- one year -

It has been a whole year (give or take a few days) since I married my sweetheart. I don't believe it. It seems like just yesterday that we sealed the deal and danced the night away to our favorite rap songs. And now we can no longer call ourselves newlyweds and give that excuse for PDA. Sad. But the flip side is we had a great anniversary celebration and Sky definitely spoiled me. Our anniversary this year was on a Sunday, so we did most of the celebrating the day before on Saturday. Sky told me that he was going to plan everything out, and I didn't need to worry about a thing... and he followed through! When I woke up on Saturday, I found that Sky had printed off an "itinerary" with a schedule of everything we were going to do that day. (Remember, I am the planner in this relationship so it was quite the surprise that he made a schedule!) Only the top activity was showing, and the paper was folded up over the rest.

First on the list was a french toast breakfast. We had gotten the things for it the day before: texas toast, strawberries, whip cream, all of our favorites. Butttt.... the morning didn't quite go as planned because we stayed in bed a little too long. So, in order to stay with our "schedule" we had quick bowls of cereal and jumped in the car for our next activity.

As we were driving, Sky let me fold down the paper to see where we were headed... to the mall to take photo-booth pictures! I have wanted to do this for a long time, but it had never happend. Sky had remembered that I said I love photo-booth pictures, so he told me that he wants to make it a tradition every anniversary. Every year we will take these pictures, and slowly make a book of the two of us every year. I LOVE this idea and love that Sky was thoughtful enough to think it up :)

Next activity... movie theatre! We rarely go to a normal theatre (we are frequent dollar theatre-ers) so a new movie is quite the treat! Haha. We had both wanted to see Superman, so Sky had already gotten the tickets for the 11:45 showing, and we even bought treats! Sky got a large popcorn (that he chowed down by himself) and I got an Oreo shake (i love oreos so very much). The movie was kind of a let down (sadly), but we still had a great time.

We then hopped in the car and I unfolded the next activity... golfing range! We had been wanting to go do this for a while, but our Saturday's have always found something else to be occupied with. Sky had his clubs and we headed to the course to get our swing on.

Next activity was... packing. I was actually quite excited for this activity since it meant that we were staying the night somewhere :) We then left with our bags for an early dinner at 5:00. Sky had made reservations at "La Jolla Groves" at the Riverwoods in Provo. Oh... my... yumminess. It was so good. And the decor and architecture of the place had the coolest feel to it. Neither of us had been there before, and we both loved it!

I had been craving shrimp for a while, so when I saw shrimp and a filet on the menu I was all over that... until I saw that it was the most expensive item on there! But Sky (who it the more frugal one in our relationship) urged me to get it since it was our first anniversary and he said I deserved the best thing on the menu. So I ordered it. And it did not disappoint... So. Good. Filet in a mushroom marsala sauce, shrimp in a citrus butter, mashed potatoes, carrots, and asparagus? Sounds like a dream. It was. Sky ordered the thyme and citrus roasted chicken. It too was heavenly and is probably what I'll get next time since it was a bit cheaper. (Can you tell I have a passion for good food? Haha.)

Next on the itinerary was heading to our overnight stay in Park City! Sky had booked an overnight stay at "The Golderner Hirsh Inn" at Deer Valley. It had a European, Swiss Alps feel to it, and it was the perfect place to spend our anniversary. That night we strolled down main street, window shopping, walking through art galleries, and eating caramel apples & ice cream.

When we got back to our room we had the hotel staff come start a fire (there was a real fireplace in our room!), we opened the windows to let the fresh mountain air in, and enjoyed a perfect night together.

The next day we enjoyed a European breakfast on the patio of the hotel, and then headed home.

It was a perfect weekend and I am still so in love with Skyler. He is my everything. All I've ever dreamed of. He treats me like a real man should, and I love him with all my heart.

My gift to him was a photo book of our first year together (and a dress shirt and tie but that is boring). I had all of our pictures from this past year, and then a couple pages of writing at the end of it titled "Observations from our first year of marriage". Throughout the year I had taken notes in my phone of little things I noticed about life together, and then stuck them in this book. The list is below in case you care to read :)

Well, that was how our one year anniversary went down! Thank you Sky, for such a perfect day. I'll love you forever.

