3 Years {Anniversary Weekend Re-cap}

Today is probably the last you will hear about our anniversary if you're sick of it...until next year, that is. But today is our actual anniversary, and I can't believe it's been three whole years since I walked down the aisle and became a wife!

Today I just want to re-cap our fun anniversary getaway. Luke surprised me with tickets to Cedar Point and a night at Hotel Breakers which is basically right in the park. It was nice to be able to walk right out the door of our hotel, and right into the entrance to the park. Also, being in a Cedar Point hotel meant that we got to enter the park an hour earlier than the public on Sunday morning. And we had a beautiful view of the pool and Lake Erie out our window. The room itself was dated and small, but all the other perks made it worth it. Here are a couple views out our window:{Some of these pictures are edited courtesy of Instagram, my latest iPhone app addiction}

We got very cheap "moonlight tickets" into the park on Saturday evening. We spent the night riding some of our favorite rides. We enjoyed seeing the park all lit up at night and could even see some fireworks while we waited in line at the end of the evening.

We especially enjoyed riding the new ride, Windseeker, at night. It is a swing ride that goes up over 300 feet, right by the lake. So when we went up at around 10:30 PM, we could see the entire park lit up. Also, the ride itself lights up in fun, bright colors

When we were done riding for the night, we rode the cable car ride back across the park for some more great views, and to save our feet!

On Sunday morning we were up bright and early since we got into the park an hour early. Having that hour was so helpful! We got to practically walk on to two of our favorite rides (Millennium Force and Maverick) and even rode in the front seats on both. Since we got those out of the way, we didn't feel so rushed all day and could take some time outs to relax. So we sat in rocking chairs in a little shaded area and relaxed for a bit while we waited for this wooden roller coaster (which pretty much beat me up) to open. It was nice since it was HOT that day!
We rode a few more rides and then had lunch at a nice, air conditioned buffet-style restaurant. I told Luke it was worth the few extra dollars to be able to relax in the AC for a while!

We rode the cable cars again to get across the park quickly to my absolute favorite ride of all time, Top Thrill Dragster. It was a beautiful day, and the views were gorgeous.Of course, riding Dragster was pretty much the highlight of my day :-) This is the best picture I got even though it's at night. There it is in all its glory...all 420 feet and 120 mph :-) What a thrill!
After riding Dragster, we were tired! We rode a few more rides, and then had to call it a day. All that walking in the 90+ degree heat and high humidity really wears you out fast! I enjoyed the view of the lake as we drove away.

What a fun way to spend our three-year anniversary! I'm so excited to be celebrating 3 years with Luke. It's still just the beginning :-)

Year 3: The Memories

It's time for my annual anniversary post where I recap the year's memories with my favorite guy! To be honest this year has gone by so quickly, it's all kind of a blur in my memory. Thank goodness for blogging so I can look through and see how we spent our third year of marriage :-)

July 2010
Highlights:
-Celebrated our 2-year anniversary by going out to dinner with my parents one night to a fancy dinner at Caffe Capri
-On our actual anniversary, Luke took the day off work and we saw a matinee of Toy Story 3, ate lunch at Chili's, and spent the whole afternoon in Pittsburgh at IKEA.
-Spent a very interesting evening at The Mile Branch Grange Fair to watch pig wrestling.

Picture Memories:


August 2010
Highlights:

-August was kind of a blur. We spent lots of time at church softball games, picnics, and hanging out with friends. It was a fun way to spend the end of summer!
-We finally got rid of our lemon of a VW Passat and bought a beautiful 2007 Ford Fusion. It has been running perfectly for the past year :-)
-Grilled out a lot of summer feasts, and spent lots of fun nights together watching movies and hanging out.

Picture memories:


September 2010
Highlights:
-Spent a fun evening at Canfield Fair where we saw Jeff Dunham perform
-Took a spontaneous day trip to the Ohio State vs. Ohio University game at the 'Shoe
-Simply enjoyed fall together and all the wonderfulness that it brings :-)

Picture Memories:

October 2010
Highlights:
-Luke gave me a super early birthday present, which was a new phone!
-This month was a blur too, but I know we spent it enjoying fall again (it is my favorite time of year!) and eating lots of soups and appley and pumpkiny things.
-Had a pumpkin-carving date night!
-Went to a Cavs game on Halloween weekend.

