3.

Today we’ve been married for 3 years.  When people ask us if it feels like it’s been 3 whole years we look at each other, chuckle, and say it feels like it’s been a lot longer.  Here is our 3 years in recap in no particular order… We’ve lived in 2 cities.  Purchased our first home.  Lived with family.  Dreamed together.  Grieved the loss of dreams.  Battled crazy depression.  Received incredible healing.  Had 7 jobs between the two of us.  Started a side wedding flower business.  Ended said flower business.  Became an aunt and uncle twice.  Fought. Laughed a lot.  Looked for a job for almost a year.  Finished a PhD in Chemistry.  Grew and left an amazing small group.  Started a new group in Austin. Traveled: Martha’s Vineyard, Boston, Raynham, St.Louis, Madison, Somewhere in Michigan, Somewhere in Wisconsin.  Supported each other.  Started and finished Lost, Battlestar, Everwood, 24, and Friday Night Lights.  Gained weight.  Lost weight. Gained it all back again.  Prayed together.  Confronted issues.  Worked on said issues, alot. Became absolute best friends.

Roach, I mean Beetle

Apparently due to the drought in Texas right now people are experiencing a surge of beetles in their homes.  We are no exception.  We’ve lately been finding large black beetle bugs in our bathroom and bedroom and let me just say the scene that takes place from the moment I scream ROACH until it is killed is quite entertaining.  I’m a relatively dramatic person.  Last night I was picking up the house and standing in my bedroom doorway when I saw a big black bug scurrying across the floor.  I of course start screaming terrified of this harmless bug and Andrew comes rushing in like my knight in shining armor to rescue me.  He grabs the raid (our current killing tool of choice) and begins the hunt for the bug that has now crawled under our bed.  I store my paint clothes under my bed, not really sure why, I guess they are already so dirty that I store them in a dirty place.  So Andrew picks up my clothes shakes them out and out jumps the beetle.  It scurries over to our drapes and Andrew proceeds to douse the drapes in Raid to kill this bug.  I have no clue what’s going on because I am too terrified to get close enough to watch the action, but when all is said and done Andrew says, ” do you think I ruined the curtains by spraying them with Raid?”  I’m thinking who in their right mind sprays fabric with Raid, but I was so thankful that he got rid of the bug that I didn’t even care all that much.  I put our raid drench dry clean only drapes in the washing machine and when I checked them this morning they looked perfect.  So Andrew spray away….I hate roaches, I mean beetles.

Coldest Photo Shoot EVER

Here are a few of the pictures that will not be making the cut for our Christmas card, but these are some of my favorites!  I’ll post our actual picture when we post our Christmas letter…hopefully we’ll get that together before December 25th!

In case you don't have facebook here's my bozo hair picture

Love that face...Andrew's that is

This would be my choice for Christmas card because it most captures our relationship, but I know people wouldn't want this on their fridge!

It was cold, 7 degrees, and we were out there with NO COATS

I like this one, but there are better ones so we won't be using this one either.

This was a mini session…it took us a total of 30 minutes start to finish and we got some good ones. Jenna is AMAZING, we appreciate her more than we could ever express!

Madison

This past Sunday and Monday Andrew and I got away for our 2nd anniversary trip.  When people ask us if we can believe it’s already been 2 years we both kind of chuckle and say, “well actually it feels like it’s been a lot longer than that.”  There are many reasons we feel that way, but that’s for another post another day.  This post is to serve as a little scrap book of our trip because if you’ve every met me you know that I will not be a scrap booker…clutter much?  So here is a very short recap of our lovely trip.  Sorry for the horrible picture quality…our cameras are ancient!

Our room at the Speckled Hen Inn. It was a very nice place to stay if you ever want to get away to Madison we would definitely recommend staying here. It was a llama farm, how cool is that?

This was the restaurant we ate at called Fresco, it's on top of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Very neat, good food and it's mostly local stuff. Pricey, but I'd say it's worth it.

Here we are on the roof of the Museum overlooking Madison...still shocked by the blonde when I see pictures.

The state capital was gorgeous, I kept commenting to Andrew that they must have spent a fortune and he kept reminding me that it was probably built hundreds of years ago.

We also went and saw Inception which was entertaining to say the least.  We went to The Old Fashioned for lunch on Capital Square…would recommend the cheese curds, but only if you have a steel stomach, stopped by Candinas and got a couple chocolates and enjoyed a cupcake at the Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery.  This trip was definitely worth the 4 hour drive and I came back feeling SO refreshed and more loved than ever.

SO.TIRED.

Andrew and I didn’t really sleep all weekend.  For some reason it was either too hot or too cold in our bedroom all night long.  Then half the night Andrew would toss and turn to try to get comfortable and that would wake me up.  Saturday night I got up twice sick to my stomach.  Then to top it all off we had to be up relatively early every morning.  GRRR I’m so tired and all I want to do is crawl in bed, BY MYSELF and sleep all day…no offense Andrew, but I want all the covers and I want to lay across the ENTIRE bed.  Next purchase, King Size Bed!

