As Of Lately

Hi readers!

Guess who's back - back again. I am back! Tell a friend.

Seriously... WHY is documenting life SO HARD?! I struggle to journal, blog, and even take pictures these days! This newly-wedded bliss has brought me some of the best times of my life and for some reason I can't get myself to record it all for the future. BOO! So here's a June 7th resolution... I'm hoping that you'll see a lot more of us as we live out our lives together. As adventurous or boring as they may be. I know our families have been wondering what we've been up to because when we were dating we were pretty good about sharing the milestones we were passing. So mom (my most devoted fangirl), I hope to be able to get you more pictures of us ;)

I guess my biggest problem with successfully documenting our fun times is that I haven't quite figured out the balance of when and when not to share via social media. Kendal and I were talking about it in our first month of marriage and we decided it makes some moments more special to keep them to ourselves. DUH. But why did that make us suddenly suck at pulling out our camera when we were doing something eventful?? I just do not know. So Kendal, imma make you smile for the camera and you better freaking like it! JK when we were dating he suggested when to take pictures more than half of the time. Like I say to him almost everyday, he really is a good egg.

Aaaand that little intro brings us to now. I present to you - yet another list - of the happenings in our lives. As Of Lately:

• We bought a house! Okay... not totally. As some of you may know, my amazing parents have decided to serve a mission (I'll get to that in a second) and as they were talking to us about our plans for the next two years, it appeared as though Kendal and I would be residents of Logan for 2+ years, at least. We are both still in school (I'll graduate next spring and he will be done in a matter of 2-3 more years), so it seemed like a good idea to get into a place that we could stay in until our time in Logan is up. Owning multiple properties is a good tax write off and so it seemed like the perfect idea for my parents to buy a property in Logan that we could take care of while they are away. And thus, this cutie townhouse is OURS. Hooray! Ah I can hardly describe how much I love it here. The layout is perfect, everything is so new and clean, and the neighborhood is a delight! We are in the midst of so many fun things! To name a few - the fairgrounds, the quaintest little park with a pond, by favorite local bakery, a pretty greenhouse, the aquatic center, our gym - it's just perfect. Plus we love finally having space for guests :) It is so much fun inviting people over and being able to hang out and play real live house when we host dinner parties! Also... I am loving decorating this place. We have already invested in some sweet deals (like our cute comfy couches) and placing pictures and endearing prints all over the place! It's really starting to feel cozy in almost every room. I'll have to get some pictures up on the blog of my favorite parts of our home soon so you all can swoon with me! We are just so blessed. I love knowing this place will likely be home to our first baby. It's so full of happy memories already! I already know it's going to be hard to say goodbye to it when we move out of this little town. 
• As I mentioned before.... my parents are going on a mission! They were called to serve in the New Delhi, India Public Affairs Office. Their mission will include India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh! HOW COOL IS THAT? The coolest. I know. We are already tentatively planning to go visit them this upcoming winter break! YAY! So many dreams come true. I am so excited for them. It is fun to see my parents so thrilled about it. And no.... they aren't the slightest bit worried or nervous. They actually requested this exact mission! Some may say they are a little crazy, but I think they are so rad for wanting to go to India. They can't wait for this adventure together. Can you say GOALS? For real peeps... they are the ultimate example of what a dream team looks like! They just had their mission farewell over Memorial Day weekend and were supposed to enter the MTC June 13th and leave June 20. However, due to some recent delays in their Visa's, those dates have been pushed back nearly one month. Which is good and bad. Good because they get to hang around longer but bad because that means I'll have to wait even longer for them to come back home! Selfish. I know. But saying goodbye to them is going to be so hard and I will miss them more than they know. I believe we will all see blessings from their service though. What they are doing is a really special thing. I love them!!
• One tender mercy after another... I landed a dope job! It's kind of a funny story. I started this summer with two completely random jobs (working at a loan place and knocking door selling insurance) lol. Do either of those sound remotely up my alley? HAHA naaawt. But as the last semester was ending I did my best to get ahead of the game and apply for a bunch of summer jobs before they all got taken! So I ended up with a zillion interviews, several job offers, and I took the two that offered the best money/ complimented each other's schedules. Welllll... money really isn't the most important thing in this world. Happiness truly is. And let me tell ya - I was not happy working at those jobs (not necessarily the insurance gig besides it being awfully mundane. but certainly that loan job). Holy cow, I would come home after work feeling exhausted and stressed and dirty. After coming home on one particularly stressful night in tears my husband convinced me it was absolutely not worth it to stay there. So I made up my mind to quit! And I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders the moment I did. That same night I started looking on Career Aggie and surprising found some pretty cool looking jobs. The next morning I went around handing out resumes, officially quit the loan job, and got a call back for an interview the coming Monday at a place called The Logo Shop. The position was looking for a graphic designer, so naturally I was thrilled because that's what I'm interested in for a career! So I went to the interview and waited barely 24 hours before I got another call that said I had got the job! I was so happy that day. It was all perfect timing. And the best part is that the pay matches what I was getting at the loan place, it's a full time position, and the hours match Kendal's almost perfectly! So we get to wake up together in the morning and he gets home just 30 minutes after me. It couldn't be a bigger blessing. Plus the experience I am getting is great and I enjoy what I do all day! Even though I sometimes get tired of looking at a computer screen, the time goes by quite quickly! I feel so lucky. And grown up. And legit because my job is super cool and I love telling people where I work! :)
• This last weekend brought Kendal and I the greatest adventure of our summer so far. Though it was a quick trip, it was well spent. Kendal's sweet Grandma Bluth passed away just about two weeks ago and so a funeral down in Mexico was in order. Kendal hasn't been to visit Mexico for 9 years and he's been looking forward to the family reunion that is happening down there in July. He was really close to his grandma as a kid so he wanted to be at her funeral even though it would mean taking several days off work and driving a looooong way for just two days. We were both able to get work off, which was a great, especially for me with this new job. I couldn't even give the right amount of hours it took to get down there, but I wanna say it was about 17 or 18. Ick! Honestly though, the drive wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. We were entertained by some audio books Kendal and I picked up at the library, movies on my laptop, books - I've started reading the Harry Potter series again (I almost read the entire 2nd book this trip!), sleeping, and lots of snacking! The ride down felt shorter than the ride back. I'm sure it was because on the way down I was a little more ignorant at how long the drive really was haha. It was all worth it when we got there though! The two days we were there were filled with the most delicious food (my favorites were the mango palette's - mexican popsicles - and the carne asada quesadilla with a manzana lift on the side - aka heaven sent apple soda. the fact that it was served in an ice cold glass bottle was just the cherry on top! mmm it was all so good!), riding through the dusty roads on four wheelers and motos (that's what everyone in mexico calls em), riding a horse (it's been sooo long since I've been on the back of a horse!), and swimming/ soaking up the hot sun/ and gobbling up as much fresh guacamole and corn tortilla chips as I could pool side! It was all so splendid. I also loved getting to meet tons of Kendal's relatives that weren't able to make it the our wedding and learning more about his astounding grandma at her funeral. I just feel so lucky and blessed to be apart of this amazing family and legacy! Seriously, I hit the jackpot with these people. I can't wait to go back down for a whole week in July for the reunion! 

