2 year anniversary trip!!

After we got home from our Arizona trip on Saturday night (May 18th) we were exhausted but unpacked our bags anyway! We knew we wanted to go on an anniversary trip the following week so we had already told work that we wouldn't be there the entire week of our anniversary (May 21st). We hadn't booked a vacation because we were waiting on my passport to come in the mail (I had to do a name change on it). FINALLY it arrived at my parents house Saturday night. Now we could finally plan a vacation! We came to realize that booking a trip out of the country takes a little more prep than 1 or 2 days so we saved ourselves the stress and booked a trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday night.

Monday we packed and prepped and Tuesday morning (our anniversary day) at 3a.m. Spencer's dad picked us up (How awesome is that?!?) and we headed to the airport for our 6 a.m. flight. I've decided that I like morning flights because 1. the airport is WAY less crowded 2. You can sleep on the plane anyway 3. We arrived in Miami, Florida at 9a.m.! Awesome. We had the whole day to do whatever we wanted!!!

We headed to our hotel in Hallandale, Florida. By the time we arrived at our hotel it was about 10:30a.m. and our room was not ready yet. So we drove around to check out the area we would be staying in for the week. We were in the perfect location!! Minutes away from the beach and in the middle of all the shopping areas. Awesome. After realizing our hotel room was not ready yet we headed to Panera bread around lunch time. We were starving. Something about traveling just makes you extra hungry!! When we arrived at Panera bread we just looked around in amazement at the amount of elderly people EVERYWHERE. I'm not kidding you, almost EVERY seat in Panera bread was occupied by Florida's finest retired folks and their laptops. LOL...yes, they all had their laptops setup on their tables. Amazing! And also kinda creepy. It was definitely a new experience. Once we left and walked outside we noticed dozens of old people and their walkers shuffling across the streets. It was seriously crazy!! We thought this had to be some kind of joke. Florida--the retirement state. Is this true??? Apparently. It was also a week day at 11a.m. so it only makes sense that old people were the only ones out and about at that time of day. All the kids were still in school. This was really the only day we saw this many old people, it wasn't as ridiculous the rest of the week!! That was funny stuff though!! I have a picture somewhere...but I can't find it.

So after lunch we went and checked out the beaches we were close to. We found Dania Beach and drove by Lloyd Wright State Park. Finally around 3p.m. we headed to the hotel and our room was ready. They delivered our stuff to the room and we showered and got ready to go out for dinner--since it was our anniversary night!

The best part about our room was this--The microwave and refrigerator!!

Our view from one side of our balcony:

The view on the other side:

We had to find a restaurant with pasta so we could take our traditional honeymoon picture! We found the Cheesecake factory and headed to Ft. Lauderdale! I loved this little area where the restaurant was! It totally reminded me of Boca Raton, FL where we vacationed for our honeymoon.

For dinner I ordered chicken piccata-that's what we served at our wedding. : ) Not going to lie, Bobbie Sevy's chicken piccata is definitely better!! 

I love this boy so much! I can't believe it's been 2 years!!! I don't even remember life without this boy!! 

It was a great night and especially a great start to our fun week in Hollywood, Florida!

~Nat

Arizona Fun

Thursday, May 16th we headed to Phoenix, Arizona. One of my long time friends and college roommates was getting married in the Mesa, Arizona temple on Friday.We got in Thursday night and explored the city a bit. It was our first time to get a rental car and we even upgraded to a luxury car- a Lincoln MKZ. I had no idea what the Lincoln MKZ was, in fact when the guy asked us if we wanted to upgrade Spencer was super excited and my reaction was, "Isn't that an "old people" car?" lol....the guy insured me that it wasn't and promised us the "sexy" black color. Without further hesitation we upgraded and headed downstairs to pick up our car.

O.K. So I was a little wrong, it WAS sexy and we were so excited to get to drive it around for 3 days!!! Though it took us 30 minutes to turn the car on (because of the new key-less technology) we were FINALLY able to get it started with my help of course ; ) and off we went! We found our hotel, showered and got to spend an hour with my friend and her fiance at their house around 10 p.m. that night.

Friday morning we woke up and explored a bit. We wanted to drive to the Mesa temple so we knew exactly how to get there for the wedding at 3p.m. Friday afternoon. We stopped at the Deseret Bookstore there right across from the temple afterwards. 

Then we stopped and got some breakfast at Einstein Bagles and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. 

Such a beautiful temple! It's so different looking!! It definitely has an older feel too, especially on the inside.

Had SOOO much fun chatting with these ladies all night, literally all night! After the wedding we went back to the hotel and talked for hours. Love these girls!

I love getting to travel with this man!! He makes everything soooo much more fun!!

 Fortunately for us it was cloudy the day of the wedding so it didn't feel like 101 degrees outside like the weather was forecast to be.

On Saturday morning we drove to the new Gilbert, AZ temple that is still under construction. We were able to see it the entire time we were there because our hotel was only about 7 minutes from it. It's so beautiful, seriously. Parts of it remind me of the Houston, TX temple. 

That was some intense heat!! I thought I liked the dry heat better than the humid heat I'm so used to in Houston. HA...the minute I stepped foot out of the Arizona airport and said I changed my mind. I'll stick to the humidity..ha! No pun intended! ; ) It keeps you younger anyway! : ) 

It was such a fun little trip. We are so blessed to be able to do stuff like this!! 

We also had our first meal at IN-N-OUT. SO yummyy!!!! It was also like 10:30a.m. but we had to head to the airport soon after and we weren't leaving Arizona without eating there!! : )

Cool shot Spencer took on my phone when the girl sitting next to us got up to go to the bathroom. HA...that was such a fun flight home!! We shared headphones and listened to music on my ipod while acting out the song. Yes, we are awesome!! I love that boy and I'm excited for an eternity of fun together. We've done a great job so far! ; )

Not sure what's happening with the lighting here...This was taken while the girl sitting next to us was gone.

Love spending time with his crazy self. Thanks for following!!

~Nat