You're how old? And been married for how long? Do you know anything...

"Nope. But I am learning."


I read an article the other day about this girl talking about how she and her husband got married young. It really was pretty cool to read. But it got me thinking about myself and why I got married young.

I think getting married young isn't a bad thing. I am still getting my degree and it has taught me to grow up a little bit. I still might be immature, young, and not know a lot about life. But I have a learned a lot. Random things too. I knew things but I keep thinking do you really know things until you experience them? Not really. Experience is the best thing you can have. I can't go over all the things I have learned they'd be boring to you all and you'd be like what is the point.

My husband, Daryl. He is the man. He is way more mature than me. In many ways. I still do weird things that I would have done when I was 6 years old. Hey! Daryl. Look at this! His response...Ok. You are so weird. Yeah. Sometimes I just wish he'd be weird with me! But I am training him up! He is getting better but for real. He is legit!

I grew up getting things I thought I deserved. A car when I was 16, Not having a job (because of sports) which I could have gotten one-wished I would have too, a cell phone. Now that I look back on my life. I had it real good. I was a dumb teenager and thought it's what I deserved. I was a good kid and what not but those things were a REAL privilege. I wish I could go back and tell myself to stop being a brat and realize I had it way good.

Oh so I had to mow the lawn and do chores. I complained about all of those things. I really never did anything per say "hard". My dad taught me hard work. Even though he never forced me to do anything super difficult. I learned how to work in the yard. I learned how to mow, how to pull weeds, put out mulch, dig up sprinklers, put in drains, grow a garden, ect. And I learned from my mom how to keep a house presentable. I learned how to dust, how to clean a bathroom, ect. You guys know housework I won't go into it. I learned valuable lessons from my parents. I am grateful for all they taught me and did for me. They did way too much. And I am grateful for their kindness.

Well so I met my husband and learned all about him. Every time he told me a story my mouth would drop open in disbelief. He had a job ever since he was 16, he came out and supported himself all on his own when he moved out to Utah, he built a like house basically in his life. I don't know if that's what got to me or what. But that boy learned hard work at an early age. I know that his mom taught him the value of hard work as well. I hadn't even experienced life close to the way he had. I admired him from the start. Every time I talked to him I never wanted it to stop. I saw so many great qualities in him that I wanted my future spouse to have. I wanted to pass out traits to my kids that he had. He was perfect.

So we got married. It was fast. I met him about a year ago. He was one of my best friend's friend. She liked him so why couldn't he be a good friend of mine? We hit it off instantly. Things moved way faster than I could have even handled. I wanted to slow it down. I had big plans in my future and the closer I got to him the more I saw those flying away from me. I was loving every minute of it though. Next thing I knew a few weeks had flown by we had talked about everything. Even marriage. My mind was blown. I wanted go on a mission for my church, I wanted to graduate college, I wanted to have a stable career going before I met someone. I was going to be AT LEAST 25. And we were going to date a year then get married. After we had really known each other and I could really tell it was right.

Well that didn't happen. I got married 6 months later. But if anything I knew everything was right when I met him. Everything just kind of fell into place. I always wanted God to give me a straight out answer telling me someone was right for me. I was even scared to pray about it. I knew it was right but it was so soon. I prayed and Bam! The feeling overcame me. I couldn't deny it. If you know something is right? Why wait? If your staring into something and know without a doubt it's right. Who wouldn't do it? Marriage is scary. I get that. But I'd take scary and right over wrong and relaxing.

Anyways I got married at 20. Big freakin deal. I am sure most would say I was too young. I had my whole life ahead of me. Why would I run off and get married. Well I will tell you. I don't know when I will be the most mature. I don't know when my brain will fully develop. Esp because they keep changing the age it was like 21 now its like 30. Jk. But for real. I don't know any of that. I do know the older I get the more I will be set in my ways. Why not start that off with the person I love? I don't care what anyone says. I know what love is. I will stay together with my husband forever. I know marriage is hard but I will never let other things get in the way of something that is the most important to me.

