the weekenders

August 13, 2015 — 2 Comments

This last weekend was fulllll of adventures! Summer is winding down and Randy will be back in school before I know it. SO we are making every moment count. Hence the weekend filled to the brim with fun.

First we joined the Tour de Utah. JK.

We were biking around on our cute little SLC Green Bikes while the Tour de Utah FLEW past us. It was such a fun adventure! The curry we had for dinner didn’t even make pedaling through the city less fun.

We were walking around Temple Square and ran into a guy in Randy’s parent’s ward! We chatted and then he ran us down to see Meet the Mormons at the Legacy Theater. We hadn’t seen it and it was AWESOME!

Pause for a second. Can I just say how much I love the city? We walked back to my office/the car in the rain after the movie and let me tell you, it was wonderful. There are some crazies that hang out downtown and it can be an intimidating place for sure, but I love that my office on 4th and Main gives me the chance to spend lots of time here. I love finding restaurants, free activities, riding the train and knowing the stops by name. It’s truly a dream come true for me.

So after a night in the city on Friday, we decided to do the opposite on Saturday. We hiked up to Cecret Lake, and it was AMAZING. I love that living where we live means time in the city and up in the mountains all in one weekend. What a great place to live!

He picked a couple flowers for me. SHHHH.

We ended our Saturday with Midvale Harvest days which was so fun! Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band were the stars of the show and they are a hoot. We headed back to our apartment just in time to see the fireworks over the city. We LOVE Midvale.

Sunday was spent at church, and then down in K-Town with family. We got to have lunch with my family, and dinner with Randy’s! How lucky are we?

But really, I feel so so lucky. More so every day. I have a husband that I adore, we live in a place that I love, I have a job that rocks, amazing family, the list goes on and on. Thanks to every single one of YOU who brighten my life.

Happy Wednesday!

cannibal, kaicho, pioneers, cheesecake, need i say more?

July 31, 2015 — 2 Comments

Sorry for the past few days friends – I got a little spooked when I went onto my statistics and found some of my top referring sites were pornography (what the?!?!)

I found out it’s just a spam bot – that nobody was reading my blog from a porn site and my site wasn’t affiliated with them in any way. Just shut down to only private for a few days until I could get it all figured out. And now it’s all figured out and all is well!

We got WEDDING PICTURES! Expect a full, detailed post (or two. or three.) about that wonderful day just 2 months ago.

Let’s catch up a little:

24th of July was awesome! We got to watch the parade, hang out with family, and go to Lagoon! And YES we rode Cannibal – TWICE in fact! It was so much fun to be with family and have such a good time.

I love Pioneer Day because it gives me the chance to really think about my pioneer ancestors, and appreciate all they did to get me where I am today. Some people don’t understand or think it’s that important, but really it’s one of the most important parts of history, in my opinion. I will forever be so thankful for what those brave men and women did, so that I can be where I am. It made me reminisce on my Pioneer Trek experience from Young Women’s. We went up to Wyoming to actually walk the path that those pioneers did. It truly was so remarkable to walk where they walked, to see what they saw. It made me that much more grateful for my faith and those who worked so hard to make sure I could believe whatever I wanted.

Last week was filled with mission gatherings for Randy and I. Randy’s mission president came home, so we got to go see everyone at a BBQ and then go to the homecoming! Randy’s “dad” and others were so fun to hang out with and get to know better.

And finally meeting Kaicho was incredible! I’ve heard so much about him, and he’d heard so much about me, that it was nice to finally meet. He just went on, and on about how wonderful Randy was as a missionary, and it was so amazing to get to meet him.

And finally. 2 months calls for a celebration. A cheesecake celebration! Randy and I spent one of our amazing wedding present gift cards to celebrate 2 months of marriage. Being with Randy has literally been a dream come true. It’s not always perfect, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever had and I can’t wait for the months and years ahead. If you’re getting married soon PLEASE message me with questions! There are so many things I wish I would’ve known, but didn’t want to ask. Please ask away!

Now I’m ready for a relaxed weekend with my love.

Happy Friday everyone!

ballet and football and friends and routines

June 30, 2015 — Leave a comment

The days get away from me now friends!

The routine has settled in, here’s how it goes.

