One Year Down and a Look Back...

Today is our one year anniversary. It’s surprising and marvelous every time I think about it. I can’t believe that this first momentous year has come and gone, slipping by moment by moment. We had a wonderful weekend celebrating, a detailed post that will have to wait. As a brief preview though, we had the best time ever. We always have fun together and love traveling together, but everything about our weekend went so smoothly and was filled to the brim and overflowing with joy and peace. I am seriously the luckiest girl in the world. To have such a husband as Mark, it takes my breath away! Now, after the conclusion of our blissful weekend, we have the rest of our lives and forever to look forward to. Sure, not every moment will be as joyful and peaceful as the past few days have been, but we'll be together. We’ll go through all the regular ups and downs of life that no one can avoid. There will be moments of pain and stress and disappointment, but with those and through those will come the moments of happiness and relief and celebration. I can’t even tell you how stoked I am to continue on this journey with Mark. We’re working each day at being better teammates and friends. He is my bestest friend, my confidant, my listening ear, my defender, my love. Wahoo for forever!!

For any readers who made it through the mushy stuff, good work. I'll try to keep the rest of this post "mushy-less." We'll see how it goes though. As part of our anniversary celebration (and due to the fact that I am still ridiculously behind on my blogging escapades), I wanted to take a look back at the last year by month, starting right after getting married (just the stuff I haven't blogged about yet.) It's been a crazy ride! So with that said... we'll start with the month of May 2009 (with just a quick insert for the very end of April).

End of April 2009

Mark and I were married on Saturday, April 25, 2009. Two days later, we drove all of our wedding presents, wedding memorabilia (i.e. my dress), some donated furniture, and most of my storage bins that had been in my parents shed since high school graduation (I’m not even going to embarrass myself by telling how many we had… let’s just say that it was a lot, and we left at least 5 more there that we just have no room for in our small apartment). We had to rent a Budget truck to fit all of that stuff, which was really quite difficult. If you haven’t ever driven one, they’re hard to get used to at first. And since it became more pricey with each additional driver, poor Mark ended up driving the whole way (yes, that’s about 13 hours behind the steering wheel of a truck that rocks and reels with each gust of wind or large truck passing). I just remember that the sound of the truck was loud while we were driving and our seats were much farther apart than a normal car, so conversation was trickier than usual. We kept up good spirits though.

We ended up not getting home until late that evening, and since we hadn’t been sure when we would get home, we hadn’t gotten anyone to help us unload at that time of night. We live in a fairly good neighborhood, but not somewhere you want to leave a good portion of your earthly belongings outside on the street, across from a jiving 7-Eleven. So, we slowly but surely hauled in all of our loot. It took us forever and we were so stinkin’ tired. Then came the dreaded tv stand that my parents had originally given Ashley and Dave, and they had kindly given to us when they moved for the summer. We absolutely love it, but I to this day have no idea how we lifted that thing up the stairs to our apartment. It is by far the heaviest thing we own, and of course it was at the very back of the truck so we were already tired out. I just remember moving a few steps between rests and literally thinking that we were going to lose it a few times while we were going up the stairs. We had to take them one by one, lifting up the base just the few inches needed for the next step and setting it down to rest and readjust. I’m just grateful we didn’t get hurt in the process. I’m not sure what we’ll do when we eventually move, but I just know that Mark and I are not carrying it by ourselves in the middle of the night again.

May 2009

After relaxing for a day, I had to go back to work on Wednesday (dang PTO) and work for those three days. After that, we were free and clear for our official honeymoon! We drove down to So Cal and spent the weekend at Mark’s parents’ house. Then on Monday we boarded our cruise! I had never been on a cruise before and was so excited to try it out. We ended up having such a blast. Definitely to be repeated. Unfortunately, the one week we did go happened to coincide with the feared swine flu epidemic, so the original plan to set port on Mexico for a day was canceled, we just spent another day on the boat, and received some money to spend on board. For this cruise, we weren’t too sad about the change because we were more excited to just be together and to have the cruise experience. In the future though, we want to go on cruises with fabulous destinations. And answer me this, how come the same week our cruise port was canceled, my sister/brother-in-law Heidi and Seth’s cruise was moved from Mexico to Jamaica and some other fabulous destination and extended from only 5 days to 7 days? Seems like we may have gotten the short end of the swine flu stick, but we still had such a blast that it didn’t even matter.

