We had a WONDERFUL time with Mark's family! There were a few little bumps, but otherwise a really good holiday. I got to enjoy my first taste of yorkshire pudding, breaking open crackers (not the kind you eat), and trying to find the pickle gift and other fun Peeples traditions ;) Mark got to enjoy some intimate time with the toilet and rumblies in his tummy.
Mark and I left for his parent's place on Friday (the 21st) after work. Mark showed up to pick me up with the car packed and loaded and we were on our way. Other than a few traffic issues, it was an uneventful drive. We were glad not to be heading the other direction as there were quite a few accidents that blocked and slowed lanes of traffic. We did stop off at Mark's favorite burger joint in Seattle to grab a bite - it's our tradition to stop there when driving to his parents. We also visited the nearby grocery store for some cough drops for me.
Saturday and Sunday were great! We relaxed, ate great food, watched a movie, took naps, visited with everyone, etc. The only down side (at least for me), was the cough I acquired before we left. It kept me up every night quite a bit (hence the naps). Mark's mom gave me some mega cough syrup but it didn't seem to make a dent.
Other than the cough, the trip was great... until Monday (Christmas Eve). Mark wasn't feeling too well and by mid morning laid down on his parent's bed. By noon he had thrown up once and pretty much enjoyed that ritual for the rest of the day. I stayed with him and read to him for a while, watched some tv while he rested and got him whatever he needed. I felt so bad for him it made me want to cry! Throwing up is the worst!!
Mark said it was okay if we left him for a short time to attend the Christmas Eve service that evening, which was very nice. Although I was sad to be there without Mark. Everyone was. Jean (Mark's mom) leaned over to me during the last song and said it was always Mark's favorite part because it was the end of the service ;) It was implied that Mark seemed to have double the excitement as anyone else, about Christmas and especially presents. So there was lots of talk about how sad it was that he wasn't able to enjoy the day.
That night we all gave Jack & Jean the camera we pitched in for them for Christmas. We stood in the living room and tried to talk loud so Mark could here from the bedroom. I also took a few pictures and showed them to him.
Later, after the stockings were hung by the fireplace with care, we all headed to bed. Actually, by that time the stockings were stuffed with gifts (apparently Santa showed up before we even went to bed) and were placed nicely on the dining room table. In Santa's defense, there really were too many of them to all hang near the fireplace.
Anyway, that night Mark slept poorly, but didn't throw up any more. Between his not feeling/sleeping well and getting up the middle of the night and me coughing half the night, we were quite the pair. But morning finally came and we went upstairs to join the rest of the family. After nibbling on a yummy cinnamon pastry and consuming a little coffee (Mark opted out of these 2 treats), we roused Adrienne (Mark's sister) and all gathered in the living room to open our stockings. It was fun for me to see the family routine on Christmas morning. It was pleasantly very similar to my families'. All the little gifts were really nice!
We then moved to the kitchen for breakfast of egg casserole (again, similar to my family). Some of us got dressed and some of us didn't, but after breakfast and cleaning up, we opening gifts. That was really fun!! Rian (only 2 years old) got a little overwhelmed part way through so went down for a nap. During which time Mark I were instructed to just keep opening gifts because we had brought ALL ours gifts for each other, and there were quite a few. Mark and I laughed when we discovered we got each other the same gift, a cool camera tripod. And appreciated that we shared the same idea and had gotten each other warm fuzzy bathrobes. We both were very pleased and excited about our Christmas gifts, from each other and the rest of the family. Everyone was SO thoughtful!!!
The gift opening culminated with Adrienne opening a much needed laptop from her parents. She was pretty excited and everyone else knew about it so we enjoyed watching her as she very pleasantly realized what it was.
After gift opening we moved into different activities. Mark got out his Playstation (he brought it because he was convinced he would be getting a game he wanted). Apparently he was right ;) I started getting us packed as he was feeling better, but not 100%.
We had dinner at 3pm and it was VERY yummy. It wasn't the traditional turkey, which was kind of nice and this is where I enjoyed popping open cracker, which included a paper crown... they all did and was a tradition to wear your gold paper crown through dinner. This is also where I tried my new favorite thing, yorkshire pudding!! Seriously, it was SO good!! And of course, my place setting had a napkin in a silver napkin ring that had my name on it. It's a tradition in the Peeples house that when you marry or are birthed into the family you get a napkin ring with your name on it. Jack & Jean had brought mine to set up on a table at our wedding reception so I had known I had one, but it was really neat to see it there. It's a fun reminder of how loved and accepted I am by this new family!!
Mark and I left at 5pm with the car loaded, wind blowing outside and light rain. Mark was worried about how he would do on the drive, but he did great!! I drove and we stopped only once. We had heard rumors of snow in Portland, but called ahead and found out that there was snow falling most of Christmas day, but nothing stuck. We ran into snow fall quite a few times between Seattle and Portland and only about a 5 mile stretch where there was a little on the road, but otherwise it was just really wet.
We got home at 10pm and unloaded the car. Mark immediately laid down because he wasn't feeling well and I turned on some heat, read the mail, and put a few things away before crawling into bed. Mark wasn't feeling well at all, which culminated around 1:30am when he hit the bathroom to throw up Christmas dinner. Poor guy!! I woke up around that time with a coughing fit that lasted for most of the next hour. This was the 5th night in a row of bad sleep, so was pretty frustrating. I got up and went into the living room so I wouldn't wake Mark until it calmed a little.
I was at work by 8am and was able to leave during the day long enough to hit the store for food for Mark and to check in on him. He was doing much better!
We had a rough re-entry back to home, but by the end of last night when we had put everything away, showered, were cozy in our new bathrobes, eating dinner and watching Mark's new Seinfeld DVDs, we were much better. Oh, and I had purchased some appropriate cough medicine for my type of cough and slept just fine last night!! I woke up a few times coughing but not nearly as bad as before. It's the worst thing I have ever tasted in my life but I think I'm in love with it!
The rest of this week should be fun. We have a few activities plan but otherwise plan to relax and take it easy. I'm excited as that is how I prefer to spend my New Years. Nothing like entering the new year fully rested ;)
I'll post pictures later.
My brother forwarded me this SWEET video today of a company that sells a blender and has a "Will It Blend" video series where they blend ANYTHING!! On this list, you can see an iPhone, Halo 3, Guitar Hero III, Chuck Norris and bad guys, blend! Oh man, I think I could spend all day watched these videos!!!
Because of these videos I'm definitely interested in buying this blender, but mostly so I can blend things ;) Even though you should NOT try these at home!!
That is the question. And I think it's obvious that the answer lately has been "not to blog". I have not forgotten about my blog world, but like some, am lacking content or motivation, not sure which one. But we're all allowed a little break now and then.
