Year One Photo Shoot

I know you guys must think I'm beating the horse with all our anniversary bliss, but I can't end all the mushy talk yet because I haven't shared our Year One pictures with you all! My dear sister in law snaps the best shots, she's just good at it, so of course I chose her for our little photographer! Every one of the pictures she snapped were perfect, it's very hard to chose which ones are my favorites but here are a couple that just tug real good on my heart snappers! Although Husby didn't seem too thrilled about taking them at first as any man is about pictures, he ended up making me laugh the entire time with his goofiness toward the whole idea of picture taking! He wouldn't let on that he enjoyed himself, but pictures are worth a thousand more words, eh? Take a look and pin away if you like by clicking the yellow "P" hover button on each collage.

These are only eleven of three hundred somewhat pictures that she took that day, I'm in love with every single one and it all goes thanks to her, thanks SIL. We will look back on these in years to come and smile!

One Year Celebrations: A Night in Natchez

While we had a blast camping the great outdoors, it was so nice to finally see home. It's true, one night was enough for both of us. As soon as our feet hit the gravel driveway, we headed straight for the pool for a quick dip. Refreshing it was! We couldn't stay here long though we had to get packed up for Natchez, a town run down from old age yet our special place in this world.

We grabbed our fast packed suitcases and headed out the door. We had a suite booked at the Natchez Grand Hotel, a tourists highlight right beside the water overlooking the bridge. We didn't really have much of a plan once we got there so decided we would play it by ear.

The room was nice, but honestly it wasn't as "grand" as they made it out to be on the many eye popping billboards on our way there. I walked out of the balcony and stretched my arms out thinking I was alone to soon find a lady right beside me sitting on her balcony with only a metal fence separating us! Well hi there vacating neighbor, they didn't mention that part in the description of this room I thought! All was fine.

There was a "Blue Berry Festival" going on right below us, tents lined up along the street with funnel cake stands, a man selling photographs he had framed up to sell, and a pair of dancers performing in the grass. By the time we made our way out of the room, they were getting all packed up to leave. Sore crowd I suppose, because the banner announcing the festival broadcasted it would keep going until dark. It was still early I thought, we were getting hungry at this point so we decided to grab a good bite at our favorite restraunt: Cock of the Walk.

We made our way to the casino after we ate. The moment we put our ticket in the machine it was bad luck from there. Usually we win at least ten bucks but we were sore losers this go around. We were really hoping to come out millionaires. Because that would have been a great anniversary gift ya know.

The last thing to do for the night was purchase a famous margarita from Fat Mamas. I usually don't go for such a drink but since we were here why not!? The drink ended up being a little too much for me but I managed to make it back to the hotel with the help of my dear designated driver husband. Classy way to end the night, right?

Natchez was great, the atmosphere was just what we needed but it was time to go home again. I don't know about Garrett, but the drive home was almost deja vu for me, I kept thinking of our drive home from our honeymoon and the thoughts I had in that moment then. Thoughts like: I'm someones wife now, this is for real! And how is it going to feel walking in our home and starting life together from here?

We were home once again, and were welcomed back with anniversary gifts just as we were with wedding gifts the day we came home from our honeymoon. Garrett surprised me with his "paper gift" he had made all by himself: A yellow paper rose. We had discussed how we wanted to go along with the special anniversary gift every year tradition and boy did he really put his heart into this one. My planned paper gift idea being toliet paper was to be a joke rather an actual gift, I kind of felt bad after he stunned me with his well thought of  gift! It is perfect though, it sits pretty on our buffet table and I will cherish it all the days of my life. I'm so blessed to be his wife, his heart is good.

