Wedding Week Memories

Ty and my 2^nd wedding anniversary is coming up on Tuesday.  So much has happened in those 2 years that it seems like we’ve been married for much longer than that!  But at the same time my memories are so fresh, it seems like it was just last summer.  Thinking back to our wedding day, I wanted to record some of my favorite and most vivid memories from our wedding and the week leading up to it.

I didn’t start blogging until after Carter was born so I never wrote down all the things from our wedding that I never want to forget.  As our anniversary approached I thought it would be a perfect time to do that!  I will start with the week leading up to our wedding and all the preparations, then I’ll write about my favorite memories from our wedding, and (this is the best part) Ty has agreed to write a guest post with his favorite moments from our wedding!  Wedding memories here we go!

Ty and I spent the entire week leading up to our wedding in my hometown staying at my parents’ house, preparing for the big day.  My maid of honor, Ang, also came to stay at my parents’ house to help out.  Ang and I stayed in my older brother’s old bedroom and shared a bed together.  It was so nice to spend those nights giggling in bed and enjoying alone time together.  At night right before we drifted off she would tell me a “Dear Diary” story, pretending she was writing in her diary and talking all about our day. It never failed to make me laugh hysterically.

Ang and I went to Starbucks a couple times during the week and the woman working the drive-thru was pretty hopped up on caffeine.  When we pulled up to order she said, "Happy stress-free day".  We cracked up laughing and asked her if she could guarantee it would be a stress-free day.  She said yes and Ang asked her if she had magic coffee beans.  All week long we would giggle about Starbucks' magic coffee beans!

Attempting to tan my strip of skin while Ang washed the dog.

When I went for my last dress fitting I looked down and to my distress saw a white triangle of skin exposed in the "v" of my dress.  I had a sports bra tan-line and didn't think it would matter, but obviously it did!  Ang got some self-tanning lotion and rubbed me down in the triangle of skin with it.  The next morning my skin turned orange.  I tried to tan it a little bit in the short amount of free time I had, but it didn't work.  I noticed the tan line in pictures, but no one else did.

Taking a break from decorating to eat some lunch.

We decided to decorate the reception hall rather than pay to have it done.  So many people came to help out and we had quite a bit of fun.  My parents, brothers, Ang, Ty, and his friend, Brian, all helped out.  Thomas kept being a goofball, playing around as we worked.

Thomas messing around behind some curtains at the reception site.

My mom, Ang, and my mom's friend, Vicky, went with me to take a sneak peak at the flowers.  I was amazed that they were even more beautiful than I had pictured!  We had a blast looking at them all and snapping pictures.  Everything was starting to seem more real.  After months of planning it was almost time for the wedding!

Ang and me posing with the bouquets.

The week culminated with our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Our pastor joked that we had so people at the rehearsal, we could've had our wedding that night.  It was so much fun to see everyone.  One of my bridesmaids, Steph, had just gotten off of a 24 hour shift at the hospital that morning and had a 5 hour drive, so I wasn't sure if she was going to make it.  We were part-way through the rehearsal when I turned around and was surprised to see her!

Going over everything at the rehearsal.

The week leading up to our wedding was so busy and so much fun.  Next up will be my wedding memories.

Must Love Dogs

Carter still loves his buddy Harper so much.  He smiles just looking at her face.  She loves him too, but still is a bit apprehensive at times.  Yesterday she was laying on a dog bed at my parents house and I started flying Carter over to her to say boo.  He thought it was hilarious and laughed each time we swooped by her.  She stared up at us wondering what in the world we were doing. 

 

We've been at my parents' house this week for the 4th of July and he loves their dogs too.  When any of the dogs get close to him he smiles and reaches for them.  He is definitely a dog lover.  The cats he doesn't really pay much attention to, but dogs, he sure loves!

Petting Eboli

I'm so glad that Carter loves dogs so much and I hope he grows up to be an animal lover just like his dad and me!  He sure isn't scared of them, even my parents' 70 pound dog!  We were playing with her and I put him on her back to "ride" her.  He laughed almost as hard as he did playing boo with Harper.  She is such a gentle dog and loves him so much.  Anytime he's near her, she wags her tail.

