Snow Day

First: Update on that dinner I made. It was okay BUT I should have NEVER added the broccoli in so soon. Ugh, it smelled and that is the one thing I would change. Cody, bless his heart, ate his entire plate with enthusiasm. 

Today we woke up to snow, and a lot of it. It hasn't snowed in a while so I thought what a wonderful time to get some maternity pictures done. Everyone I want to do my pictures is far far away. But lucky me, Cody bought me a ridiculously nice camera for my birthday, so he was the photographer.

It was a little rough...

But fun.

The wifey in me

So we have been married a year. And it took about that long for me to really get some wife duties. (Although when I fall short Cody is pretty good about making up the difference) Every morning, ok I may have skipped like 3, I wake up at 4 with him and make him his lunch, breakfast and send him off with a kiss. Then I snuggle back into bed where I wake up 2-3 hours later. When you look at it, I pretty much have a sweet set-up. I also try to make dinner everyday. Pinterest has been my great friend in this endeavor.

I came from a home where my mom cooked for us all the time. And a lot of the time it was things we had left in the pantry, or refrigerator that was going bad so she would throw it all together and it was delicious. I was that girl though that said, I will learn to cook later. Ha, oh how people tried to show me. I can follow a recipe, pretty well, it is that whole know what taste good together part I am missing.

So for about a month now Cody and I have been trying to just eat in. It saves money, but also gives us some talking time at the end of the night. I do LOVE to sit at the table and eat a home cooked meal. Since I have taken on this task I have discovered things like cream of chicken [pretty much just throw it on anything] and seasonings. Having a crockpot is WONDERFUL and it is my easy cooking days when I use it.

So the POINT to this is yesterday I wanted to make a roast. But I only know how to make one. IT is SUPER easy and Cody keeps asking for it. But you can ONLY have it so many times. (Plus I made it was I was pregnant sick and the smell, while wonderful, gives me bad memories) And I do love Pinterest. HOWEVER, sometimes I just want to use what I have! I don't want to go to the store for 5 more ingredients that I am just going to use for this dish and then let go bad, no!

So here it is. I used what I had, NO idea how this is going to turn out.

1 2.5lb Chuck Roast
1 can of Cream of Chicken
1/2 can of water
3 Largish potatoes cut up
1/2 bag of frozen broccoli that I found in the freezer
And probably a lot of seasoning

I put it in the crockpot while Cody was eating breakfast today. He looked alarmed, but has been well trained to not question the homemaker in me. Instead he said, "Honey how about you go back to bed? You don't have to stay up with me." Haha, nice try.

[Also, I feel like this needs to be said: I was sick almost all of last week and Cody made dinner so I could sleep and lunch and breakfast. He is pretty good at all his husband duties.]

I set it for high for 10 hours. We shall see . . .

Fred the Tortoise

Cody never wants to experience death with pets. 

Tortoises live to be about 70-100 years old.

(So we will allow our grandchildren to experience that pain.)

For Christmas he got his wish! Cody was inseparable from Fred. True love.

They are together in EVERY activity.

Fred would stay outside ALL day. Loving the sun.

Keeping it warm in our BED! wOw!

We were in Phoenix for the vacation so we had the great task of getting Fred from sunny AZ to snowy Idaho. [Fred might hate us for this forever] We first flew on the plane. TSA and pretty much EVERYONE we saw was impressed by our little pet. We were stopped a few times and questioned if it was legal, if we needed papers, if it was suppose to go through the x-ray machine etc. After a very LONG morning for Fred, he was tucked under my seat and it was take off.

Waiting in all the LINES. Early morning for us!

We arrived in Salt Lake, grabbed our bags and hopped on the train. Now the original plan was the train would take us to a connecting train that would take us to our car. Well the connecting train didn't run on Sunday. (How wonderful.) So we were left alone at a deserted station (because we figured this out once we had already boarded.) After standing and thinking, we were mostly worried about Fred and him getting too cold. We gave him a hand warmer and started on our very own trek.

We walked a little over a mile (I think, maybe more) to Temple Square. We were pulling ALL our belongings and I felt like a modern day pioneer. We tried to document it as best as possible.

After a tender mercy, our friends came to pick us up and took us to our car. Fred was so tired of travel and spent the next 3 hours sleeping. Before our much anticipated arrival home, we had to stop and get Fred a proper set up. Again, EVERYONE we met fell in love with him because we refused to leave him in the car.

We arrived home and had a few worried nights. Cody and I were constantly reading about Fred and how to make his life like a royal. After a week we got it down. He is so loved and so cool. We love Fred and are so excited to introduce him to our friends.

Ballon tied around him so he can roam at will.

Loves eating and will try to eat anything!

We Love Fred!

One year down....

I am coming up on a year of marriage in a few weeks and I have some thoughts.

Most say it is either the best year, or the worst year of your life. I say it is both. You start out with the person you know that you are going to love with all your heart for all eternity. Sometimes, in those hard times you can think, I love you but I don't like you at this moment and one more word and I might take "love" completely off the table. That is where I found a partner. Someone who is with you, wether you like them or not, they are there and going to be facing all the realities with you.

This of course isn't perfected in the first year by any means, just merely introduced. And I think that is the greatest thing I have learned. I have thought a few times this past year about how my life was easier not married. I thought about my freedom and how I could be so selfish and nobody cared. I have to say for a least a few hours on three separate days I longed for that again.

When you are facing a change that only requires experience I think that can be allowed, a few times. But then I think about my future and how my husband is everything apart of that. And it means having little fights, disagreeing, some tears and lots and lots of 'sorry's' and 'I love you's'. Because no matter how wonderful my friends are, loving my family can be, my husband is my partner.

I still look at my wedding ring and day dream. I think I had the best wedding in the world. It was small and special. My reception was the greatest party ever in my honor. It was a celebration of everything I loved... including my husband. I can't think of that day and time without smiling.

I will also be about 6 months pregnant on our year mark. What a wonderful feeling it is to share this time with the person that loves you even when you are getting sick in his beloved car. Because of this great blessing of out baby boy, I have completely no secrets from my husband. He has seen me on my worst days, worst moods and ugliest sick days. The day I asked him if I could just die instead of living (insert eye roll) he went to the store 4 different times trying to find the drink I could keep down. That is patience.

So we are almost a year and I don't think I would change it for anything. We have had our ups and downs and came out respecting each other more than before. Loving is easy, it is co-existing we had to learn.

I love my husband very much. I still call him "boyfriend", he still calls me "brit-brit". I still think he is the funniest person on earth, he still agrees. We still can't make up our mind about anything, and we still argue about whose fault that is. We still settle disputes with a game of UNO, he still cheats. We still say, "I love you", even when we are flaming mad. We still argue about me not writing him on his mission, I am still married to him for time and all eternity. I still think he is a stud and flattered he chose me.

Thank you dear husband for a wonderful year. I appreciate you and I can't wait to meet our son with you. I am terrified for change, so you hold my hand. I am always safe with you and always have a date to bring. Thank you for always kissing me goodbye. I love you so very much. -Brittany