Our First Year in Review
We did it! We made it through one whole year of wedded bliss, and it really has been blissful. The past year and a half has been nothing short of a whirlwind of change, but those changes have brought me right back to what is most comfortable and familiar and exciting and perfect. For blog thoroughness, I thought we'd recap the highlights from the past year. They've been incredibly fun to live the first time around, and I'm sure we'll love revisiting them in the future.
It all started on June 5th, 2010 in downtown Savannah, Georgia on a cozy, intimate evening shared with our closest friends and family. It was the perfect day for getting hitched, and get hitched we did. The brief ceremony (brief due to a lack of ceremoniousness in both of us as well as impending rain) was held in Columbia Square, and a dinner reception followed in the loft of the Kehoe House across the street. My mom did an amazing job of putting together a simple, wonderful wedding on really short notice, and Callie (of Callie Beale Photography) and Caitlin did a great job of capturing the day for us:
We honeymooned for a week in Atlantic Beach, NC, where Drew's grandparents have a place that they very generously let us use at the fabulous price of free. (We're returning there this summer for a month so I can conduct research for my Master's project. I was successfully converted to marine science and policy during my relatively brief stint at Duke, and since anything dealing with the ocean is difficult to come by in Provo, we'll be heading back to Duke's Marine Lab for most of July and August. Hooray for plentiful water, sand, and sunshine, and an extra hooray for being so close to so much family for so long!)
When we got back to Utah, Drew jumped right into summer classes (calculus of all things, poor guy) and I got busy making our little corner of this 1930s four-plex livable:
Rent at $510 a month, free heating in the frigid Provo winters, plenty of big windows and natural light, and close proximity to BYU quickly sold us on this place, and it was quaint and comfy for the year we spent there. However, the quaint factor rubbed off, and we moved into a new apartment just a few weeks ago.
School was back in session for both of us at the end of August: Drew was accepted to and officially started the Construction Management program at BYU, and I started the Master's program in public health. In September, Lori came to visit en route to college. We drove her up to BYU-Idaho (with a flat tire along the way to keep things interesting) and stayed in a hotel right on the Snake River, across from the Idaho Falls Temple. (It was unexpectedly cold, so we're both wearing Lori's sweaters in this picture...)
In October, we went to the Fork Fest, a music and arts festival held in an outdoor ampitheater in American Fork, UT. It was such a perfect day for being outside; we heard plenty of great music and spent some good time with some good people. It seemed like everyone there was wearing plaid somewhere on their person (perhaps the unofficial, official fabric of folk music?); luckily, we fit in quite well.
October also brought more visitors to Utah as Peter came home from his two-year mission in Chile and Drew's family came out to welcome him back. We spent the morning in Temple Square and the afternoon in the Salt Lake City airport, where Lisa spotted and briefly befriended David Archuletta.
Peter was in Utah for the rest of the fall semester, and we really enjoyed having him around. In November, Lori and her friend Devyn came down from Idaho, and we all spent Thanksgiving with Drew's Aunt Jan and Uncle Kevin in Saratoga Springs. Great company, yummy food, plentiful couch time, and this guy (lovingly known as Dukie) made it one happy holiday.
In December, we attended the Christmas Devotional in Salt Lake and walked through the many millions of twinkling lights that are put up every year in Temple Square for the holidays.
Christmas break brought a long-awaited and joyous return to Georgia. In seven years of knowing each other and many trips to and fro to be together, this trip was our first plane ride together. All of our Georgia homes (there are three of them) were full of people and fun, and we spent the holidays bouncing around from one to the next. This was the first time Drew's entire immediate family had been together for Christmas in five years (and who knows when it will happen again), so togetherness was soaked up by all.
Drew's best friend from Atlanta, Philip, and his wife, Elaine, also came down to visit for a while. Their visit started and ended with fun days on the water, first at a state park outside of Claxton, GA, and then on Ossabaw Island, off the coast of Richmond Hill.
Christmas was the first time we had seen my side of the family since we got married, and it was immensely wonderful to have all of the people I like best in one general location. Peyton was in Richmond Hill for about a week, so Christmas at my mom's was quite entertaining, with plenty of fun outings and innings (that would be the opposite of an outing, right?). Drew took Peyton and I on an ice skating, movie, and lunch double date.