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Observations From our First Year of Marriage

Skyler hates grocery shopping. It's like pulling teeth to get him to go with me.

I have to put cetaphil lotion on my hands and feet every night. If sky see's me, he always asks me to rub it on his feet. I don't mind, except that he makes me rub between his toes. Gross. But he HATES it when I leave it dry between his toes... So I do it anyway! 

I almost always cook. Sky almost always does the dishes.

It takes me forever to straighten my hair, and I hate being in there alone for a couple hours. So, if sky's home, we'll set up the laptop on the bathroom counter and watch a movie. The first movie we watched like this was Jurassic park.

Sky hates it when I leave hair on the shower walls. I hate it when he leaves pee drops on the toilet!

Our heat automatically turns down at night and I am always so cold when getting ready for bed. Then when I get in bed, our silky sheets are always FREEZING, so it takes me forever to heat up.  I must have bad circulation because my fingers and toes are always cold at night. So when I get in bed, I immediately stick my toes on Skyler's warm thighs and my cold hands on his tummy. Haha... He's such a trooper.

We both do the laundry.

Skyler falls asleep in literally 20 seconds. First he starts tremoring... Just little twitches throughout his whole body. Then he bites down hard a few times, clicking his teeth together. Then he's finally still and 100% gone... All within a couple minutes. On average, it takes me about 10 minutes to fall asleep (I have to shut my mind down). So sky is ALWAYS out before me.

I always have to have a drink of water at night, so I can take my pills and just because I get so thirsty before bed. Sometimes I'll forget to get it and I'll remember right as we're settled in bed. 9 times out of 10 I'll just look at sky with a little grin and without a word he'll get up and get it for me. Haha I'm so lazy.

Sky drives everywhere. Sometimes on long road trips I'll drive for a little bit but that's it.

I always sleep on the right side of sky.

I joke that Sky has a very even temper unless something happens when he is really hungry, tired, or hot. Haha. Our joke is that he "Hulks" and then within 2 minutes he is saying sorry, and that that was a dumb reason to get mad. Literally within minutes he apologizes and is back to normal!

I love unique cuisines and food full of flavor. On the other hand, Sky has grown up eating the classics. So I really love introducing him to new foods. I've had this weird pet peeve since I was little with people who wouldn't dare try new things. So I LOVE that sky is always willing to try something new. 

We talk about baby names allll the time. We want 5 kids--maybe 6--and have all of their names picked out already!

While I think both of us are starting to get a little baby hungry neither of us are ready. We don't know exactly when we'll begin a family, but are soooo excited to do so. Today at church we were surrounded by darling babies of all ages. It seemed like every single one would look at us and just smile and laugh when we'd make faces at them. Sky leaned over to me and said, "I want one." :) 

I really don't know what people mean when they say that the first year of marriage is the hardest. It has been so easy to love sky, and to feel loved. We rarely get in an argument, and when we do it is SO short.

The End!

RED: T SWIFT

For Valentines Day (blog post here) Sky surprised me with Taylor Swift tickets! Her concert was on June 1, and I was so excited. We ate at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant (my favorite kind of place!) before the concert called Curry in a Hurry. [We LOVE Indian food.]

From there we stopped to get some treats at a nearby 7-11 (Hershey's Cookies and Cream is a staple!) and then we were off to see Taylor! Ah!

Sky's favorite performance of the night was "22". They showed a clip of every year of Taylor's life, and then year 22 she was on her "RED" tour. The dancing was sweet and the dancers carried Taylor to another stage that was right by us. Totally did not think Sky would like this song, but now he LOVES it. Haha.

My favorite performance was "Red". She gave a sweet introduction to the song about what it was all about. She said something along the lines of (quick summary), "So I tend to write a lot of songs about my feelings. Some of those are happy feelings, and some of them are not. I call those the crazy feelings, and the best color to describe those feelings is... RED."

Here are some pictures from the concert.

Ed Sheeran opened up for Taylor. He is the singer of "The A Team" (his most popular song).

Cory & Shelby (friends that went to the concert with us!)

This last performance was awesome too. It was "We are Never Getting Back Together" and the dancing was the coolest. Between the streamers, confetti, and fireworks, it was a legit finale.

