The Not So Greatest Fishing Story

Last Sunday Chris and I decided to go fishing. Here is our story: 

So we ventured out on the confusing Texas roads to find a specific lake to fish at (which I don't remember the name of). We reached the lake but our GPS led us to this crazy giant factory thing which is located almost inside of the lake. We had to go around the whole thing and we went around like twice before we finally figured out how to get into the lake area to actually fish.

We had to pay a small fee to get into the "park" area where it was completely crowded. There were tons of boats on the water but all the shores were surrounded by people are cooking and fishing. Chris was super upset about there being so many people and we didn't get in a good spot but we got one, Chris hooked up his pole and let it out into the water.

Then he worked on my new pole, we got it set up and he put a worm on it and cast it out... but it got snagged. So he worked really hard to reel it back in (I'm totally helpful while fishing huh?). We ended up losing the hook and he was all grouchy and upset. He was getting super annoyed with this zip-tie on my pole, because it's new. So he, very smartly, decided to take his fillet knife and cut it off.

But, as luck would have it, the knife slipped cutting the back of his hand. I didn't see it cut him. I just looked up as he shouted and angrily threw the knife at the ground and then rushed to the water to wash his hands, and that's when I noticed to large amount of blood spilling from him.

My adrenaline was pumping, I didn't even think about how blood sometimes freaks me out, I just knew I had to help my husband right away! So I kind of stripped in front of all the people and took off my under tank top that I was wearing and gave it to him to soak up the blood and keep pressure on it, and then I put my shirt back on. I then reeled in his fishing pole, he took the worm off because I hate worms and I cleaned up all our stuff and packed it away. Again, this was like 10 minutes into our actual fishing trip.

So we rushed to the car and drove to the front of the "park" thing where we had paid. We went inside to see if they had a first aid kit and if they could help us find the nearest hospital, because even though I hadn't seen the cut yet, both of us were pretty sure he would need stitches.

Okay, this is the part that irritates me, the people in that office/gift shop MADE US BUY A CRAPPY LITTLE FIRST AID KIT!!! They didn't have one to just help us???? They didn't even offer to help!! They made us buy this little one, and I handed her my debit card and she was all "no cards for purchases under $4". Seriously???? This woman could see that both of Chris's hands were covered in blood and my tank top around his injured hand was soaked in blood! And she seriously expected us to be fine with a tiny little first aid kit???? And not even offer to help??? They were basically "park rangers", aren't they supposed to be prepared to help with first aid problems, or is that seriously not a thing? Shouldn't park rangers know basic first aid and have a first aid kit available for emergencies? Is that not a thing? I worked at a gym and they made everyone learn CPR and basic first aid! This is a lake! People are fishing and boating and very likely to get injured and they don't have the necessary equipment to help someone who cut his hand open????

Yeah....  I was really ticked off about that.

So we purchased the stupid kit and went to the bathroom (I went in the men's bathroom!) and Chris run his hand under water, tried to clean himself up, it was still bleeding but not quite as much. The first aid kit had these antiseptic wipes that were incredibly tiny they were probably made for like paper cuts, and we used like three of them to try and disinfect the area. After it was cleaned up we could see the cut wasn't nearly as bad as I had dramatized in my mind. I was thinking he had cut the whole back of his hand! However, it was about an inch long but it was deep so we decided to still go to the hospital to play it safe. And it was still bleeding so that was probably a good idea.

So I had to drive on the Texas highways which is something I absolutely hate (we've been here a month and I hate them so much already!!). The whole time I'm still in adrenaline pumping/freaking out mode because even though it was a smaller cut, this was still my husband and I love him and never want to see him hurt or sick or injured in any way so it was difficult for me. Chris said that it didn't hurt though so I was able to relax a bit more.

We reached the nearest hospital and it was like a baptist church hospital or something and honestly Chris and I were the only white people in that building. No lies. All the paperwork was also in Spanish and everyone around us were speaking in Spanish. It was clear we were no longer in Utah.

So the first male nurse guy helped clean Chris up and wrapped up his hand. He was really nice. When he asked Chris on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad his hand hurt Chris replied with a 1, so we really were doing fine.

Then we went in to the actual hospital area and Chris got to sit on a hospital bed and watch TV. The doctor's came in and joked "are you ready for surgery?" So they looked over Chris's hand and decided instead of stitches they would just use skin glue. So the woman took care of his hand, showed him how to apply the glue and sent us home with some extras.

And that's our fishing story where we never actually did any fishing. And now Chris has to wear a bandage on his hand. But the other day we had to replace the glue and it really does look like it's healing and we really did get lucky, it could have been a lot worse.

May Review

I debated on doing a review this month, but when I realized it was suddenly the end of the month and I hadn't written like any blog posts I felt like I needed to get a review done to kind of explain where I've been.

So if you've been completely out of the loop, I am now in Texas. My husband decided to take a summer sales job here so we packed up the car and moved to San Antonio, well technically right outside of San Antonio. It was so crazy the drive here took us three days (because we chose to stop each night) and then we got here and had to sleep on someone's floor, and then I got offered a job as an office help for the company Chris is selling for and then our lives just turned into working like crazy.

