Sierra's View: August 2013

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Sunday, August 25, 2013

{Wedding Series}: Bridal Showers Galore!


Bridals-Archway Photos
The Handsome Grom
The Wedding Slideshow


I was so lucky to be spoiled with three bridal showers this past summer. I had one in Oregon back in June that my mom and all of her best friends threw me. More recently, in July, my mother in law and sister in law threw me one and my good friends threw me one as well. I had a wonderful time at all of these bridal showers and I am so grateful for all the work that was put into them and the wonderful gifts and support that I received. (Yes, I am still working on thank you notes from the bridal showers and the wedding!)

Side note: I also realized that I am a very expressive person. (okay, not a new finding...I just re-learned this as I looked at all of my bridal shower photos. I make ridiculous faces!!!)
Hilarious cake!
A fun his and her game!
You have lips and mustaches. Someone reads facts about the groom/bride and people have to guess who said by putting up the mustache for him or the lips for her. It was so fun to see everyone's responses! 

plotting?








And the ridiculous photos begin...now.












Oh the irony of holding a baby in front of my BRIDAL shower sign. Only in Utah.

The adorable chalkboard my sister in law, Kimmy, made! Love it. 
I had such a wonderful time at both of these celebrations!! Thank you to all of those who came and helped. You guys are the best. Here's to marriage!! Yay!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

NEW URL!

I have a new URL...
(ohlivingthedream.blogspot.com)
which means my Bloglovin will be moved soon.

LOOK ALIVE, PEOPLE.
(more changes, I know. I hate it too.)

On another note,
here is a pretty picture from the wedding.

I love us.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Oh, So Many Transitions.

I'm taking a break from the {Wedding Series} to update you on life! (OH MY GOSH, A POST WITH WORDS WRITTEN ON IT?!)

I don't do well with change.
In fact, others may not really notice cause I tend to be good at faking it. In fact, a coworker of mine said to me the other day, "Wow! You have so much going on! I can't even imagine all the change and stress. But you are handling it so well, you don't even act like you are affected."
I just smiled when she said that.
Oh, how little she knows me.

See, it takes me a long time to get used to change. I adapt fairly adequately because, well, I haven't really had any other choice throughout my life. Moving colleges, states, graduating from college, first year teaching, it was all a huge transition. And I came out "on top", if you will.

Throughout life, many transitions will happen: Going to college, finishing college, getting married, having children, raising young children, raising older children, grandparents, etc.

And right now, my friends, is another one of those transition phases of my life.

Marriage is wonderful. I love it. I love my husband. So much.
But, like most changes in my life, it has been kind of...different. Hard is not the right word, because its not hard. Being with Tanner is not difficult..it's just another change I have to mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually deal with. It's sort of a lonely time. I know, so many of my single friends are thinking, WHAT. how can you possibly be lonely? But, in all honestly, it is. I see Tanner less than I did when we were dating/engaged. Our schedules are really off and he works late a lot of nights a week. I won't lie, I kind of like it sometimes. I get to have that much needed 'me' time to basically do whatever I want: Go the gym, unpack the apartment, watch a show, take a nap, blog, work in my classroom. But after awhile, it gets kind of lonesome because my social life isn't at it's "peak". Even though I am an introvert, I love to do fun things and I am super outgoing. I like to connect with people and form relationships and I feel like a lot of those are gone now that I am married. My single friends don't really wanna hang out with me or they think I am busy with my hubby (which is true! and completely understandable) but its just kinda weird. Because my single friends are doing things different than me right now. I am not going out to FIND a husband. I am going out to just be with my girls and have that girl friendship. And then all of my married friends live a good 20 minutes away, which is not very far, but not exactly a quick trip. Or they have kids and aren't as flexible. Plus, I am super busy so I don't have a TON of free time so our schedules don't meet up. It's just a weird spot. I want to focus on my relationship with my husband and my new job and "new life" but I still need that friendship and it's lacking. We have to find newly married friends with no kids and that's about it....the "friends" situation is just very different now that I am married. We are in a new family ward and its great. People have been very nice, but let me remind you: I have never lived in a family ward in Utah. And it is very different than what I am used to. The people are different. It's just adjusting to all of that.

We are also trying to furnish an entire apartment. Now, I know this seems like a futile problem. And yes, it probably is. But when you have absolutely nothing in your apartment and are trying to function in everyday life, it's really hard to find a place to relax. It's important to me to come home and feel like I am home. So it's frustrating when I am working all day, running errands, trying to fit into this new 'transition phase' and I don't have a "home" to come home to. It currently has boxes everywhere and I feel so unsettled. So, this will be a feat very soon!

All the while, Back to School Night is tomorrow. And school starts on Tuesday. Let's add to the list that I am changing grades (now teaching 6th grade), in a new classroom, in a new school, and a new district. So I have spent all summer getting a classroom together and planning an entire new curriculum.  I have had teacher meetings all week (the worst). Er, I mean, not too bad.... Ha. I am not ready for the school year to start. I feel very unprepared. (remember how I also got married this summer too? Kinda difficult to plan a classroom and a wedding at the same time!) But it's definitely an exciting time of the year. I am excited to meet my students and have the beginnings of school in my favorite month ever. September is beautiful and the kids are still excited about coming to school (plus the sun is still shining when I wake up in the morning..which is awesome!). Can't wait to meet my hormonal 12 year olds tomorrow!

