Oh Happy Day!

Today, we went from this:

{dishes in the bathtub.. don't worry.. I cleaned it extra well}

to this:

Those holes are from where our faucet used to be wall-mounted. SO they will be getting covered up shortly. But can we just sing and dance to a hallelujah chorus right now? I mean really. That was the best picture I could have ever gotten from my husband! Tanner missed a class, and sweet Madison taxi'd him around to go get a new sink and all that jazz, because nothing can ever work out the first time right? At least that's what we've been learning with this old house...and because, did I mention we are now a one-car-family? Bums. 

I can't wait to go home and boil water with water from my sink!

SUNDAY

Yesterday was such a happy day. We have the majority of the house done, besides our missing faucet, and that gets fixed on Thursday! WOOT WOOT!

We had such a fun time at church meeting new friends, and socializing. We are in a married student ward, and it's such a nice break from being Sunbeam teachers. We loved those kids, but I like spending time with my husband in class, and meeting new friends along the way. We are in charge of our Valentines Day Party (on the 15th) and I can't wait. You know I was pretty stoked about planning yet another party!! We had a great dinner, and talked all evening. We picked up Madison from the airport, and had a fun drive chatting even more. It's still so crazy to me how you can fall more and more in love with your husband. I think back to our wedding day, where I thought I was so in love, and wouldn't know what to do without him, but those feelings have more than quadrupled. I love it. I love being married, and believe it to be the greatest thing in the world!

I shared this video on Facebook yesterday, because it's one of my favorite Mormon Messages. Life has been so stressful lately, but it's most important to remember who and what matters most, and spend your time with those that matter most to you. 

Have a happy day!

Start Each Day With a Grateful Heart

Today, I am Grateful. I realize my last post was a bit on the dramaticcccc side. But, sometimes you just need a little lettin loose, ya hear? I wish I wouldn't have been so grouchy, to everyone. It's hard being gone all day, coming home to a messy house, and finding motivation to make it better. I'm not a very patient person, so in my eyes, we should've had the house done the day we moved in, but that's not realistic.

I'm grateful that my husband stayed up until 11 (we are an old married couple) last night, to help me hang up the frames on our new "gallery wall". When we started this project two days ago, my nails kept breaking, and I realized it was all plaster. So, last night we finally had time to go get new screws, and molly's, and things for the drill, and we were able to hang pictures! It wasn't until the second to last frame, that I accidentally made a huge hole with the hammer. HA! There was one tiny spot on the wall where it was completely hollow, and once the molly was in, I hammered, and all I can remember is Tanner yelling nicely, to be careful, and BAM. Hole. It made for a good laugh... we'll never know with this old house of ours!

I'm grateful that I can have fun, and laugh with my husband constantly.

I'm grateful for great friends that have helped us with this moving process. That have moved us in, moved our washer and dryer down the tiny stairway, and will again today, and that have invited us over for dinner so we didn't have to do dishes in the bathtub. That has been multiple people, and we feel so loved for their kindness.

I'm grateful for friends that stopped by the house last night with our new love fern to make me feel better, and so that we could get shakes at Chick Fil A after, because the night wouldn't have been the same without them.

I'm grateful that we are getting our new washer today, because our old/new one leaked on the third wash. And, I'm extremely thankful for delivery services that will grab our old one, and bring us a new one, for a small charge (which we think is SO worth it) to remove some of the stress and hassle from our shoulders.

I'm grateful that we haven't had a faucet. WHAT?! Yes, I am. Because I've had to do dishes in the bathtub, and boil water from our bathroom sink, it has made me realize how truly LUCKY we are.

I'm grateful for our home, and for the great opportunity we had to buy it, and have it as an investment for when we go to Dental School.

I'm grateful for the new Lorde cd our friend Christopher gave us to copy, so that we could jam out to it while hanging frames.

I'm grateful for the new candle Madeline gave me, because I love new smells, and it went perfectly with our new jams. :) Nice thing about a teeny house, is that it smells up the whole house pretty quickly!

I'm grateful for our parents, that have supported us the whole way.

I'm grateful for the temple, and that my husband takes me their constantly. It brings the most amazing peace to our lives.