Picture Memories:


November 2010
Highlights:
(a fun, busy, and wonderful month!)
-Luke had to have surgery on his ear. I tried to help doctor him back to health for a week :-)
-I turned 26 and we celebrated with my family with pizza and a second viewing of Toy Story 3 (another gift from Luke).
- Had a fun movie-and-dinner date night
-Had a horrible experience where we bought a couch and it didn't fit in our entryway! I've never seen Luke so mad :-P Oh well, ya live and ya learn!
-Eventually found a couch that DID fit in our doorway, and I'm still in love with it :-)
-Had the best Thanksgiving I can remember in awhile complete with lots of family time, and staying up until 3:00 AM to watch Home Alone 2. Because we are 8.
-Bought and put up our Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving (a tradition) while we watched Christmas Vacation. The Christmas season starts early in our house :-)
-Went to our annual Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert to ring in the Christmas season the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Picture memories:

December 2010
Highlights:

-Had a fun date night where we had dinner and shopped for white elephant gifts for multiple parties
-Had fun doing Christmasy things, listening to Christmasy music, watching Christmasy movies, and eating Christmasy treats all month :-)
- For some reason, this memory sticks out in my head a lot when I think of last December: Luke and I became obsessed with 30 Rock and would watch it on Netflix every spare minute we had (which really wasn't much). I think 30 Rock will forever make me think of Christmas!
- Spent a wonderful Christmas going all over the place to visit family as usual. Luke surprised me with a new coffee table and end tables that he had made! They are beautiful and I will love them forever. So special.
-Sadly, we spent the remainder of the month of December apart because Luke left the day after Christmas to lead worship at a young adult conference in Colorado Springs. So I spent the week at my parents' house. We talked on the phone and texted a lot while he was gone.

Picture memories:


January 2011
Highlights:
-Luke returned home from his trip on January 2. It had been a hard New Years Eve without him, so I was so excited when he got home!
- Spent a date night out shopping, spending gift cards we had gotten for Christmas. Always a fun time :-)
- Spent an amazing, amazing week in Arizona, seeing the sights and visiting Luke's grandparents. It was so sad to return to snowy Ohio!
-Came out of hibernation one morning to go out on a breakfast date. We only do this a couple of times a year, so it's always a treat :-)

Picture Memories:


February 2011
Highlights:
-After a really exciting three months, February was boring. Ooooh, was it boring. It never stopped snowing :-P I think I had 4 or 5 snow days in February alone. So we spent a lot of time at home trying to stay warm and cozy, and praying that time would move faster :-P
-The only memory that sticks out was a fun Valentines date night. We went out to dinner at Grinders, and then headed to Canton to see a 3D movie (can't even remember what the movie was :-P)
-We went to an Ohio State basketball game one night with JC. We ate at Raising Cane's, so that was probably the highlight of my night :-P

Picture Memories:


March 2011
Highlights:

-March was as boring as February. It rained or snowed pretty much the entire month. Literally, nothing sticks out in my mind. I didn't even blog about anything interesting. I think we just mainly stayed in the living room, hibernating and watching TV and movies together, again wishing time would speed up. This is the absolute worst winter and spring weather-wise I can ever remember in my life. It was disgusting.
-We did keep Max the dog for a week. That was fun :-)

Picture Memories:


April 2011
Highlights
-We enjoyed many fun Monday nights with our connect group! This was a new venture for us as we led and hosted it. I miss them now that our group doesn't meet anymore.
-Luke played his drums during the very first worship service in our church's new sanctuary! It was an awesome night!
-Spent a rainy Easter Sunday with family as usual. We came home early and began our obsession with How I Met Your Mother that night. We literally watched it for like 5 or 6 hours straight, I think :-P

Picture Memories:

May 2011
Highlights:
-Celebrated Luke's 27th birthday at his parents' house with cake and ice cream
-I was so busy with my sister's graduation festivities and bridal shower that I unforunately wasn't able to spend as much time with Luke as normal. But we did have a fun Memorial Day weekend together! We spent Sunday at a picnic at his parents' house, and Monday at a bonfire at my parents' house.

