2 Years Later

Walking in the door after a week long vacation is one of the best feelings on earth! Exhausted, dirty, and enjoying the residual excitement and fun experienced on the trip. I love to reflect on a vacation and all the activities (usually ranking them in order of my most favorite on down) after we get home. Jeremy and I had an amazing time in DC visiting our brother and sister-in-law, and I will blog all about the trip throughout this week (I promise!) But before I get to reflecting on the one week trip, I thought I should reflect on the past 2 years of marriage as we celebrate our anniversary today!

July 7, 2007:

The happiest day of my life thus far.

I don't think the day could have been any more perfect, picturesque, or magical. I woke up (well, I wasn't sleeping, but the clock finally gave me permission to get out of bed and get started on the day!) and leisurely headed to breakfast with my favorite four women on earth. As I forced down some scrambled eggs, I felt as though I was in a dream. Was I seriously getting married to my prince charming, today? After 6 years of waiting, hoping, planing, the day was finally here? It seemed completely impossible to believe.

After breakfast we headed over to the location of the wedding. Playing cards, snacking, and laughing, we enjoyed the beautiful weather and I basked in the thought that in 6 hours I would make a promise to the man of my dreams: to stand by him, love and support him the rest of our lives.

We took our time getting ready, enjoying the company and relishing every second of this day, the day I had been waiting for. And then the moment finally came. Standing inside, dressed and ready, I could see the guests arriving through the window, my heart must have been beating 200 times a minute. Everyone was seated, the music started, I took my father's arm and began the most important 3 minute walk of my life.



The ceremony was beyond my wildest dreams. I am not a crier, I am not easily moved to tears by any situation. To be honest, I was a little worried I wouldn't cry during the ceremony and people would think I was heartless. Well, Jeremy quickly laid my fears to rest and I turned into a water works fest the second I saw him.



My dad gave the most moving "giving away" speech I have ever heard, Ryan spoke of God's intention for marriage and the model He gave us in Jesus, Jeremy sang a song he had written that had the entire audience crying, we exchanged hand-written vows, took communion as a married couple, and sealed the deal with a kiss! AMAZING!



The reception was a blast! Good food, lots of dancing and visiting, a constant feeling of euphoria.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the most memorable and magical day of my life. I will never forget it.



After a high like that, I thought anything to follow would be a disappointment, but I was wrong! Jeremy and I flew to Jamaica (following a family golf tournament) and had the best honeymoon anyone could ask for! Unlimited food, drinks, activities, etc.! It was heavenly!



Our first year of marriage was spent in Sacramento. Learning how to live together as a married couple went rather smoothly. Jeremy attending UC Davis full-time, taught as a TA, and worked a part-time job at the Sacramento office of his current employer (NMR). I worked in the NICU at UC Davis full time and expanded my skills in the kitchen. Looking back at that first year I have nothing but positive memories. Our house was adorable, we rode our bikes all over the city, went on small trips to South Lake Tahoe, and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with eachother. We had our first holiday season together, our first set of brithdays together, and our first March Madness together.




After Jeremy finished his Master's, we decided to move home. Almost 6 years away from Redding was plenty, and we wanted to get back to the town we knew and loved! We were fortunate to find a fixer-uper in downtown Redding and we embarked on restoration project that will take us years to complete.



It is incredible to reflect on all that has occured over the past 2 years; all that we have accomplished, all that we have to remember. I am so thankful to have found my prince charming and I feel so blessed that he chose to love me for the rest of my life. God is so good!

If the first two years have been this amazing, I can't begin to imagine what the next 50 hold!

Jeremy, thank you for being an amazing husband. Striving to love me with the perfect love of Christ, and showing me everyday that I am His creation. I could not be more thankful for you and I promise to respect and support you the rest of my life.

Unsuperivsed Puppy + Hot Day =

Swimming and Company

A few weeks ago we were blessed with a preview of summer. The temperature reached the mid 90's, no wind, crystal blue skies. It was beautiful. This will be Abbey's first summer (since she was born in fall of last year) and she has no idea what she is in for. We thought the warm weather would be a perfect opportunity to take Abbey out to the lake and let her swim for the first time and cool off. Very excited for out outing, we load up the car with towels and tennis balls, and Abbey of course. She is absolutely thrilled to be going somewhere, and she is pretty convinced the "somewhere" will be fun. We find the perfect isolated beach at Whiskeytown, I get the camera ready, and Jer throws the inaugural tennis ball in the water. Abbey bolts from the rocks to the shoreline, eye on the ball..... and comes to a dead stop when the water reaches her elbows.




