Cherish Every Moment

I've heard that Christmas doesn't end until January 6, hence the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas." This year, I didn't allow Christmas to end on December 26th.  I continued enjoying the season up until now.  I've lit my tree every single night, and tonight I watched "The Heart of Christmas." Yes, I know today is the 8th, but it's never too late to watch an inspiring movie.  If you haven't seen that movie, it's a must see.

This movie was based on a true story about the Locke family.  Their son, Dax was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of two.  This movie takes them through their journey and how they got so much loving support not only from St. Jude hospital, but also from their neighbors.  It helped this family cherish every moment they had with Dax.  

This movie really got me thinking about how I have lived my life up until this new year.  In all honesty, I hadn't cherished every moment that God has blessed me with.  For the longest time, I complained about everything, I was never happy, and it turned me into a person that I never want to see again.

As most of you know, I started my new year's resolutions and surprisingly have stuck to them.  I've been working out 3 days a week, reading my Bible each night, and spending more time with my wonderful husband.  I don't plan on giving up on these things either...because it keeps me positive each day, and it allows me to cherish every moment (even if my cat puked three times in the last two days and stained my comforter).  While cleaning it up, I smiled.  Weird, I know...but I'm just happy to be alive another day.

Then I sit down and watch this movie tonight.  Of course it's a tear-jeaker and my hormones have been wacko so this woman cried her eyes out.  By the end of the movie, I realized it's time to cherish every moment, no matter if they are filled with bad moments.  It took me back to a memory of my husband and I while we were dating.  It was during one of our rough patches and we were on the verge of breaking it off.  I was coming home late one night after Zumba and pulled in the driveway to see Matt's car there.  He gets out with flowers in his hand and you want to know what I did?  I got mad at him and told him to leave.  I cry now every time I think about that because all he was trying to show me was how much he loved and cherished me, even when we were at our lowest point.  No matter how mad I may get, I will pull my husband in close and tell him how much I love him and cherish him.

The point I'm trying to make in this post is... just cherish every moment you have.  Whether it's with your friends, your family, your pets, your children, or even by yourself.  

You are here on this earth for a reason.

Cherish it.   

Change someone's life by just showing them you care.

God Bless.

Our Love Story (Part Two)

After getting back from Utah over Christmas, we immediately started wedding planning.  We had picked a date and were planning for it.  We were thinking of a date that incorporated us individually.  SO we subtracted our birthday's and came up with 1.  After figuring out the day, we had to find a month where the 1st was on a Saturday.  We happened to come across September 1st, which was my grandfather's birthday, who passed away 16 years ago.  I knew that would be the perfect day.  Wedding planning began.  We went through so many different venues but nothing stuck with us.  We figured we needed more time and changed the date to June 15, 2013.

Shortly after, I was dying to go dress shopping.  The very first one I tried on was under $400 and I fell in love with it.  I ordered it along with the shoes and I felt things were coming together.  A couple weeks later, I got a phone call saying my dress was in.  I immediately went to go try it on.  It didn't fit like the one I had tried on and I was devastated.  The one I had tried on before was a size bigger and had more material.

I came back the following week to try on more dresses and to exchange the one I had ordered.  There were two other dresses I had fallen in love with.  I finally chose my dress, made an appointment for alterations, and brought it home, where it hangs in my closet back in Indiana.

I knew when Matt and I got engaged that I would be moving to Dallas, TX where he got a job offer.  I was really looking forward to this new chapter in my life, however was unsure of how I felt about moving to a totally different state without being married. I also knew God wouldn't approve.  Matt and I talked about it for quite a while and finally came to a conclusion...We'd have our own private ceremony with two witnesses and my pastor from Kentucky on April 6, 2012 and have a bigger ceremony on June 15, 2013.  We ordered our rings, and things were set to go.   

Things didn't work out how we would have liked it to with my pastor from Kentucky and got in contact with my cousin's husband who did ministering for a career on the side.  He was happy to marry us, gave us an outline of the ceremony, and met us at our location ready to marry us.  Matt and I became husband and wife at 5:00pm on April 6, 2012 in front of God and my mom's side of the family.  This ceremony meant more to me than I had imagined and I realized in that moment that I didn't need a big fancy wedding to feel the love I have for Matt.  Those 10 minutes were special enough for me and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

We do plan on having a renewal ceremony somewhere down the road with family and friends.  It could be a year or 10 years from now.  We'll know when the time is right!

Our Love Story (Part One)

I figured I'd post how Matt and I met, as well as how we ended up where we are now...

I had just recently ended a year long back and forth "relationship" when I decided to sign onto my Myspace account (this is when I still got on that website).  I noticed I had a friends request from this guy named Matt and I decided to check out his page.  All the information was general and kinda nerdy (hehe!), but one thing that really caught my attention was that he was attending the University of Notre Dame for his MBA.  My first thought was, "Oh my mom is going to love him!"

