Injured and Inspired

We were lucky and got another white Christmas in Salt Lake this year, amounting to about 12 inches of beautiful white freezing holiday symbolism. I'm amazed, mostly because it literally appeared overnight. What an amazing surprise on Christmas morning!

Anyway, with snowfall comes great responsibility to shovel it off of sidewalks, driveways, and large steel locomotives. Being the ambitious freak I am, I tackled the driveway in addition to the walkway inside our front yard. This was all fine and dandy, until I came inside and felt a sharp pain on my left side. Long story short, I had sprain strained my left hip flexor area. It also didn't help that I went bowling the day after I shoveled, and shoveled again after returning from my bowling adventure. Shame on me, I know, but I guess there are some things I am destined to learn about the hard way.

Being the amazing husband he is, Sam finally convinced me to go to the chiropractor today. I enjoyed it very much, especially being told that my original diagnosis was accurate ;)

So there's the injured part, now for the inspirational part.

My wonderful friend Scoshi gave me a watercolor set for Christmas, which will give me the opportunity to expand on my acrylic skills. Her only condition for this lovely present was that I was to make her a picture (duh!). I had a dilemma though, because Scoshi is such an incredibly unique individual, choosing just one idea to paint for her has been quite a challenge. I was stuck in my own brain, so I turned to Pinterest and stumbled upon some pretty exciting concepts.

Of course this search for inspiration spilled over into my own interests. This search only furthered my obsession with Paris and butterflies; I am legitimately concerned that I will run out of wall space to display all of these ideas. Here is one that caught my eye:

Watercolor Architectues by Maja Wronska

Photo courtesy of cured.com

I'm so inspired! Good thing I have another week of break to continue excising my creative brain muscles and make beautiful things.

Happy Holidays

Technically this will be mine and Sam's third Christmas. While we weren't a couple for the first one, I count it because we exchanged gifts that we each put special thought into.

I continued the Christmas brunch tradition by us hosting this year (it's my favorite part of Christmas).

I woke up early on Christmas Eve and began making potatoes for hash browns. Mom was supposed to bring the bacon and eggs, while the Dunn's were bringing breakfast casserole.

Kate decided to engage my dad in a staring contest using her trademarked "death glare."

It was our first Christmas with our little Princess! 

Santa brought her a large bone and put it in her special doggy stocking.

Grandpa might have gotten the most presents this year.

For dinner we were invited to the Boston's, to which I got to spend some time playing with little miss Mione and little Penelope.

Happy 3rd Christmas!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love Christmas, but not for reasons most children do. One could argue that I love Christmas because of the gifts I receive, or because of all the baked goods (and they'd only be half right).

I love Christmas because of what it means to me. To me, Christmas means family is around for holiday gatherings, warming the house with smells of freshly baked cookies, listening to Christmas music (starting December 1 because otherwise I'm sick of it before Christmas Day), cheesy Hallmark movies, a break from working, and service.

This Christmas season, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

I have a family that doubled 18 months ago, and continued to grow this year as I got two new sisters-in-law and a puppy.

I have a new job where I am blessed with a great new group of friends, and I continue to learn and grow as a public education crusader.

We have a permanent home that we are making more beautiful every day.

I feel so very blessed for all of the little things that enrich my life on a daily basis.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year to be reminded of that every day :)

The 27th Year

Today I turned 27!

I love my birthday, I often refer to it as Lindsey-Palooza. Sam wanted to celebrate by going to my favorite restaurant (The Dodo), but in the end we decided on takeout from Cafe Rio and a movie night of my choice.

As I drove home today, I pondered why my birthday meant so much to me.

Love.

It's the one day out of the year where friends and family shower me with love.

I love my birthday because everyone always makes me feel so special. Everyone I know spends at least a minute thinking about and acknowledging my special day.

I definitely felt the love today.

My sweet husband sent me a text last night, being the first to wish me happy birthday. My parents texted me around 6:30AM, followed by my in-laws shortly thereafter.

Many coworkers and several children wished me happy birthday. I got a special signed handmade card from the Special Ed class as well.

