Seven Years...

In seven years time, so much can change.

You marry the love of your life and your best friend.

You fix up a ratty trailer in the country and make it home.  You adore your pug, Trudie, like she's your child.  You learn how to be a wife, how to share money and a home.  You learn a lot when you are first married.

You take a few trips, date a lot, and feel rich, because for the first time in your life you have real jobs that pay & you aren't living the college mac and cheese life.

You love your jobs & experience a lot.  You travel around in helicopters & take trips to China.  You think it is an important job, and at that point in life it was.

You decide to have a baby.  She is beautiful.  She has Daddy wrapped around her little finger.  Daddy loves her so much he cries a lot.  You fall in love with him all over again, because he is an amazing Daddy and you have never seen that side of him before. 

You quit your "important" job for a better job closer to home with less travel & bling.

Then, you decide to build a house...by yourself.  You see your husband transform before your eyes again.  He's now a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician, a jack of all trades.  You used to hold the drill, now you realize he has been hiding his skills from you for a long time.

You have another baby, a boy.  He changes your hearts again & Daddy becomes an even better Daddy.  You move into your dream home, and say good bye to the sweet trailer in the country.  You feel for once "grown up".

Life gets busy, really busy.  You laugh a lot and spend a lot of time at home with your kids.  You date a little bit, and love every free minute you have together.

You watch him open up his dream business & pass his land surveying test.  So many years of hard work finally pays off.  He makes you proud every day.

You have another baby.  A baby that tests your faith in so many ways.  A baby girl that makes your marriage an even stronger partnership than it has ever been.  A baby girl that completes your family and makes your heart grow ten times in size.

In seven years a lot can change.  You never know what path God will take you down & how your life will pan out.  I thank God every day for Jade in my life.  HE picked the husband just perfect for me before I ever picked myself.  I am so thankful that I picked Jade as well and that he picked me back.  He's my best friend and my rock.  We've spent 14 years together, and the last 7 we have spent married have been the best years.  I look forward to many many more with this man!

Happy Anniversary Jade!

Half My Life...

Today I am 28 years old.  Fourteen years ago I met Jade and our story began.  I have officially spent half my life with this man & from this point forward more of my life has been spent with him than without him.  We share amazing memories together, and trust me we had a few bumpy roads in our earlier dating years as well.  We have been blessed beyond measure with two beautiful healthy children, a home that he built, and a marriage filled with friendship and the occasional argument to keep it real. 

Back then I was probably obsessed a bit with him, but at the young and immature age of fourteen I knew he was my future husband.  Our future is still unknown, but we know we have some rough days ahead as we welcome our daughter Ollie into our family.  However, everything we have went through has been together.  We are stronger now than we have ever been, and we honestly can't imagine life without each other.  So I look forward to my future spent with my best friend.  I am more than proud to be called his wife & to stand by his side as we celebrate a lifetime together. 

Tonight we celebrate by taking Aubrie to her preschool open house & baking cornbread for Everett's preschool Thanksgiving party tomorrow.  It should be a fun night & the kids are very excited!  Plus this week comes Florida - I can't wait!

To see some very old pictures of us in our earlier years, here is a blog of our dating story & one with our

engagement and wedding photos.  Enjoy because all of my pictures are old!  I hope to get some new ones in Disney!

Shocked In A Good Way

I blogged about my anniversary Saturday, but I had a surprise I didn't see coming.  My husband usually lets me plan everything.  I plan our get aways, I plan our dates.  I'm an organized freak & I like to know what's going on.  So I had booked a babysitter for Saturday night.  We were going to go to dinner & the new Matt Damon movie - Jade loves his movies.  So I kept talking about where we should eat etc.  I had movie times - everything was pretty much planned except the restaurant.

Unbeknown to me, my husband planned a surprise date.  He told me weren't doing any of the above.  I was so confused - I thought maybe he wants to see a different movie - weird, but maybe! 

Then, he said he got us tickets to see Allegria - a Cirque Du Soleil event in Champaign.  He also lined up my sister Maggie to keep our kids overnight & got us a sweet hotel room for the night.  I was in SHOCK!  Literally shocked.  I probably still am.  We had an absolute blast.  If you haven't ever been to a Cirque show - you must go - amazing every time!

These two girls blew my mind - what an athletic and limber pair!

An actual trapeze act - one guy fell - thank god for the safety nets!

What a muscle!  This guy was just amazing!

The IHotel in Champaign - yeah it's nice!

So applaud my husband - he did an amazing job & I was so excited to get a romantic surprise!!

Also, a thanks must go out to Maggie for keeping our kids overnight & forcing Jade to become a romantic man (her salon is attached to his office so she's always in his business - I love it!), and for Mom for helping purchase everything so I - the organized freak - wouldn't see charges on our credit card bills & call in fraud!

Committed

Jade is my heart. He is my first and only love in life.  I "met", this is a strange word to use when you go to a school of 400 students total, Jade on November 22, 1996.  I knew my best friend, Melissa, was hooking me up with him, because she was interested in his best friend Dan. 

