7 Years Ago...

7 years ago TODAY, Nick asked me to be his wife.  I still remember it so clearly and I can't believe it's been 7 years!  December 16, 2006 is a date I'll always remember (and he'll probably forget about every year, haha)!


Nick proposed on the beach at night....with a light-up ring box.  Perfect?  I think so!  Here's a pic we snapped with the camera timer as soon as we got back to our condo.  Please excuse the super stylish pink Floridian curtains!

Here's another pic we took that night.  I was so excited!

This was earlier in the night before we went out to dinner.  We were going to a nicer restaurant and Nick said to dress up.  I was suspicious but after dinner was over and nothing happened, I was a little bummed and thought he wasn't going to propose after all!  (We had been together 4 years.)

Here's an aerial view of the beach where he proposed.  We walked out after sunset like we did most nights and little did I know he had that sparkly ring in his pocket!

And just for fun, here's our family Christmas photo from that year (2006):

All About the Hubster!

Ok, not really all about him.  But I wanted to share some random facts with you all!

Just so you can put a name to a {very handsome} face, here he is...MY husband!  (Is it weird that I still find it fun to say that after 5+ years?!)

Now, onto some random factoids....

1. He is 4 years older than me (but he will say 3 years and 51 weeks, ha)!
2. When we met, he worked at a grocery store.  Obviously I was a gold digger!
3. He now works in IT for one of the largest employers in our area.
4. He loves watches and probably has about 10.
5. He has narrow feet so he's super picky about shoes.
6. He loves cars and sports.  Typical guy, right?
7. When I say he loves sports, I mean he LOVES them.  In his world, fall is short for F-ootb-ALL season! :)
8. He used to have a 400+hp sports car AND he let me borrow it when I was 18.  Brave man!
9. He will do anything for me and Carson.
10. He loves his soda, specifically Cherry Coke Zero.  I don't know how I gave up soda living with him!
11. He is an only child.
12. His birthday is a week after mine in July (but we're 4 years apart).
13. He can grow a beard in about 5 hours.  Silly Italians!
14. He's good at anything - board games, sports, anything competitive!
15. He isn't a dessert guy.  BUT I can convince him to eat dessert my homemade treats quite often!

And for good measure, here's one more pic of my handsome hubby (plus his amazing family)!  :)

I'm linking up with Becky today:

Marriage.

mar·riage

ˈmarij/

noun

What is the meaning of marriage?  That's a hard question!  I think it can be answered in so many ways.  Overall, I think marriage is about love and happiness.  I love my husband and he makes me so very happy.  Simple, but true!  

Here are some things that come to mind when I think of marriage....

• Falling more in love every day.
• Have fun and growing together.
• Adventures.
• Trust.
• Setting and achieving goals together.
• Expanding your family.
• Best Friends.
• Romance.
• Making each other laugh.
• Forever...and ever.  :)

I could probably go on and on, but instead I'll share some of our wedding day pictures because why not!  

I'm linking up with Becky today: 

A Father's Day Photo Tradition!

Remember that spray painting tip I posted last week?  I painted a 'D' and an 'A'.  Last year I did a little photo shoot for Father's Day.  I bought some wooden letters and snapped away until I got some cute pictures of my squishy little newborn.  I stuck them in a 3-slot frame and Nick loved it!  Here are the pictures from last year:

Now that everyone might have baby fever, let's talk about how INSANE it was to get the photos this year!  I'm sure my neighbors were pretty entertained as I ran around (literally) trying to get some good shots!  Here are some of the adorable outtakes: 

And finally, here is the final product.  I love it and Nick loves it too!  He said it's so fun to see his personality coming through in the pictures!

**I bet you're wondering why I had to paint the letters this year if I already had them from last year, right?  Well, I returned the letters last year after only using them for the pictures thinking to myself, "WHAT will I ever do with a 'D' and 'A'?!"  Silly me.  I went back this year (to multiple stores) and they were sold out of the white wooden D's!  I had to buy unfinished wooden letters and paint them white.  Mistake noted, I'm keeping the letters this year!

DIY Gift for the Hubster

Last Friday was our five year anniversary.  FIVE.  I can't believe we got married 5 years ago and I also can't believe 2008 was 5 years ago!  I'm getting old.  I bought Nick a Garmin GPS watch/heart monitor for his running, but I also wanted to make him something.  Before I get started, let's reminisce together....