The kids FaceTimed me and had sent me photos of the birthday card that is in the mail.

I received a few sweet presents as well: a pink and gold Fitbit Alta and sparkly earrings from Sam, a few pieces of Christmas decor from my pals at work, fuzzy christmas socks from Mere, and some beautiful lounge socks from Tyler and Lorena.

I had a great birthday. It was a wonderful day to start being 27. I have my husband, my puppy, my friends, my work, and my loving family.

Happy Lindsey-Palooza!

Wisdom from Hamilton

Hamilton, the Musical has become a cultural phenomenon. I first heard a selection of the soundtrack on Pandora late last year, and was enchanted.

I had loved Lin-Mauel Miranda's In the Heights, so it was no surprise that this score struck my fancy. I dabbled in some of the songs, tailoring my Pandora station to a few of my favorites.

Recently, I bought myself the 2-Disc soundtrack, and have been listening everyday for the last week during my 20 minute commute, and I continue to be enchanted by the historical picture being painted for my from the perspectives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.

As a lover and enjoyer of words, I find Miranda's work to truly be a refreshing and unique snapshot of multiple political and historical legacies. As a whole, the story has enthralled me, as well as inspired me in more ways than one.

First of all, I relate with Hamilton in his desire to prove himself and will never be 'satisfied' unless he accomplishes every single goal in a specific way. Here are a few of his quotes that have given me reason to ponder my beliefs and ideals:

"There's a million things I haven't done, but just you wait!"-Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton

"If you stand for nothing, then what will you fall for?"-Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Sir

Second, Aaron Burr may have been more relatable to me than Hamilton. While I don't think I could actually practice what he preaches ("Talk less, smile more"), in his moments of quiet contemplation, he speaks to me on a level where I know he speaks the truth. For example:

"Love doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints."-Burr, Wait For It

"I am the one thing in life I can control."- Burr, Wait For It

"If we lay a strong enough foundation, we'll pass it on to you, we'll give the world to you and you'll blow us all away."- Burr, Dear Theodosia

Third, George Washington may have been the unsung voice of reason throughout the story. The amazing mentor he was, helped me understand what it really means to be older and wiser. His philosophy is both profound and modernly accurate. If anything, he plainly states universal knowledge in a way that makes it sound so much more effective.

"You have no control over who lives, who dies, who tells your story."-Washington, History has it's Eyes on You

"Winning is easy, leading is harder." Washington, Cabinet Battle #1

Finally, the hidden gem of the musical themes come from Elizabeth "Eliza" Schulyer Hamilton. Throughout the show she says, "Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now." How right you are Eliza, hearing this made me stop and think about how lucky I am to be here right now. You offer me hope, that no matter what, I live in a time where things are happening and I get to be right in the middle of it.

History has it's eyes on you, so how do you want to be remembered?

You know, there's a million things I haven't done, but just you wait!

Princess Larsen Elmer

An update on our sweet furry daughter: Princess is almost 6 months old, LOVES food, is very tall, is afraid of squeaky toys, and loves to snuggle with Mom and Dad whenever she gets the chance.

She went to the vet and was such a good girl until they took her away for a blood test. Mom heard a loud yelp and then felt guilty for the rest of the weekend.

People always comment on how tall she is, it's those LONG legs for sure!

That face though, this Princess is no pushover!

She loves snuggling with Daddy.
Most days I can't tell where the man ends and the dog begins.
She sure does love him.

Since going to the vet isn't torture enough, we also gave her a bath.
Once she realized that  the tub was filling with water (she loves water) it wasn't so bad.
She was a good girl and didn't make too big of a mess.

Princess has done very well at Puppy School.
Mom and Dad both took her to the 6-week-long course so that they could bond as a family.

She finished Puppy School this past Wednesday!

Yay Princess!

Thanksgiving Week Shenanigans

Seriously though, if you call lounging with family, enjoying yummy food, and playing with the puppy shenanigans, then we were out of control ;)

It all started when Sam's parents flew in on Monday night. It was pouring rain. Mind you that we were bracing ourselves for some snow, but the rain was pretty bad too.