Prom - May, 1997

I wanted no part of this plan, nor did Jade. The night I met him, Melissa & Dan planned a movie at Dan's house.  I sat on a stationary exercise bike seat for half the movie, because I didn't want to sit by Jade on the loveseat. Isn't that hilarious!  What an awkward girl am I that I literally sat on an exercise bike for over an hour to avoid him. It's hilarious! 

My College Dorm Room - September, 2001

Top it off with the fact that Jade always wore a flannel shirt in hunter green or Burgundy with some type of Nike shirt underneath, and what he thought were the coolest shoes ever - his shoendals.  Yes you heard me right, shoendals - his shoes/sandals.  They were hideous.  No offense to my lovely husband, but I really wasn't interested in him at all.  However, my other best friend Elly thought he was a "hot tamale" - which I didn't understand.  Why wasn't Melissa hooking Elly & Jade up?  She was right after all, and eventually, I changed my tun and thought Jade was pretty cute too.  Oh to be 14 again!

Our Honeymoon Cruise - March, 2004

So back to my story.  Jade finally convinced me to sit on the couch with him, I was completely awkward about it, but by the end of the night I was wrestling him and flirty in return.  The next day he asked me to go with him to a U of I football game, it was freezing, but with Melissa and Dan in tow - I agreed.  That was the first time we held hands.  He was really cute after all. 

Our Disney vacation - March, 2005

So I fell in love with this boy fast...even when Dad forbid it.  So fyi parents, don't forbid your children from the opposite sex, they will marry that person!  Dad only forbid it because Jade had a license & Dad thought he was too old for me.  After a background check with my cousin Drew, Jade was later approved.  Now my Dad adores Jade as his own son.

A Cardinals Game in 2008

I'm off on a different subject again - so sorry - I can't help myself! Jade was more interesting than anyone I knew.  He kept my attention, knew how to argue with me, but how to make me feel loved too!  I could spend hours on the phone with him, and I did.  One night while Dan was driving me home, Jade tricked me into my first kiss.  He literally said "Hey do you see that huge deer?" - I turned my head and got my first kiss from him.  Again, what a hilarious story.  This goes back to being 14 and 16 again!

4th of July, 2008

The rest is pretty much history.  We had a few breakups along the way - when you transition from 14 to adulthood, that's bound to happen.  However, we always loved each other & knew we were meant to be together.

My wedding set.

After 7 years, we were engaged November 1st, 2003 and wed March 20th, 2004.

He is my soul mate, my best friend, my partner in crime.  He is my brutally honest teammate.  Without him, I wouldn't have grown into the woman I am today - literally he shaped my life and who I am from 14 to my ripe age of 27.  He makes me laugh until I cry, and comforts me when I need to cry.  I'm truly blessed to have found a partner in life who is my everything.  He - so Jerry McGuire of me - completes me.

Fall 2009.  Here we are today.  13 years later and married for 6 years.

So today I wish my man a Happy Anniversary.  It's been 6 glorious years of marriage.  We only have 4 more & we're celebrating in a big way.  Mark my words friends, ten years of marriage will finally equal an amazing vacation for Jade & I.  To where I do not know, but we've made the promise - so Mom, Maggie, Abbie & Ruby - mark your calendars b/c my babies are coming to stay with you in 2014!  We're going to celebrate without them!

P.S.  I wish I could show you our scrapbook from 14 on.  It's absolutely hilarious & Jade & I were cracking up over ourselves.  Can you also tell that I like to change my hair a lot? 

Engaging

I was over visiting Mimi Bella Boo & she had a great link party about - I certainly did say YES!  So fitting for Valentine's Day!

I wanted to link up, so I thought I'd share my engagement story with you.

Jade & I had been dating for 7 years before we got engaged.  Read the story of us here.  He had graduated from SIUC in August, and was living in Barrington, IL up by Chicago.  He was a fancy land surveyor & was even featured in the Chicago Times because he was that cute!  To see each other, it was about a 7 hour drive, or a long train ride & drive out of the city to his apartment.  We barely saw each other that semester and it defintely wasn't often enough!  I missed him terribly!  I was graduating in December and I was tired of waiting on him.  I just could not understand why we were not engaged.  He for some crazy reason thought I was moving in with him when I graduated.  Not so much!  I landed a job 30 minutes from my hometown in Effingham, IL.  It was then he realized I really wasn't moving in with him, and I was serious about that.

November 1st, 2003 we were both able to be home in Shelbyville.  I pretty much forced him into agreeing to go diamond shopping that very cold November morning.  He kept poking around that morning & I was just sure that he did NOT want to go.  I was VERY upset about it, and shocked that he wasn't ready to committ to me yet.  I mean come on, it had been 7 years - how much time does one need?  I finally got him ready & in the car when he insisted we stop at his parents house.  We went in and I thought nothing of it.  Then, off we went again.  However, this time instead of going North on the highway to Decatur, he started driving East & up the dam hill (we have a huge dam at our lake).  This is when I proclaimed "You are just like your Dad, you constantly dilly dally around when we have places to go!"  I wasn't happy with him.  We had to be back that afternoon for some type of high school football game to watch Maggie cheer - I have no idea why!  So he drives up the dam hill & pulls into this parking lot at the top of it.  Again, I'm thinking seriously Jade - what the crap!

