3 Years!!

Adam and I celebrated our THIRD wedding anniversary yesterday! Three years sounds like a good chunk of time to me, but it has gone by fast!  I am so blessed to call this man my husband.   I can easily say that I love him more now than I did on our wedding day.  He is such an honorable, wonderful man.  He works so hard and loves Amaia and I so well.  It is easy to have a lot of respect for him, but he is also the best friend I have ever had without a doubt.  We had so much fun together this weekend!

We had a two day celebration of our anniversary.  We got to spend all of Sunday and Monday together! This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning....beautiful, unique flowers.

On Sunday morning we did our usual routine of sleeping in, picking up breakfast and coffee and relaxing with one another while Amaia napped.  Then we went to a park with Aunt Ashley and took some family fall pictures.  I am so excited to see them and share them soon!  After that we watched the Hawkeyes beat Northwestern! 

Sometimes I wish that Adam and I were the type of couple that enjoyed biking together or hiking or running....but actually our favorite pastime is eating :)  So the rest of our anniversary celebrations included lots of yummy food.  On Sunday night we went out to a nice dinner.  It was a new restaurant that we were not particularly impressed with, but we still had a great time together.  We came home, put Amaia to bed and then I made Adam watch our wedding video together while eating dove chocolates - yum!

On Monday morning, Adam blindfolded me to take me to a surprise breakfast spot.  It was La Mie!  Very good choice!  Best scones in the greater Des Moines area in my opinion.

Here is our little family on our anniversary day.

And is Amaia not the cutest thing ever??  I love that hat on her.

The rest of the day we relaxed, had a mini Office marathon and ended our day with dinner at Zombie burger and bible study.

It was just a lovely, relaxing day.  And it is always nice to have a helper around the house to hang out with and feed Amaia her peas.

This morning we are just playing and missing him.  Amaia wanted to wear her I love dad shirt!

AND last, but certainly not least we got a wonderful anniversary present last week -- Adam put in his two week notice to quit working his second job!!  We had been praying about this for a while and God made it clear that it was the right decision.  I am obviously so excited about this development!!  But it was also really exciting to see how clearly the Lord answered our requests for direction on this situation. I found it so amazing that God cares for us so much to give us clarity in a such a seemingly small matter.  I am so excited for him to have time to other things than work and of course to be home with us more!!   

Date Night Revisited

Date night looks a bit different in this season of our lives.

Last night was our "date night".  We hung out at home, ran an errand at the mall and came home when Amaia just couldn't take it any longer.  Not the most romantic you say??  Well, I would agree with that, but get ready for reason # 23,257 that I love my husband.  

On the way home, I mentioned how divine it sounded to me to go to a coffee shop, drink warm drinks and pretend it was fall on this rainy night.  My love for fall never ends :)  Then Adam had an idea, "let's make our own coffee shop at home.  You put Amaia to bed and I will go get our drinks."  He doesn't get down, he gets creative!

So we sipped caramel apple spice, sat in our candle-lit kitchen, listened to the rain and did my favorite thing.  We talked.  

Best coffee shop I have ever been to. Hands down.

Some August Happenings

Top of the morning to you!!

 Can you believe that this little girl is going a whole half-year old tomorrow?!  I certainly cannot!  We have her doctor's appointment on Monday, so I will have a full report on her official stats next week.   All I can tell you right now is that she is my super sweet sunshine girl.  I know that I am supposed to be savoring every day with her and not wishing the time away, but personally I am so excited for her to get older.  It is SO fun to watch her learn new things.  She is laughing now.  I am always figuring out new ways to get her to laugh. She is sitting up on her own now too!  I can't wait for the day when she can talk with me and tell me what is on her mind and help me in the kitchen and dance around in the living room.  We are going to have so much fun together!

Now, I'm just forwarning you - the rest of this post is going to be random....

We celebrated Adam's birthday last weekend.  Just the two of us went out to a really lovely dinner last Friday evening.  The resturaunt was actually in the first building that out church met in when it first started.  It was a really cool place.  And the food was wonderful.....very fresh and unique and served on pretty plates! I made Adam trade appetizer plates with me because I thought his plate was prettier - ha :)  Here is a picture of Adam and I on the way to dinner taken by our wonderful babysitter aka.  Amaia's grandma-ma.

Love him so much

In other news, sometimes I try to make cute things in the kitchen and sometimes I fail!  On my new favorite toy Pinterest, I saw this recipe to make a calzone with a pretty lattice style design.  You might think that it looks good, but here was the problem: approximately 10 minutes into baking I realized that I had totally forgotten to the put the cheese in the calzone - duh!!  I am seriously absent minded more often than I should be.  I don't think I can blame it on pregnancy brain or baby brain any longer. 

See how pretty it looked!

Then I had to put cheese over the prettiness :(

I thought it was still pretty good.  However, I also tried to make this a healthy version of a calzone - whole wheat dough, lots of veggies....Adam gently informed me that he would prefer some meat next time around :)

Here is more proof that I have absent minded tendencies

Yes, I put piping-hot corn on the cob onto my dinner table and have these gorgeous white heat marks to prove it.  Has anyone else had this happen to them?  If you know of a way to fix it that doesn't involve me purchasing a new dinner table please do share :)

28

My super sweet hubby turns 28 today!   Yes, I robbed the cradle :)

28 things that make him the man that I love...

