Awkward Times Call For Awkward Measures

I went to a wedding reception yesterday.  It was for one of my good friends from high school. It was in a backyard and it was beautiful.  It was also the first time I saw my ex-boyfriend for the first time since I got married and he got engaged.  And what an adventure it was.

BACKGROUND: I dated this guy for a long time.  Like four years.  Then he went on a mission.  I planned on waiting for him. (Ha.) Eight months before he came home, I met my now husband.  Missionary came home, I stopped seeing my husband.  After a few months I realized I wasn't sure if I felt the same as before his mission and the missionary claimed he also wanted to try dating others.  Then he pretty much fell off the face of the planet.  I again started dating my husband and then got engaged.  Missionary decides to appear again in my life.  I tell him I've moved on and am getting married.  Missionary get engaged to someone else two months later.  The end.

Flash forward to yesterday.  I come to the reception and right when I walk into the backyard, there's the ex-missionary boyfriend's fiance and his sister.  They see me, instantly start the giggles/whispers/stare as much as you possibly can phase that lasts all night long.  Missionary (or so his name shall now be) sees me one time and heads inside the house. And doesn't come back outside the entire time I'm there.  Mind you I stayed for an hour and a half just to see if he would come out.  Nope, he didn't.

 Flash forward again to an hour and a half after I enter the reception.  Missionary's fiance and sister are still in their whispery phase.  Missionary is still hiding in the house.  So, I decide I've had enough. At this point I was sick of being the awkward person being talked about, so I decided to join in the talk.  I went right up to the fiance and sister and said hello to the sister and introduced myself to the fiance.  They seemed really caught off guard.  But I was nice.  I said congrats and that I was sick of avoiding this awkward situation so I wanted to say hi and let you know I was really happy for you.  Seemed like a nice, honest conversation both ways.

A few seconds after I walk away, the fiance and sister run inside the house (past a giant window that everyone can see through...duh) right to the missionary and majorly freak out.  I don't know.  I guess I'm scary or something.

With all the history I had with Missionary, it was a little disappointing to me that he couldn't face me at all.  I would have loved to tell him congratulations on getting engaged and that I was happy for him.  Kind of a full closure kind of conversation you have to have with someone who you were that close with.  But maybe he wasn't ready for that kind of thing.  Kind of sad in my own opinion because he is supposed to be happily engaged now so he shouldn't be scared of me.  I always wondered how it was going to be when I finally saw him again someday, but I have to say, I didn't see it playing out quite like this.  But it is what it is and I'm glad I got that inital "first sighting" out of the way.  Now my book with him is totally closed and over with.

When I was figuring out life between Missionary and my husband, it seemed to me that each time I saw my husband, he really showed me how much of a better fit he was for me.  And each time I saw Missionary, it seemed as though we grew more and more apart.  Yesterday was just another way of proving to me that my husband is SO the right man for me.  I love him in every single way, shape and form!  He thinks like me, he acts like me, we have the same beliefs and views on life, and we definitely know when it's appropriate to be silly and when to be mature.  Yesterday was three months since we've been married.  And it's been the best three months of my life so far! We've been so blessed with so many things, things we would have never imagined at this point.  We are the luckiest newlyweds around.  And I'm the luckiest wife around.

A Utah Man I Am!

Alright.  It's official.  Like for real this time though.  We are STAYING in UTAH!! We gave the dean of ASU way too long and it never ended up working out, so we realized Utah is the best place for us for so many reasons.  I'm thrilled!  As much as I would have loved to spend some time outside of Utah, this means I get to keep my family, I get to keep my job, my husky won't die because of heat stroke, and one of the most exciting.. we get to buy a house!!  Cody has been talking to a realtor friend and we are just starting the process!

I am starting to enjoy my job more and more.  It was really scary to get used to the idea of me being the nurse in charge instead of having the nurse to report to when things got out of the norm.  But I've learned a lot, and I'll just say, through many experiences of having the patient that isn't doing too hot, I feel confident that I can handle just about anything on the maternal/newborn unit.  Put me on med/surg, you have a whole new set of insecurities, but for now I feel safe on my mom/baby floor.  I'm excited that I get to keep working here for a while because the learning opportunites as a nurse never stop.  However, I hate night shifts.  I can't get over how much I hate night shifts.  The hate for night shifts I have grows each time I work one.  They will be the death of me.

Cody started a new job last week at a place called Onset Financial.  Basically, he calls all these super rich CEO's of really big companies and tries to get them to finance big purchases for their company through his company.  I know, sounds like a lot of "spam" work to me too.  BUT.  I'm telling you, he gets so much at his job.  He get food catered for lunch three times a week (Kneaders, Chipotle, Dominos, Barbacoa, Firehouse Subs), plus he came home with new clothes already... from work! Ya, I think they definitely make up for the tough parts of the job.  He seems to enjoy it there, for the most part.  He will only be working until August when he starts law school.  Once law school hits, he will only be a full time student!

House hunting, house hunting, I'm so excited to go house hunting!  Now if only I could convince the Property Brothers to come to Utah and do a house for me, my life would be complete.  But until then, enjoy some of my recent adventures with my iPhone.

My good ol' high school friend Bryson got married! And his wedding reception was just beautiful! Congrats Bryson and Kim!

Ya.  My mom's puppy is super cute.  And they ended up naming her Tootsie!

Any husky owner needs to also own this vacuum.  My apartment would be lost is husky hair forever without this thing.

Cody and I go golfing.  A lot.  And I have pink golf clubs so that makes it okay.

