Eleven

Eleven years ago today I married the most wonderful man...

I fell in love with him for various reasons: He's handsome, funny, adventurous, dedicated, forgiving and genuinely cares about others. He works hard and plays even harder. He loves God and strives to live according to the Bible.

Eleven years has brought a variety of ups and downs in our marriage, but through it all he's remained the man I fell in love with. He has changed a little: now he's a great father to the girls, and he lets me use some spices in the kitchen besides "Season All". :)

Being married to Erik is a great blessing. I'm super grateful that we've only gotten closer, had more and more fun and fallen more in love over the past 11 years.  

Happy Anniversary Erik, I love you so much! 

I'm so excited to see what God does in our marriage over the next eleven years!

Ten Years

Ten years ago today, I married my best friend.

I seriously can't believe it's already been ten years.

Or that it's only been ten years.

In honor of our anniversary, I thought I'd share a few pictures from that day.

These were all taken by my sister-in-law D.

Our beautiful flowers. We bought them near cost and then a family friend, Kim put together all the arrangements. She did an amazing job.

The kiss! :-) To Erik's right is is best man and a dear family friend, Darvin.

Married!

Erik is not a dancer, but he was such a sport to dance with me this night. It might be one of the last times we've danced, but that's okay.

At our reception. Can't have enough kissy photos!

It's been an interesting ten years, that's for sure.

Now we live in a beautiful home with awesome views.

We have two healthy, wonderful daughters.

His business is well established, allowing him flexibility in his schedule we didn't have in the early years.

I get to stay home and be a mom & wife.

Our family lives close--all my family is here and his folks are here part of the year.

We've had our ups and we've had our downs, but all those things have only brought us closer and deeper in love. I know him so much better today than I did that day ten years ago, but I also love him that much more, too. Marriage takes work, prayer, humility and humor, but it's oh so worth it. I am so grateful that God brought us together and has kept us together. And I'm so excited to see what he'll do with the next ten years and beyond. <3

Preparing

Sorry I've been a little absent lately.

Things have been just a little bit busy.

That and I'm rearranging my priorities a little bit in this new year.

(More on that later, I am learning so much right now and I can't wait to share it with you.)

But for now, I am preparing.
Preparing to leave all the snow, ice and cold that you see above

and go here....

The view from Playa del Carmen towards Cozumel

Those buildings on the horizon are Cozumel.

While there, I will probably see some of these:

Ruins

Beach views and the ocean

And my hubby most surely will do some of this:

Snorkeling.

I might join him. Or I might just read on the beach. It's gonna be a vacation, you know, and so I can do anything.

A whole week in the warmth and sun of Cozumel with my dear husband.

Oh, and did I mention it's just us this time?

The kiddos will still be back in winter.

While we are here...

Oh, and I have no guilt about that what-so-ever.

Eight Years

On this day, eight years ago, I was standing in front of our family and friends with this wonderful man. Actually, it was tonight, but still, its our anniversary. Part of me can't believe its already been 8 years, that seems like such a big number, but then again, has it only really only been that long? So much has happened in the past 8 years that sometimes I think it should be more than that! We've had our fair share of ups and downs, but we are more in love and better friends now than when we said "I do" that many years ago. I'm extremely grateful to have such a giving, loving and forgiving man to call my best friend, co-parent and partner. He jokes that I'm the luckiest woman alive, but truly, I am. Happy Anniversary Erik, I love you!!

I'm "IT"...

I'm doing this in response to being "tagged" by my writing/running/mom friend Melissa. :-) Its a survey about my wonderful hubby.


1. What is his name? Erik

2. Who eats more? He eats more, it seems like he's always snacking.

3. Who said, "I love you" first? I honestly don't remember, probably him.

4. Who is taller? Erik is almost a foot taller than I am.

6. Who is more sensitive? I am, for sure.

7. Who does the laundry? I do it all and I hope he never tries to help out and mess up my "system"!

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Right side while in it? That's him. Right side while standing and looking at it? That's me.

9. Who pays the bills? Well, I am the one who actually writes the checks but he's the bread winner since I'm just doing the "mom" thing right now.

10. Who cooks more? I cook but he'll help me out occasionally and does all the grilling, too.

11. Who is more stubborn? Oh, that might be a tie.

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? I think we take turns

13. Who has more siblings? We both have two siblings and ironically, we are both the oldest of our siblings.

14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Erik does, I refer all big decisions to him.

