5 Year Anniversary | Cape Cod Surprise



November 8th, 2019.

5 years of marital bliss with my best friend.

 

Craw surprised me with a trip to Cape Cod for our anniversary. He booked the plane tickets, hotel, and rented a car for our 2 day stay in Massachusetts. This was very out of character for him but it truly was the best surprise he has ever given me. We had a PERFECT 2 days up north.

We flew out Friday morning on our anniversary and arrived at Boston around 10 and went straight to get the rental car. The best advice we were given was to get out of Boston as fast as we could because of traffic. Craw had booked our hotel in Hyannis which was about 2.5 hours from Boston. We enjoyed a leisurely drive and stopped at a cute diner for lunch. Craw ordered his first bowl of clam chowder and the chicken n cheese was amazing! After lunch, we went to our hotel to check in and immediately jumped back in the car to explore. We drove through all of the beautiful small towns along Cape Cod and had the best afternoon. We stopped in for coffee and apple cider doughnuts and even stopped at a cute Christmas shop. Exploring all of the small towns was my favorite part of the entire trip. Everything was so beautiful.

The last small town we got to was Chatham and they had a beautiful beach with the perfect scenery for pictures. We were able to get a few pictures of us and it started snowing while we were on the beach. We didn't make it all the way down the Cape but we were losing daylight so we had to travel back to the hotel to get ready for our anniversary dinner.

We had reservations at Alberto's Italian restaurant and it was the most perfect meal I've ever had. We sat right by the fire and had a candle lit 3 course meal and they surprised us with 3 desserts for our anniversary. Craw and I spent 2 hours talking about how much has changed in 5 years and being so thankful to be able to spend time together for our anniversary. It was probably my favorite date night I've ever had with him and it will always be super special.

On Saturday, we headed to Rhode Island for the day. We went to Newport and explored the downtown area and had some delicious brick oven pizza. We decided to head back to Cape Cod and spend the rest of the day relaxing and exploring Hyannis. We had dinner at KKKatie's Burger Bar and I had the best parmesan garlic wings I've ever eaten. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and decided to be SUPER spontaneous and check out of the hotel and head to Boston.

Our flights were leaving the next morning at 8 am which meant we would have to leave the hotel at 4 am. Craw asked if I wanted to check out and go explore Boston for the evening and I surprisingly said yes. We spent the entire night exploring Boylston Street, Fenway Park, Harvard, and even went to Foxboro to see Gillette Stadium. Around 3 am, we headed to the airport so we could check in and rest for a little while.

It was truly the most magical weekend with Craw. I'm so blessed to get to spend this life with him and I still can't believe he pulled off this AMAZING surprise and it was by far the best anniversary yet!

 

 



Happy 4 Years, My Love

Four years. 
That is 1,461 days of being married to my best friend.

So many memories have been created.
Many laughs have been shared.

We had some major trials and tribulations.

Lots of ups and downs and stepping out in faith.

Seven hospital stays in 3 years.

A new job for one of us.

We took on new roles at church.

We have grown so much- individually and as a couple.

One crazy pup that still loves to only cuddle with you.

One INSANE adventure to the beautiful sunshine state.

One beautiful baby boy that completely changed our world.

This was our best year yet.

Having you by my side as we navigate parenthood is the thrill of a lifetime.

I love you more today than I did 4 years ago.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

Three Years



Three years ago today, my life was changed for the better. Some days it feels like we've already lived a lifetime and then other days, it feels like yesterday when the church doors opened and I saw my groom for the first time. I am reminded daily what a commitment marriage truly is and how Craw is my perfect gift. I am blessed that God chose me to be his wife.

I always joke around and say that he is the nice one but its the absolute truth. My favorite thing about Craw is that he will literally help anyone. And by that I mean, it's nothing for me to get a call saying he just picked up a stranger and took them to Mcdonalds to get them a meal. This is usually followed by me giving him a lecture of how he should NEVER give someone a ride that he doesn't know but at the same time, I'm so darn proud he is my husband. He is an encourager, motivator, emotional supporter, and definitely the calm to my crazy. That is key when he is married to a wife that freaks out about everything. All this to say, I cannot imagine life without him and I am honored to say that I get to love this man for the rest of my life.

2018 is going to be a year of change for our family and we are so very excited.

