One Year Later

One year has come and gone...

...and nobody can believe it.

April 29, 2009

You might be asking what happened on this day.

No, we did not get engaged on this day.

No, we did not get married this day.

No, we did not start dating this day...(well sort of).

And no, I am not crazy for celebrating all the little things.

This day was the day Nik returned home from serving an honorable

and

full time mission in Tokyo Japan.

This day was the day all of us, family and friends, had one huge smile

plastered on our faces.

This day was the day that a son, brother, boyfriend, and friend

returned home after 749 LONG days away.

This day was the day I felt I was living in a dream.

(as I'm sure many others felt too)
This day was the day I had been waiting 3.5 years for.

Let me show you this day...

...the few pictures I have on this laptop.

Okay, well I had a few more pictures to put up
but my computer wouldn't load them.
I will update this post if I can get them up here.

Thank you, Nik, for doing such a great job

over in the lands of Japan.

Thank you for being such a great example.

This day was a special one for so many.

We all love you.

p.s. I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend.

Texas Roadhouse is Special to Me.

April 28, 2009

8:45 pm

Me, Rach, and Katie Jean sitting in a booth at Texas Roadhouse.

The 2 of them were so giddy as I just sat there.

Just.Sat.

I could barely do anything.

I could barely eat.

Nothing.

They were all smiles and laughs and excitement.

You wanna know why we were this way???

At that EXACT moment, Nik was in an airplane over the ocean heading back home to the U.S.A from Japan.

This was the moment I had waited over 3.5 years for.

I was so excited but didn't know how to act or think.

It was an out-of-body experience....like I was standing off to the side watching myself go through this.

For the next 12 hours....I was so out of it.

I slept just fine...WHEN I finally went to sleep.

Rach and Katie Jean kept me company while I made my Welcome Home banner to hold at the airport...and then they went home around 12:30 in the morning. 

It was so weird to think that Nik was coming home.

I finally went to sleep and slept just fine.

Around 6am I started having difficulty sleeping cuz I knew Nik was going to call me from the airport and I didn't want to miss his call.

He finally called and I sat there in my jammies on the couch for quite some time talking to him.

It all felt like a dream. Felt like another out-of-body experience. 

I didn't know if what I was seeing was even real. It felt like it shouldn't have been.

After our conversation on the phone, I got ready for the day.

I was suppose to be at his parent's house by 4:30 so we could get to the airport before his plane landed at 5:20.

We pulled into the parking garage at 5:23. Amy (his sis) and I RAN through the airport to get to his terminal before he showed up.

With all Nik's friends and family and my family standing around, he finally appeared and it was wonderful.

 Look at that Handsome MAN!

He gave everyone hugs and then he gave me a huge huge, lifting me off the ground and squeezing me so tight!

I was on cloud 9.

Showing off pictures.

I couldn't believe this was real...like, was he REALLY home?? Home to stay?? 

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!

The rest of the night was great....but that will be for another post.

I didn't mean to give you this huge long story..I really just wanted to relive the Texas Roadhouse experience.

That night was so good...to have my girlfriends with me at my favorite restaurant on a wonderful night.

I hadnt been to that restaurant again until last weekend.

Terri and her friend, Justin, went with us and it was so fun!

It was so cool to have those strong memories that meant so much to me and share them with Nik as we drove to the restaurant. I was able to explain exactly how I felt in that last 24 hours of "single-ness".

Gosh...I love Nikolas James SOOOO much!

I am so lucky to have these wonderful memories and to me ABLE to remember them so clearly.

 Terri and Justin

The Berry's!

Some nice guy took this picture for us.

Yay for Texas Roadhouse! We had so much fun with Terri and Justin and Nik LOVED the food....we went there last night with another couple. That place ROCKS!

Arizona...Here We Come!!!

Nik and I have made the decision that it is time for us to come HOME! We have enjoyed this adventure of being newlyweds in Utah...but our journey up here has come to an end. 

Maybe it is more me than him....but we want to be home with friends and family. We want to be home with the desert. We want to be home to the place we have lived our whole lives. 

But there is one little pit stop on the way...San Diego!

Next month we will be heading to San Diego for a summer job. Nik will be selling Pest Control and I will be working in the office taking care of the appointments and paperwork for that company. I am excited for a change but to still be working in an office. I love the office job. I am excited to be working with Nik. Nik's best friend Josh got him an interview with the company and luckily we were hired on. Now we get to spend the summer with friends! Josh and Kylee did this same thing last year and enjoyed it. We look forward to the great opportunities it can bring. Living in San Diego in the summer is going to be AWESOME!

Then in August we will leave San Diego and head back to ARIZONA! I couldn't be happier. Sometimes you just have to go with what feels right...and this totally does!

