Anniversary #1 and a Happy New Year
Mason, one year ago today, you and I were sealed for time and all eternity. Starting this stage of our lives last year was the by far the best decision that I have ever made. I used to think that marriage would somehow hold me back. Wow, I have never been so happy to be wrong. Marrying you was the most empowering thing that I could have possibly done. You push me to be a better person, you encourage me to pursue my passions (no matter how much you don’t understand them), and you are constantly challenging me in the best way possible. Mason Slade, I love you and I am so glad that you decided to date me forever.
Here are some of my favorite moments of our first year together:
Seven days after we got married, we were driving to Utah to move into our first apartment, and we broke down in Parowan, UT. Here's the explanation from my instagram:
So it's 9:00 on Friday night, we are driving in Parowan on our way to our first apartment aaaaaaaaaaand my car battery (possibly the alternator) decided that the ten hour drive in separate cars was not eventful enough. Mason being the amazing, sweet husband that he is talked me through getting off the freeway in my car that was still moving, but definitely not running. Lucky for us, my grandparents were generous and insightful enough to rent us a truck to help us move everything from CA to UT, and we were able to make it to a shop to buy a new battery where Mason replaced our battery in single digit weather. Everything was working again after that... PSYCH we made it about another hundred miles and broke down again. We are sitting on the side of the road, waiting for a tow.
Even though tonight isn't exactly going the way we hoped it would, I am so grateful for the insight, preparation, and tender mercies that we have been afforded throughout this whole trip! So far, everything considered, we are safe and all is well!
Mason's correction: it was not single degree, it was "no degree"
Mason ran the Frigid 5K, and somehow convinced two of our friends to do it with him. They ran through the snow, then jumped into the frozen lake after. The three of them had a blast! (they were all pretty stoked that I watched from the sidelines and provided blankets in the car)
We drove to California for Presidents' Day weekend because we had an extra day off of school. Mason had never been to the LA Natural History Museum, so we took a trip with my family. My cousin Henry likes to take pictures of animal butts at the zoo, so I took this picture of the dinosaur butt for him.
One of Mason's favorite spots to explore in Utah is Tin Tic. It was such a cool location! You can read more about it here.
We went to Moab for the second time! The first time, we went skydiving in the morning then drove to California. This time, we actually went hiking. We are definitely going back soon!
For Easter, we somehow between finals and moving totally forgot that Easter was coming up, so we never made any plans. We wanted to make the day special, so we got out in nature. Fun Fact: there are two places in Utah where you can find wild bison; one is in the south, and the other is on an island just outside of Salt Lake City.
I had been dying to stop by Seven Magic Mountains basically since it was installed. We finally stopped to explore!
We moved to California for the summer! I went to work for the company that I worked for during high school, and Mason worked on building a solid client base and learning more about online marketing. It was a great move for us! It allowed us to travel a ton during the summer, and we both had time to develop skills that we had kind of neglected during school. Because Mason was able to work from home and build his company, I have been able to focus on school. I am so proud of him!
This is the weekend where I went to Utah to celebrate Madeline and Brandon's wedding with them, and Mason went to Yosemite with my dad and brother. I was sad that we were separated, but I am really happy that he got to visit one of my favorite places on the earth, and that I was able to help out with my best friend's wedding!
We hit Austin for Fathers' Day! Here are the three write ups that we did on Austin during that trip: Rudy's, SoCo, and Hamilton Pool
We did a day trip to Santa Barbara! We are both huge Psych fans, so it was fun to visit where the show was based (even if most of the show was not filmed in Santa Barbara).
My family was on vacation, so we spent the Fourth of July at the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was beautiful watching the fireworks across the water and over the Queen Mary!
San Fransisco! Food is an important part of any of our trips, so of course the gnocchi needed to be featured!
Mason had a business trip in Boston, and my mom was shocked that he was getting away with not taking me with him (Boston is in my top 5 favorite cities). Jokes on him, he didn't. His partner ended up flying me out to meet him because he was one person doing what should have been a two person job from the start, and I know the ins and the outs of that business pretty well.
Toward the end of the summer, three of Mason's brothers flew out to hang with us! His younger brothers are the same age as my youngest brother; they had a lot of fun together! We also celebrated his other brother's 18th birthday while they were here. Mason took him skydiving since he was finally old enough!
One Friday around lunchtime, Mason called me at work to ask if I wanted to go to Arizona that night. Obviously, we went! We visited his cousin in Mesa, and his grandparents in Eager. Three hours into the trip on the way back to his cousin's house, we decided that we were in Arizona, so we might as well stop by the Grand Canyon. Four hours later, we made it! We ended up driving about 1500 miles that weekend.
We moved back to Utah! School was starting, so we figured we should probably make our way back for that...
We celebrated Thanksgiving with my side. On Thanksgiving, Mason and Nic ran in a Turkey Trot. Mason got third in his age division, and Nic got first! We were so proud of both of them! We did Thanksgiving dinner with my mom's side, and the day after, we went to Big Bear for a few days.
We recently went to Washington D.C. for 19 hours! I love doing stuff like this with Mason because I don't feel like there is a lot of spontaneity in our day to day, but we really enjoy going where the wind takes us. We ended up calling a friend, and it was a blast exploring a city where neither of them had been before (that they remembered)!
Mason's cousin came to visit us in Utah! She is leaving for her LDS mission in less than a month, and we got to take her through the temple for the first time! It was amazing to experience that with her, and I am so honored to have been her escort through such a monumental step.
On a side note: Mason had decided that his "signature pose" is the turn around, so if anyone wants a picture with Mason, be prepared for a view of his backside.
And to wrap up the year, we celebrated Christmas with Mason's side in Cozumel, Mexico!
We have been so busy and stressed out over the last few weeks, so for our anniversary we decided to go low key. We booked a hotel for a couple days, and we have been hanging out around the city. I think that this morning, we are going to breakfast, we might tour the Bluebell Factory, and we might go out with Mason's sister and her boyfriend for dinner. I am so glad that this is how we are spending our anniversary, because we have finally had some much needed R&R. Yay for one year of marriage! I wouldn't want to be celebrating that with anybody else. I love you Mason!