So, I'll post something more later, but for right now Mark and I are looking forward to Christmas with the Peeples. We leave Friday after work to drive to Whidbey and come back Christmas night. It's my first Christmas away from my parents, but I'm feeling excited about this new adventure. Mark also sacrificed Christmas with his family last year to join me and he was so great about it, so I'm glad to make the sacrifice this year. It certainly doesn't hurt that I really love Mark's family and enjoy being with them!! (and no, I'm not just saying that. I have TERRIFIC in-laws ;)
I'm also looking forward to tomorrow night when we have dinner and exchange gifts with Barb. I think it's fun when the first gifts of the season are exchanged ;)
As a side note, Sunday night I spoke at Insight with Barb and it was really cool to be back there!! I felt exceptionally inadequate to be speaking, but hope God used our message. Barb had come up with this cool idea of having the kids "consume" God by doing communion with like 4 times the amount of bread and juice normally distributed. I really appreciated the extra time to think and reflect while chewing on my hunk of bread, I hope the kids did as well.
I really miss hanging out with highschoolers and am not sure how long I will stay away. It's been almost a year since I was moved to Fusion (the college group) with my students. Jenni is also back as worship leader, which I think is pretty rad!! She's a great leader to students! I'm sort of envious they all get to hangout with her ;) I love students, but am enjoying the time to focus on being married and establishing a great foundation with my husband!!
If I'm not on again in the next week, Merry Christmas!!!
Mark and I have been on a budget since October. We've noticed a reasonable decrease in our debt each month, but we've also noticed a lack of money for other things, like new clothes. No, we don't think we need new clothes all the time, but a few extra pieces to help subsidize our fall/winter wardrobes would be nice.
We have varying clothing frustrations. Mark only has a few pair of "work" pants that range from being too big to too small with probably only pair that are the right size. My selection is lacking anything beyond the t-shirt and jeans variety of which I wear to work. I've even pulled out the ones from the back of the closet I'd rather not have in my rotation, just have a few more pieces to choose from.
You might see us and think we look nice and even stylish, but you are seeing the better end of our wardrobe. If you saw me at the past 2 or 3 events I've worn anything nicer than jeans to, you'd see the same pair of brown Gap pants I've been sporting this fall. They happen to be my only pair of pants that fit correctly beyond my jeans.
We do actually have a budget for clothes, but $60 a month for 2 people doesn't get you very far and I think we spent part of it on something else last month.
I'm not sure why I felt the need to write about this, but I was just reflecting on how today I'm wearing the same pair of brown Gap pants I wear when I'll be seen beyond my normal stops (work, gym, errands, home), and the same blue sweater I purchased with the Gap pants and a coat I haven't worn yet this fall that I like. It all goes nicely together unless you look closer. At which time you'll notice the jacket has black trimming, which doesn't match my navy blue sweater or brown pants! I decided this morning, when I had no other warm nicer winter coat to wear, that Beggars can't be choosers!!
Whenever I hear that title I think of the old Christmas song where the boy lisp-ly sings about simply wanting his 2 front teeth for Christmas. I have to admit that this year I already have what I want (Mark as my super wonderful handsome husband), so anything else is simply icing on the cake!!
My mom is a fantastic writer and she's written several articles for Crosswalk.com and Peacemaker Ministries. Last year she posted an article about all she wanted for Christmas. Here's a little blurb and a link to the rest of the article:
"All I Want For Christmas... Is A Peaceful Family"
I began to collect Norman Rockwell prints as a girl. At 17 my favorite Christmas gift was a giant book of Norman Rockwell paintings and Saturday Evening Post Covers. I loved the detail, the nostalgic scenes and faces, and I would spend hours poring over the pages.
The November 24th issue of World Magazine featured Norman Rockwell's painting Freedom from Want from the "Four Freedoms" series. This picture, depicting three generations enjoying a holiday meal, reminded me of why I love Rockwell's paintings. I long for loving, peaceful family moments like this.
When my mother was asked what she wanted for Christmas, she would always respond, "I just want a family that will get along together." We did have our share of conflicts and maybe that was the beginning of my fascination with Rockwell paintings. Warm meaningful moments are frequent themes of Rockwell's work, and I wanted moments like that in my family. This desire for peace in my home continued on in my adulthood. Buried deep in my decision to home school was a desire for a conflict-free family.
Click here for the rest of the article.
I find myself with a few minutes on my hand and a computer in front of me, but I can't think of anything to write. How is that possible?? I think of dozens of things to blog about all day every day but now, when I'm at the computer, I can't think of what to write about. So I thought I'd do random throughts.
- I sort of wished our power went out at home. I think it's fun to be without power for a while.
- Peanut M&Ms are calling my name right now. I tried to take it easy, with only a few at a time but that doesn't seem to satisfy.
- Speaking of eating, I've been battling a mild desire to "take it easy" on what I eat lately. Even so far as trying to come up with a "diet plan". I always comment that I don't diet and after trying to follow a lower calorie count last week, I remember why. So I'm not sure the solution but I guess moderation is my theme.
- My effort to take it easy on running is coming along quite effectively. In other words, I haven't run in several weeks. I sometimes feel bad about this but then remember my body was getting mad at me so spend my gym days on other activities, including a turbo kick-boxing class that rocks! Although I'm definitely not working as hard as I should be. But decided it's okay for right now... at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.
- Mark and I are doing great!! His work continues to be challenging and our little life together continues to be wonderful! Recently we've been trying to come up with weekly meal plans, but don't have much of a system yet and are on our 3rd month of budgeting, which we're struggling through and starting to see a few benefits.
- We decorated what we're calling our "training wheel tree" - a borrowed fake decorative tree we got from Barb and put some lights on and then some of each of our ornaments. It was fun to talk about what all the decorations meant and where they came from. Neither of us had pulled out our ornaments in quite a few years. When we were in Montana my mom hooked me up with some fun starter Christmas decorations that helped around our place ;)
- As I've spent Starbucks dates with God, I've missed my role(s) in ministry. I think not being in ministry is good for me, but I sure the booster in your personal relationship with God as you can't really slack off as much when in ministry. I'm trying not to slack, but there just isn't as much going on right now. I'm trying to enjoy the break as I know it won't last!
- I think that's all I can come up with at the moment.
Happy Holidays!!
Filling up at a ghetto gas station in Lind, WA when we almost ran out... the burnt orange Cobalt was our rental car. You thought we'd drive all the way to Montana in the winter in the Mustang?? Hah!
Driving
View from the car. Beautiful!!
The dining room table set for dinner. My dad "made" the second part of the table the night before but cutting plywood to sit on top of a 6ft table, that matched the same lines as the dining table. I was impressed!
Mark playing Guitar Hero 3 on the big screen at mom and dad's. Their new family room set up is SWEET!!
Goofing around at our Pizza Hut dinner in Anaconda. We were the only ones in there.