I love my husband.  He cooks me hot dogs a lot and I really love hot dogs.  Plus he looks super cute grilling.



Did I mention I love my husband?  He goes grocery shopping with me.  And we have a lot of fun when we go...



Okay, these aren't from the iPhone.  We got our wedding pictures finally!! And I love them.  I forced myself to only post two pictures here otherwise the list of pictures would NEVER end.  I put many more on facebook, so look there.

Yep.  Temple wedding picture that every little girl dreams of having.  This one is mine.

Wedding/Honeymoon Time

Well, it's been a whirlwind but Cody and I are home from the honeymoon.  The wedding was so much fun although quite stressful.  It turned out really beautiful though and much better than I expected.  I can't even begin to describe the temple sealing.  The day went by so quickly though it felt like it was over in a blink. 

Then we went on our honeymoon which was absolutely incredible!  We went on a cruise that left out of Puerto Rico.  We traveled to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten.  Then we stayed in Puerto Rico for a few more days before flying home.  We were able to swim with dolphins, go snorkeling in the amazing ocean, ziplining in the jungle, to a beach where airplanes fly so low you can almost touch them, and shopping in each of the islands we visited.  On the cruise ship we spend time going to the shows and comedy clubs, and Cody spent lots of time eating the ice cream.  I got so sunburned one of our stops that my burn peeled twice!  We took lots of pictures, it was so fun that it was really hard to come back, especially to a lovely snow storm!

Since we've been home things haven't been quite as glamorous.  I had work for the first four out of five days we were home and Cody got a really bad illness.  Then, of course, once Cody starts feeling a little better, his sickness spreads to me.  I guess it really is "what's his is yours" after marriage.  I've had this illness for a few days now and it has been terrible! We had so many plans to clean up the apartment and work on getting my name officially changed, but I guess that will have to work on that once we both get feeling better! But for now, enjoy some pictures of our honeymoon.  I'll post wedding pictures once our photographer is done with them!

 

 

Some pictures with the dolphins we swam with in St. Thomas.

Two dolphins would swim up behind you and each push the bottom of your feet and pushed you out of the water.  It was so fun!

Our boat ride to see the dolphins.

Before dinner on one of our formal nights on the ship.

Our ship, the Carnival Valor.  (And yes, we had a GREAT time with Carnival.)

Ziplining in the jungles of St. Lucia.

Cody and his ice cream he was so obsessed with.

Holding some super cute monkey in St. Kitts.

View from the taxi ride to the beach in St. Kitts.

Airplanes landing right behind the beach in St. Maarten.  The picture doesn't even come close to showing how unbelievable this was!

 

 

 

View from our hotel in Puerto Rico.

Temple Week vs. Party Week

This last week was a big week for both Cody and I.  Firstly, I was able to receive my endowments through the Jordan River temple on March 1st.  It was such an amazing experience, and I am still today taking it all in.  Also, Cody's mother was also able to receive her endowments the day before I went through.  She has had a lot in her life that she has needed to overcome in order to make it to the temple.  She worked so unbelieveably hard to be able to do the things she needed to to be worthy to be there for our wedding.  And Cody and I are both so proud of her that she did it!  It will be such an added blessing to be able to see her in the temple on our wedding day!

This week was filled with  parties.  I had a bachelorette party with some good friends first and it was so much fun.  We played some funny little games that turned out to be way more funny than I'm sure they were intended to be.  It was so great catching up with some friends I haven't seen in a while and visiting with ones I do see more often.  Then later in the week I had two bridal showers, one with my home ward and one with family and close friends.  Bridal showers are always a little awkward because they are kind of like "watch me open gifts you bought me" parties.  Weird.  But I'm really grateful for the gifts Cody and I received because you wouldn't believe how much we need those things.  You would be embarressed to see what I have been cooking things in.  Ya.  It's that bad.  Cody also had a little bachelor party this week with a lot of his friends.  They went to dinner and went bowling and I'm sure Cody got the bachelor treatment he deserved (minus the naked women part...!).  He was quite excited for this little shin dig, he was bugging me about it ALL the time! Some times I think they put so much emphasis on the bride during weddings that the groom gets left out a little bit, so I'm glad Cody got his spotlight party.  Goodness knows Cody is the kind of guy that enjoys that kind of thing.  That's what makes him so much fun though.  He's a total goof and I love it.

We get married in T-4 days!  4 days.  This engagement went by so quickly.  I feel like it was yesterday we were picking out rings. (Which took me like 6 months because I seem to like everything that sparkles, which poses a problem in a really awesome jewlery store.)  Speaking of rings, I got Cody's ring a few days ago.  It's so different than I think both he and I thought he would have picked. But I really do love it.  I think it fits really well with my ring.  I think we have everything planned for the wedding.  You would hope by now we do.  There's still so much we need to do though.  Like move all of Cody's stuff into the apartment!! Oh heck, I'm stressing myself out just thinking about it.  That carribbean cruise is sounding real nice right now instead.  I can't wait to get married.  It's going to be my perfect fairy tale, even if everything you can think of goes wrong.  As long as Cody is there, it's perfect for me.  (Cheesball queen right here.)  But really though, as beautiful and exciting as the whole wedding day experience is, Cody is all I'm looking to get out of it. Things are so perfect.  In love and marriage, in work and my lack of school due to graduation, in family and relationships, in spirituality and the church, and everything else I could possibly think of.  Life doesn't get better than right now.

(Ya, I totally hate blog posts that have no pictures also, so I promise after the wedding I will be overloading this page with so many pictures you won't know where to look first.)