Family Reuion time

It is that time again. Every summer for the past 25 years we have gotten together with our cousins from all around the country. California, Washington, Florida and NY.  Now that everyone is getting married and having kids it is getting a little crazy. But very fun!

We do a lot of eating and hanging out - Barbecuing up some hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch, pizza for dinner, and then Ralph's Italian ices for desert.  Good times. 

The old kitchen full of people.  So fun being with everyone.  A little surfing time.  It was so fun to be out there with Derek.  He did really good. Caught a few good rides :)  It was a perfect sandbar day at west gilgo beach. 

Look at Derek Shredding it up! 

Julie and Dan, the two little love birds. Julie just came home from her mission and she is adjusting quite quickly.  We really love Dan. I have been friends with him for almost 3 years now.  So we are hoping things work out between them :)

 

 Me and Derek Hanging out on the beach - My new hat, so excited about that :)

                          The boys all getting ready to go kayaking to the sunkin ship wreck

                                                                    Moms and their kids


A few years ago we started the Rathgeber Olympics.  So we all break into teams and paint each other with war paint.  And we have a list of events that people need to do.  (ex, sprint with a partner while holding hands, wheel barrel with a partner, go out to the ocean and paddle around a bouy.)

This year we had the adults do their own part and the last leg was that they had to roll into the ocean. Oh my goodness it was so funny watching them do that.  That was definitely my favorite part. 

We were the yellow team and we came in second.  Good job team. The little one is my aunt Barbabra who really stepped it up a notch and rolled so fast into the water. 

After the Olympics we all went over to the bay to take a swim and we played King of the float.

So when we were younger we would always play this game King of the float.  Its pretty much every man for themselves out there.  Its so funny as everyone gets older they are all so strong and fling each other around.  I decided to swim out there but I was not in the mood to be thrown off.  We got some cool pictures with these nice cameras.  In this picture it looks like Derek is walking on water.  And charlie looks like a monkey with that long hair.  Kinda cool :)

Such a fun week hanging out with my whole family and I loved having Derek there with me.  He will fit in quite nicely with everyone.

One last picture on Sunday

What a blast I had with Derek here.  The love of my life.  Now another week with just the Rathgeber's.  The house is quite a bit quieter.  But I sure do miss Derek. 

Then back to Utah and back to NetSmartz and planning a wedding.  Very Exciting.  

Pioneer Day

Some fireworks for Pioneer Day. We went over to Cassie and Chris's house for pioneer day and hung out with Luke for a little while. 

our little pretend family - fun :)

Luke got a little scared of the fireworks so we had to go inside.

I'm engaged!

Yes I know, I am a slow blogger!  But this post is an important one.  So for those of you who don't know the story (which most of you do because I only have like 10 followers) Derek proposed to me two weeks ago in the morning as we were hiking Stewart Falls...

So that morning he came over to my house and I may or may not have been bugging him to propose before I left to NY...So that morning he told me Its not happening today.  So I was like okay that's fine, and didn't think anything of it.  So I just started getting ready to go hiking and then that morning on our way to go hiking we had to stop over at Derek's house for something.  He went inside and I guess my dad called him back and he got permission from him just then.  

I was excited to go hiking. Stewart falls is my favorite and its a beautiful Saturday morning.  So we are hiking and go to the waterfall having fun, and then on the way back he pulls out of his pocket this paper that says 10 reasons I want to marry Alli.  So cute!  So as we are walking back he begins to tell me all the reasons he wants to marry me.

Here are the reasons :

10 reasons I want to marry alli.