The family at Fairmont right before we left. They are good people!
Fairmont
A random shot from the car. The scenery was incredibly gorgeous!! I loved this red barn with the white snow. Classic Montana. I love Big Sky country!!
The mountains and sky going over the pass that took us from Montana into Idaho. It was weird because the minute we crossed over into Idaho the clouds showed up. Otherwise it was a beautiful sunny day!
This morning I didn't put on any make-up or do anything more with my hair than pull it back into a low pony-tail. I also am not dressed nice in my jeans, a sweatshirt and fleece jacket. When on our way to the bus stop to drop off Mark, he looks over at me and says, "wow, you are SO beautiful!" He seemed to be quite taken with me in that moment. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and wasn't sure why he thought I was beautiful, but was really thankful that's what he sees when he looks at me, even in not-so-attractive clothes, no make-up and frizzy hair.
He's the greatest husband in the world and we have more fun together than I thought possible!! I would love to share some of our funny things, but I'm afraid they wouldn't be as funny to anyone else ;) Lets just say that even though there are a few bumps along the way, being married to Mark is far greater than I imagined!!!
On a work related venture I recently signed up for Ideal Bite daily tips. It's a website that shared ideas for "green" living. It promotes lower energy costs, giving back to our community, etc.
I'm not really a "green" type person. I know people who are and I think it's great, but it's never been my gig. However, after reading these awesome daily tips over the past week I've decided I want to make a more conscious effort.
Check out there idea for Thanksgiving.
I normally don't like a lot of regular newsletters I have to read through, but these are really good, interesting, short, informative, and have excellent ideas. So check it out!
Monday night Mark and I enjoyed the Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals concert at Keller Auditorium. I surprised Mark with the tickets before we got married. It was a GREAT concert!! Other than Mark being tired from a long day and sleeping through part of the opening act, we had an awesome time!! We also bought the new album for our Montana drive next week and a concert shirt and sweatshirt to remember the event ;)
Last weekend we drove up to Seattle for Rian's 2nd birthday party. It was very fun!! We stayed both Friday and Saturday night with Steve & Michelle (Mark's brother and sister-in-law). Mark's parents and sister joined us for Saturday and Sunday. It was neat to see Rian turn 2. She is SO cute!!
One thing I love about Peeples family gatherings is they are so relaxed. We don't do much, just hang around and talk and eat and watch tv and everything. Mark and I enjoyed our first nights away from our little apartment and felt like it was a little slumber party ;) Newly married life is still very fun!!
Here are some cute pics of Rian. And if I hadn't previously mentioned, we're all excited for her newest little sibling expected around may!!
(Sorry about the side ways pictures. Not sure what happened.)
Hello,
My name is Mark, and this is my first blog. I always thought that blogs are supposed to be about something so deep about life, or the meaning of life or something. So it seems to me that blogs would be a challenge to write. So this might be my last blog :-). But I enjoy reading blogs of others, and it is a great way to keep up on news of others. My wife is a great blogger! My sister in-law is too, and I like reading them all. I love my wife a ton, and I love God!
OK, bye.
I'm curious.... When do you start listening to Christmas music? After Thanksgiving? Any time in November? Not until December? After Starbucks breaks out the holiday cups? Or some other time?
On a separate note, those of us at Jocelyn's ceramic party a couple weeks ago were asked to post pictures of our finished pieces... mine didn't turn out quite like a hoped, so it's not worth posting. However, the blue was so dark that it almost hid the black text completely. So the fun part is that the "message" at the bottom of my mug for Mark, turned out to be like a secret surprise (when viewed in a very bright) Hah!!
Barb's bowl turned out very nicely though. She even got a "Good Job" note from the ladies who did the firing. You should pressure her post a pic.
Here's an update on a few things:
Eyes - Mark's eyes are doing well! He's excited about not having to wear corrective lenses of any type although disliked the protective goggles he was required to wear sleeping at night. He had his 1 week check-up today and things were good. He does notice a little blurriness, which the Dr suggested could be from dry or tired eyes.
Running - I ran last night for the first time in 1.5 weeks. I hadn't noticed how my odd knee/leg pains had subsided, until last night's 3 miles on the treadmill. I'm thinking of only running on Saturday's for the rest of the year and doing other workouts at the gym during the week.
Holiday (Tday) plans - we're driving to Montana with Barb! Should be quite the adventure ;) About 14 hours each way. We leave Wednesday after work and return Sunday.
The week - Pretty much every evening this week one of us was sleeping on the couch ;) Or Mark played his Grand Theft Auto game and I wrote Thank You cards (no, still not done yet). During Mark's sleeping bout last night, I got to watch 4 episodes of a show I'm getting on Netflix. Fun!! It's been a low key week, which has been nice. And I'm still trying to get over a little cold.
The weekend - we leave tomorrow night to spend the weekend with Mark's family in Seattle for little Rian's 2nd birthday. Very fun!! Last year at Rian's birthday (when Mark and I were only dating), they had us all write her something on a little piece of paper to save for years down the road. I contributed, at their encouragement, and am relieved this year to know that she won't be reading something in 15 years from some random chic her uncle dated when she was only 1 ;) I'm excited to see Mark's family now that I'm officially IN. And other than our honeymoon, it will be our first couple nights away together. Will be fun to share a bed someplace else ;)
By the way, my friend Marla informed me that I ran the Portland Marathon a couple minutes faster than Katie Holmes. I'm not sure, but that makes me feel good ;)
There are areas of my life in which I wonder, is this all I was supposed to do? Is this really all God had in mind for me?
I've yet to determine the answer to these questions. I try and make sure my filters are on and turned up high. My filters are questions I ask myself like, are you looking for satisfaction in this thing instead of God? Are you defining yourself by this thing instead of God? This area of my life seems to pass through these filters, time and time again. Sometimes the answers are good and sometimes they prompt some soul work. And yet, I'm still here. Why?
In this area of my life, why does this seem to be all God has planned for me?
Or is it and I'm missing a boat? No. Something in my gut tells me I'm supposed to be here. But I don't know why.
Last night in my book study group I mentioned that the first thing I want to do when I get to heaven is sit in front of a big 3-D screen (but without the stupid glasses that give you headaches) like at Omsi, in comfy reclining chairs, with God at my side, and replay my entire life. We briefly discussed last night what kind of emotions we might have or not have in heaven so I'm not sure if I'll cry at times or be embarrassed. But I want God to show me my life and explain why things happened the way they did.
Of course, then I'll say, OH!! That makes perfect sense. Wow! You really did know what you were doing. I should have trusted you more.
If I KNOW I will say that then, why can't I just trust him more now? I feel like I have a decent imagination, but even I can only come up with really weird or crazy ideas that seem too far-fetched to put any stock into why things play out the way they do sometimes.
