here we are

Okay well I've got good news today. We FINALLY, finally, after months and months of {impatiently} waiting, got our wedding photos back!
 it'saboutdangtime. wouldn't you say?
Well I'm loving them and some mornings after Nate leaves for work I just can't put the ipad down long enough to stop looking at them.
I have to (sometimes outloud) tell myself. "go workout the pictures aren't going anywhere."
Then my morning has to officially begin.

It's crazy to think we have already been married almost THREE months. time is just a flyin'.
I remmeber how hectic it was getting ready for the wedding and being so excited for  when life would finally calm down again. but guess what?
 It hasn't even calmed down. at all. bummer. ha but I wouldn't change it for anything.

 so i wanted to share a few & when I started going through them I realized I couldn't just pick A FEW> so there's a ton. the first ones are from our bridal/formal session. and then the temple and party ones after that. Yep, it was the best day ever.

these boots

Nate bought me my FIRST pair of cowgirl boots on Saturday!

My jaw about hit the ground when i saw how much those things cost.

But i love them so much. I never want to take them off. 

I may or may not have worn them to church on sunday.

 with a skirt. (is that a little redneck?) maybe.

But I made it VERY CLEAR to Nate and the saleslady at the boot barn: I'm not no country girl. I probably never will be, and i'm fine with that. 

You should have seen the way she looked at me when she asked if I was going to wear my jeans inside the boots. I said "well duh, all i own are skinny jeans."

africa

Today, I'm feeling overly sentimental.
 (not a huge change from everyday if you were to ask Nate)
but here's why.
ONE YEAR AGO TODAY my dad took me to the airport.
my bags were packed.
the goodbye tears and hugs were over.
 & it was my time.
I was off for my adventure of a life-time and lemme tell ya, it was an adventure.
My friend (who became a sister) Taylor was right by my side and we were ready to take on the world.

Ghana taught me so many things.
 The people I met there taught me even more.
+I learned what it felt like to be truly grateful.
+I learned a little more about who i was.
 +I learned it was OKAY to be who i was
+I learned that even when times are hard, Heavenly father is SO mindful of his children.

We had some challenging times in Ghana,  no doubt.
no running water for a week. lizards in our bedroom. EEK! got the flu so bad they thought i had malaria. 2 black men we met on the street followed taylor and I home one night and our host father yelled at us telling us those men are "dangerous." passed out in the Accra airport and was told I would have to wait 3 days to fly home. broken toilet.bucket showers. missed my family like CRAZY.

But those times barely even compare to the happy times.

Sweaty, stinky kids running up to me everyday and hugging me so tight. I'm telling ya, the best hugs in the world. grace combing my hair. Christopher falling asleep right in my arms. bathing and dressing Deborah every morning and telling her how pretty she looked. serving lunch to the school kids and having them all want to play. teaching my little host brother how to dance. doing dishes with Arnold. Going to the beach on the weekends and enjoying the beauty of it all. traveling around the country seeing and experiencing new things everyday. Meeting life long friends from all over the world who I will never forget.

I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Those babes literally stole my heart and I think about them and pray for them everyday.
Someday I'll go back, but for now,
I 'm living my newest adventure with the man of my dreams.

the day i tried to be a housewife

Yesterday was an exhausting day for me.
 Holy freaking cow.
 Let me give you a run down.

- wake up. make nate a sack lunch to take on the road.
(I'm a pro at PB&J's. and i think he's grateful.)
- do Insanity.( quietly as not to disturb our neighbors below.) uhh guess how good i am at being quiet? NOT GOOD AT ALL.

-go to work. get some zucchini AND recipe ideas from our greasy mechanic. double wammy.
All day  strategically write out our grocery list and  meal plan for the week. feeling on top of the world.

-get to the grocery store (with list in hand & smile on my face) grab my cart. good to go. uhhhhhhhhh

-Start doing laps around the grocery store.Can't seem to find A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G of what I need.
-Pass The same workers as they look at me like "Haven't you walked past me 10 times before?"
Yep, yep I have.
- let go of my pride and ask an old man worker where the flax seed was.
I KID YOU NOT.
we spend the next 10-15 minutes looking up and down the aisle
 -finally I  say
"forget it, I'll just ask my mom."
 newbie of a wife right here okay?

