In Everything Give Thanks

Memories of 2011

2012-02-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

(Way overdue!!)

January

* I was still trying to comprehend that I was engaged and planning a wedding!
* Bought my wedding dress!
* Helped throw my future sister-in-law a baby shower.

February

* Donnie and I celebrated our 4^th Valentine’s Day together!
* Savannah (our niece) was born.
* My friend from jr high, Erin, had her baby girl.

March

* My oldest friend, Holly (our moms were pregnant together) got engaged!!
* My friend Steph had her precious baby girl!
* I turned 21 while I was on a business trip to California. (so it wasn’t too exciting)
* Traveled straight from California to Tennessee where I met my friends for a mini vacation! While we were there, my friend from elementary, Kara got engaged!

April

* My friend from elementary, Renae, got married!

* My friend from work, Maggie got engaged!

This was a serious year for engagements!

May

* We celebrated Donnie’s 21^st birthday.
* I moved into me and Donnie’s apartment with Holly and Julie.

June

* We took our engagement pictures!

*Gabby came to live with my parents.
* I had my first bridal shower with friends and family

* Traveled to Texas for work.
* Had my very first surgery.

July

* My co-workers threw me a bridal shower at work

* Went skydiving!! (for the second time)

This is such a bad picture but I had to put it up!

August – The best month of the year!!!!

* Holly, Julie and I went to Virginia Beach the weekend before my wedding for my “bachelorette” party! It felt so good to relax before that stressful wedding week!

* Tessa, my parents foster girl, went back home to live with her mom. I was so relived when she was still able to be the flower girl in our wedding. She had been looking forward to it since I got engaged! Tessa was the first foster girl my parents had. She was the sister that I never had! I miss her so much!!
* August 26^th – our rehearsal dinner (which was awful!!!). I also got to see my friend Steph and her husband and baby girl who came up from North Carolina for the wedding!!

This is one of the only pictures I have of the rehearsal. I had a dress picked out for the rehearsal dinner but for reasons I'm not going to share on here, I wasn't able to wear it. :(

* August 27^th – the best day of my life!!!

* We honeymooned in Hawaii (the big island). It was so amazing!! I hope someday we can go back!

September

* Spent our Labor Day traveling home from Hawaii. Were we ever jetlagged!!
* Opened our wedding presents at my parents house on our way home from the airport! We both look so tired in the pictures!
* A lot of September was spent getting our apartment in order!

October

* I got my very first flu shot and got the flu from it! I knew I shouldn’t have gotten it, but I needed the extra points for my company’s Health and Wellness program!

November

* First time traveling for work since being married. (to Chicago) I was gone for 5 days. It was so hard being apart for so long!!
* Two weeks later Donnie had to travel for work.
* I started my blog!
* We celebrated our very first Thanksgiving together!

December

* Maggie, my friend from work, got married! It was a beautiful winter wedding!
* December 12^th was our 5 year together anniversary!
* We celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple!
* December 30 marked 3 years since Donnie’s accident.

There is a Reason!

2012-01-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

Something I really need to remember today:

“God has placed every single person in our lives for a reason. Either to help us grow in some area or for us to help them.” – My wise father.

Today I am really struggling to remember this! I am very very frustrated with someone in my life but I know my attitude also needs to change! I need to focus on the good qualities this person has no matter how hard that may be!

Our Proposal Anniversary/Story

2011-12-30T08:11:00.000-08:00

One year ago on December 18^th we got engaged! I can’t believe it’s been a year already!

Here it is:

Donnie works at Window World. That Saturday he had to cover at another branch that was an hour and a half away so I went with him to help pass the time.

On the way home he mentioned that his mom was pressuring him to buy me a ring and propose. He said that we had plenty of time for that. (I figured he was going to ask me on Valentine’s Day or my birthday)

When he dropped me off at my house we made plans for that night. He told me to text/call him when I left my house which wasn’t too out of the ordinary. On my way there he called and told me to call him when I got to the town where he lived. I thought this was kinda weird but we were planning on exchanging Christmas gifts so I thought it had something to do with that.