So he makes me get out of the car & he pops the trunk - again I'm totally clueless here.  Until - I see a picnic basket filled with a picnic & I immediately KNEW.  I was in shock.  I kept my mouth shut & he walked me over to this wooded area that overlooked the lake.  He spread out a picnic blanket & we had a picnic.  He even moved the grapes & I saw the ring box - I about died!  Then, he tried to say all the things he wanted in his heart without crying, but all he got out was - "To me you are home."  Then he proposed & we hugged for a very long time!  Gosh - now I have tears in my eyes remembering it!  I was so very excited - I had waited for this day a very very long time!  He bought me a beautiful & perfect round solitaire diamond ring.  I was thrilled.  After our picnic - it was freezing - we called all our family & they were dying too!  Then, we went to the football game & showed off my ring to all my friends & family.  It poured and was cold at the football game, but I didn't care because I was finally his!

We immediately set plans to be wed March 20th, 2004.  We didn't want to wait long at all :)  Read more about our wedding here.

Now we are a family with two kids aged 4 and 2 & a beautiful home.  I look at the 14 year old and 16 year old that fell in love so many years ago and then I look at us now!  I love him more than I did then, and every day I am more proud to be called his wife!

*I very much regret that we didn't take pictures that day - we obviously were not thinking of my blog back in 2003!*

Real Marriage

Real marriages are about committing yourself to your partner for the rest of your life. Promising to love them when you are sick and poor, wrinkly or fat - and most importantly keeping that promise.

Real marriages are about putting each other first - even before your kids - because you know one day those kids will move out leaving you as a married couple alone. You want to love each other even more than the day you married. You don't want to be roommates, but stronger soul mates.

Real marriages are about admitting when you are wrong, and apologizing even when you think you are right. They are about hugs & kisses, love letters, and sweet surprises.

Real marriages are about making each other a better person. They are about raising your voices together to the Lord in prayer for your family, and teaching your family about the power of prayer.

Real marriages face the struggles of lost loved ones together - putting your hearts into each others hands to heal the wounds & continuing to move forward.

Real marriages are about working side by side. Always remaining a team - a front to battle your kids & outside forces. Putting your blood, sweat, and tears into creating a home for your family, and providing a better life for your kids.

Real marriages are about providing loving examples to your children. About making them strong, independent, confidant people - but making sure they are all that filled with compassion. It's about giving your children the tools to succeed, and ensuring that they know what it takes to be a life partner to their future mate.

Real marriages are about holding hands, kissing under the mistletoe, and celebrating milestones together. They are about sharing each others success & passions in life.

My parents have all of these things and so much more. I strive to be the wife & mother my Mom is, and I strive to build my husband up to the man my Dad is. Because of our parents & the lessons they taught us, we expect the above things from each other & encourage the growth of love, communication, & trust in our marriage. I know that marriage isn't easy. Especially in a society that focuses on the I. Marriage takes a lot of hard work and some days it's not fun. My best wedding advice was from my pastor. It was to treat my marriage like a garden because you will truly get out of it what you put into it - so very true.

So today I want to wish my parents a very happy 29th wedding anniversary. They are amazing individuals, but an even better team. I wouldn't be who I am without them in my life. I love you both so very much. Now that I'm a married adult & Mom - I have so much more understanding of everything you have given me over the years. I will forever be truly grateful to be your daughter!

The Story of Us

Jade & I are high school sweet hearts.  We started dating when I was 14 and he was a mere 16.  Our dear friends Melissa & Dan hooked us up.  We went to a small school with about 400 students so we knew each other, but really not well.  We both were adamant that we didn't want to be hooked up - funny how that works out!  I really wish I had and old picture to post for you!  We have changed so much!  We have officially been a couple for going on 13 years! 

We dated long distance for so much of our relationship!  We both went to SIUC and graduated in 2003.  We got engaged November 1st, 2003 and married March 20th, 2004.  We didn't want to wait to be married for long!  Our first home was a nasty trailer.  We fixed up and made it into our cozy space.  Man alive has my home style changed since then too!  Now we have been married for 5 years, have 2 kids, 2 dogs, and our beautiful home. 

We are best friends, we bicker but rarely fight, and we laugh a lot.  We're very blessed to have grown up together and shared so many milestones with each other.  (Sorry if you are gagging over this, but I do love this man!)

He - as you have read - built our home for us.  I will always "owe" him for that one, and trust me he reminds me often!!  We are blessed to have a super handy family that helped along the way -  thank goodness I grew up with a hands on project family!  We literally did all of the work ourselves except the drywall and the carpet.  The best part is - Jade made all the major structural decisions, etc, and let me do all the design decisions.  He often thought I was nuts - AKA turquoise walls, but when it was all said and done, he agreed it was perfect for our family!

So in a nutshell that's the story of us.  I have so many years that if I told you everything - it'd take days!