Happy 6 months to us!

Wahoo! We made it 6 months people! Never thought I would see the day :) hahaha kidding obviously!!! People say that marriage is the best... and it is in its own little way. I can explain that later on. But FOR REAL. I cannot believe we have been married for 6 months. For some people this probably isnt that big of a deal, but it is absolutely crazy how fast time has flown by! 

6 months ago today Am picked me up and we headed up to the Draper temple. I was soo excited I was seriously about to burst. There we sat in the waiting room at the temple while the temple people filled out all of our info. Then, away we went into our separate dressing rooms. My mom helped me get into my clothes, and then she left to be with everyone else. Ammon and I met up in the celestial room, and waited for our temple sealer to come get us. Eventually President Hill (ammon's mission president and also our sealer) came and walked us into one of the empty sealing rooms. There we talked about our past relationship and the exciting things that the future held. He had attended the wedding dinner the night before and watched this video. And he said to us "You know all that 'on' again 'off' again stuff really doesn't matter. Once we are in the eternities, we will look back on this life and realize just how short it was, and then YOU will realize just how much those 'on' and 'off' moments really just don't matter. They will have been such a short period of time in your mortal life that it just wont make a difference! You will laugh and think.. now how did we meet again?" And I can tell you.. that was the biggest answer to my prayers. I have always struggled with the way I handled the whole 'situation' with Ammon. I still feel terrible for the ways I treated him in the past, but at that moment.. i learned that all is well. Everything worked out just the way it was supposed to and in the end.. it really just doesn't matter! My heart was seriously at perfect peace after that. 

I will never forget how amazing it was to walk into the sealing room holding hands with sweet Am. The second the door opened I saw EVERY single person that i loved and cared about sitting in the room. Instantly i lost it. Seriously I was overcome by the most indescribable and incomprehensible feeling. It was perfect. The ceremony was short and sweet, but so meaningful and great. I was blown away by the sealing ordinance and sooo grateful for all the hard work I had done growing up to prepare me for the temple. After the ceremony my mom escorted me to the dressing room where I got to put on my wedding dress and prepare to go outside in the heat! Once I was ready, she left and I went to find ammon. I will never forget seeing him in that moment! UGH! Thinking about it absolutely gives me butterflies! Then out we went! I remember feeling slightly awkward because the automatic doors opened sooo slowly (hint just push the doors open yourself), and not to mention having everyone cheering and starring at us...thankfully those awkward feelings quickly went away! Hugs of love quickly ensued, and then we were rushed to picture taking.

Because it was so freaking hot outside that day, all of our picture are very 'squinty'. I am still working through editing them soooo just know that some of these are just raw, some of them are edited, and some I don't even know what their deal is! So enjoy.. I will post about the rest of the day and the reception another day. These are just some of my favorites so far.. but it takes so long to load them so I will have to post more another night.

the crew. 

My immediate family.. Missing east who is on his mission.

Am's immediate family excluding in-laws and Josh who's on his mission.

We have the best friends! 

The boys seriously suckeddddd holding me up!! it was awful.

Leave it to my girls to throw Ammon in the air like it was no problem.

Aint no thang!!

One of my favs...Isn't he soo handsome?!

The temple was by far the best part of the day. It was seriously unreal how cool and spiritual it was! BUT the reception.. was the funnn part of the day. Can't wait to blog about that later :)

Gratitude in looking back

So i just spent the last hour reading through old blog posts from a year or so ago.. and okay I am sitting her bawling like a crazy woman!

Words cannot express how grateful I am for the trials I went through during the fall of 2011. Posts like this, this, this, and this, remind me just how far I have come. They remind me how much my testimony of my Savior grew during those lonesome, dreadful, and terrible months. While just thinking about that time in my life still brings me to tears, I know with out a shadow of a doubt that I am EXACTLY where my Father in Heaven would have me be. I know that everything I went through was so I could learn the value of the atonement, the purpose of Gethsemane, and the how amazing it is when "sunday comes". (one of my favorite conference talks ever.. read it here)

I promise you... Your Heavenly Father is there for you. Your Savior knows exactly how you feel. He knows what you want, and He knows how to get you there. The hardest part is submitting your will to His will.. but I can swear to you, that once you do, immediately your burdens will become light. You will see the growth in yourself. You will see the relationship with your savior flourish. You will look back one day and realize "why" all those things had to happen. Like i said in this post "Sure i am confused about the WHY but not about the what. I know what i did was what i needed. And i know that my Heavenly Father loves me and will let me know when the time is right. When and who will be answered someday." 

