Twenty Six.

Last week I turned twenty six.  Before I post pictures and document the fun things we did all weekend and how much I love my husband and family...... I thought I'd tell you all how I'm really feeling right now!!

Yes, I am FREAKING OUT.

I wrote about it on my RC Willey Room to Talk Blog, but thought it was appropriate to share:

http://www.rcwilley.com/blogs/Room-To-Talk/34/2011/6/3057/Twenty-Six-and-Scared-Stiff.jsp

Please tell me I'm not crazy!!!!!

Happy 50th Birthday Dad!

My pops turned 50, YES 50 this past May.  He was partying hard in Argentina the day of his actual birthday, and so we drew out the birthday festivities and celebrated properly once he was home and jet lag had worn off a little bit.

We may have gotten a bit carried away with the balloons.  Mike's lips hurt for like three days afterwards.  (The picture really doesn't do it justice.)

My mom's friend Lori makes amazing cakes for all occasions, and so my mom commissioned her to make a crazy 50 years old cake!  It was the cutest thing ever!

Here is the front..... a beautiful path leading up to the age of 50.

And here is a shot of the back of the cake.... RIP.  The poor guy is falling off a cliff to his death!

This was the most creative cake I'd ever seen!

I want my kiddies to look like this!

We had a great night eating my mom's delicious lasagna, and celebrating my father by going around the room and telling the funniest stories we knew about him.  It was absolutely hilarious and by the end of the night we were in some serious pain from laughing so hard.  That dad of mine is a pretty funny guy.

Three generations of Hymas'

Love you popperoni!  Here's to many more great birthdays!

Post Script: Just a couple weekends ago we finally were able to go Go-Kart Racing as a family (part of my dad's birthday present).  My mom rented out a go-kart racing facility and the race was on!  It was so fun!  And scary- the boys in my family are nuts, including my dare devil husband.

I do have to brag for just a second because I won out of all the women drivers!  Woo hoo!

Happy Belated Mothers Day!

I know Mother's Day was a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to publicly tell my mother how grateful I am for her in my life.  It's really hard to put into words the respect, admiration, and love that I feel for her.  We have a special bond that runs so so deep, that it's difficult to explain.  Over the past twenty six years she has taught me so much, mostly by her quiet example.  She's shown me the importance of putting people first, serving everyone around you, supporting your husband, sacrificing for your children, standing up for what you believe in, and loving the Savior and his gospel.   She's taught me that I can do hard things, to dream big, and to find the joy in living every single day.  She is the kindest, most giving, loving, beautiful, positive, strong, generous woman I know.  In my eyes, she is pretty perfect.  I hope that I can be just like her some day.  

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

- Abraham Lincoln

This year, I am also very grateful for my wonderful mother-in-law, Carol.  Carol is kind, strong, non-judgmental, loving and will do anything for her family.  I am so thankful for the way that she has welcomed me into her family, and become such a good friend over the past year and a half.  Mostly though, I will forever be grateful to Carol for raising such a perfect son.  I thank my lucky stars every. single. day for Mike, and I know that a huge part of the reason he is so kind, gentle, humble, patient, forgiving, and loving is because of the way his mother raised him.  Thank you Carol, from the very bottom of my heart. 

This year for Mother's Day, Mike made me breakfast, and surprised me with some new perfume.  I felt a little weird being celebrated since I'm not a mother yet, but that just shows how thoughtful, and kind he is.  I cannot wait until we are blessed to be parents someday, and we are so anxious and excited to bring children into this world that we can love, teach and raise together.

After a beautiful church service we went to my parent's house and my siblings and I made dinner for my mom. 

To all mothers out there, thanks for all that you do!  Your job is difficult, but so important.

Our trip to Moab!

Mike's parents are hiking enthusiasts (they put Mike and I to shame), adventure seekers, and pro's at traveling Southern Utah.... so we were thrilled when they invited us to go to Moab with them a few weeks ago!  They knew that I had never, in all of my years living in Utah, been to Moab, and so they were excited to show me the ropes!  We had such a great trip, and besides Mike and Gary getting WAY too close to the edge of a cliff for Carol and I's comfort, and Mike forgetting to pack his meds and pants (this was actually pretty funny) everything went off without a hitch.  

After leaving cold cold SLC, we slowly made our to mildly warmer weather.  Sadly, weather remained in the 60's for the whole weekend.  We were a little disappointed it wasn't warmer, but it was a nice break from reality!  After getting to Moab Friday afternoon, we checked into our hotel, then went to a dutch oven dinner/ riverboat cruise.  The dinner, prepared and served by cowboys, was absolutely delicious.  Afterwards we boarded the boat and set off for a light show cruise!  Once it got dark, they had a very old fashioned light show on the beautiful red rocks.  It was fun, but you can tell by the picture that it was FREEZING.  We felt like we were on a sleigh ride in the dead of winter with the wind whipping and water blowing.  It was very memorable, to say the least.  I literally had 4 blankets on my body, and I was still cold!  Afterwards, they had hot chocolate waiting for us, so it was all good.

The next morning, we got ready for the day and set out to Arches National Park.  I couldn't believe how beautiful everything was.  I have had the opportunity to travel to many different places in the world, and I was absolutely amazed at the beauty and wonder of  the great state that we live in!  No wonder people travel from all over the world to see this!

We packed lunches, and spent most of the day exploring in the park.  We did several hikes that were off the beaten path (thanks to Carol and Gary), and enjoyed the weather.  Don't let the sunshine fool you though- I still had 5, yes 5 layers on!

Our cute tour guides

These arches were so beautiful!  It was such a testament to me of the power of God and his many creations!

I'm not sure why we took this picture... probably because the tree was dead?

Carol and I had just hiked down from the top.  For me, who is deathly afraid of heights, this was a major feat!

We hiked up the mountain directly across from Delicate Arch.  Once we got to the end of the trail, we decided to keep going and do some exploring.  Out of nowhere, we approached this HUGE cliff.  Gary and Mike were like hanging over the edge and Carol and I were FREAKING OUT.  Luckily our crazy husbands didn't fall to their death.  Like father, like son.  Finally I ventured out a little bit to take a picture.  It was scary!

The picture really doesn't do this justice- you should have seen the drop directly behind us!

Boys being boys...

After hiking and exploring all day, we were beat.  We ate dinner at a pizza joint in town, then we drove up the canyon to stay the night at The Red Cliff's Lodge.  We had our own cabin right on the river with a sweet balcony.  It was absolutely breathtaking!

That night, Mike attempted to teach me how to skip rocks on the river, we watched footage of the Royal Wedding and, and we ventured up to the lodge for dessert.  They were having a wedding party that night, but Mike and I still managed to sneak into the restaurant in our pajamas for a cowboy brownie.  If you are going to Moab anytime soon, I cannot recommend this place enough!  It even has its own winery- which didn't do much for us in the way of drinking- but it provided a beautiful, charming atmosphere!  We only wish we would have been warm enough to try out the hot tub... I wasn't about to take off my 5 layers, even if it meant getting into hot water.

The next morning we got up and went to church, then drove home.  Thanks so much Gary and Carol!  We had such a great time, and can't wait to do it again!  You're the best and we love you!

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!