My oh my, we're realizing that married life really isn't slowing us down! We've kept busy with work, friends, and church that's for sure. :) This past week has been pretty crazy. Everything from filling cavities (yuck) to spontaneous date nights to surprise parties to children's church. Yes, last Monday I had to get some cavities filled (don't ask how many) and today I have to finish the other side. Lesson? Don't wait 4 years to get a check up at the dentist. My mistake! On Wednesday, I was planning on cooking dinner but as Zach and I were laying there watching Shark week I just didn't want to cook anymore so we used some gift cards to get dinner and go to a movie which made for a wonderful night. I am so blessed that Zach is up for anything. :) Thursday was our good friend Alex's birthday party so we went to Sugarhouse Park, grilled out, played some volleyball and got to catch up with friends! Friday was another birthday celebration for Kassie, and BOY did we surprise her! We hosted the party at our house and as nervous as I was for all of that, it really turned out well! We started out hanging inside playing our fave game Catch Phrase, and then the party headed outdoor for some more volleyball. I love it! Then we played more catch phrase once it got dark before headed to Willie's bar for Karaoke!! My favorite part had to be watching my husband sing (almost perfectly!) White Wedding by Billy Idol...that's my man.

My cooking adventures have been fun. Not sure if I mentioned this in previous posts but I did cook a rotisserie chicken for my first time. It was so gross cleaning out the, for lack of better words, butt. I was seriously considering becoming a vegetarian as I was doing this, but I made it through and seasoned it and check out the end result! I still have a long way to go with my cooking skills, and I LOVE new recipes so please send them my way. :) Zach pretty much eats anything, but he really appreciates yummy meals. I really love cooking and my schedule at work has been nice because it allows me time to cook not in a rush, and have dinner ready by 5:30 or so. I'm trying to find some ways to cut carbs in dinner because I'm a carboholic and my hips don't love it :) so last night I made black bean soup and that was good! If you have low-carb recipes, please send them my way too. :)

dinner.

Our budget is going pretty well, and we recently found out that Walmart does price matching (where have I been!?). We work on creating a grocery list once a week and going for all the dinners that one time. I've learned so much from being surrounded by such amazing women and families my whole life, so I've had lots of ideas of what I want to do. :) We started buying our groceries in cash with a 50 dollar limit a week. It's been a blessing so far and we've watched God make it happen even with random household items we need.

It's just funny to see how much of my mother really is in me now that I have my own home. I'm pretty anal about cleanliness, and we follow a chore chart so we don't spend all Saturday deep cleaning like the first couple weeks of marriage. Our house is slowly coming together, and every weekend we get a little bit more done. We're having the most trouble with our desk/office nook and it seems like every weekend we're getting a little organized there. We have a lot of important documents coming together so I want to keep them extremely organized.

Finances have been pretty nice for us! We have a 300 payment left to make on the first two months of Zach's tuition loan. And we have all of August to make that payment, so we are treading along! That is a huge relief and God and Zach are both showing me that we CAN, in fact, do this. We're joining our cell phones on the same plan this weekend, and this week I WILL get my Utah license with my Mrs. Name! :) We've discussed plans for things like saving up for a car, and a house someday and I like to hear what Zach has to say. :) He's so smart and I'm glad he's leading our family. And we're getting pretty hungry for a dog...however, our living situation doesn't allow for a puppy. Maybe Zach can talk our landlord into it.

There are other things in the works for us, but we're kind of waiting on God to make things clear...so stay tuned for that. :) You can always be praying that God's will be done in our marriage and lives together and that He continues to lead us and make his will clear so we never step in the wrong direction. We love you guys, and thanks for reading on our happy, struggling lives as newlyweds. :)