One Year Since...

Here's to many, many more

[Fabulous photos all by Summer Montoya]

Where We've Been

The past few /days/ weeks have been heaping scoops of crazy, especially this last week.

So here's what we've been up to, in a google-calendar-threw-up-and-we-turned-it-into-a-post-sort-of-way:

{One}

My wonderful [second] cousins came into town to celebrate the soon-to-be-bride and I had a lovely time at her bachelorette party. I'm thrilled she invited me out, because I won't be able to make it to the wedding. At least I got to celebrate a little! It was so fun!

{Two}

We helped out at a local homeless shelter for the second time this Sunday with my parents' church. I forgot how much fun it was and God definitely used it to put my mind back into a missional, and so grateful standpoint.

    For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." (Matthew 25:35-36 ESV)

    Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:37-40 ESV)

 

With my brother

 After serving, he's so handsome!

{Three}

Sunday evening, we headed to a timeshare/resort where hubband's sweet family had booked several rooms. Nail-painting, pool-laying, BBQing, conversation-ing, and all sorts of fun followed.

{Four}

We just returned to reality this morning (although we both did work yesterday, but we were still staying at the resort), but only temporarily, because Friday afternoon, we're off to Bisbee-ish for some serious R & R, Kartchner Caverns (which I always want to spell Kartchner Kaverns...), Tombstone, and a celebration of an entire year of marriage.

Can you believe it? Well, probably you can.

{Five}

We're seeing Fun. tonight! We've had these tickets for months and I can't believe it's finally time! They are absolutely my second favorite band ever, because no one, not anyone will ever take Relient K's place in my heart.

{Six}

One more thing. Our offer was accepted. Like officially, with paperwork and such. And honestly, we're thrilled, but not too thrilled, because we still have inspection and appraisal. So, we're thrilled, just little thrilled. /Like this thrilled/. We could own a house soon! Gulp! And if so, we would close SOON, so hubband and I have gotten our bums into gear saving as much extra as we can for those potential upcoming expenses.

{Seven}

Just to be lucky, we're adding the number seven. ooh! Also, this is a good place to mention that we're linking up with the lovely and talented Sar at Love Love Sar... this fine day! You should too!!! 

[Nearly] Wordless Wednesday

Forgive us for our absence, we've been super busy having adventures such as this:

Which happened again.

More to come later... promise :)

Thursday Thoughts...

... because it's all we have time for. And because it's so fun! And because Sar, the lovely host of this evening's soiree a la ramblings is simply a wonderful lady.

One

I had this really superb and brilliant post lined up describing what we did last weekend, but it never quite came together and nooooow it's Thursday... So, it is a little late to post about last weekend when this weekend is rapidly coming upon us. But it was a good post, you'll just have to take my word for it. You see, those current home-buying endeavors of ours have been taking up all the blogging time that remained in our already-quite-busy-busy lives.

While we're on the subject (uh oh, grab some coffee, we're going to be here a little while), we put down an offer on a house townhouse we absolutely fell in love with, but that doesn't really mean much. Because so did 100 other people. Okay, probably not 100, but "multiple"... whatever that means! We're just trusting God over here, praying that we remember this is in His control. It's crazy, the time between on the market and sold is currently, on average, 20 days out here. We know our dream home is out there though... Right? Right?

Two

Monday, we had the privilege of watching The Diamondbacks lose to the LA Dodgers on Monday night with our small group- the newly married one. Well, the losing wasn't a privilege but the baseball game? That was fun! And it was free!

[Opening the roof]

 [Happy guy]

[We were a little high up but it was still so fun!]

Three

I know I keep talking about this, but our  ONE YEAR anniversary is in 10 days. 10 days people. I simply cannot believe we've even been married for a whole year. Oh wait, yes I can. It's been tough, but it really has been a good year. And God will bring on more toughness and more good years, this we know. :)

Four

After four days of consistent runs/work outs last week, what's this week added up to? One. #fail.

Five

I went to the doctor today with a list describing everything that's been going on [in relation to this particular visit] on a folded up white piece of paper. I pulled it from my purse during the appointment today. I am just a bag full of pills, a pair of stockings, and one head of blue hair short of being an old lady people. Have you seen my glasses?

Six
 
We celebrated this lovely lady's birthday tonight, and in true Arizona fashion, we had Mexican food. Which involved the birthday girl wearing a sombrero. Of course.

Seven

Last Saturday night, in an attempt to stick to our commitment, we had a date night! Chipotle, La Cage Aux Folles, and ending with a trip to Cold Stone made for a yummy fun evening together. Also, my phone can make me into a cartoon, did you know that? That's all. 

 [It's like magic!]

Happy[almost] Friday friendsies!

Friday Letters

 Linking up Again!

Dear Wedding Anniversary, I simply cannot believe you’re two weeks away. It seems like just yesterday we were saying “I do”.

Dear Dentist, I totally get your importance, but 1 cracked filling + 4 shots in the mouth + extremely sensitive teeth= yeowch!

Dear Body, You’re welcome. I knew you would appreciate 4 straight days of working you out plus a few weeks of staying on track with my calories. Now if you would, grow me some muscles in place of these love-ly handles. Please and thank you.

Dear England/Germany, Holy cow. One month away? I think I’m in denial. I might want to start getting ready for this…

Dear Perfect House, I know you’re out there. Now please, oh please, let us find you this weekend. Please?