We also stayed in and played lots of Farkle and Left-Right-Center and relished in plenty of accompanying laughter (we might or might not have played Left-Right-Center with real dollar bills, but I can say that Peyton ended the week as a very wealthy little girl). My sister makes me laugh until I cry. I don't always know why, but few others can do it and I love it.
After Christmas and New Years, I made a day-trip to Macon to hang out with Emma and Joanne. We did all of our favorite things: calzones for lunch at Giuseppi's, treasure-hunting at the biggest, best Goodwill in Georgia, and, of course, ice cream at Marble Slab (all of which do not exist in Provo...). We walked around Mercer's campus, too, and indulged in a healthy bit of nostalgia about the good old days. We also enjoyed seeing how Mercer has changed, including this enormous and quite ferociously realistic bear statue.
Our time at home was wonderful and leaving was more than a little hard because Utah feels far, far away when you're standing in Georgia, and from the perspective of Christmas, the next trip home for some unidentified holiday seems even farther (but time passes and now here we are, only a few weeks away from reunion with the Southeast once again).
We came back to Utah just in time for (actually a day after) the start of winter semester. (Note: At most colleges, September to December is fall semester and January to April is spring semester. At BYU, the enduring nature of snow and frigidity throughout "spring" requires a name change to winter semester, just in case anyone gets the crazy idea that warmth and flowers should be showing up before the end of April. To be fair, there are also four academic terms at BYU, so I guess they can't be skipping seasons when naming them.) The semester was a big one for both of us, heavy on both school and work, and sadly, this is evidenced by a lack of pictures of us doing fun things during those months (that frigidity that I was talking about might also be to blame; the activites of most people in Provo during the winter are quite similar to the yearly hibernation in which that that big scary bear up there would participate).
Still, there are a few moments of importance here and there. The passing of January made Drew and I both a year older (I remember us being 17 quite well; I'm not sure how we got to 24 so fast). Although (and since) there are no pictures for proof, I'm sure we spent both of our birthdays and Valentine's Day in a very low-key way, as is our nature and liking. Still, we do like a good party, so here are some pictures of us from birthday parties past (Drew in 2006, me in 2007).
February brought a less than pleasant surprise when Peter ended up in the hospital with intestinal problems, emerging from surgeries he had when he was an infant. We made a spontaneous get away to Idaho (we might or might not have left church early on account of the emergency...) and spent a couple of days with him until everything settled down some. Hospitals aren't very entertaining, and we passed a lot of time in quasi-homework mode and even more time half-watching movies. Thanks to Drew's family's affinity for Skyping, though, we also did a lot of that and have some webcam pictures to remember everything by.
Peter is all better now, so good in fact that the pretty girl behind him in the bottom picture, Jill, is now his fiancee and our soon to be sister-in-law. Hooray!
We had another flat tire when we got back from Idaho. Our car has had two flat tires ever, both from trips between Provo and Rexburg...that drive is just not easy on our wheels. When March rolled around, it brought with it a few tantalizingly sunny days, just to remind us of how nice and friendly the world is when it's warm. We took advantage of a particularly pretty Sunday to take a walk/hike up Rock Canyon.
At the end of March, Drew's "test-drive" was over, and we went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in Pleasant Grove, UT to be sealed together for time and all eternity. It was a good excuse for his family to make a trip to Utah, and it was great to see them. When you feel far away from everything, it's always so nice to be around people who feel like home. Eliza (of Eliza Wu Photography) was on hand afterwards to take some pictures for us.
