Our Story

Ages 7 & 8 - May 1997

Who would have thought that two crazy, mischievous seven year old kids would actually get married? Dustin and I grew up together, attending the same church, belonging to the same homeschool co-op's and our families were good friends. Due to this we ended up spending a lot of time together, were great friends and it didn't take too long before we were majorly crushing on one another. He remembers me as a little girl with curly hair wearing flowery dresses and I remember him as a little rascal who liked to tease. Everyone knew we liked each other, though the fact that we often chased each other around probably gave it away. He gave me a ring he bought on a field trip to confirm his affection and I gave him one I won at an arcade. I listed his name on every game of MASH (if you grew up in the '90s you know that meant you were serious) and he teased me endlessly. It was "true love" from the beginning.

A Letter to my Grandpa Lou

Dear Grandpa Lou,

It's hard to believe that you are really gone. I was so sure I would get a chance to see you again, you

seemed to be doing well and we all thought you would soon be home. But the morning after March 15, 2013 I received a call from mom saying you were gone. I was blindsided and shocked, instantly full of regret and sadness but at the same time I had a sense of peace. Such an interesting combination of emotions and yet I felt them all, I remember sobbing on the phone as the news slowly sunk in. Death is so final for those here on earth, we're left with only our memories.

Hello 2nd Tri, Goodbye 1st Tri!

I find this picture, courtesy of Pinterest, hilarious because it pretty much sums up my first trimester. Dustin has been all gung-go while I've been, well, all gung-heave. But anyway, by the time this post publishes I will be 14 weeks meaning I am officially in the second trimester according to all the doctors, pregnancy books and websites. I have heard everything from 12 weeks to 13 weeks, 3 days to 14 weeks. I'd say I'm official. As you've probably figured out my first trimester has consisted of morning sickness. My ideal evening the past few weeks has been spent lying on the couch on my left side (it helps with the nausea) and not moving. At all. There have been quite a few things that I did not know happened when you are pregnant. Simply put, your body just gets plain weird. But despite all of the morning sickness (which I am still dealing with, ugh!), fatigue and quite frankly, moodiness there have been a lot of highlights.

The Big Trip - Part Two

Click here to read Part One

St. John's, Antigua

The Big Trip - Part One

Adventure of the Seas

When Dustin and I got married we decided that before we started a family there were a few things we wanted to do. We knew having kids would require sacrifices and the way we wanted to raise our kids would change a lot. If there was ever an okay time to be selfish as a couple now was the time. There were the usual things like enjoy being married, establish ourselves and do what we wanted to do. There were also two big things, buy a house and go on a big trip. We gave ourselves five years to accomplish this. And so the last four years have been spent enjoying being married and seeing small dreams that married couples have somewhat come true (some dreams you have to tweak a little). A year ago we were blessed to be able to buy a house with room to grow in and this year we decided to go on our "big trip". Originally the plan was to visit Europe in the Summer but baby fever has a way of changing things (I would just like to state for the record that both parties were extremely struck down by this) and so a year ahead of schedule we booked a Caribbean cruise for February. 

"Here, check this out"

I had suspected that I might pregnant. Well, actually the correct statement would be I was really hoping I was pregnant. It was that hope and the feeling of “I just can’t wait anymore” that caused me to drive during crazy, snowy weather to get a pregnancy test. It was a Wednesday and the day after Christmas; I had sternly told myself that I was waiting to test until the weekend but I’ve never been very good at listening to myself. And as soon as my clock changed to 12:00 PM and my lunch hour had arrived I dashed out my car for a trip to CVS.

Here We Go!

I know this is not related but every post needs a picture.

It’s the umpteenth time I have started a blog. I’m not even joking. There have been blogs for devotions, musings and just plain venting. There have been blogs for family, church and friends. Each one has been created, designed and slowly published posts appeared only for each one to be deleted in a fit of discouragement. But this time I think I hope it will be different. This time a blog is being created not for silly or vain reasons but it has been created for my family; my husband, our baby and any other members that become a part of our little unit. It’s a place to record memories, a place to journal the little things I don’t want us to forget and a place to plan our future dreams and goals. I am so excited to begin this blog, to create this scrapbook for our life as a family!