This is the title for this post

This post was made by Robert by the way.

Finals week for the summer semester was June 15-19. When I realized I could finish them all by the 17th leaving a four day weekend, we decided to go to Arizona. We made arrangements with our Richardson family (there's no his, her, or mine, just ours) to crash the party they were having. They had access to a resort in Scottsdale that needed to be used up soon so we tagged along with them. We made AWESOME tie-dye t-shirts that we'll have to post pictures of later. We had a western barbecue where I won a cactus buddy and we got put in jail.




And on Friday we all went to Out Of Africa and saw a ton of cool animals.



This camel gave our guide a big slobbery kiss.




These guys kill lions!!




The legend of the unicorn is said to come from these antelopish things.




Turns out zebras really aren't as friendly as some of the other animals. And the truth about their stripes is that they are black with black and white stripes.




This 'eland' ate from Heidi's hand. It's large snout came right into the bus.




But definitely the highlight of the animals was the snake. It is a 18-foot 100-lb python and it scared the heebie-jeebies out of some people. We weren't scared so we hung around with it for a while and let it slither all over us. Then they needed to put it back in its pen, so the guide told all the kids to help lift. I was right near the tail end, but there was a smaller kid there who looked excited to help, so I let him pick it up. Good thing too. The snake started to poo. Yes he poos once every other week and we were lucky enough to see. I won't give any details, but it was awesome!!




When we decided to go down we also decided not to tell our Wilcken family. So we totally surprised them. That was even better than seeing the snake poop. We walked into to their house and mom was standing behind the counter in the kitchen talking with dad and Mike and Katie (Mike and Katie knew we were coming). Mom looked and started to continue her thought and then realized who it was and stopped cold with a very surprised look. It was a lot of fun. Aubrie got home and saw the car in the driveway, and I'm sure she was quite confused. She was excited to see us too. Breanna wasn't home so we decided to go to her work. Mom and Dad went with us and went in to Ocean Blue first. They distracted her and turned her back towards the door. We walked in and Dad looked up and said 'Oh no.' She turned around and screamed (for joy of course). Everyone else in the store turned their head to see what was going on.

It was a great trip!!

My Husband...

Well Sunday not only was Father's Day but it also marked 4 months since I married the most amazing man ever. So I thought it was high time I wrote a little tribute to Robert. Except now that I am doing it I don't know what to say and am hoping it doesn't come off as too corny...

When I first became friends with Robert while doing the musical our sophomore year in high school, what first impressed me the most was how girl crazy he WASN'T. All of my guy friends around that time were constantly going after girls, and more often then not it ended up being the same girl which would start all sorts of drama. But Robert was only focused on just having a good time in high school and doing the best he could with whatever he was doing. I guess that made it easier for very low self-esteem me to feel comfortable talking to and getting close to him because I didn't have to worry about being the most impressive girl around. I could just be me and the was more than good enough. Then when Robert started liking me back (I was his first crush EVER :) he could easily make me feel like the prettiest most amazing girl in the world just by the way he would treat me.

Alas, high school drama and lack of communication fouled that situation up junior year before any hand holding had even occurred. Robert spent the next 4 and a half years being very bitter towards me and I spent them regretting what had happened and wishing that I had done things differently. Long story short, and very unexpectedly, we got a second chance once Robert got home from his mission, and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for it.

Three of the millions of reasons I love Robert are...

1. He is a constant surprise. I never know what funny thing, sweet thing, or new talent he is going to pull out next. For example, I knew he was an awesome pianist, but then in high school, during the second musical we did together, he pulled out a trumpet and started to go to town on that, then after he got home from his mission we were hanging out with some friends and out of nowhere he pulled a harmonica out of his pocket and started jamming out on that. He is the same way with sports too. He can run with the best of them in ultimate frisbee, softball/baseball, and racquetball, and he was a pretty good wrestler back in high school, and no one ever sees him coming. He's not the best at basketball, although he has the best Granny Shot I've ever seen ;)

2. He LOVES the Gospel. He loves talking about his mission, in fact the only time his face lights up more than when he talks about his mission is when he talks about me :) He loves magnifying his callings, not only our Primary calling, but also in his Home Teaching assignments. He loves going to the temple with me. He loves studying the scriptures. You name it, if it has to do with the gospel, He LOVES it.

