Happy Anniversary!

Sunday was our one year anniversary, yay :)

I can not believe it has been that long already, the last year has flown by!

I also don't really remember what life was like before we were married!

I am so blessed to be Brandon's wife and treasure every day.

Alright enough of the mushy gushy love stuff, lets get to the fun weekend details!

We went to the Melting Pot on Saturday night, our waiter brought out our dessert with a candle to celebrate :)

The food was amazing! I mean absolutely amazing and totally worth every penny!

We had a spinach artichoke cheese fondue with different kinds of breads, chips, and apples. So good! Then we had a meat course with duck, sirloin, chicken, pork, shrimp and pot stickers. All of it was so good! I had never had duck before so that was interesting. Then for dessert we had "The Flaming Turtle" it was milk chocolate, caramel, and pecans flambeed(hence the "flaming") at the table, complete with cheesecake, brownies, marshmallows, rice krispie treats, strawberries and bananas. We definitely left full!

Brandon loves taking pictures of me, he always says, "Pretty wife." and then takes more pictures!

Brandon also took the day off from studying on Saturday which was wonderful! We slept in, made breakfast together (buttermilk pancakes with cinnamon butter, also so good), watched a movie (Iron Man 2. Am I a good wife or what ;) And then went to an early dinner. Downtown Nashville is really beautiful and we got to park right on the river.

We also had some of our new friends Mike and Carly over to play Settlers and make cookies after dinner. I won at Settlers which definitely made the night a little sweeter. I'm not braggin', I'm just sayin... ; )

On Sunday we had dinner on the patio and I made homemade beef stew, which was an adventure because I have never made homemade soup before. But it turned out very yummy if I do say so myself.

We didn't stay on the patio for very long because despite some bug repellent we both got bit a number of times... Welcome to the South!

We have some cute little lanterns and patio lights outside that I just love, so Brandon being a sweetheart took pictures of them too!

It was an amazing weekend! Very relaxing, very fun, and full of lots of yummy food!

I think I like anniversaries.

One big update

Wow! We moved to Nashville 6 weeks ago already!

It has just flown by!

We LOVE it here!

We feel so at home and are really enjoying being here.

We've been here....

They have over 32 kinds of pancakes and the yummiest syrups!

Think sweet potato pancakes with sweet cinnamon syrup :)

We've also been here...

This is a full size replica of the Parthenon at Centennial Park.

It's absolutely gorgeous and the park is really beautiful too!

During the summer the city hosts Big Band Dances in the park under a lighted dance floor.

We were able to go in August and had a blast! Sorry no pictures, we were dancing!

I've been here with Katie and "the kids" (her kids Brayden, Carter, and Aubrey)

So much fun! We got caught in the rain way out at the giraffe cage and had to run to the car. We were soaking wet! Brayden loved it! Carter not so much...

One of the things we have enjoyed the most being here is only living about 20 minutes from Katie and David. It is amazing! Katie and I see each other almost every day and love hanging out and playing with the kids. Brandon has started "herding" me out of their house at night because he said if he didn't I'd never leave : ) We get to have dinner with them at least a few times a week and get lots of play time in.

We've also been doing a little bit of this....

Sitting in traffic is new for me. It also takes a lot longer to get places. I guess that's all just part of living in a bigger city. (To be fair Brandon does most of the sitting in traffic on his way to and from school.

We've also spent some time here... My sweet little nephew Carter (he'll be 2 on our anniversary :) got appendicitis and a horrible infection that the doctors thought was the flu and spent 10 days here :( He is just about the sweetest (and cutest) little sick kid there ever was! He is feeling better now but still needs to have his appendix taken out. We got to watch my other nephew and niece while Katie and David were with him in the hospital. It was few crazy weeks.

We've also gone to ward camp out and fish fry (good times!) where someone was baptized in the lake. No joke, we all hiked down to the lake and this teenage boy was baptized. It felt totally Southern but was very simple and reverent. I am so touched by the testimonies of the converts here. People say the church is the same everywhere, but I'd say the GOSPEL is the same everywhere. The church is definitely different out here than it is out west, in a good way :)

Brandon is loving school! It's definitely hard and a lot of work but he really enjoys it. So far, we see each other WAY more than anyone told us we would.

That's a good thing.

We also love our ward and have made so friends.

Oh and we love our new apartment! I'll hopefully post pictures soon.

Ok well longest post ever, so sorry about that!

Have a great week!

