Lip balm and laundry

Our good friend Brittany took some pictures of us together right before Thanksgiving, and I never posted them, so I thought I'd share this one today. It was freezing when we took them and I just wanted to curl up inside with a blanket, but I'm glad we have them. We haven't had couple pictures taken since we got married in 2010!

I know Valentine's Day is still a month away, but I am so grateful for my husband and wanted to just mention that. It's taken me a while to recover from the cold that kept me down the week of my sister's wedding, and during that time he has done laundry, dishes and cooking without saying a word. I finally had some energy yesterday and cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, but I am amazed at how much he serves me and takes care of me all the time.

When I lost my favorite lip balm at church on Sunday (the only balm that has actually cured my perpetually peeling lips), he brought me home a brand-new one and gave me his to use until I had it. It's the little things, but they make a BIG difference in marriage. I am so blessed to have Andrew forever!

27 candles

My wonderful Andrew turned 27 on July 15, and we celebrated with angel food cake (his favorite, specially made my his mom), dinner at Chili's and a late-night showing of Pacific Rim. Oh, yeah. The posh, posh, traveling life for us. But I think he enjoyed himself.

As I was driving home from work yesterday, I was reflecting once again on how grateful I am to have Andrew as my husband. Even when it's his birthday and he has every right to think about the places he wants to go, Andrew is thinking about what would make me happy. He chose a restaurant with food that I could eat (though I continue to ignore my lactose-intolerance and pay for it later). He also knew that I would freeze sitting for two hours in a chilly theater without a jacket (I have circulation issues even in July), so we made a quick pit stop at Target to buy a cheap baby blanket for me to wrap up in before going to the movie. Who does that on their birthday?

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude right now for the incredible man who became my husband nearly three years ago, and I still can't believe that I deserve his love. Happy birthday, Andrew! So glad I got to celebrate with you.

Five reasons I love Andrew

I know this is a late post, but I can't let Valentine's Day go by without just briefly talking about my wonderful husband. He plays kind of a behind-the-scenes role on this blog, especially lately when I've been dabbling in fashion blogging and posting weekly pictures myself. But he is a huge influence on what I write, what I say and how I feel — in the best possible way.

So here are just five reasons I love Andrew and am so grateful for him on this Valentine's Day:

1. He buys me children's books and has them shipped to me at work since he knows I love getting mail. Last week, right before we left on a romantic getaway to Heber, I got Olivia in the mail and was totally caught off guard and so excited. This boy knows me too well.

2. He encourages me to follow my dreams. I have known for a long time that I am a storyteller and that I'm meant to share those stories with other people through writing — and Andrew understands that and understands my need to prove myself and continue to get better and better at writing and editing. He reads my blog and listens when I hash out grammar pet peeves, and he is supportive of my incredible job and helps me to push myself harder and harder.

3. He remembers little things that I like and surprises me with them. A few months ago, Andrew bought me a new watch he saw on sale online because it was red and he knew I would like it. He'll occasionally stop at Starbucks on his way home from work and bring me an Italian soda, and he sometimes scouts thrift stores for children's books on his lunch break looking for Berenstain Bear books.

4. He is really funny and makes even the most serious situation lighter. I have a flair for the dramatic, and Andrew is good at seeing the humor in situations that might otherwise be upsetting. He helps me to laugh about the braces, even when I'm feeling ugly and self-conscious, and he reminds me to see the good and lighten up.

5. He is more concerned about my happiness than his own. If I could just list one "secret of marriage" (not that I'm an expert, with only two years behind me), it would be focusing more on making your spouse happy instead of yourself. I have to work on this constantly, but it comes naturally to Andrew. He rarely thinks about himself and is always thinking about what I need and what will keep me happy. I know that I'm not always an easy person to love, but he makes love look easy with his kindness and unending selflessness.

I hope your Valentine's Day was equally wonderful, whatever relationship you're in! Ain't love grand?

The best two years

I know that the phrase "the best two years" is normally what people use to describe their missions for the LDS Church, but I am repurposing it. Yesterday, Andrew and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. I honestly can't believe two years have gone by. It seems like just yesterday we were dating and then engaged and then saying "yes" over the altar of the Idaho Falls Temple.

To celebrate, we had dinner at Log Haven, a nice restaurant nestled in Millcreek Canyon, which is only about 10 minutes from our home. It was absolutely beautiful, and the weather was perfect (although I got cold, but what else is new). I love Millcreek Canyon and could spend hours there. We've actually gone up there several times in the past few weeks, and it is one of the few places in Utah that reminds me of Idaho. It feels and looks like Island Park. If you live in Utah and haven't gone here, do it NOW.

And, to make the night even better, there's a beautiful waterfall right across the street from the restaurant, so we took a few pictures there. The tripod just stays in my trunk now, so it's perfect for taking impromptu pictures (especially when we take them of ourselves, which is rare).