And last but not least...
3. He's a husband I can cry on, and never cry about. It's been 4 months and we are still in the honeymoon phase. We've never had a disagreement that has lasted more than a minute and we have never been even the slightest bit upset with each other, and honestly it's getting harder and harder to even picture a situation that would make us be upset at each other. The hardest part of our marriage thus far has just been being so far away from family. It really takes its toll on me sometimes. There have been several times that we'll be lying in bed and Robert will take me in his arms and just let me sob on him for hours. And eventually, I get overwhelmed by how much he loves me that I'll start crying even more. And then I'll finally stop and I'll feel a million times better because I know I will always have my Robert.

This weekend as we were driving home after hanging out with some friends, Robert said, "It's so great that we are always together. It's almost like our friends think of us as one person. It's perfect, and we have this forever." I couldn't agree more. Even now, more than five years later, Robert still makes me feel like the prettiest and most amazing girl in the world, the way he did in high school. Except now it's not only by the way he treats me, he just has to look at me and I know. Robert is my best friend, a perfect husband, and someday he will be an amazing dad.


Four months down... Forever to go... And loving every minute of it.

WE'RE LEPRECHAUNS!!!!

We found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow ;)

I Love the Mountains... Aka Date Hike

It was once again my (Heidi's) turn to choose what we were going to do for date night. I decided last week that we would go hike to the Y on Y Mountain. Then this week I got really sick, allergy sick, but when Friday came I was feeling okay so we went to hike the Y anyway. Well long story short, with a combination of me just barely feeling better and being VERY out of shape, we didn't do the whole hike. It's a switchback hike, and there are 11 switchbacks, and let's just say that I didn't make it through all 11. It's embarrassing how dead I was after the little we did and how sore I have been since. We have recommitted ourselves to getting into shape and plan on waking up early every morning to run until we are. Anyway, here's pictures from our adventure.





In other news, I still have not found a job up here, and it's gotten to the point that the job market has just died, so I can't even find hardly any places that are hiring anymore. So, Robert and I have decided that I should look into going back to school and finally finish my Associates. We've been exploring the option, and my best bet is to go to LDS Business College in Salt Lake. I'm going to meet with an advisor there this week to see if I would be able to finish my Associates within the year that we are going to be here. If not, it wouldn't be worth it to transfer the credits I have just to have to transfer them back, and if that is the case I will keep taking classes online through Mesa Community College. But it would be fun to go back to school full time again. Here's hoping!

Operation: Date Night. Mission: Beauty and the Beast

Friday night we went and saw Beauty and the Beast at the Scera Outside Theater. It was a great show. I loved the set. It was made to look like a bunch of books and with each scene change they would pull out one of the books and open it up. Very clever and creative in my opinion. The girl who played Belle was AMAZING!!! Beast wasn't the best Beast that I've seen but he was still good. It was windy which made it really cold. Luckily, we brought blankets to sit on and cover us. So it was a fun date night all around, I give it a 10. :)

Visitor and Visiting

The past couple of weeks have been crazy busy. First of all, the week after Memorial Day, my sister Aubrie came and stayed with Robert and me. We had a ton of fun!!!

One of our many adventures is that we went to see Bridal Veil Falls. It's a beautiful spot in Provo Canyon.
Ain't we precious!?!




Aubrie is such a model.




They are beautiful!!!

That night we went to Chuck-A-Rama. We might have had a little too much fun :) I'm not going to lie, I'm so proud of this face. It doesn't even look like me ;)


And Aubrie and I were as cute as ever.


And honestly, what trip is complete without without making a blanket fort?


Sung as a bug :)


That weekend we went to Mesa for our friends', Natalie and Hunter's wedding. It was so great to see all of our friends and family. I miss them all SOOOOOOO much!!! Robert's accomplishment of the weekend is that he was able to hold each of our twin nephews without them crying. It made him so happy. One thing that's hard about having so many people that love you and you love back is that it's a lot of people that you have to miss. We'll be back in Arizona in a year and I cannot wait!




We rarely can take pictures that both of us are serious in. Oh well :)