1.  He is a super hard worker! He works two jobs right now to support our family - I didn't have to ask him to do this, he just does it.
2.  He has a passion for chocolates....chocolaterie stam....need I say more??
3.  He has three expectations of me: love God, love him, love Amaia.  That's it.  I stay at home and he always acts he should do his own laundry.  What a guy!
4.  He is just plain fun! He makes me laugh.  He jokes around.  He lightens my mood all the time.  And let's be honest, I need that :)
5.  He surprises me with scones when I am down.
6.  He is thoughtful.  While I was in the shower earlier this week, he put my bathrobe in the dryer so it would be warm when I got out.  Seriously sweet.
7.  He is smart, but not a smarty-pants.
8.  He is so kind and compassionate.  One of the first things that attracted me to him was that he genuinely cares about people.
9.  He kills bugs so I don't have to.
10. He loves Amaia.  He sings and plays the guitar for her. He misses her when he doesn't see her.  He is such a great daddy already.
11. He inspires me to know and understand the Bible more.
12. He genuinely wants what is best for me.
13. He is a great guitar player.  What girl doesn't love a musician :)
14.  He makes me and Amaia a priority - even with a lot of other responsibilities going on.
15. He insists on holding Amaia during church so I can focus and really listen to the message.
16.  He is a great cook and grillmaster!  Probably better than me, but I'm working on that!
17,  He is my bff.  He calls me several times a day just to check in and talk.  He calls when he knows that I need to talk to someone.  This doesn't come naturally to him.  He just does it because he is a really great friend.
18.  He goes to broadway shows with me - pretty positive that this doesn't come naturally either :)
19.  He loves lemurs and cats and all kinds of other animals.  The little boy in him I think.
20.  He is a great roadtrip partner!  he is a great driver.  I always, always feel safe in the car with him driving.
21. He loves going out to eat.  I love to not cook for every meal :)
22. He tears up at movies sometimes.  Maybe I shouldn't be telling people that.  Ha. But I love that about him.  It shows that he has such compassion for people.
23. He has sacrificed many of the things he enjoys during this season of our life and he doesn't complain about it.
24. He plays with my hair, rubs my feet.  Need I say more? :)
25. He is a great tipper.
26. He's got style.  He knows how to dress well.
27. He is a clean!  I always think how I really lucked out in this category.  I rarely have to pick up or clean up after this guy.
28.  Last, but certainly not least he is committed to me.  I don't fear him leaving me ever.  Not at all. Not one bit.

Pizza and Ice Cream

I really love this guy....

{please disregard the mad looking little girl in the background}

He is my bff, my hubby and my baby's daddy.

Between part time jobs, full time jobs, transitioning to summertime events at church, and life in general we have not gotten to see much of each other lately and the coming week is going to be more of the same.  I'm trying to not be sad about it. Trying being the operative word  :)

But not tonight!  Tonight is....

+

And some good, old fashioned quality time.  So excited!!!

Surprise!!

My husband is extremely high on my priority list.  Afterall, an unhappy marriage = an unhappy Kristy and Adam which in turn = an unhappy sweet little Amaia Ruth.  Plus, I actually really love Adam, so it isn't particularly difficult to make him a priority.  I tell you all of this because quality time has been harder to come by over the last couple months and that is why I had a surprise date night planned for us last Thursday.

I had the night all planned out and had arranged for my parents to watch Amaia for the evening or so I thought.  On Tuesday night, my dad called me and asked if Adam and I were available to go out to dinner with them and my dad's boss at work, because they wanted to meet Adam on Thursday night.  Why does he want to meet Adam???....I thought to myself, but didn't think too much of it.  I then reminded my dad that we couldn't do it this Thursday, because remember...you are supposed to watch Amaia for me??  Ha...little did I know Adam and I had put my dad in a bit of a difficult situation.  We were both trying to surprise one another with a date night and had asked my parents to participate in the surprise.  I asked them to watch Amaia in secret so we could have some alone time and Adam had called my dad and asked him to make me think we were meeting them out for dinner so that I would get dressed up, but really it would just be the two of us for dinner.  The secrets came out on Tuesday night over dinner.  We had a good laugh about it and Adam and I decided to go out to dinner (his surprise plan) for our date night.

I do wish that I would not have interfered with his surprise, but I thought it was so fun that we were trying to surprise one another.  We had such a great dinner at Sbrocco.  So good!  I highly recommend it for a special occasion (it's not cheap). Lately, I am really into balsamic and I always love horseradish, so the filet with horseradish potatoes and balsamic vinegar was music to my tastebuds.  I wish I had taken pictures of the evening, but I forgot.  Adam had one last "small" surprise of the evening.  He gave me the wedding band that goes with my wedding ring!!  I was so excited! I knew that he was saving up for it, but didn't really think it would be anytime soon since a large (but completely worth it) expense just entered our lives. And I'm sure that Adam is excited for me to stop bugging him about it.  I finally look like a married woman :)

A Few of My Favorite Things

1. My pretty, pretty princess!  

 2. Being crafty!!  I have always had the inner urge to be crafty, but to be honest it doesn't usually turn out super well for me.  This time though I think I actually made something cute.  And it feels great to have something springy up on such a cold, rainy day.