Picture Memories:


June and a little July 2011
Highlights:

-Since Luke's work schedule is crazy right now, Sunday night has sort of unofficially become movie night for us, and I have so enjoyed the time spent together!
-Took Luke's dad out to an Indians game on fireworks night with the whole family.
- I had so much fun at my sister's wedding and reception, and even with the craziness and business of the night, was able to save a few dances for my man (despite his protests :-P)
-We spent the Saturday before the 4th of July at a fish fry at Luke's aunt and uncles house. Then we spent the actual 4th of July out on a date to dinner and a movie. I loved it!

Picture memories:

Honestly, Luke and I have gone through some difficult things this year, but looking back through the pictures and memories I realize that we had so many fun blessings anyway! It really was a great and growing year for us. I think next year might be a little crazier though, with all the changes of me going back to school and everything! As I say every year, I'm excited to see where we are in a year :-)

***
{Year 1}
{Year 2}

Just For Fun...

Since it's almost our 3-year wedding anniversary, and because we finally bought a scanner, I thought it would be fun to share some pictures of my husband and I, vintage style...BEFORE he was my husband ;-)

I just so happen to have a scrapbook that I made in 2008 full of photos from before Luke and I were married. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we? Please enjoy my phenomenal scrapbooking skills (don't laugh :-P This is why I do DIGITAL scrapbooking now!)
Here we are...two complete lovebirds together, circa 2004. This was the very first picture of us together EVER taken, and it was right after Christmas. This was also one of the first pictures taken with my very first digital camera, which I had received for Christmas that year. Luke looks like he is half dead in this picture, but trust me...we were in love :-) We had been dating for about 3 or 4 months here, and were still in that puppy love stage where your heart beats faster every time the other person walks in the room. In fact, I believe we first said "I love you" not long before this. Ahh, memories. Please note my highlights and poof of curly hair, which was my hairstyle of choice for about 3 years, and Luke's spikey hair. We were cool :-P

***

Here we are a few months later. It was April, and we were at my parents' 25th anniversary party. There is a shadow being cast behind us, so please know that my hair was not that big, and Luke's hair was not that high. And holy cow, we were both so skinny!! This was around the time when things started getting serious, and I think we both kind of knew that we would be spending the rest of our lives together :-)

***

The above two pictures were taken at a rehearsal dinner and then wedding for my cousin and Luke's friend. (Who are now our neighbors, btw!) We had been together for well over a year at this point. I remember Luke said something really sweet after the evening about how he didn't notice anyone else there except me, or something like that. I'm sure he doesn't remember it, but a girl doesn't forget something like that!

***

Here we are a year later. The second year of our relationship was a lot more rocky than the first, because it's hard once those puppy love feelings are gone, and you have to start being unselfish in the relationship. I remember coming to a crossroads a few months before this picture was taken. I was sort of questioning the relationship a bit. I asked myself if I could picture my life without him, and I knew the answer was a resounding "no." So I decided I was going to stop being selfish and demanding attention all the time. I believe there comes a point in every relationship when love stops being just a feeling, and starts being a choice and an action. Once I made that choice, I knew I was in this for the long haul! And everything became so much easier and happier after that point. It's gotten better and better every single day since :-) Anyway, this picture was taken at Tower City in Cleveland right before our annual TSO concert. It was taken when our relationship and love was coming into a new, more mature phase. And it was a few weeks before I became an engaged woman!

***

And speaking of that, this picture was taken on the night that Luke proposed to me! The date is completely wrong...it was December 23, 2006. I made the scrapbook in 2008, so that must be the reason for the year mix-up :-P Anyway, this was obviously by far the best Christmas of my life. Such a happy time!

