first weekend in september.

some of our friends came to visit us! 

hannah and brandon just got married on august 20.

brandon and jon went to school together in north carolina. they became friends, and introduced hannah and i to each other via facebook/texting. we decided to go visit our boys at Camp Lejeune and that's where we met! we have kept in touch for TWO YEARS and hadn't seen each other since then. luckily, they got married and stationed in yuma! i'm so happy about that, because it's only a three hour drive.

they got here on thursday night and we had dinner and caught up. on friday, jon's unit was having family day on coronado island. we all got to go and eat, play in the ocean, and eat some more. 

fun fact: hannah, brandon, jon and i went to the beach in north carolina two years ago. that means we have been to the pacific ocean and atlantic ocean together!! i don't think i can say that about very many people. in fact, i'm pretty sure its just my family and my two best girlfriends from high school, lyndsi and jessica.

this is jon with his homies. the waves were huge!! i had to leave the party early so that i could get to school on time, so i didn't get all the way in. plus the waves were freakin' me out. 

when i got out of school, i came home and hannah and i sat at the kitchen table and did homework while the boys played xbox. then we went to a friends house for dinner. jon's sergeant made us amazing lasagna. the lasagna is a secret recipe that has been perfected and passed down through his family. he said that his mom and grandma used to each make a lasagna and then have the entire family taste both of them and pick which was the better one. he would say "...this one?" and his mom would say "so are you saying you like your grandma's better than mine???" i thought that was so messed up and soo funny! 

after we had dinner, we started telling ghost stories and watching scary movie trailer after scary movie trailer. then. we watched. INSIDIOUS. watch that movie trailer if you dare. i watched the first few minutes of the movie, but when i saw that man standing in the corner of the baby's bedroom, i turned over and went to bed. 

on saturday we went to sea world!!!! military personal and dependents get in free once a year, so we knew we needed to take them there. it was a lot of fun, and because none of us paid to get in, we didn't feel pressured to stay all day.

 right when we got there, we went and rode the ride. the four of us were in the front four seats, so when we went down the hill, we were pretty much entirely submerged under water. we've never gotten that wet before. 

 (as i stated at the very end of this post, i am going to post photos of jon and i even if he's making a horrible face.)  

he falls asleep everywhere.

after sea world, we decided to go to old town. we walked around and looked at the pretty buildings, explored the fair that was going on, ate delicious mexican food, and shopped. 

this is our favorite shop in old town. they sell almost every type of soda you could imagine. its not as fun to go to anymore now that i'm off soda, but there is always yoohoo.......

we had such a fun weekend! it has been so hard to make real friends out here, its nice to have someone familiar come visit and now live so close. 

awesome news: brandon and hannah (or brannah and handon as jon accidentally said) might be able to come to vegas and go to jon's unit's marine corps ball!!! i am so excited!!!

(ps. brandon took most of these amazing photos)

travels.

well, i havent updated in awhile. i look back at all my pictures from the past little while, and they are all of jon and i. funny...seeing as how i only see him once a month:)

in september, i went out to see him at camp pendleton in san diego, california. he was at marine combat training for 4 weeks. we got to talk every weekend he was there. it was oh so good to finally see him and get to squeeze his little self!

this is us at ruby's on the pier.

i got there on saturday and he was able to stay at the hotel with me saturday night. we went shopping and we went out to eat for our 6 month anniversary at a nice restaurant. we didnt take very many pictures.

he had to report back sunday afternoon. we were late of course and he was riled up of course but we made it on time and he didnt even get in trouble!

sunday night, amanda and nephi came to the hotel to hang out with me! we went off base to oceanside and ate pizza and ice cream and were really nice to nephi like we always are!!!

monday morning, my dear friend gabes came to hang out with me! i wish i would have gotten pictures of me with my guests. we went out to eat on base and marveled at how bland that place is. and how sweet all the marine boys are for staring at us like we are the first girls they've ever seen <333

this is us at his graduation! not as big of a deal at boot camp graduation was, but now he knows how to combat..........or something.

who looks cuter holding the gun? and who looks like they know what they're doing? annndddd whose guns are bigger?

after graduation, jonathan got on a bus, and i drove to the Vigil's. they took me to the airport where jon was waiting for me :)

he got to take me up to my gate (he, of course, had to flash his military id in order to do so...). we hung out at my gate for a couple hours. finally when it was my time to go...we hugged goodbye....until the plane guy called my name and said it was time for me to get on the plane. i was the last one on.

i came back to utah, and jon went to north carolina for his Marine Occupational Specialty something or other. aka school. so he's in NC for school...

this is him at school. SOMEone makes him stay up late and talk on the phone. funny. poor boy is so sleepy.

lucky me...i got to go visit him again last weekend!! he had 72 hours of free time....so me and his roommates girlfriend decided to surprise our boys and come visit! well...turns out we can't rent a hotel room on base if we arent a marine. so we had to tell them we were coming. but they were still surprised because we told them two weeks before we were coming. it was the longest two weeks ever, but we finally got there!

we got there friday morning. hannah and i met at the airport, and took a taxi to the hotel room. unfortunately, we couldn't check in until jon got there since the room was under his name. so they said that they'd be there at noon. hannah and i waited around until they called....and when they called they told us that their leader inspected the rooms on their floor and they failed. so they had to clean the entire floor again and get it inspected again and hope that they pass. so they said they'd be there at 2. soooo we waited some more....2 o clock came and went....3 o clock came and went.... and finally. FINALLY at 4 o clock they came! as soon as i saw him i forgot how mad at him i was...ha. and we went shopping and ate and checked into our room and tried to nap. hannah and i had been flying all night so we were super tired but we couldnt sleep. finally after filling our bellies, we all fell asleep that night at 8:30.

on saturday we went to the beach! it was sooo beautiful and so warm. the waves. were. HUGE! we got tossed and turned all around, it was so funny. jon's pale skin hasn't seen the light of day in MONTHS, so he was as red as a lobster right where a t shirt would be:)

this is jon and his roommate, brandon. we shared a room with him and his gf, they were really cute and fun! this is them with a washed up blow fish...yummy.

we went out to jacksonville for a night, it was so fun! we saw couples retreat which was supperr cute. i recommend it...even though its a bit dirty...

the rest of the weekend was fun. it was low key, lots of shopping and eating on base. it was a lot prettier than camp pendleton.

finally on monday we had to say goodbye. it was awful. it gets harder saying goodbye every time.

he is the sweetest boy, these pictures dont really do our vacations justice...but its the best i can do. things between him and i couldn't get any better. its pretty cool that he's in the military, i get to go to all these fun places chasing him around...so i'm not complaining one bit!!
last picture. i showed this picture to my dad and he said "Well that's disgusting." i said "What is disgusting?" laughing so hard and he replied "His eyes!" sad!!