HOLY 2 YEARS BATMAN!!!

Guess what??  I'm baaaaaaack!

If all you knew about me was that I was about to get married, then what a sad state of affairs!  You might think I died or something!  Turns out, I GOT MARRIED! And we just had our 2nd anniversary!  Here are a few summary photo's of the May 2010....

 May 15th, 2012- We were married and sealed for time and all eternity....

 My mom and her mom watching us...

 My family...

 Kevin's family with Mike and Missy

 My siblings...

 Kevin's family with his mom

 Me and my Grandpa and Grandma Dunning... we lost my beautiful grandmother to pancreatic cancer this last February, so this picture is especially near and dear to me.

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 We went on a cruise for our honeymoon.... which was the BEST decision we ever made....

 It stopped in Cozumel, where we saw beautiful pyramids.

AND Grand Cayman Island... that coconut was gross by the way...

After our cruise we drove from Houston back to Utah... we stopped at the Alamo...

Spent the night in Pheonix at my Aunt Tamsen's house.... Saw the grand canyon....

Stopped in Zion's national park for a bit...

And then we made it back!! This was my first baking endeavor as a wife :)  A pavlova, which is delicious!!





I think that is all I can muster updating for now... We will see what I can do next!

ONE MONTH!!

EXCITEMENT!!!!!!! I can NOT even believe we are only/STILL ONE month away from getting married! ONE month from being sealed for time and all eternity!! I CAN NOT wait. We have a week and half left of school/finals, and then we fly back to Houston (Kevin and I). Kevin will stay for a few days so we can get our marriage liscence and I can GO THROUGH THE TEMPLE!!! Then Kevin flies back to Utah because he has to work. :( While that is a sad thing, I am very happy to get to spend 3 weeks with my wonderful Mother!! and the rest of my family :) I get to help with all of the last minute plans and things, which I am actually very excited about. :) I get to fly back out to go to Kevin's sister's wedding in Boise the weekend before our wedding, which should be fun. And then I fly back to be home for our final preparations while Kevin and his Dad drive out to Houston. Life is going to be crazy for the next few weeks, but it is going to be worth it and SO exciting!! YAY!!!!

Engagement Pictures!!

We took these awhile ago, but I still wanted to share. :)

Skiing!!

Kevin and I looking rather cute all bundled up.
Kevin is good at skiing :)

Enjoying a sunny lunch.

Me, not so much.

SO. Since most of my life has been spent in Houston, Texas, I never really had the opportunity to go skiing growing up. The only time I had gone before this weekend was over spring break my senior year, when my mother took all the kids. She just made us take a small lesson and then waited at the bottom of the hill while we tried skiing. The whole idea of strapping flat sticks to your feet to slide down an icey mountain seems crazy to me, but I tried it anyway. I HATED it. Mostly because I only enjoy doing things that I am good at, so the fact that it did not come naturally was frustrating. I swore that I would never do it again, but then this Christmas, Kevin's dad gave us two passes to go to Brighton, so I decided to try again. Kevin is an excellent skiier and was quite excited to go with me. I was pretty nervous about it. But we rented everything we needed and Kevin just made me go right up on the chair lift. Unfortunately, neither of us realized that there was a smaller slope, but I did the real one just fine, kind of. When I started, I didn't do very well, It took almost an hour to get down. And Kevin was very patient with me, he used his swim lesson instructor voice :) It was pretty funny. I went down one more time, but then my muscles were shot so i just let Kevin go down the harder slopes for his own enjoyment. :) We enjoyed a nice lunch, and then I read a book while he finished skiing. I think next time we go I will try and go down the mountain more than twice... It was really fun. :) I do have some pictures from the day though, so enjoy :)

20s dance picture :)

Not a very great/close up picture... but we looked pretty great :) Especially me, if I do say so myself ;)

Date Night=Great Night

Kevin and I went on TWO dates!! It was pretty fabulous. Friday night I arranged this big group date with 3 freshmen girls from my hall, and 3 of Kevin's mission buddies. Us girls, since we have dining plus meal plans, each bought a pizza from legends gille and then brought it to Kevin's house where the boys were all waiting for us. We had a few awkward moments until Kevin decided to have us all play some get to know you games, 2 truths and a lie. The goal is to tell the group 2 true things about yourself, and one lie (not in any specific order) then have the, guess which one was the lie. Mine were, I have 3 citizenships, I have gone skydiving, and I love riding horses. For those of you who didn't guess right away, my lie was that I love riding horses. I actually hate even being near them. Partially because that was always my sister's "thing" growing up, partially because they could kill me, but mostly because I just hate animals. I think I will allow my children to have pet rocks. Maybe low maintenance fish, but that is ALL. Kevin can have a dog if it lives outside and I don't have to ever smell it, pet it, or hear it bark. So probably not. :) ANYWAY- then we drove to Fat Cats (a bowling alley)... Kevin and I played DDR (Dance Dance Revolution arcade game) while we waited for lanes. Then we bowled for an hour. It was fun, but my backwards-between-my-legs bowling style is starting to fail me. I have resorted to throwing the bowling ball like a basketball chest pass down the center of the lane. That was okay, but not great for accuracy. I think I am doomed to being awful at that sport for the rest of my life. I am okay with this. Then we walked across the street to the Malt Shoppe and got yummy milkshakes. I do love those guys. :) That was a great night. Saturday, after doing homework through the last BYU home game against New Mexico. Kevin and I went to IN-n-Out Burger for dinner. Personally, I don't see what the big hype is, but Kevin and his family seem to threaten to disown me everytime I mention that fact :) Then we went to the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra Concert featuring my freshman roommate, Allison, as CONCERT MASTER, err concertmastress? anyway, she is the BEST violinist in the BYU School of Music right now... and that is saying a lot. It was REALLY a great concert, but since it was 2 hours long, Kevin fell asleep for a little bit :) It's okay though, it was a really slow, soft part.... then we hurried to the BYU Preference "Great Gatsby" dance. It was super cool and 20's themed. SO neat. It was in the Provo library big banquet room upstairs and they had this sweet live jazz band playing, "mocktails" (unalcoholic cocktail drinks...), and a few of the BYU Ballroom dance team members even performed a couple dances that were popular at the time... It was super neat. Kevin and I got all dressed up for it. :) I had a great time. We even rented the Great Gatsby movie to watch after. What a fabulously 20s night. :) I sure loved our fun dates this weekend. I love my Kevin :)

Are we there yet??

So, as fun as being engaged is... Is it over yet!? Things have been really great. I really love planning everything and it hasn't seemed all that crazy yet. But I'm sure it will get more so.... 76 more days!!!!! That seems soooo long. But every time I tell my mother, she kind of gets stressed. :) probably because there is so much to do still. But I really really wish it would go by faster. Kevin made me a REALLY cute countdown for Valentine's day, "100 Day Countdown To The Marriage of Melanie & Kevin" :) It was super cute and it helps me keep track. But to be honest, I started counting down the days all the way back at 115 days :) When I was young, I used to do that for the last day of school, days until I went to EFY or girl's camp, and days until big dances I was excited for. Now I am counting down the days until I get to start the rest of my life with a wonderful husband! :) Everyday I fall in love more and more. And I will continue to count down the days until the happiest day of my life!! :)