***

These pictures were taken on Christmas day, two days after we became engaged. Luke's cousin Matt had gotten engaged to his now-wife Steph on Thanksgiving, so we had to get a picture taken together :-) I think you can tell we were all ecstatic. Our smiles were huge! Our weddings were about a month apart, so it made for a crazy summer for Luke's family!

***

This was our awkward engagement photo for the newspaper. It was taken in the middle of February or March I think. Can you tell?? We could be Cullens here based on our skin-tones.

***

....Aaaaand welcome to the longest engagement in the history of all time. We were engaged for over 18 months. I know, what were we thinking?! I would not choose to do it that way again. Anyway, I got to go with Luke's whole extended family to Myrtle Beach in 2007. We had been engaged for 6 months and still had a year to go before the wedding! We had a fun time together, though! (Again, look how skinny we were! Apparently marriage has made us both gain some weight. haha)

***

Fast forward to May of 2008 and we're still engaged, but the wedding is only two months away! This was one of our professional engagement photos. We still look like Cullens, but this time I think it was the photographer's fault. My hair was a crazy mane that I had been growing since the moment we got engaged. I chopped it off the day we got back from our honeymoon.

***

And here we are on July 12, 2008! Best day of my life. I had no idea what married life had in store, and really, I still don't know. These past three years were just the beginning. They have been wonderful, challenging, humbling, unbelievable and so many other things. When I was in high school I worried that I might never get married. I was awkward and shy and not ever finding "the one" was one of the biggest fears in my life. I am so thankful that not only did I find "the one," but I found him early, and God completely blew me away with the man who is now my husband. I know that right now I don't have the job of my dreams (although I'm working on it) and I don't have children yet, and sometimes those things are really discouraging. However, I have to remember that my dreams came true when Luke came into my life, and I wouldn't trade that for the world. I have nothing to complain about. I am truly blessed.

I'll Sing You a Love Song

This song came on my Pandora station yesterday, and it really blessed me. I thought I'd share it here and hopefully I will pass on the blessing :-)

Catch Up

I enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing long weekend with Luke. I wish I could say that I haven't been blogging because I've been busy, but really I just haven't felt motivated. Also, my allergies came back with a vengeance this weekend...so I'm going to use that as my excuse too.

This post serves as a catch-up of all the things I feel behind on. A bullet point post feels appropriate.

• Last Sunday, the day after my sister's wedding, was spent at a graduation party for my cousin Chelsea, and then a little get-together at my sister's new in-laws so they could open their wedding presents. It was a fun day! But I was sooo excited to go home and RELAX!! It was the first time I had been able to sit down and not worry about the million things I had to do for a whole week. Being a matron of honor is not for the faint of heart. Ha!

Cute, Baby Hudson at the graduation party. Probably the smiliest baby I've ever seen! Although I somehow did not catch him in a smile in this picture.
This gift was wrapped in Transformer paper and everyone was really curious as to what was inside. It was about a year's supply of toilet paper from Andy's friends :-P

• On Monday morning I woke up to find a special surprise sitting in front of my computer. Luke booked us a night at a nice hotel on Lake Erie, and tickets for Saturday night and all day Sunday next weekend at Cedar Point! ...For our anniversary. I'm so excited!!
• I spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon last week at my parents' pool. I felt I had earned some pool time after the wedding week! On Monday I hung out there with my mom and a good book, and on Tuesday I was there with my cousins Sarah and Rachel, and their babies Hudson and Elin.
• I spent a good majority of time last week working outside and pulling weeds. Our house was looking like a jungle, and Luke and I hadn't had time to work on it. I enjoyed spending lots of time outside, working on my tan and burning some calories in the hot sun.
  
• Speaking of burning calories, I have been using a new calorie-counting app on my iPhone. It's called "My Net Diary." You can scan bar codes of the foods you eat or just search for them. You can also plug in the exercises you did during the day. It gives you a calorie limit each day. I don't want to jinx myself by sharing this, but I'm excited, so I'm going to. I have lost 7 lbs in the past few months! Mostly just by counting calories and eating in moderation, and also adding in some more exercise (I use the 30 Day Shred video, sometimes do Zumba, or just walk). My goal for the past few years has been to lose 20 lbs, and that would put me back where I was in college and my ideal weight. I'm so excited that I'm almost halfway there!
  
