Things I want to remember: The last four months

     Lately I've found myself looking at my husband and wondering if this whole being married to him thing is a dream. Sometimes I feel like soon I'll suddenly be jerked awake and be back in my bed in one of my old single girls' apartments at BYU or something. That's terrible to think about! Ha. Time has been flying, and every bit of it is so good. So full! Full of laughing and silly little arguments and kisses and dancing in the kitchen and holding hands in the car. My life is so full with this guy. I love my life with Ryan.
     I can't believe it's already almost June. In just two months we will have been married for TWO YEARS. I swear our first anniversary was just a few months ago. It is so bizarre. Life now has mostly been early mornings, going off to our separate jobs, coming home and spending every minute of it together, repeat, repeat, repeat. We live for the weekends! Oh man. I truly thought I could not love weekends any more, but now that I'm working full time I LIVE FOR THEM. Two days of uninterrupted time with Ryan. Bliss!
     I've had so many memories stock piled up in my head since, like, January, and I haven't even written in my journal more than two or three times since then. I need to or else I'll go insane with worrying that I won't get these things down on (virtual) paper. I love to write about memories.

     One evening during Christmas break, I got a call from my dad giving me the heartbreaking news that my grandfather had fallen and broken his hip. My in-laws are so wonderful and as soon as I told them, they offered me two standby passes so I could fly to Seattle and be with my grandparents and my family. I don't ever, ever want to forget the absolutely adorable look of shock on Grandpa's face when he slowly woke up from the surgery and then saw me standing at the foot of his hospital bed. His eyes got enormous and his mouth just dropped open. It makes me cry to think about it! Oh it was just so cute. [:

     Everyone was still there in Seattle for Christmas break, and it was so good to see everyone. Since then, Grandpa has been progressing so much and just recently got to finally come home from the hospital. He is so strong.

      I missed Ryan SO MUCH, but it was wonderful to be with my family. It was so good to be back in the Pacific Northwest. Of course we did a Seattle day, and it made my heart happy to be back in that beautiful city. I love this state.

 Doing Seattle things like eating mini donuts and looking real attractive.

And making some more pies duh.

I got to spend New Years Eve with my family as well, which was so great. We had the classic party at the grandparents' house, though it was hard to have has much fun as normal without grandpa there [and Ryan! ):]. We upheld all the traditions: games, toilet paper passing, and the taste test. This year's test was apples, and it was hands-down the best one yet, all thanks to the mastermind Dad. We've got some dang good apples in Washington, and some dang good Beecher's cheese, and so overall it was a dang good way tasty night. 

Leaving for Provo was sad all around. Teehee. 

I was so thankful to be able to see my grandpa and be with my family for a week. It was so wonderful!

Then began the amazing, the glorious, the incredible time called I am done with school and get to do whatever I want which can totally include doing absolutely. nothing. all. day.

After almost 17 years of school.

No more.

Nada.

DOOOONE!!!!

Looking back now I wish I had enjoyed it even more, because MAN that was sweet.

Sleep in a little bit, work out, read my scriptures or listen to talks while I got ready, and then do whatever the heck I felt like doing until Ryan got home. Plus do some job searching, which was not as cool... but still...

 Ryan had to leave me pretty soon for a business trip, but we were happily surprised the following week to get this in the mail! Free date night? Don't mind if we do.

 ^^^ These just make me laugh so hard! One of the things I wanted to get done once I had the time was sort through all sorts of papers and boxes I had accumulated over my BYU years. These were from my sisters during my first few weeks of Freshman year. Sarah's spelling gets me every time. [: I love my sisters. 

 One of Ryan's partners gave him tickets to Salt Lake ComiCon, and oh boy... was Ryan in heaven, though he tried to downplay it. It was adorable to see him struggle to keep his cool and not totally geek out. We spent the whole day gawking at people's costumes, trying to avert our eyes from the old people who were still trying to dress like sexy superheroes, and indulging our inner nerd selves at panels on Firefly, Marvel, and Back to the Future. It was so fun to be with Ryan and to just people watch at that enormous collection of weird people. And trust me, the people watching was just unbeatable.

