Three years

So Josh and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on Wednesday! I can NOT believe it's been 3 years... it's crazy how fast time goes by when you're so wrapped up in the amazing life you're living : )

It was a pretty low key day... I worked until 4pm and he got off work at about the same time. We both got home and watched a little TV and... fell asleep on the couch. We woke up at about 7pm and Josh went to the grocery store and went to work in the kitchen. I wasn't allowed to come in until he was done.

He called me in about an hour later and the table was set with two enormous steaks, twice baked potatoes with bacon, cheesy garlic bread, and salad. It was DELISH!!! Such a wonderful anniversary dinner that I didn't have to make : )

Later that night we got to talking about wedding stuff, and I was trying to describe how I want the tables and dance floor to be set up for the reception, so I opened up Paint on the computer so I could quickly draw up little rectangles to show what I was talking about. I thought Josh was listening and cared what I was talking about, and actually got excited about the fact that he wanted to be involved when he took the mouse from me and added a few rectangles only to then say.... "It looks like Wall-E!", and then proceeded to hum the song from Wall-E/Hello Dolly, Put on Your Sunday Clothes........

Needless to say, I'm marrying a 25 year old with the attention span of a 5 year old and the sense of humor of a 3 year old... and I couldn't be happier!

Look what I did!

Well, it is 5:30am... and I can't sleep, so look what I found!

Duration calculation results

From and including: Thursday, January 14, 2010
To, but not including : Saturday, August 21, 2010

It is 219 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date

Or 7 months, 7 days excluding the end date

Alternative time units

219 days can be converted to one of these units:

• 18,921,600 seconds
• 315,360 minutes
• 5256 hours
• 31 weeks (rounded down)

I really can't believe in a little over 7 months I will be marrying the love of my life! It's still unreal to me sometimes that I even found him. In less than a week we celebrate our 3 year anniversary!

Technically we've been together a little longer than that, but Josh wanted to officially ask me to be his girlfriend on a "good date" and do it a special way : ) I don't remember what date we started hanging out and I don't remember the date of our "first date"... but I do remember and will always remember that our first kiss was on December 6th, 2006, and that Josh came over to my dad's on January 20th, 2007 and asked me to come outside, where he gave me a single red rose and "officially" asked me to be his girlfriend. I didn't realize it then, but that was my last first kiss ever and that I was saying "yes" to the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with...

I'm the luckiest woman in the world : )

Honeymoon and things!

So, Josh and I have finally decided what we're doing for our honeymoon! We're so excited! Our very good friends, Peter and Evynne Hollens work on Royal Caribbean cruise ships, and will be on one during our wedding : ( BUT we have decided to join them for our honeymoon! It is a 7 day cruise of the Greek Isles that ports out of Venice, Italy!

We're just starting to book everything, and get it all figured out, but we are so excited! We're not going to go on the cruise until October of 2010 because flights are so much cheaper, so we'll probably take a weekend away to the coast right after the wedding.

I cannot wait until we get to go on this amazing trip! Neither Josh or I have been anywhere like this before. If anyone has any fun ideas for what to do in Italy (Venice or Milan) please let me know!


I also wanted to let all of our friends and family our there know about a wonderful book that Josh's mom, Carla, got me for Christmas. It's called, "Night Light: A Devotional for Couples" by James and Shirley Dobson. Josh and I have been reading it together every night. It's absolutely wonderful! You read a chapter a week, and we've figured out that we'll be done with the book a few months before our wedding. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone : )

Wedding Update

Well, after yesterday's little update on life, I thought I'd also give a little update on how all of the wedding planning is going.

I've kind of had to take a break from it all with the holidays and everything. I'm always planning little things here and there in my head. Thinking of new ideas for centerpieces and decorations, but haven't done any concrete planning, which i need to do. I have my trusty little planning notebook that I got from my mom when we got engaged, and in it is a check list on a time line... here's what I need to have done that I haven't done yet.

• book florist
• book videographer
• reserve accommodations for out-of-town guests
• book any necessary rentals
• choose wedding party ( I have all 8 of mine, but Josh only has 5.... )

So that's everything that was supposed to be done by the 8 month mark, so I'm not too far behind, but here's everything that needs to be done by the 6 month mark.

• order bridesmaid dresses
• plan honeymoon (planned, just have to book flights and cruise)
• book ceremony musicians (already asked all of our friends who are playing or singing during the wedding, now we have to find a good sound guy)
• finalize plans with caterer and florist
• send your save-the-dates

Again, not too much, but I really want to be ahead of schedule because I don't want to go crazy the last few months before the wedding.

My biggest concern right now is the florist. I really want to get that booked and figured out ASAP. If anyone has any ideas or advice on that, or anything on the list, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks, and wish me luck!

2010

Well, it's been awhile since my last post... I'm sorry. I've been quite busy with work, and the holidays, and everything as I'm sure everyone else was.

Josh and I had a wonderful four Christmases at all of our family's houses! We got to see everyone in two days, and while it was exhausting, it was totally worth it to be with everyone that we love!

