| seattle temple |

our new ward is really working us. i have 3, yes T H R E E, calling and breck has two. also, we have already been asked to speak on a combined youth panel. crazy! i think it is so great to get involved with the ward and been an influence to others as well as the youth.

one calling includes going with some other ward members to the temple each month. we love it! the seattle temple is beautiful inside and out.

i started out having a crazy week (took me 2 hours to get home the other night due to traffic) and i was being a grump. i knew it. breck knew it. and the big guy upstairs knew it. i could not unwind and the fact that my new job requires me to fight the traffic to get to work. when we went to the temple everything was put into perspective again. does 2 hours of traffic really matter? (well, kinda when you don't have a diet coke...jk) i was being selfish. breck was so sweet to me and just listened while i vented.  one thing i love about breck is he's not a huge complainer. me in two hours of traffic? major complainer. him in two hours of traffic? he might complain for a second but then forget about it.

A quote I heard (and needed!) this week:
"We can't direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails." -Thomas S. Monson

| wedding video |

it is crazy to think we hit our two month mark this week. time flies when you are with the one you love most. before marriage, i always looked forward to the day i could reflect on my life and spouse and be able to say "...and i thought i loved you then." we are only two months into marriage and i already feel the deepest amount of love for breck. he's the one that keeps me laughing, brings me a diet coke unexpectedly, the hardest worker i know, puts God before anything else and truly makes me the happiest. i want nothing more than to make him happy and he pushes me to the best that i can be.

this week we also received our wedding video. i loovvvveee it. it is so fun to look back on that day and see us (and others) in action. that was such a special day and a video is something we will cherish forever.

Breck + Stephanie | Wedding Day from Alexia Lauren Design on Vimeo.

| back to the future |

this may be earth shattering news, but i had never seen back to the future until a few weeks ago (cue gasping here). breck's mind was blown when he found this out. sometimes i think he lived under a rock growing up. mostly, i just never cared about stuff like that.

anyway, breck would not let life go on until i saw all three movies. we watched the last one on october 21, 2015 (very fitting for bttf) and made a little date night out of it. it was so fun.

i actually loved back to the future and doc CRACKS me up! i love his facial expressions.

also on october 21, doc and marty mcfly were on the jimmy kimmel show and made us laugh so hard. there have been many back to the future jokes or references i have heard since (like the cubs winning the world series) and now i'm glad i am in the "know" (thanks to my bomb.com husband).

| home sweet apartment |

the weekend i flew up with breck to look at apartments he was deathly ill. he had pneumonia (although he didn't know it at the time). he was such a trooper. we had to find a place by the following weekend, so we were def in crunch mode.

he had gotten worse since i flew in and by sunday morning checking out wards, i told him that finding an apartment was important but i would not go look for more apartments until he went to urgent care.

it was mother's day which meant we could talk to his brother, tate, who was serving a mission. breck probably said two whole words to tate and we signed off. it was the saddest thing i have ever witnessed.

anyway, we found an apartment that we liked and it has worked out! we are about 8 miles north of the city of seattle. which is great, because breck works right downtown so he drives to work (traffic = a nightmare).

our little 2 bedroom apartment has that "urban" vibe going on with the cement floors and i love it!

(there's still some area that i am DIYing...so more pictures to come)

Also, those black "go green" garbage bags next to our cute bench? yeah that's because everywhere charges for grocery bags here. ranges for $.05 -$.20 (thanks, norsdtrom). that by far is the hardest thing for me to get used to. booo.

| wedding day 8-22-15 |

our wedding day was everything i wanted and more. the day started off with me getting my makeup done and then went over to katie's salon to get my hair done. when i got to the salon, my best friend's wedding was blaring. i loved it! katie always knows how to make things special. after the salon, i headed to the temple! our sealing was at 2pm, so breck and i were to be there at 12:30pm. 

the whole day was the most surreal feeling. all of your life you think and dream about your wedding day. i kept pinching myself and asking, "is it really my wedding day?"

our sealing was B E A U T I F U L. i knew from the moment he started talking to breck and i, i knew he was the one who was suppose to seal us. he had a playful, yet soft and charming personality. he gave us the best advice, too. 

not only did we think that our sealing was amazing, everyone kept saying "i have been to a lot of sealings, but that has to be the BEST one we've ever heard and been to." made us even more happy!

when we came out of the temple, all of our friends and family were there waiting and cheering for us. we quickly took pictures and then raced back to sleepy ridge golf course in orem for more pictures and our reception.

our reception R O C K E D. there were SO many people (i think we counted 300+), the line was clear down the stair well and out the door. we eventually had to just cut the line to get on with cake cutting, bouquet toss, dancing and our sparkler send off. 

my mom did an amazing job decorating. we had a photo table, a candy corner, a kids table and even a photo booth. i know she was stressed up until the wedding day, but it all paid off. both of my parents worked so hard to help us have the wedding we wanted. i feel so blessed that they are my parents. 

it was amazing the love and support we felt. people traveled near and far to let us know how genuinely happy they were for us. not only that, people kept saying "i love your love story." and i do too! 

