The Good Ol' Days

I miss the good ol' days when Mom would baby me whenever I got really sick. I would get to stay home from school and lounge around on the big pillow chair while she would dote on me hand and foot. Whether it was good for me or not, she was always on hand with a milkshake or Jamba Juice to ease an aching throat and brought plenty of books and movies to make sure I was entertained. Nowadays when I'm sick, I wake up the same time as always, suck it up, and head off to work just like every other day. Don't get me wrong, Richard has been a great help and has been fixing all the meals and letting me relax while he patiently waits for me to get better. But it's just not the same as when my Mom would run to Blockbuster, make a stop at the library, and make a banana shake for me, all the while fluffing my pillow and checking my temperature twelve times a day.

Hawaiian Honeymoon

Hawaii was almost two weeks ago, but I still wanted to blog about it and just let everyone know how fantastic it was. It got off to a VERY rough start when I forgot my license (which had expired anyway so I needed two other forms of I.D. on top of the expired license), left my purse in the bathroom (luckily a good Samaritan turned it in), and had to throw away all my shampoo, toothpaste, shaving cream, body wash, lotion, etc. before going through security (I forgot about the stupid 3 oz. rule). But the rest of the week couldn't have been better. We spent a lot of the time laying on the beach or staying in the awesome pool and two hottubs at our hotel and just enjoying being together. But we tried to go out and do something fun every day: Monday we got a massage to start the week off right and went to a Mai Tai party at our hotel (there were Mai Tai's and open bars EVERYWHERE. But don't worry, we didn't drink a drop!). Tuesday we went horseback riding on the beach, over lava rock, and up into the mountains for a gorgeous view. Wednesday we went to the Aquarium where we saw sharks, eels, sea turtles, and tons of fish. The next day was beach day and we played frisbee and football on the beach all day. That night, we went to an authentic Hawaiian luau, which wasn't as great as it was cracked up to be. But I guess it was all part of the experience. Friday was our favorite day because we went sailing. We went snorkeling off the boat and saw SO many sea turtles. One even swam right up to Richard! We saw a lot of fish and beautiful coral and even a nasty eel (I decided that eels are what I am the most afraid of now. They are so creepy!) The crew, food, and experience were all wonderful and we were very lucky to see so much. They caught two Mahi Mahi's on our trip, which they said had never happened before. In fact, they hadn't even caught one fish for over a month! Then, even though whale watching season is over, we saw a whale out in the distance and stopped to watch it flip it's tail at us a few times. We even saw a flying fish as we headed back to the shore. It was a great day. Saturday we had to check out of the hotel early and so just drove around for most of the day seeing the sights. We tried the Road to Hana and decided it wasn't worth it about 1/3 of the way through since I was fighting carsickness and Richard couldn't even talk to me because he had to concentrate so hard on the road! So we walked around Lahaina and went to Hard Rock Cafe before heading to the airport. On the way, we saw the most beautiful sunset we had seen in Hawaii. It was the perfect ending to an amazing week!!!

Wedding Day

Beautiful temple with brand-new husband and wife!

Sick of pictures yet?

My cute lil nephew, Logan

Well, if you can believe it, I am finally a married woman. I officially became Kelli Henricksen on May 10, 2008 in the Jordan River temple. The sealing ceremony was incredible and the Spirit was so strong. It was so wonderful to have my whole family there (except my dad who we missed very much!) and a lot of Richard's friends and family. The long day I was expecting actually FLEW by and we were off to enjoy our honeymoon before I knew it. Richard's parents took care of the luncheon and it turned out great. I debated whether or not I wanted to get up and say something since I felt so dumb in front of everyone. I finally decided that I really needed to and got up and mumbled my way through something pretty pitiful and then turned the time over to Richard. He was so sweet and talked about our first date and even got choked up a bit when he talked about how much he loved me and how special I am to him. I wish I would have been able to express my love to him in the same way but I never seem to be able to find the words. The reception flew by even though we stood in line for a little over two hours without a break. Other than my feet being a little tired, I was amazed at how energetic I still felt by the end. The cake cutting was pretty awkward for us and nobody told us what to do so we didn't have plates or any idea what layer to cut into, etc. Richard was the perfect gentleman and fed it to me without covering my face in it, but I couldn't resist putting a little bit on his nose. Too bad I can't show the same respect for him that he shows me :) Not many people were left and those who were weren't paying much attention but a few of my high school friends gathered around to catch the bouquet anyway. After that, we were whisked off to the Hilton to stay for the night before jetting off to beautiful Hawaii! (Further posts to come on how amazing Hawaii was!) The day was absolutely perfect and I was so happy. I couldn't ask for a better husband and am so grateful that he picked me to spend eternity with!