a year of love

tomorrow is our 

one year anniversary!!!!!!! 

it has been so much fun this week to highlight our love and 

think about what an amazing first year of marriage we've had. 

{our 2012 year in review highlights a lot of it too!}

today i'm giving husband a little anniversary gift to start the celebration, 
since the first year tradition is "paper"...i decided to make a little list of
365 reasons why i love him...one for every day of the year!

June 1, 2012- June 1, 2013

How do you measure a year?

...in 365 reasons why I love you!

{because i truly fall more & more in love every day, so here is proof of that…}

c&e date ideas

since it's wedding week, we are celebrating all things love/marriage/wedding as we lead up to our one year anniversary {in 3 days!!!} we are firm believers in continuing to date and fall in love over and over even in marriage, so here are some of our favorite unique date ideas. add any of your own at the bottom by commenting! XO

• bike rides – around the block or out and about!
• sketch out a blueprint of our dream home
• cook together – each taking turns with parts of the recipe
• go to the gym together – we don't always do the same workout, but i love just looking at chase from across the gym
• make a list of places we have been and want to go
• paint each other's potrait
• have a cookie bake-off...you each make your own recipe!
• spend the night at barnes & noble reading...trust me, this is addicting
• find a place to mini golf
• plant a garden – my dream when we have a yard! something to start together, and work on over time!
• go see a play/musical at a local theatre..one of our favorite things. there can be such hidden gems locally, and they usually aren't too expensive!
• paint a room in your house//apartment
• go shopping for something new for each of you
• speed scrabble..the best
• go for a long walk
• picnic on the beach or at the park
• play a tennis match
• make a time capsule- i really want to do this!
• cuddle up on the couch for a movie with kettle corn
• start reading a book together – it can be romantic!
• organize photos & relive memories
• sit outside and watch the sunset
• make a music video together
• get lost watching youtubes all night
• go window shopping
• watch home videos
• take a cooking class together
• go get breakfast for dinner
• make a very specific list of things we love about each other
• make a list of potential future baby names
• get ahead of the game and go buy christmas/birthday gifts for family
• mute the TV/movie and make up your own dialogue
• go through a junk drawer and organize it
• plan a dream trip, down to every detail
• go to yoga...or even do it at home with a youtube!
• go to the dollar movies
• find a historic walking tour somewhere where you live
• take your parents out for dinner together
• go wedding crashing
• write a leap list for before kids
• take a photography class together
• take a day trip to a special location nearby – for us it would be santa cruz, monterey, carmel-by-the-sea, sausalito, napa valley, etc.
• find a band you both like and see if they’re playing anytime soon or nearby. if not, go searching for live music.
• go to the ballet...so romantic!
• write letters to our loved ones
• make it a double feature at the movie theatre..you each pick one
• take dancing lessons..really one of the most favorite things we have done together!
• head to a baseball game together – major or minor league!
• go bowling! {my secret talent}
• go house hunting...even if it's just for fun
• go fishing – something my husband loves trying to get me to do
• rent canoes for a little ride
• facetime old friends // family
• roller blading – this really is so fun and actually a good work out!
• get a couple massage at a local massage school
• run a 5K, 10K, 1/2 marathon, marathon together
• volunteer together somewhere special
• make a video together
• go practice your golf swing at a driving range
• head to the beach {something we are lucky to have nearby!}
• play a board game or cards
• recreate your very first date
• dance in the kitchen
• go check out a flea market
• try a new work out together
• go camping
• online shop and make wish lists for each other to keep for reference :)
• watch the sunset and sunrise
• play frisbee
• redo your bedroom together – re-arrange furniture, put new sheets on, hang pictures, etc
• when it’s raining, go soak it in outside together!
• find free movies at a local park near you and take a blanket + treats
• walk around the mall, and make sure to get a cinnamon pretzel :)
• have a fondue night
• make chocolate chip cookies from scratch together
• go try batting cages
• go-cart racing!
• check out a local art gallery
• take a boat ride
• go test drive a car {for real or just for fun!}
• go apple picking – one of my favorite things we've done this year!
• watch your wedding video together
• make a family tree
• spa night! massages, manicures, pedicures
• spend the night at a local bed & breakfast
• go hiking
• rearrange our furniture
• go to an aquarium
• head to a local museum
• take a new fitness class together
• make ice cream sundaes
• go ice skating
• make chocolate-dipped strawberries
• find a karaoke place to unwind at
• plan a progressive dinner at different restaurants...appetizers one place, salad the next, entree and a third restaurant, and somewhere else for dessert!
• lay in the backyard and look up at the stars
• go horseback riding
• download new music and make a playlist together
• cook s'mores on the stove
• go hot tubbing
• plan your dream 5- year anniversary trip
• make treats and drop them off to people who need a pick-me-up
• dress up fancy and go out to dinner downtown
• write down goals and dreams you both have for your lives
• go grocery shop together and plan out meals in advance
• clean out and organize something in your house/apartment
• make breakfast and eat it in bed
• plant a tree
• build a fort and watch a movie in it
• go to a planetarium and be nerds
• take a bubble bath together
• create a scavenger hunt for each other of clues that only the 2 of you would know and understand
• write poems to each other
• go to a water park on a hot summer day
• go to a fun pottery/painting place like color-me-mine!
• make a list of books to read/ movies to watch
• find a street fair or county fair
• pick a food truck and hunt it down for dinner
• go to a farmer's market together
• spin a globe, and wherever it lands-go find a dinner place with that type of food
• go out to brunch! best meal ever.
• go thrift shopping and pick out one crazy item for each other
• make something for our house
• go star gazing
• go rock climbing
• stock up on favorite toppings and make your own ice cream sundae bar
• make 5, 10, and 15 year plans
• go to a sports bar to watch a big game
• go to an antique store.
• go to a comedy club.