the best part? shelby, our sister-in-law, packed us S I X to-go boxes of reception food. don't worry, we ate all of it the second we got to the hotel room. we were starving! also, shout out to my brother who was so thoughtful to being me a diet coke during the reception (however, i think i only got two sips. boooo.)

| i believe in a thing called love |

it is crazy to think that our wedding day has come and gone in the blink of an eye. breck and i were very fortunate from christmas on to see each other about every three weeks. however, after my last visit to seattle at the end of june, we were in it for the long haul. 45 days of not seeing each other was way hard, maybe more so on me than breck. when you know you want to be with someone forever, you want forever to start immediately.

although we got married on saturday, august 22nd, tuesday august 18th was the day i looked forward to all summer. that was the day that breck flew in. i couldn't wait to just be with him! people kept asking me what the "countdown" was, and every time i said i was just counting down to the day breck came.

i decided to make a sign for breck when he got off the plane. i mean, if there were ever a time to make a sign for him now was the appropriate time, right? the sign read "wedding week, baby!" i could not even contain my excitement. i was SO giddy! the second he text me telling me his plane landed, i stood right now and help up my sign. i was clearly aware he wouldn't be come down the escalator for at least fifteen minutes, but i didn't care. so many people stopped me to say congratulations and one lady even said to her friend, " i want to stay here to see his reaction!" it was a sweet reunion and almost a surreal feeling knowing it was OUR wedding week.

the rest of the week was jammed packed including: marriage license, bridals, me going through the draper temple, wedding dinner at La Jolla Groves and the wedding!

| taking advantage of little moments |

this getting married and moving to seattle business is really starting to sink in. i've realized that after i move, i won't have opportunities to go out with friends or family like i do now, so i have been trying to fill my days up and soak it all in.

the other night my friend bre and i went shopping and to the cheesecake factory. she is hilarious. i usually think it and she says it or vise versa. i've never met someone who literally has the same thoughts and interests as i do.

the next day, i went to city creek with my future in-laws. we walked around, shopped and ate at blue lemon. yum! i truly love breck's family. they always make me feel so cared for and so special.

that evening i met my favorite co-workers EVER at cubby's in lehi. we stayed there and laughed the night away. we were there for two and a half hours! rocky mountain elementary truly left me with the sweetest of friends. i told them they better still go diet coke runs and send me selfies while doing it!

| tour of utah |

i never thought i would be so sad to leave utah. utah has everything! there's always so much to go do and see, indoors and outdoors. although seattle, has SO much to do too, i really will miss utah.

one thing i have always wanted to go experience was the tour of utah. while scottie was on his mission in san fernando, california, the tour of california went right by his apartment. so as i am living up in park city and the finish line was here, scottie and i decided to venture on over to watch the finish.

biking is so nerdy but SO awesome. on stage 6 out of 7 of the tour of utah, riders had a 13,000ft of elevation gain. talk about athletes. the whole aerodynamic of why they ride so close to one another fascinates me. 

riders started at park city main street and ended there as well. the energy at the finish line was intense, like gave me the chills! riders flew (i mean, F L E W) right past us to the finish line. i bet that was the coolest feeling to finish after seven days of riding.

| johnson bridal shower |

my sisters, lindsey and lisa, were kind enough to throw me a bridal shower. it turned out perfect! my mom was in town for both showers. while she was here, we finalized a lot of wedding things. can't believe it's exactly two weeks away! 

| laing bridal shower |

i feel so grateful to be marrying into such an awesome family. i met all of the laing family members on the second date (how crazy is that!). since that day, i have truly felt an unconditional love from them.

breck's mom was kind enough to throw me a shower with their side of the family and their family friends, who i have come to know over the last year and a half. i felt so spoiled!

terri whittingham (the one whoe set us up), her daughter and breck's mom!

{future sister in laws!}

| thank you, mr. postman |

early last fall i wasn't sure where breck and i would be a few months from then. long distance was hard. when were we ever going to live in the same place? i was a teacher, so the only possible time we could live in the same city or state would be in the summer. 

however, i had a feeling "go through the holidays," and boy am i glad i did. i had that impression a few times, but i was a little confused. mainly because through my eyes, we would see each other for a few days during thanksgiving and christmas break and that would be it. w r o n g. the big guy upstairs sure knows us better than we know ourselves. 

breck was able to live and work in utah from thanksgiving break until my birthday, january 10th! he didn't find out until mid-novemeber. we both look at it as a tender mercy. during that time is when i knew i never want to be without him. 

so since i knew then that we were going the distance, i made him the cutest book of us on shutterfly for christmas. we look at it all the time! i am sooo obsessed with shutterfly.

for the wedding, i made our guest sign in book on there. i also made a cute little book called "our story." it is officially my new favorite!! this book tells how we met, places we've been and things we've done, how we knew each other was "the one," and the engagement from his perspective and my perspective. i know it is a book we will always cherish and look at! 

so thank you, mr. postman. i don't think i have ever been so excited about the mail before!