Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Sorry ladies, I'm definitely the luckiest girl in the world. You're all missing out. My husband, Ryan Turner, is such an amazing man and he makes me so happy! I'm grateful to have him and that he has become the person he is today. He insists that there is always something to fix about himself, and devotes a good amount of his spare time studying books (both gospel-related and self-improvement subjects). If you've ever seen our bathroom mirrors, or his computer, you'll see notes reminding him of his goals and what ideals are important to him, which I admire about him. In my opinion, he is already such a good person and has so much motivation that he really doesn't need those books. But the fact that he still enjoys turning to them and looking to improve himself tells you a lot of what kind of man he is.

Ryan is going to be such a good daddy. :) I can't wait to see him in action with his own children and to see the look of complete adoration in their eyes when they look at him. He is totally devoted to his family members, and especially to me, and I know that his kids will feel a special connection with him as well. His school work is so demanding and his schedule will continue to be hectic, but he will always make time for family because he has his priorities straight.
Ryan is a very approachable, understanding, happy, self-motivated, independent, and faithful man. I could go on and on with great qualities about him. I just wanted to remind him of how wonderful he is and how happy he makes me. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ry!!

I love you so much.

Pioneer Day in Henderson

Our surrounding stakes here in Henderson always put on a Pioneer Day parade right around the 24th. So on Saturday morning, we met up with some friends at the stake center for the parade. It was HOT and muggy but it was fun. They do a little parade with primary kids in the backs of trucks throwing candy, an old-school fire truck that somebody owns, a couple people on unicycles, and the missionaries holding up a large American flag. They had a hard time keeping it from touching the road this year...
They also have a pancake and watermelon breakfast for us.
It's also tradition to have the fire department (next door to the stake center) pull a fire truck up next to the field and spray water everywhere. That's how we cool off here in Vegas. ;) It was so funny to watch (and listen to) everyone run around and scream... either running into the water or running away from it! The funniest part was watching them completely drench all the people still in line for food. I don't think they were expecting it.
Honestly though, we were all so hot and sweaty after being there for just over an hour that we immediately went to the pool afterwards. It was a fun morning! Ryan and I missed being in Utah, of course, but it's nice to have fun Mormon things to go to here too.

These next two pics are just for fun... I wore pretty much the same outfit today that I wore when I was about 6 weeks pregnant (right after we found out). So we thought it would be fun to compare the pics. Here they are...

6 weeks

21 weeks

It's sorta scary when I compare them like that...

Never heard of this one

My calves are so sore right now!! The questions is... did I go running to cause this? No. Hiking maybe? Nope. But have I been forced awake by incredible pain in my legs each morning? YEP. 

Two words: Charley Horses. I've been getting really bad ones early in the morning while sleeping. I have never had this issue before, and apparently it happens to a lot of pregnant women. So that has been a nice little surprise at 5 or 6 am the last couple days. I didn't even know it was a common thing! The charley horse this morning was so horrible and I've still been limping a little throughout the day. We think I may have actually strained the muscle. Fun, eh? 

Moral of the story (if there is one... and NO, I don't mean "don't get pregnant"): Don't stretch my legs in the morning by pointing my toes. The hard part is trying not to do it in my sleep or when I'm only half-awake! It's hard to control when you're not even aware that you're stretching. 

"And we say mahalo"...

Ryan and I had SO MUCH FUN on our trip to Oahu! We had such a great time together and were able to see some really great things. It was especially nice for me to have him finally see and experience how great it is there, and that we had such an enjoyable time together. :) Sometimes our vacations are cut short because they get a bit boring or we feel ready to go home. But we didn't feel that way this time - and we would have loved to have stayed longer. In fact, next time we go, we'll make sure to plan our flight times better. Flying into Honolulu at 1 am Hawaii time (4 am Vegas time) was no good... and same with taking the 10 pm flight out. The really late flight in wasn't our fault though - it was delayed a couple hours. But all in all we had a wonderful week together experiencing a new place. Here are a bunch of our pictures... (there are a lot, just to warn you!)

This was the hotel we stayed in. See the Hyatt Regency sign? Yeah... that's not it. It's the small pink place down the street a little bit: Royal Grove Hotel. But it's cheap, and literally a block from the beach!