• I've been cooking a lot lately since it's summer and I'm home so much more. Last week I tried three new recipes: deep dish pizza (pictured below), strawberry-stuffed French toast, and Pioneer Woman's taco pizza. Something went horribly wrong with the sauce for the deep dish pizza (totally my fault...I'm sure it would have been delicious if I hadn't messed it up). But the French toast and the taco pizza were both very good! I've been using Pinterest a lot for new recipe inspiration.
• I took a trip to Home Goods last week with some of my in-laws. I was thrilled, as it is my favorite store. We spent a good amount of time in there, and also in Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Pier 1, two more of my favorites. We enjoyed lunch at Five Guys which is always a treat! Sidenote: while we were at Home Goods, I found these adorable, tiny, alphabet cookie cutters. Can someone please tell me what I could use these for?? I couldn't think of what I would use them for, but they seemed too cute to pass up. But pass them up I did, and vowed that as soon as I thought of a reason I couldn't live without them, I would come back and buy them ;-)
• I spent Friday night with some family friends. We started out walking the track at my old high school, then went out to dinner, and finished the night playing The Game of Things (I won!) Any night that ends with a board game is a success in my book.
• Meredith, one of my sister's bridesmaids who stayed at my house during the wedding weekend, showed me this game for the iPhone called "Smack That Gugl." Have you played it?! It is sooo addicting. Luke and I always get very competitive when it comes to games, and we kept sending a text with a picture of our high scores when we had beaten the other person. I think I'm in the lead right now ;-)
• On Saturday, we spent the evening at a fish fry with Luke's family. It was delicious! Later we sat around a fire and watched fireworks off in the distance. At one point, one of those cool Japanese floating lanterns landed in their yard. So Luke's uncle and cousin decided they wanted to send it off again. They covered a paper towel in oil, and lit it on fire inside the lantern. It probably wasn't the safest thing to do, but it worked! We sent the lantern on its way again :-) These are so pretty! I think it would be fun to get a bunch of people together and light them all at once next year for The 4th of July. A la Tangled :-)
• We spent our 4th of July in a very unpatriotic way. We just weren't up for fighting the crowds, finding a parking place and a place to sit to watch fireworks. We decided to go out on the town instead because we figured everyone else would be out watching fireworks and we would have the town to ourselves :-) We first went to Longhorn for some dinner, and then to see the New Transformers movie in 3D. I was not a fan of the first two Transformers movies, but I LOVED this one!! And the 3D was sooo good! It's a must-see. Anyway, it was a great night, and so relaxing since the roads, restaurant, and movie theater weren't crowded at all. After the movie, we hung out with some friends for a little while because my cousin Laura is here visiting from Hawaii! It was nice to visit with everyone!
• And while I'm updating on my life, I might as well go the full nine yards and update on my couponing and savings too. Since May 23 (when I started couponing again), I have saved $233.99 on groceries!! I think that's pretty significant! While I have saved a lot, I honestly didn't come too far below our set grocery budget last month, because I stocked up on EVERYTHING. You kind of have to start from scratch when you start couponing. However, this month? I'm planning on saving a boatload, and here's why: I went crazy with coupons last month, stocking up on all kinds of cleaning supplies and personal care products. So this month, I'm going to try to completely avoid those aisles in the grocery store. When I go shopping, I hope to only hit up the produce, bread, meat, dairy, and baking sections. I think this will save me a significant amount of money. My plan is to stockpile every other month, and then ease up on the couponing a bit and buy very few things on the off months. So far it's really working for us.
• One last point. I have been reading like crazy lately! I've just been in the mood. And right now, I'm trying to get through the Harry Potter series as fast as I can so I have them all read before I see the last two movies. Right now I'm in book four, and can't wait until my sister gets home from her honeymoon in Scotland so I can hopefully borrow books 5, 6, and 7 from her!

