a 365 (or 367?) day success story

one year ago exactly (minus two days), michael and i were staring dreamily into each other's eyes thinking excitedly about our happy future together. today we have a whopping year of marriage under our belts and have learned a bit more things about each other :) this last year has flown by (excuse the cliche)! before getting married i had heard that the first year of marriage is the hardest, but i was happily surprised to find out that mine and michael's first year of marriage was the most fun, exciting, and happy year of my life thus far. if it was the worst, i'm excited for what's coming!

who knows what this next year will bring. seattle? definitely. a puppy? YES. lots of seafood? absolutely. and hopefully we'll have time to fit in plenty of mountain biking, skiing, and other exciting adventures.

thanks for keeping up with the evertons over this past year!

:)

you can check out our lovely love story here!

a married post for a married blog

yay yay yay! michael and i are (finally) married! i am happy to report that we are loving married life and each other lots and lots. it's pretty great.

march 25 is nothing but a big, happy blur in my memory. and cold. it was definitely a cold blur. taking pictures in the snow for 1.5 hours=not my favorite thing i've ever done. and my dress was soaked by the end too. but it makes for a good memory, i think. i just hope the pictures don't reflect how put out i was at having to freeze to death on my wedding day haha. 

but to everybody who came to the temple for our wedding (sorry if i can't think of you all... it's the blur, remember?), my mamma & dad, jim & leanne, jill & brandon, alec & emily, krissy & steve, grandmas & grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, hannah & dalaney, crystal & scott, lauren & scott, loraina, meghan, lene, andrea, seth, ryan, brett, rachel g, kelly & bruce, cynthia & larry, terri, and all other friends, we love you all and are SO GLAD that you were able to be there for our day. seriously, you all rock.

and just in case you're curious, jackson hole was so. much. fun. i want to move there. in the summer though... i'm so sick of snow. just so you know what it was like, here are a few pictures of just how much they had:

doesn't he look good driving a subaru? mmm yes. that's my husband :)

i couldn't resist jumping into the snowbank from the top of the car

even though our little honeymoon was pretty short, it was awesome and i can't wait to sucker michael into going on another one. on monday we drove back from wyoming through a snowstorm that looked like this:

 eek. it was a little scary. but then we went to michael's house and opened up our wedding presents (so great. thank you to everybody who got us something! you will be receiving your thank you note shortly).


which brings us to wymount terrace, our brand new home. this is where i put michael to work putting a little bathroom cabinet together...

doesn't he look so manly?

aaand 20 minutes later...

but he finally got it figured out :)

while our little home admittedly has a dorm-like feel (check out the cabinets in the background, for example), we really like it. we're sloooowly trying to get things organized and put together. but we're loving it!

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life lesson learned this week: make a budget before going to the grocery store... that's what we're working on these days. yikes. poor college students: not just a stereotype.

a week of wedding plans!

monday: pick up dress from seamstress/pick up ring from being re-plated

tuesday: bridals/interview with michael's stake president

wednesday: bridal shower with friends! 

thursday: 1,000,000 papers need to be done for next week when there won't be any time to do them...

friday: we can start moving into our new apartment (this actually means that i am going to start cleaning every inch of it)!

saturday: party in boise with my family + me going through the temple for the first time (yay yay yay!)

ps: 11 days left :) this is all starting to wind down!

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life lesson learned this week: make sure to plan dates THOROUGHLY. for example, if you want to go to the spanish fork hot springs in early march, you should probably check to make sure that the road leading up to them isn't closed... because the hour-long drive + 20 minute hike up the road with no sign of the turnoff will all be for naught. just trust me on this one.

okay okay okay.

i know we're not (quite) married yet, but i am waaay too excited about this new blog to NOT say hi to the world from behind it.

so hi :)

in 16 days me and mikey are going to be married!

i only have one thing to say about that: hallelujah.

i had always heard that being engaged was majorly stressful, but turns out that being engaged and planning a wedding in the middle of the school year is virtually impossible.

yikes.

but i'm all about building character these days, so i know that it will all be for the best at the end of the day (16 days from now...).

the most exciting news around here is that while michael is going through a testing week (i feel for that kid, by the way. i'm so SO glad that i am not in his place. he's amazing though, i have to tell you), i am getting ready to (finalize plans with the florist, seamstress, baker AND videographer/maintain a wedding diet (not possible as per the fact that i am definitely, definitely a stress eater)/shoot bridals) go through the temple!

whew.

much to everyone's surprise, i got all the signatures necessary.

ha jk. i hope not too many people are surprised...

i am so excited!

in 10 days i will be here:

i feel like i've sung "i love to see the temple, i'm going there some day" about a million times over the past 23.09 years, but the "some day" is just right around the corner these days. exciting stuff, no?

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life lesson learned this week: brush your teeth. every day and night. if you are interested in how this life lesson was learned, please direct your questions to mr. michael james everton, my soon-to-be husband :) but i think he wouldn't be too happy with me if i revealed any more information...