The Last Seven Months

The last few months have been a wild ride, such that... I haven't even blogged since February. 😅😬 I suppose the quickest way to give an update is via bullet points. In no particular order, here's a recap of my last seven months:

• In February, I got laid off. :( Naturally, we were super bummed about this. Applying and interviewing for jobs is THE WORST!

• A few weeks later, we got engaged! I knew Stephen had bought my ring at the end of January, and he didn't propose until MARCH 3rd. 😵😱 It was the longest six weeks of my life!

• My Tío Jose passed away at the end of February. :( He had been sick for a few months, and I know he had been in pain, but it was still really sad. I'm glad I was able to use sky miles to travel to his funeral in California. And actually, Stephen proposed just a few hours before I flew out. It was really lovely and comforting to be gathered with family to celebrate my uncle's life that weekend. And it was nice to have some happy news to (tactfully) share amid our sorrow.

• We celebrated our one-year dating anniversary!

• I learned how to ski! Two winters ago, I had purchased a lessons + season pass package to Snowbasin. The silver lining to getting laid off is that I had more time to actually use my pass. I updated briefly on this two posts ago, and I'm happy to say things improved after that post. I'm definitely still a beginner, but I felt a lot more confident towards the end of the season and even managed to make it down a blue run (albeit very, VERY slowly)! AND I didn't run over any more children.

• I moved out of my little apartment! This was harder than I imagined it would be. I was so excited to be marrying Stephen. My lease ended at the end of April, and we decided it made sense both logistically and financially for me to move into our duplex first (Stephen bought a duplex last fall, and we'd spent the previous few months fixing it up, so he hadn't moved in yet). It was hard for a few reasons. 1- I loved my little apartment. I'd put so much care and effort into fixing it up and decorating it just so. It was hard to let that go. 2- While I was beyond excited to marry my bestie, I was concerned that I would have a hard time adjusting to living with someone else again. Living alone had been such a treat! (I'm happy to report that living with Stephen is an even more delightful treat!) 3- Stephen is amazing and always kept a "we" mindset about things, but part of me still felt a little bit like a mooch living in "his" house by myself? I've definitely gotten over that, but it was an adjustment. I've had an entire life before this chapter. I'm used to being on my own, taking care of myself, etc, and while I know I wasn't giving that up, part of me felt like I was. (I wasn't. I just had to get over myself a little bit.)

• We spent months and months and months working on our house. We're still not quite done, but we're hosting family for a birthday brunch for Stephen this weekend, and we're at least to a place where we can mostly do that. Ha. :) If all else fails, we'll just shove everything into the second bedroom and shut the door. ;)

• We planted a little garden, and it's still alive! I've never successfully kept plants alive for longer than a few weeks, but so far, we've eaten cucumber and zucchini, and we hope to have some tomatoes soon! We have a watermelon plant that might not have anything for us, and we planted a baby nectarine tree that will hopefully bear fruit in future years. Our lime tree got moved to my office yesterday, where it will live out the winter next to my big windows.

• I started a new job in July! I was grateful to a good friend who passed along the job link to me shortly after I lost my job in February. It's a great opportunity for me, and even though the learning curve has been steep, I'm really enjoying it so far.

• I free-lanced this spring/summer, and I learned I am not cut out for being an entrepreneur. (I think?) I also worked as a Matchmaker for a hot second, mostly because it sounded like fun. What I learned is that being a paid matchmaker is the WORST. Matchmaking for fun is, well, fun! 

• Two weeks after I started my new job.... WE GOT MARRIED!! :) Wedding planning is one of the worst and most unenjoyable things I've ever done, but our wedding was SO much fun! We were actually a little sad to leave at the end of the night, because we were having such a great time. It was so wonderful to have the people we love most gathered in one place to celebrate with us. I loved meeting people who love my Stephen and have played an important part in his life, and I loved getting to introduce him to my people. It meant so much to have so many of our loved ones travel from so far to celebrate with us. We were married on July 21, 2017 in the Ogden, Utah LDS Temple. I'd love to write more about our wedding day in a separate blog post, but it is the most wonderful thing in the world to be married to my best friend. I count my lucky stars every day to have found him and to be his wife forever. The actual wedding day felt like a blur (I can barely even remember our sealing), but these last few months have been the greatest adventure.

• We just got back from our honeymoon! This deserves its own post also, but we went to London and Paris and just had the best time. :)