Snow didn't come until Wednesday evening when it was time to go to puppy school. I didn't need to go in on Wednesday, so Lisa and I tried to go shopping. It just didn't pan out :( But thanks to her, I was able to select a bottle of dye for the dress I bought for my brother's wedding. The salmon just isn't working for me, so we chose a nice Wine color (red/purple). We have plans to dye it before Lorena's baptism tomorrow. As we made our way home from Jordan Landing, we stopping at the grocery store for some last minute ingredients.

Thursday was full of yummy smells, good conversation, and time with the family. We knew Ian had to work and couldn't join us, but we were surprised when Tyler and Lorena didn't come. Regardless, we had both sets of our parents as well as my grandpa.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Elmer-Larsen Clan.

These are the faces of two kids who are thankful for so many things, and have been so very blessed this year. #SamLovesLindsey

Of course, Thanksgiving would not be complete without a FaceTime from #katedagreat. She's still twinning it up with me from across the country.

 Finally, we are so thankful that we have Princess. She is a fantastic addition to our little family and we love her SO much! Her holiday sweater matches her personality perfectly, if only we could get her to actually like it.

From my dog to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday was a lounge-about day for me. I hunkered down to watch the Gilmore Girls revival on Netflix, but by the time I finished binge-watching I was severely disappointed. I felt even worse that I'd waiting over a year for it and I was just so unsatisfied.

Today is our last day with Sam's parents before they head back to AZ, so we will enjoy the rest of our time with them. In the meantime, I'll write another post all about Princess.

Five Years Later

I can't believe it's been five whole years since my Bubby passed away.

Whenever I stop and think about how much she's missed, it makes me sad/angry/frustrated.

Sam suggested we take Princess and go pay respects to Bubby's grave. Sam had to rush up to his work for a quick chemical test, so he dropped me off and we headed in. I was able to snap a few picks of Princess before I got in trouble for having a dog on the grounds (honestly, I didn't know, but now I do). During our brief visit, we saw a buck and a ton of squirrels.

Princess would have loved her great-grandma, I'm sure of it. I'm sure Olivia would have loved her too (maybe, either that or totally hated her because she would have been cuteness competition).

Again, I can't believe how much has happened in the last five years. I can't wait to see what will happen in the next five years also.

learning to let it go

I've been practicing patience a lot lately, especially with Princess.

I've never been much of a dog person, that's Sam's area of experience, so becoming a doggie mom is strange undiscovered territory for me. I don't immediately know how to solve dog issues like I do with kids.

Still, learning how to co-parent a dog has been interesting. Sam and I have very different parenting styles, so we really have to work together in order to be consistent with what we are teaching Princess.

But as rewarding as it has been adopting Princess, I have many frustrations with her as well. I've had many more frustrations that are entirely unrelated to her also.

Sam asked me to work on letting go of my frustration and cut myself a break. He even showed me a meditative excretes to physically help you let something go.

We are working on it.

I'm learning to let it go.

Shawgwarts

Last Friday night we went to Shaw Hogwarts (Shawgwarts), a Harry Potter house put on by Sam's cousin Kelsey's husband Matthew's family. It was pretty cool, the inside of the house was made to look like Hogsmeade, Hagrid's hut, Dumbledore's office, and Diagon Alley.

The Elder Wand on display

Hogsmead

Hogwarts staircase, complete with floating candles

Dumbledore's office

Cousin selfie! 

It was pretty neat to see all the details that went into constructing this amazing display. There were so many little things that made the walk through truly magical. I was reminded of the first time I read the books, back when only books 1-3 were out and I had to wait in line at midnight to get the remaining four. What an amazing way for me to relive a small piece of my childhood!

Maybe one of these years we can have Harry Potter-themed costumes.

Adopting Princess

We finally (FINALLY) got around to adopting a dog!

She is a four month old heeler/chihuahua mix who is incredibly curious, a cuddle bug, and quite the walking partner. Her name was Aloura, but her foster mom said that she'd only had the name for two weeks, so we decided to rename her Princess (my grandparents used to have a black lab named Princess, so I consider it a family name).

