6 months of BLISS!

Well, this past weekend was our "6 month" anniversary! Yes, I know we are a little weird for making a bigger deal out that than most people do. But we're weird. And we like it that way.

I can't believe that it has been 6 months already. I mean, at some points, it feels like it's been almost a year already, but then it feels like just yesterday! I have learned some things about me and about matt during these past 6 months, but I will say we haven't had to do that much adjusting to living together. Definitely not nearly as much as I thought we would. I think it helped that Matt was living on his own already and I saw the way that he did things and as we were dating, I wanted to do it his way bc/ it was his house, so i just kinda adjusted to all of that because I didn't have my own place and my own way of doing things. Other than adjusting to living together, I think the most "difficult" thing has been the whole holiday issue and making it fair for both families. And I thinkthat those are decisions that many couples have to make!

But here are the Top 5 things I have learned these past 6 months about Matt (that i didn't know when we were dating - i'll warn you.... there aren't many, seriously, he's pretty much straight-forward...what you see is what you get!):

#5. Matt is a procrastinator!
#4. ok, i'm finding it really hard to think of something!
#3. maybe this was a bad idea... i can't really think of anything else...
#2. oh.... i never realized how much he REALLY hits his snooze in the morning.

and drumroll pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease....

#1. Matt REALLY likes to SLEEP... I mean I knew he could fall asleep anytime, anywhere, but it's definitely more than I ever realized! Put him in front of a tv and he's pretty much out by the time I'm on my second plate doing dishes! Haha....

(and now me putting this up, I kinda wonder what Matt would say that he has learned about me.... maybe I can get him to give me a couple and I can share those with you! Because I'm SURE that he has some!!!)

So, doing that little "exercise" just made me realize that we really HAVEN'T had to do too much adjusting. We definitely fit well and know what pushes the other person's buttons and how do deal with that. And for that, I am TRUELY grateful!!

New topic!
GO BLACKHAWKS! Matt has got me watching them.... even when he's out of town! Crazy... i never really watched hockey before, but I will say, I'm growing fond of it. But I will admit that I'm just joining the banwagon and watching hockey will probably end whenever the season ends for them!

Well, time to go edit some photos I shot today of my nephew Ian! They were pretty casual... just trying to get some pictures of him for his b'day photo. Check out my business blog for some new photos.

Have a great night!

Welp, this past weekend was a busy one! But wonderful.... to be with my husband again after a long week of not seeing him at all, was great!

First we started off with a BLACKHAWKS game with Rachele and Nicholas! Aside from the annoying New Jersey fans behind us, it was good game! Although I wasn't able to tuned out the girl behind me that knew everyone by their first name on the Devil's team & talked about every single play... I still was able to enjoy the game! It was a close game until the very end.... Thankfully ended up winning right at the end of the game, but if they play a little better offense, they could have won by more than just 1 point. But it was nice to hang out with Rachele and Nicholas again!..... next time guys........ MI RANCHITO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait!

Then Saturday afternoon, it was time to head down to Layafette, IN to stay at a hotel with some couples and their kids from church. Matt and I left in the early afternoon and took our time getting down there. Matt gave me a little mini-"tour" of Layafette... showing me where Purdue is (since i have never been down there!).... showing me where he stays when he goes down there for classes/ conferences and where his bachelor party was. We then met everyone at the hotel for some swimming and some dinner! It was fun hanging out with those kids. To see their energy and fun they have in the pool is just so cute! Some kids were even in there for 3 hours straight! (as you can see from Taylor's hands below... she got VERY wrinkley from being in there so long!) It's interesting to see how different kids are. Some are scared, some are daring and some are just happy to splash their feet in the water! =) We ordered pizza, queso dip and had some other great food! Defiitely not a good weekend for dieting!

(Taylor's really wrinkley hands.... with Matt being funny in the background!)

(Just a really cute photo of Taylor with her wrinkley hands again!)

(Me "Jen Jen" & Taylor "Tay Tay")

(Some of the little kids that we were with.... and NO, it wasn't birth control really.... it actually makes me excited to have kids some day!)

(Oh... sweet baby Tessa and me!)

