#itwasmom

May 11, 1993- Mom's 32nd Birthday 

Today, May 11th, is not only Mothers Day but my mom's birthday. I love this woman so very much, for too many reasons to count. She is the happiest, most loving woman I know. She is so selfless, giving, and understanding.Throughout the years between the 25 Mothers Day's we've spent together she has taught me so many things. If I could sum up one thing my mother has taught me though it would be this: she taught me how to love.

Through her words, and mostly her example she has taught me about loving friends, strangers, family, my husband, and most importantly my Heavenly Father. Her capacity for love knows no bounds, and all those who know her are blessed by this great ability she has. I feel so lucky to get to call her mom, and to be so loved by her. Being her daughter truly is a privilege.

So thanks mom-for being the perfect mom for me, and for teaching me about Christ-like love. It has blessed my life in so many ways, and I owe that to you. I love you mom, and hope you have a very happy Mothers Day and Birthday! I'm so very glad you're mine!

Our First Month of Marriage

We celebrated our first month of marriage at the Oregon coast (more on that later). It was celebrated as days on vacation often are-about halfway through the day I casually wondered, "hmm, what day is it? What's the date?" I then realized.  I looked at my handsome husband, and said "happy one month". We smiled, as he put his arm around me and pulled me close.

A whole month of marriage! I  mean, in the grand scheme of this eternity that we've promised to each other it's a pretty minor length, however a month is a month.

And what a month it was!

We unwrapped presents, went on Target gift card shopping sprees, and got all sorts of settled into our little, happy home.

We made a trip to the Emergency Room-complete with seven stitches.

We treked down to St. George to take in the beauty of God's creations, while listening to his mouthpieces' beautiful words.

We started good habits-of reading scriptures together, of praying together, of Family Home Evenings.

We celebrated Easter-died eggs and all.

We learned that someone steals covers, and pillows, while the other is easily spooked by quiet "hellos". 

We've experienced the fatigue of finals, the joy of lazy Sundays and the satisfaction of a delicious meal.

It's been a happy month, establishing a home with this man. I've come to know him better, and love him even more.

So happy one month to us! Here's to an eternity more!

An Incredibly Happy Day

March 27th, 2014 was the day my life changed forever.

I got to marry my best friend. 

When we were just dating I knew that Nate made me happy, and the night he proposed I didn't know if I could ever be so happy again.

But you know what-every day I was.

The day we got married involved some of the happiest moments of my entire life. The very happiest moments being those in the Draper temple when we were making those special covenants that will allow us to be together, married, forever. For as long as I am, I'll never forget the way Nate looked at me in those moments. And I'll never forget how incredibly happy I was.

What is really incredible though is that each day since, I've become more and more happy as I've come to love Nate more and more.

I know it's cheesy but it's true. Each day I wake up I think I love Nate as much as I possibly can, and by the time I go to sleep I realize that I love him even more. 

So, while the wedding day contained some of the very most happy moments of my life-my life gets happier and happier each day. I know that life will get harder, with the stresses of work and school, but I'm pretty sure that with Nate by side through everything this life brings it will continue to get happier.

I feel so blessed to have my very own little incredibly happily ever after.

(These photos taken by are darling friends and family. You better believe I'll be sharing many more as soon as I can)

Our First Valentines Day

I have always adored Valentines Day. Such a wonderful idea-a day devoted to telling people how much you love them! This year it was especially great-because it was my first Valentines Day with Nate.

It was a pretty low key weekend for us, but it was absolutely perfect. We got to sign on our first apartment together on Valentines day. Although we won't be living there until we're married, we were so excited to find a place that we both really like.

Our home is behind us... well, we'll live in the basement, but still-isn't it beautiful?

After that we headed up to Solider Hollow and went tubing. It was a blast. We finished the night off with 5 Guys, which may be a new tradition. Who wants to wait forever to get in somewhere nice? 