Why I haven't been blogging

I have been meaning to blog more, I really have, but haven't for a few reasons. The biggest being that we really have nothing blog worthy going on, just "waiting" to move it feels like. Anything exciting going on in our life is actually not in OUR life, it's in our families lives'. Like my sister's having babies or getting married, and those should be things they blog about, not me right? And Blogger hasn't been letting me upload pictures lately and a blog post without pictures is boring and lame so even if we did have anything interesting going on there would be no pictures to accompany it and that is just sad panda as Brandon would say : ) See picture below, if you don't really get why it's funny that's ok, it's totally a nerdy geek thing : )

I uploaded this picture from the internet which is why it actually worked : )

Brandon's Graduation

Oh what a fabulous weekend! I didn't get enough pictures but I am getting better! We bought a new camera as Brandon's grad present so that should help : )

Both of Brandon's ceremonies were awesome and all the talks were so inspiring. I might have cried a little bit when Brandon stood up during commencement, when he walked across the stage during convocation, when his name was called, and when all the spouses where asked to stand up and he blew a kiss to me. Ok so maybe between all of that I cried a lot I am such a sap I guess! I am so proud of Brandon and all his hard work! He is happy and relieved to be done with school, at least for a little bit : )

The best part of the weekend was all the family time! We had dinner with Brandon's family on Thursday night, dinner with both the families on Friday night and then a BBQ for friends and family on Saturday! I love the combination of great food and great company!

The Trout's left on Saturday afternoon, *sad* but my family stayed until Sunday and we got to spend some more time together dress shopping for Meg, watching "the twins" (JT and Kasaundra's sweet little babies. I say twins as if they are the ONLY twins ever : ), having a sleep over with Meg and Emma, and playing Rock Band.

The whole weekend was so great and we both felt like it wasn't long enough! We are excited for the start of summer though and have lots of planned.

Trip to Nashville and Vanderbilt Law

We just got back from our fun little trip to Nashville this week and coming home was a total let down! For starters the weather in Nashville was GORGEOUS the whole time we were there and we came home to a slushy wet Salt Lake. Not to mention all the flowers and trees that are in full bloom this time of year in Tennessee and not here in deserty Utah. But we had so much fun with Katie, David, Brayden, and Carter that we just weren't ready to head home! They have a beautiful home and are such wonderful siblings and friends! David was on spring break while we were there so it was nice to get to see him, and they got their wood floor finished! And you know how I love a good project, even when it's not my own!

The best part of the trip was....We decided we are moving there! Yay!

We toured Vanderbilt, affectionately called Vandy by students and locals, (hey that'll be us!) We both loved Nashville and Brandon really likes the school. It's a beautiful campus (it's actually a tree sanctuary, who know?!), very friendly town, and a highly ranked law school (top 20 : ), and Brandon got a scholarship there (forgive the bragging for a minute, I'm just SO proud of him!), also I am dying to live that close to my sister! So we were pretty sold as soon as we got there.

I love this picture with all the tulips!

I am in love with all the old buildings! The architecture is just stunning!

This picture really captures how many trees there really are and how green it actually is!

We are so excited for this new chapter in our lives! We are sad to leave Provo but also really excited about all the new things coming up!

Wish us luck : )

One big update!

Alright friends here is a quick update of all the things I have been meaning to blog about lately and just haven't done. This way the next time I think about posting something I won't just add it to my list but actually post it! Get ready for a long post....

Sorry there aren't pictures, I promise I will add them soon! We are trying to buy a new camera so that should help.

Brandon and I are heading to Nashville TN this week for a quick trip to tour Vanderbilt and look around for housing. We still have not completely decided on Vanderbilt for law school but we feel really good about it and are excited to visit! We are still waiting to hear from a few schools, but so far Brandon has been "wait listed" at Duke, University of Virginia, UCLA, and Boston University. We will be staying with my sister Katie and her wonderful family, who live just outside Nashville (hence why I want to move there : ) and we can't wait to see them! We'll be sure to take lots of pictures and update ya when we get back!

I have been working on lots of projects around the house! I always want our house to feel like a home no matter how small or where it's at. We sanded down and painted a little sewing machine table for the hall way, an end table for the living room, the entertainment center, (which we built out of a table. We loved the way it turned out), our nightstands, and dresser. Whew! It's a ton of work but definitely worth it. I also have been rearranging our picture wall, "redecorating" the kitchen in reds and yellows, organizing the office/craft room, and finishing up the living room and master bedroom. I think the only room that hasn't been a constant project since we moved in is the bathroom : ) I'm always saying, "I just can't wait to finish up all these projects! " And then Brandon always says something along the lines of, "No you don't, you love always having projects." And he is right, I love all of our projects and am constantly coming up with new ones as soon as our list starts to look a little too short for me.

I am also trying to do some work in the yard and some gardening. The yard here isn't our responsibility because the landlord takes care of it but I want it to feel nice and summery, suited for a BBQ or party so it's been getting its fair share of attention. I was hoping for vegetable garden but because of our moving schedule this summer I decided it wouldn't be worth the effort, so maybe next year, sight.... But I did decide to plant some flowers in pots and a small existing flower bed, (that needed and still needs LOTS of work!). I picked a color pallet of orangey yellows, reds, corals, and soft pinks. I am planting English daisies, regular white daisies, Iceland poppies and pansies.

As they say in You've Got Mail, "Aren't daisies just the happiest little flowers?" And I would have to agree.

I have been working as a nanny and love it! I watch two little boys named Thomas and Ethan and absolutely adore them! We have a blast playing and try to stay busy doing lots of fun things. They love to color, play outside, ride bikes, color with chalk, play with bubbles, pretend to be super heroes, and make messes! Some days I feel like all they do is sit in timeouts, pick on each other, and get told not to do things they already know they shouldn't do. But at the end of the day they still make my heart melt with hugs, kisses, and "I love you Nana."

