Goodbye 2013, you've been great to the Green's!

Tonight, we're ringing in 2014 with each other and my little brother Tedo.

No alcohol, no drugs, no parties.

No fancy-shmancy plans;

it's just us, some Dominos, XBOX, and Ryan Seacrest at midnight.

It's a freaking party in the Green's apartment!

(Actually I'm a little bit grumpy because I'm tired and don't feel good. If anyone wants to help my husband and brother out with  a grumpy woman, you're welcome to try!)

This year has been nothing short of amazing, and one of the best years of my life.

I'm sure there will be more good years,

and some bad years,

but 2013 is one that we'll both remember forever.

I started out the year as a newly engaged woman, 

and I'm ending the year as a married woman with a husband and a new last name.

And I wouldn't change anything for the world.

There's an article floating around saying that getting married under the age 23 is stupid.

"There's a high risk for divorce and you don't know who you are and you haven't lived life."

For me though, I would rather live life with my best friend.

I know who I am.

I know what I want.

I love and adore my husband, and couldn't live without him.

We live a fantastically happy and blessed life.

2013 has flown by so freaking fast. 

We planned a wedding for seven months.

We celebrated one year together.

We bought a new car after Trev wrecked the Honda.

We moved into our first married apartment.

We got married on a fine summer day in August.

I took Trev to Disneyland for the first time for our honeymoon.

We spent lots of time in San Diego.

We got to spend lots of time with family.

We went to two more semesters of school.

We quit jobs and we got new jobs.

I changed my hair color four or five times.

We gained weight.

I got some painful birth control but it works like a freaking charm.

We earned and spent lots of money.

We made friends and we lost friends.

I got to watch Luke Bryan shake his ass for me.

We (I) found out the true meaning of "family."

I gained a sister and two more brothers.

We slow danced a lot in our kitchen.

I started two blogs.

Trevor discovered his talent in theater.

My cooking skills have dramatically improved.

Trevor got two little brothers who adore him.

We found out we're going to be an aunt and uncle next summer (so excited for Tyler and Shannon!).

We watched lots of awesome movies.

We enjoyed our time with Netflix.

I ordered an alcoholic drink on my 21st birthday and hated it.

We got a cat, and then we gave our cat away.

We spent time up at the cabin in Duck Creek.

We attended weddings and funerals.

Both of us ended up with decent grades at the end of each semester.

Trev officially became a elementary education major.

We made plans and set goals for the future.

We tried lots of new restaurants.

We spent a lot of time with Tedo in Cedar City.

I decided not to graduate until next December.

We conquered my anxieties when they arose.

We celebrated our first official Christmas together as husband and wife.

We learned why people say that marriage is like a sleep over with your best friend every night.

Together, we continued to learn how to make our relationship work through the good and the bad.

We continued to become each other's best friend.

And, throughout 2013, we fell more and more in love.

 For the upcoming 2014,

I'm excited for our love and relationship to continue to grow.

I'm excited to graduate.

I'm excited for my new position in the copy center.

We're praying that Trevor finds a new job, because Chartwell's sucks.

We're both looking forward to our classes.

I'm going to learn more ways to positively handle my anxiety.

Trev's going to work on his listening skills. ;)

We're going to start working out for our hot cruise bodies.

I'm going to continue to take way too many pictures.

We're *hopefully* going to Guatemala in June.

We're going to continue to fall in love with each other.

We're going to celebrate one year of marriage.

We're going to accomplish the good, the bad, and the ugly together.

No, we won't be making a pregnancy announcement.

No, we're not going to be moving anywhere awesome.

No, we are not going anywhere cool and exciting.

Instead we're going to enjoy our time as husband and wife with no babies and no stressful moves. HA.

 

I'm looking forward to our new, continued adventures as Mr. and Mrs. Green in 2014.

 

Goodbye 2013!

Thanks for the memories, the love, the support, and the lessons learned.

