I have been SO bad at blogging lately! I’ve been good at doing “bumpdates” about baby because I’m obsessed with him, but other blogging I’m seriously slacking. My love month turned into 3 measly posts!

But all of that is OK!

I’ll post a life update right after this, promise.

But basically I want to talk about love because yesterday was the day filled with love.

I just have to pinch myself sometimes because I am so lucky to love, and be loved, by such an amazing person. Randy is seriously the best person I have ever known. He has given me this beautiful life and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Of course, our marriage and our life isn’t perfect. But that’s part of what I love about it. I love facing hard things with Randy. I love comforting each other on crazy or bad days.

I’m absolutely obsessed with the way Randy is so goofy and cuddly in the mornings. I adore how his favorite food is Japanese Ramen and how we make it several times a week. I can’t get enough of his endless rants about music and bands and love how he is always trying to educate me on these very important matters. I could listen to him tell stories forever.

Yesterday we woke up early and had some pastries in bed, I got Randy a watch (a little Valentine tradition) and he got me some BEAUTIFUL earrings and a makeup bag I have been dying to have, and of course some flowers.

We went to Corbins Grille and had amazing steak and lamb (even though they brought Randy the wrong potatoes, they ended up being DELICIOUS).

It was the chill, romantic last Valentine’s Day with the two of us that I wanted. I’m thrilled that next year we’ll have our little man here with us and I couldn’t be more excited about that.

Happy love day, loves.

Congratulations on getting married! But then, comes the not fun part. I have so many friends who have issues years after they get married because they forgot to change their name one place or another. It can be so difficult to know that you got all the places necessary!

Many people choose not to change their name, and that’s great. For people who do want to change their last name, here’s a list of things you need to know and places you need to go!

1. Get a copy of your marriage license from the county office. You usually get a certified copy with your original, but you can also purchase additional copies if needed. Make sure you keep it somewhere safe!

2. Take your marriage license and old photo ID to the DMV to get a new license. Some places will also require a form and reprint fee, others won’t.

3. Take your marriage license and a photo ID to the Social Security Office. I also brought my old Social Security Card, and filled out the change of name forms beforehand (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ss-5.pdf).

4. Passport. This was HUGE and I almost had an issue. Some people suggest just booking travel tickets in your old name until your passport expires, but I don’t recommend that. I flew in the US and then international on the same trip and had to book my tickets in the right name, or it wouldn’t match my driver’s license. This website has all the forms you have to fill out (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/apply-renew-passport/change-correct.html)

5. Post office. I put my new name on my Change of Address form when I had my mail forwarded from USPS. If you don’t need a Change of Address, just call your post office and see what they require.

6. Banks. I was able to go online and change my name for nearly all of my banks and credit cards, and they sent new cards to me. One bank required I go in and sign paperwork, which was easy. You just provide your new ID.

7. Insurance. Just hop online to make sure your insurance company has your correct name.

8. Work. I needed to let my work know that my name was changing so they could update payroll information.

9. Email. I got a new email address and have my old address forward to the new one. My old email address has become my “junk” email where I sign up for silly promotions or coupons or things, and I use my new one with my new name everywhere else.

Let me know if I’ve forgotten any important places for name changes, or if you have any tips or tricks!

On the 3rd day of Love Month, I’ve been thinking lots about loving strangers.

I think we underestimate the love that we have, or should have, for everyone around us. We are all connected, and at the end of the day we are all on the same team. Trying to get through, be happy. And when I think about it in a broader, religious sense, we’re all brothers and sisters. All trying to figure out how to be the best we can be.

Thinking about this really makes me think about our time in Japan. It’s absolutely incredibly that there is an entire country where EVERYONE is thinking about how to be considerate to others. From big to small things. Everyone just standing on an escalator stands to one side, so people who want to walk up can go on the other side. There is no trash anywhere, because it would be rude to drop it. People are so willing to move out of the way, give directions, stop and help you. There’s little crime, and even in natural disasters they are SO bent on helping other people around them, instead of focusing on themselves. It’s incredible.

I want to be more like that. I want to have the respect and love for those around me that I don’t know, to make their life easier. If everyone tried to do this a little bit more, we’d all be happier in the long run.

See our full proposal story.

Randy and I have been together for so long, I feel like we have a million important days and times and places that are full of nostalgia. I swear I’m always remembering and posting about this or that day or time or place, reminding myself of all our past.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

One of my favorite things about Randy and my relationship is that we have so much past and history. I am so grateful the place where we danced the night away at our senior prom, is where we made it official and got engaged. I’m grateful we have the anniversary of when we started dating, mission goodbyes and hellos, our engagement, and our wedding.

We have so many pieces to our love and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Today, all I can think about is how grateful I am that we realized we couldn’t live without each other, and that we decided to move forward with a love that we both believed in and knew we could make work.

Happy engage-aversary baby.

 I have been so worried about finding a good nursing cover, and these ones from Fiddle Diddles are SO cute! They are so soft and light weight so they won’t bother the baby, you can use them for so many things including as a car seat cover, scarf, shopping cart sling, and nursing cover! I can’t wait to try these out with our dude too, Randy and I already have one set up on our car seat that matches his coming home outfit hahaha.

How is it already February?

This last month, well 2018 in general, has just gotten away from me.

