Little Rock, Arkansas

Here we are--we made it to Little Rock, Arkansas for the summer!! My birthday was last Monday, the day before we left. Can I just say how amazing Brian is? :) We had lots of fun on my birthday. He got me a Sony video camera that I've been wanting for a while now. I want to be able to video everything that goes on in our lives cause its so fun to look back on! He took me shopping and..yes..didn't even complain. Then we went to see the new movie the Last Song...yes with Miley Cyrus in it. I'd been wanting to see it, and me and Heath really liked it, but the guys of course didnt so much. It's sad! Me and Heather teared up in it. But anyway he was a very good boy and didn't even complain about having to go see that too.:) Thanks goodness for my birthday hehe. He told me he had made dinner reservations for somewhere nice where I'd have to dress up a little bit. He wouldn't tell me where we were going though. We drove to Salt Lake and he took me to The Roof Restaurant. I've been wanting to go there forever! It is absolutely beautiful. The whole restaurant overlooks the Salt Lake City temple, it's very very romantic. Expensive, but very worth it. It was a great 21st birthday. If we wouldn't have been leaving the next day for AR, we would have made a trip down to Vegas to celebrate my 21 years!!! Ps April 11 the day before my birthday was our 1 year anniversary since becoming engaged!!

So we wake up early the next morning, to finish up the last bit of packing and then it was time to finally take off! This was our first time moving together, so it was really exciting. Weird to see our apartment we'd lived in for our first 8 months of marriage together so empty, but we weren't sad to leave at all, we'd both been very ready for a change and to get out of Logan--and our jobs at Convergys and Logan Nursing. I had our kitties Daisy and Chloe in their kennel in the front seat with me. They did so much better during the drive then I thought they would! At first they meowed a lot and were sticking their little paws out trying to get out, but after a few minutes they settled down and slept most of the way!! It was nice, I wasn't sure how they were going to be. We drove for 8 hours that whole day, we stayed in Denver, Colorado that night. We had planned to go out on the town that night, but we were too exhausted after all that driving to do anything. So we ordered Dominoes pizza to our hotel room :) The next day was probably one of the longest days of my life. We drove for 14 hours!! Now remember we took both of our cars so we couldn't switch off drivers! Just me and him driving 14 hours straight. I thought I was gonna die. We passed our good friend/manager Shane, on the freeway about an hour out of Denver, so us 3 stayed driving together the rest of the time. We left about 9:00am, and arrived in Little Rock a little before 1:00am Central time. So, we drove almost 1700 miles in 2 days! Crazy huh.

Our apartment is pretty sweet, we're really happy with it. I'll have to take pics and post them when I take some. We have a large living room area when you first walk in the front door, with a dining area behind it. The kitchen is to the right with a breakfast bar so you can see into the dining area. We have black/silver appliances, dark cabinets and dark hardwood floor. Then there is our master room that has a door out to our patio.We also have a big walk in closet and bathroom. Our bathroom could be bigger, but its still nice! We also have an extra bedroom and bathroom down the hallway if anyone can make a trip over and stay a weekend with us!!! :) :)

We came out here expecting hardly anyone to have security systems in their houses, because this is only the second year door to door sales have been allowed in the state of Arkansas. Well, we were wrong. There are ADT signs and other security company signs at pretty much every house you drive by! So it obviously makes selling for Brian a lot more difficult because most people that have a system are still in their contract so Brian can't take them over. His first day out on Friday was a bit rough cause every door he knocked, the people were locked in their contract still. But Saturday went much better. Him and Shane went out about 10am that morning. Brian got 4 sales that day!!! It was only his second day out, and being a first year rep getting 4 sales your second day is VERY rare! So everyone is extremely proud of Brian. He's rocking it out there, even with most people already having systems! That night, I made him brownies to celebrate his sales. I had bought a #1 candle to put on them for when he got his first sale out here, but I really should have bought a #4 candle because thats how many he ended up getting! I am just so proud of him!!!!!

As for me and what I've been up to out here, once we were all unpacked, I've started looking for a job. I really don't care where I find one, I just want one. It gets pretty boring around here with Brian out all day. And there are no other wives out here yet, so I have no one to go out and do anything with yet! 2 should be coming out this weekend so that will be nice. So for jobs, I've applied to Delta as a front desk/ticket agent. Which is the job I hope for the most. I spent all day yesterday finishing up my resume to send in, so it's all done and now I'm just waiting to hear from them. I really want that job mostly because it pays pretty dang good plus you get flight priveleges! So we'll see what happens there. Also, when I was at the airport I walked through all the rental car businesses there as well. I applied to Thrifty Car Rental as an agent. This would be last choice of a job, but I'll take it if I get it. I actually got a call from them this morning and have an interview set up for tomorrow at 9am. It feels good to have at least 1 interview set up! I've also applied online to a few banks, I loved working at Hanscom Federal Credit Union in Boston a couple years ago. So I'll keep you updated!!!! We are loving it out here so far! The weather is perfect, not too hot or humid--YET!!! July will be torture I'm sure though.

Little update...finally :)

So I want to do some MAJOR catching up on this blog I had finally started, but haven't really done much with since. Where to start? Well it's been almost 8 months now that me and Brian have been married. We've already made so many memories, married life is just a blast. We're renting the apartment hooked onto my parents house, 3 bedrooms 1 and 1/2 baths, washer/dryer, dishwasher...for a heck of a good deal. It's been a nice first home. We got to paint the walls and make it our own. I was a little worried at first being so close to the parentals, but we are completely separated by 2 doors and we have our own driveway, so its worked out better than I thought it would. We've both done 1 year of college at Utah State, but since we've got married we've both just been working. We didn't want to go straight to school like a week after our wedding. So it's been nice having a bit of a break from it. Last summer he worked as a manager for Top Job Asphalt. Now he's been at Convergys. I have to brag about him a bit..he's the top salesman there, picture on the wall and everything. I'm so proud of him. Its definitely a temporary job, but he's done very well there. I've been working at Logan Nursing and Rehab for the past 2 years now as a Certified Nursing Assistant. If you wanna hear some crazy stories..I have PLENTY! Haha. I love taking care of my residents. Old people are the best. I've learned a lot at this job. Especially patience. It's been a tough but rewarding job. We are so excited for what our next step is in life though. In about 2 weeks, the 13th of April we're heading out to Little Rock, Arkansas. Brian is going to sell home security alarm systems. It's door to door sales, very tough, but I know Brian is going to work his butt off and do the best he can. He's the hardest worker I've ever known. He works so hard in so many ways. I'm so proud of him for all he does. He's pumped and ready to go out and sale. I'm really excited to see how he'll do, especially where he's the top salesman at his job right now. He's already got a preseason sale under his belt, and the next couple weeks before we leave he'll do some more preseason selling. As for me while we are out there, I plan to find a job, just any job I can find really. I dont want to be one of those wives who sit around all day for the whole summer relaxing by the pool, shopping and spending the money he is out making, working long hours 6 days a week. I'm not one to do that. So I'm crossing my fingers that it wont be to hard to find a job out there, easier then Logan at least I hope. So the plan is to leave the day after my birthday, pack both our cars with all of the stuff we need and drive across the country to Arkansas. Luckily our apartment there is furnished, so obviously that saves us a lot of room and hopefully we can fit everything into our cars. AND we will be taking our 2 little kittens Chloe and Daisy along with us. Haha it will be an interesting trip I already know that. We bought a kennel that they both fit in comfortably, so I'll just have them up in the front seat with me. We'll see how that goes! We're so excited though its going to be a fun experience. So that updates a bit on what's been going on and what our near future holds for us. I'll try to be better at this blogging thing...:)

THE BEGINNING OF ETERNITY! :)

I woke up early the morning of Saturday August 8, 2009 with barely a wink of sleep..(like every bride the night before her wedding!) to RAIN!! Every bride's nightmare, no one wants rain on the day of their wedding!