So my DIY gift I decided on was Pinterest inspired: a Date Jar!  The basic idea is that you write a bunch of date ideas on craft sticks and stick them in a jar.  When we want to go on a date (family or couple), we can just pick a stick and skip all of that planning and "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do YOU want to do?"  Ugh, we're so bad at that!

Date Jar

What You Need
Craft Sticks
Jar
Marker to write on sticks
Stickers or colored markers to color code your sticks (You could also try to find colored craft sticks)

How to Make
1. Make a list of date ideas.  I asked a few of my friends and even googled.  I wanted to be creative and not just write down our "usual" dates.
2. Write your date ideas on the craft sticks (one per stick).
3. If wanted, color code your sticks.  I have family dates, couple dates out, and couple dates at home.
4. Decorate your jar.
5. Put the sticks in the jar.

Seriously, it can't get much easier than that!

Here are some of the dates I included in the date jar.  Some of the dates are dates we can do with Carson.  Some are dates for home after Carson goes to bed.  Some are dates that require a babysitter for Carson.  I tried to include a variety!

• "Rent" a movie (Netflix, Red Box, etc.)
• Firepit date in our backyard
• Blanket fort and movie
• Wii game night
• Take out + board games
• Visit our favorite restaurant
• Movie + Dessert
• Cooking classes
• Mini Golf
• Ice Skating
• Bowling
• Coupon Date (go somewhere we have a coupon for)
• Thrift Store Challenge (each person gets $5 and we have to come up with the craziest outfit)
• Trampoline Park
• Coffee Date
• Dessert only Date
• Bike Ride
• Food Truck Date
• "New to us" restaurant
• Bakery
• Restaurant Hop (one place for appetizer, one for main course, one for dessert)
• Fro-Yo/Ice Cream
• House Hunters (visit Open Houses for fun)
• "Hiking" at a Metro Park
• Family Lunch Date
• Farmer's Market
• Feed the Ducks
• Park
• Water Fun (sprinkler, pool, water table...all at home)
• Pool Day
• Children's Museum
• Zoo
• Picnic (home or at a park)
• Find a new park

Here is the original pin:

Source: sprinklejoy.net via Emily on Pinterest

I'm linking up today:

Flashback Friday

A quick flashback for everyone's enjoyment.  This is me and the hubster circa 2006.  April 15, 2006 to be exact.  We got engaged exactly 8 months and 1 day after this picture was taken.  All I have to say is I can NOT believe that was over 7 years ago already.  Time flies.  And yes, we're having fun!   I'm so thankful I was able to find and marry my best friend.  /End mushiness. 

What My Husband REALLY Thinks About Me...

I'm linking up with the lovely Becky today for a fun post written by my one and only Hubster!  No offense to any sister wives reading my blog today!  ;)

When I was telling my husband about this post, this is exactly how our conversation went....

Me: Oh, I need you to write a blog post for me!

Nick: What?  I don't even know what that means.

Me: What you mean?!  It means exactly what I said. You have to write a blog post for me!

Nick: I can't do that, I don't even know how.  I have no idea what to write.

Me: All the blog husbands are doing it.  You have to do it!

Nick: I really don't know how.

Me: You have to.

Nick: Okay, but you have to help me.

This was followed by a game of 20 questions...

"Do I have to include pictures?" 

"Are the other husbands really doing this?"

"Will this be my own post or will you write most of it and I'll just add a few sentences?"
"What is the purpose?"

...And so on.  He cracks me up.  Come on hubs, JUST DO IT!

My GQ Hubster.  How did I get so lucky?

Before I share this with you, let me just say that it literally made me smile so big when I read it.  Also, I may have shed a tiny little mouse tear.  Maybe.

So without further ado....this is a copy and paste of what he sent me via email:

***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Five facts about my lovely wife Emily

She’s obsessed with finding new crafts and decorations to make all the time! She literally makes decorations for 2 seasons out just so she is “ready” when it comes around. I don’t think we could ever move somewhere where we had to live in an apartment, because she wouldn’t be able to store all of her bins full of decorations for each season!

She’s the only person I know who grew out of wearing glasses. She wore them when she was little and her sight got better so she didn’t need them anymore.

She HAS to coordinate every outfit. I think this is a girl thing, but I don’t know what she’s going to do when Carson gets older and starts dressing himself! She may have a meltdown the first time he puts on some brown shoes with black pants. I try to dress him occasionally but normally am not always successful, because his pants don’t coordinate with his top, or his sweater doesn’t match his shoes.

