twenty-eight

the night of jared's birthday, he opened presents at the house and we kept it low key.
i proposed crepes with some friends, and he voted me down. he loves friends but does not
like to be the center of attention. not one bit.
what he does love are the ray-bans he requested.


daaang they look good.


in true sunday fashion, we dined at mom's on yet again another amazing spread.
would you believe a table setting so lovely with such delicious food is the norm?
jared requested a ham ring + au gratin potatoes.


we finished with a chipman, off-key song of happy birthday and
jared's favorite german chocolate cake.

a sushi date

jared's birthday dinner...
brought to you by groupon and at 9 pm, which is how we roll these days.

this guy

it's his birthday today and i'm so excited to celebrate with him.

you know he opens otter pops for me every time i eat one,
and that he insists i cut his hair even though i'm no stylist.

he's more of the cuddler (one reason i love the photo above),
and he watches the bachelor with me.

he claims to wash more dishes than me, but there's room for debate on this one.

football makes fall his favorite time of year,
even though watching byu & bsu play makes him visibly nervous.

he's a bit of a shoe hoarder, loves a good taco
and dreams of the day he can buy solely from amazon.com.

this guy is pretty right on.

happy birthday j!

twenty-five

saturday i turned the big 2 - 5, which is a quarter of a century.
holy! that is old. in the words of meredith grey,
"We're adults?! When did that happen... and how do we make it stop?"

my brithday started at midnight riding on a school bus with my favorite young people.
they sang a loud happy birthday to me as we drove from manti back to salt lake city.
i got some sleep, the mr. made a yummy breakfast for me, and we headed out for the day.
my birthday included pool time, a thai dinner, and homemade texas sheet cake.

mom put on another lovely sunday dinner this weekend.
we finished it with a strawberry shortcake roll.
mmm.
if one thing is clear, it's that i'm a lover of food.
and my birthday weekend was full of the best of it!

love bugs

i think a day in the mr.'s heaven would look like this:

food from texas roadhouse
a new pair of shoes
the best backscratch
a package in the mail to "dick lish" (compliments of loving bro's/sis's)
german chocolate cake
a j.crew tee (psych! but oh i couldn't resist it's too sexy)
calls, hugs, and messages from good pals

and so we spent the day celebrating slash spoiling the mr. with all his faves.


and throw a little crazy family in there too.


we took about 5 of this exact same picture, and someone who likes to wreck havoc on all things photography kept pulling creepy faces.



and i leave with you the words from the adorable card my brother cole (12 years) wrote to jared:

J, thank you for being the best bro-in-law, and

thank you for being so nice to me and loving to me.

also, thanks for helping me with sports and

you're awesome = cool.

love,
bugs

24 candles on the cake

summertime brings birthday time for our clan of 2!
me and the mr. will each turn one year older this summer.
i went first and celebrated 24 years of life a couple weekends back.

highlights include:

01. coming home from work to find the mr. home early and my fav Texas sheet cake baked and frosted sitting on the kitchen counter. he lit 24 candles and sang the best "happy birthday" tune I've heard.


02. packing our tent and sleeping bags and driving up the windy mountain roads to join the ward for a campout. it wasn't my initial thought for a great way to celebrate my birthday, but it turned out to be a super fun adventure.

we roasted goodies over the fire and laughed about silly things, and after a night under the stars we woke up to the crisp, cool air of the rockies and the sound of the birds singing. we started our day with a hike to some gushing falls and then drove back to the city where i appreciated a shower and then the couch/world cup.

03. fondue-ing at the melting pot with friends. the mr. and i were first timers and we decided we could be many timers. mmm! the banana's foster concoction with pound cake rated A+.

thank you everyone who celebrated with me and made me feel special!

ye old fart

the mr. celebrated 26 years of life this weekend, and i was lucky to party along with him. our weekend included:

magleby's breakfast,
an atrocious tennis loss against our more athletic friends,
german chocolate cake,
an extraordinary chinese dinner by mom,
and lots of time with family.

twenty-three

{me and my pops circa 1800}

today marks 23 years of life for me.
i'm spending the day with the mr. and tonight at the lehi round-up ro dae o with the family. yee-haw cowgirl.

i'm excited for year 23!
this year i am no longer a student.
this year i will decorate a house of my own.
this year i have real employment.
this year i {might} create a wedding album.

this year i will enjoy.

Mom Celebrated Her 50th Birthday

at a surprise party with all of her family and friends who savored every hope of catching Mom off guard. I was so nervous for her while awaiting her arrival, but she was such a great sport and everyone seemed to have a really good time. Look at this priceless face. I think you can say the surprise was a success!

Ron and Mary Crafts hosted the BBQ in their backyard, and of course of the food was nothing short of amazing. Mom's cake sported 50 candles and tasted just as delicious as it looks. It was a strawberry shortcake, and they served fresh strawberries with it.

I love you Mom. Thanks for letting us party around such a great occasion! Happy Birthday.

Birthday Time

Jared celebrated 25 years on Saturday!


Have I told you how much I love my husband?
This year's top 10:

10. He has a serious addiction to ice cream. Me too, now!
9. He has luscious, curly hair (sometimes used to look like an 80’s basketball player, see above).
8. He makes a lunch for me every morning & makes the bed everyday. What an adorable maid he is!
7. He’s an athletic kind of guy. He plays everything from golf and hockey to football, baseball and soccer. And sometimes he volunteers me to play too (not so lovey of him).
6. He’s so smart and reads books like Porter Rockwell and A Farewell to Arms. Random? Yes, but he loves picking out new books at the bookstore.
5. He BBQ’s like nobody’s business.
4. He pushes the cuticles on my hands back. My husband's hands are way tidier than mine.
3. He is crazy about kids, even the biggest rugrats you can imagine.
2. He has more patience than anyone in this whole world!
1. He understands me. He knows what makes me smile and laugh, when I’m sad, how to surprise me, and what makes me cry. He’s there through it all, and he gets me. I love you Jared! Happy Birthday.

Cheers to 22 Years

Wednesday I celebrated my 22nd birthday. I’m feeling SO OLD. In fact, I went to lunch with my friend Becca to celebrate our June birthdays, and we couldn’t stop talking about how old we are! Then we started laughing at ourselves because hopefully we have at least 70 or so more birthdays to go.

My birthday was a little different this year. I worked all day and then traveled to Santa Clara for more work. Luckily, Jared was with me throughout the day and all of my fellow interns—there are 35 of us in total—were great to me too. They all sang Happy Birthday to me and were so cute about it being my day. I can really see myself making plenty of new friends over the summer. These people are awesome!

Jared and I were able to sneak away for dinner to celebrate. We found a charming, little Italian restaurant near the hotel and enjoyed each other’s company over pasta. We chatted about our first day of the internship and reflected on the last year. Our waiter slowly learned that Jared and I were married and on business together AND worked for the same company. I’m not sure if he thought we were crazy or strange, probably both. Either way, he was definitely surprised! Among the interns we’ve gained quite the reputation as being the Mormon married couple. Go Lishes.

I have had such an amazing year. Jared and I went from living in different cities last summer to being engaged and then getting married. I’ve gotten to know a whole other side of family in the last year, and I got accepted to my grad program, landed the internship of my dreams, and now I’M LIVING IN SEATTLE WITH THE MAN OF MY DREAMS! What could be better? Thanks for thinking of me on my birthday. I love you all!