You know I could have gone on a mission. Got married later on. I am sure life would have worked out just fine. But I don't think I would have grown up as much as I have now. I don't think I would learn the things I am learning until 10 years later. I think things would have been harder. I really do. Marriage has taught me a lot. I have learned to cling to my husband not my parents. (although I still call my mom a lot ;) I have learned about taxes, loans, grants, terrible dinners, good dinners, bills..ect. One of the most important things I have learned is how to be more selfless. Now I am not perfect. Mom's with children give a lot more and even other wives do. But I have learned to stop thinking about myself so much. When you are single you think about yourself. You only worry about yourself. So you please yourself. Marriage is different. You want to make the other person happy. You have to compromise. You have to argue to fix things. People think arguing is such a bad thing and leads to divorce.  That is not true! Every one argues and they argue different. Every one handles things differently than ourselves. I've learned how to argue with someone I spend long hours with. I have learned how to apologize (was terrible at this). My marriage is more important than any fight. In the end I know no matter what it is about we will figure it out. We will compromise. This is the greatest lesson I have learned. Although the bills and budgeting have been great lessons.

Daryl is someone I have gone through a lot with. We will keep going through things together. I am glad at such a young age. I have someone to turn to. A life long partner. The hardest working guy I know. I know he will always come through for our family. I am grateful for a young marriage and everything it has taught me.

Honeycomb your hair because we are going out!

Well, it has been a little while. Things are going pretty well. I will list some stuff I have been doing.

1. 14 days of Valentine's day. I put some candy and cute notes every morning for Daryl up until V-day.

2. We went on a sweet Valentine's date.

3. My parents came to town.

4. I hung out with them a lot!

5. We went snowboarding up in O-town!

6. It was my birthday!

7. This girl is finally 21. 

8. I still have yet to find a job.

9. We have so much candy in our house we are going to die!

10. I did well on some tests this week.

11. We have officially been married for 6 months!

12. It is almost March, MARCH MADNESS! :)

13. I made some dinners this week.

14. I just deleted the next few things I had written somehow? :(

15. I love Daryl.

Somethings I have realized recently:

Just because it is your birthday does not mean you are a princess.

You also don't look any older when it's your birthday. I will forever look 15 :(

Just because you have nice things doesn't mean your rich.

Just because your nice that won't end up getting you a job.

Snowboarding hurts the body more than running on a treadmill. 

I call my mom way more than I probably should.

My brother is more sentimental than I am.

And lastly, I care more about fashion then I ever had.

I want to expand a little bit on the last one. Currently, It is blowing my mind for many reasons.

-I am already married.

-Why did I start noticing things now

-Why do I start buying things now

I feel like my life should be going downhill now that I am all settled down. Well as settled down as you can get without kids, a home, a real job. So maybe not settled down since I only have a husband. Whatever, anyway the point being that I hate this is happening to me. I spent the first 2 years of college going to class wearing sweats and no make up. In the winter I think I wore my big puff boots every day. I never noticed anyone else's clothes nor did I care.

But for some reason now I do. I got into pinning cute clothes that I longed for on pinterest but never bought. Now I am obsessed with little boutique shops and want to buy everything in them. And have bought a lot. I notice girls wearing cute things and wonder if I could pull it off. I feel like I am going through a major crisis here. I feel like when you get married you should really do the reverse of all this. You should resort more to the messy lazy things of life. My theory is that it will come with kids? So I will just check that off the list for the future and stop worrying about this weirdness now.

I have talked to a lot of people from back home lately. I txted a girl for awhile and then I skyped one of my best friends from back home for awhile. So that is always fun to catch up. I love hearing from old friends and the things going on in their lives.

My parents came to town which I mentioned before and it was a lot of fun! I love when my parents come to visit. They are such cuties! They make me very happy and I am glad I have such wonderful role models. My mom is pretty hip as well as my dad still. My mom always has on a spicy new outfit that is screaming what a hottie! And my dad loves skiing more than life itself  He is like a little 16 year old ready to hit the slopes! They are so amazing! They have taught me so many important lessons in my life. My mom is by far one of my best friends. We can talk about everything. We have a lot of fun together. She always is making me laugh  as well as teaching me very valuable information. I honestly like that I don't have any real sisters. I don't think that my relationship would be as strong as it is if I had another little girl running around. She is a wonderful woman who has been through things that I couldn't even imagine. She has a strong head on her shoulders. My dad is one of my best friends too. I could talk to him for hours. I learn something new about him every time we hang out. He is one of the sweetest guys in the world. He is such a joy to be around. He is such a hardworking man as well. I was glad he could take a break from the stressful things in life and come hang out with me. My dad has been through a whole lot. Yet I have never heard him complain. In fact, I find myself trying to get him to talk to me and complain. He is soo positive. Anyway, I loooove both of them! They are a lot of fun and I am lucky to have them so close to me in my life. I  look forward to spending time with them again sometime soon.

Well we are having a grill-out this weekend so we shall see how that ends up. Hope everyone had a wonderful week! I say that like people actually read this stuff. Ha! 

Things be Windin' and Gridin'

This marriage thing is really benefiting me in many ways. I feel like I am increasingly getting smarter. I feel like its forcing me to do things that I have never done before. It is really good for me! 

So update: We sold our apartment thank goodness! We are signing a contract for an apartment tonight! I am excited to get all this done and figured out. Still don't know when we will be moving in. But hopefully it can be when my family is here so they can help us move. ;)

I am waiting to hear back about a job that has potential. It kinda sounds like I would be on call until I could actually pick up a shift. We will see. The guy I called said he would push my name along and hopefully in the next few days I will get a call. I will see what is all going on when I get an interview. Because I am not sure that the hours are going to work out for me. 

Me and Daryl went snowboarding on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. Naturally though I forgot to bring my jacket! I am so dumb. So we bought one. It ended up being like a youth XL and only costing like 34 bucks! Better than the other ones that were there. But it was kinda funny cause I was telling Daryl on the way up how I always forget to bring something. And there it was the jacket. ha. It was really cold and windy and we got real sore. But it was nice to get back into it. 

We have just been looking at apartments. We had this fail happen. We were the first to show interest in this apartment and this lady said she would call us by Tuesday and let us know after they showed it to a few more people. So we call Tuesday and she says we still are deciding. Then she txts me Wednesday and says a couple came by last night and signed a 2 year contract. THAT was the whole point in us calling you last night! You could have told us LAST NIGHT when we asked! Dumb. Whatever. Wasn't meant to be. It was just our first choice and we were waiting on it. But I think it was a blessing in disguise because this other apartment opened up that was cheaper that we really liked. So that is the one we are signing the contract for tonight!

We went to Daryl's Christmas party last night. It was great! We got to eat some delicious food! So that means that I didn't have to cook! ;) Then Daryl rode the bull to try to win 500 dollars. It didn't go that well. But he was sure a champ. Got some bruises on his hand to show for it. There was also a cool dance crew that broke dance and stuff there. It was a lot of fun to see. Then there was a sweet dance competition that made me giggle. There was lots of competitions and we walked around and watched them. It was a pretty good night!

I feel like that is pretty much it that has been going on here. I have been having some wicked heartburn lately though. Thank goodness for TUMS they work like champs on the heart! 

Well our plans for this weekend are to go to the ward Christmas party on Saturday morning and then go snowboarding at night. Tonight I have no idea what is in store. But we always end up doing something crazy! 

Thank goodness Finals are over!! We are both done and hopefully getting A's all around. Scholarships!? I leave Monday to go home and spend sometime with the parents alone since I have been married. I am excited and for the holidays! Merry Christmas!

-P.S. Everyday I am reminded what a great hardworking husband I have! I am soooo grateful. He does so much for me! Love him like crazy!

The Marriage

Life just got so busy so fast when we got back from the whole wedding festivities. I have been so awful at writing. But I just wanted to talk about the wedding a little bit.

August 15th 

• Driving to Washington.

We started early and headed out. Got some gas and were on our way. The drive takes about 12 hours. Not too fun in the car but it is great for some conversation. We were just so excited I think that will be the best car ride trip I will ever take. I couldn't believe in a day I was going to the temple to take my endowments out! Then the next day going to marry my best friend! We got in about 7 pm or so. We ate a little bit and Daryl headed up to bed.  I was pretty tired myself but stayed up talking with my mom for a while while she showed me all of the decorations that she bought and was using for the wedding. I ended up going to bed shortly after talking with my mom. But I laid awake most of the night. Tossing and turning. 

August 16th

• Meeting the new fam bam

My brothers and sister in laws arrived shortly in the morning. I headed with my mom over to a bridal shower for me just down the road that some ladies from church were throwing me. While I was doing that Daryl was running some errands like washing the car and getting his suit dry cleaned. The shower went well and I had a lot of fun. Our photographer came over for about an hour after the shower to talk to us about the wedding pictures. Then we hung out with my family for a little bit until Daryl's family got in from the airport. I got the chance a week or so before the wedding to meet his dad and little brother Peter. But I had yet to meet his mother, his brother (Jacob), and his sister (Sarianna). He has another sister Elise but she is out on a mission right now. Still yet to meet her! So we talked with my family while we waited for them to arrive. When they arrived around 9 or so. We met them out their hotel. I will admit I was a little nervous. But I thought well they are stuck with me now!!! ha. just kidding. but for real.. So we walked in the hotel and we said hello to them. We went up to someones room. His aunts were both there and it was late to them so everyone was kind of goofy. It was a great meeting and I loved them immediately! 

August 17th

• Wedding Day!!!!

It was everything I could have imagined and more.  I got up real early and my cousin Brittney did my hair.  She did a nice braid and curled it and my hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. One of my good friends who does really well at make-up came over and did my make up for me around the time my cousin was doing my hair. It was about 5:30am! After that I grabbed a bar and me and Daryl were on our way to the temple to be married. Our wedding was at 8:00am. But it was all the way in Portland so we had lots of traffic to fight through because of the rush hour. We got there in plenty of time. The wedding was so great! The guy who married us was so serious. It kind of scared me! He was just way stern but a nice stern man! After we were married we went outside the temple together hand in hand. It was so great! We took lots of pictures and then everyone left and we took more pictures alone. After we were done we headed back to my house where we had some of the family come over for a lunch type deal. We were so hungry that we stopped to get gas and got doughnuts and energy drinks to stay up through the rest of the day. I felt so sick by the time we got to my house! I didn't eat too much at first but then was able to eat more. We ate and we had awhile before we had to be at the reception place for more pictures. So guess what we did? We took a nap! It was so glorious and without that nap I don't think I would have made it through the rest of the night!
     We headed to the reception center after that nap and I had to put my dress on and all of that again. We took lots of pictures before it started outside and it was hot that day. In Washington, it is usually nice in the summer hottest it gets is like 80's. But it was about 95 that day! Crazy! It was hot wearing that dress! After the pictures we went inside and hurried and grabbed a plate full of food before people started coming up to us. We were able to eat before too many people came up. We stood up and stood in a corner in the room for awhile while people came up and greeted us. After about 45 minutes the DJ started to start things with the music. We had our first dance to my most favoritest song ever- Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. Then I danced with my dad and we the song we danced to made me break down and cry! I didn't think I would cry but I did! My dad did a pretty good job at holding it together but I couldn't and by the end I was smiling and so was he! Then Daryl danced to a song with his mom and it was sweet and she cried while they danced a little bit.
     Then the fun began! We danced the night away! It was so fun! Our DJ came through big time for us. He played a lot of top 40 music. I saw my mom, dad, and brother break it down! My brother sure had a classy dance! We recorded it and I sure can't wait to show his kids one day! It is soo good and the crowd just ate it up! My whole family danced and it was just a blast! Then we ended the night and everyone was outside with glow sticks waving us goodbye! We hoped in our car and it was a night that will always be remembered!