Farewell to Utah

I cannot believe how a few small areas of utah hold nearly all of my memories from the past 5 years. I still remember driving into Provo for the first time as a fresh out of high-schooler, ready to embark on this thing called college. Wow, everything was big and new and scary. Now, that very place which was previously so foreign is etched fondly into my heart forever.

Moving on before this Provo love letter becomes far too sappy. This weekend, being Memorial Day Weekend, was the first time Jeff had a day off since he left for officer training school in january. He called me on friday morning and told me how he had a 3 day weekend. My response? "Get your little bum on a plane and come be with us!" Well, long story short, I was picking him up at the airport about 10 hours later. Lots of happy faces ensued.

The next day was also his birthday! We were able to pack that day full of little moments that are priceless. We got to meet up with Laura & Tom and Tim & Lauren (Yeah, its becoming a tongue twister to say those couples' names in the same sentence) in Salt Lake City. You know the joyous energy that just floats around when siblings are reunited? It's tangible. We all just got to ruminate in that for about 4 blissful hours. We went to Chipolte (OUR FAVORITE. SOMEONE PLEASE COME OPEN ONE UP IN GERMANY!!) and stuffed our faces, and then went to an awesome park for a couple hours; playing frisbee, talking, and laughing- more than I probably should being 32 weeks pregnant and lacking in the bladder control department. (whoops)

Let's stop this nonsense taking pictures and get to what is really important: sniffing dandelions!

(I'm nothing but a bean bag)

Ian and Jane were ADORABLE together. Little boy is a multi-tasker; going in for the kill WHILE sticking his tongue out. His tongue just feels a lot more comfortable outside of his mouth than it does inside. Cute little nugget. Jane kept trying to feed him apples and goldfish and I kept explaining how babies only drink milk! Good luck to me in life when I have a newborn around....

It was a great day, and Jeff and I were exhausted by the time we finally got Jane to bed. It was the really great day kind of exhaustion though. We even were too tired to go to a movie, which I am kind of regretting now. That was probably my last chance to go to a movie for....a LONG time. On sunday, we had a nice relaxing day with my aunt and uncle & cousins which ended in steaks fresh off the grill. Yeah, so no complaints here. Jeff and I went on a walk together, just the two of us. We love walking around neighborhoods, pointing out different things we like for our future house. Which flowers we like, which paint color we like, and which kind of fake rock we will NEVER adorn our house with. :)

On Monday we only had about 5 hours, but we made the best of those hours by going down to Provo for one last time. (Ok I'm being a bit melodramatic; I'm sure we will be back one day, but not for a long time.) We went and worked out in our beloved and nostalgic BYU gym and then went out to eat at kneaders. Wow that french toast. It is OUT of this world.

Like father, like daughter :)

 Here are the two silly brothers having a calf contest. And their respective significant others, checking out their guy. :) And yes, I realize I need to start wearing bigger t-shirts, this one Im wearing here is cutting it a little too close for comfort. I'm just waiting to live with my husband again so I can steal ALL of his and then wear them every day for the next 8 weeks. Can't wait.

After that, I dropped him off at the airport and held back tears the rest of the way home. I went to smiths and bought a bag of ripe and delicious nectarines in a measly attempt to fix the little pit in my stomach. I know I get to see Jeff in a week, and then we get to go on a pretty epic adventure TOGETHER. But it was still hard to say goodbye. I just like that guy. He is my best friend, and I sometimes forget how lovely it is to just be in his presence. He makes me feel like the luckiest lady in the world. Truly.

GRADUATING, MOVING, AND RUNNING. OH MY!

"Honey, was I this stressed last time we moved?"

"Yea...but I thought it was just because you were pregnant..."

Holy COW.

I really did lose my marbles a little bit.

Last week I was being suffocated by a dark thick cloud of stress. 

I graduated COLLEGE. 

= FINALS 

I MOVED. (Hi, aurora nice to meet you)

= cleaning and packing 

and cleaning and packing

and packing. 

(and taking breaks to nap on the floor 

because your bed is in storage already)

I ran a HALF MARATHON.

= runnning. lots of it.

And the week from stress city (and actually the entire school year) all came to a beautiful and triumphant head the second i crossed that finish line, holding hands with my sweet husband. we made it! it was so cheesily metaphorical. it even rained for every second of the race. when it rains it pours and all that jazz. seriously, so many metaphors could be happening right now but i think you get it. 

this was before the race started. you can imagine how badly we wanted to get out of the car.....

here are some watermarked pictures of the actual race:

this was one of the only times i was running alone because jeff had to stop to go to the bathroom and then he caught up with me (of course)

and after:

 we were so cold afterwards and it took some serious bribing to get jeff to take these pictures.

oh yeah, and even though my husband's hips hurt from going so slow, he ran with his sloth-like wife and helped me to beat my last half marathon time, cheering me on the whole time- for 2 hours 13 minutes. (slow i know but #WHOCARES) I didn't stop running once. There were times when i wanted to cry and kiss him and thank him profusely for motivating me and cheering me on; and then there were times when i yelled: "ok! stop talking to me right now or i'm going to punch you and walk up this blasted hill."

right after we finished the half, we packed up the rest of our stuff (my dad helped us and i was so grateful), said goodbye to kim (sad sad sad), and took off in our U-haul for Aurora, CO. The usually 8 hour drive took us 11 hours and there was so. much. pain involved in that drive. Just try running 13 miles and then promptly sitting in a car for 11 hours one day, and then you will understand. The only redeeming event that happened was when we finally rolled in at 1 am, 5 strong and heaven sent guys, who are working with jeff this summer, helped us move in all of our stuff. I literally wanted to kiss them all. But instead I just said thank you 26 times. 