(2 of the DeYoung girls and me!)

(Awww......)

(Crazy girls!)

(Aaron, not looking & Tiffany being cute as usual!)

(I "learned" how to play poker... and yes, we played with Equal, Sugars, Splenda & Sweet-n-Low)

Then it was off to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis (an hour drive) for the day! I invited Taylor to ride along with us for that hour and of course when Tiffany saw that Taylor was going with us... she wanted to also! So we adopted 2 little girls for the car ride to Indy. It was nice! Two very talkative girls at the beginning turned into 1 sleeping girl and 1 zoned into her DS girl about 15 minutes into the car ride! But it was a nice change of pace for Matt and I, having some youngens in the car with us!

The Children's Museum was fun. It was pretty big and had a good variety of stuff for the kids to see! Matt and I decided to go off on our own for a little bit and just see it all in a little more faster pace than it would be with some kids with us (in hopes that we would meet up with some other people later!) But we actually only saw maybe 2 of the other families throughout our time there. So, once we were done, we left and "toured" Indianapolis a little bit. Again, I don't remember the last time I was there (I think it was when i was quite young!)... so we drove around a little bit and then we ended up driving to the Indianapolis Speedway... something that Matt wanted to see (and I guess me too a little bit!)

(Chihuli -sp?- sculpture at the Indianapolis Children's Museum)

(Matt is just a BIG KID!)

(Matt and I in the mirror section!)

(The Batmobile! Supposedly the one they used in some movies!)

And that was our weekend in a nutshell!

But the fun didn't stop when the weekend was over! Tuesday I had my day off and went shopping to Michigan City with my wonderful friend Stephanie and we had a great time... whether was good... little bit of rain, but enough to keep people away from the outlet mall! And when I was shopping I got a call from Matt with some wonderful news! His cousin Eric and his wife Laura had their baby, a boy! I just love the name! Evan Levi.... how adorable! I can't wait to go see the little guy! Congratulations you guys! And to little Lily too! =) I'm sure she's be a wonderful big sister!

Hope you all are having a good week....

A little bit of everything!

Well, as you can tell by how many posts I have done in the last couple of weeks... there is A LOT GOING ON in our lives... haha... (can you sense the sarcasm?)

Even though nothing new, fun, or exciting has been happening....
We both have been keeping busy though!!

Time Spent Apart (tear)
Matt has been working quite a bit.... he has been able to pick up some overtime here and there and actually this week he is down south the whole week doing his spring surveying! And it looks like part/most of next week he will be gone too! =( I will say that I am getting a little more used to him being gone for longer periods of time. Not that I like it, but I think I'm accepting and handling it a little bit better.

Work for me on the other hand.... has been slow, but busy, but boring. It's a job. I really want to love my job, but I just don't. But this week has been pretty good. My boss is gone on vacation, so in addition to my normal weekly tasks, I was in charge of sending the papers to press and also working on a 12 page paper that gets printed monthly. That has kept me busy most of the week!
And since Matt was working out of town all this week, I extended some hospitality to my friend Renee to come and sleep over this week! She lived in Lowell and works in Manteno, so staying in Grant Park helps he cut her commute time. It has been nice to have around. Last night we actually watched Nicholas and Rachele's wedding video she brought along... I got to see Matt make his wonderful speech. He's so cute! Also, I am taking advantage of going out for dinner and meeting up with some friends while Matt's gone! Last night I got to hang out with the wonderful Amanda Plowman and tonight I get to see two college friends, Jessica & Kristen! Jessica just got engaged and getting married in July! So I can't wait to hear all about her wedding plans!

A Not So Ordianary Weekend
Tomorrow Matt will be home! I'm so excited to see him!
I'm also excited because this weekend is a very UN- ORDINARY weekend! (is that even a word?)For what seems to be the LOOOONGest time, we have had tickets for tomorrow night's 's game with Nicholas and Rachele! So that will be fun!

Then another fun and exciting thing is that on Saturday to Sunday we are going down to Layfette and Indianapolis with a group from church and we are staying overnight in a hotel, and then going to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis! Which I have heard great things about it! So I'm looking forward to that! =) I'll have to tell you about how it was when we get back! Like I said, we are going with a group of people from churches, all of them are couples with kids, except for us! But they are all super cool and I know that we will have a great time!