I Am Heard

Andrew showed me this weekend that he listens to me, like REALLY listens to me.  He hears the underlying action narrative that we all have.  You know the things you do, not just what you say.  He told me he had a surprise for me at work, he told me everyday last week and then finally revealed it on Saturday.  It was a mix of different songs: worship, pop, songs I’ve heard, some that I hadn’t.  We listened to it on Saturday while we deep cleaned our bedroom and it was sheer bliss.  Each time a song would come on I would GASP in shock that he knew I loved the song.  It was as if I didn’t realize he noticed every time I turned up a song on the radio or belted it at the top of my lungs.  The mix of songs was splendid, but the true gift was that my husband gets me, he hears me, and he cares!

A Wonderful Weekend

Andrew and I had a wonderful weekend.  It was actually surprisingly great considering we were both super busy.  Andrew had class Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.  I taught a class Saturday morning and was on for worship for 3 services at church and then I worked 12:30 to 5:00 at Bella.  Here are a few highlights:

1. Friday night Andrew went for drinks with some friends from class so I was able to get dolled up without him being home…this is my favorite because it feels like we are actually going on a real date.

2.  We went to Jupiter’s and they messed up our food so they had to remake it.  This resulted in us waiting an hour longer than expected, but a FREE MEAL.  Yeah that was pretty sweet that date night was free.  And the extended time of us sitting there caused us to talk more and we actually had some good conversations.

3.  Due to date night being so cheap we decided we could spend that money and go on another date on Saturday afternoon, yep that’s right 2 dates in 1 weekend…heaven!

4.  We went to my old high school for me to participate in the dedication of the Aldridge Auditorium and it was delightful to be a part of it.

5.  We went out for our friend’s 21st birthday and the party started at 11:45, usually we are getting to bed by then, but we thought hey, why not.  We ended up having a great time and staying out past 1AM.  As we were walking to our car I turned to Andrew and said, “Man I feel young again and I love it.”  I think we are going to try to do this more often.

6.  Baptism Sunday is one of my favorites and that’s what we had today and I had a front row seat.  After service I went to work and had a great time with all the ladies.

7.  When I got home Andrew was at the grocery store getting dinner so I got to do some chores to get ready for the week.  After dinner we took a walk and then came home and started watching…you guessed it…LOST!

8. I fell in love all over again this weekend.  I never fell out of love with Andrew, but this weekend my heart grew bigger for him.  I’m not even really sure why, but it feels really nice.  I feel like Will Ferrel on Elf when he runs into his dad’s office and says, “I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it!”  What a difference a weekend can make.

I truly hope that your weekend was rejuvenating…back to reality tomorrow!

Hold My Foot, Please?

Andrew and I have been utilizing our netflix subscription and watching something almost every night before bed.  Whenever we watch T.V. or movies, especially during suspenseful spots I always ask him to hold my foot.  There is something super comforting about having your foot held.  I don’t want it rubbed or played with, I just want a firm hold on the bottom of my foot.  Andrew has grown accustomed to this odd quirk and I pretty much don’t even have to ask anymore, he just knows that  when we watch T.V. or movies he’s going to be holding my foot…hey it gets him out of snuggling!

I hope you are looking forward to a weekend inside…it’s going to be a cold one, well for us at least!

Staying in

Today Andrew and I are doing something that has happened few times in our marriage…we stayed home this afternoon.  We are both busy bodies, so rarely do we see it as OK to just stay home on a Saturday.  This morning I worked from 9-1 and he had class from 8-12, but then we came home ate lunch and have been cleaning the apartment/ordering things online that we’ve been meaning to purchase (i.e. photos from our photo shoot with Jenna and a replacement cap for our blender).  We will have to venture out at some point to pick up the pictures, but other than that we are working at home.  We need to do this more often, I think that we think we will miss out on life if we stay home, but I’m finding today that I’m all ready more optimistic about the week ahead because I’m going into it with a clean home.  Also if you’ve been following our blog for any length of time you know I LOVE to get rid of things so I’ve been working on filling up my garage sale box.   Ah the little things in life are so sweet!  HAPPY SATURDAY

Better Spouse

If your resolution is to be a better spouse this year I think I might have a tool for you to use.  Andrew and I started doing this in the Fall of 2009 and it has really made a difference in our marriage.  It only takes about 10 minutes a day and the effects are huge.  It’s called your daily three.  Each day you do the following 3 things:

1. Tell your spouse how you are feeling that day.  I don’t allow OK or FINE as a feeling because that doesn’t really tell me anything.

2. Tell your spouse one thing you appreciate about them for that day.  You will find that some of your appreciations might have the same theme, but always point out something specific for that day.

3. Pray with each other.  Andrew and I have prayed with each other everyday since our wedding day (with the exception of maybe 5 days when we weren’t together) and it has been awesome.  We do need to get better about actually praying FOR each other which is really how this is supposed to work.

If you are intentional about this and both of you desire to make your marriage better it will work.  The results are amazing when you are dedicated to making God the center of your marriage and always taking time for each other.  There really is no excuse not to do this….if you don’t have 10 minutes a day for your spouse you have much bigger issues that you need to deal with.  I’m not saying you have to do this to have a great marriage, but if you’re looking for something to bring you closer to your spouse in 2010 I would suggest trying this.  I didn’t make this up, but I learned it from a wise marriage counselor and I totally endorse it.