Okay, I only work three days a week so that was kind of a lie, but it is for eight hours a day which is much more than I've been doing in the past. Chris on the other hand works six days a week... all day. I pretty much only see him for dinner, sleep, and on Sundays. He does get off a bit earlier on Saturdays but we've been hanging out with his new work team so we haven't had a ton of alone time.

May 11th was our one year anniversary!!! I honestly am still in shock we've been married a year. Time has literally flown by! We didn't do much to celebrate. We decided not to do gifts and we just wrote letter saying why we love each other. We read them to each other and it was just really sweet and a memorable moment.

And then the month disappeared. I worked out a lot, until recently. I'm working on losing some weight this summer. I want to lose enough to fit back into my wedding dress, that's the goal. And I have been working on a special project but I'm not ready to reveal that to the world because it still has a lot of work to go through. But actually, this "special project" is part of the reason I haven't been blogging on here as much, so I do apologize.

I feel like we're finally making money instead of digging ourselves more and more into debt. It's been fantastic! Sure we still have a lot of money in student loans to pay off, but this summer we're just working hard to create a stable financial base for ourselves, and it's been working really well in our favor.... and thank you so much to the company we work for for paying our rent, because I don't know if we could afford this awesome place without you!

Oh! I've been obsessed with Pokemon lately. Yes, I'm such a dork, but I watched something scary and Chris was sleeping so I wanted to watch something silly to help me forget the scary thing and Pokemon was the first thing I saw, and I've always been secretly in love with Pikachu so I decided to give it a shot. And now I'm obsessed. I even bought myself a plush Pikachu online. Literally obsessed.

I'm going to try to take more pictures, I don't know why I haven't been, Texas is gorgeous, so hopefully you'll be seeing more pictures of our new home up on the blog soon.

Alright, was there anything else? Not that I can think of. Well, this review is short and sweet, but so was the month of May for me. Thank you for reading and have a fabulous day!!

One Year Ago Today...

I've been meaning to write this story on my blog for the past year. But it's a difficult topic and while my story is pretty tame, it was still an experience I'll never forget.

April of 2013 was like a whirlwind of emotions for me. I was planning my wedding and there was just so much to do! The flowers turned out wrong, my dress alterations turned out wrong, everything was stressing me out and I had so much to do! I had multiple appointments in a week with the cake place, the venue, etc. So when it came time to make my first appointment with a gynecologist to get on birth control, it was just another appointment and another thing to check off my to-do list.

I went into the appointment with my mom by my side (yes I was 22 but it was my first time, it's not like she held my hand or anything (also, if any boys are reading this just remember that this is a story about the gynecologist, try not to freak out when I say weird things)). The doctor was incredibly nice. I wasn't nervous or anxious or anything. I was completely calm and thinking, "just put me on birth control and let me go home".

...But as she was doing the exam she found a mole. A dark, large, irregular mole.

 She told me it was probably fine but she wanted to do a biopsy to make sure. So I made an appointment to visit again a few days later. I began feeling my stress level increase. I had all these wedding things to deal with while also working practically full-time and now in the back of my mind I was thinking about this mole.

I went in for the appointment and she ended up removing most of the mole and getting it sent in to be tested. She made me feel at ease about the whole thing so I was able to relax a bit more. Also, it was the first time I've ever gotten stitches and that made me feel kind of cool, but it was pretty much in the worst place ever so working in a daycare later that day was not fun. Also having your lady parts numbed is the weirdest thing in the world, just FYI.

Only two days passed and I was woken up to phone call from a nurse. She spoke very quickly and began to explain that they had made an appointment for me with a dermatologist to remove the area around where the mole was because they had found traces of melanoma.

I remember my heart just stopping when I heard it. All I could hear going through my mind was "CANCER! CANCER! CANCER!" I couldn't find it in me to cry I just was in shock, just sitting there wondering what was going to happen. Would it ruin my wedding and my marriage to Chris? Would I have issues with cancer the rest of my life? And of course, would my life be cut shorter than I wanted?

After the phone call I immediately knelt down and said a prayer. I don't remember everything that was said but I know I mainly asked for peace. I wanted to be calm. I knew it could potentially be something horrible, but I simply wanted to remain calm.

After my prayer I called Chris (at the time we were living two hours from each other). I think I may have teared up during the phone call because I was about to marry this man and I didn't want anything ruining our perfect life together. I could hear how worried Chris was over the phone and it made me more upset knowing he was stressing out about me. We agreed to stay calm and think positively. I wanted so badly for him to be there so he could hold me and tell me everything would be okay, but I had to put on my big girl pants and get to work.

I called my mom while getting ready and told her the news. She was able to stay calm and keep me calm as well (she's amazing). She made arrangements to come to the next appointment with me because she wanted to be around to make sure everything would turn out okay, and I honestly wanted her there as well.

