Heart Eyes

Gosh. Have I told you how much I love the weekends?? Looking forward to Sam coming home is the ONLY thing that gets me through each week. Only 5 more until every day is like the weekend! Yeah, that's right! FIVE WEEKS!!

We're still pretty busy with wedding stuff, but we managed to squeeze in some fun yesterday.

We took advantage of a pretty clear Saturday to go do baptisms at the temple. I hadn't been in a while. Oops. I wish I could explain the overwhelming feeling of happiness I felt sitting there next to my sweet guy yesterday. Being with him in the temple feels so right. It feels like home. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's real life. I love that Sam Wilde guy.

It wouldn't be a successful temple date without stopping by World's Best Corn Dogs. Don't even mind my cute blue lips and wet hair. Sam was trying to get me to eat the entire thing and that wasn't the greatest idea we've ever had. I felt soooo sick later that night! 

That didn't stop us from eating out again later that night with my family. So gross, I know. A few of my cousins were baptized and then some of the family went to eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Ernesto's. This is me getting in trouble for asking the waiter for a To-Go box for Sam's leftovers.

After this meal, we really weren't feeling good. Of course it was super tasty, but piling that on top of the corn dogs was a bad, bad idea. We spent the rest of the night finishing up our addresses and lists for announcements and then watched the first episode of Friday Night Lights. Sam's never seen it and I just really will take any excuse to snuggle up to that handsome kid. 

There wasn't anything outstanding that happened this weekend but it honestly was one of my very favorites. I love experiencing day to day life with my guy. It's crazy to think about, but we are more and more crazy about each other each day. I don't even know how that happens! I love being in love and I especially love being in love with Sam. 

I Think I Wanna Marry You

This last Saturday (Jan. 25) Sam and I went down to Vegas to take our bridals! It was a nice, long day and I loved it. Unfortunately I'm not a natural beauty like my lover boy so I spent the entire morning getting ready. My friend Katie is PERFECT in every way and she did my makeup. I just really wonder what I would ever do without her mad skillz. Then Kate and my mom and I worked on my hair. We had some meltdowns but that's kinda the norm around here.
After I was ready we stopped at Jimmy Johns for some lunch where Sam ordered "a bag of chips to share." He's adorable. And funny.
 Finally we were both ready and on our way to Vegas! I really enjoy car rides with Sam because it's one of the few times I get to have him all to myself. He always shows me a good time.
We got to Denise's house and figured out a game plan. Sam hadn't seen my dress yet so we were going to try to do a little "first look" shoot. Sam left the house first and then I got in my dress. As I was walking out the front door, I heard a honk and looked over and saw Sam driving back to the house! He was covering his eyes and I just screamed haha. Just our luck!
We went to Tivoli Village to take our pictures and we had PLENTY of onlookers. Imagine Sam and I walking around holding my dress up from the ground, and Denise and CJ following us with a step stool (because I'm so short and Sam's so tall). It was quite the spectacle, I'm sure. I was happy to provide entertainment that day. It was so much fun having a little "dress rehearsal" for the wedding. It makes me so excited for the day I actually get to marry that hunky man of mine!
After we got home, we ate a quick dinner from one of our favorite pizza places, Grimaldi's, and looked at some of the pictures. Then we were on our way to see Recycled Percussion from America's Got Talent! Denise's friend had a bunch of extra tickets so we got to go for free fifty free. Which is my favorite price. Unfortunately, we ended up missing the first half of the show because traffic and parking was a complete nightmare. But of course we still enjoyed ourselves and the show. It was crazy loud and the energy was amazing! It was like The Wiggles on steroids because the guys each wore a specific color which I thought was funny. But really, those guys were insane!! As you walked in, there were big crates full of metal bowls, pots, car parts, etc and drumsticks for the audience to jam along during the show. We were so happy we got to go, even if we only got to see about 30-40 minutes of it.
The drive home was nice and relaxing. Possibly one of my favorite parts of the day. Oops. I finally got to take my hair out for the day and just soak in my time with my Sam guy. We ended up turning on the 80's Pop station on Pandora and singing our little hearts out.

^^pretending to be married while stuck in traffic (say hi to Sam's uvula)^^

^^our magical view of the new ferris wheel at the top of the parking garage^^

This was one of my very best days because I spent it pretending to be Mrs. Wilde!! I can't wait until it's real life.

Apartment Sweet Apartment

Like I mentioned before, Sam found us an apartment! People say love makes you do crazy things and I think that's true! Listen to this... because I'm so busy with school, I put the apartment hunting completely in Sam's hands and let him take it away. He sent me a few pictures and told me all about this place and I just let him decide if it was "the one." I hadn't even seen it in real life and we put down a deposit! Now if that's not love, I don't know what is ;) 

So last Sunday night (Jan. 19th) we took a trip up to Cedar so I could check it out. We have already been accumulating stuff for the apartment so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and move it in.  With some help from my dad, we loaded up his truck and were on our way to Cedar! We decided that our next car better have a bench seat up front. Snuggling in the car is the best way to travel. 

It was so surreal moving "our" stuff into "our" apartment. We were smiling from ear to ear talking and thinking about how great it will be to be our own family. It's definitely not a castle of any sort, but I think our first home together is going to be a perfect one to remember.

December + January Write Up

Oops. Hi. I'm off to a great start at keeping this blog updated, aren't I? In my defense, we have been super busy trying to get a wedding planned and trying to get settled into the new semester. 

