1st Year of Marriage Memories

Two posts in one day...crazy, right?

For the past year I have been working on this memory book chronologically with pictures taken throughout our first year as husband and wife. This is the first time I have ever done a scrapbook of this importance digitally and I am kind of excited to see the finished product. I finally ordered it this week and I cannot wait for it to arrive at our house. You can bet I will be at home waiting for the UPS man on that day. It will just be a replay of last year when I was waiting on our wedding album!

So, if you take the time to look at this please let me know what you think! Have you done any digital scrapbooks with Shutterfly? I have done several, but nothing this big and long! If you are looking for a good site that is user friendly and easy to learn, Shutterfly is it! They also have a new feature when you can customize your page by moving or resizing pictures, changing the background color, adding stickers and borders. It really is cool!

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Engage-aversary!

Do you know what today is? It is our engage-aversary! Today marks one years since our engagement and boy what a crazy year it has been! And yes, we are celebrating it because I am cheesy like that. If you missed our engagement story last year, you can get caught up here.

This picture was from our engagement pictures taken last April in Florida. Happy anniversary hunny, I love you! Lets have some cake tonight in honor of this special day and my incredibly large sweet tooth, k?

Today also marks our niece Hadley's birthday. This beautiful little girl is three today!

Happy Birthday Hadley, we love you so much! 

"Children are a heritage from the LORD, 

offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior  

are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame when

they contend with their opponents in court. "

Psalm 127:3-5 NIV

Weekend Wrap Up

[This post contains LOTS and LOTS of pictures. I am just warning you!]

Sometimes weekends can surprise you. This weekend did that for us. We really did not have any plans on Friday other than dinner on Saturday with family, but this weekend ended up being a fun packed and snow filled one for sure! Our town does this event called "First Friday's" downtown. It happens on the first Friday of every month, and we have heard it can be a lot of fun. The Mr. and I had talked about going and had even seen the beginning of the preparation early Friday while out running errands. Long story short; we stayed home. Our Friday night consisted of pajamas, homemade pancakes with banana and cinnamon, and of course my favorite show: Friends. We went to bed pretty early and still had no set plans for Saturday other than the dinner with family.

So, Saturday morning comes. The Mr. woke me up at 9 just like I had asked him to. Although at the time, getting up was not what I wanted to do at all! As I rolled over and was getting some more sleep he came back into our bedroom and said it was snowing big flakes. I got up and out of the bed so quickly I almost feel down. It really was a comical moment!

This is what we woke up to on Saturday, so pretty!

I am slightly obsessed with snow on Christmas trees...don't judge!

Finally-snow in my hair for a picture! I remember going to WDW in high school with Mom, Hunter, Aunt Barb and Naomi and being so excited that it was going to snow on Main Street at night only to be disappointed that it was bubbles and did not stay in your hair or the ground because they popped!



Snowy Honda...it handles it well!

Leaving the apartment in search of sleds...these are what the roads looked like!

After seeing the abundance of snow and containing my childlike excitement we had a plan. We were going out into the cold determined to find some sleds and a good hill to use them on! After striking out at Kmart and the Big R in town, we hit up a sporting good store that I thought would have them, but be expensive. Boy was I wrong, they did have them and they were only $7.95. Score for us! Now we just had to find a public hill! Thanks to our friends Kyle and Tina we were there within the hour and had the entire hill to ourselves. It was bliss...well, for me at least!

We claimed our space on the hill behind Grace College's dining hall and spent a couple hours there. Fresh snow was still falling and that only added to my idea of perfection. We sledded for a couple hours after getting our path made and perfected our runs on our new oh.so.cheap flexible flyer sleds! We had SO much fun!

I love my Flexible Flyer!

Can you tell I was excited? Yes?

Ready...Set...Go!

Snowy Kisses :) xoxo

Allow me to teach you the proper snow angel making form...

How beautiful is this!?

After a collision...snow everywhere but still so happy and having TONS of fun!



After some hours on the hill we headed home to shower and change out of our wet snow clothes and head to Fort Wayne for dinner with family celebrating my SIL's birthday (that was last week)...the roads getting there were pretty bad. We drove past a couple cars that had slid off the road into the ditch and passed several semi trucks who were going super slow. I was glad I had my book to read so I was not focused on the mess that was the road, and our 45 minute commute that took much longer! We met and had dinner at Flat Top Grill, which is a Mongolian BBQ type of place. It was delicious! After dinner we went to Charming Charlies with the girls...they were so funny! Hadley came to life in that store and I had a hard time keeping up with her. I think she had difficulty deciding while glittery/sparkly thing to go look at next!  Emma and Ainsley were also mesmerized by the colors and sparkle. It was just fun to be there with them! :)

Hadley-little Miss Fashionista!