Happy three years, babe! This is going to be our best one yet and I am so happy I get to watch you take on your next role as a daddy.

Marriage: Top Three Challenges

Crawford and I had the pleasure of attending the Art of Marriage (AOM) Live conference on Valentine's weekend at The Bridge in Goldsboro, NC.  We started the AOM during our wedding counseling but with the busyness of wedding planning and the fact we were not living together before the wedding, it was a bit hard to do separately. I cannot say enough positive things about attending an AOM conference live.  What a difference it made for us as opposed to being by ourselves and watching the videos and studying the lessons.

While our first year of marriage is still fresh on my mind, I want to write about some of the top 3 challenges that we faced as newlyweds.

1.  How to live with a person of the opposite sex.

Girls and boy are different. Plain and simple.  I had never lived with a male (other than my dad) before we got married.  Learning that we both say/do things differently was a real challenge at first.  I would not say that either one of us are neat freaks but we are not sloths either...at least we DID have that going for us.  However, I have my pet peeves and he has his.  For example, Craw has a bad habit of leaving dresser drawers open and not closing them and I. CANT. STAND. IT!!! However, I have a bad habit of leaving my towels on the floor and not hanging them up and HE. CANT. STAND. IT!!!  It's quite comical...


2.  We both handle issues very differently.


I feel like this may be a given for most newlywed couples.  Most relationships have one person that likes to talk things out right then and then the other person needs to be left alone.  This definitely applies to Craw and I .  He is the one that likes to talk and hash it out right as soon as we disagree/argue...and I'm like...DON'T TOUCH ME!  He's definitely a person that likes to touch and thinks that he has to put his hand on mine or on my knee while we work through a disagreement...#nope! I will quickly spazz out on him. Thankfully, we learned this about each other while we were dating and again during marriage counseling but it seems to be a much bigger deal when you're living under one roof.  It took some time but I can happily say he knows he needs to give me about 5 minutes and then we can talk and I guess I learned that he can at least touch my knee...


3. Juggling two very different, yet busy, schedules


This one was tough.  Craw and I are go-go-go people.  Even when we try not to plan anything and stay home, we end up going somewhere and doing something.  We both have jobs with different hours, we are both involved in different church activities, his family lives out of town, he plays softball during the spring/summer, and we both love to travel. One thing our pastor told us during counseling was that we would need to learn to say NO during our first year of marriage.  I don't like saying no but Craw has no issues telling a person no so that really worked well for us.  One thing that really helped us was communicating with each other.  This allowed us to let each other know when one of us was burned out and it also helped us keep our busy schedules straight.  Also, Craw is not good at remembering things so he knows that all plans need to be ran by me, otherwise, there is a chance he is not going to remember.
#imtheplanner


Marriage is definitely not easy but it is so worth it.

New Year, New Beginnings

I have so many drafts that are just sitting waiting to be published.  So much has happened within the last year and it has take me away from this little space for quite a while.  A new year calls for a chance of new beginnings and I am certainly thankful for a fresh new year. 

Here are my top 5 highlights from 2015:

(good and bad)

1.  I was officially diagnosed with Crohns Disease in September. 

After many sick months and a few changes in doctors, I received my diagnosis and it's safe to say it changed my life. I started infusions of Remicade immediately upon my diagnosis and have been responding well to treatment.

2.  I experienced not ONE but TWO hospital stays triggered by my Crohns.

This was definitely the lowest point of the year for me.  The picture below was taken from the first stay.  I plan to write more about this later on but for now, just know it was not a fun time.

Making the best out of a miserable situation.

3.  Crawford and I travelled back to our favorite city and got to cheer on our Panthers! 

This is one of my favorite trips of the year and it also helps that the Panthers ended the regular season 15-1.  I wasn't sure if I would be well enough to go on this trip but the Lord blessed me tremendously and I was thankfully able to get away with the hubby.

4.  I received a promotion at work at the very end of the year.

Self explanatory...

5.  Last but certainly not least, my love and I celebrated ONE

 BLISSFUL YEAR of marriage!

It really was a year filled with ups and downs but at the end of the day, I am so thankful to be where I am today.  I finally have a diagnosis, I'm feeling better with each day that passes, I love my new job, and I am so in love with my husband.