I rushed to my hair/make up appointment to my stylist, Gina in Providence with my fingers crossed that the rain would pass. Of course my hair and make up took longer than we planned and I was running late for my OWN wedding! I was arriving the same time as our guests! Ahh! Our session was at 11:00 and I had minutes til then. As I made my way into the temple, the first person I saw was my fiance--my soon to be hubby! He looked soo handsome. Ha and he was definitely relieved to see me finally arrive. My poor groom was all worried there for a bit. My Mom and Jen lead me to the bridal suite to help dress me into my gown--woo it was rush, rush, rush! But, all the stress I had been feeling melted away as I was in my wedding gown, looking at myself in the mirror ready to marry the man of my dreams--the moment I had been waiting for my entire life. I took a deep breath and was more than ready to do this. The session was absolutely beautiful and was more than I could have ever imagined. When we strolled out the temple doors to greet our family and friends for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Gardner, :) the rain had passed. It was a lovely, cloudy, 70 degree weather, day. (which was perfect for pictures!) Memories were made that we will never forget on our special day!



We walked around the temple as our loved ones followed, for pictures. What a fun time it was to have all/both of our families together. We're so thankful for all of you that came, we really appreciated everyone's support!





After pictures, we made our way to the luncheon at The Bluebird, in Logan. It was delicious food and a great time visiting with everyone. Everyone rallied together that night and helped us put together a wonderful reception. We kept waiting for something awful and catastrophic to happen, but it just didn't! Simply beautiful.

Before the cake cutting, we hadn't discussed at all if we were going to be nice or stuff it in each others face, and well I totally went for it and stuffed it! I had always told myself I was going to stuff the cake into my husbands face and that is just what I did. He got me back just as good though! :) My cousin Rishann caught my bouquet, and Brian's long time friend Chase, caught the garter.







I danced with my Daddy to the song "I loved her first" by Heartland. It was very special to me. I had always dreamed about dancing with my amazing Daddy at my wedding. I'll never forget it.





After my daddy daughter dance, of course it my first dance with my HUSBAND! I bawled as we danced to "Then" by Brad Paisley. Absolutely the most happy and wonderful moment dancing with my husband Brian. FINALLY!!! :D







After we ended the fun and excitement at the reception, we walked out to our family/friends lined up along the side walk with popper confetti and cheers. And let me tell you, our car was a real treat to see! Haha. It was such an amazing day, I couldn't have asked for anything more, it was all I had ever dreamed of. Because I had finally found the right man for me! :D







We drove off into the sunset, to live happily ever after...!

THE PROPOSAL!

On April 11, 2009 the day before my 20th birthday, Bri popped the question and asked me to marry him. This was the happiest day of my life!! He replayed our first date and took me up to the cave where we had that fire months before. He had written I love you Michelle on the cave wall with rose pedals on the ground, as well as a dozen roses. It was very romantic, I loved it!! We set our wedding day for August 8, 2009. We planned a 4 month engagement, (which really felt like an eternity!!) Busy, busy, busy all summer long!

OUR STORY!!

People have been telling me to start a blog for quite awhile now, so I'm finally doing it! I hope this can be a fun way to fill family and friends in on the fun details of our life together, especially those far away!

So, welcome to OUR life! I have much to catch you up on, so I'll do my best to fill you in on the exciting past year we've had. First of all I'd like to tell you the story about how me and the love of my life met. Sorry if it's a bit of a novel! :)

Brian and I met on a blind date in November 2008. Brian is from Blackfoot, Idaho but he was attending school here at Utah State. My friend Kylee Norton was the matchmaker (who we'll forever be grateful for since she is the reason we found eachother) She had no doubt that we would hit it off! Well she was definitely right! After our first date up Green canyon where we had a fire with some friends in a cave, we felt a strong spark between us! Within about 2 weeks, we both felt we were falling in love, and knew this could/was going somewhere special. After a few long talks and working some things out, we never spent a day apart from eachother! (and still to this day haven't been apart more than 3 days, it's just unbearable!) In January 2009, we became an "official" couple. I had finally found my soulmate!! I knew I couldn't live a day without Brian.


Us with Kylee-our matchmaker :)