15. What do you like to do together? We camp, watch movies, fish, play outside, drink coffee, talk and take vacations

16. Who eats more sweets? Oh me, I'm a huge sugar fan.

17. Guilty Pleasures? Erik's would be his atv's, snowmobiles and now, dirt bike....but he doesn't usually feel guilty, he works hard and deserves to play.

18. How did you meet? We met at a bbq at my folks house....I was home for spring break and they had the whole single/campus ministry over to eat, I was extremely overwhelmed and shy so he thought I was stuck up and I don't remember meeting him!

19. Who asked whom out first? He definitely asked me out first.

20. Who kissed who first? Again, Erik lead here as well.

21. Who proposed? He did...it was a surprise. I thought I was picking up a friend whose car died (conveniently) at this nice restaurant on the hill...but instead he was there with flowers, a poem and of course the ring. We ate overlooking the city and then went to my folks' house for a surprise engagement party. It was wonderfully romantic.

22. His best features and qualities? He is forgiving, loving, has a great sense of humor and a sparkling smile.

23. Tag you’re it. Who do you tag? Jami & Jess (maybe this will get you to update that neglected blog, Jess! lol)

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Its a "stay in the house and curl up with a good book" kind of day. Too bad I don't really have time for that! I have a few minutes for this and then its time to clean my kitchen and get organized for the week ahead of me. I like to plan the week's dinner menu in advance to make sure I have all the ingredients and so I don't end up wondering "what's for dinner" at 6pm on a busy Wednesday. And I like to cook new recipes so this way I can plan ahead and try new ones once or twice a week. I tried two new ones yesterday for the bbq potluck after church -- a yummy broccoli salad and an even yummier rhubarb (rhubarb from my mother-in-law's yard!!)coffee cake. Mmmmm!

Dinner out was great (Finn & Porter) as expected. It was a bummer, our friends didn't end up getting to come but it was great just getting one-on-one time with Erik. We had calamari (the best in town) and I had french onion soup, also yum, and this blt salad that was good. I had some room for dessert and we got this molten chocolate cake that is what they serve now in place of "The Naugthy Cake" which I think was better, but this one was still ooey gooey good. You can't beat warm chocolate! We came home and put the kids to bed and watched "Hitman"....yeah I know not very romantic but still a good movie! All in all it was fun.

So here are a few shots of Kera today enjoying the outside even in the midst of the rain:

Riding her hand-me-down bike that she loves:

Playing in the new (free!! its a long story that shows how pathetic big box stores really can be) playhouse:
And finally, showing off how cute she really can be:

I love her!!! :-)

Great Expectations

I've learned a lot about expectations since I got married. I know I expected things of people prior to that, and was let down, but I don't think its ever been more striking (or funny) than it is in marriage.

For example, a week or so ago Erik and I got into a fight over soup. Yeah, soup. I had left a leftover container about half full of soup on the counter to the right a bit of the sink after warming some up for Lindsay for dinner. Not too much later he went over to the sink to do the dishes. I looked over just as he was dumping the rest of that container of soup down the sink and I freaked out.

"What are you doing? That was half-full and we were going to eat it for lunch tomorrow!"

"Well what are you doing putting it by the sink? We are always throwing away food the girls don't eat!"

"That was far away from the sink, didn't you just see me warming up some for Lindsay to eat?"

And it went on. It was stupid. All because I expected him to know what to do or to ask what to do with that silly soup. I apologized that same night for being such a freak and we've long since gotten over the soup, but the issue of expectation & communicaiton is an ongoing one in our relationship.

I don't know why, but its more common for me to be let down in my expectations within my marriage than in any other relationship. It might be because I'm closest to him and think he should know me well enough to just know my expectations and fullfill them. Or maybe its because I feel like I know his expectations (when in reality I probably really don't know) and so he should then know mine. Yeah, pretty illogical, isn't it?

This is where it all boils down to communication. If I don't communicate my needs or wants, how can I expect him to fullfill them? I can't. Yet I fall into that trap all the time, as if he has the power to read my mind. I think its hard for me to say I need something. I'm the one meeting everyone's needs in the house -- thats my job now -- so there is kind of a mental block I have between that and asking for help with my own needs. Not that I'm needy, but I think you get what I'm saying. So it is something I am working on.