fun facts

we are home. 2 days of driving for 8+ hours (with stops) and we are home. 

we stopped in Louisville for a few hours to hang out with a friend from school, nate. he just graduated and is doing an internship for the college ministry at Southeast Christian Church. (it's a huge church and their facilities are amazing!). we went to dinner with him and talked awhile before hitting the road again.

so here are some fun facts from our 1 year anniversary trip:

- from marion, indiana to flagler beach, florida, there are 53+ waffle house restaurants (yes, we counted - it was a long drive)

- we went to target 6 times (2x in one day).

- sometimes, when there are storms near the beach, the ocean creates a moat like thing between the ocean and the beach. we had to cross the moat (about thigh high) to get to the actual ocean.

- florida has huge face-eating (sort of) flying creatures that look like a cross between a cricket and a grasshopper. freaked me out everytime!

- these face-eating bugs are especially scary when lying in bed in a dark room watching tv and one jumps onto your shoulder - yes, this happened to me. there was screaming and running and freaking out. animal control (aka. my husband) was called and took care of this ungodly creature.

- we ate mcdonalds twice in a 24 hour period - enjoyed it - then regretted it as we were making our way to the restroom. 

- starbucks employees are quite nice at 5 o'clock in the morning

- mcdonalds employees at 5 o'clock in the morning are lucky to be employed when they fall asleep between the time they tell you the total and the time you hand them your money. (actually happened - she fell asleep as chris was handing her the money - and she got our order completely wrong!)

- chris' little bbq is so awesome - it doesn't heat up very hot, so it slow cooks the meat to perfection

- my husband is a stud chef

- you can never take too many silly pictures under a lamp post (see facebook album)

- and last, but not least, driving 30+ hours round trip, eating more than our body weight in one week, taking tons of pictures, and celebrating our one-year anniversary is one adventure we will never forget!

love,

~L

first anniversary!

saturday (our anniversary) was tons of fun. chris made me pancakes and bacon for breakfast (he is quite the chef, if you hadn't figured that out). 

the sun came out so we went to the beach for about an hour. then we got all cleaned up to go out. he took me to target where i got to pick out my anniversary present - a necklace. then we went to see Star Trek, which was amazing, by the way (GO SEE IT)!

after the movie, we went to a restaurant called the Aquarium. we were a little disappointed, but the food was pretty good. the restaurant is promoted as a dining and dancing place. we left the restaurant with intentions of coming back. unfortunately, when we got back, we discovered that you have to be 21 to get in. me - being 20 - could not get in. oh well. 

the menus lit up when you opened them 

(so did the holder that held the bill)

 

when we got back, chris made a funfetti cake. let me explain: our wedding cake was funfetti, but since we didn't have the top of our wedding cake to freeze and then eat on our one-year - we just made a new cake. (i suggest this method to any newleyweds - i'm sure it tastes better than freezer-burned, year-old cake. :D)

our cake that chris made :D

it was a very good one year anniversary, and i'm excited for many more years to come. 

at the beginning of our date

after dinner (on the dock) (my new necklace)

one year ago, today...

...i married my best friend. 

i can't believe it has been an entire year. wow! time has flown by, and i know it will continue to keep moving fast. we have really enjoyed the beginning of this journey, called marriage. yes, there have been rough times, especially with school and being far away from home and whatnot, but we really do love being married. 

let me just tell you about the man i married. he is the sweet, caring, romantic, hansom, thoughtful, smart, understanding, hilarious, witty, sexy, loving....i could go on...

basically, i love him a lot! i've hear old couples say that they love their spouses more now than they did the day they got married. i always wondered how that worked...now i know. i know because i have fallen more in love with my husband every day for the last 365 days...and i know i will keep falling in love with him.  

thanks for letting me brag about the man i love. happy anniversary, chris. i love you more today than the day i married you! :D

here are some pics of our first year together:

the beginning of our journey (May 23, 2008)

road trip, moving out to indiana (6/08)

chicago (8/08)

halloween (10/08)

6 month anniversary/thanksgiving (11/08)

our first Christmas (12/08)

making cookies over spring break (3/09)

introducing: the Hawaiian Bacon Teriyaki Burger

last night, for dinner, my husband made me his Hawaiian bacon teriyaki burgers (adapted from his dad's teriyaki burgers). They were DELICIOUS! i told chris that the burgers deserved their own post on the blog - he agreed. 

basically, (without giving away any secrets), these burgers are a combination of flavors of pineapple, teriyaki, hamburger, bacon, and a special secret ingredient. they are delicious and juicy. mmmm. chris brought his little grill to grill them on (hence the picture with the fire in it). 

