Cousin Billy's Wedding Day

My cousin Billy got married last weekend!  After years of looking for Mrs. Right and dating just about every female in Provo... he finally found the perfect girl!  Esther is a darling little southern belle that is so friendly, outgoing, witty, and best of all she knows how to put Billy in his place.  They were married in the Salt Lake Temple, and had a beautiful luncheon and reception later that evening.  We had a great day spending time with all of my Hymas side extended family.  Here are some of the many pictures from the day... (out of all the pictures I took, I sadly didn't get one of the bride and groom.  You'll just have to trust that they looked amazing!)

Waiting on the temple grounds for Billy and Esther to come out

My cute dad.  I can't tell you how many pictures I've snapped of him like this on the phone

Mom, Allie, and cousin Jill

Hello, cute husband

My dad and cute cousin Abbie from Kentucky, sister of the groom

My dad's twin (almost) brother Rob (father of the groom) and Mike

Mama and Popperoni

Getting ready to eat us some delicious steaks at the luncheon

Stacie and Benny boy

My little brother Preston.  This kid is freaking cool and has a style all his own.  Love this boy.

Ali #1 and Ali #2

Happy Birthday Mike!

Some of you may not know this, but I am quite a bit older than Mike.  Two years and eleven months to be exact.  Before Mike, I had always dated older guys, and had never really even considered dating someone younger than me.  When Mike and I started dating I figured it would just be a fling because I was a lot older than him, but I was really surprised that the age difference wasn't weird at all.  Turns out I love being married to a younger man, and I recommend it to everyone for a myriad of reasons!  An elderly lady put it best when she said, "Marrying younger is the best way to go!  That way, you won't be a widow for too long!"  I'm banking on that.  Since women traditionally live 3 years longer than men, I figure we'll probably die around the same time.  (Not till I'm 95 and he's 92 though). 

Anyways, I always forget about the age difference thing because A) Mike looks older than me, B) Mike acts older than me (Everyone that knows him will attest to the fact that he has always been a wise old soul), and C) Everyone thinks Mike is older than me!  However, I always love when his birthday rolls around because it means now I'm only 2 years older than him instead of 3.  Too bad I can't stay 25 forever. 

This past Wednesday, Mike turned the ripe old age of 23!  We started out the morning by going to Kneaders and eating their incredible french toast for breakfast....

 

 

Next, we went home and I let Mike open one of his presents.  (I decided to throw together a mini-shrine to Mike the night before at 12:30 am)

 

I gave him a golf club driver he's been eying since last summer... he was seriously as giddy as a schoolboy, and immediately left to hit up the driving range while I went to work for a few hours.

That afternoon, we went to a movie and ate ourselves sick with popcorn and candy.  

(he was good to cooperate and let me take a picture)

 

Next, we went to Happy Sumo and dined on crab cakes and sushi.  Can you tell we like to celebrate with food?  I promise we do have more hobbies besides eating.

Afterwards, we came home and opened the rest of his presents, then had a few of our friends over for cake and ice cream!

 

Happy Birthday Mike- Love you!

My husband is freaking cool

One of the things that I love about Mike is that he is never afraid to try new things, and is always acquiring new hobbies.  One night last fall I suggested that we go on a run together outside.  Mike played sports all growing up and is super athletic, and so I was shocked to learn that that night was honestly the first time he'd ever been running!  That first night we didn't get too far because neither of us were in the best of shape, but six months later, I can still barely run 3 miles, and Mike ran the Salt Lake City half marathon last weekend!

 

 Standing at the finish line was the coolest experience.  My mom and I were crying watching all of the different types/sizes/shapes of people cross the finish line.  It was so inspiring.

 

Watching Mike approach the finish line!  He was just a few minutes away from his goal time, so he was pretty happy (especially this being his first race ever).  I'm so proud of him!

Look how great he looks after running 13 miles!

 

 I made a couple of cheesy posters that my brothers held up as he was finishing the race.. and yes, I made him pose by them. 

 

 

 Mike's parents drove down from Idaho to see the race, and our little nephew Clate came too.

 

My parents and little brothers came as well to cheer him on.

 

When it started raining, my mom and I were both glad we were prepared with umbrellas.

 

I've decided I'm going to go hang out at the finish line of this race every year.  It ends at the Gateway, and it was an incredible venue, and inspired me to accomplish my goals, even if they seem hard.  I'm so proud of Mike!  The crazy part is, one week later, he's already signed up to run a Marathon this fall.  Crazy husband I have- I'll be at the finish line again crying like a baby.

March Madness Update

Despite the freezing weather that stuck around all through the month of March, we had a lot of fun.  Between fun dates with Stacie and Bennett and our Canyon Road friends,  we really enjoyed watching the NCAA championship!  I was sad BYU didn't make it to the end, but we had a great time cheering for the Cougars and loved the excuse it gave us to party with friends and family all month.  We also took a fun trip up to a condo in Park City with my family, but I was as sick as a dog and didn't take any pictures.

The best part of March for us though was that Mike not only got accepted to Nursing school, but got a full scholarship to boot!  We are so excited, because this is a huge step towards his final goal of becoming a nurse anesthesiologist.   I'm so proud of my smart, hard working, and goal oriented husband! (He'll be so embarrassed if he ever decides to read our blog.... ha!)