I can tell you with 100% surety that I know my why. I can see it sooo easily now. So, if you are going through a hard time.. keep going! One day you will truly look back and be extremely grateful for the trials you are enduring now, and they will make you a much better person! 

The long awaited Reception Video

With it being our 6 month anniversary this week.. I am going to FINALLY post some pics of the wedding. BUT today I am just too excited not to post our reception video. I am in love with it! Thanks Nate Pickett Films!

Ammon & Haley // Reception Highlight from Nathan Pickett on Vimeo.

Shopaholic

It is no secret that I love to shop. I especially LOVE finding a good deal. Well.. last week I splurged a little and bought some new stuff. And tonight, I am here to share with you the cutest boutique everrrr. I wish I could take all the credit for finding this amazing store, but all the credit goes to Jules.

This boutique is located in AZ, but they ship for only $5 extra. You just have to call and tell them what you want and they ship it that day. WAHOO! Some of their clothes seem expensive but follow them on instagram and they pretty much have deals everyday! That's where you will see all of their cute clothes and updates on sales etc. check it out here.

These are the cute little numbers i am dying to get in the mail :)

I got this dress 45% off! deal!

My Potential and My Privileges

For awhile now I have noticed a not-so-good-of-a-quality in myself. I would never go as far as saying that I am unhappy or wish my life were different, but it goes something like this...

When I was single I couldn't wait to have a boyfriend.
When I was in college I couldnt wait to be graduated.
When I graduated I couldn't wait to have a full time job.
When I was dating I couldnt wait to be engaged.
When I was engaged I couldn't wait to be married.
And now that I am married, I cant wait to have kids.

Blah blah blah. And the cycle continues. I really hate this way of thinking and I am really trying to work on being happy with where I am, instead of looking forward to the future all the time. It is one of my goals to be 'happy in the now'.

Then today in Relief Society we watched this.. and obviously I lost it. Isn't Elder Uchtdorf the best?

Some background on the story

As mentioned in my previous post, things with ammon were sort of complicated from the start. I was writing a missionary who *I SWORE* I was going to marry. I planned on writing him his whole mission.. after all we had been close friends since 4th grade and I thought our relationship was perfect. There hadn't really been any promises that I would wait, but I had told him that if I wasn't married when he got home I would at least give him a shot. I also knew (and he knew too) that I was not going to be a girl that sat on her butt and didn't date while he was gone. I liked dating and i looked forward to "confirming" that he was the one for me. hahah! so funny saying that now. Well... while i may have caused the majority of the problems with Ammon and I's relationship.. He too was not in the easiest situation when we met.

Ammon left on his mission to Japan after his freshman year of college. During that year at Dixie, he met a girl that things got pretty serious with. He left on his mission.. and they too, had the same plan as my missionary and myself. WELL... about 6 months into Am's mission... the dreaded letter came. YUP he was Dear Johned. To make matters even more ironic she ended up marrying one of his teammates at Dixie! Well, to this day Ammon says that while it sucked at the time, he really wasn't too heartbroken about it and accounts that to his mission. [enter new girl into the story]. Ammon had a really good friend in high school who was also writing him while he was gone. There wasn't much romantic history between the two of them, but they had always been close friends. As his mission continued, their relationship also began to grow. Not anything too crazy obviously, but he was excited to see what was going to happen when he got home. Long story short.. they dated for awhile when he got home.. were officially together for a matter of a few weeks, and then.....she broke up with him. She didn't really give him a good reason why.. and he was pretty sad about it at all the time. (It's so weird because i can remember this time... I had talked to our mutual friend about ammon casually and he said "oh he has a girlfriend and they are getting married".. so i knew it couldn't have been an easy break up.)

