London

Last year during the summer, Nick won a trip to London from Platinum, who he sold for last summer. The company paid for our flight and hotel for a seven day trip! It was Nick's first time to Europe and had so much fun. My parents flew out for the last few days that we were there to do some sight-seeing with us. It was a blast. I have to say thought, we realized that seven days in Europe is quite different from seven days in Hawaii. We were exhausted by the end of the week! But it was totally worth it. 

Of course, we couldn't go to London and not visit the famous Kings Cross Station from Harry Potter... and platform 9 3/4.

H.M.S. Belfast- a British battleship from WWII that they keep in the Thames as a museum.

The Tower of London- We got to see the crown jewels, including the biggest diamond in the world-538 carats!! We also got to see all of Henry VIII battle armor. Pretty cool. 

Church on Sunday

Natural History Museum

We spent LOTS of time on the "tube"

A personal favorite....at the V&A museum

Harrods. Some of my favorite items: an antique billiards table for around 1 million British Pound.... a fendi fur bed through for 3,00o pounds... perfume for 2,000 (if that gives you an idea). haha. 

Windsor Castle- where the Queen spends her holidays and weekends. The oldest lived-in castle in Europe

Lion King with mom and dad and the Lycium Theater.

Warwick Castle

Shakespeare's House

Oxford University- they filmed part of Harry Potter in the cathedral there

Our tour bus

And last of all, our hotel. We stayed at the Bailey's Millenium Hotel in Kensington- a beautiful part of town, a short walk from Hyde Park and just across the street from a tube station. We loved it!

The staircase in our Hotel

Our First Apartment

After Nick and I got back from our honeymoon, we had about 3 1/2 weeks left before we left Provo after finals. Luckily, we were able to find this cute apartment at Aspenwood Manor to live in until we were done with school. It's an adorable restored mansion and all of the rooms come furnished and decorated. It worked out perfectly for us and we loved the time that we got to live there. It's a great place to stay if you're ever looking for a hotel in Provo!

Honeymoon to Kauai

Here are a few of the many pictures of our honeymoon in Kauai... finally! We absolutely loved everything about our honeymoon. It was so nice to get away from everything, especially school. It was Nick's first time to Hawaii and my first time to the island of Kauai- we had a great time exploring the island together!

Probably one of our most favorite parts of our honeymoon was staying in the Grand America in Salt Lake for two nights before we left for Kauai. Everything about the hotel is beautiful!

Picking up our bags at the airport after a LONG day of travel

Since we were staying on the Northshore, there was alot of rain and a little sunshine. But we loved it anyway. We were lucky to get a couple hours of sun on the beach!

The only downside of Kauai- ROOSTERS! They're everywhere. I used to think that roosters only made noise when the sun came up... but I was proved wrong. They especially like to be noisy in the wee hours of the morning when you're trying to sleep. And one other thing I learned: you can get fined $500 dollars if you kill one. I almost despise them as much as pigeons. haha.

On Wednesday we took a boat cruise tour down the Napali coast and it was absolutely amazing! Apparently we chose a great day to go, because the captain said he hasn't been able to get that close to the rocks for two months because the surf had been so high. We were only feet away from the cliffs- we loved it!

We saw a whole "pod" of spinner dolphins. Unfortunately we couldn't get a really good picture of one jumping out of the water, but when they do, they spin! Hence the name. We got to watch them for at least 15 minutes- so cool! We also saw several whales out in the distance.. but just like the dolphins, we never got to snap a picture while one was jumping!

On Thursday we spent the entire day lounging at the pool, which was wonderful of course. We stayed at the Hanalei Bay resort in Princeville and they have an AWESOME pool, complete with waterfalls.

One of the most hilarious burger joints that I've ever been to. My personal favorite on the menu is the "double slopper." Sounds super appetizing.... ew!Most of the time we were chasing the sun. We spent a lot of time driving to the southshore which is typically more sunny than Princeville. We found a great beach in Poipu... also where Nick got his first "bad" sunburn, resulting in peeling skin which he had never experienced. psh. I can't even count how many times I've been sunburned!

The lighthouse near the north shore

One of our great finds was "secret beach." Lots of waves, great whale watching, and not very many people. It was great!

Our new favorite restaurant in Hanalei. Marissa and Dan and his parents gave us an awesome giftcard and it was seriously our favorite dinner of the entire week. They grow all of their own fruits, vegetables and herbs. Their fresh fish is wonderful! Postcards is highly recommended.

Here are a few views near our resort in Princeville. The views were stunning!

This was the view right outside of our front door- we got to see it everytime we left the condo!

After church on Sunday we drove to the west shore to Waimea Canyon. It's definitely unlike anything else I've ever seen and different than any other part of the island. But beautiful nonetheless.

Bye Bye Bella....

My beloved Saab, Bella, died today. Good news is she kept me safe. What a good car:)

I had just dropped Aaron off in Salt Lake to pick up his car at the dealership and we hit 5 o'clock traffic going back to Provo on I-15. Traffic was stop-and-go, but we were going about 40-50 mph. The cars in front of me stopped pretty quickly, so I stopped just a few feet away from the truck in front me. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the car in back of me NOT slowing down at all- just a little frightening!
Next thing I know, I'm slammed twice, my airbags are out, and there's dust everywhere!

Turns out the guy in back of me had turned his head to switch lanes and just didn't see us stopping... resulting in a Saab sandwich. Poor bella.

Anyway, the good thing is I only have a tiny scratch on my nose from my sunglasses, some airbag burns on my arms, a stiff neck... and some nasty bruises on my legs.
But other than that, I think I'll be in good shape for the wedding this Saturday. Things could have been alot worse!

The frontal damage

The back damage

You'll be missed, Bella! I loved you while I had you!

More Engagement Pics

We got the cd of our engagement shoot back last week and we really like them! Brooke did an awesome job.
Here are some of our favorites:

Engagements

Here's a preview of our engagement shoot with Brooke today at the Capitol in Salt Lake. 

Her work is amazing! You can see more of it at blushbybk.com.