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Show us your life: Proposal Stories

Since I am participating in the summer challenge, Completing Him, I thought that it would be fun to stroll down memory lane today!

I knew that we would be getting engaged but I wasn't sure just when. We had been talking about eloping & where we would like to do it but Ben hadn't popped the big question. I was getting nervous because we were going to be moving from Florida to California & I didn't want to do so with "just a boyfriend."

We had a big month in December. Ben was "winged" or completed his naval aviation schooling for the Marine Corps. We moved all of my things from my apartment to Ben's house so that they could be moved by the military. I finished my job at Baptist Hospital. You know many life changing events!

We came to PA for Christmas vacation. It was my family's "normal" ruckus going on. Ben left to go to the grocery store with my dad, by himself! GULP!!

I had been wanting to take Ben on a tour of my old college campus but had not really had the opportunity to do so. Ben suggested we go on Christmas Eve. I thought ok but it is December in PA.......we walked the 'oak grove' which is my favorite part of campus. Ben was acting sort of weird but I didn't really think much of it. We had went down further into campus when I told him that I was getting cold. He said, "Ok let's go back to the truck." I started the quickest route which was not back through the oak grove. Ben asked if we could walk back through the grove.

I was thinking for real? I am about to freeze my tushy off. We went back through. Ben was asking ALL kinds of questions.

"Did you have class here?"

"Did you study out here?"

"What's that for?"

"Were there lots of squirrels?" (Oh yes he really asked that question!)

Finally, he said ok let's go.

I turned to leave and he said,

"Hey I have one more question for you."

I turned around ready to be like "WHAT?!?!" when I saw him down on one knee. I think that I said YES before he even got his last question out.

A little aside here......

I think that he proposed at my college campus because we couldn"t be at his college campus. They have a tradition at Texas A&M (Whoop!) of proposing under the century tree. He did say his (and mine) first "I love you" to me there but it would have been way cool to be there for the proposal too!

Hope you enjoyed! Can't wait to read yours!

_______________________________

And This is my first Friday to participate in

Have a blessed weekend!

Monday Mugs (flowers)

I have had a lousy past 5 days. I really try hard to roll with the punches but when they seem to come non-stop with no chance to get my breath......I tend to break.

My sweet hubs knew that I was in need of some cheering up so he sent these for me to enjoy.

And these for the kids to fight about AHEM I mean play with.
So thanks for brightening my day & doing what you can from a thousand or so miles away babe! I love you!

Head on over to

The theme today over at Heather's blog is flowers.

Our Wedding song

Since Hubs is not here with me but will hopefully be home in time for our renewal of vows anniversary, I decided to do something each day from our wedding just to keep my mood upbeat until he arrives home. Yeah I am your sappy, sentimental person! You can gag on your own time. Our anniversary song came on as I was looking for quotes so I figured it was a perfect way to start!

I Will be Here: Steven Curtis Chapmen

Tomorrow morning if you wake
up and the sun does not appear
I will be here
If in the dark, we lose sight of love
Hold my hand, and have no fear
'Cause I will be here

I will be here
When you feel like being quiet
When you need to speak your mind
I will listen
And I will be here
When the laughter turns to cryin'
Through the winning, losing and trying
We'll be together
I will be here

Tomorrow morning, if you wake up
And the future is unclear
I will be here
Just as sure as seasons were made for change
Our lifetimes were made for these years
So I will be here

I will be here
And you can cry on my shoulder
When the mirror tells us we're older
I will hold you
And I will be here
To watch you grow in beauty
And tell you all the things you are to me
I will be here

I will be true to the promise I have made
To you and to the One who gave you to me

Tomorrow morning, if you wake up
And the sun does not appear
I will be here
Oh, I will be here

Show us your life (How you met your husband)

Today at Kelly's Korner is another addition of "Show us your life." Today's topic how you met your husband. Now this is a favorite topic of mine so I decided to join in!

Ben and I met in Pensacola, Florida. My life was in a big upheaval when I met him. I was determined to make MAJOR changes and not repeat past mistakes. That being said, I was not looking for a relationship at the time.

I could tell from the start that there was something different about Ben but I chose to ignore what God was trying to show me & push through on my own "plans." When I finally "let go and Let God" take over......WOW!

Ben and I met at concert in the park. I was still in a relationship & Ben was interested in one of my friends. We ran into each other a couple of times over the next few months. Enough so that I was comfortable one night to ask him to pretend to be my boyfriend to get someone to leave me alone.
He said, "why don't you just tell him about your BF?"
"Because I don't have one!" I said.
Later that night, he found me again and asked me to come out with them on the boat the next day.......and well the rest is history.
Ok, ok you didn't really think that I would leave it like that did you?
We spent A LOT of time together and HOURS each night talking on the phone. (Even though Ben should have been studying at the time!) I decided (and by I, I mean that God finally smacked me up side the head to show me what a wonderful man I was dating) to stay with him instead of moving as I had planned.
We were married 5 months after we started dating and a bare 8 months after we met. Our parents have short dating histories too. (I think that it is in the genes!)
Here we are over 6 years of marriage later.....
Many happy moments, some sad, some insane, and of course Many bumps, twists, and turns in the road BUT we are working it together, enjoy each other, and most importantly still love one another!
All of these pictures are from the time when we were dating. Hope you enjoy!
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Wordful Wednesday (Tooting Benny's horn)

Let me tell you a little bit about my husband.....he is WAY over the top with giving gifts. (Not just to me but to everyone!) He has always been super thoughtful & generous. When we were dating, he was always surprising me with gifts, gestures, and the little things. While he is still incrdibly romantic, life, work, kids, etc does cramp his style a little bit now.

