Playing Catch Up

March 18, 2016 — Leave a comment

I have to be honest. I have been avoiding you.

I’ve been avoiding you because I have a guest post to get working on, and I have ZERO ideas. I told myself I wouldn’t post on my blog, until that blog post was done.

Welp.

Still not done.

But so much to catch up on, and I couldn’t stay away.

So here’s a little game of catch up:

Work is busy. Randy’s work is busy. Randy’s school is busy. My side businesses are busy. Church is busy.

We get to see Courtney and Tommy regularly which is a blast – weekly dinner/treat get-togethers is too much fun.

I got to go to lunch with my mom for her birthday at Eva’s Boulangerie. It was wonderful, my mom is amazing.

Friday we went to Happy Sumo (thanks gift card) and then my sister and her friend came over to hang out!

Last Saturday we spent the whole day cleaning cleaning cleaning. I reorganized, cleaned, and bought a couple things to spice up our house.

If you didn’t catch my snap story, here’s this lil look. Not quite perfect yet, but I’m loving it!

Then we went to Kaysville for a sneak peek of birthday fun with my mom, and then bowling/mini golf with our friends.

Sunday was teaching, visiting teaching, home teaching, and to Provo for a birthday party.

And then this week was a blast with Saint Patrick’s Day and some trips to the temple and a sweet surprise just because (I accepted all the roses). And hugely exciting – we booked our tickets to Boston for the summer and started getting details on our Disneyland trip in June.

While the Jordan River temple is getting renovated, we get to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple – HOLY GORGEOUS.

He’s so sweet to me.

SO EXCITED TO GO TO BOSTON

We are busy and in love and trying to figure it all out. Not every day is perfect; most of them are fairly stressful. But it’s a wonderful life, and we’re so lucky.

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??)

Playing Catch Up

May 21, 2015 — Leave a comment

I know, I know. I haven’t blogged in so long that it’s becoming a sin. A travesty. I’m ashamed of myself. BUT here I am, ready to play catch-up during my lunch break! Randy isn’t here:( So you won’t be getting any of him today, but I expect he’ll be around again soon enough!

Between working 40-50 hours a week, planning a wedding, spending time with Randy, trying to wrap up my senior documentary, apartment hunting, and trying to see friends before I’m married a no fun, it’s been a little busy!

So here’s the small catch-up I can give you right now, stay tuned some posts purely dedicated to Randy and I’s first look photo shoot, the rest of our bridal shoot, my thoughts about going to the temple for the first time, and things I’ve learned since becoming a working girl that I didn’t learn in college!

For now, here’s what’s been up:

Randy and I snuck off for date night to go see Big Fish at Hale Center Theater in Orem! It was amazing! It’s one of Randy’s favorite movies, so it was fun to surprise him with the musical!

Another thing that’s been a blast is checking out restaurants for lunch when Randy is in the city. Sometimes we’ll have errands to run so Randy will come up to the city and do them while I’m at work, and that means we get lunch together! It’s a blast!

Speaking of work….this is a glimpse of what I do all day. I feel like my job has it all…creativity and analytics, brand strategies and content writing, computer programming and PhotoShop, it’s just awesome and I am absolutely loving it!

I also some how missed posting about Mother’s Day!!! I’m terrible I know. So here’s a post for my mother! My mom is absolutely amazing in every way. Heavenly Father knew she was EXACTLY what I needed in a mom, and best friend.

Randy and I got an apartment! Yay! We are so excited to live in Midvale!

I’m mostly excited about this giant walk-in closet here!

Quick shout out to the rest of my awesome family members and their accomplishments:

Liv ran in the State Track Meet and KILLED it. Both of her relays got second in STATE and the Davis team won!

Bethany just sang a solo in her choir concert, and the little sample I got before had was incredible. She has the voice of an angel and is teaching herself to play guitar.

Ben and Kim are expecting a baby GIRL and I am so excited! Ben also just finished the hardest year of law school.

And my Papi is just amazing. The man is loving his job and doing really well, running a billion miles every morning, and in his spare time builds and rebuilds computers and servers. He’s a rockstar.