She grew up without really going on vacations at all, so the first time she saw the ocean was when she was 17 with me down in Florida. We went to Ft Myers with my dad, and ever since we go back down at least once, normally twice, per year. She is now obsessed with warm weather (Probably not unusual for someone who has to put up with our crappy Ohio weather all winter).

She is a great mom! She spends all day with Carson, takes him to tons of different baby activities, and she loves doing it. She never seems to want a break she loves being with him so much. I have to get one of our moms to come over and drag her out to get her to leave him for a little bit. She does all this while cleaning, shopping, and meal planning so we always have a dinner planned (and normally cooking) when I get home!

 

Nails of the Week & 10 Years!

I'm linking up again to share my nails for The Nail Files.  This link up really motivates me to give myself a quick little manicure each week!

 

This week I used Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear line in "Gray Area".  I love Sally Hansen polish and the Xtreme Wear line offers a lot of fun colors!  This one is a purplish gray and I love it for winter!  I did an accent nail again (so creative, I know) using Nicole by OPI in "Make Me Smile".  I really like OPI but I was disappointed in this glitter polish.  I might be too OCD but I couldn't get enough of the big sparkles to come out and when they did they moved off my nail with the brush strokes!  Any tips on that?  Maybe I should stick to finely crushed glitter from now on!

Sorry for the dark photos....painted my nails after putting Carson to bed again!

I also wanted to quickly mention that today is the 10 year anniversary of when Nick and I officially became a couple.  So basically.....we're old!  Luckily he'll always be older!  :)  We started hanging out (pretty much every day) in the fall of 2002, but we didn't make our relationship official until January 25th, 2003!  He will tell you he asked me to be his girlfriend on December 31, 2002.  Honestly though, that's New Year's Eve.  I forgot.  Maybe that's why it took him 25 days to ask again but I'm SO thankful he did!

Happy Anniversary, HBO!

Do you like Nick's new facial hair?


 

Au Revoir 2012! [Picture Overload]

2012 was such a great year for so many reasons!  Here are some of the highlights from this past year for me.....

In January we celebrated the New Year with some of our closest friends.  It was exciting to know we were only 5 months away from meeting Carson!  We'll be celebrating the new year again tonight with some of the same friends!

In February we made our maiden voyage to IKEA to get some of Carson's nursery furniture!  I can't believe I've had the willpower not to go back 100 times.  Luckily it's almost 2 hours away otherwise I'd be there way too often.

In March some of my best friends showered me with love to celebrate Carson's upcoming arrival!  Did I mention one of my best friends was due 2 weeks after me?!  So fun.

In April both buildings where I taught hosted showers in my honor and so did my family!

 I may have mentioned this before...maybe not.  In May, my amazingly wonderful son was born!  He changed my life forever and I'm thankful every day!  We also celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!

Also in May, one of my best friends got married!!

In June, my friend who was due 2 weeks after me had her baby girl!

We also celebrated Nick's first Father's Day in June!

In July, Nick & I celebrated our birthdays and we took Carson on his first road trip!  We went to Michigan for our annual family reunion at my Dad's lake cottage.

Carson was also baptized in July!

 In August, we introduced Carson to the Buckeye lifestyle and kicked off our 12-0 season!  (I also went back to work and Carson started daycare.)

In September, I was crazy busy and stressed with work so there weren't many special events.  We did celebrate my mom's birthday, but I have no pictures! :(  I got lots of extra snuggles with Carson in the evenings after work and Carson also found his feet that month!  We also had a lot of fun with bath time (and still do)!

In October we visited the pumpkin patch that Nick & I go to every year.  This time we got to take Carson and he wasn't very impressed (ha)!  It was a super windy day, too!  I think he'll have more fun next year!

Carson also celebrated his first Halloween in October AND got his first haircut!

In November we hosted our second Thanksgiving dinner at our house!

Carson had his 6 month well visit and at that time, he was sitting unsupported and standing with support!  

December was a busy month for us!  We took our first family vacation to the beach.  (Post on our vacation coming soon!)

Carson met Santa in December, too!

We also celebrated Carson's first Christmas!

Finally, Carson got to check out his first big snow in Ohio!

We had a great 2012 and I'm looking forward to an even more exciting 2013!

Happy New Year, friends!