one year

July 24, 2010

Today is a happy day. One year ago today I was getting ready to marry my best friend, high school sweet heart and the person that I have been with since I was 17 years old.

Andrew and I both decided that we wanted to plan our wedding. We vowed that we were not going to stress or get worried because this special time was only going to happen once... annnnd that lasted about two days. We were both getting ready to graduate from college. Andrew had his thesis due (and a job lined up at the time that depended on it) and I was running around, by way of caffeine, trying to finish all of my last projects/classes/papers. It was hectic. I remember staying up two nights in a row together. We were zombies. But once the second week of June hit, we.were.DONE. Forever! After graduation it was wedding crunch time! Although at times it was hectic, it was so much fun to plan our special day together. We were blessed by so many friends and family that wanted to help too!

I have cried at 99% of the weddings that I have been to... even the ones where I barely know the bride & groom. So, naturally, I thought I was going to be a mess. The part I always loose it on is when the bride is walking down the aisle and looking to the groom to see his reaction. Nope! Not at my wedding! Not one tear... My handsome husband was up there waiting for me... (he must have gotten something in his eye ;)...) and I was completely composed! Not one tear. Not even the feeling you get in your stomach or throat when you think you are about to mayyybe tear up. Nothing. 

I was just soo excited. So so sooo grateful and excited. I couldn't wait to get down the aisle and stand next to him! 

The bridal party

The whole weekend was a.ma.zing. I serrriously wouldn't mind getting married again! To the same groom, of course. ;)  

There are a million things I love about marriage. But my favorite thing is living with my best friend. Andrew and I didn't live together before we got married so this first year has been quite a fun adventure! He is the best roommate! :)

Can't wait for many more years of love to come! <3

he makes me SO happy

Last Friday was a looong day! From 11am-1am I was taking care of a sick baby and his super sweet, but extremely hyper four year old sister. Sick lethargic baby + crazy hyper four year old = not a good combo. It was hectic. And long. And I know I shouldn't complain because I am so thankful that I have  a job, but I was soo excited to come home and relax with my favorite person.

Annnd...
I walked into the house to find sweet little notes he had left on each step all the way up the stairs.

He just keeps on getting sweeter--I hope he keeps this up... forever! ;)

Wine, flowers and chocolate at the top :) 

<3<3

Most of the notes were so cute and sweet and made me want to cry! BUT he decided to get a little creative on a few... (He promised me in his vows that he would let me pinch his ears, so there's no getting out of that one, mister!)

I love him. 

Friday

What a perfect day today has been. It started out by actually waking up early enough that my husband and I weren't literally running out the door to make it to work on time. 

I dropped him off, went to the gym, (which I LOVE doing on early weekday mornings because it is full of theee sweetest 75+ year olds) came home to find out that I don't have work (wahoo) and now I am drinking an amazing cup of Starbucks Cinnamon Spice via brew, delish. 

Oh, and it is absolutely gorgeous outside, hellllo summer! Finally. 

My sweet husband likes to send me K-loves encouraging word every now and then, and today while I was dying working out, I received this:

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Philippians 4-6

Unfortunately, for the majority of these past few months, Andrew and I have been the king and queen of worrying. It seems like we are always worried about something, whether it be money related and those horrible two words: student loans (yuck) or stressing about the car and how it wouldn't start the other morning. BUT every.single.time God always provides for us and we end up with just what we need. Looking back, we are in awe of all of the times we were so worried and how everything worked out, just how it was supposed to. 

This is my new goal: Not to worry. I have been a worry wort my entire life. Not fun. I remember the summer after 2nd grade and being completely terrified that I was going to forget how to write in cursive. Dear Lord. 

I am going to post this verse up in our house and every time worry slips into our minds, we will be reminded that we are not in control and not to worry about anything.

<3

brother's graduation

I still can't believe that my little brother graduated on Sunday.

I remember stuffing him in my doll's high chair and making having him play school with me all.day.long. I like to take partial credit to his intelligence :) 

Oh, he was theee cutest little boy. Hair so blonde it looked white and the biggest blue eyes. 

I remember going to the grocery store once and having a lady literally freak out on my mom because she thought that she had dyed my brothers hair. Sheesh people. But I am so so proud of him and love him so so much! 

happy birthday to my sweet husband

Happy 24th birthday to my very best friend! 

24 reasons why I love Andrew James Edwards:

1. He is very good looking and was an insanely cute little boy 

2. He has (finally) acquired a taste for coffee ;)

3. He prays for us every night

4. He doesn't get annoyed at my extremely long list of baby names and how I add to it... quite regularly and bring up/talk about new names... quite regularly :)

5. What he sees and wants for our future

6. How he wants to provide me with everything that I "think" I want... I really don't deserve it

7. How amazing of a father he will be one day

8. He doesn't care when I put my ice cube feet on his warm ones every night

9. How excited he is about having children

10. How he plays with my hair... almost every time I ask :)

11. He gives the best surprises and is so creative with them 

12. He can find everything I loose, what a perfect pair, I lose, he finds

13. How he has to tell me absolutely everything that is on his mind to de-stress

14. How he's an even bigger dork than me

15. He seriously has the best sense of direction, hands down

16. How he enjoys being crafty with me... maybe even a little more than I do at times :)

17. How easy he is to miss, and I do every single time he is gone

18. He let's me pinch his ears :)

19. How he let's me sleep in on mornings he has work 

20. He's a great role model

21. He always makes me feel loved 

22. How he laughs at me after I say something that doesn't make sense, well, to him anyways (if my sister were there, it wouldn't have been a problem) 

23. How organized he is 

24. He loves serving people 

Happy birthday hubby, YOU are an amazing person and I love celebrating a day dedicated to you! I am one blessed lady to have you to call mine <3 

See, I told you... #14

nine months & four days

It is hard to believe that we are approaching our 1 year anniversary--what?! Last year at this time we were cramming for final projects, getting ready to graduate from Oregon State and finishing up the last little wedding details. (Which I lovvved doing, I tell Andrew all of the time that I want to get married again--It was so much fun!)  

