Moving on...

I decided I really wanted a "married" blog, if you will, to chronicle my adventures with Kyle post-wedding so I created this: thevanhorndiaries.wordpress.com

I will no longer be posting on this blog so please follow me onto the next one. :)

One week until we leave!

It's almost time!!! Kyle and I leave for New York in one week and I'm so excited! I figured I'd do a post on where we'll be and what we'll be doing in case people want to know.

So next Thursday we leave for New York City!! We get in early Friday morning and start our day! We're meeting up with Kyle's parents at our hotel and setting off on a tour of the city. We're trying to hit all the major downtown tourist spots that day: Empire State Building, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Greenwich Village and a couple more. It'll definitely be a long day. The next day will probably be a slower pace. I'm thinking Central Park and Statue of Liberty. Sunday we'll probably hit up some more fun spots. We're also going to see Book of Mormon that night. I'm really excited for all of it. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. :)

We leave for Henderson Monday morning and should get there early afternoon. We'll have the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday and Wednesday to relax. Thursday we'll have to start gearing up for the wedding. Friday we'll be doing all the pre-wedding stuff: nails, rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner. Saturday is the big day!!!!! I'm sure it will go by so fast and will be over before I know it, but hopefully I'll get lots of pictures to remember the day by! Sunday morning we'll hopefully be getting together with everyone who's still around for brunch and then relaxing and hanging out for the rest of the day.

So finally, honeymoon details!!!
Monday morning we set off for Canada! We leave from Syracuse and have a layover in Toronto and then on our way to Calgary! We get in around noon and then plan is to drop our bags off at the hotel and explore the city until we have to check in! Obviously pictures will be taken. :) We check in around 3 and then meet up with our travel guide/group at 6 for a Welcome Reception/Dinner. I'm assuming we'll head off to bed early to be ready to go the next morning! Tuesday morning we head out on our tour bus to Columbia Icefield to explore Athabasca Glacier. After that we head to Jasper National Park! We spend all of Wednesday in Jasper. We start the day with a hike in the park with the group and then we have the rest of the day free. We're doing a river rafting excursion down the Athabasca River that will take about 3 hours. After that we'll probably explore downtown Jasper. Thursday morning we head to Yoho National Park and explore Emerald Lake. We end the day in Banff where we get to choose from one of four recommended restaurants to have dinner at. After dinner we'll probably walk around downtown a little bit. Friday we head to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Banff National Park. We'll visit Lake Louise and Moraine Lake with the group. After that the afternoon is ours to do what we want. We decided we'll do the optional Banff Gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain where we'll have a bird's eye view of six mountain ranges. Cannot wait for those pictures! Saturday is a completely free day to do what we want. We haven't settled on exactly what we'll be doing, but I know for sure I want to check out Bow Falls and probably go on a hike. That night we have our Farewell Dinner with the travel guide. Sunday morning we say goodbye to our travel guide and the group sets off on the Rocky Mountaineer (train through the Canadian Rockies!). Can't wait to see all the beautiful sights along the way! We spend Saturday night in Kamloops. I don't know how much time we'll have there, but hopefully Kyle and I will be able to wander around the town a bit. Monday morning we're back on the train and off to Vancouver. Once in Vancouver we part ways with our group (the trip is supposed to end that day but we extended our trip). We get in around 5:30 and will head off to our hotel. Once we drop our bags off at the hotel we'll travel downtown to eat dinner and explore. Tuesday morning we're going on a hike (haven't decided which one yet, but we have it narrowed down). Depending on how long that hike is, we'll either do another or explore downtown Vancouver more. If anyone has any suggestions on what to do, feel free to give them. :) Wednesday we'll grab breakfast somewhere and do a little last minute sightseeing before we have to head to the airport at 2. I'm just so excited for all the fun activities!!!!! I will try my best to do a post once we're back and settled, but let's face it, I'm kind of terrible at keeping up with this blog... :)

Also, two weeks after we get back from our honeymoon we're off to Philadelphia for a friend's wedding! Excited to explore that city as well! :)

So it's been a while...

So it's been a whiiiile since I last posted. About 7 months to be exact. A lot has happened and I'll try to cover it. :)

December: So in my last post I mentioned that Kyle and I got an apartment together. We have since moved in and I've been loving every moment of it! Here are some before and after pictures:

Bathroom

Sink area

Walk-in closet

Held quite a bit

Bedroom

We also added a desk where the iHome and boxes are.

Our living area

Ignore the Christmas decorations. I've haven't taken any recent pictures.

Living area and entrance area.

We've also added decorations on the wall above and next to the couch.

Our kitchen

Our dining area

This was apparently the only picture of our yard that I took beforehand. It was a cement slab and dirt.

This is from outside our apartment.

We planted a bunch of things, added pavers, and put bark on the ground.

 I also finished my college career on December 12th. It was somewhat anticlimactic because there's no winter ceremony (I did get to walk in May, but more on that later).

Kyle and I went up to Palomar Mountain the last weekend of December and it snowed the whole time! It was perfect!

January: Not entirely sure anything crazy exciting happened in January....

February: So Kyle's family came into town in February and it was a blast. We played with puppies and I asked Kyle's niece to be my flower girl and he asked his nephew to be the ring bearer. We also went to the beach and caught little crabs. :)

Asking Campbell to be my flower girl.

She was stoked about the flowers. :)

Cooper!

March: Kyle and I went rock-climbing for St. Patrick's Day (my first time) and it was super scary but so much fun!

We also went to Kyle's sister's apartment for Easter and took some family photos.

April: I turned 25 and for my birthday I really wanted to go to Disneyland...so I did. :) Kyle, my sister, and two of my friends went with me.

May: I went to Big Bear for the first time with Kyle's family and the next weekend was my college graduation! :)

Tree twisted by the wind.

Big Bear Lake

Rock On! I'm graduated! :)

June: Finally we've reached this month. Kyle and I celebrated our 7-year anniversary and 1 year of being engaged. It was a wonderful day.

Where he proposed a year ago. :)

Dinner at Top of the Market. Soooo good!

It was also Father's Day this past weekend as well as my dad's birthday!

Dinner! Artichokes, meatloaf, and potatoes!

Hiking at Palomar Mountain

The view from the top!

Now, onto the wedding: We sent out our Save the Dates and the shower invites. The wedding invites came to my parent's house today and I can't wait to see them! I have my dress, we've got the tent, tables, chairs, caterer, cake place, photographer, and I'm sure more things I'm forgetting. I'm also going back in July to meet the vendors and do fun stuff! Oh! Kyle's wedding band came yesterday and we love it! He didn't want to take it off. :) I absolutely loved seeing it on his finger.

Our rings!

We also finally settled on our wedding colors!......................Coral and yellow!

So I think that sums up the highlights of my life in the last 7 months. If I forgot something, oh well. ;) Enjoy!