Very Little Is Needed To Be Happy

The past 7 weeks have been a new adventure.  You know how when things change, it's exciting! But it takes a while to get used to the change and find a new routine?  I've just been waiting for 7 weeks to feel like I've found that "routine".

Here is a look at my days..

Day #1: 

5:00 AM- my alarm has already been going off 15 minutes and I've hit snooze twice.  Eric's a pro at sleeping through it now.  I get out of bed to start my wake up routine because it takes me an hour to fully wake up and eat breakfast.  

5:50 AM- I kiss Eric goodbye and leave the house.  And I don't want to face the fact this time will change when it's time to scrape of the ice and snow. 

6:00 AM- start work! 

many things happen... #imanurse

6:30-7:00 PM- I get to leave work!  I come home to my amazing husband who makes the day that much better. He smooches me,  we usually unwind with parks and rec, dinner, I get to take a mental break then it's usually to bed if I have work the next day.

I'm working full time, so only 3 days a week. Sometimes I repeat day #1 two or three days in a row.  I don't mind it, but I have to stick to a work then sleep schedule strictly because who can function on anything less than 6 hours of sleep?!


Day #2:

My off day. Where I dream of having no alarm and relaxing all day.  But I am still finishing school!  "Hey, I thought you graduated?"  After I graduated the Associates nursing program I went straight into the online Bachelors program and did one semester.  Then I took some much needed time off after that from the Bachelors program and I'm back at it again.  I spend about 6-8 hours on my day off doing the projects and papers.  So it's been quit the adjustment working full time and school full time and I struggled A LOT with it in the beginning.  I asked Eric multiple times a week to remind me I should finish my bachelors in nursing.  It's been about 7 weeks now and I feel like I've slightly mastered it (some days more than others)...  But now its half way through the semester! I'll be done in April!  So I guess I have a little case of super-senioritis. (over 4 years of college will do that to you)

Eric's in school full time as well! He's gone to campus for classes, doing homework and a cub scout leader.  I kept waiting until things felt "easier" and we fell into a perfect routine.  But the excitement of getting to see one another and getting to spend time together is HUGE.  I wouldn't have it any other way right now.  I love how excited Eric gets when he realizes and says "Wait... you don't work tomorrow!"  And we get to stay in bed asleep together just a little longer that morning.  Or when I walk into the door after a way too long day and he still hasn't eaten dinner because he's been waiting for me.  I'm very grateful for the education I've already received.  It's a huge plus I love my job and it's rewarding.  

I've realized "very little is needed to be happy".  I'm reflecting on the past few weeks right now and I'm thinking that it has actually been alright and even fun.  I'm so grateful I get to go through adventures and new changes with my best friend.

Trip to St. George

We started our drive at 4am. I was actually proud of us getting on the road on time! We hit the road and at 6am we were starving and stopped one last time at Whataburger (a texas thing) for some breakfast. I can't believe how much we have spent in a car together since our marriage... It's about 100+ hours between our trips home to Texas and Eric's family moving to St. George. And did I mention we've done every drive straight through? So this trip was a breeze! We're pros. And who else better to drive hours with than a best friend? So easy and so fun. 

Eric drove 6 hours.
I drove 4 hours.
Eric drove 3 hours.
I drove 4 hours.
Eric drove 2 hours.
A complete 19 hour trip!
And we were in St. George.

This was a very relaxing trip for us. It seems like we did a lot, but it also feels like we hardly did anything we were so relaxed. That's how a vacation should feel! We stayed at my in-laws who we are so grateful for and enjoyed the pool and exploring.  We concluded St. George is awesome.  So many hikes to discover. We also enjoyed an evening at Tuacahn. We saw 'Sister Act' and oh was it hilarious! I was so impressed by how good the show was! Here are some pictures of Zion's National Park and adventures. 

