Cheap Date Night

If you have never heard of First Friday then you are missing out! It makes for the most perfect date night. Down in Phoenix there are a few places that have free admission on the first friday of every month. The science center and the art museum are just two of those places. totally free. amazing.

Alex and i took full advantage last night and drove out to phoenix. I sure love the City Life feel that Phoenix has. so different that the little Mesa bubble i am use to.

We finally found the parking garage after 25 minutes of driving around and being so confused by the One Way streets that Phoenix is so famous for. But once we found the parking garage and got to the Science Center we had a blast playing with all the exhibits.

Test your flexibility.  

The little bank booth. haha

physics.

Don't so this more than once. Alex got so sick we had to leave early.

Bahaha So Dizzy!!!

Eye See You

He is really mature.

After the Science Center we went to Tempe and indulged in some Mexican Popsicles. We even had a Living Social coupon for it. :)

i'm so addicted.

yum.

i die.

So our entire date cost $4 and it was some of the most fun i have had in a while. I highly recommend it. :) 

Go out and tell someone you love them. and enjoy your Cinco e Mayo!!

Anniversary.

So, it's a little sad that my anniversary was the 4th of March and i'm not getting around to writing about it until the 4th of May... <shrugs> oh well. better late than never i always say.

Our anniversary was very low key and intimate. I didn't need any fancy vacation or present, in fact we decided to not do presents at all for this anniversary. It was so nice. Instead we focused all our energy on each other and making memories that weekend.

If I blogged more you would know for a fact that Alex and I are die hard baseball fans. Like we eat, breath, and sleep baseball. I am obsessed with watching or listening to all the games, we have the game highlights come straight to our phones and i follow all the players on twitter. We also have the goal to see a game in every MLB stadium!! That's 36 stadiums my friends. :) it's gonna be awesome... but anyways, we love baseball and our anniversary is right when Spring Training is so we deemed the perfect excuse to buy tickets and drive out to Scottsdale and see an awesome game! It was the most perfect way to celebrate. Afterwards we went to a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then went home and watched some How I Met Your Mother. Seriously I don't think i could have asked for a better day.

Also, earlier that weekend we made use of the occasion and went on a fun day date and explored downtown chandler. We spent a few hours at Chandler Mall, window shopping, reading in the bookstore, and playing in the Lego Store. We walked around down town chandler and found the most amazing Mexican Heladeria (Ice Cream Shop)!!! Alex lived in Mexico for 2 years serving an LDS mission so this was an exceptionally fun find for him! They had the most amazing popsicle you will ever try and the service was so nice. We will definitely be going back.

I can't believe a whole year (and 3 months) has passed since we kneeled across the altar in the Mesa Temple and were sealed. I feel so blessed to be with my best friend for time and all eternity.

It's been such a learning experience being married, but it isn't something i would give up for anything.

I love you Alex.

Oh Paul Goldschmidt... <sigh>

There were SO MANY Giants fans there... crazy.

We Won with a Walk Off HomeRun!!! YEAH BABY!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding

I would hate myself if i didn't record this event for our posterity...

my best friend got married a month ago and i just cant contain how incredibly happy i am for her and her new husband.

Everything about the wedding was wonderful, but i do have to give a shout out to the Bachelorette party that i hosted a few weeks before the wedding... I won't go into much detail, but here are some pictures to let you in on some of the fun ;) 

Bra & Panty Cookies

Devil's Food Cupcakes

Chocolate Pretzels 

it was an awesome party ;)

Also, they had a rehearsal dinner which was so fun! Mexican Fiesta Style.

the happy couple

Photo Bombing at its Finest

The Wives.

sorry it's blurry... i just love the sombreros.

And then there was the wedding.... /sigh

Wedding manicure:) i did it all by myself 

My amazing hair, courtesy of the lovely Taylor Olsen

Right out of the temple... look and that heavenly glow :)

my handsome man just hanging out.

Cupcakes.

Adorable Cake Toppers

Cake

BEST FRIENDS

love her.

Cutting the cake.