That wraps up the biggest parts of our lives from the past several months. If you're still reading, get ready for some better and more frequent posting from me here ;) It's my goal to get better at writing down these special memories (oh and to hit the gym more often of course). Haha wish me luck as I try to accomplish these personal tasks while still maintaining the other important aspects of my life!

XOXO The Kings

Easter Weekend

Let me first apologize for my lack of cute, pastel plastered Easter pictures. The hubs and I are pretty terrible about remembering to take pictures. We're working on that...

Although we don't have the photo proof, our Easter weekend was pretty dang great. Good food, good people, good times.

We took a trip up to Pocatello to visit Kendal's sweet parents and arrived around 7 p.m. on Saturday to smiling faces and a delicious Easter feast. Since Lucy had plans to fly to Arizona to care for her mom early Sunday morning, we celebrated the festivities one night early so she could join us.

The food was SO good. I seriously STUFFED my face. I felt kind of bad about not being more involved in the dinner conversation... I was just over there scarfing down everything laid before me haha... chicken and shrimp fresh from the grill, a new recipe of jerk ribs Lucy wanted to try out, an assortment of yummy veggies, GF pasta tossed with even more yummy veggies, and spinach/ feta cheese naan (she's been hooked on naan ever since Kendal and I went with them to an Indian restaurant here in Logan). Gosh, I wish you all could enjoy a bite of every dish right now. I guess when you marry into the King family you get to eat like a king too!