Strike a pose!

After Charlie's, The Mr. and I headed to Michael's for some scrapbooking necessities and then we were headed home...after a stop at Burlington Coat Factory and Target. We got home kind of late, but thankfully the roads were much better going home! Whew!

Sunday we were up and headed to church while snow was falling again :) After church we went to our favorite Mexican place in North Manchester with the girls and their parents. After lunch and starting another load of laundry we geared up to play in the snow again. We had a great time in their backyard on their snow slides and then packed into the van and headed to a park for sledding on a big hill. Turns out the girls had friends at the park who were sledding so they had a blast!

Pretty in Pink!

The Mr. and Had getting ready to go down the hill by the barn!

All of us girls, and Reggie!

The girls and some friends at the park on a massive sled! They all went down the hill like that!

Could we cheese any harder? I think not!

Warming up after a wipeout with Aunt E's dry hat and some Root Beer, which fixes everything when Mommy and paci are not available!

Sound asleep on the drive home, only minutes after leaving the park!

After sledding and the drive home we all came inside with a pot full of clean snow. While Hadley took a warm bubble bath and the older girls changed into warm, dry clothes I made snow ice cream. I used a recipe I found online and just poured milk, sugar and vanilla in to taste. It was actually pretty good, a little watery/milky but cold and creamy at the same time. We all had a bowl full with colorful sprinkles on top! We had just finished eating and getting warmed up with their Mom and Dad came home from their youth group activity at church and the Superbowl started :) Perfect timing!

We ordered pizza and watched the football game-cheering on the Packers the whole time. The Mr. and I left a little after half time and headed home with our clean laundry! While we were driving it was sleeting, but soon turned to snow flakes. The perfect ending to a great weekend with snow, family and great food!

After such a fun weekend, I think sledding is on our agenda for next weekend too! Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week too!



My story: how I lost my engagement ring!

I had planned on working until around 6pm since I have so much that needs to be done, only I could not make it until 6pm. I was too excited about the shopping I planned to get done and was simply distracted. I gave up the fight and left the office around 5:45pm. Along with my jacket and gloves I stepped out into the Indiana cold.

My plan was to leave work with two stops ahead of me before returning home to our apartment. My first stop was going to be at Bath and Body Works to spend the gift card that my super nice boss gave me for Christmas (he does not read this blog, or know is exists so this is not a kiss up). My next stop was going to be at my favorite grocery store; Aldi's. We did not need much, just some staples like gummy bears, ranch dressing and frosting lettuce, tomatoes, and some yummy fruit. Once I got into my car I took my gloves off thinking it would be easier to shop and pay without them getting in the way or having to worry about them falling out of my coat pockets. So, onward to Bath and Body Works I go...only I drive past it. At the end of the service road that B&BW is on sits Aldi's. I decide that nothing I need at Aldi's will go bad if I leave it in the car while I shop at B&BW for 20 or so minutes, so I do my grocery shopping first.

Y'all, I flew through that store. I was in and out with everything I needed in probably 20 minutes...and I ended up getting a lot of things. So after I stole took a box from Aldi's and boxed up my food-I headed back out to my car. Fast forward past me putting the box in my trunk and returning the shopping cart...I am now on my way to B&BW. Yay!

I park my car and walk into the store. As soon as I enter I grab one of their mesh, blue shopping bags and head over to the hand soap. (That is really all I was there for) I have 3 different scents in my bag in no time-SCORE. I am still shopping though, since I am pro ;) I wanted to smell some of the newer scents that are out so I reach to the shelf with my left hand to grab the bottle, and notice something...MY ENGAGEMENT RING IS GONE!

GONE!

After my initial instinct to panic, I start checking my pockets thinking that maybe it came off when I took my hands out of my coat pocket. Then I check the bag with my soap in it; nothing. I walk to the cashier counter and ask her if I can leave my bag here and come back in. I search the parking lot the entire walk to my car, then I search my car. Y'all, I searched like I have never searched before. I even took the box of groceries out the car and started taking everything out of the box, praying the ring was inside the box. It was dark outside and I could barely see anything. I put the contents back into my trunk and head back to Aldi's. At Aldi's I talk to the cashier who takes my name and phone number. I also retrace my steps in the store with extreme concentration. What do I find?...

