Happy 2nd Anniversary

Happy 2nd Anniversary to the love of my life.  Two years ago on this day we had rain, sunshine, dresses, guests, family, doves, songs, kisses, smiles, rings, eating, fellowship, fireworks, dancing, laughing, and happiness.  It was one of the best days of my life. 


I've learned that marriage is what you make of it.  It's what you're willing to work harder at and be better at.  It's what you find important and what you make a priority.  It's about making time.  Making time to laugh, to love, and to celebrate.  It's about finding time to take in life around you and thank God for all the blessings you have. 


Marriage isn't a given.  It isn't a have-to.  It's actually nothing of the two.  It takes constant work and it's really everything my world revolves around.  From the moment I wake up each morning to the moment I lay down each night, my marriage circumferences it all.  It typically determines how my day goes and what mood I'm in.  Together, my husband and I discuss minute details of our every day and plan for bigger days.  We laugh together, snuggle together, watch TV together, have supper together, support each other, listen to one another, and show care and affection for one another.


The tough days in between the good days, since they don't kill us, only make us stronger.  We end up stronger and with a better understanding after getting through uncomfortable conversations or hurt feelings. 


My marriage is something I always desired, wanted, and dreamed of.  It's something I am proud of and hold with a very high head and heart.  I am so very proud of my husband.


He is so handsome, and funny, and smart.  He is logical and practical, yet fun and spontaneous. 


He's my other half.  He's my go-to.  He's the father of our beautiful children.  And he's my hero.


Happy Anniversary, love.

Anniversary Love

This husband of mine, I love him with my entire heart, my whole being.  This has been my best year yet.  I am so very proud of him and of us and of how far we have come in life and how beautiful our life is.

He does things for me that do not go unnoticed or forgotten, and they really make me so happy inside.  For instance, he doesn't like cards.  He thinks they're a waste of money, and I might agree, but sometimes I still think they're nice, and some of them do a really great job saying what you want to say.  So on my birthday last year, he got me a card because it was a "wife" birthday card and he knew I would love to get a wife birthday card from my husband on the very first birthday I was ever a wife!  I will forever cherish that card. 

And he picks me flowers.  Enough said.

The last song we danced to on the night of our wedding was This Year's Love by David Gray.  It's the song we danced to many times in our kitchen.  It's a song he learned to play for me on the guitar.  To me, this is our song.

This years love had better last
Heaven knows it's high time
And I've been waiting on my own too long
But when you hold me like you do
It feels so right
I start to forget
How my heart gets torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Feeling like you can't go on

Turning circles when time again
It cuts like a knife oh yeah
If you love me got to know for sure
'Cause it takes something more this time
Than sweet, sweet lies
Before I open up my arms and fall
Losing all control
Every dream inside my soul
And when you kiss me
On that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing ain't this life so sweet

This years love had better last

So whose to worry
If our hearts get torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Don't you know this life goes on
And won't you kiss me
On that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing ain't this life so sweet

This years love had better last

This year's love has been nothing short of amazing.  Throughout our years of dating and learning about one another and growing our love, I didn't think I could be happier.  Until I married him.  When I became his wife, and he my husband, that love grew so much deeper, stronger, and more beautiful.  Without a doubt, God sent Keane to me, and me to him.  He completes me in all the ways I was missing something.

Our 1st Anniversary may have been a little downplayed, since our baby girl had been due two days prior, and arrived two weeks prior.  We had all three kids on our anniversary and it was an ordinary day.  I did sip on a beer (my first in how long??) with him, and after the big kids were tucked into bed, and while our newborn fussed in the baby swing in the living room, the two of us were found in our dim romantic kitchen with our cake cutting and serving utensils from our wedding, the top of our wedding cake, and our flute glasses with wine.  We fed each other a bite sweetly like we did 365 days before of very delicious year-old white wedding cake, and interlocked arms to have a sip of red wine.  We may have done this rather quickly, and in our pajamas, and very soon after we hushed baby Farrah and made our way to bed, but it in and of itself, was a perfect 1st anniversary.  I mean, how could it get much sweeter? 

(Although Keane told me much after that day that had I not been pregnant, he was planning on taking me on a cruise for our anniversary since we never had a honeymoon - that would have been pretty damn sweet too -- maybe in a few years?!)

Happy First Anniversary, Love.

Sneak Peak!

My sister photographer sent me a sneak peak of Keane and my engagement photos!  She sent me 10 of them and I tried to narrow those down, but that's next to impossible, because I love them all so much!


So I am sharing my sneak peak of our engagement photo session.  Keep checking back for the rest!

Happy Love Day

Happy Love Day, to my Valentine.

I'm the typical girl who loves everything romantic, hearts, and sweet.  And I really, really love my fiancé.  This will be the only Valentine's Day we celebrate as an engaged couple, and next Valentine's Day, we will be spending it married! 

Although you will probably pretend to gag when you read this, I want to share a little bit of my love for you, dear Keane.


