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.