Happier Than Ever

I have been thinking a lot lately and I have concluded that right now in my life I am happier than ever.
I can't tell you another time when I have felt happiness, peace and love at this kind of level. It has something to do with the fact that I am no longer a college student jumping through hoops for my professors and everything to do with the fact that I love my little family and the stage we are in at this very moment.

Our life together is not perfect but it is in my eyes as I seek to find the good in those less than perfect moments. We still make very little money working less than ideal jobs but somehow we make ends meet for the necessities and whatever we have leftover we spend happily on movies and food. We have always loved living close to both of our families but we find ourselves enjoying it even more as Rosie gets to know her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins so well. We are so fortunate to have good friends who we love spending our nights with playing cards and talking about life and of course laughing a lot too. Andrew and I have told each other countless times since Rosie was born how blessed we are to have a healthy and happy little girl. She fills each day with new and exciting wonders and so much joy. We have and are currently seeing so many blessings pouring into our lives and we are grateful for the gospel that helps ground us and provide hope for the future.

Life is simple but wonderful right now and I dare say that I am happier than ever.

Gone {for too long}

This guy left us last week to have himself an "internship adventure" in NYC. We were beyond thrilled when a summer internship was looking like a possibility for Andrew way back in January. It took a while for everything to become finalized and to figure out the finances but I am so proud of Andrew for working so incredibly hard this semester to make this whole thing a reality.

He will be interning with a freelance illustrator named Peter deSeve who lives in Brooklyn and works mostly from his home studio. Andrew will also have the chance to learn a little bit about the gallery system in Brooklyn as he has the chance to volunteer for my cousin out there who owns and operates his own successful gallery and non-profit art/dance organization.

Now I need to share for a moment in complete honesty...

Although I am beyond happy for Andrew to be having these life-changing experiences, my only wish is that Rosie and I could be tagging along with him. I wish that my job and our financial obligations would disappear for the month of May and that all three of us could be adventuring in the Big Apple together. I have been dreaming of the delicious food and walking the streets with Rosie as we chose to spend each day going to galleries, museums and spending time in Central Park. I really love traveling and getting to know places outside of my long-time home of Provo and despite the face that I have been to NYC a few times already, it is always a fun "new" place to visit.

So since Rosie and I will not have the chance to go to NYC with Andrew, we need to keep ourselves sane here without him. In the first few days I swear Rosie was trying her hardest to wear me down as she insisted on waking up every hour during the night to cry and then nurse and then fall right back to sleep. Even though I was not awake for very long, the repeated motion of getting in and out of bed was almost killing me as I had to peal my eyes open just to try and take care of her needs. I have a new-found respect for single mothers who do this ALL on their own ALL of the time. I know that I owe lots of thanks already to my family and friends for helping me with Rosie and letting me take an occasional nap.

I am hoping this month will fly by with as few breakdowns as possible on my side of the country and as many exciting experiences as possible on Andrew's side of the country.

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)

Sonogram Photos

It has been so special to be able to see our sweet baby girl five times during my pregnancy. At each ultrasound she was bouncing around and wiggling like crazy. I have loved to watch (and feel) her grow and change over the weeks. I chose one photo from each of the ultrasounds that we got at 8, 11, 17, 20, and 26 weeks.

I can't wait to meet her soon...in about 4 weeks now!

Perfect Lovers

This is a piece by Felix Gonzalez Torres that I feel is the best explanation of perfect love. He set these two clocks in sync with one another so that they would tick at the exact same time.

Think about that as a metaphor for two beings with two heartbeats and two different schedules coming together to be in the same moment at the same time. Morphing their lives into one and ticking in unison. The clocks were destined from the beginning to fall out of alignment as one's batteries could wear out before the other and slow down until one day it stops.

                                                                                                         But until that time, they continue on.

Torres' piece is a beautiful ode to love.

Life is so full of disappointment and trials but having each other is our little bit of perfect in this imperfect life.

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.

..today is my favorite kind of day..

This morning I used my wily charm to convince Andrew to stay in bed with me just a little bit longer. Well a little bit longer turned into two hours longer as we dozed in and out of sleep. When we finally woke up and he got ready to go in to work, I had to toughen up and prepare to spend the rest of the day working on projects alone until I go into work later.

          {  Just a side note: }

I don't know if I have mentioned this before but I absolutely despise having a completely opposite schedule as Andrew. It's always sort of been that way, but this summer has been by far the WORST. 

Anyway, I said goodbye to him and off he went to work for the rest of the day...or so I thought. I get a call a short time later only to hear Andrew on the other end asking if I need anything at the store. WHATT?? I thought he was going to work, not to the store. Well turns out, he said that no one was at work today because it's a Utah/Mormon holiday called Pioneer Day and apparently BYU considers that a good reason not to have work.

So heres to you----> I love you Pioneer Day. Thank you for giving me some extra time with my husband today!

So far we have enjoyed having breakfast together (just cereal, not anything too fancy), and we have gone on a walk up the canyon to enjoy nature a little more. We actually stopped to watch a little baby otter in the river for a little while.

-Laura

..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