the BEST week of my life.

oh my goodness. if you've never been on a cruise...do everything you can to go!
we had an absolutely fantastic time. our itinerary went something like this:
monday: depart from long beach, cali
tuesday: spend the day in san diego, cali
we rented a little two person bicycle and cruised around downtown...super fun!
wednesday: arrive in catalina island, cali
my absolute FAV stop! we went snorkeling at "lovers cove" and buried ourselves in the sand. what a relaxing, beautiful day.
thursday: spend the day in ensenada, mexico
this was danny's favorite stop, probably because he speaks spanish. i couldn't understand anyone, but it was still fun. and it was my first time out of the country! we rented a four wheeler for an hour and rode it around the sand dunes, which were right next to the beach. talk about perfect.

the BEST day of my life.

i've been promising wedding pictures for over a month...and i'm just NOW getting them up! i don't think i can explain how incredibly awesome/wonderful/perfect/dream-come-true my wedding day was...it was eveything i hoped it would be. cami had my camera as we came out of the temple, so some of the pictures are really random, but she did a great job! we're still waiting for the actual wedding pictures from hayley anderson but don't worry--as soon as i get them i'll put them up for all to see! until then, here's a few more to enjoy!

right before we left for manti!

the BEAUTIFUL manti temple

cute little mariah

the happy MARRIED couple


jill and i

mr. and mrs. mckinley

alli and danny

what a WONDERFUL, magnificent day.

bridal shower with the girls

ok. so i know i got married over a month ago...and my bridal shower happened before the wedding, but i thought since life has finally started to settle down i'd fill ya'll in and brag about my awesome, wonderful friends.

jenny was the host of the party and, holy cow, she went all out! we had delicious croissant sandwiches (my favorite), yummy watermelon, cream puffs, lime water with pebbled ice from sonic (she know's me all too well!)

we played a bunch of fun games, socialized, and opened gifts. it was so much fun seeing everyone and realizing how blessed i am to have such amazing friends! i had a fantastic time!

lindsey and michelle

me and the second ward girlies

amanda, kierstin, lindsey, and michelle

deina, jenny, and lindsey

thanks girls for the wonderful night!!

what happened in vegas

about a week and a half before the wedding, the girls and i took a road trip down to sunny las vegas. we got a super good deal staying in a marriott hotel (thanks to jenny's hook-ups) and we had quite the weekend. we went swimming every day, shopping a ton, ate even more, and were crazier than ever. it was a blast...i love my girls!

flip that dresser

so for the first two weeks of our marriage we didn't have a single thing to store our clothes in. we were basically living out of boxes and bags, and our cute little apartment was a MESS. about two weeks ago we were driving down university and saw this huge yard sale. i don't usually stop at those, but there was tons of furniture, so i had danny pull over. we looked over the dressers, and they were all super trashy but there was one that was the perfect size for what we needed. it was yellowish wood--the paint was peeling, and when you touched it you got a handful of splinters. but for some crazy reason, i thought it had potential. i figured if we sanded it down, got a different color stain and changed out the knobs it would look a million times better. so that's what we did. danny thought i was crazy, and when we took it to my parents to work on it, they thought i was crazy too!

but i showed them.

we borrowed my grandparents sander, got a beautiful stain at home depot, and some sweet knobs as well. we worked on it for a couple hours each day, and by the end of the week we got to bring home our new dresser. we had such a blast working on it together--and now danny wants to be a carpenter on the side. hah. turns out i wasn't crazy after all.

we're back!!

i've been mia for the past few weeks...the wedding plans got the better of me! but now we're back and life couldn't be better!! we are two very much in love, extremely happy people.

thanks to ALL of you for your support, love, and help with the wedding!

everything was PERFECT.

i wish i had more time to give ya'll a run down of the actual wedding day, but until then, here are some pictures (which we took before the wedding) to keep you busy. they turned out exactly how i wanted them to! these are a few of my favorites. i HIGHLY recommend hayley anderson as a photographer, if any of you are looking for someone to shoot your wedding, or family pictures. she is awesome!

stay tuned for more pictures of the wedding day, and our cute new apartment that we LOVE.

xoxo.

jill beard gleue

so a few posts back i filled out an ABC of my life. for the letter "B" i listed a few of my best friends. my SINGLE best friends, that is. i failed to mention my awesome, amazing, sweet, MARRIED, best friend jill beard gleue. since i made such a horrible mistake, i'd like to list just a few things

i LOVE about jill.