Tango.

Seriously people. this was the wedding to beat. so fun. 

I wish every happiness to the newly established Douglass Family. :)

Love you guys! 

Whatever.

I don't even know what I'm going to talk about today... I'm just typing away with no actual purpose in mind... So I apologize in advance.

Sometimes I wish I could be a professional interior designer. I watch hgtv and get all teary eyed at a beautiful home renovation. I can't wait until the hubby and I buy a home and I get to go all out! There is only so much creative license I have when living in an apartment. I'm not allowed to paint any walls, change out anything in the kitchen or even add curtains to the windows... It's painfully restricting.

I've found cleaning to be incredibly therapeutic. This weekend I helped the best friend clean her new house before she moves in this weekend after getting married!! We had to clean the carpets, scrub the walls, disinfect the bathroom, organize the cabinets, steam the floors and polish the wood. It took all day, but it was surprisingly a great way to spend my Saturday. Also, it's always more enjoyable to clean when you have your best friend there to talk and laugh with.

Alex and I had a great anniversary yesterday, and since we are celebrating in a couple of weeks when Alex is on Spring Break, we didn't do anything but sit in bed and eat ice cream and watch HIMYM. I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary! Although I am pretty excited for spring break when we get to go to a baseball game and eat at a fancy restaurant and watch movies in the theaters and maybe go on a little out of town adventure :) but more on that later.

Sigh... I just don't even know what to talk about. I think I'm gonna go take a nap.

Have a great day bloggers!!

This one is for you.

Hope: Noun. Having an expectation for something good to happen

That is what most people think of when they here the word Hope. And while that is the correct definition on Hope, I prefer a different definition.

Hope: noun. An amazing friend, an example of love, patience and understanding. Wonderful musician. Comedian. Support group. Friend. Wife (In a few day) sister, daughter, kindred spirit and soul mate.

Hope Andersen (Douglass) is seriously one of the most amazing women I have ever had the privilege of knowing, and no, she isn't paying me to write this post ;)

I met Hope almost 2 years ago through my Husband. She was actually dating my husbands little brother Ian and so she was always around at the house and at movies nights and such. And although we weren't best friends while she was dating Ian, I am really glad that we took the time after Ian left on his mission to get to know each other better.

It didn't take very long for hope and I to become inseparable, and now that I think about it I can't even really remember life without her in it... It seems like I've known her forever, she knows so much about me and I know she always will be.

It's funny, you know how when you are little and you talk to your best friend and you say, "when we grow up we are going to marry boys who are best friends, and we will live by each other and our kids will grow up together and we will have play dates with our babies and double dates with our husbands and it's just going to all be so fabulous!!" well, with most of my best friends that isn't the case, but with Hope, it is!! Our husbands have been best friends since elementary school!! How fabulous is that?? We have already gone on two Couples Vacations together, one to Mexico and the other to Disneyland.. And I know that those are just the beginning!! I know that even if they do end up moving away (mark and hope love the snow and so they want to move to Utah or Colorado or something.... Weirdos) we will still see them multiple times a year. We will always love to have them in our home during the holidays!! They are practically family, and I've only known them for 1.5 years!! Isn't that amazing? How people come in to our lives who you know are simply meant to be with you!

I can only imagine that Hope and I were friends in heaven :)

I love Hope so dearly and I can not wait to watch our lives develop together! She and Mark are getting married next Saturday, and I am so excited to see the two of them make an eternal commitment to one another in the temple.
I know Hope will make an amazing wife and mother!! And an amazing auntie to my babies!! She is caring and loving and thoughtful and forgiving and she is okay with sitting outside the church building every Thursday after choir to listen to me talk and talk and talk while we freeze our little bums off... Thanks for that Hopey.

Hope, I am so glad that you came into my life, and I'm so sorry that you are stuck with me and Alex for the rest of forever ;) sorry, but there is no getting rid of me now!

Now, everyone needs to go check out Hopes blog, bitofhopey.blogspot.com

Seriously she is hilarious.