So excited to board the boat…


Umm, what in the world am I supposed to do with this thing?


Ahh, that’s what you’re supposed to do…




All safe and sound and ready to set sail!


Bon voyage!


We did get to depart on Catalina Island and took a glass bottom boat tour.

We ate an amazing amount of food on the cruise. Each night for dinner, we would order four appetizers, three entrees, and two desserts to share between the two of us. We just wanted to try everything. I became way too used to eating constantly and when I wasn’t really hungry… I think I had hunger pains for the next few days after the cruise when I started eating like a normal person again.

Strawberry soup, one of our favorite appetizers:


Getting ready to eat again…


And this is just the entrees...


And then for our customary dessert, molten chocolate deliciousness and pineapple yogurt.


I just don’t know what to eat first…


When not eating, we chilled on the boat, playing cards sometimes. We often ended up tanning on deck while reading and one day went crazy on the water slides.


We played some mini golf.


Every night we went to the cheesy awesome shows, even though that part of the boat made me feel a bit more seasick than usual.


And we enjoyed our cramped little bedroom, complete with an ocean view and a menagerie of animal towels.



We were sad to leave the boat, but are looking forward to more cruises in the future. We had fun taking pictures after departing and before getting picked up, especially me because I was tired from waking up so early and was crazily singing songs.


We had just enough time to re-coop before our California reception on Saturday, May 9^th. We were able to hold the party at Abby and Papa’s house, which turned out gorgeously. Many many thanks for those who helped with setup and take down and made this such a great day for us! Abby had made the yummiest food, with Aunt Lynnie’s recipes and guidance. Papa had done some fabulous things around the house and yard, including retiling some of the pool tiles. I don’t have any pictures of the reception on my camera, but they are on facebook for those who want to see them. We do have a few pictures of family time that I do love.

After that, we headed back up to San Jose to start the adventures of real life and getting used to living with each other. Good times!!

Pre and Post Wedding Ceremony

The night before our wedding, Mark and I both had our own versions of a bachelor/bachelorette party. For Mark, it ended up being him and his brother Tyler watching Golden Girls at Kevin and Rachael's house. For me, it was hanging out with my wonderful friends! Jenn, Ryan, Amber, Todd, Jessica, and myself hung out at Sparks restaurant and had ourselves some fabulous chats. Such good times!

Jenn and Amber keeping me very entertained. Love these girls.


And now back to our wedding day...

After the Temple, Mark and I took our many pictures. We had a blast, especially because the photographers were actually my cousins. It was just a bit chilly, but we survived. At one point I had planned to change out of my wedding dress for the luncheon, but when it came down to it, I didn't want to take it off. I felt so pretty! And when in the world am I going to get a chance to wear it again? (confession, I totally have been wanting to put it back on again sometime... it's a pretty dress just hanging up in our closet!) So, in my wedding dress, we drove over to the church just below the Temple where the Abbotts had put together a fabulous luncheon. They had gotten sandwich building stuff from Kneaders and my mom's sisters made some yummy salads. Once again, we were blessed to have so many of our family and friends there to celebrate with us. We love all you guys!




After cleaning up and putting things away, we made our way to my parents house to wait for our reception later that day. Several members of my family, especially Amber, were busy working on our wedding video and putting everything together. Such gems! We were able to sit down and play a little Texas hold-em. Yes, by this point, I was no longer in my wedding dress. We then headed over to the Wilkinson Center on BYU campus, which is home to the Skyroom Restaurant on the sixth floor where our reception was held. I don't have any pictures from my camera of the reception, but I do have tons from our photographers... to be shown at a later date. It was such a rush of seeing wonderful familiar faces and chatting with so many people and trying to see everyone and get some yummy food all at once. What a fun party and a fantastic day!

Wedding bells were ringing!