But I will admit that I frequently I fall into the trap of thinking I have a better way. Thinking I know the way that would be best for me.
That's the one filter I never seem to get through, am I trusting God that He really does have my best interest in mind in this situation?
Most of the time, my answer is no.
Mark is home!! Finally!! He got home Monday at noon. My work was nice enough to let me take the afternoon off at short notice (didn't find out about Monday's return until Sunday morning).
We have VERY MUCH enjoyed being together again!! It's almost like we just got married. We joked that we felt a little like we should have some kind ceremony before we could just go home together ;) Funny! Since Mark has been home he's enjoyed time off and relaxing, catching up on sleep and movies.
Mark got me a gift on his trip. An 80gig iPod!! My 2.5 year old 20gig busted a few months ago and we've missed having all our music in one place, especially on trips. That was a super fun surprise!!
This picture is Mark at his pre-op appointment for his eye surgery that we went to this morning. 
He's all assessed and approved to move forward with the surgery scheduled on Friday. We're very excited (although he's pretty nervous)! I'm taking the day off work so I can take him to the appointment, home, and take care of him.
If you are wondering about my hair appointment, it was just as fun as normal! If you're interested about how the color turned out, you'll just have to wait until you see me sometime. It's a little more red than last time.
Right now we are at Barb's. Just had a nice dinner and are going to catch up on the past 2 weeks of The Office.
Happy Halloween!
I wonder when Mark is coming home? My current prediction is Tuesday (at the earliest). You know, all last week I prayed that God would bring Mark home on Tuesday. But I meant last Tuesday. I wonder if I didn't make that clear and God misunderstood?
I'm excited to eat the yummy spinach dip I made for the fun girlie ceramic party thing tonight that Jos organized. Although I'm not creative so am not looking forward to having my stupid creative thing look like a 5 year old did it.
While Mark has been gone I feel like I've been fairly productive with my time, now I'm ready for a break and some non-productive time.
I wonder when the strange knee, heel, and arch pain that I get randomly before/during/after I run, will eventually go away completely? Should I be doing special stretches? Na!
My good friend Raychel gave me some one-on-one attention the past two weeks and it's been SUPER fun to hangout with her. Love you friend!!
I have a hair appointment on Tuesday and I'm SO excited!! Do other people get as excited about hair appointments?
Right now I'm at Barb's during my lunch break, eating left-over pasta and using the Internet. On the way here, I squealed my tires around a tight corner. Other than my purse, sitting on top of some boxes in the seat next to me, sliding into my head, it was super fun!! Sometimes a girl who owns a Mustang just needs to take a corner a little faster here and there.
Those of you in the blogging world might be wondering, "why the sudden influx of blogs?" Well, it's because my life and debriefing buddy is still overseas and me being an extrovert and verbal/written processor, needs an outlet.
When I started blogging I told myself I was not allowed to blog during periods of emotional instability. That is why there is sometimes long gaps in my posts. But in a moment of weakness today, I thought I'd share some things I've been thinking about over the past few months...
I've been pondering an idea about life. Do some things just happen? I believe God knows all and although we have free will to choose what we do with our lives, He knew what we'd choose (although this is hard to wrap the mind around). He's all knowing. I also believe that God does not "react" to things, why would He need to react? He already knew it would happen. So nothing is a surprise to our God.
The question is, does God always have some big huge plan in everything that happens in our lives? Or are some things just circumstantial, the effects of other people's lives rubbing off on us, or just life playing out?
I get stuck on these questions. If God does have a big huge plan for every single thing that happens to us, then are we wasting all these opportunities to learn or grow? Does he hold something back from us until we figure out what he's trying to teach us? What if we never get it? We will always be without the thing he thinks we need to be without to learn the "lesson" he has for us? And why do these "lessons" always seem to be hard, painful, and uncomfortable? Or are the lessons also good things but when it's good we don't notice it as much?
I guess you could say the opposite could be true. If God doesn't have a super big reason for everything bad that happens to us, then it's the same for good things. Good things just happen and are out there. For some reason, it's easier for me to believe the good things are direct from God and the bad things are just life. Maybe it's easier to believe because I don't feel like I deserve the good things and good things don't always happen to me (although God did give me a good thing in my super wonderful amazing and handsome husband!!). But how about all those little things that happen? Like having enough money in your budget to make it to the end of the month, or getting an unexpected refund check, or going to a meeting where your favorite cookies are available on the very day you were craving them. Are those things from God or just life?
There might not be an answer to these questions, but these things I wonder. On some level, I'd like to believe that the hard things are specific occasions God has set up for us to learn something, but when I believe this, I get afraid that I'm not learning it so the hard thing will last for a really long time!! Or at least until I get my slow wits about me enough to figure out he's trying to teach me something and learn it.
Is God all about just trying to teach us lessons? I feel like God is the only place in my life I can go without fear of failure and if I believe that I can fail in how I do a relationship with God, then where can I go? And where did these feelings of failing and never doing good enough come from? I feel like I can never do things quite good enough. I'm never putting my full effort into it, I'm slacking, I'm capable of more. I always feel like I'm failing. I could do better at my job, could keep my apartment cleaner, could make myself look better, could workout harder and run faster, could cook more often, could eat healthier, could be nicer to people, and on and on. Underlying everything I do is this feeling that I could be doing it better, more quickly, sooner, with better quality, more often, or less often. And after a while, it all just makes me tired.
Sunday morning Trisha (my running partner) and I ran the Girlfriends Half Marathon in Vancouver, WA. This was a GREAT event, for a number of reasons.
Before every race, we talk about whether or not we want to run for a good finish time or just for fun. We normally settle on just having fun and if we beat out time, excellent! Same thing with this event. For me, it's two weeks after the Portland Marathon and for Trisha, it's her longest run for a couple of months so we both had potential handicaps going into the event.
The event was promoted for only women and advertised having cute men (who ended up being firefighters) hand out chocolates and food at the end, as well as a gift from a local jeweler. We didn't really pay too much attention to all of that when signing up, but it turned out to be pretty neat.
This was the first year for this event and they were very excited to get 400 participants. Both Trisha and I have done very small events before and didn't have very good experiences so were glad this wasn't shaping up to be one of those.
As it turned out, the run was GREAT!! We did a personal best of 2:17 and some seconds (see my previous post for other half marathon finish times). Although, shaving about 7 minutes off our previous time seems almost too good to be true so I'm almost wondering if the course wasn't measured correctly. But either way, we both did well and felt pretty good, only walking a couple times. It was a low key event with great weather! And as promised, there were men passing out chocolates, little charm necklaces (see picture) and water and other snacks at the finish.
And as an added surprise, I had a voicemail message from Mark when I finished, telling me how proud he was of me!! That was really neat because I love how supportive he is of my running and really missed having him there to cheer me on.
You can view our finisher pics here.