Riding Zuma

When I met Ty he had to pass the test.  He had to get along with Harper.  I'm so glad Carter is following suit, not that we wouldn't love him even if he didn't.  I'm just so happy that in this family you must love dogs!

A Day in Our Lives: Summer Edition

I wrote this as a guest post on one of my favorite blogs to read, The Domestic Wannabe.  I decided to also post it here.  It will be nice to compare a day in our lives over the summer to during the school year.  I recorded our day on Monday, June 24th.

4:00 am: Carter is fussing in his crib so I head in to feed him.  He typically only wakes up once at night around this time for a feeding.  I nurse him and read up on some blogs on bloglovin while he eats.  I lay him down and am back to bed by 4:20.  He always goes right back to sleep, thank goodness!

7:00 am: Ty's alarm goes off and he rolls out of bed.  I reach over and check Carter on the monitor.  He's still asleep so I stay in bed.

7:20 am:  Ty comes in to say goodbye as he heads for work (wouldn't it be nice to be able to get ready in 20 minutes?!!?) and says Carter is awake and playing quietly in his crib.  This is a relatively new thing.  All the sudden these last few weeks he's been waking up and playing without making any noise.  I get up and head into his room.  I nurse him and then lay him down on a blanket to play.  While we're playing I get a text from my co-teacher asking if she and her kids can stop by to see us.  They each hold Carter and comment on how sweet and happy he is even though he's tired.  His little eyes are getting heavy so they leave.

8:30 am: I lay Carter down for a nap.  He falls asleep quickly and I get busy with chores.  I brush my teeth, get dressed (in running clothes so we can go for a run when he wakes up),  start a load of laundry, eat breakfast, put away the clean dishes in the dishwasher, and wash bottles and pump parts from the weekend.  Once I am finished with chores I sit down to work on math units for school.  We are re-vamping everything next year to align with the Common Core State Standards.

Putting himself to sleep.

10:30 am: Carter finally wakes up!  His morning nap is normally only an hour long, but he must still be worn out from his busy weekend.  I love going in and getting him when he wakes up from a nap.  He always smiles at me so excited to see me!  Once he's up I change his diaper and quickly get ready to head out for a run.  We are getting out about an hour and a half later than normal.  I don't mind the heat, but I worry about Carter getting too hot.  Luckily today it's only about 5 degrees warmer than when we normally run.  We get in 3 miles and then head home.

I use a swaddle blanket to shield him from the sun since it's lightweight and breathable.

11:30 am: We get home and head into Ty and my bedroom to play.  I pull back the comforter so Carter's laying on the sheets, which have less dog hair on them.  I sit on the ground and pop up to play boo with him.  We also practice sitting up.  Harper comes in to join us and Carter smiles and reaches for her. 

Laughing at me popping up at him.

12:45 pm: Carter starts acting tired, so I nurse him and lay him down for nap.  I sit down to work on a blog post while he's laying down.  I need to take a shower but I prefer to wait until he's asleep in case he needs something.  He plays around talking for a while and finally falls asleep at 1:20 so I hop into the shower.  While he's napping I get ready for the day and then realize I never ate lunch.  I heat up some left overs to eat and pump so I have milk to mix in with his rice cereal for the next couple of days.

3:30 pm: Carter wakes up from his nap.  I am surprised he slept for so long, I figured since his morning nap was 2 hours he would cut this one short.  We head into Ty and my bedroom to play in front of the mirror.  Carter loves watching himself in the mirror.

4:00 pm: We pack up all our library books and head out to my car to get Carter's stroller.  I get the stroller set up and put Carter in.  This will be the first time we've ever tried the stroller without his car seat insert.  I am pretty nervous but it goes well.  We head into the library and turn in his reading log.  Since we have been to the library 4 times and read 20 books Carter gets his prizes.  He receives a medal and a stuffed prairie dog.  The girl working is so excited to give it to him!  I open the bag, take the medal out, and let him wear it.  He plays with it as we choose new books to check out.

4:30 pm: We arrive home from the library and it's time to get ready for my tutoring appointment.  I only tutor on Monday evenings and normally tutor from 6:00-7:00.  Ty normally comes home early from work to watch Carter.  Today my tutoring student has hockey practice so we are meeting from 5:00-6:00 and his mom offered to watch Carter while we work.