There was one more tradition that couldn't be forgotten on this day though, we had to eat a piece of our year old cake! There were a many of times during the year Garrett had to slap my hand from snatching a bite from the freezer, but today was the day, the wait was over! I cut two of the prettiest pieces from the best side of the cake and handed one over to Garrett. At this point, I was a little skeptical about actually eating it. The icing was a bit slimy from defrosting from the freezer, so I made Garrett eat the first bite. To his surprise it was good! He even made the clever remark to put it back in the freezer for another year, silly husby. We wouldn't be doing that though, we decided to let the furbabies in on the celebration so they were handed the left overs!

 The evening was falling so we decided to go out to eat one last time, I had planned to cook him a meal but he insisted that we eat hibachi! I wanted to wear something special though, this wasn't just an ordinary date night so I pulled out my going away dress I wore leaving from our wedding to go to our honeymoon. I hadn't worn it since then, not that planned to wait for this day, but I never found the right place to wear it again. And it was because I was suppose to wear it again, tonight. I felt like I had that day, a brand new wife to my groom, it was a bittersweet feeling. I don't plan to wear it again though, I've decided to put it up for sentimental purpose, I would love to save it for in case I have a little girl, maybe she would want to wear it on her special day as well, but I just don't know if the material would keep good.

This anniversary was bittersweet, it will weigh heavily on our hearts on every anniversary that comes I do believe. I thought of being married for five years, ten years, twenty-five years gives me the love goosies and I know they will be just as perfect. The memories we will have made by then and the things that will come to be are beyond my imagination from where I'm standing now, I pray they are filled with even more love than I can comprehend.

One Year Celebrations: We went {tent} Camping!

Hi Friends! Well as you can see from the title of this post, we made it to the one year mile marker! Sunday, June 16th we celebrated our very special day once again, we couldn't have planned it any better if we had tried. But I guess you could say we aren't the best "planners" since we did indeed make them just a few days before they were actually set, but because of our work schedules and such we had to pick something to do that was fun yet somewhat spiffy, as in we had to be back at work Monday morning.

Our idea to go camping {tent} camping kind of came out of now where! Although Garrett had mentioned to me a few times before how he wouldn't mind going camping since he hadn't been in years, neither have I. So let's go camping I said! The weather was beginning to get pretty steamy leading up to the weekend and our plans almost hit a turn around but the forecast changed it's uphill climb just in time so we decided to keep our plans! We pulled out the twenty something year old gigantic tent from the attic and would you know was in perfect condition. We packed up a laundry basket full of goodies for the trip and hooked the boat up to the truck, we were all ready to go! Garrett had just the spot, he was excited, it was a spot his family had camped a many of times in the past, one including a surprise fathers day camping trip, another reason why I just knew this trip would be meaningful to him, it was a must!

We finally reached the camp site ,boy was it perfect, right beside the water just as he had explained but we were soon let down by a tall bold printed sign that read: No Camping Here planted right on his special spot. I felt so bad, he had put so much thought and preparation into this special trip, there had to be a loop hole somewhere right? We returned right back where we started, the lady at the desk. She offered two of the last camping spots equipt with water and electricity which would be an extra five bucks, but they just weren't what we wanted so we asked for our money back which turned into a fail as well. We hadn't even unloaded our things and were now out thirteen bucks. Lord we are in a rut now I tell ya, we were so upset we almost gave up and took the road back home until another camping site came to mind. I prayed the whole drive there that it would work out, the husby was way past the point of aggravation and I just knew if this didn't workout we wouldn't only be out thirteen bucks but also out of the price of gasoline.

To our surprise, it worked out perfectly. Praise Jesus. While we did have to pay yet again, it was well worth it this go around. We had numerous spots to choose from right on the water just as we wanted, water and electricity, and a fairly clean bathroom considering it was a camp ground site. The weather was nice and breezy and we had found the perfect spot to pitch our gigantic roomy tent!

While we were setting our little anniversary-moon tent up, we looked around the corner and wouldn't you know white tents were set out for a wedding. I was estatic! We were going to witness a wedding guys, on our very anniversary! There couldn't have been a more precious remembrance of our special day than this, and like Garrett said, "What's the odds that a wedding would be going on while we're here on our anniversary!?".