We bought an arsenal of dog stuff, including a pink harness, pink leash, pink food dish, and a large crate for her to be in during the day when we're at work and at night to sleep inside.

She already loves her Daddy! She tried to help him put together her crate.

She loves Mommy too!

But she isn't too fazed at the idea of taking selfies yet.

We found her through the Rescue Rovers adoption event at Petsmart. 

I remember telling Sam I wanted an older dog that was a smaller breed, so you can imagine my surprise when I crossed her path. 

Honestly, she reminded me of Olivia, especially in the eyes.

I was sold!

She's a good dog mostly, but we started puppy school this week so that she can be properly trained and get socialized. I also plan to set her up with puppy playdates with Arthur and Buster (Bryce's dogs), and Daisy and Mariposa (Aunt Carmen's dogs) so that she can bond with her "cousins." 

So far I've noticed that she's a bit of a momma's girl when people come over, but she warms up eventually. She loved meeting my mom and dad when they came over the day after we adopted her. I'm hoping that she'll love Sam's parents when they come for Thanksgiving. She's a lot of work, but she's done wonders for my overall mood.

Her hashtag shall be #PunkPrincess!

Insomnia

They say stress and anxiety make you crazy, for me it just makes it hard to sleep. I keep coming to the conclusion that my job is making it hard for me to sleep through the night, which is weird because things are finally settling down.

Although we start Parent Teacher Conferences tonight, and that's been a pretty big to-do for the last three weeks, I don't really want to believe that it is causing my insomnia. I guess I really just need to work on leaving work angst at work.

I started a new fitness program called Focus T25, and it is kicking my butt! I really like it so far, I even enjoy waking up at 5:20am to get it done. But I guess I should give it a full week before I can expect see any sleep improvement because of my exercising.

I hope I'm not one of those people who always has something big weighing on them.

Maybe another reason why I'm having issues is because we have decided to adopt a dog, and that's a huge responsibility that I'm both excited and terrified about. I've been poured over adoption websites, glancing at photos and bios, researching breeds, filing out adoption applications all in hopes of finding the right dog for our family. It's like house-hunting in many ways, but it should be worth it when we finally find the new member of our family.

Maybe I should just stop trying to do things ;)

Regardless, I think maybe meditation might be helpful right now. But seriously, if I can just get to Saturday I think I'll be fine.

I'm reminded

Wow, sorry it's been almost a month since my last post. Seriously, it's not like I'm depriving my audience of my adventures on purpose.

Anyway, we've been really busy with work, then we had Tyler's wedding, Sam's parents came to visit us last weekend, and we have our housewarming party coming up this weekend!

With so much happening, it's been very easy to get caught up in the moment. It's been happening so much, I kind of lost myself for a minute.

I needed a healthy dose of perspective.

I was on my way to babysit in Sugarhouse after work, and I decided to stop by Westminster and say hi to my friends.

I found out my old job was open again, my replacement quit shortly after starting, and I popped by to see my old boss.

On my way back to my car I ran into both my thesis advisors, and had a good chat about how I see the world since graduation.

I'm reminded of my life six months ago, and the comparison was no contest.

I'm reminded of so many things that I don't have to deal with anymore. Sure, I have different stressors now, but I wouldn't go back to where I used to be.

Growth is good, no matter how uncomfortable or emotionally taxing it may be.

I'm reminded who I am, who I've been, and who I want to be.

I'm reminded how far I've come.

When you just want to cry

I haven't been quiet about my feelings fir the last little while (then again, am I ever quiet about anything?), but I've dealt with something this year that I've never quite experienced like this before.

I'm suffering from emotional exhaustion.

I first noticed it when I was house-hunting, but didn't really understand what was 'wrong' with me. I wish I could say that it's gone, but I haven't bounced back just yet.

Could it be my job?

Yes.

Could it be settling into a new house?

Yes.

Could it be my brother's wedding this weekend?

Yes.

I'm stressed.

Who wouldn't be though?

I'm starting to feel better now that we have our house in order, ditto on getting back into a consistent workout routine, but I'm still struggling.