Anxiously running up and down the shore, trying to figure out how to get to the ball, and crying to Jer that she can't get it, we realize the poor puppy doesn't understand she can swim!




Now Jeremy, being the amazing daddy that he is, braves the ice cold water in an effort to demonstrate to the puppy that the water is safe and fun.



It took a lot of convincing (and a little shoving) but Abbey finally figured out she could swim! We were beaming parents :)

Part II:

Anytime that Jeremy and I have to leave Abbey, she goes and stays with her real mommy. She absolutely loves it over there, and always comes home exhausted. This past weekend, we were lucky enough to return the favor by hosting Abbey's mommy Ruby at our house. They had so much fun playing together and Abbey was happy to share her bed. On Sunday afternoon we decided to take them both out for a hike at Whisketown. The girls did so well and really had a great time. Abbey was so honored that all those people would come out to Whiskeytown just to see her!



I actually have an update on the house, if you can believe it! Look back soon for another post.

Long Time Coming

I know my blog updates are becoming quite sporadic, but things have been busy with the puppy and house remodeling is moving very slowly now (since we only have small things left to finish). But... here are the big updates:

Abbey:
Abbey is now 5 months old and weighs 50 pounds...She is so huge and such a huge handful! She has a very energetic spirit, as most Goldens do, and a very stubborn attitude to go along with that energy.

For example: Abbey loves to ride in the car, so the other day I was heading to the paint store to pick up paint (more on that in a second) and I decided to take her with me, just to let her get out of the house for a bit. She had recently had her neutering surgery so had been cooped up for a few days in the house so I thought some fresh air would do her good. We head out to the car and she jumps right in and is excited for the ride. We get to the paint store, and I am planning on just running in and leaving her in the car. So I get out of the car and close the door behind me, only the door doesn't close, it bounces back open like it hit the seat belt and wasn't able to latch. I turn around to see what the problem is and I can't figure out what kept the door from closing. Well then I turn back around to see my puppy frolicking down California street like she is the queen of the world! I panic of course, and have no idea what to do. Just as I am picturing my dog getting obliterated by a car, a woman walks toward the paint store and catches Abbey's attention. Abbey sprints toward the woman, very excited to make her acquaintance, though I do not believe the sentiment was shared. The woman quickly closes the paint store door and tells the social little puppy
"no, no puppy you can't come in here, go away"
"PLEASE LET HER IN!!!" I yell, thinking to myself at least she can't get killed in there (by a car anyway). The woman looks offended and perplexed, but reluctantly obliges. I rush in the store to find Abbey running laps around the counter with a paint brush in her mouth. Completely mortified, I begin chashing after her and calling her name, as sternly and quietly as I possibly can.

"Oh great! I LOVE this game." she thinks "Let's play tag!"

So, after what felt like an hour of "catch me if you can" I finally caught Abbey by the collar and led her back to the car. She of course refused to get in the car, instead decided to lie down in the middle of the sidewalk and threw a big tantrum. So here I am trying to lift this 50 pound puppy into my car while everyone drives by and points...

Needless to say we made it home eventually, and Abbey spent the rest of the afternoon in her crate.

Though she is a handful, Jer and I love her so much and couldn't imagine life with out her. She brings us so much joy and we know that this puppy phase will pass eventually and we will have a sweet, beautiful, loving family dog. All our hard work will be worth it in the end.

And speaking of hard work, Abbey graduated at the top of her class from puppy school. She is really smart! We start "Manners" class in a few weeks.

Here she is on the night of graduation with her graduation bandanna on:



House:
As far as the house goes, we made great progress this week. The two rooms that were needing carpet are finally carpeted! Jeremy worked very hard on getting the family room wired and dry walled. After we had some help texturing, we threw some paint on the wall, just in time for the Lowes truck to show up. There is still work to be done of course (Baseboards, trim, window casing). But it is so great to finally be able to use that room!