A few weeks/months later [i don't really know] is when Ammon and I had our first date. On that night he told me all about his previous relationship and I told him about my missionary. SO CRAZY to think that I actually told Am about him! In the days following our first date Ammon and I continued to talk and text all the time...he surprised me with his wittiness and humor, and I surprised him with our ability to hold an interesting conversation all day long. We went on a few dates and then.. well that will just have to take another post or two to tell THAT story. probably more like 5 or 6, but I will try to keep it short and sweet for you readers :) stay tuned I promise I will write more!

The First Date

*To read the post leading up to this post click here

Soo there I waited.. in the bathroom making sure i looked absolutely perfect for the upcoming date with Ammon. (Did i mention that one of the boy's that was coming on the date was a boy I had 'hung out' with in the months previous? OH! And he was am's teammate? eek.. it should have been awkward but it wasn't.) My phone was across the hall in my room charging. It got to be awhile past the time Ammon was suppose to pick me up, and I was slightly confused. I did NOT take him for someone who would be late. I eventually go into my room and check my phone.. yup 3 missed calls and a text. Apparently he had been ringing my doorbell and knocking! haha! Luckily I caught him and the other two couples right as they were about to leave. Off we went in a little truck-- one couple up front, and ammon and i in the back seat.

The drive out to the 'Arizona Strip' (basically the St Geoge Equivalent to Salt Lake's West Dessert) was pretty normal. No awkward pauses or weird moments.. mostly just laughs and good conversation. Once we found a good spot, we set up the targets and the shooting competitions began. Am and I were the worst! We just laughed about it and shrugged it off. I remember flirting with him (touching his arm, laughing at his jokes.. ya know the typical girl moves). ha! It was getting dark so we decided to leave and head to Rio for dinner. Back to the truck we went.

The ride this time was a little different... somehow Ammon and I ended up holding hands! It was so natural and so NOT weird. I just remember feeling bad [but not too bad] because the guy in the front seat was the guy I had hung out with before. Whoops. :) Dinner was great and I dont remember anything particular about it. We then headed back to my apartment to make dessert.

Wellll.. we got there and Am and I started making the dessert he had planned. The flirty vibes continued.. this time from good ol Ammon. I was just standing there peeling apples, and Am pretended to 'squeeze by me' (our kitchen was massive) and he 'brushed' his hand across the base of my back. I know this seems silly.. but all you girls KNOW what I am talking about. A touch that was so planned and NOT a mistake or casual. He was definitely flirting with me! hahah well suddenly every one was just kind of gone?  Apparently the other two boys ended up taking their dates home and peacing out! wth. Can't say I did minded. :)

This part of the night was sort of awkward. We both kept asking each other "what should we do?".. and secretly I knew what my answer was.. umm watch a movie duh. BUT I was not going to be the one to suggest that on a first date. So obviously when Ammon gave me two things to choose from (a movie or he would go home).. the movie was the clear winner... I was not ready for him to leave just yet! So we popped in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.. and immediately we snuggled right up to each other. It was so bizarre. Honestly. It wasn't awkward, weird, uncomfortable, or anything.

You know how sometimes when cuddling you have thoughts like "ok.. i really need to move my arm.. oh yup it's falling asleep.. K well I don't want to make him think I dont like him.. or that I am uncomfortable.. Crap my leg.. ugh I am so uncomfortable! I just need to move... Ok when he re-adjusts I will re-adjust..".... I think we all have had those awful cuddle sesh's at some time or another. Well let's just put it this way.. there was absolutely none of that. And instead.. we actually ended up talking for almost the entire movie. We talked about life, high school, sports, interests, (eek i even told him about the missionary I had at the time).. ex boyfriends and girlfriends.. family, friends. Seriously I am pretty sure we covered every topic possible. The movie was coming to a close and somehow we ended up kissing. We both have no idea who made the move.. But honestly i just remember it ..like.. it somehow just happened. No move making needed. We felt the need. And it happened. hahah! I remember thinking.. DANG! he is a good kisser! ...totally blew me away.

