25th Birthday and 6 Months of Marriage!

YAY! We've been married for 6 months :) And boy am I thankful for my husband. He is the most selfless person I know and he is such a wonderful provider for our little family. No matter what comes our way I know that we can handle it because hey, we love each other!! And all you need is love! (Sing it Beattles! Yes I hear it at work every day, for the last 10 years...haha) But anywho we have reached the 6 month mark and Bryce- I love you hunny :) Not only have we reached this small milestone, but Bryce also turned 25 years old on the 23rd! For his birthday I got him a Craftsman Bolt-On (aka a tool he has been wanting for a very very very long time). It was on sale for Father's Day which is what made it somewhat in our budget for birthday gifts for one another :) Seeing his face when he opened it was PRICELESS. I'll have to get the picture my brother Russell took of his face because it really was that good. It was so cute-he spent the rest of the night looking online for the other parts of the tool he wanted to get next. Quick explanation for those of you who know nothing about the tool-it has a head that is interchangeable. So it starts out as a drill and it can be a reciprocating saw or an impact driver, router, sander, etc. So he was looking at all the other pieces he could purchase with his birthday money and allowance. He also got a pair of corduroys from his mom which was a big hit! He's been wanting a pair of those for a while too. There was also a really cool California shirt, a scarf from Cariloha (BAMBOO!), some adorable handmade cards from my nieces with little pieces of candy, other cards, and an awesome card from his little sister Summer. It was a Star Wars card that was all about using the force to blow out birthday candles. Lets just say it was the best talking card ever! To top it all off we had funfetti cake with icecream :) Unfortunately Bryce had to work on his birthday.  But we both got the Wednesday (2 days later) off that week. We decided to be tourists for the day. We started out by going to Misty Fjords in the morning with my Best Friend growing up Brianna. That's what the pictures are below:)

Then we went Zipling with her out at a place that Bryce takes tourists to on transfers. We had a lot of fun up in the trees and we got to see a few bears which was sweet from up above them. All in all I would say it was a good birthday celebration-I just hope he felt the same way about it :) Besides, it's always nice to have a day off together to just spend time with each other. And we also booked our tickets home for the end of the summer-sorta...We got our tickets to California instead to spend a few days at the beach with Bryce's family and we are SO EXCITED. Have a great summer everyone :) And more updates soon from the McRae family :)

The 907

Okay, I know I know-I haven't written in forever! I keep telling myself that I'm going to and then I get caught up doing other things. So there you have it, summer for the McRaes is very very busy!
Bryce is driving buses and giving tours for HAPA again (which is how we met in the first place!) and I am still working at my parents art gallery, NickMichaels. I work 40 hours a week and Bryce works about 55. And luckily we've actually had a few days off together this summer, which only happened twice last year. This summer we had 2 days off together in one week without even asking! Yes that made me a happy camper :)
Besides working an average of 55 hours a week Bryce is also working his butt off doing math whenever he has the chance. I'm so awful, I always distract him but he keeps working through it. And I am trying harder to not distract him, baby steps! ;)
Every Sunday we have dinner with my family which I love and Bryce does too. We're really looking forward to spending some time in San Diego with Bryce's family at the end of Summer before school starts too :) Hopefully those travel plans will be finalized in the next week or so.
But since it's been a few months, here's some catch up of what went on (long story short...)

We were able to go to California and spend some time with Bryce's family in April-my teachers were super understanding and let me just make up the work. So, we got a late spring break with them. We went to Six Flags with Reed and his friend one day. I had never been on a roller coaster before really or gone to a theme park even so I had a lot of fun! And the boys put up with my screaming and freaking out on every ride. But it was a blast!

 Reed chose for Goliath to be my first ride-and boy did I think I was going to die! I repeatedly yelled at Bryce "Why did I come Why did I come?!?" But by the end of it I was laughing and having a good time. 