One of my FAVORITE favorite parts of having all day every day open was that I got to help this babe plan her wedding - one of my best friends from the last apartment I lived in before marrying Ryan. She was there the night Ry and I got engaged and she is just the greatest! We got to play Say Yes to the Dress for daysss and it was so rad.

More good stuff like a spontaneous karaoke night with these crazies. 

I don't ever want to forget this night. And I don't think I could if I tried. [:

I got both of these in the mail on the same day! Passport for the graduation trip of a lifetime that we had been planning since Ryan's graduation last year, and the good ol' symbol of adulthood - my diploma from my beloved BYU. It made me happysad. ): 

 Got a new FAUCET! This was an exciting day. That faucet just displays a small part of how lovely our little newlywed apartment was... We had our own little misting system. So lucky...

 Behold! New faucet! So shiny! So lacking in holes and grossness!

Ryan took me birdwatching one evening out at the lake. It was so great to sit there with my binoculars and relax. I liked this night.

Spring was so beautiful in Provo. We went on lots of walks, I got to meet up with friends for lunch on campus, and we just spent as much time outside as possible.

Overall, being unemployed was awesome for a little bit and then it got incredibly boring. [: I had some good interviews, some not as great ones, some serious disappointments, and then I was so happy to get an offer at the end of March! Ryan was so supportive and was always there to cheer me up when I was getting discouraged. And there were some serious discouraged-Hannah-moments. I'm so lucky to have him!

Life is so good. I love my job. And we are moving on to a new chapter!

My last week of unemployment.

During my 2 and a half months of job searching, I've had to be creative in the ways I fill my time. Exercising, cleaning, writing, reading, crafting, visiting friends on campus, running errands, just totally vegging, and of course, writing cover letter after resume after job application. On repeat.

My mom and I were talking on the phone one day though, and realized that it was the perfect time for her to come down to Utah and visit! No more school and no work yet would mean we could play all day! With timing that could not have been better, my mom flew in on the evening of what happened to be the day I received an offer from my dream job, and I got almost a full week of hanging out with my mom hiking, eating, playing, and reveling in the fact that I no longer had to scour the internet for jobs. SUCH A RELIEF. There are no words. It was so fun to relax and spend time with my mom all day, then do stuff all together when Ryan got home from work.

The week included the following:

• Introducing my mom to Ticket To Ride. We have passed on the addiction. 
• Sugar cookies from Swig
• Art City Trolley
• BYU Creamery & Graham Canyon ice cream
• Morning runs
• Hiking
• Hiking again
• Buying an iPhone 5S for myself, as well as a new couch for our new apartment (yeee!)
• In-N-Out (Mom's request.)
• Walking around campus
• Ticket To Ride some more
• Getting background checks and drug screenings for my job (so fun.)
• Packing for our move(!!!)
• Copious amounts of homemade chocolate chip cookies

The highlight of the week was definitely the hikes we did. First was Bell Canyon, just a few minutes from my new office! It was a cold cold day, and we weren't able to get all the way to the end due to snow, but what we were able to do was absolutely beautiful and a great workout.

Second was Big Baldy, the little mountain that stands below Timp. THIS hike was KILLER. Dang. We hit snow again at the top, but luckily it was hard enough to walk on. The views were incredible. We took the shortcut on the way to the summit, which was literally straight up, then took the regular trail down. Apparently Utah doesn't believe in switchbacks. My calves were feeling this one for days.

At the top! Victorious. And exhausted.

This week was the best. My mom is the perfect mix of everything. She's up for anything, whether it be shopping, couch-testing, interior designing, playing games, and anything else (though usually hiking trumps everything), and she knows pretty much everything so we can talk about birds, geology, books, movies, people, and everything else there is to talk about. I didn't want her week in Provo to end. It was just so FUN to spend so much time together. I'm so thankful for her! I love you Mom!