And, I'm especially thankful, that our new home really feels like HOME, and that ever since I've slept there, I've never wanted to leave!

Hopefully soon I'll get some pictures up of the hiz house!

B U D G E T

Lets just start by counting how many breakdowns I've had this week. Maybe we shouldn't. I just finished one, like 5 minutes ago. I had all these great plans to get my final frames hung up tonight, but change of plans, I had to play nurse to my boss. It's not fun helping someone out of surgery when you absolutely hate blood, and being well, a nurse. I seriously can't handle it. How the h e double hockey sticks am I going to be a mom someday?

Moving on. Our washer flooded last night. I still don't have a faucet. Tanner starts his DAT practice class on Saturday. My pictures still aren't framed. I have bins filled with art and pictures and no room to put them, still in my family room. I have a couple more things I want to buy, but I'm trying to stay on budget (let's be real though...I'll make a pouty face and remind him how hard I work everyday? Ya right... never works, that stinker.) I have a pile of t-shirts in my hallway that need to be gone through for Plato's, or DI, or drawers, but we've both been a little too lazy at that. Did I mention the reason my frames aren't up, is because our wall is straight plaster? Every nail I put in broke.

I'm so sick of moving. I knew it would be a process, but honestly why is it taking this long? I wish I could've stayed here for Christmas break and got it all done. Or, moved in more before Christmas. It's such a mess! I just get so frustrated. I'm sorry, no one likes to hear a complainer.

So, about budgeting. We went over our "Zylstra Family Budget-2014 (year of the horse)" ((Yes I really added that on our Budget)), and it is HARD! We included EVERYTHING this time. In the past, we never included getting my hair done, or tuition spread out by months, etc. I seriously feel like we have no money now! But, I decided I would take the challenge of cutting down on our grocery bill, which I thought was very reasonable before, but I knew it would be something easy to cut down on, if I took the time to organize my lists and meals better, and make sure we have leftovers! Good thing we both think leftovers are the bomb diggity.

So, we wrote down our budget on a very nice, lined sheet of paper, but I wanted something totally set in stone. I made a google doc for the next 11 months, that has the same budget every month, and our "extra" money will go towards trips, shopping, etc for vacations and special occasions. I'm really excited to see how it goes! We are both people that LOVE to watch our savings grow every month. It seriously makes me so excited!

I think it's important to budget, and my husband (Mr. Frugal) has definitely taught me how to be better. Our first year of marriage was so frustrating because I thought he wasn't being fair. But, because of him being frugal, I started to "get it". We don't need the cutest clothes, or the best cars, or anything of that matter to be happy. We are newlyweds! We just want to have that 20 years down the road :) haha! This was totally random, and dumb, but SAVE MONEY YA'LL!

Can I Get A Woot Woot?

Hey, it's me Rylee, and I'm blogging from MY HOUSE.

Hallelujah, praise the heavens. I now feel like a human being. Besides when I have to do my dishes in the bathtub, that is. But, that's a story for a different day.

We had a fun sleepover in Park City last night with all of our buds, and then I went to work while they partied... sad day. But, I left work early, so it was nice.

We are once again... "getting there"..."slowly but surely" with the house. It'll happen sometime soon, right? I just can't help but laugh when I walk into the kitchen. Two holes in our wall, with wall scraps everywhere on the counter, along with other crap.

Like I said... we will get there.

Hopefully sooner than later!

xoxo

IKEA

We went to Ikea last Monday, and had a little too much fun. 

See below.

When we were "practicing" we had a great, and hip song on, so disregard whatever the heck that is playing in the background. At the end, we noticed people literally waiting on the escalator, watching us, so we finished quick!
We were lucky enough to score a new rug, table and chairs, a light fixture, a kitchen cart, and just little odds and ends things! Tanner used to hate Ikea, because he feels like "you can never get out!", but after we scored on all of this for some very good prices, I think he's pretty darn happy! :)

Oh, and the whole "we will get frames on the walls this weekend" thing... ya, that didn't happen. But, we are getting closer! 