The past two years really have been the best of my life. Andrew is so kind and has been an incredible husband. He makes me laugh, he comforts me when I cry and he always shows me how much he loves me.

Happy anniversary, Andrew! Here's to another many more years.

Two years of memories

Two years ago yesterday, Andrew asked me to marry him in Memory Grove. I would have blogged about it on the actual day, but we ended up going to The Avengers last night with some friends and didn't get home until almost midnight. It was worth it, though -- it's such a fun movie, especially if you've seen all the superhero movies in the past few years (basically since Iron Man).

Isn't it crazy that it's been two years? So much has changed, but so much has stayed the same. We're living just up the street from where we were both living when we first met, we still like fish tacos (me more than Andrew) and we're still very much in love.

I'm thinking we should take some formal-ish pictures like this one together soon. Maybe this weekend. Why should you only get cute pictures together when you're engaged? And I've discovered that it's pretty easy to make it look like I don't have braces, so that's not going to deter me. :)

Also, I've decided that I'm going to start sharing more of the stuff I'm passionate about on this blog -- grammar and music. So stay tuned for that in the next few days!

Love and fish

I hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day! I certainly did. Andrew sent me these beautiful flowers at work and told me he had surprise dinner reservations that night. I was SO EXCITED I could barely get through the last few hours of work.

After driving home with the vase between my legs, slamming on my brakes and sloshing rose water all over my jeans, however, I was not as happy. I stalked through the parking lot, glaring at the man who was staring at my bottom half since I looked like I'd wet my pants, and opened the door to our apartment.

To my amazement, there were pink lights hanging from the ceiling, glasses full of floating candles and sparkly hearts on the walls. My FAVORITE, Norah Jones, was playing from the speakers, and Andrew was waiting in the kitchen to serve me a candlelight dinner! It was a complete surprise. He had gotten off work at 3:30, and I hadn't expected him home until almost 6:00. Andrew made delicious chicken cordon bleu, salad and even grilled asparagus. We had sparkling cider and, for dessert, peanut m&ms and moosetracks ice cream.

To top it off, he also bought me a manicure and pedicure and a cute little sock monkey I fell in love with on one of our trips to Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. I was spoiled rotten. He is a sweetheart.

In other news, we have been talking about getting an aquarium for awhile (yes, I know that sounds weird, but I am not much of an animal person) and last weekend, we finally decided to get some fish! We bought the cutest aquarium that looks more like an indoor water fountain and bought two cichlids, tropical fish from Africa. Sadly, they were both dead less than two days later. It was incredibly sad, even though I'm sure it happens all the time. So we now have an empty aquarium and have to figure out which fish will actually survive.

I hope to post pictures of the fish soon! Wish us luck! :)

Under my umbrella

While I didn't blog about it then, Andrew and I hit our five-month anniversary on January 6. I absolutely cannot believe it has been five months already. It seems we just got married -- and yet, I'm more in love with my wonderful husband than before.

Andrew remembers the little things that I need and completely surprises me with them. He bought a seatbelt pad for the passenger seat of his car because he knew that the belt irritated my neck and collarbone. He has been looking everywhere to find me a new job and even asking his customers at the bank if they know of any openings. He even ordered Martha Stewart Living for me for Christmas because he noticed how I made a beeline for the rack every time we went to the store.

Last night, he spent about an hour taking apart old adding machines we found and popping the keys off -- all so I could use them for making jewelry. I am a lucky girl.

We are happy together. I sometimes think back to life before I met Andrew, and I can't believe how much love I have in my heart now. I can't fathom the love he has for me, either.

So I guess this post is just about the lovey dovey stuff. Sure, it's a few weeks before Valentine's Day, but it's never too early to tell someone you love them or think about all the people who love you. Trust me -- when you get married, you realize how many people in your ward, your hometown and even your high school care about you and want the very best for you. And you realize how much the people you meet impact your life.

Who are you thinking about this time of year? I'm sure grateful for my husband, family and friends. Even when there's rainy days, someone is always there with a bright umbrella to keep me dry and warm.

Picture this!

For those of you who don't have Facebook, here are a few of my favorite wedding photos. I especially love the one of Andrew by himself. Isn't my honey a HONEY? I've been scrapbooking these during conference, and they make me happier than ever to have Andrew as my husband.

All's Fair in Love

We've been married a little over a month now, and life is great! We went to the state fair on Saturday and watched a terrible "comedic magician," ate funnel cake, watched some funny sea lions and looked at a cool photography exhibit.

I am getting better at being domestic, and I made some yummy chili tonight for Andrew! Yayah! We are slowly getting our house the way we want it, and I'm getting used to having no cell phone reception (it's a basement apartment) and not turning the dial on the stove until it clicks (otherwise the broiler stays on and heats the entire house).

