Moving day!

When we got married, we found the nicest place we could find in dirty, old down-town Salt Lake that didn't cost a billion dollars. Let me tell you, it was hard. But we finally found citifront which were new apartments for reasonable rent. We got the cheapest apartment they had!

Our apartment was small. Like seriously you guys, SMALL. We didn't need a ton of room and we loved that little place. But it was tiny. TINY! Very little room for anything more than we already had. So when we started purchasing stuff for the baby, our tiny apartment filled up quickly.

We knew all along we were going to move so little lady could have her own room and we could have some breathing space. We talked a lot about leaving down town and living where rent wasn't so high and neither was the homeless population. But we felt right about staying close to Nathan's school and work. It's super convenient that he can walk or take the trax most days. Plus, we do love this dirty little city.

We ended up realizing the cheapest and nicest 2-bedrooms around were in our complex! So we asked if were any opening up in the next month or so. Oh, there was one opening up. The apartment DIRECTLY across from ours. Not down the hall. Not next door. DIRECTLY ACROSS. Like.. 8 feet. Our peep holes lined up (That sounded dirty). So all we had to do was shove our stuff across the hall. It was amazing!!!!

So last night was finally moving night. We signed the contract transfer at 5 and started moving. We were done by 7:30. Now when I say done, I just mean we got all our crap into the new apartment. The organizing is a whole different story that may take me many moons to tell.

We are IN LOVE with our new place! It's still nothing massive. (City rent is redonkulous). But it's SO MUCH BIGGER than what we crammed into before. I have counter space!! And drawers in my bathroom! And a full sized bathroom mirror! And we have a full-sized washed and dryer. Not the tiny stack-able ones! We have lots of windows and lots of space. We have a room for our baby and a guest bathroom. Our bedroom is a bit bigger and we have our own bathroom! It is absolutely perfect.

Hanging out with baby M in her new room! She was pleased.

View from the front door. Kitchen is off to the left as well as the guest bathroom. Baby's room is on the left, balcony in the middle, and our room on the right.

DO YOU SEE THE COUNTER SPACE?!!? THERE IS SPACE TO PUT STUFF ON THE COUNTERS!!! I HAVEN'T HAD THAT IN A YEAR!!! I literally had to mix bowls in the sink when cooking and baking in the old apartment. Also, washer and dryer in the kitchen is kinda weird but I can manage.

Here's half of our room. Taking pictures of bedrooms is hard. Our closet looked super small at first and it scared me but it actually is super deep and long. I was impressed.

Here's the view from the front door as of this morning. Told you there will be a lot of organizing done. You should see the baby's room. I think half of our apartment got thrown in there just so we could shut the door and not look at the mess.

If you'll notice the sink, you will see that I simply transferred the dirty dished from one apartment's sink to the other. It was lovely. Also, there's my breakfast in the left corner.

When all is said and done, I've gotta say the best part about this new place is no more poopie balcony! Those same dang pigeons from last summer had already started to build a nest on our balcony again, no matter how many times we destroyed it! Our new porch is a beautiful, crap-free zone.

Our Valentine's trip according to my iPhone

Our little weekend getaway was so much fun! Here's what it would look like if you were my iPhone.

My favorite flower :) He gets them for me every year!

Oh you know, just taking awkward mirror pictures when we got to our hotel.

I wanted to buy these for Katie so bad. Mini wiener dog jewelry boxes with bedazzled ears!!!

Driving around Cedar City

iHop breakfast!

Oh you know.. SIXTY DEGREES!!!!!!

Chilli's for dinner. This picture makes me laugh. I like the beam of light on his face.

Banana and Nutella time!

My Valentine's presents! (Besides all the candy). Nathan did GOOOOOD. He was so proud of that purse. He picked it out all on his own and it's exactly what I wanted!

Instead of the temperature, check out the mileage. My little red baby hit 100,000 miles!!! She is only a few years old, but has been a commuter car since the moment I got her. Such a trooper. I was glad we were having an adventure when we hit 100k. Made it more exciting and less depressing about my car getting older and going down in value.

Another one bites the dust

 Well.. biting the dust isn't exactly the right way to say it. But another cousin if off to serve the Lord! Dallen will be serving in the California, San Bernardino mission and speaking Spanish. So excited for him! He is going to be amazing.

Great camera-eye-contact, Jessica.

Lots of cousins!

Proud grandparents!

It was another great night filled with food and family. And then it ended with this picture. The end!

Valentine's Weekend

Nathan and I decided last year that we would always switch off planning Valentine's and Anniversary each year. Last year he had Valentine's so I took it this year! I thought a lot about how this was our last Valentine's day without babies and I wanted to do something that would be hard to do next year. So I decided to plan a little weekend trip! I didn't want to go far since Nathan had to be back to work on Monday and I didn't want to spend the whole weekend driving. I also needed to go somewhere warm. Like.. bad. So I decided on Cedar City. I had never been there before this past summer when we visited Amanda and Brad there for the 4th of July. They were only there for a few weeks and I am glad we visited because we fell in love with that cute little town and I am so glad we went there this weekend! 