Well after another solid 2 hours of cuddling and talking, (a few kisses here and there) Am decided to head home. (Probably a good idea since it was 3:30 in the morning). I remember going to bed that night thinking.. WOW. WHAT.THE.HECK.JUST.HAPPENED. I had never felt THAT comfortable around someone THAT fast. It was incredible. He was an amazing listener. He and I had similar beliefs and opinions on almost every topic.  We both loved raspberries. We both wanted big families. We both loved sports. (unfortunately our love for the same teams did NOT line up).

The only problem was.. I had my missionary, and he had an [ex] girlfriend that had been a pretty serious relationship in the months previous. All I knew was that I didn't really care.. I wanted to know more about this amazing boy.

this is for accountability

Lets get to the point of this blog. I am reallyyyy sick of feeling flabby and out of shape. My whole life my day to day activities have always been filled with soccer games, practices, trips to play basketball with friends, intramural football, softball... blah blah blah you guys know the drill. I am not going to try and use this as an excuse, but working full time has been ROUGH on my working out/feeling athletic routine. I know I am no "chubbers" but I just hate how I feel about myself. I haven't gained much since we got married but still.. this whole not working out thing is getting to me! I am in a serious rut! BUT I have finally come to a point where I hate it so much that I decided to do something about it. YAY. haha.

My problem is, I hateeee running. I seriously cannot for the life of me get myself to enjoy it. My mom is a crazy runner. As in like running a marathon every month.. and usually getting in the top 5 for her age group. Yeahhhh she's cray.

Anywayyyy. Tonight I started this:

I bought it on sale at Walmart for 9 bucks. Sweet right? It comes with a meal plan but I suck at cooking gourmet expensive uber healthy meals. SO I decided I am just going to cut eating carbs to only 1 meal a day, and every morning I am going to make a healthy shake for breakfast. Lunch will primarily be salads and lettuce wraps. Oh and I am working on my portion control obviously. I am not cutting out sweets entirely, but everything in moderation (no consistent candy eating, and no ice cream after 8).

I have already been doing this eat healthy thing for a week... I have some BOMB shake recipes for you all to try.. super healthy and yummers. Tonight started the get fit plan.. The first workout wasnt too shabby. Cardio wise I felt really good.. strength wise.. I need some help. My body will be sore tomorrow! I took some before pictures too (gross.. hate them.. want to never look at them again). BUT I am hoping I will have some awesome stats to share with you in 30 days. We'll see. Mostly this post is so that I feel some sort of accountability for sticking with this program. I really need it!

The blessings of the gospel

I am so glad my cute niece decided to get baptized. Not only was it such a special day for her, but it was an amazing reminder to me how blessed I am to be a member of the gospel. I was thinking about it and (everyone always says it) BUT I really have no idea what kind of person I would be or where I would be with out the knowledge of the gospel leading and guiding my every choice. I love that I literally have access to divine guidance and inspiration whenever!

I always think back to the day I went through the temple to receive my endowment. I was nervous (as I think all first timers are), but I was soo at peace with what I was doing. I was slightly confused with everything that was going on, yet I still just felt so excited for the step I was taking. I remember walking out of the temple and feeling like I loved Ammon 1249284305 times more than when we went into the temple. Then a cute friend commented on my insta pic I took that day and said something like "Just wait til you are sealed!" First I thought she was just talking about how great it was to be married.... and it wasn't until the day I was married that I really understood what she had meant!

just ignore the fact that I am wearing the same shirt.. One of my favs? This was the day I went through the temple.

Looking back, I am so glad that I had never heard the sealing ordinance before the day I was married. I just remember sitting there with Ammon listening to our awesome sealer and thinking "OH MY GOSH. THIS IS UNREAL." (unreal in the sense that it was so incredible). I was crying happy tears, tears of awe-struck love, and tears of pure amazement. It was the most indescribable and overwhelming feeling. AND let's not even talk about the crazy amount of love I felt for my cute Am! Seriously the temple is the most fabulous place on Earth...and being able to partake of al that it has to offer is even more amazing.

Am and I went back to the temple this week and did sealings for the first time since we were married. MAN! All those great feelings of love and pure joy came rushing back to me. Like Really.. i have the best husband ever and I love him so much!...

I am so extremely grateful for the temple and the gospel. For those of you who haven't gone through the temple or been married yet.. you have SO much to look forward to. It is the biggest blessing you could ever ask for. I love my Savior and am beyond grateful for his atonement and the things He made possible because of his sacrifice. Embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Prob not the best pic but its the only one I have on my computer at the moment.. :)

OH ps.. we are coming up on 6 months of marriage and I plan on posting all my wedding pics that week! wahoo!

Ok I have to brag

because my husband is the best! He completely spoiled me for Christmas!

I had seen this amazing clock back in October at this little boutique here in St George. It was hanging right in the window and was HUGE! Every time we would drive by I would check to make sure it hadn't been sold. My plan was to save up my money and [someday] buy the massive thing. Well my mom called me one day and said she had found a birthday card at my house that had 150 bucks in it that i had never used! Am was stoked and said I could buy whatever I wanted with it. DUH. I knew exactly what I wanted to buy.

I kept telling Ammon..."hey lets go buy that clock" and suddenly he would say things like "babe we need barstools more than a clock... Babe we need a new table... babe we need blah blah blah.." I was getting super frustrated cuz he had already told me to buy whatever I wanted! I was sort of bugged to be honest....! This is a great example of how horrible of a wife I am!

Well time kept going by and things like this just kept happening. We decided to exchange gifts before we left for SLC, and when Ammon came walking down the stairs with this thing... I FLIPPED. Apparently he had bought it back at the beginning of November! He was scared that if we went in there together the owner would spill the beans and I would be so sad because the clock would have been gone! hahaha he is a sneaky one I tell you!

He also bought me this cute new snow coat and vest. I saw it at the Nike outlet in November and fell in love. Am 'surprised' me with it too for christmas! Awesome.


I; however, did not do as well.. I bought Am some sweet new shoes he had been wanting, a new baseball hat [he can never have enough], new cologne, and a new flannel shirt. Nothing super exciting but he was happy!

i am the worst

But you guys already knew that! When I was recapping our year in my last post I realized how bad of a blogger I really am! I never even documented what we did for Christmas etc!

Am and I were fortunate enough to get a week and half off from work! SCORE. We headed home on the 21, and got to stay until the 30th! It is kind of hard going up north for holidays because splitting time between family is hard! We were lucky this year because our schedules basically revolved around the missionary phone calls. Josh, Am's brother who is serving in Thailand, called on Christmas Eve because the time change is so dramatic that it was already Christmas for him! So we spent Christmas Eve with Ammon's family.


Christmas was BUSY. We woke up at 6 to watch our nephews in Rhode Island open their presents from Santa. 6:00 is a little early for me so I was a little out of it. Then we watched Am's sister Nicki open her gifts before we headed up to the Hansen's to talk to East. East is serving in Guatemala and is loving life. The rest of the day was spent driving to see our niece and nephew's presents, dinner with the grandparents and cousins and ...i might have snuck a nap in there somewhere.


Other things we did included:

• shooting clay pigeons with my dad and brothers.
• Dinner with Devin and Sarah at Rodizio Grill
• shopping with our nephew
• Gifts from the heart with the Hansen extended family
• game night with Jess, Evan, Marlies, Dillon, Melissa, and Tyler. WE LOVE THEM.
• a wedding reception for my dear friend Cody Raymond. We have literally been friends since 3rd grade.. he was my biggest competitor in everythinggggg!
• Played basketball at the good ol LC.
• got to meet Jeremy Guthrie.. a pitcher for the Royals in the MLB. What an awesome guy!

The break was seriously so great. We always love spending time with family and friends. BUT we were so happy when we got back to St George. It is starting to feel more like home and for that I am grateful!

sorry this is possibly my worst post in blogger history.

12 really is my lucky number

It is no secret that 12 has always been my favorite number. After a rough ending to 2011, I was so excited to have a fresh and new start to 2012. I was anxious to see if my lucky number was going to pull through for me. Well... I am happy to say that 2012 was beyond what I could have ever imagined.  (My recap idea comes from Kylee)

January brought an unexpected move to St George. One day I decided to move, and three days later I was settled into my new abode. Ammon and I began exclusively dating for the first time, and I learned what it felt like to really let myself fall in love with him. My testimony of my Savior grew substantially during this month particularly.


February I started my job at ULTA, and my make up obsession rocketed to an all new high. We
celebrated Valentines Day and Am's birthday. We went ring shopping for the first time, and the reality of my feelings for Ammon officially began settling in.


March was a crazy month! Ammon's baseball season was in full swing, and I was loving every minute spent at the field. At the end of March, Am surprised me with quite the ring and asked me the question every girl dreams about. BEST. DAY. EVER.


April was the month I found my wedding dress. I saw it in a magazine, searched high and low for the store that carried it, set an appointment, tried it on, and bought it. First dress I tried on (and one of the only). Baseball still dominated more of our lives, but wedding plans soon took over.


May was the month I moved up to Sandy to plan for the wedding. I transferred ULTA stores and worked my tail off. I graduated from the U.. that day might have been another one of the BEST DAYS OF THE YEAR. Ammon got an amazing, too-good-to-be-true job offer back down in St George, and we quickly began plans to move BACK to Geezy.



June brought engagement pictures, turning 22, and a trip to Powell. My cute cousins from Italy finally moved home, and the party at the airport was unforgettable. We found another too-good-to-be-true of a deal on an apartment in St George and took over the rest of another person's lease. This deal also came with a free washer and dryer, $750, and no deposit. AWESOME.

July was definitely the biggest month of the year (and probably of my life). We spent the 4th at the RSL game. I went through the temple.. which was easily one of the coolest and biggest achievements of my life. And on the 26th.. Am and I were sealed for time and all eternity. Am's mission president was our sealer, and the feelings felt that day are indescribable. I lost the cd's of our wedding pics in the move, so I have to wait to post those until later. The reception was everything i imagined, and all the people that came were so appreciated. We took an unforgettable trip to Jamaica and loved every second of it.


August we moved back to st george. wahoo! We settled into our little apartment and I tried to learn to decorate. I started my job at Ydraw; a job that has proven itself to be a HUGE blessing. Ammon and I got in our first real fight, and in the end we blamed it on my birth control. (the stuff really does mess me up) haha. It's a good thing we can laugh about it now.

September we headed up to SLC for the Utah v BYU game. (go utes!) A game that will forever be under debate in the Zitting household. Ammon learned just how much he hates the Utes, and I learned just how much I LOVE them. :) We also scored 3rd row tickets to see Aladdin at Tuacahn, and i finally got everything hung up in our apartment. We were asked to teach primary as well!

October was the month that (looking back now) I can say I finally felt settled in to being married. I used Am's toothbrush for the first time, and I learned that Ammon is the scariest person to wake up from naps. We dressed up for Halloween, and had so much fun just hanging out with each other. We found what we thought was our dream house, and after 39039825928 times of trying to put an offer on the house, we felt it just wasn't right. we were frustrated and confused.


November we finally found our "REAL" dream house, and everything finally fell right into place. It was a simple and easy process. (as easy as loan's can be.. urghh). I chopped my hair off.. so sad. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving at my house, and I even took a picture with BYU's mascot. I think his name is Comet or something... Can you tell my excitement?


December came and went too fast! Am and I bought a Christmas tree, we moved, and we celebrated our first Christmas EVER together. (It is so weird that after dating and hanging out with each other for so long we NEVER spent a Christmas together. My fault.) We learned that moving into our new house was just the plan our heavenly father had in store, and have immediately felt right at home. We got callings to teach in the primary (again!) and are sooo excited! New Years Eve was laid back and spent right at home.. (Surprisingly this has not been Am and I's first New years together.. last year he laid one on me at midnight in front of his parents! so manly. hahah)


Honestly 2012 was incredible and will be a hard one to beat. BUT, knowing that I am spending it with Am.. i just know it will be better than ever! I am soo excited for 2013 (even though i have a weird thing about the number 13..) I am trusting it to treat me well! Here's to a new year and new experiences!