And last but not least. All I have to say about going through the temple right now, is that it was one of the best experiences of my life. More on that later:)

Sorry it’s been forever! Hopefully anyone who wanted one was able to get a wedding invite! Message me if you didn’t! And stay tuned for those new posts that are coming soon (I promise!)

Happy Thursday everyone!

The Low Down

May 4, 2015 — Leave a comment

Hello friends! Here it is, Randy and I posting together!! We’re both really excited to be working on this together!

Remember, look for me in normal font, and Randy in bold.

Randy and I got to spend time with some of our awesome high school friends the other day. It involved celebrating Caleb and Danny’s birthdays, Indian curry, and mini-golfing in the rain. Basically, an incredible day. These guys have been some of my best friends for a really long time. It’s been kinda hard because they all live in Salt Lake City and I’m all the way down here in Provo. It’s always great to get together with these guys! I was worried that Maddy was going to be kinda left out as the only girl, but I feel like she had a blast. I know I did!

This beautiful girl graduated from BYU a week ago! I can’t describe how proud of her I am. She’s pretty amazing. Last Sunday was spent celebrating with both of our families! My mom cooked up her famous Cafe Rio (It was delicious!), and even ordered the cutest cakes!

This weekend I got to spend time with my favorite girls for an out of this world bridal shower! Randy had to come sneak a picture before he was kicked out…;)

I love these girls so much! It was so much fun to hang out, eat, and spend some time with them before I tie the knot!

And here’s to my beautiful little sister for racing all day at the BYU Invite, then racing to get ready just in time for prom! She looked so beautiful, and I honestly am so proud of her for just nailing life.

Elder Chris Wirthlin returned home from the Japan Fukuoka mission. He and I were lucky enough to be called to the same mission. While we were in the MTC, we spent a took a picture with these twins. This last sunday, we recreated the picture, so fun to see them all again!

So that’s the Low Down this week, we have a great month ahead of working, playing, and planning!

Happy Sunday everyone, and happy wedding month to us!

Construction

April 27, 2015 — Leave a comment

Don’t mind the construction on here for the next few weeks….we’re just getting read to unveil…

The Low Down

Randy and I are SO excited to be doing a blog together! We thought about waiting until we’re officially married, but it’ll just be so fun to blog about these few weeks before the wedding, together!

Watch out for Randy in bold and Maddy in normal font!

New URL: http://www.hereisthelowdown.com
Don’t worry, http://www.averagedayofaginger.blogspot.com will still get you here!

So again, don’t mind the mess for a few weeks while I reconstruct! If you have questions, suggestions, comments, or advice please let me know!

Happy Monday everyone!

101 years…40 days…

April 21, 2015 — Leave a comment

The waves of nostalgia keep hitting me friends! The next month of my life is going to be pure sap, so I’ll apologize in advance!

That one day that was cold and snowy, I popped on over to Mimi’s for a cup of soup and to watch Randy in his element as a server. What a fun day!

The fam bam came back to Thanksgiving Point to see the tulip festival with us! Hundreds of beautiful tulips and blue skies. What a perfect day!

Also Randy is a goofball.

Also we take Gerry with us everywhere. That’s normal right?

Randy and I also took a big step in putting money down on an apartment! We’re going to be living in Midvale, and we’re so excited!

This weekend was also full of nostalgia, as wonderful Bishop Scoma and his counselors got released. Bishop Scoma was my bishop last year, and he’s one incredible man. It was wonderful to hear him and his wife, along with the Halls, speak. These people and this ward had such a big impact on my life, and I feel so lucky to have known them all.

And last but not least, this weekend was special because of this dress. It belongs to my great, great grandmother Maud Julia Lindsay. She was married 1914 in this beautiful dress. She was about as tall as I was, and the dress was nearly a perfect fit. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to feel a connection to that incredible woman. I am lucky enough to have strong, wonderful and kind women all over in my family tree. I just hope that I can be half as incredible as they are when I grow up (if I grow up…)

So a 101 year old dress, 40 days away from being a bride, 4 days away from graduating, -6 days into a brand new job, and loving all of the craziness.

