"Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time"

This is a video Cassi and I liked. Although we're not having an especially hard time right now, it's a good reminder that many people are, and a good kick in the butt to get us to help them.

Stupid blogger.com cuts off the right side, but I think it still gets the message across. Anyone know how to make the blog wider?

Born the on the 4th of July

Happy 4th Of July!

Kelly and I made a list of why we love America:

(feel free to add your own favorites)

1. We call Crepes "really thin pancakes" just to tick off the French

2. Public trash cans

3. Activities such as demolition derbies, rodeos, and state fairs which come with very interesting people and fattening foods such as fried oreos

4. Free refills and drinks that come with LOTS of ice

5. Sasha Cohen, Shannon Miller, Kim Zmeskal (that's for you, Carrie), Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan, Carly Patterson, etc.

6. The best dang ice cream

7. Free public toilets (Kelly says "good toilets")

8. George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, all of the founding fathers, Abe Lincoln, Susan B Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Ronald Regan, FDR

9. The Prophet Joseph Smith; freedom of religion

10. The Rockies

11. Iowa corn

12. New Mexican chilie

13. Monsoons

14. California oranges

15. Hawaiian pineapple

16. Everyone else has silly accents

17. We invented the internets

18. Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Frank Lloyd Wright

19. F-16, 15, B-52

20. Country music

21. Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon, White Sands, California beaches

22. And-We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"They Say It's Your Birthday!

You're gonna have a good time..."
Happy 27th Year of Life, Kelly!

Some things Kelly accomplished last year:

First year of marriage

First deployment to Afghanistan

First cat-greycoat

First time back to visit his mission in Germany
I don't know how those turned into "firsts"

I am sure there are more, but that gives you an idea. Kelly renewed his altitude training course recently, so next week he will probably fly in a jet! That will be his first time in a while. He also moves to a fighter squadron soon, hopefully next week. We are careful not to rely too much on Air Force plans. :)

Today, Kelly may receive his first gun. I am a little nervous about the prospect. This is why we have been talking about it for a few months. It is rare for us to do things spontaneously, especially not a gun purchase. But hey, what is the point of being in the military if you can't have a gun of your own?

Our cat brought a dead mouse to the door yesterday, which is a sign of love and that she is trying to impress us. I guess she knew it was his birthday. It was too gross to take a picture, but you get the idea. I am grateful that Kelly is here and that we are married in the temple forever. I am grateful he has the priesthood. And, I am grateful we can both have nerdy interests (Harry Potter, WWII, Axis and Allies, Rockband, cats/animals, etc.). So, Happy Birthday Kelly!

Happy Father's Day...and Mother's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad!

I also say Happy Father's Day to my Grandpa McCuistion, my brothers, my father-in-law, brothers-in-law, and my dear husband who will someday be a dad. I also say thank-you to my Heavenly Father who blessed me with a wonderful family.

I won't be too cheesy, but I wanted to tribute this post to my Dad, Kim Hakes. I also tribute this post to my mom for a late Mother's Day post. I am not too eloquent with words, BTW. Enjoy, mom and dad!

When I was little, my dad taught me to jitterbug. Here we are doing it on my wedding day.

My Dad (and Mom) is the reason I was able to go to and graduate from college. He was so supportive, both financially and emotionally.

Dominoes, that and Mormon Bridge are classic games we played at home or at the cabin growing up. Dad and his mom, Grandma Hakes, often taught us how to play. The best part is when dad makes corny jokes and then says "the jokes never start" instead of "the jokes never stop."

This is one of my favorite memories of being home while Kelly was deployed. We just jumped into the car and went to see "Swing Vote" and then grabbed some pizza afterwards. Favorite memories with dad and the fam are going to see movies and eating out or BBQ at home. Dad is so easy-going about what we do.

My dad always treats my mom well. They are best friends, and they still hold hands when they go out! One of my favorite stories is even when they had 4 or 5 or so kids (they had nine total), they would still go to the hospital and look at the newborns through the window. They love kids and they love us!

Mom and her two grandaughters, Hailey and Julia. There are two more due this year. She is a wonderful grandma. I am always amazed at how she bonds with each grandkid. She even bonded with my cat when I was living at home, and she already had a cat. I think the best description is she has a mother heart.

Before I married kelly, I went to mom with most problems and frustrations. She is good at solving problems and she is very inspired. She was so understanding when Kelly was deployed and I was living at home again, which was weird at first. I also have fun with her when we go to curves or get cones or take walks. Growing up, I loved my summer "date" with mom. I also love getting together with my sisters and mom now. Love you, mom.

I also want to say that I have a wonderful mother-in-law. Janelle is so thoughtful. When Kelly was gone, she often invited me over for dinner which was a great change of scene. We also went out to eat together and had lots of fun. She is also a wonderful Grandma!

Happy Father's Day to Karl, Kelly's dad, too. He took me shooting for my first real time. I am excited to see what else Karl will take us to do that I have never done: fishing, Alaska, who knows? He is a great husband and father.