It was really neat to do this race with Trisha and run well and at a good pace. It was our last race of the season and really felt like a great finish to a really good running year! Another thing that was neat about this race is that the 13.1 miles carried me over 703 miles so far in 2007. 702 was my total mileage for all of 2006, which is something I had hoped to do, beat my distance for last year. So that was awesome!
Last week I blogged about the things I hoped to get done while Mark was gone. He's still gone and here's the progress I've made so far.
Updated as of 10/22
1) get most/all of the wedding Thank You cards written (my plan is 10 per day)- Half way done. Hope to finish them this week.
2) get more caught up on scrapbooking (I'm breaking it out tonight to make headway on the big event I want to finish before starting on the wedding album)- Started, but it's a slow moving project.
3) try and eat through food in our freezer, cupboards and fridge, saving on grocery money (e.g. chips and dip, frozen crock pot meal, pb&j, and whatever else I can find) - I've hardly eaten at home, if that counts. And only spent money on 1 meal out so far.
4) try a few bread machine recipes that Mark might not care for - tried one and it was okay. I realized there aren't too many that Mark wouldn't eat that I want to try.
5) clean the apartment - DONE
6) try and "set up" the second bedroom, complete with making the desk functional, organize the bookshelf, hang pictures, update filing - I updated filing but otherwise didn't get any further on this list.
7) hang more pictures - I won't get to this.
8) plan a few social activities I might not otherwise, hangout with Barb, run a half marathon on Sunday, etc. - I ran the half marathon and did a personal best!! I've hungout with Barb and had dinner with my friend Raychel on Thursday night. But otherwise I mostly worked out and worked on my projects at home.
While at Starbucks during my lunch break today, I ended up in line behind a beautiful woman! She was probably about my age, though could have been younger, dressed casually with straight brown hair, nicely made up face. She had a very cute 2-3 year old little boy on her hip and a little girl about a year or two older, in a wheelchair. The little girl obviously had some type of physical and/or mental disability.
I couldn't tell if the woman was the mother or care taker. Honestly, I was surprised to see such a beautiful woman with a disabled child. I'm not sure why.
Sitting across the room, I watched, trying to gage the level of interaction this woman had with the kids to possibly determine her relationship with them and/or her feelings towards the disabled girl.
Throughout the 30 or so minutes I sat there, the young woman never seemed to smile. She engaged very well with the little boy, but not as much with the girl. She fed her a Starbucks pastry of some kind and wiped her mouth at one point while talking sweetly to her, but most of her attention seemed to be on the little boy. At one point, I heard one of the children making a loud noise and I looked up to see the woman hugging the little boy in her lap with the little girl yelling for what, I assumed, was a desire for similar attention. In fact, it seemed almost obvious that this little girl wanted the same type of attention.
I struggled to try not to judge the beautiful woman, thinking she was mostly turning her attention towards the cute little boy and not enough of her attention towards the disabled girl. After all, the girl deserved just as much love and attention as the little boy. Just because she couldn't communicate or function like a "normal" child her age, didn't mean she wasn't aware of the attention being shown else where.
And then the thought occurred to me. What would I do if I was the care taker of these two little kids? In all honesty, I would have had trouble taking the job to begin with. I might have felt self-conscious when interacting with the girl in public (wondering if people like me were watching and judging). It would have been awkward for a while as I developed a relationship with the girl, which I might have done timidly. I might have felt like I was "scoring" more points because I was taking care of someone who needed special care.
I'm not sure there was a point to this story other than how I was struck by my own quickness to judge others. Whether that woman was the care taker or the parent, she was really trying and who am I to think I could do better in a similar situation? I probably wouldn't, which is why God didn't place me in that position. I'm left feeling like I should pray and should have looked for a way to encourage this woman, no matter how much I may have been a little intimidated by her beauty. She was really making a great effort and that is certainly more than I have ever done!!
I have a love hate relationship with running. Sometimes it's the hardest and last thing I want to do and other times I love it and wish I could do more!! The latter are few and far between feelings ;) Although tonight was a good run. I changed at the gym after my workout and put on my Portland Marathon finishers shirt. I've worn this shirt more proudly than any other race shirt I've ever earned! We trained, we ran, we ran well, we finished!
One thing that always makes me feel inspired, is doing races. A while ago I decided to start keeping track of all my races. I went back to try and remember as many as I could. I started doing 5 and 10ks in 2001 and 2002, but could only remember enough to start tracking from 2003. Here's the run down...
'03 32:15 5k race
'03 1:02 Bridge to Bridge 10k
'03 Bloomsday 12k
'04 2:38 November Seattle half marathon
'05 BolderBoulder 10k - couldn't find results
'05 2:17 June Columbia River Gorge "half marathon"(12.2)
'05 Oct Race for the Cure 5k - couldn't find results
'06 Mar Heart & Sole 10k - couldn't find results
'06 2:35 June Governor's Cup half marathon
'06 6:20 June Mayors Marathon
'06 6:41 July Gateway to The Pacific marathon
'06 Aug Hood to Coast Relay -
'06 Sept Austoria Assault Adventure Race
'07 2:25:02 April Whidbey Island Half Marathon (time was actually a few minutes less)
'07 2:24:52 (actual) June Helvetia Half Marathon
'07 5:24:23 (actual) October Portland Marathon
And speaking of the feeling of accomplishment, here are our marathon finisher pics!.JPG)
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We celebrated Mark's 29th birthday yesterday. It was a wonderful day!! We both took the day off work (partly because he leaves on Saturday for a 2 week business trip to Taiwan so we wanted to maximize our time together). In the morning, we ate breakfast, drank coffee, cuddled on the couch, and enjoyed a morning with no agenda. We had lunch at a little cafe using a gift certificate our friend Marla got us as a wedding gift, (Thanks Mar!), made all 3 bank stops, enjoyed birthday celebration afternoon massages at GiGi's salon & spa, ate a brownie from Elephants Deli, dinner at Benihana's and an all around wonderful day!!
While at dinner I gave Mark his birthday gift, an appointment to get eye surgery on the 1st of November. He was so surprised that he hardly knew what to say. I've learned something from Mark about gifts, lie, lie, lie!! We have a rule that we cannot lie to each other unless it's for the sake of a special occasion. So every time Mark had mentioned a desire for eye surgery in the past 5 months, I'd tell him how we couldn't afford it, wasn't in the budget, etc., when I had been planning it all along. I was so convincing that he honestly thought we couldn't make it happen. He laughed when he realized how well I had played off the letter he'd gotten from the eye place a couple of weeks ago confirming his appointment. - He hadn't opened the envelope by the time I came home so I quickly opened it and hid all the important information just leaving the brochure and then gave him a hard time about looking into it or getting on some mailing list when we couldn't afford it yet. I "fake" threw the envelope and brochure away (after asking him), but kept the brochure to scrapbook later. - He had NO idea, it was wonderful!!
