The Whole Package

Love, weddings, and a marriage...

It's consuming my life in a wonderful way! I wonder what I will do when the wedding and planning is over.

Honestly, as much work as this little event is, it's what every girl has longed to do. No matter your style, no matter what you picture your wedding looking like... You want it. You want the whole package that comes with a wedding - a man and a whole lotta love. A beautiful picture of your knight in shining armour riding in on a white horse, completely making your life about roses and fairy tales.

It's true.

I think it's also true for men. They want to be that knight who makes your world something like a fairy tale and full of roses. The reality is it can really be like that.

Okay, not physically... Chris never rode in on a white horse, our life isn't a fairy tale, and I'm not showered in roses all of the time. However, I think we're as close as we can be to that as a reality.

1. There are no white horses, but there is a blue Yukon. Which he did ride into my driveway in on January 5th, 2008.

2. Fairy tales - a fictional story that may feature folkloric characters, often involving a far-fetched sequence of events. --- Who really wants that? Real life is much better. Where you stick together. Have good and bad times. Perservere together. Love each other. Have adventures. Laugh. Life goes past the happily ever after. It's the love that you find in those times that somehow allows you to love the other more deeply than you did before.

3. Roses... they give such life to a room. Whether that is through their smell or the way they make you feel. Love is the same way. It's refreshing and fills you with new life. Chris also smells really good. Obsession Night. But men also have this MUSK about them. Reg told me once that I would know he is the one when I can like his SMELL. His smell, not the one you can buy. It's not roses, but I would take him over roses anyday.

And that feeling he gives me... completely tops the way any roses have ever made me feel.

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Life with a partner is good. Marriage must be GREAT. It's great to know you've got someone on your team. It's humbling and exciting! I am in awe of the people who have been married for so many years. Our parents being two wonderful examples of that.

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**Thank you, parentals, for loving and respecting each other the way you have. It's through your devotion to each other that gives us, your children, a better perception of marriage even before we start.**

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Engagement is lovely. Hard at times too... We've been told several times that engagement is like being married, but not. One of our friends said on Saturday that May 16th will only be a public profession of what we've already settled in our hearts.

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Being single. I never want to go back there after I've tasted the sweetness of this relationship. Life pre-ChrisandJulie was like a battle field for adult singleness. Whether it was holding on to your beliefs, trying to be true to yourself, wondering if you have to settle, scared you may be that one % that has to do life alone, feeling like your fighting a lone battle, and that constant internal struggle to TRUST GOD and to keep the HOPE. I remember those days. My heart has little scars from it. But my heart is bigger because of them. Stronger.

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For us now, I feel as if we're crossing over. Things are changing. We're changing. Joining our lives together and individually getting better because of it. Life doesn't get easier with someone. You still have battles; they just look differently than those single ones. True, there is a comfort knowing that you've got someone to battle with you. But know, those same lessons learned while single still apply. We still have to fight. We still have to perservere. I still have to cling to what makes me, well me. We still struggle with doing what we know is right. How to love each other and put selfish motives and feelings aside. To think more of him than of myself. More than that, my heart still struggles with TRUSTING GOD with our future. It's that beautiful process of knowing God and getting to love through His love. No matter your current "relationship status."

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*It's with HIS love that I want to love my KNIGHT in shining armour with.*

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Organic fish sticks and Pomegranate apple sauce

Darling children. One is sleeping, the other eating dinner.

Babysitters come in to distract the eating child from realizing his parents are leaving. No such luck.

"See ya Mom and Dad!" we call as we wave goodbye to Mom and Dad from a window at the front of the house. "Move car!" he cries! Dang. My car was parked in his view of seeing his parents wave goodbye to us. Out the front door we go! Just in time to wave our little hearts out and tell the two people who mean the most to him in life goodbye. Precious seeing that little hand wave.

Back to dinner. Our goal - to get Mr. J. to eat all of his food. Hard, because it's organic fish sticks and pomegranate apple sauce. All three of us, Chris, J., and I, are easily distracted, but we kept going. Then the idea hit us! McDonald's. We hadn't eaten dinner, so Chris had the bright idea to run and get McDonald's. Bribery. There's a toy that comes in every happy meal... My order - one happy meal for a boy.

Chris was on his mission. J. and I began ours.

We ate and ate and ate... Well, he ate. I watched and wondered what it tasted like to him. He ate more... At one point, he began dipping his fish sticks into the apple sauce. *YUM!* I encouraged this behavior. He smiled and laughed and ate until there wasn't any more!

Chris came in at just the right time.

A reward for such great behavior! It was a toy that was completely not age appropriate for a 2.5 year old, but who cares. He loved it. And he loved our chicken nuggets and fries.

It was a beautiful night with a handsome boy.




Going to the potty before bed didn't go so well though...

Madea Goes to Jail

Chris:

“Laughed my A off for most of the movie, only to switch scenes to some breakdown. I prefer the scenes with THE MADEA”


Julie:

"I really enjoyed it! You've gotta love a movie with a good moral quality where you can also get a great laugh in. "

Spring, don't tease me!

Oh spring! How I love your beauty and warmth! My parents have a tree in their front yard that I think is soo gorgeous! It starts with little white flowers, turns completely pink, and then to a fresh green. Over the years, I love to look out my bathroom window and watch it change colors. Sometimes I miss stages, but not this time... This time, I'm documenting it for you. This is stage number one:

Beautiful little buds... Chris, can we plant one of these in your yard?!?

This little flag that has one star in the center signifies that my mother has one son who is currently deployed. It's called the mother's flag. Mom has one on her car as well. Luckily, aunt Sonya found this flag and gave it to my mother... it's another sign that says -

HEY BEN! We're waiting for YOU to come HOME!!!

Another little tree... I think this one is a Japanese something...