So I get to his house and go inside and at the front door there was a stool with a tiny gift bag on it. There was a note that said open the gift and push play. Inside the gift bag was an iPhone. My first thought was “Awesome!!! I got an iPhone for Christmas!!”. Only to be disappointed when I pushed the power button and discovered it was his. My second thought was “Is he proposing?!?!” When I turned on the phone it went right to a video of Donnie telling me to go to the laptop and push play and after the laptop video push play on the second iPhone video.

I found the laptop which was surrounded by candles and pictures of us. I pushed play on the laptop and he had made a slideshow of pictures of us. “Chances” by Five for Fighting was playing in the background. At this point I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was proposing and I started shaking!

I played the second video and it was a video of Donnie telling me to get my coat and shoes on and meet him in the back yard.

I had trouble getting my shoes on because I was shaking so bad! I have no idea why I was so nervous!
When I got to the sliding doors, I pulled back the curtains and saw Donnie standing in a circle of giant, lit up, red candy canes. Inbetween the candy canes were white lights. I froze right there like an idiot. He motioned for me to come outside which snapped me out of my trance.

So when I got in the circle I noticed a bucket with cloth over it. He got down on one knee and said (I can’t really remember what was said so I’m majorly paraphrasing) “I’m really not good at one liners (insert a chuckle from both of us)…Will you marry me?” Of course, I was still in shock at this point and just hugged and kissed him and he asked, “Does that mean yes?” and of course I said absolutely, yes!!!

We then left to go to our friends and family’s houses to tell everyone!

He said his plan was to wait until Christmas, but he got the ring the Thursday before and he couldn’t wait!

It was the most amazing night of my life! (up until our wedding day) I will never forget it!

When we were dating he always apologized for not being a romantic guy. I think he proved that night that he really is!

The Story of Us

2011-12-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

The story of how we met isn’t long since we met when we were 11 so this is the story of how we came to be.

**Donnie says we met before this, but I don’t remember it! His brother went to my school the year before Donnie went there. He said we met the summer before 6^th grade at an open house.

Here is the story I consider to be our first meeting:

It was the first day of 6^th grade. I was excited to find out that I was sitting beside my best friend. As we were talking about how awesome it was I noticed this new kid take the seat beside my friend. He has black hair and was wearing a red checkered shirt. I thought he was cute. I was so jealous that my friend got to sit beside him! Honestly, I don’t remember anything else about that day. I only remember seeing him. I guess it was meant to be a significant moment!

The next semester of 6^th grade we were assigned seats next to each other and we became friends.

**Just a little background of my school – the guys in my class were AWFUL. They were extremely mean to the girls. It lasted all through elementary and junior high until the two ringleaders went to a different school. **

So it was hard to become friends when Donnie would be terrorized for even talking to a girl. But somehow we managed.

Fast forward to junior high.

Oh, junior high. The stage of awkwardness. Donnie was my best guy friend. Back then instant messenger was popular so we would sit on that and talk for literally hours. I liked him. Donnie liked girls. (typical junior high guy) The one and only fight I had with one of my friends Erin was about Donnie. We both liked him.

High school

Hallelujah, the two ringleaders didn’t show up on the first day of freshman year! As I scanned the classroom and realized 3 of the worst guys weren’t coming back, it felt like a weight was lifted. (that may seem dramatic, but they really were terrible!) Freshman year is when we really became friends. Really good friends **Donnie told me on our honeymoon that he told his friend freshman year that he’s going to marry me. Seriously, how sweet is that?!** Freshman year is also the year that I started going out with a guy from my church. Looking back now I think it’s a good thing we didn’t start dating that year.
Anyways, even when I was dating another guy I always felt drawn to Donnie. I always got jealous when he flirted with other girls. Kinda pathetic, I know.

The spring of our sophomore year the whole high school went to James Madison University for what we call international convention. The school competes in music, sports, etc. Well, we spent a LOT of time together on that trip. I constantly thought about breaking up with my boyfriend but I didn’t have the courage until fall when school started back up and I spent time with Donnie again. After that we decided to give it a couple of months. So 3 months later he asked me out and the rest is history! We only broke up one time (chalk it up to immaturity) during the summer and when school started we were going out again 3 days later! We never were able to stay apart from each other.

December 12^th is our five year anniversary!

I love him more and more each day!

