happy 2 year anniversary!

i cannot believe 2 years of marriage have happened! it felt like yesterday when we were @ APU together, just being buds! then i emailed you, we fell in love + here we are!

 

in 2 years,

 

we have:

 

experienced more of Jesus

moved from AZ to CA

moved from a 2 bedroom to a tiny {but adorable} 1 bedroom apartment

celebrated weddings 

joined in celebrating our friends having babies

birthdays with each other + tons of special life moments

golfed

experienced some traumatic moments that have shaped us as individuals + as a couple

gone to a lot of sporting events

flea marketed

welcomed a neice + nephew into the garcia/thompson family {who we LOVE dearly}

started new jobs

camped out on the street for a parade

5K'd it

mentored + loved on youth

killed turkeys + birds {cooked them too}
traveled around the country

stayed up way too late

 played games

done puzzles

gone through TV series

joined an incredible, life giving church community

paddle boarded

seen each other on our best + worst days

met our "hometeam"

 

daily we:

cry

mostly laugh

pray

dream

heart to heart talk

text

giggle

bless

wash dishes

hug

kiss

snuggle

date

eat

encourage

sing

dance

cook

support

 

i could not have asked for a better person to do life with. travy, you make my heart explode! i love being your wife, best friend, girlfriend + mostly, chicken {lol}. life would be SO dull without you in it i could not imagine writing chapters to our book with anyone but you. i am so thankful for the husband you are, the man that righteously pursues the Lord + me daily. thank you for being an example of a hard-working, selfless, extravagantly sexy + loving husband.

 

 

happy anniversary! i LOVE you. xoxo

 

ps- thanks to family + friends who were there when we were in diapers, braces, wedding dress + suit, and continue to love + support us. we could not do this without your support + prayers.

scavenger {love} hunt

i told trav i wanted to take him on a date saturday morning. so i did.

i planned a scavenger hunt {6} months ago. i had to put my plan to action finally. here's how it went down.

he received his first clue with his coffee... {at home}

it told him to go to the place where it all started... {hint: i go there everyday}

it all started in a certain building called wilden. it's where we had 2 classes our Senior year. the clues talked of having the classes together and thinking he was a total babe!

 the {secret hint} then led him to an APU favorite: donut man. 

 

us getting down on our tiger tailz. yum! next clue: i gave him the address and told him this is how our love traveled the world... {totally tricked him on this one!}

he landed at delong's. delong's is THE place where we designed our senior shirts {the ones where he, noel and i designed and no one bought. lol}. it ended up being the way we communicated after we graduated. anywhere we would travel, the three of us would take a picture in our senior shirts and email them to each other. 

the next clue hinted that it's a place where we fed our sweet tooth. 

 

of course we hit up 21 choices {best fro yo in the world!}. unfortunately, they didn't get the memo so it was closed. we didn't want it anyway. 

the clue trav got at 21 basically said, this is where God has brought us from. i never want to forget the journey He had us on and continues to lead us on daily. just wanted to create a little fun scavenger hunt to keep it fresh + fun! 

some of the little notes that were planted everywhere by one of my favorite cupids... melissa, i love you. thanks for being apart of this. i owe you. xo

this scavenger hunt is a huge part of our love story. it's fun to be reminded of God's faithfulness. never lose sight of Him. 

hope ya'll have a great weekend! xoxo

3.12

best day of my LIFE!

here are a few of my favorite pictures thus far...

(in our photobooth)

(eating tacos real fast at our table)

and then our honeymoooooon!

wowwi MAUI :)

(us by the pool and beach- got to see turtles and whales, all while having the best food!)

(at the infinity pool- LOVED IT.)

(just finishing a day of skip bo tournaments and sun bathing)

(a romantic dinner at cafe o'lei!)

