On September 12th 2014 Michael asked me to marry him.
I asked him to tell me the story of how he picked my ring, asking my father, and what he thought before he proposed.
I recorded the story and put it on our YouTube channel with a photo montage of us back when we were first together, as well as our "engagement" pictures.
(1) Michael and I at the bonfire, taking a picture to send his family the good news.
I have always loved writing and keeping a journal. I have had one since I was 8 years old, and I've kept a collection since.
I have 11 Journals currently- all full (the picture above is only a few of them) And my childhood through now has all been documented.
I have been writing, scrapbooking, blogging, and vlogging practically my whole life. And I treasure these. I can look back on my life and relive my memories. I have learned a lot about myself as I document my choices and progress. And I think it will also make me a better parent, being able to go back and see my metal and developmental state at different ages.
I think we think we know what life was like when we were a certain age, but then going back and reading exactly what I was doing and thinking and worried about at certain points in my life amaze me at how fast time and experience change a person.
We have lived 2 years in this Apartment! Our ND Adventure started here.
I remember the first time we walked in, we had just picked up the keys from the rental company and we were touring the place ourself. The view was stunning! It was the most "Country" place in this big city. Overlooking a large field to the west, the evening sun shining in and warming the place.
I immediately loved the place! It was like brand new inside, you could hardly tell anyone had lived there before. So we agreed that this would be our new home, signed the lease, and headed 1,000 miles back to our original home state to gather our things.
After a long journey and stressful ordeal we left Utah with as many of our things as we could fit in the trailer we had. The first time I had ever left my home town.
We split the trip between 2 days, but by the time we arrived in North Dakota at 12am on the second day we were both so exhausted we pulled our mattress down off the trailer, dragged it up the 3 flights of stairs, and slept on the living room floor in the clothes we had on.
It is fun to look back to the first few weeks as we unpacked- carrying all of our belongings up 3 flights of stairs, just the two of us.
And now to look how far we have come!
So now that our home finally feels like HOME and we have made it so cozy I thought I should document it.
Here is our living room.
Our Kitchen. The hand burned wooden sign that says "Smith 2014" I made, above the pantry.
My faux oil painting of the flowers centered with the chandelier
I bought basic black framed 12x8 mirrors from the dollar store to reflect the light from the balcony door/only window and make the place seem brighter.
Here is the view from the living room corner. Its actually a fairly large living room for an apartment.
Our couch (the first piece of furniture we bought together) And my favorite picture, a drawing of Two dogs that look like schnauzers with a bone.
Our Simple bedroom. I always meant to decorate it more, but never found the time or theme I wanted. So I stuck with rustic bedding and wood furniture to match what we had before.
The master bathroom is actually the smaller of the two. It has the same rustic theme. The shower curtain is odd but it matched the color scheme. lol
Michael's office. Theres actually a bit more to this room you can see in the video.
And the second bathroom which we use as a Dog Kennel to be honest. With the apartment having brand new carpet when we moved in, we can't trust the dogs alone with it.
We have had many good memories, and several bad ones in this place.
It was the first place that has really felt like Home since we've been together.
If you want to see the Full Home tour check out the video below or on our YouTube channel!
Prior to going on this trip back home, I felt like it was because we had moved that everything changed. And that if we were to move back home, my life would go back to exactly how it was before. I would see my friends all the time, and we would hang out and do things. We would all talk more often without the distance between us.
That people still met up and hung out and had fires and we would go down the street and visit our friends and family on the weekends again.
But those people who never call to see how you are- are not going to suddenly care because you live close. And the ones who do only call you when you're nearby- don't really care about you, they just need a tagalong.
Just because you care about and become invested in other people, doesn't make them invested in you.
Everyone got busy, moved away, and started to care about different things. And its not how I thought things were going to be. Turns out I don't want to move back to a place, I want to go back to a time- and thats not something I can do.
But luckily, as you lose friends and fall out of touch, you realize which ones are the true friends who are equally invested in you and willing to put in effort to keep in touch no matter how far or how long you are apart.