Time came for the next appointment with a dermatologist. He looked over the mole and looked over the notes from the lab. He then proceeded to tell me that he was too uncomfortable removing that much area in that certain place (because ladies, let's be honest, the skin in weird down there). He made some phone calls and made another appointment for me with another dermatologist, one with a bit more experience. Honestly I was grateful that this doctor told me upfront he was uncomfortable with it instead of just trying to do it. But this only meant more doctors looking at my hoo-ha.

When the time came for my next appointment there was only one week left until my wedding. I was so incredibly stressed out and concerned about this issue. It was all I could think about and I was so worried all the time.

My mom and I went in to the doctors and he looked over the area said he could do this was comfortable with it and said we could get it done in a week. My mom and I exchanged looks and he immediately called us out on it. We explained to him that my wedding was next week. He laughed and said I could get it done after the honeymoon because, ahem, of where it was.

With that information my mom and I asked him more about the mole. This was the first time a doctor didn't stress me out about it. He said that he wasn't worried about it spreading at all in that time. He said I would be completely fine and that the initial biopsy had removed most of it, they simply wanted to remove the surrounding area to protect me and my health.

I honestly breathed a sigh of relief and wondered why none of the other doctors had said this before. I had been stressing out for no reason! Well, a little bit of reason, but I didn't need to let it control my life.

After that appointment I was able to get married and forget all about my mole. I enjoyed my honeymoon and my new married life with Chris.

The time came for the procedure and Chris and I drove down from Logan to get it done. As I was lying in the chair my whole body was shaking with nerves. Besides the previous biopsy, I've never had any medical procedures in my life and I could help from being a little scared. Chris comforted me the best he could but when my body starts shaking like that I can't stop it (it happens when I donate plasma too).

The procedure went by fine. I only felt little pricks and the weirdness of them stitching me back up (seriously, stitches are so weird and just imagine getting them down there, weirdest feeling ever). Everything was fine again. Chris and I even went to the zoo after a nap (but the numbness wore off and I actually found myself in a lot of pain walking around the zoo, sadness).

Which leads us to this day. One year ago today I picked up my phone to find a voicemail. I opened it up and listened as the doctored pronounced me clean and clear. I had no more traces of melanoma.

Having gone through this I have to be protective of my skin now, because it's likely to come back, but I've been able to move on from this and mostly forget about it. But whenever I think back on it I'm so grateful for the doctors, my mom, my neighbor who knew and said she was praying for me, my wonderful husband, and the experience that helped change my perspective on things.

Cancer is still one of my biggest fears. I had an aunt die of cancer, I know so many people who have been affected by it, and it's seriously the devil, it's the absolute worst thing out there. But I think now I'm more protective of myself. I notice when I get new moles (and Chris freaks out, it's kind of cute) and I'm definitely more cautious in the sun. I think the experience taught me to never hold back. To keep moving forward and follow your dreams. You'll always hit bumps in the roads but sometimes they aren't nearly as big as you think they are, and you can't let them stop you.

Keep moving forward. Keep moving towards the ultimate goal of living your life to the fullest. 

That is what my cancer scare taught me. I really am grateful for the experience and for the changes it made in me and I'm truly grateful for one year ago today.

Beauty Haul

Hello friends!! It has been literally forever since I last wrote on here and even longer since I've done a fashion/beauty post, which honestly I've been wearing some very cute outfits lately but my husband works all the time so I don't have anyone to take pictures for me. I'll have to convince my neighbor to do it I guess.

Anyways I figured with this move new state new makeup! So I went out and bought some awesome makeup items and I've been using them for the past week and I absolutely love them so I wanted to share them with you!

I bought all of these at Walmart, because navigating San Antonio streets is like my worst nightmare and I only know how to get to Walmart. But I learned Target is very close and living in Logan I missed Target so I'm super happy I have one again! I actually bought some clothes from Target. If you want a post on what I bought leave a comment and let me know!

On to my recent beauty purchases!

First on my list is Maybelline New York Dream Wonder Powder in shade 20 Classic Ivory. As you'll see in this post I pretty much only buy Maybelline products. I just love the way they work with my skin and I'm pretty much obsessed with Maybelline! I absolutely love the coverage that this powder gives me! It makes my skin look flawless which is always a plus. The only problem is that I think I got a shade too dark. I always thought I had tanner skin but whenever I buy foundation products I learn that I don't. My first application of this product it made my face look much too much darker than the rest of me but I think I've got a good system down now to even out the coverage and make it blend. 

If you are curious about my other favorite foundation products you can read all about my makeup essentials HERE (and again, they are mostly Maybelline products, ha ha). 

I have never been much of a perfume person. When I was little I had a perfume that made me break out in hives so I've always been wary about buying perfumes and just stuck to lotions and stuff. But I decided to try out the Taylor Swift Enchanted Wonderstruck Perfume Pencil because it was something different and I felt it would last longer than most perfumes. First of all, this smells INCREDIBLE!! I'm like addicted! Secondly I love that this isn't a liquid that I have to keep safe in my bathroom cabinet. No! I've been keeping this in my purse. Every morning I put some on my wrists and then on the side of my neck (pulse points) but I love that I can carry this with me and put on a little more if I feel the need. I totally want to go back and buy the other scents as well as stock up on this one, because I'm literally addicted.

