Looking Back on 2010

I can't believe it but there are only 12 days left in 2010.

2010 has been an amazing year for us and it seems surreal that it's already almost coming to a close. We have been extremely blessed with all of the events of this year and I am so happy to have spent 8 out of 12 months married to my best friend. As our Christmas letter said (which most or all of my faithful readers received), this has been a year of doing. Planning a wedding, getting married, moving into our first apartment, moving to Colorado, getting a new job, traveling to CA for Thanksgiving, leaving for TX tomorrow to spend some time for Christmas with the Rabons, spending Christmas Day & having dinner with the Athertons and going to wrap it up with New Years (celebrating 4 years together!).

Here are some highlights from the last year:

January



We rang in the New Year with some of our best friends, progressive rummy, and The Truth.

February


We spent quite a few weekends traveling to North Lake Tahoe to arrange wedding plans with various vendors. The more time we spent there, the more we knew it would be perfect for our big day.

March

Our nephew Slade turned two years old in March and the family celebrated at a nice park in Manteca. He is such a cute and smart boy!


On March 28 my amazing bridesmaids threw me the best bridal shower of all time. It was such a huge blessing to be surrounded by family and friends and to be blessed with A LOT of awesome gifts. The company, food and games were all great.

April


We had the only beautiful weekend weather-wise in April to spend with family and friends dedicating our lives to each other. It was such an amazing day and every time I look at pictures I remember just how perfect it was. We were blessed to have our parents pray over our marriage as part of the ceremony.


We had the best wedding party ever. I just love our friends and how well they all mesh and how it was so natural to have them all together in one place. It was incredible.


We spent some time down by the lake with our amazing photographers, Charlotte Geary and Mike Pritchard (and baby Pritchard, come to find out later...). We have such epic wedding photos thanks to them and God's beautiful handiwork.


We danced the night away...and I'm not even big on dancing. A true to testament to the fun-ness of our friends and family and the musical prowess of our awesome DJ, Derek.

Then, a week later we went on our honeymoon to BEAUTIFUL Kauai, thanks to the generosity of Aunt Lori and Uncle Bill allowing us to use a week of their timeshares.


The gardens were beautiful.


So were the beaches :)


The company was amazing!


We hiked around in Waimea Canyon


And drove some beautiful backroads.

May

In May we really settled into our first apartment together. Stephen traveled to Colorado for Dan and Matt's graduations from college and high school, respectively.

June



In early June we were able to attend an A's Fireworks game with a group of friends including the Adys, Nikki, Vannah and the (now) Rogers. It was a great night with a great theme: Hair Bands!



With the help of a great many people, we were able to throw Mom a 50th birthday bash! People came from near and far (Nana and Papa, CD, Ash & Slade and Holly) to celebrate one of the best people in the world on her birthday. It's safe to say she was shocked!


For Stephen's birthday we went to another A's game and got to watch the A's defeat the Pirates in a most unusual way... the last out was the runner being hit by the ball.

July
July was a month of firsts and lasts. It was common knowledge at this point that we were going to be moving and we wanted to make a few last stops at special places. We also had some very special firsts.





Stephen and I went to the Redwoods for his first time and most likely the last time either of us will go for a while.


Sandi invited me to take part in Jack's first trip to the beach. Stinson + beach picnic + family = amazing.


We were also able to celebrate with our best friends as they purchased their first house together and started a new chapter of their lives.

August


We arrived at our new home in Colorado on August 2. With the help of Mom, Dad and Holly we were able to unload all of our stuff, get some rooms set up and begin getting settled into our new life.





Sandi came out to visit me at the end of August while Stephen was in Vegas and we had a great time talking about everything in life, seeing Garden of the Gods, adventuring and ending up at a Dueling Piano bar.

September

In September, I spent some time getting the house decorated for Fall. Home Goods provided me with some great decor and I enjoyed dressing our home up for the season.



Also in this month, we added a grill to our family and had fun learning to use it. I also got my job in September working at Parker Montessori with some great coworkers and adorable kids.

October





In October I spent some time exploring the area around our house and taking in the fall colors.

We also went to the mountains for the first time since we moved out here. We went for a nice hike at the Maroon Bells and the drive was also lovely.








