24th Birthday Weekend

So far, not a ton has happened in March. The first Saturday, I went to the temple with our young women from church. That afternoon, Brian and I went to Lowe’s and got all the necessary ingredients to start our garden, AND we bought a grill!! We have been looking for a good grill at a decent price since we bought the house. Since we got it in September, we patiently waited through the winter to grill and now that we have it, we use it probably 3-4 times a week. 

Going back to the garden, I’ve started all the seeds indoors since Utah weather is bipolar but now they’re all sprouting and I don’t have enough room for the flowers and seeds indoors, so the weather better warm up soon. Also, we’ve decided we might have to build garden boxes since the location in our yard I wanted to use for the garden has lots of random gravel in it..

 Last week, Brian had off for spring break so he dug up all the ugly bushes up front for me so that we can start landscaping and finish up the last house project I plan on tackling for a long time. 

For my birthday weekend, Friday night we got home and adamantly jumped into spring cleaning. Every room was transformed and I am confident you could have eaten off of any surface in the house. It was so satisfying to get it all done.

Saturday the 12th, Sabra picked me up bright and early and we had the annual girls brunch for my birthday, this year at Ruth’s Diner in Salt Lake City. They have a cute little outdoor patio which was just barely warm enough for us all to sit out there. Sabra, Kate, Cibely, Jordan, and Jessica were all able to attend and it was so nice to catch up with everyone.

After breakfast, Sabra and I went to City Creek to do some damage shopping while we waited for Brian and Randy. We made reservations at Sundance Resort zip line for 2 PM. The zip line is the 3rd longest in the United States at nearly 2 miles long. The vertical drop is 2100 ft, which is the most vertical drop of any zip line in the USA. We did the Outlaw span, which is 3,871 feet long and the average fastest speed is between 60-70 mph. It was such a rush!! Brian took a video as he went down so I will have to find a way to load it on here for you all to see. In the meantime, I’ll include pictures of the beautiful scenery.

After the zip line, Brian and I took the long way home to go through Park City and do some MORE shopping (he knows the way to my heart) at Tanger Outlets. On our way home we stopped at Outback Steakhouse to gorge on blooming onions and yumminess. 

Sunday, I taught in Young Women’s and Brian had some meetings after, so I got to lay around like a lazy bum all afternoon. That evening, our friends (and neighbors) Craig and Mikelle came over and we grilled steaks and teriyaki chicken and pineapple kabobs. It’s so nice to have them over, and to have great people in our neighborhood and ward! 

Monday, I officially turned 24. How did that happen? It was a great day. Brian and I went to iHop early so I could get yummy breakfast crepes, I went to work for half a day, got lunch with Brian, went and got manicures and pedicures with Brian’s mom. That afternoon I worked from home in sweats, then we went out to dinner with Brian’s parents at Olive Garden that evening, before coming back to their house for cake and presents. After the heavy meals we’d eaten all weekend, I was craving something lighter (and Italian). Brian spoiled me with new clothes, running shoes, a new camera, and a few other things. Lucky me!

I will spend the rest of the year waiting until my next birthday so that I’m 25. I hate even numbers… But we have so much to look forward to this year! We recently bought our flights home for my friend’s wedding and my mom and stepdad’s birthdays in May, and bought tickets for a 5-day cruise to the Bahamas in September! We’ll combine it with a trip to Florida to see my family since we leave out of Orlando on the cruise. I’m so excited for Brian to see the Bahamas! It’s by far one of my favorite travel destinations thus far in my life. 

I think that’s all I have to report on right now… We bought a new dryer, if you consider that exciting. We also sold Brian’s car and got our tax return on the same day, so I consider that a major win! Brian has a little over a month left of school for this semester, then it’s just one year left! He has a list of schools for his Master’s Degree picked out and we have a plan. Now we just need to be patient until it gets a little closer to application time! Waiting is the hardest part, especially when I’m so excited to get out of Utah for awhile!! All in good time I suppose. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy how wonderful our lives are now. :)

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January 2016

I guess I’ve really been slacking because my last real post was from New Year’s Day. 

Saturday, January 9, Brian and I had my idea of a perfect date night with Chipotle and a Jazz game against the Miami Heat. The Jazz game was a late Christmas present of mine (a game of my choosing), so that was a blast. And shocker, the Jazz actually won! 