Thank you for letting me marry my best friend.

Bring it on, 2014!

Christmas 2013

Our first official married Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. Green was quite the success. Spending a week in Utah County was the perfect (not too overwhelmed with family) getaway from work and Cedar City. When Sunday rolled around though, both of us were ready to go home. There's just something about being in your own home with your husband, being able to walk around naked, that is freeing. ;) Just kidding. 

We ended up in Lehi just in time for dinner on the 23rd. We watched some movies and talked about our plans for the week. The next day, Christmas Eve, Trev and I woke up, got ready, and headed to uncle Layne and aunt Denise's house to deliver a muffin mix and to visit. They are building a house so they're temporarily living in Lehi, making it a lot easier to go and visit them and the kids. Unlike the rest of Trev's family, I still don't know Layne's family that well, and I like to take every opportunity to get to know them better. We spent an hour with Layne, Denise, and the kids before we headed home to get ready to go to a movie. Every Christmas Eve, ever since my uncle Mike died in 2007, my mom's siblings, their families, and us go to a movie before Grandpa and Grandma's Christmas Eve party. This year we watching "Saving Mr. Banks." It was yet another amazing movie put out by Disney, and Tom Hanks made a fabulous Walt Disney. Highly recommend it to all of you. After the movie, Colton came home with me, Trev, Big T, and Tedo and we hung out until we left for the party. Trevor was excited to come to my family's Christmas Eve party and had been looking forward to it for weeks. This year we ate brisket for Christmas dinner, and I vote we always do that instead of freaking ham. Our traditional White Elephant game was a hoot and a half like always, and Trev and I ended up with gift cards. Shelly and I even managed to convince everyone to participate in family photos. It was a Christmas miracle, I say! Mom and Dad gave us the traditional Christmas Eve jammies when we got home, and then Trev and I stayed up for another couple of hours talking about marriage, people, and Christmas until we decided to go to bed to allow Santa Claus to work his magic. That night as we lay on our air mattress in Tedo's room, I couldn't help but let the warm happy feeling spread throughout my body. Last Christmas Eve I was so sad that I wasn't with my love. This Christmas Eve, I got to curl up next to him and fall asleep in his arms.

Seeing "Saving Mr. Banks" with the family.

2013 Barnes' family picture; just missing Blaine's family and cousin Dallan.

We're a crazy bunch of people.

Most of the grandkids (only missing four) with Grandpa and Grandma.

Christmas Eve 2013

Traditional Christmas jammies (:

Thanks Mom, for not getting us tacky matching jammies. (:

My candy cane parents. Dad: "Look! These hang off of my glasses!"

Trev and I woke up before both of my brothers on Christmas morning. And let me just add that I loved waking up on Christmas morning next to my best friend. Anyway, with an 11 year old and an 18 year old who are still both eager for presents, it was like a Christmas miracle we all slept in till 8:30. Big T drove next door and picked up Lela, who came and watched us open presents and who brought goodies of her own. It was weird not having Max in our living room on Christmas morning for the first time in forever. Everyone loved their gifts. My parents gave Trev and I a Costco membership and each of us a Visa gift card to buy whatever we needed. Tedo gave us cookie sheets, drying racks, cookie mixes, and a snow shoved. Big T gave me twenty dollars, and Trev a ZAGG screen protector for his, you guessed it, new iPad that his AWESOME wife bought him. When he opened up his iPad, the look on his face was priceless. My sweet husband almost cried because he was so surprised and grateful. Trev gave me a Walking Dead "I love Daryl" shirt because hello, I do love Daryl. After gifts were open, we spent the day hanging out playing with our new gadgets and gizmos, eating snacks, playing with Big T's puppy Copper, lounged around in our pajamas, and visited with Grandpa and Grandma when they showed up. We wrapped up Christmas by watching The Lone Ranger.

Us kids with Lela.

My family, 2013.

My gifts

Trev's gifts

My happy husband with his iPad mini.