Now we are trying NOT to think about how we have Mark's trip looming before us and only a few more evenings to enjoy together before he's gone. I've decided that pretty much everything can wait until after he's gone so I can enjoy our last few days together.
On a separate note, I've been reading through some of the Old Testament, and just finished 1 & 2 Samuel. I read 1 Kings chapter 1 today and was surprised to read that king Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba (the woman he had an affair with while her husband was off at battle and later had her husband killed when he realized he got her pregnant). As a consequence, God killed off the little one they had born in sin and after David repented, God gave them another baby. I don't remember if the name of that child was mentioned but I feel a bit silly for not ever knowing that Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. I honestly thought the account of the Bathsheba story was just a random one and didn't realize how much it tied into the history. That's what I like about reading the OT, I always find the connections to the stories I've always heard that I never knew were connected.
Our pre race meal at Macaroni Grill. 
The morning of the race. Ian asked Mark to help pin his number on.
The runners before the race started.
Mom and I between mile 1 and 2, we were doing good so far ;)
Finish pics coming soon. They are on Uncle Jerry's camera.
It was my 3rd marathon, but the first one I was able to run the entire thing.
It was good!! We (mom and I) started off at a decent pace. The beginning is nice and distracting because there are so many people around. I was a little nervous to see how my knee would react. Around mile 3 I felt a few pains and got kind of scared. Mom suggested to just keep going and as long as I kept a mostly straight line it wasn't too bad. The pain eventually went away and I was SO excited that I was finally able to think about the rest of the race.
We saw Mark and Aunt Andrea (Uncle Jerry was also running) around mile 2 and 5 (we had a loop early on). It was fun to see them. And scanning for them in the crowd was a good distraction. Mark kept snapping pictures of me and had a huge smile on his face.
My running partner (Trisha) jumped in with us at mile 6 and ran with us until right before mile 17. At mile 8 there was a 4ish mile out-and-back that was flat and some what boring. But the fun part was looking for Jerry and Ian (my cousin, also running) coming the other direction. Again, a nice distraction. We eventually spotted them and met in the middle to high-five each other. At this point I was still feeling pretty good.
By the time we came out of the out-and-back, around mile 13 and 14, I was feeling pretty tired. There was a bridge around mile 17 and I heard we had to conquer a huge hill right before hand. With mom and Trisha's encouragement, I just pushed through my tiredness and knew that once we got to the bridge would start to be able to countdown to the end. 9 miles is still a long ways to go, but it's better than 17!
Trisha left us at the bottom of the hill and we chose to walk it since it was steep and long! We got to the top and ran across the bridge and down the other side and mom started lamenting about her joy in getting to mile 20, which was still 2 miles away. From mile 18 to 20 we were starting to hurt a little more. The scenery was nice and there were more spectators. All the water stations were a life saver!! And Red Bull was handing out cans a little after mile 18. We shared a can and chugged it down. The cold and fizz was SO nice!!
Between mile 20 and 21 we started talking with a guy running next to us. He was from California and on his 4th marathon. That was a nice diversion. About this time we were getting more and more tired, but no serious injuries, only the kind of aches and pains you'd expect from running 4+ hours. We decided at the 21 mile marker we'd start walking a little at each marker (we had walked a little at the water stations, but not much more than that). We ended up walking up any hills that were very dramatic, which weren't many and walking about half of mile 21. But we ran most of mile 22, which was partly downhill. And by that point, we were hurting but getting excited about finishing! Even though you only have 4 more miles left, it still feels like forever away!! We weren't quite in the home stretch, so were getting excited, but not too excited.
Between mile 22 and 23 we saw a MAX train that had been stopped because of what, we think, was an accident with someone on a bicycle. We kept going but were walking a little more frequently.
At the end of mile 24 and beginning of mile 25 we were crossing yet another bridge. At this point you couldn't believe how long 1.2 miles felt!! We ran off the bridge around the corner and then walked a little. Mom was really struggling so we decided to run/walk between the lights for the final stretch. We had about 8 blocks to go before we turned for the final 3 blocks. We ran from one stop light to the next and then walked the same distance and then ran again and continued that pattern until the turn. At the turn onto the final 3 blocks, we started scanning the crowd for our people. We saw them in the second block, Mark, Aunt Andrea, Aunt Cindy and her gang (Ian's mom and family) all shouting for us!! That was pretty cool. We turned a slight left and there it was, the finish!! We ran across at about the same time and then looked at each other as we started walking to the places were they take our timing chip off. We both felt pretty proud and thrilled! I had my chip cut off first but waited for mom before we walked any further to get our medals and space blankets. After that was about a 2 block loop that took you through a bunch of food stations, where I think we grabbed 1 of almost everything. The little cups of OJ and oatmeal cookies were especially good!! Then we walked out to meet our people. Mom called dad and was a little emotional. I was almost too as I realized we'd been trying to do this race for 3 years and were SO excited that we finished and were able to run the entire thing!! Both of us were skeptical about actually running the entire since we hadn't been able to before.
Today's quad and knee pain definitely seem worth every bit of the 26.2 miles that we ran yesterday!! Although going down stairs is rather uncomfortable. I truly feel like we accomplished a great thing and doing it with mom and accomplishing a goal we've had for 3+ years was something I'll never forget!!
Momma #3062, thanks for being a great race buddy and cheerleader all along the training process and running route! Your excitement and encouragement to keep going kept my feet moving!! As with the Anchorage Marathon, I won't forget the moment after the race started, before we got to the start line, as we looked around and at each other and wondered what the next 26.2 miles would hold. Love you!!
Jerry, #3054 now is time for your 'thank you' speech! Thanks for saying that I was the reason you were out there running, that meant the world to me! I'm SO thrilled for you!!
Ian #3984, I'm proud of you!! Only running up to 16 miles beforehand and going out there and pushing yourself the extra 10 was a awesome!! Good job!! And I can't wait to hear how the Tokyo marathon goes!
We are looking forward to next year's race... we've all (not sure about Ian yet) talked and plan to run it again ;)
Mom and I had PRs (Personal Bests) at this race! If you read my previous post, I noted that our first marathon time was 6:20 (we walked half). Our time yesterday was 5:24, just under an hour faster!!
You can view race results, runstats, and pix (which aren't up yet), here. My number was 3059. I'll post a few of my own pics tomorrow.
Another highlight was having my new name called as I crossed the finish line. Fun to have my first race as a married woman be a marathon!!
So, the knee saga continues. After Saturday's bomber of a run, I've been icing and taking it easy. I did a bit of a test workout on Wednesday and did 15 minutes walking on the treadmill and 15 minutes on the elyptical. My knee(s) didn't hurt, but I "felt" them more than normal. Who knows!! It sucked to be on the treadmill and not run. I was jealous of all those running around me and hope they appreciated that they can run.