hope these ideas help!

date away!

XO

*see all of this week's love posts HERE

favorite love//marriage quotes

wedding week continues, all about LOVE. this is the week leading up to our one year anniversary, so i've been posting about our love & marriage all week long..because it's 

the thing i love to celebrate most! see our earlier posts by clicking here.

today, here are some of my favorite love & marriage quotes..

i love all of these & agree with them wholeheartedly.

here are some others i have collected over time..

i love him because...

welcome to post 4 of wedding week...{see 1, 2, and 3}

today, this is yet another sweet note from husband when we were dating..and he was living in DC. he is such a romantic, and this is one example of many love letters that 

made me weak in the knees! it was when i would get letters like this, 

that i knew i had to marry this boy...because they just don't come better.

Dear Em..
Loving you is like running along the beach, listening to James Taylor, literally thinking about running across the country just to see you. It's like eating a mango while laying out in the sun. It's like the couple of days later when a sunburn turns into a tan. It's like stumbling upon things that were meant for us to find, like hearing a T Swift song that says, "when I'll be 87, you'll be 89, I'll still look at you like the stars that shine." Just like us. Or like finding out that Andy Roddick is 6'2 and his wife is 5'10, just like us. It's like eating the best Thanksgiving meal and rubbing your feet and hearing you say I love you for the first time. It's like reading the best book ever and not being able to put it down. It's like leaving my $200 sunglasses in a taxi and not thinking anything about it because I'm with you. It's like listening to Tim McGraw and falling asleep and thinking about you, waking up and you're calling. It's like getting your tax refund check and it's way more than you thought. It's definitely like getting up slalom then cutting hard across the wake. It's even better than waking up to breakfast in bed or reading the newspaper at brunch. For me, it's better than pecan pie or banana pudding. For you, it's better than chocolate soufflé or frozen hot chocolate. I can guarantee it's better than soy hot chocolate...haha but maybe you don't think so. Loving you is better than any sunrise, sunset or Sunday. It's like sitting in church and you're rubbing my back. It's like me writing "I love you" on your back because I was too afraid to say it. It's your head on my shoulder. It's us walking hand in hand and doing everything together. It's like fireworks on the fourth of july. It's like getting a 4.0 GPA. It's like study breaks in the library. Dare I say it's even better than acing your finals? It's like finding the most perfect fitting shirt or jeans on sale and then wearing them all the time. It's better than when stockton hit that shot and sent us to the finals. It's better than walking around the DC monuments at night or falling asleep watching conference. It's beating you in ping pong. It's losing to you in tennis. It's way better than missing the countdown on new years eve. It's even better than kissing you on april fools. It's like getting snowed in and watching movies all day cuddled up under a blanket. It's better than getting mail or a phone call just to catch up. It's better than you kissing me on my cheek. It's like sharing a first kiss in the rain and going for a late spring scooter ride up the canyon. Even better than throwing a snowball. It's like beating BYU by blocking a last second field goal. It's just like having perfect change in your pocket when you're checking out. It's like climbing the empire state building together. It's holding your hand while it's raining. It's like laying on the beach sharing our ipod headphones. It's better than being waist deep in powder and going to the lodge and sipping hot chocolate by the fireplace. it's like finding any excuse to fly home and see you. It's like the best thing in the world and I really don't know how to put it in words!