If you made it down here, you deserve a prize! But I'm glad I got all that stuff wiped out in one post, because now it is not stressing me out anymore.

However, the tons of unread, un-commented-on items in Google Reader? Now THOSE are stressing me out. Sorry I've been a bad, bad commenter lately. Blame it on the addicting powers of the Harry Potter books...

Joy Comes in the Morning

This post is kind of all over the place. But sometimes I feel led to write a serious, deep, honest post on this blog and share my experiences because I think they can help other people. So sometimes I pray that God will guide my fingers as they type, and speak through my blog. That's what I did today, so hopefully it speaks to someone :-)

Yesterday evening, I was in a serious funk. I had been busy all day until about 4, so as soon as I had a chance to come home and think, My thoughts were instantly invaded by The Enemy. I wholeheartedly believe that our minds are spiritual battle grounds. Just look at Ephesians 6:12 -

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Yikes. That verse always sends a chill down my spine. So if the battle is not against flesh and blood, where does the attack take place?? In our minds.

And it's usually a sneak attack, too. Last week, our pastor showed a video of Troy Polamalu's testimony (somewhat begrudgingly. He IS a Pittsburgh Steeler, after all :-P). I thought Troy hit the nail on the head when he said,

"It's like the really big things that are really easy to run away from. It's the accumulation of like the really small things....You know, people know adultery's bad, and murder's bad. I'm not gonna go out and, you know, sleep with the first girl I see. I'm not gonna go out and beat up and murder the first guy I see. But when you're eyes start wandering.... And your eyes start wandering a little bit more, and you start becoming a little more jealous, envious, you know...and these passions start to come really rising up inside of you, that's when it gets really dangerous. Because the devil doesn't work that way. His strategy's always to be very subtle, and just continue to build on top of that evil seed that he planted."

Well said, Troy, Well said. Joyce Meyer wrote an entire book on this subject, called "The Battlefield of the Mind." I've mentioned it on the blog before, because it is one of the best, most life-changing things I've ever read. Go read it!

Anyway, I see my life going a certain way. And, as I've written before, God does not see it the same way, and His plans are not my plans. As painful as that is, I know He has something so much better for me. But lately I've let myself start to take things into my own hands again, a little at a time, and I let false hope rise again in my heart.

I won't go into specifics, but let's just say last night my false hopes came to a crashing halt when once again it became obvious to me that what I want to happen, simply is not going to happen. The Enemy has been working on me day and night for weeks, and things finally came to a head last night. I was all alone at home, and I ended up lying on the floor, absolutely bawling my eyes out, in one, defeated heap. Please tell me I am not the only one who has been here? I stayed that way for a good 45 minutes or so. I just could not get ahold of myself.

(Maybe I shouldn't be so honest on my blog, but I feel like my situations and experiences can help other people, or at least give you someone to identify with.)

Finally as I was lying there on the floor, I realized that I don't HAVE to feel that way. I know that if I had kept my eyes on the Lord (kept a "vertical viewpoint" instead of a "horizontal viewpoint" as my pastor likes to say) I would have avoided an extremely painful evening. I know that God has a plan for my life that is so much better than the one I have for myself.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11

But sometimes, we are human, and Satan plans a sneak attack, and we don't even realize it's happening until it all blows up in our faces.

However, God is going to win the battle every single time if we go to Him. And after my breakdown last night, I felt the comfort and peace of the Lord in a very strong way. Like I said, I knew I didn't have to feel the way I did. I could look to the future with hope and excitement instead of dread and jealousy of those who get to live the life I pictured for myself.

I believe that it is in those moments of complete defeatedness that God can come through for us in a way like never before. And after my breakdown last night, I had the best night ever. I felt at peace, I knew God had been there for me, and I had such an excitement and hopefulness about my future.

And this morning when I woke up, and the sun was streaming through my bedroom window, and my sweet cat Ellie was cuddling up beside me, I felt even better. I knew that I wasn't going to waste this day. I'm going to let God use me in it, and I'm going to see all of His blessings for what they're worth. I'm praising God this morning.

"...weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." ~Psalm 30:5b