The little 30 minute diddy at the gym was my only semblance of a workout this week. It's kind of nice to have extra time on my hands but lame to not be able to workout. I didn't realize I actually sort of enjoyed it until I wasn't able to do it any more.
It's helpful to have a cousin that's a Physical Therapist, so I called Chante and got her thoughts about my knee over the phone. After two conversations, we decided that it didn't sound like much, there was no major trauma to the knee and since working out at this point won't help my marathon training, continue to take it easy, ice (which I'm not good at remembering to do), stretch (which I'm not good at doing either), take lots of anti-inflammatory and just see how it goes. If I can get to at least over the half way point before I start to poop out, I'll be happy. I just want to run most of this race since I haven't run more than half of a marathon (this will be my third). My best marathon time was 6:20. I know, pathetic!! Don't judge.
Mom flys in today for the marathon! Tomorrow my aunt, uncle, and cousin are coming up from Salem (although cousin Ian is all the way from Japan where he's stationed), to pick up our race packets, eat a yummy pasta dinner, and then sleep in preparation for the big event!! 
This picture was taken last summer when mom and I did our first marathon in Anchorage, AK. Mom got injured at a half marathon 2 weeks prior so we weren't sure how the race would go. We ended up running and walking half of every mile.
Other news from the week:
- I used my new KitchenAid mixer for the first time, making chocolate chip cookies for Mark (and me). Thanks again, Mom!!
- Tuesday was our 1 month anniversary ;) It seems like an eternity ago since the wedding, but life with Mark is still fantastic! We've had a few little "blips", but they mostly have to do with my always fluxuating hormones. Mark has been SO sweet and sensitive all the time!
- We're starting our new budget this month. After some "haired" conversations about different elements (but are in agreement about most of it), we finally hashed out a plan. We're a bit behind on implementing and trying to live off a more limited budget, but should be good in the end. We're "this" close to paying off our second (and only other) credit card, which is VERY exciting.
- Speaking of exciting, Mark's bday is on Tuesday (the 9th). We're both taking the day off, which will be super fun!! He'll be the big 29!!
- Not so exciting is that Mark flys to Taiwan for work on the 13th, which is part of why we're taking the 9th off, for a little extra time with each other. If all goes well, he'll be back on the 5th.
Other than my knee issue rising in time for my run on Saturday and cutting it short so I didn't make it worse, it was a terrific day!! Mark and I stayed home, ate yummy chocolate chip pancakes and watched our first Netflix, disk 1 of Heroes. We enjoyed the first 2 shows so much that after pushing ourselves to clean for a while (our little place hadn't been cleaned since before the wedding), we walked down to Albertsons for groceries and the next 2 discs of the show.
We came back, made nachos, threw together our very own bean dip with refried beans mixed with salsa, sour cream, and taco seasoning, and proceeded to watch both disks! By the time we were nearly finished with the third disk, we took a break for me to make brownies and Mark to walk down and get the next two discs. He came back and we returned to the show until we fell asleep after midnight.
All in all, a great day!!
Yesterday we went to church, lunch with Barb, and finished the next 2 discs of Heroes before heading to Barb's for dinner and hangout after she got home.
Again, another terrific day!! Relaxing, time together, and no agenda, just what we needed... a little slice of heaven,
Speaking of heaven, I'm reading the Randy Alcorn book about Heaven and am very excited to see what he says on the subject. Honestly, I never much cared to learn about heaven. I used to think that being in a world without sin would be wonderful enough so I never took it much beyond that, assuming we wouldn't be able to imagine and it was all speculation on what it would really be like. But since marrying Mark, I want to know more about it because now I don't really want to be away from Mark and trust that God is trustworthy in that heaven will be better than life with Mark (or at least a life where I'm not in a married relationship with Mark), but it's hard to imagine. Alcorn says that it's our imagination that helps us think about heaven. He was saying in the chapter I read today, that we need only look around us and imagine everything as perfect, and that's what heaven will be like!! That's a fun thought! He even mentions something about how we'll have work in heaven... so, will we enjoy our work?
All very interesting... I'm curious to see what he says about our relationships with each other in heaven. I've only started the second chapter so am only at the beginning!
Oh, and I have to mention that another super cool thing about this weekend is a finally got my bread machine bread recipe book and tried 2 of the breads, potato bluecheese and pumpkin pecan. They are SO fun!! I'm in love with my bread machine!! Thanks again, Mom!!
As many of you know, I used to work for Peacemaker Ministries as their Annual Conference Coordinator. Now, my parents and older brother work there. Peacemakers just finished their annual conference, which has grown from around 300 during my last year in 2002, to around 900 this year!! Partly because of my dad's AMAZING people skills!!!! (at least that's what I like to think, because my dad is awesome! ;)If you want to read his info, he's Rick Friesen on this list (not Gary, that's his brother, my uncle).
Anyway, this year they had Randy Alcorn (author of the book Heaven, which I just grabbed off my shelf to start reading this week) as one of the main speakers and he has a blog where he mentioned his love for peacemaking and his support for what Peacemaker Ministries is doing, also his experience at the conference and his decision to say "YES" to speaking this year. Check it out.
One of these days I should post a blog about all that peacemaking stuff.
Interesting side note, it appears that Randy Alcorn also uses Blogger ;)
Upon request of Janet, I'm posting the Enchilada recipe I mentioned in a previous blog.
Laurel's Chicken Enchiladas
1 cup ONION. chopped
16oz can TOMATOES. chopped. undrained
8oz can TOMATO SAUCE
1/4 cup GREEN CHILES. medium
1 clove GARLIC. crushed
1 tsp CUMIN
1 tsp SUGAR
1 tsp SALT
1/2 tsp OREGANO
1/2 tsp BASIL
2 CHICKEN BREASTS. poached
2 cups MOZZARELLA CHEESE. reserve some for the top
1 1/2 cups SOUR CREAM
8-10 CORN TORTILLAS
1. Combine onion, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chiles and spices.
2. Mix chicken, cheese and sour cream.
3. Dip each tortilla in tomato sauce mix, then put chicken mixture in center of tortilla and roll up. Place in greased baking dish.
4. Pour sauce over the top of totillas. Garnish with cheese. Put some salsa on top if more spice is desired.
5. Bake 350 until bubbly, about 40 minutes.
NOTE: I made a few modifications by adding extra onion and garlic and using mexican style shreaded cheese instead of mozzarella. I also felt like it could have used a little more sauce so would definitely pour some salsa or mix a little extra sauce next time. But then, I like sauce ;)
ENJOY!!