I'm lucky Eric likes these adventurous things and that he makes me try it with him.. because I end up LOVING it. We took these Ace's and a Razor out on some sand dunes. I never flipped! I came around a curve one time to Eric's Ace flipped over HAHA

I've been in caves before but nothing like these! These Lava Tubes are at Snow Canyon State Park. They were a little challenging with some drops and narrow places that left me feeling a little shaky, but that feeling passed and the feeling of exploring set it and they were really fun! 

The way out! ^

I now drive by golf courses and exclaim "that looks like a fun golf course!!" HA. Guys, golf isn't boring... It doesn't have to be like what it is on tv and maybe I'm just weird, but I had a ton of fun! Probably because I only drove the golf cart around... Anyways, we had to see if we are cut out for golf! First clue if we were or not..  I had no idea there is a 'dress code'! I enjoyed watching Eric play and cheering him on! He wasn't too bad.. He could of been a lot worse haha. BUT THE VIEWS! This golf course is beautiful. The contrast of green with the red rock and mountains was very pretty. It was a beautiful day. Our new date idea is to go to a driving range! 

I loved the St. George temple. It is one of the oldest operating temples and beautiful inside and outside.. I feel so much happiness when I am inside any temple, especially with my eternal companion by my side. 

ZIONS NATIONAL PARK. We got here a little late in the day but I'm so glad we decided to go. Just the shuttle drive through the park is beautiful. We hiked The Narrows and they didn't disappoint. We spent about 6 hours there, but really you can spend days. 

Randoms of Summer

I feel like anytime I lose interest in my little blog or I haven't posted in months I owe an explanation. So then I have no idea where to start! I figured this type of post would help me gather my thoughts best for an update. Sorry if it still seems all over the place! 

Loving: This summer. It's been so good to us. We've been living the life in Texas and having a great time. Things haven't gone absolutely perfect, but I am so happy we chose to live in Texas for the summer. In a way it has felt like a laid back summer... Even though we worked/studied/took test a lot. Haha I guess that's when you know it's been a good summer-when you worked a lot but know it's still been fantastic! 

Home; Dallas, TX

Looking forward to: I remember writing a post a while back about feeling "stuck" living in Rexburg, so far away from family and wanting a change. But now, Eric and I have been talking about how much we are missing our home there and are looking forward to returning! So I guess this summer move has been really great for us! :) And also... that Idaho weather will be so much better.

Working: I spent about 3 hours working on my resume and I still don't feel like it's good enough :/ Does that sound silly? I am applying for a new nursing job in Rexburg that will be long term for me. Fingers crossed! 

Laughing at: My first experience being stung by a wasp. Last weekend we were by the pool and I was stung... if you don't bother them they won't bother you, right?! No, I stepped on it and experienced (what I thought) was the worse, intensifying pain for about 3 minutes. 

Eric is trying to calm me and saying "Let me take a look at it so I can put some ice on it" 

But I would not let him look and kept saying "It's going to be bad!!" (because hello, it hurt)

When I finally let him put ice on it I asked "How bad is it??" 

He said nonchalantly "Oh it's just a tiny red dot." 

WHAT I thought my toe was falling off. He started laughing at my reaction.. I was mad that he was laughing when I was in pain.. then we were both dying laughing. I was perfectly fine 10 minutes later (thank goodness I'm not allergic). 

Planning: Something on our to-do list at the beginning of the summer was take a few camping trips. We received all of our gear as a Christmas present this past year... But who goes camping in the middle of summer in Texas? No one sane. We have an AWESOME camping trip planned when we return to Idaho! We have a week before the semester starts to cram in Idaho hiking and camping. 

Excited: Before we return to Idaho we are stopping in St. George for a WEEK. We are so excited to explore there, do some fun hikes and spend time with Eric's family! 

Appreciating: Beautiful mornings. I admit, since marriage I turned into NOT a morning person... But I started working at a summer camp and I left each morning a little after 6 am and it was like the quietness and sunrise made up for it. 

A little sad at: We finished watching The Office. Honestly, for years I was never a fan. I tried watching it once or twice and couldn't get into it. Then something changed. I pushed through the first 2-3 episodes in season 2 and I fell in love with it! We love The Office family and the last episode I cried. We are those annoying people who quotes The Office and makes jokes now.

