Last day of 2008...

I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve and everyone has a blessed 2009! Usually I'm not big on resolutions, but Mike and I were talking about it last night and decided on a few together.

1. Daily devotions together.
2. Eating healthier/Working out more.
3. Eating out less
4. Following our budget

Happy Holidays!

From the Marshalls!

I know Christmas is over, but I hope everyone has a very safe and fun New Year!! We had an excellent Christmas at home with our families. We spent Christmas Eve with the Marshall's. And Christmas day with my family. It was so nice to be with everyone and spend quality time sitting and catching up. I love the holidays!

Sentimental..

I guess today I'm feeling a little sentinmental.
I think of Hesston all the time, but every now and then I really let myself drift back to Hesston memories. And today is one of those days. Back at Hesston, these six girls and I were inseperable. I was ALWAYS with at least one of them. They made my world a better place and they are some of the most quality girls I have ever met. It's not enough to say that I miss them. Life some days doesn't seem complete without them. I saw a few of them at our wedding, but weddings never provide enough time for catch up.

If you're reading this... I miss you. During this Holiday season, and always -- I'm thinking about you all.

We're back from our honeymoon! We had a great time in Jamaica. The sun, ocean, and Jamaican atmosphere was a great getaway from the Indiana winter. We didn't do anything too exciting, we both just wanted to relax and recooperate! We did just that. We ate alot (all-inclusive resorts tend to be serving food ALL the time!), we went to several shows at night, and walked the beach. During the day we pretty much planted ourselves by the enormous pool and laid out or played volleyball all day.

We got back late Friday night, due to flight delays. We made it back to our apartment around 2am. We got a few hours of sleep before we had to wake up and head to South Bend. Mike's mom called with great news - His sister was having her much awaited baby!! We were so excited, so we headed that direction to be there for the birth. On Saturday afternoon precious Madalynn Jean was born to Mike's sister and her husband. This makes Mike and I first time uncle and aunt! It's very exciting and we know already that she's going to be very very spoiled!!

Notes from a Newlywed...

Things are going well here in Merrillville! Mike is getting back into his work routine and I'm searching for a job. I've put in a few applications, but I continue searching. My prayer is that I find something that I really enjoy. It's been hard to think of Merrillville as home - so I'm hoping that once I establish my own routine it will help in that.

Today is Mike's day off, so we're deep cleaning the apartment. We leave for Jamaica on Monday, so it will be nice to come back to a clean apt!

I was recently asked what the hardest part of moving has been for me. I think the hardest part has been being away from my mom. I took our friendship for granted when I was still in Nappanee, but now I realize how much I look to her for advice or ideas. I have so much I want to do with the apartment and I keep thinking that "if my mom were here, she could help with this". But I trust that God needs us here for a reason, and when He's ready - He will get us back to the Nappanee area if that's in His will. (I hope it is).

Newlyweds...

Our wedding was beautiful! The ceremony went great. I thought I would be so nervous, but since Mike and I saw each other before the ceremony in order to get all of the pictures done, I was so calm! It helped so much to be able to talk with him before everything got started!

I loved everything from our flowers to the brown tuxes, to how much fun the wedding party had! Our reception was amazing. I couldn't have asked for anything better! We had so much fun and I can't say enough how much fun I had with our wedding party!! I'm pretty sure we had the best.

We also had a lot of fun with our first dance!! We started out slow dancing to Michael Buble's "Everything", but in the middle of the song, our wedding party gathered around us and when the music scratched and cut out - Soulja Boy's "Superman" came on and we all broke into that dance! Then the music cut out again and we went back to slow dancing! It was hilarious and so much fun! It just set a great tone for our reception. We wanted the ceremony to be about us- Mike and I. And the reception to be about our friends and family. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. Here's a few pictures of us dancing..

Here's the video of our first dance too! It's not the whole thing, but it definitely gives you an idea!

I also appreciated my bridesmaids so much for how well they did with our flower girl! Not only did I have the best wedding party ever, we had the cutest flower girl ever!! Kelsi was so much fun. Here's a few pictures of her:

7 Days...

One week til the big day! Everything is pretty much done except for the dreaded chore of packing up my room! I need to take all of my stuff to Merrillville next week and I still have so much to pack. I think it's been so hard for me to get movivated because I have no clue where I'm going to put it all in the apartment!! But it will have to get done, luckily Trina gets here tomorrow so I'll have plenty of help :) (thanks trin).

Tomorrow night is my bachelorette party! I'm so excited and so grateful to two of my bridesmaids for doing this for me! They have put alot of work into it already, and I'm excited to see what they have up their sleeves! We're doing things a little bit different, because at the end of the night we're going to meet up with Mike and his friends (he's having his bachelor party tomorrow night as well) so that all of my bridesmaids can get to know his groomsmen before the wedding. I'm kinda wierd and want them all to be friends before the wedding!! :) So that will be a good time to get to know each other. Plus I haven't met his best man yet, so I'm eager to meet him!

Have a great weekend!