Date day. Cause date nights are too short.

Nature makes the most beautiful shapes and patterns.

I accidentally released the shutter while the camera was set on a self-timer length I didn't want, so we decided to make the best of it. [:

 Life is good.

Taking stock.

Making : Lots and lots wedding Thank You's. Almost. Done.

Wasting : Literally nothing in this place. I'm even becoming pro at cleaning out our used candle jars and using them for storing cotton balls and Q-tips. Married student life. It's good stuff.

Wishing : That we could get out into the mountains and use our backpacking equipment. Thanks to Christmas we finally have everything we need!

Waiting : For the next letter I'll get from Brazil, Australia, or Italy. Oh how I miss my sister missionaries.

Planning : Our next hiking date. We're going snowshoeing finally.

Liking : These wee little cacti Ryan bought for me at IKEA last weekend. I like dem a lot. [: And he laughed at how excited I got when I saw them.

Wondering : How I'm going to make it through the last-ever (hallelujah for that) spacial statistics class that my major requires.

Loving : Thinking about graduate school. Oh, the possibilities. I love dreaming.

Marveling : At trees and the amazing job I have studying them. Today I held in my hand a coring of a tree that laid down its first ring in 1456. Yes, before the USA was organized, before Galileo started theorizing about relative motion, and before Columbus discovered the Bahamas. And it's still goin strong in 2013! That, my friends, is why nature rocks.

Needing : To show everyone my brand-new Costco card. We have joined the cult.

Wearing : Clothes that came out of our brand new IKEA dresser. Ryan joked that if we could build it successfully together, our marriage could survive anything. Yep, rock-solid marriage right here.

Noticing : How much I need and crave the temple. When I was single I went once a week with my roommate, and now Ryan and I go on temple "dates" once a month. I have such a fervent personal testimony of regular temple worship and its influence on my relationship with God, and therefore my happiness.

Knowing : That I will probably find soggy blueberries, raspberries, and oats in random places around the kitchen for the next week after I blew up Ryan's protein shake this afternoon. In my defense, it was the first time I've ever used our blender. It doesn't like me.

Giggling : Every day during my workouts with Ryan. I love that I scored a guy that doesn't take himself too seriously.

Found here.

He makes the sorrowing spirit sing.

This morning I sat by one of the big windows in the GIS lab, looking out at the
snow-dusted Uinta Mountains and glowing shafts of sunlight breaking through the overcast sky,
and listened to this:

{Listen to it!!! Beautiful Savior, by the Men of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir}

There's so much going on right now. Politically, socially, religiously. Globally & locally. So much that I don't have control over, but that will indefinitely affect me, my family, & most importantly, my future family. As brave as I might feel that I am, I can't help but be scared of the world that Ryan & I are going to raise our children in. It weighs on my mind every day, & particularly this morning. So I turned from my studies to a moment of pondering and within minutes, I felt a beautiful peace. I know who wins this war. I only have to be loyal to His side of it.

Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations. He makes my sorrowing spirit sing. 

Whirlwind catch-up post: Christmas break

 After braving a record-breaking snowstorm that included lane-less freeway free-for-alls, tears from me, and passing flipped cars & jack-knifed semi trucks, we made it home for Christmas. And boy was it grand. [: Here are three reasons why Christmas break 2013 was the best one so far. 

1) It was in the beautiful, green, lush Pacific Northwest.

2) It was two weeks with my family + my husband. That means amazingness.

3) These things:

 Seattle trip!

 Seattle photobombs:

 Of course the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton:

 Seein' this lovely Christmas card picture every time I walked down the hall [:

Kitty time:

And cookie time (with Ryan doing what he did to most of the cookies he frosted [: )

 Christmas day and BACKPACKING GEAR:

Broken toe:

Beecher's Mac & Cheese:

 I MADE SOMETHING EDIBLE:

 With lots of help from my Papa. [:

 Leavenworth with Ryan's wonderful parents:

 Ryan had bonding time with Panda. So precious:

 Lots of wedding Thank-yous:

 New Year's Eve complete with the classic activities of a taste-test 

(cheddar cheese this time) and Saray Vou, our made-up French toilet paper passing game.

