Provo-Sandy-Home

Nate and I met in Provo, we dated in Provo and  after we got married the first place we called home together was in Provo. We never thought, back when we married and moved into that beauty on Sumac, that we would stay very long. However, we called that place home for 19 months. 

And what a home it was. Provo, and that little apartment we called ours, became a new and beautiful home to us once we were married. Separately we'd lived in Provo for 5 (me) and 4 (him) years before beginning our life together. We'd done all the typical college Provo things-bowling, hiking the Y, late night food runs, dance parties, and dollar movies galore. We were both ready to be done with that Provo, but still needed to live in Provo. Luckily, we found our own little niche in Provo-one that involved city festivals and events, 4th of July festivities, walks to the temple, working out at the rec center, new (to us) restaurants, quieter grocery stores, neighborhood bike rides, and plenty of nights in watching movies instead of out on the town. We fell in love with Provo again.

Saturday the 12th Nate and I (with a LOT of help from my darling sister) cleaned that apartment on Sumac for the last time, returned the keys, hugged our angel landlady, quietly said goodbye and drove away. At the time I was tired and swollen and a little relieved to be done, but now, looking back I'm a little sad. That home was such a perfect one, a tender mercy in our life. Getting that home was one of the first times we as a couple had our prayers answered together. We spent countless hours there-sleeping, cooking, reading, relaxing, playing games, and talking. Most of my favorite memories of our first 19 months of marriage took place there, in the place we called home.

Life has a way of moving on though-and for us that doesn't always mean moving far. On December 1, Nate and I moved into a wonderful new apartment in Sandy. The apartment itself is beautiful with even more windows then our last, big open space, and my favorite feature-a  bedroom perfect for a baby boy. The real beauty though is that it is in Sandy-the city where the rest of our story took place.

When Nate and I had only been dating a month, I graduated. Not knowing what was next in my life I moved back into my parents home in Sandy-where I stayed for the next 10 months until we were married. Nate and I dated in Sandy. We first said "I love you" in Sandy. We toasted (with sparkling cider) our engagement in Sandy, and got married just minutes outside of it. And soon enough we'll bring our first baby home to our own little corner of Sandy. It was always a home for me, and now it's a home for us.

Provo and Sandy, although they will always be special places to us, are just that-places. What I've learned the last few months though is this-home is not a place, it's a feeling. It's a feeling that can only be described for me as 'with Nate.' So no matter how long we stay in Sandy, and no matter where we carve a place out next I do know one thing-it will be home. 

Provo Progressive Dinner

When Natalie and Edward came to town I knew two things had to happen:

1) Late night chat sessions with my long lost roommate
2) We had to cram all the best Provo food in during their 1.5 day stay

Of course both of those things happened, what kind of hostess would I be if they didn't? However, with such a short stay we had to be creative with how we consumed the best food of Provo. So N squared put their heads together again, noticed all the signs from the universe and came up with their best idea yet-the Provo Progressive Dinner.

Appetizer: Guru's Sweet Potatoe Fries
Drinks: Sodalicious
Dinner: Zupas soups
Dessert(s): Sweet Tooth Fairy cookies for tomorrow, and Graham Canyon for tonight (we couldn't choose just one...)

#fgp

(PS I'm writing this post like a month after the fact and I'm so sad-Natalie please come back)

Wonderful Unknown

"We can't insist on our own timetables when the Lord has his own... The Lord's delays often seen long. But they are always calculated to bless."

-President Eyring, Where is the Pavilion

Tonight laying on a blanket in our front yard we soaked up the remaining rays of sunshine with a couple good books. The light started to sink behind our little neighborhood and I caught a glimpse of Nate, smiling. As I watched him fly his helicopter around the yard,  the sun lighting up his face, I had the very distinct feeling that this, these very moments, are why we're here right now. Living here in our little home, just the two of us.

Last year when we got married it was not our plan to still be here in Provo. We had other dreams, and ambitions. Dreams we felt good about, ambitions that felt right. Despite the fact that this year didn't work out as we had planned, it has worked out perfectly. We've been able to spend so much time together-exploring, reading, cooking, traveling, teaching-together. We've had so many seemingly simple moments and conversations that have meant everything to me. We were given a beautiful gift from our loving Heavenly Father-not a year we wanted, but a better year, one of incredible happiness.

We're at a time again where our future is very much unknown. However, we feel at peace with this fact. How could we not, after the year we've had? So as the sun sets on this year of our lives we look forward, faithfully, to our wonderful unknown.

Passport to Provo

Google Fiber. BYU Football games. Sodalicious Dirty Diet Cokes. Sweet Tooth Fairy Samoa Cookies.

These are just a few of the glorious things that Provo has within it's city limits. Well, someone in Provo decided that this city needed something else to make them awesome-they needed to hold the world record for the biggest scavenger hunt ever.

So, they decided to put on Passport to Provo. Basically it was a huge scavenger hunt where teams walked around downtown Provo with their "passports" getting stamps at local businesses, and after completing different tasks.

Well scavenger hunts are right up my alley-so Nate and I formed "Team Rau" and off we went, to assist in braking a world record. We had a great day sampling sweet potato fries at Guru's, petting puppies curtsey of Rent a Puppy, cleaning up trash in North Park, and of course sampling a new concoction at Sodalicious and coming up with a great name for it. It was a wonderful adventure.

Although we're no longer students in Provo-and have fully moved on to the next stage of our Provo life-the stage of living in a neighborhood, and avoiding student hangouts-we sure had fun at this huge event. And yes, the world record was broken!