The wedding looked to be happening later on that evening, so we decided to go fishing and planned to be back in time to watch! We both caught a bass a piece and the weather was so nice. Of course I would have gotten a picture to show you, but the Husby just knew we would catch more. Too bad we didn't.

It was getting about time to cook up some steaks, so we made our way to our camping site and got our stuff together. While Garrett started on the steaks I sat on our nearby picnic table and watched as the wedding began to start. The bride was just about to come down the aisle, I didn't even know this person and I was giddy awaiting her presentation. The music started, "Something in your eyes, makes me wanna lose myself,...". 

You have to listen pretty good to hear the song and don't you love my husbands sense of humor, "Hey which ones the bride? You think that's her in the uh... uh... uh.. purple? I mean green??"

You can hear me sing to Garrett during our wedding HERE.

She was walking down to her Groom to the very song I had pre-recorded for Garrett during our ceremony! Ok, this is getting weird now I said to Garrett! We just stood in awe while we listened, it was a moment for us as well as this soon to be wedded couple!

The night was beginning to wind down as well as the wedding, so we made a fire. What's a camp site without a fire right? We roasted marshmallows and enjoyed smores. This little trip was just perfect, we were so glad we didn't give up hope!

We planned to go fishing bright and early the next morning but overslept, I couldn't believe I slept so good although Garrett kept one eye open the whole night being the tuff guy he is. We went out in the boat for one last fish in the morning before the trip back home. But our little celebration wasn't over just yet, as soon as we reached home we would be packing our bags yet again to spend the night in the town where our love and journey began. Keep reading as I share that trip with you in my coming post!

The Unexpected

Today I am linking up with nine other June brides sharing with you different topics and discussions of our first year of marriage. I encourage you to join in on the fun and let us hear your stories whether you have just hit the year one mile marker as we have or you've been married for twenty years, it's all about learning through love with us! Today's topic is this: What have you learned from the unexpected and how have you grown as a couple? Want to share yours as well? Details at the very end of this post!

When I sit and ponder of things that could be noted "unexpected" throughout our first year of marriage I almost immediately think of our different ways and do's of this lifestyle we own now as a married couple. As I've said before, you find out so much more about your significant other once you start sharing a home together. It gets comfortable after a while and you soon notice little things like how you fold bath towels differently or what each others version of making the bed is. I like my bath towels to be folded "hot dog style" as I call it and Garrett folds his "hamburger style" big and bulky like. I never correct him on it because it isn't that big of an issue to me as it may be to others, I just let it go and giggle and soon refold it later if it  soon gets to me.

 But also with these unexpected things I have found they go hand in hand with my flaws of being the wife and I've learned so much from just this first year of marriage. I am nowhere near being the perfect wife, I can be  both selfish and selfless and I am doing my very best to be the wife God wants of me. Through our differences we challenge and strengthen each other on a daily basis and we really do our best. I've found God has a way of molding you during a marriage if you really grasp each concept He tries to stamp on your heart. Marriage has done a great deal to my heart I can tell you, I am so much closer to Him now because of the His presence He blesses us with and the fact that I have drawn nearer to Him because I want what is best for our marriage, being His will. These are just a few of the little things we have learned about each other and how we have grown from them.

1. Garrett isn't a breakfast at supper eater. I am. Growing up while living at home with my parents, it was almost like a treat when we ate breakfast for supper instead of the usual ideal foods like casserole dishes and such. So when I found He wasn't into it as I was, it was a big let down for me. While we both agree eating breakfast at breakfast time is a no go, I on the other hand have always found breakfast is meant to be for supper. I'm not sure that we'll actually grow from this but maybe I can slowly convince him it is a good idea throughout the coming years eh?

