cheers to sears

A little over a week ago my little brother got married! It was such a beautiful day, we all enjoyed celebrating the newlyweds. 

Family started coming into town on Friday. The rehearsal dinner was so nice, Hardshell Downtown, and my little helpers did a great job helping us set up before! 

One of the best parts was having my grandpa there. He had multiple strokes almost two months ago, it really was a miracle that he could be there.

Chloe was the flower girl, she really is a pro now! 

The reception was at the John Marshall, it was a beautiful venue. They had the cutest first dance I've ever seen. Leave it to my brother to make up a fun choreographed dance! 

Beyond thankful they got to meet! 

It was such a fun night, but definitely went by too quick. I'm beyond excited to officially have another sister in law now! 

7 and counting...

Happy Anniversary Clarke!

We went out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate. We kept it pretty low key this year, with an infant and a move coming up. But it was nice to reflect on all we've been through over these past seven years. 

Here's to many more!!

Boston Anniversary Trip

It's always been our tradition to go away just the two of us each year for our anniversary, and this year was no different. We picked Boston this year since I found cheap tickets using vouchers we had from a previous trip to Florida. Both of us had never been so we were pretty excited. 

The plane ride up was great. I normally wouldn't say that about a plane ride but the last 3 we've taken have been with a busy baby or toddler, so this was a nice break. I could just listen to my music (Bethel songs on repeat) and enjoy. 

 The first thing we did was take the T to get some lunch at Anna's Taqueria. Afterwards we took a cab to our hotel and spent the rest of the day just relaxing. Another thing that pre-baby we wouldn't have thought was a big deal, but hot tub and dinner by ourselves was pretty fun, even if it just was Panera. We didn't feel like going back into the city since our hotel was a little further out than we expected, so we just watched a movie in the hotel room. 

 That next morning we ventured out into the city. It was really windy, and kinda cold but at least the sun was shinning. 

 We spent most of the day just walking around exploring and sightseeing. We walked most of the Freedom Trail, which was really neat. Lots of history about our country's beginnings. 

Across from Quincy Market we found a little Boston Marathon museum. I told Clarke this is the closest I'll get to ever running Boston, ha! 

 Then we headed to the north end for dinner. We had dinner at Nico, and it was fabulous. We got pastries at Modern Pastry to take back to our hotel. 

I wish we could have made it to Harvard, maybe next time. The next morning we flew out to celebrate Easter with our families. 

I'm always thankful for time just the two of us, regardless where we are. Thankful my mom could watch Chloe for us.

5 Years

Today we are celebrating 5 years of marriage! It almost seems surreal to me, that I've been married for 5 years already. We are headed to Asheville for a long weekend away, my mom came down to watch Chloe, I am so excited.  

Our first anniversary in OBX.

We have this tradition of going away every year on our anniversary. We don't do gifts, we spend time together and this year it's exactly what we need. Last year we didn't get to go away on a trip, it was right as we were trying to figure out about moving, and having a 5 month old, it just didn't happen. I think that's why I'm so excited for this trip. As life goes on and things become more complicated I've become more aware that intentional time together is precious and with a baby it's even harder to come by.

Second anniversary at the Homestead.

Third anniversary on the Oregon coast. 

Fourth anniversary at The Melting Pot in Richmond.

I am truly thankful for Clarke in my life. There is nobody else that I would want to do life with. Can't wait to celebrate this weekend!!!

Happy Anniversary Clarke, I love you!!

A Wedding in Richmond

This past Saturday one of my best friends got married. It was a beautiful day. Not only was the weather  perfect (65 and sunny) but everything else was too. 

I was so happy that it worked out for us to be there. We came up the Saturday before for the bachelorette party and stayed the week. My mom even got a snow day one day which gave us extra time with her. It was a great week catching up with everyone.

I was a bridesmaid, along with other childhood friends. I loved being apart of the wedding and getting to share so many special moments with the bride. 

Me and Clarke set them up almost 3 years ago. I really have loved watching their relationship grow over the years. I'm so happy for them!

I will say it was hard to get good pictures while being in the wedding. But, I'm glad I got these few!

It was great being back in my hometown, and for such a great reason. I always love weddings, but this was such a special one. I guess when you've known someone so long and see them so happy it makes you happy too. So much joy that day! 

Fun Stuff

So many fun and exciting things have been going on around here lately. Here are a few.......

One of my best friends just got engaged, and it was so much fun to celebrate. I am also invested because my husband and I set them up almost 2 years ago. It's been so much fun seeing their relationship grow and now I can't wait for the wedding!!

I just can't get over how cute Chloe looks in a onesie! I am loving this warm weather where her little legs get to be bare.

This past weekend my friend Emily and I ran the Color Me Rad 5k. I've been wanting to do this race for awhile, and I'm glad I finally did. It was so much fun, they throw colored cornstarch all over you as you run. As you can see we got lots of color on us!

Updates

I can't believe we are already a week into April, it seems like I had been waiting for this month to get here for forever and now it's going by so fast! So much has happened since the start of this month, I'll update more later but for now here is what has been going on.

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary by going to The Melting Pot for dinner. It was sooo good.

And the chocolate might have been the best part.

Chloe is so into this ball toy I got her at Target. She is quite adorable, of course I am just a little biased. 

