THE GRIDDLE

Before we left for Utah, my dad treated James and I out to a great breakfast at The Griddle. I had the best and the biggest banana pancakes, ever! James and I shared it and we still weren't able to devour it all.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

FAREWELL.

Sadly, our time in California is coming to an end and soon we will be moving to Salt Lake City, Utah for a short time. We've been trying to enjoy our last few days here and avoiding all the packing we need to do. We're excited for our next move.

          DAY in MALIBU

          SATURDAY NIGHT in the OC

          SUNDAY DINNER in WEST HOLLYWOOD 

BOA STEAKHOUSE.

Our first family outing since we've been back from our honeymoon.

CAESAR SALAD PREP.

HONEYMOON.

Our first cruise together and it was a lot of fun! We stopped in Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. 24hr relaxation and all-you-can-eat! We'll definitely have to make this some sort of tradition.

WEDDING DAY

It's almost been a week since we've been married and it's been great. We couldn't be happier with our decision. Our wedding day was absolutely amazing and we're so grateful for all those who helped make it extra special for us. It turned out beautifully. We'd liked to send a special thank you to Ramona Arnold (and team) at Simple Country Weddings for supplying and creating the major details at our reception. We loved every inch of it! A lot of hard work went into it and we're so grateful for all the hands that helped. We love you! 

OAKLAND LDS TEMPLE

RECEPTION (PREVIEW).

RECEPTION (PREVIEW).

RECEPTION (PREVIEW)

RECEPTION (PREVIEW)

ONE YEAR

Today marks the day of our first year together! We've already shared lots of memories together, so I'll add some pictures of us from over the year. Enjoy! 

His first time vising in me LA.

Hollywood Tower of Terror

San Francisco 49ers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Brian McKnight concert

May 11, 2012 - Our engagement 

CALIFORNIA BOUND.

We're heading home soon! I cannot wait to be back in California. This week we've been busy with studying for finals and packing our things away. We have a lot of exciting events coming up within the weeks. This weekend we will be in McCammon, Idaho for James' family reunion. Then, my brother will be reporting to the MTC on August 8th. He's been called to serve in the Las Vegas, Nevada mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'm so proud of him for choosing to serve. He's amazing and I know he will be a great missionary. Then, James and I are getting married! We'll be going on a cruise to Mexico for our honeymoon, and after, we will be settling down in Salt Lake City for a short time. I am so excited and I can't wait for all of this to happen!

JAMES' PARENTS CAME TO VIST BYU-ID

WEDDING DETAILS

Our invitations are out! We sent them out today and I am so relieved. I setup an RSVP link on the toolbar at the top of the page (below our picture). Please RSVP when you receive your invitation. Our wedding theme is "Vintage Travel." We thought it would best suit our relationship since we were long distance for about 9 months. And I love vintage decor. I'll add my Pinterest on the toolbar so you have an idea.

Our wedding colors.

JULY 9.

July 9th, 2011, was the day James and I first met in person after our Skype dates. It's been a year already and time has flown by. We celebrated July 9th by having a picnic in the park. I couldn't be more excited to marry him. I feel like we've been through so much over the year and I've really gotten to know what a great man he is. I've found my best friend who I get to spend an eternity with. 38 days until marriage. 

RIGBY LAKE

The weather has been great in Rexburg. We have to take advantage when there's a sunny day because it's hard to get tan out here.

IDAHO

It's nice to get out of Rexburg sometimes, and luckily, James has family not too far from here. He comes from such a great/large family and I feel so lucky to be apart of it. They're an amazing example of love and I look forward to raising a family of our own someday. This weekend we had the pleasure of spending the weekend with the Tillotson's. They're a great family, full of jokes. We definitely had a lot of laughs this weekend. We had a wonderful Father's Day dinner, and after, we went on a tour of Mackay, ID, and it was gorgeous. It's completely different from California, but it's really nice to experience the country side. We'll have to spend another weekend with them, soon. Now we're back in good ol' Rexburg. Only 5 more weeks left of the semester! 

The Tillotson's.

Ruger and Sadie (The German Shepherd's)

There amazing backyard!

ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS.

We took our engagement pictures a couple weeks ago from a very good friend of ours, Leavitt Woodland. He is the owner and founder of Woodland Wedding Photography and he is AWESOME! You should definitely check out some of his photos. He will also be our photographer/DJ at our wedding. He is multi-talented. He is also a dietitian and wants me to try his Triscuit and Mt. Dew diet. Sound like a good idea? Anyways, here is a link to the Woodland Wedding Photography website: http://www.woodlandweddingphotography.com/#!

A preview of our engagements.

THE GOLDEN ARCHES.

McDonald's is one of our favorite places to eat. I know, really classy. I'm just grateful that I found someone who loves it as much as I do. We haven't been eating here as often as we used to (trying to stay fit) but it sure is nice every once in a while! 

WEDDING PLANNING.

We just returned from Sacramento this past weekend to celebrate the marriage of Keva and Corey Robison. The wedding was gorgeous and it got me all excited for our upcoming wedding in August. All this week I have been so distracted with wedding planning and organizing. It's been extremely hard because planning is so much funner than doing schoolwork. I guess I have to figure out some sort of system and prioritize. 

OUR LOVE STORY.

One day, I received a text from a very good friend of mine, Michio Takahashi. He told me he wanted to hook me up with one of his friends who just returned from serving his mission in Monterrey, Mexico. Michio gave me his friends name and told me to check him out on Facebook before I gave him the "ok." Obviously I thought this guy was handsome, so I gave Michio permission to give him my phone number. Later that day I received a text from Michio's friend, James Kingston. We started off with generic introduction questions, trying to get to know one another. The only problem was, he's from Sacramento and I'm from Los Angeles. How was this ever going to work!? Eventually, we started to Skype. We Skyped everyday for weeks. Everything was going great. Continually, I would ask, "when are we ever going to meet in person?" He would respond saying, "soon..." We were consistent with our Skype dates, and then suddenly, he would barely talk to me. He would send me one or two text messages per week and then respond to my text the following week. (What a jerk, right?) That went on for quite some time. One day we were Skyping together and I asked him again, "when are we ever going to meet in person?" And he responded, "soon." I kept having feelings that I needed to meet him, but I ignored those feelings because we barely talked anymore. After I heard his response to my question, I told him that if he wasn't coming to Los Angeles, then I'm coming to Sacramento (he seemed excited, but little did I know, he didn't want me to come). I purchased a train ticket for July 9, 2011, for less than a 2 day trip. The weeks were passing by slowly and I was anxiously/nervously waiting for the time we would meet. James was dreading it. Poor guy. Finally, the day had arrived. My train left at 12AM and I would be travelling through the night until my arrival. After my 8hr train/bus ride, I finally made it to Sacramento. As I exited the bus, I searched for him through the crowd of people. And there he was...along with his sidekick, Paane Tonga. Real nice. I guess he was too nervous to go at it alone? We had breakfast at BJ's, where me and Paane really hit it off, while James was sitting there quietly listening to our conversation. Breakfast ended and Paane had other plans, so we dropped him off right after. Finally, it was just the two of us. James didn't have anything planned (even though he had weeks to plan) so he decided to take me to Six Flags:Discovery Kingdom. We had a great time together and really developed the start of our relationship. After that, he took me out for fine dining at Taco Bell. It was a great first, official date together. Long story short, we committed to a long distance relationship and traveled back and forth to see one another for about 9 months. I found my best friend and my companion. Now we're engaged. It was definitely worth it. 

Pictures from our FIRST DATE.