Six Years

Derek and I are celebrating six years of marriage today!  Or, as I explained to Jackson: it’s the day that Mommy wore her princess dress and Mommy and Daddy said that we will love each other forever! 

Here’s a flashback to our big day back in 2006:

Oh, and here’s another picture—my brother-in-law, Brad, eating like every single sandwich we had!

 
But I think the time has come to finally forgive him—he spent the evening cleaning my kitchen! Like, hardcore cleaning. In fact, he’s washing my dishes {the ones that didn’t fit when he loaded the dishwasher!}. I could get used to this treatment! I can honestly say, he’s my favorite brother-in-law!

And Derek worked on our laundry chute today to make it functional and child-safe! Just what I wanted! :)

They loved her first

Well, Julie flew home yesterday. Doesn't it seem like she just got here!? The good-bye was pretty teary, but I managed myself pretty well... Until I came home at the end of the day to an empty house. Ugh. It's been awful! I've been in a complete bummed out mood for the past two day; it's almost as bad (if not worse) than a bad breakup. If I had my way, I would spend the next week on the couch watching the Gilmore Girls eating chocolate ice cream!! It doesn't help that Derek is on active duty this week. Not just because it makes me extra lonely, but there's no one to tell me to stop eating fudge pops.

I am forcing myself to think happy thoughts, so I am sharing some of my favorite pics from the past year.

Jackson is wearing Julie's basketball uniform and shoes!

I stole this next pic from her mom's facebook page, but it was too cute not to share! Look how happy her dad is to see her. This has taken the sting away a little bit. She's back with her family and they have missed her so much! Seriously, do you just feel the happiness from this picture?!?!

This has been a ridiculously busy time. Like, too busy to blog! *GASP* So many updates coming soon, once Derek manages to put the keys back on my laptop. Yes, again. I get bonus points for making this blog post happen with half of my letters missing.

We are off to St. Louis tomorrow for my nephew's second birthday! It's also our 5th wedding anniversary tomorrow, but Derek's got a date with the army, so I will just celebrate with our cute little third anniversary present!

With this ring...

Today I am wearing my wedding ring for the first time nearly three months. Oh how I've missed it!!

When summer came around this year, the ring was just too tight and uncomfortable to wear. Of course the obvious reason would be that it shrunk, because we just aren't going to explore the other options. It was before I got pregnant (or knew I was pregnant, at least) so that's not even really to blame. I took it in to get resized several weeks ago and have just now gotten around to making my way back to Independence Center to pick it up.

I am so happy to have it back!! At least until I swell up even more in a couple of months and won't be able to wear it again. Especially since Derek has been gone, I've been longing for my ring, as if for nothing else to let the outside world know that I am married. Not that anyone else probably noticed at all... but I did. And I am proud of my marriage and am super glad that too have my bling back so I can show it off!!

Four Years

Updated 6-18: Since I just posted about my wedding last week, I went ahead and linked up to that entry instead of doing another one. My wedding day was so much fun! We had a breakfast brunch for all of ladies in my wedding party and those helping out to start the day (there were at least 30 people there!) and it was a casual afternoon prepping for the 4:00 wedding. I remember being so tired by the end of the evening, but it was just a great day. Thanks for stopping by!

Today, Derek and I celebrate our 4th anniversary! Our life is vastly different now that when we first got married (living in a teeny one bedroom apartment, sleeping in on Saturdays, seeing all the summer blockbusters- and sometimes even the midnight showing!) but we're so happy with our life together!

The Wedding

Some of my favorite things about my wedding (aside from the whole marrying my best friend thing): my four flower girls, the never-ending bubble path, my gorgeous venue for my reception- my parents backyard,  and just the fact that I had a lot of fun with all my friends and family that day!

The Honeymoon

We honeymooned in Miami for 5 days and then headed up to St. Petersburg for a few days so that Derek could be a groomsmen in a friends wedding. It was so relaxing-- Oh how I wish I could be at the beach again!

Wedding Season

The weather is warming up, the flowers are blooming, spring is here. It's officially wedding season.