We’ve had so many crazy changes, I’m trying SO hard to keep updated on my pregnancy (more for me than for any of you!) and it’s just been insane! Blogging lately just hasn’t been what it used to for me. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about social media, followers, what types of things I feel like I should be posting and what types of things I actually want to post, etc. I’ve been so overwhelmed with posting and being this person that will get lots of likes and followers to “build my brand” and all that stuff.

That’s not what this was ever supposed to be about.

I love collaborating with amazing companies and I love getting emails and messages from people telling me that something I wrote actually mattered. I love looking back and reading old posts and laughing about how sappy I was, or crying as I remember how hard a time was for me. It’s beautiful to see my past self in writing.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time to do some things for me. I feel like in a lot of ways my career path, my social media, my hobbies, all of it has been about doing the things I was supposed to, the things that would make money, or the things that would look good to others. It’s been about competition and stress.

And I’m done with that.

I want to be more about the things that I love, the things that bring me joy, and being happy with where I’m at. Right at this moment.

So, I’m doing love month again this year – February is such a hard month after the holidays and the new year and all that jazz, we need some love.

But it’s just going to be the ramblings of my wild head and heart and that’s great.

I guess this first post is all about loving LIFE. I don’t want to be embarrassed about the things I want to spend time doing. I don’t want to feel guilty about my guilty pleasures, but instead I want to love them openly and not care what anyone else has to say about it.

Happy Love Month, friends.

It pours. It freaking pours.

We’ve had quite the week.

I’ve been mad, I’ve been hurt, I’ve been scared, and I’ve been embarrassed.

Oh, so embarrassed.
I haven’t wanted to talk about it, to think about it, let alone post about it or ask anyone for help.

I was so embarrassed because I thought we had it all together. I thought people would see that I had lost my job and think “Wow, she must have gotten fired” (which I didn’t) or “How dumb is she for waiting around to get laid off” or “That’s so embarrassing for them to have to go through this.”

I completely planned to never tell anyone and just let people think I had a job change or something.

Then I saw all the Instagram stuff going around about being more real, and true. Not only putting the most perfect moments out there. I also had a million experiences that made me so sure this was what was supposed to happen. SO I’m putting aside my ego, and telling it like it is. Being real, raw, and vulnerable.

So here it goes.

On Monday, I walked into my office and we had a crazy day.

I got home that night, and then didn’t have a job anymore.

Budgets got cut. But just a couple days earlier I had been reassured that my position was moving, that I was going to be OK, and that there was nothing to worry about.

Monday came, and everything I had been told and reassured about, went out the window.

I full-on panicked. Randy has been doing school full-time and we made enough money that we had decided he didn’t need to work for a semester or two.

So now neither of us had jobs. And we were having a baby. Yikes.

We had a chunk of money saved, but were planning on using that for the baby, Randy’s tuition, etc. So now we were left wondering what we do.

Randy gave me a blessing and it was extremely clear that this is all part of the plan, a blessing in disguise. I had a really hard time seeing it like that (and to be honest, some of the day I still do).

But it seriously is miraculous how many things have come together.

We moved to our South Jordan apartment last September because it was halfway between Provo and the U. We were slated to leave in April, and just a few weeks ago our landlord had asked if we’d consider moving earlier, as the next tenants were getting married in February and were going to have to find temporary housing until April. We told them we would let them know, but didn’t see any reason to move earlier than April, and they were fine with that.

Well, we texted our landlords to see if the new tenants would still be interested in moving in. And YES they were. So, we packed up and moved to Kaysville over the weekend, allowing us to save a lot of money, be close to family, and shop around for houses (we are hoping to buy after we know where Randy will be working when he graduates).

I have done freelance work for a company for a few months, and they’ve been asking me to put in more hours lately. So I texted my contact there, and I’m now a 40 hour a week employee there. No job hunting for me, just working. PLUS getting to work from home a lot more and the option of part-time/remote work when baby boy comes.

BLESSINGS YOU GUYS.

I seriously go from crying from stress to crying from gratitude every other minute. It’s such a beautiful reminder that even though I’m not sure what the future holds or how everything is going to come together, it’s all going to be OK and we’re going to survive.

So we are figuring it out, feeling happy, and I’m feeling so much more myself than I would have imagined I would. It feels right. Which is SO strange. But I look back and see how all the little pieces of our life have come together to make this work out.

Randy has been a rockstar. Letting me cry and whine and complain, always keeping a positive attitude and reassuring me that everything would be OK. He has been so awesome in taking dozens and dozens of boxes to our cars so I don’t have to lift a lot, putting up with my panic attacks, working with me on fine tuning little details, and more. He has never complained once, or made me feel that I did anything wrong. I can’t even explain how much I have relied on him, and how much he has stepped up to the plate and taken care of me and our family.

Also, this little boy. Holy cow this little boy that we are going to have is so wonderful. I feel like every kick is a reminder that I have a plan and we have important things to do. It’s like he’s reminding me that he’s here for me and can tell when I need comfort.

Anyway, this rant is coming to a close. The point of the matter is this:

Nobody has it all together. You can make a million plans and be as prepared and cautious as you think is possible, and things still happen. You don’t need to be embarrassed or worry about what people will think about your lack of “having it together.” Sometimes it’s about trust and faith. Things work out. Miracles come together to help get everything where it’s supposed to be. And the people who love you will ALWAYS be there for you.

That’s all, friends. Here’s to looking forward to the many more storms Randy and I and our family will get to weather together.