I also started by Photo A Day project with this photo, taken on the drive home:


This project will essentially be a photo journal of a year of my life. It's on my Facebook though I am thinking of making it a blog for continuity sake as well. I should probably do that soon before I get too many more and won't want to transfer my little write ups.

November

In November I did some more exploring of our area, this time going out of the Metro area a bit.







We also got our first snow in November.





This one was from the morning after.


Chris came to visit us mid-month and the boys went to the Broncos vs. Chiefs game. Lucky for them the Broncos played really well and won. This was Chris' first Bronco game.


We flew back to California for Thanksgiving and got to enjoy time with family and friends whom we have missed a lot.


The whole family on our Thanksgiving :)


I couldn't believe how big our nephew had gotten in just a few months! He's talking up a storm and even gave me some kisses :)


We put up our first Christmas tree the day we came home from California. It was great to start off the holiday season right away with my favorite person.

December


My company Christmas party was on December 3 and was a great time of bonding with the lovely ladies at PMEI. It's really a great group and I'm blessed to be a part of it.


Mike and Marcie sent me the most beautiful roses for my birthday with a card that says "You are ours now!" What a great feeling it was to read that card :) And Stephen wrapped my gift in the official Rabon wrapping paper (shiny, green paper that has been in the family for forever from a department store that went out of business). We went to Hacienda for dinner with Dan and Brandon. It was nice to have great food with the guys and watch some football. Very low key birthday.


Stephen, aka best husband ever, knowing my great loves for the zoo and Christmas lights arranged for us to go to Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo. It was awesome!!


It was very romantic to walk around the zoo hand-in-hand enjoying the lights and the night. We had hot chocolate and a churro and spent the evening enjoying each other's company and looking forward to doing the same with our kids someday.

What a year it has been! And we still have almost two weeks to enjoy with family and friends before 2011 comes around. Obviously there was so much more that happened this year than I have written about (wedding planning madness, leaving VCS, Young Guns softball games, MNF at Brandon's house, etc.) but I wanted to put some photos up to represent a busy and amazing year.

Looking forward to an equally, if not more amazing 2011 :)

A Ma Vie De Coer Entier

It seems to me that this year has seen a boom of engagements and weddings among the people that I know. And really, who can blame them, 2010 is a great year to get married :) Not that I'm biased or anything. And of course, I wish them all the best-- though most are acquaintances, it is impossible not to be happy for people as they begin the next and best chapter in their lives.

In the last couple months I have had some time to talk to friends about relationships and love and it really gets me thinking about how beautiful it is to have found the person God intended for me. I feel truly blessed and can only wish the same happiness for all of my friends.

I recently spoke with Chris and Stephen about how we have these amazing single friends looking to find a quality person. And not to say that I did everything right in my dating history, but we talked a lot about how the most crucial part of dating is to present yourself in a way that shows the core of who you are. Instead of focusing on the external things that make you attractive or "exciting," to find a person you could spend the rest of your life with you have to focus on what are the non-negotiables of who you are and what you believe and showcase those. And if there is one true blessing of having a long distance relationship, it's that Stephen and I were able to talk about all of the truly important things VERY early on in our relationship. And that's how I knew within months that I could spend the rest of my life with Stephen. We talked about our faith, our families and what we wanted from the future. We talked about how we both want kids and how we want to raise them in a Godly home with love... and discipline. We talked about the roles we see in a relationship and how Stephen and I are both very traditional in that regard. He is the leader of our home and that's exactly how we both want it (and how God intended it). He wants to be the provider and I want to be a wife and mother first and foremost. We talked for hours on the phone every night--- he heard me at my best and at my worst. We had a family situation within the first month we were dating and I called him in tears and he took care of me in just the way I needed from 1200 miles away. I knew from that moment I could count on him to always take care of me, come what may.

Another time, another conversation: a group of friends was discussing what it means to love someone. Most said that when you can truly put the other person before yourself and strive to do so, you love the other person. And that is such a beautiful and crucial part of relationships. I try really hard to keep in mind what is important to my husband and how I can make him happy. Being mindful and thoughtful of this really helps me to put him first. And he does the same for me. I know he does things I want to do that he isn't crazy about (watching Glee with me, for instance) and I really appreciate that selflessness.

