I'm Married

How crazy is that?

yet, WONDERFUL!

Being married is the best!

Always coming home to my best friend is one of my favorite things.

I also love that I always have someone to hang out with :)

SOOOOO....

The honeymoon was great

I'll leave it at that ;)

we're pretty much all settled in

but, we have a lot of our old junk we need to get rid of

we also have a lot of WONDERFUL things we get to put to good use

I LOVE that people gave us things to decorate with for our wedding

it's the one thing you don't realize you need until you are standing face to face with bare ugly walls.

I'm going to try to be just as creative with my wedding gifts from now on

Some funny gifts we got:

a hymn book (which isn't funny) with the inscription "Leuven Family" on it (which is totally funny) haha we laughed for a long time about that one

we also got a blanket that was embroidered "Kristin and BRIAN"

Nick goes by his middle name...cause nick is cool like that

AND my dad's crazy uncle ron gave us a baking sheet on which he inscribed "Kristin & Brian" on the back...HIMSELF. like he used a pocket knife or something. It's pretty funny. I'll post a picture someday :)

This last week we bought a bedding set that was ON SALE

and a mini refridgerator that was NOT on sale

but totally worth it.

Our "little place" is looking very cute

but is totally lacking wireless internet at the moment

{which is why i'm blogging at work 0_0}

so when we finally get the internets up and running I'll be sure to post LOTS of pictures of not only the wedding and stuff, but of our "little place" also

peace out

-N&K

umm...it's like, TOMORROW

OK, so I have been pretty terrible about this whole "count down" thing. Why did I think I would have the time to make it to my blog every day THIS WEEK? It has been crazy busy with a million things going on but umm seriously...I get married tomorrow!
the end
sorry! I have things to do!
I'll let you know how everything went when I get back from the honeymoon :)

-K

8 days

In celebration of day 8 in the countdown, I give you:

8 Goals to be a More Excellent Wife

1. Cooking skills

OK, I can cook. I can follow a recipe like it's no body's business. It's the art of throwing things together that I can't handle. I know it takes years of practice, but where do I start?! I'm slightly overwhelmed at the thought of having to think up a week's worth of recipe's and buy food within a budget and keep my husband happy and full :) I think I can handle it though. I'm only overwhelmed because I have never had to do it before. I think I'll catch on. Grandma the Crane will totally help me though I'm sure :)

2. Rising and Shining

Since I won't have anywhere to be till 1pm when I'm in dental hygiene school, I'm sure it will be VERY tempting to sleep in. I won't. Why? Because my wonderful husband will need a well balanced breakfast before he goes off to work for the day, and a packed lunch so he won't spend our money on Micky D's. I also want to make sure that we have family scripture study and family prayer before I send him out into the world :)

3. Craftiness

I'm not very crafty. My lack of skills in the art of craft has always been a dissapointment to me. I know lots of married women who have the cutest decor in their homes and who can turn any rag-tag item at a garage sale into an awesome new addition to their decor. I can do math, but I can't decorate a room for the life of me. BUT, my goal is to make our new pad at casa de la Crane absolutely fabulous! Nick is going to need a pretty place to come home to and so will I. I will learn and hopefully be inspired by people who are a lot craftier than me, but I'm excited to get in touch with my creaftive side and see what comes out!

4. Support

I am setting the goal of being 100% supportive of my husband. No matter what calling and no matter what time he has to work or go to school. Support is HUGE. I know that Nick will support me, because he already does. I want him to know that I always have his back and will help him through anything because I love him :)

5. Temple Attendance

The temple needs to be attended more regularly (period). Our single's ward bishop told us that we should make sure we go often and that we can make it our "date night" since it's cheap :) haha. I'm changing often to every week. It shouldn't be that hard for us to go since we don't have that much to worry about, especially not in the summer. Side note: I go through the temple TOMORROW! yay :)

6. Random skills

I'm going to learn how to sew and crochet and learn how to fix sinks and cars and clothes. Random things that I think should be cultivated right from the beginnging so that by the time we have little Nick Jr's and Kristin Jr's running around I'll be quite the skilled homemaker. I want to crochet a blanket for all of my babies. It will give me something to do while I'm preggo and they'll be able to keep it and cherish it. I can't wait to be a mom... in a while :)

7. Budget

Ok, keeping a budget and learning how to take care of all of your bills is SOOO important. 70% of divorces are caused because of financial issues. also, 90% of statistics are made up on the spot...but I know that I've heard that somewhere before, I promise. I am going to STICK TO THE BUDGET. No extra shopping trips or random purchases for me. Nick and I are going to only spend what we have to so that we can save as much money as we can. This will be a challenge for me, because I've never really needed to keep a budget, but I don't think it will be hard. The important thing is to remember to ALWAYS pay tithing no matter what. I have no need to fear :)

