| 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.

| tis the season |

one of my best friends, cheryl, got married this last weekend! she is the most kind and most genuine person i have ever met. she truly wants the best for everyone and has helped me through many life trials! what's funny is last year at this time, we both would have never imagined we would both be engaged and married by summer 2015.

i am so happy for her and jordan. they got married in the draper temple and it was perfect! she had a million bridesmaids (okay, 16). i mean, you kind of have to when you are one of nine girls! my favorite part? after the temple another bridesmaid, laura, and i went to the gas station to get a fountain diet coke. we show up and the entire howard family was there getting their diet cokes too! it was classic.

| nom-naan-naan-naan |

sometimes all you need is a night out with one of your best friends. indian food and talking so much that you get kicked out the restaurant, kind of night.

tonight gillian and i met at bombay house in provo. it was much needed. what's funny is that we have a "much needed" friend date pretty much every other day. basically i need her in my life at all times. not living together has been the worst, i miss her like crazy!

we got carried away talking (as usual) when our waiter came to us to let us know there were a ton of people waiting for a table. first time for everything, right? of course we just laughed it off. and let's be serious, we will probably go to dinner tomorrow, too. so we can just finish our business then. not only that, we will probably have a thousand new things to talk about.

{ Son of a Nutcracker }

One faint memory I have with my Grandma Johnson is when she took us Johnson girls to the Nutcracker Ballet at the Opera House. I remember feeling so grown up that I was able to go. I don't remember much of the actual ballet itself, but loved going with my big sisters. 

This year I decided I was not going to let Christmas pass me by. Meaning, I wanted to take full advantage of embracing the spirit of Christmas. One of the ways I was going to embrace the Christmas spirit was going to The Nutcracker with my girlfriends and sister, Lisa. 

Besides breaking the Nutcrackers arm, the little girl sitting in front of Lisa and I who couldn't sit still, I'd say the night was an overall success. 

{ Roomie Love }

I love these girls. Like, a lot. We've shared many laughs. Many tears. Frustrations. Fears. Heartbreak. Tons of dating stories. I can't imagine life without these girls. Not living with these girls and not seeing them on a daily basis is going to be rough. Gillian bought a town home and Stace is moving to Salt Lake.

Some memories:

• Catching the best moments on video (aka broken bed)
• "Steph J, you smell phenomenal"
• Endless afternoons at the pool 
• Hallway chats
• Three thumbs up
• Tinder probs
• Broken stool
• Neighbor Mike
• Tarantula
• #1010
  

The memories go on. I am so happy I have had the experience of living with these girls. I have learned so much from both of them. Mostly, how to be a better friend. Gillian is the most selfless person I know. Not only that, she might say otherwise, but she has her life together. Always setting new goals and reaching new heights. She is someone you trust with all of your heart. Stacie is so light-hearted, fun and a friend to everyone. Always finds the party and doesn't over think things (which is something I am terrible at). She is also a great listener.

I feel so lucky to have the girls in my life. They are my sisters from another mister. 

Here's to our new adventures! 

{ Washington}

For the 4th of July I went home! My friend Cheryl's sister goes to Gonzaga Law School, so she met me up in Washington to party! Being home is the best and my parents are such troopers these days (benefits of them being retired and bored). I had them going and going. We spent a few days in Spokane and then bounced to Seattle.

The drive to Seattle is my favorite. You are surrounded by mountains of pine trees. That is one thing I miss about Washington. First stop in Seattle? was Snoqualmie Falls. Just driving along I-90 you would never know those falls existed.

After that, we took Cheryl on the normal touristy things: Space Needle, Pikes Place, The Great Wheel, Ivar's and we even took a ferry around the harbor. I had never taken that particular ferry before and it was interesting listening to the history of Seattle.

Two things Cheryl noticed about Seattle:
1. How old the city is. She said she was expecting the city to be a lot newer.
2. And I quote, "There's really not a lot of beautiful people here." That made me laugh so hard, but she is so right. People are so chill in Washington. North Face and dark denim? You're set. Not to mention it's pretty much the granola capital of the world. She grew up in Utah, which is a 180 difference from Washington. In Utah, life in general is a competition whether people like to admit it or not. Who can look the cutest, nicest house, best car, the list could go on. Point is, people take a lot more care of themselves in Utah (I think it comes with the Mormon culture too).

Being home is always rejuvenating. Brings me back to solid ground. Not only that, it is my dream to live in Seattle even for a small amount of time someday. I can't get enough of that city.

t a h o e

Okay, sooo if anyone knows me they know I have A LOT of Northwest pride. I rep it hard.
There is nothing better and I miss it like a child misses their blanket. So why am I not there, right?
Lets just say it's in the works (insert angels singing hallelujah here). That's another post to come.

Anyway, I've been pretty homesick lately. And I think the last time I was homesick was when I was six years old.
Point is: its been a while.

The road trip to Lake Tahoe was the boringest (not a word, I know) and ugliest drive.
Think sage brush, desert and brown for 600 miles. Woof.
However once you reach the lake, you forget about that blasted drive.
Lake Tahoe is unreal. It reminded me a lot of Coeur d'Alene.
Those pine trees and that fresh water lake made me feel right at home.

{yep, that happened}

{neature}

So Tahoe? I now have your back.
You were putting out those Northwest vibes and I most definitely needed that ❤️

Hey, I went to Hawaii.

Spring Break was P E R F E C T.

How it came about was probably my favorite part.

One day, Katie and I were texting,

It went something like this:

Me: I need a vacation

Katie: Me too. Let's go far away. Hawaii?

Me: And go see Brooke? Y E S

Katie: Let's look up flights right now...

....and within a few hours, our flights were booked.

Fast forward three weeks and this is what my reality was. 

I had been to Hawaii before, but this time was so different. 

My good friend from BYU-Idaho, Brooke, was living on the North Shore. 

Since she was a "local" she hooked us up with all of the hot spots. 

Which was nice because both Katie and I had already done all of the touristy things on Oahu.

 

 

 

Take me back to those nine days in Paradise.

Oh, and jumping out of a plane?

Highly recommended. I feel like I can conquer the world now. 

I actually didn't tell a SOUL I was going Skydiving. Only Katie and Brooke knew.

I called my mom immediatley after and she was yelling at me:

Mom: "Stephanie I hope you are kidding me right now!" 

Me: "Nope!"

Mom: "What if you would have died?! How selfish would that have been? I would have hated that phone call."

Me: "Well, you were actually my number two emergency contact sooo you wouldn't have gotten that phone call. AND at least I was thinking of you 15,000 feet in the air with your name tattooed to my hand, so technically I wasn't being that selfish." 

Now I have the itch to keep traveling.

I think Thailand is calling my name....