"It's hard to beat waking up beside the person who's given you so many of the best days of your life."

While looking for an anniversary card for my handsome husband earlier this week, I came a cross the card above. Even though we're not technically "old married people" I still found myself smiling and nodding along as I read it. I ended up picking a different card, but I took pictures of this one and showed Adam last night, on our 4-year wedding anniversary eve. :) We both got a few good laughs while reading it together, then shared a couple sweet kisses...it really does describe some of the aspects of how marriage is. And I wouldn't have it any other way.  The print is pretty small, so in case it's too hard to read, here is what it says:

Stuff only boring old married people like us understand...
That Friday night is actually the perfect time to go grocery shopping.
That no one else can drive you crazy quite like the person you love most in the world.
That it's wonderful to have someone you can always lean on...and possibly fall asleep on.
That it's hard to beat waking up beside the person who's given you so many of the best days of your life.
That "date night", although a nice idea, bears little resemblance to an actual date.
That the ten-thousandth kiss, in its own quiet way, is just as sweet as the first.
That "for better or worse" really means "for better or worse."
That love takes work. And time. A lifetime to be exact.
Happy Anniversary

Four years ago today we started this adventure called marriage.  And while Adam and I have shared incredibly romantic moments and have been on fun adventures, big and small, together...we've also done and said things we regret, then have eaten our fair share of humble pie and chosen to forgive. But through it all, Adam and I remember that we made promises to each other and to God that we'd put the other first, and that we would love and devote our souls to caring for each other, forever.  How lucky am I to have a man who keeps his promises. :)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LOVE!

3 years and counting!

The last three years of my life have been undeniably fantastic :)

Marrying Adam...me sweetheart, my best friend, my better half...in the Salt Lake City Temple, was the best decision I've ever made in my life.

Together our faith in our Savior and in each other has grown,

we've traveled,

we've eaten too many sushi rolls to count,

we've experienced gains and losses,

we've disagreed,

we've laughed 'til we cried,

(goodness can that boy make me laugh)

we've bought a home,

we're fixing up that home,

we're raising the most beautiful little boy,

we've grown more in love every single day,

and we look forward to forever with each other.

If I were to describe the last 3 years, I would say I've felt safe, and at peace. I trust Adam with all of my soul. My heart, my body, my spirit...they are his forever.

Together, life is sweeter.

Three years ago, yesterday, I married my best friend, and forever love Adam Stanley Kjar. Marriage isn't easy, we've worked hard to keep ours strong :) And with him it's better than I'd ever hoped for!! I'm one lucky girl, truly blessed to be able to grow more in love with him for the the rest of my life, and for the rest of our forever together.

Happy Anniversary babe!

And yes, knowing I will be with him forever makes me want to jump, and then fly :)

Happily Forever After

This past Thursday Adam and I were able to attend the marriage sealing of our wonderful friends and good neighbors the Lewis's. Morgan and Christi have been working toward getting their marriage sealed for the past 5 years. They are an amazing couple, who have been through a lot...and with hard work and faith in their Savior, they went to the Salt Lake temple last week, and we were able to see them sealed together forever. We are SO happy for them!! :)

[As Mormons, we believe that couples and families can be sealed together forever, in temples all around the world. Click here to learn more about temple marriages]

{ Here they are with their 4 sweet kids }

The sealer (man who performs the marriage/sealing) gave wonderful advice to the couple...it was all so beautiful, but a few parts really touched me. He said when you pray together, express gratitude to your Heavenly Father for each other. Showing love that way will create an unbreakable bond. And then he reminded them that service is the ultimate form of love. There will be ups and downs in marriage...follow Christ's example: when He was in His lowliest state, he never fought back or sought revenge. Instead He served and loved those around Him. Serve each other and your children...love will grow and joy will constantly increase in your home.

{ The temple grounds are covered in gorgeous flowers, I love it!...bright, colorful tulips are my favorite as of late }

Being able to be at their touching sealing, and then watching the stunning royal wedding the next day, I was reminded how blessed I am to have found my Prince Charming. And speaking of the royal wedding...one of the sweetest parts was when the Bishop of London spoke...he said "Every wedding is a royal wedding for we are all subjects of the King of Creation." How true that is! My sweet Adam and I have started our fairy tale together. And I'm so grateful that the our sealing makes it possible for us to have our Happily FOREVER After!

How will we respond?

"Adversity will be a constant or occasional companion for each of us throughout our lives [and our marriages]. We cannot avoid it. The only question is how we will react to it. Will our adversity to stumbling blocks or stepping-stones."

