happy ONE year anniversary!

we're no longer newlyweds --- we celebrated our first year anniversary in june! we had such a great first year as a married couple. it went by extremely fast! we had a ton of fun. of course, like many other couples, we also had our share of arguments & disagreements. actually those arguments & disagreements made us closer to each other. i asked bryan what he wanted to do for our anniversary, but we didn't end up planning anything...so i thought...Bryan planned the whole weekend to surprise me! all i was told was what to pack. we were able to spend our weekend on the eastern shore in cape charles, va. the weather was beautiful and the company was amazing. 


we stayed at the cozy cape charles house bed & breakfast (www.capecharleshouse.com) definitely a must! neither one of us had ever stayed at a bed & breakfast before. we LOVED it! it was so quaint and the owners were oh so sweet. 


we first ventured to the beach (because everyone know's that's my kinda place to be!) the water was still, so we were able to wade in the water for a little bit. while at the beach we strolled down by the water looking for shells. after our beach adventure we celebrated our anniversary with a delicious dinner at the aqua restaurant. aqua overlooks the chesapeake bay, so we were able to watch the sunset too. the funny thing is I wore the same dress the night before our anniversary that i wore for our dress rehearsal the night before our wedding & i didn't even realize it! 


when we were finished with dinner we headed back to the cape charles house where wine, cheese, & crackers awaited us. there was also large strawberries dipped in chocolate. yum!! 


i got some beautiful diamond earrings for our anniversary! i actually lost the first pair that i owned when we were in canada one year. i was wakeboarding & one fell out. bryan knew that i had been wanting some new ones for a while. he did a great job for sure! i also got a massage & facial gift certificate which i have yet to use...i think it's about time i do! 


we had such a great time away. i always want to make the time to go somewhere for our future anniversary's even when the kiddies come along...next year i'm hoping for somewhere further away! hmmm...maybe hawaii...capri...lots of choices. 

such a beautiful place...the couple who owns the b&b actually came to cape charles for their anniversary & ended up buying this house! they say that a lot of people have come & bought property there....funny thing was when we arrived we said, "maybe we'll just buy a house here since we can't find one around us." 

new 2nd hole earrings --- diamonds are a girls best friend!

beach time with my love! 

my love. my world. 

seriously the biggest strawberries I've ever seen! very sweet!

It takes a long time to grow an old friend

one of my friends who i've known since elementary school is tying the knot this weekend. (crystal, i'm stoked for you!) i am so glad she has found the man of her dreams. just like me. i am so happy to share with her in her special day. i'm glad to have a longtime friend like her. i had the opportunity to play hostess for her bridal shower a few weeks ago and we had a ball. she got lots of wonderful gifts for her home. the bridal shower was a peacock theme...so much so that a few of the guests thought my house was decorated like that all the time. lol. we used peacock feathers plucked from a friends peacock. i didn't have to pay for a single feather!! lucky! here are a few of the pics. 

                                      

                      

the wishing tree. a wish for a happy marriage. a wish full of tips for the new bride. all of the guests wrote a special something for crystal. she read them all aloud. some were funny. some were sweet. and some were sappy. homemade wishing tags added the final touch to the tree. i was very satisfied with them. i had so much fun planning. i love to plan parties. 

beautiful cake the wonderful Tiffany made. vanilla on top and chocolate on the bottom. yummo!

the happy couple.

homemade lamp. made of a wine glass. and a small candle.

  
              



                   

               
               

bridesmaid. bride. matron of honor.                                                          



                       
                                                                                                                   crystal with her momma.

we all got the bling! welcome to the club crystal!!! we love you!!

Losing to God will help you WIN

day 24...i've been reading a devotional called "Before you Go" by jack hempfling to prepare myself for our mission trip. bryan and i leave in less than 2 weeks for Dominican Republic! time has flown by so fast...it seemed like just yesterday we felt called to go. i can't express how excited i am to have the opportunity to go on a mission trip this year. i haven't been in a few years and have missed sharing the love of God to people in other countries. it truly is a blessing. God has blessed us financially which is a huge answer to prayer! prayer is so powerful...i can see how it works daily.

today's devotion was on pride. james 4:6-7 says,"...God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." therefore submit to God." we must submit to Him. when we don't submit, surrender, or give it all to Him we are miserable and unhappy. but when we choose to surrender all of our independence and our desires we are happy!! i want to be happy! when we humble ourselves we win the grace of God. we need Him to make it happen. he is there to work with us. we need to stop fighting for what we want and let God take control. it's a losing battle when we try to base things on our our desires. 

it is so true when people say that life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond to it. i can say that many times i have ruined a whole day because i couldn't get past one thing that happened to me...instead of giving it over to God and surrendering i chose to let it get to me. don't let stuff get to you. only we can choose our response. i want to remain humble for my upcoming trip, but also in my day to day life. displaying the love of Christ is what people in Dominican Republic need to see...not someone who can't get past the extreme heat, the bugs, and the different food. i choose to surrender to Him. i choose to submit to His desires. i want to win with God. we have the choice...so what's it gonna be?

Coley Poley

i miss cole. he was seriously the best dog EVER! he was the sweetest dog in the world. we had a few dogs growing up, but none like cole. he was my favorite. my brother, sister, & i got him for our parents for christmas in 2007. we were excited because they weren't expecting it at all. they were SO surprised. they loved him. we all loved him. he was so easy going and laid back. we nicknamed him coley poley.

the day after christmas i woke up and he was laying at the end of my bed. "aww!" i thought. the phone rang. it was my mom. "how's cole doing?" she said. "oh, he's doing great...wait...i think he's pooping on the floor!!" that's how the 1st full day with cole started! hahaha. it definitely got better after that! we trained him, taught him fun tricks, and took him for walks.

when my parents left for mongolia for 3 months i was left to take care of him...or was he there to take care of me? i'd say it was both. i was never lonely in the house because i had him. i knew God was with me, but it felt nice to have cole too. he slept on the bed right next to me every night. i felt safe when he was there. one night i went out with some friends to see a late movie. cole was so cute curled up in his bed that i didn't want to wake him. i left out of the house refusing to put him in his crate....well don't you know what i came home to....A MESS!! i could barely be mad at him because he was adorable...and because i should've put him in his crate before i left. the list of shreds: my favorite bible, magazines, a few books. they were scattered out on the floor... needless to say i never did that again!

he wasn't even 2 years old when he became sick. the vet said they thought it was a fungus from digging in the dirt. there was no guarantee that he would survive a surgery...my parents had to make a decision. we had to put him down in the summer of 2009. before going to work that morning my mom told me i might not see him again. it was sad. i wanted to cry, but i held it back. some people might think it's just a dog, but he was so much more than that. he added energy and fun to our lives. he was a companion. i got home from work. it was raining. my parents were burying cole...i cried. even though he's gone i still have fun pictures of him when he was just a puppy. i kinda want a dog.... hmmm....what does the husband say about that??! hahaha. maybe when we buy a house!

this was one of cole's favorite toys to play with.

he also loved when mom & dad would tie an old t-shirt into knots...
he would chew on that for hours.

my dad loved to get on the floor and wrestle with coley. 

so did my momma! 

how could you NOT love this little guy?!

cole was about a year and a half here...he liked to play outside too....
the evidence was usually on the floor in the kitchen of what he found in the yard. 

apples that fell off of the tree in the backyard ended up in the living room with cole. 

We're Blogging!

I've wanted to start a blog for a longtime, but I wasn't sure if anyone would read it.

we have a lot of fun & exciting things going on in our lives & we want to share it with you! this is my way of getting away & writing about our happenings. enjoy!!