Hi June

Very important: If you haven't already given me your address for a wedding invitation please do so!! 

Memorial Day

For the first time in what seems like forever the Fam packed up for an adventure outside of the valley. We decided to celebrate Memorial Day and not being at work, we should go to Sedona! I feel like I go to Sedona every year at least once, because it's an escape that really isn't that far away. Sadie and I went there on our made up senior ditch day in 2013 and I've gone with Zach for 91AZ15 and for a spring break adventure. Surprisingly Parker had never been to Sedona before so it was a party fun time. 

Since Memorial Day is a crazy travel day for people we decided it would be best to not take the I-17, but rather to go through Payson, which is much more of a scenic drive. It adds an hour, but what's an hour when you're having a party with your friends.

When we got into Sedona we stopped and ate lunch at Chipotle, and sketched out a plan for the rest of the day. We decided we wanted to go to at least one scenic point, and we landed on the airport scenic view.

This was the airport look out, so obviously it makes sense to pose like airplanes... at least until you realize that you look like a show choir

We then decided to make our way to Grasshopper point. Usually Slide Rock is my go to place near Sedona, but since it was Memorial Day we knew it would be insane, and Parker found Grasshopper Point on the internet, so we went with it! And it was worth it. Even though the parking lot sign said it was full we decided to try and get in anyway, and sure enough there were a few spots open still, we lucked out! There was a nice cliff jumping point for those brave enough to jump into freezing cold water (Trevor and Parker) and some nice rocks to sit on while you ease into the freezing water. It was just hot enough that the water wasn't unbearable once you were settled in the water... but I definitely wasn't brave enough to get out of the water and jump completely back into it from a cliff. 

This was Trevs face after jumping in... just a little cold Trev?

Summer Time

Lil Cuties

I'm sorry for your permanent blindness

The road back into Sedona was very backed up so it took forever to get back into town. But once we did we went and got some fudge and ice cream before we started our journey back home. On the way home we stopped in Payson for dinner at Mackey's Grill (thanks to Dakota for introducing this place to me) where the waitress kept hitting on Trev ;)

Over all it was an awesome day spent with some of my best friends! It's been for too long since we had this kind of fam party, so I am glad we could make it happen. Now we are only a week away before another fam member returns!

Temple Time

Fun fact I had never done a session at the Mesa temple until last Tuesday. Steph had to come to the valley for some work things and wanted to do a session at the temple on Tuesday so I joined her after work. She went through in the Gilbert temple, but neither of us had been through Mesa so we decided to mix it up together and go to the Mesa temple. I am glad we did because I am very much obsessed with the inside of this temple now. I can't get over it. It was an awesome time in the temple though, and I am glad I have a friend like Steph who has the motivation to do sessions and is kind enough to drag me along with her!

Cake Testing

After work last Wednesday I joined Zach, McKenzie and my mom for cake testing at Iced for Life in Gilbert! I found this place randomly on the Internet, and it's just this cute twenty-something girl who started her own bakery and makes dang good cakes. For the testing we were allowed to pick 5 flavors we wanted to try. Zach and I settled on White Almond, Sun Kissed (orange and lemon), Cookies & Cream, Marble, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. I don't know if wedding cake flavor is something that's supposed to be a surprise... so I won't say what we decided on. But just know this is a two-tiered cake with two of those five flavors mentioned... and they are so dang good, you will never be able to stop eating or recover from all the carbs.

Live Flowers & Dead Trees

After work on Friday I got a text from Sadie saying a photographer postponed a shoot featuring one of her flower crowns until the next day, but she didn't want her hard work to go to waste so she asked me to come take a couple photos of the crown with the flower crown model queen Aubrey and her friend!

Right after we snapped a few photos Zach and I met up with Abby and Andy at Andy's house for a fun photo adventure in this area by the Salt River with a bunch of burnt trees. They found this place awhile ago and Abby has been wanting to take photos out there, so she Zach and I to join in on the adventure, and it was an excellent time... but also a very dirty time. You might not think burned trees could get you so dirty... but you would be very wrong. You will see through the photos I will post in a sec.

One of the many great things about mine and Abby's friendship is that we are both photographers who end up not being in a lot of photos/videos. But when the two of us together we can capture each other to prove that we were both adventuring. So I hope you enjoy all these photos. If I am in them, it's all Abby credit, and if Abby is them it's me haha. And credit to science and the few stable trees for the ones that we make it in together.

These two couldn't be any more amazing honestly 

This was an attempt by Andy to be really artistic. Surrounding Zach and me with a bunch of very dirty trees haha. It's all about the aesthetic.

And this is us when we pushed all the trees down and I got stuck on some. I always make the prettiest faces

Some couples are always cute... we are almost always awkward haha that's love

And of course as any shoot goes with Andy there are some photos that just can't touch the Internet. But someday if Andy ever wrongs me I will have a whole slew of pictures to blackmail him haha.... but of course he probably wouldn't care.

After that fun adventure we washed up in the river and got some dinner at Smash Burger. We sat in our booth for quite awhile talking about everything under the moon, and then once our food was digested we went to Zach's house to swim and discuss all the exciting happenings in our lives. Abby and Andy are 10/10 amazing couple friends because it just feels like 4 friends hanging out. The bomb.com.

Wedding Registry

On Saturday morning I went shopping with my mom at GoodWill to hunt down geometric things and picture frames. We were very successful, and our wedding is going to look so dope you guys, just you wait.

Afterwards Zach and I went to Target to do our wedding registry!!!! Luckily Trev was working to help us pick out the necessities from the electronic section, but after that we were on our own. The whole experience was stressful honestly haha... it's because I hate shopping. I was also hungry while we were doing it so that could have added to the stress. It's so hard to know what to put on there... and what not to put on there... and what are good quality things and what are just a waste of money. Luckily Zach is a calming force in my life so the experience wasn't awful, but it definitely took a lot of energy out of me. And now I will just add things to the registry online haha.

To reward ourselves for making it through the registry we went to Backyard Taco in Gilbert for the first time. We give this place a 10/10 because they give out guacamole like its hot sauce... you can't get much better than that honestly.

The Hunt for the Perfect Shoe

Let me say this again.... shopping really drains me. But for my mom and EJ it just gives them more energy. On Monday we decided to take on the task of going shopping for my wedding shoes. We came out unsuccessful because we did not actually buy any shoes, but we did figure out what I like and what I do not like. And we furthered the theory that my color is only perceived by me haha. But what's great about my mother and EJ is that they are very passionate about my shoe and will settle for nothing but the perfect shoe, and they will as much time as needed online to find the best show for me. A few have been ordered online and we are awaiting their arrival later this week to see if they will live up to my wedding day. Stay tuned. With my mom and EJ by my side there is no way you all will not be blown away by the shoes I wear.

The Bachelorette

Last night was the weekly Bachelorette viewing at Derrick's house. The group has decided to make prediction brackets for this season of the Bachelorette. I had never done this before, and it's actually quite stressful trying to make these obvi very important decisions when you barely know the men at all after only two episodes. I definitely know who I love and who I do not, it's just all those extra guys that it's hard to decide on. So far my bracket is doing really good. There are only two guys that I thought would be out that are still in. So we will see how the remainder of the season goes.

Like I said at the top of this post, if you haven't given me your address you really need to. The queen designer of Arizona, Ashlyn Weight is sending our invitations to the printer soon, and we will be sending them out not too long after, so get me your addresses... and don't just assume that I have yours saved in my mind... because I probably don't.