What happened in May

So here we are again....it's the beginning of a new month and I haven't really even said much anything at all about what we did last month.... So let me play a little game of catch up!

I think the most significant thing that happened this May was be part of  my sister's wedding. Arianna, tied the knot with Shea Larson on May 2, 2012. It was a beautiful day for a wedding. And I so happy for them. Arianna was stunning in her vintage dress and I don't think you could wipe the smile from Shea's face! You could feel and see the love between them!

Arianna has been living in Minnesota working as a photographer's assistant  and learning the ropes of the photo industry. And Shea is a recent graduate of MSU Billings in some sort of communications degree... (sorry Shea I can never remember).  It was fun spending time with them together before they both left and headed for the Big City Life.

I had the opportunity to play  "photographer" for the afternoon and I think I did an ok job.... I'm just saying... hehe. (Arianna did edit them with all of her fancy photoshop) but I deserve some credit right!

 

We also celebrated Mother's Day... and had  a sweet surprise come all the way from the East Coast.  Thats right, my best friend Kristy and her fiancé, Nate, came down for his sisters graduation from University of Montana... and while they were in Missoula he got down on one knee and asked her to spend the rest of their lives together!!! How cute is that!  Let me give you a mental picture of what he did.... Nate is a wonderful guy covered in tattoo art and he dabbles in graffiti art himself.   So apparently there is a wall in Missoula that is dedicated to graffiti and its illegal to paint over it.  So on one of the mornings they were there Nate left Kristy in his sisters loving hands... and he went off to paint "KRISTY WILL YOU MARRY ME?" on this wall.  Then Lindz (Nate's sis) and Kristy went for a walk and Lindz happened to want to take pictures right before they got to the wall.  Kristy proceeded to say "shut up"  and then then yes!!! Nate had even left a box for her to spray paint her answer in!! 

I love these guys so much and I am so excited for them.

The remainder of our month was filled with maintaining our garden and enjoying our lives as a married couple... falling more and more in love each and every day. 

Pumpkin Patch!

SO I have been super busy this week between working, baby-sitting, and the craziness of life! I have had a great week and a lot of it has to do with my wonderful husband!

On Saturday I had to work my usual shift at the coffee shop and David decided that he would take me out on a date day!.. I LOVE HIM!... I was giddy all morning waiting for the the date to begin!

I made us some coffees and we hit the road... David decided to take me do Red Lodge. For those of you reading who are not familiar with the town.... its a little ski town about an hour out of Billings! IT is really cute and has lots of great shops to look at. I always look forward to our road trips. I think it has something to do with the extended amount of time with my wonderful husband!  We had an amazing hour of uninterrupted time to talk.... Can you guess that one of my lovely languages is "quality time"?  It was a chilly day so I got to sport my black and" p-coat"and boots!

When we got into town we had lunch at Bogarts. Its a cute little restaurant on the main street that is based on the famous actor..Humphrey Bogart.    And while we were waiting on our food we decided to Google Mrs. Bogart and found out some really fun facts about his life! David and I are always wanting to learn new things... We also had a differeance of opinion about what the first Disney Movie ever maid was.... I thought it was BAMBI... I was wrong(I hate having to admit that) and Dave was right..The first Disney film to be produced was Snow White in 1937!

When I was growing up my sister, Arianna, when to that movie in the theater! It had to be one of the times the re-did haha! But my memeory of seeing this movie then was looking over and seeing my sister with Wide Eyes, standing up watching the preview for the" Hocus Pocus" (trailer I couldn't find the same one but her is one anyway) and during one part ... The Red Head Witch gets really big on the screen and says that" BOOK" Thats when my sister (age 2 1/2 or 3) looks really close at the screen and then is so scarred! haha.... looking back now its really a funny memory. And I wish we had a picture of that moment! but we don't...

Anyway... Back to our Date (can anyone say bunny trail?)

After lunch we walked up and down the streets going into the little shops... we went in to the Swanky Fork and I love the color of the stores walls.... They are like a deep blue..almost navy blue but not quite. I hope to paint one of my kitchen walls that color!! If I do I will be sure to post that process!

If you asked us what we did in Red Lodge our answer would have to be..."check out all of the stores bathrooms" hahaha between both of us I am pretty sure we saw most of the public bathrooms there! haha we must have had too much coffee and water..

When we heading home we got in the car and did a U-turn from our parking spot to go the other direction.... Ops! And that U-turn happend to be illegal and a office was there to watch the whole thing... So we had to sit and wait.. but the officer was really understading because we really didn't know it was illegal. And we only got a warning! Thank you Jesus! .... David made a comment about how its fun when you get warrnings because you can talk about it but not feel so upset because of the ticket.. I am not sure if I totally understand that but I do know I was much happier knowing we were only getting a warning!

On our way home we decided to stop at the Laurel Pumpkin Patch!  And I would have to say I had so much fun!  We ran out in the pumpkin patch and looked for the perfect pumpkin to bring home with us!  Here are some pictures of our fun Day!

haha the pinecone on the window looks like its part of my hair!

I love this bench!

We liked how this door was painted!

Look at this one

Look at this little guy!

I can't find the perfect one yet

These ones are cute

 We found our pumpkins and are now all set for our Pumpkin-Mainia on Friday!! Hope everyone had a great week! Please keep praying for our friends in Ethiopia and stay up to date with what they are doing here

It Just Makes Sense

Anna & I in the garden hut

 On September 7, 2009 I took a trip with Anna, Kristy, & David... little did I know then that it would be the beginning of something extra special.