I feed Carter rice cereal and he's still hungry, so I get the pumped milk from earlier out of the fridge and get it ready to take with us because we don't have time for him to nurse.  I load the car and we head to a different library for tutoring.

5:00-6:00 pm: I tutor while Carter plays at the library.

6:30 pm: We get home and Ty is home mowing the lawn.  We go out to say hi and talk to him for a little bit.  Then we come inside and I feed Carter apples for dinner.  Ty comes in to shower so I read Carter a book while we wait to use the bathtub.

7:00 pm: It's bathtime.  Carter loves bathtime.  He kicks and splashes the whole time.  I just wash his hair and use a wash cloth to rinse off the rest of his body.  We don't use soap every day because he has sensitive skin.

7:30 pm: Ty leaves to run some errands and I lay Carter down for the night.  Normally Carter goes right to sleep, but tonight he fusses and cries.  I go in a few times to soothe him, but he just cries again right after I leave.  I finally decide to get him out and rock him for a while.  When I lay him back down he goes right to sleep.

8:20 pm: Carter is finally asleep and I sit down to work on a blog post until Ty gets home.  When Ty returns we pack our bags for a trip we will leave on tomorrow and then watch recorded episodes of Duck Dynasty.  My co-teacher got me hooked on the show!

11:00 pm: We head for bed.

Happy 4th of July!

We are nearing the end of Carter's first holidays.  After today we just have Halloween and Thanksgiving left.  I can't believe it.  He is growing up so fast!  We started our morning by running the Firecracker 5k, Carter spectated this one.  More on the race to come later.  Then Carter and I took a nap while everyone else played Halo, including my mom and dad!

Ready to head out for the race.  Ty and I didn't plan our outfits to be opposites, it just happened!

We had thought about taking Carter to the swimming pool for the free swim, but he napped through it.  We ended up taking him outside to play in his bouncer while we played yard games and grilled.  Enjoying time as a family is the best way to spend holidays!

Carter getting ready to eat lunch in one of his 4th of July bibs.

Petting Harper.

Playing with the monkey, I love his wide stance!

Following suit with handprint/footprint crafts for the holidays we created a flag craft with Carter's handprint yesterday.  I didn't think it would work because he always curls his fingers down to his palm and rubs them around, but it did!  I put paint on his fingers first and then on his palm and left my finger in his palm, so when he curled his fingers he rubbed the red and white paint on my finger instead of his palm.  We only made a couple before he rubbed paint on his face and I panicked and ran to wash him off.  So they will just go to grandparents this time.

Then I saw a friend posted a picture of her son in a t-shirt they made on Facebook.  She used his handprint for the blue of the flag and then painted red stripes on a white t-shirt.  It was adorable.  I think I'll do that next year!  I found a picture similar to what she did.  She did the handprint sideways and painted fewer stripes.

Buddy Time

Yesterday Carter got to play with Hayden.  Hayden is my friend Erin's son and he's 20 months old, so coming up on 2 years.  Erin's sister just had a baby 2 weeks ago and Hayden is adjusting to having a cousin.  He's always been so sweet with Carter and was happy to share his toys.

Playing with a ball from Hayden's Elefun game.

Carter started to get fussy because he was hungry.  I got out his food and asked Hayden if he wanted to help me feed Carter.  He's really into saying "no" right now, so I was surprised when he said "yeah".  I showed him what to do and then handed over the spoon.  I thought he might try to take a few bites first, but he went right to work feeding Carter.  It was so adorable!  He's going to be such a great big cousin!

Hayden filling the spoon with some help.

Hayden feeding Carter.

I wrote a guest post for Ashley, one of my favorite bloggers, at "The Domestic Wannabe" about a day in our life, check it out here.

Running is My Therapy

Yesterday on our way back from St. Louis we stopped part-way at my grandparents' old house because my mom had some estate issues to deal with.  As I stood in the house I knew it would probably be the last time I would ever be there and I started to feel my chest tighten.  The house may no longer be my grandparents' home, but I still feel their presence when I am there.  When I look at the kitchen table I can picture my grandparents playing "Rook".  I can hear their voices.  I see them in every nick nack, every picture, every piece of furniture.

