3 years

It's been three years since Lewis and I tied the knot and sealed (literally 😉) the deal on our marriage. We have loved the way we've been able to grow and learn together. There have been happy, sad, hard, stressful, exciting, frustrating, and joyous times throughout our life together so far. But we have loved it all. At least we're able to go through all those times together.

In the last three years, we've:

- each completed our undergraduate degree

- moved twice (once to another place in Provo and now to Columbus)

- traveled to Europe, the Bahamas, Texas, Idaho, California, Chicago, Vegas, St. George, Wyoming, and Hawaii

- watched (almost too) many episodes of castle, wipeout, chopped, and cupcake wars

- gone through 3 graduate school program interviews. Actually only Lewis did the interviews but I was there in spirit

- applied for new jobs

- had a baby!!

We look forward to the ways our life will change again in the next few years. Hopefully all still good and happy ways!

To celebrate our love (getting mushy here), we were able to go out on a 5 hour date, thanks to my mom who drove all the way from Michigan to watch baby Lena. We went to the state fair in Columbus where we won an animal for Lena.

We "hiked" to a hidden waterfall park only a few minutes from our house.

After that, we headed to dinner at a steakhouse and then a little stroll through the streets of downtown Dublin with a dessert stop at jeni's ice cream. We were able to talk about how our lives have changed since we got married and how we hope we'll continue to change and get better.

To end the night, we came home and watched a few episodes of castle (duh!) with my mom before we all went to sleep.

Overall I'd say it was a fun day, to celebrate a fun 3 years!

I love my perfect (for me) husband. Can't wait to grow old together.

St. George

Just this past weekend, Lewis and I were able to take a little get-away to St. George. Without a baby.

It was our first time leaving Lena for more than a few hours and we were a little nervous. But we knew that she was in good hands. We left her with Clark and Alicia, my brother and sister-in-law, and we just knew that they would take the absolute best care of her. They adore her. And she sure has fun when they're around. We missed Lena while we were gone, but Alicia and Clark kept us fully informed on what and how she was doing. Complete with picture updates via text. She sure had fun without us.

A few weeks ago, Lewis found out that Brian Regan was coming to perform at the Tuachan in St. George. I LOVE Brian Regan. And Lewis has always known that. I'm always quoting him or making him watch some of his skits. I was so happy and appreciative when Lewis said he wanted to buy us tickets to go see him.

We left Lena with Alicia on Friday afternoon and started our little trek to southern Utah. The plan when we got there was to go out for a nice romantic dinner. We looked up information on some of the best restaurants in St. George and found Sakura, a hibachi Japanese restaurant. Jumped right on that plan. Lewis had never been to a place where they cook right in front of you, so we made sure he enjoyed it!

The only bad  thing about these places? They throw shrimp at you to see if you can catch it in your mouth. Even if you don't like shrimp (like me), and you even tell them you don't like shrimp, they just say that they don't care and they throw it to you anyways. I've mastered the fake "I'm trying to catch it but it just always seems to miss my mouth" act.

After dinner, we headed to the show. It was so funny. The opening comedic act and Brian Regan were well worth the money and the trip.

the Tuachan stage.

After the show, we went to Smiths to buy all the supplies that we'd need to roast marshmallows. We just forgot to bring a flashlight. So at 11:00 at night, the fire pit was hard to find and decided to put this idea on the back burner. The next morning, we hit the outlet malls, grabbed some lunch and headed home. Lewis asked me to drive since he was tired of being behind the wheel. He'd driven to Vegas and back just a few days before this trip. So I gladly took the wheel! While he took a much needed and deserved nap.

Both the trip there and the trip back were filled with laughs, road trip games, and just good quality time spent together.

We decided we're doing this every year.

ode to my siblings

So yesterday was national siblings day? Who knew. Well, a lot of people actually knew. Shouldn't each sibling get their own day, just like mom and dad have their own day? We don't have a "parent's day" where we just celebrate them both at once. They get their own! Should the siblings? I'm just blabbing. In honor of my sibling, I thought I'd post some fun memories of all of us. Most of these pictures were before any of us were married, so they're pretty old! We don't always get along, and I'm sure most of that is my fault, but I still love these guys (and gal - if you count Alicia. She counts as my sister!) with all my heart.

We sure have had a few laughs throughout the years. And hopefully many more laughs to come.

And the most recent sibling pictures of the day. The only reason why we all look so good is because mom and dad paid us to smile. Notice in the pictures above, there aren't too many smiles!

[they didn't actually pay us to smile. thought i'd throw that out there in case someone actually thought it was true]

Sure love my family!

[I think I'm going to start a sibling day for each of my siblings. So we'll have a Todd's Day, Steve's Day, Clark's Day, and Alicia's Day. Only seems fair since mom has a Mom's Day and dad has a Dad's Day. Don't want the siblings to feel under appreciated.]

kisses

A few weeks ago, sweet little Lena learned a new trick.

And it melts our hearts every time.

Dad gets kisses before he leaves for work, when he comes home, and before bed (if she's not too sleepy).

Mom gets kisses when she remembers to ask.

And even her new toy panda gets kisses. She was hesitant at first, but warmed up to him after a few days.

Lena will even give high fives, is starting to clap (intentionally), and wave good-bye.

Keep learning sweet Lena!

photo challenge day 25

Hands.

Little fat ones.

holding my baby

holding dad's hand

Typical

A typical texting conversation while I nurse Lena to sleep.

photo challenge day 6

Silhouette.

Lewis was a good sport for this one. He went outside with Lena to be my model. I'm slowly learning how to take silhouettes. Some of these pictures didn't turn out quite like complete silhouettes, but I still like the way they turned out.

Here are how some of the pictures turned out when I edited them on my computer. More silhouette-like.

photo challenge day 2

What you wore today.

my wedding ring

It's hard to remember to put it on since the last few months of pregnancy and the first few months of Lena's life I never wore it. So it's worth documenting when it's actually on.