Waikiki Beach
Byodo-In Temple in the Valley of the Temples. One of Ryan's favorite things we saw.
You know how much he loves stuff like this!
The grounds were incredible!
The clouds over the cliffs were gorgeous.
Friday was the day we drove from Honolulu up onto the North Shore. We stayed in Laie, in a motel next door to the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Temple, and BYU-Hawaii. For lunch, before the PCC, we had a little picnic on an extremely windy Pounders Beach in Laie. 
At the PCC, we walked around to a few of the "villages" to watch their cultural presentation. This one was by far our favorite! It was the Aotearoa tribe from New Zealand and they were doing a welcoming ceremony for that small group walking in the middle of the field. But what made it so special was that those people were family members (parents, siblings, etc) straight from New Zealand. They had come to visit their kids who were working at the PCC and going to school at BYU-Hawaii. The ceremony was done especially for them and it was so heart-felt. Such a neat experience! Ryan and I felt like we were literally in New Zealand and experiencing a piece of their history.
Rainbows of Paradise Canoe Pageant. The Tahitian dancers are my favorite for some reason!

Digesting the wonderful food from the luau and waiting for the night show. At the luau, our entertainment was mainly a lady singing and talking. Every few minutes she would say "And we say mahalo..." about everything and anything. Ryan and I enjoyed it and continued to say it throughout the trip... it always brings a smile. :)
"Horizons" night show! It's so incredible!! We could see it over and over again and never get tired of it. These were the Tahitian dancers.
I think this was Tongan group of guys.
Ryan and I were a bit burned from previous beach days and walking around the PCC, so we spent the next day driving along the North Shore. We stopped in Haliewa for lunch, and ate HUGE burgers. Ryan's was 1/2 a pound! It was practically the size of his face. We also walked around their Arts Festival going on that weekend.
The weather wasn't great (cloudy, and super windy) but we didn't want to miss our only chance to go to the beach on the North Shore. We went to Hukilau Beach for a little while. It was interesting to see how nervous both of us felt being out in the water with only a few other families up and down the beach. I didn't expect to have issues with my fear of open water until we were somewhat by ourselves only a few yards from the beach! Plus we both got bit (or pinched??) by tiny crabs while we played in the waves. Yuck! But we still had a great time and had some more burn (I mean TAN) lines to prove it. :) 
Ryan was excited to find the home of a high school football team that Skyline plays every few years. Apparently they're an incredible team and fly to Salt Lake sometimes. But you would never have guessed it by looking at their tiny little high school on the north shore!
BYU-Hawaii. What a beautiful setting!
That night, we met up with some of our Touro friends who were also staying in Laie the same week. Rachele and Jordan Larsen used to live here in a mansion with a lady who requires some live-in help. Another cute couple lives there now, and they invited us to a BBQ. This is the beach behind the huge mansion. Isn't it incredible!
Our ward buddies from Henderson... Landon & Erica Karren and Jordan and Rachele Larsen. Thanks guys for a really fun evening!
What do a bunch of medical students do on a summer vacation? Sit around and talk about school and do OMM on each other... (translation: manipulative medicine)
The next day, we drove back down to Honolulu for our last night. We stopped at the Dole Plantation. They told us not to pick any of the "baby" pineapples but I just couldn't help myself...
Beautiful gardens!
"Dole Whip" (pineapple soft-serve ice cream) and fresh pineapple topping. Mmmm!!
We ate dinner at a restaurant along the Waikiki Beach and watched the sun go down.
... so romantic  ;)

We didn't forget about this little one...
...and I of course found some cute little dresses for her! I can't wait to dress her up in these. :)
Monday was our last day in Hawaii and we decided last minute to visit Pearl Harbor. Ryan enjoyed every second and kept thanking me for letting us go. I'm really glad he had such a good time. :) It was nice to visit it again... even though it's an emotional thing to see and experience again.
USS Arizona memorial


With our flight being at 10 pm, we had tons of time to kill after Pearl Harbor... so we drove up to Punchbowl Crater where the cemetery is. It's so pretty and the view was great!
While we walked around, the bells started to chime and they played "Lead Kindly Light". It was a pleasant surprise.
We ate dinner back in Waikiki and said goodbye to the beautiful beach and sunset...

So we say MAHALO to Hawaii. :) Thank you for a wonderful trip. Thank you for being so beautiful. Thanks Ryan for making it such a happy and enjoyable week!

Visiting Mt. Charleston

I am so grateful that we have a mountain to escape to and it's only 40 minutes from home! It's so pretty and green and we are able to enjoy the 80s instead of the 100s. Ryan and I decided to spend the afternoon there on a hike to Cathedral Rock and we had a really good time! 

We didn't make it all the way to the 

top of the hike.  But there was still a great view

from where we finally turned around!

(sorry the background got all washed out

in this photo)

I have never felt more out of shape in my life

than I do these days. But I'm proud of the few 

miles we accomplished today!

Yesterday, we had a couple of our walls painted for free! Our apartment office only had 5 colors as options for the free accent walls, but we figured that the light tan color would look nice in the kitchen and bedroom. Here's a pic of the kitchen. We really like it! It's a little less boring, but I still have plans to add things to the walls one of these days. We've lived here for a year and I still feel like there's stuff I haven't done to decorate! Oh well.