chris the braid champion

this is the result of our monday night activity. my head massage turned into a hair lesson and i'm a liiiiittle bit proud of my husband's handiwork. it's a good feeling knowing that our future little girls will have a dad who can help with their hair on sunday mornings haha ;) 

we finished finals, bought a car, and changed the blog

chris snapped this picture right after i doodled on his hand. it was during finals week and stress levels were up in the sky. not only did we have our tests but we were also trying to buy a car (not exactly the best timing). for two newbies, trying to figure out insurance and registration and all of that adult stuff made things even more tense. chris was feeling a little down about our situation so i told him i loved him via hand writing and i sent him this video thinking that it might cheer him up. turns out i underestimated the power of marshmallows and i was accused of being unfair for showing it to him in the library ;) but we studied hard, we pushed through our tests, and now we have a cute little toyota that runs so all went well!

the other day was our 4 month anniversary. we were super romantic and got our new car checked out at the auto shop. while waiting, we stumbled across this wall. yet again, it had been kind of a stressful day worrying about money and adult stuff so it provided some relief to take some silly pictures. chris put up with a lot that day and i am grateful for his patience. i guess what all of this is trying to say is most days it feels like we're still kids but when life comes at you, you have to open the door and invite it in for cookies and milk. thankfully, having someone by your side makes it a bit easier, especially when that person is chris.

p.s. my little space on the internet changed a little bit. i've been wanting to do it since we got married since this blog is no longer just about me but it remains just a way to keep family updated. now it feels more like "us" :)

bits and pieces of wife life

-part of being an animation wife means the past four movies we've seen at the theater are: Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, Kung Fu Panda 3, and Zootopia (twice). i'm definitely not complaining since they were all entertaining! thanks to chris, i'm learning to appreciate the beauty and textures of every single frame ;) but this new world does make me laugh a little because it's so different from what i'm used to. my brother and his wife only consider action packed movies when picking movies to go see haha and my family would rarely go see animated movies as a kid. but i also have to add...

-Zootopia really was incredible. you know it is when you go see it with thirty animation students and they give the movie a standing ovation AND chris has absolutely z e r o criticism.

^stole this from one of chris' friends.

-that feeling when your husband invites a friend to see your apartment and you know that there are dishes in the sink and the couch is covered in homework but you smile anyways. i now understand why my mom always made us clean the living room before people came over. i get it now.

-i tried making a cream sauce the other day. chris got excited i was experimenting and decided to help. the whole thing ended with us getting our favorite burritos from down the street.

-chris' brother was in town and he wanted to go to this restaurant called sushi burrito. as much as i love burritos, i'm a little bit of a purist when it comes to sushi so i set my expectations really low. like, i didn't have any at all. good news though! it was decently good and i would go again if someone paid for me.

 

-chris: (gazing at me lovingly) you are so beautiful. me: you have egg on your face.

-there's a new temple in town but before it opened, chris and i went to the open house on the last possible day and it really was as beautiful as everyone said.

-after having another laptop give up on me a few months ago, chris surprised me with a new one the other day. i was so surprised, all i said was "what?" but i'm a happy girl now :)

-we're going to japan in august!! we saved some money from our wedding budget and are spending it on a late honeymoon. we've already picked out the restaurants we want to visit so i'd say we have our priorities straight ;)

-it makes me happy that chris makes good dinners. it's usually an asian fusion of some kind with avocado on the side, which i have no complaints about!

-it made my wifey heart proud when chris told me he now loves kale.

-being married pushes me to be the best person i can be. i'm definitely a work in progress.

one year ago - then and now

March 7th marked a year since our first date so I decided to re-create it. We went on the same hike except this time we held hands, Chris wasn't awkward, and we saw lots of mountain sheep (ya know, key differences).

Thank goodness this time around didn't end with a "Well, thanks for a good time."

"Yeah! Let's do it again sometime."

"Yeah...(but in my head I'm thinking we're just gonna be good friends)" 

I love you Chris. Happy one year awkwarddateversary. 

I married his family and their hobbies

A few weeks ago I went to Colorado for the first time! We (and by that I mean Chris, his sister, and his dad) drove to Ouray [pronounced your-ay] on a Wednesday. We stopped to get dinner at a run down Mexican restaurant and apparently, I was convinced that sitting in the car for six hours would make me starving so I ordered a ginormous meal. I ate half of it and the rest sat in the car...and then the fridge...and then, after a few bites, the trash can. But I digress.

Last summer Chris asked me if I wanted to go ice climbing during the winter. I jokingly said that I would if we were still dating. Ha. Chris' dad has some doctor friends who are ice climbing junkies so they get a big group together and go every year. So I added my newbie self to the mix. Once we got to Colorado, our days looked like this: Wake up. Eat a huge breakfast that we didn't have to prepare. Ice climb. Eat lunch. Ice climb. Come back. Play hearts until our hands our shaky and we can't grip our cards. Sleep. Repeat. After the second morning, my body was like "whaaaaat are you doooing to meeeeeee." Maybe I should've trained or something? We took a fancy camera with us but once we got to the climbing area, we realized we left the memory card. In Utah. So iPhone photos it was! Enjoy the over filtered, pure high quality snapshots ;)

 ^setting up. felt utterly useless during this part but i was more than happy to leave the tying/knotting of our lifesaving ropes to the experts.

 ^yay for doctor friends :)

^Friday morning was crowwwded. It's hard to tell but there are ropes going down about every six feet. the little red person at the top is Chris!