2. I am a crappy vehicle owner. I am, I will be completely honest on this one and Garrett will attest to it. It is childlike of me and i'm embarrassed of the fact that I am so messy when it comes to keeping a clean vehicle. Garrett on the other hand is very much a clean freak when it comes to his vehicles, he takes such good care of them and I admire that about him, even though he gives me fits about how many fast food bags are lying in the floor board of my ride. I as his wife, want to be more like him and I can I just have to get this rotten cork out of my butt.

3. Routine. The work week is the hardest for me, once I get home all I want to do is snatch a comfy shirt and a pair of boxers from Husbys drawer and crawl on the couch with my kitty and cheetah slippers because I am on my feet all day. And for that sometimes things don't get done like they should. Things like laundry, and dishes that need to be washed after cooking supper. I am also bad about falling asleep fairly early especially during a movie, so by the time Garrett comes in for the night from doing his end of the day activities, I'm sometimes unconcious and lack cuddleness. I'm doing my best to rid these routines that don't encourage our marriage because at the end of the day, he is my happy place and I want him to know it by the way I show it. And I will do these things all while still wearing my cheetah slippers. 

4. Needs and Wants. Being married without kids it gives us a little wiggle room to play. And it's nice but sometimes we let our wants outweigh our actual needs. We tend to spend most our money on fast food honestly, which can really eat your pocketbook up. So in an effort to save, I have started bringing sandwiches from home for lunch and whenever I can, I try to pack Garrett a lunch from last nights supper but he usually forgets it in the refridgerator. I am also constantly changing things around in the house, I love decorating our home but sometimes I go overboard and buy things I don't necessarily need. Our home doesn't have to be completely furnished, it's just our first year. Things will come and go during time so I shouldn't dwell on material things so much. 

So these aren't many, and I'm sure I could think of many more but these are the ones that come at first thought. I love this thing called marriage and I'm so thankful for the lessons and knowledge that it brings to us on a daily basis. Link up ladies you still have time!!

Calling all engaged and newlywed gals! 

What would you say if I told you 10 newlywed bloggers are linking up to bring you an entire year's worth of marital advice for a one time only June series!? Whelp, get excited! 

Meet the forever newly wedded Brides!

Ashley @ It Is What You Make It // Kalyn @ Love.Laughter.HappilyEverAfter  // Mallory @ From California to Kansas // Karla @ Forever Newly Wedded // Maggie @ A Weaving of Grace 

Samantha @ Designer in Teal // Veronica @ Passion.Pink.Pearls // Kaitlyn @ Wifessionals // Emily @ Newlywed Moments // Callie @ My Something New With You

Each of the 10 Brides shown above have been married exactly one year as of June 2013. We will be posting each Wednesday during the month of June on 4 topics of marriage, while including our trials, triumphs, and all that fell in-between. The goal of this link-up series is to encourage the pursuit of love, joy, and hardships within a sacred marriage, all of which are completely worth each minute the Lord provides with our better half. 

If you are engaged, or married, we invite you to write on the topics with us and link up your posts. It doesn't matter if you are engaged and planning your big day, are a newlywed, or if you have been married 25 years... All the marital advice contributed, all the better for everyone involved! 

Visit our blogs today to meet our spouses and learn about our weddings! 

The Topics: 

June 5- Funny Moments From The First Year

June 12- Hardest Moments From The First Year

June 19- What Have You Learned From The Unexpected and How Have You Grown as a Couple During The First Year

June 26- Anniversary Celebration Recap 

We look forward to reading about your engaged, newlywed, and marriage journeys! If you have any questions feel free to email Kalyn here. 

Hardest Moments From The First Year

Well hello lovelies, just as last Wednesday, today I am teaming up with nine other June brides like myself to bring you posts about our first year of marriage with different topics of discussion every week. Last week we discussed our funniest moments from the first year, you can read ours HERE, but today the topic of discussion is: Hardest Moments From The First Year. Join in on the fun, details below!

Calling all engaged and newlywed gals! 

