My Birthday + Disneyland + Chatbaby

We got back last night from four days in southern California, because Disneyland! Actually, because Stephen won a trip to Disneyland on the radio. AGAIN. I seem to have failed to blog about the trip he won last year, but we took my two youngest brothers last year and had a great time.

The timing of the trip ended up being the same as last year, where we went during my birthday week, but this time, my mom and youngest brother came, as well as Stephen's parents, one of his brothers, and his sister and her cute family.

It was a fun but tiring four days, because, well, Disneyland, but also a little extra tiring because... I'm pregnant! We are SO thrilled to be welcoming our little Chatbaby to the world and into our family next June.

Of course, we had to take advantage of being at Disneyland on MY birthday to share our good news on social media.

I know. It's a little cheesy, but I couldn't help it. :) We flew to California on my birthday, which meant we only had about four or five hours in the park on the first day, but I was so tired by the end, it was actually just the right amount.

A few more Disney photos from the weekend:

Billy Idol Birthday Concert

Stephen's birthday isn't until the end of the month, but we started celebrating early at the Billy Idol concert on Monday at the Red Butte Garden amphitheater. It was our first time seeing a concert at this awesome venue (we've only been here for outdoor movies before), and we hope it won't be our last!

We made a mandatory pit stop at Thirst Drinks at the Heritage Center (the dining hall in the U of U residence halls, just below Red Butte) right before the concert, because A- Stephen loves Mountain Dew, B- He also loves winning prizes, and he won a gift card from Thirst in an Instagram contest.

We learned that for Red Butte concerts, people line up starting at 10am! We arrived about an hour before the door opened, and rather than waiting in line, we got ourselves a soda treat. :) We were still able to get pretty decent seats, since it was just two of us squeezing in. Lesson learned: don't arrive insanely early, unless you have a large group to find seats for. Instead, get a treat, and arrive right at 6pm when the doors open. Then, act fast to snag some lawn space! (Our tickets were general admission, so it was every man for himself on the lawn.)

It's been an unusually warm summer, but it got cool enough on this night that we needed some light jackets. It was wonderful! Fall is my favorite season, and I am excited for temperatures to cool down.

Of note: three songs in, Billy had taken his shirt off. He later threw it out into the crowd. There were several costume changes. It was all very interesting. Also, there were a lot of F words. I kept trying to make a video while he was talking but kept having to start over because I didn't want F words in my video. In the end, I got this photo and some video for Instagram stories (on my Highlights, under Concerts, after all my Taylor Swift posts!):

Can't wait to keep the birthday celebrations going this month! 

We have a house!

It finally happened: we bought our first home! (Well, technically, second for Stephen. ;) He bought our duplex before we got married, but this is MY first time buying.) We are so thrilled to have bought this home and are excited to get to work on it.

We actually closed two weeks ago and have already put a fair amount of work into it. (Let's just say we grossly underestimated how much prep work we'd have to do before we can even PAINT.) It's hard work, but we feel so grateful and so blessed to get to work to turn this house into our family's home. It's definitely much bigger than we need for just the two of us right now, but in buying this house, we've shared a part of ourselves with the world. At least it feels that way, since we bought this house with the dream of filling it with family, with friends, and of course, our own children someday. I hope for our home to be a gathering place, and for all who come in to feel welcome and loved.

I'll be sharing more updates about our home renovation process (and soliciting opinions on paint colors and home decor choices!) here on this blog and on my Instagram. And if you want a behind-the-scenes look at the "Before" of our home, check out the highlight on my Instagram Stories! (And if you're one of our friends in the SLC area and really love painting and renovating, come on over!)

Visiting the Parkers

Quill, the goat, feeling very excited about things.

Last night, we went on a walk to the library. Both of us were exhausted from a long (but good!) weekend and not enough sleep the night before. After a long day at work (and at the mechanic's and working from a coffee shop all day for me), we got home to tackle the housework we didn't get to over the weekend. (Looking at houses + baking all day for the Girls' Camp fundraiser + Father's Day with all the dads = not enough time for chores at home.) Stephen was AMAZING and fixed our bathroom sink. I washed ALL the baking dishes and made dinner, and just as we were getting ready to settle down, we realized our microwave was broken. After poor Stephen's frustration with the sink (did I mention how AWESOME he is for figuring it out??), we were ready for a break and decided to go on a walk to our local library instead of staying home. Fresh air and a change of pace is good for our grumpy souls, it turns out.

I checked out two new books (this one to help us plan our one-year anniversary trip later this year, and this one, just for fun). I'm super excited for both! AND I've felt a renewed appreciation lately for my local library. I have so many books I want to read this summer, and it's nice that I can do it for free through our county library. Thanks, Ben, for the books!

On our walk home, we passed by our friends, the Parkers. We go to church with them, and they live really close to us. They also have a lot of land, where they have.... chickens! horses! cats! a bunny! and BABY GOATS!! I heard bleating as we walked past their fence, and lo and behold, baby goats were approaching us through the gate!

We had to stop and play with them, of course.

The Parkers were finishing dinner, so hung out with the kids (Get it? Ha.) on our own for a while. The goats' names are Quill, Gamora, and Rocket. :) The grumps melted away almost instantly once we were playing with these little guys. :)

A few minutes later, the Parkers came out, and we met everyone else! (Except the second cat, which is fine by me, on account of I recently found out from one of those poke-you-in-the-back allergy tests that I am a 5/5 allergic to cats, 5 being the highest possible. But good news: I am NOT allergic to horses.)

It turns out that playing with animals is also therapeutic for our grumpy souls. I even got to RIDE A HORSE FOR THE FIRST TIME, and it was really fun!

I'm grateful that we went on a walk last night, that it is *basically* summertime and stays light out much later, that we have such nice neighbors/church friends, and that they let us play with their animals (and also sent us home with a dozen fresh eggs + freshly picked cherries).

The moral of the story is: when the grumps have you down, go outside and/or visit some friendly animals!

Snowshoeing: MLK, Jr. Day 2018

It's been a while since I've gone snowshoeing, but for Christmas this (last?) year, I got snowshoes for Stephen! That meant I also got some for myself, and we decided to take them out for a trial run on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

We haven't had much snow this winter, so we had to drive a ways to even get to snow (though we did get a lovely snowstorm this past weekend!). We decided to go to the area near Snowbasin so we could visit my family in Ogden after. Our goal was to snowshoe on the Sardine Peak Trail. We got a little lost, but we still had a good time enjoying the fresh air and being outside. :)

Here's hoping we can get some more snowshoeing in this winter! (And yes, I wore my ski goggles to go snowshoeing. 😁  Gotta be prepared for spontaneous snowball fights! Also, built-in sun protection. 😎 )

Death of a Prophet

The leader of my church, whom we regard as God's prophet and mouthpiece on earth, passed away recently, and today was his funeral. I listened to the hour-long service online, and then I felt compelled to stand outside, waiting for his motorcade to pass. (Luckily, I work about a block away from the motorcade's route, so it was really easy to just pop out and stand on the street.)

I feel a deep love for him. I got to meet him twice, both very brief interactions. But I could feel, both in person, and any time I heard him speak at a conference, that this man truly was the prophet of God. The first time, I was 16 (I remember I was wearing a peasant blouse I loved!), and he had spoken at our regional conference at the Dee Events Center. The second time, I was a college freshman at the U. It was Christmas break (December 2002: yikes!!), and I was shopping with my family at Nordstrom. We were in the men's shoe department, when lo and behold, who should also be there but President Monson!

We were so excited to talk to him, and it was even more exciting to get to take a photo with him. I pulled out my trusty disposable camera (I seriously never left home without it!), and some nice stranger took our photo. (My dad thinks he's hilarious and pretended to be the shoe salesman helping Pres. Monson try on a pair of dress shoes. Smh, Dad. Smh.)

