Two Years and Still Hiking!

While we were in CO, Nate and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. I'm so grateful to be in such an amazing marriage that brings nothing but good to my life. Nate is such a caring husband, but what this year also brought was the realization that he is not only a great husband but also an amazing dad. I'm so lucky to have Nate in my life and I look forward to continuing to build our life together.

Okay, okay, enough of the sappy stuff... So how did we celebrate? With a little hike in the CO mountains. The family joined and we had a great time being in the great outdoors.

Two years of marriage, our family has grown to three :)

It's amazing what can come out of love and commitment between two people...


At the top of the hike :)

The loves of my life


It's hard to imagine that just last year, this guy was cozy in my belly. I'm happy to have him out so I can see this cute little face :)

I love you, Nate! I can't wait to see what the next year brings :)

Husbo-Less :(

Welp, I dropped off Nate at the airport this morning to send him on his European travels for the next two and a half weeks. His work gave him this awesome opportunity and his travels include Germany, France, Belgium, and Spain. Had I been a little less pregnant I would have joined, but I am past the point of international travel.

It's definitely hard for Nate and I to be apart for so long. We are kind of used to just doing most things together. This is also the longest we have been apart since we first started dating, five years ago, when Nate went to help rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina. And, as Nate said, that was when we were brand new and "we didn't know what we were missing yet." I love my man and wish him safe and fun travels.

So what will I be doing with my time? I finish teaching Monday. Then I will celebrate this one's B-day at a German restaurant on Tuesday:
I'll be hanging out with these cool cats, aka my parents. That is, until they, too, leave me to go to Hawaii ;)

Hopefully, I will get some quality time with this little one. She is kind of understanding that there is a baby in my belly, although, when I walk in the room she points at my belly and says, "Uh oh":

Definitely a lot of girly time with Juju, ShaSha, Lisa, Linds, and Lo. I'm sure there will be plenty singing in the car :)
All I hope is that the next two and a half weeks go by fast. I miss my Husbo already!

One Year and Counting!

Last Friday Nate and I celebrated our one year anniversary. I can't believe we have already been married a year! Time has seriously flown by. I have to say (yes, this is the gushy part) that the last year has been the best one of my life. When you get married you think, I could never love this person more than I do right now, but the truth is, marriage makes you love a person in more ways than you could have ever imagined. Our relationship has grown so much over the last year. We've become so close that I feel like we are never alone in all that we do. We are always present for the other, whether that means physically or mentally; whether to take out the trash or get through one of life's many obstacles. I can't wait to see what the rest of our life holds for us.

Of course, I can't give all the credit to the institution of marriage.. Really it has everything to do with this guy :)
To celebrate our anniversary we thought it would be best to save our $$ and do something more relaxing and local (we are preparing for a little one!). Friday, we both took the day off and started it the way all great days should begin... with some homemade waffles :) We decided to head to Balboa Park and walk around, looking at all the buildings, artwork, and nature that the place had to offer. The happy couple:
After some lunch and another walk around Kate Sessions Park by the house (we were really in the mood for walking, I guess) we came home to this beautiful thing. Traditionally, people defrost the top tier of the wedding cake and eat that on their one year anniversary. But, we aren't the traditional type. Nate surprised me with this mini-size version of our wedding cake. My mouth is drooling just thinking about it. Thank you Extrordinary Desserts, you truly are extraordinary:
Fresh berries, yes please!
After a little lounging we got ready and headed to dinner at Ruth's Chris. We've been to other popular steakhouses like Morton's, etc., but Ruth's Chris takes the cake (mmmmm caaake). My filet was amazing..even cooked at Medium Well. I always prefer Medium Rare, but I was being cautious for the babe. Luckily, the filet was still so tender and flavorful. Let's just say, after dinner we were happy that we had decided to have a little piece of the cake before we left. We were full to the brim (or grim, as I liked to say when I was little).

All in all, it was a great anniversary and Memorial Day weekend. I consider myself lucky to be with Nate and I know the future holds even more great things for us.

Life's Lessons

Nate and I have been married for 5 months now, and with these big life changes come big life lessons. For example, this week I learned what can't go down the garbage disposal :)

Yesterday I cooked up a healthy dinner of chicken and baked sweet potato and onion. Delicious - yes, good for the sink - no. I happily peeled the sweet potato into the sink, as I'd seen my mom do many times with potatoes. After I was finished peeling the potatoes, I stuffed the peelings into the drain, flipped on the garbage disposal, and went on with making dinner. What a good wife I am, right? Welllllllll.. I started cleaning some of the dirty bowls and quickly noticed there was a problem. The water wasn't draining. Those happy, little potato peelings clogged the sink. Oh yeah, mom used the sink to peel into, but then put the peelings in the trash. Whoops!

Ahhh.. Life lessons. While I learned that potato peelings DO NOT belong down the drain, Nate learned how to unclog a sink. What learning this marriage brings us!

My husbo, taking care of my mess:
DO NOT PUT POTATO PEELINGS DOWN THE DRAIN:
As punishment, Nate made me scrub the floor until he "could eat off it." So mean:
Of course I was kidding on the last part!! I just happened to be cleaning the floor as Nate unclogged the drain :)

Can't wait to see what lessons we have ahead of us! Good thing I have a handy husband because knowing me, there will be a lot!

A Note About Married Life

Recently people have asked me, "How's married life?" And while I don't like to get all googley-oogley about how absolutely grateful I am, how completely lucky I feel to have Nate, or how happy I am in this life I live... I do think it's worth mentioning, at least a little bit.

Growing up you always wish for a person who is the complete package: loving, humorous, sincere, caring, unselfish, family-oriented, driven. Or in my case, Nate. I'm the luckiest girl to have someone who is all of these things and more. He is my perfect balance and every day with him is better than the last. I never imagined my life would be made easier when I met my match (call me a pessimist), but life IS easier. I look forward to growing old with this man!

Happy

A funny thing happened today when I went grocery shopping. As I was checking out I put in Nate's preferred number and as I was leaving the checker said, "Thank you Mrs. Butler." I laughed. But that is not the unusual part. The funny thing was that this time I was laughing because it was true and not because it wasn't :)