Here are just a few pictures from the month:

Dinner with Stacie and Bennett at Arella's

This is how Mike and I end up rolling on Sunday nights.  Very classy.

Cheering for Jimmer!

My poor Grandma broke her leg, shoulder, and arm... but that didn't stop her from cheering on the Cougs!

Dinner w/ Grandpa and Grandma Hymas

Celebrating my Mom's 47th Birthday... I only hope I look as amazing as she does in 21 years! 

Mike and Dave watching Butler and UConn in the Final NCAA game.  They were sure if they wore my sunglasses it would be good luck for Butler.  Guess not....

Dinner with Dave & Mckell at our beloved Cheesecake Factory

little sissy's gettin married

The Ohio Cleveland Mission has been good to my family.

Not only did I get lucky and meet my husband on my mission, but I met my sister's future husband too!

Bennett and I became good friends serving in the same district for a long time, and I always joked with him that he was going to marry my littler sister.  He would just laugh, and say, "Right, Sister Hymas".

Well, last spring after Bennett got home from his mission, he asked about little sissy. 

And that's when Mike and I decided to do a little matchmaking. 

And it just so happened to work out perfectly.

They fell madly in love.

 

And last weekend they got engaged! 

We couldn't be happier, and I'd be lying if I said we weren't super proud of our set up skills.

We can't wait until they tie the knot in June!  

Congrats guys!

painting, waffles, and card games

As with any other holiday, we celebrated Valentine's day over the course of a whole week!  As part of our love day festivities, Mike picked me up from work one day and took me to Michael's to pick out paints.  When we got home, I found this little art gallery he had created so that we could go to town on our own canvas! 

We had been wanting to do this for a while now, and it turned out to be one of the funnest art projects we've ever done together!  Throwing paint at the wall was so awesome!

 

 

Here is the finished product.  We love it!  Mostly because we did it together to celebrate our love!  I think it looks much cooler in real life so come on over!

Here are a few pictures of us as of late....

Eating Italian gelato at our favorite spot on 9th and 9th

My little housewife husband.  Seriously, I hit the jackpot when I married Mike, for a multitude of reasons, one of them being the fact that he is an excellent chef.  He cooks these amazing gourmet dinners all the time, for which I am so grateful.  Now I just need to get him a manly apron so he doesn't have to wear all of my girl ones.  I came home from work one day and found him wearing this floral apron and had a good laugh...

As I mentioned in my last post, we've been hitting up Jazz games lately, thanks to all of the tickets my parents gave Mike for Christmas this past year.  Mike wears his Jazz shirt for the both of us...

We like to stay cultured.  For every sporting event we attend, we go to something else that is artistic.  Last week we went to the play Hairspray at the new Legacy Centerpointe Theater.

One rainy Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago, we decided to forget running errands, forget doing laundry, and forget doing everything responsible.  We dropped everything, and set for an adventure.  First we ended up at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.  They had an amazing modern art and photography exhibit that we loved!

 After the museum, we stopped at the downtown D.I.  Mike prefers other thrift stores to the D.I. because the smells bother him, but there are always gems to be found.  I got some suweeeeet vintage blouses for eight bucks.  I was so proud of my finds.  After shopping, we decided to try this Belgian Waffle place we've been dying to try.  The frites and waffles did not disappoint!  In fact, we've already been back for more! 

 YUMMY!!!

Afterwards, we went to the grocery store and picked up the ingredients to make one of our favorite Italian dishes.  We went home, curled up on the couch and read, made dinner together, and enjoyed a relaxing evening at home.  The best.

Speaking of staying in, the other night we decided to turn off our phones, computers, etc and stay home and play card games.  Just the two of us.  We literally played for hours and hours and laughed all night.  If you like playing card games, call us!  We're in!

One of his many other skills is shuffling.  Don't even get me started....

11 Things that Are Making Winter Bearable Around these Parts.....

1. New gym memberships!  We both set goals to get into better shape this year.  Mike is training for a half marathon in April (I'm still sitting on the fence as to whether I'm going to do it) and a triathlon this summer..... regardless of my decision, we are both getting into better shape!
2. Knitting Class every Wednesday night at East High with my mom!  Who knew I'd love purling so much?
3. Randomly deciding to paint our kitchen goldish yellow one Saturday morning.  Grateful that Mike puts up with and supports my spontaneous decorating decisions, and that he prefers taping to rolling.
4. Thursday night Church Basketball games.  Mike gets to play ball, and I get to chat with girlfriends. 
5. Hatch's Chocolates---- conveniently located just two blocks from our home.  I'm pretty sure I'm single handedly keeping them in business with all of the frozen hot chocolates I've been getting.
6. Surprise bouquets of flowers and chocolate cinnamon bears from my cute husband for no reason.
7. Purchasing an incredible vintage mustard yellow ottoman for our living room. 
8. Exploring thrift stores by our house on Saturday afternoons with Mike.
9. Our brand new little nephew, Thomas.  Holding him as much as possible.... it's making me more keen on the idea of having my own babies someday.
10.  Constantly planning warm weather vacations. 
11. Going to Jazz games... Mike is proud that I finally know who Deron Williams is.


Hope you are surviving in this yucky weather!