Special Moments

The CEO of the school that I work for writes a daily devotional that he sends out to the parents and staff. He always writes about things going on in the lives of his family and friends and relates them to a lesson or scripture. Here is what he wrote the day after our wedding and I wanted to include it here because it meant so much.
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Daily Devotion

Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her"

We went to a staff member's wedding today in Tahoe. It was glorious in so many ways. We realized on the way up that the boys had never been to a wedding! While they didn't know what to expect, we did hear Nicholas whisper to Connor, "I'm not sure exactly what happens, but I do know they have cake." They were in for so much more.

A setting like Tahoe, with snow in the mountains and a glorious lake as a backdrop, is hard to surpass. In this case, however, the ceremony and reception did top even the beauty of the surroundings. The marriage ceremony was subtle, moving and superbly spiritual. The bride and groom took their first communion together as husband and wife and they looked wonderfully in love at all times. As beautiful as it all was, when the parents of the bride and groom came up to form a prayer circle with them, I was in awe. The Holy Spirit was truly at work in every heart in attendance. When I spoke to the DJ, he told me that although he wasn't a practicing Christian, he was touched by the time of communion, the time of prayer, and the music chosen for the ceremony. He said that something had opened up inside of him. I said, "Welcome to the feeling of the Holy Spirit."

There were so many wonderful moments today, but one that certainly touched us was when the groom's brother, and best man, gave his toast. He is three years younger than his brother, just as Connor is to Nicholas. When he spoke, it was what we would certainly love to hear from Connor about Nicholas some day. He remarked that he had always followed his older brother's footsteps and had yet to find the path in error. He also told of how lucky he was that he was guided and cared for as he grew up and what a great man his brother had become. In so many ways we heard the relationship of our boys being defined.

Today was such a glorious day in so many ways, but it was also a reminder of how important it is to pray for our children. I have been to many weddings but never have I felt the presence of God like I did at this wedding. There was no doubt how much these two love each other and yet, as evident as that was, their love for God was even more obvious. This wasn't a day all about them like so many weddings... this was a day about their love for God and their gratitude to Him for bringing them together. After today, I am going to make it a real priority to pray for the future spouses of my children. I want for each of them the joy and love I witnessed today.

There is so much more that I could write about, but suffice it to say that we participated in a first for our boys, a wedding that will be indelibly etched into our minds. A wedding performed in his beautiful land and guided by the Holy Spirit...

Congratulations Amanda and Stephen, and thank you for including us in your blessed day!

Blessings....Paul & Krista

Married Life

Photo by Charlotte of Charlotte Geary Photography

According to my Facebook, we've been married now for 3 weeks, 3 days. And let me tell you, married life is awesome!! I know they say that this is the "honeymoon phase" and that we'll grow out of it, but I sure hope not! I just love being Stephen's wife. I love being able to call him my husband and take care of him and be with him every night. I love having things that we can call "ours."

Like our last name, for instance :) I went to Social Security today and my new SS card should arrive within ten days! I'm legally a Rabon now!! I still need to change it on my driver license, but the soonest appointment they had was May 25... that's quite some time from now. I might drop in after work one day and see if I can get in sooner. I even looked up Davis and Fairfield DMV, but it was just as long. They should give preference to newly married people since we're an excited bunch.

I was asked if I had come across any things about Stephen that surprised me since we've been married and now live together. I can honestly say that I have not been surprised. He doesn't leave the toilet seat up and neither of us like to make the bed. We both leave clothes around a bit. And none of those are problems. When I cook, he volunteers to do the dishes. I have cooked...yes, I can sense your shock. I truly fall in love with him more every day. Mushy, I know, but we can be sitting on the couch watching Bones and all I can think is how crazy about him I am and how much I love being with him. I get all aflutter.

I love our little apartment. Photos can be found here: My Flickr Page

Pictures from our honeymoon in Kauai can be found here:
Also Flickr

We had a wonderful time. The weather was great, the food was also good (I highly recommend the kalua pig burrito at Olympic Cafe in Kapa'a if you're ever there) and it was super relaxing. We spent a lot of time just enjoying the time together instead of going on excursions to kayak, zip line, movie tour, etc. It was just what we wanted. Stephen made me Dirty Shirleys throughout the week (a spiked Shirley Temple- we used Cherry Vodka) that were delicious and we watched a lot of ESPN. We also rented 3 movies (State of Play, Sherlock Holmes and Valkyrie) and sipped champagne on our balcony. It was lovely.