1. because of how much you love me, you see all of the good things in me.
2. How much I love you, I want you to be happy and I want to try to make you happy everyday for the rest of our lives.
3. I want to have a family with you. I want to have little kids running around that look like you and me.
4. I want to become a better person with you, and you make me better everyday.
5. I love just sitting and talking with you and I want to spend forever sitting and talking with you.
6. You're smoking hot and I can't resist you. I love your body. I love your face, your hair, your lips. I love everything about your body.
7. I love being with you. I want to be with you forever. I love going on trips. Riding in the car. I love eating dinner. Going on dates. Working out. Walking. I love having you with me and even when I should be doing other things without you I would rather have you with me than getting those things done.
8. You're great at serving and doing things for other people. I want to be more like that. I want to help you serve and help other people. I want to serve and take care of you.
9. We look great together. I love looking at the picture of you and me that you put in my car. It makes me happy when I look at it. I want to take great looking pictures with you for the rest of our lives.
10. You're so spiritual and I'm excited to grow and develop spiritually with you throughout our lives. You are always thinking about what the Spirit is telling you and I love that about you.

Then on reason 9 we went off to a secluded place and he told me a few things and then got down on one knee and proposed.  It was perfect. I was not suspecting it at all and it was such a great morning.

He didn't get the real ring yet so he proposed with this fake one, and I love it.  Almost as much as the real one.  Well I don't know exactly what my real ring looks like but I picked out one that I liked and I should be getting something like it.  Then after, we went and got drinks and went to lunch at Zupas.  A perfect morning.  Man I love this guy :)

So that afternoon I had to go to a friends bridal shower and then me and Derek went to a BBQ with a bunch of his friends from Utah State. It was really fun and we were on our way home.  So when we got back to my house, Derek said, hey hold on one sec and he ran downstairs. I thought he just had to go to the bathroom.  So I am waiting and then he comes back upstairs and when we go down and I see rose petals into my room. When I walk in there are 6 dozen roses and candles all over the room.  He told me that he loved me and man was I happy :)  It really was the perfect day!

Just like a cat there...haha

We are getting married October 7th In Salt Lake City Ut - And I can't wait!

Tie Dye Adventure

Katie Decided to throw hannah a tie dye birthday party in NY.  So me and julie were invited and it was a blast!  Tie Dye, Ralphs - Italian Ices, and a movie. 

Happy Birthday Hannah

Our hair is so long...crazy.

What a great husband! Always working on the house

It was fun Josh set up a little area for us in the back yard of their house. Man their new house is sooo beautiful.  One lucky little couple to live there.  They have put in their hard work!

Don't worry, copper tried on the finished shirts :)

Oh how I love copper :)

Julies Home!

Hooray Julies home and normal :)  Its so good to have her back!

Just eating a little pizza at bellagio's - I forgot how good it is to sit around and eat the best pizza in the world :)

Birthday :)

Well my birthday was this wednesday and it was perfect!  I was so sad because Derek had a surprise trip for work and had to go to DC so he didn't come home til midnight on my big day. But don't you worry he made it up to me, so it turned out to be even better because I got two great days!

So I woke up, went hiking with my two friends Katie and Jenny.  They show up with flowers and Soda (how did they know my two favorite things? :)   My roomates got me beautiful flowers, and Cassie that night got me flowers as well. I felt very loved! Then I went to lunch with work. Best pizza in provo (Niccoitalia's- closest to NY pizza)   Then went and got my nails done, and went up to salt lake to hang out with Cass and Chris.  Where did we go to dinner?  Of course olive garden, my favorite.  I know, why is that still my favorite? Because it has the best chicken Parmesan.  Luke is getting so big and cute!

twins :)

Luke was so good!

We went home and then watched Just Go With It - So funny!  It's an adam sandler movie so I don't usually like them but it was really funny. Then I went and picked derek up from the airport. Man I missed him so much and it was only two days.  Funny how that happens when you see someone ever day :) 

The next day Derek spoiled me and took me up to the restaurant at Sundance and it was perfect.  It is so pretty up there!  He also got me a kindle! - me and you mom can read on our kindles together.  Which is perfect because I have been reading so much lately.  If you haven't read The Help!  Read it. It seriously is so good!

I love it up there!

Then we went to a comedy show thing, and had cake! It was a perfect evening! I am so lucky to have such an amazing family/boyfriend who loves me so much!