Once my focus wasn't completely consumed by the food (pun intended) I realized Lucy had decorated pretty much every corner of the house! The whole place was SO cute. I don't know where she's collected all those fun decorations from but I want tips! There were twinkly lights with colorful flowers and ornaments hung in the spaces between the bulbs, festive table cloths and pretty tulips, and beaded strands of ribbon hung over all the doors. It got me feeling so excited for when I get to be a mom with a real house that I get to light up with all kinds of cheery decor!

We spent Saturday night relaxing and sharing stories. OH and of course munching on carrot cake with vanilla ice cream once our tummies had a little more space :)  It's always fun to hear about the family history and the silly jokes Corey manages to slide into every conversation. Haha all I know is that I couldn't have picked a better family to marry into. I got so lucky!

Lucy had an early flight to catch so I barely missed her and Corey leaving as I pulled my groggy morning self out of bed. I didn't even notice that Kendal had left our room to say goodbye so when I woke up to footsteps and voices upstairs I got myself up there as quick as I could! When I got to the top Kendal called me over to the couch to at least wave goodbye as they pulled out of the driveway.

We had a little Easter scavenger hunt prepared for us so once I woke up a bit more we decided to get started on that. Lucy had pointed out the starting point the night before so we walked over and opened up the first egg to find our clue. This little activity was definitely a highlight for me. It's been years since I've participated in an Easter Egg Hunt... especially one without older brothers terrorizing me and swiping all my findings from my bare hands! Haha sooo many teary-eyed baby Claire Easter videos. But this year I got to be on a team with my husband and we had a blast working together to find the next egg. Some of the eggs were actually quite a challenge to find so that added even more excitement to our hunt! Also Kendal let me dub myself "Keeper of the Eggs", giving me each clue to store in my hoodie's front pocket. I felt like an aussie kanga with a pouch! One of the funniest moments was when we were looking for an Easter basket in the garage. Kendal found a basket on top of the refrigerator and checked inside for the next egg. But all he could find was a grocery bag filled with corn nuts! Hahah we thought maybe that was our prize, which would have compared to Kendal's idea of giving someone a chicken pot pie for Christmas! But when we double checked to make sure they weren't just pulling our legs we found an clear egg that blended in perfectly with the basket. I'm not sure why that tickled our funny bones so much, but it did! We continued on the hunt and eventually found the very last hiding place. Our prize was hidden away in a colorful jar and to our delight we opened it up to find TWO gift cards! Olive Garden and Coldstone :) Some of our very favorite places! It's always exciting getting gift cards because they give us a reason to have a night out... especially because I can be so stingy with our money. It was so nice of them to plan that little scavenger hunt for us. A very pleasant surprise indeed!

I wasn't feeling too well after we finished so I went back downstairs to rest a little more while Kendal took a bath. Unfortunately that didn't help much because I spent the rest of the day feeling a little under the weather. But we met Corey at church and enjoyed the Easter messages together. My favorite part hands-down was the primary performance. They sang two songs and did such a nice job! Children's voices are the absolute sweetest. They brought such a strong spirit right into the meeting in a matter of minutes. The church choir also sang some songs, which Corey is a part of, so we got to enjoy those numbers as well. It was great! We sat in on his Sunday School lesson afterwards and felt like rock stars being introduced as his son and daughter-in-law :)

Post church consisted of more good food- complete with risotto, bringing me right back to my beloved Italian days- and solid Sunday naps.

We may have only been there for 24 hours but that time was filled with many happy memories. Huge thanks to the Kings for making sure our first Easter together was egg-stra special! ;)

LET'S GET HIGH [on love]. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.

Kendal and I will soon be coming up on 3 magical months of marriage! WHAAAT. It seems like just yesterday we were being sealed to each other in the Salt Lake Temple, celebrating the day away with our loved ones.

Although 3 months deems us as total marriage newbies, I think we are rocking this whole marriage thing. Sure, we have our disagreements… but if we didn’t, this journey we’re on together couldn’t really be constituted as an adventure, right? And Gordon B. Hinckley himself said, “Love is meant to be an adventure”. So as long as you can agree to disagree and choose to be happy rather than to be right (p.s. read that last piece of advice online the other day and LOVED it), you’re doing better than fine. PLUS – those tiffs don’t even compare with the many highlights each day has brought to us since 12.30.15. 