As I said in the previous post, the wedding went amazingly. The weekend was beautiful weather wise and also beautiful to be surrounded by family and friends on the biggest day of our lives. Every time I look at pictures I fall back in love with that day. And I can remember all of these incredible moments thanks to the photojournalistic style Charlotte and Mike used as well as lots of pictures from family and friends. I get giddy thinking about our wedding. It was just so perfect. I was so happy to see all of the hard work we put into it come to fruition, we couldn't have picked a better wedding party (this group is truly our closest friends and family and are amazing together) and we could feel God's hand on the day as well as the entire planning process.



Stephen and I are reading the New Testament in a year together to be sure to keep God/Jesus as an integral part of our marriage. It's something that we both look forward to every week night and we're looking forward to getting a weekly newlywed devotional book to supplement on weekends. Marcie (my mother-in-law, how fun is that to say!!) gave me a book called "Created to Be His Help Meet" to read. It's about the role God gave to women in marriage. I'm probably 2/3 of the way though and have been able to glean some useful knowledge from it. It will be helpful to make me a better servant and better wife for Stephen.

We are living a truly blessed life.

We're Married!!!

Photo by Charlotte of Charlotte Geary Photography

After 8 months of planning and waiting, I'm finally married to my favorite person in the whole world!! :)

The day was amazing and perfect in almost every way. The little things that didn't go as planned just rolled off my back and I enjoyed everything. It was truly perfect.

For a full gallery of our photos, visit this site: Our Wedding Album

We leave Sunday for our honeymoon in Kauai, so I need to go do laundry and pack. :)

Three weeks to go!

We're three weeks away from being Mr. and Mrs. Rabon! I can't wait!

Big changes since the last time I wrote:

Stephen and I have secured our first apartment! We'll be moving into Sandpiper Village here in Vacaville on April 1. Well, Stephen will move in and we'll be moving over all of the amazing bridal shower & wedding presents we have received so far. Then I will join him after the wedding. We don't exactly have a lot of furniture, but it's our place and I can't wait to share it with him! We sign the lease tomorrow afternoon and then I'll do the walk through and get the keys Wednesday afternoon. I am so happy to have this taken care of.

Today was my bridal shower thrown by my amazing bridesmaids. Everything was wonderful- there were about 13 people there and two very adorable boys (Slade and Jack). They did a great job on the food, the decor, the games and everything. Plus I made out like a bandit. Our entire living room is filled with presents and there are quite a few that Stephen doesn't get to see...yet :) I'm so blessed to have amazing friends who love me enough to throw such a great party for me.

Lately I've been doing lots of designing of things- you can see our place cards above. I also randomly made programs one day and they are sooo pretty! I really like them-- which is hilarious since I didn't think I wanted them. Funny how that works out.

All of our final payments are coming due... which is less than exciting. Our final Charlotte payment has been put on my card- that'll take a couple payments but I am hoping to get some help on that one. The florist gave me the final amount today so we'll put a check in the mail for that. Bakery is due 10 days prior. Venue will be charged to Dad's card automatically 14 days prior and then reconciled depending on actual usage afterward. DJ is due night of. I can't believe how quickly it's coming up and how far away it still seems. I am looking forward to having everything come together. It's all compartmentalized in my head so I'm eager to see the whole picture.

I am so excited to see everyone and have every one together. It's going to be awesome.

Flirting with the OR/WA border...

Just a little map to show my progress in the "Run Across America" challenge. I'm not 100% sure it's the exact route used originally, but close enough? I've gone 224.6 miles and am now in/around Roosevelt, WA (which there are apparently two of, by the way, this is the one in Klickitat County). I'm just about halfway across Washington/Oregon and will cross over into Idaho next. It'll be a long way to Idaho, but it'll be really exciting to hit a new state. Less than 400 miles (finally) until I hit Nike Level Blue. Green is a huge level (I think it's like 470 miles? ) but I'm chugging right along.

