Ch-ch-ch-changes!

We moved!!!

 Martin and I sold lots of things (sadly, that included the ping pong table), packed up our house, said our good-byes and left Provo two weeks ago today!  It was a really bitter-sweet time because we have had so many amazing years in Provo, but we were so excited for our new adventure.

Just an FYI - this post is LONG, like REALLY long, and full of memories and sappy stories because change brings that out of me :)

We got to stop and say bye to my amazing sister-in-law and her husband on our way out of SLC. (And thank goodness for them because this is the only picture documenting our MASSIVE truck)

We TRULY felt so blessed because of all our amazing friends that helped us out with cleaning (Nikota and Mitch, you were angels!), packing, food (because we refused to buy any groceries so we could clean out our fridge :) ), and who helped make sure we lived up our last few days there.  Unfortunately, our camera died and we packed the charger so we don't have any pictures documenting all of this...but that's why we have such incredible friends who documented some of it for us!  Thank you Jen!!!

We went boating with some of our very best friends who we do everything with (sleepovers included!)

 The Guys

Minus Cam, Ryan, and Will who had to do adult stuff like work and school...lame

 Marty took all of us by surprise and was getting serious air and clearing both wakes, this picture doesn't do it justice.  My husband is so cool :)

 Jen and Tim - our married BFF's!

We also got to go to dinner with lots of wonderful friends, go paint balling (my first time!), celebrate the 4th of July with our friends Will and Brooke, and our incredible friends threw us a going away party (and my amazing adopted mom, Linda (my friend Kathryn's mom) made us homemade ice cream, bless her heart!).  Our last few days in Provo were seriously the best.

Yes, I got some good battle wounds from paint balling.

Playing ladder golf with Brooke on the 4th of July.

Along with all of the adventures came lots of good-byes - or see ya laters is what I prefer to call them.  It was so humbling to see how many people reached out to us amongst all of the craziness of moving.  Numerous times I felt so much love for and from all of these people.  We are SO blessed.

It was tough to realize that I won't be seeing a lot of these people for several years at least.  Like my brother and his brand new bride.  I am truly spoiled to have been able to spend the last four years of college with my brother.  He always has my back and brings so much happiness to so many people.  It was SO awesome to be able to spend a month in Provo with him right after he got married.  His beautiful wife is such an amazing person...I am lucking out left and right in the sister-in-law department!  Thank goodness I know I'll be seeing them at least once a year with family gatherings.

Kyle and Taylor at our camp fire date night with them.

And then saying bye to our little group of best friends.  Jen, Tim, J-John, J-War, Cam Cam, Ryan, Will, and Brooke - our genuinely true friends.  These guys were all friends freshman year at BYU and then as people went on missions and got married we created this unstoppable group!  We went on weekend trips together, played intramurals together, had sleepovers (guys in one room, wives partying in the other, woot woot!), went on a cruise, were in each others' weddings, and just have so many awesome memories together.  **Side note: any single ladies out there looking for awesome guys, feel free to contact me because some of them are single!** Anyways, it was hard knowing that our little group is dwindling out throughout the whole country.  They didn't see the tears, but tears were definitely shed.  More than anything though, we have been so incredibly blessed to have had this group as our best friends.  It makes me so excited to see where everyone ends up!

On our cruise (just missing J-War, Ryan,Will & Brooke)

And saying bye to some of my best friends who I met there in Provo, like Ciera and Kathryn - oh man, so many awesome memories together.  I am amazed at how connected I am to these girls, they are truly wonderful women who have taught me so much and who I am so thankful for and who I am definitely going to miss!

 

Ciera and I, bosom buddies, at graduation - we did it!!!

 

 Kathryn and I on our awesome back packing trip
(Kathryn, I hope this makes you smile as big as it makes me smile)

And other friends like Brian and Nicole Fisher (the first married couple friends we made!), and Nikota and Mitch (our second married couple friends!), and Brother and Sister Sargent, and my Aunt Bonnie and Grandma and Grandpa Burnham and Shawn and Cami and their cute kiddos, our neighbors the Law's & Bliss' & Shirley May, our awesome ward, all the friends we made throughout the years, and I wish I could name EVERY single person, but I know I am bound to miss someone, so just please know that if you're reading this, you are loved too :)

Well, after we played hard the week before leaving we had a lot of help packing up our truck, here's the one picture I have documenting it (thank you for thinking to take pics Jen!)

Cam Cam and J-John were the master puzzle-like packers.