Copper, the hyper active puppy that can open doors and run into the house.

My boys playing with Legos.

Friday night Trev, Tedo, and I headed to Jack n Jill's Bowling Alley in Lehi to meet up with the Penovich's and Grandpa and Grandma to do a little cosmic bowling. Cousin Colton even brought two of his friends to join in on the fun. We had all been joking about going bowling when Trev got a $25 Jack n Jill's gift card during White Elephant on Christmas Eve and then we ended up making it happen. For $15, we could bowl as many rounds as we could in three hours. We didn't leave the bowling alley till 12:30 in the morning, and we loved every minute of it. Trevor loves bowling, and is really good at it when he wants to be. Found out that my Grandpa and Grandma used to be a part of a bowling league in their younger married years. Maybe Trev and I will join a bowling league here in Cedar to get our weekly bowling fix in.

Saturday and Sunday was spent babysitting the cutest girl in the world, our little flower girl Cora. Cora's parents left her with our family for her first sleepover, and I'm so happy that Trev and I got to be there. Babysitting Cora was a lot of fun, and cured all of my baby hunger immediately. ;) Really though, if you want a baby, just spend 24 hours with a three year old. They're adorable, but damn. We are totally not ready to be parents yet. We're totally content with borrowing other people's children until my IUD comes out in five years. Cora was all over the place, playing Legos and Lincoln Logs, to Polly Pockets and Elmo. Cora has a crush on Tedo and followed him everywhere like a little puppy dog. I discovered that it's easy to keep a three year old entertained, and it's really hard to paint their nails.

Playing with Cora's LeapPad that she got for Christmas.

Snuggles with Tedo while watching Tangled.

XBOX with the two Trevors.

Painting Cora's fingernails "pretty pink."

All in all, Christmas was fabulous. We are blessed to be surrounded by amazing family and friends who spoiled us rotten. It was a nice Christmas, and we probably spent too much money on each other. I loved spoiling my husband, and I appreciated the thoughtfulness of his gifts. Trevor enjoyed Christmas with my family, and we made calls/Skyped with his family Christmas day. No, we didn't do the typical Utah Christmas traditions, like go to Temple Square, but we never had a dull moment. Driving home from Lehi back to Cedar was an adventure. We gave Adam a ride back to Cedar, and the man brought his own fair share of Christmas goodies. We had to stuff things under seats, filled the trunk to full capacity, and stacked things in the backseat, too. We crammed Tedo and Adam in the backseat and away we went. I've never been so grateful to see the Cedar City welcome sign. Next Christmas we'll be in San Diego with Trev's family, and I'll miss my family and Tedo's Christmas morning antics.

26 months later, a door closes.

The moment I've been dreading all week came, even though I begged time to go a little bit slower. Today, I walked out the door of the library administration offices for the last time. And, because I'm a big baby, there were tears rolling down my cheeks and my heart hurt.

I'm not one to work at a job for only a couple of months and bounce between jobs. I'm someone who once they have a job, no matter how shitty it might be, stays in their position and makes the most of it. I've worked as the secretary to the administrative assistants for over two years and I've absolutely loved my job. There's been a couple of bad moments and a couple of times that I dreaded coming to work, but the people that I work with have made them worthwhile. The work that I've done over the past two years has given me a lot of experience in a variety of areas, allowed me to connect with different people on campus, and there's two galas to put as "event management experience" on my resume.