April 25, 2009 was completely and utterly the best day of my life. So crazy and so busy and so emotional and so wonderful! Mark and I had been dating (yes, off and on, but let's focus on the positive now) and known each other for about two and a half years before getting married. He was and is my absolute best friend. I'm so glad to be his forever. I can't imagine a better forever. So, the day began with the most beautiful temple experience where we were sealed together for all time. I have such fond memories of being caught up in my emotions and just knowing that we were making the best choice to be married. I was so happy! We were so grateful to have so many of our family members and friends be able to be with us throughout that day. We truly are blessed!

Note: These are just the pictures from our camera. These are not the official photographer pictures. I have to admit that I'm still working on picking out my favorites. Perhaps another post sometime?

The first picture (from our personal camera at least) of the married couple.


Awkwardly having our picture taken five million times and not sure what to do next (but loving it all).


Married kisses are so wonderful.


The day of our wedding brought crazy weather. We went through almost every type of weather possibly throughout the course of the day. There was sunny weather with limited clouds, cloudy weather (good for our pictures, but a bit chilly), sprinkles, downpours (thankfully we were at the luncheon), and even hail/light snow! Here's the Provo Temple with some of the crazy weather during our pictures.


Thankfully our family and friends put up with the weather and we were so careful with my dress that it still looks just as good as new.


Such a cute husband!


Some of the Abbott friends/family who were able to come. We were so grateful that it worked out to have so many of them there for the day!


The Abbott family members who were able to come to Utah for the wedding.


The Wadsworth kids, complete with lots of new brother-in-laws.


I cannot get enough of this face.


A picture for the ages of Mark and his mom. We love our Abby!!


Wadsworth gals


Abbott gals

Reminiscing...

I'm trying to get caught up on this blog. I really want to have all our many adventures and excitement in life to be on here. Mostly because I don't keep a good journal and I want to remember everything! And then our family and friends who care to know can see how life has gone. And someday in the future our kids and grandkids can read about us and know how cool we were. So, I'm going to be working on that... I'm really really really far behind honestly.

So, a few memories from right after getting married (yes, which was almost a year ago)...

A puzzle that I completed (Mark doesn't like puzzles as much and wanted to put only the last piece in, but in the end he let me do it). And yes, the picture is sideways for some reason.


Part of the problem with doing my puzzles though, is that we only have room for them on our coffee table, which in the beginning was our only table. So we would just put our food over the semi-completed puzzle and eat away. Honestly, even after getting our kitchen table, we still usually eat dinners out in the front room on the coffee table.


Before we had a microwave, we most definitely missed it. Who knew a microwave could be so necessary? We had to get used to using our stove or oven to reheat things, which was sometimes really awkward, as in this case where Mark was reheating apple crisp over the stove with our baby pan. Didn't work great, but it was something at least!


The setting up of our big fans. We now have two of them and sure hope they will help out again this summer. Our apartment gets so warm! Mark is so stinkin' handsome. Love him!

Sadly, the Olympics are over.... plus a hilarious story

Sigh, the Olympics are over. I officially have one hour still taped to watch, but I believe it’s just the post-Closing Ceremonies celebration with bands and I’m not that excited about it. I miss it already. I can’t even tell you how much I love the Olympics. I just can’t get enough of the excitement. I remember when our apartment became basically “Olympic central” during one summer in college and people were always over to watch. That year was hilarious because we started writing down the weird things the announcers sometimes say. Just listen next time. Seriously ridiculous things. I also remember being home for part of the Beijing Olympics and watching synchronized swimming and the final basketball game until late in the night on one of our small televisions downstairs with lots of static and loving every minute of it. And who can forget the amazing Beijing Opening Ceremonies?! Not to be confused with the “opening exercises” as I kept calling them over the past few weeks. I grew up loving the winter Olympics more than the summer, probably just because I lived in Utah and knew more about the winter sports. Over the past several Olympics though, I’ve learned to love and appreciate the summer Olympics just as much as the winter.