3. Sleep!  Amaia started sleeping through the night this week.  Hallelujah!  I hope that I am not jinxing anything by writing this, but she slept 7-8 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday night.  We took a step back and only slept 6 hours last night, but I still feel like a new woman.  Maybe babywise really is working.

4. Birthday shoes!  So....my birthday was almost 3 months ago, but I just got around to spending some birthday money.  They are so comfy (and cute of course).  Good mom shoes I guess.

5. Last but certainly not least, my wonderful husband!!  He surprised me with an ipod touch this week.  My old one gave way a month or so a go so I was so excited!  Plus, he was frugal about it - a man after my own heart.

Still here!

Yes, I'm still pregnant :)   We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little one.  I say anxiously, but I really am content with waiting until she is ready.  I have been feeling well for the most part.  I have the swelling and a sore back, etc….the normal end of pregnancy woes I guess, but all in all I have had it pretty good.  I will say that I am getting really eager to meet her, see what she looks like and learn about her personality.  It is still so amazing and exciting to me that she is parts of both Adam and I and am excited to see how that plays itself out!  Plus, I would mind having the whole labor portion of this process behind me.  My main prayers have been that labor would go smoothly, that our little girl and myself are both safe and healthy through it all and that I would not need to be induced!!  I have a dr. appointment this afternoon, so hopefully I have made some more progress.

Although I am ready to meet this girl, it was such a nice weekend of sunshine and nice weather and fun things!! On Friday night Adam and I were able to go to a couple's night at church, that was wonderful and I was really hoping to go to.  I also got to go on several walks this weekend in some gorgeous weather.  Yesterday, Adam and I celebrated Valentine's day by conducting our own chocolate tour around town.  I so wish that I would have taken my camera on our excursion, but I failed at that!  At the end of our journey we decided that chocolaterie stam is by far our favorite and next year we are only going there!!   I'm not entirely sure how Adam has been married to me for 2+ years and has only recently discovered his love for chocolates, but I think he is now a fully converted chocolate lover :)   It was just really reminded this weekend of the wonderful man that I have for a husband.  He is so good at loving me, so fun to be with and I definitely consider him to be the greatest blessing that God has placed in my life.  It was so refreshing to get to spend some extra time with him before our lives get a little crazier very soon.

Our Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas Eve!  My office is closed today, so I am home cooking, cleaning, wrapping, apparently updating the blog, and potentially working out if I can find some motivation :)
Every year Adam and I pick a night to celebrate Christmas for just our little family and last night was our night.  I saw a recipe that I thought looked really good a while ago on Iowa Girl Eats blog: Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast with Wild Rice Stuffing.  We also made a cranberry chutney to go with it and an easy romaine/mandarin orange/dried cranberry/etc. salad.  The recipe was slightly more ambitious than I usually attempt, but it was actually quite easy.  I don't know if this is a pregnancy craving or not, but lately anything with sour cream I am big fan of, so there was much sampling of the ride mixture going on in the kitchen last night :)

Cooking Together...

The spread...

After dinner we exchanged presents.  We had a spending limit this year since we have a new member of the family to be preparing for.  I got Adam a DVD of "the Mysterious Islands".  It combines two of his favorite things: animals + biblical truth.  I do believe he liked it, because we also watched it last night, but I ended up feeling a little lame with my gift, because he was so thoughtful!   I got a cute little newborn outfit for our little girl (that he picked out by himself), a picture frame for a new family picture of the three of us, a high school musical ornament, a CD I have been wanting and a letter.  Adam has started a tradition of writing me a letter each Christmas, which is honestly probably my favorite thing to receive.
It was a wonderful, relaxing night.   I am just thankful that I have such a wonderful man to start building a family with.  Next year there will be three of us in our little family!  Maybe even a fourth on the way - ha...I'm totally not sure about that :)

Okay....now I am off to pray that my sister is able to get here safely tonight!!  It needs to stop snowing :(

2 Years

2 years ago today I married the most wonderful man and I am so thankful I made such a good decision.  He is the best husband I could ask for, such a hard worker and always striving to love Christ and me more and more.  Plus, he teaches me to lighten up more and stress out less, which I need :)

October 17, 2008

We are certainly not perfect in life or in marriage, but I love looking back upon the past two years and seeing how our relationship with Christ and our love for one another just keeps growing stronger.

We had the most beautiful fall day again today!  To celebrate we did a combination of some of our favorite things.

We enjoyed God's amazing creation of fall colors and fresh air

Chased around furry creatures

and finished off an amazing piece of chocolate cake!

Such a wonderful anniversary day!!