-- Dallin H. Oaks

{via}

Today at church we enjoyed another great Marriage & Family Relations Sunday school class...talking about responding to challenges in marriage. They are inevitable. But we absolutely have the choice of how we will respond... I can't express enough how grateful I am to have Adam as my forever companion. I get to walk through life with him, hand in hand, experiencing the good and the bad. We are trying, and will do, our best to make sure our trials are stepping stones and not stumbling blocks. And right by us is Christ, who has experienced it all. That knowledge is so comforting. And this verse in John is absolutely beautiful:

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

They say the best things in life are worth fighting for right?

Whatever comes at us...we will fight, and we will win :)

never assume...we should let them know :)

Today in our Marriage and Family Sunday School class we discussed nurturing love and friendship in our marriage :) But what we talked about, also applies to any relationship with those we love and care about.

Just like any plant, a loving devoted relationship (in this case, marriage) needs TLC, and lots of it...

daily watering (saying "I love you"),

picking weeds (forgiving),

providing sunlight (expressing sincere appreciation),

and tilling the soil (back rubs...okay maybe that's just me;)

All of that is vital to maintaining strong roots and strengthening bonds in a marriage. When each spouse is giving his or her all, the relationship will grow and flourish!! Yet there are about a million and one things that can distract us from keeping the flame alive, and burning bright in our marriages. We must remember that, "What is most important almost always involves the people around us [especially our other half]. Often we assume they must know how much we love them, but we should NEVER ASSUME, WE SHOULD LET THEM KNOW." Our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, shares those sweet words, in the video below.

And for homework this week (remember, I love this homework!) we're to put extra effort into doing something specific every day to show our love and appreciation to our sweet hearts...it's going to be a good week :)

Happy Sunday everyone!

Hope you're all soaking up the last few sweet drops of the weekend :)

The GREATEST Love of All...

Today in Young Women's (youth organization at our church that I'm a leader in) we were given yummy rose-scented bath salt along with a beautiful scripture (John 3:16) just in time for Valentine's Day. God's LOVE for us truly is the greatest love of all. Just thinking about how He gave His Son so that I can "live happily ever after" forever with my family, put's a phenomenal yet tender feeling in my heart.

This Valentine's season has been extra sweet now that I get to share it with two men ;) And even though I LOVE the romance of the holiday, I also think it should and can be a time to show love to everyone around me...share the love I feel from my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ.

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Also at church today, I went to a "Family Relations" class for the 2nd time. My sweetheart would have been with me, but he stayed at home sick :( It's a wonderful class that is based around a document put out by the leaders or our church in 1995... "The Family: A Proclamation To The World"...to read it, click here) I really enjoyed the class today and was excited to share with Adam what we learned and discussed :)

I learned that 1+1 = ONE

"What? How does that work?" you ask :)

ONE husband and ONE wife can become ONE...in purpose, in love, in desires, in faith...

It doesn't mean we become clones of each other, but it means that we appreciate each other's differences and we can be of one heart. I know Adam and I are not perfect and we are constantly working at unity, but I know because of it our marriage is a beautiful thing.

And I LOVE this quote our teachers shared with us by our past, sweet prophet Gordon B. Hinckley:

"Marriage, in its truest sense, is a partnership of equals, with neither exercising dominion over the other, but, rather, with each encouraging and assisting the other in whatever responsibilities and aspirations he or she might have."

Oh, and we have homework in that class ;) It's the BEST HOMEWORK EVER: We are to go on a date this week, and court each other. Adam has been amazing at courting me from day one (opening doors, giving me his jacket, asking about how I was feeling and then listened, you know the-works)...but I am SO looking forward to this romantic date with LOTS of love, flirtatiousness, and good ol' courting :)

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One more thing...yesterday I had a surprise birthday party for my Valentine :)

Adam's birthday isn't until the 23rd...but having it early made for a better surprise! We had a rockin' good time!! ;) You'll see what I mean when I post the pics and videos tomorrow...oh yes :)

Happy early 25th love!!!!!!

completely happy & happily complete

{2 hands, 1 heart...beach in So. California summer '09}

Last night, as Adam leaned over Brooks' crib to tuck him in, I snuck up behind him and reached my arms around Adam and gave him a long, firm squeeze...the type that makes you sigh afterward and have lingering butterflies.

I thought

Adam is such a good man.

A thoughtful, loving husband.

A caring, devoted father.