Tying Up Loose Ends

Yeah, it has been sometime since we have posted...woops. Blogging is kind of like journal writing. You want to do it and you know what you should/want to write about, but when you don't for whatever reason, it is overwhelming to catch up and so you avoid it for a while. The good news is I finally got journal writing down! Here are some random pictures/info from what Kelly and I have been up to.

Even though we aren't parents, Kelly made me a mother's day meal and such. It was very sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed having Kelly cook b/c I learned how he likes to prepare food. Normally, we cook together or I cook (I like to and I have no job).


Our family picture with our cat, Greycoat or the Coat, or Coto. She kept me company while Kelly was deployed. Kelly insisted on putting this picture in our ward directory, so people probably think we are obsessed with our cat...It was more funny to us than anyone else, probably.

My lovely sistas. Hot stuff. Meesa, Kalli, Me, Carrie, Cami, and little Cora in the womb.

The Hakes' siblings-we'll get Chris next time. :)


Almost the whole gang. I love how Julia is looking at Dad's (Grampa's) facial expression and not the camera, which is what he was trying to get the kids to do.


Kelly's two nieces-a very tired Lucy and a cute Ginny. I like Karl's (Kelly's dad's) smile in this photo.




Our lovely lilies are blooming! Now if I could just get our tomato plant to do something. I don't think our little balcony gets enough sun.

We got back from Colorado Springs last Thursday. Kelly did the altitude chamber for work, and I got to hang out and finally tour the AF Academy. This is us at Garden of the Gods-so beautiful. It was cold and rainy most of the week, but such a beautiful city! I got to see the dining hall that I learned about at BYU in my Foodservice Management class. I also got to meet some of Kelly's friends form the Academy.

Wooh, that was a lot of info! One last thing is that I passed my registered dietitian exam the end of May! Now I will hopefully get a REAL job. It has been so nice to have the time to hang out with Kelly. He starts with a new squadron in a couple weeks which means he will have irregular work hours, but the job should be more interesting.


This is Kelly and I sliding down the mountain we hiked in the Alps of Grindelwald, Switzerland. It was steep and slippery, so we improvised.

Venezia!

Unlike most people, I didn't realize Venice was mostly situated on water, minus industrial Venice. In order to get to our hotel, we had to park in a parking garage and take a ferry to our hotel. After that, we either had to take a water taxi or the hotel "shuttle" to get across the water. It was crazy! A couple of words to describe Venice: romantic, great food, ancient beauty, and water. We were very impressed with Venice and liked it even more than we thought we would. Even though it was a couple extra days of driving, we feel it was very worth it.

Beautiful Venice. The view at the Rialto station.

Sorry it is blurry; I took it. This is the residential area and the canals are lined with boats. No cars, no bikes.

Kelly in Venice in the morning.

I was amazed when I saw this; foodservice deliveries Venice style. I don't think those boats have climate control.


Kelly couldn't resist taking this picture. The boat was full of Asians and they were waving and smiling and taking pictures of us during their ride.


Our Gondola ride. We felt like we couldn't go to Venice and not take a Gondola. Althought it was fun, it wasn't our favorite thing we did there and it was expensive. It did show us Venice up close. Our favorite thing was walking around for a couple of hours that night. The town is full of bridges and beautiful buildings which look great at night. See below.


This sums up our walk that night.

Europe in a Nutshell

Kelly and I just returned from a 2 week vacation in Europe. The purpose of the trip was to celebrate Kelly being home from Afghanistan (yay!), but to also visit the cities Kelly served in during his mission, which was the Frankfurt, Germany mission. Kelly and I plan to post a little exerpt from our trip each day for the next couple of days. We flew into Munich at 9am and went straight to McDonald's to eat lunch. FYI, Germany does not have ice cream cones at McDonald's. Then, we headed for Dachau, the site of a concentration camp during WWII. I know what you are thinking, what a great way to begin the trip! I am a nerd for WWII history books, and Kelly kind of is too, so it was interesting for us to see.

The gate translates in English as "Work Makes Free." It was an ominous sign to read as we entered the camp. Wearing my red jacket, I felt like the little girl on Schindler's list.

This picture shows the enormity of the camp, as well as the drap buildings and grey, cold sky. I can only imaging how many cold days these people endured here.

Behind Kelly on both sides are the two remaining "barracks". Behind those are rows and rows of foundations for barracks that used to be there. Inside the barracks are rows and rows of bunk beds that they were crammed into.

On a lighter note; we travelled from Munich to Salzburg the next day. Salzburg: the home of The Sound of Music and Mozart. Here is one of the homes Mozart lived in. We watched Amadeus after touring his home.

This is me "dancing" in front of the statue where the kids and Maria danced during the "Do, re, mi" song. We looked for this forever, and then we realized we had walked past it twice already.



And this is some random cow advertising The Sound of Music in downtown Salzburg.