What would you say if I told you 10 newlywed bloggers are linking up to bring you an entire year's worth of marital advice for a one time only June series!? Whelp, get excited! 

Meet the forever newly wedded Brides!

Ashley @ It Is What You Make It // Kalyn @ Love.Laughter.HappilyEverAfter  // Mallory @ From California to Kansas // Karla @ Forever Newly Wedded // Maggie @ A Weaving of Grace 

Samantha @ Designer in Teal // Veronica @ Passion.Pink.Pearls // Kaitlyn @ Wifessionals // Emily @ Newlywed Moments // Callie @ My Something New With You

Each of the 10 Brides shown above have been married exactly one year as of June 2013. We will be posting each Wednesday during the month of June on 4 topics of marriage, while including our trials, triumphs, and all that fell in-between. The goal of this link-up series is to encourage the pursuit of love, joy, and hardships within a sacred marriage, all of which are completely worth each minute the Lord provides with our better half. 

If you are engaged, or married, we invite you to write on the topics with us and link up your posts. It doesn't matter if you are engaged and planning your big day, are a newlywed, or if you have been married 25 years... All the marital advice contributed, all the better for everyone involved! 

Visit our blogs today to meet our spouses and learn about our weddings! 

The Topics: 

June 5- Funny Moments From The First Year

June 12- Hardest Moments From The First Year

June 19- What Have You Learned From The Unexpected and How Have You Grown as a Couple During The First Year

June 26- Anniversary Celebration Recap 

We look forward to reading about your engaged, newlywed, and marriage journeys! If you have any questions feel free to email Kalyn here. 

Looking back before the "I Do's" it seemed like everyone told me how the first year would be the hardest. Honestly, I'd like to ask those people that expressed that to me then "At what point was it suppose to be considered the hardest year?". Sure we had a few set backs because of health problems I encountered which I will discuss briefly later and there were a few occasions when we simply didn't agree about something, but nothing out of the ordinary that we just couldn't work out comes to mind, only a few things that just happened to make life uneasy just for the moment. Here are a few of those moments.

In sickness and in health: The first hardest moment that comes to mind for me is my health at the very beginning of our marriage. It all started the very day of our wedding and went on throughout our honeymoon and on to a few weeks into our life at home. Being newly married, it was very hard to be close to my husband then because of these problems I was having and I even felt less of a wife for him at times because of this hardship I was facing that I knew I couldn't help. After many doctor visits and continuous prayer we decided it was time to find a new doctor, and after that things began to change. The table had finally turned just as it always does and I got better within time and haven't had a problem since. Praise God. It was such a relief to finally feel like myself again, and we both realized afterwards that we had successfully practiced the "in sickness and health" part of marriage. This moment was very testing for us, but we held on to our faith and it pulled us through. It's hard for me to understand how couples go through life without God in such trials as these, sure you have each other but together you need more than yourself, you need Him the most in a marriage I do believe.  

Heartbreak: While it may seem silly for a couple like us to weep over a missing cat, we did. If you are a long time follower of ours, you know our balinese kitty Mila. We adopted her a few weeks after we wed and she is very much apart of our lives. At the beginning, she was an inside kitty all the way but before long the cat shedding began and the husby had, had enough of white furball tumbleweeds rolling in his path so we sadly had to put her outside. Well one day we realized she was gone, we looked everywhere (even the refridgerator) but she was no where to be found. Husband skimmed every trace in the woods every day of the four days she was missing. We were heartbroken and time just stood still in that moment for us because a part of our heart was gone and we were so scared something had happened to her. We posted a many of homemade flyers on every other tree and country store with a $100 dollar reward and people thought we were just insane. The very next day we received a phone call from a dear friend of ours telling us that she had spotted her just across the road from us being chased by a poodle. Tears filled my eyes and I even giggled a little after hearing a poodle of all things was the host of our problem now. While we didn't know for sure if it would actually be our Mila she had seen, we had hope that it was. And that was plenty enough. It was getting dark and the phone rang again, it was Husby this time. His voice was high in excitement as he told me he had her in his very arms! I stood at the front door until I seen headlights coming down the drive, my arms were more than ready to hold her in my arms. We couldn't believe that we had her back home, life was finally back to the norm. Read more about this story HERE and HERE.

