Three Friends, Three Weddings, One Year

How did it all begin? Rachel has been one of my best friends since the womb when our mamas were preggo lady friends. We grew up together going to the same schools, sitting together in primary, and dreaming of the days we would be college roommates at BYU. The summer when we were 14, there was talk of a new girl coming to town. When we learned her last name, we referred to her as "the little Farmer girl." Well who knew that the little Farmer girl named Julia would soon make our duo a happy little trio.

These girls helped me through the treacherous jungle that was teenage-dome. Rachel's house was always a place to go for getting ready for dances, hair wraps, movie nights in the basement, and star gazing on the trampoline until we fell asleep. Julia was locked in a bathroom with me the first time we experienced firsthand how drunk and dumb some of our high school peers could be. The three of us spent all our Sundays at church and firesides, all our early mornings at Seminary, all our Wednesday nights at young women's activities, and so many of our weekends together being the best of girly friends.

When we all planned to go to BYU together, things didn't go quite as we planned...  one at BYU-Hawaii, one at BYU-Idaho, and one at BYU-Provo. Kind of hard to be roommates when you end up at 3 different and very distant BYUs. But dude, nothing makes me happier than the fact that now, 10 years after becoming the three amigas, our friendship remains strong! We spent a lot (like, a lot) of our high school days chatting about the future when we'd find the men of our dreams and get married. Little did we know, 2015 would be the year for every one of us :) Being close to Rachel as she fell in love with Lee and decided he was her guy for eternity was the best. Hearing from Jules all about the super cute guy named Tyler at AFY and watching that turn into a real thing was awesome. I've had so much fun and been filled with so much joy sharing in the celebration of our weddings this year. I'm grateful that despite the distance, I always have these ladies by my side and close to my heart.

Okay girls sooo... next up Three Friends, Three Babies, One Year?! Count me in.

Capisce

These cute kids are celebrating their 35th anniversary today! 

I couldn't be any more grateful for their example of true eternal love.

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Through the thick and thin of marriage and life they forever stick together as a team. Hard times don't tear them apart - they actually allow the tough stuff to bring them closer together. They know how to have fun and celebrate happy things. They travel like crazy to visit all their kids and grandkiddos. They work in the yard. They go on motorcycle rides. They still eat homemade meals together every day. They let us stay on their phone plan. They watch movies and cuddle. They each work hard to bring home the bacon. And they send loving text messages -  A few years ago when I was in a weird spot in relationship, I got this text from dad, and it spurred me to make some important decisions. It also helped me realize how blessed I am to have parents who are crazy in love, even after so many years together. I save this screenshot on my phone to remind me of how cool that is, and it was inspiration for me to keep looking for someone who would make me happy forever (check!).

Love you mom and dad.

Thanks for everything.

Have fun watching It's A Wonderful Life for the 35th time together.

She's My Person

I just can't help but write a blog all about sister love because today is her birthday, and she is a person who deserves to be celebrated this year and every year to come.

Have you ever finished a great book, binge watched a favorite TV show on Netflix, or finished watching an incredible movie, and by the end you just feel like you'd love to be a part of that world, or you forget that the characters aren't actually your besties in real life? Don't try to tell me that you never felt like friend #7 who belonged in the Central Perk with Phoebe and Chandler, or that you didn't not-so-secretly wish to be Leslie Knope's office buddy or one of the guests at Jim and Pam's wedding. I'm sure that there are many of us who would just kill to be selfie-ing it up with T-Swift or chilling and watching a Seahawks game with Chris Pratt... Or maybe there was that girl in high school who was just so great and you so wanted her to know you existed so you guys could be real friends who hung out and talked about boys and sat around doing homework together. Maybe all these examples are a bit specific, but I know in some way all you people must have felt or feel this way about SOME person SOMEwhere at SOME time in your life.

For me that person was (is) Kirstin. My big sister was my hero. However old she was, you could bet that was my favorite number for that year. I couldn't imagine anyone more beautiful in the whole world than her (still true). To my little 6 year old brain, having my 16 year old sister sit and open presents with me around all my friends at my birthday party was a dream come true. She took me to the mall to pick out presents for my 8th birthday, and it was like going to Disneyland. She once she drew a rainbow picture in crayon of my name, and I thought i'd died and gone to heaven. One time she dressed me up in one of her prom dresses with the long feathery gloves and everything (ahhh, the 90's), gave me a rose, sat me on a stool in the garage and took pictures of me for her high school photo class.

With a 10 year age difference, I wouldn't say we were ever close back in those days. I have these wonderful memories of her, but they were very few and far between. And if you ask her, she'll say she really doesn't even remember my childhood (haha!). I remember all these things so vividly because most of the time my big sister was a far away celebrity to me, someone who I longed to notice me and want to be my friend. But what high school girl wants to be besties with an annoying little kid? Not logical. Every time she did reach out, I was the queen of the world, the happiest and luckiest little girl there ever was. 