It's terrifying feeling like the only thing preventing you from dropping 80 feet are your two axes and crampons. Yes, there's a rope you're dangling from and it's similar to rock climbing and rappelling but...it's different! My form was all over the place but somehow, I made it to the top on multiples routes. Only took me fifty years but I was still pleased with myself. When Chris saw the giant purplish-green bruises on my knees, he explained to me yet again that I wasn't supposed to bang my knees against the ice. Logically, I knew that but mentally, I needed to know that something other than two little axes and flimsy crampons were supporting all of my weight.

 ^the awkwardness is tangible. 

^Chris doing a mixed route. thanks to global warming, there wasn't as much ice this year but that didn't stop people. nope, not at all. 

^it's a pretty good feeling to get to the top. just saying. 

^Colorado, you are beautiful.

^just a few photos of Ouray. such a little, quaint touristy town with laid back hours ;)

Overall, it was a great trip! Despite the stress and mountain of homework I came home to, it was worth it. And although I don't think it will become my passion, I'm excited for next year!

celebrating the day of love

 ^^this wasn't the Japanese dinner I made but it was a great dinner Chris made over the holiday weekend! Sausage, kale, and tomato over spaghetti squash is soooo good.

Since Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday this year, we made the entire weekend a celebration! Well, sort of. Since we had plans to go to Colorado the following week, we had a lot of homework we had to do in advance so we celebrated a little each day :) On Saturday morning Chris went for a run and came back with a little something he held behind his back. I was so excited when it was a succulent! The succulent will last so much longer than flowers, plus it’s really cute. Last year at this time, I wasn’t in a very good place. I felt out of place after being away for a year and a half, lonely, and wasn’t very happy. My best friend Jess gave me a succulent for Valentine’s Day with a little card that said “Love doesn’t succ.” Getting another succulent this year but this time from my husband (!!) made me realize how much happier I am now. Not just because I’m married (although it is pretty great) but because I’ve grown and learned a lot this past year. I like where I’m at right now much more than last year and guess what? Love doesn’t succ ;)  

With the succulent came a cute card and tickets to the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art!  Saturday was the last day of the exhibit and Chris knew that I had been wanting to go. Naturally since it was the last day, it was packed but it was worth it. As we walked along the exhibit, Chris would admire the technique of the art while I read every caption plaque explaining the historical context of when it was painted. We appreciated the exhibit in our own ways ;) 

On Sunday, I made a Japanese dinner. We had planned on taking some over to a friend since his wife just had hip surgery but we ended up eating dinner together! We had pictured a nice, romantic dinner just the two of us on our first Valentine’s Day together but it was so much fun sharing dinner. It made our day of love more meaningful and memorable than it would’ve been with just the two of us. 

Even though it was a three day weekend, our holiday Monday was spent doing homework with a short study break to go get ice cream. It was lame but we redeemed ourselves by watching Bridge of Spies that night. If you like history, Tom Hanks, and thought provoking movies, watch it. 

I don’t really feel the need to get all mushy but basically, I love Chris. He makes me laugh, loves me even when I’m grumpy, and eats as many fries as I do. The end.

just a little bit of nothing and everything

^^just on our way to school together on a snowy morning^^

Last time I tried this, I blogged three times and then stopped. No promises that this time will be any different. Even though I read and write all day at school, I miss writing. I miss having an online journal of my life with pictures (although I am still very attached to my paper journal). I love looking back on old posts on my blog and remembering events that seemed so big and stressful at the time or all of the craziness and fun of college. So I am trying again.

The past 8 months (I didn’t blog for two years so that’s not that bad, right?) have been busy. Like, I-got-married-busy. One day I will write the blog version of our story--the kind that only highlights the good and none of the emotional ups and downs (nobody needs to read that ha). But according to my mom, I have a realistic bone the size of a femur, so here are a few thoughts from a recently married college kid. 

Some days I look at Chris and think, “are we really married?” It’s still a little surreal that I made the big decision and picked the man who I want to spend the rest of my life with, but it hasn’t even been two months yet so I’m sure it will sink in eventually ;) For now, It’s the never ending sleepover with my best friend that my mom never let me have when I was a kid and IT IS GREAT. Another great thing? Having our own apartment. The walls are cinder block painted stark white, the carpet is specially made to hide stains, and my grandparents lived in the exact same complex 50 years ago but it’s special to us. It’s our place. It’s weird but I like knowing that the dirty dishes in the sink are ours and not a roommate’s. I like being able to keep my towel in the bathroom. I also feel a greater responsibility in keeping our little home clean (sorry past roommates) and I have carried on the tradition of Saturday morning chores, something Chris has lovingly agreed to do with me :)

I pack Chris’ lunch and he (usually) makes the bed. We switch off doing laundry and rotate chores. He makes dinner for me when I get home from class late in the evening. Since we are both going to school, working as TAs, and have homework, I have tried to divide responsibility. That might sound selfish and the wife part of me feels like I should be the one doing all things house, but I know that that kind of pressure (which I put on myself) would stress me out. So for the sake of both our sanity, I’m trying to keep things “equal.” We’re both learning that we have no idea how to be a wife and a husband (how would we?!) so it’s been a  learning process with both laughs and tears. A few months ago we didn’t know how to be each other’s fiance either and I’m sure we’ll go through this again when we become parents.

I’m glad Chris is the one who I get to figure out life with. His patience reminds me daily to try and be kinder and all kinds of better. For that, I am so grateful. 

ps. I know today is Valentine's Day but our V-day weekend isn't over yet so that will give me another reason to write again!