life after finals

Life after finals is the best. Besides the mini panic attacks that come at night because you're so sure something is due, and you have to tell your body to calm the freak down. Am I the only one who suffers from that?! Anyway, ever since finals ended on Wednesday, I've just been so happy! I haven't had to be to work until 2 o'clock every day, so I've been able to fill my mornings with running, cleaning, and watching Kelly and Michael. I even managed to squeeze in a little hike with my sister, and visit my grandparents (which deserves a whole post of it's own).Yesterday was kind of like my last hoorah before Spring semester starts. So naturally, it involved food and Chris.

Does the picture of me drinking water from a Bud Light cup give you a clue where we went?! That's right, Lucky 13! We can't get enough of this place. They seriously have the best burgers in Utah--just go try it already! Unless you're under 21, because ya know... it's a bar... so you can't (sorry, Shelbs!). 

I love going up to Salt Lake to eat with Chris. I always feel so spontaneous and adventurous getting on Front Runner, which I'm sure most of that has to do with the fact that I need to "act natural" so I don't get caught using Chris' pass, but that's besides the point. It's always fun switchin' up date night and going up to Salt Lake City. Our visit up there did not disappoint--we literally talked about how good our meal was the whole way home. It's the meat! They probably ground up a sirloin steak to make their patties. And the fries! Oh, the fries! They put just the right amount of garlic on them! It's a good thing it was just me and Chris in the car, because I'm sure anyone with us would have rather jumped out of the car and walked home. But that's what I love about us--we're foodies, and we like it that way.

This week has been such a great break from school... I'm not ready to start Spring classes! Can I please just stay home and watch Kelly and Michael forever?!

Easter Weekending!

Easter did so good this weekend. So good, that it almost made me forget that I still have three finals I need to do this week. Almost...

On Saturday we went and watched our nieces and nephews do an Easter egg hunt around my uncle Tom's mortuary. I'm pretty sure I had more fun than the kids watching them hunt for their eggs. It didn't hurt that they were all willing to share their candy with me, either. 

Today was a noteworthy Easter Sunday for two reasons: 1) We made it to church early and 2) I said the closing prayer in sacrament meeting--I'm still shaking. It was a good reminder for me that I need to grow a pair of "eggs" (since we have an Easter theme goin' here) and not be so afraid to bear my testimony in front of others. Baby steps... ;)

Chris and Joelle had some deep bonding moments this year...

After church we had a party with my mom's side of the family, which I love because you know there's always going to be so much delicious food and even more laughs. Every year when we get together for Easter, my aunt Joelle puts on an adult Easter egg hunt. These ain't your average hunts though--there's always some crazy, borderline dangerous, twist. This year, we had a three-legged race (thanks to me, since I got the idea from our Gourley Easter party the week previously!) that involved Hoola Hoops, Oreos, bubbles, and lots of running/swearing. Sidenote: If you want to evaluate your own/someone else's marriage, just do a three-legged race together--it's a great assessment tool. The egg hunt lived up to it's standard though and was so much fun! We ended up scoring two gift cards to Subway and Taco Amigo, because we haven't eaten enough this weekend already. 

I loved this Easter. Even without all the fun activities we did this weekend. Maybe it was all the #becauseofHim messages I was seeing on Instagram, but I felt like I was able to keep the true meaning of Easter in the back of my mind a lot more easily this year, and I think that made all the difference today. 

I love this holiday and all that it stands for. 

Chris' Day!

Saturday was an all things Chris day. Even though it didn't start out like I had in mind, with my pinterest-worthy vision that involved me managing to run 10 miles before Chris had even woke up and have perfect birthday cake waffles with sprinkles on them and an avalanche of balloons fall on him as soon as he opened our bedroom door, it still worked out. Luckily for me, Chris was just fine settling for a bowl of Cinnamon Toasters and going turkey hunting while I was on my run. But hey, it's the thought that counts.... right?

Having no real plans for Chris' birthday besides dinner was sort of glamorous, though. As soon as Chris got home from hunting, we went to Firehouse Subs. The cashier there must have subconsciously known it was Chris' birthday because he ended up giving us Chris' sandwich for free instead of a free bag of chips and a drink like our coupon said. We just thought of it as another birthday present for Chris (judge us).

After lunch Chris decided to go get a massage while I stayed home and made his "Better Than Twenty Sex" Birthday cake (And yes, I already used that joke on Instagram...but that joke was brilliant people, BRILLIANT!). After his massage, we went to Gunnies to find him a holster for his gun, and then came home and watched 5 episodes of How I Met Your Mother while we waited for our dinner reservations--it was bliss. 

To top it all off we met our friends at Outback and ate way too much food. Then we came back to our house to top that off with some cake and Nintendo 64--Chris was in heaven. It was a successful day and I'm so happy that Chris enjoyed it all. That's one of the great things about Chris--he is happy with anything that you give him (even new clothes for his birthday present! ha). 

