Bye Felicia.

I swear October has flown by so fast.. I'm loosing my marbles over here. October is my favorite month. You know, like those crazy cat people or the "I can't wait for Christmas!" Posts that some of your friends post almost every. single. day.. (You know who you are!!) I for one, will admit, am an October freak. Like a closet one though. I would scream it from my roof top every day if I could get away with it. I LOVE OCTOBER. 

This year though, October for me has been a somber one. The Russian went in for her what we thought was her last surgery, but in fact it wasn't her last.. We had such a great morning together right before we went to the hospital. we were high on life and laughter. We kept the nurses belly laughing at 7AM before everyone had their morning ritual coffee/caffeine. It was a glorious day! 

As you can see above we were the laughing stock of the hospital because of our slap happiness. And I think it was because we knew this was it.. This was the VERY LAST surgery.  Russian even talked about Disneyland on the way into the OR to the nurse who clearly had no idea what the A,B,C & D tickets were to enter into Disneyland many years ago.. (I mean, who doesn't know about those?!) :) anywho, way off topic now. The nurses were still laughing when they wheeled her in and she gave everyone one last "HOORAH!" As she waved going in. 

   My mom is a fighter. The BRAVEST woman I know. I don't know one thing she wouldn't or couldn't do. I'm proud to be her daughter. 

After her surgery we met with the Doctor as he told me that it wasn't a home run this time around.. I was devastated. I knew mom was going to be also, but she wouldn't let us see that in her. She has been carrying on as normal, doing "normal" things as best as she can. We will go back to the hospital in about 4-6 months to have yet another reconstructive surgery. What's sad is that from this last surgery, when I picked her up in the morning from her house, she had all of her things ready to come home to for when she was going to recover. Pillows were fluffed, prescriptions filled and in order for her to take with signs in front of them of what they were in case something happened.  She had her snacks ready, barf bag at the go and back scratcher fairly close to her so when her anesthesia starts wearing off she will have a solution to her mad woman itchyness. 

My sister, brother and I had everything figured out and who to watch her when and who would sleep over with her (since my little brother still lives with her). 

This summer has been a whirlwind of unpredictable things. But one thing I know for sure is that this summer has brought our family closer than they ever have been. Isn't it sad that some tragic moments in our lives are sometimes the ones that bring us all together? The happy ones as well, but I think the sad ones are those that make the happy moments better for us. 

I love my family. I love my mom and everything she is to me. I'm happy I get to be with her longer on this earth. I'm happy for a loving sister and brother who show unconditional love  and support. 

I am happy. 

Park city with the Russian

Me and the Russian (my mom) went to park city today to have a girls day before her big surgery next week that will hopefully be her last! We started with going to the cutest little consignment store called "The Exchange" you wouldnt be able to find it if you weren't looking for it, it's such a hidden gem! That's where I bought my awesome hat! After that we walked over to "the bakery" which was to die for! Seriously, the coolest bakery! It had so many different desserts there! I highly recommend going if you've never been! 

We went to lunch after on Main Street where we are on the balcony over looking ! It was so fun! The weather was absolutely perfect! I love going up the canyon this time of year and seeing all of the leaves change. It's seriously a dream! Here are some fun pics we took today! Also, follow me on snap chat! 👻:allienitzen 

1 Year Anniversary Trip!

Welp, we did it! We finally got passed the 1 year mark!! ...alive.. and in one piece.. :)

You guys, being married is the best thing that has EVER happened to me. It's so rewarding, amazing  and yet frustrating all at the same time. Every person that says to you that being married is all shooting stars and butterflies is lying to you. like, you shouldn't be their friend anymore lying to you.  Marriage is HARD. I say that it's rewarding because you get to know one another on a whole other level and create a bond between each other that no one else can take away from you.  You become dependent on that person and become the real YOU and you never look back.

Looking back at the year I have to say that we have accomplished a TON for being married for a year.  We built our track home, closed on our house without a real estate agent the DAY before our wedding, bought pretty much all new furniture ( bed, dresser, night stands, bathroom supplies for 3 BATHROOMS, fridge, couches, table and chairs, bar stools, TV stand, shelves, shelves in our garage, blinds in all of the bedrooms, head board, back splash and decor galor!!)  We made really hard decisions together and agreed on mostly everything.  We learned to work together and be a team.. I think that's the hard part is working together when before you were married, you worked alone. You were solely dependent on yourself and only yourself. You only cared for yourself.  Being married has changed all of that. 

So, yes. Being married is blissful, exciting and rewarding. It'll be the best decision you ever made if you allow it to be.  Having a good attitude is EVERYTHING, picking your battles and deciding if you want to be right or be happy.  I know I'm still learning that saying.  Jason and I have known each other for over 2 years now and we're still getting to know each other.. and you really never stop getting to know one another.  I say being married is hard because you learn how the other person lives, their habits, their gross ones and the annoying ones. You learn about patience and being EXTRA patient and you keep learning.. you learn, learn and learn. You get frustrated with each other, but that's OK! We are human!  No one is perfect or perfect in their marriage (except me..;) jk..)  but as far as I've learned about my marriage, it's the best decision I've ever made and I don't know what I would do without my person. Jason is my world, my right hand man, my partner in crime, my best friend.. He's everything to me. I don't know if he'll ever know how much I truly care and love him.