I had to leave and went outside for a run.  The closer I got to the street the more obvious it was that tears were going to come.  As I took off running a big, fat tear began to slowly roll down my cheek and I struggled to breathe.  The farther I went the easier it was to breathe and the more at peace I began to feel.  I don't know what awaits us when we leave this world, but I choose to hope there is an afterlife.  Afterall there are many things in this world I no longer believe in and people who are no longer here, but love and hope, those two things will never die. 

With both my grandparents at my college graduation.

5 Years From Now

Today the topic for Becky's 52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose is "5 Years From Now".  When I start to think about 5 years from now, I immediately think back to where I was 5 years ago.  Five years ago I had just graduated college, adopted Harper (my puppy), accepted my first teaching job, moved into my first place living alone, and was training for my first marathon.  If you had told me then that in 5 years I would be married with a 6 month old baby and running an average of 12 miles a week, I'm not sure I would have believed you.  Things sure change and life takes us to unexpected places.  Obviously I have no idea where I will be 5 years from now, but I can dream and guess.  Here's what I envision for our family 5 years from now...

Marriage
Ty and I will be celebrating 7 years of marriage.  In the perfect world I will still be able to fit into my wedding dress and will put it on to celebrate our anniversary.  I was able to cram into it 3 months pregnant last year for our anniversary, so that shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

Wearing my wedding dress for our anniversary last year.  I had to crop out the mess our dog made on the floor!

Children
Carter will be 5 and a half years old and will be gearing up to start kindergarten in the fall.  I don't even want to think about him being old enough for that, oh my!  I'm sure Carter will have at least one sibling, probably 2 or 3 years old.  Ty and I have talked about 2 or 3 kids.  Lately I've been slipping in, maybe 4...  It's so hard to know right now.  I feel like after our last child I'll just know that our family is complete and we are done.  Right now I'm so obsessed with pregnancy and babies I just can't picture being done after 2, but I won't know until the time comes.

It's hard to imagine our little man with a backpack on heading off to school.

Pets
What is an even crazier number to think about is that Harper will be 10 years old and Skippy will be somewhere around 13 if the vet's original estimate for his age was correct.  I know Harper and Carter's relationship will be even more special.  I doubt she will be sleeping in our room anymore, I bet she will be sleeping with Carter by then!

Work
I will be in a first or second grade classroom and honestly believe I will still be teaching multi-age with my current co-teacher.  When you've got a good thing goin might as well stick with it!  After 5 more years I will have learned even more and will be a more effective teacher.  I'm proud of where I am now and know with 5 more years of experience, my abilities can only improve.  I see Ty working his way up and becoming a leader at his company. 

Home
Ty, I know you're reading this, so I want you to know I expect our master bathroom remodel to be finished within the next 5 years!  :o)  I see us in our current home, but revamped.  I have lots of projects I would like to do and I think we can get them done within 5 years...  They include a remodel to our guest bathroom, painting our kitchen and kitchen cabinets, painting the exterior of the house, and decorating the current guest room for Carter before baby #2.  In my dreams our garage would be organized and cute and the laundry room would be painted and adorable.  Priorities here, my friends.

Running
There's a possibility that in 5 years our family will still be growing, so I imagine my running will still be sub-par.  I will be running somewhere between 3-5 days a week and I bet getting in less weekly mileage than I am now.  I don't see Carter chilling in a stroller for runs anymore, especially in a double stroller, but who knows.  In my dreams I would be running sub-22 minute 5ks and decent half-marathons, but I doubt my life will allow for that kind of training.  Ty will also be running, mostly obstacle course races and 5ks.  Carter might be participating in some kid fun runs at our races.

A running family.

Family
As much as I'd like to predict what will be happening with my parents, brothers, and Ty's family, there's just no way to know.  I would love it if I had gained another sister-in-law or two, but that's not quite in the works right now.  That doesn't necessarily mean anything though since 5 years ago I hadn't even met Ty!  I would love it for my dad if he were retired and working solely on his reading curriculum and coming to visit us with my mom!  Ty's parents are happy in their jobs and I see them both still working where they are.  Paul and Amanda will have moved back to our area of the country, a girl can dream, right?!!?  

I don't know what 5 years will bring, but I do know it will be a wonderful ride!  It will be fun to look back at what I wrote today.  I know I would be laughing at my predictions from 5 years ago if I were reading them right now.  Life doesn't seem to take us where we think it will go.