And it's time to begin my second year of working some of those aforementioned weddings and other events at Lone Summit Ranch. As a guest, I've attended two beautiful weddings at the ranch. Really, you should check out the website and look at the pictures. Or get yourself to invited to an upcoming wedding if you really want to see the ranch in it's splendor.

The owners are super sweet and the wedding coordinator is super easy to get along with, so that makes working there pretty fun. I check the calendar for the upcoming events, email Robin the dates I am available and then wait to see if I'm needed for the evening. Last year I worked 10ish events over the course of the summer and fall.

Saturday night was my first night back for this season. I had most definitely regressed in my ability to perform a full nights work of manual labor (okay, so it's not like building-a-house-manual-labor, but it can be work!). It didn't help that we put in a good two hours worth of hard-core yard work that afternoon and we were a little understaffed so once the party started- it just kept going and going.

Staying up past 1:00am is not as easy as it once was.

Although sore muscles and achy feet accompanied me home in the wee hours of the morning- so did left-overs. I looooooove left-overs! MMMhhhmm. Smoked turkey breast, smoked prime rib, oven roasted potatoes (my favorite), green beans. Seriously, it's one of the best perks of the job.

I would like to say a quick shout out to a few of the wedding guests from Saturday night. Dear Sir, however handsome you may be, please attend to zipping up your pants inside of the men's restroom instead of walking out. Dear Ma'am, it is inappropriate to dig into the closet of your teenage daughter (please, please don't let that be an outfit that you call your own) and wear it to a formal wedding. Don't pick out your wardrobe based on what people from Jersey Shore would wear.

Most Wonderful (Busiest) Time of the Year

December has been a crazy month for us this year. Lots of going here and there to make sure to see our friends and family over the holiday. It is so nice to have both of our families here in the Kansas City, but it amazes me how much we still really drive. There was a time when we filled up my car four consecutive days in a row!

Derek and I attended the Singing Christmas Tree program at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church at the beginning of the month and I am just always so entertained by it. Laura and her dance studio perform each year, so next year make sure you go watch! My family finally got together to celebrate Ashley's birthday (which is October 23). It was well worth the wait to go to Texas Roadhouse. We need one here in Belton. Actually, one a side note-- here are a few things that Belton really needs:

1. Panera!!!
2. Best Buy
3. Olive Garden
4. Steak N Shake
5. Drive In Movie theater
   
6. Less traffic!!

Anyway... We had a nice first Christmas with Jackson. We celebrated with Derek's family on the Saturday before Christmas when Brad and Mary were in town. His parents got me a certificate for a massage and I am very much looking forward to using it soon! Derek's grandpa and Aunt Judy came to visit over the holidays, so we made sure to get to visit with them too. Derek spent Christmas Eve driving to Springfield with his mom to help Brad move, and I went up to Trenton with my family to visit my grandma's. We both made it back in time to attend the Christmas Eve service, which is one of my favorite parts of the holiday. On Christmas morning, we opened gifts at our place before heading up to Derek's grandmothers house in Richmond to enjoy a fantastic lunch. In the afternoon we headed up to Kearney to spend time with my family. My cousin and her family came down in the evening and it was real nice to visit with them.

The day after Christmas, we drove down to Springfield for Brad and Mary's wedding. Derek was a groomsman, and I a bridesmaid. The wedding was beautiful and everything went nicely. The little flower girl walked down the aisle tossing flowers and when she got to the front, she walked back up the aisle picking them all up! She then attended the reception in nothing but her undies and pantyhose, which is still cute and acceptable from a three year old.


While in Springfield, we stayed with our friends Jeff and Missy. They bought the house this summer and it is such a cute place! I told them we are moving in because Jackson slept so well while we were there!! I was excited to introduce Jackson to Sarah and Kayla and our other Springfield friends! Of course, everybody thought he was pretty cool!

I accidentally left my camera at a friends house the week before Christmas, so my sister was so gracious to loan me hers so that we could have pictures of Jackson's first Christmas. I'll post pictures soon!