The following week Brian went back to school for the spring semester. My handsome husband is taking 18 credit hours (plus one course for 0 credits) while still working 3 days a week and trying to get the ward mission organized and going. I can’t express how proud of him I am or how hard he works. I am truly lucky. With the return of school, he typically has to take one night class a week and this semester it’s on Tuesdays, so Brian’s mom, Lindy, and I sometimes have movie date nights on Tuesdays. It’s nice since Megaplex Tuesdays make movies $5 then. On the 12th, we saw the movie “Joy” with Jennifer Lawrence. If you need a good inspirational movie that will make you walk out feeling like you can accomplish anything, see this movie.

That same week, we had our Relief Society monthly Night and it was all about preparing for the new year and budgeting. Brian and I have created a very strict budget for ourselves, and with his help, I’ve actually stuck to it more than any other budget I’ve ever had haha. I love having someone by my side thats 1000x’s better at money management than me. That’s semi-sarcastic but mostly true. :)

Friday, January 15, I had lunch with an amazing woman named Melissa Miller. I don’t think she realized how much an hour and a half of time with her made me re-evaluate every aspect of my life, but it was much needed and has set off a chain reaction of a new plan for Brian and I. Stay tuned on that one. But for anyone in the Ogden/Northern Utah area, if you’re looking for an amazing head-hunter (not the reason I met with her, by the way), look up Miller Consulting.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we both had off work, so we made ourselves be super productive and then took the night and went snowboarding together. I’m so happy my knee is getting stronger again and I’m really starting to get more comfortable trying new things again. Brian is a patient teacher, but it’s kind of funny when I tell him I’ll meet him at the bottom of the hill and he gets little-kid-happy and disappears off into the trees. 

Tuesday the 19th, I was super blessed to see my Grand-Big from my sorority. She was here on a ski trip with her parents all the way from West Virginia, so we got to catch up over some yummy “authentic” Utah food at the High West Saloon on Main St in Park City. I love that we can go forever without seeing each other, and then get together and catch up without anything changing :)

I indulged in another dinner date with Annalise later in the week over more Chipotle. Unbelievable as it is, she had never experienced the heavenliness of  Chipotle, but luckily there’s one in Bountiful which is halfway between our houses and a meet up location favorite of ours. 

That Saturday, we helped our Australian friends, the Rigby’s move. Tyler is currently away for work training, so we went to Jodi’s and helped her load up everything from their old apartment and unload everything at their new place. It was fun to see her and their adorable kids!

That night, we had dinner at our house then ventured out to the famous Midway Ice Castles with Kate and Zac. I say ventured because when we were headed back, it started blizzarding and what normally would have been an hour drive turned into a 2 1/2 hour drive on I-80 through the canyon. Nonetheless, the castles were pretty dang cool and it’s always a blast hanging out with Kate and Zac (And amusing when Brian and Zac get together).

This last Friday, we had a mini birthday party for Randy at our house, then he and Sabra and Brian and I went to the Weber State vs. Utah State hockey game. It was way fun and I forgot how much I like hockey. The only other game I've ever been to was a professional game in Florida to see the Tampa Bay Lightning play, so it was neat to go to another game!

The most exciting part of our last week was the baptism for a little girl in our ward. She had just turned 9. Her family are converts who joined in the last 6-7 months and it was wonderful to see her dad get to baptize her. Her stepmom, Ashley, is my visiting teaching companion and I got the opportunity to take her out for her first visiting teaching experience ever this month. They are a darling family and I am so glad we’ve had the opportunity to befriend them.

Oh, lastly we went to the movies last night with Brian's parents. His mom is always down for scary movies and we got his dad to come with us to see The Boy. Totally different ending than I expected, and it's definitely more of a thriller than a horror story. Not quite as scary as I imagined. There's my review, should any of you want it ;)

We’ve been getting a ton of snow, so I don’t really have any sympathy for the east coasters. Here in Utah, we get enough for it to be annoying, but not enough to get a snow day. This year has been the exact opposite of last year’s warm, mild winter. At least the lakes will be higher for wake boarding this summer! That’s all I’ve got for now, here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

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