Thanks again babe for the tickets!!

spring holidays

Mother’s Day 

We love our moms. They are two of the very best. We feel lucky to have been raised by such amazing women and I aspire to reflect and replicate many of their admirable characteristics throughout my life as a wife and mother.

I have learned so much from my mom. From how to straighten my fro to how to remain close to our Savior during times of trial, my mom has taught me many valuable life lessons and I look up to her. She lost her mom when she was 19 due to a car accident, and I thank the Lord everyday that I have my mother with me here on earth to continue to love and support me in each new stage of my life. My Dad always says that my mom and I are the same person, and that is why we sometimes butt-heads—we are both head strong and know what we want. But my mom is a successful, happy, selfless, fun lady and there is no one I would rather be just like than her!

People don't just “turn out” the way Skyler has. He was raised right. He was taught the gospel. He was taught how to treat a woman and cherish her forever. He learned these lessons from his parents, but particularly his mother. When we were first dating told me that his mom would put his scriptures under his pillow before he went to sleep at night. This was a gentle reminder to never skip out on something so important--reading the word of God. Skyler has since developed a significant habit from this lesson taught him by his mother... he now loves the scriptures and reads them often. This is just one lesson that Skyler learned from his mom, and I am sincerely grateful for her and the way she raised her son. She is such a sweet and sincere person and I am grateful for another motherly example for my future motherhood life!

Here are a few pictures from our Mother’s Day.

Memorial Day: The Ranch

Loading up the four wheelers.

Our Memorial Day was spent at Hale’s Rainbow Ranch in Afton (Star Valley), Wyoming—AKA my favorite place in the world. My family on my paternal side was commanded by Brigham Young to settle Star Valley, and after many years my Grandpa Hale was born and raised there. He and my Grandma Hale raised their family in Utah, but in 1980 he purchased the land the ranch is now on. He has since passed away, but has left the property with two cabins on it to his eight kids. Certain weekends (holidays) are family weekends. Anyone and everyone from the family goes up there and it is a party. I love my many cousins, aunts, and uncles, and have SO many fond (and hilarious) memories at the family ranch. The other weekends throughout the summer are divided up between the different kids and their families. Those weekends we take friends, mow the lawns, and enjoy the rest of the time.

The lodge.

Lunker Lake

Memorial Day weekend in particular is dedicated to spring cleaning. Both houses get deep cleaned, the fences get repaired, docks get painted, dead trees get cut down, or whatever other maintenance project needs to be done. This years big project was ripping out the old fence lining one section of the property, and later in the year we will replace it. A couple of dead trees in the mountains behind the lodge were also cut down (so that they don't fall on the house when they finally tip). The tree trunk is then cut into firewood and the rest of the branches are burned in a GIANT bonfire by the river.

As you can tell, it's a lot of work to upkeep the ranch. But my family is so huge that it makes it easier. It’s a family joke that son-in-laws that marry the granddaughters are put through the test of the ranch to see how hard of workers they are. If they work hard, they “pass the test” and everyone approves. Haha. This is Skyler’s third memorial day work weekend, but I still had my cousins Jed and John say that Sky was a good, hard worker, they really liked him, and that they approved. Glad I have their blessing ;) haha. [And Jed is even a huge Utes fan!]

Sunday best!

But despite all the work, there is usually time to play too. This year, the men still managed to go golfing (of course). We also had time for a big game of family kickball, and then a game of baseball. One of the nights we spent playing capture the flag in the dark at the base of the mountain next to the pond. People were sneaking through the woods, and Cody (my cousin) even ran through the shallow part of the pond to get people out of jail. It was a blast. There wasn't any time for a hike or a long four-wheeler ride in the mountains, but we’ll do that later this summer.

We ate well of course, from tinfoil dinners and s’mores to steaks on the barbeque. My Aunt Cheryl also brought stuff for banana boats… so yummy. Bananas stuffed with chocolate chips and marshmallows, wrapped in tinfoil, and heated in the fire? Sounds like my kind of treat! And of course we went to the Hale family-owned Red Baron Drive-In. Their bacon burgers and strawberry-almond shakes are unbeatable. And Skyler fell in love with their double pastrami burger.

All in all it was a great weekend and we are excited to go back later this summer.