery left and Nate and I sat at the top of the mountain just soaking in the occasion.  It was honestly so much better than I could have ever imagined!  I love Nate so much and I don't know what I would ever do without him.  He has made my life so amazing!  He is my best friend and I love him more than words can ever say.  We are truly blessed to have each other for eternity.

Fun Crafts!

So, yesterday Kate and I went on an adventure to Memphis and found Michael's.  We got some really fun craft projects.  I have a bunch of little keepsake items from different things Nate and I have done, ie: movie stubs, concert tickets, event programs, cards, love notes, etc.  I have them all just sitting in my nightstand at home so I decided to make a fun little box to keep them all in!  The pictures don't do it justice, but I thought it turned out really cute!

I also made a fun little sign for my puppy, Memphis!  

I'm hoping to go and find some more projects to do!  It made yesterday fly and I felt like I was actually doing something productive.  I absolutely love making crafts and being creative so it was a lot of fun.  Nate was really impressed with my craftiness!