Loss: Seeing anyone in pain over losing a loved one is bad enough, but seeing your best friend, your soul sister whom you had grown up with as a child having to bury her daddy, who was likewise a father figure to you.. is the worst. Out of all the circumstances we had been through together: our first menstrual cycles, our first crushes, first jobs, high school then college and so on.. I never thought I would have to help her through this, and I could never have prepared myself for it. It was hard. Harder to watch. And even though she is now miles away from me, I think about her everyday and what she's going through and that is the hardest. I can't imagine. From the day I received her text saying that her daddy had died, I was useless to this world. My hands were tied from all the things among me in that moment, and all I wanted to do was cry for her. I did my best to be there for her, and at the same time still be the wife I needed to be to Garrett. I was so overwhelmed with emotion but I found strength through my husband. He knew exactly what she was going through unlike myself and he was able to tell me how to be there for her in ways that wouldn't be too smothering. Read more into this story HERE and HERE, just be sure to have Kleenex's near and a paddle because it gets deep!

Well Friends, I'm at ease to say this is all of them.. We are blessed to have no more than these. I can't imagine what hard moments the years to come will bring, but I pray we continue to lift each other up just as we have this year. I know we will. I'm so proud of our marriage, when raging waters come our way we always stand strong until the storm has passed, and that is worth much more than anything the world could ever offer. What were some of your hardest moments from the first year? And how did you get pass them? Let me hear them!

Funny Moments From The First Year

Hi Friends, today along with every Wednesday in the month of June, I will be teaming up with nine other June brides like myself to bring you posts about our first year of marriage with a range of many topics. I absolutely LOVE today's topic which is: Funny Moments From The First Year. If you haven't already, join in on this fun. (details below).

Calling all engaged and newlywed gals! 

What would you say if I told you 10 newlywed bloggers are linking up to bring you an entire year's worth of marital advice for a one time only June series!? Whelp, get excited! 

Meet the forever newly wedded Brides!

Ashley @ It Is What You Make It // Kalyn @ Love.Laughter.HappilyEverAfter  // Mallory @ From California to Kansas // Karla @ Forever Newly Wedded // Maggie @ A Weaving of Grace 

Samantha @ Designer in Teal // Veronica @ Passion.Pink.Pearls // Kaitlyn @ Wifessionals // Emily @ Newlywed Moments // Callie @ My Something New With You

Each of the 10 Brides shown above have been married exactly one year as of June 2013. We will be posting each Wednesday during the month of June on 4 topics of marriage, while including our trials, triumphs, and all that fell in-between. The goal of this link-up series is to encourage the pursuit of love, joy, and hardships within a sacred marriage, all of which are completely worth each minute the Lord provides with our better half. 

If you are engaged, or married, we invite you to write on the topics with us and link up your posts. It doesn't matter if you are engaged and planning your big day, are a newlywed, or if you have been married 25 years... All the marital advice contributed, all the better for everyone involved! 

Visit our blogs today to meet our spouses and learn about our weddings! 

The Topics: 

June 5- Funny Moments From The First Year

June 12- Hardest Moments From The First Year

June 19- What Have You Learned From The Unexpected and How Have You Grown as a Couple During The First Year

June 26- Anniversary Celebration Recap 

We look forward to reading about your engaged, newlywed, and marriage journeys! If you have any questions feel free to email Kalyn here. 