Looking Back

I've wanted to do this for quite some time, but considering we don't currently have internet in our house, and that I don't have all of my pictures  on my office computer, it's taken some time. I loved seeing this on others' blogs, and I thought I would join in the fun...just a couple days late.

JANUARY

I chopped my hair, and we celebrated our first New Year's with some friends. (I'm just now realizing this picture is a tad inappropriate? Sorry, I was newly married.)

We came back to school, and I started Spring semester, along with my husband.

We went sledding with some of our buds.

FEBRUARY

We celebrated a year from our first date...we were quick movers, I guess.

And, our second Valentine's together! But, everything is better when you are married!

We went snowboarding with his family-my first time...I ski.

And, I went with my long time best friend through the temple! 

MARCH

We stayed at Kodi's house in Vegas during the BYU March Madness Basketball Tournament. Scott and Brim joined us, and now they're married! I love it.

I guess this month wasn't too exciting...

APRIL

We decorated Easter eggs with Scott and Brimley, and had a gay ole time.

We attended April conference with my parents, and they even treated us to Ruth's Chris, and a hotel room!

MAY

May marked 6 months of marriage, and we celebrated with Cold Stone, and our sister wife, Shelley.

We were lucky enough to go to Santa Barbara for the weekend, for our cousins wedding!

We love Opa!

We salsa danced at a Cinco De Mayo party.

And then, I was also able to plan a Casino night for Axiom on my very own. It was a great accomplishment!

We got to see Ash's final fitting!

And celebrated with a shower in her honor!

JUNE

We went back to Vegas for a friends wedding, and got the necessary Serendipity.

We attended the Tim McGraw concert.

We went to AZ for Ashlie and Dallin's wedding.

JUNE

We attended lots of baseball games, with our wonderful Pass of all Passes.

I met Tanner's mission president and wife at their homecoming.

JULY

We went to Carlsbad with the Rogers for the fourth!

We then went to Newport with the Zylstra's, and took family pictures.

AUGUST

Tanner started school.

We went to Swiss days up in Midway with Morg and Mckay.

We grew in love with the Fiore Pizza Truck

We made lots of peach jam from all of these peaches from the Farmer's Market.

I went to one of our trade shows in Deer Valley, and spent the night at the prettiest hotel, and ordered Sprite at the Cocktail hour.

We went to Hegben Lake, Montana, and Yellowstone, all in one weekend.

SEPTEMBER

Our bridals photographer needed us for a shoot, so we lucked out with early Anniversary pics.

We went rock climbing with Riley and Jacqueline, and I started to add some dark into my current summer/white hair.

We went to the Rooftop Concert.

I got to meet up with Walker, one of my best friends since childhood, at Kneaders, before he went up to Idaho after the mish.

We went on a beautiful hike.

I hosted multiple, very chilly, golf tournaments.

My parents came up for conference, and we celebrated mommas birthday!

We went to AZ for the weekend for sweet Mia's baptism.

And, went to the lake, because AZ in September is cool like that.

OCTOBER

We celebrated my 21st birthday, and our 1 year anniversary! I'm still trying to figure out how that flew by.

Tanner surprised me with a little get-away to Park City.

We carved pumpkins with friends.

Sophie had her 2nd birthday party.

We dressed up for Halloween.

And went to a football game! Yep, just one for the year! :)

NOVEMBER

We flew to LA for the night, to see Justin Timberlake in concert.

We then spent Thanksgiving in mesa with my family!

And then, I made my first pie.

DECEMBER

We spent a snowy afternoon at a football game...ok so I lied.. we went to two games! YAY!

We went to the lighting of the Riverwoods with some friends.

We closed on our very own house in Provo. And, we are stilllllll moving in.

We took a little elf (Sophia) to a Christmas Party with us. We love babysitting that munchkin.

We attended a lot of Christmas Parties...one especially that I was very proud of, the Axiom holiday party I did! 

We then spent Christmas with the Zylstra's in LA, and had a blast. My mother in law planned lots of FUN activities, so it was a great filled couple of weeks!

Besides Tanner losing his wallet two days ago (thank you to whomever found it-we feel SO blessed, thank you BYU), and me washing my hair with 2 conditioners, instead of Shampoo this morning, 2013 is going to be hard to beat!