so yeah! it's all over. we are moved. and i am an official stay at home mom. AND I LOVE IT!

p.s. don't forget to enter the giveaway i have going on! 

brother

my brother is leaving in two weeks to go on a mission to new york. ok yea this may sound so cliche and normal for a mormon, but this is a big stinking deal to me. he is my little brother. i will miss him so much. but at the same time i am so proud of him i feel like my heart might burst out of my chest and break out into a hallelujah chorus. he is my best friend and I'm not just saying that because he is my brother and your brothers are supposed to be your best friends. people say our faces are the same, little do they know that our insides are even more the same. our souls are made of the same stuff, our brains think the same thoughts and when we are together wordless conversations come with ease. i remember when i first started dating jeff and i was trying to figure out if i loved him or not. i would always say to myself "do i care about him as much as brendon?" "does my heart ache for his well being?" for awhile it was a no, but it was when i could finally answer those questions affirmatively that i knew i loved jeff. obviously the love i have for my brother and for my husband are drastically different, but the base of it is the same. those are two people i truly love more than myself.
my brother is leaving to new york for 2 years, and he is taking a part of my soul with him. this will not be an easy thing for me, because who likes living without the part of them that validates every aspect of who they are?

see ya later

this past week has been one of the best weeks of my life!

i felt like jeff and i were already married. 

we drove alllll over the place to visit family- 

we went to idaho and spent time with our families

then to st. george to visit my grandparents

then to bountiful for my best friend's wedding

then to colorado where he dropped me off, and then left for washington DC.

for the summer.

we will be apart for 3 and a half months.

and the longest we have ever been apart thus far is 2 days

and those two days were torture.
but anywayssss

here are a few pics from our road trippin' adventures :)
(ok just from idaho and only because my dear mother in law took pictures)

3 of my new great sisters in law

most of the awesome andersen family. i really love them all so much already.

i haven't allowed myself to really think about this dreaded moment of separation.

it still hasn't sunk in, to be honest. 

therefore, i don't feel sad right now.

i feel calm and peaceful.

being apart is not ideal

but it will be ok.

i still am marrying the greatest guy ever

he will still love me when we see each other again.

honestly, it would be dumb of me to be sad right now.

he is my dream come true- 

the man i've been wishing and hoping for throughout my entire hopeless-romantic life.

and even though i won't be physically with him 

i know he is all mine, forever.

and knowing that makes it really hard not to smile.

I'm just happy to know that

goodbyes are not forever

unless you want them to be

for me, this goodbye-

 it is simply a temporary distance between 2 people who love each other

that will ironically pull them closer together in the end.

it's beautiful in a way, 

and just one more experience that will make our relationship stronger.

i am sorry for the sappy-mushy-gushy-lovey-dovey ness.

but not quite sorry enough to refrain...

you might wanna get used to it.

also. best smile goes to....this guy

so cute right?
i love that picture

ONE YEAR.

Can sometimes go by in a blink of an eye.
One year ago almost exactly I started college.
One year ago I said goodbye and thought one more year (let alone TWO) might as well have been light years away.
I sang this song to myself and told myself time would fly by

And it did. It snuck right up on me.
Absolute insanity, I tell you.
Weird weird weird weird weird.

Every hello ends with a goodbye...

Okay. This has been a week of Goodbyes. 

And Hellos. 

Both of which are bittersweet.

A year ago, almost to the day- I said goodbye to high school and my non-adult life. And also Hello to a new life {college, baby!}. And a couple days ago, I said hello to my friends who just said goodbye to that very same thing. Hannah and Melanie, two of my best friends ever, graduated high school. Would you like to see this photographic chiasmus? All right.

Last Year. My Hello {to summer, real life, BYU} and Goodbye {to High School}

Versus: Hannah's Goodbye {to High School} and Hello {to Summer, real life, BYU}

                                                              Wow. That was deep.

Like the trench Nemo's dad told him to not to swim out to.

Freaking Nemo. You should've listened to your dad. 

But then I guess there would've been no movie.

Either that, or just a really boring one.

Anyways, moving on.

I said a goodbye a year ago {almost to the day as well} to one of my best friends.

And did the same thing yesterday. Times two.

Once again, chiasmus--

{which, by the way, is an ancient Hebrew literary technique that wasn't discovered until way after Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon that happens to be chalk full of it. Yeah, real likely that a boy with a 3rd grade education randomly decided to throw some of that in there just for kicks and giggles without getting some serious divine help. Just sayin.}

Last year I said goodbye to Neil.

he has almost been gone for a year now.

WHAT?!

And Yesterday I said goodbye to Aaron and Jared.--My two red head friends. Haha

I've known both of these nice lads since 8th grade. I can't believe they are grown up and going on missions.

They can't either.

In fact, the other day, I was at lunch with them, Aaron said to Jared {after doing something sliiiightly immature}

"Jared, I can't believe they are sending us on missions." 

Hahahaha.

Me and Jared. He didn't smile. He told me after so many pictures, the senior picture smile goes into hibernation. Haha

And here is me between the two missionaries to be. {As of right now, they are both officially set apart as missionaries! Crazy!}Aaron on the right. Jared on the left. Chase and Codi are also in there. All these guys are awesome. {Chase has been called to South Africa, and Codi has been called to California.}

Anyways, those are enough Goodbyes to last me for awhile. But I still have my fair share coming up. 
Did I mention I HATE goodbyes?
Because I do.

Well, that's all for now, folks.

Song of the day: Catch Me by Demi Lovato. {Listen to lyrics carefully and you will know why.}

LATER.