While it's hard to believe we've already been wed a whole year, we've had a many of laughs learning the ropes of marriage. You know that saying, "You think you know someone, until you live with them". Well, I'm here to tell you that is a pretty true statement. For instance, I've always know Garrett loved to snack in his spare time while watching t.v., but I never knew he could eat a whole box of Chips Ahoy cookies in just one sitting until I married him. I was flabbergasted, like really?! I am so jealous right now. I guess I can't really say much though, because he never knew my true love of peanut butter until he saw that  I could empty the whole jar alone in just two weeks. I could go on and on, about the little things that we have learned about each other but today I picked out a few of our funniest moments of our first year together, the others are mine all mine. I can't tell you everything, now can I!?

1. Sleep Talking.

My mother in law and sister in law always warned me that I would witness it after living with him, but I never imagined how vocal he would really be in his sleep. His tone of voice isn't slurry at all, it's as if he is talking to one of the guys, so it really stunned me the first time I heard him babbling about four wheeler parts and such. But the funniest part of hearing him sleep talk, is he actually answers back if I all the sudden chime into the imaginary conversation. 

2. Burning Our First Breakfast.

Every new bride is known for burning her first few meals, right? Well I never thought I would actually fall into that category until I burned our first ever breakfast. While I like to blame it on the cast iron skillet, it was indeed a disaster from the start. It was one of our first mornings together and I woke up early just so I could impress my new husband with an awesome breakfast. The plan was to make pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage. You know you really burn something bad when the smell of burnt pancakes wakes your other half up right? True story. Even worst it set the smoke alarm off. True story.

3. Animal Training.

If your a long time follower of ours, you have met our fur baby Mila. We adopted her a few weeks after we were married and she has brought us so much joy ever since. Well in an effort to keep her from scratching on furniture and biting Husbands toes, we bought a neon pink water gun and blasted her with it every time she attempted to try us. It not only worked as a training method, but it soon turned into a game for us. We couldn't wait to see her bite at our toes so that we could gun her good! Read about that funny in this post HERE.

4. Losing Mila In The Refridgerator.

How do you lose a cat in the fridge you ask? Let me just tell you, it is possible my deary. In those days, I tended to feed Mila food that wasn't exactly healthy for her, being a cat and all ya know. I would let her lick the bowl after mixing up ingredients for supper and she automatically knew the sound of the fridge door opening, it was her note to self to run toward it in hopes of human food, food she loved. Well one day I lost her, she wasn't anywhere to be found and we looked everywhere, except the fridge of course. All of the sudden I heard her meow, I looked in the cabinets under the sink but she wasn't there. She was right under my nose but I could not place her, I even checked the oven in panic by the way. I looked at the fridge, and thought "there is no way", to my surprise that was exactly where she was. Read about that funny in this post HERE.

5. Our First Cook (Burn) Out and That Time I Lost My Birth Control Pill

Read about them in the highlighted links above.

So those are just a few of our newlywed funnies.

They melt my heart thinking back to those moments

I'm thankful for all the love and laughter we've shared together

this year one

and I pray we make even more funnies so that I can share

them with you all.

I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed digging up memories from my newlywed funny stash!

Be sure to link up with us newlyweds every wednesday and join in on the fun! I'd love to hear about your first year!

Looking Back: The Reception

There we were, now Husband and Wife. What a feeling! We weren't just simply walking down those front porch steps after being pronounced our very own, we were walking down a new path together, a new journey, as one. Love had branched off into a new direction from then on, and we were standing right at the beginning of our story.

As soon as we reached the end of our wedding march, we were greeted with a many congratulations and beautiful best wishes and such, but the photographers quickly swept us back up for the last pictures of the day. We took pictures with our wedding party full of life-long friends who had just stood beside us and witnessed our new beginning, grandparents, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews and finally solo pictures of just the two of us , which harps my heart real good just thinking of us during that moment. We were so happy after becoming man and wife that the photographers really had no need to instruct us on how we should pose or "look happy in love with goo goo eyes". It just seemed to come naturally of course from then on, we were indeed happy and could have easily forgotten the camera was snapping a few times. I am so very thankful for every emotion we felt that day, because they marked our photographs so well, when I look at our pictures together I see teary eyes full of happiness, I see so much love in our eyes and for that they are my favorite recollection of that day. And they inspire us to keep what we have so close and dear every time we look at them sitting pretty in a frame in our home. 