I finally got around to spray painting our doorknobs upstairs. I used Rustoleum's oil rubbed bronze paint and primer spray paint. 

It took me about 3 weeks to finish them, from taking the hardware off to putting them back on. I must say having a baby makes it much harder to accomplish projects like this. I used Young House Love's method and I definitely agree with them, it was really easy to do! Go here if you want to see their post about exactly how it's done. 

Here is a before and after shot of the doorknobs. Love them now, wish I hadn't waited so long to do this. 

I do need to write another post soon about something big that is happening in our lives (no I am not preggo, will just throw that out there now) but I'm not quite ready yet.  April has been a really busy month so far and I don't think it's going to slow down. I will say I can't wait for the Monument Avenue 10k next weekend, it's been way too long since my last race day! Okay, this post was all over the place, I'll stop now! 

4 Years

4 years ago today I was getting married. It was one of the best days of my life, and I can't imagine what these past 4 years would have looked like without Clarke.

We have been through so much in the past 4 years, from pregnancy to complications during birth. Traveling and buying our house to lazy weekends at home. The loss of our pet to watching Chloe laugh for the first time. Through good and bad I can say I'm glad to have him by my side.

Happy Anniversary Clarke, I love you!! 

Anniversary Number 3

Yesterday we celebrated our 3rd anniversary!

Since our trip out west is really our present to each other and our big celebration, we had a nice quiet evening. So we went to Roma, one of our favorite Italian restaurants by our house for dinner. We exchanged cards and then went on a walk around the neighborhood.

And of course we had a fabulous dessert! Overall it was a great anniversary, I still can't believe it's been 3 years!

On another note I'm officially on spring break, and so ready for our next adventure in Seattle and Oregon!!

3 years ago....

It's hard to believe that 3 years ago today I was getting ready to walk down the aisle.

3 years ago today I said "I do".

3 years ago today I danced the night away at a beautiful reception.

 It was the best day of my life, shared with all my friends and family. I'm incredibly thankful to have shared this day with family who are no longer here, what sweet memories.

We have come so far in those 3 years. Bought our own home, adopted our sweet kitty, gone on some great trips, but most importantly we have shared the ups and downs of life together.

Here's to many many more wonderful years!! Love you Clarke!

Valentine's Day 2012

I have to say I had a pretty great Valentine's Day yesterday! I think this may be my favorite holiday to celebrate at school. The kids get so excited about these little cards and candy, and I love watching them.

 I got so spoiled. My students also love giving out their valentines too! One of my gymnastics girls even gave me a valentine, which I thought was so sweet of her.

That night Clarke grilled steak, and I made mashed potatoes. It was really nice just to have a low key night. Of course I had to watch the Valentine's Day Glee, which was fabulous as always. This was our 3rd Valentine's Day being married, I can't believe it. We also finalized spring break plans which I am very excited about! (I'll post more about that soon.)

Overall it was such a great day where I felt so loved by everyone in my life. That's the perfect holiday for me!

November Anniversaries

So with preparing for the marathon, then recovering from the marathon I didn't have time to post about 2 fun anniversaries that happened in November.

The first one happened on November 6! This little old blog turned 2 years old. I started this blog just as a fun way to document my life, and all the little things that I know I will forget a couple years from now. And that is def. still the main point of my blogging (in fact I decided this has officially become my scrapbook because I just don't have time to scrapbook every week, and I want to publish it into a book.) But, this blog has also turned into a way to share my story. Whether it's my journey towards teaching full time, marathon training or just day to day life I love sharing what God is doing in my life.

Then on November 15 me and Clarke celebrated 10 years since our first date! Clarke had saved the ticket stubs from our first date, we saw Shallow Hal. Then as a wedding gift he framed them in a shadowbox along with some other things and it now hangs in our bedroom. So back in the summer I was looking at it and realized that this November it would be 10 years so we marked it on the calendar. We went out to dinner that night, and we couldn't believe how long it had been. Our relationship looks nothing like it did back then, it has gone through so many changes and different stages but I still love him the same.

Mr. and Mrs. Pflugradt

This past Saturday one of my best friends got married! It was such a great weekend, celebrating with them and everyone else. I've been friends with this girl for forever, and it's so neat to see how God has worked in her life, and watch her marry the man God has created for her to spend her life with.

Here I am with the bride right before she walked down the aisle. I got to read scripture (1 John 4: 7-12, 19 and 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a)  I was so honored, and nervous, but mostly honored to read scripture!

Here is the flower girl! She was mine as well, wearing the same dress, but she is a lot bigger now! It was so much fun watching her, especially at the reception! She was dancing nonstop, just having the best time and being so cute.

I love this picture! We sat by the food (on purpose!ha!) and when they came out with their dinner I was just going to snap one quick picture, but then everyone started taking pictures, and it turned into a little photo op, it was funny.

Me and Clarke were reminiscing about when we got married. I can't believe it was over 2 years ago. Time just flies by so fast.

We had so much fun decorating their car! At the bridal luncheon we made plans to do the car, then we forgot to bring the stuff, so another friend ran by the store on the way to the reception. So glad it worked out, and I think it looked awesome.

Here they are cutting the cake.........

and leaving the reception! Overall, it was such a great occasion. So happy for you Rebecca, I love you!!