I have been scraping out every last bit of my last liquid liner for almost a month! I was in desperate need of a new one (technically this was the only thing I actually needed, ha ha). So, of course, I turned to Maybelline. I had read a review online about the Maybelline New York Line Stiletto Ultimate Precision Liquid Eyeliner  and decided to try it out and I'm so glad I did! Even though I have ridiculous shaky hands all the time, it is so easy for me to just glide on this liner perfectly. I love the effect that it has and it lasts which is something really important to me. My only complaint is that it doesn't work well on the lower lash line, so I need to find something better for that. 

This is the last Maybelline one I swear! I'm in love with and will only buy Maybelline mascaras. I just feel like all the other brands don't have the same effect or irritate my eyes. It's their mascaras that made me obsessed with Maybelline in the first place! Every time I need mascara I try out a new Maybelline one. This time I picked the Maybelline New York Volum' Express One By One Washable Mascara and I only picked it because I liked the color of the bottle. I've been liking this one. It keeps my eyelashes feeling soft and looking natural. I hate when mascaras make my eyelashes too hard and fake. I don't know if this is my favorite of the Maybelline mascaras or mascaras in general. I just don't feel like it give quite as much volume or flare as I usually get. But you win some, you lose some. 

No more Maybelline! So I feel like I'm the last person in the world to get on the EOS trend and this is my very first EOS Lip Balm Sphere I've bought or used ever. This one is in "Summer Fruit" and it smells like those delicious peach ring candy things that my best friend and I would always have at sleepovers, it's pretty much amazing. But I've always been obsessed with keeping my lips moisturized, which is why I coat my lips with a huge amount of Vaseline every night before I go to bed and my husband makes fun of me for it. I think this is an absolutely fabulous lip balm, it keeps my lips soft, it smells amazing, and it's more fun than your typical chapstick. 

So the only reason I purchased Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Spot Treatment as opposed to another acne treatment product was price. I looked around and this one was the cheapest. Ever since moving to San Antonio I feel like I'm getting more acne, which doesn't make sense to me because I thought the Utah dry air would give me more than the humid air... maybe I'm completely backwards on that. Regardless, I've been wanting an acne spot treatment for a long time so I finally got one. I think this product is working really well for me and it has a good smell and it hasn't dried out my skin at all. Because I haven't used an acne spot treatment since like middle school I don't really have anything to compare this to. So it's been working for me but perhaps a different brand would work better, I really don't know. If you have a favorite acne spot treatment, let me know in the comments below!

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Well that's my current beauty haul! So here's the deal, I am raising money to buy myself a new laptop this summer with a camera and editing software and I'm hoping to start making Youtube videos!! So then my beauty or fashion hauls wouldn't be so laboriously written out like this one, it would be more like THIS or THIS. I would still put it up in a post though so you wouldn't have to visit my Youtube page, it would still be on here.  

As always you can find all my fashion and beauty posts if you click on the top tab that says FASHION. 

One Years Worth of Marriage Tips, Tricks, and Advice

It's my anniversary month! I wanted to put up this post closer to my anniversary, but this particular post has taken me months to create and it has been delayed. But it's still May, still my anniversary month, so here it is!

No, I did not document my first full year of marriage the way I probably should have. But I have worked hard in the past year to show my love for my husband and to build our relationship. We've been through trials, we've been through changes, things weren't always the way we thought they would be. But we learned how marriage works together and marriage has been the greatest blessing of my life. Note: Just because I wrote all these down doesn't mean I'm perfect and follow every last tip, I'm not perfect and still have things to work on.

(PS, there is a very good chance the pictures won't all show up, I apologize for that but I don't think I'm going to take the time to fix them if they end up not showing. I'm trying to get ones that work but just know that there's a possibility of a blank picture. I also apologize for any grammatical issues, but again, not going through and fixing them.) 

So, here is a years worth of marriage tips, tricks, and advice... 365 days worth... A lot... As in, the longest blog post of my life... yeah... you don't have to read it all in one sitting.

1. Don't forget the kisses everyday!! 
2. When you burn the food, laugh. 
3. "Oh money, where did you go? Maybe we should keep track..."
4. Changes happen... again and again and again and again.
5. I think even grownups need a time-out sometimes. 
6. "How dare you do this! I'm so mad at you! [Insert How I Met Your Mother Quote here]" Laughter ensues, argument over. 
7. "I want to do this." "And I want to do this." Always make decisions together.
8. .....
   
9. Relax and take a trip, get away from being an adult. 
10. "Aww man, we eat out too much I'm getting fat!" You put on the weight together, take it off together. Gym time together can be super fun! 
11. "Life's a dance you learn as you go!"
12. Balancing school, work, homework, and life in general is difficult, but always, always, ALWAYS make your spouse your main priority.
13. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made.
14. When you watch a couple enough on TV, sometimes you start acting like them, and there is nothing wrong with that. 
    