Dear Hubband, I love you so, so much. And I love that you love your job and that you’re working your tail off for it. I am so freaking proud of you. Also, maybe after you read this you can give me a back massage? No? Worth a shot…

Dear Weekend, I just know you’re going to rock.

Dear Lovely, Awesome, Super, Wonderful Blog/IRL Friends, I hope you have a spectacular weekend!

Apartment Livin’ and Other Newlywed Bid-ness

While perusing my daily-reader-feed, thank-you-very-much-Google, I stumbled across a post from this lovely lady. And, lemme-tell-ya, I loved it SO much. And we could relate SO dang much.

So, of course, we have want to share our story too!

I don’t really know when the qualification time ends for newlywed-ness, but we’re going to probably say, three years or a baby (because from what we hear a baby changes the game completely).

We’ve been married for just twenty days shy of one year, and we have no baby, which definitely puts us in that newlywed qualification-bracket-thing-guy.

For most of these 11 months, we lived in a [teensy] tiny 730-square-foot apartment with 2 couches and a drum set, but it was within walking distance of Mill Avenue Tempe, a really awesome urban part of Arizona. We could hike, bar hop, check out a Farmer's market, and visit a gorgeous lake all within walking distance. It was incredible. We trained for our half-marathon every night in a wonderful area that we loved. Not to mention the food. MMM. But yes, there were absolutely times we wanted to punch each other- juuuust a little.

Cooking dinner in a kitchen the size of most bathrooms? Just a little challenging. 

One small bathroom, with no counter space, and a toilet that said “CLUNK” and slammed into the ground every time you sat on it? Sort of a pain.

A shower that would periodically cease producing water? A tad inconvenient.

Having to disassemble the table to put up our Christmas tree? A small challenge.

The toilet that didn’t flush for two weeks (Hello? Maintenance? Hello?) Quite the pain.

But when mushrooms started growing out of the wall? I think we’d had enough.

I’m not sure how powerful your perception is, humble reader, but if it’s super-powerful, you might have noticed that we live with my parents currently.

Why?

Because eventually we got tired of bumping elbows for the daily meal. We started to long for a place to put our deodorant and showers with no fear of mid-rinse-water-loss. I got pretty sick of that toilet calling me fat, and starting dreaming of one that flushes all the time.  And sheesh, I just want somewhere to put my dang Christmas tree, okay?

Plus, there were the mushrooms…

[Picture Credit]

So, when they evacuated us for the mold growth, we asked to be let out of our lease (they politely obliged). We didn’t quite have the money for a down payment/escrow quite yet, so we moved in with my parents. (Take a deep breath, it’s actually going well).

We just started the official home buying process this week, and while we won’t exactly be purchasing our dream home just yet (our price range is looking a little more… townhome-y), we’re looking forward to the adventures we’ll have in this “starter home” phase-of-life, God willing. But seriously please pray for our experience if you do/can/will- the market is competitive right now in AZ. We’re going to need lots of /good thoughts/ a freaking miracle, by the looks of it.

But sometimes… Just every now and again, we kind of envy those 730-square-foot apartment days, because that tiny two-bedroom-one-bath-hunk-of-junk will always be [even just a little] special to us.

It’s where we held our engagement party (even if I was living there alone at the time, it was still ours)

It was our first home together.

It’s where we opened our wedding presents and it’s what we came home to after our honeymoon.

[After opening our first wedding present!]

It’s where we [kinda] fell [a little bit] apart, and where God brought us back together, better than ever. Re: Marriage is hard, right? * Collectively, all the married folks laugh and nod their heads *

It’s where we shared our first Christmas as a family.

 

It’s where we laughed, we cried, and we grew as a unit during our very first year.

And we know we have so many memories together ahead on the road (and an awesome blog to share them)

But.

Sometimes we miss it, toilet and all.

[Just a little].

All These Things that I Have Done

I found this over at Hello Miss Chelsea, who got it from this girl Jen, who got it from Al and I thought it was just too much fun not to do!

Here are my answers, maybe if we ask nicely, we could get Hubband to fill one out? ;)

1. Started your own blog- duh! Here I am!
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band- Church and others! Nothin’ big though.
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm- Arizona has amazing ones, actually
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch- Taught myself how to play piano [not well] and selectively draw a few things…
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning- blech
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon- half?
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied- we’re there now, praise Jesus!
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance- surfing accident in high school
47. Had your portrait painted- drawn?
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie- Do the awesome ones I made with my best friend in Elementary/Junior/High school count? :-p
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business- It was babysitting. I was young. Still counts? Probably not.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma- tried once, but I had a broken foot and got denied! I should change this…
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy- I have a whole box of horses from my younger days…
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt- For both my nephews!
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job- actually thankful to say no to this one…
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone- my foot and a toe (right before our wedding)
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person- ironically, no. Ooops. Bad Arizonan
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car- a VW Bug, Madeline.
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo- a surf board and cross, on my foot
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit- no, thank God!
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee- not yet, here’s to hoping never!

Hmm... 47/99. Not bad considering I'm only 22, but I'd better get living! And why isn't being married on here?! But having a baby is? I think marriage is a great adventure ;)

Now, click on over, fill out your own, and listen to "All These Things that I have Done" by the Killers, because I know I put it in your head ;)