A weekend in the Needles

Ryan's birthday came and went, and we were chillin at home one night, looking forward to the weekend, when we got a call from my family. The next Kropelnicki Roadtrip Extravaganza was underway, and it was a doozy. I've written about these things before, and a few examples are here, here, and here. Most of them happened during my high school years, though, and never made it onto my blog. The basic criteria are two things: multiple all-nighter drives, and going through at least three states in the process. This particular one would include the necessary three states (Utah, Nevada, and California), two national parks (Canyonlands and Great Basin), and several stops in the Bay Area.

My favorite thing more recently about these trips is Ryan's reaction to them. It is utter, unabashed incredulousness and it makes us Krops just chuckle. [: This has been a way of life for us! Carpe diem! Unfortunately though, due to work, Ryan and I couldn't go on the full-blown week of adventures, but we did get to spend two days in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park with my family.

Canyonlands National Park is divided into three "districts" - Island in the Sky (most easily accessible and touristy), Needles (much more isolated and very undeveloped), and the Maze (extremely undeveloped and purely backcountry). Needles was the perfect destination for the weekend. We hardly saw a soul on the trails, while the rest of America's national parks were bursting at the seams with people taking advantage of President's Day weekend and free access to the parks. It's always been my favorite area of Canyonlands, and it has sentimental value after this dendro trip almost two years ago and the events that ensued the night I got home. [:

Anyways, the weekend was perfect. The weather couldn't have been better, our campsite was BOMB, the stars were breathtaking at night, and we spent every minute hiking and talking and laughing. What better way to spend Valentine's than with red rocks, my cute husband, and family?

Oh and speaking of Valentine's Day - the latest installment in the Krop tradition of magazine cutout Valentines. Always a hoot.

The first look. The final word. From conception to birth.

Wise words indeed.

Our last Utah park: Bryce Canyon

Earlier this week was Ryan's birthday, and I practically tackled him out of happiness when he told me that he wanted to use his day off of work to go to our last of the five national parks in the state of Utah - Bryce Canyon National Park. We've been Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion together, and this was our last one! Woo!

 Granted, we still slept in and opened presents and had a fantastically lazy morning before heading off around 10am. It was blissful. For some reason doing things that are perfectly weekend-normal on a WEEK DAY just made it that much better. One of the many reasons we love Ryan's company. Birthdays off should just be the norm!

Driving through Utah, though most people proclaim it boring, is anything but. Each tiny town we passed through and each new mountain range we came to was just so cool. Utah rangeland is stunning and full of the coolest history.

When we got to the park, after flashing our park pass at the ranger's shed like we owned the place, we were happy to see that there were literally six (SIX!!!) cars parked at the visitor center. Late winter and early spring is the time to hit Utah's parks. And it being a Tuesday probably helped as well. [: We saw maybe 30 or 40 people during the entire day. That's my kind of national park experience. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

We strung together a couple of trails to make a big loop through the park. It was Ryan's first time here (my second), and it was so fun to see his awe at the incredible geology of the place! There were patches of ice and snow in the more shaded parts of the trail, as well as a little bit of mud, but nothing too bad at all. We were too happy surrounded by those towering red walls and whimsical hoodoos to complain. Plus, that's what rad boots are for. 

We stopped by C-Stop Pizza, a cute pizza & sandwich restaurant in Panguitch (love those Utah names), on our way out and stuffed our tired and happy selves with greasy breadsticks and great pizza. Overall, a birthday success. We're proud to say we've officially hit every one of Utah's "Mighty 5!"

I love hiking with Ryan. I love being married to Ryan! And speaking of the love of my life, happy 26th, you stud you. You make me the happiest girl on Earth.

(The birthday card I made for Ryan. I was proud. [: )