And for that I am thankful I have a true friend in this world.
He has been patiently waiting for over a year so that Michael and I could attend this special occasion.
I am so glad that we were able to be there!
Dylan was baptized by my moms father, Grandpa Perry. This is Dylan with him and the Bishop of our old ward- Bishop Dart. And their new Bishop- Bishop Justice.
Here is all of the family who attended. Except Uncle Dillion who is taking the picture.
He was confirmed the next day in Church, and afterwards we went to the Temple and took some photos in his Baptism suit.
And here he is with his Namesake Uncle Dillion.
We are so proud of this little guy and I can't believe how fast he is growing up! Little Dylan isn't so little anymore!
This is the first time in 5 years that my dads side of the family, and all 4 brothers, have all gotten together. The last time we were all at Grandmas we were still pretty young. And most of them still had never even met Michael, so it was nice for him to get to spend time with everyone.
It was also the first time we've seen Bannin since he was 3 days old! Its insane how fast they grow! He is the CUTEST kid ever!
Michael was a big fan of Bannin, and they were constantly together. lol It made him baby hungry for sure. He would constantly bring Bannin up to me and say "Look how cute he is! Don't you want one?"
Last time we were all at Grandmas, some of us kids went down to the Park and wrote our names up in the rafters of a pavilion. I was so excited to see that they were still there!
It says: River, Amber, Sammy, Kyle 2012
We spent the majority of our time down at the river, despite the on and off lightning storms. We all got a tan and I got lots of cute video. (Check our channel)
Of course Im the palest one because I live in the coldest state. haha
River befriended this random dog who just wanted to chill with us
Aunt Kelly Celebrated her birthday, and Norman told us the best stories.
And my Grandma somehow connected with a man in South Carolina who turns out to be a long lost relative. Apparently my Grandmas Mothers Brother ran away with a married woman, and noone ever heard from him again. Until this man (My Grandmas cousin) contacted her, and he had so many photos and stories to share!
And this is the recent Brother picture. (Im not sure why River and Michael aren't in it?)
We missed you! And We will see you all in another 5 years!
Oak Creek Colorado has been on my Visit Bucket List forever now. It is the tiny town (if it could be so classified) that my father grew up in. It is just outside of Steamboat Colorado, which is a large tourist attraction for all seasons of fun.
Since this years Family Reunion is in Colorado we decided why not take the extra little drive and finally go see it.
We stopped in Steamboat to play in the river and cool off. There were people floating down the stream on little rafts, and bicyclists everywhere. As soon as the kids were tired of swimming we continued our drive over to Oak Creek.
Oak Creek is the tiniest town I have seen! There isn't much there, just a quiet bunch of houses and worn out buildings. IWhat little there was of the "Town" was under road construction. But there was this adorable little restaurant at the top of the hill called "Kate's Cafe" so we stopped for lunch.
It was very cute inside. The kind of tiny restaurant shop old people in the community might hang out at to have coffee and visit each other. The food there is all made from scratch.
When our food was done we took it down to the city park and had a picnic as a family. We had the vegetarian pizza, which my parents adore. I wasn't a big fan of the pine nuts and peppers flavoring it, but it wasn't bad.
Someone who lives on Main Street painted this on the side wall of their house. And tourists stop to find inner peach and get a picture.
Harley is a Shakra hog.
But it made for some unique pictures...
And good snapchat stories.
On our way back through Steamboat we were almost T-boned at an intersection. We were at the light turning right. And a large truck was across from us signaling to turn left. So we were both headed for the same single lane. As we went to turn his light turned yellow so he rushed to make the turn before it was red and we were mid turn into that lane. Mike swerved up onto the sidewalk and the truck swerved the other way and passed us. Luckily we didn't get hit but when you suddenly jump a curb (especially in a low riding car) it doesn't go too well.
So before making our journey home we had to have the tires rotated so that the damaged one was on the back incase of a blow out. It didn't damage any of the wires inside, but just to be safe we didn't want it on the front.
To see all the video clips of our OakCreek Adventure check out our YouTube channel!