My boss Sheri has been like a mother to me. She's listened to my countless stories and took the time to get to know and understand me. Whenever my worries, anxieties and fears about getting married would get to be too much, Sheri was there to help calm me down and make me think reasonably. Once her husband even gave me a priesthood blessing, just because she asked him to. She's someone to look up to and admire, and I've learned a lot from her in both life and work. My other boss, the secretary under Sheri, is more like an older sister than anything. Mikki's been a fiery redheaded ball of fun, and I've enjoyed plenty of laughs with her. She took over after the old secretary retired last fall; she actually had my job before she quit and I took over. I liked working with our graphic design student workers, first Marissa and now April. They're both so talented and will go far in life. I've loved the opportunity I've had getting to know the library professors better, and that I can call some of them my friends. John will always be the dean quiet giant in my mind, but I'll never forget when I called his shirt pink and he corrected me that it was "maroon." Vik, the department chair, always knew that he could tease me and I could dish it back. I cried when I hugged him goodbye. Steve and I bonded over our love for football, San Diego, and Hodad's. Verlene has my candy savior and knitting queen; she made me a cute hat last year, and an adorable scarf this year for Christmas. Janet knows my husband's family, so it's been nice to get dirt on them. ;) Matt's probably the craziest yet best professor that I know. And Richard I've secretly adopted as my grandpa. He comes off as a grumpy old man, but has a heart of gold and is one of the most intelligent, technologically advanced 70 year old that I know.

Leaving my job was more of a "see ya later" then a true "goodbye." After all, I'll still technically be working in the library since the Copy Center is on the first floor. I'll still see them if I ever run errands upstairs, I know where their offices are, and I can always count on the professors being at the reference desk during the semester. I just won't be seeing everybody day after day. They've hired a new student secretary to fill my shoes and I started my training as the lead student in the Copy Center this past Monday. Change is good, and the opportunity that I've been granted to take a new position in the Copy Center will bless Trevor and I. I will miss my friends and bosses upstairs, and I know that they will miss me. This week was full of "Wow, Natasha, we really appreciate you" and "We're going to miss you!" and "You're leaving some pretty big shoes to fill." That's enough to make a girl feel like she really did do a good job over the past 26 months.

Me, Sheri, and Mikki

Last time clocking out.

So, see ya later secretary job. Thanks for the memories, the friendships, the laughs and the tears, and the experiences that I've had over the past two years. You will be missed.

(To make me feel better about my not-so-happy day, I went and got my nails done finally. I wanted to get them done before Thanksgiving break, but Amanda was sick. Then I got so busy with school, finals, and work that getting nails done was impossible. Now that I finally had the time, I got those suckers put back on. Aren't my Christmas nails so cute though?! Cedar City & Lehi people, I'm telling you, she does a fabulous job! Check out Nails by Amanda on Facebook, or search #nailsbyamanda, #studio10west, or @squatmonter89 on Instagram!)

(There's also lots of presents under the tree, making it really feel like Christmas now! That also makes me smile and have a much better day. :))

I married into a family that likes to play U-NO, a lot!

Trev and I got to spend some quality time with Grandma Fullmer and the York's Wednesday night. Angie has been wanting to invite us over for dinner for months, and between my schedule, Trev's schedule, and Angie's schedule with the kids, it just didn't happen. Well with Christmas break, Trevor and I have had open schedules (minus work) so when Angie and the kids came over to our house on Sunday to bring us cupcakes, we planned to have dinner on Wednesday. Trevie came and picked me up from work, we went and grabbed some beverages at the Maverick, and then headed over to the house.

Grandma made a yummy pasta in the crockpot, similar to what we had at Michelle's over Thanksgiving, and Angie provided french bread and a Cesar salad. The kids are always so excited whenever we can come over. Ammon loves Trevor so much, and clings to him the whole time we're there. We played Clue with Ashlyn and her friend, ate dinner, and then played U-NO with the whole family. I hadn't played U-NO in years, and then as soon as I started hanging out with Trev's family on both sides, I've played U-NO at least once a month! These people love U-NO, I tell you. Jaylin is such a sassy little girl, and stood on the table while we were playing (she lost the first round, so she was uninterested) singing and doing hand gestures to "Hey Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey! Hey, hey Mickey!" And I'm realizing that each time I see Jaci, she is more mature and reserved; she's turning into a lovely young lady. Each cousin has something to offer to the family dynamic.

