The truth is...

Life has been really though lately, and even though no one reads this blog yet, I have a hard time opening up about what has been going on. I guess that's always been a hard thing for me. I hope one day for that to change.

Fairly recently, I found this blog, and when I find a new blog I love, I love it up and down and read as many posts as possible. And I don't get bored. That's when I know I've found a good one. This one inspired me. Casey, writer of The Wiegands, is like an open book with her life struggles and her happy moments. I love that.

I also found this blog. She's basically the type of mom I want to be. She has six children - one of which was just adopted from Africa. I love how raw and inspiring bloggers can be. I love that they share their lives and add such positive insights and stories to the blogging community.

One day. For now, I am trying to take things one step at a time, really focusing on myself. I figured out that I need to take some time to myself every once and a while to figure myself out, and figure out how to be the best possible me I can be.

oh! I've been doing a decent job at my little resolutions!

Proof:

[The dresser and almost everything on it was thrifted! oh, how I love good finds.]

[Note: the love seat is not butted up against the heater (although it appears to be), although that heater doesn't work anyhow.]

Love seat, coffee table, curtain rod, grey rug: IKEA 

Curtains & bookshelf: Target

[My procrastination/work station]

Desk: hand-me-down from Matt's Grandma Weea

Shelf, bulletin board, basket: IKEA

Chandelier: gift

Sentsy: gift from momma

"I heart Christmas" LED lights: Target's seasonal clearance section ($.70 - originally $7)

"C": JoAnns - painted and decorated by Mi

Slowly but surely, this place is beginning to look more and more like the home I imagined it to be. 

It's time.

It's time that I start my goals of self improvement. My resolutions, if you will. I don't normally make resolutions as I typically forget what they were a week into the year. This year I'm desperately going to try for mine and the hub's sake.

1. Clean the apartment daily. Including making the bed. :|
2. Fix my hair as often as possible. As trendy as buns have become, I have hair that should serve a purpose more than being a bird's nest on the top of my head. If I don't stick to this one, I'm chopping off my hair and donating it. 
3. Blog more! Including finding things worth blogging about. And maybe I'll come out of the blogging closet. Matt's the only one who knows about this and is constantly telling me to "take it live".  Coming up with his own blogging terms now - that man. 
4. Start meal planning and eating more fresh fruits and veggies.
5. Accompany Matt to the gym more often. 
6. Change out of my work clothes as soon as I get home rather than spending the entire day in them/ make an effort to look nice. Red and khaki should never be worn together unless you're working at Target.
7. Get crafty! Pinterest is a wonderful tool and should actually begin to be applied in my life.
8. Get organized and motivated - find an internship and volunteer for organizations I love and admire. 
9. Graduate.
10. Get ready to make babies. I may or may not buy onesies when they go on clearance at work. At least I'll be prepared?
11. Make sure Matt knows and feels loved every single day.

Get ready for a new better me, 2012!

Lights.

They city seems to change around Christmas time.
And then you blink, and it's like nothing ever happened.

Temple Square:

The Hogle Zoo:

The end. 

The Good Stuff

My family came to visit last weekend!

It was supposed to be a surprise visit, but my dad can't ever keep secrets. Especially good ones.

They were only here for two short days, which made having to say goodbye hard. Along with good company, laughs, and little explorations and wanderings around town, they brought a little Christmas with them. My siblings went gung-ho this Christmas and showered us with all sorts of lovely goodies. I wish I had taken more pictures. I believe my mom snapped a few so hopefully I can snag them from her soon. Even though Christmas had passed, we got to squeeze out a little more Christmas Spirit out of this season when we opened our gifts - clothes, candy and homemade cookies, nick-nacs - all greatly appreciated. Most appreciated was the company. I realized that I didn't know how much I missed being with my family until they were here, and then when they left.

We ventured off to the Zoo to admire the Christmas lights one last time, wandered through Temple Square - again admiring Christmas lights and Christmas-y festivities going on.

On day two of their visit, my parents surprised Matt and I with a bed. Totally unexpected. A R-E-A-L bed! The past several months of our married lives have been spent sleeping on an air mattress that decided it didn't want to stay inflated through the night around Thanksgiving time. Yep, we'd been sleeping on a deflated air mattress for a month, and had planned to continue doing so until we could afford to get a real bed. And let me tell you, sleeping under such conditions takes a toll on your back. Real bad. Real quick.

What parents I have. Truly wonderful.

The second and last night they were here, we decided to have a little sleep over with Annie and Westley. Unfortunately for everyone, I had work early the next morning so we couldn't do many of the traditional fun sleep over activities. We managed to squeeze in a movie and made a make-shift bed our of lots of blankets.

I loved every sweet moment we got to spend with that lovely family of mine. 

The New Year is here, Christmas is gone, and the decorations have made their way back into boxes until next year.

I love that the beginning of a new year gives you time to reflect on the things that happened over the past year. 2011 treated me so well - so well I can hardly believe it! Let's reflect:

1. I finished 2 semesters and 1 term of college. (only 1 more semester & an internship to go!)
2. I got engaged! 
3. Planned a wedding and found the most wonderful dress for me.
4. Married my best friend in the whole wide world and gained the most amazing in-laws. Seriously. 
5. Moved to Salt Lake. The first "big" city I've ever lived in. Very exciting and intimidating it was. 
6. Found myself my first full-time job and rocked it while taking the fullest load of classes I've ever taken. 
7. Got a bunny! 
8. Put my childhood dog of 14 years to rest. (Forever in my heart, little Sunrise.)

