Weekends

I've always been a giant fan of the weekend. I mean, a HUGE fan. The workweek is good, but weekends are best.

My new job is coming along. There's a bigger learning curve than I thought there'd be, going from private practice to the school setting. Much bigger. But I'm finally starting to feel something akin to solid ground. #finally #stillnotwhereiwouldliketobe

The new job makes for a long workweek. Especially when you consider I used to have Fridays off every. single. week. #thosewerethedays

Yep, the weekend is top notch in my book.

Andy and I try to take full advantage of our weekends. We tend to travel a bit, even if it's just for little local-ish festivals (i.e., Swiss Days and Peach Days). We've also backpacked once and car camped twice (once with his family at Bear Lake).

And then there's the occasional weekend when we plan absolutely nothing besides "SLEEP IN" and maybe definitely stop by the Farmers Market.  

Weekends with Andy are awesome.

I've always enjoyed camping, even though it means I won't sleep much until I'm back in my own bed. But Andy is a bit of a mountain man, and he makes camping easy on his wife. 

Last weekend we went up Left Hand Fork and camped in our brand new tent. On an air mattress. Under approximately 30 pounds of blankets. And Andrew let me siphon his body heat. 

Camping with Andy is awesome.

Me and my new niece, Lily Bea, at Bear Lake, family reunion-ing. 

Andy's sister Mary got married three weeks after us.
She and Josh are the cutest couple and we love them so much!

This is a tiny portion of White Pine Lake. #backpacking

Standing in Tony Grove Lake after backpacking out of White Pine.
We were sore and exhausted, but it was such a lovely trip!

We loved Labor Day at Bear Lake. #itwaschilly

Peach Days Paradin' it with baby Wade (and Julie and Jane and Abby)
This is probably the last pic we took before Andy cut his hair off. #iMissHisCurls

A farmers market find. Biggest bell pepper I'll ever see, I'm sure.

Drinking hot cocoa (from the raddest dang thermos I've ever seen) while warming up by the fire.
#winningatlife

We got a hammock for a wedding gift, and it will come on every camping trip we take.
It was gloriously comfortable snuggling up with Andy and a couple of sleeping bags!

Camping with bovine. #ToTheLeft

My mountain man loves to fly fish more than anything else in this world (after myself, of course),
and he was thrilled to get a couple of hours in this past weekend.

Although late summer camping (last weekend) was COLD at night, it was MAGNIFICENT to be in the mountains with all those freshly-fallen, brightly-colored leaves for more than just an hour or two. #iFallForFall #happyFirstDayOfAutumn

As I type this, Andy's in the man cave tying some flies. We're heading out early Saturday morning so he can fish for more than a few hours. I'll bring a book. And some snacks. And a pillow and blanket. #shouldbefun

Here's to a zillion more weekends with Andy. I'm excited to see what fun autumn and winter will bring!

Some thoughts on being married

Andy and I got married nearly nine weeks ago, guys!

The ceremony was beautiful and sweet. #likeadream

We clean up real nice.

The luncheon was delicious and low-key. #perfection

Our honeymoon to Glacier, Waterton, and Banff National Parks was gorgeous and so. much. fun. #iwanttogoback

Here we are standing in...Lake Morraine, I believe?

We've been back to reality (read: work and stress) for about eight weeks, and I have to say: back to reality with Andy by my side is freakin' fantastic. I LOVE BEING MARRIED TO ANDY!

I realize we're still firmly in "the honeymoon phase," but as we've gotten to know each other better, and experienced quite a bit of travel, and dealt with everyday life (including some stressful times), I end up liking and loving this Andy fella more and more. Every singe day. 

We kept busy traveling our first several weekends of married life (family reunion, a wedding, a wedding open house, plus a backpacking trip), and it's been FUN! It's been a bunch of road trips with my very best friend, which is kind of the best.

Work has been stressful (there's a giant learning curve being an SLP in a middle school after being in private practice for nine years), and it's been so nice to come home (to the home we share!) and have Andy listen as I cry, and give me hugs and loving encouragement. (Okay, so I've only had a couple of emotional meltdowns, but they were in rather quick succession, and Andy dealt with it LIKE A CHAMP.)

Married life is incredibly different from the single life I've known so well for the past 33 years. I miss my girlfriends in IF (you know who you are!). It's weird to go home after work and see man stuff in the apartment. (He's by no means a slob; he just has lots of...manly stuff. I mean, heck, we have an entire bedroom, dubbed "the man cave," for most of this gear.) It's fun to cook for two rather than just for myself. And it's really fun when he cooks for me. (You guys' he's manly AND he can cook! How lucky am I?!) It's totally different to plan finances with another someone rather than buying what I want when I want. Sharing a bed (and the covers) with another human being is not the same as having the entire bed to myself! (But I really like it, and it's nice to snuggle into Andy for extra warmth.)

Breakfast cake topped with peaches and raspberries. YUM.

As different as married life is, I love it. I love being married to Andy. My favorite time of day is when Andy walks in the door after work. I love that all my plans revolve around him. Meeting up with friends takes a bit more planning than it did when it was just me, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love that Andy is my weekend plans. Every weekend!

We spent part of our Labor Day at Bear Lake.

And I LOVE NOT HAVING TO SAY GOODBYE TO ANDY AT THE END OF THE DAY. That's the best part of my life, being together when we're not at work. And wishing we were together all the time.

Also, Andy is adorable with our nieces and nephews.

So far, so good!