-FINALLY have everything i need (after almost taking down a little girl with my cart as she came RUNNING around the corner. probably not a good idea kiddy)
-Pay for my groceries and the heavens shine down on me! After an hour and 20 mins at Kent's market place I have spent 10 dollars under my budget!
 SCORE!
-Smile so big as I hand the lady my cash. "Maybe I'm not so bad at this after all."
Spoke too soon.
-get to Nate's truck to load the groceries. (which might i add is a LOT bigger than my car)
-can NOT find the keys.
I get panicked.
Maybe I left them in the truck? oh crap, he'll kill me.
-Keep digging in my purse and now it's turning frantic.
(During my  key searching I seem to have forgotten the cart was on the DOWN HILL side and has begun to roll towards a Buick.)
-Run to grab the runaway cart  with a bright red face
-Try to constrain the cart with my hip as i Continue to look for those gosh darn keys.
FINALLY!!!
-open the back door to see Nate's 22 shotgun staring back at me leaving hardly any room for  groceries.

-Look around to see if anyone is seeing this sight.

A girl in leopard pants. with beads of sweat on her forehead.who can't control her cart.driving a big truck with a 22 shotgun in the back seat. 

WHAT.A.SIGHT.

Get home. start making dinner. slice my finger. bleed. bleed. bleed.
Finally get dinner in the oven
Go pick up Nate and tell him about my hectic day.
Eat dinner. (We even use the fancy goblet glasses i picked up from a garage sale.)
Everything is looking up.. until Nate take s a bite of casserole and says, "Is there any meat or anything in this?  Zucchini  and carrots isn't going to be enough to make me full."

I'M DONE.

Safe to say this girl in the leopard pants needed to lie down. So that's what i did.

I love him.

keeping sanity with a snap back

Getting married forces you to grow up a little.

 I remember awhile after Nate and I got engaged crying to him and telling him "I don't want to grow up." 

In ways, I still feel that way. But in other ways, it feels okay to grow up. 

But yesterday I may have gotten a little nervous. I looked in the mirror before I left for work and I barely recognized myself. I mean, what was I wearing? 

(I'm still adjusting to the no tank tops or short shorts thing) 

I realized just because I can't wear a lot of my old clothes I can still dress like myself. 

That doesn't have to change. 

Just because I'm married now doesn't automatically mean I have to put on my mom jeans. 

(which i love btw. weird.)

So I put on my snap back and my favorite black shirt with skinny jeans and I knew everything was right with the world.

just a disclaimer for any unmarried:

 giving up some of your wardrobe is totally worth it to be with the one you love FORVER. i promise. 

just like that

& Just Like that.. 

WE'RE MARRIED!!!!

It was honestly the best day of my life. 

I'm still floating on cloud 9. 

I love having a husband who also happens to be my best friend.

We have way too much fun.

Gotta get back to organizing our apartment. Oh the joys of growing up. :/

photos and words to love

Okay first off, we got a sneak peak at some of our engagements and I am so happy with them. I'm way glad i didn't choose the "typical" photographer in Brigham city and took a risk with a girl who has a unique, but awesome  style. (we got along so so good.) & Nate even liked her. That's a big deal. 

Second, I can NOT wait to marry Nathan D in T minus 36 days!!!! ahh that always makes my heart start beating so fast.

We have gotten so many things crossed off our "to-do" lists and we are still madly in love and anxious to be together forever. (holy. CHEESY alert)

Yesterday we found out we got approved to live in the apartments that we wanted to!! They are red brick and so old. but charming and full of character and I can't wait to live there and decorate it the way we want to but mainly just excited to be TOGETHER.

Lastly, it is summer time and summer time is MY time and I am loving it even more than usual. I love waking up at the crack a dawn to go swim laps before the sun peaks over the mountains. I love stopping with sophie on our bikes on the way back from work to get a snowie and talk about old times. I love spending warm nights with Nate and Carson and Suz practicing long boarding and sitting in the church parking lot Laughing so hard. I love motorcycle rides with my love and watching a darling 7 year old's first t-ball game. I love watching the sun set as I ride in Nate's semi listening to "Wagon wheel" ,laughing, talking about wedding, dreaming about our future,and just being with my best friend.

 I love it all. I am so blessed.

SOME WORDS TO LOVE

"You knew, didn’t you, how I needed your language and the mind that formed it? How I relied on your fierce courage to tame wildernesses for me? How strengthened I was by the certainty that came from knowing you would never hurt me? You knew, didn’t you, how I loved your love? You knew.