Huzzah for best friends!!!

One year

It's amazing how quickly 12 months can go by.

One year
12 months
52 weeks
365 days
8760 hours
525600 minutes
And lots and lots of seconds

One year ago my life completely flipped upside down. I kneeled across the alter with my best friend and made an eternal commitment. I became a wife, a support group, a cheerleader, a working gal, a therapist, a shoulder to cry on, a believer, a fighter, a peacemaker and a lover. I'm not saying it was always easy, trust me, I will be the first one to say that marriage is not easy and that it takes a lot of work and a lot of compromise and patience... But my my, it is DEFINITELY worth all of the hard work, late night talks/ fights, give and take, and sacrifice.

The first few months of marriage were a mix of bliss and torture. It was so nice to finally be married, not having to drive home to separate houses at the end of the night, or try and refrain from being too physical ;) but we were both use to being independent, and being raised by different families we didn't exactly see eye to eye one every issue that arose. I was overly sensitive and easily hurt, and alex was a little too brash and at times hurtful with the way he handled situations. I cried and gave him the silent treatment and he put on a headset and ignored the problem... Not exactly the best approach to new marital problems.

But slowly, over time, and with lots of coaxing, we learned how to handle each others emotions. I became less sensitive to the little things, I learned how to pick my battles, and when I did have a concern I have leaned how to voice my opinion in a way that is not abrasive or naggy. Alex learned how to manage his time so that I felt loved and appreciated, instead of ignored. But most of all we learned how to show our love to each other in the best way possible, through service. I'm thankful for a loving husband who goes out of his way to love me and I will always be trying to make sure he knows how lucky I am to have him in my life.

Things have been blissful since we finally figured out the best way to keep our marriage full of love. I can't remember the last time Alex and I had a disagreement. I couldnt be happier with the life I have chosen, and I'm pretty sure the rest of eternity is gonna be great. Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that just because we have not fought or had issue these last few months that we will never have problems... Heavens, if I new the trick to no marital problems, I promise I would share them.... But I know that whatever the issue, I will have Alex by my side, backing me up, fighting with me instead of against me. And I will do the same for him. I think that's part of the reason we need to have a partner in this life.. It gets hard and we need someone to believe in us when we can't even believe in ourselves. Someone to be at home to hug us after a hard day at work. Someone to call when you have an embarrassing moment, and you know that they will laugh with you and not at you. Someone to love you even though you are HORRIBLE at getting the laundry done in a timely manner. Someone to love you even though you haven't cooked a real dinner in weeks, and someone who is okay with pasta roni and Costco rolls on the couch almost every night. Someone to share your dreams with and someone to wake up in the middle of the night when you have had yet another nightmare. Someone to say, "I love you" to multiple times a day.

I can't imagine this life, or the life after this one without my husband by my side. I can't wait to see him graduate college and begin a fabulous job in finance. I can't wait to see him hold our babies. I can't wait to travel the world together. I can't wait. And it's wonderful to dream about the future and even though I may not know what we will be doing in 5, 10, or 20 years, I always see Alex there, in the future. He's always there. :)

I love you Alex. Thanks for making this last year the best one ever.

And my advice, for anyone reading this who is struggling with their marriage, or is about to get married, is to be patient. Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't yell or scream or say hurtful words in the heat of an argument. Even if you have to ask 5 times for your spouse to do something, don't let the fact that they didn't take the trash out the first time you ask turn into a fight where you say things you can't take back. It's just trash... In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Always put your spouses feelings first... Before you yell and and become accusatory, think about how you would feel if they reacted that way to you.. 5 seconds of reflection are usually enough to help calm emotions and keep the situation under control. Pray together. Whether you are religious or not, the act of kneeling hand in hand with your spouse and praying with them, and for them, is extremely bonding. Let them know that you are thinking about them, and that you want what is best for them.

I dont consider myself an expert, but I do wish someone had given me these small tidbits of advice before I jumped into my marriage with absolutely no grasp of reality. :)

Now get out there and tell that special someone that you Love them!!!!