Our family kept growing up. Kirstin and Tyler got married and started making babies! My hero big sister made me into an aunt at 9 years old, and my greatest excitement quickly became being the best Aunt Nettie in the world. After a few years, they moved to Utah. And so my solo airplane rides began. Every school break I had, I was on a plane to Utah to visit Kirstin and Ty and the kiddos. Years went by, they moved to Texas, and my trips continued. With each visit, Kirstin became less of an unreachable celebrity to me, and more of a friend. Together we'd watch all the Rush Hour movies in one night. We'd go to the dollar theater with $20 worth of junk food. We'd take hundreds of pictures and play games and sing in the car and laugh our heads off. Even when we weren't physically together, we were always connected, first through instant messaging, then through texts and calls and snaps. Always. Every day.

I can't pinpoint any certain moment when it was determined that we were best friends. But it totally happened. And since then, I have never questioned that my sister feels the same way about me that I do about her. She doesn't view me as an annoying little sis who won't leave her alone. She proves that with frequent and random "I love you nettie-poo!" texts. She shows it when she begs me to come for another summer visit, or when she snaps me pictures of Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights. She shows it by cuddling up to me on the couch, or being excited to spend a whole weekend with just me at Lake Chelan. She helped me through break ups and big decisions and she stands by me even when I mess up and act dumb or just need to vent. She knows she can always turn to me with the good or the bad or the ridiculous, and that i'll come running to her with the same. She proved it when she surprised me at my college graduation, and when she bawled her eyes out as I left my wedding hand in hand with my new husband.

My dream came true. My hero/celebrity/role model/fantasy best friend is my REAL best friend.

I'll spend my whole life feeling grateful for you and the friendship that we have. It is more special to me than you will ever know. And I love you sissy poo! Happy Birthday!

Your good morning, my goodnight

I have recently switched to working full time nights. That means at least three days a week I find myself very much awake when most of the world around me is asleep. But there are often times during the wee hours of the night when all my patients are sleeping, the hospital is all nice and calm (and dare I say the cursed word among nurses: quiet), and I may not be quite as awake as I feel. At least, not the same kind of awake as I am during a normal day. Its hard to explain. I'll have seemingly genius ideas at night that seem so dumb when I wake up from my nap the next day. I'll watch full episodes of Hawaii Five-O and not remember anything from it. I find it normal to snack on carrots and Reese's and drink orange juice all at the same time. I think i'm more emotional, aaaand also more nostalgic. More than once I've found myself tearing up over a picture slash memory of someone who I love or miss. Combine that with the recent realization that I have easy access to blogging from a nurses' station computer during these still moments of the night, and the result is some super sappy lovey happy memory-filled writings about people I love.

So I guess just prepare yourself and realize there is a possibility that someday soon you'll wake up to a blog post of me sharing with the world how great I think you are.

And I suddenly feel a necessary side note: I swear i'm fully awake the moment a patient needs me! I promise i'm a safe nurse dedicated to the safety and well being of all my patients! :)

Big Changes!

Big changes on our horizon! Well, closer than the horizon actually because sometimes life happens so fast and its difficult to stay on top of it all, let alone stay up to date with blogging about it.

We are moving! About a month ago right before school started for Matt, we had a discussion about how nice it would be if we lived closer to his work/school. We really love everything about living in South Jordan, but the commuting deal is no fun and such a time-sucker, especially with Utah's never ending road construction. We agreed to start thinking seriously about it and maybe looking around for a new apartment. More quickly than we expected, one quick discussion about maybe moving turned into real decision and action. We found a great apartment in Orem that is less than 10 minutes from both work and school for Matt. After walk-throughs at several other places, after seeing this place we instantly knew we wanted it to be ours! Thankfully, within days the landlord contacted us with the good news - we got it! By October 1st we will have a new place to call home.

SO that meant that if I kept my current job, I would be the one commuting every day, and that was no good either. When I accepted my job at Aspen Ridge last summer I told myself that after a year or two of nursing experience there, I would start looking again for a hospital job. Its hard to pull myself away from such a great company, but I always considered it my foot in the door to nursing, and I wouldn't let myself stay there too long. I have learned so much from my first nursing job. I have been blessed to work with many fabulous nurses, CNAs, and other employees who have helped me so much. But with our decision to move, it was a no brainer to find a new job. So I am very happy to report that I have been hired to work full time on the med/surg and ortho/neuro floors at Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem! I start this week and I am crazy excited (pretty dang nervous too) for what lays ahead in this next step of my nursing career.

