east coast road trip: part 1

This trip all started because there was a deal for cheap rental cars in Florida so long as you didn't return them to Florida, hence the road trip up the East Coast. I'm so glad I got to take some time of work to adventure with Mom and Meg. Poor Sara still had school and was unable to join us and we missed her sass daily. jk sara we love you ;) We did so much in such a short amount of time so this is mostly just a quick recap (& photo dump) for my future self. 

FLORIDA

May 28, 2017

We took a red eye to Orlando, picked up the rental car, and started our drive running on about 4 hours of sleep (probably not the best idea). S/O to mama bucks for driving the entire time!! After a few hours we stopped in St. Augustine for church, visited the St. Augustine Lighthouse, grabbed some gelato and walked around the cute historic town. Next stop Jacksonville for the Jazz Festival! It was insanely hot and there were tons of people but our fave was the dance routines by the Jacksonville Pepper Steppers. 

Check 'em out! 

GEORGIA 

May 28, 2017

 After Jacksonville we made it past the Georgia state line and stopped for dinner at The Smokin' Pig for bbq in a tiny town called Midway bc we were starving and couldn't wait until Savannah. I don't know if it was because we were starving or because the food was so good but we literally ate every single bite of food in front of us. Then we found a hotel outside of Savannah and called it a night at around 9pm. 

May 29, 2017 

We woke up bright and early, ate our continental breakfast, and headed for Savannah to explore the River Walk. Then we visited the Bonaventure Cemetery (famous for its swampy trees and bc it was in some sort of movie) which seemed fitting because it was Memorial Day. Then we rented bikes and toured downtown Savannah in 95 degree weather with 100% humidity. One word: sweaty. But it was fun because every few blocks there are little squares/parks that are so cute and the scenery is not too shabby either--so many darling houses and pretty trees. The hardest part was keeping up with Ms. Speedy! Mom was cruising without a care in the world and I'm over here stopping at stop signs, almost falling off my bike every time I try to get going fast again, and trying to avoid getting hit by cars because it's against the law to ride on the sidewalks! Then we visited the Wormsloe Historic Site which has the famous 1.5 mile arch of oak trees. 

SOUTH CAROLINA

May 29, 2017

Next city on our list was Charleston and this was probably one of my favorites! First we stopped at Middleton Place, explored the 100 or so acres, saw a baby alligator (not a fan), and all tried our hand at milking a cow. Meg was a natural and got it on her first try but mom even got the two hand milking down. Then we visited all the cute houses on Rainbow Row which I loved and explored downtown. It was the cutest city and I loved the vibe. 

May 30, 2017

Woke up at Surfside Beach, walked along the shore collecting shells for my girl Cortney, loved all the colorful houses again, and ate brunch at Lulu's Cafe. The rest of the day we spent covering some ground and mad it all the way up to Richmond, Virginia. 

Part 2 with the northern states coming soon...

master megan

This past week I ditched Sam during his finals week (I'm the worst!) to visit Utah for Megan's graduation.
I missed BYU graduation in 2014 when she graduated and Sam was supposed to graduate....we were on our honeymoon. So I was so happy to celebrate her receiving her Master's Degree!!  

Meg's so smart and ambitious and cool and talented and is now a Master! She got her MS in Speech-Language Pathology. I'm so proud of her! I mean who else finishes undergrad and grad school in 5 years!?  Now here's a ton of pictures of graduation day because why not?

Oh hey Josh and Kristi! ^^ Josh is one of Sam's best friends from high school and he was in the same program as Meg so we had to all take a picture together. 

Love Megan's cute roommates/best friends and of course cousin Jenni!

Love my twinner so so much! So proud of you Meg!! 

Now if only we lived closer to each other! :'(

busyx2

I don't know about you, but this has been the busiest spring ever!! 

Sam has been in finals mode (studying sun up till way past sun down with classes in between) for what seems like FOREVER. It's really only been two months but really who starts studying for finals that early?? Answer: Sam and Aaron (Sam's bff/my replacement). But in all seriousness, I'm really proud of them for working so hard. All the late nights, long hours, and days without seeing each other will all be worth it one day...right? As for me, I've been working 4 days a week which has kept me busy while keeping up with the regular errands, chores, and my church calling in young women's. 

But let's get to the good stuff...the few magical hours on the weekend where we get to see each other! 

On the weekends while Sam and Aaron study, I go to the beach with Cortney.

Our spouses spend more time together than they do with us but they keep each other working hard so I'm not complaining! Then we try to meet up with the boys for a quick dinner. 

Mostly involving Taco Stand, Bronx Pizza, In N Out. You know, the good stuff. 

We've gone to the beach together, even if it's only for 30 mins bc sometimes you've gotta take what you can get & bc I'm a white girl and sunburn easily...

umbrella to prevent the inevitable sunburn ^^

We've had some Sunday BBQs with friends.

We dog-sat Zeus and took him to the dog park. 

 We went on a dinner/movie date for our anniversary and those 5 hours were my favorite hours of this whole month. Ps. don't go see the new Fast and Furious movie. It is the absolute worst. 

We see each other at night to read scriptures and say prayers.
 Then I'm off to bed and Sam's off to study some more...now just rinse and repeat all week.

May 10th can't come soon enough! Until then, I'm ditching Sam during finals to party in Utah. 

