Introducing....

the newest member of the 8th ward Bishopric!!!
That's right- much to our surprise, Richard was called to be the 2nd counselor of a BYU singles ward! He will do an AMAZING job and I am so so proud of him. We'll both be going to that ward so it will be weird to be back with all the fun, energy, and craziness that goes along with being in a singles ward. They're also having me teach either temple prep or marriage prep (I haven't heard which one yet) so I am about as scared as Richard of our new callings. Wish us luck!!!

Trip to Cali

Our trip to Cali was...well, less than ideal. But we went to support Richard's brother who was getting married in Palmdale, so that's all that matters, right? We stopped on the way down to go hiking in St George and had a blast hiking around for about 2 hours. But on the way back, I stepped a little too close to a ledge that had about a 5 foot drop and the wall crumbled underneath me. Luckily, after I landed on a sharp rock and rolled down the hill a ways, Richard's brother caught me before I got seriously hurt. We did think I broke my thumb and spent 2 hours in the emergency room getting it checked out. But other than that I was just scraped up. I scared Richard pretty bad though, sorry sweetie!

The next day we went to the beach and it was FREEZING! I was so disappointed- don't you go to Cali to enjoy the sun?! But I had fun taking pictures of everyone and burying Richard in the sand.

Saturday was the wedding. We went swimming in the morning and finally saw a little bit of sun but it was very very windy. But the wedding still went well and now we have a new sister-in-law. She is the last in-law to join our family on either side!

Sunday we just headed back to Utah. It was an incredibly short, uneventful trip but at least we got a few days off of work :)

Second Birthday

Here is a fact that you might need to learn about me, one that Richard has already had to learn many times. You can't surprise me! I'm way too curious for my own good and somehow I always ruin surprises without even realizing what I am doing. I even ruined Richard's proposal because I knew he was going to do it and 10 seconds after he had proposed I couldn't keep it in any longer and I blurted out, "I knew you were going to propose today!" and totally popped his secret romantic bubble, as Richard puts it!

So anyway, Richard tried once again to be a sweet thoughtful husband and surprise me with a second birthday, since the first one didn't work out as well as he wanted it to. I have had scones for breakfast on my birthday for a very long time and I was disappointed that I didn't have them this year (Richard goes to work at 7 and I'm not even up by then so it wouldn't have worked). But Richard doesn't work on Fridays and since yesterday was the 5th, exactly a month after my bday, he decided he was going to make me scones and give me a 2nd bday. Unfortunately, he had to get them the night before but we were at his brother's until late and he had to take me with him to the store. He said, let me just run in and grab something. I kept asking him about it, wondering what he could be getting that I shouldn't know about until finally he said something like, Kelli please stop asking or you'll ruin the surprise.

Just like my mind usually does, it immediately went a million miles a minute trying to figure out what he could be getting at the grocery store that would be a good surprise for me and I thought it might be scones. But I made the mistake of saying, Ok fine I'll stay in the car while you go get them..... Richard knew right then that I knew what was going on and that I had guessed yet another surprise. I felt bad....but was very excited to get my scones!

He woke up very early and made me a delicious breakfast. Then he made a great dinner and had candles burning and music playing when I got home from work. Then we went and saw a play at BYU, which I also guessed we were going to, and had a blast there. Then we came home and watched a movie and had root beer floats. It was an AMAZING 2nd birthday and I'm so glad I have a sweet husband who went to all that work for me! Even if I always ruin it :)

Eating my delicious dinner!

Big cheesy smile with our yummy root beer floats

Near Death Experience...or so I thought

Richard had such a fun night planned for us last Friday. For part of it, he wanted to take me up to this "castle" in Provo (it's really just a tiny little fort, what do you expect in Utah?) to hike around and look at the beautiful view. When we got there we were sad to see that there was a wedding reception going on so we couldn't explore as much as we wanted to. Instead of following the main road up to the castle, where the reception was, we decided to walk straight up the back hill. Both of us were in shorts and flip flops and were just laughing and talking when all of the sudden I looked down and saw a snake's head RIGHT by my foot!!! (yes this is the actual snake that nearly killed me!) :)

I SCREAMED and ran all the way back down the hill. Richard, not knowing what I was doing, ran down the hill after me, also screaming a little bit (although he won't admit that part!) It was just a tiny little snake and I felt so ridiculous afterwards, but I was seriously terrified looking down and seeing that little snake's head right by my bare toes! That's about as "near death" as I would like to be for a while :) After that I would not walk in the grass but we still had a nice time walking around this little castle and around the lake behind it. We'll have to go back in hiking boots and pants and then I'll be able to relax and enjoy it a little bit more!

**In Richard's defense, he really wasn't screaming, he just looked down and also saw the snake right by him and then got scared because he thought maybe it had bitten me. And then he was brave and went back up the hill to take the picture :)