What we did to celebrate

Our anniversary celebration this year included Rosie for several reasons. One being that she doesn't always take a bottle for a babysitter and another being just the fact that we love her too much to leave her. So we planned our day to be as baby friendly as possible and she tagged along.

Andrew worked a half day and I got our taxes filed in the morning and then at noon it was off to Salt Lake to play. We rarely make it up there so it is always a fun adventure when we do. We decided to go to the zoo and it was a blast. We loved seeing all of the animals and despite the fact that it was windy and chilly outside, it was a huge success. Most of the animals were out and about and so active. My three favorites were the otters, the little monkeys and of course the TIGER.

All of the animals seriously loved Andrew and came right up to the glass to play with him. The monkeys were the funniest by far and kept reaching out to touch his face that was right up close to the glass. So entertaining. After the zoo we did a little shopping. Andrew and I each got a few things to spruce up our wardrobe. It's always fun to get a few new things that I can look forward to wearing. Then it was off to our dinner reservation. I have to admit this part of the evening was not too baby friendly and we got some stares in the restaurant but Rosie was beyond perfect and allowed us to enjoy eating our fancy meal together. We met the sweetest couple sitting across from us at dinner. They overheard us telling the waitress that it was our anniversary and the man faked having to go to the bathroom only to order and pay for two delicious appetizers for us. The waitress came out to take our order and brought us the two dishes saying that some people in the restaurant wished us a happy anniversary.

I was blown away by the generosity.

I thanked them a million times because I knew it couldn't have been anyone else in the restaurant but them. We ended up talking to them for more than half of our meal until they were finished and ready to leave. At which point I thanked them again from the bottom of my heart for being so thoughtful and sweet to us even though we were practically strangers. They simply said how they remember being in our same situation not long ago

They asked us to pass it on one day in the future.
And to that I responded, "Will do."

I hope to remember this special act of kindness when Andrew and I are older and more financially stable. I would love to pass on the thoughtfulness of this sweet couple to another family. It made our night so memorable.

Year Three in Review

It's been 3 whole years since Andrew and I got married. And even though it's cheesy and cliche, I have to say, these have been the best years of my life. In this one year alone so many exciting things have happened so I decided to do a little recap.
Year 3 in review (March 2013-March 2014):

-finished up Winter 2013 semester (I was sick and tired and didn't find out why until April 18th)
-found out we were having a baby
-worked our tails off during the summer to save up money
-celebrated our birthdays in June and announced to family that a baby would be joining our family in December
-I was served court papers to be sued in a lawsuit for being involved in a three-car accident in the summer of 2012 (this is currently still going on by the way)
-went to the doctor more times in my entire life combined (over the whole nine months of pregnancy)
-got to see our baby on ultrasound 5 different times (one of which we found out we were having a girl)
-prepared a baby girl nursery in our second bedroom that was formerly storing art and lots of other junk that I was too lazy to go through and throw away until then
-Andrew got a new job illustrating courses for BYU Independent Study
-started my last semester of college in Fall 2013
-created lots of art (both Andrew and I)
-I finished my BFA show and put it up in the HFAC for others to see (all while 35 weeks pregnant)
-finished Fall semester in December two days before my due date
-spent Christmas relaxing and enjoying time together and with family
-got to meet our new baby girl on December 30th and spend two days of bliss in the hospital just the three of us
-our first night home from the hospital was New Year's Eve
-Andrew started school again in January (weirdest feeling that I wasn't going back!)
-Rosie had her two month doctor's appointment and had to get a few shots which was the saddest thing for me to watch
-currently I stay home and take care of Rosie everyday and continue to work part-time as an apartment manager and Andrew is finishing up this semester of school and still working for BYU Independent Study as an illustrator (he hates leaving home everyday because he says he misses Rosie too much)

Happy Anniversary Andrew
I love you
Here's to year four
Onward and upward (hopefully)

anniversaries in review

I always like looking through old photos and I love being reminded of good memories. Photos can also be a way to measure growth.

I see growth in these few snapshots of our marriage. Already in two years together we have experienced many ups and downs and I can honestly say our love has grown for each other in every way. I am so grateful for this sweet companion that will be by my side forever.

Sappy, I know but so true.


One Month:

Six Months:

One Year:


  Two Years:

two years

We have been married for two years today.
Time has flown.
And yet I feel like we have been together forever.

..One Year Anniversary Recap..

 

We celebrated our One Year Anniversary on March 5, 2012. I loved looking through some of our engagement and wedding photos again because some of them I have not seen for a year. They bring back such wonderful memories. 


Since Andrew and I are both in school and working part-time, we had to celebrate over the weekend. We both took work off and headed up to SLC Friday afternoon. We love getting away, even if it is just an hour away from home. Our minds can relax from every day worries and our bodies can relax because we usually get lots of sleep. I spent the morning in class and packing as well as putting together a chandelier/mobile of over 100 tags that I spent the last few weeks preparing. I thought of all of the things I love about Andrew that have come to me throughout the year. 


On Friday, we spent a few hours at Gateway walking around my favorite shops and Andrew bought me a delicious smelling candle from Anthropologie. Then we both decided we were starving a lot earlier than we planned so we pushed up our dinner reservation and headed to the restaurant. We tried something new this time that I can give all the credit to Andrew for finding. It was so incredibly tasty. We loved every single bite! When we finished with dinner we went to check into our hotel and I surprised Andrew with a cake that his mother kindly made for us to celebrate the tradition of eating the top of your wedding cake one year later. We exchanged gifts after eating cake and I had been anticipating giving Andrew his gift for about 3 months because I bought it around Christmas time. I got him a nice gold watch that I had engraved with "3.5.2012 (heart) Laura". I wanted to get him something that he would remember forever as our one year anniversary. Andrew got me a gold necklace with charms on it that have our initials and a pearl bead from Argento. That night we crashed pretty early and slept a good 10-12 hours that night (I know it sounds so lazy but it felt so good and we justify ourselves because this type of sleep does not come often in our daily schedule!)


On Saturday, we ate a yummy (very late) breakfast in the hotel and then got on our way to the SLC Temple to do a session. I was so excited to go into this amazing building that was built in 1893 (about 120 years ago) and the experience was pretty breath-taking. We realized that one year ago exactly on this day was my first time going through the temple (in Provo) and we did not even plan that little coincidence. We went to dinner at The Dodo which is one of our favorite restaurants in SLC. My sister Karen and her husband first took us there and we immediately fell in love. After dinner we took a detour to Target to grab a swimsuit for Andrew, because he forgot his, and we got a little distracted by the movies and ice-cream. The rest of the night we spent swimming, eating our tiny Haagen Daz and watching movies until we both crashed. 


Sunday was our last day to relax and that is exactly all we did. We ate breakfast (again very late) at the hotel and just laid in bed until the very last moment when we had to shower and pack up our things. 


We are not very good at taking pictures on our vacations because it is hard when one of you has to be taking the picture and the other is in it alone... so these few below are what came out of our weekend together. Sorry they are so blurry and small, apparently the camera on my iphone is not very good. I promise to be better about taking quality pictures of our adventures together because I know in the long run I will be kicking myself if I do not document our life together. (I'll post some detail pictures of our weekend a little later because I do not have them on my computer yet.)


-Laura