A Walk to Remember

I want to recap mine and Austin's first year, plus 4 months, of marriage; as I know that one day it'll be precious to me and the memory faded.
For us it has been 16 months of extreme change and a lot of hard work, yet packed with silly stories and simple fun memories. 

We were married in December of 2012 and after returning from our Honey Moon we..

Went on a Ski trip with my family
and moved into our first home together

Honeymoon -Seattle WA  

That winter semester we managed to BARELY survive the winter months. Austin worked his guts out completing his final and most difficult courses, while juggling the application and interview process of applying to P.A schools.

On New Years Eve we celebrated by moving into our first home (of 4 in the last 16 months)
This was to be my FIRST and last semester living in Rexburg during the winter term and for any of you out there who know anything about Rexburg understand that this is significant, as Rexburg was -20 degrees that first day. The ice caked the baseboard of our front door and it closely resembled the ice covering the inside of your freezer; I considered saving on electricity and leaving our food on the front porch. We spent our second day in our new  home applying plastic and cardboard to our windows.. Needless to say we were able to enjoy many scandalous mornings and evenings scrapping our windows mumbling made up profanities, swearing we would never scrape windows in our future life: one that we were sure, included California weather.

Accomplishments:
-I landed an amazing job as a Dental Assistant and absolutely loved it.
-We were thrilled when Austin received an acceptance letter from Western University! 

...................

At the end of the term we moved to our Second home just across town for another brief 3 months. We made sure to enjoy some of Rexburg's simple Idaho fun, including the Drive in, Rigby Mini golf (which you can see got pretty intense) We invited Austin's youngest brother and his Mother Gina to come out for the 4th of July and we had a great time  :)
We even attended the Idaho Falls flee market and bought Austin his guitar! Who knew right!?
Austin took his last and final test at BYU-I's testing center and we even found it significant enough to take a photo of. :)
So like any other sane couple we packed our car and new, yet highly unreliable, little trailer and began our 15 hour trip just as the clock struck Midnight.. By 8 AM we had to pull over into a McDonalds parking lot to sleep. We certainly looked like the worse kind of hicks. 

...............


I'd love to say that we moved to California and it was all "California Girls" esc.. But I wouldn't want to lie. We were welcomed to our new home by Pawn shops, taco-rias and cockroaches. My one and only house warming present was a thing of Mace,  I was a wreck. And Austin had no idea what to do with me. So after 2 days he drove me the 4 hours back to his Mothers house.. Smart guy
But life went on, Austin started school and I was able to attend my little sisters wedding AND my big brothers wedding.
I quickly found a job and Austin and I took a big leap and bought a puppy!

Austin gave in and moved us to Claremont after 3 months, and I'm pleased to say we are both soo happy!

Accomplishments:
Austin completed and passed his first semester of PA school!
I survived hobo's in my garbage, a pimp working my local 7-11 and shootings in my complex!
We bought a second car (how very adult-esc of us!)
We adopted a puppy and I even managed to potty train her.
...................

In our new home we have enjoyed many fun things

Attended A1 Super cross event, which was some of the most fun I've had
Went to Six Flags!
On Valentines day we went to my first concert ever! - Imagine Dragons and Naked and Famous opened- both were incredible

Austin is in the middle of Finals for his Second semester and it's pretty terrible to be honest. Our schedule nearly never overlaps, as he returns home hours after I've gone to bed and we see each other for a quick 10 minutes to say family prayer before we part ways. But life has not been without blessing. I have made a bosom friend, whom i met at the dog park just around the corner from our home. Our puppies are best of friends, just as Abby and I were fast friends. I believe we both needed each other and were an answer to many prayers.
Though this year has captured many tender and fun memories, it has been the most trying and difficult year of my life. Some of the details are far too intimate and personal to share in this way, though I do think I'll write them down somewhere, perhaps in a personal journal. The year of 2013 brought growth and change; growing pains are no fun, but the results are usually worth it.
My main purpose for starting this blog was that I felt it would better assist me in capturing and recognizing all the good in our life. As I write this post, I smile at how silly and fun mine and Austin's first year of marriage has been, while at the time I felt every moment was rather hard and I couldn't wait for the next stage; whether that was "spring semester, moving to California, till we moved to a new home, till Austin graduated" ects. When in fact, I look back at each season in our life with fondness. There is no time like the present and my hope is that I will better live in the here and now.