Knowing He’s The One

March 30, 2015 — Leave a comment

Randy and I are going to get married when we are both 21. Randy will have been home from his mission for almost 6 months when we get married. Randy will have an absurd amount of school left when we get married.

Some people think we’re too young. Some people think it’s too soon. Some people think we’re crazy, stupid, immature, naive. Not ready. Not sure.

People quote the divorce rate, statistics, rules about how long after a mission is appropriate to start thinking about marriage, personal stories about their best friend’s cousin’s uncle’s co-worker who made a bad choice regarding marriage.

So here’s a quick thought about why I am doing this. Getting married. At such a young age, to someone just home from their mission.

Because he’s the one.

And how do I know he’s the one? I’ve thought about this a lot. I could list off the reasons, from his patient and loving heart, to his taste in music, to his consistency in buying me chocolate, not to mention how good looking he is! (see picture above).

But the most important reason that Randy’s the one, is because HE is the one.

Let me explain.

God is the one in charge here. God knows my heart. He knows Randy’s heart. He knows my flaws, and Randy’s flaws. He knows what we will fight about, what we will struggle with, and how we will fit together, and build each other up.

I know Randy’s the one because God’s the one that has the plan. And I know Randy’s the one, because I’m listening, and following, and trying to obey.

And as long as Randy and I both keep following Heavenly Father, we will stay THE ONE for each other.

We didn’t make this decision lightly. It’s something I’ve personally been praying about for 3 and a half years now.

And I’m more sure about this decision than any other decision I’ve made.

So I’m going to be less judgmental about people getting engaged fast, young, to someone in particular, all of it. They have their own relationship with Heavenly Father – and I need to respect that.

Now to quote my good friend Cory Matthews:

Sorry Cory. That’s me and Randy.

Happy Sunday friends:)

Engagements

March 27, 2015 — Leave a comment

Ok I’ve posted them all over Instagram and Facebook… so why not here, right?

Here’s a few of my favorites!

Elisha Braithwaite was our amazing photographer! I would 100% recommend her to anybody!

This week we got to head to the Jazz game to celebrate Drew’s birthday (late) while they played the T-Wolves!

I got to see SISTER FABER for the first time since she’s been home. It was just magical.

Friends I am so sorry I’m not blogging as much as I should! Here is what else has been up:

Working on my capstone documentary. We’ve done lots of interviews, logged hours of tape, and it’s all been amazing.

Spending every free minute planning our honeymoon and trying to find a place to live! If anybody knows of an apartment in or around Salt Lake, please let me know!

PHP homework. It’s going to be the death of me.

Job interviews and applications and interviews and applications. It’ll be worth it right?

Shopping for the wedding/our future house/graduation. Randy’s pretty sick of me driving him around haha.

It’s been pretty crazy. But so incredibly fun!

Happy Friday everyone:)

Engagement preview and documentary time

March 14, 2015 — Leave a comment

What a week! I am so busy I don’t know what to do with myself. I would go into all the details, but that’s boring. Unfortunately, because I’m engaged and graduating, it’s hard for me to focus at school! Instead of paying attention…I’m kind of just staring at pictures like these….

Our photographer is incredible. Seriously. I can’t get enough of her. Elisha Braithwaite. Check her out.

Elisha gave us two separate engagement sessions to make sure we had everything we wanted. She made us comfortable, had fun with us, and as you can see, she’s incredible at what she does. I can’t wait for more!

Let the invitation stuffing begin! Our invitation lady was also INCREDIBLE and sooooo easy to work with. Also check out Annette Ward, she’s awesome.

And. Move over Dateline and 20/20. We’re coming. Ok not really, but still. Working on a documentary about suicide prevention in Utah for our capstone project has been absolutely incredible. I am loving every interview, all the time spent logging tape, meeting amazing people and sharing their stories.

Randy and I also manage to have a little date every once and a while, with the ducks. Feeding the ducks is one of my favorite things for some reason.

Stopped by the mall the other day, and THIS is what I see. It’s made of LEGOS. If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is. And now, it was this amazing mother of mine’s birthday this week! She’s the cutest and I am so lucky to have her as my mom. She’s so caring, kind, and truly amazing. I love you mom!

Happy Saturday everyone!