Stephen and I went up to Tahoe on Saturday and booked the bakery and semi-finalized plans with the florist. She's going to send me the estimate and if needed, we can change things. But she's got the basic idea. It was really nice. There was a light snow fall and all of our vendors are super nice. And they all have deposits paid so that's a big load off our shoulders.

While we were up there, we also saw some adorable mountain houses... of death!! Check out these ridiculous icicles!!

Because this must be documented for history...

Winner of the best possible stamp to use on a wedding response card.
Especially when it's a "regrets!"

Must have been the ONE envelope we missed to pre-stamp.

HAHAHA

February

February already and I couldn't be more excited. 75 days until we get married :)

We're headed up to Tahoe this weekend to finalize plans with the florist and meet with the bakery. We've secured the dj, so after this weekend all of the big stuff is booked. That's a nice weight off. We've been getting a somewhat steady stream of response cards since we sent the invitations out. We've got 49 wedding guests confirmed so far :) We have received some "regrets," but that's totally understandable. I'm just happy that the people who are coming are coming.

Stephen has Valentine's Day off :) Not sure what we'll do, but it sounds lovely to have the day together.

Stephen and I are going to Colorado the last weekend in February to visit his family. I'm very excited. I haven't seen them since we got engaged, so it's been long overdue. It'll be a quick turn around, but should be a nice visit.

Running Update:
Since 4.10.09: 218.10 miles :)

Booyah!

Today was a big day run-wise. I was really annoyed that the rain was going to literally rain on my parade, but thankfully there was a break in the storm for Stephen and I to get a run in. We ran 4.64 miles- just over the amount needed to push me past 200 miles :) My legs hate me, but I was not going to let a week of rain keep me from my short term goal. Take that, nature. You can't stop me when I get my mind set to it. I'm so lucky to have Stephen there to celebrate with afterward and to continually keep me going. Plus he's really handsome when he runs :)

Totals:
Since 4.10.09: 200.03 miles
Since 10.20.09: 105.54 miles

We went up to Tahoe yesterday and stopped by the bakery we're planning to use and met with the DJ we're going to book. We have an appointment to meet with the baker February 6th and will hopefully meet with the florist that day as well. The DJ is awesome- very knowledgeable, honest, and British. His accent is awesome and he already knows about the Vitamin String Quartet- he has like a dozen of their songs on his computer already. Based on his Facebook pictures, it really looks like he throws a good party. Looks like we're pretty set on the big things.

We mailed out our invitations on Friday, so local people have already received them and everyone else should be getting them in the next couple days! I'm excited to start getting responses back.

Stephen and I are getting married 3 months from today :) 90 short (hopefully) days until I get to be Mrs. Rabon. I'm getting really excited about getting to see family that I haven't seen in a while and spending time with close friends. It's going to be awesome. And a week in Hawaii with Stephen... I can't wait.

Book Club went on a field trip to Borders today and picked our next book: Julie and Julia. I've already read about half of it. There are definitely some differences from the movie, but I'm enjoying it. I'm also looking forward to our next meeting- we always talk about way more than just the books and there's Del Taco involved usually. To quote Ina Garten, "How bad could that be?"

Exciting Stuff

Exciting things have been happening on both of the major fronts that I write about:

Wedding:

-We got our amazing engagement pictures in! Oh, they are so great and I love them so much! They can be seen here: Charlotte Geary Online Gallery
-I tried on my dress with my slip and shoes and it was great. It had been so long since I'd had it on that it was like having that "oh wow" moment all over again. Plus, I remembered the earrings that I borrowed from Gram for prom and tried them on with the dress, so assuming that I don't find anything else that I simply must have, I have earrings.
-We've picked out some Save the Dates, so once we get the high-res files from Charlotte of the two pictures to go on them, we'll be able to order them and send them out.
-We have an officiant!! Mitch Ady called last night and said that he would marry us! We're both very excited about this and now we just need to set up our premarital counseling and we'll be set to go on that front.
-Sandi and Jen Mumaw both ordered their dresses in the last week, so I'm very excited about that. I can't wait to see Jen's in person and Sandi's is awesome. We had a lot of fun in Roseville picking it out and getting Mom and I some shoes :) I'm beginning to think that the "getaway" dress will be a honeymoon dress. We're literally going to be driving down the street to our hotel, is it really worth changing for a 5 minute drive? Plus, I can always send my dress back down to Vacaville with Mom or someone the next day. No big deal.
- We booked our flights to and from Hawaii for our honeymoon! We also rented a convertible Mustang to cruise the island in! It's going to be so much fun. We'll be living large for a week and I couldn't be more excited.