This year has been full of amazing adventures, but I have a feeling 2012 is going to be beautiful and full.

For Christmas, Matt and I made a trip up to Colorado to spend the holiday with his Aunt, Uncle, little cousins Joey and Nicky, and his grandparents. It was so much fun, I forgot to take many pictures! :( Due to a little accident in the kitchen Christmas Eve afternoon, we had a late start to our trip. Matt sliced open his thumb while cutting apples for the road and ended up in the hospital. Nothing is more terrifying than getting a call from your husband while at work telling you that he's in the hospital. Because of his "bum thumb" I was the one wrestling and sledding with the boys all weekend. It was a blast!

Oh, and Mochi came, too! She hated the car ride, but absolutely loved being in a new place! She was so good with the boys - when they weren't playing with their new nerf guns, they wanted to be playing with her. Their dog loved Mochi, too.

Just Dance 3 - SO fun!

Brothers. 

Joey would NOT take a nice picture with Nicky. 

Monument, Colorado.

I love these little fellas, and I especially 

loved being attached at the hip with the both of them.

We had such a sweet visit with Mando, Leacia, the boys, and Papa and Weea. Living so far from family makes the holidays especially difficult when you can't afford to go home, but being able to spend a few days with them made our first Christmas away from home much more enjoyable. 

Thanks...

It has been nearly a month since my last post! (sooo sorry, blogie)

Life's been grand around here, but the reason for my long absence is not grandness, but rather excessive busy-ness. For the weeks following Thanksgiving, Matt and I were busy preparing for finals and our last days in this past semester. It was awful - A-W-F-U-L!

My days for about 2 1/2 weeks went like this:

Days without work:
-wake up early
-quick shower
-quick breakfast
-oodles of homework, papers, and art projects
-night class

Days with work:
-wake up at 6am
-work from 7-3:30
-come home
-change (sometimes I didn't even have time to change until minutes before heading out the door to class!)
-quick dinner (that had usually been prepared by the time I got home by my sweet hubs)
-last minutes touches to homework
-night class

In case you're wondering, it was exhausting. This semester has definitely taught me my limits and boundaries. Never again will I take 18 credits/6 classes the first semester I am married while working a full time job 5-6 days a week. I'm not saying all of this for pity or for your approval, but I am proud of what I managed to accomplish between several mental breakdowns that left me wanting to give up on my education. Thank the Lord for a good, comforting man. And chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

But these days, we're busy recouping. And THAT is glorious. Yesterday AND today have been spent doing a whole lot of cuddling, movie watching, and Christmas-ing our apartment. Give me a "woot" for days off!

Since the semester has ended, I have re-dedicated myself to documenting our lives through the lens of my camera. Here are a few special things I am especially thankful for (since I did not have the chance to post on the things I am thankful for):

Snow! Just enough to silence footsteps and make evening walks extra romantic.

A Thanksgiving Dinner. - Our very first as a married couple!

Marie Calendar's Apple Pie Deliciousness.

Matts first attempt at what will become his "specialty" - Honey Mustard Chicken!

Our baby, Mochi, experiencing her first Christmas tree for her first Christmas.

(We bought this [pre-lit] tree on sale! - 5 days before Christmas in search of some Christmas Spirit)

Homemade garland made out of popcorn and fresh cranberries.

And my handsome.

The beaut. 

The gifts Matt has been dying to open. :}

Tonight: a walk down Temple Square to see the awesome lights we pass every day up-close, while facing the crazies (pedestrians) that have been causing so much traffic downtown. We will brave the cold and become part of the group that we vehemently dislike on simple trips across town.  

Tomorrow: the ZOO! Hogle Zoo makes this time extra special for the animals and the people who visit with Christmas lights everywhere! So naturally, we need to go pay those animals and lights a little visit. 

I stinkin' love this time of year!

A day (or two) of thanks.

Our Thanksgiving was simple and lovely. How was yours?

I slightly over estimated how long it would take to make our little feast, which I blame my mother for. Just kidding!... but really. At home she spends alllll day cooking so I figured that's just the way the cookie crumbles. And then I realized she cooks for six mouths. I was cooking for 2... and a half. I don't know how Matt is able to consume so much food and still manage to be so skinny.

Everything was going wonderfully - the food smelled delicious, everything was getting cooked and heated up - until I shorted our power causing us to try to keep things hot (didn't work) and finish cooking the rest of the food on the stove. We rushed to get everything on the table and into our mouths before it got cold (again, it didn't really work aside from the stuffing which quickly came out of the pot and into our stomachs at rapid speed). But a cold Thanksgiving dinner is still a Thanksgiving dinner and is better than no Thanksgiving dinner, no?

Needless to say, I was rather disappointed about how the first Thanksgiving dinner I ever prepared didn't turn out how I had hoped. After lots of grumping during dinner I finally realized that this holiday is not about the dinner. It's not even about pie.(!) It's about being thankful for what you have and who you are and where you have come from and where you are going. It's about knowing that the person sitting across from your on a tiny dining table is everything you could have hoped for and being thankful for everything they do and have done and will do.

I looked at Matt and apologized for being so bummed and unreasonable when he was trying to comfort me.  He apologized for trying to comfort me a little too firmly. We kissed and made up, took a few pictures with Mochi, and lounged around for a bit between flipping on and of the switches for the breaker in our apartment wondering when our power would turn back on. THEN my genius of a husband remembered about the breaker box two flights of stairs down from our apartment! He turned our power back on and we made pie and watched a movie. It was glorious. (He's exceptionally dreamy when he fixes things).