The Adventures That Lie Ahead

In my very first blog post I said "I couldn't be happier to be married to my best friend, and I'm excited for the many adventures that lie ahead!"  Well, can I just say we are preparing ourselves for some serious adventures.  For all those that don't know yet....Spencer and I are moving to London, England! Spencer has been hired to do a 20-26 week internship at Barclays Bank in the heart of London. (If you know what Barclays is you're probably impressed.  If not, you're like me, but apparently it's a pretty big deal ;)) We don't have our official start date yet, but it will be sometime in July.

Spencer first contacted the guy who got him the job (a USU alumni) on February 13. We just barely got the official word that he actually got the job last on May10, so you could say it's been a loooong process of emails and interviews.

I spent the past 3 months thinking of all the amazing things we'll get to do, see, and experience. But the moment Spencer actually had the job, we had to go into full planning mode. Can I just say, planning the next 6 months of your life in a completely different country is harder than it sounds. We've spent hours trying to find housing, figure out how I can get a work Visa (I was hoping to get a nanny job because I don't have enough schooling to be a nurse in London), and work out how to do everything from banking and cellphones, to transportation and food. So, if anybody has any experience with any of these things, a little tip would be nice :)

In other news, Spencer and I both graduated this Spring. I graduated from Weber State via the USU extension program with my RN.  Spencer graduated from USU with his Bachelor's in International Business and Economics with a Minor in Mandarin Chinese. I must say, it feels pretty good! This is the first time since we started dating that neither of us have homework!! (But, we only have summer off from school, as I was accepted into Weber's Online BSN program!)

Well that's what's new with us, much more to come as we plan our trip to the UK!

The Small Things

Today as I was talking with my visiting teacher's, I realized something, I have a pretty good life.  It's so easy to complain about being poor college students, being college students in general (seriously, is there anyone who isn't ready for this semester to be over?), and having absolutely no idea what the future holds for us.  Plus the economy, healthcare, people arguing about every single thing on social media, and North Korea....it's a scary world!  But today I realized, I've got a lot of good things going, and I wanted to share it:

My new job: I never posted about this, but back in February I was hired as an LPN at Avalon Hills Eating Disorder Treatment Center.  I never thought I would like being a nurse so much.  Yes, it's a lot of paperwork and taking vital signs all day (I've gotten pretty dang good at manual BP's), but I love the girls I work with, and I couldn't have asked for a better entry level job.  12 hours is a long shift, but at least I'm finally getting paid to be a nurse!

Spring Break:  One full week of nothing but relaxation, sunshine, and each other (plus no homework!). 

 
My tiny little apartment:  Spencer and I have put our apartment up for sell starting anytime after June 1st.  (If anyone is interested let me know :))  As we show our apartment, I realize how much I love this itsy bitsy, little place where we've started to build our lives together.  

My car: Yes it did break down 3 times over spring break, including the engine completely shutting down on the freeway, but I'm thankful that my car is running again, and that I'm not making any payments on it. (We think it just hated the St. George heat?  Nobody could figure out what was wrong with it, including the Mazda dealer.)

Warm weather and sunshine:  It was 60 degrees in Logan today, need I say more?

My wonderful new family: Not only does Spencer have an incredible immediate family, but he has an awesome extended family.  When we were stranded in Cedar City, we had about 6 offers from various aunts, uncles, his siblings, and his parents to help us out.  Also, I adore my little nieces and nephews.  I never knew I could love somebody else's little kiddies so much! 

Most of all I'm thankful for my wonderful husband.  Spencer is so darn cute.  He knows what to do when a car breaks down on the freeway, how to fix a leaky sink, how to clean the house and cook far better than I do, and treats me like a million bucks.  Plus he gives me those cute forehead kisses and tells me I'm pretty every day (even when I just woke up, and definitely do not look pretty). I'm thankful for him every single day.

P.S. Did I mention we're going to Hawaii with my family in 64 days?  Yeah, I'm thankful for that too :)

The 14th of February

Single-awareness day.  That's what I called Valentine's day in high school.  My parents sent me flowers at school a few times, and gave me a small box of chocolates each year.  Whoop-de-doo.  Well LAST year I finally had a Valentine.  Spencer made me dinner and planned a way cute date.  This year, he was in charge of all the plans again. In my defense, I did the plans for our six montheversary.  

Suddenly, I love Valentine's day.  He HAS to spoil me and be even cuter than usual! I think it's so much fun, and I've been looking forward to it for weeks. 

AOf course, I still had to get him a gift. I wanted to stay within a small budget, so I decided to make a scavenger hunt that would last throughout the day.  I had so much fun making it and buying the little things to give him.  

