2013 In Review

Well well well, another year is coming to a close. I figure I'll do a recap of highlights throughout the year since I don't keep up on the blog very well. Maybe next year will be better right? Well here we go!

January: We celebrated our  2nd wedding anniversary. We went to Seattle again and ate dinner at the Space Needle restaurant. Possibly the most expensive meal I've had so far in my life but it was definitely the best steak of my life.

February:....I actually don't think much happened in February. We celebrated Valentines Day and Charliepop's birthday. Oh, we also contacted a realtor for the first time!

March: We came down to St. George to start our home search. Over 2 days, and 9 houses, we found our first home.

April: We celebrated Derek's 24th birthday on the 12th and on April 22nd, we signed the paperwork and became first time homeowners!

May: We celebrated my 23rd birthday on the 4th with my besties driving me all the way up to Logan to get ice cream. It was fabulous. On the 16th, we said goodbye to our hometown and moved down to St. George. We enjoyed one last bestie weekend before we were officially on our own.

June: We adopted Molly Polly from the animal shelter. We've absolutely loved having her in our family.

July: Again I don't remember much of July. We spent a lot of time exploring our new city and settling completely into our new home. It was brutally hot but we survived our first summer and are looking forward to the next one.

August: We went home to visit family and we got to see my youngest cousin get married. It was beautiful and I was beyond thrilled to see family and friends over those 2 days. We also started our first semesters at Dixie State University.

September: We started off the month with me getting a stupid kidney stone. I was pretty miserable most of the month but thankfully it passed without me having to have surgery. We continued going to school and working a ton

November: We were very excited to have our first major holiday in our own home. Derek's mom and brothers came to stay with us and it was wonderful to see family again

December: We finished our first semester at Dixie and got registered for the next one. Once finals were over, we drove up to PG to surprise our families. It was a wonderful weekend and much needed for me since I was very much homesick by this point. We got to do a bit of Christmas shopping this month and once Christmas came around, we got to celebrate for the first time all by ourselves. It was so weird to not be with family but we loved being able to carry over traditions and start new ones.

Overall, I think we've had a pretty good year. I wish I had documented more but there is always room for improvement next year. We're looking forward to making more memories and continuing to fall more in love with each other.

Here's to 2014. May it be our best year yet!

First Semester Down

So for those that don't know, I'm currently a freshman at Dixie State University. So far I'm loving it! I'm majoring in English to be an editor. Don't expect my blog to be professional though. It's my blog for goodness sake!

Anyway.

Since we've reached the end of the semester, I'd like to reflect on some things I learned during the last 4 months.

1. Yes I can whip out a paper last minute and receive an A but the stress of doing that is not worth it to me. Next semester, I'll start papers more than 2 hours before they are due.

2. I study better at the table because I focus more. I should most definitely stop studying on the couch. That's what I bought a desk for, right?

3. Just because you don't like the professor doesn't mean you can't learn something from them.

4. Having good communications with your professors gets you a long way.

5. When you are learning a language and have to take an oral exam, it's best to get lots of sleep the night before or you'll break down in tears and walk out in the middle of the test.(True story, but my professor let me come back in to try and finish, I still couldn't so she gave me half credit)

6. Find time to still have fun! Attend more campus activities and really get to know people!

7. TURN OFF NETFLIX! AND FACEBOOK!

I'm really looking forward to next semester. I'll be taking 17 course credits but I think I can handle it. I'm just so excited about furthering my education and finally having a degree. It's going to be amazing! I'm so glad we survived this semester!

My Favorite

You see this guy right here? The one I'm staring at lovingly who is also staring lovingly back at me. He is my favorite. My absolute favorite. He's my best friend, my companion, my better half, my eternity. He is my husband.

There are so many things that I love about this man of mine and I honestly can't get enough of him.

1. He is so goofy! We can laugh about anything and he is always looking for ways to make me smile. Even when I'm having my worst days, I know as soon as I get to be with him again, he'll make everything better.