15. Date nights become fewer, but sometimes that makes them all the more special.
16. Your in-laws can be family too and you can learn to love them as much as your own family. 
17. Sometimes Little Caesars Pizza is the best "going out to eat" can offer. 
18. Just hold your spouse for a minute a day. Just hold them and let them know you'll always be there for them. 
19. ... 
    
20. Love is meant to make you feel happy and wonderful. Accept it. 
21. Stop looking for the negative, every day find another positive.
22. .... 
    
23. Have confidence in your spouse and they will return the favor.
24. Make a cake, celebrate!
25. How do two people use so many dishes???
26. "I don't want to clean." "Me neither." "Let's make a game out of it!!!"
27. "Love is never ending!" 
28. Act like a child sometimes. If it's real love, your spouse will allow it.
29. You don't have to be exactly the same and like all the same things all the time... that just sounds exhausting.
30. A Disney movie sing-along and some popcorn is an excellent date night.
31. Marrying a fisherman means fish for dinner. 
32. And marrying a man who can cook fish very well is a good idea... because I dislike cooking. So I'm so grateful Chris can do it and do it well. 
33. ... 
    
34. Sometimes you have to remind your spouse how sexy you can be. And slutty. But you're married so it's okay. 
35. "Don't worry, be happy!" 
36. Car rides can be the absolute funnest thing with your spouse! Sing-alongs, car games, and long talks. Best thing ever!
37. Take time to step out of your comfort zone and do something the other one likes. Don't hide in your shell.
38. My husband is a soccer player and he's obsessed with the sport. He can tell you almost all the players in the EPL, he always knows the most current stats and news. Sometimes it can be hard with him always looking up soccer news on his phone, but when I go to his soccer games I can see that it's all just for the love of the game and it's so incredible seeing how happy it makes him. I'm proud to support my husband in something he loves.
39. Cooking together, making messes together, all means having fun together.
40. Hold hands. Be an otter.
41. Make your spouse feel beautiful... or handsome, pretty, ravishing, etc.
42. Just because you're married doesn't mean basic manners go out the window. Say yours please's and thank you's.
43. Take care of your spouse, "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health." 
    
44. Remind your spouse why you love them. Never let them forget it.
45. RESPECT. It's not dead. 
46. Make couple friends. Eat dinner together, bond over movies and games. 
47. "How can I help? What do you need?" ...are some of the greatest questions you can ask your spouse.
48. Spend as much time together as you can. He's going to the hardware store? Join him! Hold his hand as you walk through the aisles. 
49. Clean the car together and get in a water fight. Fun! 
50. Always look for ways to help. Helping others is incredibly important. 
51. "I love you" everyday. Every. Single. Day.
52. Let your spouse become your life. It's the greatest feeling in the world. 
    
53. "Nice butt." {wink wink} Let your spouse feel loved and sexy.
54. Laughter is the best medicine, especially in marriage.
55. Yes, you may be married for forever, but never let a single day go by without being grateful for your marriage.

The Automatic Millionaire Discussion Post

I still have a little bit of this book left to read. My goal is to finish it today... or it would be if it wasn't in my husband's car. Ugh! Anyways, it's the 20th so I'm giving you a discussion post! If you want a discussion post for the second book, Insurgent, let me know. I was think that since it was a "just for fun" kind of book, we didn't need a discussion post, but if you want one I'd be happy to create one. Oh, but I think our GoodReads page has a discussion post for it.

So far I have been absolutely loving this book!! I feel like I'm learning a lot and I've been very caught up in it and making changes in my life. With my husband and I at new jobs that actually pay good money (and my husband is killing it in sales) we're finally creating a financially sound base for ourselves. Reading this book came at a perfect time, and I'm so happy I chose to read it.

Alright, leave your opinions, thoughts, criticisms, etc. in the comments below and let me know overall what you thought about this book. I will include a few discussion questions below (hey, I used to major in English teaching, it's a part of me I can't forget) and if you have not read the book yet, I guess spoiler alert? It's nonfiction, it's not like we're giving away secrets. Although I think reading through the discussion may encourage people to read it, so I take back that spoiler alert.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
(You don't have to answer the questions, feel free to talk about the book anyway you'd like, these are here to help you out if you need them.)

1. What's the most important lesson you learned from the book?
2. What story impacted you the most and why?
3. Does this book change the way you look at your financial situation?
4. Have you made any changes since reading the book?
5. Do you think this book will be helpful for future generations to come?

If this book helped you find a little extra cash, why not donate it to my Charity of the Month? 

Happy One Year Anniversary to Christopher and Me!!

You guys, it's been a whole year since all this happened:

And what a crazy year it's been! I never imagined my first year of marriage would be so uneventful. Yep, you heard me right. My first year of marriage was not the greatest year of my life, but truth me told, I never wanted it to be. I'm a firm believer in the idea that love only grows, and I hope Chris and I continue to grow our love into the eternities. 

