family..

Some great memories with the family!! Can't wait to see them this weekend---minus the sissy!:( You'll be there in my heart sis! LOVE YOU!

And of course looking to some wonderful,quality, relaxing time with my wonderful husband:)

Truth..

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
— Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa definately had some wonderful words of wisdom to share with us didn't she?
I am so excited for tonight! Eric and I are going out on a date! Taking the motorcyle down to Grand Ave for some Pizza and Ice cream! He's had a lot of tests the past few weeks and is done with tests for the week so its a mini-celebration! We are heading down to Iowa for the weekend which I am PUMPED for! We havn't been there since February! Just a relaxing weekend with the family...much needed:) We are going to pick some black raspberries too!! YAY!! I'm hoping to get out and just take some photos to for fun! I miss being on 40 acres of just land!

I got all of our wedding pictures this week so be watching for those to be posted as well! I LOVE THEM!:) Anyways, Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Forth of July. Enjoy the relaxation, beautiful weather, time with family and friends, and all the blessing we have that come along with our Independance!

Photos!

I enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon off while the hubby and bro-in-law were out on the motorcycles and my mother-in-law was at coffee with a friend...I forgot how much I enjoy photography! Here are a few of my shots...nothing special but I enjoyed it! :)

Beautiful....

I was just thinking about all the beauty that is out in the world, from the smallest flowers to the biggest of trees! How simple yet so beyond us...sometime we just need to stop for a moment and take a look around at all the beauty that is always surrounding us. It is there in every situation and moment, but I know I am very guilty at times of being to busy, selfish, and just distracted to open my eyes and see it and simply be thankful.

It is a perfect day out after several gray rainy days around here. What a blessing to see the sun again...these photos are somewhat of a walk down memory lane for me. Starting in Iowa going to Minnesota, then to Massachusetts and Arizona! God is such an artist in all his creation. So blessed! My mom and bro in law are here for a long weekend! Bryce is going to be living with us for the summer while he is doing a basketball leage and working. Then going to Northwestern in August! It will be sooo fun having him so close!

Love love love!

Here are the links to our wonderful date night!
Started out at this very authentic Italian restaurant! I got a yummy chicken pasta with freshly made noodles!! MMM!! Oh and for all who know how much I love coupons my hubby got a deal on crowdcut.com! Love it!!:)
http://www.romananthonys.com/
After dinner we went and got our dessert at this wonderful place in White Bear Lake! We walked around a little bit and there was a parade going on around there so it was fun to eat our ice cream, watch the parade and just hang out!!
http://www.cupandconewbl.com/
Then we went back home and just enjoyed being with eachother and watched some Lord of the Rings! What a blessing to have an evening off!
We are currently at Caribou! I'm looking through some old pics playing around with them while my hubby is studying!!

Aint he cute?? You can tell he was trying not to smile! Love it:)

Suprise:)

(One of my favorite engagment pictures!)

My hubby told me the other day to not make plans for Friday night for a little date:) So here I am in great anticipation of what our date will be. Unfortunately its supposed to rain tonight, but we're hoping it doesn't so we can take the motorcycle out!:) I'm so excited and can't wait to just spend some much needed quality time with my man...Time is definately both of our love languages and we just love dating!:) It is always a challenge in the midst of school, work and other life responsibilites but this is one of our life long goals to never stop dating and keeping those little tummy butterflies alive forever!

The Beginning

Well, I've been meaning to start a blog for a while. There are many women in my life who have inspired me to finally begin. My lovely older sister, Heidi wrote an inspiring blog today about living life to impact others and not living in the past. What an inspiration. Lately I've been thinking about how I get stuck in the past and regrets I have, which can be a very sad and sticky hole to be in. I desire to life in the moments I have and all the blessings I have surrounding me each moment. I am blessed with an incredible, loving, hard working, serving husband, a beautiful family, wonderful friends, a good job, a wonderful home and so many other things. In those moments I feel as if life is just blah I need to remind myself of all these blessings I have and Praise the Lord for everything I have.

I love hearing about other people's joys and sorrows in life and walking through it with them. This is my desire in my blogs to hopefully encourage people and bring joy into your lives with my encouraging words, life's simple joys, perhaps struggles, and all the blessings I have in the middle of it all!