After packing we said good bye to our darling neighbor kids who have absolutely fallen in love with Martin.  One in particular, Grey, adored Marty.  He even wanted to invite Marty to his birthday but it was the week after we moved :(

 We finished up the last minute details and after a good night of sleep we took off in our awesome big yellow truck and were on the road!  We stopped and said bye to Kat and Preston (as noted at the beginning of this very long post) and then drove 15 hours through Wyoming and South Dakota.  We stopped in SD for a night and finished off the 5 hour drive to our new home the next day!  A bunch of teenage boys from our church came and helped unpack the truck.  They were SO sweet and so eager to help!  We bought them pizzas to say thank you.  It literally only took about 25 minutes to unload the whole thing thanks to them.  Marty and I cranked out the unpacking and about five days, 10 trips to Walmart, and a tired Katy later everything was unpacked, organized, decorated, and it started to feel like home. Here are some pics of the outside.

 

The front of our home (it's a town home and we live on the second story above the 

garages with all of the windows you see.)

This is the back view, a little bit better color to see what it looks like.

We are really liking it here!  It's so green, rains a lot (and I love the rain!), and the people are very friendly.  Martin started his job and is really enjoying what he's doing and the people he works with.  I am still looking for a job (patience truly is a virtue) but luckily I get to be a leader for the girls age 16-18 in our church youth group so that is something I look forward to every week!  That's all for now, sorry for the super long post, but I like to document our life for our own sakes :)

Genuine Joy

It has been a REALLY long time since we've posted.  So much has been going on and we have so much to document, unfortunately, that documenting is going to have to wait just a tiny bit longer.  And just a forewarning, there is a whole lot of randomness, zero pictures, and a lot of individual thoughts I've had and have been hoping to get down on paper (or posts I guess). 

We're about to move to Minnesota!  We've been waiting all summer for this and it is actually here.  It's hard to believe.  So life is kinda crazy right now...Marty is taking the GMAT in less than 10 hours, we're packing, we're cleaning, trying to get our goodbyes in, etc.

The reason why I'm posting is because today has been a genuinely wonderful day.  Seriously! I just want to document an ounce of the happiness Marty and I have together.  Nothing huge happened, but that's the spectacular thing...everyday life is so joyous!  Today we had a lazy morning and slept in then ate breakfast in our cool Color Me Mine ceramic bowls that we painted a couple of weeks ago (pictures to come).  Then I did some cleaning/packing while Marty studied for his big test tomorrow.  I went to yoga with Kathryn (one of the best roommates I could have ever asked for).  I went and got a much needed haircut afterwards, chatted with my wonderful mom on the phone, and came home to my handsome husband. We grilled some chicken for dinner, watched a movie, and now I'm blogging while Marty is getting some last minute studying in.

All of that stuff that we did is pretty...ordinary.  But it's the little things that happened that put a huge smile on my face.  While grilling we found three huge snails in our patio area!  They were so cool!  And those things could move!  I was amazed by how fast and strong such a gooey, odd looking creature was. 

Then, in the middle of our movie we looked outside and it was POURING rain!  OK, one thing about me is I love the rain.  And love is an understatement.  My brothers and I used to play in the rain a lot growing up and I just think the rain is so refreshing and invigorating!  Anyways, I looked at Marty and said, "Want to play in the rain?!" And within 5 seconds we were outside running in the street, jumping in puddles, reaching our arms out and soaking up the rain!  We even had a classic moment of a neighbor yelling out to us, "What in the world are you guys doing?"  Ahhhhh, it was so exhilarating!!!  I even got to kiss my handsome husband in the rain :)

And I got to snuggle with the love of my life, even though our apartment is basically 100 degrees.  And snuggle time is precious!  We giggled as we watched a movie and created new inside jokes and just smiled being together.  Martin brings me so much joy, I am amazed at how much human beings are able to love! I knew I loved him when I married him, but it is incredible to see how much more that love has grown!  Truly, every day just gets better no matter what life brings us.

And this morning while Martin was studying and I was working on stuff he came and gave me a big hug and twirled me around and danced with me.  We can't help but laugh because I am definitely not the best dancer in the world.  Let's just say I inherited my father's dancing genes.  But we have so much fun and Martin still dips me back even though half the time I spaz out.  Today though, he dipped me and I did it somewhat gracefully!  The only awkward thing I did was make a ridiculous face because I thought he was dropping me.  But no fear, he kept me safe.

Then today while we were reading the scriptures I actually got pretty excited and enthralled in what was going on.  I don't mean to sound like the scriptures have bored me all my life, because they haven't, but today I felt an energy towards reading them that was so refreshing.  There are so many wonderful things to learn from the ancient books we have.  God loves us.  And I see His love through the materials he has provided us.  He gives us so many tender mercies that often we don't even notice.  But today I am thankful that He's opened my eyes a little bit wider so I can see the wonderful world around me a little more clearly.

More than anything, I simply felt so much joy today. I am so blessed to have married Martin and to have this life with him.  I can't help but smile :)  It's the happiness that you can see in people's eyes.  The joy that puts crows feet at the corner of someone's eyes because they've smiled for much of their life.  Genuinely, I feel pure joy in my heart and I am so thankful for how blessed I am.