I am so insanely grateful that I married Chris one year ago. Chris is the greatest blessing in my life and I love him more than I ever thought I could love someone and everyday I find a way to love him more. He means the world to me, he saved my life, he makes me happier than I ever imagined, and I know he loves me and I'm so happy and grateful that he does. 

I don't care that our first year of marriage was uneventful. We're starting out our second year living in Texas and working full-time and making huge life decisions. I love my husband and I know our marriage will only get better and better as time goes on. But I'm so happy for this first of struggles and learning who we were, it will change us for the better. It already has made us a stronger couple and better people. I'm so grateful that this year was uneventful, because it means we have so much more to look forward to. 

Happy one year anniversary to my best friend in the whole world and the love of my life! I feel like I've known you forever, and I want to continue to get to know you through the eternities. 

I LOVE YOU CHRISTOPHER!! 

Lindsey Brogdon Photography

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

I have been blessed my whole life with the most incredible mom in the world! I tell her everything and she truly is one of the greatest friends I've ever had! But most importantly she's also an incredible mother. She raised me in dance and never stopped supporting me in living my dreams. She raised me to be kind to everyone and helped me to become the person I am today.

A few months ago when I wrote my I Hate College post I texted my mom and said "Mom, I hate college, I don't want to be here anymore, I don't want to do this, it makes me miserable, blah blah blah..." and she didn't get angry or upset, she didn't say "college is the most important thing, you have to finish it". No. My mom said, "Maybe you should take a break and figure out what you really want to do." And then she gave me suggestions on what I should do and what she thinks would be best for me.

My mom has always encouraged me to follow my dreams, no matter what they may be. She supports me in my writing and my goals to be an author. She supports my passion of dance. She supports me when I'm feeling lonely and upset and helped me get through the hardest year of my life in high school. She supports me whatever decisions I make in my life, most importantly my marriage to Chris.

My mother is beautiful. My mother has a larger and better wardrobe than I do, and I'm always jealous of her cute outfits. My mother is so smart. My mother is one of the kindest people I've ever met. My mother enjoys watching silly shows like Dance Moms with me and we bond together through that show. My mother listens to me when I go on and on about stupid things. My mother is amazing and wonderful and perfect.

I LOVE YOU MOM AND I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING MOTHER'S DAY! I WISH I COULD BE THERE TO GIVE YOU A BIG HUG AND TELL YOU IN PERSON HOW MUCH I TRULY LOVE YOU!! 

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! 

Exactly one year ago today I got a second mother, my mother-in-law Michelle. And if I could have personally chosen my mother-in-law I still would have chosen her. 

Michelle is honestly the sweetest person and she cares so much about her family and her children and now I'm included in the mix. She genuinely cares about other people and I think that's one of the greatest qualities there is. She's an incredible mother and cares so much about her four boys and is willing to give them the world. 

She's so amazing and I absolutely love having her in my life! I cannot thank her enough for raising Chris to be the perfect man for me and I'm so grateful for the reflection of her that I see in him. She's such an amazing, beautiful, and wonderful person and I love her so much! 

MICHELLE, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! WE WISH WE COULD BE THERE WITH YOU! 

I truly am blessed that I have the two greatest mothers in the world! I wish them both the happiest Mother's Day! 

The Story of Ted and Tracy

While I am still a little upset over the finale of How I Met Your Mother, I found this video on the YouTube and I'm so happy I did! Because through the whole series I just wanted to meet the mother, and when I finally did, she was better than I ever imagined! She was perfect and this video shows it.. without reminding me how the finale let me down. It's just a beautiful 30 minute love story and I wanted to share it here... because it's so adorable.

On Being a Supportive Wife

When I graduated high school I had my heart set on Utah State University, actually I knew I wanted to go there for years before that. And I held my head high and proudly said I was going to major in print journalism and write for a magazine like in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days .

During my first year of college my father, bless his heart, would email me news articles about how news is dying out (that sounds totally ironic). He would remind me that journalists don't get paid anything and my chances of actually writing what I want are incredibly slim.

Now, to say that it was my dad that led me to change my major is false. It's not his fault I have such a fickle mind and can't make and stick to decisions (or maybe it is, I do have his genes...). However I'd be lying if I said the emails he sent didn't have an influence on my decision. While I know both my parents would never discourage me from living my dreams, this was one instance that I didn't feel entirely supported. (But I still love my dad, and seriously he supports me in everything so I'm in no way trying to criticize or say he's a bad dad, because he's the greatest.)

As fate would have it, I would end up marrying a print journalism major and the emails that my father sent still sometimes pop into my head as Chris is talking about his dreams of being a journalist. But I never say a thing.

As Chris's wife it isn't my job to tell Chris that his dreams can't be achieved. It's my job to support him no matter what he does and help him to achieve all his goals. 

