The Biggest Catch Up Post Ever

Since the last time I blogged:

A squirrel chilled in my wheel well

We celebrated the sweetest mother's day by going to church with my parents, and then the boys made brunch afterwards. My dad taught Sammy and Tanner the best way to make pancakes and it was so cute seeing all the men in my life working together.

 I scared the crap out of my bro in law

 I finished up my junior year of college with lots of class parties. Instead of bringing food, one classmate brought temporary tattoos.

 I've gotten over my fear of cooking chicken, and found the best way to tenderize it.

I met Kazuo Ishiguro, my first author signing. I waited in line an hour for him to sign my book but I made a friend.

 I created this fun game where anytime Sammy fell asleep while I was cooking dinner, I would take pictures with him, then text them to him to make him wake up.

 We 'rescued' this cat. It was crying outside our door, Sammy thought it was a dog but I knew it was a cat and just picked it up. We walked around until we found it's mommy. Sammy was so cute, wanting to get it milk during the five minutes it was in our house.

 I spent a whole morning waiting to see Princess Charlotte's debut. I had the live feed on both the iPad and laptop so I was sure not to miss it.

 I met my favorite author Meg Cabot and totally didn't hear her when she tried to make conversation with me. I'd been stressing about what to say to her for months and ended up saying nothing to her in person. I did however ask her how to get over writers block during her Q&A. She suggested shaving your legs. 

 Brinley and I tried Tonight Dough ice cream which is my new favorite. We then spent a good half hour trying to find where we parked the car. She was brilliant and told me to see if the address was on the parking ticket. 

Sammy and I went on our first road trip to Utah! He tried Taco Time for the first time in Wyoming and was underwhelmed. I think it was because the service sucked, but oh well.

 We spent a few days at my grandma's house and took the green machine for a spin up the mountain.

 We saw burritos in the farming town where my grandma grew up. 

 My cousin Logan loved Sammy and cuddled up with us during a movie. It was sweet because he didn't want to watch said movie, saying, "Movie sucks! No church movie, minions." Sammy loved the movie though since it was about the building of the Salt Lake City temple, which we were going to see later. Watching the movie definitely made me look at it differently when we were there.

 Sammy loved baby Emma and was loving on her so much, and getting a bit of practice in. Which was not good for my intense baby hunger.

Sammy was able to have Fredricho's pizza and salad, my favorite pizza place ever. The pizza is great, but it's the salad that is mind blowing. I love the homemade ranch and crinkle beets. I had nightmares leading up to the trip that Sammy would hate Fredricho's. Luckily, he liked it. I loved going there with my grandma:)

We stayed in Salt Lake a few days and made a few trips to the fancy shmancy mall, where I promptly felt ill at the sight of this. 

 Sammy ordered this just for himself. His eyes are much bigger than his stomach. While in Salt Lake we made a surprise trip to a clinic where Sammy got to see what a pelvic exam is and now feels sorry for all womankind. The doctor performing it wasn't the best and it caused me so much pain, I almost passed out. I only want to remember this because Sammy was so sweet and comforting the whole time and took such great care of me. Between that doctor and my home doctor, I was diagnosed with a UTI, yeast infection, and BV. I don't know which one it really was, but was in a bit of pain and was prescribed a lot of drugs and never want to experience that again.

 We spent a whole day in temple square looking at everything. It was so cool being there with Sammy, he loved it. He loves church history. The conference center was one of the coolest buildings I thought, it's HUGE! And more like an art museum. We also saw actual pieces of Joseph Smith's journal, along with other cool documents. 

 We celebrated one year of marriage! Sammy was sweet and came home with peonies, our anniversary cake, and a stuffed bunny. He got the bunny because I always want to hug the ones outside our apartment. It was a great anniversary, and I can't believe how quickly it came! 

 Mike started working at foot locker and has to dress like a referee

 I learned how to make chicken nuggets! It's one of my favorite things to make now. I'm still working on getting the fries right though.

 Sammy held a gun for the first time when we went to Cabella's to get ammo for my dad. He was so excited and wants to go shooting sometime. His mom was not happy to see this picture. 

 I received my first rejection letter for a short story. I wasn't sad about it, I was excited since it's my first. It means that I actually tried. After taking a class in literary magazine publishing though, I know they don't mean it when they say they want me to submit again.

 I was called as the ward girl's camp director and went up to girl's camp with the lovely Natalie! We had no idea what we were doing, but had tons of fun. We may or may not have left camp at one point to go to McDonald's because we were starving and needed a break from all the teenage girls. 

 I felt like dying on the hike to this beautiful waterfall.

 I rode down this huge hill in an inner tube, and actually had fun. I wasn't going to do it because I hate rides, but one of the girls really wanted me to ride with her, and I couldn't say no. I'm so glad she asked because it was so much fun and I enjoyed riding with the other girls as well. 

I received this rejection letter, which is actually amazing. When magazines read stories, the ones they don't consider at all get a standard rejection, like my earlier letter. This however is a personal rejection, which means my story was at least considered for this magazine. The Missouri Review is a really well respected magazine and of a higher tier than the first, so being considered by them is a huge deal to me!!! 

 We went to Chicago with Sammy's family! I was nervous for this trip but had SO. MUCH. FUN! It meant a lot as well because two years ago I wouldn't have been able to do this because my anxiety was so bad. I was able to do so many things on this trip though because I've overcome a lot of my struggles. 

I took so many pictures of the divergent trains. 

 I finally felt like I had small feet

 On a boat tour of the architecture

 The Bean! Sammy didn't want to go there but I wanted to so bad.

 Touching the bean

 Underneath the bean

 Hugging the bean

 We saw a band pretending to be Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and someone else at Navy Pier and I had so much fun dancing.

 THE Divergent ferris wheel. 

 Riding the ferris wheel. Sammy is scared of heights but wasn't scared riding with me which meant a lot!

 Sue, the largest complete t-rex found. She's pretty cool because she's really beat up. One of her ribs was broken during her life, and her skull has lots of indents in it that happened before she died since they began to heal.

 Buckingham Fountains at the taste of Chicago

 I ran straight into this glowing waterfall. Everyone thought I was crazy but it was so fun!

 The 'squad'

 We were walking downtown with Sammy's cousins and Michael. His cousins were holding hands, and Sammy and I were holding hands, but all Michael had to hold were his new shoes. Did I mention that he brought five pairs with him on the trip? Ever since he started his new job, he's obsessed with shoes and bought a new pair in Chicago. 

This is only half of Sammy's family. 

 I see this baby bunny everyday walking home from work

 My dad made these AMAZING potato chips and homemade fries. I love when he cooks! He learned this from my aunt Rusha, who is an amazing cook. 

 We spent an amazing couple days with friends and family (not all pictured) and had the happiest day yet.

I was able to finish our collage above our bed because our family is now forever :)