 For the sake of time and my memory, I'm going leave you with a list and a few pictures of what we've been up to.

+Making the most of our weekend time together

+Trying out the new Buffalo Wild Wings (who knew that buffalo even had wings?)

+Getting photobombed at SC basketball games. Can we tell you a secret? We kinda miss high school basketball. It brings back the best memories of when we first started dating. 

+Tasting the "World's Best Corndogs" (They weren't kidding)

 

 

+Experiencing a real life dream come true by FINALLY getting to spend Christmas with my favorite guy. He knows me oh so well and we were spoiled rotten by each other and our families. 

+Saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Whoaaaah that show is amazing. One of my top favorites for sure. 

+Ping Pong tournament at my Uncle David's house. My mom and Sam were quite the spectacle. 

+The Imagine Dragons did not disappoint. Sam was LOVING it. We didn't get home until after 3:30AM and I had work the next morning. We were EXHAUSTED.  

+I finally got to bring my wedding dress home!!

+Celebrated our "kissaversary" on New Years Eve. Sam shocked me that night 4 years ago by kissing me in his car right after ringing in the year 2010. I was certain we weren't going to kiss because we hadn't even held hands or cuddled or anything! But boy, was I happy that he did. And I've enjoyed kissing on him ever since (TMI?)

+Started school! Sam is taking Trigonometry, Microbiology, and Chem II this semester. I don't know how he does it all. And I started semester 1 of 3 of my nursing program!! 

+Because we're so busy with school and work, we only get to see each other over FaceTime during the week. Things start to get weird.

+Sam found us an apartment!! I can't even begin to tell you how amazing that boy is. He worked so hard to find a place for us to start out our lives together and I love him so much. Wanna hear something crazy? We put a deposit in and everything and I haven't even seen it yet!!! It's going to be awesome. 

+Chase and Jessica's wedding! Wow, what a fun weekend we had. Even if were were jealous the ENTIRE time. I lost count of how many times people said to us, "you're next!" Jessica and Chase were so sweet together. It was a perfect weekend. I had a blast getting to spend some time with my girlfriends and an even better time with my lover boy! Can't wait until it's our turn! 

Sometimes I get so antsy and just want to be MARRIED already!! People will tell us to enjoy this season of our lives because its so fun and exciting and we just roll our eyes most of the time and say, "yeah whatever!" But looking back on stuff like this I realize that it really is so much fun! Yeah, it's hard having to go to our separate homes at night and during the week, but I'm so happy I have someone as wonderful as Sam to go through this time full of change and opportunity. Preparing for marriage and a wedding is a lot of work! But what a great partner I've chosen. I love that Sam Wilde guy.  

Turkey Time

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to go up to Salt Lake with Sam's family. He hadn't seen some of his family since he came home from his mission, and I hadn't met a majority of them so it was an easy choice for us to make. I missed my family A LOT but it was fun getting to spend time with my new family.

Thanksgiving day was filled with loads of new faces for me to meet. Gosh, he has a big family! I'm still having a hard time keeping track of everyone! We ate dinner at Sam's Grandma and Grandpa Wilde's house. They have this charming little old house in Sugar House. I absolutely loved it! We ate lot's of tasty food with plenty of mashed potatoes for this girl!

Black Friday started for us that night when we spent over an hour in line at Old Navy to get this coat that was still there in my size when we went back the next day!! Ooooops. After sleeping for a few hours, we woke up again around 5:30 with Sam's family and spent the ENTIRE day shopping. We literally shopped 'til we dropped. Our favorite stop for the day was definitely Guitar Center. I love listening to and watching Sam play the guitar. Talk about dream city. Try to keep the drool to a minimum while looking at these next pictures, k?

Saturday we recovered by hanging out all morning and going to see Captain Phillips. Crazy movie, but soooo good. I had anxiety the entire movie and maybe even a little while after. 

We obviously hadn't had our fill of shopping, so after the movie we headed up to City Creek. Don't you just love it there? It's magical. We had some drama looking for a suit for Sam but that didn't stop us from having a good time. 

When the sun went down we made our way over to Temple Square to see the lights. Can you keep a secret? That was my first time going there! I know, right?! So nuts! My goodness, it was freezing cold but so beautiful in real life. The most perfect way to kick off the Christmas season. There were SO many people there that night. I couldn't see the Nativity when they had the program going so Sam put me up on his back to help me see. I'm serious you guys, he's the greatest. 

One of Sam's favorite mission companions, Zac Hayward, lives in Provo but he and his adorable girlfriend, Jacquelyn met up with us to go on a double! We had sushi at The Happy Sumo and gelato at Dolcetti's. And really, how could it get any better than that?!  Zac and Jacquelyn made for some great company and we had a great time. At Dolcetti's we put my ring on a chain and used it to predict how many kids Sam and I are going to have. It said our kids would be boy, girl, boy, girl. THAT would be awesome. Too bad we'll be waiting a long, long, looooong time to see if it worked or not.  

Sunday was a sad, sad day because we had to go home. We hate when the weekends end and we have to say goodbye for the week! I kept praying the car would run out of gas or something so we could have more time together. 

But really, how thankful I am to have someone to miss all week. When counting my blessings, I name Sam twice. He brings so much happiness to my life and is the greatest example to me. I am so blessed I get to spend my forever with him. I love him with my whole heart.