Kauai With the Nielson Family

What an amazing time we had.  I have been to Oahu a few times but never to the other islands.  First of all I loved the flight. So quick.  You get on the plane, take a drink of guava drink and then the plane lands on the ground.  That is the ideal flight.

So when we arrived we took a quick run to Costco. What an amazing store.  Bought tons of food, and then set out to the Marriott hotel. It was perfect because it had a bunch of pools, hot tubs and the ocean right there.  That is paradise.  I do love hot tubs. 

What a beautiful sight :)

Something that was really great was that Derek's parents, Sally and Gordon decided to make a theme for the week, and it was Gratitude.  So each morning two of us were in charge of a devotional and we had to talk for 5 minutes about gratitude. She also got us each gratitude journals so that we could write down what we were grateful for each day.  I loved it.  Every night we had to go around and say something that we were grateful for before we said family prayer as well. There were quite a few funny things that everyone was grateful for.

What a great way to bring the spirit in each day. I said to sally, wow I can't believe how spiritual you guys are, and she said, "this is the first time that we have ever done this."  It was a really great thing.

So we set out on some adventures.  The first day we went to this rope swing and waterfall. It was just like a 5 minute walk to get to it, but it was really muddy and there were a few who almost fell.

So each night we went to the hot tub and met some really funny people.  One of the nights we met these two Mormon couples who were in their mid fifties.  We told them about this rope swing and they said they were going to do it the next night.  The next night we see the husband with this huge brusie on the side of his chest and these electrodes stuck to his chest.  He did the rope swing like 5X's and on the fifth he didnt let go and then landed on his back and got the wind knocked out of him.  When he swam to shore he was coughing up blood.  They had to rush him to the ER.  The wife also brought an expensive video camera.  She slipped and tried to hold it up in the air, but then it fell in the water.  What an adventure they had, it cost them like 2,000 that day.  They said in the hot tub, thanks a lot of telling us about that place!  Crazy old people trying to be kids :)

Speaking of old people trying to be kids, I was very impressed with Gordon (derek's dad) doing all the jumps the boys did. 

Gordon the Jokester

 We went snorkeling at this cool beach, and just hung out. We drove quite a long time that day.  Derek's brother Tanner said that it was like "the road to hanna"  Which I guess the last time they were in Hawaii were stuck on this road for like 5 hours and it was the worst.  pretty funny

I love this shot, it reminds me of all of us kids at the beach when i was little

the boys trying to be tough, love this shot :)

 You gotta love nate's green bathing suit.  That is Derek's brother in law. He is so funny. 

We also went on a kayaking adventure up to another waterfall.  The weather was perfect.  It felt like you were in the amazon while you were kayaking up to it. 

the clan

it was so pretty there

so cool huh, it was smashing out heads

So a few things that happened that day. you know how we all had to do a devotional, Rachel and Ryan had to do theirs that day on trials.  Which was classic, because they have been through a lot over the years.  And on the trip their ore broke. And this took about an hour each way.  Well derek put his phone in the dry bag and the dry bag was soaked.  He was a little upset. We found out that is had a hole in the bottom.  Then Cole found out that a water bottle leaked in his bag so his camera was dead.  It was quite the adventure with trials.  We came home and put them in rice and it did the trick.  Both were fixed, well mostly.

Family Picture time

So we went to church in the morning and then had oh so much fun taking family pictures.  Derek is such a ham around his family. It was so funny to see him this way.  I love his family so much and I'm so lucky that they are so loving and fun!

The Kids - Me and derek, then in the back is Tanner and Cole, then Rachel is married to Ryan, And Ashley is married to Nate.  Its so fun that we are all around the same age!

Jokester - Like father like son

I love this guy - he was joking around making a cheesy smile and it made me laugh and sally caught it :)

Eating before the airport - mexican food

This trip made me realize just how amazing Derek is.  I fell more and more in love with him on this trip!  It was perfect, and I am an incredibly lucky girl to have him in my life :)