I have seen the best of you, and the worst of you.  And I choose to love both.  I choose to love you when you get a tractor stuck and I'm the world's worst at helping on the farm and only irritate you more.  And I love you when you're tickling me and doing anything to make me laugh.  I love that you have a cold beer waiting for me, and that you knew I would like feeding the sheep and said that you could hear my laugh already -- and that I did love feeding the sheep, even though it was really cold. 


I love when you hold me extra tight in the morning, right when I need to get out of bed -- as much as I hate getting out of your arms into the cool bedroom air.  I love that you are impressed with the way I fry your breakfast eggs.  I love the sweet texts I get from you.  I love that I always have your support.  And I love that you love me.

"I love you..."

"I love you, too!"

"...pillow."

I even love when I find your dirty socks that I asked you to pick up laid nicely on my pillow.  Because that, my dear, is love from you -- and to me, that's the best kind of love there is.

We have a date tonight -- dinner and a concert (Reckless Kelly and Whiskey Myers).  I cannot wait!


I sure love you.


Love,
Your Fiancé

His Perfect Proposal

 

A moment that I couldn't have even imagined being half as sweet and wonderful as Keane made it, happened on the very first day of 2014. 

January 2nd is Keane's mother's birthday and for quite some time, Keane and I had planned on going to Swiss Meat Company on New Year's Day to pick up some food and treats for his mom (so I thought).  We decided to leave the kids at my parents' while we road tripped our way there.  On our way to Swiss, we went through Hermann.

Let me back up...five years ago, we celebrated our first New Year's Eve and New Year's Day together.  We went out for New Year's Eve, stayed sober, and enjoyed a road trip the following day.  We went to Hermann and took back roads to Keane's college stomping grounds at Linn.  It was a very fun and memorable day for the two of us, and we have talked about it often since.  The bridge over the Missouri River in Hermann was newly renovated in 2009, so Keane and I had walked alongside it on a walking path that day and stood in the middle of the bridge, on the county line between Montgomery and Gasconade Counties.  We carved our initials there that day.

On Wednesday, we talked about our initials and we decided to see if we could find them.  We parked the vehicle and walked hand-in-hand to the center of the same bridge, to the same spot we stood together exactly five years earlier.  We watched the muddy water, we watched Keane's spit make a big splash, and we talked about how pretty everything was.  We looked for our old initials which had either wore off or had been painted over sometime in these past five years.  I told Keane he should carve our initials again. 

Keane said that he thought five years ago I stood in one county, and he stood in the other, so I was going to take a step to be in the other county, but he held my arm and said, "But how about this year we both stand in the same county and I ask you to marry me."  And he got down on one knee, on the bridge over the Missouri River, with cars going by, on a beautiful, fresh January day, and while he said, "Kristina, will you marry me?" I looked in his bright brown eyes and took it all in.  I looked at the box he had opened in his hand with a beautiful diamond ring.  I looked back at him and I told him of course I would!  I hugged him and kissed him (over and over) and put my beautiful new ring on my finger.  It fit perfectly! 

I didn't want the moment to end.  I didn't want to walk off that bridge.  We walked hand-in-hand, as slowly as he would let me walk, back toward our vehicle.  We stopped by a bench and looked at other initials.  We made it back to the car and he opened the door for me.  I told him I didn't want the moment to be over.  I cried.  It was everything I'd hoped it would be, and so so  much more.

I will be honest that I've thought about this moment happening for awhile, and not in a million years could I have imagined just how magical and romantic and special I felt when Keane asked me to marry him.  I am so excited to be his fiancé.  I feel so close to him, and I am so thankful for our love.

The kids knew Keane was going to ask me.  He had told them a few weeks ago.  On Christmas, Kylie asked Keane, "Are you going to give Kristi the ring?"  And Kaden replied for Keane, "No, Kylie, on New Year's."  Keane showed Kaden, Kylie, and Kollin the ring on New Year's Eve, and Kylie told Keane that she was shaking.  When Keane and I dropped the kids off at my parents' house that day, I went to walk them inside.  Kaden and I had already left the vehicle, and before Kylie got out, she said, "Good luck, Daddy!"

Keane and I took back roads home after we left Hermann and I called Keane's mom, my sister, and my cousin. Then we shared the news with my parents, Kollin, and the kids, who were all anxiously awaiting our arrival.  My mom cried when I told the story, and my dad and brother shook Keane's hand, welcoming his "officially" into the family.  (Keane had gotten my dad's blessing beforehand.)  We showed Keane's parents the ring and shared the story.  They were very excited.  They congratulated us and said I'll be a good addition to the family and that Keane has good taste.  I feel so very loved.

Kaden and Kylie were so excited for this moment.  They are so excited they can call me "Mommy."  That's what they were calling me all evening and this morning.  It warms my whole heart -- their excitement and their love.  I told them that I am very excited to be able to be a part of their family -- officially.  Dierks Bentley's song, "I Hold On," was playing on the radio on our way home after picking up the kids, and we all held each other's hands.  Kylie reached up and grabbed mine, and her little hand felt like the world to me. 