We are also planning to start a photo blog, so I'll post the new blog for that here when it's up. I'll also be getting the wedding pictures soon, so a few of those will make it up here, too. I chopped my hair off on Thursday and I'm still getting used to it, so there will probably be more pictures of that, too. :)

Andrew has been awesome and still makes me so incredibly happy! He brought me tissues and searched 3 different Redboxes for a DVD I wanted to watch the other night when my cold was out of control. He went grocery shopping alone late at night when I'd had a bad day that involved two DMVs, a Social Security office, bad traffic and an empty gas tank. And he always kisses me good night.

It's what fun is!

Andrew and I spent half of Friday riding, swinging, swaying, walking, spinning and dropping.

That's right. We went to Lagoon for Overstock.com's annual party! It was fun to be there with my fiance this time, walking from roller coaster to swings to haunted house with virtually no lines at all. We had a barbecue and took some time out on the Sky Ride when we got a little dizzy from riding the Samurai, Rocket and Paratrooper within minutes of each other.

I also had a lovely Saturday cleaning out Ruby and then going to the new Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie at the dollar theater with Andrew, despite the giggling 12-year-old audience we just didn't fit into.

And Sunday, we took some engagement pictures ourselves at this beautiful old church. Hopefully we'll have our invitations done in a few weeks! We just need to get the PERFECT shot to use.

My favorite part of the weekend, though, was our rides on the Ferris wheel. I've always loved Ferris wheels. There's something about being suspended high in the air and looking at the world from a new perspective that's inspiring. And, of course, it's amazing to be sitting alone with the man you love who will be your husband in two months!!

Ain't love grand?

Never a... bridesmaid

I spent this past weekend in Idaho and had my first (and probably last, since I'm 23 and an 'old maid' in my high school class) experience as a bridesmaid in my friend Kristen's wedding.

It was bittersweet for many reasons. I was happy for Kristen to marry Blair, this incredibly sweet man who has taken care of her for 3 years, but I'm sad that they're moving to New Mexico and I'll rarely see her anymore. I was happy to be in Idaho, home sweet home, but I was sad to be spending my first weekend away from Andrew since we began dating in January.

It was strange and almost surreal to be standing next to one of my best friends, knowing that she was married and I was the next one in line in just a few short months. I thought about the saying "Always a bridesmaid -- never a bride" and realized that I've always gone to weddings, especially for high school friends, and come home wondering when it would be my turn.

But this time, I had a gorgeous ring on my left hand, a huge smile on my face and a million things to tell all my old friends from St. Anthony about the amazing man I'm marrying in August. I missed Andrew and realized I love him even more when we're apart -- because I appreciate him and I think about all of the wonderful things he does for me and his kind, good heart.

I guess life is about those times when we're always a bridesmaid (or never, in my case) and wondering what life has in store for us. For me, life had Utah and Andrew in store, a man who treats me like a queen and still opens the door for me each day. Life had a brother's serious health problems in store, but it also had healing, enough that Reggie could give me a "tsunami" while I was at home this weekend (essentially shaking the shower and pouring a bucket of cold water on my head).

It'll be my turn to be the bride on August 6, but there will be plenty of other times in my life when I'm still just 'at the wedding' and wondering why my prayers haven't been answered. And you know what? That's OK. Heavenly Father knows what we need -- and sometimes what we need is something vastly different than what we expected.

So be happy and remember -- there is always plenty of nuts, mints and cake at the receptions we wait at along the way.

A perfect match

Every weekend I blog about seems to get better and better! Andrew and I spent most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Idaho celebrating his cousin Kalissa's baptism with his family and hanging out with mine. It was a lot of fun. I love going on road trips with Andrew and having him stay at the house I grew up in.

Yesterday, we went to a dinner that turned out to be a celebration of the women in the 48th ward, which was unexpected and made me feel kind of awkward. A lot of the guys in the ward were serving this fancy dinner and then they showed a slide show of guys from the ward, including the bishopric and former bishop, talking about the purity of womanhood.

Some of the things that were said made me laugh; others made me cringe because they seemed so crazy. But one of the bishopric members said something that really meant a lot to me.

"My wife is a perfect match for me," he said. "I like who I am when I'm with her."

I feel the same way about Andrew. Sometimes I'm too impatient, too quick to get mad and too quick to say something that hurts someone's feelings. But when I'm with Andrew, I feel like we fit. I'm at peace, and I don't have to worry about trying to impress him or anyone else, because he thinks I'm beautiful and special -- and he doesn't try to make me into something I'm not.

We played Memory on his phone the other day, and I couldn't help thinking that life and love are sometimes a lot like Memory. We have to turn over a lot of cards, not knowing what they hold, to find the right paths and people in our lives. But when we do find a perfect match, it makes finding another match that much easier.