Making: A Fall bucket list, because if you say fall isn't your favorite season you know you're slightly kidding yourself. I love all the things Idaho has to offer in the Fall time.

Experiencing: The excitement for structure. I'm excited for our new routine to start. I can feel myself becoming more organized as the summer ends. I have already made a packing list for next week and a list of things to get done when we return to Idaho before the school year starts... Eric thinks I'm weird. 

Grateful for: My husband sticking by my side this summer! He is the best and I could elaborate much more in another post.. or maybe 5 other ones. I love him!

Realization: Well, I've realized a few things from writing this. We have loved this summer and Texas. But we can't wait to go back to Rexburg. I am ready for routine and structure. But I am going to miss how flexible the summer has been and the adventures we went on. Mixed feelings! haha 

Home Sweet Dome

There's just something about your home state- am I right? Or maybe it's our Texas pride :)

I've been living in Idaho now for four years and after getting married to Eric, who was also attending college (I've graduated) in Idaho, I figured we would be living there another 4 years! But plans can always change!

I explained in this post that Eric and I went to Texas for six weeks and helped his family
get ready to move and drive to St. George. Those six weeks were so fun.

After living out of our suitcases we are finally settling down for the rest of the summer... back in Texas!
After Eric had been working on the ranch the idea was presented to us to live on the
ranch (rent free) where Eric would continue working and I would look for a nursing job.

Honestly, when I dwell on thinking about living in Idaho when 98% of our family is in Texas, it makes us feel "stuck" and homesick. We have loved living in Idaho the first year of our marriage, but this is a very welcoming change for the next 3 months. I never thought we would have the opportunity to live on the ranch, but now it's definitely weird that we'll be living there and his family won't be there with us! Good thing my Mom lives here and so does Eric's brother with his sweet family!

The funnest part... We live in a Dome!

I would be surprised if you've seen these before haha! It is deceiving on the outside and actually has a lot of room! I can't wait to post pictures of the inside soon. It has two bedrooms, complete kitchen, w/d, a/c (a must in Texas heat) and 1.5 bath... with weird ceilings to get used to. I am super excited to have this be our own place and not live in an apartment complex surrounded by so many neighbors! Over the past six weeks Eric and I have both discussed how much we miss our little home in Rexburg, we will be returning to it in September and until then I'm excited to make our home here. 

Texas for a Month, St. George for a Weekend

(very long post ahead!) 

Story Time: 

Once upon a time it was Christmas 2014! Eric and I drove straight from Rexburg, Idaho to Dallas, Texas (our home state).. a 24 car ride. Never-mind that horrific long car ride because WE WERE SO EXCITED! And I didn't blog about any of our trip. It was a glorious two weeks home visiting both of our families because they live 30 minutes apart! 

Eric's family has lived on a large ranch for 16 years. Over the years I've been there many times for church activities and it's just known as the "Johnson Ranch". When we started dating we would go on four wheeler rides, fishing and horseback riding!  

The ranch has been for sale and when we were there for Christmas there was someone very interested and it looked like it was going to sale. We thought that may be the last time we would get to see the ranch and I took a ton of pictures- and didn't post any of them. oops. 

Then the ranch sold! With six weeks until the big move, our semester of school was ending. Eric was homesick + wanted to see the ranch once last time... But more importantly was looking for a full time job. Plans went into action quick! The new owner + manager of the ranch thought Eric was a great asset to the ranch- he already knew how to work all the machinery and tools and move cattle! Eric left right after our one year anniversary and started working full time on the ranch. Honestly, he's good at it. I admire Eric for his work ethic. He's not afraid of some sweat and to get extremely dirty. He grew up working there and he knows hard, long days of work.  

