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!

We're Moving...?

This past week was one of the most stressful weeks of my life. There were moments in my day where I literally could not breathe because I was so stressed. My heart would be racing all day and I could hardly eat because I was so sick to my stomach.

Unfortunately, this was no bug I just cure on its own by taking meds or visiting a doctor. The only way it could be fixed was if I could listen to the promptings of the Spirit through revelation and inspiration.

Tayler and I have been contemplating moving out of our apartment for the past month. Little did we know how or when it would happen. We've been living in this apartment for almost a year now. Our first anniversary will be at the end of this month. So we decided it was time for a change: more storage space and closer to campus.

Most married housing around here is WAY over priced. And rent keeps going up every semester. It's very difficult to find a place even remotely reasonable to live in. And the only way you'll grab any deal on a place is if it falls right into your lap. More and more single housing complexes are being built every day around campus, and the only way to make room for them is by demolishing small community housing meant for poor married students. Honestly, it's so discouraging.

And so began the craigslist searching, visiting managers' offices door to door for any openings, filling out any free applications we could get, and searching for any apartment we could find online. Hours, days, weeks went by... and nothing came up. Our current contract was ending soon and we needed to make a decision and fast: stay here for another year or put our faith in God and pray He'll send us a miracle.

Well, come Wednesday, we came across a cute duplex super close to campus that came with all these wonderful amenities and the price was the same we currently pay for our small apartment now. It was heaven sent! A backyard, big living room, even our own garage... We were sold. It would be like living in our own house.

We jumped on it fast, knowing someone else would snag it if we didn't. I tried my hardest to trust and put my faith in the Lord. We were not able to see any inside pictures of the place, but we felt it was a good decision to make and signed the papers.

The next day, I was sick to my stomach. I didn't know how and couldn't understand why. But it was almost nauseating. I knew it had something to do with the duplex we planned on moving in to. I thought I could shake away this uncomfortable feeling, so I waited 'til the following day.

Friday came, and my nauseous feeling on the place had not subsided. Tayler was beginning to feel the same way. Since the current tenants were not available to speak with us, we went to the neighbors in the duplex to find out more information. We asked about everything: bills, electricity, pipes, walls, the structure of the place, how big it really was, yard duties, etc. It was a very informative visit and we got all the answers we needed.

Unfortunately, this is not the place for us. We were not impressed by many things and knew this conflicted/weary feeling we both had was the Lord trying to tell us to get out of this pickle.

Frustrated and discouraged, I did not want to put up with any more apartment hunting. But I had felt strongly impressed to keep searching for an apartment. And as soon as I did so, we found the perfect place 2 blocks away from campus. I was the first to call the landlord and to our surprise he was my sister's old bishop up here! He knows my family very well and loves them dearly. In fact, I was 12 years old when I met him. The Lord had sent us His miracle.

The quote "Having faith is God includes having faith in His timing" came to my mind. He wants us to go through these rough patches and trials only to grow, learn, and become molded into the person He wants us to be. We'll never know when or how He'll do it.

The Lord taught me such a big lesson this week. Listen for inspiration and revelation. And the only way you'll get it is if you are completely in tune with the Spirit. We need to pray, trust, and ask for help when we feel weary about a big decision that will affect our lives.

Elder David A. Bednar shared this message concerning revelation:
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1737858986001

So we are now moving in April (just down the street)! We feel better than great about this and know it's where the Lord intends for us to be for the next year. And to make matters even better, we have connections with our new landlord!
Talk about quite a week.
:)