8. Staying Cute

I have heard Nick voice before that he hates it when women dress down for their husbands and become sloppy. At that point I made a mental note to ALWAYS be cute for Nick. It will be very tempting to stay in my PJ's in the morning, but I will make sure I get dressed before I make him breakfast. It will also be tempting to dress down when I get home. I want him to feel like I think he is worth the effort I put in to making myself look cute, and that I did it for him.

so there you have it

8 Goals to be a More Excellent Wife

I hope these goals stay some place where I can constantly be reminded and not slack off. I'm sure if I start to slack, my dear friends and family will give me a good shake and set me straight :)

-N&K

10 days

The count down till the wedding day has begun! OK, well I've been counting down since Jan 30th...but counting down from 10 seems so much more official don't you think?
So today's countdown list is:

10 Things That Still Need to be Done

1. Finish Wedding Video
My Grandpa Saunders ("papa saun" this is only funny if you're Japanese) has crazy video making equipment like the PRO's and so Nick and I have been traipsing out to Chandler to scan picture after picture after picture. Our children are going to be so thankful that ALL of their pictures will be digital. Anyway, we're almost done! All we have to do is add music and make sure all the pictures are in order. Grandpa has done so much for us in this process. He even re-scanned some of our pictures that didn't work out. Love him



2. Finish Moving Into Our New Pad
Nick and I are renting the upstairs from my awesome Grandma the Crane. She's got a HUGE house and she's the only one there. We're pretty excited because rent at casa de la Crane is WAAAAAY cheaper than anything else we looked into. So I have packed up most of my stuff and shipped it off to our "new pad" but nick has yet to pack anything up yet. He says he doesn't have much to take, but he'll start packing and then wish he had two more days.
Funny Story:
My mom and I tried to explain to my twin brother, who is 3, that we were packing my stuff up to go and live at Grandma the Crane's house. He cried. The next day when I came out of my room he laughed out loud and with a big smile on his face exclaimed "Kristin! You already moved back!" he hugged me and then cried again when I told him I was still moving out. I'm going to miss him



3. Figure Out Nasty Things Like... insurance (gag)
Yuck, I really am gagging. I won't dwell on this for long. Let's just say insurance is LAME and we still have to figure it all out. Yuck. Did I say that already? No? Let me say it many more times for increased emphasis...yuck, yuck, YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!
(lol that word looks funny to me now. Is it even a word?)



4. Picking Our Wedding Pictures
We took our Pre-Wedding pictures a couple Saturdays ago and now we have to sift through all our amazing photos, 365, and pick only 40 to keep. It took us forever to choose our engagement pictures, which are rockin, but we don't have that much time until we're going to need all of those pictures for the wedding. There's only 10 days! (hence the list of 10)



5. Go to the Temple
This Saturday I get to go through the temple for the very first time! I'm so excited and can't believe this day is finally approaching! Everything is ready for that special day before the other super special day :) You know what else is great? Nick's Aunt is being sealed to her sweatheart a couple hours AFTER I go through the temple and so I'll be able to attend a sealing before I attend my own! I'm so excited and nervous, but mostly excited.



6. Dental Hygiene Orientation
SOOO because I got into dental hygiene school, I have to attend an "orientation" meeting. when is this meeting of horrid boredom to be held? Only the day before my wedding. That's right. But it's ok. At least it's not ON my wedding or on my HONEYMOON. THAT would NOT be good...



7. Background Music
My super awesome amazing friend Angela is putting together a playlist of the most romantic lovey dovey songs you can possibly imagine for our reception. She has some of the best music of anyone I know. My reception is almost literally in your hands Ang. I trust you though :)



8. School, SCHOOL, SCHOOL!
ok, well I guess this one isn't the HUGEST deal to me, since my semester has literally been a cake walk. Nevertheless, I Kristin, having taken many classes in all my days, still find it almost painstakingly necessary to do well on my whimpy finals. Nick has WAY harder finals than I do, and might even have a final on the night of our wedding dinner, which he can hopefully get out of. I'm so glad we won't have any school for the first little bit of our marriage. No studying will be nice. I can't WAIT for summer!



9. Start THANK YOU Letters
My mom thinks that I should already be writing up all of my thank you notes already. But what's the rush? I'm not even married yet. What's the opinion here? Would it be weird recieving a THANK YOU letter before someone was married? Maybe not. Maybe I'll start writing letters to people whose things I HAVE used.



10. Odds and Ends
All the BIG things were done and taken care of a month ago. Now it's all the little Nity Grity things that need to be taken care of. Like, making sure everything is lined up with the food, and the lights, and the cake, and the flowers. Making sure everyone knows what time to be where and how they're going to wear this or that or what hair style to have. Making sure the centerpieces are finished and that my dress is steamed. Getting the dads, brothers and groomsmen fitted for their tuxes. Making sure the brides maids and sisters have their hair pieces and dresses. And don't forget the wedding License. Weddings are crazy. But it all pulls together in the end. I can't wait!


So that about sums it up I think.
10 Things That Still Need to be Done
stay tuned as the countdown continues!

-K&N