Running:
Since the last update, I hit a new low for average pace: 11:38/mi. I hit it yesterday. The crazy thing was that I didn't feel like I was doing that well (I think the cold weather and wind makes me feel like I'm going slower) but when I ran up to Stephen and looked at my iPod, there it was.

-I'm about 31 miles away from reaching Nike Level Green, which means that I will soon have passed through the first two levels (yellow and orange).
- I finished my goal of 5 runs under 12:20 in a month. It only took me 11 days. I really thought that I wouldn't be able to do it, or would cut it very close, but I continue to do better than I think I can. That's refreshing.
- On the Run Across America challenge, I have just entered Mount Pleasant, Washington. :)

New Totals:
Since October 20: 29.27 miles
Since April 10: 123.62 miles

I recently finished the second novel that my friend Nikki wrote and now have in my possession her first. I'm quite excited to read it!

I'm so excited about the Holidays this year... and I think that's mainly because I know that next year will be the first set that Stephen and I are married!!

The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.

The above title is a quote from John "The Penguin" Bingham. He's a columnist for Runner's World Magazine and co-authored the book I'm currently reading, "Running for Mortals." I actually read it once already the first time I was attempting the running thing, but felt that it would be just as valuable a read as before. And it has been. The book is encouraging and inspiring to a novice runner who isn't full of confidence. It's great. It's got some humor and some real down to earth writing that doesn't come from a position of expertise in a sense that he is better than you. Instead it comes from someone who has been where you are. It's a good read.

I'm taking on a new challenge- running two days on, one day off. I ran yesterday with Stephen (playing basketball) and today with Sandi. My legs are sore and I'm very much looking forward to a day off tomorrow. But both runs were decent and they both ended with a feeling of accomplishment. I had some right calf pain both days- I think I just need to stretch it out better/more and I'll be fine. Morning runs are nice (Saturday was around 11 and today at 8am) because you get to start your day off with some activity and increased energy. Evening runs are also nice because you get to work off the day and have the time to think and clear your head from the work day. Due to the daylight savings time change, I'm not sure when I'll have light to run. I'm going to have to pay close attention tomorrow as to when the sun comes up/goes down to plan my course of action.

Our trip to Colorado this weekend is also going to throw off the running schedule. I'll run Tuesday and Wednesday, with a break on Thursday. I would be running Friday and Saturday but we leave for Colorado Friday and don't return until Sunday so I'll have to adjust for the week and return to steady running next week. After this week, however, I don't have any trips planned to complicate the schedule. I'll still have put in three runs this week before we leave.

Here are the new totals:
Since Restart: 16.65 miles
Since April: 110.99 miles

According to the Across America challenge forums, today I crossed a bridge over the Columbia River. Just 11 more miles until I hit Mount Pleasant, Washington. :)

Other than that, there isn't much other news to report. My sample invitation should arrive any day now and my shoes are supposed to be in on Wednesday. Stephen and I went and visited/ made a payment on our wedding bands and I totally fell in love with mine all over again. It's SO pretty. Debating whether or not to get them soldered together. I don't want to be without my rings for any length of time... but according to online sources they can wear each other down spinning separately. Sigh. I probably will get them soldered, I just need to find out from Shane Co. how long that will take. And decide whether to do it pre-wedding or post-wedding.

Book Club meeting tomorrow night with Sandi and Nikki to discuss "Eat Pray Love." Should be a good time.

It's a love story, baby just say yes...

So I have gone out walking/running 6 of the last 10 days and am feeling really good about it. I am making some progress in being able to run more. Between Sunday's run and Tuesday's run I shaved a whole minute off my mile time by running just a little bit more on each lap. It was really amazing and uplifting. Today's run wasn't quite so good but better than Sunday's. It's the little progressions that help make this more fun to do. Tuesday was also the first time that I let Stephen come with me. He didn't run with me, but he was there. I had been too embarrassed and self-concious to let him see me out there doing something that I'm not particularly good at. Plus, considering he has run competitively in the past, trying to run in front of or with him was daunting for me. But, it's a start, right? It meant a lot to have him there and to work on getting over some of my insecurities. He's been supportive the entire time and I am so lucky to have a fiance who cares so much. He's awesome. And it was so nice to run up to him on the basketball court and have that warm hug to collapse into.