There is one thing Nik and I will not agree on.....being sad about leaving our jobs up here. Yes, he has been so blessed to have a Full Time job but it was just one of "those" J.O.B.s. = Just Over Broke. He is happy to get out of there and do something he WANTS to do. As for me...I am going to miss my boss and his awesome family. They really took us in under their wings. I felt immediately like family. They had us over for their family Independence Day party, an Office Christmas Party (which was only Nik and I and their kids all playing RockBand 2. It was so FUN!), and then they had us over for The Superbowl. It was so fun to be around little kids. Their 2 youngest are the same ages as my 2 youngest sisters. They are so cute. Paul also helped Nik and I move into our 2nd apartment, helped us after the deer accident with towing, and picking me up at home for work when Nik was at school with the car. I am going to miss Paul (my boss) and Mary (his wife). They were so nice. It helps when you love your job to have a great boss. Thank you Paul and Mary.

Well....now the word is out. Hopefully you are all as excited as we are! We can't wait to COME HOME!!!! 

Let's have a party when we get there! K? K!

The End of 2009.

Nik and I had an awesome opportunity to go to California for New Years. It was made possible because our friends decided to get married in San Diego and so we wanted to go support them and make it a fun trip.

Tuesday after Christmas we drove over from AZ to Oceanside, CA. (Sidenote: I drove the WHOLE way and that is a big accomplishment for me! Just sayin.) We got there around 7ish in the evening and met my good friend, Terri, and her fiance, Brandon, at Red Lobster. Being so close to the ocean made my cravings for seafood sky rocket. It was so fun talking with them and meeting Brandon for the first time.

That next day we woke up and walked down to this little restaurant for pancakes and eggs. It was such a nice walk right there next to the ocean. The weather was awesome and it was a great way to start the day!

After breakfast we went back to Nik's Aunt Macy's house (she was so kind to let us stay with her and Uncle Jim while in CA) to get ready for "Our Day in Oceanside." We went out to The Pier and walked around. There were fun little shops and food and we just...just had a blast being together with no worries for the day. There was a lite drizzle the whole afternoon which made for awesome cloud cover. Geez...it was just so fun! Here are some pictures of this fun day we had in Oceanside:

Me out on The Pier.
Look! Someone that donated money for The Pier has the same spelling as me! That is so awesome and rare I HAD to take a picture! woot woot! There were like 6 other Donna's on that pier...but mine was the best!

Us again. I love him!

Here is the Pelican Nik wanted as a friend. This picture was taken right before Nik almost got his hand bitten off. Pelicans are not friendly. whoops.

Nik and his new guitar we bought at one of the shops. Those are sprinkles in the picture so we had to hurry and capture this moment.

After we had fun on The Pier we were treated to dinner with Aunt Macy and Uncle Jim. We went to a pretty chill Mexican Restaurant for Happy Hour. It was nice getting yummy food for half off! They have really good nacho's there.

Uncle Jim, Aunt Macy, me, and Nik after dinner.

That next morning was New Years Eve Day so we were headed out for the wedding down in San Diego. Nik and I left early in the morning because we were afraid of rush hour traffic...but since it was kinda a holiday, there wasn't any. So we ended up getting to the San Diego Temple a whole hour before the bride and groom even showed up. It was a great day for Janessa and Travis and Nik and I were so happy to be a part of it!

After all the festivities were over it was time to ring in the New Year! Bring on Twenty-Ten. All us friends wanted to go out to dinner. There were 3 vehicles following each other around to find a place to eat...and when Josh's GPS sent us driving on the WRONG SIDE of THE ROAD...we lost one of the vehicles because they were actually paying attention to what was happening (unlike Nik and I) and made a quick turn to correct that bad decision. It was pretty scary seeing all these headlights coming towards us and a median to keep us from getting over easily to the correct side. So we did a quick U-ey. The other car with our friends decided driving around wasn't worth it and went and did their own thing. Josh and Kylee kept in front of us because they had the GPS with Sam and Bobbie...so we were following behind them thru 20+ minutes of driving and 8+ U-Turns trying to find a California Pizza Kitchen but the only ones around were at the Airport and Mall and we didn't want that. So finally we passed a Cheesecake Factory and decided that would end it all. No more driving! Well the wait was too long there so we went across the street to PFChangs. We waited about 30 minutes there and were seated. THANK HEAVENS. We had a FEAST and ate it ALL! What a fun night.

Josh and Kylee! (Thanks for the help, Josh in finding this place. It was quite the evening! Fun times in Cali.)

Sam and Bobbie!

Me and Nik!

The whole gang with our feast!

After dinner Nik and I went back to Oceanside and rand in the New Year there. That next morning we headed back home to Utah. It was a great trip. We had so much fun catching up with family and friends and we enjoyed getting away from the snow.

Look Back at 2009. April - July

Nik is home after serving an honorable & faithful 2 year LDS Mission in Tokyo Japan. April 29, 2009.

Our first hug in over 2 years.

Melissa and James got married May 30, 2009 and Nik and I were able to be there for them!

We were sealed (married) in the Mesa, AZ Temple for Time and All Eternity June 10, 2009.

Over at Paul and Mary's Family Party for Independence Day.

Out to Fireworks with Josh and Kylee.

Nik found Waldo!

Waiting for the Midnight Showing of HP6. Kinda bored?? Yep.

The Homecoming of Nik's Mission President...President Hill...

And his Mission Mom...Sister Hill.