We are currently going through big changes in our marriage. Our one year anniversary is this Sunday, we both have full-time jobs (his being more than full-time, basically an all-the-time-except-sleep kind of job), we're figuring out our futures in college, we've moved to Texas and away from our families, and we're continually growing and maturing together. Things are crazy and I will support Chris through all of it!

Lately Chris has been discouraged with this new job. He's in sales and he doesn't get paid unless he sells, which after three days he hasn't yet. He's feeling upset and downhearted.

So every night I make him a nice meal to come home to (something I pretty much haven't done in our entire year of marriage (yep, I'm the worst)), I focus on him and his need before my own, and I tell him positive thoughts and let him know I'm rooting for him and I'll always support him.

It's not my job to tell him to do better. It's not my job to ask him what he's doing wrong. It's not my job to leave him feeling discouraged. No! That's all wrong! It's my job to make him feel good about himself and to think positively. It's my job to encourage him. It's my job to continually support him throughout all of our marriage.

I'm not saying we have a perfect marriage, I mean it's only been one year! What do we know about marriage? But if I've learned one thing in the last year, it's that if you support your spouse 100% in all their dreams, they will always support you back, even if your new goal is kind of crazy and risky. Love is about putting their needs before your own, that's what support means, giving all you have to help your spouses dreams come true.

I will always support Chris in his future endeavors and I know he will always support me. That's love. And I love Chris with all my heart. 

Amy Bennion Photography

Now Coming to You From Texas

Hello blogging world! I am now coming to you from the hot land of Texas. And honestly going from cold Logan straight to Texas heat is a big change for me. It's hot! But last night when we got here and the sun was setting, the weather felt so good! I love warm nights. :)

This post is me just rambling about what's been going on recently with our move. It may not be the most exciting post, but it's informative. Ha ha.

I wasn't able to get into the apartment until today at about noon, but our apartment is really nice and most our stuff is already put away because we only brought what fit in our car, so we don't have much. Because of this, though, it still hasn't really sunk in that I'm living in Texas now. I mean, the majority of my stuff is still in Logan and our families are in Utah. When it finally sinks in that I live here now, I'll let you know.

Chris has been working his new job all day. He's so great! For anyone new or unaware, we moved here because Chris got a summer sales job selling pest control. And as of this morning, I now work as a receptionist for the same company! Yay! That's the easiest I've ever gotten a job before and I'm so happy about it! I loved my last receptionist job and it's something I've been wanting to do again.

We don't have internet in our apartment yet so I'm in the apartment's office area, which is super nice. Here is my current view:

(Except now there's a girl in that chair, and yes, my husband has a Liverpool screen saver on his laptop, what did you expect?? And if you're wondering why I'm not using my laptop, here's why.) 

We came in this morning and they were so kind and immediately offered us coffee, which we don't drink but we appreciated the kind gesture. The staff here has been incredibly kind through the abnormally long process of getting our apartment, and since Chris left for work it was all me.

Here's a few more pictures of our apartment:

Funny story, our GPS app had the slight wrong address so we were passing by these buildings and Chris says, "Those are nice, I wish we were living there." And he mentioned that from a distance they looked like cow spots (which obviously made me love them). And when we figured out the correct address we were super happy to be living here! The above is the building we are in. We have a small apartment with a living room, bedroom, big bathroom with massive tub, big closet, and a lovely kitchen:

This apartment is so incredibly nice compared to our last one! I love it! I'm sure Chris loves in too but he hasn't actually been in our apartment yet so we can't be sure.

Since we arrived last night, we had to sleep on the floor of Chris's coworker's apartment, which is right next door to ours. We had couch cushions under us and I actually slept really well. We met many of Chris's coworkers last night and watched Frozen together (which I realized I really do like, I had only seen it once before so I was still on the fence about it). I got to meet two more wives that are along on the journey, they are super nice and today they helped me carry everything from the car to the apartment, since all the men were gone.

Since I've been feeling friend-less for a long time, last night was crazy when the two girls were asking me all these questions about what I like to do and getting my phone number and texting me today. I'm honestly not used to it. I haven't had anyone meet me and try to be my friend in a long time, it was slightly overwhelming because it all happened so fast but I'm so happy we're friends and they've already been so helpful and I know we'll have a great summer together.

One of them was supposed to do the receptionist job but decided she didn't really want to and she had other job opportunities, so she passed it on to me and I'm so so grateful because I really wanted to find a job here soon and I didn't have to do any work to get it and I already have one and start on Wednesday. I feel so incredibly blessed already!

The drive to Texas was a long one. We left on Friday and we got a much later start than we thought we would, so we didn't make it to our reserved hotel. Instead we drove until we were tired and found a different hotel, which happened to be cheaper. The next day we did the same, we just drove until we were tired and found a hotel.

That second night we were using one of my apps to find hotels and we came across a cheap one, but when were were searching for it, the address led us to one of the scariest most ghetto places I've ever seen and honestly, I was freaked out. So I was upset so Chris drove us to the nicer area of town and we paid a little extra for a nice, and safe hotel.

