Cali Trip Part 1- Beach Day

So as you all know by now,

our first leg of the trip started with Anders and I getting engaged!

Wednesday night was a special night.

We didn't get much sleep because of all the excitement,

but come Thursday morning we were ready to continue our trek to California.

After a quick breakfast with family

we were on the road again.

The excitement really started to sink in on our drive!

I couldn't help but stare at this sparkly thing.

 You should all know that I didn't want to go ring shopping.

And I wanted the proposal to be a complete surprise.

I definitely got what I wanted!

Anders, being the great guy he is, picked this ring out entirely by himself

and sneakily planned that proposal (with the help of my family) without me knowing!

It was all perfect.

 We were staying at Anders' extended family's house in Mission Viejo.

Once we arrived, we dropped off our bags and headed down to Laguna Beach.

 There is something about the salty air and slipping my toes in the sand that makes me fall in love with this coast line all over again!

I wish I could've stayed forever.

 After getting our beach fix in, we rode our razor scooters around the boardwalk.

I still think those scooters were the best thing I have bought all year.

We felt a little silly at first, 

but those feelings quickly turned into more of a giddy excitement.

We couldn't believe that we had dreamed of this trip all year and now we were living it!

Not to mention it was already much, much better than we expected.

Anyways, for dinner we ate at the classic Johnny Rockets.

 I love their ketchup bowls.

My favorite part of the day was cruising the PCH with my love.

The sun was setting and we were jamming out to Oak Tree by Desert Noises.

That song has been at the top of my list all summer. 

We ended the evening with a stroll through Balboa Island.

It's such a charming place.

We admired all of the gorgeous houses and thought we'd play house for a bit.

We picked up a listing for one of the houses on the edge of the harbor.

6.5 mill... We have quite a ways to go to work up to this place.

After the sun had set,

we made our way back to Mission Viejo.

We needed a good nights rest because we were going to the happiest place on Earth the next day!

Disneyland... here we come!

ENGAGED.

Hello world,

I'm engaged!

I'm so lucky to be marrying my best friend.

He is so perfect for me and amazing in so many different ways.
I won't bore you with all the mushy details but you can 

watch the proposal here!
All you need to know is that this was a complete surprise,
he picked out the ring by himself (and he did so good),
and my family was there.
So basically... It was perfect.

Let the wedding planning frenzy begin!

VanLadyLove

One late evening a while ago

Anders and I drove up Provo Canyon to Vivian Park to throw

a glow in the dark frisbee. 

We just happened to show up during the shoot of this music video.

We've been anticipating the release of this song ever since.

Enjoy!

Fiji Part 3- Nogondoa

On Saturday, May 11th, in the middle of our trip we had a free day at the beach. 

It was low tide when we arrived so we took a lot of fun pictures on the beach before 

braving the trek through the coral to the water.

 

The walk out to the water was a little rough. 

Everyone got cut up and left with battle wounds.

The best part of the beach day was laying out on the sand when we reached the shore again. 

We all tried working on our tans and getting rid of our funky tan lines.

Little did we know that the lovely sun (when you are so close to the equator)

 only takes about 5 minutes to tan your skin and begin to burn. 

It was worth it though.

^^ Liz (or Via Via, her island name) in her natural habitat breaking open a coconut with a large machete^^

The next day was Sunday and this is a day of rest in Fiji.

We made the transition to our second village called Nogondoa.

This truly was a picturesque village.

The church sat on a hill and when it was time to come worship a bell would ring 3 times.

The first two times the bell rings is warning you that church starts in a half hour.

We attended a Methodist church and although we couldn't
understand the language it was very uplifting.

The singing voices of the congregation sounded like angels in heaven.
And I'm not even exaggerating.

The best thing was hearing their choir sing and the sound carrying down the hill through the village. 

Everyone was so interested in us.

All they wanted to do was stare at us.

Occasionally an adult would ask us a question (in English, of course) 

and everyone would crowd around us waiting for our answer. 

Later that day we were presented with a feast for lunch.

Oh, and it was Mother's Day so that was the main reason for the feast.

Anyways, after eating we played with some of the kids, napped (or tried to), and wrote in our journals.

Sunday was a nice day to relax but by then everyone in my group was going stir crazy.

We were ready to begin our last and final week in Fiji and get some work done...

... which we did.

We spent the day sanding down shelves, priming, and painting.

^^Kim and the beautiful scenery at BCC^^

Our last night in Nogondoa the village wanted to throw us a party.

It began with a big dinner.

We then sat with some of the men from the village while they drank kava

and played the guitar.

A few of us promised the kids in the village we'd party with them

so we headed back to the house we were staying in.

Can I just say that Fijians know how to party?!

We danced as much as we could before the lights/electricity turned off at 10pm. 

Some of the women got really into the dancing and smeared baby powder on our faces.

I'm not quite sure what that means but I think it's a good thing... haha.

Side note: Nogondoa was an interesting village because the place we stayed had really scary outhouses for bathrooms (no showers). We didn't even look in the outhouse/bathroom because the previous group told us it would cause nightmares. 

So, for the whole time we were in Nogondoa we had to knock on Michael's (the wealthiest man in the village) door and ask to use his bathroom and/or shower. 

That was a fun experience.

Thanks for letting us bug you, Michael.

He really is a sweet guy.

When Tuesday rolled around we knew it was time to say goodbye again.
We were on our way to the third and last village we stayed in.

^^ Merica (obviously not his real name but they make up American words that you can call them) was my favorite boy in this village. He was the sweetest. On my last morning there he had his dad ask me if we could be pen pals. Of course I said yes!^^

My whole group was so excited to move onto the third village.

I won't dwell on the negative but we each struggled during this middle portion of our trip.

It was time to move on and finish strong! 

I had heard wonderful stories about this next village...

I just didn't know they would be so accurate!

Mormon Miracle Pageant

Last night, Chris & Hilary + Anders & I, headed down south to Manti, UT.

Every year they have a pageant at the Manti temple and Anders had never been!

I love all the adventures we have together.

We've been trying a lot of new things this summer.

Example?

Well since you asked... Disneyland!

Anders has never been and we're making the trek down there in less than a month!

Anyways, that's besides the point.

Last night.

We had tons of fun listening to music and chatting on our way down there. 

 We were starving when we got there so we tried some of the local food vendors.

Let me tell you... those people make some of the best homemade grilled cheeses ever!

And we got a churro. Yum.

And a snow cone. Double yum.

So, we ate a lot.

Worth it.

 Last year was my first time going to the pageant. 

We went on a weekend and sat in the very back.

This year we had amazing seats super close to the front.

Such a beautiful temple!

On the way back, Anders was begging me to stop in the middle of nowhere 

so we could get some awesome shots of us and the stars.

The first time we stopped was a little creepy.

We pulled off down some road,

saw a raccoon,

and saw a house in the distance where we all swear 

we could see someone watching us on the porch. 

After contemplating all the ways this person could kill us for being on their property, 

we decided to get going again...

...Until we saw a turn off for a state park.

This stop was a lot less creepy.

And we saw 2 rabbits!

We sure had fun playing around with the light in these pics.

Spontaneous adventures are the best.

^^ Please excuse his Edward Cullen-esque face ^^

^^I had no idea what Anders was doing with the light. 

Hence, my facial expression.^^

After a long drive back and a stop at Mickey D's,

we were back in Provo.

This summer is shaping up to be a beaut.

Isn't it?