2. He loves me so much. He is continually showing me how much he loves me and takes care of me. I never imagined that someone could love me this much. Or that I could love someone just as equally. We have people we don't even know constantly telling us how cute we are together and that they can tell how in love we are. That's always nice to hear. We committed to forever and plan to make sure we stay in love that whole time!

3. He works so hard for our family and takes such good care of us. I know going to school full time and working so much is really stressful and even though we are still working it out, I think he is doing an amazing job. I just love that he is such a hard worker.

4. He is always up for anything and keeps our marriage FUN! He lets me plan all sorts of crazy vacations and always helps me make plans to achieve our dreams. He supports me in any endeavor and lets me be myself always.

5. No matter what we are doing, we are usually holding hands. I can't imagine anything more comforting than to feel the warmth of his hand on mine. To look over and know with just that small gesture, it means he loves me no matter what and is by my side through anything.

Derek is simply my favorite. I'd rather be with him cuddled on the couch with our puppies than anywhere else in the world. I love waking up next to him every morning and falling asleep next to him every night. I love that I get to be by his side for the rest of eternity.

Most I just love him. Everything about him. He is the best thing in my life and I could not be more grateful to call him mine.

Welcome to the family Molly!!!!!!!!

A week ago we took a little trip over to the St. George Animal Shelter. I'm not sure why I had wanted to go again since the first time I left in tears over how sad it was. But alas, we went anyway.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by this adorable little floppy eared girl with bows in her hair. We couldn't get over how cute she was. We decided to take her outside and play with her for a few minutes. As soon as I sat down, she immediately jumped into my lap and straight into our hearts. We knew she was going to be part of our family.

So without further ado, here's Molly(and a few pictures of Charlie because he was just being so adorable)

I was trying to get her to lay on her back, she wasn't having it

Charlie sits so well for pictures

and loves having his belly rubbed

Molly was afraid of the camera and kept trying to run away

She was seriously being a little diva about pictures

but she is still adorable and we love her

Molly is a shi-poo mix and is about 5 years old. Someone originally brought her to the shelter and she was adopted by a family. They brought her back after a few days saying there were family issues and they couldn't keep her. She is a little skittish around us still but I think it's because she has been passed around a bit. She is well groomed but no one has ever taken care of her teeth. They are so bad and it breaks my heart. We are getting her a dental cleaning as soon as possible since she doesn't want anything to do with us brushing her teeth. Molly loves to cuddle with us or curl up on a towel on the floor. She rarely ever barks and it just as sweet as can be. I'm sure she thinks Charlie is crazy but they are learning to love each other.

We are so happy we were able to get Molly and give her a furrever home. Welcome to the family Molly Griffin!!!!

Ode to the A.B.E

What is A.B.E? The alphabet? Some kind of code word?

How about a bestie friendship? Right!

A=Ashlee: I've known this woman since the very beginning of 8th grade. I thought she was Hispanic(she still hates me for that), and she thought I was a floozy because my shirt was a little low cut. Little did we know that it was the start of a beautiful friendship. We bonded over our sewing class and the fact that the teacher had a bald spot on the back of her head. We were inseparable all the way up though high school and have remained besties ever since.

B=Brady: Brady and Ashlee have been friends since they were like months old. Literally. They have grown up just a few houses away from each other and are still there to this day. Brady and I initially met probably in jr. high. I don't even remember. All I know is that Brady HATED me. We've come to the conclusion that it was because he felt like I was taking Ashlee away from him. Throughout the years we never really hung out or even talked. However once Brady came home from his mission, an instant friendship was formed and we've been besties ever since.

E=Emily: That's me. The last part of the trio.We don't really need to know more about me because well, it's me. We know me.

These two are my breathes of fresh air. No matter the situation or what we are doing, we can find humor in everything. We have so many inside jokes, half that we don't remember, that we still quote on a daily basis. We can text each other one word and the other person is cracking up. We have more fun together than most and we love it that way. Our bestie birthday traditions are legendary and we always try to go over the top every year.

I know that I can always go to these guys no matter what and they are always there for me. We've been through all sorts of different things together and our bond just keeps going stronger. Our last big hurrah happened this past weekend. Ashlee and Brady came down to St. George to help us move into our home. We have an amazing, fun last weekend together before we had to say our goodbyes.