We recently started doing our study "The 10 minute marriage principle" with a few of our good friends here in NC. We were playing a game called "winning at marriage." We had to come up with our spouses idea of the dream date. Needless to say, I think that we all had a good laugh at what the other half thought was our "dream date." Regardless of what the date is, I think that we all agreed that we need to spend more time "dating" our spouse. So Ben being my very giving, super thoughtful, & generous husband went way over the top again!

Ben surprised me in our hotel room with all of this on Friday night.....

Chocolate covered strawberries

Rose petals on the bed
roses.....
champagne
And then tried to pass it off that the hotel provided it!
What a wonderful hubby indeed!
Thanks Benny!

For More wordful Wednesdays check out
http://sevenclowncircus.com/

Charleston in Pictures and Videos

Pictures of Ben and I



Videos of our trip

Our Charleston vacation in words

Charleston, SC 2009

Day #1 (Friday)

• We went straight downtown & took a scenic carriage ride. Our guide was very engaging & informative and we had a beautiful horse named Chief pulling us around. Some of my favorite items from the tour were the White Point Park along the river, the 13 million dollar house for sale, and of course the HUGE porches that were attached to most of the houses. How Beautiful!
• We were going to go to our harbor tour next but it looked like it was about to rain so we went to the hotel and checked in instead. It didn't end up raining but we had already missed the boat.
• We ate at a YUMMY resturant named "The Water's Edge" on Shem's creek. Both of us enjoyed the meal immensly. We had live entertainment.....the dolphins were putting on a show in the water below us. I loved the mother/baby combo that looked like they were attached at the fin. Ben also liked the fact that one of the fishing boats had pulled up & unloaded a large catch. It was pretty cool until they started skinning them on the table below us then I didn't really want to watch anymore!
• We finished up the evening with a car tour around Isle of Palms & Sullivan's Island. (We also got out and walked along the beach for awhile collecting shells for Kendall.) We stopped and looked at Fort Moultrie too. We ended up stopping at "Poe's Tavern" for an adult beverage before heading back to the hotel. (We thought that someone must have just loved Edgar Allen Poe to dedicate a resturant/bar to him but it turned out that he was born and raised on Sullivan's Island.)

Day #2 (Saturday)

• We started out going on a half day, 6 mile, guided, tandem kayak tour through the salt marsh and harbor. I was extremely nervous but it turned out to be pretty neat. We were only about 10 minutes into the tour when we got to help our guide rescue a rare bird that was hurt along the bank. I think that my favorite part of the trip was having dolphins swin about 10 feet away from us. It was like they wanted to follow along and play.
• Next, we went on our harbor tour. Both Ben and I like to be out on the water so it was pretty heavenly for us. We learned a lot about the history of Charleston, Fort Sumpter, Fort Moultrie, and BlackBeard the pirate. We also got to see some more playful dolphins that decided to swim in front of our ship putting on quite a show.
• We ate at "Toast" which was a resturant that we found when we were walking downtown. It was good food and I loved the "she crab soup."
• The night finished up at a comedy club called "Theatre 99." Not too bad for amateur stand-up.

Day #3- Sunday

• The morning started off with a few rain sprinkles so we were a little apprehensive but it cleared up. We went to visit the naval museums. We went through the Vietnam Memorial, the USS Yorktown, & Patriots Point Museum arboard the Yorktown. I was disappointed that we didn't have enough time to go through the Medal of Honor museum.
• Next was our tour to Fort Sumpter. Again, we loved being out on the boat and enjoyed some quiet cuddle time on the ride out to the fort. The scenery was pretty once we got out there but I was a little disappointed with the actual fort....kind of like when we went to tour the Alamo.
• After that tour, we went and looked at some of the wares in the open air market. It is a good thing that they were closing up some of the shops or I could have really did some damage to our checking account!
• We decided to go to "Bubba Gump Shrimp Co." for supper since it was close to us. It turned out really good and i LOVED their hush puppies. There was even a quiz on the Forrest Gump movie before you could get your food. (Let me also say that we had so many recommendations for resturants in Charleston that we could have been there for 3 weeks and not got through all of them....it was a little overwhelming to tell you the truth!)

Day#4- Monday

• This was probably the worst day of our trip weather wise....it was COLD and rainy. We went to the aquarium since we had free tickets to it. It was pretty fun minus the 3 schools that were there on field trip! We got to watch the sea otters being fed as well as the deep sea fish feeding. It was pretty relaxing and fun to look at all the creatures. I am super excited to take Kendall to the aquarium in June!
• We went to S.N.O.B. for lunch. (Slightly North of Broad) It was delicious & of course we enjoyed having more adult conversation!
• Hold onto your seats.....we actually went back to the room and took a nap after lunch! Man was that worth it!
• We went to Southend Brewery for supper then went back to Poe's tavern to watch the Pens game. (Plus they were the only place that we foudn that had my beloved woodchuck!)

Day #5- Tuesday

• Our last day we spent a leisurely breakfast together then went back to the open air market for a few souveiners. Both of us were ready to get back to the kiddos so we left around 1100 for our 4.5 hour drive back.

It was wonderful to enjoy 2 a day showers without a screaming baby or a busy toddler reaching little hands under the shower curtain. (Can I get an AMEN from the mothers of small children that know what I am talking about?)

I loved being husband and wife for a change without any daddy/mommy interruptions. It was really great for us to be away alone together for awhile.

Thanks again to Mom and Dad for keeping our wild kiddos so we could get away together!