The coupon book was 100%  a Pinterest steal....but I made up some of my own coupons and tied the bow :)

Of course, Spencer destroyed me in the cuteness area.  When I woke up, he had a bouquet of flowers on the counter, and later in the day he gave me a present of earrings, bath salts, and lotion.  The conversation heart card was  my other gift to him.  It was super cheesy, but I couldn't resist.

When I got home from work, Spencer was frantically working on dinner and getting everything ready.  When I saw the sink full of dishes, I had to help.  But first I took a picture.  That is a LOT of dishes!

For dinner Spencer made a yummy pasta dish, French baguettes from scratch, and salad.  (You know you're poor college kids when this is what your romantic dinner setting is, a cardtable and stools.)  Later that night he pulled out homemade and handdipped cake balls and chocolate covered strawberries.  He topped it off with Martinelli's in a redneck cooler.

For our date we went to the Aggie basketball game, we lost in overtime :(.  When we got home we watched Beauty and the Beast.  The movie was my gift from Spencer last Valentine's day.  Yesterday was the first time he'd watch it with me.  For some reason he doesn't love Disney princess movies!

 

I love this kid!  I hope everyone had a great Valentine's (or single-awareness) day!

The First Time I Left the USA

Our Honeymoon was: fantastic.  It was arguably the most relaxing thing I've ever done.  If anyone is looking for something to do for their honeymoon, I would highly recommend a cruise.  Once you're on the ship it is stress free (which is nice after your life being consumed by wedding).  Spencer did all the planning and arranging.  I just packed and showed up, but really it was so nice!  We didn't have to worry about spending too much on food, buying gas, finding a place to stay, or finding things to do.   Plus someone magically cleaned our room for us each day.  Bonus!  

To start things off, we drove to St. George on Friday, and stayed in our sister-in-law's parents' condo.  (Saved us some serious money).  We ate at 25 Main (amazing cupcakes) and had breakfast at The Bear Paw Cafe (my mouth is drooling just thinking about it).  We've both been to St. George many times, but had never eaten at either place.  I recommend both!

Crazy rainstorm between Cedar and St. George, of course, I was driving while Spencer  took pictures.

Saturday morning we drove to Long Beach, with a stop in Vegas.  I had never walked on the strip, so we spent about an hour and a half there.  Sunday, we boarded the Carnival Splendor in Long Beach.  Like I said, every meal was prepared (buffet style, sit-down style, or room service, plus 24-hour pizza and ice cream) which was awesome.  It also explains why people gain 5 pounds on a cruise.  For activities, there was plenty of music, sunshine, comedy shows, mini (really mini) golf, movies on the deck, dance parties, hot tubs/pools, and dance shows.   The Olympics were also going that week, so they were always being broadcasted on the deck, or in our room.  I was worried I'd get seasick, and the first night was pretty rocky, so we both took motion sickness pills.  Did you know those make you drowsy?   Yeah, we slept like 16 hours.  

Chillin' on the ship.  Did I mention they have a day devoted to chocolate?

 On Tuesday, we arrived in Cabo San Lucas.  Through an unfortunate series of events, we missed our snorkeling trip, and had to reschedule for Wednesday.  So, we spent the day going for a water taxi ride. (Note: If they tell you it has a glass bottom so you can see the fish, they're full of it.  You can't see anything.  Not. A. Thing.)  Then we walked over the the beach and played in the water.  I've only been to the beach in Oregon, or California in the spring.  So, I'd never experienced water so warm you really could just swim around and not get cold at all.  It was awesome.

On Wednesday, we went on our snorkeling excursion.  It was really fun, and we met this crazy old couple that loved us.  Really though, they loved us, especially after their 6th and 7th alcoholic beverages.  They also loved Cabo San Lucas, they bought a time share on a whim while they were there.  

Spen and me with the famous Cabo rocks, the cruise ship, and our free drinks.  We kept getting cokes and virgin drinks, because they were free and we wanted our money's worth.  

 Our last destination was Puerto Vallarta.  That place is so cool.  We both wish we'd had two days there, and only one in Cabo.  Cabo San Lucas feels like you're in a touristy American town.  Puerto Vallarta feels like you're actually in Mexico.  We jumped in a cab and headed to their boardwalk.  We window shopped, played in the ocean, and had a guy draw a picture of us (you know, the ones with the giant heads).  If we ever went again, I'd do the jungle zipline.

See that mermaid in the sand castle?  The kid did it with a spoon.  A spoon!

The worst part about our Honeymoon was it had to end.  We got back to Long Beach on Sunday and blitzed it home in one drive.  Monday morning, we were both working, and moving into our new place.  Now that it's winter, and I'm in yucky Logan, I want to go back so bad!  Oh well, someday.  And maybe next time we can go to the Caribbean, or on a Disney Cruise, or to the rivers of Europe.....

The "Worst" Part of Your Wedding Day?

