A Newborn Marriage

My life has become one with someone else, which in a way feels like a new life. I didn't know why but pre-married Goo seems really different from  post-married Goo, and it's literally been a month and a half. It's like I passed into a whole new world, and I'm starting to learn things all over again. I have only been born into this world once, and I don't remember what it was like, but I imagine it is similar to what I am feeling now. I know who I am. I am a daughter of God and I have immense potential, but why is that so hard to remember when I put a cup of oil in the waffles instead of 1/3 cup? It's like learning to walk all over again. I'm learning who this new person is, and sometimes it's easier to get frustrated when I know I can do better. It just comes down to the fact that I am experiencing a new way of life, and it will take time to get my feet under me.

 I'm learning to talk again too. 

I couldn't hold it in anymore. I was mad and I needed to tell someone. Before, my roommates would be waiting at the door to hear about my day and the ups and downs. They would even have a few stories of their own to share in response. I knew what was coming with girls. I had that pre-marriage life down. But now I don't have that anymore. Luckily when I get on a estrogen overload, my new other half can see through my irrational thoughts. We are building the kind of person that help each other and don't settle for just consolidation in hard times. And now I'm learning to talk, and talking feels so much better. 

I'm learning to trust those around me. 

It has never been my strong suit to follow. After waiting 2 years you learn a sense of independence. I can do things by myself. I am the only one that can do this job the best way. But I am learning quickly that I can't, and I don't have to. After I fall over and over again, I realize that I can't do everything by myself. Then comes the saving grace of my husband. He picks up the load and lets me rest from my burdens. I have to let go of the doubt that my independence is screaming at me. He can handle my load. 

We are learning and growing together. We are becoming one.

Love,
The Littlefield's

So THIS is love :)

A random photo stand on campus lead to this pre-Valentine kiss! After this we went and got Dallin's Valentines gift (I need to work on surprises...) which is a new wedding ring haha (side-note-story: I'm THE WORST and ended up getting Dallin's wedding ring the day before we got married at Walmart...needless to say he wore it our wedding day and it's been a pain to wear ever since...maybe because it was also the wrong size ha oops, so now he wanted a new one) 

This is a picture from our honeymoon cruise! We went to Key West and Cozumel on the Carnival. It was really beautiful, and we had a great time! 

What Our Christmas Looks Like

This is us, and all of our presents! This is actually Christmas Eve. We celebrated early so we could be together with my family and then on Christmas day we went to his families house. 

It's a black tradition to make honey candy at Christmas! 

A Week To Go!

I wanted to clarify, I am ready! I get the question "So, are you ready?" all the time! It's to be expected though. Weddings are so so so exciting, and I've asked this question to plenty of people before. I am ready, and I have never felt better about Dallin and I. It's been interesting so far. We've already started sharing some things, and I have to learn how to share. It's like I'm back in preschool again! haha Our cute little apartment is coming together quite nicely. My WONDERFUL loving family helped me move in, and let's just say the people before us clearly didn't own any Clorox. Ha but I'm slowly getting it to where it needs to be.