NOTHING.

I search my car; again. I search the Aldi's parking lot and shopping car area...Nothing. I go back to B&BW and search that parking lot...again. Then I go inside and tell the cashier what happened. Bless her heart, I thought she was going to start crying with me! She also takes my name and number and tells the other woman working what happened so they both can be looking for it. I then retrace my steps in B&BW. What do I find?...

NOTHING.

Defeated and pretty emotional; I head back to my car to go home. Somewhere in the middle of all this I had texted my husband and asked him to meet me somewhere to help me look. He did not understand at first and was concerned that I was alone, shopping, and having an extreme low blood sugar...only to me, that was a way better option that losing my engagement ring! I go home...crying the entire way. I walk into our apartment; looking like I had been beat up I'm sure, and start searching my purse again. The Mr. was incredible during this time. He just kept telling me that he was not upset, and that everything would be fine. I knew this was not the end of the world; losing my ring, but it sure felt like it to me!

I think I had accepted that the ring was actually lost about this time. I asked The Mr. if he would help me get the groceries out of my car. He did not know that they were strewn all over the trunk though. We took a reusable shopping bag and a flashlight downstairs with us to search again, with better light. I started taking the remaining items in the box and putting them in the bag. When I took the last can from the box I saw something. Sitting in the rear corner of the box was...

MY RING!

Talk about happy, I was SO happy! After hours of searching and freaking out, my ring was found! Praise the Lord! I actually told The Mr. that I felt 100 pounds lighter and I was hungry. Instead of felling like throwing up, I wanted food! :)

So, what do you think are my plans tonight? you guessed it! We are going to a local jewelers and seeing about having my ring sized down since obviously it is too big. Rings should not just fall off like that! Then we are hitting up B&BW to spend my gift card and get some luxury soap.

...and that's the end of the story!

Weekend Wrap Up :)

{This post contains LOTS of pictures}

We had a great weekend! Wow, God is so good and we are so blessed! Friday night we were able to stay home at the apartment, which was nice since we usually have done grocery shopping every Friday night. I felt like I was coming down with a cold, so it was great to put jingle jammies on and watch a movie-Miracle on 34th Street in the original black and white. We also made our own pizza and some peanut butter balls...delicious!

Saturday we had some errands to run around town; a stop at the post office and the library and then we were headed to Fort Wayne to get the car washed and the tires balanced and rotated before our long trip to Florida. I was SO excited about finally getting the car washed...snow and dirty streets make vehicles so very dirty and I am a neat freak. I like for my car to be relatively clean. Especially before a thousand mile road trip! Even though it was 9 degrees outside, it was sunny so I took that opportunity to get the car washed. I am thankful that there are places to get your car washed here, but I miss the car washes in Florida. 1. They were WAY cheaper. 2. They give you towels to dry any places that the blow dryers missed. 3. The vacuums are free and you can use them for as long as you want! Anyways...after that we were headed to Discount Tire. After the tire place we got some lunch at Chic-Fil-A...YUM. We did some shopping at the mall and ran into a HUGE Christmas tree at the center of the outdoor mall; of course we took pictures:

After that adventure we headed home for our own Christmas. Since we are going to be in Florida with my family for Christmas we decided to give each other gifts early and Saturday was the day! We took way too many tons of pictures and had a great time together in our home :) Here is the photo montage:

* We got this ornatment from Hobby Lobby and I LOVE it!

"Are you sure this is for me?"

"Oh, this one is for me!"

My husband seriously impressed me with his wrapping skills!

He even curled!

The Mr. wrapped this...good job, huh?

Seriously excited about Scene It "Friends"!!!!

Now our pictures started getting a little crazy...hey, we like to have fun!

Sunday church services were combined for the Children's Christmas play which was super cute. 2 of our nieces were in the play. Emma was a cow and Ainsley was a mouse. They were so cute in costume and did a great job! After church Stephen took me to my first Chinese Buffet ever and let me just say...it was not my thing. I had never been to one probably because they are not that popular in Florida and are often shut down for health code violations...but we gave it a try...I would be okay if we never went back there!

All in all it was a great weekend and I am so thankful for all of our blessings from the Lord and for the time spent with my husband. We are looking forward to a busy week this week and then Florida on Thursday/Friday! :)