The photographers followed us down to the tent where humbly sat our wedding cake ready to be cut. The Beatles, "Here Comes the Sun" came on just as I had requested as we cut into our cake. I chose the song not only for it's cheery sound but mostly because I wanted a song that would sort of say, "At the end of the day, love always comes back around.. through ups and downs, turn arounds, trials, broken heartedness and loss.. I guess you could say I chose it for my new husband, even though he thinks of "The Bee Movie" theme song every time he hears it. I chose it for him in a way that I wanted him to know that it was going to alright, I would always be there and so would our love, a new page was beginning to turn and I wanted him to feel my hands grasping tightly to his as we would now travel down this new walk of life together, and that it was going to be just fine. 

We shared our First Dance at last to a song that had become "ours" while we were dating, Brad Paisleys " I Thought I Loved You Then". It just seemed to outline our love story right down to it! I couldn't have written it better myself, honestly. While Garrett isn't much of a dancer, I'm glad he agreed to a First Dance. The verses, " I can just see you with a baby on the way", " I can just see you when your hair is turning gray" just seemed to fall right onto the pages during that moment and we cried, again. 

I knew after choosing the song, "My Little Girl" by Tim Mcgraw tears would most definately fly past the handle bars and a huge lump would build up in my throat on that day, but it's the only song I felt I could hear my daddy's voice in and I knew it would be right. He believed in me, my talents, the person I would grow up to be, and even though our relationship shifted, I would always be his little girl, singing on the back porch to Patty Loveless in a poodle skirt. The young girl on the radio singing Patsy Cline, when Britney Spears was way cooler and a girl who had his stubborn ways alike. I hadn't danced with him like this since my senior prom, and I don't know about him but I felt like our relationship was rebinding itself that day, I just felt at peace and I think he did too.

As emotional as my Dad and I's dance was, so too was my new husbands and his mother. They danced to Bryan Adams "Never Let Go", a song Garrett had chosen because of what a impact his moms strength and determination to live life to her fullest even though life had taken away someone so precious to them, A Father, A Husband.  They were legends that day and this very day, as the song sings and their courage to keep going inspires me every time I'm around them. Not many families now a days make it during such hardships, but they are making it day by day, and Garrett and I plan to keep that strong bond going in our  home, and our little family to come one day as well.

It was time to throw the bouquet and the garter, so the DJ rounded up all the single ladies and men folk. To our surprise, a little couple in our family both caught the bouquet and garter and would soon say their I Do's in this same location as we had. 

We had enjoyed all the company with friends and family, but it was time to leave to go on our honeymoon now. My mom walked behind me with my dress gathered up beside her as we made our way upstairs to the bedroom where I would change into my "going away" dress she had helped me pick out. My feet felt the long-ness of beautiful day after shedding my shoes and it was so nice to finally feel the weight of my dress fall down past my waist toward the floor. My mom helped me gather my "going away" bag and called off every item to make sure I had it packed. We shared a "Mother and Daughter" quick moment and a few extra tears to go along before I took my now husbands hand and made it past the handfuls of bird seeds to our decorated vehicle. Everyone waved goodbye and have fun and even threw a few more handfuls of bird seeds until we finally got away along the driveway. To our surprise, my brother in law had snuck in the backseat of our car in an attempt to go with us, clever one, but we just couldn't take him along with us so we kicked him out shortly.

It was honeymoon time!

We ate our picnic basket full of BBQ sandwiches

that were packed for us from the wedding 

And took each others hand along the road

As Husby and Wife, for life.

Read about our Honeymoon Adventures HERE
And HERE
Oh, and HERE.