These aren't the best pictures, but the work for now to give you an idea. For the best picture, come by and see it for yourself!

Puppy School and Mommy Play Time

Abbey has been a member of our family for over 2 months now and we have settled in to a routine rather nicely. Our days are filled with playing, walking, dog parks, and sleeping. She is so much fun and really starting to learn a lot. Of course, she is constantly into everything still; but we're hopeful that behavior will become a thing of the past. The two highlights of Abbey's life are: Puppy school and play time with her real "mommy." As I have said before, Jeremy and I could not be more thankful to the family from whom we adopted Abbey. They have stayed close with us, checking in on Abbey frequently to make sure she is doing well and that we don't need anything. They also invite Abbey over to play on regular basis. She absolutely LOVES it over there! She plays for hours on end with her mom and family; by the end of the day she can't even hold her head up because she is so exhausted! I love bringing her over there because it gives me an afternoon to get laundry done without a puppy running away with my socks!

It's crazy house fast Abbey is growing! She already weighs over 30 pounds (double her first vet appointment weight!) She brings us so much joy, I can't even remember our family before her!

Here are some pictures from puppy school:







Abbey and her momma:






After a fun day playing with mom!

Happy Birthday Abbey!

Better late than never right? Abbey celebrated her three month birthday on the 30th of December! I can't believe it, 3 months old already! We have been so blessed by her presence in our lives.
What a fun time she had her birthday week! We celebrated Christmas the only way we know how- 4 times! (Luckily Abbey is a great traveler!) We started out at my parent's house first thing in the morning. Abbey was thrilled to see her best bud Quincy (though I do not believe he shares in her sentiment). Abbey received the greatest gift of all from Grandma and Grandpa-her very own bed!

Every time we go visit my parents, Abbey spends the majority of her evening on Quincy's bed...well now she one of her very own! The second we got it out of the box, Abbey jumped right on! She absolutely loves it! After gift exchanging, the whole gang went out for a walk at Quincy's favorite spot, known as "the hill." She did pretty well off leash, only had to be chased after one time. It was a a pretty big walk for her, but she hung in there and made it all the way back to the car!




After the walk we headed over to Dave and Debb's for Christmas round 2. Abbey loves playing with the other dogs there, but they too are not especially fond of her. The day continued with more family gatherings and Abbey was a very good girl the entire day. (And received presents at every stop-what a luck girl!)

This weekend Abbey took her first trip up to Grandma's (my parent's home in McCloud.) She absolutely loved playing in the snow and can't wait to go back!


We start puppy school next week and can't wait! We are pretty sure she will be the smartest one in the class.

We love you Abbey and hope to celebrate many many more birthdays!

So Proud!

I wanted to take a second to publicly congratulate my husband on successfully completing his Master's of Science in Structural Engineering yesterday. I could not be more proud or impressed with him. 5 years of hard work and extreme dedication came to a close yesterday when he successfully presented his Thesis and passed his exam. He never ceases to amaze me: working full time, constantly working on the house, finding time to work with high school students and play on worship team at church, spending time with me and Abbey, and never a word of complaint. He is an amazing work ethic and I am so blessed an honored to be his wife. So congratulations Jeremy, I am so proud of you!

(This isn't actually Abbey and her mom, but I forgot to bring my camera so I don't have any pictures of them playing together)


In other news, I had some things I had to take care of in Davis yesterday also so I was planning on going with him. My mom had offered to come over and let Abbey out of her crate and feed her her dinner and play with her, but I was still feeling horrible about leaving her for 8 hours in her crate. We have remained in contact with the wonderful family that bred Abbey (and her 5 siblings)and found out they were puppy-sitting her sister for the week. They had asked if Abbey would like to come over and play and it just worked out perfectly! We were able to drop her off at their hosue on our way out of town with easy hearts knowing that she was safe and having fun. I didn't spend the whole afternoon worrying about her because I knew she was having a blast. Boy was I right! When we got there to pick her up around 9:30, she was so tired she couldn't even keep her eyes open! When we got home, I took her out to go potty and she wouldn't even stand up. It is now 8:30 and she is still fast asleep! I know she played hard and had so much fun!

Thank you Espy's for taking such good care of our baby!!