parallels

6 years ago...

...i woke up exhausted, but ready to face the day

...i held gorgeous flowers in my arms

...i put on a dress that i spent months picking out

...i spent hours getting ready

...at the end of the day, i drifted off next to the man of my dreams and my best friend

today...

...i woke up exhausted, but ready to face the day

...i held gorgeous babies in my arms

...i put on clothes that i picked out of a pile on my bedroom floor, and hoped they were clean {enough}

...getting ready?  what's that?  

...at the end of the day, i'll drift off next to the man of my dreams and my best friend

so...there may have been a few changes, but i wouldn't trade them for the world

today, we celebrate 6 years of being us

and i am thankful for everything the Lord has done in our lives

for the man that he has given me

for the children that he blessed us with

for the trials we've worked through

for the joys we've shared

God is good

happy anniversary, love!

*photos by the amazingly talented (and hilarious!) James Moes*

weekend tidbits

i woke up this morning and thought to myself, 

"how on earth is it monday?"

i mean, most weekends fly by, 

but this one was crammed with so much, 

it left me wondering which way was up

we hit up a friend's garage sale

and welcomed a new vintage camera to our collection

plus we scored a giant bag of super cute "big girl" clothes for the girlies

we visited with family who just came back from holidays, 

and hosted a huge family dinner that night, 

complete with baseball steak, bacon wrapped scallops and shrimp

(go big or go home, right?)

we watched star wars, episode 2 

(this is my first time watching the series, 

we've been going through them, one by one, over the past couple of weeks after the girls go to bed

i had no choice in the matter - apparently it's an important step in my pop culture education!)

i edited a whackload of pictures, 

while listening to this fun song

...over and over and over again

then we topped it all off by going to a long-time friend's wedding yesterday

and as i sat there, enjoying the beautiful details that she thoughtfully put together for her special day

i realized that it was exactly six years ago, to the day,

that the bride and i were sitting in a starbucks, sipping on our coffees,

killing time between a mutual friend's wedding ceremony and reception

we talked about our own future weddings,

and wondered who we'd end up marrying, 

when we'd be engaged,

and what our special day would look like someday

and now, here we are - all "grown up" and married

i just couldn't help but think of the Lord's goodness and faithfulness

and how He's got such great things planned for us

how He demonstrates His love and provision

with each day that unfolds in our lives, 

in the little things as well as the big things

there's evidence of grace everywhere!

i was just so encouraged by that thought,

that i just had to share with you guys.

i hope it leaves you feeling blessed and grateful

as we kick off the week

p.s. congrats, #dallasandmeray!

gimme five!

high fives for five years of marriage!

that's right, today is Daniel and my five year wedding anniversary

we kicked off the celebration a little bit early
by welcoming Daniel to the cult of mac yesterday
and getting matching iPhones (!!!)
i was so excited, i almost did a happy dance right then and there in the store

those of you who know us personally
know that as long as we have been together
(almost 10 years)
he has proudly toted a flip phone around
and it has served us well
(until earlier this week, when it kicked the bucket, hence getting a new phone)

 anyway, we headed home, put the girlies to bed
and got his phone all set up
while watching one of our tv favorite shows together

i know it sounds lame,
but it was a nice night to kick off our pre-anniversary

today probably won't be too fancy of a celebration, either
because it's a weeknight
and we have kids
so we'll probably head out to dairy queen
since it's miracle treat day
and have a mini celebration over blizzards

then maybe tomorrow or saturday
we'll leave the kids with family
and go out for an official anniversary date

anyway, that was a lot of rambling

when all i really want to say
is how incredibly thankful i am
that the Lord orchestrated our lives
and brought together our two unlikely paths
that He has used us to encourage and build each other up
that He has changed us into who we are today
and that He continues to change us into who He wants us to be tomorrow

guys, it's not always rainbows and sunshine
but i get to do life holding my best friend's hand and being his helper
we get to hang out, serve each other and learn from each other along the way

come what may, i know two things:
1) it's in the Lord's hands
2) the love of my life is by my side, making life that much sweeter

now that's worth a happy dance - thank you, Jesus!


*wedding photos by James Moes*

2011 in Review

Well, the holidays are behind us just as quickly as they came; our family who traveled up to join us for Christmas is back home, Daniel is back to work and I'm back to business as usual around the house.
While I enjoyed every second of the season, it's nice to get back to things that sort of fell off the radar like making meals at home, working out more regularly, picking up where we left off with baby prep and of course, blogging!

I can't believe 2011 has already come and gone.  It was an unbelievable year - as with any other year, there were soaring highs and painful lows, but overall it was definitely a year of growth (in more ways than one!), change and encouragement.  We look back at our year with deep gratitude and look forward to a year full of firsts with the little ones hanging around.  You guys, 2012 is going to be so different - I can't even begin to imagine what it will look like!  I'm a bit nervous, but I know that the Lord has a plan and if we just seek His will, there's nothing to worry about.  (easier said than done, I know! :) )  Thank you Jesus, for the time you have given us on this earth - please help us to use it to glorify you and love others.

While we're in reminiscing mode, I thought it would be nice to share a few pictures from our year - sort of a sneak peek at what it looked like, but even after paring back, I ended up with way too many for one post so I broke them up into categories that I'll roll out in these next couple days.

Without further ado here's a snapshot of  2011 - The Events:

fallin' in love in Atlanta

I was planning on heading out for a nice long run today, but apparently the weather is having an indecisive day (rainy then cloudy then sunny then rainy again then sunny again) so rather than get caught out in the rain (I hate running  in wet/muddy/cold), I decided to post one last "installment" of pictures from Jacob & Jess' wedding (if you would like a recap - here is part one and part two).

    

 

        

...and they lived happily ever after!  

practice makes perfect

Sorry I've been missing in action lately - it's been a busy week.  But tonight was a bit more low key and I managed to carve out some time to share a few snapshots from J&J's wedding rehearsal.

I loved the cute entryway (left) and the huge windows in the chapel (right)

the aisle was gorgeous on the actual wedding day - the pew ends had these lovely vintage branch-ey bouquets on them 

the rehearsal bouquet - made of ribbons etc. from shower gifts

We weren't allowed pictures in the church, but I snapped these before I found out (oops).  The rehearsal dinner was at the Wildfire Restaurant and was a-maz-ing!  So amazing, in fact, that I put my camera away and focused on enjoying the food and company (sorry!).  If you're ever kicking around Atlanta, I highly recommend stopping in for a nice dinner.  

a big congrats to Jacob & Jess!

this weekend we flew all the way down to Atlanta, Georgia to officially welcome Jess to the fam.  we had a great time seeing everybody and celebrating together.  i haven't had time to go through my pictures yet, but here's one that i picked out of the pile to share with you.  hope you had an equally lovely weekend!  (dorky pun intended! :D)

*those pens that i showed you a couple of posts ago were for the bridal party - i loved how they turned out, but i forgot to get a picture of the set before they were given out!  oh well, perhaps next time.