1. she looooooooooooves peaches.
2. bonifa latifa halifa sherifa jackson is her friend.
3. whenever stuart misbehaves, she's sure to tell him what mama says.
4. she reads cookbooks at night.
5. she loves looking at the stars and the galaxy.
6. she is an AMAZING dancer and knows all sorts of cool tribal moves.
7. she's super tall. just like me.
8. she rocks out to regina specktor with me.
9. i can give her "the look" and she knows exactly what i'm thinking about.
10. she is SUCH a good example to me, and she's coming all the way from star valley, wyoming to attend my sealing in the manti temple.


i was SO so lucky to have jill as my very first college room mate. i probably would have run straight back to provo if it hadn't been for her.

she is most DEFINITELY one of my very best friends.

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

not that it wasn't official before, but we now have our MARRIAGE LICENSE.

b.da.bomb turns the big two-zero

it's always a GREAT day when you have something to celebrate. a little over two weeks ago, my dear friend brittany was up from cedar city, spending a little quality time in provo. we don't get the see her very much, since she attends suu, so jenny and i decided to continue our tradition, and take her out for a birthday dinner.

the birthday girl chose to eat at the olive garden. soo tasty. this was my first outing out of the house since my tonsillectomy, so the food tasted extra delicious.

me and my girls.

the girls REALLY wanted danny to come along so they could get to know him better before the big day. he was such a sport for putting up with our crazy selves, but i was so glad that he came. the girls definitely approve. (how could they not?!) and britt even got a free dessert, that she shared with the three of us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITT!

ps. this is a little late in coming...seeing as brittany's birthday was two weeks ago...but better late than never, right?! love you girl!

the osmonds

for the 24th of july the entire osmond family came into town and teamed up with the mormon tabernacle choir to celebrate the pioneers. kyle christensen, one of danny's best buddies, got four tickets to the sold-out show saturday night. we had been wanting to double with him before he left for colorado, so we were excited when he invited us to the concert. it was held in the conference center up in salt lake, so we got all dressed up and headed up to slc for the big show. now i knew that the osmonds were big news in the mormon community, but i didn't know they were THAT big. there were SO many people there...and they weren't just locals. we ran into danny's aunt, who lives in idaho!

we felt a bit like cattle crossing the street, but it was fun to be a part of the madness.

this nice lady in front of us in the line took a picture of us...she thought we were so cute because we were matching and we didn't even plan it!

i don't know what happened here with the camera setting, but it turned out pretty cool! the salt lake temple is gorgeous.

the four of us: danny, me, holly, and kyle.

the concert ended up being a blast! the mormon tabernacle choir didn't disappoint, and the osmonds sure know how to have a good time! it was a little different when disco lights came on in the conference center, but it was a really neat experience. we even got to see president eyring and his wife who were there for their date night!

garden love

i don't know about you, but fresh food from the garden is probably one of my all-time favorite things. my parents have a BEAUTIFUL garden where they grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, peas, squash, blackberries, and raspberries. nothing ever goes to waste because we all cherish that food like gold. this year, my parent's were kind enough to share their wealth with danny and i. we picked bowls and bowls of fresh raspberries (while of course eating a few...) and then we smashed them all up and made them into my mom's famous raspberry freezer jam. it was so much fun learning how to make it (and finding out how easy it was to do!) and we're so grateful because this jam is to die for!! thanks mom and dad for sharing with us. it will not go to waste!

the finished product! yummmm yum.