Everyone says your reception is the worst part of your wedding day.  My Grandpa says he offered all his daughters 1 1/2 times their money but none of them took it.  He told me to be the smart one and not have a reception.  I almost listened to him.  I had kinda decided that I didn't want to do a reception, I'd do the cake and first dance at my luncheon and be done by 2.  It would be the most chill wedding day either side of my family had seen.  Yet, there was a small part of me that felt I would be missing out on something if I didn't have a reception, there would be so man people you didn't have a chance to talk to.  Plus, you spend so much money on your dress it'd be a shame for nobody to see it.    

When Spencer and I started talking about marriage I told him I didn't want a reception.  I figured he would think this was an added bonus, but he surprised me.  He told me he wanted a reception, and he knew his parents would too.  Of course, once I told my mom this she said, "If you do a reception in Kaysville you have to do one here."  That's how I ended up with not one, but two receptions.  Now that it's all said and done, however, I am SO glad that we did a reception.  I thought the whole thing was a blast.  In fact, I wish we could do it all again!

Once it was decided we were doing a reception, we had to choose a location.  This part was a no-brainer for me.  Living in Cove there are very few options.  You can do your reception in Logan, but many people won't drive that far.  So, my backyard became the automatic pick.  This led to my entire family being forced into a yardwork frenzy.  We put in sidewalk int he backyard, curbing all around the house, woodchips on the flower beds, planted hundreds of petunias and other flowers, called the lawn doctor, and made our garden look immacualte.  Even though it stressed my mom to the max, she finally got the dream yard she'd been waiting for.  

The whole wedding "line".  With the exception of my friend, Marisa, we only had family members as our wedding party.  One of my biggest regrets from our reception is we did most of our pictures in front of the white garage wall.  There's a gorgeous rock wall and flowers behind us, you just can't see them.  

I love my nieces, and they looked pretty dang adorable in their yellow and grey dresses.  I had to get my classic bridesmaid shot with our bouquets.  And, of course, some of my best friends and I at the luncheon.  Most of these girls would have been my roommates this year had I not gotten married.  The luncheon is the unmentioned part of the wedding.  But I thought even the luncheon was a blast.  Can you tell I had fun on my wedding day??

I spent hours making the scrapbook of "our dating" while Spencer
 did homework all summer.  The pictures and quote "Grow old with
me the best is yet to be" were a Pinterest find.  The cute picture was  
painted by my boss at the "Campus Store."  On the right you can see our sign in table with my favorite wedding picture.  My mom wouldn't let me get a big version of it because, "people would think  I got married at the fair."  It wasn't worth arguing.  

We ordered flowers in bulk from Sam's Club (it saves tons of money!) and my neighbor, Susan Andersen, arranged all the flower centerpieces for me.  They turned out gorgeous!  As a side note, look how beautiful the field is behind the pictures.

I had this great vision of buying wooden letters that said "Cazier" for decor.  First I tried custom ordering them, to save money, but then they were way too thin and wouldn't stand up.  So, I bought some at Hobby Lobby.  They told me they'd order me the letter "Z", so come back in 2 weeks.  When I came back, they told me the company didn't make the letter "Z".  Are you kidding me?!?!?  Ultimately I bought a metal letter Z and spray painted it.  It didn't REALLY match, but you reach a point where you just don't care.
The paper lanterns on chairs....another Pinterest steal.
I really wanted a frozen yogurt bar, but apparently you can't rent a yogurt machine.  We ended up with an ice cream bar, but I still think it looks pretty cute.  (This was one thing I didn't see until I saw the pictures.)

I have a lot of quilts from my Grandma's.  We have this big ugly concrete storage area under our deck, so we hung quilts and got creative to cover it all up.  Bonus: two of my neighbors do interior design, they designed all of this.  I just bought the stuff.   

We found a lady that made our cake for about 1/6 the price of anywhere else.  Plus it turned out pretty dang cute.  The lanterns were one of those things that I had the vision of, but absolutely no idea how we were going to hang them.  That's what dads and fiancés are for.    

It was the line that would never end.  But I really didn't mind.  It's way better than nobody showing up.

I have always thought that cutting the cake is only great if you smash it in each others' faces.  But, I told Spencer not to smash it in my face.  He smashed it anyway, just like I've always secretly wanted it.  

I've wanted to do the Father-daughter dance ever since I watched the movie "What A Girl Wants."  And our first dance was a given.  Spencer even chose the song for us, "Could Not Ask For More."

These two are proof that catching the garter and bouquet really does work.  They just barely got engaged....to each other!  (And I'm really excited)

Last but not least, our car., decorated so nicely by our friends.  Unfortunately you can't really see the more inappropriate parts added by Greg and Pete.