So, we celebrated!!

Here are some pictures from our celebration vacation of our 1 year!  We celebrated in Springdale.  It's the city right next to Zions National Park!  We left Thursday and came home Sunday night!

We ate at Baby Sumo! It was delicious! 

 This was at the Weeping Rock^^. In the background you can see a waterfall! It was amazing! 

 Squirrls were EVERYWHERE.

 Our view every morning when we woke up : )

The End!
XOXO,

Meeting Ed with a little sunshine

Tuesday morning felt like such a long time ago now! I won meet and greet VIP tickets through a radio station and called Jason instantly to see if he could come since "kiss me" was our wedding song that we danced to.  Since Jason works in Spanish fork and we had to be there at 6:15 Jason unfortunately couldn't go :(   So I brought my mom! My mom seriously knows how to have a good time at a concert! She's probably my favorite person to go with! (Don't tell Jason..:) ) 

Here are the tickets and meet and greet passes that were material stickers to stick on your jeans! 

Here we are meeting Eddy! He was so sweet and laughed when I busted through the door jumping like a little girl screaming his name... But I bet he gets that all the time! He said, "well HEY!" And I think I did all the talking from there.. Oh! And did I tell you he kissed me on the cheek? Yes, that's right... He did! 💋😍

Me and mom eating nachos after we met Ed! 

We got incredible seats! I mean, they were free so I wasn't complaining! 

Jason and I had to be up at 6:00am the next morning to leave to California for my grandpas funeral. I dropped the suebadoo (Harley) off at my sisters house at 7am and then we were on the road! 

We stayed at my grandmothers house for the funeral and let me tell you, I get ALL of my feistiness from that woman! she was on a roll! She is the most witty, funny, amazing, humble woman I know! I loved being with her and bonding for the days we spent with her . Jason absolutely fell in love with her! He couldn't stop laughing and always wanted to be around her.  

I found some Ed sheeran lyrics that made me think of my grandfather.. It's called photograph: 

"Loving can heal

Loving can mend your soul

And is the only thing

That I know (know)

I swear it will get easier

Remember that with every piece of ya

And it's the only thing we take with us when we die"

"We keep this love in a photograph

We made these memories for ourselves

Where our eyes are never closing

Hearts are never broken and times are forever frozen still"

 -Ed Sheeran 

Here are some of the pictures from the funeral.. 

Me, Ashley, grandma, mom and Austin 

Ashley, mom, aunt Laura and me 

Poppi was cremated and this was my dad giving the worker his ashes to bury.. 

It was an amazing service with all family and friends sharing their stories. Some of the stories I've never heard before so it was nice to hear about how truly amazing my grandfather was. 

Ash and I in front of grandmas house. After the funeral. Everyone gathered together for lunch. 

Me ash and mom 

Jason and I sat outside after the funeral when we changed out of our clothes.. Jason wanted to tan under his arms apparently.. Haha it was such a nice day. 

Here's a picture I found of grandma, Poppi and my dad! My grandpa was a rebel... Haha! 

So this was after everyone left the house and my dad wanted to do a push up contest! Whoever can do as many as they can in 1 minute! Guess who won?! Jason duh. Haha! He did 68 in 1 minute!!!! 

Thursday night we went to watch my cousin Scott play in his last band concert! He did amazing! They played the theme song from Star Trek so Jason really enjoyed himself!

The next day my dad came over and surprised us all with all day tickets to Knotts Berry Farm!! 

Can you guess what ride were on? 

Sean (My sisters husband) and Jason crammed in like sardines! 

Ash and I! 

The second row you can see Jason and I, 3rd row is Austin and cousin Ryan and then 4th row is Sean! 

After Knotts we went and met up with the family at Don Joses for dinner. It's a favorite that grandma and Poppi loved going to.

All the grandkids with grandma! 

The WHOLE family!! Love my family so much! 

Driving home was pretty much THIS the  whole time! Ashley and Sean had to catch a flight at 7am at the long beach airport and my dads alarm didn't go off in time so Ashley ran into our room and said that she could t get ahold of dad and that their going to miss their flight if they don't leave now! Jason and I weren't planning on leaving until 8-9 that morning but it turned into 5:30am! The only way I could describe that morning was just chaos.. Haha! Ash and Sean obviously made it on their flight thanks to Jason speeding through California! 

We made a pit stop in Vegas to get lunch and stretch out our legs.. 

Austin and Jason in the Tag Heuer store.. 

Austin couldn't finish his burrito from chipotle so he wrapped it up and later ate it.. In the bathroom he told me later.. Haha ewwww boys are gross.

Well folks, that concludes the Ed sheeran meet and greet adventure and California trip!

Xoxo,