Other than classes (note the construction law book in the background of our delicious coffee cake picture) and working (note to self: you do not particularly enjoy spending 40 hours a week sitting in front of a computer, so stay in school), we've just been slowly settling into our new place, even more slowly thinking about plans for our upcoming travels/studies this summer, and spending much of the rest of our time just hanging out with Aaron and Jaimie and other friends. Last time, when rain ruined our plans for a cookout in the canyon, they played Mario Kart and I played with this cutie (his name is Emory). I don't have one shred of video-gaming in me and it doesn't bother me one bit; plus I dare say that I appear to be having much more fun:
It all started on June 5th, 2010 in downtown Savannah, Georgia on a cozy, intimate evening shared with our closest friends and family. It was the perfect day for getting hitched, and get hitched we did. The brief ceremony (brief due to a lack of ceremoniousness in both of us as well as impending rain) was held in Columbia Square, and a dinner reception followed in the loft of the Kehoe House across the street. My mom did an amazing job of putting together a simple, wonderful wedding on really short notice, and Callie (of Callie Beale Photography) and Caitlin did a great job of capturing the day for us:
We honeymooned for a week in Atlantic Beach, NC, where Drew's grandparents have a place that they very generously let us use at the fabulous price of free. (We're returning there this summer for a month so I can conduct research for my Master's project. I was successfully converted to marine science and policy during my relatively brief stint at Duke, and since anything dealing with the ocean is difficult to come by in Provo, we'll be heading back to Duke's Marine Lab for most of July and August. Hooray for plentiful water, sand, and sunshine, and an extra hooray for being so close to so much family for so long!)
When we got back to Utah, Drew jumped right into summer classes (calculus of all things, poor guy) and I got busy making our little corner of this 1930s four-plex livable:
Rent at $510 a month, free heating in the frigid Provo winters, plenty of big windows and natural light, and close proximity to BYU quickly sold us on this place, and it was quaint and comfy for the year we spent there. However, the quaint factor rubbed off, and we moved into a new apartment just a few weeks ago.
School was back in session for both of us at the end of August: Drew was accepted to and officially started the Construction Management program at BYU, and I started the Master's program in public health. In September, Lori came to visit en route to college. We drove her up to BYU-Idaho (with a flat tire along the way to keep things interesting) and stayed in a hotel right on the Snake River, across from the Idaho Falls Temple. (It was unexpectedly cold, so we're both wearing Lori's sweaters in this picture...)
In October, we went to the Fork Fest, a music and arts festival held in an outdoor ampitheater in American Fork, UT. It was such a perfect day for being outside; we heard plenty of great music and spent some good time with some good people. It seemed like everyone there was wearing plaid somewhere on their person (perhaps the unofficial, official fabric of folk music?); luckily, we fit in quite well.
October also brought more visitors to Utah as Peter came home from his two-year mission in Chile and Drew's family came out to welcome him back. We spent the morning in Temple Square and the afternoon in the Salt Lake City airport, where Lisa spotted and briefly befriended David Archuletta.
Peter was in Utah for the rest of the fall semester, and we really enjoyed having him around. In November, Lori and her friend Devyn came down from Idaho, and we all spent Thanksgiving with Drew's Aunt Jan and Uncle Kevin in Saratoga Springs. Great company, yummy food, plentiful couch time, and this guy (lovingly known as Dukie) made it one happy holiday.
In December, we attended the Christmas Devotional in Salt Lake and walked through the many millions of twinkling lights that are put up every year in Temple Square for the holidays.
Christmas break brought a long-awaited and joyous return to Georgia. In seven years of knowing each other and many trips to and fro to be together, this trip was our first plane ride together. All of our Georgia homes (there are three of them) were full of people and fun, and we spent the holidays bouncing around from one to the next. This was the first time Drew's entire immediate family had been together for Christmas in five years (and who knows when it will happen again), so togetherness was soaked up by all.
 |
| For those who don't know, clockwise from bottom left: Lisa, Lori, Tyler and Christie, Peter, us, and Katie. In the middle are Drew's mom and dad with Topher and Madeline, Christie and Tyler's children. |
We also stayed in and played lots of Farkle and Left-Right-Center and relished in plenty of accompanying laughter (we might or might not have played Left-Right-Center with real dollar bills, but I can say that Peyton ended the week as a very wealthy little girl). My sister makes me laugh until I cry. I don't always know why, but few others can do it and I love it.
Nannie drove down from North Carolina, too, so Christmas at my dad's meant plentiful food and lots of good grandmother-loving.