The exciting part was when I got to fly to Texas! Eric had already been there for three weeks when I got to join and be there for another three weeks. There was lots to clean out and 300+ boxes to pack! I'm really glad and grateful we had the opportunity to go! The day came to load the moving truck (took two days) and horse trailers. The caravan consisted of the moving truck and 3 other cars- pulling 2 horses, 4 dogs and a trailer of more things. With the stops for the horses to drink water and my two little nieces with us to get out to walk around, we did the drive in 24 hours to St. George, Utah! After being awake for 38 hours with 4-5 hours of sleep in the car we had made it to the new house and everything was unloaded! I caught up on glorious sleep.  

So I've never been to St. George... and I LOVED it!! The weather was awesome. I thought a lot of parts were pretty (I wasn't sure how I'd like the red rock and dirt). It looks like living there has so much to offer and would be a blast! We all enjoyed the weekend together. Every family member was there except for my brother in law serving a LDS mission in Washington! He was missed. It felt like a mini vacation/reunion hanging out with one another! I can't wait to go back for a visit.  

So what have we been up to the past 6 weeks?!

When I showed up my skin was pasty white from living in Idaho for too long and Eric was 49385729 shades darker already! 

Home in time for my Mom's 30th birthday! ;) She's the best and it was SO much fun surprising her- she had no idea I was coming to Texas. Even if she thought me calling her from the front porch was actually someone trying to break in... haha. We've had fun shopping trips and getting our nails done!

FINALLY REUNITED WITH MY HUSBAND AFTER 3 WEEKS! 

Sooo, three weeks is a long time. I felt I might go crazy.. I've never actually lived 'on my own', I've always had family, 5 other roommates or my husband to come home to! But we made it!! A lot of our nights looked like this. Eric dead tired after working a long day and making sweet time to facetime me. Or fall asleep.

After Eric picked me up at the airport and we annoyed every stranger there with our gushing over seeing one another, after we drove to surprise my mom, after we picked up whataburger (classic)... I thought we were headed to the ranch when Eric whips out our hotel key card for the night. I love this man. And what a great, unexpected surprise.

I was so ready to get my tan on when I got to Texas but it stormed EVERY day and was so dark and cloudy. Did you hear about the flooding in Dallas? The amount of rain and crazy storms was high! I don't remember any other time of year like this.  At least there's a beautiful rainbow after the storm passes! Then it dropped to like 65 degrees at the end of May.. what? I never got to jump in the pool.

Typical to wake up the next morning and a tree's down and the weather app consistently looking like that. 

Going for a four-wheeler ride in between rain storms to check out some streams filling up!

Mother's Day was perfect and I got to spend it with my favorites. We had a great dinner all together at my husbands home. My sister is in school at BYUI.. can you tell my mom missed her? Even though this evening was spent in the storm shelter as a storm came through and waiting for the tornado warning to be over, it was still so much fun!! 

PUPPIES EVERYWHERE! There were four that were found on their road abandoned. Seriously, who does that? My Mother in-law took them in to bathe and feed. I find comfort in knowing they each went to good homes, but oh they were so fun to have around and play with! 

Eric's family also has always had Australian Shepherds. Growing up my family also had one named Lizzie! They've had as many up to 9 at once. They are the BEST dogs! 

Typical hard, dirty day of work. 

Genius idea.. sell all of your furniture so you don't have to move any! This moving truck was filled from top to bottom, back to front with boxes. And it only took an hour to unload it all! 

Eric and our brother in law were in charge of driving the moving truck from Dallas, Texas to St. George, Utah... after only being able to go 20 mph up all the hills and mountains Eric needed a huge break and he's a little traumatized haha.. he doesn't care for Penny the Penske. 

Lots of pool time and family knockout basketball games in St. George!

I thought this welcome mat was very appropriate ;) 

All of my in-laws minus one who is on a LDS mission. They are a pretty awesome bunch! I lucked out!

We are back in our apartment in Rexburg... We're laughing because now it feels like we're on vacation because we're not living with 5-10 other people like we have been for the past 6 weeks haha! I love our life together and all of our family!! 6 days until my Mom comes to visit my sister and I in Rexburg! 