So, my new totals are:
Since Restart: 12.48 miles
Since April: 106.80


Wedding Notes:

-Engagement pictures are a week from Saturday. I'm praying that global warming will hit Colorado so I don't die of hypothermia.
-I neglected to mention in my last wedding post that I have made an alterations appointment for January 9th. Yay more progress.
- My shoes are scheduled to arrive next week!!

I purchased an iPhone on Tuesday night with the help of Stephen and Mike. It's pretty much the coolest toy ever!! It also gives me the ability to track my fantasy football team on the go (like I need that...) and I love that. Sundays are saved!! I can do other things and still obsess about my team!!

My Big Fat Mexican Wedding Post

Okay, okay, so this post has very little to do with my being Mexican but I'm not Greek, so I had to improvise. I have created a timeline with pictures to show the progression of the wedding planning process. In making my timeline, I realized that we have been very industrious. Without further ado, here it is:

August 22: Engagement!! Best day ever! The picture to the left is the ring and the Facebook mobile upload that started it all! How my phone didn't explode that night, I have yet to discover. It went off almost non-stop for 4 hours. I was so ridiculously happy that day and have amazing friends and family who dropped everything to celebrate with us.

August 23: My dad, brother, Ash, and Slade came up to have an engagement lunch with us. Dad brought my mom's wedding dress up from Victorville with him. We unpacked it and saw that it was amazingly preserved 28 (almost) years later. I decided if possible, I'd like to use my mom's veil. Well, once it's updated a bit.

September 4: Engagement party with Gram and Grandpa Tom

September 5: Bought my wedding dress!! Amazing day with amazing friends. Sorry, no pictures. Stephen sees this :)

September 13: Stephen, Mom, and I toured the Historic Hotel Woodland as a possible venue. Very pretty, food looked great.

September 19: Mom, Dad, and I toured the Chateau. It was GORGEOUS. I fell in love with the place. Stephen wasn't able to go because of work, but he told me that he'd know by my reaction that it was the place. Mom and I cried in the car when we went to leave because we both knew this was it. I knew I am going to walk down that aisle and marry Stephen. It's SO gorgeous there. And the people were friendly and very helpful and the lake is less than 5 minutes away and the whole atmosphere is just lovely.

September 22: Bridesmaid dress shopping with 5 out of 6 bridesmaids (Rebekah is in Colorado, so it's a little harder for her to come). Two of the girls ordered their dresses and the others have good ideas of what they want to get. Very successful trip.

September 24: Dad signed the contract and paid the deposit for the Chateau. It's officially ours on our wedding date: April 18, 2010. I also made us a wedding website this day. Our Wedding Website

September 25: Stephen and his mom went to meet with my dream photographer Charlotte Geary. I am so lucky to have a fiance who loves me so much that he works hard to see that I get what I really want, even if I've kind of given up on it. She's AMAZING. I've been following her work online longer than I've known Stephen and have always wanted her to take my wedding pictures. I figured between the cost of photos and travel expenses it'd be impossible, but Stephen always takes care of me and we're going to make it happen.

September 30: Due to the amazing generosity of my Aunt Lori and Uncle Bill, Stephen and I booked the lodging for our honeymoon. They gave us a week for a wedding present at the condo of our choice through their timeshare company. We'll be honeymooning in Kauai :) We're both very excited to go somewhere beautiful and tropical and relaxing. And for a whole week!! How lucky are we?

October 1: Signed the contract with Charlotte Geary and paid the retainer fee. Our wedding pictures are officially going to be the most amazing ever.

October 2: Stephen and I take a trip to Incline Village. He finally gets to see the Chateau in person and he loves it too. We also got our marriage license while we were there (!!!!!), researched some beachfront picture places, checked out where we plan to stay our wedding night, and met a florist. On the way home, we stopped in Roseville at Shane Co. and selected our wedding bands. They're on layaway :)

October 5: Mom and I went on the hunt for our cake topper. Operation Cake Topper was a success. Stephen got off work and we quickly got down to business building it :)

October 9: Stephen and I registered at Target. It was lots of fun. Mom was at Women's Retreat with church and bought me a hair comb to attach my (her) veil to. I gave it to Carol (who works with me and is awesome and crafty) the following Monday to take it off the Juliet cap Mom used and attach it to the comb Mom bought.