(p.s. chris took the menu-worthy pictures of his creation). :D

grillin' the burgers (mouth watering)

yummmm.....(this should be on a menu)

we ate outside on the deck...

beyond those houses is the ocean

let it begin

We made it! We are in Flagler Beach, Florida about 30 minutes north of Datona.

We got here around 9 am, unloaded the car and CRASHED. We were so exhausted. We left our house around 3:30pm yesterday, made a few stops, and really started cruising around 4:15pm. Chris drove most of the way…I got the 3am-5am shift. :D it was good, though. I enjoyed driving and letting him sleep. (By the way…singing songs from musicals and tv show theme songs helps to keep you awake. Ha.)

At about 5, chris took back over the driving. We got some Starbucks and breakfast and kept on driving. It was a long drive, but it went surprisingly quickly. Glad to finally be here.

            My favorite part of the drive, though, was this morning. It was sunrise and we had just entered Florida. We were driving down a tree-lined road, coffee in hand, rain pouring down the windshield, and Shane and Shane music playing. It was such a worshipful time. I love the sunrise. This wasn’t your classic pink clouds, sun coming up over the ocean – sunrise. But it was the simple dawning of day. Light breaking through. It was peaceful. Relaxing. A feeling of being close to the Lord. It was so nice - I had to capture the moment. :D

So…we are here. We slept for a while. Then went shopping for some supplies and food. It’s been raining off and on, and has been gloomy all day. The temperature is nice…but I would LOVE some SUNSHINE! :D  

 

I will continue to update more as the week goes on. And will be adding more pictures. For now…here are some pictures of the trip down here. check out facebook for more pictures. i'm off to eat my husband's Hawaiian bacon teriyaki burgers!

the traditional profile pic that i always take on road trips              

excited to start our trip      

welcome to KENTUCKY

kentucky

sun setting in kentucky

dreaming of sand between my toes

so i know in my last blog i said i was going to blog more, but i haven't...sorry. i plan to work on that. in my defense, however, i'm doing may term (which is over tomorrow, 5/15), and there really hasn't been much to blog about. 

we have been just working, relaxing, and watching a ton of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. we love that show and have been really enjoying watching it together. let's just say we finished three seasons in about 3 weeks (give or take). :D

we leave for FLORIDA in a week from today! SO EXCITED! we are going to celebrate our one year anniversary. can you believe it...ONE YEAR? i can't. it's crazy to think that it's already been a whole year. loved every minute of it. :D we are staying in a house on the beach in a town, called Flagler Beach. it's about 20 minutes north of Daytona. we are just planning on being beach bums, doing some shopping, and celebrating our anniversary. we have been counting down the days until this trip! we are driving down, straight through, 16 hours. that will be an adventure in and of itself. we are planning on breaking up the trip and staying in a hotel on the way home. 

i will definitely post pictures of our trip and adventures. so excited to have beautiful scenery to take pictures of. :D 

sorry this blog is sorry of boring...just wanted to update you all. 

more interesting blogs to come (hopefully. :D)

waiting for the beach,

~L

welcome to summer

the semester ended today! THANK GOODNESS.
normally during the last few weeks of the semester, i am just ready for it to end. by this semester...i NEEDED it to end for my physical and mental health! for example, i was constantly running from class to meetings to work to homework to group projects, etc. also, chris got about 4 hours of sleep sunday night, 3 hours monday night, and 7 last night. i got a little more than that, but not by much. let's just say it was just a really challenging semester...actually it was just plain hard. i did learn a lot...but i am so happy it is OVER! :D

i cannot believe we are SENIORS! it doesn't seem that long ago that we walked onto campus (with a lot of stuff), scared, yet confident, as freshmen. and now, we are on our last year of undergraduate. it's a good feeling. CRAZY, but a good feeling. i know this next year is going to FLY by. we are so excited to keep moving forward and seeing what God has in store over the next year and beyond!

we are trying to enjoy life (although school sometimes gets in the way of that). ha. but we are having fun together! can not believe it is almost a year since our wedding (11 months tomorrow - the 23rd). even with the lows - the highs are so amazing and i can't wait to create more memories together.

we have quite a few friends getting married this summer (which will be fun) and two of the couples will be living in Marion this summer. so we will have TONS of fun together...YAY for married friends! :D *side note: that is something we have totally missed out here. not having really strong Christian married couples who understand where we are at. we have amazing friends who are so supportive, here and back home, but it will be so nice to have friends (in the same town) who are married and in similar situations. thank you, LORD!*

so i know this is a bit long, but it has been quite a while since my last post - you know - busy with the semester and all. :D

i plan to blog a lot more this summer. i really love to write and this is such a great way to update about our lives.

now, with the semester finished and the papers and projects behind us -

WELCOME TO SUMMER!

~L