Conclusion:  Having a reception is a blast, so long as you don't get caught up in the details.  My advice?  Get a goodnights sleep the night before (I would argue it's a very appropriate time to take some Tylenol PM) and wear good shoes.  It also helps to have the love of your life with you the whole time.  :)

The Wedding

If someone asked me to describe our wedding day in a word, it would be perfect.  I worried before the wedding that I would be too caught up in minor details, and being a control freak.  Everyone kept telling me things would go wrong, and I'd have to roll with it.  But honestly, the only complaint I have about my wedding day was that it ended too soon, and that I don't have a photographic memory to remember every second of the day. 

Here is a small sample of our pictures from the wedding (reception will come later).  I apologize, they're repeats from Facebook, but I'm just picking my favorites. 

Enjoy :)

The temple is seriously the most beautiful place, can you imagine how much it would cost to rent out a place like this?  Not to mention the fact we get to be together forever :)

The ever popular "walking out of the temple picture."  First picture of us as Mr. and Mrs. Cazier

That awkward moment where you're walking in total bliss and everyone else is wishing they could leave before the pictures start.

The Cazier family: Carrie and Ben (Spencer's only sister), Garrett and Erin, Jeff and Kaye (Spen's parents), and Russ and Rachel.  It's so fun to finally have older sisters! (and brothers)

The Hougaard Family: Kierstin, Jared, Brock, Todd and Shannon, and Trevor.  Yeah, we've got a lot of grey going on here.  Did I mention they all adore Spencer?  I highly recommend marrying someone your family likes.

I have been so blessed to have amazing friends throughout my life.  Words can't express how much I love all these ladies! (Kierstin, Tanille, Marisa, Andrea, Caitlin, Claire, Mandi, Hope, Lauren, and Kelbie)

My mom and little sister.  Could not have pulled anything off without my mom.

Spen and his friends: Ian, Pete, Nick, Matt, and Greg

Daddy daughter

When I graduated high school, my mom gave me a picture frame.  In that picture frame, there was one of those generic pictures of random people in this pose.  I never took that picture out, because I thought it was so cute, and I wanted to make sure I got one just like it someday.  It turned out pretty great, I think.

Will you marry me?

Before I make this post, I should probably state a disclaimer: I didn't have a chance to blog before we got married, but I am awful at writing in my journal, so this is my way of documenting our dating/engagement/wedding.  So bear with me for a few more posts while I go back in time.  I promise I'll get to the present eventually.  (And they probably won't be so long winded)

Ok, so this is the story of our engagement.  Spencer took my dad out to breakfast the Saturday before my birthday to ask for his permission.  Of course, my dad said yes, but he requested Spencer wait until my parents returned home from a scout camp that upcoming week.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't return home until the day AFTER my birthday.  Poor Spencer, planned a great day for my birthday filled with tandem bike rides, a picnic lunch, and dinner at Maddox, but I was just sure we'd get engaged that day.  Right before I headed home for the night, he gave me my birthday present, which he told me I couldn't open until I got home.  I drove home (crying, because I had been so sure he was going to propose) to my sister, who made me open the present.  It was a huge collage, but one picture was missing.  My sister tried to convince me there was some secret message in this, but I thought he'd just forgotten to put a picture in.

The missing picture 

Spencer even had a hidden photographer

The next day, I got off work and went over to Spencer's.  We had plans to go out to dinner with my friends for my birthday that night, so I had zero expectations of a proposal.  The moment I walked in the door, he told me we needed to go meet his old mission companion to give him some things.  I thought it was odd, but didn't push the matter.  When we pulled up to the Logan tabernacle, he pretended to answer his phone and tell the companion where he was parked.  He asked me to get out and start unloading the trunk, but when I opened the trunk there was a bouquet of flowers, a picture of him, and a white flag that said, "I surrender."  (An inside joke, because I once told him all he needed to do was wave his surrender flag and we could get married.) My mind has never moved so slowly, I sat there trying to process what this could mean. As it all started to make sense, Spencer came around and asked if I wanted to go ring shopping.  That evening we went ring shopping.  The next morning, we had a temple date and time arranged.  And on Monday, we ordered the ring to be custom made in Salt Lake.  They said this would take a week or two, but it'd be done in no time.  Unfortunately, the ring people couldn't get it quite right.  The first time Spencer went to pick it up, (just days before our engagement pictures) it looked all wrong. 

I wore a filler ring for a couple weeks while the people tried to get it right.  Just 8 days before our wedding, he told me we had a date.  We went up Logan Canyon with Spencer's old roommate, Riley, and his wife to go on a horseback ride in the mountains.  When we got to our destination, Riley pretended to have dropped his camera, and he and his wife backtracked.  Spencer got off his horse to take a break, so I followed suit.  Then he got down on his knee and (finally) proposed for real.  It was very cute, and well planned out. 

When we got off the mountain, we went to dinner at Village Inn, where we went on our first "date".  I was so excited, I wanted to tell everyone!  But I compensated for putting a picture of my ring on Facebook right then and there.