There are so many reasons our love is great but most of all it's great because it just works. We just get each other. You know me and I know you. We know what we love and we know what we hate. We know exactly what each loves to hear and we know that we hate not hearing from each other. We hate being apart but we love being reunited. I know you like soy milk and you know I like 2% so it's understood that we'll have them both stocked in our refrigerator. It's just little things like that. They amaze me! You're my best friend and the only person I want to spend my life with. It's sometimes way hard to describe how we feel but hopefully this is a start!!

I'll love you always,
Chase T.

xo

dear husband...

..post #3 in our wedding week series..
{see the first post here: what we've learned about marriage,
and the second post here: a cute love list by husband}

today's post is made up of some little notes that i've written to husband. i love 
being married, and i don't think romance and daydreams should end once you're
married. in fact, they should just be beginning! i still catch myself daydreaming 
about the whole rest of our lives together... and even though i don't know how 
life could get much better than the stage we're in, i love the idea that 
"the best is yet to come." i believe that! it just gets better & better. 
so, sometimes i write him little notes just to make sure he knows 
about all the things i want for us... (even though i know he knows :)

dear husband,

in our house one day i want a wall by the stairs with pictures everywhere in all different frames. and pretty dishes in the kitchen.

just so you know.

love,

♥ me

dear husband,

every year at Christmas time i'll need you to drive around the neighborhoods with me just to see all the lights. and watch it's a wonderful life and white christmas. and kiss me like it's the first time.

just so you know.

love,

♥ me

dear husband,

when you get home after a long work day i want you to be the man who yanks open the door of the house and drops your briefcase & keys and kisses me first thing.

 just so you know.

love,

♥ me

dear husband,
i sometimes probably say that i don't like getting flowers but when you bring one single flower home to me "just because"... i definitely like them. just so you know.

love,

♥ me

dear husband,

election days are my favorite and i will need them to be treated like a holiday. and i will need you to please always vote. for whoever you want. just as long as you vote and then cuddle and watch the results come in with me.

just so you know.

love,

♥ me

dear husband,

i just read this part of john ashbury's at north farm and thought of you:
Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you,
At incredible speed, traveling day and night,
Through blizzards and desert heat, across torrents,
through narrow passes.
But he will know where to find you,
Recognize you when he sees you
i'm a little bit in love with this idea because that was true for us.

love,
♥ me

dear husband,

i'm glad you like dancing because i would like to always dance with you a lot. just us. cheek to cheek. whispering. you singing along to the music, or else just you singing without any music. in our pj's. in the middle of the night. anytime. in the street when it's raining. in the morning before church. let's just remember to keep doing that once in a while.

don't forget.

love,

♥ me 

dear husband,

i am a happy girl if we can walk to church most sundays.

don't forget.

love,

♥ me 

dear husband,

one day can one of the rooms in our house be painted tiffany blue? i would like that.

just so you know.

love,

♥ me 

dear husband,

let's always leave each other little love notes around the house for each other to find.

it's my favorite.

love,

♥ me

dear husband,

i can't wait to get a dog. i hope it's either a golden retriever or a white lab.
feel free to surprise me with it on christmas day one year...i wouldn't mind.

love,

♥ me 

dear husband,

let's always have a travel fund.. and pick a new place every year. it is worth it. let's not get so caught up in the bills and saving that we forget about being young and in love and having the world at our fingertips.

love,

♥ me

i will:

-pack you lunch

-make the bed

-always kiss you when you're mad

you will:

-catch spiders

-get the mail

--pick me up & hug me whenever you see me 

XO

why i love her

since our first anniversary is this week,
the wedding week series continues today with post #2...

it's all about love this week! 

{see yesterday's post on what we've learned about marriage, here} 

for today's post, husband agreed to show a list he wrote back when we were 

dating in college... of 100 things he loved about me. what a sweetheart! i remember he was living in DC interning that semester, and i was in college at the university of utah. 

we missed each other so much, and i woke up one morning to randomly find this list of 100 reasons why he loved me in my email inbox. i probably read it 100 times that day! 
it gives you a taste of how charming and darling he was..and still is! 

what we've learned about marriage

this week on june 1st, we will hit our <<ONE YEAR>> mark of marriage...wow!

i am so excited to hit this milestone, and in celebration of our first anniversary

being later this week, i am doing a little series called wedding week...

just a few posts about our wedding, thoughts on marriage, love, etc. 

so here is our first post to kick off the "wedding week" series:

 a few thoughts on what we've learned about marriage so far! 

in marriage, i've learned that the little things are the big things. 

