Monday, June 15, 2009

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and a busy weekend

This weekend was a very busy weekend for us. We participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday morning. This is the second year in a row Justin and I have participated in this race. It is very close to our hearts. My Aunt Jane passed away five years ago from a fight with breast cancer, and Justin's mom is a breast cancer survivor. Participating in the race is our way of honoring both of them.


My cousin Paula heads up the team and does a magnificant job. She puts a lot of time and effort into being team captain. This year we had awesome T-shirts that she designed....and they won the t-shirt competition!!


If anyone is interested in participating next year please let me know. You don't have to walk, you can be a member of our team and just raise money for a cure. Or you can be a member, raise money and do the walk. Participating in the walk is one of the most encouraging and rewarding things I have ever done. Plus, 3 miles is really not bad.


After the race we hurried home, Justin went to his best friend Jesse's little girl's (Isabella) birthday party. I was exhausted so I stayed home and rested...but I did enjoy picking out all of her little birthday presents. Shopping for little girls is so much fun!


So that was our busy weekend. Below I have put some pictures from the walk. Over 24,000 people participated this year....that's amazing.


Cancer Sucks.








Monday, June 8, 2009

The Joys of Marriage...where to begin?



It's hard to believe that Justin and I have been married for over a 2 months already. I had intended on starting a blog as soon as we got married so everyone we don't get to talk to that often can still keep in contact. However, life has been super busy and I haven't had a chance until now to start the blog.

I think my best place to begin would be the wedding day. Most of you that will be reading this were there and you are all aware of my "not so perfect....but perfect day." If you weren't, you definetly missed an interesting ceremony.

So here goes, an insight into the whole ordeal.

April 10th:This was Good Friday, so I had the day off of school. I did the basic girly things....nails, tanning, preparations for the wedding, setting up the reception. The day was going very smoothly and I enjoyed spending the entire day with my two older sisters. My cousins Larry and Marcia came down to stay with my family for the wedding...and surprised us all by bringing my cousin Josh who I hadn't seen for years. Josh is in the army and has since then served and returned from his duty in Iraq. We were all very excited to see him.That night was rehearsal. It went great, we ate, we laughed, we had fun and everything was perfect. After rehearsal Justin and I ran to Wal-Mart to get some ink so I could finish printing directions to Walnut Creek Country Club. At Wal-Mart I started to feel "icky." I didn't think anything of it...I thought it would just pass. Justin dropped me off and we said our "good-byes" and talked about how excited we were for the next day. I went in the house, visited with my cousins some and went to bed around 10:00 p.m. I fell asleep very quickly.

Around 1:00 a.m. I woke up feeling horrible. I was sick to my stomach. So from about 1:00 a.m. until.........who knows? I was up throwing up every 20-30 minutes. My body was on an alarm clock. I was unable to get any sleep. Then I finally got myself up and went and got my Mama....I had to admit that it was really happening, I had a stomach virus the day of my wedding.I climbed in bed with my Mama and Daddy and laid there with them all night while my Mama held me. My daddy went to Wal-Mart at 4:00 a.m. to get me medicine....it didn't help.


By the time the actual morning came, I could barely stand, I was so weak and exhausted. I was unable to keep anything down. Initially everyone thought it was nerves (everyone but me.) After a while they all started to believe me when I said it was definetly not nerves.


April 11:I eventually peeled myself out of bed to get my hair done. After that I went to get my make up done and had to tell the lady to stop half way through because I couldn't sit there anymore. My wonderful maid of honor was with me and took me home. I laid down and napped for about 20 minutes before having to be at the church. When I got to the church I laid down for a little while, and then started to feel better. My spirits were raised, as were everyone else's....I was laughing and finally able to eat a little food. I had been drinking Gatorade all day because I was so dehydrated. I had my Mema and Tara massaging my legs, because they ached so bad.The good feeling only lasted about 20 minutes..... from that point on it was downhill. I took some medicine right before walking down the aisle. It didn't help. However, my wonderful Mama and wedding directors had planned for the worst, they had a chair for me to sit in and a trash can for me to be sick in.I walked down the aisle, Daddy gave me away and I was doing okay for a while. Until...I wasn't doing so "okay."


Most of you know the rest of the story. I got sick. Justin still kissed me. I was still married and just as happy as I would have been if my day had gone "as planned."We went to the reception, I still felt awful. But everyone ate, danced and had a great time.




The next day we left for Jamaica. It was the first time I had ever flown in a plane. We were upgraded to first class...and I slept through the whole flight. Imagine that....first time flying and I slept through it.

Jamaica was wonderful. I couldn't haved asked for a better honeymoon. My favorite parts were snorkeling on old Pirate artifacts...(I love pirate stuff) and swimming in a cave.Pretty much my wedding was as far from the textbook image of "perfect." For me it was perfect. I've never looked back and been mad or sad about my wedding. At the end of the day the one thing I wanted to be done was done....we were married and I was as happy as could be.Plus....nobody is EVER going to forget our wedding. Who else can say they had such a memorable wedding?!?!


Many people have felt sorry for me or apologized and sympathized for me....but I don't need it. I don't feel sorry for myself...I'm happy and I've never been upset about the way my wedding turned out. If anything...I know it made the day a lot easier on my parents....and to me..it makes it worth it.Plus, I know everything happens for a reason. There is a reason God had my wedding turn out the way it did. I might never know why, but he knows and I am thankful for that.


So we are married, happy and living in Greene County. We've recently gotten a puppy and named her Zoe. She's spoiled.






Well that's where we are now, 2 months of marital bliss.