(our adventure on public transit! why didn't we learn about this til the last 2 days?!?!)

highlights of honeymoon: obviously.... lol

i loved planning a day for me and trav. we went snorkeling in front of our hotel in the morning, and then got afternoon massages, and finished it up with a bomb dinner.

his day he planned was even better! we went for a 6am snorkel to a local island. then continued onto 'turtle town' where i lost my fin and saw 3 turtles. he tried diving for it cause he didn't want to pay a lot of money for it and didn't see any turtles :( he finally retrieved with the help of our tour guide, meanwhile, i'm back at the boat, having some water and snacks, laughing with captain jack about how he was going to give me a fin to return so we didn't have to pay the 5 bucks! LOL

and now home to the end of spring training and cleaning...

i said YES!

so john travis harper and i planned on having a theme for the month of august. we name it "adventurous august" and decided everyday to do something adventurous. the first week went by great with new adventures everyday! so last thursday, august 5th, we are having our weekly date night (t-squared: travley (travis and joeley together) thursday) at ra sushi. just minding our own business, i have these two surprise guests show up- my sister smash and jordan sacca! i started freaking out! i was in shock and then started crying! what a surprise it was to have them in downtown scottsdale! travis and those lovely ladies planned it all! so friday we had a grand day and one of my best friends from college crissa met up with us too! it was seriously one of my favorite days with my girlfriends! i was sooo happy! we got manicures and got spoiled with great meals all day, shopping and some other adventures! little did i know that was not the only surprise trav had up his sleeve.

earlier in the week- we had planned on crossing something off our "summer bucket list"- the grand canyon! so we planned on going there saturday and having a picnic! trav came by that morning to pack our picnic and we said our goodbyes to the girls and headed for another adventure! trav told me to wear a cute sundress, cause he loves me in them and that we were going to have dinner at the grand canyon later that night. so as we hit the open road- having a blast singing and rapping the whole way up- it poured rain. no joke- for about 3 hours. i was pretty bummed thinking we wouldn't be able to see the grand canyon (and that i was wearing a dress!)

but as we pulled up to pay to get into the canyon, it literally stopped raining. God was watching out for us :) so we unpacked the car and headed up to have our picnic. as we were walking, travis spotted the photographer in our friend kelsen's car. he freaked out thinking it would ruin everything and pulled me in tight for a "grand canyon hug"! then he wanted to show me a "deer" in the opposite direction since we were "scouting" on the way up! i was so confused at his funny behavior cause i had to pee soooo bad! so kelsen's car literally drove two feet by us on the sideway and i never saw!

we then found a spot overlooking the canyon, but due to the rain, couldn't see into the canyon because of the clouds! we pulled out our picnic and i started pigging out on fruit and my sandwich. trav took a bite of his and i was felt like a fattie! haha but he was sooo nervous so he couldn't eat anything. the clouds literally cleared up and it was beautiful. we could see to the other side of the grand canyon! so then i see him mess with something in his backpack and i was like- what are you getting out of there?! he said- i brought a book. i thought it was kinda weird but what better setting right?! then he pulled out a piece of lamenated paper that was titled "our adventure together" and he started reading it to me.

it went from the very first time it all began (when he texted me on my birthday last year) with significant dates leading up to when he said, and on august 7, 2010 travis got on one knee and.... and as he did this, he got on his knee, and said, joeley will you marry me?! i said yes. Yes! YESSSSS! started crying! hugged him, and then said- PUT THAT THING ON MY FINGER! hahaha!

and he had hired a photographer who captured everything on camera! in fact, in the middle of it, i said there is a girl taking pictures of us! haha kari is the best and out of this, came this amazing photo!

so then, we got back into the car, prayed together and read scriptures. then he said- my grandparents knew that i was going to do this and wanted to buy us dinner on the way home in prescott. so we drove to have dinner at the "nicest restaurant" in prescott. we talked about everything on the way there. i called my family and some girlfriends and told them the news! they all were freaking out with me! little did i know, more surprises were in store for me!

so we pulled up to his grandparents house and as we rounded the corner, to walk up the side of thier patio, there was a huge banner that said "CONGRATULATIONS JOELEY AND TRAVIS" and saw literally everyone! my whole family came in from vegas! his whole family was there! and a ton of our friends flew or drove in from everywhere! i was sooooo shocked! another surprise! so all along, everyone in the world (almost) knew about this but me! and no one had slipped or anything! it had all been in the plan for months!

so to top off the best day of our lives, we had an engagement party that night and then a brunch the next morning! it has literally been the best weekend of our lives! thanks to all have supported and loved us through it! we love you all!