family and funfetti

we had a fantastic weekend!

my parents came in town for my niece Elizabeth's baptism.

she was a beauty in white!

 we got lots and lots of cuddles from this little guy.. 

and cheered on matthew while he learned to ride a 2-wheeler.

on the same day, our buddy Evan turned 23! 

we celebrated with swimming and funfetti cake.

 and will looked so gosh darn cute cutting the cake for everyone. ;)

 then we danced..

 and we danced..

 and we danced the night away..

here's to another great week!

date night

last night prince charming swept me away on his white horse.

and by that i mean will surprised me by picking me up from school (ironically in his white truck) and taking me on a date.

we went to gateway mall and had lots of fun shopping and eating a yummy dinner at applebees.

one of my favorite things about shopping with will is that he
actually enjoys it. 

..as long as we don't stay too long.

he's also a pro at picking out jewelry for me! 

seriously, the stud's got way better style taste than i do..

anyways, it was a grand night!

and after he dropped me back off at my car and we raced each other home (he won),

we ended the night with slow dancing in the driveway to the car radio.

that's mushy cheesy i know.. but it's our mushy cheese. 

and that's perfect for me. :)

the bright side

things that made me smile this week (so far):

-playing frisbee in the backyard last night followed by a long walk with my guy.

-Milo knows his name now! i call him and he always comes.. well most of the time. :)

-my niece is getting baptized on saturday (we can go to this one yay!) and my parents are coming in town for it! yippee!

-school starts tomorrow! first class: zumba. this girl is ready to bring it!

-spent 10 minutes in the baby section yesterday daydreaming about being a mama. we're gettin a little baby hungry over here.. :)

-we picked out our hotel for our San Fran trip! come October, i won't be able to sit still!

-realizing last night that i've been at my "new" job for 4 months already and have loved every second of it! confession: we hope someday to have our own pool and i'll teach lessons in it. my dad keeps telling will to put in INside our house so i don't get wrinkly fast in the sun haha.

-reading my little brother's email to the family last night. Elder LeSueur is such a great example!

can't wait to see what the rest of this week brings! 

happy back-to-school week! 

falling in love with fall

this arizona girl was raised on rays of sunshine and summer 

all year long.

now don't get me wrong.. of course that was dreamy!

but when i moved up to utah, my heart opened up to 3 more seasons..

one of the most beautiful being FALL!

can you believe it's almost here?

here are some of me and hubby's fall favorites:

Kari-
carving pumpkins, apple spice candles, jumping in huge piles of leaves (that are orange and red.. not just dead brown!), dusting off my boots and cardigans (yippee!), dressing up for Halloween, pumpkin pie and pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes.. just everything pumpkin, "Witches Night Out", stuffing our bellies while surrounded with great company on Thanksgiving, beautiful hikes, the list goes on and on..

Will-
FOOTBALL, sweaters and corduroy pants (and he looks DANG good in them!), the colorful leaves, cool weather and rain, basketball season starts, dressing up for Halloween, hot soup on a cold day.

Dear Fall,

You can come as soon as you want and stay as long as you'd like.

We welcome you with open arms.

Love,

Kari and Will (and I'm sure the dogs think so too)

that time i fell in love..

in honor of our 1 and 1/2 year anniversary coming up, 

here's a re-cap of our LOVE story:

our first real date.. 

funny story, i tried to embarrass will by telling the random stranger who took this pic that we had just gotten engaged and wanted to "capture the moment" with a picture. they thought we were adorable together! :)

Halloween group date..

will showed off his pumpkin carving skills and we 

cuddled up to a scary movie.

the night i asked HIM if he wanted to be my "boyfriend".

he got off the hook easy.. but i couldn't help myself!

out on the town as an "official" couple for the first time.

long boarding with some of our friends in arizona.

will was always a good sport about letting us use his truck for this. 

brownie points. ;)

when me and a couple of my best friends drove 10 hours to meet will's best friends.. and we had a spontaneous dance party. so much fun!

 then we snuck off on our own to see the beautiful snow-covered salt lake temple grounds.
GOY-geous!

 when we started our Friendsgiving tradition with these cool people.. and a baby on a table.
i didn't admit it when we went around the table saying what we were most grateful for.. but it was defineatly Will, even back then.

that first trip to Utah we took together really showed us just how strong our feelings were for each other.

i remember freaking out that "this could end in marriage!" to my girl friends that came up with me,

and them telling me how great that was and how perfect we were for each other.

i'm so glad they reassured me that it was okay to let myself be so beyond happy and get married young.

this was the best decision i've ever made.

i love you William!

cabin get-away

we spent this weekend at Will's family's cabin in Island Park in Idaho.

it was gorgeous up there and lots of fun! 

the cabin sits next to a beautiful river and has it's own little dock.

me and will even got to stay in our own one-bedroom
mini cabin next to the real one. 

it was called the Teenee Tepee. it was cute!

the weekend consisted of a Harry Potter marathon, ice cream cones and shopping in West Yellowstone, getting caught in a rain storm while floating the river, seeing Lucy the Moosey and her baby up close n personal, riding the quad, kayaking in front of the cabin, and lots of hot cocoa and yummy meals made by my mother in law. 

check it out! 

that last picture gives me butterflies. 

i'm so lucky to be married to such a cute, sweet boy.
he's everything i need.

it was fun hanging out and catching up with Will's family
..we missed Hayley though! 

now it's time to get in the swing of things for school again. 

i'm taking a mix of classes to get an idea of what i'm interested in and am really excited about them.

as always, i'll keep you guys updated. :]

the happenings

last weekend was a blast! friday night we drove up Emmigration Canyon (which i've never even checked out and it's suuuper close to our place) and watched The Notebook and star gazed in the bed of the truck. this was a romantic date we've been wanting to do for a while now (side note: the first time we said "I Love You" was under the stars in the very back of his truck too..) the date brought back good memories and we decided to come back the next morning to try one of the diners up there.

breakfast dates have always been my favorite. if you know my family, you'd see why.. every Memorial Day and President's Day we all go out to IHOP for breakfast, we have some major milk-aholics in my family, we could eat pancakes, crepes, or cereal for any meal.. and if my mom was ever gone.. a lot of times we did!

(prime example of my lame picture taking skills lately.. the glob of sunlight on will's face doesn't do justice to his good looks. still though, too cute not to post!)

the beautiful view of the canyon during the day.

saturday night, we got together at Bailee's parents house for a BBQ and swim party. it was so much fun! we put up a net and played pool volleyball (newlyweds vs. old married people... which we qualify for now i guess?) it was fun! it always is with our awesome group of friends!

i wish i would've taken more pictures (and actually with other people haha) but we hopped in the pool right after this so i wasn't exactly on my "A game".


we've had a pretty great start to this week (minus will having a pretty bad head cold.. poor guy). that just means i get to practice my calling of being a "nurturer" to my family and taking care of my honey. i worked monday and tuesday and am enjoying having a full day off to relax with him today. did i mention i love my job? well it's great! not only is it a huge blessing to get to pick when and how many hours i work, but my coworkers and little swimmers are awesome! i've had some super fun jobs in the past, but for the first time in a long time i feel like i'm really looked up to and can make a huge difference by being there. i've received a few compliments in particular this week from my coworkers and boss that have really boosted my self-confidence. i plan on still working 2 days a week there in the fall along with school. it just feels good to be appreciated. :]