Our Summer Sum Up!

Okay, I have been TERRIBLE at keeping up on our blog this summer. So so sorry...! There's so much to say, I'm not quite sure I can cover everything. So brace yourself for picture overload. Most of the major stuff I posted on Facebook, but not everything.

Let me go all the way back to April, when we started our Spring semester... We killed ourselves taking 17 and 18 credits each, I continued managing the ice cream parlor, Tayler worked on campus, Rexburg was very hot, we overloaded on snowcones, and.... yeah.... That pretty much sums it up. However, we did survive the semester with passing grades. And now we embark on the Fall semester next week. I will be taking the same load of credits unfortunately, but I am not managing the ice cream store any longer. Poor lil shop went out of business. :( Booooo.

Anyways, as I begin my search for a new job, Tayler begins his Senior year and I begin my Junior year. I will now be on FastGrad, which means starting this semester I will going to school year round until I graduate next December (2014). I'll be cranking out the huge credit loads til then. Can you tell we want to get outta here?! ;)

We had a nice 7 week break for our "summer" in August. Tayler and I were able to work full-time (and even over-time at one point). I've been blessed to have a summer job cleaning apartments off campus and doing maintenance. We visited both our families for two weeks, and drove around 3,000 miles. Tayler's family went to this beautiful cabin in southern Oregon, and my Mom took Tayler and I to Disneyland for a week! What a treat! It was so fun to spend time with all our loved ones and have some vacation time. Boy, did we party! :)

WARNING: now begins the picture madness~ I promise I'll do better next month!

Oregon Coast

Making Breakfast for the fam bam

Dancing in the pouring rain with my love

Workin'

Love these boys! Also got to meet my newest baby nephew, Lincoln. Such a sweetheart!

Haircut

Matchy matchy with my seeester:)

Our lovely friend Saraiah takes amazing photos, so we woke up early for the sunrise and did a photoshoot!

Fresh garden goods 

My biggest Pinterest Fail ever.

Biggest Pinterest WIN. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownie Bombs. YA-UM

New fav: Chicken Pillows

I re-did our dining room table and an antique chair for decoration:)

We Moved!! New Home, New Semester.

Wow, what a month it has been! April was one busy and stressful week. It was hard to catch our breath sometimes. So much has changed, and it's hard to believe we accomplished as much as we did in such a short amount of time. 

Beginning of April was the calm before the storm. We did as much as we could in order to prepare for our upcoming move. Packing, boxes, cleaning, more packing, and more cleaning. My wonderful mother came down from Washington to help us clean and pack. I am SO grateful she was able to come and do that for us. We wouldn't have been able to do it without her... well, at least we would have been extremely buried without her. As Tayler worked full time the week of the move, Mom and I spent 2 whole days scrubbing down the entire apartment. It was spotless if I do say so myself! I was determined to make sure we'd get our deposit back for cleaning so well. No news on that yet...

(Our tiny living room)

Moving is purely exhausting. But since this was our second time doing so, we had a better idea of how everything would pan out. I think the most stressful part of this all was knowing we'd be starting our Spring term the next week. And after being "off-track" for the winter, it's a little bit of an adjustment. Back to the ol' grind: homework, tests, working, finals, studying late, getting flirted to by random desperate single people. Yeah... We're so ready to finish up and get outta here! Don't get me wrong, we love it here in Rexburg.

We love our new place! It's lots better, and bigger! The only down side to moving in was that the previous residents did not clean anything, at all. Ew. Kind of a bummer when you spend hours upon hours deep cleaning your last place for the next renters.

(Before and After of the oven racks)

We hope to stay here until we finish out our schooling. It's right down the street from where we previously lived (Cougar Court). Now we're living in Hyde Park (a four-plex housing). And, no more annoying neighbors that lived above us! Wahhoo!! It's a great ward and lots of friendly neighbors. We couldn't be happier.

My Mom brought some awesome furniture along with her too! So now that we have a bigger living area, we can seat more guests! :) Gives us an excuse to actually have more friends and family over. Thanks Mom!

The awesome valance my Mom hand sewed out of our old curtains!

This fabric used to be our old curtains. Now it's a pillow!

Mom and my creations:) We had fun!

She also brought along our wedding cake topper that was frozen for one year. And by golly it still tasted delicious! All thanks to our sister Marissa, who made it. :) It was hilarious how tiny of a piece we had cut at our reception. The stand it was on was super wobbly... and with the large amount of people all staring and taking pictures/video of you it can be pretty nerve-racking. We had a good laugh, nonetheless.

We plan on starting a garden once the weather starts getting warmer. It's slowly getting there. I'm excited to test out some potential gardening skills. Ha! I'm crossing my fingers I don't kill anything.

Check out our new place!

The Kitchen

Dining Area/Front Door

Our nice BIG living room! (big improvement from our last place)

Bathroom

My pride and joy (our OWN washer/dryer--YAY!!)

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Spare Bedroom/Office

Food Storage (I just LOVE our new shelving!)

One Year Down, Eternity To Go!

This past Saturday, Tayler and I celebrated our first anniversary. It has been a wonderful first year together. And each day we spend together I grow more in love with him than before. Although marriage is not always perfect and there are struggling times, I am grateful for the journey. And the fact that it will last forever, even after death, makes it all the more worth it.

Many might judge me or question why I got married at age 19. They may think I was way too young, that it was just a divorce waiting to happen, or that I got pregnant out of wedlock, or whatever crazy story they wanted to come up with. I know it is uncommon for a freshman in college to get married so soon after dating a guy for only 3 months. But hey, I'm no ordinary girl.

My whole life I've been taught that "when you know who the right one is, you know". And it's true... with careful thought, prayer, and contemplation. I wouldn't have married so young, had I not felt so strongly about choosing Tayler. He felt right from the beginning all the way through our wedding day, and it's never changed. I wouldn't be the woman I am today without him. He brings out the very best in me and most importantly... he truly completes me. With the Lord, we truly are one. He is at the top of the triangle in our relationship. He is the reason why we can be together forever, sealed for time and all eternity.

So for our anniversary we made a big breakfast/brunch together.

Tayler surprised me with a bouquet of roses (one for each month we've been married) and hid my favorite chocolates all over the house for me to find.

After we got ready we went to Idaho Falls for the day and did a little window shopping at the mall (but I ended up getting a shirt at DownEast with some old b-day money.. :)

Then we watched a movie and took a stroll in the park by the temple.

And then we went to Olive Garden and (seriously) pigged out. Mmm, we LOVE that place.

It was a great day and we enjoyed every moment together. No work, no cell phones, no distractions whatsoever. We both decided we like anniversarys and are so excited to celebrate more in the future :) It definitely made for a good first.

Here are some photos from our anniversary shoot taken by our good friend Alane Hillam:

 And P.S. our delicious Easter Dinner was a success this year! YAY!