I hope that after the wedding things will feel less hectic.

Work has improved immensely. I actually feel like I know what I'm doing.

I started painting again, and gave a painting to my Assistant Principal.

I'm getting there.

But this Monday broke me.

I hadn't really slept for about a week, and I was so tired. My schedule was nuts, I only got to see Sam twice between Monday and Friday.

I was numb.

Until I finally acknowledged that life was weighing me down and I began to cry. My sweet husband held me as I sobbed and sobbed about everything. When I was done, he kissed me and sent me off to bed early so I could get some rest.

I woke up feeling like a new woman.

I had no idea how the weight of my emotional problems was negatively affecting me.

It took more than just sleeping to help me, it took a really long sob session and the support of a loving husband. It took a long prayer and some poignant scripture study to remind me that it's okay to struggle because that's what will help me become the person I'm meant to become.

I'm so grateful that I don't have to struggle in solitary, that I have reminders of my strength everywhere.

Sometimes you just need to cry.

My First Home Project!

I haven't posted photos of the new house yet, I know. But it's because my last little bit of new furniture is being delivered this week and I plan on taking a bunch of pic then.

Anyway, our bedroom window is west facing, as is our large kitchen window. We have a ton of natural light and that is awesome, what isn't awesome is that our bedroom gets heated up right before we are ready to go to bed. Because of this, my teddybear husband has turned into a grouchy bear every night for the last week. 

To help remedy this problem, I began researching ways to cool down our room (the most logical being to simply keep the sun out). I decided to try thermal curtains to not only cool down our living spaces, but to add a little color to our brown walls trimmed with white (and brown carpet). 

At one point, there had been a curtain rod installed in the kitchen, but it was no longer there, so we needed to purchase the necessary hardware and (re)install ourselves. It wasn't too hard to switch out the hardware and screws, but our bedroom needed the whole nine yards for installation.

We went shopping at Big Lots and picked out rods for each window, and selected lovely blue patterned curtains for the kitchen, and some dark red ones for our bedroom. I raided the toolbox, found what I needed, and began the installation.

This is our bedroom window before I got my hands on it.

Thanks to Sam for snapping the photos!

My finished product!

As soon as we hung the curtains, Sam noticed the thermostat drop about 4 degrees in less than 30 minutes. Later, as we were getting ready for bed, we noticed our room was significantly cooler (we probably won't even need the fan tonight!).

Yay for completing our very first home improvement project! 

Next up is creating our very own compost bin for our produce shavings so that we can make soil for our future garden boxes.

Total Chaos

This week was utter chaos.

School started on Monday, which resulted in a mad dash for some parents to last-minute register in order for their kiddos to go to class. Tuesday was the same kind of deal.

Wednesday wasn't as crazy at school, but then we closed on our house (at separate times mind you, Sam in the AM and me in the PM). So much signing!!! Good thing I remembered the date.

Then we started packing up the apartment, and the slight chaos turned into complete chaos!

We went to our house on Thursday to retrieve the key in the key box, and found that the box had been taken and the key hidden under a rock. Finding which rock took a good 20 minutes, along with the fact that it was in the front yard and not the back yard. Go figure!

We brought over most of our kitchen, with the exception of some of our small appliances, and began wiping down the cabinets.

Friday was the day our washer and dryer were being delivered, along with a visit from the locksmith. The washer is hooked up and fabulous, but the dryer delivered has a 4-prong cord and our outlet is 3-prong. Sam is taking care of it and it should be remedied by Tuesday. We brought our closet contents and all of my paintings.

Finally Saturday was moving day. My parents showed up with the moving truck and we began loading everything around 8am. At 9:30 we arrived at the house where our unloading team of friends/family carried boxes to various rooms in the house. While we were unloading, our new bishop and his wife came by to say hello, along with our neighbor across the street. So far, we are certainly feeling the love.

Then we began the unpacking. For some reason, our important documents were scattered among multiple boxes, so we spent a good chunk of time frantically searching for them (marriage license, passports, etc.). Luckily Sam found them all. This frantic search warranted a special dinner from Cafe Rio and a trip to the grocery store to stock the fridge with produce.