And of course the day was full of beautiful flowers. Nate got me beautiful red roses, Dad gave me his annual pink roses, and I won an arrangement of peonies from an instagram giveaway!

Flowers, Nate, and a whole lot of love. It was the perfect Valentines day. I can't wait to spend my life sharing Valentines with him.

My winnings on Instagram

Oh-and our favorite sister missionary sent us this awesome IU t-shirts as a Valentine present. Everyone in the family got t-shirts, but she made sure that Nate and I had matching ones. Thanks Abbie!

Date Night!

Wedding planning. Homework. Invitation addressing. Studying. Wedding Crafting. Working. Commuting. Apartment hunting.

Life is pretty busy these days.

Luckily Nate and I have been pretty good about not letting ourselves get too stressed out by our various  responsibilities. One of my favorite ways to avoid stress is to take the time to just be together-or as I like to call it "Date Night."

For us, date nights don't have to be anything too fancy-some are as simple as enjoying a movie on Netflix together (most recently the new documentary Mitt-I highly recommend it). This past Friday date night, however, was pretty exciting.

First we redeemed a great living social deal and in return we reached full-fledged "grown up" status.

Yep-we got a Costco Membership.

 It was pretty exciting!! 

After splitting a Very Berry Smoothie it was off to Creativity-a great art studio in Provo where you can pick and paint ceramics. 

Nate and I decided to each paint a cereal (or ice cream...) bowl. However, we decided that we should paint it for each other. It was so fun to come up with ideas of what the other person would like on their bowl, and work hard to create something nice for each other. On Nate's bowl I painted us backpacking Timp (something Nate is really wanting to do this Summer), and on mine he painted my soon-to-be new name, and the London skyline. He knows me well!

It was honestly so much fun! And we can hardly wait to pick up our bowls after they've been fired, or to hit up Costco for some samples. 

My favorite part of the night though was definitely just spending time with Nate. I love how good we've been at enjoying this engaged stage of our relationship-we really are having a great time getting to know each other even better, spending time together, and looking forward to our future. 

A future which will include, I've been assured, many date nights. 

Thoughts on Being Engaged

I must confess that I have been pretty awful at documenting this awesome time of my life.

I absolutely love being engaged to Nate. There is no other role I've had in my life that I love as much as I love being his fiancee. It's such a happy, fun, wonderful time. I honestly have never been so peacefully happy as I am these days.

However, it's also such a crazy busy time! I knew planning a wedding in three months would be busy-but I don't think I really understood how busy it would be. From catering quotes, to wedding dress alterations, crafternoons, registering, designing invitations, and taking engagement photos-it's been crazy.

But through all the crazy, I have this incredible man holding my hand, calling me, laughing with me-and it makes all the crazy so very worth it.

Because at the end of all this crazy I get the most beautiful beginning-an eternity with my best friend.

Just a little preview of our engagements? I adore them all and can't wait to share more! 

Photo cred to the beautifully talented Tracy Hill.

Dear 2013,

You were the year everything changed.

You started off awful, I'm not going to sugar coat it.

But slowly, ever so slowly, you became my best year yet.

The year I graduated.

The year I fell in love.

The year I got my first grown up job.

The year Abbie left on her mission.

The year I travelled to Boston, Boise, and Oregon for the first time.

The year I had my last "summer break".

The year I got engaged.

Honestly, the year I grew up.

I've never been more lonely, confused or discouraged as I was at times this past year. The big plans I had in January of 2013 did not come to pass, and quite honestly this is the last place I expected to be in January 2014.

However, I've also never been happier as I was this past year, and I keep getting happier every day.

I'm pretty sure that without the bad-I couldn't be this overwhelmingly grateful for the good.

This really was my best year yet. It gave me happiness I'd never known-it brought me Nate.

And most importantly it brought me closer to my Father in Heaven, as I learned that he really does have a plan for me. A plan so much better than any I could have come up with on my own. And I couldn't be happier about that.