Here are a few OLD pictures of us. :)

Us at regional convention

The two of us from our senior trip to Branson, MO

Us on our way to church

Our thanksgiving trip to Missouri in ‘08

Our first vacation together. (with his family) 2009

Me visiting him at college in Pensacola

Happy (late) Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was extra special this year. It was me and Donnie’s first major holiday as a married couple. And our fourth (crazy!) Thanksgiving together. We had such a good day! The night before Thanksgiving we put a million blankets on the living room floor and camped out while watching movies late into the night since we FINALLY got to sleep in the next day! It was so much fun! Except for waking up the next morning with a stiff neck and back!
That morning Donnie chilled in front of the tv while I made food.

Sweet potato casserole

Oreo cheesecake bites. These were heavenly! I need to post the receipe.

Me and Donnie right before leaving.

We went to my mom’s family for lunch. Honestly, I have never seen so much food! I think everyone brought an average of 2-3 dishes each! And with my mom having 6 siblings you can imagine the amount of amazing food we had! Here is a picture of the SNACK table.

My brother and his girlfriend Ashley

I had to throw in a picture of my adorable foster sister, Gabby.

I love that we still get together with our extended family. I have two cousins who are my age and we are closer than sisters! It’s always great to catch up with them while all the guys watch football.

Here is us at my wedding.

It was such a wonderful day! I have so many things to be thankful for!

*I am so so so thankful for my husband! I love him so much! *family *food * a warm house to live in * HEALTH (I know several people who are battling cancer and it makes me so thankful for my health) * friends * my job

And so much more!!!

So What Wednesday

2011-11-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

Today I'm linking up with Shannon from Life After I "Dew" for So What Wednesday.

Here is what I am saying "So What" to today.

* If I have been counting down the days until Christmas since August? It's my favorite time of year!

* If I haven't made a decent supper in two weeks. Everybody loves Campbell's tomato soup, right?

* If I am still working on thank you cards for the wedding! It's only been two months!! *Procrastination*

* That I surf Pinterest instead of making supper and writing thank you cards. How else will I get inspiration for Christmas decorations???

* If I look at my wedding pictures every other day? (All 350 of them!) I won't ever get tired of them!!

* If I already have the baby itch?? (In my defense we have been together 5 years)

Missing Him

2011-11-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

Today I am missing my husband! He will be in North Carolina all week for work. It's going to be a looooong week. Friday can't come soon enough!

New Job!!! (and other stuff)

2011-11-08T10:37:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago a marketing coordinator position opened up with our sister company, Saltillo Corporation. The job I was doing was pretty monotonous, so I decided to go for it. A couple of weeks ago I interviewed for it and found out a couple days after that I had got the job! My official start date was November 1, but I had to travel to Chicago for a conference so this week is the first week I have been actually been doing the new job. I'm so excited for the variety of work this job has. I'm the first person to be in the Marketing Coordinator position so I have to figure stuff out for myself. I'm so excited to start working on the company's new catalog. I actually get to use some creativity! :)
I told myself I need to get better at this blogging thing! I want this blog to kinda be a journal for me. I don't want to forget anything!!!
We have been married 2 months and 12 days! Some days it seems like we have been married for years! I love that we dated so long before we were married so we knew each other pretty well. Of course, you find something new out about each other just about every day! I love the intimacy and friendship that comes with marriage. I honestly never imagined that you could be so close to someone. I just love going home to my best friend every night. We just like hanging out together! Not that we don't ever fight - because we do! But somehow fighting even brings you closer. Last week was so hard being in Chicago away from him! It was our longest time being separated since being married. It was brutal! Now we have this week together and then he leaves for a week for business :( I'll probably be blogging a lot because I'll be bored! Lol
We got our wedding pictures a couple of weeks ago! I really want to do some posts with wedding pictures. Hopefully those will be coming next week!

Today I am so thankful that both my husband and I have good jobs!

Habakuk

2011-09-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday night at church our pastor preached on giving thanks. He read these verses from Habakuk 3:17-19:
¹⁷Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
¹⁸Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
He talked about how easy it is to give thanks during the good times, but Habakuk gave thanks during the hard times. I want to be someone who is remembered for being thankful in the good times as well as the bad times. What a hard thing that is to do! Everytime I post, I want to list at least one thing that i am thankful for that day.
Today I am thankful for so many things!
*Salvation
* My husband
* A place to live
* Food (at every meal. So many people are going hungry right at this moment)

Those are just a few of the many blessings that I am so very thankful for today!