Hallelujah, I'm a college grad!

It seems like just yesterday that I was on a plane from Beijing to Provo totally freaking out. I left my family in Beijing and was on my way to start life on my own at BYU. But my, how life has changed since then! After 3 years at BYU, the band decided to do summer sales and play music in California; little did I know we would never move back to Utah! I was determined to finish my degree, though I knew it wouldn't be easy. After several custom made online courses (during tour and recording!), a 4 month swim coach internship, an emergency week long school trip to Provo, and finally, statistics and algebra at Long Beach City College, I DID IT! I now have a bachelor's degree from BYU in Recreation Management and Youth Leadership.

When I came home from my last final, Shane had this surfboard waiting for me!!! He is so cute and thoughtful and awesome and the list goes on. I've already tried out my new board a few times and it's the BOMB!

I love it. I love Shane.

(I got this sweatshirt from the DI right after I found out I got into BYU. I was so excited, I had to have some official gear! It was only right to wear it on my last day of school.)

I thought my surprises were over with the surfboard, but I was so WRONG! The weekend came along and I thought we were headed to the Hulls for a typical afternoon BBQ and I walked into THIS:

My friends and husband threw me a surprise graduation party!! There was graduation music playing as I walked through the clapping tunnel of friends. It was SO awesome!

Fun friends, great food, awesome decorations, no more statistics... I was feeling pretty dang good.

I was so delighted that Dorothy and her wig came to congratulate me!!

Cute girlfriends.

Cuter husband.

A HUMONGOUS thanks to Shane, Sarah, Bryant, Nancy and everyone who came to celebrate with me!!

You guys are the best.

And lastly, I'd like to thank my husband and my parents for being such huge supporters of me finishing school. I truly could not have done it without you three. I love you all!!!

I will close with this message someone wrote on my group graduation card: "Congratulations. Welcome to the real world." That made me laugh.

May Madness

It's time to let you all in on some of the things we've been up to this month:

We had a relaxing night out with these friends. We ate some delicious BBQ and then went back to our place for some dessert and practical jokes;)

If you all remember, I hang out with Sarah's grandma Dorothy full time for my job! I am really loving it. Sarah had an afternoon free of her kids and got to come out to lunch with us! It was really fun. We're a rowdy threesome.

Does everyone know about Cafe Rio?? Well, it's an AMAZING Mexican restaurant that started in Utah and whenever we're there we make special arrangements to go and chow down. To our great delight, it's expanding! They recently opened one up in Costa Mesa, 25 minutes down the road from us! So we made the trek with fellow fanatics Sarah and Bryant to savor their specialty: sweet pork. It put us all in a great mood, as you can see in these photos:)

Sarah and Bryant have been together 8 years and had NEVER been mini-golfing together!

Shane and I were honored to be instrumental in changing that fact.

Aren't we both darling couples? I know, I know...

Yes, we were playing with a bet on the line, and yes, the Hulls did buy us McDonald's hot fudge sundaes.

We're up for a re-match any day, you two!! Cause we had a lot of fun. Thanks guys!

Disneyland Dating

It was a sunny Monday afternoon and I thought,

"You know what? I want to go to Disneyland."

And the cool thing is that I could! So I did. And I took my boyfriend with me.

Shane had never been to California Adventure, so I took him straight to the Tower of Terror.

I didn't tell him anything; it was really funny. Shane shrieked through the whole thing. Awesome.

Have you seen these crazy huge turkey legs? I had been wanting to try one since my birthday, so I did! It was pretty tasty for the first few bites...but then we went on some rides and...not so good.

But we had to!! Now we know.

Overall, a successful afternoon Disneyland date!

Two for the price of one

Toni and Lew. Nope, not life partners in the usual sense of the saying. Not my two Dads, either. Yes, there's a history of unisex names given to the women in my family. But regardless of how you address them, they're two of the greatest parents in the world! And today, we get to celebrate them both.

So...Capeetan Lewis, aka King Lewie, aka The Dance Machine, aka the #1 hunting and fishing comrade, turned 59 today. Q: Do you know what they say about a guy who's 59? A: HE'S ALMOST 60! Jk, pops. Thanks for being such a great Dad. I can't tell you how many times my dad gave me his fishing pole so that I could keep fishing, while he sat on the banks of the Green River for an hour or two trying to get the snags out of my line! We love you and look forward to many more trips together in the future.

And now my dear mother! I could spend an hour on what an angel she is just for putting up with King Lewie. What a wonderful woman she is in so many ways. An amazing seamstress (she's done plenty of fixes on my trousers), the best movie watching partner (entertaining because she gets scared so easily), a real pain in the neck when we're playing card games in the trailer (watch out, she'll getcha when you least expect it), and always a nice hug, warm bed, and a hot meal when we cruise through town. Thanks for being a great friend and awesome mother.

We love you both so much,
Shane + Sal

Word to your Mother

My mom runs,

and bikes,

and kayaks,

and rollerblades,

and cliff jumps,

and hikes,

and scuba dives,

and longboards (yikes!),

and dances,

and teaches,

and lucky for me, she mothers.

What doesn't she do!? I could not have asked for a more awesome mom.

I couldn't even begin to list all the reasons I'm thankful for you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day! I love you!

Guns and Fire!

Did I get your attention? You were worried for a minute, admit it.

Shane decided he needed to brush up on his shotgun skills. He took friends, Bryant and Kyle, to have some boyish fun with guns. The good news is, nobody got shot.

Later we hung out here:

A really awesome lady in our ward lives down the street from us and her backyard IS the beach!

She kindly let us have a bonfire at her place and it was a great success!

We had fun chowing hot dogs and s'mores, listening to my sexy husband perform, and chatting it up. Thanks to all our friends for coming to party with us!

One more sweet Saturday for the history book of Shally.