Perfect? No sir. (a lot closer to perfect than I am)

But perfect for me? Oh. Yes.

Then, as I washed my face and brushed my teeth with my pink toothbrush, next to the hubs as he brushed with his blue toothbrush, I thought about a conversation we had last week.

We talked about how the past month or two we've somehow felt our relationship settle. Even with our lovely vacation (just the 2 of us) and the romance of the holidays (yes, I think they're romantic) we didn't feel like we were "growing in love" like we wanted to. This beautiful girl wrote about a similar experience she had with her husband, and said it perfectly that somehow days slipped by "without us really connecting." We did the motions, kissed goodnight, prayed together, enjoyed time with our sweet little boy when Adam came home from work...yet we still felt like we were getting too comfortable. We both expressed our regret of not trying as hard as we should to express our love and appreciation to each other. We even reminded each other about our love languages. (mine: 1 -words of affirmation 2-physical touch 3-quality time 4-service...his [same just in different order]: 1-quality time 2-both physical touch & words of affirmation 4-service) and we made a promise to do better at showing affection through those routes of communication. Part of me loves that we're so comfortable, we trust each other and know we'll love each other no matter what...but we still should be putting extra effort into our relationship, building each other up and making sure we know we're each other's number one priority.

We also talked about how we know that if we focus on our personal relationships with God, we'll grow closer as a couple. Heavenly Father is so amazing that way. I know that if I put my complete trust in Him, if I give Him my heart, he will shape it to perfectly match Adam's. We will complete each other. And as Adam and I tell each other:

YOU MAKE ME COMPLETELY HAPPY,

AND HAPPILY COMPLETE

Our marriage is not perfect, but we're working at it.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Adam and I have our differences, lots of them. But more than that, we see the potential in each other and we want to spend the rest of forever growing more in love and reaching those potentials. Together. As one.

* 2 years *

Two years ago (from Monday)

Adam and I were married here:

It was a glorious day.

We were sealed together, forever.

We made promises that we'd love & serve each other, and that we'd strive to put Christ at the center of our marriage & family.

We've worked hard at keeping our marriage strong, united, passionate, forgiving, happy...and the outcome has been better than I ever imagined.

Adam & I have grown closer together...truly becoming one.

We are different in many ways, but we compliment each other :)

Concerning the important things:

we are oh-so similar.

The last two years have been the best of our lives...so far. And you know what? We're going to make the next two even better!!

I love you Adam...and thank you for loving me back.

You make me completely happy!

And happily complete :)

Life's Soundtrack

...you know how when you watch a movie, there are those parts that make you hold your breath because they're so intense, or grab you sweetheart 'cause you're so scared, or laugh 'til your stomach hurts cause it was so hilarious, or cry because you're heart is breaking for a certain character, or *sigh* because it was just so romantic...well, there's always some sort of music in the background during those parts. I love that about movies.

And honestly, I wish that would happen to me in real life. I'd like that very much actually :)

I'd have a song for when I wake up next to my sweetheart,

and a song playing while I am working out at the gym,

and another playing while I'm driving my car,

a song playing while I was doing dishes with my sweetheart,

and I'd have a song playing when my sweetheart would give me a wink and I'd go in for a ridiculously, long romantic kiss (hey, we're married;)

...and there'd be songs for the others ups & downs of life.

But for now, I love it when my sweetheart sings softly in my ear...

or loudly from the shower &/or other room ;) He gets the job done quite nicely.

Life is good. VERY good.

Plus, we have much...

PS - My very most favorite (in the whole universe!) movie soundtrack is from The Holiday...Hans Zimmer is the composer, he's brilliant. Check it out on iTunes, you won't regret it :)

ONE

Adam and I celebrated our 1-Year Anniversary this past Sunday :)

It's crazy how fast time can slip through our fingers...and it makes me SO happy to know that, while this year did fly by, we enjoyed every moment together. Adam & I started it out right...in the Salt Lake City Temple with family & friends that we love so much. And since that day, we've loved being able to wake up next to each other every morning, we've learned how to communicate better with each other, we've had differing opinions, we've laughed & we've cried together (at the same time on more than one occassion), we've prayed together, we've sought advice from each other, we've read to each other, we've bought a home together, we've served in the Cub Scouts together (kinda), we've traveled together, we've enjoyed numerous sushi dinners/lunches together, we've danced in the kitchen to candle light, we've enjoyed watching DVD's on our laptops in bed (due to lack of TV, which we like), we've taken millions & billions (okay, maybe not quite) of photos to capture our memories, we've grown in love with each other more each day...we've been blessed.

