One Year Wedding Anniversary

Where did that year go? Seems like not too long ago I was running around Omaha gathering up supplies for our wedding or calling/texting my sister and mom several times a day to finalize all the details. It was a fun, hectic and amazing time that I sometimes wish I could go back to but then I think of the love that has grown between Alex and I in just one year! I can't wait to see what the next five, ten, and fifty years brings!

We celebrated by relaxing together on the weekend which is something that we actually rarely do with our work schedules or traveling different places to see family or friends. 

After my 5K race  I came home to make homemade "Sweet Swine" pizza and watch the Packers game with Alex.

 Unfortunately the Packers lost but that wasn't spoiling our Anniversary day ;) Alex's mom stopped by to drop off a lovely house plant and a thoughtful card. 

Alex's "I don't know what to do with it" face

Even though the pizza was really simple to make, I was ready to have someone else make us dinner so we headed out west to one of Alex's favorite restaurants Kona Grill. 

Of course I wanted any excuse to wear a dress so Alex was forced to put on some dress clothes too. After ordering their delicious edamame and crab crunch rolls it was time for the main course! The waiter talked Alex into getting the pork loin and I had the house favorite macadamia nut chicken. 

"Lets take a picture in front of the fish!"

Both were delicious and left us very full but not too full to forget about dessert! We took some banana cream pie home for later and I reluctantly "shared" dessert with Alex. We are both bad at keeping surprises so we had exchanged gifts the day before and actually got each other THE SAME THING! So I guess with only one year into marriage we know each other pretty well ;) I checked my email Saturday night (not thinking there would be a gift waiting for me among all the junk mail) and I was excited to see a one hour massage! 

This & That {Mid Week Thoughts}

Hi Everyone, after I posted a recipe and tutorial plus weekend events I thought I would just share some random thoughts. First one has to be a funny moment at work. I was helping a co-worker turn a patient and this lady was yelling out "Help me Jesus..Oh Lord!" because she was hurting pretty bad. I think to myself..Oh this women must be a believer and a nice Christian lady. Well I was a little wrong. The next statement out of her mouth was "You know you are going to burn in hell for all the stuff you are putting me through!" Wow Lady! that is a pretty strong statement for 3 in the morning. Of course statements like this aren't rare up on the 9th floor so my co-worker and I just laughed it off. I should report that this lady was pretty confused too! The lady then continued to say that she was going to smack us and my co-worker reminded her that assaulting a health care worker is a felony (One of my favorite laws!)

 

I'm really liking this song right now by Chris August. The song has really grown on me and as a newlywed I like how it tells a story. I get goosebumps every time I listen to it and it has a strong message that couples really do give up to easily on their marriage and need God in the center.

Part of the Lyrics say
He said with this ring I promise, and with I do she said forever
But right now if they're being honest they don't know if they'll stay together
Let's fast forward to the future after struggling on their own
They finally figured out they needed Jesus in the middle
Now I'm watching God rebuild their home

 

And I have a confession also. On this blog I talk a lot about the pregnancy center and some people may not believe with some of the stances I take on issues of abortion and pro-choice. But I can say that I have not always been fully one side or the other. My mother is liberal and just like many teenagers, you develop a lot of your beliefs based on what your parents think. My mom expressed the importance of pro-choice and how it is a women's right to choose what she wants to do with her pregnancy. And for a long time that made sense to me, but now I can strongly say that you don't have to be pro-choice to still be a feminist! Being a feminist can span as far as fighting for the right to live of that unborn baby GIRL!

The first time that I heard about the pregnancy center it was at King of Kings Church. The director at the time was giving a speech on what the pregnancy center does and right away I felt drawn to that place. I still had my reservations about the whole pro-life/pro-choice thing but once the director said a specific part of her speech I was forever convinced. She explained that those babies that are aborted could have been the next President or the person to find a cure cancer. Those lives that God had planned out were lost though and their opportunity to do good in the world was no more!

TGIF

After a couple days of work I was ready to get back to my projects and have a little time to relax for a few days! I started off Friday by going to my Aunt's garage sale to hand out some business cards and do a little thrift shopping of my own! I ended up with quite the steals and can't wait to get started on refurbishing my new items! I will be sure to post the finished product of each item!

Favorite find! Large dresser with mirror for $60

Even with only 4 hours of sleep that day I surprisingly managed to get a 2 mile run in and completed this workout from IGE. I liked it because it is sort of the cross fit feel that I have been going for lately and it keeps you distracted by doing only 20 seconds to 30 seconds of the same workout at a time. But by the 30 seconds plank at the end, my arms were wobbly and my legs were shaking! 

I enjoyed a quiet evening with a few episodes of King of Queens and Friends with a few too many honey roasted peanuts while I chilled on the couch. I have to also say that it was my parent's 27th wedding anniversary on Friday and I'm so blessed to have them as an amazing example of what marriage is all about! Alex and I have grew up with great examples of love and I'm sure we will celebrate many more anniversaries with our parents :) 

Clockwise - 1) Okoboji 2011 2) 25th Anniversary Party 3) Kendra's Wedding 4) Party again 5) Packers Game 2011

Funny Moments from Our First Year {9 Months} of Marriage {Link Up}

Hello All!
 If your reading this from an area that does not have as beautiful weather as Omaha,NE today then I'm deeply sorry. I'm writing this post from my deck, basking in the spring breeze and watching Kobe Kitty swat at bugs! I've got coffee brewing (because it is morning for me) and my sister on my mind today because it is her first day at her Mayo Nursing Internship. Mayo is an amazing hospital that my sister has the wonderful opportunity of working/learning at this summer for 10 weeks! And even though I miss her very very much, I know this is a great step for her future career as a nurse {she does follow in some great footsteps} This week I will have 2 days off- 2 days on - then 2 days off again and I am kinda liking that schedule. It has given me time to post 5 new items to my shop!