We are exhausted, but very fortunate that we have Labor day next week so that we can finalize putting our house in order.

Stay tuned for photos (once I have put everything away)!

Learning to lead vs. Actually leading

So registration happened last week, and I learned a valuable lesson about what it really means to be a leader.

You know, learning about leadership in the classroom and then actually being thrown into a situation where I am the leader are two completely different things.

My insecurities practically drowned me as we muddled through the first day, by the time Monday was over, I was convinced that this job might be too large for me.

By the time we got to Friday, I was singing a different tune. Nothing could drag me down!

Then Monday happened, and I was back to feeling very much like intro Andie from Devil Wears Prada.

I guess I never thought that learning to learn would feel like such a challenge. I guess I have a lot of growing to do.

As a leader, I'm evaluating the needs of my space and the resources my bees bring to the table. It all seems like a bit of a puzzle right now, but I'm sure I'll get there.

Two days later, my perspective has changed yet again.

I guess part of being a leader is to be constantly evolving and always learning.

I'll get there.

Studio C taping: Season Finale

In a sweet moment of pure luck, I managed to win tickets to the very last taping of Studio C for this upcoming season. I needed it too, we've both been majorly stressed out lately and thoroughly enjoyed laughing for two hours. They were filming parts of the season finale, including the very last sketch of the season (fingers crossed that they keep in in post-production, because it was hilarious!).

We went with Sam's friends Matt and Aimee. They were nice enough to check us in for our line number so that we didn't have to leave work in the middle of the day. They thought it was a pretty sweet deal as well, because it meant we got to have a double date AND see a show we all like.

My sweet husband, I'm so happy we were able to swing making it to this taping and end our summer on a joyous note. I still can't believe we were in that lucky group of 7% whose email addresses were chosen this summer AND last summer.

Funk

funk¹

fəNGk/

informal

noun

1. 1.

   NORTH AMERICAN

   a state of depression.

   "I sat absorbed in my own blue funk"

   synonyms:

   a (state of) depression, a bad mood, a low, the dumps, the doldrums, a blue funk

I've definitely been in a funk lately. I've lost a lot of my structure and routine stability. Plus I haven't felt so hot the last few days, although I can't really blame everything on PMS can I?

I like my new job, there's just so much to learn in such a short amount of time. This is draining me emotionally because I haven't quite built up my confidence in this new role. It's making me insecure and depressing me a bit, which has started spilling over into my view on the world.

As funked up as it's been, I know that these feelings and emotions are circumstantial, and that things will (and already are) getting better. I told Sam of my feelings last week, and together we decided to pay special attention to our spiritual and emotional health for the next few weeks.

We kicked off this pledge by attending a temple session last week, and plan on going to the temple to do weekly endowment sessions for the next little while. We are also going to unplug a bit and spend more time interacting with each other rather than relying on electronic stimulation. I'm also gearing up to start a new month-long fitness program (a hybrid schedule of the 21 day fix and PiYo) to match the new weekday schedule that comes with this new job (7:30am start time means 5-5:30am wake-up call to exercise!).

However, I've decided to take this opportunity to revamp my lifestyle a bit.

We found out there aren't any internet hot spots near our new house, so I've been trying to convince myself that I don't need home internet. Now I'm being reminded just how much there is to do beyond Facebook and Netflix! I decided that I wanted to spend more time reading, so I decided to pick up some personal development books from the library and see if I could improve myself a little. I also received a beautiful journal as a graduation gift that I plan on using to track my personal development.

I know I've been emotionally tapped out for about a month, but my pity party is over and I'm ready to embrace my new life. I have a new job, no more school, and will soon have a new home.

Now is the time to reinvent myself and evolve into a better version of myself.

P.S. We also found out that we'd won tickets to the last Studio C taping of the summer. What a great way to kick of this reinvention!

A Few Seconds of Summer

Let me start by saying how I love the band 5 Seconds of Summer.

