Married life, 10 months later

My idea was to start this blog and document our journey together... And also because Jake has some hilarious stories that need to be documented. Neither of us has been diligent about updating our blog, but that is all about to change. 
We are 10 months into marriage and it feels great! Being married gives us a lot more time to have fun, and not planning a wedding gives us a lot less time to be stressed. Our journey has not been perfect, but it's been fun and I've felt our love grow, quite remarkably. 
Right now, at this moment in our lives Jake is in Portland working on the temple. He's restoring a section of the floor and it's one of the first jobs through his company Smithstonian. This is his second job this month, the first was in Tucson through Jeffs Wurtz' company Pyridia (I don't have anything against him but there's a medication used for bladder irritation called pyridium and its makes your pee orange, I think of it every time I hear his company name). Anyway, I have been left to fend for myself... Poor me. Jk! Actually the last two times Jake has been gone I've rediscovered the enjoyment of doing things on my own, the way I did for about 34 years before I met Jake. It's funny how quickly I had forgotten that I enjoy alone time and that it isn't ALL that bad. This past weekend I painted a dresser that Jake reconstructed using some reclaimed wood. It may be the first and last collaborative effort on furniture because it took WAY too long to finish, but it turned out beautifully, very satisfying. 
This summer I joined a tennis league with my sister and some of her friends in Ogden. It's been really fun despite the face that I haven't won a single game! hahaha. And the best part is that through all of this we discovered that Jake enjoys playing tennis too. So it's something we can do together now and both enjoy. 
There are so many events that I want to include on this blog. Especially our wedding and honeymoon, but I'll save those for another time.  
We have two upcoming trips. One to New York and shortly following that we're going to Tahiti. Jake is working on the temple in Tahiti and then we'll vacation for a few days following his job. And New York is for my cousin's wedding. 

Collaborative dresser- bought in Boise, ID Feb 2017, because I thought we could be like Chip and Joanna Gaines. Finished July 2018. Guess we're not like the Gaines after all!  

From the top

The adventure for Jake and I started in about 2006 when we were both living in Las Vegas. He moved there to start a business with a friend and I was raised there and at the time had just started my nursing journey, I was taking pre-requisites for the program. I met Jake at church, he and 3 of his brothers attended the same church as I did. Jake remembers a conversation that we had about how many bones are in the human body. He also remembers pointing out that babies have minus two bones because their knee caps haven't developed when they are born. 
Fast forward to 2016, I'd finished nursing school, worked for 4 years as an RN (2 years in Las Vegas and 2 years in Bellevue, Washington) and I had just graduated from a Family Nurse Practitioner masters program  at NYU. I moved to Utah after school and was living in Ogden with my sister and her family. Jake was living in Utah as well, he'd been here for 5 years and was working on temples. To date he has worked on 22! 
I was on a trip in Orlando, FL and Jake saw a picture of me partaking of the local cuisine... gator nuggets. He commented (jake.ryan.smith) and it dawned on me that we were both living in Utah. 

A conversation started through Instagram and then through texting. It lasted for 5 weeks before we went out and reunited, but I knew from the first time that I had found a gem. And not a diamond in the rough. A bright, shining, precious jewel of a man... it was almost too good to be true. Little did I know the best had just begun. As I got to know Jake one of the things that I loved was his ability to recall ridiculous and hilarious moments from his past. He is the best story teller. The first stories he told me were first about almost killing his pet duck and second about a WAY COOL Christmas present from his mom to his brother gone wrong. After hearing these stories plus a few more I suggested we start a blog as a way to record and preserve those memories.