But on to the Link Up! This comes from the new blog I follow Wifessionals and even though we haven't been married for a year yet, I thought I  would document some of our funny moments in our first 9 months. But first I wanted to give you a little background on our relationship if you don't know us that well. Alex and I met about 7 months after I had moved to Omaha. I was busy with my first nursing job at The Nebraska Medical Center on the night shift and pretty much just had time to sleep and go to the gym. Luckily (and I thank God all the time for this) I had chosen to become a member at 24 hour fitness instead of the YMCA. And 24 hour fitness does play a role in our relationship because we met at the gym at 2:00 AM! He was helping his friend Richard train for the marines and I had was just stretching following my workout. {I love telling this part of the story} He came up to me and said "Hey I was watching you workout and just wanted to say I think you are gorgeous" I was pretty dumbfounded and replied with "Even when I'm all sweaty??" Haha! But we struck up a conversation and the rest is history...Not a very long history mind you because that was in December 2010. By June 2011 we were engaged at Yellowstone National Park and Married at Heartland of America park in September 2012  :)

One of our Engagement Pictures in Grand Teton National Park

I think the funny moments in our relationship started right away from ordering pizza late at 1 AM on our wedding night to the crazy start to our Honeymoon. By my fault completely I thought I had reserved an All-Inclusive resort for our honeymoon. (Please use a travel agent folks!) I should have known by the price but I guess I was just so excited to book our honeymoon to Aruba that I brushed past that. Well as you can imagine I was very frustrated and in tears when we got there and found out our specific room was not part of  the all inclusive part of the resort. Alex tried to pick up my spirits and said "It's ok hunny we can just go to the grocery store and make our own meals, plus we don't drink that much to get our money's worth out of all-inclusive anyways" This is the part where I whine and exclaim "I don't want to COOK on my Honeymoon!!" After our first trip to the grocery store in Aruba we found out that things were pretty pricey and I was very frustrated and kicking myself, thinking that we would probably spend all of our wedding gift money just for food in Aruba for a week! But Alex's stomach had another plan. He was very hungry on our first night there and we decided to just go for a walk around our resort and maybe find a restaurant to eat at. His keen nose sniffed out some steak and seafood at a buffet on our resort. We walked in and Alex immediately grabbed a plate and said that we would probably just pay at our table afterwards. I was hesitant but all the food looked so good so we filled our plates and sat down. When we sat down I explained to Alex that I had noticed everyone was wearing green bracelets on their wrist. And I will never forget what he said "Hunny just hide one of your wrists under the table, this won't be very romantic but we are going to eat fast and get out of here!" Folks I don't condone our behavior and I don't want you to think of us as some Midwest cheap moochers but it was our Honeymoon.....and I did think we got the all inclusive.....and we were pretty hungry ;) We of course just ordered water (we didn't want to press our luck) hid our wrist under  the table and walked towards the dark shoreline with our bellies full!
I felt bad about it, and was like, ok we got one free meal now we will just explore restaurants for the rest of the trip but Alex was like "We could do this EVERY night!" with a big grin on his face. And yet again Alex's stomach won and I was a compliant wife. By our fourth night of mooching I was ordering wine and going back for seconds on dessert! Again I feel bad about this but if you tried their chicken nachos you would probably side with me ;)

My Hubby and the Beautiful Aruba Coastline

Shopping Downtown Aruba..Store named after me of course ;)

Squid Suctioned to Alex's Shoulder!! 

On the Snorkeling Catamaran cruise in Aruba 

Aruba was an amazing and exciting trip but that wasn't the end of our funny moments. I lot of our hilarious moments stem from being first time homeowners. Alex is not so handy and I am a DIY-er so I try to make everything "my little project". Which ends in many projects laying around the house, Alex frustrated and making fun of me for all my little messes and a LOT of help from friends and family to get our home in tip top shape. Just last month we were fighting over using the lawn mower! Alex was taking pride in the mower he bought and I was helping him bag the grass. Now I have mowed a lot of grass in my day (being a farm girl and all) and wanted to try my hand at mowing. I was watching Alex and starting to get bored so I motioned for him to hand over the mower and let me drive! He quickly replied "I want to do the first mowing!" Oh Brother!!! After convincing him to let me try I was mowing but not to his standards I guess because he said I looked like a Grandma driving it! I'm use to a riding lawn mower not this dinky lil push mowers!

Our First Home!!

 The second topic that always stirs up some hilarious comments have to do with our cat Kobe. He is always doing something that irritates Alex but those same things I just find are adorable :) From the way Kobe cuddles with us to me telling Alex I was going to start toilet training him...Kobe adds a lot of enjoyment to our (mostly my) lives. 

Snaggle Tooth!

Bring on the many many more funny moments in our marriage! Things that I am more likely to find much more funny than Alex ;) Hope you Enjoyed and Have a blessed rest of the day! I'm off to catch in a quick run before work!