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Ahem...

I GOT MARRIED!!!

He is my best friend and we are perfect for each other. We had a very short and sweet immediate family only wedding on the 22nd of January. This is a link to a preview of the wedding pics. We had a 30s gangster theme going on and I absolutely love that everyone ended dressing up. Fair warning, my dress isn't modest...try not to have a heart attack. I'm still active ;)

We are very very very happy! And to top it all off, he's home for a month instead the normal two weeks.

Also, we now are the proud parents of two dogs :)

Family Pics

So I lied...here they are. The first one is my favorite...

The Update

It's recently come to my attention that I haven't posted anything on here since before Thanksgiving. A lot of things have changed for us since then so I should probably fill you in...

I had my birthday and Christmas Eve on the same night this year....we celebrated Christmas on the 11th and had family pictures taken the same day. Joe is a HUGE Seahawks fan so we did a Seahawks theme for the pics and they turned out awesome. Also, I have to say it was the easiest picture taking experience ever which was amazing since we had 5 kids with us. I may eventually post some here, but not tonight.

And then one thing led to another and we got engaged on the 19th. Yay for us! We decided to get married in April. And then another thing let to something else and we decided that it was stupid to wait and so we're getting married January 22nd instead. Because Joe's gone until the 20th, the kids and I have moved in (although the moving of stuff is still taking place). Not to worry, I will go back to my parents for the two nights before we are actually married.

And then, because we are so awesome and fun, we are spending our wedding night at Triple Play. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Spokane-ish area it's an indoor water park and wave pool and all around fun place with a hotel stuck on just for somewhere to go when you've exhausted yourself with all the fun. But we have a room with a fireplace and big tub because, hey, it is our wedding night ;)

And winter quarter ended and my grades were 4.0 and 3.8 in case you cared, which you probably don't, but there it is anyway.

Consider yourselves updated :)

In which I'm grateful for stuff

Thanksgiving approaches...time to think about all the things I'm grateful for. So in no particular order, here's some of my list:

1. My family. This includes those related by blood, and those related by love. Joe and all the kids (both mine and his) fall in this category.
2. My extended family...parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.
3. Good friends...so very hard to come by, but the very best ones don't let time or distance separate them. You can pick right back up where you left off like it hasn't been a year since you've seen each other, and you can tell each other anything without fear of judgment. All y'all know who you are.
4. Going to school... I absolutely love going to school and learning new things. I love all the people that I have had the opportunity to meet and get to know as a result of being in school. There are a whole lot of things that I have learned since I went back and they have changed my life for the better.
5. Being smart...I know that sounds boastful but let's just call it truthful for the sake of argument. My mind is one of the most precious possessions I have...and the contents of it are the only things I get to take with me into the next life, so I am very careful to protect it from any harm.
6. My parents...I know I already included them up there in family, but they let me and the kids live here for more than a year and a half so far, with no concrete end in sight. Not to mention all the free babysitting they do as a way to support my education, and sometimes my social life ;) They are awesome and deserve an individual shout out.
7. Food and shelter. Pretty basic things but not everyone gets to have them. I'm so grateful that I do.
8. The gospel...it's a pretty big category and if you can think of it as related then throw it in here, I'm grateful for it.
9. Love. It's incredible to be loved for who you really are. I feel like the most amazing me that I have ever been...I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So there you go...just 9 short things. There are a lot of individual things that I'm grateful for, but most of them fall into those categories.

My kids will be gone for Thanksgiving, and Joe's on the boat so I get to catch up on all my schoolwork and sewing projects for Christmas while they're gone. Christmas for us this year will fall on December 11th, so we have just 18 days left in the countdown. This is shaping up to be the best Christmas ever, I'm so very excited for it ;)

The Halloween Post

We had Halloween...carved the pumpkins, dressed up and did trick or treating, the whole nine yards. But it was also football Sunday so we had that fun going on as well. Joe's house is near the Centennial Trail along the Spokane River and since it was gorgeous out we had an after-Seahawks game and pretrick-or-treating walk to throw rocks in the river. Joe's two cousins were in town too so we got a couple of good pics. So for those of you who haven't met him (and that's everybody lol) or seen him on Facebook, here's Joe:

We're freakin' adorable together ;)

My kids are always the ones making the weird faces and poses lol

Altogether we had a butterfly, Dorothy, Elvis, Darth Vader, a storm trooper, Mia Wallace (Pulp Fiction), and Allan (The Hangover). We had tons of fun!

Joe sent me flowers today...just because. I've never, ever had flowers delivered before. It's awesome ;) Between the flowers and the whole relationship status change on Facebook that he initiated I'm beginning to think he might like me... I'm unbelievably happy :)

It's a whole new me ;)

Two very important things to note about the following pics: The first is an outfit that I bought when I was 18...I kept it because a) it's awesome and b) I was wearing it when I met Ryan. It's still awesome lol. The second is me in my wedding dress, all zipped up.


Now why are these important things to note? Because these pics were taken YESTERDAY!!! Woohoo! I have a new body and it's pretty close to the one I had when I was 19 and 20. I'm sorta stoked ;)

hopefully quickly

Over the last three weeks Joe and I have seen each other everyday. Many a time the kids were with us too (mine and his). All of the kids get along like gangbusters, which makes them want to spend as much time together as possible. Caden and Lincoln now have 3 and 2 sleepovers, respectively, under their belts. And my children who have never ever ever in their lives listened to men as authority figures have learned to listen to Joe. I swear, he just has this way about him.

It's been the best three weeks :)

However, today we took Joe back to the airport. He's been called back to work on a boat in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico with three hurricanes going on in the area. I'm a little less than thrilled.

We're all going to miss him. Can't wait for the next month or so to pass...

It's a nice feeling, I could get used to it ;)

I've started running. I'm up to 3.5 miles a day, which is the most I've ever run in my entire life. This post is not really about that. I'm sure the 5 of you reading this also read the weight loss blog and are therefore already familiar with my running ways. This post is about something that happened on the treadmill today.

A little backstory for ya....I'm slowly dating a guy that lives in Spokane but works on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. So he's currently on the boat. Most of the time when he's in port we can text back and forth and we do, but when they have to actually go do a job out in the middle of nowhere then we lose touch. For some reason there are no cell signals out in the middle of the water...pshaw! poor planning on the cell phone companies part.

Anyway, he's back in port today, and we were texting whilst I was running on the treadmill. Very hard to do, I don't really recommend it. He knows I've been working at it and asked me how it was going. I told him I was gaining muscle and losing fat. His response?

"Sweet...getting hotter...if that's possible"

Now, it's hot in the Gulf of Mexico, and really muggy where he is. He tells me about the weather down there almost everyday, and I haven't talked to him in a couple of days. Also, for the entire time I was with my ex I had to fish for every compliment I ever got. Really kind of negates any compliment you do get. And after 12+ years of fishing I felt the need to clarify..."The weather?" I asked him.

"No, you silly" was the response I got.

I'm sure that all of you with super loving and supportive husbands will look at that and go "So?" But I'm telling you, that made my day. :)