Randy and I have had a crazy few weeks as we have been moving to a new apartment! It’s a cute basement apartment with a lot more space, in a better neighborhood, so we’re pretty stoked. It was a really crazy few days as we slowly moved everything over, then had our families come be ROCK STARS and get the big stuff and help us clean our apartment until it was spotless (THANK YOU!)

Randy was the serious trooper here, going up and down the stairs of our current place a million times with a million boxes and being the best. I’m seriously so lucky to have him.

Pictures/a tour of the new place to come!

This weekend we also got to spend time with family for my cousin’s mission farewell, and watch Bethany perform in the high school Night of Shakespeare. She killed it, of course, and it’s sad to think this is her senior year and we will only get to go to a few more performances to see her!

I also got to listen to the General Women’s Session of Conference and it was absolutely wonderful. Full of so much inspiration and happiness, it was truly beautiful to hear.

Hopefully now that we are all moved, things will settle down and we’ll get to do some fun things coming up! Fall is in full swing and I’m ready for pumpkin spice everything and drives up the canyon to look at leaves!

Happy Monday!

This weekend was super fun as we got together with family to celebrate my birthday! My dad had been out of town last weekend, so we just went and sadly watched the BYU vs. Utah football game and that was it.

This weekend, we went to the State Fair on Friday night with friends, which was a BLAST! We ate deep fried cookie dough and watched our friends try to vanquish a Churro Dog (a churro in a donut with ice cream and whipped cream and sprinkles. It was crazy.) We saw the animals and played games, and just had a blast.

Saturday we went to Kaysville bright and early, had lunch with Randy’s family, and then had dinner with my parents. It was a really relaxed and fun day to just hang out with our families! Sunday we were back in Kaysville for my official birthday dinner (thanks for making my favorites mom!) and cake!

I am just spoiled rotten and have the best family and friends in the world. Now here’s to all of them helping Randy and I move here in the next few days! (EEEEEK.)

A new found love for photography (even though we aren’t good at it yet.)

So many books (listened to in the car and read in my bed.)

Some hiccups of uncertainty about my career, my passions, my hobbies, our future.

Being pulled out of that confusion with the help of egg-free cookie dough, a loving husband, and lots of literature.

Prayers of pleading that strengthened my faith and trust.

Nights of Netflix and movies (some new, mostly reruns.)

3 jobs that all felt different (but all paid the bills.)

Landing somewhere that makes me happy.

Lots of Sunday School lessons and teasing our kids.

Baking and cooking and cleaning and crafting.

Great holiday time with lots of family.

Disneyland adventures.

Life-changing experiences in Japan.

Loving on a new niece and nephew (and the niece we already had, too).

A summer of adventures with friends and family and the great outdoors.

Lots of excitement for the year ahead.

The day I turned 24 was an insanely magical day.

Here’s how it went.

I woke up early and was too excited! SO Randy being the sweetheart that he is, woke up and we opened presents! Randy was tooooo good to me, and got me 2 Taylor Swift albums on vinyl (which he actually gave me for ‘birthday eve’) a subscription to the Magnolia Journal (that I was DYING for) some darling clothes, and the most BEAUTIFUL Tiffany Necklace that I’m just in love with. Don’t worry, video to come!

After that, we were off to Kneaders for breakfast which was delightful. Randy also spoiled me with the big inflatable birthday number balloons I had been wanting, so we took some pictures with those. We listened to our records and relaxed (I didn’t have to go to work, HECK YES. Also I should mention my sweet work friends got me a birthday flan when we were at a company lunch the day before. How nice!)

After a bit Randy and I were off again, first on a run to Target and then to the mall to shop! Both were super fun. Then, off to the aquarium we went! The aquarium was SO AMAZING. We got to feed penguins! They were absolutely darling and we had the best time. They waddled right up to us, at least a dozen of them, and stood on our feet and checked us out with their beaks, ate fish out of our hands and ran around like crazies. It was seriously one of the coolest things we have done! Then we wandered the aquarium and saw a bunch of amazing animals and fish, touched the manta rays and star fish, saw the jaguars and a bunch of other things.

Then it was downtown to buy some birthday macaroons and have dinner at Eva, which was delicious as always. We got the Brussels sprouts (my favorite thing there in the world), steak bruschetta (which was also bombbb) shrimp and hominy, takashita fried chicken with amazing rice, and lamb meatballs. We finished the dinner with a cinnamon chocolate cake which was SUPER good. Everything at Eva is amazing, I highly recommend it!

We then went off to City Creek to wander and shop. We happened to walk into a store and they announced they were having a raffle and we could enter to win. I entered, and then before I knew it I had WON a $100 gift card!! It was SO cool!

I blew out macaroon candles and enjoyed the rest of the weekend (even though BYU lost, sadly.)

It was truly an extremely magical birthday, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. 23 was a hard year for me in a lot of ways, figuring out my career and my passions and where our future was headed. But I have a feeling 24 is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to see what adventures are ahead!

Randy and I had a super fun weekend, kicked off Friday night with a big game night with friends. We have an awesome group of friends and it’s so fun to get together and just be goofy!

Saturday we woke up bright and early to go to Top Golf to celebrate Beth’s birthday! Bethany is so wonderful and fun, 17 is going to be a great year! She’s so kind and good at EVERYTHING. The girl can sing and act like NOBODY’S business and is amazing at sports, school, and anything else you can think of. Happy birthday dear!

After Top Golf (and some injectable donuts from there. they are SO delicious) we played some games, and then it was off to In n’ Out for some amazing burgers. Followed by presents and cake and more games. It was an all-around awesome night.

Saturday we also FaceTimed with Candace because it was her actual birthday! We had a party a while ago before they moved, but we had to celebrate the actual day as well. She was so sweet and fun, we just adore that little girl. Randy is so insanely smitten and every time we FaceTime, she immediately asks to talk to Randy. Then she proceeds to laugh and laugh and laugh and spin, and then say ickimasho, which is Japanese for “let’s go” that Randy taught her once on a walk. It’s CRAZY that she remembers how to say it and says it almost every time Randy is on the phone. It’s SO cute!

Sunday we went to church and taught, then headed back to Farmington to celebrate Randy’s dad’s birthday with dinner and cake! We had a blast chatting and laughing and silly videos and talking about Sam, who we all miss like crazy.

Monday, unfortunately I actually had to go into work. We just completed a huge merger and a few people were needed to communicate with the rest of the organization who is located around the world, and didn’t have the day off. I didn’t mind though, Randy had some homework and ran some errands and I get to pick another day to take off! It was a wonderful weekend celebrating our favorite people!