Celebrations!

Last week we celebrated my 23rd birthday!  I know that is young, but to me I feel so old!! I just turned 23 and have almost finished my 2nd year teaching, been married for 2 years, and we just bought our first house. And it doesn't help that my not so little brother anymore just turned 18! 

I've said it before, but I have to say it again... being a teacher is so great! What is better than having 22 kids loving you? My kids are the sweetest (most of the time). They spoiled me this year with treats, gifts, and so many hugs and I often overheard them throughout the day telling eachother to shhhh....it's Mrs. Harding's birthday! We can't be rude to her! :) Maybe I've engraved that into their heads a little too much ha ha.

I am so blessed to have the greatest family, friends, and husband. I couldn't have asked for a better day or better way to start my 23rd year!! My sweet hubby took me to Cafe Rio with our brothers for dinner and surprised me later with my favorite cake: ice cream cake!

He also bought me the best gift! My roomie brought her clarisonic to DC a few weeks ago and had nothing but good things to say about it. I really wanted it so I'm so glad Andrew bought it for me. Seriously girls, if you haven't ever used a clarisonic before it is AMAZING!! Definitely worth the money. My skin has never felt softer than it does after using this. I recommend it to everyone!

Next celebration....on May 10th we finally closed on our house! We were lucky to have lived in such a nice apartment in Provo for 2 years, but it's so great to finally have our own house. We realized we were going to be in Utah for a few more years with our work, so we figured we mine as well start building up equity. 

Packing everything up was awful. I have no idea how we accumulated so much stuff in 2 years! We had to pack everything during the week which is more difficult since we both work. Look at this mess.....our last night in our apartment was spent having a sleepover in the living room since we had already put our bed frame in the Uhaul.

Friday night--first night moving stuff in! Such a long, hard, and messy process. I'm happy to say it doesn't look like that now! We are loving getting everything all moved in and organized.

I'll be putting up pictures of the house soon once we get it all organized and the way we like it. We are so fortunate to have been able to buy such a beautiful and perfect townhouse for us. Everyday we love coming home. Home sweet home!

We also celebrated our 2 year anniversary this week! We celebrated by going to our favorite restaurant Communal....hits the spot every time. Seriously if you go, order a side of Mac n' Cheese....it's the best ever!  It's been the most wonderful 2 years of marriage. We've definitely had some arguments, but the best thing about being married is knowing your spouse's feelings, forgiving one another and treating each other even better than you thought possible.  I feel lucky to have a man who treats me with so much love and kindness. He's been the best thing to happen to me and I'm happy everyday because of him. I'm glad I married such a hard working man and someone who is already doing a great job to provide for our family. Part of my patriarchal blessing says that my husband will provide for me so I will not want, and I'm already seeing that in my life now and am so grateful for all he does to do a great job at work. I absolutely love everything about him! I'm a lucky wife and right now we are just having the time of our lives together!!

a glimpse into my future!!! :)

Life is so good!

Girls Trip--Nike Half Marathon in DC!

April has just been a month full of traveling for us! No wonder it has gone by so fast. Somehow I only have 18 days left of this school year!!  

Last weekend I met up with my sister and old roomie for a girls trip to DC to run the Nike women's half marathon. It was so great to see them! 

The trip started with an early flight to Denver. Andrew booked my flight so that I'd have a layover in Denver so my sister and I could be on the same flight. Turns out my dad had to do some work in DC so he booked the same flight as us too. I'm glad he decided to come because we got to enjoy the Air Force Officer's Club because of him in the airport where we stuffed our purses full of free drinks and snacks! :)

We got our rental car, picked up Brooke from the bus station and headed to Georgetown to go to the Nike store. Once we got there and finally found a parking spot (practically impossible to find), it was closed! So frustrating. So instead we found our name on the wall of the Nike store and of course got cupcakes. I had never been to Sprinkles before but the cupcakes were amazing! We had Sprinkles one day and Georgetown Cupcakes the next day and I think Sprinkles is the better! 

 Afterwards we were starving and decided we'd find a Chipotle. All 3 of our phones were almost dead and we needed the maps to find a Chipotle and also to get back to our hotel. We literally drove around Georgetown for 45 minutes trying to find a parking spot. We couldn't find ANY and then ended up at a different Chipotle then our phone told us to go to somehow. It was just such a nightmare. I don't know how people who live in Georgetown just go out to dinner on the weekends!!

The next day we woke up early to go back to the nike store and then met up with all the Harding/Hunter ladies for lunch. I married into the best family. They are all such great ladies and I had so much fun catching up with them. Not to mention, my mother-in-law Dawn is the best little hostess ever! Thanks for the delicious pre-marathon lunch Dawn!!

so happy Rach drove from UVA so I could see the kiddos. And of course they are darling as ever!!
Seriously making me baby hungry! 

After lunch we headed to the expo to get everything for our race the next day. It was such a gorgeous day in DC.

bestie since freshman year!

After the expo we met up with my dad for a carb loaded dinner and then went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning was an early morning. We had to be down at the front for our taxi at 6:15. But the weather couldn't have been better to run 13 miles in! It was sunny but not too hot with the perfect breeze. It was the best course I have ran and was beautiful running by the Potomac river and through all the National Monuments. I was so proud of my sister who ran the half 5 months preggo!!

It was great to have both my in laws and my dad there to cheer us on! My dad was on the street cheering for us around 12 miles and then ran down to the finish line to see us cross too.  I love love running but I'm most looking forward to just getting to run normal amounts of like 4 miles everyday rather than 7-8 and give my body a break! 

after getting all our post race goodies & Tiffany's necklace!

After the race we went back to our hotel to shower and check out and then headed to Cafe Rio and Sprinkles for our post half meal! Brooke lives in NYC now and hasn't had Rio for months which we all know is far too long so of course we had to have it! It was a short weekend together but I'm so glad I got to be with my sisters for those few days. 

Andrew took advantage of our girls weekend by taking a guys trip to Vegas with some of our brothers to spend the weekend golfing. We hardly got to talk to each other much because of the 3 hour time difference and how quickly our phones were dying. I couldn't wait to get home to him though. Being apart always makes you realize how much you miss each other. I got home late Sunday night to the sweetest note and there was nothing better than getting into our extremely comfy bed and snuggling with my man. So lucky for our marriage.