Sorry babe. 

cabrillo national monument

A few days ago we visited Cabrillo National Monument. This is probably my all-time favorite spot in San Diego to visit during springtime. Two years ago we came here for the very first time and we've been back several times since, but this trip was definitely my favorite. Due to the massive amounts of rain we had this winter, everything was so green and there were wildflowers everywhere!! 

The Old Point Loma Lighthouse- they just recently opened the top for public access!

I don't know what it is about fields of flowers, but I can't resist.

We've been to the Carlsbad Flower Fields each year we've lived here and I'm working on making round 3 happen this year. Sam already hates me for it. I offered going to the Poppy Reserve instead but that's 3 hours away so I don't think that's going to happen either... so someone please visit so we can go to the flower fields together!! 

 The gorgeous trail down to the tide pools. It was high tide while we were there and we were on a time crunch because Sam had to get back to class but maybe one day we'll get there at low tide to explore all the fun coves.

 This is seriously my happy place. I never get tired of the gorgeous views and the picture perfect scenery. So if you're visiting San Diego in the spring, I would put this on your list. There is a $10 entrance fee but it is good for a whole week. Definitely one of my favorite things to do in San Diego on a budget. 

28

It's my favorite boy's 28th birthday!

Of course I just had to add a cute picture from when he was young and carefree lol. Law school is stressing him out to the max rn but he just keeps on working hard everyday and I love him for that. 

This year Sam's birthday fell on a Wednesday which isn't fun at all, especially because he has school until 10pm on Wednesdays. He woke up early to go to school but luckily was able to come home for a lunch break. My mom was in town so we decided to have a yummy brunch ready with some of his favorites--acai bowls and breakfast burritos. 

Sam has been getting so sick lately, not just from his #lactoseprobs but also from any processed food or sugar. A couple days ago he threw up after he ate popcorn! We were sad we couldn't make him a birthday cake or treat so acai bowls were the healthiest "treat" option we could come up with. Sam is so disciplined though and wouldn't even let me go pick up a donut for him. But what's a birthday without cake!? so mom and I went out for some cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory while Sam was in his last class until 10...sorry babe.
Sam was also able to go on a little lunchtime adventure to Cabrillo National Monument which is so beautiful this time of year. But more on that later.

Happy birthday Samuel!! I love you and any excuse to celebrate how wonderful you are!

"spring" break in utah

I've never been happier for spring break and I'm not even the one in school!!

Sam FINALLY gets a little break from school so we decided to take a trip to Utah to visit family. 

Thursday started off like every normal day--I went to work 8-5 and Sam went to school and took a midterm. Sam finished his test we set off for Utah at 8:15pm....yes, I know we are crazy. 

The late night drive is no problem when you have a night owl for a husband who is well trained at staying up until the wee hours of the morning (thank you very much video games). 

**Note: the one and only time in my life I will show praise to video games.

But the two things we didn't take into account were 

1.) night time drives mean cold temps dropping below the 30's & 2.) our car heater was broken. 

Talk about bad combination! So much for "spring" break, we quite literally froze our buns off! 

Around midnight it was already 47 degrees in our car. Bad sign when we still had about 5 hours to go. By 3am it was 26 degrees in our car and we couldn't feel our faces/noses/fingers/toes/bums. I swear we got frost bite everywhere. I was wearing all the sweaters and coats I had, fuzzy socks, Ugg boots, and I used a blanket to make a tent over my body to keep the heat in. 

Sam was totally bundled up--I still don't know how he managed to steer with his hands under the blanket or use the gas and brake pedals with his feet pushing through the blanket.

We were pushing speeds of 100mph, anything to get to our destination faster so we wouldn't die. 

We finally made it to Utah at 6:30am and I've never felt worse. Probably the most miserable I have ever been in my life! Totally laughing about it now but I'm never doing that again. But the cold kept us awake for the drive so that's a blessing I guess.

  

Anyway, back to our trip. 

After a long Friday of road trip recovery, we started off the weekend with Gregory's baptism.

His family just moved back from Australia so it's been awhile since we've seen them. The last time we were together was 2 years ago when we visited them in Ireland. (You can see more about that trip here.) 

We went biking with Meg and Sara to get Cafe Rio because we miss that place like no other!
PS. I almost died biking down the hill on behind Sam's house because I'm the worst at riding bikes and couldn't brake properly. Flashback to when I was around 12 years old and I fell off a cliff on my bike and almost rolled into the river! My family says I am being dramatic when I recall that story but it was very traumatic and bikes have forever been my enemy since. 

Exhibit A:

We had a huge Sunday family dinner with the Plothow gang.
PS. Love you long time Hannah! You're going to be a great missionary in Zimbabwe!

We got to meet our 2 week old nephew Everest Leon Raymond.

And my sisters kept teasing me the whole time about needing to have a baby so they can be aunts. 

We went to Denny's at 11pm with this fun crew just like old times.
You can never get enough of Abby and Landon or Abby's tears over her own jokes. 

We visited some of our Buckley cousins and Bridger.

 We had a yummy brunch at Waffle Love thanks to Sara. Sam forgot his wallet...

Spring break is the best but broken heaters are the worst. It was definitely a trip I will never ever forget. Also I'd like to publicly thank Sam for driving the whole time there and back. He's the best bc he never gets mad at me for straight chillin or snoozin in the front seat.  Love you babe!