California

After Vegas, we made our way down to LA where we enjoyed the California Summer. We stayed with my Grandma because Mike hadn't met any of my extended family. Our first day there, we went to Newport Beach where we met up with one of Mike's buddies from work. We were am to go boogie boarding, build this awesome sand castle, and lay out in the sun.

My Uncle suggested to go to this Mexican street that had great food and booths.


We spent a day in Hollywood. You can't really see in this picture, but the Hollywood sign is behind us on the hill.


We agreed that we both won "Best Spouse" of the year!


Mike in front of the Beatles. Don't worry, he didn't bring a flower for them.

I not have much of a favorite actor except Tom Hanks. I walked on the sidewalks with my head down the whole time until I saw it. I was so surprised for actually finding it, I gave a small scream. The people around me gave me a weird look.

We went to watch the Dodgers play the Cardinals. It was Mike's first pro baseball game. He really enjoyed it.

Pre game

Went to Disneyland with Josh, Kelli, the boys, my cousin Megan and her boyfriend. We both had been there a couple of times so it was nice not feeling like we had to do everything.

We thought that these would make awesome Halloween costumes.

We ate at the Blue Bayou (the cajun resturant by the Pirates of the Car.). It was amazing food and the atmosphere of the place was really unique. It was the highlight of our Disney experience.

This was Mike's first time at California Adventure. I was doing pretty good about not getting sick on any of the rides until I rode the Tower of Terror. Let's just say I am not going on that ride again.

Vegas!!!

We wanted to celebrate completing the MCAT and sort of our first year aniversity by spending a night in Vegas. Neither of us had been to the stripe, so we were really excited. We stayed at the MGM in the "celebrity suit". It really made the experience.

Since neither of us had been there, we sort of did things backwards. We arrived around 3 pm and were so excited that we imediately hit the stripe. It was over 110* and we walked all the way down to the other end, looking around each casino. By the time it got dark, so we so tired. We decided to go back and take a quick nap. We ended up falling asleep for the night at 10pm. How lame are we?

One of my favorite things were the Bellagio lights.

We had the lunch buffet at the Mirage (it was highly recommended). Oh man, it was so good. I was in hog heaven with all the chocolate dessert.

Oh boy!!! It was so good!!!

Inside the Bellagio (I think that was the one) but this was one of the cooler exhibits we saw.

At the M&M Factory. "I Love Chocolate"

The bit that we did see of the night life.

Matthews Family Reunion

This July, we spent a weekend up at Mike's family's cabin for the great Matthews Reunion. We really enjoyed ourselves. Since more of the family is having kids, the place can great pretty crazy, but we weren't change it. This is Mike's nephew Luke. Mike is so good with all the kids, by the end of the week, he is so tired from all the wrestling.

One of the mornings, we were all thinking about going out to Mirror lake to go canoeing, but everyone was in that mood where they will go if everyone is going, so no one got up. Well, I wanted to get out so Mike, Lorena and I straped the canoe to the jeep and headed out. It was quite the adventure just to get that thing secured down.

It was such a beautiful lake. I was in the middle so I mainly looked around and took pictures. I was almost turning into my mom, but I was able to gain control again.

One of the afternoon, we all took a trip out to Ruth Lake with all the grandkids.

There were so many bugs, I wanted to drink the bug juice to get the mosquitos to stop biting.

This was my attempt of a timer shot. I am usually a lot better but it must have slipped the last minute.

Our Summer Fun

This summer has been filled with three things: Mike studying for the MCAT, me training for my marathon, and SEVEN PEAKS!!!! After the cold month of June, our friends convinced us to get season passes to Seven Peaks (the water park in Provo). We usually go a couple of times a week right after work. It has been a great way to escape the heat.


See that really steep, orange slide behind me? Our first trip here, Mike and his friends were going to go down it and I decided that I had to go down also, otherwise I would be to scared for the rest of the summer. After some hesitation, I was able to go down. However, our next trip to Seven Peaks, I tried going down again. I was so afraid, it took me four times of getting on the slide and then getting off the slide. Finally Mike just went down, standing there by myself gave me the courage to go again. I went three more times in a row to completely overcome my fear. I can do it with ease now.

This is Mike going down the scariest slide at Seven Peaks, "The Sky Breaker". I don't think you can tell that much with this shot, but when you go down this slide, you get some air coming out of the tube. I haven't tried this slide yet (too afraid) but my goal is to have it mastered by the end of summer. Sorry for the bad film job. I don't know want I was thinking about when I filmed it vertically.

One Year Anniversary

For our one year anniversary, we borrowed Josh's scooter and rode down to Mona. It was a long trip, taking all the back roads through Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork, Payson, Santiquin, Mona, and finally arriving at Burston pond. We were really looking forward to swing off this well-known rope swing, but I guess it got cut down earlier that week.
I tried taking a picture of us driving the scooter, but this is as far as my arm would reach.

As tradition goes in the Matthews family, when there is water, we must skip rocks. I think that Mike looks like a Greek statue or something like that in this picture.

Following the Prophet

After being inspired by the words of the prophet (so it may not have been the most recent prophet), Mike and I adventured off to Home Depot so start our first own garden. The lady was nice and pointed us to the things that we needed-soil and plant food.

It is too cold to plant our tomato or pepper (don't freak out family, the tomato is for Mike, I have not yet converted), so we are starting our lettuce and cilantro in the mean time.

This is day one of our plant experience. It is times like these that I hope I wasn't adopted and inherited Mom's green thumb.

Day seven-the lettuce is looking like alfafa sprouts and no hope yet for the cilantro. We'll keep you updated

The Luau

This year, I decided to get connected with my Heritage. Sorry Josh, my birth mom wasn't Hawaiian, but Tahitian!!! The multicultural center at BYU put together this luau and opened it up for anyone to join. We thought we would have a lot of fun doing it. I practiced every Saturday for two months to perform for a total of five minutes with both days.

These are the girls that I did the dance with (Left to right: me, Bri, Andrea, Karen, and Mandie)

Here is Mike coming down to congrats his new Tahitian wife.

This is the full costume. We had to make the hip band, but the huge shell was actually bought and shipped from Tahiti.

We have just finished the dance and are headed off the stage.

You can see my backside on the right for a bit before a turn around the circle.