Clash of Clans... every wife's nightmare.

Raise your hand if you think Chris looks good with a baby...

I love you, Chris Gourley! 26 has never looked so good. Let the countdown to 30 begin.... ;)

It's 3 in the morning...

...so naturally, I'm Facebook stalking myself. Usually while I'm stalking, I find myself thinking things like, Man, I was so skinny back then... R.I.P. fast metabolism, or Did I really put that as my caption? (ArE CaPtIoNs LiKe ThIs cOoL AnYmOrE?!?), but today (tonight?) the only thing I kept thinking as I scrolled through every photo album of mine--like the true narcissist that I am--was holy crap! Are my eyebrows really that unpredictable?! I was cringing the whole time and seriously questioning how I got Chris to marry me. Bless him.

Fun fact: Shayli is a plucker. Shayli LOVES to pluck anything and everything that is possible to pluck (Why am I speaking in third person? I don't even know. I'll be sure to put a dollar in the DB jar later), even if it's on someone else's body. Again, bless you, Chris. Anyway, the plucking started in junior high, which is fitting, since the awkwardness of my ever-changing eyebrows is comparable to the awkwardness that accompanies the junior high years of life.

So without further adieu, I give you the evolution of my eyebrows + my many, many duckfaces (I'll be sure to put another dollar in the jar).

^^I got my duckface from my dad?

All this cringing has made me tired....I guess it's time to climb into bed with the man who accepts me and my eyebrows that are just as, if not more, unpredictable as the things I cry at.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Caribbean Cruise Edition!

We're baaaaaack! Don't mistake that exclamation point for happiness though...we would much rather be back in the Caribbean. BUT it is good to be home and not feel short of breathe walking up the stairs and suffering from the meat sweats every night ;) We had a blast on our cruise! Especially with our favorite "roomies" Tom and Martha! They're the best. Anyway, I've tried my best to keep this post as short and sweet as possible, because lezbehonest, nobody REALLY cares that you went on Vacation. Amirite or amirite?! (try to) Enjoy some pictures and highlights from our cruise!

The Good:
-the Sweat's came with us! they were so fun and always had snacks on-hand for us :)
-steak + chocolate cake every night! (which called for a strict chest-and-above photo policy)
-snorkeling in Cozumel! looking at that water will never get old
-kissing stingrays in Grand Cayman (sadly, not pictured on my camera)
-bobsledding & climbing the Dunn's River Falls in Jamaica
-no problems in Jamaica, just "situations"
-the huge bowl of extra butter our waiter brought every single night
-the shows every night! everything from singers and dancers to jugglers on unicycles! + Christina Bianco... if you don't know who that is, YouTube her! I've never heard a better Celine Dion impression in my life!
-the burgers and fries by the pool
-our nightly ritual of getting in the hot tub and then going up to the cafe to "just get a drink of juice" which quickly turned into pizza (are you sensing a pattern of our eating habits on the cruise yet??)
-Martha asking for two chocolates on her pillows
-getting towel animals (we discovered that we had to straighten up our room really good to get one)
-TomG winning the free slot pull tournament (it doesn't count if you didn't put any money in the machine...right?!)
-Bernie celebrated his 90th birthday with his family! who, according to their matching t-shirts, "put the "fun" in dysfunctional"
-Chris wearing his vest to formal night
-Bekah doing a cartwheel on each island :)
-Chris actually considering buying me diamonds in Grand Cayman
-playing card games up in the cafe
-Tom G at the front of any and every line :)
-getting a free pair of earrings and a necklace because my birthday is in September

The Bad:
-we don't know who Bernie is
-the stairs that got harder and harder to climb every day
-being on the ship for 7 days and still getting lost
-not being able to keep up with our olympic swimmer snorkeling guide
-no Dr. Pepper on the ship... me and Martha settled for Mr. Pibb at the airport
-the man in Jamaica who followed us all the way to our bus so we could "tip him" for the wooden Tiki men that we didn't ask him to carve our names in but did it anyway
-the boat rocking and everyone getting sea sick
-the wind in Haiti + the hot dog I ate there
-me not taking advantage of Chris when he wanted to buy me diamonds
-the back scratch I owed Chris after he wore his vest for formal night
-the "other Mormons" who found us--Chris got to hear all about the lady's favorite creamery ice cream flavor ;) nobody wore anything with BYU on it for the rest of the cruise...
-coming back to freezing cold Utah and wearing shorts and flip flops

The Ugly:
-Chris' fannypack
-Tom G's socks + sandals
-Chris' Hawaiian shirt
-my top knot that managed to make an appearance every single day
-the numbers on our bathroom scale right now
-Chris and I doing the Macarena on our way back from Cozumel: