Anniversary

This post is only about a month late, but I still need to document it. Austin and I celebrated our one-year anniversary on November 17, 2013. We had purchased SYTYCD tickets quite a few months ago and were excited to make it a fun anniversary weekend (for those of you are missing out on only the greatest show in America, the World, the Universe, SYTYCD stands for So You Think You Can Dance. My phone knows me so well that even it recognizes the acronym. Just sayin).

We both took work off on Friday. Austin has class every Tuesday and Thursday nights, so we drove up to Salt Lake after he got done on Thursday and made it to my brothers place in Daybreak (such a cute community!) by around 1 am. Kendall was actually out of town, but his apartment was absolutely spotless. It felt like staying in a nice hotel with his fluffy white towels in the guest bathroom. Thanks Chien-Po!

Friday morning was spent at Ikea (yay!). We didn't browse too much because I had actually made an Ikea shopping list, and Austin did a good job pulling me along making sure I focused on just the items on our list. Boys...

I guess you could say Friday was pretty much dedicated to me. First Ikea, then Babies 'R Us and Buy Buy Baby. I was in heaven. I could have spent hours in those baby stores (we've got nothing in St. George). They need to put baby stores right next to stores like Cabela's or Dick's Sporting Goods to keep husbands entertained. After a full day of shopping, we headed into the city to meet Hayley and Nate at the Macaroni Grill for dinner. Mckay was working that night and boy did she deliver! Not only was the company great (I miss being able to have Mckay as my server whenever I please), but we were hooked up with some delicious appetizers, an anniversary dessert, and wait for it.... an opera singer. I thought it was funny when Mckay said they employed opera singers as servers for occasions like this. But this boy was legit. His voice was beautiful!

It was so much fun to catch up with these guys. And Nate's mustache was great. After dinner, Hayley jumped in with us to head to SYTYCD. She was meeting Nate's sister there (who also had the tickets and who maybe was late and made Hayley stand out in the freezing cold... Did we stay out there with her? Nope, we were horrible friends. But mainly I had to pee so, so bad. Sorry Hay!)

We had such great seats until these white-trash people (this is my blog and I can be as snotty and judgy as I please) came and sat right in front of us (and not, those were NOT their seats. They just saw empty folding chairs and thought, "hey, lets set them up right in front of this nice couple, drink our booze, and lean sideways so they can't see half the stage"). Even still, the show was everything I hoped and more! We seriously loved it and vowed to try and see it every year. Here's Hayley and me. You do not want to see the other pics we tried to take together. Something weird kept happening.

Saturday consisted of another quick Ikea trip to return some things (oopsie, sometimes I change my mind... all the time), another quick baby store trip, and lunch at the best burger joint. Salt City Burger I think it was? I've been obsessed with spicy food during this pregnancy. I love spicy food anyway, but now, the hotter the better. All I want are green chiles and jalapenos and chipotle sauce on everything. Especially burgers. And this place had it all. Plus some amazeballs sweet potato fries. Austin was so bugged I made him take a picture.

Yum. I wish I had that burger in my belly again right now. After lunch we headed back into the city to make a stop at Ruby Snap for some friends back home. It's a cookie shop that is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of that place because it was adorable. My friend sent me up with an order for a dozen cookies, so of course we had to get our own dozen after sampling a few. Holy crap you guys, I really can't do this place justice. Just go there someday. And get a Judy. All the cookies are named after females... a Judy, a Margo, a Frida, etc. We hauled our bags of cookies and checked in to our hotel for Saturday night. We stayed at Hotel Monaco. It is right downtown--walking distance from City Creek and Temple Square. Such a fun hotel. We loved it!

We spent the afternoon/evening walking around all the shops. I was loving all the Christmas lights that were already up and the ginormous Christmas tree. We drooled at all the cute Baby Gap clothes (yes, Austin too) and of course the computer we dream about at the Apple store. The evening just felt so romantic to me. The sky was clear, the air was cold and crisp, there were twinkly lights everywhere, and I just adored walking around the city with my man.

We walked to the Melting Pot for our fancy dinner reservations. I am so glad we decided to blow $100+ dollars at this place. So worth it for our anniversary before babies rob us of any financial freedom we enjoy now. We even ordered a bottle of sparkling pomegranate cider to celebrate. So legit. We ate until we could barely waddle home to our hotel. It was incredibly delicious. Man, I really, really love great food.

Sunday morning was our actual anniversary. I had packed up a cheesy little surprise for Austin (he had given me a cute necklace from Target that I wanted earlier that week because I was having such a bad day). We ordered room service for breakfast (which was freaking good: blueberry pancakes, eggs, sausage, hash browns...) and lazed about all morning. We had to be out by noon and sort of didn't know what to do with ourselves. We really didn't want to start driving home yet because we didn't want our weekend to end. We both needed this break so badly. Work has been extremely busy for us both lately, and it was so nice to escape it all and burn through all our money. Nothing like coming home poor again! We accidentally missed church (oopsie again) and just drove around for a while before finally deciding we might as well go home. Sunday night Austin built our Ikea dresser for baby, and I built a cute little turquoise cart for baby. This house is slowly starting to come together (phew, more on that subject to come).

We had a great anniversary weekend. While I was laying awake in the hotel (my body doesn't know how to sleep in anymore), I wrote a list on the hotel stationary of highlights/things I love from our first year of marriage (kind of stole this from you, Hayley). Here's what I wrote:

• being together 24/7 with my bestie with... (his besto with...)
• trips (we have gone on so many fun places together during year 1--Cancun, Hawaii, Havasupai...)
• pestering each other
• boyo thinks its funny to put me in the shower with my clothes on and turn the water on
• sunday tackle (I usually get a good start since he is way more ticklish than I am, but stupid boy muscles always win in the end)
• constant badgering from my husband every day. "but I just loooove to bother you!" ugh.
• watching Lost start to finish together (now we're working on Friends)
• eating great food. So glad I married another foodie.
• 1st apartment (I miss that place sometimes. It was tiny and our neighbors were nuts, but just so cozy!

Honestly, this first year of marriage has been amazing. I'm so glad I married someone so easy-going. Austin always knows when I'm upset and what to do about it to make me feel better (mostly just reminds me to chill out and things will be ok). I couldn't be happier with my man. I'm so glad we will have had a year and a half together as a couple before baby comes to change up the dynamic. But we both cannot wait to start our little family and meet baby girl. We are so blessed, and I am so blessed to have this man in my life.

Baby Beecher

We had our first official ultrasound on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. This post is going to be sappy for my own journaling purpose. Be forewarned. 

Baby Girl Beecher,

My first glimpse of you inside my belly (okay, uterus) was nothing less than magical. I wasn't prepared for the emotions I would feel when I saw you move. You were so ready to show us just who you were as the first shot on the screen was the perfect gender shot, bum in the "air", legs spread. You are definitely a girl! We were both secretly hoping for a girl, so when we heard the news, a bubble of joy floated up from my heart and burst, making my eyes leak a baby bit. 

No boy parts here!

I grabbed your dad's hand and squeezed. I could see the excitement in his eyes too. The rest of the ultrasound went perfectly. You are perfect and healthy. You measured 19 weeks on the dot, keeping your original due date of April Fools (I'm crossing my fingers you'll stay inside for a little bit longer so my maternity leave will take me to the end of the school year and you and I will have all summer together before I have to go back to evil work). You kept posing perfectly for every shot that we needed, giving us this little gem of a profile picture. You are already looking cute! 

We are excited to meet you baby girl! We've already got a name picked out, with some back-ups in case it doesn't fit you quite right. Keep on growing, and see you in April!

Love, yer momma. 

19 Week belly shot as per the request of demanding sisters. Plus the gender reveal cupcakes we used to tell our families. Good thing it was a girl because I made them the night before (some blue, some pink) and accidentally came up with way more pink ones. Oopsie! Let the fun shopping begin!!

October

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” 

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Isn't that the truth? Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. My only complaint is that the season is so very short. I swear, the leaves turn, are beautiful for about a day, and then that dang wind swoops in and in an instant fall's jewels are littered all over the ground. What then? We're left with ugly barren trees for the entirety of winter. The few trees that cling to their leaves like over-bearing parents are my favorite. My parents' back yard has been incredible this past month. I don't think I've ever appreciated it this much--and I don't even live near to take full advantage of it. The other night had an incredible sunset. And those leaves! Little iphone just can't do nature justice. At least not with me behind the lens. 

Lols took this pic... it's awkward. I was wearing my comfy baggy shirt and tried to make it look like I am pregnant. Instead it just looks like my hands are weird. Oopsie!

We hung out with Austin's co-worker Chris and his wife Heidi over the weekend. We really don't have many couple friends, and it was really fun to hang out with some new people we both liked a lot. No pics of them or their incredibly cute family (3 little boys age 3 and under), but Heidi did make us some delicious fall cider. Look at that caramel!

Here's my baby attempt at fall decor in our living room:

Austin and I carved some pretty sweet pumpkins a couple of weeks ago for FHE. They were so cute. Now they are already rotting--mine especially. I even did the weird bleach thing I found on pinterest to help preserve them. I guess I did it wrong??

Kind of off topic, but we did the pencil test on Sunday at my parents house. And here are my lovely results. Apparently it's a girl, and I will have 6 kids with a set of twins. Haha. We'll see, but honestly, I would be stoked if that were legit. We will find out the actual gender results a week from today! Hooray!

Lastly, Sadies is finally over! Our theme for the dance was Glamorous. With a black, white, and gold color combo. The girls put in so much work, and I think the place looked awesome. I got really crappy pics, but here they are anyway. Also, we MADE those light-up marquee letters.

We had a great turn out, and everything ran pretty smoothly. Can't complain about being home by 11! But I AM glad it's all over. Phew.

We had a photo booth at the dance that was pretty fun. I made Austin come for a minute and take pictures with me. 

And that's that, folks.

Last Days of Summer

Pictures from August. September, and even October.

 How we do Ikea. That's what happens when two babies of the family get married. Older siblings push us BOTH around. Pathetic? Not even!

When pregnant Juje is crying because she misses girlfriends and doesn't know what to do with the weirdo emotions inside her, husband brings home flowers and card. Good idea.

This is teacher Natalie. She's my bestie at work. She teaches all the food classes at Dixie. And I do everything else (Child Development, Adult Roles, Interior Design, Clothing, Fashion Strategies, and Financial Lit. Phew). Sometimes we accidentally show up in the same outfit.

 Lols and Dar Dar took me to a fun steakhouse in Pine Valley while Austin was at a Crossfit thing. They made me line dance...

I'm definitely not into naked belly pics. And barely into belly pics at all. I wasn't even going to post this one, but sister made me. Seriously, that belly is bloat. Because at 16 weeks, I still look the same, but it's a little more legit.

Made 10 lbs of hot wings for our Breaking Bad finale party we hosted for us and Austin's brothers. They ALL got 'et.

A glimpse into my teacher life. Sending babies home to students and grading mounds of papers right before the quarter ends next week. Good times.

We decided to start doing legit FHE. I feel like we did a really good job at our scary cookie house. 

Contact ripped at work. Instead of being 100% blind, I left the good one in and made myself a sticky-note patch. My 4th period LOVED it.