Then on Sunday we drove the rest of the way to San Antonio. Chris decided he wants to live in Texas; they play country music on all the radio stations, they put gravy on everything, the fishing is good and they sell fish at a lot of restaurants, and he absolutely loves big cities. I don't know if I'm completely sold on living in Texas forever, but for now it's been really great.

Oh! So on Saturday during the drive I begin to tell Chris that tornados are one of my new biggest fears. They freak me out. And that night I turn on the TV and it has a show on about tornados! So I leave it on because it has lots of information and tips on what to do in a tornado, thinking it will help me overcome my fear, but it doesn't really. And then we wake up the next day and as I'm driving I see in the distance a mini sand tornado! It was just sand and it wasn't that powerful, but neither of us had seen anything like it before in real life so it was kind of crazy! And it went over the road right in front of us. Chris tried to record it for me, but he apparently doesn't know how to use my phone.

During the trip I recorded some fun moments. I'm hoping to make a special video montage at some point but there is a great possibility that it'll never happen. So don't get your hopes up. Just know that we had a supremely long but fun drive and we enjoyed each other's company.

Speaking of us being together, this Sunday is our one year anniversary!! Can you believe I've been married a year? I sure can't! It's been a weird and crazy year and while people say your first year of marriage is the easiest, I believe that things are going to be changing for the better this next year, the best is yet to come! We've already been seeing changes for the better with this Texas move! And we are both so excited for what is to come.

This is an exciting new change in our lives and that's why this post is so long, because there is just so much changing and there is just so much to tell! But I do apologize if you found this post super boring... but no one was forcing you to read it.

Don't forget about my Book Club starting back up this month!!! There are two books this month and you don't have to read both but you're more than welcome to. Also don't forget to donate and help spread the word about this month's Charity of the Month, the Make a Wish Foundation. Thank you all so much for reading and I know I'll have a lot more stories about living in Texas soon!!

Oh! And one last picture, starting out our road trip to Texas:

Originally posted on my Instagram, feel free to follow me!! 

Charity of the Month: Make a Wish

Today I'm moving to Texas, I wrote this post a week ago so I can't tell you how stressful today probably is for me, but I know how stressed I am now. So this post is going to be short and sweet. Hopefully.

I'm sure many of you have already heard of the Make a Wish Foundation which raised money to help kid's dreams come true. I believe this is an incredible organization and I am proud to support them this month! So here to show you just how awesome Make a Wish can be is one of my most favorite stories ever, the Batkid!

As I said this post is short, but I hope it helps motivate you to spread the word about the Make a Wish Foundation and maybe make a donation of your own. Donations can be make online on their website found HERE. Also be sure to explore their website for other ways to help this foundation.

Sorry this post is so short, I may right up another post this month about Make a Wish, we'll see, depends on when we can get wi-fi in our new place. Ha ha.

Book Club May 2014!!!

Book Club is back!! I'm so incredibly happy school is over and I have time to read for fun! Because I am once again unemployed and have a long car ride ahead of me tomorrow, I am putting two book for Book Club this month! One is exciting the other is potentially boring. Or they might both be boring, I don't know I haven't read them yet.

Book 1: The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich by David Bach

This last semester I was supposed to take a class called Family Finance, but my schedule got all messed up and they dropped the class for me (super lame, it made me have to pay a larger tuition and I had already bought the book which I couldn't return). This book was one of the text books for the class and regardless of not being able to take the class, I still really want to read it.

Looking at our track record, Chris and I aren't too good at making money and keeping it. We tend to find ourselves in financial trouble and it's really hard sometimes. This summer we're hoping Chris makes lots of money with his new job but we're also hoping to learn how to manage our money better. I truly think this book will be a big help to us, which is why I want to read it for Book Club. You can read a summary HERE (also, this link takes you to Good Reads and this Book Club is on Good Reads, be sure to join in HERE).

This is the more boring book of the two. I'm not usually one to read non-fiction, but I really am excited for this book and believe I can learn a lot from it.

Book 2: Insurgent (Divergent Series) by Veronica Roth

This is the second book in the Divergent Series, you can read my review of the first book HERE. If you have not read the first book DO NOT read the second one. Don't skip!! If you want to substitute this book for Divergent I highly recommend it. Please don't skip straight to this book.

That being said, I'm including this book for Book Club in case you really don't want to read the first book, which I totally understand. I bought Insurgent two months ago but have been too busy to read it so I'm super excited I finally get my chance! I loved the first book, and we saw the movie last week and I can't stop thinking about it and just want to see it again!! Soooooo good!!!

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As always (but it's been four-ish months so you may have forgotten) around the 20th of this month I will post a Discussion Post where you can leave comments about the book and we can discuss it together. Sometimes I include questions about the posts that we can answer and discuss together (this is part of my former English teaching major (that I never achieved) kicking in). You can also join in on the discussion on Good Reads.

So welcome back to book club and if you're new, welcome as well! I hope to continue this club (no more breaks) and meet new friends who love reading like I do. Welcome to the Club!