Without further ado, I present to you our very first list of “Marriage Peaks” [because anyone who knows me knows that I love a good list]

v  Sharing a bed. And why did I place this item at the very tip top of the list? Because that boy’s freakishly warm body never fails to warm up my constantly subzero toes. Slipping my feet under his legs as I’m falling asleep may be the greatest thing EVER. However, I should point out this might be a different story for Kendal… sharing a bed with me has shown him what it’s like to sleep with an alligator. Most nights he takes it like a true champion. But on some occasions I’ll wake up to him shoving my body across the bed, moving me away from my assumed pose – smack dab in the middle of the mattress, sprawled out like a skydiver in free fall. (Sorry honey)

v  Sharing chores and other responsibilities. Let me tell ya, it is SO nice to have a partner who helps keep our home a happy place to be. After a long day, solo work is the last thing anyone wants to do. But when one person tackles the dishes and the other takes care of the vacuuming and sweeping, those mundane jobs aren’t so bad. And it’s all done in half the time. Cheers to that!

v  And then there’s the things that a helpful partner is ESPECIALLY nice for… doing those things we just really can’t stand. Ironically, Kendal does a better job at not turning green while pulling clogged hair out of the shower drain. And I am the designated spider killer in the relationship. (teeheehee totally serious over here folks)

v  Sleepy good morning snuggles and kisses. There’s just something extra special about those moments when the sun is streaming through the windows and we’re still cuddled up in our warm blankets.

v  Date night, every night. Whether we get to enjoy a slow night in, complete with pizza and a Redbox or go out with some of our fun married couple friends. It’s so wonderful to not have to deal with those “your place or mine” texts as we figure out plans for the evening. All we have to do is walk through the door and our night together can begin right away! It’s a truly beautiful thing.

v  Never having to say goodnight. Of course we always say goodnight as we are curling up to go to bed, but oh my goodness… one of the best things about being married is never having to say goodnight and go home. Seriously, it’s the biggest game changer. We can now peacefully go to bed at a reasonable hour because we aren’t forcing ourselves to stay awake as we procrastinate leaving each other for the night. Our bedtime has changed from midnight or later to 10:30 or earlier. IT’S THRILLING.

v  Getting to do our own thing while still having the fun of being together. As two separate people, we naturally have our own separate interests. And sometimes I just really like kicking back and binge watching Grey’s Anatomy (I’M FREAKING OBSESSED BTW), while Kendal plays some Xbox. Life in our little studio apartment allows us to always be in close proximity to each other so when we both get the itch for our guilty pleasures Kendal will turn off the sound on his game and I’ll turn my volume up so he can hear it. It’s fun for us to do this because he pays close attention to what’s happening and asks questions to stay up to date on all the drama. Then whenever I gasp at some gross condition a character has, he’ll run over and check out the gore with me. It’s a good time. And we both get to do what we want J  Always a win-win activity!

v  Living together forces us to solve our differences promptly. Which is so healthy! When we got frustrated when we were dating, it was too easy to escape the issue by leaving and going home. Though it’s definitely good to take a minute and step back until you’ve calmed down, I find it more beneficial to resolve things sooner than later. This way there isn’t time to build any resentment or bitterness toward the person or the issue. You also get to observe the other person as they go through every stage of whatever emotion and you really learn a lot about the best way to handle things. 

Oh – and for those curious about the title of this post – It’s simply a song I like. Give it a listen if you’re wanting to add a little groove to your day J It’s been stuck in my head and I thought it was fitting considering the peak of a mountain is the highest point and these “Marriage Peaks” have got us high on looooove. Amen and amen. 

P.S. Pictures have a way of spicing up just about everything, so here's a little photo of the husband and I at our Stake's Valentine dinner + dance. We've been on a lucky streak lately because at this event we won a gift card to The Elements restaurant here in Logan (which is basically one of the fanciest places in town) and just the other night we went to a Vivint recruiting dinner to support one of Kendal's buddies and won an IPad Air! We are SUPER pumped about both victories.

Also love the married student ward we are in and recently received the calling of Sunday School teachers together! It's especially fun because this will probably be one of the only church callings in our life that we get to share. XOXO