and a happy anniversary to us

We've been married for two years.

A small drop of water in the big bucket of life, but it still feels like a milestone!

I could go on and get extra mushy, but instead I wanted to share some of my favorite moments from our marriage so far, taken from a little letter I wrote to Christian in celebration of the occasion. Don't worry, list has been appropriately edited ;)

10. Trips to the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. Our infatuation with that place surprised me, and I love the memories we have of spending hours there together. And walking through Georgetown. And visiting Philly. And everything about our time in D.C.!

9. Solo beach trips when we lived in Florida. It was so fun getting that time alone with you in such a beautiful, peaceful place. Nothing short of bliss!

8. Our date to Slab Pizza right at the beginning of my pregnancy. I was so so sick, but for some reason the food tasted wonderful that night, and the smells didn't bother me at all. We sat and talked for a really long time, and it's still one of my favorite dates with you. Simple and happy!

7. Attempting to grill on the little sidewalk outside our apartment in Orem last summer. It was time consuming, and sort of a pain, but I LOVED doing that with you!

6. Biking 30 something miles on the Murdock Trail last year and getting unbelievably sunburned. Chugging through those last horrid miles and laughing about how dumb the whole thing was when we got home. I LOVE biking with you, even if you totally kill me!

5. Last year when we would have our Taco Tuesday date nights at Rubios and stop for frozen yogurt afterwards. And basically every memory we have of enjoying our favorite food together!

4. Finding out we got an extra night in Myrtle Beach on our honeymoon, and splurging on our last dinner there. After spending so much time on the road, all of that was such a welcome relief! 

3. Reading The Firm out loud together. Such a random thing to do, but it was so fun to get as engrossed as we did!

2.  Camping in Sand Hollow, and everything associated with that trip. Watching the repellers for an hour after our super hot hike. Bobbing in the water with our walmart pool floats... We were so stressed to be in the water haha! And talk about stressed... let's not even revisit our attempt at climbing the entirety of angels landing ha! I felt so bad for freaking out at the top because I knew how bad you wanted to finish. But as usual, you were completely fine complying with my wishes. That was the best vacation with you, for so many reasons!

1. Finding out our little family would be growing from 2 to 3. I cried and cried that morning, I was so happy. I've loved hearing you talk about our "team" through this whole pregnancy and I can't wait to watch you become a dad to little man. I'm sorry I didn't wait to tell you I was pregnant until we were together, but I'm so glad that you were as thrilled as I was.

I feel so lucky to have found someone who can tolerate me enough to want to spend his life with me. Not many people get that lucky. I love you more and more every day Christian!

2 years down, and hopefully a million more to go! 

a few things

Because we are horrible people, everyone in my family makes fun of our dog Gus because he seriously has the most crazed, goofy eyes I've ever seen. See left dog for details.

I'm really loving the latest Kings of Leon album. If you're looking for some sassy southern rock music for your summer soundtrack, I recommend listening to the song Family Tree. It's really groovy.

This morning before I even woke up, I was dreaming about taking a nap. I think I've officially reached a new level of tired. I guess I should get used to that because I will have a newborn in about 3 weeks......

This weekend also marks our 2 year anniversary. Time sure flies! So, here's a wedding picture, aaaaand you're welcome.

This year is the first time I've finished my finals before the very last day in a looong time. Once I saved 3 exams for the last day ha. IDIOT.

Speaking of finals... they're over! And now I'm just 2 classes away from graduation! I could kiss something. It will probably be Christian.
And on that note......

The end.

8 months down, a month to go!

I seriously cannot believe I'm 36 weeks pregnant. 

I remember trudging through that AWFUL first trimester and feeling like: 

"The end will never get here! 

I will be pregnant foreverrrrrrr!"

And now here I sit and I can almost see my due date! AH!

Isn't that how it goes?

Here is the latest update-a-roo, folks. And I'm feeling pretty verbose today, so buckle up.