Jaylin's little face is the best, let's be honest.

U-NO with the family. (:

Hanging out with these cousins makes me realize how lucky I am to have married into this family. Not only does it work as fabulous birth control (Trev wants four kids, I say hell freaking no) but it makes me realize how special children are. There haven't been little children in my family (or my extended family) in a long time. Sure, my little brother Tedo is only 11, but he's turning into a young man. I'm not going to lie, sometimes these kids get on my nerves. Ammon is a little shit at times that I forget he's only 7 and I want to lose my temper, and I want to pull my hair out when the girls start acting crazy. Sometimes they don't listen to their mom and they throw little tantrums that makes me want to discipline them myself. I totally understand my mom's frustration when it came to me and my brothers when we were little. I can only take so much before my patience wears thin. I get it, kids are frustrating sometimes! God bless me when I'm a mother, because I don't know how I'm going to do it. Thank heavens I have a patient, calm, loving husband. Then I realize that it's those moments when they pull on your hand and say, "Let's play a game!" and then you spend time laughing and acting silly, or when they come and cuddle up on your lap on the couch and take silly pictures on the iPad, or when Ammon says, "Natasha, let's read a book" or when they come and hug you goodbye and tell you how much they love you... that you realize how much you love them, no matter how annoying/loud/little shit like they are. Kids are easy to love and forgive. They have hearts of gold and they love with everything they have. They laugh at the silliest things and their innocence is pure. They're cute and cuddly when they want to be, and they just want to make you happy. They look up to Trev and I so much. As much as they make me not want children, they make me want them at the same time. I'm okay with these four for now, but I can't wait till I'm a mother.

Getting into the Christmas spirit.

Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming! And do you know what that means? Little gifts for family, friends, co-workers, and bosses, and little gifts from people for me and Trev. Thank the good heaven above for the creation of Pinterest, because I got a couple of cute and simple ideas for gifts. Here's this year's selection of neighbor/family/co-workers gifts:

"For your mistletoes" - nail polish, a manicure set, and Christmas socks

"You're gettin' muffin for Christmas!" - dollar muffin mix

Money is scarce and times are hard. So I'm giving you this instead of a card. Something to use, something to share, so bottoms up, just cause we care." - a roll of toilet paper

Tis the season for baked goods, too! Last night, our cute little cousins, aunt, and Grandma Fullmer came over to our apartment for a visit. Jalin, the youngest, was so excited about our apartment. "So, this is your place? With no mommy or daddy? All yours?" Haha, she's such a doll. They brought us Christmas cupcakes and looked at all of our presents under the tree. The cousins begged me and begged me to tell them what I got Trevor, so I told the older two what I really got him, and told the younger two something totally different, so that they wouldn't ruin his big surprise.

My cute boss Trecia gave me this adorable gift this morning when I went to work. The woman is crafty, crafty, crafty I tell you! It's unique and adorable, and gives me a great idea of what to do next year for gifts. Between my other boss Sheri making us our stockings for a wedding present and these cute "JOY" wood blocks from Trecia, we have such cute Christmas decorations that can last forever!

To wrap up this random Christmas post, my family attended the big Allsop/Ahlstrom family Christmas party on Saturday. I wish Trev and I could have gone, especially since the theme was ugly sweaters and we have never been to an ugly sweater party. And I also love all of my great aunts, uncles, and cousins, and wanted Trev to get to know them better. Unfortunately, it was the day after finals got over, so there was no way we could go. My mom searched for weeks on Pinterest of what to do for the ugly sweaters for her, Tedo, and Dad. She ended up wearing a bow skirt that she made, she made Dad's sweater look like a Christmas tree, and Tedo decorated his own sweater. He did a really good job at making it ugly, because the kid won the title of ugliest sweater at the party. (:

Aren't they so cute?

Christmas is just a mere week away, guys, and I'm so excited for my first official Christmas with my husband!