Our New Home

Alex and I have been in our new home for just over a month and we have SO many blessings to count! We love our church family, our youth group, the new town, and our home :) God is so good! Not only is this a wonderful place to live, but we know that God has prepared our hearts to be here; we have so much peace about living here and so much excitement for what we believe God is going to do here! Alex is very busy with church life and I've been loving being a homemaker and pastor's wife :) We've already had the wonderful opportunity to do a lot of hosting in our home and we love it! We've had the youth group here, a group of young adults from the church, and the friends we've been making here. Also, we've had the wonderful blessing of having my cousin Susan come for a visit, my dear friends Kortney and Olivia and baby Quinn, my parents and brother, and my RA from college! And more friends and family are already planning trips to come visit us in the coming months. We were also blessed to get to meet our first nephew!!!!!! He is SO precious, tiny, and amazing!! Alex's sister, Latisha, and her husband Brent (long time great friends who are now our family) welcomed into the world August Nathaniel on June 17th. Alex and I were able to make it back to see them all over the 4th of July weekend. Such a blessing!

Well there's a bit of a recap of events lately. And here's pics of our new home! "Give thank to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever" -Psalm 118:1

Olivia, Kortney, Quinn, and Susan :)

Picnic with my family while they were visiting 

Our sweet nephew, August!

Welcome to our home!

My favorite part of our dining room is our view of this beautiful tree :)

It's amazing how pictures of our loved ones truly make it feel like a home :)

Our guest room/office/craft room 

My Aunt Karen gave me my Grandma J's and my Great Grandma's tea cups and shelf for my wedding. So special!

My bridesmaids and friends bought these beautiful tea sets for me! Can you tell I like tea time? :)

I'm so thankful to share this home with my amazing husband :) 

One Year Together

Yesterday Alex and I celebrated being together for one year. Today I'm reminiscing on our love story...

In the months before Alex and I started courting, even though I knew that Alex had previously had strong affections for me (I wasn't ready when he first asked me and had a lot of growing to do), I had no idea if Alex still cared for me in that way. God knew my heart was ready, but I also believed it was best for Alex to initiate, not me. So I prayed (A LOT) and waited. In those months I prayed for God's best for Alex, but I deeply hoped I was the one God had in mind for him. By the beginning of June last year, my hopes began to rise and I dared to dream that we might start dating in like a year. God had completely different and better plans! On July 7th, 2014 Alex and I began courting. We were both a little shocked that our hopes and dreams were actually becoming reality!

What an incredible year it has been with my amazing Alex!! Summer adventures with my wonderful boyfriend, journeying to college together in the fall, a beautiful engagement in the winter, experiencing college life, interviewing at churches, preparing for our wedding, graduating college together in the spring, saying "I do" to our happily ever after, and moving to a new state/home/life/job! I had hoped that Alex and I would start dating by the time we graduated college, instead God blessed us above and beyond and here we are: married!

Last week we received our gorgeous wedding photos! There are far too many to post but I just wanted to share a few. Our wedding day was perfectly lovely. Of course there are those funny moments to look back on when things don't go quite as expected...such as a gigantic-never-before-seen-in-Idaho rain storm interrupting our outdoor reception lol. But we can look back on every moment from that day as being a treasured memory! We had so many wonderful friends and family who helped to make the day run smoothly and beautifully. It meant so much to Alex and I to have lots of people who have helped us become who we are today to be there celebrating with us! Timing ran smoothly, the weather was perfect for pictures, the ceremony was so meaningful, everything looked gorgeous, and MOST importantly Alex and I committed to love, cherish, and honor one another for the rest of our lives. Words can't express how much I adore Alex and how VERY thankful I am that God has beautifully written our love story. Our wedding was a day, but our marriage is a lifetime. I'm beyond excited to see our journey together unfold!

Alex and I on the day we started courting: July 7th, 2014

The 12 BEAUTIFUL roses Alex gave me to celebrate one year together!!!

Daddy. Oh how I love him! He is the reason I knew I had to wait for someone like Alex who would treasure me. 

Our gorgeous ceremony. 

Foot pop = true love :)

HUSBAND AND WIFE!!!

SO very deeply in love with this man!

Bliss :)

Sweet love

My beautiful little sisters! 

Such a handsome group!

Alex and his little bro :)

SO blessed by these ladies!

Our beautiful wedding party!

With each new member, the family just gets better :)

My beautiful Mommy! She did so much to make our wedding day so special! Thank you Mommy!

What a privilege to be part of this amazing family! 

I am beyond blessed to have this godly couple as my in-laws!

There's nothing like family :)

Love these ladies! 

There's nothing like a Daddy's love :) I will always treasure these moments.

Me and my handsome husband!

Always and forever!!!

Before We Said "I Do"

Alex and I have a few personality differences that are great for balancing the other person out. However, we mostly have a lot of similarities which are super compatible. One of those similarities is that we love to be busy! We love giving life our all...and most of the time saying "yes" to way too many things haha! When we set the date for our wedding, we knew it would be kinda crazy since we were getting married only a few weeks after we graduated from college. It was crazy, but it was also a blast! Here's a quick recap of what took place in just a few short weeks :)

Alex and I have had our fill of moving for a while I think :) At the beginning of May we moved out of our college dorms in Missouri and back into our parents' homes in Idaho. During the weeks before our wedding, we started moving our stuff into our temporary apartment on the side of his parents house. And two weeks after getting back from our honeymoon we moved all of our stuff from Idaho to our new home in Washington. Ok ok I'm getting ahead of my story. So after our 25 hour road trip from college to Idahome, we were busy with wedding dress fittings, graduation party, last minute wedding preparations, bridal shower, lantern lighters lunch, bachelorette/bachelor parties, spending time with our family before all of the big change, and hanging out with our friends and family as they began to arrive for our wedding. Plus Alex worked for my dad for the weeks leading up to the wedding. So fun and so busy! In these past few months I've felt that I've had to do exactly what was right in front of me (which is rather contrary to my nature of being a futuristic planner) whether it was focusing on graduating, a wedding, or moving. We were GREATLY blessed with awesome friends and family who helped us make everything happen! Not only am I super thankful for their all of their help, but I loved having my friends and cousins from out of town come early so we could enjoy time together!! Pictures are worth a thousand words so here's a glimpse at all the pre-wedding fun :)

Alex is a trooper! Our car overheated consistently during our 25 hour drive back from college so we had to fill it with coolant often. Upon arriving home, my car would randomly quit while I was driving. Praise God for providing two new-to-us vehicles to buy from our grandparents!

Aren't these ladies beautiful!?! Thank you, so much for throwing an incredible bridal shower for me!

The lovely ladies in my new family :) So sad Alicia and Sierra were sick that day :(

My wonderful lantern lighters at our special lunch the week of the wedding :)

LOL my dad came out of his room like this and said "My daughter is getting married this week?!?!" Don't worry he just likes to joke, of course he is thrilled :)

My beautiful friends at my bachelorette party! We had a grand time staying in a hotel, going to the cheesecake factory, chatting, and swimming. Thanks so much Ashley Joy!!

I LOVE THESE GIRLS!! Thank you for traveling many miles (Montana, Washington, Arizona, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Illinois) to celebrate with me!

Daddy and I at THE wedding rehearsal...wow!

Is this for real?!?

Thanks, David and Alicia, for throwing a fabulous wedding rehearsal fiesta! :)