I wanted to completely surprise Nathan so I packed up all our stuff and hid it in the trunk before he got off work. Then we just got on the road and started driving. It was so funny to watch him try to figure it out. We stopped for dinner in Provo and I finally spilled the beans. He was so excited! He works so hard and he really deserved a weekend away. He is very good at relaxing.

 We loved our hotel room! Besides the bedspread, it was so cute. Big and clean. I was worried because I had gotten such a good deal, but it was great. We ate lots of Nutella that night (it's a vacation tradition) and watched Independence Day. Seriously, we did. It was on TV and we started watching it as a joke and 2 hours later we were celebrating Will Smith's victory!

The next day we slept through the free hotel breakfast and headed to iHop before exploring Main Street. It is so adorable!!! So many cute little antique, handmade, and vintage shops. We spent forever just exploring and playing around. And maybe buying a few presents for ourselves. The weather was GORGEOUS. Sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, 60 degrees. We walked around with no coats and could not be happier.

Then we got ice cream at the old-fashioned ice cream and candy shop. It was so cute I wanted to cry. The workers probably thought I was a weirdo.

Then we went out on a nice, long drive with the windows down. (THE WINDOWS DOWN!! AHHH!) Nathan and I are weird in how much we love going on drives. It was refreshing to drive around Cedar City because there was so many new areas to explore. When you have lived in down town Salt Lake forever, you run out of places to explore. This was wonderful. And we finally got to play with our camera again. When we bought it this summer, we took so many pictures! When life started up again in the Fall, we have started slacking big time. It was fun to experiment again. Even if we are incredibly amateur. We don't mind :)

I was so content to just stand outside in the sun. It felt like medicine.

We wanted little lady to be in on the action. She was on the trip too! (Believe me, I felt her in my ribs).

 We went back to the Hotel so Nathan could do a little "homework" and I could take a nap. We headed to Chili's for our fancy dinner. Guys, Chili's is my favorite place in the world. I don't even know why I love it so much. We went back to the hotel for dessert and endlesss hour of Friends watching while Nathan ate the rest of his hot wings appetizer in bed. Gross.

We headed back Sunday morning and got back to Salt Lake in the afternoon. It was gloomy and cold and looked like this.

We were sad.

But it was a wonderful weekend! Such a great break from real life. We got to enjoy the sunshine and just be together. We talked about how fun it is to just do nothing together. I hope that never changes. So glad to be married to my best friend! Happy Valentine's day sweetie!

This happened last weekend..

We celebrated Marshmellow's birthday!

We took the trek down to Provo to take the Kein's out to dinner and go bowling.

We freaking gorged ourselves at Pizza Pie and didn't regret it at all.

Then we went bowling and we all let Marshall win since it was his birthday. It had nothing to do with his ridiculous bowling skills.

(I would also like to point out that this pregnant lady who had to bowl very strangely in order to not hurt herself still beat Jessica. It just needed to be said).

 Aunt Jessi and little lady!

Reply to My Valentine

We are in a hotel room at the Days Inn in Cedar City right now on our Valentine’s Day trip that Kaitlin planned. Kaitlin thinks I'm sitting here doing my homework right now. She showed me her Valentines post for me on our blog and I thought that I would reply to it. I guess when she makes her blog into family books, I want my kids to know that I love Kaitlin as much as she loves me. I am the happiest I have ever been in my life right now. I owe my happiness to Kaitlin.

Ever since I met you, Kaitlin, my life has continued to get better. It’s funny to look at where we are at now- married, pregnant with a little girl, you are graduated, I’m going through school, and we’re living in downtown SLC together- and to think of when we first met. I had no idea that when I met you at Haagen Dazs that you would be my wife and make me the happiest man alive. You have done so much for me! You have stuck with me through thick and thin; and we've had a lot of thicks and a lot of thins.

You have been such an amazing example for me. I have always looked up to you and I still do. You are incredible at everything you do. You have been the perfect wife. You work so hard and do everything you can to make me happy. You keep me going and keep me motivated. There is no way I’d be able to go to school full time, work full time, and be a husband full time, AND soon-to-be father if I didn't have you to stand by me we I need you, to lift me up when I get discouraged, to counsel me when I don’t know what to do, and to love me through it all. I appreciate everything you do. You are such a sweet and thoughtful woman. You worked your way deep into my heart when I met you and that’s where I have always kept you.

Every day I think of how thankful I am for you. I think of how wonderful my life is because I have my Kaity. Even when we have hard days, I am so grateful that I can lie down next to you every night and know that we will always be together. We officially started our family almost a year ago now and I always look forward to the next day with you. You make life so fun and exciting! You are my best friend and I am so lucky that I get to be with you every day. It feels like we have had so many adventures in the past and have been through so much already, but we are only just beginning. As we celebrate our last Valentine’s Day without any kids, well, none that can do more than kick you in the stomach, I think of how much more enjoyable life is going to get when we do have them. We have so much that we get to do together and I look forward to it all. You are going to be an outstanding mother. I have never seen someone more prepared and qualified to take care of children than you. I respect you so much and all that you have accomplished in your life; with or without me.

I hope you always know how much I love you, sweetheart. I care about you so much. I want to do anything I can to make you as happy as you've made me. You are my love and my home. You will always be special to me and I will always be devoted to you. Happy Valentine’s Day, my Kaity!!