I'm not sure what encouraged us to take a this trip to Chico Hot Springs.. but we also piled into my car for a day trip to the spring. I remember listening to music and jamming and singing all the way there.  It was a cool day.... perfect for soaking in the natural hot springs. I'm also not sure how it ended up being this group... but it was a great success!

Lets go back a few months to catch up a little....

David and I had been hanging out all summer... and I really wanted our relationship to be something meaningful..something more. But because of some intresting circumstances and commintments that David had been involved in... we could only be friends.... He was part of an accountability group that promised to keep him accountable to the things he asked them too. David had just recently ended a relationship with one of our mutual friends (sometime at the end of June) and had decided to take a 6 month time out of dating relationships....



All of this happened before I was in the picture...

So about the beginning of July I entered this love story. It was the 4th of July and I went to my friends Zach's for a BBQ and fireworks in his neighborhood.. and David was there.  I was not awear of his break up.. I i totally asked him were Kelsey was.  Awkward.... I seem to always be a day late and a dollar short with the relationship gossip. We hung out that evening some... but I didn't really want to bother him much.

As the summer progressed... in to Camp Season at church I started working with Kelsey in the coffee shop at the church. We ended up talking about boys... and our "lists"of what we want in a guy... and she flat out told me that HAD to get to know Dave.... that I would probably marry him.

OK anyone else think thats a little weird? I did... its not at all now... but then it was. I mean they had just broke up and now she is telling me that I am going to marry him! 

BUT she piqued my interest... and my curiosity took over. I began to notice David all around the chuch and tried to be around when he was. I was helping out with our high school Encounter Conference and he was too.... I was more of a behind the scenes kind of girl were as he was an active leader in the youth group.  I will never forget setting up for the night party/dance when he and a guy named Josh dropped a PVC pipe on my nose and practically gave me a black eye!! SO Funny! We dance and had a great time... and before I knew it was August and we were going to the Fair together...

But it couldn't always be that easy... you see we were still friends and he was still commited to staying single until January. And because of his accountibality groups' concern as to where our relationship was headed, we made up rules to show that we were just friends... For example we would drive separately even when we would be going to the same places! Stupid... but we really wanted to make sure that we were honoring Dave's commitment to God...

Things got pretty awkward and weird between David and his accountability group.. and I was upset. There were some rough moments between them and the hardest part ..for me was that I was not in any control of the situation. So David and I had to take some time apart to think and pray about what was going on between us... and if it would be wrong of us to stay moving towards a dating relationship.
It was hard because when David and I were together everything felt right..and it was easy. He was encouraging me in my walk with the Lord.. and I know he was feeling the same way. But everyone looking in said it was wrong for us to be hanging out. ..... David's accountability group stepped in and said some very hurtful things.. all with good intentions at keeping David to his word... but I was so frustrated... I felt like the only people that were truly listening to God were Dave and I... and it finally came down to that. We prayed about it and felt that God was ok with us pursuing one another... and so we did. We didn't have to call it anything because it was a friendship that just worked.

The girls in the Garden

 Which brings us up to date..well back to September 7, 2009... We were not dating... but we were more than friends.. I and placed in the middle of those two emotions.  So we decided to let it play out.. I all the while praying and hoping that it would be God's will that we would one day be together.


My good friends Kristy and Anna suggested that we take a trip and off we went.... the 4 of us to Chico Hot Springs.

David took this..as Kristy was taking our picture

 When we got there we spent some time looking at the gardens and taking
pictures... David was a trooper.. He understood that I needed girl time and he played a great photographer..  And I believe all of us had a great day. God had given us a reprieve from all of the drama back home and we were able to be ourselves and enjoy the ride.

This one of my favorite pictures I took in the garden... its like a sunflower eclipse

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of the day!!!... Kristy was clueless

Anna having a great time playing her air guitar!!

We ate in the little pool side restaurant before we went swimming and all I really remember is that we laughed outloud at lot! Anna was singing and playing her air guitar and we all had a great time. I really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere we had together and it was fun to be away from town and out in the great Montana mountains. The pool was hot and we all were like slugs slowly moving...slowly thinking.. but it was so relaxing. There wasn't much conversation while we soaked... we were all content and knew that it was ok to just be... and no body tried to fill the silence because it wasn't awkward at all.... maybe it could have been but it wasn't


 

 After we soaked for a while.. we were all pretty much spent. It was a calm relaxing time and we decided to leave and going exploring.... we drove around a little until we found this little bridge that was over a river/creek... I think it was a creek and we just chilled. Anna started doing fun yoga poses and we all joined in. It was so FUN! David even got in on the YOGA action...

Anna doing yoga on a bridge

David and I went and sat down beside the creek and talked about God and life and it just felt right. Even though we still didn't lable our relationship and "dating" we were able to be ok with were were heading... I knew that there was going to be more to our story and it was going to be beautiful. It has been said and shown that the" beauty comes from ashes" and the struggles of life make for an even better story.. I and I like to think that our beginning was just molding us into a better story.. beautiful... and honest.  Even though it was tough in the midst of the mess.. I wouldn't go back and change the way it all came together.....

  Kristy and Anna crashed in the backseat and slept the whole way home... and it gave David and I are chances to talk and listen to music... i think put in Frank Sinatra and the rest is just history....