So, what do you do in a small, OLD, and cold apartment? Well, me and Dallin are cuddling up next to our space heaters, and eating our spaghetti from the pot. It's so great! Next Saturday can't come fast enough! Also, it's surprisingly been a challenge for me to let go of "controlling" everything. It's so nice having someone else to help me do things! And Dallin is always willing and super dependable. The other day he got the car lubed. That was great, because I hate anything to do with cars. Sometimes, it's hard for me to let go of the initial drive to do everything myself. I first started to notice my control issues when he first got home and started to drive, and I would tell him how to drive (I've heard this is common among women), but I would get SEVERE anxiety when I couldn't control the car from the passengers side. I would say, "we're turning right" (way before the turn) just so that I could release some of the things in my head, but I quickly became an annoying back seat driver. I've fixed this by not watching the road when he is driving. If I do, I can't help but correct everything he does. The solution: don't watch. Another good thing about having Dallin around is having a handy man. We were doing our dishes after dinner one day, I set the rag on the counter, and he set's it in the middle of the sink. I didn't think it would totally air out in the middle of the sink, and setting it on the counter would "leave the dirt on the counter" as Dallin said, so he grabbed a screw driver and put a screw into one of the cupboards and hung the rag up. Perfect place! I imagine this is just the beginning of what marriage is going to be like. Creating and learning with someone else. Luckily, Dallin makes me laugh SO hard, I'm confident it will be pretty fun as we go. When it comes to the wedding I'm not nervous. I don't think I thought of everything that needs to be done, and I am in the middle of my final semester at BYU, but whether or not I have everything I ever dreamed of on that day is not important. I don't care if I have the Pinterest wedding I pinned. I hope on that day my only focus will be that I get to be with my best friend for eternity. 

Our New Place!

It wasn't exactly like we remembered; however, we love it! It's super small, and was built FOREVER ago! It's nice and cozy and everything two poor newlywed college kids should live in! I definitely have a lot of cleaning and decorating to do! I plan to play on the vintage theme. Here is some pictures from our first visit! 

The kitchen! I don't know where we will put a table...but there is a lot of cupboard space!

Our living room! So small, maybe a love seat will fit?

 The bedroom! Hole in the wall included!

                                               

     All Dallin had to say about this one is "where is my cleaning brush?" :)

Wedding Registry Checklist and Comparisons

First of all, I want to say that registering at Target was 1,000 times easier than Walmart! Target had a beautiful checklist that helped me know where to start and what to get. It cut my time looking for things in half, and I know that I didn't miss anything! They were also way better on quickly adding things. Walmart had a 5 second wait time that changed the page so I ended up adding 20 things to the "cart" rather than the registry. Target's search engine was more efficient. They had it so it would search the whole store every time, but Walmart made you choose what "department" you wanted. I ended up looking for kid's decorations for 5 minutes before I realized I was in the kid section. 

So the checklist! Where do you start? What do you get? The answer is all at this link: Target's Checklist. It organizes what you want by the room "Kitchen", "Entertainment", "Home", and then sub categories. I could write about it all day, but it would be quicker for you to look at it! 

The Unplanned Christmas Traditions

-          For some reason there is a whole side to Christmas not advertised by Hollywood. Our holiday season comes and goes, and looking back over the last few Christmas’s I’ve noticed traditions that I never planned, but that are consistent through the years. I’ve found such a pattern that it’s led me to the top 10 Unplanned Christmas Traditions. 

1. Getting sick. I don’t know how, but it always happens every year, but you never plan on getting sick.

2. Traveling in bad weather. Surprise! Now you have to spend 2 hours digging someone out of the snow. Merry Christmas.

3. A Christmas afternoon surprise nap, because for some reason I never think about how waking up at 6 AM after going to bed at 1 AM will affect me.

4. Shopping. Apparently everyone in America decides to go to the same mall as me at the exact same time.  

5. Somehow I end up making a phone call to a customer service agent every year and my entire Christmas spirit is at their finger tips. 

6. Shipping time on gifts, no matter how many times it happens I always order at the last second and hope and pray they’ll get here on time.

7. Along with shopping, a tradition that I would rather not plan for it spending way more than I thought I would. Set a budget? Ain’t no body got time fo that.

8. Wrapping Presents ALWAYS takes longer than I thought…and it is not fun. I don’t plan on it, but somebody has to do it.

9. Making way more food than is necessary. This is a happy unplanned tradition. There is always a lot of food around the house.

10. Buying a gift for the “let’s not give presents this year people” because they ALWAYS end up giving gifts, and you don’t want to be the person who fell for that trick again. 

BONUS!!!

Returning gifts. It's America, go get what you really want. 

Merry Christmas everybody! May the odd's be ever in your favor.