Summer nights.

Gotta love those summer nights that consist of America's pastime with the fam. 

Look at those mountains! Why is Utah so beautiful?

My toes and Regan's legs.  So wonderfully relaxing.

Here's Regs and me at the game.  This summer we may be at baseball games, but next summer we'll be backpacking through Europe! We can't wait!

Last night, this cute girl, stayed the night with me.  

We are showing off our matching earrings in this picture.

We talked for hours and had such a fun time.  And I loved it because I didn't have to sleep in an empty house.  Her name is Ashley, and she is possibly one of my favorite people in the world.

Dear Tay: I really wish you had cell phone service.

Another day down!

A week alone

Yesterday, at 5:30am, Taylor left for scout camp (he's a young men's leader for our church, so he went with the boys).

And he'll be gone for a whole week.

He doesn't come back until Saturday.

This is the longest we have been apart since we have known each other.
The worst part is that he doesn't even have cell phone service. So not only is it the longest we will go without seeing each other, it's definitely going to be the longest without talking to each other!

So I'm already going a little crazy ;)

Luckily, the Gilbs live right across the street. So I'm not totally alone.

I made Taylor pose for me on Sunday night when he put on his scout shirt.

 my little eagle scout :)

I may or may not have shed a few tears over the fact that he was leaving.

Why am I so pathetic?

I guess love will do that to you.

Taylor laughed at me and then just held me, and told me he would miss me a lot too.

Thanks, husband. For not laughing too hard. Because I know it was probably really lame.

After work yesterday, I went and purchased this.

You know, to help me get through the week. ;)

Falling asleep in an empty bed is the worst!

Lately I have been having the worst nightmares. I can't seem to catch a break. 

I wake up really scared (and a little disturbed) and say Taylor's name to wake him up.  He knows just why I'm saying his name (because I seem to have this problem every night lately), and so he scoots closer to me and helps me fall back asleep.  I am so grateful I have him there.  I was a little scared to fall asleep last night, because I knew Taylor wouldn't be there to comfort me.

I prayed over and over again and asked not to have nightmares.

And guess what? I didn't have a single nightmare!

Just dreams about a cute little dog named Bowzie. Weird, right?

But I was very grateful for that dream and for cute little Bowzie.

Dear Tay: miss you lots!

Day one and night one down. 

Let the countdown begin!

one picture.

I feel as if this one picture sums up our weekend perfectly.

This weekend we had a whole lot of

laundry

swimming

and ice cream.

(and hey! all three are featured in this picture)

I took a break from laundry (which I was folding in my swim suit, since we were about to SWIM) to finish my yummy ice cream.
I think this is why it takes me so long to fold laundry.
I tend to take a lot of breaks in between...like going swimming or eating ice cream.

Oh, and you better believe that we are now addicted to Hell's Kitchen (thank you, Hulu Plus!).

Which inspired me to make:

cookie dough

delicious cake balls

and monte cristo sandwiches

We ate good.

Dear Gordon Ramsay: 

you scare me a little. 

and make me laugh a lot.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

the fourth.

And here's the video.

(call me lame, because I didn't get pictures or videos of the fireworks. the most important part!)

Happy birthday, America.

You are one beautiful country.

And we sure do love you.

Until next year...

Happy 4th!

Taylor and I had such a wonderful time celebrating the 4th of July yesterday!

So much fun. So much good food. So much family and friends.

Can't get much better than that!

Here are a few pictures from our day:

Hey look! Picture on the left=last year's 4th.
Status: dating.
Picture on the right=this year's 4th.
Status: married!
Awesome.

(p.s. we wore the same shirts on purpose ;))

More pictures AND an awesome video of the whole day (in the process of making it right now!) to come tomorrow!

Thank you.

Yesterday late afternoon, I suddenly felt overwhelmingly nauseous.

(no, I'm not pregnant)

I was trying to hold it together at work and pound out the last two hours,

but finally had to bail and go home.

On the way home, I was trying really hard to focus on the songs on the radio, and not on the fact that I was about to lose my lunch (ravioli to be exact).

But, that was to no avail.

Because I had to pull over on the side of the road, and throw up for all passerby's to see.

The ravioli wasn't pretty.