Reading the predictions everyone wrote for each other last New Years. We laughed at how several of mine had something to do with Ryan, since he had come through Seattle last Christmas break and spent some time with us (we had gone on two dates by that time and were in the "I really like you a lot but I don't know how you feel about me" phase [: ). Some of my favorite predictions:

"Hannah will love Ryan Gray even more!!" -Sarah (What?! I guess she knew how I felt about Ryan better than I did myself [; ).

"Hannah will have a 'special friend.' (Ryan? But if not... forget I said it [: )" -Lydia

"Hannah will enjoy having new roommates and living somewhere new in the fall." -Mom (Done and done, Mom. Done and done. [: Haha. We laughed hard at that one.)

 The highlight of break: Snowshoeing at Rainier. 

Snowshoeing: amazing. Rainier: incredible. But them together: perfection. That's another park checked off of our list! Rainier National Park, you have my heart.

 ^^^We call this one "Ryan and the six dwarves."

 Ryan and I went back to our honeymoon location, aka the best bed & breakfast ever for a couple days:

 I cleaned out my room so that Lydia could move in. Bittersweet! ):

 Walks with my family on the trail that holds sooo many memories:

Best break yet. Our last one all together for awhile. I love my family.

Life is good.

In mourning.

Last day of classes was today and I almost cried. Twice. I don't want these classes to end! EVER!

Geography nerd problems...

PS Big, fat wedding post to come if I feel like procrastinating during finals week...

Look how far we've come.

 A year ago today I started dating Ryan. 

Best decision of my life. I love this incredible man.

Here's to infinity more. [:

{PS: We celebrated with a date to Wendy's and a dessert of our first 

chocolate orange of the season. We're classy/poor like that.}

Thanksgiving break, brought to you by pictures of us and pretty landscapes.

     I realized as we were driving home from break in the beautiful northwest that I didn't get one picture of anyone besides Ryan and I. I promise we didn't spend Thanksgiving completely alone... One the contrary, it was a total party. I'm happy to report that Ryan's extended family is just about as loud as he is himself.

I LOVE THE SALT FLATS. SO COOL.

 ^^ City where I got my first speeding ticket, on the way back from Ragnar last fall. Curse you, East Carlin. Curse you.

On a more serious note, I can't post about Thanksgiving without mentioning how thankful I am for what I have. There are millions who would do anything for the abundance and freedom we have in this part of the world. I could have been born in Tibet or Xinjiang, oppressed by the Chinese government and not allowed to worship freely or speak my native language in school. I could have been born in southern India, where my day-to-day life would revolve around finding a clean water source for my family's needs. But I was born in America, and I have never had to even think about those things. I take them completely for granted. I don't know why I am so fortunate, but I know where much is given much is required.

Mosiah 4:21-22 "And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another. And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth." 

In this newlywed period, despite the fact that I as the wife am supposed to try to make our apartment look cute and homey, I've recently become relatively disenchanted with the concept of 'stuff.' None of it matters. I want to help other people. We are so blessed in the United States. To anyone who might be reading this, just take a minute to think about what you have, realize it's incredible, then look outward and help someone who needs your time, substance, or words. I am so, so thankful for the portion of God's creation and substance that I have been lent during this life. I want to show Him that He can always count on me to never hold it out of reach of one who needs it more than I do. It was never mine anyway. 

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

To do:

Final statistical report poster, two statistical analyses, two piano pieces, 20 hours at the lab to somehow work into the mix, 8 page paper, 6 page paper, ward Christmas party to plan. Save me.

Or at least fix our heater. It's 54 degrees in our apartment right now.

Poor married life rocks. [: