An East Coast Video

Because I know you want to watch 15 minutes of our trip to DC & New York....... ;)

Trip posts here: 1, 2, 3, 4

Our Very First Home

When Tanner and I first got married, we lucked out with a family friends' condo to live in with plenty of space. It was a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo, with a laundry room, high ceilings, a dining table, couches, and even 2 walk in closets. I loved that house, and really never thought we would leave because the location was great, and we had space. Once Summer came along, we started thinking that owning a home would be a great option. Provo is known for their very old homes, with basements and even full kitchens. We knew buying a duplex would be perfect for our situation, so that we could have renters, a backyard, and when and wherever we went to Dental School, we could keep it and rent it out. 

So, we started looking, and I fell in love with a teeny house with a big tree, and a red door. This cute house was sadly already under contract, even though the sign was still out. A couple weeks later we drove by this particular house again and the sign was still out. I felt real good about this house. We had our Realtor contact their Realtor, and come to find out-it fell through! Sad for them, happy for us. Long story short, we finally got the house after waiting for the other contract to fall through once again, and playing the waiting game. We closed in December of 2013, and moving in UT in December was not something we wanted to do! We had lots of helpers to ease the process, but moving before Christmas, and then coming back to a messy home was not exactly what we were envisioning. It all worked out though, and we are so happy that we made the move. (I'm getting very sad talking about this little bungalow and knowing that we have to leave it soon. But, I know change is good for everyone.) 

One of my very favorite parts of our house is our gallery wall. We had one at the condo above our couch, and the wall was huge and endless. When we began looking at our new house, I knew I would have limited space, but I had to have my gallery wall! We have a vertical wall that I knew I could make work. I had seen a couple inspirations on Pinterest, but much to my dismay, that spouse of mine was a little doubtful of how it was going to look. I just told him to trust me-I knew I was going to love it. 

I started by laying out all of my pictures-which I highly recommend. It will save a ton of time in the long run, and it will eliminate the stress of un-nailing and re-nailing. By the time our second frame came around, we realized that all of our nails were bending in half, because we were nailing into straight dry wall. After drilling in holes (it was a very long process for this gallery wall!) we finally got everything hanging, and I was so happy with it!

This wall has so many memories. that motel print is a "famous" motel in Mesa known for their neon sign, the quote is one off my favorites and was used at our wedding, that tree is our family tree with all of our family members names on it, we got married in the Mesa LDS temple and I love that pencil sketch of it, and other memories like kissing dolphins in the Bahamas on our honeymoon! I've changed out a few pictures, but I actually really like looking back on our marriage with old pictures! It's my favorite wall to stare at.

Although we will be moving on to bigger and better things, I will always love our very first home. I cherish the memories we made in it together, with our friends, and with our family. I can't wait to take our children to it whenever we visit Utah!

**I am super excited to have been involved with Urban Compass' new projects called Starter Stories. Urban Compass is an NYC based real estate platform that connects folks searching for apartments with neighborhoods that match their personalities. Go visit their site to see some drool-worthy neighborhoods! My personal favorite is the Chelsea neighborhood-for the charm and the culture, and because I absolutely loved walking the high line when we were there last month!

as of late

2015 has been busy and great. We've made sure to spend time with friends, time together, and work on our goals. We recently got back from Santa Barbara, where we attended Tanner's cousins' wedding. It was great to be in warmer weather, and celebrate a delayed Christmas with The Zylstra's. 

this place never gets old.

We had two visitors this weekend! Shelley and Riss came to UT for the 3 day weekend. They stopped by the house right before we left for the airport, and I was so happy to see them! Love my girlfriends.

Tanner and Opa showed up to the wedding wearing the same tie.

The reception was at the Arts Center in Santa Barbara, and it's sitting on the beach. The sunset that night was killer.

When you have someone take a picture of you...and it turns out to be more of a silhouette. I'm cool with it!

The kids were tuckered out.

I got caught taking cupcakes for the kids even though the cake hadn't been cut yet...but somehow there were lots of missing cupcakes already... oh well, i'll take one for the team. ;)

We were all on the wives' sides this year for Christmas, so getting together meant having Christmas again! 

Soph just looked so cut with her new purse!

Love this eyebrow raisin' girl.

It doesn't get much better than a 3-day weekend by the beach!

An Arizona Christmas

We got to AZ really early on Christmas Eve morning.
That afternoon I went to lunch with my girlfriends, and then we prepared for Christmas! We went to my sisters house for milk and cookies for Santa, and then we were elves that night and took presents to some LDS missionaries in our area that needed some help. It was fun being sneaky elves together-i love that tradition.

Christmas morning we went back to my sisters for a delicious breakfast, and to look at all of their new gadgets. Later that afternoon my other sister got into town, and we opened up presents!

We enjoyed beautiful sunsets, playing at TopGolf, going to the driving range at the club, seeing movies, having lots of Dirty Dr. Peppers, Last Chance, lots of food and treats, hair braiding, and spending time together! Surprisingly AZ was actually pretty cold-it even snowed on New Years Eve! We dreaded coming back to the even colder weather and back to reality of school and work. It was so fun being able to be with family!

New Years Eve was at 10pm for us, and for that, I am thankful. We are such losers now and can barely keep our eyes open when midnight hits. Unless that is...if we are doing something super productive, like watching one of our shows. ;)

double fisting it!

When we got back, our friends that are in Florida for med school came to UT for break, and had a slumber party with us-it was just what we needed. I sure miss going to yoga and Swig with my Mads-she is a friend I know I will have forever! It was so fun going to dinner and staying up late talking!

Our Last Day in NYC

We went home late in the evening on the 23rd, and although I was so nervous we wouldn't have enough time to cross everything off of our list, we did! I think we spent the perfect amount of time for what we were there for, and I'm really thankful we had the opportunity to travel this Christmas break!

We started the morning off walking to FAO Schwarz, and that place is just so fun! 

The famous Plaza hotel!

My mom always loves taking a carriage ride through Central Park, so that's exactly what we did! It also helped that we had a pretty pink carriage!

After we got out of the carriage we decided to walk through that beautiful park for a bit.

We stopped at Magnolias Bakery for the famous bread pudding, and it was satisfying as always.

We took it back to Rockefeller Center to eat inside and watch the ice skaters, and on our way in I saw my BEST FRIENDS! Get it? :)

The last stop for the day was to Grand Central which none of us had been to, and it's the most beautiful train station I've ever seen!

Because we left on the 23rd (along with everyone else in NYC), no taxis wanted to take us to the airport. We literally wouldn't have made it if our plane wasn't delayed (blessing!).

It was a trip to remember forever, and we are so glad we got to go with my parents as well! 

Love you mom and dad :)

DC, First day in NYC, and Second day