Our little nine month & four day marriage together:

• We moved to Beaverton a little over a month ago... and I love the city. Traffic, however, is taking a little getting used to. Leaving an hour early to travel 12 miles is soo not my cup of tea, especially when I have a tendency of getting lost. Sadly, it happens on a regular basis and is not something I am proud of. It doesn't help that I have a husband who is basically a walking GPS. Seriously, the guy has the best sense of direction. 

Despite having a horrible sense of direction, I really do love the city. Being able to drive downtown (preferably not between the hours of 8am-9am, 12pm-1pm and 5pm-6pm) and visiting Anthropology, West Elm (Fav store) and Petes Coffee makes me one happy girl. I will be able to enjoy these little ventures even more now that I have a job. Yaa! 

Proof my sense of direction absolutely stinks. I sent Drew this photo while he was at a meeting, he said it about killed him because he couldn't laugh out loud. I started at the green dot, was supposed to end up at the red dot and... I am the blue dot. I am progressing, slowly but surely! 

• On March 1st, Andrew started his first grown up job as the interactive marketing coordinator at Rivermark. He basically is in charge of making everything look reeeeeeal good, and he is reeeeeeal good at it. On April 14th we went to the annual company dinner and the CEO was talking about their annual report (which Drew completely designed) and going on and on about how this is the best one that the company has ever had. Whoa, goo hubby goo--he is so great! Other than making things look pretty, he also is in charge of the media advertising, web design and the photography for the company's eight branches throughout Oregon. I am so proud of him.

(I added this is to my calendar before we knew he had the job! God is good.)

• Up until recently, I have been nannying part time through a nanny agency. I have had quite the experience with some of these children, but for the most part I am enjoying it. 

This is Milo, he is 7 months old and has the best looking cheeks around. I pray our children have cheeks like this one day... :)

A few days ago I had an interview with a sweet little family with one little girl. She is two years old (cutest thing EVER) and her name is Nyah. How cute is that name? (Shayla??) I met with Mandy, the mother, and spoke with her for over an hour. They just moved to Portland from a small town, (YES!) and they don't have every-single-second-of-their-two-year-old-daughters-life-planned-out-on-a-daily- basis (another huge YES!). She called me a few days later and asked if I would like to be Nyah's full time nanny. I start May 9th and I am SO excited to hang out with a sweet little girl everyday. 

• We have our very first place, eeek. I love having our own little place! It only took about 6-ish months for that to happen so we are extra grateful and enjoying every minute of it together. I love rearranging, decorating (still needs a lot of work!) and keeping it clean! The location is awesome. I love how we can walk to the coffee shop down the street, or on the nearby trail. Best of both worlds. 

Walking through the 23,904,829 condos near ours. So many people. 

My absolute FAVE thing in the entire world. Curling up on the couch, fire place on, hanging w/ my sweet husband... and him playing with my hair. (I have my mother to thank for this, she got me hooked at the mere age of 2.) At least he is excited? :) 

• Baking>Cooking. I have a feeling this will never change. All I can say is thank you Mr. Crockpot. 

Best.cookies.ever.

Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

I am going to work on the whole cooking and not getting lost thing, but other than that I am absolutely loving our first (almost) year of marriage together <3

First Valentines Day {as Mr. & Mrs.}

I can't believe this was our 6th Valentine's Day together--but our very first as Mr. & Mrs. <3

Our first Valentine's Day together, 2005 

We decided to celebrate the special day early, this way we could spend all day together! 

We started off with a little pit-stop at Java Run and decided to go all out with a cinnamon vanilla frappacino. (Nothing like a milkshake to start the day, right?!) It even had little red hot's blended throughout it which I loved. Drew, not so much, he is definitely not a cinnamon guy. 

Next we headed north to Eugene to do a little thrift shopping. I spent most of my time scouring through old books while Drew spent his searching for success authors. (We both had a success!) 

We grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to the Sweet Life Patisserie. Bad idea considering we split a milkshake for breakfast, but we couldn't resist. Drew picked out a Red Velvet cupcake and I finally made up my mind and decided to go with a Black Bottom cupcake. (Talk about major indecision, I can never make up my mind--and go figure, I ended up loving Andrew's choice way more than mine. Not a surprise.) 

YUM! 

Black Bottom 

Red Velvet

& lot's leftover for later

After dessert we headed out for dinner at Beppe and Gianni's. Ah-MA-ZING! 

We celebrated a day early so the next day I came home on my lunch and walked through the door to see this:

He is so creative. I love it.