Brandon is graduating this month! I can't believe it is here already! He has worked hard and is excited to be done with school for awhile before we head off on our law school adventure. I am busily planning his graduation BBQ : ) We have lots of family coming into town for the celebration and can't wait to see them!

TL;DR We have been busy with lots of projects around the house, I'm working as a nanny, and Brandon is graduating : )

Blogging

Ok, so I realized today that every night while my hubby plays Xbox I curl up on the couch next to him and start browsing all my favorite blogs. And by favorites I mean like 20 of them : ) If I spent half as much time on my own blog, which I have big dreams for, than all my projects would already be posted and it might actually stay up to date.

So.... wish me luck as I try to start anew and actually spend some time with my own blog, rather than just envying everyone else's!

A blog post isn't a good post without pictures I know, so I'm sorry, I got nothin' :)

Scrabble

Brandon and I love playing games! But our most favorite game is Scrabble! We both have an app for it on our phones so we can basically play back and forth constantly. After Brandon has played and it's my turn my phone sends me a little notification and vice versa. Some of the places we have played are in bed, during a movie, at school, at work, in the car, and yes.... at church. That one I'm a little ashamed of, but we do give each other bonus points for gospel related words.

Anyways, I'm not posting just to tell you that Brandon and I are dorks and love playing Scrabble, but more to tell you how dang good I am at it! Now Brandon is extremely smart and has been known to win from time to time, (I won the last 5 of 7 games, but who's counting?) But last game we played, I played a word for 102 points! To put that into perspective my average score is between 300 and 400 points. Needless to say I was practically jumping up and down due to my genius. I played a J for 10 points on a triple later A for 1 point, D for 2, E for 1 and all of that beautiful, wonderful word landed on a triple word!

I think this was my most brilliant scrabble moments.

Valentine's Day

So, this Valentine's day was mine and Brandon's first together. We (alright me : ) wanted to make it really special and romantic for that reason. However, we ran into a few problems. The first being that the big V day was on Sunday. The second being that Brandon is so absolutely wonderful and thoughtful to me ALL the time that neither one of us could really come up with anything that was out of the ordinary to celebrate. The third, was that Brandon's idea of romantic is not really the cliche version of it, and neither is mine for that matter. So, we did our best putting together a super fun Valentine's weekend and had a great time!

Friday February 12th:

-Girls night for me with my awesome sister in law Lauren, including cookies and "You've Got Mail".

-Boys night for Brandon playing Left 4 Dead with some guys he'd never met and a work friend. (Aren't I the best wife ever?!)

Saturday February 13th

Slept in until noon and then went to all you can eat sushi (my favorite!) at Sushi Ya. It was fantastic and we both left stuffed!

Then we got all dressed up and met some friends at Spaghetti Factory for dinner. I opted for a dessert only meal : ) After that we headed to a stake dance, which was worth going to just to see all the married men who know longer care what other girls think of them dancing like complete dorks! My darling husband included : ) We finished off the night by watching a happy medium chick flick, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days".

Sunday February 14th

Just spent the day enjoying each other's company and playing Scrabble. I made garlic shrimp with rice for dinner and an extremely rich and chocolatey cheesecake, which is Brandon's favorite dessert.

It was a great weekend. Then last but not least Brandon gave me the most funny and wonderful Valentine. It was these two funny little monster looking things giving each other pounded fists and it said, " We make an awesome team Valentine!", and I laughed out loud at Brandon's wonderful personality and sense of humor, and I realized how much that little Valentine meant to me. We do make an awesome team.

The Wedding

Wow, where to start? What a wonderful day it was! It was the most gorgeous day full of the most beautiful moments. Everything was perfect. Not in a flawless kind of way, but perfect anyways.

Like any bride I was up at 4am unable to sleep and full of excitement. I drove to the temple with my parents, we just chit chatted. I don't think we talked about anything important but I remember feeling that those moments would be some of my last quite and alone ones with my mom and dad for the rest of my life.

Like any good groom : ) Brandon was waiting for me outside. He looked absolutely wonderful, so handsome!

What followed as we went inside the temple and then to the sealing room were the most beautiful and precious moments of my life. They were the start of our life together and of an eternity of love.

After the sealing we took lots and lots of pictures and enjoyed a fantastic luncheon at Olive Garden (my favorite restaurant!). The reception was up in Fort Collins and it was stunning! I can thank my mom and sisters for that! So, thank you Mom, Beth, Katie, and Meg! We had a dessert bar, which was perfectly fitting for me considering my love of chocolate and dessert as a meal. Brandon and I didn't get to eat very much, but we had plenty of time to visit with family and friends and to dance.

One of the only things I had ever actually pictured for our reception was our "send off". I wanted a lit walk way as left and absolutely NOTHING tacky about the decorations of our car! I had to beg my brother to work with me on that one, but he came through : )

We left for our honeymoon to Hawaii the next morning!

"Real love stories never have endings."