Do I Even Blog?

Seriously, I have been awful. I am one of those hit-and-miss type people just in general and that's not a surprise to most people who know me, but really? I expect more from myself. When Andrew and I were married I swore to myself I would keep a regular journal/blog so we can look back when we are old and wrinkled and remember some of our happiest times together. I was doing pretty good there for a while until I got distracted with life. It's crazy how things keep going faster and faster. I looked at the calendar the other day and my jaw dropped. It's almost November? Are you kidding me? I'm 24 whaaa? I swear it was just 2002.

We have now been living with my mom in her basement for 10 months. TEN months! Moving home again has been an adventure and something we will never forget, and we are FOREVER grateful for my mom and her hospitality and compassion to us helpless little children of hers. :) We have been able to save for our house and school and could not be in the position we are without her being such a gem. With Andrew around we've had many laughs, yummy meals, and lots of practical jokes. My mom and I have shared many laughs, tears and long night chats. It has been a very special time for me and we've grown closer to my mom and grandma, mourning the loss of my dad together, and getting through the daily grind under one roof. We appreciate her more than words can say. (Plus, she does awesome french braids...I know, I am a child.)

With that said - we are almost out of her house (she will def not miss our messes!) As fun as it has been, we are ready for this next adventure together! Our house is a few weeks away from completion and we've had fun seeing it progress. (Seriously I am a crazy person and go out to our lot like every day.) 

In addition to being busy with house planning, Andrew has been working his cute little bum off in law school and is really enjoying what he's studying. He puts in long hours but we have some party time watching sports and HGTV in the evenings and we try and spend every minute together on the weekends. As for me, I've been hard at work at CLEARLINK and am enjoying my job very much. Life truly is good and we are so blessed. 

Here are a few pictures with some things we've been up to over the past little while.

Andrew's Bachelor Degree came! So proud of this little cutie.

Summer was good to us. We were able to do some fun hikes (left-dog lake with Brutus @Millcreek. right - Mt.Biking with one of my besties Laura @Deer Valley). Being in the mountains gets me giddy! 

We also had a fun break for a few days up in Park City with Andrew's family. We had some fun shopping and enjoyed some much needed R&R.

 I am SO glad we remembered to take pics of our lot before it was built. These pictures are so fun already because our house is now right where we were standing. (More pics on the house to be continued in a few weeks when we move)

I love this man of mine.

 I was also SO happy to see some of my amazing basketball teammtates from college. One of my teammates got married and another went away on a mission and it was so fun to reunite with some of these amazing ladies! 

Sniagrab got the best of us this year. Before going in we promised we were "just looking", but once inside we lost all control and took advantage of some insane deals. Needless to say we are counting the days until Alta opens (...its 27 days in case you were wondering.)

  

 Oh and also...this happened. #yikesyikesyikes. I had a freaky allergic reaction while baking cookies (weird and random and they still don't know what it was) but my eyes swelled almost closed. No, my husband doesn't beat me. I'm just a freak of nature. 

 

 We are weird and we know. Andrew is getting his second degree from BYU and I graduated from SUU. Yet we have season tickets (thanks to Andrew's family) to U of U, and we cheer for them religiously. We have had such a blast going to games with Andrew and his family this year, and being at Rice Eccles Stadium is always sentimental for me because I have some very happy times up there with my dad. This pic was taken right after we beat Stanford. We were on the verge of tears. Good times. My work also has a tailgate slot which has been sweet so we stock up on yummy deliciousness before the game and head over to the stadium. We love fall!

I was so happy to see one of my favorite people in the world last week. Stephany Pentz (now Crossley) is my soulmate and I am convinced we were best friends in heaven. We met in college and became roomies and best friends. We moved to Jackson Hole for a summer together and spent 4 months living in a tent and working for a white water rafting company. We just have way too much fun. She is now married and has the most perfect little baby Rexton. Her and my sister and I had a fun little get together the other day and had fun catching up and letting the babes have some male bonding time.  

 We were also lucky to go to a Jazz game a couple of weeks ago. My work hooked us up with front row tickets to the Jazz pre-season opener and I was crushing on Gordon Hayward all night (Andrew was too so it was fine). We really spend a lot of our free time, most of our free time actually, watching sports. It works for us. Go Jazz!

Finally, we went and got some family pictures this past weekend. It was hard and weird not having my dad there. But I was so glad to have Andrew and Owen as new additions to our family since the last time we got family pictures. I think my dad would be happy to see us spending time together and enjoying the people we love. We did the pictures at Memory Grove Park downtown. It was fitting to do them there because anywhere downtown reminds me of my dad, and the fall time also is my dad's favorite time of year because it's football season. We had a blast and I seriously couldn't get over how awesome me nephew looked. Gahhhh I love him. I'll post the official pictures when we get them but here are a few I snapped during the shoot.

Haley is such an awesome mama. I am seriously impressed with both her and Dan as parents. She is so fun and makes Owen laugh - this picture is so fabulous.

 We also had fun holding and playing with Owen. The leaves were GORGEOUS and I was so happy to be outside. It was a fun day. (Plus our photographer told me I look like Britney Spears so naturally I felt unstoppable) 

Looking at this picture makes me so happy. I have a pretty awesome husband and lots of great family and friends. Life is wonderful and I know God has blessed us more than we deserve. I will do my best to get back to blogging so I can slow down and smell the roses a little. 

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo
steph