So, I am sitting here on a Sunday evening, trying to find a musical to watch with my in laws (which is IMPOSSIBLE to find..what has this world come to!) and I am exhausted. I have been getting up at the butt crack of dawn everyday. (that's the politically correct & mature term, of course).
I am a little anxious for tomorrow. I am a little anxious about my apartment. And I am a little anxious about dealing with marriage. I am frustrated. I am grumpy. I am tired. But it's all good.

Oh, the lessons to be learned.

Good thing I have crushed ice at my apartment to help me get through.

Here goes nothing.

Happy School Year!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

{Wedding Series}: Wedding Slideshow


{Wedding Series}

I have always loved pictures. So it was important to me that we had a wedding slideshow being played at both our Utah and Oregon reception. It was so fun making it at first! I started looking through all of the hilarious pictures from our childhood, but after it took several hours to scan and figure out the computer, then even more time to organize the photos onto this movie, I was exhausted. It was a lot of work to make this video, but well worth it, I think. Tanner has the exact same smile. And oh, those awkward no teeth stages! I look pretty much the same and am showing attitude in most every picture. No surprise there. Nothing better than to find old pictures and look back on all of the wonderful, exciting, (rough), years that we had growing up. 
Enjoy our road down memory lane!


Friday, August 9, 2013

{Wedding Series}: Bridals~The Handsome Groom

{Wedding Series}

One of the best things about being married is being able to walk around without clothes on. 
hahahaha just kidding.
(kind of).
No, but seriously, being married has been such a great experience so far. I love being able to go home with my husband (still weird to call him my husband. Even weirder that I am a wife). Even though learning to sleep in the same bed with someone is quite difficult for me (my sleep time is very important to me!) and the poor guy has to deal with my constant crazy kicking and moving in the middle of the night, I love our late night conversations and routines. It's so fun to start creating traditions; learning about how each of us does things around the house. Honestly, the transition into married life has not been difficult for me (us) at all. I have known Tanner for 3 years now and I think that was such a positive precursor to our married life; there haven't been any surprises (well, so far). I know we will keep learning about each other, but I feel like I know him so well that his little quirks and idiosyncrasies are not surprising at all. I expected them, to be honest. 
Tanner is so patient, loving, kind, energetic and hardworking and I can't believe he is mine for all eternity :)
He looked so handsome at our wedding, which is why I wanted to post some photos of him from our bridals. 

He wore a tan suit from Banana Republic (it looked so good on him--we are not into tuxes) with a mint/aqua plain skinny tie. I wanted Tanner to look like himself (he is very stylish) so I had him wearing tan for summer. The mix of the tan and the blue tie was so perfect for July. He wore brown boat shoes with it as well. 

This is the one time I'm allowing you to check out my hot husband ;) Enjoy. 











Wednesday, August 7, 2013

{Wedding Series}: Bridals~Arches

{Wedding Series}: First Look Photos

The Wedding Series Photos are continuing with a specific location during my bridal shots.
I have three older sisters who are all married. 
Each of them took photos under the archway at Thanksgiving Point. 
Although this wasn't exactly the style I was looking for for some of my bridals, I had to do it for tradition's sake. And, not surprisingly (because Brooke, my photographer was awesome), I actually fell in love with some of the archway photos.

Confession: When I first looked at my bridals, I hated them. I truly thought I looked really fat in them (and no, I'm not just saying that searching for compliments). Seeing photos of myself is very difficult in the first place. Seeing photos of myself in a wedding dress where I am supposed to feel and be beautiful is a whole other thing. It took me awhile to finally accept that my dress accentuated my curves (cough hips and waist and butt cough). I wanted all of these photos where I, as the bride, stand in the middle looking all slim and sexy, but I soon realized that those wedding photos only look good if you are a size zero. Which, I am not. Never have been. Never will be. Yet, as I continue to look at these photos, I see the true beauty in them. These photos truly are beautiful. And yes, I look beautiful. No, I do not mean that to boast. But to simply accept that my wedding was exactly that: MY wedding. And these photos are beautiful in my opinion.

Note: People kept asking why I had Tanner in my bridal shots. That is why we did a First Look. I wanted pictures of us together for the reception--not just me. I loved it. I was so happy to have photos of us in our wedding attire at the actual reception. 

















Monday, August 5, 2013

{Wedding Series} First Look!

Well my dear friends, I am a married woman. 
Woooo hoooo!!!! 
The wedding day was absolutely marvelous. It was literally one of the most beautiful receptions I have ever seen. I was very calm, at peace and it was one of the happiest days of my life.

I have decided to start a 
Wedding Series.
I have so many fun, beautiful, special, things that I want to share with you from the wedding that I thought I would start a special series including all details from my special day. 

First Look:
Tanner seeing me in my dress for the first time. It was a cute moment. Actually, it was kind of awkward. Ha. But, alas, Tanner was still cute. As usual.








Oh, and look out for a new blog design!
I am a newly married woman, which means I need a new married blog!


Anyone else excited for Bachelorette finale tonight?
I can't contain my excitement.
Pathetic, I know.