October 17: Stephen and I went to Men's Wearhouse and picked out the tuxes for the guys and set up our group account. The tux style is two button notch lapel. They'll be wearing black of course. The vests will be different, though and they will all have normal ties, not bowties. The groomsmen will have apple vests and ties. Stephen will have a white vest and black tie. The fathers will have a dark shade of silver vests and ties. We'll see what we can find for Slade, the unofficial member of the wedding party. He'll no doubt be up there, he just doesn't have an official job besides being ridiculously cute. Baby tuxes are pretty much adorable no matter what colors they are.

We also had a very busy ordering day that day! We ordered our toasting flutes and cake servers, my shoes, my slip, favor tags, and a sample of the invitation we're thinking of getting. We have since received the flutes, servers, and favor tags.

The toasting flutes say "Mr." on one and "Mrs." on the other in between the bands. The cake cutter and server say "Mr. and Mrs." down the handles. The shoes say MrsRabon on the red stripe :) I love them.

October 18: Mom, Ash, and I went shopping for her mother of the bride dress. She ordered it. She looks amazing in it and is sooooo cute. I love it!! And she loves it. Which is really important.

Other than that, we asked all of the members of our bridal party during this time. We also have an appointment with Charlotte for engagement portraits on November 7th at Garden of the Gods. I'm really excited for that.

There is breakfast calling my name (thanks Mom!) so I'll make a wedding party post sometime in the near future. This took me a very long time. Getting the html right was somewhat annoying.

As a side note, I did a 2.03 mile run yesterday. This makes my totals:
Since Restart: 6.29 miles
Since April 10: 100.58 miles

First Post

So I decided yesterday to create a blog to track a few things in my life:

the wedding planning process and my attempt to be in shape.

I suspect it will slowly become more than that as I have a tendency toward endless rambling, but it's a starting point.

I feel that we've made great strides in wedding planning in the two months (as of today) that we've been engaged. The next post will be a timeline and picture post of what we have accomplished/decided/received. I hope that by blogging I will be able to keep all of our loved ones in the know as well as get some ideas or input from people. Plus it will be fun to look back on later :)

The getting in shape thing... well that's a little trickier. I'm lazy by nature. I'm not one of those people who just loves to work out and has no motivation problems. I have LOTS of motivation problems. I get easily distracted and easily discouraged. If I have a better offer (such as spending time with Stephen or my family or friends), the work out is cancelled. I started running earlier this year. It was the end of March and then on April 10 (I believe, it was Good Friday) I tried out my cool Nike+ Ipod sensor. It was love... well puppy love. The fleeting kind. I like a good toy. I ran fairly diligently through July 24. And then I stopped. I can't recall why exactly (I took a week off once because my knees hurt, but that was earlier) but it just ended. The first week I no doubt made excuses (my knees hurt, I'm tired, allergies, it's too hot, etc.), but it quickly turned into quitting. And it was easy for me to do. They say it takes 21 days to make a habit (or something like that) but that sure didn't work for me.

I'm disappointed in myself to know how I might have actually been somewhat good at this thing if I hadn't taken a 3 month hiatus. I might actually be able to run the whole distance (I trade off walking and running). I might have been ready for a 5k. But alas, I did take the hiatus and now, I'm trying to bring running back into my life.

I ran for the first time since July 24 yesterday. I tried to the day before but was having a wardrobe malfunction so I walked instead. Note to self: make sure pants have a drawstring before purchasing. It wasn't my best time and I certainly couldn't go as far as I once could, but it's a start...right? Stephen is amazing and encourages me so much- he even puts stars on my calendar the days that I run. I'm so lucky to have him. And lucky he loves me even though I'm lazy and whine about my sore legs the next day.

Here's to a new start!

This will appear on the bottom of most posts...or at least the running ones- I have yet to decide.

Total distance run/walked since I restarted: 4.25 miles

Total since April 10: 98.54 miles