Watching them drive away was definitely one of the hardest parts of this move aside from saying goodbye to our families. I couldn't stop crying and my heart had it's final heartbreak as the last link to our home faded into the review mirror. I know our bestie-ship is never going to end. We will be in constant contact with each other and are going to visit whenever we can. We're going to continue our Halloween tradition and watch Hocus Pocus all together at the same time even though we're far apart. We are going to survive being so far apart.

Real Friendship Knows No Distance

I love you guys forever.

5 Days

We move in 5 days people.

We're excited yet nervous but I'm sure that's normal. I can't wait to be there but I'm not ready to leave here. I'm ready to be on our own but not ready to leave my family. I'm ready to have a house full of space but will surprisingly miss our little bedroom. I'm ready to have lots of people come visit us but it's going to break my heart not to see my mom every day or have my besties just a few blocks away.

I know all these feelings are normal but moving is hard. This is the town where we met, where we fell in love. This is the town where I met my besties. This is where I really grew up and got to know myself. This town is our home.

Now St. George will be our home. We'll make new memories there. New adventures will happen and we'll enjoy every minute of it. Nothing however, will compare to the family and friends we have here. Our lives are changing and we just have to hold onto each other for the ride.

So where does that leave us? With 5 days. 5 days to finish packing. 5 days to keep working. 5 days to make all the final arrangements and have everything ready down there for us. 5 days to spend every possible minute with our friends and family that we can. 5 days to say our goodbyes. 5 days until I cry the whole drive down to our new home.

To everyone we don't get to see before we go, we love you and will miss you.

I know it's not goodbye forever, just goodbye for now.

We're Gonna Make This Place Our Home

Whelp, we did it. We are now homeowners. At the tender ages of 24 and 22, we have officially bought our first home.

I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are for this. This little place is all ours. Our own space to do with what we please. For this being our first house though, it was relatively an easy process for us. We hit one snag through the whole thing and even fixing that was a breeze.

We are so lucky to have worked with the people that we did and we are beyond thankful for their help through everything. Shout out to Josh at Wells Fargo in Lindon, and Walter from Fidelity Real estate in St. George. We couldn't have done it without them. Also a huge major shout out to my parents for their support through this whole thing. We couldn't have done it without them either.

We have lots of plans for this little place. So many things to take it from a house to a home. We move down there May 16th and can't wait for this adventure to begin.

WE OWN A HOUSE!!!!!

 

 

Growing Up

We're slowly, officially becoming adults. It's a slightly terrifying fact but a true one non the less. Some BIG changes our coming our way soon. Hopefully all of them are great ones. Once everything falls into place, you will all be updated.

We also bought a couch. Our second "adult" purchase. The first one was our T.V. Owning our own stuff is AWESOME! Now we just need some place to call our own and put it all.

As Of Late

As of late, we have been doing a whole lot of NOTHING. Winter is not my favorite season. It's cold, gray, and everyone either has a cold, is getting over a cold, and is coming down with a cold. COLD. COLD. COLD.

A few highlights from the month of January:
Celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Marriage is AWESOME.
Went to Washington again. Love Seattle. The Space Needle may be my new BFF. Trina cooked me lots of BACON. And GELATO is to die for.
We had our first Harry Potter marathon of the year. That happens about every 3 months in our house. TRADITION!
I'm back to working one job. WORD.

A few low lights from the month of January:
SINUS. INFECTION. It won't go away.
Only working one job. LESS MONEY. Boo
Having to leave Washington. I cried.
Almost running out of fruit snacks. TRAGIC

We're pretty boring here in the Griffin household. We enjoy curling up in bed with our puppy and Netflix. Monk is on all the time and occasionally Toddlers and Tiaras when I can convince Derek to watch it. We've been enjoying more time together being stupid, laughing our heads off, having heart-to-heart talks and finishing it all up with our new addiction, Dr. Pepper. Okay, MY new addiction but still.

Wonder what February will bring?