Bailey enjoying the day. You can tell the animals LOVE to feel the warm sun! We were all so excited to BE outside.

One of my favorite places, spring, summer, and fall...

OH Spring! Please come to stay!!!!

Curler Danger

Curlers. Some would say they are a thing of the past. But I'm trying to BRING THEM BACK! I love to curl my hair. It's convenient and makes my hair look much prettier than the natural look. (Naturally, my hair doesn't know we're still not in the 80s. It's a little wavy and can get pretty big and out of control! Curling it tones it down...)

Anyway, I became addicted to curling my hair with curlers in college. I've been through several sets. Typically, you know they're done when they stop getting hot. When that happens, you trash them and get some new ones. My latest and greatest set of curlers told me they were done another way:

Please note they had completely MELTED while heating up!!

A few days before I had noticed how hot they were getting... hotter than usual. Then occasionally I would smell something burning. I would check, but then... nothing there. I saw that there was some of my hair stuck in the base, so I cleaned that out. Keep curling! No time to waste. However, right before my hot Valentines' day date, my curlers had a melt down. I pulled them out to stick in my hair and... OUCH! They completely tried to set my hand on fire! The cord was jerked from the wall and I sat staring at them in disbelief! How could this happen? Especially on Valentines' day?! Curlers, don't let me down NOW!!

Okay, seriously, I have no idea how this could have happened. It may have been due to overuse because of my addiction... maybe part of the cord was faulty. (My vote would be on the overuse part. They had probably been used almost every day for three years.) Who knows though! It is a question we may never be able to answer. Luckily, my always faithful straightener came to my rescue and I was able to continue preparing for the night!

I also snapped the picture above to be able to show you the dangers a girl goes through in preparing for a hot date. And to say - If you've got curlers, watch out! You never know what you'll get when you pull them out!

Random updates

Hello MARCH! Friends, family - the ones who notice if I don't update my blog: Please forgive me! My time management skills are getting unbelieveable. I find minutes that I never knew were there and then I plan something that needs done in them.

Wedding planning is in overdrive! It is really sooo fun... However, one could consider it a full time job and our wedding is still relatively simple! You think about all of these ideas you have for the big day, things you would love to do, and then you consider the time constraints and your budget. If only... if only... Either way - Chris and I hope you get to enjoy a very special and magical day! We know it will be for us and we want to celebrate with you. We started pre-marital! Yes, we did! That's really a cool thing to do... We're being schooled by the Cooks - a husband and wife team who have made it a part of their ministry. Boy, are we glad they did! We're digging in, leaving no stone unturned. I love it. More than I thought, but you're sitting beside the guy you're slowly joining your life with (and your body on the wedding day...) and you're getting a closer look at what makes you tick and what you think about the big deal stuff. Very cool! And unifying. It's really freeing when you're able to look at each other and say -

I love you because of all of these things that make you who you are.

Let's see... here are some pictures for you:

My man on his GUIT-AR...

Daniel let Beth do his hair. It didn't stay this way for long! Can you see how funny he thought it was?!

Macy can't keep her eyes open when I take her picture with the flash on. I took a few that night, just trying to get her little black eyes open in a shot, but this was as close as I got.

Hope you're still there little readers... I'll try and keep up!!

Beth goes to Prom!

In my family, whenever one of us went to a formal or prom, we were all there to see you off! Camera in tow.

Even though Beth is 22 years old and she was going to a military ball, not the prom, the parentals and I were there nonetheless! We found this beautiful BCBG dress on sale, matched it with some gorgeous shoes, and searched high and low for the perfect necklace. Here she is, the stunning sister!

Upclose and beautiful...

Please notice her golden angel hair. Mom and I were her hairdressers...

Our dad and his middle daughter.

Little sister, you looked so beautiful! Where would I be without my #1 angel face?

Love and weddings

Love. I love love.

It's as if Chris and I have both been saving up all of this love to share with someone. And now we can. All the walls are down and we're off! We're learning how to build on the foundation we already have; how to dig a little deeper and love each other better and better. He's just like me and completely different. It's amazingly refreshing to love someone because of your differences.



That takes me to what my sister told me a long time ago... She said as she was standing in my doorway "no one will be just like you or do things just the same way." Ummm. Really? That was pretty foundational for me. And that is exactly what gives so much freedom in relationships. It completely adds spice to your life!



Last night was the start of pre-marital counseling! More than anything, I left feeling encouraged. God intends marriage to be so wonderful! And now, pre-5.16.09, we're working on setting our relationship up to follow that intended grid.

March updates

Tonight's agenda:

Pick up Addy from doggie day care - check!

Organize wedding folder with new information - check!

Go to tanning bed (even though, yes, this prob isn't so good for me! I just keep thinking of the white dress that is on its way...) - no check. Didn't happen tonight due to the first check.

Buy new black pens for envelope addressing - check! I have a weakness for school supplies.

Listen while Chris opened our very first official wedding present - check! Thanks Melissa!

Start addressing envelopes - check!

Fix dinner - check!

Work on Dee-daddy's scrapbook - no check. This one is moving to a higher priority!

Do my pilates video - partial check. This one proved to be difficult with three animals.

Update blog - currently checking this one off the list... hello blog!

Look at Pottery Barn catalog and drool over a new rug - check!

Watch today's "All My Children" - check! Guilty pleasure.

Update wedding website and upload seriously slow pictures - check! Hopefully you'll like the new look and all the pictures we put on there! And there is a guestbook... feel free to sign! The link is in the last post.

Send facebook messages that I need to - maybe check after this!

Download songs for the ol' new blackberry! - no check.

Love on some animals, feed them lots of popcorn for dinner - check!

Talk to my Darling before bed - check coming! Going to get ready for his phone call now...

Good night and sweet dreams!