Spring Time Updates

Greetings earthlings ✌

Since we last chatted I mentioned we were getting ready to move, so let's just pick up right where we left off!

FEBRUARY

The last two weeks of January going into the beginning of February was a little crazy. Marie Kondo has nothing on me because I'm pretty sure I got rid of just about anything that wasn't a necessity. Downsizing from 2600 sq ft to 1140 sq ft is serious business! Nonetheless, we were successful and we managed to move in with very little issues. There were some things that made us nervous at first (some repairs needed to be done and the apartment reeked of cigarette smoke, which we learned was coming from the neighbor thru the open living room window). 4 months later and we're quite cozy in this little home we've got. I enjoy only taking no more than an hour to clean the entire apartment, as opposed to the 3 hours it took by myself in the old house. I wish I had a little bit more room to spread out, but it's not uncomfortable so I can't really complain. Our ward has been super friendly, and is quite literally the opposite from what we came from! Our old ward was comprised mainly of young families with lots of kids and babies, where this ward has a trailer park and senior community in the boundary so most of the ward consists of grandma and grandpas! We've also learned that they LOVE music, and there is one musical number every single week (except fast Sunday). I usually stay under the radar for as long as possible--took the old ward nearly 3 years to find out I sing--this time it only took 2 weeks, and I've already sung a musical number and have been asked to sing in the adult session of Stake Conference. Meh. (Honestly it's fine, I just don't like to draw attention to myself at my place of worship since that's not what it's about). We also went and played in the SNOW. The weather this winter was crazy, being much colder than it usually is and we've been getting a lot of rain as well so that means snow! It even snowed in Cave Creek, which isn't that far out of the Valley! We drove up maybe an hour out of Phoenix and pulled off the road to the perfect fresh powder and had a blast! Max and Bri tagged along too!

MARCH

Work has been consistently INSANE officially since it's the middle of tax season and this season has been weird and stressful. I've been making all sorts of silly mistakes that have snowballed and honestly it's taken a toll on my confidence. I've gotten better and I'm hoping it stays that way?
Anyway, March was a bit of a blur--working long hours, going to friends' recitals, getting food poisoning from Olive Garden, and *finally* taking our anniversary photos. It was crazy but pretty good. {if you want to see my favorites (which are many), they are at the very end!!}

APRIL

The home stretch of tax season! Plus Ian's birthday. :) We went to dinner with his family and some of his friends at Texas Roadhouse! He even rode the saddle and loved every second of it. 😆
We also saw Wicked while it was at Gammage--I don't care who you are, if you don't like Wicked there is something wrong with you, and you should really get that checked out. It's incredible to watch every time. I haven't seen it since I was 18 (neither has Ian!), and it was so fun to watch it again but this time with my husband. I'm glad I married someone who will watch musicals with me, though I'm slowly starting him on operas...hehe We saw Silent Night at Arizona Opera and it is now one of my favorites, and Ian actually liked it! Soooo good. Slowly but surely he's coming to the dark side....

This year's Easter was an extra fun one--my brother Nathan and his 4 kids came to visit for a whole week! We got to roast hot dogs and marshmallows outside, watch movies, go to the zoo, and eat yummy food on Easter Sunday together. It had been a couple years since I'd seen them and it was too much fun. I wish they could move closer to AZ!

Ian left for the last two weeks of the month for job training in Austin, and that was a bummer (him leaving me alone for so long!). The only thing exciting to happen during that time was that Avengers Endgame came out--and that was life changing. UGH I love Marvel so much. 😭 I grieved Tony Stark's death for like two days hahaha {SPOILER SORRY if you haven't seen it by now then it's really your fault at this point} But seriously, what an incredible film!

MAY---today!

At last it was finally May, and as of May 1st, that means it's officially part 1 of slow season. There's quite literally nothing to do at work! Which is fine, considering how stressful and long tax season was/is. I've read two books in the last two weeks and I'm going to start another one today. The weather has also been surprisingly heavenly. It's gotten into the triple digits only a couple time so far this month and May is practically over. I don't mind the uncharacteristically good temperatures, and I will soak them up until the oven inevitably preheats come June for sure. In other news, I leave for Chicago in roughly 48 hours for 5 whole days! This will be my first solo trip to a destination where I will not be staying with family or be near family at all. I've traveled by myself lots of times, but I've always stayed with family so this will be a new and exhilarating experience! I'm going mainly for a vocal competition in which I advanced to the second round in my division in, but it's also going to be so fun! I've got a whole itinerary planned out (surprise surprise) and I can't believe it's finally here! I've known that I advance for nearly 3 months and waiting around for this has been driving me bonkers. I will definitely have a blog post dedicated for the trip, the details, and the pictures. 😉

Now the moment you've all been waiting for...these beautiful anniversary photos my friend Erin Watson took of us! Literally it's been like a month since I got them and I'm still swooning. I had an idea of what I was wanting and Erin majorly delivered. {Her photography page is Pretty Pixel Photography if you want to see more of her work} Here are my favs, which are basically all of them. Enjoy. 💕

Thanks for reading!

Belated Birthday Bonanza

Hello all, I haven't posted since last week so I figured I could gab about my ordinary weekend that also happened to be my birthday weekend.
I turned the big 2-0, no longer teenager milestone, second decade of life, the 20th anniversary of the blessed day I graced the Earth with my presence, on Friday the 20th. HA I turned 20 on the 20th. Awesome.
ANYWHOM, I wasn't really anticipating much, since for crying out loud, I just got back from a week long cruise where I did nothing but get waited on hand and foot. So the day started out waking up relatively early at 7 am to go to the DMV for my name change and our address change. By the time we got there around 8:30, the line was literally out the door, so we decided, EH we'll hit up Bed Bath and Beyond first. That trip was an interesting one in itself because of EVERYTHING that we received as gifts (which were all so amazing by the way, we are super grateful), we did not receive any of the basics. i.e. towels, dishes, silverware. We had been living off of 2 of plates, bowls, glasses, and cutlery . Meaning I did dishes every. single. meal. That got old pretty fast. Long story short, we have dishes and silverware! YAY! The towels are yet to be bought, but Target will be getting a visit from us shortly.
So that trip happened.
Then we went back to the DMV, waited for 20 minutes to find out that we didn't have all the documents we needed like our marriage certificate. Definitely a duh-moment but it definitely set me off since the lady at the Social Security office never said anything about bringing that with me, she said the receipt would be fine. UGH. Some people. So we went back home to get what we needed, and poor Ian had to listen to me vent but he's so good to me and listened and helped me calm down, since it really wasn't that big of a deal. (What did I do to deserve such a great guy? Beats me). We finally got back to the DMV, waited in line, and got our tasks done pretty quickly. We were out in little over an hour. :D I was pretty happy about that, and also that my picture was update and that my license now has McHardy on it. That put me in a good mood, so we went to Burlington to get me a cute outfit for later that night. ;) YES BIRTHDAY LINGERIE. Deal with it. We did get him a nice new Trump tie though too. It looks pretty studly. We got home probably close to 2, and man was I tired! I get up at 4:20 AM Mon-Thurs, I deserved a nap. So I did just that.
Hehehe. How exciting, on my birthday as well as my day off, I go to the DMV and sleep. Awesome right? It did get more exciting, I promise.
Woke up around 4. I decided we should go out to dinner at least for this occasion, and Texas Roadhouse was the place to be. After overindulging in my carnivorous habits, we grabbed some $5 movies at Walmart, went home, and watched a movie called "The Island". Ian's pick. It had Ewan McGregor in it and Scarlett Johansson, so how bad could it really? It was very intriguing to be honest! I don't want to spoil it, so I won't go into detail, but I definitely recommend it.
Then Saturday rolled around and I just worked literally all day. I won't bore you with my 8 hours of insurance-filled adventures. I was able to make it to the dinner portion of Choir Retreat though. My tummy was happy by the end of the night!
Then Sunday came about, and I love Sundays. Church and relaxation. So much relaxation, I slept in till 10. HA. Cause our ward don't start till noon. Suckahs! Our new family ward is the bomb though. I had a really good first impression. We came on a week where there was a youth spiritual number and combined RS/Priesthood. srsly tho the youth is about 70 total, easy. At least that. Ian's very excited about that. He's really good with the youth. He was a Priest adviser before he went to his Marine Corps training.
Everyone is really nice; people came and introduced themselves to us, since obviously they didn't recognize us. It's a pretty established ward in a very established stake. We stood out. We also stood out because Ian has a powerhouse voice that carries over the congregation. :) I'm getting used to it, but I love to hear him sing. Makes my heart go pitter-patter. But yeah! Major success. Then that night, Ian's parents were considerate enough to make cake and get me a gift, so we went over there for dinner and a little birthday party. So sweet. UGH I just love them.
So yeah. That was my birthday weekend. Eventful, but not in your face. I liked it. A lot.
But yeah. I'll finish up with peectures of my put-away dishes (because I'm a noob who gets excited about that), as well as the lovely cake my sister Ashley made. :D

It's red-velvet, my favorite! 

Yay dishes and glasses!!!

And the silverware...we're not total cavemen.