ABC

A- Attached or Single? most definitely attached
B- Best Friend? brittany olsen, lindsey hobbs, jenny pate, meagan steele, and my danny boy
C- Cake or Pie? banana cream pie! love that stuff.
D- Day of choice? wednesdays are great for mid-week boosts, but i also LOVE sundays
E- Essential item? my cell phone + camera. pictures are priceless.
F- Favorite color? green, hands down. any shade i adore.
G- Gummy bears or worms? little worms. every year in elementary school for my birthday treats i would bring worms n' dirt since my birthday is the day after april fools!
H- Hometown? provo, utah
I- Favorite Indulgence? any type of dessert. i have the biggest sweet tooth in the world. kisses from danny definitely "take the cake" though
J- January or July? JULY! the fourth is my all-time favorite holiday. nothing beats parades, bbqs, the sunshine, and fireworks
K- Kids? in danny's words, "4-5, sometime in the near future"
L- Life isn't complete without? sleep and danny. not together though...at least not yet...
M- Marriage date? August 23, 2008
N- Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers, 2 sisters+1 sister-in-law
O- Oranges or Apples? ohh thats a toughie. oranges are spectacular around christmas time, but an apple with a little bit of caramel dip is heavenly.
P- Phobia and fears? phobias: spiders, bees, and mosquitoes. fears: at the moment my biggest fear is not getting everything ready in time for the wedding!! it's coming up SO quick!
Q- Quote? see the top of my blog
R- Reasons to smile? DANNY. seeing little laney and her crazy black indian hair. my family. chocolate. laying out. eating the perfect piece of watermelon. going for a run. finding an apartment in provo where there are MILLIONS of married couples. the list goes on and on.
S- Season of choice? summer.
T- Tag 3 people: brittany olsen, michelle aravena, kate lowe
U- Unknown fact about me: most people probably know this already, because i LOVE to tell everyone i meet, but i am one-sixteenth lebanese. not many people can say that!
V- Vegetable? fresh tomatoes from the garden. yummmmmm.
W- Worst Habit? procrastinating.
X - Ray or Ultrasound? i've never had either!
Y- Your favorite food? i love ALL food. i am not picky at all.
Z- Zodiac sign? Aries

baby laney!

Elaine Johnson George was born on July 10, 2008.

she is absolutely ADORABLE.
i am so lucky to be one of her aunts.
danny and i have decided since mariah already has her favorite aunt cami...
we're going to try our hardest to win little laney's heart over.
we'll let you know how that goes!

but, i must admit, i have the cutest nieces in the world!

part two: fun up in SLC

so in case you thought that was the end of our "extrava-date"...boy were you wrong! let me fill you in on part TWO. we were SUPER dirty from hiking, so we drove up to danny's brothers apartment in SLC and quickly showered off and got ready to go to the joseph smith movie on temple square. by the time we got there we had just enough time to grab a bite to eat at the nauvoo cafe in the joseph smith memorial building. we met up with aaron, danny's younger brother, and then hurried to catch the five o'clock showing of the movie. what a WONDERFUL movie.


i am so very grateful for this amazing gospel that i get the chance to be a part of. it's so nice to be reminded of everything that was gone through to get this religion back on the earth today. joseph smith was a Prophet of God, and after watching that movie again, i was reminded of his incredible strength and faith in the Lord.


we love to see the temple
we thought we'd thank aaron for taking our pictures,
by giving him a kiss on the cheek...he didn't exactly love the idea.
aaron and i
danny wanted to make sure everyone was aware HE is older than aaron.

i had SUCH a great time up in SLC. to end our big day, we drove up to ogden, to support the BYU soccer boys as they played the Ogden Outlaws. danny got to sit with me--which made the game much more enjoyable! BYU won...go cougs!

i'm so grateful for my fiance, and all that he does to treat me like a daughter of god. this was a much needed date, especially since i got my tonsils out two days later. life is wonderful with my boy!

part one: adventures at silver lake

it's not everyday that danny and i get to spend the whole, entire day together...but last saturday danny planned an "extrava-date" and it was PERFECT! he picked me up at about 9:45 and we drove on up to american fork canyon, where he had planned to hike up to timp caves! i haven't been up there since i was about ten--and he's never been--so we were super excited to see all the stalactites and stalagmites! UNTIL...we got up to the ticket window...and the next tour wasn't for three whole hours!! We were kinda bummed, especially since we were all geared up for hiking, but then the lady gave us a map of the area, and told us about SILVER LAKE. on the map it didn't look like it would be too hard, just four miles round trip. it ended up being a LOT steeper, longer, and harder than we thought it would be but it was SO worth it! its been way too long since we've spent time out in the great outdoors! after climbing over tons of rocks, dodging lots of horse poop, and singing our hearts out, we made it to the top!! IT WAS GORGEOUS! and totally worth it.

ps. once we got to the top, there were a few other couples that had just jumped in the lake...and they talked us into it! it was FREEZING but so much fun!

just starting out...not winded at all...or sweaty
danny was on picture duty
this butterfly was following us everywhere!
stopping for some h20, while danny snapped a pic--being all artsy
WE MADE IT!
danny and i--right before jumping into the ICE cold lake
soaking wet :)