Wake up, Randy goes running and I either work out or sleep. Get ready. Breakfast. Scriptures. Drive to work together. Work work work. Randy sometimes goes in later or leaves earlier depending on his schedule, and goes and runs errands which is AMAZING (love you!). Get done with work. Drive home together. Make dinner. Watch a show, read, play games, spend time with friends, go shopping for more house things, have FHE, go to the temple, make treats, or a mix of any of these. Then we do it all over again. Surprisingly, I really love the routine we have settled in to. It makes me feel like we are real life adults, a family, and I love that security.

Now here’s time for the ballet part of this post:

My sister danced her last recital at Clytie Adams a few weeks ago. It was so nostalgic for my family. We have had a ballerina there for the past 18 years. And now we’re all done dancing at that wonderful studio. Clytie came to my wedding a few weeks before the recital, and jokingly asked me when another Richards girl would be coming to dance for her. I have left so much of my heart at that studio, on the stage at Weber, in the dressing rooms downstairs, in every toe shoe and pair of tights. Dancing 100% has made me who I am today. I will always be a ballerina even though I’m not dancing as much anymore. Dancing at Clytie’s are some of the most precious memories I have. I danced for me when I was there. Just for me. Because I loved it. I learned elegance, grace, friendship, technique, determination, hard work, how to smile through hard things, and that I could absolutely anything I put my mind to. I am forever thankful and so happy that I had the chance to be a Clytie Girl, and that my sisters also both that to do that.

Sometimes at work we throw tiny footballs off the parking garage and I win jump ropes for being the closest to the target. I seriously love my job and the people I work with.

And I also love spending time with these fun friends. We spent a Saturday with them playing games at the arcade and then playing board games at our apartment, and talking long into the night. They are so much fun and I’m lucky that these friendships survived the test of time.

ALSO another glimpse of the apartment! I promise I’ll be posting the whole thing once I’ve got all the finishing touches. It will be wonderful, promise!

And lastly, happy one month of marriage to my sweetheart. It’s so amazing to me that after loving him through high school, college, a mission, and more, I love him even more in marriage. This month has taught me about Randy’s sleeping habits (snoring, sleep talking, not being awake until he’s had a shower) that he’s incredibly grumpy and sassy when he’s hungry, that when he honks the horn or tickles me until I stop being mad at him, it works, I’ve learned that he always wants lots of meat with dinner, and ramen is his breakfast of choice, I’ve learned that he sings in the shower sometimes, gets really excited about the most random TV shows, and that I love him more than I can even comprehend. After a month of marriage, I’m not sure that eternity will be long enough. I love you sweetheart and I’m so happy that you chose me.

For now, happy Tuesday everyone (holy smokes it’s only Tuesday! How will I survive this week??)

First Look

June 6, 2015 — 1 Comment

Randy and I had originally scheduled our bridals for a Saturday afternoon/evening. Well, just a few days before Saturday, we looked at the weather forecast. Pouring. Rain.

I did NOT want to have my bridals in the rain! I knew that on my actual wedding day I wouldn’t be able to control the weather, but I wanted some pictures in the sun! So we did a last minute change (huge thank you to our AMAZING photographer for making it work) and took our pictures on a Thursday instead. Can I just say, it was an amazing decision. The weather was PERFECT and I could not be happier with how it went.

Randy and I drove down separately so he wouldn’t see me at all before hand. My mom met us in Salt Lake and I got into my dress, and fixed my hair after putting on the veil. We took a little longer than we thought to get everything just perfect, and I hear Randy was going absolutely insane outside, waiting. I had been teasing him for weeks about my dress, and he was just dying to see what was true and what wasn’t! He was a really good sport about it all haha.

I thought I was going to pass out. I wasn’t told anything other than to not turn around where I was standing. However, it took Maddy quite a bit of time. Every time somebody walked up behind me, I thought it was her. It was brutal! The longer I waited, the more sick I felt. I was so excited that it felt like I was going to vomit.

I walked up behind him and he was seriously shaking he was so nervous. If you can’t tell by my face, I’m stupidly happy.

When he turned around it seriously was the best face I’ve ever seen. He was so excited and happy and just in shock. That’s the way every girl wants to be looked at. Like they just blew him away. It seriously was one of the top 5 best moments of my life

Maddy showed her dress off a lot before we had this bridal session so I had seen other people’s reactions towards the dress. I still was not expecting what I saw. Maddy was absolutely gorgeous. The dress was everything I could have dreamed it would be. I was so happy.

Then we got to wander around, being in love and snapping photos. Which I’ll be posting later.

Basically, our first look was the best look, better than I could ever have imagined. And it’s the best feeling knowing I get to have looks like those for the rest of my life.