My ring is beautiful -- it's as perfect as the whole day was.  It means so much to me -- all of it.  I'm so very excited for this step in our relationship -- the engagement.  To be his fiancé, and for him to be mine.

5 Years Together

 

Our 5 year anniversary is today.  Five years ago, we started out as strangers, we became acquaintances, and we kind of skipped over the being friends part and became lovers.

 

We have been through ups and downs.  Our downs have, at times, been really down, but our ups have always been really up.  Looking back at all that we have been through together, I feel like we have conquered the world, and that makes me proud. 

 

We have driven down south to Galveston Island, Texas, and swam in the Gulf of Mexico. 



We have been up north putting our toes in the cool water of Lake Michigan in South Haven, Michigan. 



We have gotten our "country" on in Nashville, Tennessee, twice because we liked it so much.


 

Together we make our house into a home, blend our little family a little more each day, and continue to keep our relationship a priority. 

We have our every-days, and we have our special occasions.  I like them both just the same.  I love spending evenings on the couch catching up on our shows, Taco Tuesdays, and growing our garden.  I love fishing and hunting and riding the four wheeler together. 

I also love going on vacations, going to Cardinal games, and my very first Chiefs game.  I enjoy going out to eat and catching a movie.  I like getting together with our friends and enjoying a night out on the town -- wherever that may be.  I like going to the casino occasionally, even though we tend to lose more money than we ever win back. 

Through any and all of the ups and downs, on trips away from home, and being right by your side every night, I am one happy girl to call you mine. 

As Jewel says it best, you were meant for me...and I was meant for you.

 

One of my very favorite things about you is the way that you make me laugh.  I sent you a picture this morning of me "rocking out" in your shades, and you sent me a picture back of you wearing my sunglasses that I couldn't find this morning.  We have a lot of our own "things" that nobody would quite understand, or know how much fun they are -- like the steamroller.  To say you're fun to be around is an understatement.  You are the time of my life.
 

You are handsome, you are funny, you are polite, and you are a great father to your sweet kids.  You are a wonderful singer, a hard worker, and very smart.  You always give me something to look forward to. 



And most importantly, you make me a better me.  I may be stubborn and hard-headed, but you still get through to me (even if it takes awhile).  I am proud of who I am with you and because of you.  I am proud to be yours.



Happy Anniversary, Keane.

Oh, Tonight

 

I grab your hand and you say, “Wait.”

I say, “No, girl, it’s way too late.”

We’ve been playing games for weeks,

now I’m ready to play for keeps.

 

 

Oh, tonight, we’re gonna set the world on fire.

I’m gonna set aside my pride.

I'm not gonna be the one to say “goodbye,”

Neither am I…Oh, tonight.

 

 

 

Go on kiss me on the mouth.

You know you want to; you should’ve done it by now.

Girl, you don’t know how long I’ve tried,

I've been fighting feelings deep inside.

 

 

 

So tell me what you want me to do.

Oh, it’s too late, baby, I’ve already fallen in love with you.

 

Valentine's Day Recap

Valentine's Day turned out perfectly.  Kaden and Coach Keane won their first basketball game.  The team really deserved and needed that win.  My parents and brother brought their good luck with them as they attended the game and were there to see Kaden score his first two baskets this year and a free throw.  So far this season he has made 9 points, 2 baskets and 5 free throws.  He is 50% on his free throws.  In the few short months of basketball season, the team has really progressed and are learning how to work as a team and play out their plays.  Kaden has been aggressive on defense and is taking more chances to shoot from the block, even when he's being guarded, and this proved true last night.  Way to go, United Security.

Keane and I had our Valentine dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  During the dinner, Keane pointed out a man two tables away handing his girlfriend a rose.  I turned around, pointed out the action to the girl sitting behind us so she could watch too, as he handed her a second rose.  Then he reached in his pocket and pulled out a black box and got down on one knee.  She cried, they hugged, and we all clapped.  It was the sweetest thing to see.  I assume she said yes as she was proudly wearing the ring on her left hand.

We passed some time before the movie, Safe Haven, began.  One of the most exciting things about going to the movie was that we were able to purchase beer there.  How cool is that?  I nestled next to my man, sipped on a Bud Light, and enjoyed the romantic movie. 

Thank you, darling, for a wonderful Valentine's Day. 

My Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day.

Today, without question, my Valentine is you, baby. 

You and I have been down many roads together, and the one we are on right now is my favorite this far.  I love all the memories that we've made, the team that we have become, and the love that we have.  I love watching our weekly shows, gaining weight during our biweekly brownie nights, and having our daily chats.  I love beating you in PIG and losing to you in Knockout.  I love you, and I love Kaden and Kylie, too.

Please continue telling me that you love me, playing songs for me on the guitar, and pretending to always listen to what I have to say.  You have taught me to have a sense of humor and to appreciate each step in time.  You have helped me grow into a woman that I am proud to be.

 

I love you, my Valentine.  And I hope your new Valentine's Day boxers are keeping your tush comfortable today.

Thank you to Kylie who helped me make Valentine cupcakes last night.

And for showing me her love, too.

xxoo!