I've found a match -- and I'm happier than I've ever been before.

Sick!

This past weekend was one of the hardest I've had in seven years since my chemotherapy treatments -- and, unfortunately, it's not over yet.

I've been trying to treat a sore throat since Wednesday, and on Friday, it took a turn for the worst. I could barely swallow anything, my head ached and I was completely exhausted.

And instead of staying away so he didn't get sick and having a well-deserved night off with the Wii, Andrew came over to make me soup and take care of me and make sure I was actually eating something. When I got worse on Saturday, he and his dad gave me a priesthood blessing and then he made me some more soup and stayed with me to watch Mr. Mom before tucking me in and filling up my humidifier again.

On Sunday, I realized even more how much I love Andrew. He came over on Sunday morning, brought more drugs from his house and their copy of The Sound of Music since I still don't have my own, and took care of me. He even called the doctor on call because he was so worried and picked up another prescription for me. He watched me snore with my mouth wide open and saw my ugly pajamas -- and very few people can say that. He spent the entire day with me, my roommate's two birds and hours of golf. I haven't felt so loved since I moved away from Idaho.

I'm still sick, and now I have two bruises on my arms because the nurse didn't believe me when I said I have a problem giving blood. :) But I'm going to get better, and I have the most amazing boyfriend to make sure that it happens. I LOVE YOU, ANDREW!

Raindrops on roses

I have been out of ideas on things to post lately, because I lead a very boring life. :) So it's once again time for a "favorite things" post! I think you just have to post things sometimes to keep yourself happy -- especially when you just shelled out more than 300 bucks to fix the brakes on your new car and paid the same amount in car insurance. Money, at least for me lately, is meant to be spent on cars and cars alone.

For those of you who DO have money to spend, however, I am going to list some of my favorite things. Most of them aren't too expensive, and one of them you just can't afford... you'll see why in a minute. :)

Andrew Wertz Wilcox. I hope he's not mad that I put his full name on here, but I think it's so AWESOME to have a cool last name as a middle name -- infinitely more interesting than my middle name, Michelle. He definitely tops my list of favorite...er...people ever. He fixed my glove box the other day, even though it was snowing outside and it took about an hour and a half to figure out how to repair it. He thinks I'm funny, and he holds my hand all the time -- which means I don't embarrass him! Can it get any better? :)

Bath and Body Works lip gloss. Just tonight, I stocked up on my favorite lip glosses because they were on sale, and it made me so happy! They're shiny, smell good, tingle your lips when you put them on and freshen your breath! They're pretty amazing, I must say.

Cafe Zupas. Maybe it's because it's right across the street from work, or maybe it's because they have my FAVORITE things, soup, sandwiches and dessert. Whatever the reason, I am completely obsessed with Zupas. For my Idaho friends, I'm afraid you'll have to come visit me down here and go to lunch with me, because they're kind of a Utah thing. However, you can check them out here. Today, I didn't have time to pack a lunch (and sadly, I didn't care), so I had the salmon chowder. Yum! The lobster bisque is to die for, too. Mmmmmmmm. I'm hungry.

Pandora. If any of you are not on the Pandora train yet, you really need to be. All you have to do is enter your email address and pick a band or singer you like, and voila! Pandora's beautiful magic box opens and you have an incredible personalized radio station! I have bought more music because of Pandora than listening to the radio for years with my parents in the car (although that MAY have had something to do with it anyway). Try it out if you haven't already. I promise you'll love it. Just be warned that you only get 40 hours free listening a month -- sadly, I always run out long before the month is over with my pathetic work days. :)

That's all for now! I'm tired and craving a yummy turkey avocado sandwich from Zupas, which means it's bedtime.

Home is where the heart is

Andrew and I had a GREAT weekend in Idaho! I showed him my favorite bridge (which is where most of these pictures were taken), my favorite park, and my favorite people -- my family and friends, of course! We got to hang out in fabulous St. Anthony for two days, driving my cute little car all around town.

My mom made her famous cinnamon rolls (they aren't really famous, but they should be), pizza and Italian chicken. She even made crepes, my favorite. I felt like I was a little kid again. And on Saturday morning, she came into my room and gave me a hug in my bed, just like she used to do when I lived at home. I have a really nice mom -- and a really nice dad. He went through my owner's manual with a fine-toothed comb and discovered that my anti-lock brakes were not working (and I thought that red light meant they WERE).

And after my brother shot me in the eye with a Nerf gun and my sister and I sang the entire "Poor Unfortunate Souls" song before church, it was time to hit the road again and come back to Salt Lake City.

I realized something when I drove back into town this time, though. I miss Idaho. I'll probably always miss it. For 22 years, it was my home. But Salt Lake is my home, too -- and I love living here, too.

Aren't road trips just fantastic? :)