i've learned to always hold hands. i've learned to kiss goodbye and say "i love you" before walking out the door.

i've learned to not take my husband for granted. i've learned to continue falling in love, over and over.

i've learned how important it is to be on the same page, and have the same values.

i've learned how much i love doing things for my husband, not out of duty,

but because it truly makes me happy. i've learned to show gratitude in love in my actions and words.

i've learned not to expect perfection, but to have patience, understanding, & a sense of humor.

i've learned that arguing with your spouse is okay, but to choose your battles :)

i have learned the skill of forgiving and forgetting. i've learned how important it is to 

support your spouse. i've learned the importance of having common interests and playing together.

i've learned how good life can be together. i've learned to balance independence and dependence. 

i've learned to make my husband my first priority. i've learned to continue complimenting.

i've learned that date night is even more important now than it was before marriage.

i've learned the power of having good couple friends and examples.

i've learned that traveling together is one of the best things for our marriage.
i've learned marriage is about grace and understanding and forgiveness on a whole new level.

i've learned to pray together and for each other. i've learned how fun it is to celebrate each other.

i've learned how lucky i am to have picked the right partner,

and how important it is now to BE the right partner for him..

♥

______________________

those are just a few of the simple things i've learned and am working toward...

also, some weeks on sunday night as we are getting ready for the week ahead, 

we step back and each answer these 5 questions...

it is so good because makes us stop and think about our marriage...

what we're doing well, and what we can do better.

1. how did you feel loved this past week?

2. what do you have going on this upcoming week? 
3. how can i help you feel most loved & encouraged in the next week? 
4. how would you like to be pursued this week? 
5. how can I pray for you this week? 

this is just an example of the little things

that help keep us on track & in love,

with a marriage that is the best it can be!

hope you enjoyed the first post of wedding week...more to come 

before we celebrate ONE YEAR on june 1st! XOXO

pigeon point lighthouse hostel

memorial day weekend is upon us!
we are excited, because we are going with our 
best friends to half moon bay, to stay over in a 
LIGHTHOUSE 
for the weekend! yes, this is a real thing.. 
i heard about it a while ago, and now we are 
doing it! here are some pictures from their website, 
and a description..we'll be back next week to let you know how it is! hope everyone has an amazing holiday weekend! 

"Fifty miles south of San Francisco, you can relax in a hot tub with panoramic views of the Pacific, then fall asleep gazing up at one of the tallest lighthouses in America.

Perched on a cliff on the central California coast, the 115-foot Pigeon Point Lighthouse has guided mariners since 1872. Our hotel offers comfortable, affordable lodgings in four houses set just beside the lighthouse. Guests enjoy cozy indoor lounges, fully equipped kitchens, cove beaches, tidepools, and an oceanfront boardwalk. Amenities include satellite Internet, free WiFi, and free parking, and we're proud to be a certified green business.

On weekends, free history walks guided by State Parks docents are
available on the hostel grounds. The Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel
is also a popular spot for whale watching, and a convenient
base for exploring nearby coastside communities as well as the
ancient redwood forests at Butano State Park, the
bird sanctuary of Pescadero Marsh, and
Año Nuevo State Reserve, breeding site
of northern elephant seals.

Your stay at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel has been reserved, now get ready to experience the nostalgia, romance, and adventure of our unique coastside destination!"

we can't wait!
xo

may is coming to an end

may is almost over!!!!!!

soon we will be finished with our first year teaching with teach for america... (crazy!)
soon we will be celebrating our one year wedding anniversary.
soon my graduate degree will be halfway completed. (yay!)
soon we will be off for the summer, ready to soak it up!
soon i will be back in home sweet salt lake city for a little visit.

until then, we are trying to enjoy the rest of may and power through until the end of the school year. here are some things that have made this week great..

^ ^making our favorite summer meal^ ^

 ^ ^getting good packages in the mail, + finding the world's cutest flats 

{with a pretty little chain around the ankle}..thank you, zara^ ^

^ ^trying lots of recipes with strawberries, since they are in season :) ^ ^

^ ^having some outdoor chipotle dates^ ^

^ ^getting this new wireless speaker sent from sony to review for the blog..^ ^

we love it! it links to your phone/ laptop wirelessly, and we use it all the time!

^ ^getting up e a r l y to get in some morning runs with husband^ ^

{our half marathon training plan will be posted soon!} 

^ ^doing some yoga...loved this crazy upside down view^ ^

^ ^having a yummy bbq with our friends dusty & kendall^ ^

^ ^followed by the best trifle dessert ever, and some 

homemade banana cream pie...welcome summer!^ ^

xo