the happiest place on earth

we had a great week in california! danielle's wedding was beautiful, and it was so great to see so many of our friends all together. on our way down to california we spent a night with kyle's grandparents in st. george, it was fun to spend time with them and enjoy a yummy homemade meal. once in california it was time for the rehearsal dinner, we spent the evening with good friends and good food, we also enjoyed a slideshow of the bride and groom. and for the first time in our marriage kyle and i spent a night apart! i had a sleepover upstairs with danielle, chelsea, and megan. there were only 3 twin beds in the room, so even though i wasn't with kyle i was not sleeping alone--chelsea and i shared a twin bed haha (which was a great way to get close again after not seeing her in a year and a half!) kyle spent the night downstairs where he shared the living room with justin (kellys bf).

friday we woke up, got ready, and headed to the temple for the sealing. it was a beautiful ceremony and outside the weather was perfect, we took pictures and talked to the happy and beautiful bride and groom. after lunch we headed to the reception venue, which was BREATHTAKING!! it was on the roof of a beach club overlooking the ocean. first, we had a ring ceremony on the lawn, and then we headed upstairs for the recpetion, it was a beautiful, perfect night.

saturday kyle and i spent most of the day relaxing at the beach. we found a great patch of sand, got our tan on, waded in and out of the cold waves, and once again enjoyed perfect weather! then we headed up to anaheim and checked into our hotel.

on monday and tuesday we spent our time at the happiest place on earth--disneyland!! we had a blast hopping from disnyeland to california adventureland and riding the different rides. luckily the lines weren't too long so we were able to do a lot in those 2 days. one of the rides we went on was the tower of terror. i was terrified--it was dark and you never knew when they were gonna drop you--so scary!! afterwards i took a pic of the picture they take for you--check out my face haha!! other than that some of our faves include space mtn, california screamin, midway mania, splash mtn, soaring over california, and indiana jones.

we relaxed at the pool on wednesday and recovered from all the fun. and thursday morning it was time to head back to utah. overall we had a blast and really enjoyed our california vacation!

i loved all the palm trees!

he is the cutest mouse!

killing time in the starcade while we were waiting to use our star tours fastpass

california adventure land!

tower of terror pic. notice everyone else's faces and how they're having fun. then look at my face.

3-D glasses--they made for some fun rides!

outside newport temple

chelsea and liz reunited!!

right before the ring ceremony

the beautiful bride and her bridesmaids 

prettiest reception venue EVER!

anniversary

sunday was our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! it really has been a great year. a lot of people told us that the first year is hard and there's a lot of adjusting, but that was just NOT the case for us. so far being married has been nothing but wonderful! not to mention a ton of fun--its a blast living with your best friend!! ever since i was 19 i knew that kyle was my soul mate and that he was perfect for me, but it wasn't until this past year of being married that i realized just how perfect for me he is! i can honestly say that after a year of marriage we have never had a fight or even a real argument. we're both just too chill and easy-going for that, and in general we usually feel that same way about things. that's not to say we agree on everything--we have very different opinions about dogs, pickles, what to name our future children, and violence on tv to name a few, but nothing worth fighting over.

oh gosh i just love this boy, i could really go on forever about him and how great he is. he is so sweet to me, especially when i'm sick--he always takes such good care of me:) he helped me get through my most stressful year of school and BOARDS, and some pretty nasty sickness episodes this past year.

we have so much fun together playing tennis, golfing, mini-golfing, playing basketball, swimming, riding bikes, snowboarding, hiking, kicking the soccer ball around, playing the wii, puzzles, board games, playing volleyball, playing any game/sport really, cooking/eating yummy food, roadtrips, hanging out with friends, visiting family, reading good books, just cuddling & talking, and sharing our lives together.

so to celebrate our first year, we finally went back to salt lake! we went to the salt lake temple (where we were married) and did a live session. it was the first time for both us, and it was a really interesting experience. then we walked around the temple grounds for a while, checked out all the brides & grooms that had just gotten married and were taking pictures (that was us one year ago!) and took some pictures ourselves. then we had dinner reservations at 7pm for the roof resturaunt at the JS memorial building. it was a gourmet buffet and it did not disappoint! i enjoyed a warm lion house roll w/ honey butter followed by salad, salmon, potato salad, fruit, fruit salad, cheeses, then delicious french onion soup, and then some chicken cordon bleu, ham, and one of my favorites of the night: marinated flank steak mmm...but that was all before dessert. after all that i had some fruit brioche, cheesecake, carrot cake, CHOCOLATE CREME BRULEE, chocolate mousse, strawberry mousse, caramel flan, white mousse cake, and regular creme brulee...can you say heaven??!! of course i had fairly small portions of each of these, but i think its no surprise that i was not hungry again until about 3pm the next day!!

i guess i should mention that we did all this celebrating on saturday, on sunday (our actual anniversary) kyle went to meetings in the morning, then we both went to church, then i did my visiting teaching, then we had a romantic dinner of chilli dogs, then we talked to our families on the phone...it was pretty much a typical sunday. but a little later in the evening we pulled up itunes and put on the song that we danced to at our reception "lucky" and danced around the bedroom, then we celebrated in a more intimate way...

later, we talked about this past year, some of our favorite moments and what we're hoping for our second year of marriage. overall it was a great anniversary to celebrate a great year of marriage. and i can't wait to celebrate our anniversary together every year, over and over again for the rest of eternity! i love you kyle!!

and the party will continue later this week as we head to california...!!

outside the salt lake temple

my sexy husband!

one year ago we were here, taking pictures, wearing much different outfits!

i tried to get a picture of us holding a picture from our wedding day but it didn't really  work, you can just barely make us out in the picture....