So, imagine my joy when the Vancouver Winter Olympics roll around and, for the first time ever, I can use DVR and actually tape the Olympics! I’m new to the whole tivo world and am loving it. Especially with these Olympics. We had to be really careful about our limited space because we would tape in HD and that takes up more space than normal shows. Do you know how many hours of Olympics were on every day?? Many! And I taped almost all of them. I would come home and just hunker down on the coach and revel in the Olympics magic. I would often be a day behind and just try to stay away from the news. I relearned all about the crazy different sports they have. Mark once asked me which one was my favorite and I really couldn’t answer. I started spouting off almost all of them. I love the snowboarding (love Shaun White!), luges, skeletons, bobsleds (go USA!), speed skating (both short track and long track, long or short or team events… relays are so cool looking!... go Apolo and Celski and Shawni Davis!), ski jumps, moguls, ski and snowboard races (go Bode Miller and Lindsey Von and Mancuso!), even Nordic combined (go USA!) and cross country. We only watched one curling game though and only the US/Canada hockey game (although I fast forwarded until someone scored). Interesting games, but too long and not my thing. I also have to admit that while I do enjoy figure skating and ice dancing, I’m really not the hugest fan. I almost hate to admit that because I think as a girl I’m supposed to love it. I did enjoy it though and watched each competition unfold (go Chinese cute married couple and Davis/White and Lysacek! sad day for Jeremy Abbott though…). I just became really good at watching the right parts of all the events. Otherwise I would never have had enough time. Sometimes I would fast forward until the USA people would compete, or just watch the scores or placement updates. It was fun watching all of the "looking back" videos they had during the Closing Ceremonies or as the games went on. Each race they showed, I had watched. I kept saying "yep, saw that one, know what happens there."

I am so utterly grateful for my Marky during the whole two weeks. He often just let me watch while he did the dishes and sometimes even started cooking dinner by himself. I felt so spoiled and loved. Mark really enjoys the Olympics, more the summer than the winter, and was glad that I enjoyed myself, but I think he was probably a bit surprised at my near obsession. It will be good to get back into the real swing of things, but I’m also seriously sad that the games are over. And now we have to wait two more years until the next ones! I sure hope we have tivo capability again at that time so I can watch mass amounts. I just don’t know how I am going to be a mother at the same time as the Olympics in the future! I’ll just have to figure that out when it comes time though.

Now, for a random story that made me laugh really hard the other day…

Mark and I were heading to our friends house and had to run into the grocery store to buy something on the way. As we headed out to the car with our purchase, in a bit of a hurry, Mark walked over to my side of the car and opened the door and let me in (sigh, I know, such a gentleman!). As I sat in the car waiting for him, Mark made his way around the back of the car to the driver’s side, opened up the backseat, and sat down. He even had the keys pulled out like he was going to drive away. I laughed so hard!!! His facial expressions as he realized that he was in the wrong place cracked me up. He quickly moved up to the front seat so we could get going. I suppose he was just distracted as we were rushing around? Oh my gosh I couldn’t stop laughing. Good times.

PTO Woes

I'm just at work right now and overheard two people talking about their "Paid Time Off" Days and how they had sooo many saved up right now. It immediately caught my attention because I am sooo deficit in my PTO. We get 10 holidays off a year, plus 20 days (i.e. 4 weeks) of PTO a year. No sick days though. This seems like a tons of days you would think. Turns out I apparently love taking vacations like crazy because I am currently -26.96 hours in the whole (you can take up to 40 hours in advance and just earn it back every pay cycle).

So, I was just brainstorming on why in the world I am so in debt on my PTO while others seem to have in abundance. Here is what I remember from the last few years...

2008

• Began in the positive
• Two weddings in June over the course of two weeks (Kara Jean's in Utah, Todd's in So Cal)
• Family wedding in August (Ashley and Dave)
• One of my best friend's weddings in September (Jenn and Ryan)
• A few days off for Thanksgiving and Christmas, including forced time off over New Years, but it turned out ridiculously happy because that's when we got engaged)

2009

• Family wedding in January (Kev and Rachael - and actually I didn't have to take any time off for this, but still... just so you get an idea of how busy we were with weddings!!)
• Family wedding in February (Heidi and Seth)
• April: Mark's graduation, our wedding, and our honeymoon!!!
• 6 days required forced time off during the fall
• And lots of days off for Christmas again with forced time off and taking time to see both families!

Okay, so once I actually listed it out, it doesn't sound so bad. I just was so aghast to hear people talking aobut their excess PTO. I just wish I wasn't so in the hole...