34 weeks, 

preworkout, 

and looking very tired and very pregnant ha. 

Mostly I just took this picture because LOOK HOW HIGH THIS BABY WAS SITTING

35 weeks.

36 weeks.

Aaaaand we're back to taking classy bathroom pictures.
I definitely feel like he's dropped a little bit, thank goodness!

Weight gain:

My not-really-gaining-weight phase sure ended with a bang. At my last doctor's appointment I was up 19 lbs, with more to come I'm sure!

Also just a comment about pregnancy weight gain... it's funny to me how much I can feel it! Specifically when we go to Body Pump at the gym, and the teacher's like "Okay now do push ups!" I literally can't get through more than like..... 5. Seriously. Imagine a lady 8 months pregnant doing push ups ha! It's really as funny as it sounds.

Sleep: 

Getting much harder, as to be expected! The weight of my belly pulls me awkwardly, and my hips, back and legs ache to where I'm tossing and turning literally all night. Sorry Christian! Also I somehow made it this far into the pregnancy without having to wake up and pee in the middle of the night, but I am no longer enjoying that luxury. Instead I'm up between approximately 2 and 2:15am every single night. It's the weirdest.

Best moment of the week: 

One morning, Christian and I were locked in a tight embrace (because that's the only way to cure my morning grumpiness, but that's another story....), and the baby kicked so hard that it caught Christian by surprise and almost made him jump back haha. This of course led to jokes about ways to torture our future children by being really mushy and romantic with each other, because obviously baby boy is already bothered by it ;)

Weird pregnancy moment: 

Bladder issues. Breathing. Swollen gums. Pregnancy brain. Soreness... everywhere... all the time. The last 6 weeks has majorly kicked up the weird pregnancy stuff! I have to pee literally every 10 minutes, which is pretty inconvenient being in class and all. The baby was also sitting really high for a while, so my lungs feel crushed all the time. Church is still especially uncomfortable for some reason. I can't hardly sing the hymns either, because it takes way too much breath haha. And I've resorted to stealing soft chairs or sitting on the couch in the hall for sacrament meeting. It's whatever.

Also my head doesn't function very well these days. Pregnancy brain is SO SO real. I'm lucky I don't have any tests at the end of this semester, because I'd probably fail them all. It's the one time in my life I'm actually enjoying group projects and papers! Also can we just talk about how bad my hips hurt? Because they literally feel like they are going to crack in half when I sit for too long. And let's not even address the tail bone pain. YIKES. 

Movement: 

This baby gets the hiccups 2-5 times a day, which is super funny and cute to feel. He's also found a favorite spot to sit, which is as far to my right side as he can possible go. My belly is totally lopsided most of the time. He's been especially squirmy over the last few weeks too, which is surprisingly uncomfortable! He sticks his feet right up into my ribs, especially when I'm sitting down or eating. I've also noticed that when he gets really wiggly at night (it's a routine now ha!), I can usually lay on my side and hold my belly and he will totally calm down! I'm hoping that means this boy likes to snuggle, because his mom sure does!

Cravings: 

FOOD. Seriously though, I just want to eat all the time because I always feel starved. Not everything always sounds good, unless it's frozen fruity stuff, or chocolate milk of course. 

I probably need an IV at this point.

Anything making you queasy? 

Thankfully not much. Although, I have felt little twinges over the last few weeks when my stomach is too empty. And I dry heave every time I have to open the dishwasher because that B stinks!! Other than that, we're good ;)

What I'm looking forward to: 

I'm so excited to just hold this little baby and to see what he looks like! Every time I can feel a foot or arm through my belly, it just kills me because I want him to be here already. Looking at baby pictures of Christian is also a favorite past time of mine, and it just makes me die at the possibilities of cuteness our little guy has. I'm glad we are at the tail end of this, it's getting too exciting/uncomfortable for me to wait much longer ha ;)

life by numbers

7 weeks until Christian starts his long awaited internship.
6 episodes of LOST watched since Saturday.
5 weeks until baby Carter is due (!!!!!!!!)
4 diet cokes consumed in the last 7 days.
3 weeks until we move into our new apartment.
2 years of marriage basically in the books.
1 week until school's out.

