On Being Intentional

I have all sorts of things that I want to write about, but one thing is more important than the rest, so everything else will just have to wait. (keep posted for a discussion about my job applications and GRE test in a later blog post...)

Two years ago today, Donald Trump was elected as president. (Don't worry, this isn't a political post, so don't get your hopes up/get out your pitchforks.) 

Do you want to know what else happened two years ago today?? Ryan and I got engaged! Which is SO much more exciting than election stuff! 

November 8th, 2016 

Funny story, last night I wanted to go get a delicious dessert somewhere, but we also wanted to eat dinner and not be outside anymore, so Ryan told me we could go get a delicious dessert tonight instead. Later, I said "Oh this is perfect! It makes way more sense to get something yummy tomorrow night than tonight! Do you know what tomorrow night is?" and Ryan said "It's the November 7th, the anniversary of when we got engaged, I'm not stupid!" and I said "Tomorrow's the 8th." and he then he swore. So close. 

Anyways, it's fun to be married. It's not always easy, but it's the best decision I have ever made. 

This week I've been thinking about what it means to be intentional in my relationships with others, particularly with Ryan and Rose. It can be so easy to let life pass you by. I can waste an entire hour sitting on my phone, and only partially paying attention to Rose, or I can let a whole day go by without giving Ryan a kiss. Sometimes we get caught up in all there is to get done, that we forget to just be together and build our relationships with each other. 

Spencer W. Kimball said, "If one is forever seeking the interests, comforts, and happiness of the other, the love found in courtship and cemented in marriage will grow into mighty proportions. Many couples permit their marriages to become stale and their love to grow cold like old bread or worn-out jokes or cold gravy. Certainly the foods most vital for love are consideration, kindness, thoughtfulness, concern, expressions of affection, embraces of appreciation, admiration, pride, companionship, confidence, faith, partnership, equality, and dependence."

I don't want to go on and on and on, but this week I've been really trying to seek the interests of Ryan, to think intentionally about what I can do to serve him. On Saturday, I decided to surprise him by bringing him lunch at work, and he totally lit up. It was such a small thing, but it made me feel so good to be the reason for that smile on his face. 

So, I suppose my little piece of advice would be to be intentional this week. Love the people you're with and make sure that they actually know how much you care about them. Even if it's something small. 


PS. Enjoy our family pictures that we tried to get before all the colorful leaves fell. (We were too late, but the pictures turned out cute anyway.) 

365 Days

On Saturday, Ryan and I celebrated our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! It is so hard to believe that it has been a whole year already and at the same time it is hard to believe that it has ONLY been one year! Our wedding day was the most wonderful day ever, and I've already written about it on here, so I won't talk your ears off about it again, but I am going to put a couple (maybe a couple more than a couple... you know me...) of pictures on here because I don't think I ever did.

Our lives have changed so much in the last year. We finished two semesters of school, Ryan grew a beard, we finally got callings in our ward, we flew to Texas, we filled our house with furniture, we bought a car, we found out we were pregnant. You know, the typical adult married life stuff, but it's all new to us!

It's probably been the hardest year I've ever had, with school, and work, and figuring out that birth control and my mental health don't really mix well, unexpected expenses, morning sickness that isn't just mornings, and learning how to be part of an eternal relationship instead of just independent me.

It's also been the very best year I've ever had. I've learned so much at school, I've made friends at work, I quit taking birth control and we were blessed with a cute little parasite... baby, we have recognized over and over and over again how blessed we are financially and always have had exactly what we need, we found medicine to keep the morning sickness at bay, and our growing and strengthening relationship has taught me so much and has brought me so much joy.

It also doesn't hurt that I have the very most perfect husband in the world for me. Here are some examples of what makes me love him so so so much:

When I throw up, he doesn't just hold back my hair, he flushes the toilet so I don't have to see what just came out of me which might make me throw up more.

When we are walking around anywhere, he always just takes my purse and carries it for me without me ever having to ask.

He still lets me put my ice cold hands on his stomach or back to warm them up.

He tells me I'm beautiful and perfect on a regular basis, and refuses to let me convince him otherwise.

He buys me a two pack of Nutella every other week, and sometimes jokes about weaning me off of chocolate, but would never actually stop buying it for me.

He vacuums the carpet because he knows I hate vacuuming.

He never laughs at me when I'm crying, even the one time I cried because I didn't have any clean matching socks.

Even when he has to wake up at a ridiculously early hour, he will wake up to tell me it's alright when I'm having a nightmare (which is pretty often.)

He tries SO hard to stay awake when I'm talking his ear off at night, every night.

He almost always goes along with my silly ideas, because he loves to make me happy.

He will listen to me ramble on and on and on about every minute detail of what happened throughout my day, even when it just involves the weather, my homework, or how much water I drank during the day.

He laughs at my jokes and makes fun of me when I accidentally say something inappropriate.

I literally could not have picked a more perfect person to spend the rest of my life with. He's my best friend, my biggest supporter, my favorite person to tell everything, my best defender, my everything. I can't wait to see what the rest of eternity with him holds.