I feel like I keep blogging about the same things, life is fantastic!! I'm sure you may think to yourself, "how can life really be that great?" Well, right now it is!! Yesterday morning after I dropped Mark off at the bus stop and drove to work, he sent me this text message, "I am so very much in love with you! I can't even believe it's true." I wrote back and told him I felt the same way and how sometimes I feel like we are like little kids playing house ;) Married life is better than I imagined!! It's every day things with your favorite person! So it makes everything every day so much better!! There are the not-so-wonderful moments (we had one last night), but then we work it out and are good again, it's cool!
One thing that I've been very encouraged by is that we've remembered to pray together every night before we go to bed. It's normally after we are in bed with the lights out and we don't make them real long prayers or anything, but we talk to God about the events going on. It's been really cool since that wasn't something we remembered to do before we got married.
Last week I made waffles! I was going to post a picture but since we don't have Internet at home and when I'm home, I'm normally distracted by life with my amazingly handsome husband, Internet is far from my mind. I made yummy waffles with walnuts in them and Saturday upped the anty a little by adding chocolate chips to the batter as well. I also doubled the recipe so I could have extra to freeze. So for breakfast every day this week I've had frozen waffles. They are VERY good!!
The marathon is a week from this coming Sunday and I feel like running is not as much of a priority as it used to be. I am still making sure to get the same amount of workouts in during the week as before we got married but suddenly I feel like I'm hardly doing anything. We've also tapered down on our distance runs so last weekend only did 12 miles and this weekend are only doing 8. I don't really understand the concept of tapering down since we did high mileage for 3-4 weekends in a row this summer and didn't need to rest or taper down. But this is what all the training plans and guides say to do before a marathon, taper down. So we are. Last Saturday I noticed a strange shooting pain in my knee. It would get worse when we'd walk and start running again so towards the end I just kept running even when Trisha needed to walk a little, I'd just jog slowly next to her. While running Tuesday night, the pain came back, though not as bad. I went a little easy that night and didn't run as far and then iced it a couple times when I got home. I also skipped my workout last night for the sake of my knee to let it rest until Saturday's 8 mile run. Maybe the lower mileage will help it a little. I'm not sure what else to do but am a little worried it might mess up my marathon plans!! We also signed up for a half marathon 2 weeks after the full, to keep us moving. So I can't just stop after next Sunday.
I got my new Social Security card in the mail yesterday! Which means I can now get a new driver's license, passport, and change my car title... and on down the list. It's actually a much smoother process so far than I thought. I'll try and hit the DMV next week for my license and title and mail in my passport. Fun to have updated documents!!! Now we need to visit our banks and add each other (and me with my new name), among other things.
I posted a few more pictures of the wedding (some not in the other 2 locations), on my facebook account. You can get to them here. I'm really loving all the pictures!! The more I look at them the more fun memories I think of from the day!
Also, my friend Marla is helping me with my blog "look" and banner, that's awesome!! She rocks! Thanks Mar!!
I'm hoping to post the "real" wedding pictures online in the next few weeks so if you are interested in seeing them, check back!
Last night I made a new recipe, Aunt Laurel's Enchiladas. They were SO good!! I also made little breakfast sandwiches that I froze for us to have for breakfast sometimes. You just heat them in the microwave, we had them today and they were very good!
Last night we also went over to Barb's for some hangout and tv time. It's one of the few times I can get online (hence the posted pics). I'm still struggling with the minimal Internet in my life and can sometimes log in to the neighbors at our apartment. But I also kind of like not having the option of getting online in the evenings.
I ate frozen wedding cake for dessert. A few seconds in the microwave and it's as good as new!! We were also fairly happy with the result of The Last Comic Standing. Although our favorite person got voted off a couple weeks ago, Amy Shumer.
Mark has been SO good at remembering to pray at night when we go to bed. I've been very impressed with that. It's really neat to pray together and something we always forgot to do before now.
He takes Monday morning off work and away from his early morning men's group, even when he was really looking forward to going back after a break, and gets new tires put on his wife's car and buys her flowers (just because he loves her), and then takes her to a little lunch at one of his usual lunch places. Yes ladies, I'm so sorry for you that the perfect husband is no longer on the market, but I'm so happy that I was the one who snagged him!!
I LOVE my new tires!! Mark got me some really good ones but assured me this doesn't mean I can drive crazy because, "you're still my wife and I want you to be safe", as he would say. My old ones were quite treacherous when it would rain. I'd peel-out when trying to go from a stopped position on a slight incline. These are WAY better!!
Yes, I'm still in a blissful newly wedded state of mind! I wonder how long this will last? Hopefully forever!!
In the mean time, Mark and I are trying to set a few goals for our first year of marriage in terms of our spiritual growth as a couple. What are some things that you did with your spouse then (or now) you felt were the most helpful? We're planning to join a couple's caregroup, but not right away.
This week was a little busier with Stacey’s wedding festivities starting with a bachelorette party I went to on Thursday night, the rehearsal and dinner Mark and I both went to (he was an usher and I a bridesmaid) on Friday night, and the wedding yesterday. It was a really nice wedding and Stacey was absolutely gorgeous!!
2 weeks and about 4.5 hours since we’ve been married and life is better than I ever imagined!! I’m not entirely sure what I thought it would be like, but it’s been SO fun! We laugh all the time, still can’t get enough time with each, enjoy our new morning routine, have enjoyed setting up our new apartment, and in general have felt like everything has been fantastic!! I’m more in love with Mark today than I was 2 weeks ago, if that’s possible ;)
The wedding was beautiful!! Everyone looked great, were so wonderful in helping the day go smooth and treating us like we were the most special people on earth for that afternoon. Thanks to EVERYONE who came, helped, and just showed us love throughout the weekend and wedding day!!
Vegas was perfect!! Well, Vegas isn’t perfect but we felt like our time together was perfect. Between “quality time” in our hotel room, a couple walks along the strip, a little gambling, seeing David Copperfield, and a lot of great meals, we just couldn’t have had a better time!! We were both pleasantly surprised to discover we were always in complete agreement about how to spend our time each day even though we never had an agenda. We didn’t strike it big in terms of money, but we did strike it big with our first 5 days together!!
We got home late Friday night the 7th and enjoyed 3 days at home unpacking and setting up our new house. All our gifts from showers and the wedding were wonderful and definitely gave us a little leg up on our new life together. Our bedroom doesn’t have any pictures on the wall (we ran out after the living and dining rooms), and the small second bedroom is piled high with stuff, but otherwise it’s looking very cute and homey.
Since returning to work on Tuesday, we’ve discovered we love mornings together, even if they are only long enough to get ready for work, put coffee in a to go cup and head out the door. Going to bed with each other and waking up next to one another is a highlight!!
That’s it for now. We don’t have Internet at our new place but I’ll try and keep things as updated as possible. We’ll try and post all wedding pics in a central location, but for now you can view some my friend Noell took here or some my brother took (mostly pre-wedding), here.
Honeymoon pics!!