I thought about taking a picture, but I wanted to get back in the car and drive home more. 

Then I thought, "Who really wants to see a picture of this?" 

So, lucky you. No picture. 

Anyways, I laid in bed for the rest of the afternoon and evening, and slept my nausea away (mostly).

My husband was so worried about me, and it was really sweet. He wanted to do everything he could to help me feel better.

It reminded me of a time about two months after we got married:

I had a really bad UTI (#typicalmormongirlproblems).

Taylor kept telling me to go to the doctor, but I insisted that I was just fine.

Then, my kidneys started to hurt, and I was throwing up like crazy.  So I decided going to the doctor would be a good idea. 

It was actually the same week as finals...so, as you can imagine, this was an awesome week for me.

Not.

After throwing up all day, I fell asleep on the couch in the living room at around 7pm.

When I woke up at two in the morning, my sweet husband was laying on the floor next to the couch, fast asleep.

Even though there was another couch about four feet away, he chose to sleep on the ground, so he could be right next to me to help me if I needed it.

I was overwhelmed with gratitude for this wonderful man.

I woke up again at six in the morning. 

He was still there, on the ground.

And he was holding my hand.

Yesterday morning, I made a list of chores I wanted to get done that evening (you know, before I knew that I'd end up getting sick).

I obviously didn't make it to that chore list.

But when I woke up this morning, the list was gone.

And everything that I had on the list had been done.

Leprechauns? Angels? Little mice?

No.

 Just my wonderful husband.

My wonderful husband who cared for me until I fell asleep.

And then started on that chore list. 

And didn't finish until the whole list was complete...even though he was up until 12:30am doing it, and had to work early the next morning.

But he wanted to make sure everything on that list was finished.

Just for me.

Growing up, my dad used to always "baby" me and my siblings when we weren't feeling well.

When we were sick, he would make sure our beds were just how we liked them.

He would call to check up on us (if he was at work), or come into our rooms (if he was home) to make sure we were doing okay.

He would even give us a bell to put on our nightstands.

If we needed anything, we just had to ring the bell, and he'd come.

Awesome, right?

We only got this treatment if we were sick though. ;)

He'd buy us a Jamba Juice if our throats hurt, some 7-up and crackers if our stomachs hurt, and even milkshakes if our hearts hurt.

I love getting taken care of when I'm sick.

I got spoiled when I was a kid. 

By my wonderful daddy.

And I'm getting spoiled as an adult.

By my wonderful husband.

How did I get so lucky?

Still trying to figure this out.

Thank you, Dad.

Thank you, husband.

I love you both.

Giant Jenga + Some

Taylor and I had such an awesome weekend.  

On Friday, we got to tour the Jerusalem set in Utah, where movies like this are being filmed.  It was built just over a year ago, so very few have seen it (plus, you have to know someone involved to get a tour), so we felt very lucky to have the opportunity! Thank goodness that Papa Gilbert seems to have all of the connections.  I took some awesome pictures, but no pictures are allowed to be posted until the filming is complete.  I figured I should obey the rule. ;)

On Saturday, I came home to find this:

When my diploma came in the mail, Taylor hid it until he could buy some frames to surprise me.  Good thing I didn't even think to wonder why my diploma hadn't come yet.  This put a huge smile on my face for three reasons:

1. I have a DIPLOMA from BYU! It feels awesome.

2. My husband was so proud of me (once again) for accomplishing this, and he told me over and over again. That felt great. :)

3. My sweet husband is always thinking of cute ways to make me happy.

SO much good food was had this weekend.  My favorites consisting of Outback and Red Robin.  We're still trying to plow through the massive amounts of giftcards we received from our wedding.  And we're still so grateful...because we had great excuses to eat at yummy places all weekend long (and for the past eight months)!

The Gilbert sibs at Red Robin.  The picture was for Ms. Kelsey Briggs, because we all miss her.  ...She's pretty much a Gilbert in our minds.

This weekend also consisted of a lot of giant jenga.  How awesome is this?

And, see videos to appreciate the greatness of it all:

hiya=favorite part ;)

And last, but not least...well, actually it probably deserves to be least, here are my faces while waiting for Taylor to finish getting ready for church on Sunday. 

All in all, our weekend was great.