Within the next 10 days we will be packing and moving, starting a new job, playing with family in town, attending a family wedding, and welcoming a brand new baby in the family with cuddles and kisses. Also i'll probably miraculously squeeze in 50 or so episodes of 30 Rock during that time. All big and exciting stuff! We are very aware of the strength of prayer, fasting, blessings, and family support in our life, and we feel so grateful for all we have.

And i'm so lucky to have my hubs to go through all this with me and absorb my stress like a sponge and squeeze it all back at me with hugs and laughs (too weird?). Whatevs, love you!

Pillow talk

One of my favorite times of day is bedtime. Winding down time with my husband - picking up the apartment, brushing teeth, making each other laugh, and reading scriptures while we hold hands. Then praying together and cuddling in bed as we talk about the day and life and how blessed we are - and how crazy awesome life is going to be when we have a bunch of kids and a big car to hold them all and spending all our money on braces and soccer teams and school supplies and drivers Ed and family trips to Disneyland. I just love bedtime and pillow talk.

So I really dislike nights like tonight when I'm stuck at work and Matty is home getting ready for bed and drifting off into sleep without me. He's long gone and snoring by the time I get home and am ready for dreamland.

I don't want to take for granted the fabulous bedtime that involves just the two of us. Because someday all those kids we dream of are going to need stories and tucking in and kisses and monster checking and just one more drink of water. I am SO EXCITED for that phase of life too, but for now we must embrace the peaceful present! Sometimes our pillow talk is lovey-gushy-gross, and other times our "pillow talk" goes a little something like this:

Matt: I really like my pillows.
Me: Good because you can't have mine.
Matt: What if you die, then can I use your pillows?
Me: Are you counting down to my death just so you have have my pillows?!
Matt: Well, that's not the only reason.

I'll be home soon, love! But there best not be man drool on my pillows when I get there.

St George

Last weekend we joined in with some of Matt's family for a final summer hurrah to St. George!

 Thanks to family connections, we had the hookup to stay in a super nice house that easily fit everyone, and we partied all weekend. Friday night I had my first exposure to Tuacahn Theatre, which is such a cool place, and we enjoyed a fabulous live production of Beauty & The Beast. Saturday was spent with a trip to Zion's National Park, yet another part of Utah I hadn't seen yet and totally loved! We spent the day hiking and eating and swimming and enjoying the beautiful redrock and mega hot weather.

My father-in-law Keith loves to take pictures of wildlife, so I couldn't resist taking a picture of him in his element!

When life gives you empty water bottles... stuff them into the back of your pants for safe keeping.

Greatest mystery of the weekend: why is this fake fruit so gigantic?!

Seattle & The Salazars ♥

For a little while it looked like this might be my first summer without going home for a visit. Well, thank goodness for best friends who fall in love and decide to get married in the Seattle temple! Matt and I were both lucky enough to get the time off work for a drive up to Washington to witness the sealing of our great friends and even stay a few extra days for some fun family time. I'd say it was a nearly perfect trip. Despite my random intense irrational fear of hitting a dear as we drove through the night, we arrived safely, packed a whole lot of fun into 4 days, and then drove all the way back to Utah without any problems. We enjoyed making memories with mom and dad, Kevin and Carli and their girls (our fun with them was unfortunately under-documented), and Brayden who was visiting from Texas. Thank goodness for no dear in the headlights, a functioning car, beautiful weather, wonderful friends, and happy family!

Perfect day for a wedding!

The Salazars ♥

Couldn't love this girl any more than I do. I am so grateful I was able to be there as she was tied to Lee for eternity! From birth to death, this girl will be my sister forever and I love that we've been able to share so many life's special life experiences together.

Lee, you're a winner of a guy! So happy you and Rachel found each other!

This has to be one of my favorites from the day. It was a rather hot afternoon during the luncheon, and Matt was able to provide some relief for the beautiful bride as she ate her lunch. What a gentleman I married :)

Mom and dad, we had so much fun hanging out with you! You still owe us a hand & foot tie breaker though... 

And in case anyone missed it, i'm crazy in love with this man. We loved being able to attend a sealing almost exactly 6 months after our own and reflect on the wonderful blessings of eternal marriage. I'm so grateful to have him by my side as my life partner every single day.

What kind of true blue Mariners fan would I be if we didn't go to a game while in Seattle?! Safeco Field is easily on my list of top 10 favorite places on the planet and I was so happy to take Matt there for his first major league baseball game! Plus we stole Brayden away from his visit to Kevin and Carli and the girls to come with us and that was awesome too. I love Mariners baseball!!!!

And nothing can beat a view like this. Seattle, you're forever a winner.