I'm so, So, SO grateful for my sweet husband. He is the world to me...I thank my Heavenly Father for him in each of my prayers. How I got so lucky to get him, I still have yet to find out ;) He helps me want to be my best. He's my prince charming!!! I feel like a princess as his wife. And I know, from how he treats me & our families, he's going to be an absolutely AWESOME father to our [future] children...those little kiddies are going to have the best Daddy-o on the block!...no, in the world! =)

We look forward to the rest of our life together...and the rest of forever :)

...AnNiVErSary CeLeBRaTiOn...

Here's what we did on Sunday, and mostly Monday, to celebrate the best year of our lives so far!!

Sunday morning Adam was SO stinkin' sweet to make me breakfast in bed :)

(but for the record...what actually happened was that I woke up with my hubby MIA, so I walked into the kitchen, I could hear he was up to something. I found him, oh so sweetly, making me breakfast. "You're supposed to still be asleep sweetheart," he says... "It's okay," I reply, "let's make it together!" "No, no no! You get back to bed, and I'll bring it into you." So, I float back to our bedroom with thoughts of how I am the luckiest girl in the world. I then proceed to fold laundry on the bed while listened to conference talks :] Soon after, we enjoy the yummy breakfast Adam prepared!...which included french toast with Nutella --> to...die...for...)

On Monday, I planned a few surprises for my hubby... :)

* Yea for bring married for 1 whole year!!! woohoo! *

We went out for sushi at Happy Sumo in Salt Lake's Gateway...we sat out side in the perfectly sunny weather and enjoyed our delicious sushi =)

* Chopstick-teeth is always a winner...Yeah for being dorks in a public setting!!! *

And guess who we saw while we were out to lunch?????...the one, the only...John Schmidt!! He was out to lunch with his wife =)

(here's a link to an awesome video of him playing his version of Taylor Swift's "Love Story" mixed with Cold Play's "Viva la Vida"...awesome)

* By the time i thought to use my paparazzi skills, he was walking away...but i got a picture of the back of his cute little red head! heehee *

Next on the mystery agenda was to head over to Liberty Park & ride the ferris wheel (yep, the one from the movie Charly...and I'll admit it's one of my favorite movies...so it was a pretty big deal to be riding it with my forever sweetheart)And for entertainment purposes...look for the difference in the next 2 picutres... ;)
* sigh...blinking pictures...gotta love 'em *

* look at those eyes!! makes me melt... *

* kisses...kisses...can't get enough ;) *

* the sun was so cozy...oh, and i was wrapped up in the arms of my best friend *

* The ferris wheel seat in front of us was #1!...again, yeah for 1 year!! *

After the perfect ferris wheel ride, we went on a little stroll around the park...holding hands, of course =)

We saw these two cute little girls... * Why this picture rocks: the grown-up tricycle, the younger sister in the basket, they both have blonde dreads, & she's wearing pink camo pants *

While wandering Liberty Park, we happened upon a group of super nice hippies that were selling tie-die blankets, shirts, tanktops, & dresses...they had some pretty sweet jewelry & some hand-made sandals (i wanted a pair, but my not-so-dainty feetsies wouldn't fit)...

And being that it was Memorial Day, I found it quite fitting that Liberty Park has this monument...it says "For Those Who Served in the World Wars." We're grateful for those who've lost their lives fighting for our freedom. After the park, we were off to our surprise dinner appointment...which Adam figured out pretty quick...we had reservations at 7 but we had to leave at 6 to get there... ;) We were heading to Midway, which is where we stayed for our honeymoon last May, at the Homestead Resort :) One of the restaurants we ate at on our honeymoon was the Blue Boar Inn...European fine-dining, with such a unique atmostphere. It was so fun to be back there!
We decided our first course would be a delicious salad...and escargot!!!! * My first escargot experience...very unique, and surprisingly really delicious! *

The dinner was absolutely divine...and it's always better when you're sharing it with your other half :)

We had a wonderful time celebrating our first anniversary together!! Here's to many, many more! I love you Adam!!!!

PS - We really wanted to get away for a night in Park City...but instead, we decided to save that $$ to buy a picture of the Salt Lake Temple for our home :) We went by Deseret Book on our way to sushi and found this gorgeous piece...we'll keep shopping around 'til we find "the one"...can't wait to have it up in our front room! Does anyone have suggestions for places that sell church artwork for a good price??