One thing that was really lovely about being on South Temple today is that the Cathedral of the Madeleine, which was located on the motorcade's route, rang their bells today from the time the funeral ended until after the hearse had passed. Such a lovely sign of comraderie and co-mourning from our fellow Christians. It was also really wonderful to see other people lined up on South Temple to bid our prophet goodbye. I stood next to a young mom with her four kids (all of whom appeared to be age 5 or younger!) and marveled that she had brought them out on a crisp January afternoon to see our prophet pass by. I teared up a little at the two ladies who brought white handkerchiefs and waved them as President Monson's hearse drove past. I ended up being 20 minutes late to a work meeting, but I'm grateful I had the opportunity to say goodbye. I'm a little puzzled, having not known President Monson personally beyond two passing encounters, by how tender my heart felt today. I loved our prophet and am grateful to know the line of prophets will not end with him. How truly blessed we are!

Here are some more photos from today:

(Note the mom of four behind me)

President and Sister Uchtdorf

Our prophet <3 (aptly, in front of the Thomas S. Monson Building, which houses the Gardner Policy Institute)

God be with you 'til we meet again, dear President Monson. 💗

Swimming Lessons

Holy moly, I started swimming lessons this weekend! I am insanely scared of water (I learned what a panic attack was after having one before swimming at Zion National Park 5.5 years ago...), but two things: 1- Stephen and I are going to Hawai'i later this year, and it seems like it'd be a lot more enjoyable if I knew how to swim, 2- it is time: it is finally time to face my fears and learn to swim!

Stephen came with me, and -- bless him! -- stayed with me through the whole class. I'm really grateful he did! Having him there helped me feel a lot more confident. The instructor was late, which was a blessing, because I was SO nervous on the car ride to the lesson, and it was nice to have a few minutes to just get used to being in the water. Stephen gave me a headstart on my lesson (he's been swimming his whole life and did swim team back in the day), and by the time the actual lesson started, I felt ready and not panicked, which was a huge step for me.

By the end of the lesson, I was able to swim the length of a lap, I practiced kicking, I learned that water will get in my ears but will eventually come out, and I started practicing how to breathe out through my nose underwater. Stephen and I stayed at the pool after class and practiced some more. He helped me learn how to swim on my back, he taught me freestyle stroke, and he helped me kick better when I was going sideways or backwards (yes, somehow I managed to move backwards while swimming).

I'm nervous but excited for the next few weeks, but I can't overstate how grateful I am for my sweet husband and for his undying support. I might've made it through the lesson without him there, but it was so much easier knowing he had my back. Wish me luck and lots of learning in the next few weeks!

Oh! Not only is my husband a great swimming support; he took me to brunch at Cracker Barrel for doing so well at my lesson! I've heard Cracker Barrel is tasty but have never gone. I wholeheartedly recommend the wild blueberry pancakes. A+

Since I last posted...

• I became an aunt! 😆

  

• we both turned 32

• 9 + months strong with this dreamboat! 😍 

• I just finished my time with the Utah Democrats and am looking for my next Comms/Digital opportunity in SLC. (So if you know of anything, let me know? I'm open to FT opportunities as well as contract/consulting work.)

• We voted! (#WithHer, of course. 2016 was actually my first year voting a straight Democratic ticket.) 

Unfortunately, we lost bigly on November 8th, so....

• I took refuge in Europe (London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Brugges for 10 days) and had the time of my life with Stephie and Nif! #misadventuresineurope

Amsterdam ❤️ 

• Every time I read the news, it feels like the country is up in flames. But also, it's been incredible to see the goodness of the people around me in response.

March 4 Refugees in SLC

SLC Women's March

• I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It explains a lot, and I'm grateful to A- still have health insurance, B- to have found just the right therapist, C- for modern medicine and all the ways in which it improves our lives, D- for an uber-supportive boo. I am so blessed! <3

• Went to DC for Kathryn's wedding!

• Spent our first holiday season together

• Some shopping. ;)

• Started ski lessons at Snowbasin. It ain't going so well. 😳  Last time I was there, I ran over a small child, got yelled at and shamed off the mountain, and basically cried all the way home.

Hope your 2017 has been good so far!