Year One Anniversary Pictures

Personally, I don't think the only formal photos you should take as a couple are your engagement and wedding photos. I was looking forward to taking pictures with Eric for like a month! We had the excuse to be affectionate- holding hands, kisses on the forehead, hugging-because there was a camera on us to document it! A few days before our anniversary a friend snapped some pictures for us and it was so fun to be able to laugh with one another, talk about the past year in between camera clicks and look into each others eyes and smile. During this day I felt like it was our anniversary, then it was nice to remember there was still more to come and celebrate. It was part of our little way to celebrate being married for the past year. Plus, these are for our posterity :)

Anniversary Weekend

Today is our wedding anniversary. Mostly yesterday, we celebrated being married for One Year. (six years being together). I can talk on and on about how fast the time has gone by or about the different memories we've made. 

I really am just so happy and grateful this man picked me. We have a been on a wonderful roller coaster this past year and when I stop to really think about it, there is no one else that I would rather be with, experiencing life and growing with one another. That's when in that moment I feel this immense amount of love for my husband and the life we have with one another. The first year was simply the best because I married my best friend; a man who is gentle, loving, understanding, kind and hilarious! He has kept me smiling and laughing. I look forward to this coming year and what ever it brings!

Yesterday we packed a lunch and drove to some hot springs to enjoy and relax- which was so nice! 

This was the only picture of the hot springs I took... because I feel awkward taking pictures of a bunch of people in pools wearing bathing suits. This one was mostly empty because it was HOT! I couldn't stand to be in it more than two minutes, and then I was only dipping my feet in it. 

We came home and cleaned up nice and headed to dinner! 

We went to a place that we've been hearing a ton about the past few months. Basically that it's pricy, but worth it because 'all you can eat steak'! We didn't call ahead or think about making a reservation, so that resulted in our 40 minute wait. That place is packed! We sat and chatted and drooled thinking about the delicious food. Once we were seated the rolls just kept coming, we ordered an appetizer (hello, super hungry) that was something else amazing and the dinner was so worth the wait because it was delicious. Eric had the all you can steak with a loaded bake potato and house salad. Technically you aren't aloud to share the steak... But he would cut a piece and slip it onto my plate- it was fantastic. I had a combo of chicken and steak fajitas, with black beans, spanish rice and all the great toppings. Eric finished his first steak and they brought out a second (which was considerably smaller that his first in the picture below). The second one was even better. It was so tender and juicy. Have I made you super hungry or what?? Bottom line... It was good! Check out Stockman's Restaurant in Idaho Falls.

Wedding Highlight: Cake and Food

The Bride's cake was simple and turned out beautiful and delicious. 

Vanilla cake, three teared, with flowers matching my bouquet and the rest of the wedding party. Who doesn't love a good wedding cake?? We saved the top layer to freeze. We were home in Texas for Christmas and not knowing when we would get to return again, we had a few bites and it was yummy! We also fed a piece to one another again,

 that time shoving it in each others faces :) 

Eric wanted the Groom's cake "manly" and in the shape of Texas. He was very pleased!

The cakes were a hit thanks to Eric's cousin! I am so grateful she agreed to do them. 

When it came to planning food this intimidated me. Food is expensive! For our wedding a caterer was out of question because it did not fit in our budget. How much food should you plan? How much are you willing to spend? What will be served? I would say our reception was designed to be for people to drop by to visit, celebrate, party with us and we wanted to provide some light food for them to snack on. I was making it a lot harder than it had to be! It ended up being simple, yet pretty. For food we served tasty mini sandwiches from Costco (that place is amazing all the time, but especially for weddings) and lots of finger foods. Including carrots, grapes, strawberries and cucumbers with dip provided. There was a wonderful group of ladies who volunteered to help in the kitchen! They made sure there was always enough food out on the tables! My bridesmaid put "to-go" boxes together for Eric and I to take with us after the reception back to the hotel. We didn't get a chance to eat anything at the reception (we were still full from our luncheon thank goodness). We did have food left over- but hey, it was healthy veggies and fruit that could be snacked on in the days to come and not a complete waste! 

Photography by Melissa Fullmer Photography