My personal favorite ride was Full Throttle though. I was terrified of that loop, but I LOVED when we were upside down for 6 seconds and stalled for a bit there. I was shaking so bad in line and my heart was racing (Yes, Bryce laughed at me and told me I could do it!) but it was completely worth it! Overall it was a great day :) 

Bryce apparently didn't understand that the chains around the Batmobile meant don't touch, but he wanted a picture on it so badly that I just couldn't say no! He was like a little kid on Christmas, adorable :)

We also went mini golfing at this new place that  opened in LaQuinta with Reed and Summer. Summer ended up dislocating her big toe pretty bad, so we called it a game and took her home. However, she told us to go back and finish so we did. Naturally I lost, by a lot...But it was still fun! And when we got home, Reed thought it would be nice of us to make a little sign for Summer to feel better. So he told me what to write and I did it in bubble letters. Afterall, I LOVE to doodle. The people at mini golf even gave us a shirt to give her, they were so nice about it!

We had an awesome Easter Egg hunt Sunday morning. I have never had such an intense hunt but it was a blast! Bryce and I even got the bronze egg ;)We also got an awesome basket from the easter bunny, full of games and goodies. Which, the game Anomia has been a big hit in Alaska this summer. Thank you easter bunny! We love it and will have to play it with Bryce's family in August.

We finished up the semester on May 1st and drove down to Provo that night. The next morning we drove down to Manti for my cousin Brigette's wedding. I got so light headed during the ceremony that Bryce had to help me out the door before I almost blacked out. The temple workers were super sweet and gave me crackers and orange juice. Then someone had to come check on me before they let us go back in which was a little embarrassing but at least I got to go back. They put an extra chair in and everything for me so I wouldn't have to keep standing. But hey, nobody ended up passing out. I would call that a success!
After pictures we ran to the luncheon and grabbed food for on the go. My Uncle Barry drove Bryce, my parents, and I to the airport in SLC and we flew out that afternoon, making it home to Ketchikan that night. And yes, we started work the next morning- time to make some money!

We've been spending a lot of time with my brother John and his wife and 4 daughters. One of my favorite things has been when we went to Lexi and Kaytlin's gymnastics performance. It was so fun to watch them and they did great! You could say I was a very proud aunt! Lexi got an award for the prettiest cartwheels and Kaytlin got an award for beautiful bridges. What can I say, they're naturals ;)

Kaytlin doing a bridge and Lexi doing her splits-yes she's FLEXIBLE

Medals :)

Kaytlin on the bar

And Lexi on the beam.

Another highlight has been when my brother Dustin and his family came up to visit for 2 weeks. Dustin just graduated from BYU with his masters, so they came up before they move to Texas for Dustin's job with Exon Mobile. On one of my days off I got to go fishing with them. The way that our boat works is that there is a steering wheel both upstairs on the flybridge and downstairs in the cabin. Maddie had so much fun steering and waiting for Papa to steer back. And I'm pretty sure that Dad had just as much fun as her, he was smiling pretty big everytime she tried to drive :)

When we were getting our fishing licenses Dad made a temporary swing for Maddie

She loved it :)

I told you, this girl had a blast with her Papa

And he even let her drive the boat alone for a bit ;)

It'd been a long day, he was so cute!Ben was all tuckered out and fell asleep with his mommy, which was adorable! It was a great day and I'm so glad that they got to come up to visit :)

Now I'm just missing my sister Jenny like crazy. She stayed in Provo this summer to work and go to school and I wish she was here with us! In a few weeks she gets to go visit her boyfriend Dallon in Arizona, which I'm super excited for her! Dallon had brain surgery a few weeks ago and his recovery has been going really well so Jenny is going to go down for the weekend to see him and meet his family.
P.S. He's a stud and they're ADORABLE together.

Just a few extra pictures in honor of fathers day tomorrow. Bryce is going to be a great Dad someday :) him and Addie were talking about the little fishies and it was so cute. He got to meet them all and learn all these new things from a 3 year old. :) STUD.

And in honor of my Dad: Thank you Dad for always being there for me. From when I was born until now, you have never given up on me. I LOVE YOU!

Well that's a lot of the major points of what's been going on with the McRaes. Sorry it took so long to post! And hopefully you'll be hearing from me again soon :) If you haven't, feel free to pester me via facebook or text if I don't ;)