I'm seriously out of breath just reading through that list, and it's not just because this babe is crushing my poor lungs ;)
I'm overwhelmed by and thrilled about everything we've got coming in the next 2 months! It's just crazy to think about how much our lives are going to change! As of next week, I only have 2 classes left before I can graduate... one of which I'm knocking out this spring. I can't believe I'm finally going to be done! My heart is so full when I think about it all, and that basically deserves a big fat post of its own. You know, "my journey at BYU", or something like that.
One day :)

Also can we just talk about how fast these last few months have gone?!
It's like one day I was 24 weeks pregnant, then I blinked and my due date is RIGHT. HERE.
In the last few days, I've heard of friends delivering 2 and 4 weeks early. It just blows my mind
(slash terrifies me!) 
that that could happen to me. I mean, I could legitimately have this baby in the next few weeks! AH! I'm so so excited for him to get here, but honestly I'd like to keep him cooking as long as possible.
I mean, my mom isn't slated to get here until May 14, so you know. Let's at least wait for grandma!

Life is crazy, isn't it? It's like one day everything is normal and boring and all of the sudden, these huge changes are breathing down your neck and you're like:
"Where the freak did you come from?"
Yeah it's definitely crazy. But the really really good kind of crazy.

a dating story

First I just have to say that I SO appreciate everything that was said in regards to my last post.
I have felt so much freedom, happiness, and gratitude over the last week as I've thought about friendships, and all you people that I love so much.
Truth be told, I think I really needed to evaluate a few friendships I was hanging on to, and after letting them go and hearing all your thoughts, I feel so refreshed and thankful that we really can CHOOSE who we let in our lives. And especially that I'm not alone in my thinking :) So thank you!

Alright enough with the heavy stuff. I've got a great story to share today from the bare-bones beginning of my relationship with Christian.

Our first picture together, and my very favorite one of us. 

Totally normal and as weird as it gets about sums it up.

At the very end of our freshman year at BYU, we were slightly enamored by one another. Not enough to make anything official of course, because we were babies, but enough to stay out all night together on our last day in Provo.

Yep.
Just 19 year old me and 19 year old Christian, mobbing around BYU campus.
All. Night. Long.
What would the honor code office say?!?!

It was totally innocent and totally fun, because remember we were babies. Literally all we did was walk every single part of campus and then some, and talk and talk and talk. I remember it was the first time I found myself hoping it would go somewhere after he got home from his mission, like the giddy school girl I was.

Here's the best part of the whole thing;
It was about 4 in the morning and we were making our final descent back to the dorms, when this car drove by as and quickly flipped a U-y (???) to head back our direction. I had the fleeting thought:
"Hmmmm that's pretty weird...."

And all of the sudden, I was pelted in the head with a water balloon. 
Those lunatics had seriously turned around specifically just to chuck a plastic sack of water at us.
Can you even believe those little daredevils?

Thankfully, it ended up being really funny, even though it totally ruined my hair and made my makeup run. Which normally would have stressed me out, being in the presence of a cute boy I had a crush on and all. I think that was a sign that our relationship was really a good thing. It totally broke the ice, and I still felt comfortable and confident.... regardless of my stringy wet locks, and mascara running all down my cheeks. CUTE! Christian was pretty ticked at first, but we ended up laughing about it, and ended the night with a bang.
Or a splash rather.

The next morning, aka a few hours later, we met up and had breakfast together in the Cannon Center
(ROMANCE!) and finally bid our farewells for the next 2 1/2 years...
thus beginning the sweetest relationship I've ever had the joy of experiencing.

And to think.
It all kind of started with a water balloon.