There are a lot of things that we both enjoy and that helps too. But being willing to try things the other is interested in or supporting each other in what we choose to pursue strengthens our relationship. I just love Stephen's writing. He is very talented and very witty. And I try at every occasion to encourage him because he really enjoys it. From Fantasy Football posts as our league commissioner to his Tebow editorial on Facebook, I just LOVE when he writes. And I feel like he is always encouraging me with my photography. I'm not trained in any way, never took a class or anything, but I just really enjoy it. And he encourages me, doesn't get annoyed when I stop every 5 seconds to take a picture of something and on day 18 of my Photo A Day project when I was already in bed and hadn't taken a photo, he helped me to think of one to take and made sure that I didn't miss a day of my commitment.

We are blessed to be surrounded by married couples-- family and friends-- who we can look up to as examples of a Godly relationship. We're still new to this whole thing, but we have people around us to give us inspiration to keep Christ at the center, love each other unconditionally, respect each other, always work on communication, and strive to serve each other in the ways God intended. And I hope that for those friends we have navigating the dating scene that we can be that for them some day.

I am blessed and I am grateful.



For those wondering, the title is French for "My Whole Heart for My Whole Life." :)

First Snow of the Year

Today at approximately 2:30-3:00pm it started snowing. At first I thought it was only rain, but then the snowflakes got much bigger and much fluffier. And just like our kids, ages 2-6, I was staring out the window like it was the first time I'd ever seen snow. Which isn't true, but this is the first time it has snowed somewhere I live and drive and work. (It did snow in Oklahoma but I was a kid and didn't have any real responsibility) I was expecting snow on Thursday, but when I got up today it was sunny and 50 degrees at 7:30am. Then the storm started to roll in and then BAM...Snow. Apparently that's just what Colorado is like.

Here are some pictures of the snow:

The front of our house

The deck

On the deck, looking right

On the deck, looking left

The Stephen and Amanda snowpeople I made :)



My handsome and awesome husband went out just now and bought my some hot chocolate and a snow brush for my car. I used my lunch bag to get the snow off the windows and mirrors today but he always takes such good care of me :) I also bought flannel sheets yesterday so I'm very excited to put them on the bed!

So as I sit here sipping my hot chocolate, I am trying to think of what has gone on that I wanted to post about. The snow kind of distracted me...

We'll be in California for Thanksgiving and Texas around Christmas-- we're both very excited to see both sides of the family. Chris Ady will be here this weekend and he and Stephen will be going to the Broncos v. Chiefs game on Sunday. It will be great to have a visitor and for them to have some special guy time :)

I've started a Photo A Day project on my Facebook. So far I haven't missed a day since October 21. It's been fun to document something from each day and I'm sure when it's over I'll enjoy looking back on a year of my life and the things that I found important or interesting each day. I'm trying to avoid having the same picture over and over (such as a ton of sunsets or cloud pictures) and so far so good.

I'm really enjoying my job. I really like my coworkers and the kids/families at the school. It definitely has a family feel and even though I'm the youngest working there (by only about a year or two) I feel like I fit in pretty well. We've always got a lot going on and it keeps me busy, which makes my work days go by quickly. Some of these kids... they're just so cute... I may or may not be attached... :)

I'm feeling pretty comfortable with knowing where I'm going out here now. I do know the major roads (locally) and how to get to the places I need to go. I'm feeling confident in going on random drives and adventures now that I have a basic knowledge and can guide myself back to the familiar fairly well. I've discovered some really pretty areas and some nice shopping :) Here are some photos from my last adventure down to Colorado Springs and the North Cheyenne Cañon State Park:

Headed toward the park from the Broadmoor area

Exiting the park

Helen Hunt Falls

As I was driving into the park



It's definitely a place I plan to go again. There's an area called Seven Falls (which was closed for renovation unfortunately) which boasts the most beautiful canyon in Colorado. I also saw the biggest deer that I've ever seen in person. He easily had 7 points on each side of his antlers. And he walked right in front of my car. I was driving slowly so it was no big deal but I was too dumbfounded to get to my camera in time :(

Married life is still ridiculously awesome and I love every minute we get to spend together. He gives me more reasons to love him every day... like hot chocolate and snow brushes :)

Dinner is just about ready so I must go but hope to update more soon!