ONE YEAR!!!

where we had our delicious dinner!

our view at dinner

lunch with nate

kyle's old roommate/friend/my friend too from our freshman ward, nate, was in town on friday to graduate. he'd been in D.C. all summer for an internship, so he and his parents kindly invited us to join them for lunch at cafe rio! as always the food at cafe rio was delicious and it was fun to see nate and catch-up before he moves to boston to work on mitt romney's campaign!

a little more welcoming

we've been having a good week in the poulsen household. last friday kyle and i went to the free rooftop concert here in provo and it was a blast! it was a fun vibe and the bands were pretty good, but if we go again next month we need to get there early because it was packed!

then on saturday we headed up to the lehi trafulga with krystal & jesse and played laser tag! each of us were assigned names with our guns--kyle was nero and i was mildew. mildew? really? anyway afterwards they posted the scores on screens and NERO was the top killer--way to go baby!! we also played some mini golf before heading to yogurtland for some yummy frozen yogurt.

tuesday was kyle's day off work so we took full advantage and went to seven peaks! when we got there it wasn't too crowded yet so we were able to get on all the rides pretty quickly. my favorite was the toilet one-- it shoots you down into a "toilet bowl" where you spin around a few times before dropping out!

we also got our fitness on by playing tennis and working out every day. and i got a couple days of work this week too, yay!

aaaand about a week and a half ago i joined pinterest, there were so many cute craft ideas i finally had to try one. i decided to start easy with a tie-wreath. i think it turned out pretty cute and i think it makes our ugly apartment door look a little more welcoming!

bet on it

kyle and i have been playing tennis together all summer, and since he's been out of school we've played together almost every day. we've actually gotten pretty good and our games our now really competitive and really close. so a couple days ago we decided to make one of our games a little more interesting and place a little bet on it. so we played, and kyle was beating me the entire game, but somehow i was able to come from behind and win it!

i won, which meant ice cream! that night we headed to sub zero--this is my absolutely favorite place to get ice cream, you can pick any mix, any flavors, and mix-ins and then they make it right there for you with dry ice and it is sooo yummy! my favorite combo has gotta be the custard mix with strawberry, coconut, and marshmallow mmm....

i don't think kyle felt too bad about losing though, since we shared the ice cream!

this time i got the custard mix with cake batter & marshmallow ice cream
w/ peanut butter cups mixed in--delicious!

treat date

just over a week ago i went to my friend sarah's house-warming party. kyle was at work so i was flying solo, but it was still fun to chat with people and eat sarah's yummy treats! sarah runs a catering business for events big and small and when it comes to food, she knows what she's doing! when it was time to go sarah insisted i bring a plate of treats home for kyle and she said that we could we make a little treat date out of it. haha well i don't know if it counts as a date if it only lasts 30 seconds, but kyle sure enjoyed it!

the next day sarah's babysitter called and cancelled on her last minute, and in a pinch sarah asked me and kyle for help. so that afternoon i headed over to sarah's to watch 7-month old sophie (kyle had to go to work so he joined me later) and it was a ton of fun! we played for a while, and then i took care of a diaper explosion haaha (kyle missed all the good parts), and then i fed her dinner-which was CRAZY, it basically turned into her finger painting her entire body/high chair/kitchen with a pureed sweet potatoes and ravioli mixture! a little while after that kyle showed up and within minutes sophie fell asleep in his lap! and that was pretty much it for the night, she woke up a couple times but just for a few minutes before finally conking out for good in her crib--we sure enjoyed spending time with such an adorable baby! but i'm not so sure that i'm ready to take it on full-time just yet...

overall it was a fun weekend and if you are in utah and ever need an event catered check out sarah's website http://yoursimplyelegantcatering.blogspot.com/

the treats i brought home for kyle--the key lime tarts were to die for!!

winner

my friend christianne makes and sells adorable headbands for babies and toddlers at her etsy site blossomchicboutique.etsy.com and this past week she held a giveaway and i won!! my headband arrived a couple days ago and it is so cute! right now i'm debating between giving it as a present at the next baby shower i go to, gifting it to one of my adorable nieces, or keeping it for my future baby girl:) haha decisions decisions...thanks christianne!

the cute headband i won!

the food baby returns

last night while i was still in my happy food coma from all the yummy dinner and treats we had yesterday, kyle and i got another dinner invitation for tonight! so at 6 we headed over to Laura and Brandon's place, and with 2 other couples from our ward we all had cafe rio! it was HOMEMADE cafe rio, but it tasted just as good as the real deal!! we had the sweet pulled pork mmm...the black beans, the yummy rice, lettuce, cilantro, avocado, tomatoes, cheese, crunchy tortilla strips, homemade tortillas, and the creamy tomatillo dressing, along with a really refreshing lemon-lime citrus-y drink. and after we had stuffed our bellies with as much cafe rio as they could hold, it was time for warm-from-the-oven brownies! and yes the food baby returned, and once again it was worth it. ahhh happy monday!

i gotta say kyle and i are really loving all these dinner invitations, anyone else wanna have us over this week? :)