I never really understood the real meaning of the name until today. I sat at my desk and listened to the quietness of an empty school, and imagined what it would be like in three weeks when the kids would come back and the new year would start.

It suddenly dawned on me that it was August!

No.

It couldn't be.

Summer couldn't be coming to a close.

Graduation was just yesterday!

Regardless of my mental protests, I came to terms with the fact that summer was ending soon and I was trying to grasp at the last few seconds I had left of that quiet summertime feeling.

What happened to summer?

After thinking about it, I realized that mine hadn't gone by fast, but instead had been a summary of events that came and went in chunks of time.

For starters, I had three weeks of working at Westminster in between graduation and the Elmer family Hawaii trip. The day after we got back I started my new job and promptly worked part time for another three weeks before heading back east to visit the Dunn family for another two weeks. The day after I returned I began house hunting, and found a house I wanted. This week will mark four weeks since I came home from the east coast, and we are under contract for our house and signing an endless supply of paperwork.

I feel like I've done nothing and everything since May, but I'm sure I'm not the only one!

Updates: A home and another wedding!

I knew that once I got back from Washington DC earlier this month, things we're going to be moving quickly. I began house-hunting the day after I flew back, and I went back to work (part-time). Although, the night before my flight home I was informed that my brother Tyler was getting married.

When I was told, there wasn't a date yet, and everything (both our future house and the wedding) was all very theoretical.

Yet, here we are, 2.5 weeks later and everything is in full swing. We found our dream starter home and are currently under contract, and Tyler's wedding is set for September 17 (this year, less than 2 months away).

Even I'm surprised at how fast everything is happening (although, given that it's my life I really shouldn't be surprised since things usually seem to happen all at once).

Anyway, I'm beyond excited that we are getting out of our apartment and into a place that I can truly make into a home for our family.

The best part? It's centrally located for our support network! Only 20 minutes from my work, 28min from Sam's work, 15min from my parents, 20min from Sam's cousins, 11min from Victoria, and 7min from Adam & Beth. Our inspection is Friday, and I can't wait to just be done with this process so we can start the next chapter for our little family!

Our 1yr Anniversary

Knowing that we've been married for a year just baffles me. I've lost all concept of time beyond a week.

Some of our adventures as a married couple have been:

• Our Honeymoon cruise in Alaska
• Sunday dinners with the Bostons in Daybreak
• Sunday dinners with the Jensens in West Jordan
• Three-Musketeers Dinner parties 
• Babysitting Max & Kate
• Being the Music Directors for church
• Dinners with the Smarts
• Learning Yoga
• Game nights at the Clyde's in Provo
• Walking to the grocery store
• Watching Star Wars (and the 'making of' documentary)
• Binge-watching season one of Once Upon A Time
• Restaurant-hopping all around Sugarhouse
• Watching Studio C every single Monday
• Embracing a clean-eating lifestyle
• The Idina Menzel Concert
• Thanksgiving in Arizona
• Christmas with the Larsens
• Jake & Alexa's wedding
• Joint FHE with the Littles
• Learning to make sushi
• Volunteering for the Science Olympiad
• Volunteering for the Outclimb Cancer Challenge
• Meeting Studio C and obtaining photo proof
• Sam's mission reunion in Logan
• Truman, the devil-child thesis that wouldn't die
• The pre-post-grad job hunt
• Graduation
• Subbing the 6yr-old Sunday School Class
• Our Hawaiian adventure

Seriously, I can't believe it's been a year when I felt like we just got married.

Happy Anniversary, my love! Here's to many, many more.

Ocean City continued, and July 4th in DC

 We went to the boardwalk on our last night in Ocean City and hit up a summer carnival on the pier.

Kate loves the 'poo' emoji

We went to brunch when we got back to DC at La Diplomat. 

I drew Kate on the tablecloth at brunch

I also drew Max

Our tourist photo at the Newseum

Twinsies!

I went to Georgetown on my last day and picked up some T-shirts for Sam and I at the bookstore. I also got to see Donald's office and roam the campus for a bit.

After Georgetown, I was able to go to the Holocaust Museum and the Renwick Gallery