We came back to Utah just in time for (actually a day after) the start of winter semester. (Note: At most colleges, September to December is fall semester and January to April is spring semester. At BYU, the enduring nature of snow and frigidity throughout "spring" requires a name change to winter semester, just in case anyone gets the crazy idea that warmth and flowers should be showing up before the end of April. To be fair, there are also four academic terms at BYU, so I guess they can't be skipping seasons when naming them.) The semester was a big one for both of us, heavy on both school and work, and sadly, this is evidenced by a lack of pictures of us doing fun things during those months (that frigidity that I was talking about might also be to blame; the activites of most people in Provo during the winter are quite similar to the yearly hibernation in which that that big scary bear up there would participate).
Still, there are a few moments of importance here and there. The passing of January made Drew and I both a year older (I remember us being 17 quite well; I'm not sure how we got to 24 so fast). Although (and since) there are no pictures for proof, I'm sure we spent both of our birthdays and Valentine's Day in a very low-key way, as is our nature and liking. Still, we do like a good party, so here are some pictures of us from birthday parties past (Drew in 2006, me in 2007).
February brought a less than pleasant surprise when Peter ended up in the hospital with intestinal problems, emerging from surgeries he had when he was an infant. We made a spontaneous get away to Idaho (we might or might not have left church early on account of the emergency...) and spent a couple of days with him until everything settled down some. Hospitals aren't very entertaining, and we passed a lot of time in quasi-homework mode and even more time half-watching movies. Thanks to Drew's family's affinity for Skyping, though, we also did a lot of that and have some webcam pictures to remember everything by.
Peter is all better now, so good in fact that the pretty girl behind him in the bottom picture, Jill, is now his fiancee and our soon to be sister-in-law. Hooray!
We had another flat tire when we got back from Idaho. Our car has had two flat tires ever, both from trips between Provo and Rexburg...that drive is just not easy on our wheels. When March rolled around, it brought with it a few tantalizingly sunny days, just to remind us of how nice and friendly the world is when it's warm. We took advantage of a particularly pretty Sunday to take a walk/hike up Rock Canyon.
At the end of March, Drew's "test-drive" was over, and we went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in Pleasant Grove, UT to be sealed together for time and all eternity. It was a good excuse for his family to make a trip to Utah, and it was great to see them. When you feel far away from everything, it's always so nice to be around people who feel like home. Eliza (of Eliza Wu Photography) was on hand afterwards to take some pictures for us.
 |
| From top left: Drew's cousins Dusty, Meagan, Kelsey, and Bailey with their parents, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jan; us; Drew's parents; Drew's grandmother; behind her is Peter's best friend, James; then Aaron and Jaimie, our best friends out here; Drew's Aunt Margo; across the front is Drew's good friend, Sam; Drew's brother, Peter; and Drew's cousin Michael |
I'm afraid we mostly just survived April, again with few pictures to prove it. The end of the semester and finals were kind of nasty for both of us, but we made it through relatively unscathed. Drew had a two-day bout of freedom and then spring term started for him (the CM program at BYU requires everyone to spend at least one spring or summer term taking classes so the program can accommodate more students each year...). After this, he will have been in school for an entire calendar year; what a trooper.
At the beginning of May, we moved into our fancy new apartment. It has a washer and dryer and a dishwasher and an air conditioner and a bathtub that's not icky, and I am in love with each and every one of these modern conveniences. We don't have barstools yet, so we're still eating at our coffee table (which we've actually been doing for our whole married life; we didn't have room for a real table in our old house, so we never had one there either). The other night we had coffee cake for dinner, so coffee table style was quite fitting anyway (Drew says his mom used to do coffee cake for dinner sometimes, and he turned out well if I do say so myself, so it must be okay. Plus, oranges and milk provide sufficient balance, I think.). Our new apartment also has a porch that looks right into North Park, and this locale brings with it some beautiful visitors from time to time.
And here we are today! We've been to church, eaten more blueberry muffins than we should have (it's just that you have to get them while their tops are still toasted and semi-crunchy; they're just not as good the next day...), and Drew has done his home teaching. Next, we're headed to Etta's for a pot roast dinner, and tonight we're going to the first Summer Band Concert in North Park (aka our back yard) for some music and neighborly socializing. I'd say we're in a pretty good place after a pretty good first year.
Happy anniversary! I can't believe it's been a year. You two look so happy :)
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