"I feel the need... the need for speed!"
And we finally booked Matt's wedding present from me! Richard Petty Driving Experience! He will be doing(Richard Petty Driving Experience). He will be doing it at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet on May 24 in the afternoon! I hope he's as excited as I am for him! I hope I'll be able to get some good photos and hopefully borrow someone's video camera to record it too! =)

A New Beginning - 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR 

EVERYONE!

We hope everyone had a safe & good New Years Eve night.

  

I can't believe that 2008 is gone and it's already 2009.  2008 was a great year for us (I'm assuming Matt feels the same way! haha).  We had the greatest day of our lives when we got married and we were able to go on a AMAZING honeymoon to Hawaii and plus many more things! And we just pray that 2009 will be just as exciting, hopefully with many more happy moments! Only the Lord knows what the new year will bring and we just pray that His will be done in our lives and that we will honor and glorify Him in all that we do!

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This past week & weekend have been very busy for us.  For New Years Eve we went to my cousin Katie's reception in Lansing.  It was a nice night and good to see all the family again!  Here are a couple photos from our evening:

About 10:30 we left the reception, we both were pretty tired and I had been/still am fighting a cold, so that just kind of drained me. But what GREAT FOOD! (I definitely want to go back to Benchwarmers to try out their menu food!) And surprise, surprise, Matt was sleeping before midnight even came around.  We got home about 11:15 and he was out by 11:32.....  so, I woke it him up to kiss him at 12:03 and I was sleeping by 12:10ish!  What a fun & memorable way to celebrate our first NEW YEARS together! Haha..... =) 

Then on Thursday we watched the Blackhawks Winter 

Classic game of course!!  Nicholas and Rachele came over to watch it with us.  It was great to watch, but sucks that the Hawks lost though.  Then in the evening we got to watch our nephew Ian for a little while while Rich and Amy went out for their anniversary! (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GUYS!!) It was great to play with Ian.  He truly is a smart kid and loves to be with his uncle Matt!  We played the game MEMORY, which I absolutely LOVE. I'm so glad we gave that to him for Christmas.  It is a game I actually like to play!   

Then Friday just continued the joy of playing kid games and also added crafts to that!  Friday, we had Cassidy & Madison come and sleep over.  We did crafts, ones that I had given to them for Christmas (Messenger Bag & Stickers) and they also decorated picture frames for not only themselves, but also Mikayla & Lydia!!!  It was the first time we had any nieces or nephews sleep over.  I will say, I was a little nervous (partly had to do with cassidy having a cold and coughing)..... but it was all good... I slept most of the night (due to the fact of not only being nervous, but also, I was coughing myself!)!

Saturday was busy too!  Keith and Trish came to pick up the girls in the morning and were able to see our house for the first time!!!!  But then later on in the afternoon, we did a lot of errands before we met Brett & Amanda for dinner! =)   We went to Sams Club first, which I still think this is funny...... as we were pulling out of Sams Club.... Matt turns to me..... and said something along the lines of "it never ceases to amaze me, we can go into Sams with a list of 4 things we need to get, but we end up coming out of there spending almost $200".... and that is SOOOOO TRUE!!  It's hard to keep a ONE TRACKED MIND in Sams Club!!!  Haha..... but we also bought paint for the living room so that when Matt is out of town next week, my mom and I are able to paint that room and check that off the list of things to decorate! haha!

Sunday we had the pleasure of going over to Nathan and Leah's house for lunch!  It is always a good time when we go over there!  Nathan and Leah together are just a very hospitable couple and their girls are just so cute and loving!  I just love playing with them (and they do love to play with me it seems!).  Then that evening Matt left for Rockford for the week.  I'll miss him, but it seems like I'm staying busy enough to not get caught up in that he is gone!!!!  And the next week, he will be gone too, so hopefully painting and other things will keep me busy next week too!

As for wedding photos... if there are any of you that know that you took a photo in the photobooth and would like to have a digital file of it... just email me.  I have a CD of all the photos and can just email 'em to you!