I decided to go out on a limb and write this guy a message.  We ended up making small talk for most of the night and exchanged numbers.  After about a week of talking, we decided to meet in public.  I am not one to go out and meet some random guy off the Internet by myself...so I drag my sister along with me!  We met up at a Starbucks.  He was already waiting inside the door when we pulled up.  My first initial thought was, "Oh, please help me lord...look at those jeans??"  He had on this really tight gray t-shirt (mind you, it was end of October in Northern IN, brr!), and these really short jeans with long socks on.  I looked at my sister and said, "He looks kind of dorky."  Of course she told me to be nice.  He walked out when we saw us making our way to the door.  He pulled me in for a half hug and smelled wonderful!  I knew with whatever cologne he had on, it could make me fall in love with him.  He greeted my sister the same way and we all walked inside to get coffee.

We talked for about an hour and decided it was time to part ways.  We hugged each other goodbye and he asked the question every girl would love to hear but that I dreaded.  "When can I see you again?  I'd love to take you out."  Being unsure of how I felt about him, I told him we'd discuss it through texting.  That night he approached me on Facebook out of respect, telling me he wasn't Catholic or didn't have any religious background.  Not being a practicing Catholic anymore, that part didn't bother me.  All I wanted to know was if he believed in God.  He said he believed in a higher power, but wasn't quite sure what that was.  We then got to talking about my beliefs on intimacy and pre-martial sex.  We found our beliefs were different and could causes problems in a relationship.  We decided it was best to go our separate ways, but still be friends.

Two days later, he asked me to reconsider and at least go out on a date with him.  I told him I'd think about it.  My sister needed help writing her resume and Matt had offered to help her.  So we decided to meet up at Starbucks once again.  Knowing he cared about my sister and helped her like that made me realize he was worth keeping around...I just wasn't ready to give my heart away.  As we were leaving that night, he asked about that date again.  I told him that I needed some time, that I didn't want him to be a rebound, but that I was interested in getting to know him.  He took that as a rejection and decided that was the last time we'd ever see each other again.

That night, I texted Matt and told him I really enjoyed hanging out with him again.  He was shocked I even wrote him and told me that he wanted to give up on trying.  I finally decided to go out to lunch with him.  We went out to Applebee's one Sunday after church and enjoyed each other's company.  We decided to keep seeing each other.

Our first official date was the Norte Dame vs. Utah football game, on November 13th, 2010.  I was nervous as he was trying to sneak me into the student section (I hated doing things like that!), but was excited to see where it might lead us.  My mom dropped me off at his apartment and he said he had something for me.  He gave me a bag that had a Notre Dame hoody and chewable multi vitamins (since he knew I had a hard time swallowing regular vitamins).  It was such a sweet gesture and I knew he really cared about me.  We still had time to kill and were both really tired.  We figured we'd try and lay down for a nap.  I knew this would be a test.  I figured he'd be worth dating if he stayed on his side of the bed and I stayed on mine.  He never once tried to make a move on me...that was the moment I knew, there was something special about this man.

We made our way to the game after our nap.  It was drizzling out, but still pretty warm for November.  I was wearing the new hoody he got me, which kept me really warm.  As we made our way to the stadium, the drizzle became thicker.  I knew by the end of the game, I'd be soaked.  Notre Dame of course was winning.  It was such a cool experience to be in the student section.  By half time, we both we're soaked and figured we'd get a picture and leave.  This picture is seriously one of my favorites....

This moment was the start of the rest of our lives.  We went through many ups and downs, spent a summer apart while he was in Dallas for an internship, and even found ourselves at a crossroad where it led to devastating breakup.  Of course we only went without talking for 2 days and decided we wanted to try and make it work again.  We worked on our friendship at first and it blossomed into the most wonderful love I can imagine.  For Christmas, he invited me back to his hometown in Utah where we spent the holiday season with his family.  I already felt like I was apart of the family the moment we walked in the door.  They welcomed me with open arms, along with plenty of hugs and smiles.  

December 26th, 2011 was the day that changed my life forever.  We bundled up, took a horse drawn sleigh ride up a mountain to a western restaurant.  We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed the music being played.  Before we had to go, Matt was determined to get a picture taken.  Little did I know, he had a plan.  As he finally flagged down a waitress to take a picture, Matt handed her the camera.  I was ready to smile for a picture when he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  Of course I said yes.  Found out after that moment, he had the whole proposal recorded. :)

The night he proposed!

The restaurant where he proposed

How we ended up married so quickly and in Texas is coming soon!!  Thanks for reading!