Our New Years Eve was a little less eventful. I worked all night and Josh also had to work but was able to come in and see me to give me my New Years kiss : )

It is the new year though, 2010, the year Josh and I get married! It's going to be a big year for us, and one that we will never forget! I can't believe it's only less than 8 months away! I have a lot done but still have a lot to do! I can't wait for it to get here though!

Thankful

Well, since the Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone and we're already getting into the Christmas season, I thought I should catch up and write about what I'm most thankful for this year.

This is the first, last, and only holiday season that I'll be a "fiancee" and in just one year from now I'm going to be a wife! Josh and I will have been married for about 3 months and hopefully in the process of getting ready to buy a house. The wedding will be over, and we won't be having to worry about all of the planning and saving money. We'll just be able to enjoy each other as husband and wife.

But for now, I'm still a "fiancee" and really enjoying it a lot! With this holiday came lots of time spent with our families, which reminded me how blessed we both are to have such big, wonderful, and supportive families. At Thanksgiving dinner, my Uncle Jeff said a few words before grace, as he always does, and this year he mentioned that he was thankful that he'll soon have a new nephew in Josh. It meant so much to me that our marriage also means a lot to my family, and it made me realize how blessed Josh is to now be a part of my family, but also how blessed they are to have him in their family, because he really just is amazing!

I'm also thankful for the fact that we both have such amazing and giving parents to help us out so much with our wedding. It would not be the event it will be without their help! I'm also thankful that Josh and I both have the opportunity to work as much as we do, or at all with this economy, and be able to save as much as we are for our wedding. Having roommates is a blessing as well right now because without them, we also wouldn't be able to save as much as we are. It's a struggle sometimes, and honestly, being newly engaged in a house of 4 people isn't easy, but we make it work because we know what it's all going towards, and that makes it all worth it.

One other thing that I realized I am so thankful for this year, especially just within these past couple of weeks, is my fiance. Not only is he my fiance and the love of my life, but he is my best friend, and I couldn't be happier that I get to spend the rest of my life with him. I'm so glad and thankful for our strong and stable relationship as well. Don't get me wrong, we have our issues every so often, but our love and stability has never wavered. We've taught each other how to work our problems out in a thoughtful and respectful manner, and nothing ever gets left unresolved or unsaid. I'm also thankful for the respect we have for each other and for our relationship. Again, don't get me wrong, we're not perfect, and sometimes words are thrown out that aren't meant, but at the end of the day, I respect him more as a person, fiance, and friend than I do anyone else, and I know he feels the same.

Our relationship has grown so much over the past 3 years, but one thing that has never changed is our love for each other, and the way we find ourselves sometimes just smiling and staring at the other person. I'm in utter disbelief sometimes at the amount of love I have for just one person, and I am just so thankful to have been so lucky to have found him and to be able to share my life with him.

Blessed

So, on Sunday night Josh and I were invited to his mom, Carla's house for dinner with the family because his sister, Elizabeth's fiance, Mark's mum and step-dad were in town from London. We already don't get that many opportunities to drive to Salem to see his mom all that often, let alone have the opportunity so spend time and get to know Mark's family, so we were both going to try really hard to go and see them.

Josh unfortunately couldn't get the night off from work, so I decided to go up by myself. Now, I'm not one for driving... alone, especially at night, and even more when I'm tired. It was tough, and I had to slap myself to keep myself awake on the way there, but I have never been more happy to have made that drive than I was that night.

I had such a wonderful time with his whole family! Honestly, I was a little nervous, because even though I've known his family for about 3 years now, I've never spent time with them without Josh, but as soon as I got there I realized, there was absolutely no reason for nerves.

I know I already knew this about them, but they are all the most amazingly sweet, and caring family I've ever met. I just love them all, and it was so wonderful to be able to spend time with them because I left that night feeling so extremely blessed to be marrying into such an incredible family.

I really do just love his mom, and she's always been so sweet to me, and his sister is amazing and so sweet too. The rest of his family that was there, his Aunt Rosie, Unlce John, Grandma Barbara, cousin Faye and her kids Taylor and Jack, his step-dad Gary, and then of course, Mark and his lovely family, Jean and John, are really, truly all amazing people, and it's so wonderful that we're all going to be one family now.

I don't know what it was about this night that made me realize all of this, because I've always known his family was amazing. Not only his mom's side, but also his dad, Brad and his step-mom, Donna, and that whole side of the family. Since the beginning they have all been so wonderful to me and welcomed me in with open arms. I guess it was just the fact that I didn't have Josh there, and it was just me getting to talk to each person individually rather than Josh and I as a team, and maybe it was the fact that I got to really see how open and inviting they were to just me... I don't know. It just really hit me though, that these people are amazing, and they're letting me be a part of this amazing family they have.

I've always had a big family, who are all so loving and supportive, but it's just really and truly a blessing to get to add to that big family, and know that these people that were strangers to me just 3 years ago, are now a part of me and who I will become, and be a part of me and Josh, and our children's lives forever. It's really just so special, and I really do just feel so blessed.