anniversary #4

Today is our wedding anniversary!

Abe and I have been married 4 years.

We think it's funny how short 4 years is because it feels like we've been married forEVER.  I mean that in a good way.

Abe is such a sweet man, he is so good to me. 

He loves me like crazy despite my MANY faults.  He always makes me feel capable, worthy, beautiful and happy. 

That's no small task when you're married to me.

He has such a laid back attitude

that compliments my high-strung attitude.

Whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed or upset or crazy, he can make me feel calm.

We find each other funny.  We have fun giggling together.

I find him quite handsome.

He's a wonderful husband, an amazing dad and I love him so very much.

I love you, dear!

Happy 4th Anniversary!

holiday craziness

What happens that makes the holidays so darn crazy??  I swear to you that Abe and I really don't have hardly any parties to attend, we barely do any Christmas shopping, so why are we running around like nutty chickens??

Abe has so much work piled up every day (for which we are most thankful!), but such an odd time of year for a carpenter to be so busy!  So I've been feeling like a single mom lately.  It's so hard being without my sweet husband all day long and then all evening long too.  At least we get an hour or so at night before bed.  Sometimes more, so I'm not complaining.  Just missing him.  And so is Noah.

And in the midst of all the husbandless, holiday crazy, Noah decided to embrace the "Terrible Two's".  I've said it to friends and family, his head has been spinning like Linda Blair on The Exorcist!  He has literally sent me into sobbing lumps on the floor on several occasions.  Yes, I'm embarrassed to admit that, but there you have it. 

I'm sure it's compounded by my pregnancy.  I'm so emotional and very short tempered these days.  It's been 4 weeks of this and he's finally starting to calm down and become his normal, sweet, lovable self again.  I think probably lots of prayers, venting, and parenting books have helped me to not completely go insane.  I have missed my sweet Noah dearly.

Just wanted to throw you all an unsolicited update.  I keep getting so far behind on my blogging!  In the works are a post about our Thanksgiving shenanigans, a baby name, and some Christmas-y fun!

I'm promising a lighter note for the rest of the holidays!

And a note to let you know the BOGO Sale is still happening, but not for too much longer!

So go have a look!

some new things

I have been meaning to write about this for a while now.  Abe (the husband) has been busy making some fun shelves and I've been helping with the painting and sanding.  They are so lovely, I've already put my dibs on a few to keep here at the house.  But we can only have so many decorative shelves in our home, so.... we've been listing them in Pickled Pantry shop!  We've already sold one and Abe has so many more that we haven't posted yet.  He's such a talented carpenter and they are tunring out so beautifully!

Aqua shelf with lime green undercoat:

 

Black shelf with aqua undercoat and rope molding:

Aqua shelf with dental molding and an antique finish:

Aqua ribbon spool with lime green undercoat:

He has lots of colors available and more styles that we haven't posted yet.

I'm so lucky!  My husband can make ANYTHING!!

Well....,  almost.

yay for dads!!

For Abe's Father's Day, Noah and I spent some time crafting a little love note to tell him how special we think he is.  I just got a blank note card and let Noah work his magic:

I found some old stickers that I've had for at least a decade and let him go crazy with those.

One of Noah's favorite things to do is tell you what to draw and you draw it.  So on a separate sheet of paper, I drew everything he asked and used that sheet to make the envelope for the card.

We added to this one of Abe's favorite treats (PopRocks) and presented it to him with a big hug and kiss!

My dear, sweet Abe

You are such an amazing dad to our little Noah and he loves and adores you so much!

As do I.

happy anniversary to my Abe

June 1, 2007

A mutual friend of ours set us up and I almost didn't go through with it because his name was Abe.... which is my brother's name... it sorta creeped me out. AND... he has a sister named Katie! What the?? Double creepy. So we do a lot of "honey", "dear", "sweetie", etc. to keep the creepy factor low.  But I'm glad I went through with it because I knew on our first official date that I would marry him. And he says he knew even before that at our first official meeting.

Here's the story...

We met one weekend, then talked on the phone all week long.  The conversations were light and fun, until I grilled him.  I had made the decision that I wouldn't even go out on a date with a guy unless he met my long list of qualifications.  (note:  I was being super picky because of some poor choices in my past)  So I started in on my questions.  I tried to ask some questions in a way that wouldn't show what I was hoping he'd say.  Other questions were pretty direct and straight forward.  He answered them easily, then I apologized for the grilling and he told me he was glad because he thinks the same things are important. 
Turned out we agreed on just about everything we wanted and needed in life.  Still do. 

The following weekend, he picked me up for our first date.  He looked so handsome!  We clicked almost instantly and laughed ourselves silly.  It was so much fun and before the night was over I found myself thinking, "I'm going to marry this guy."  This wasn't a plan I was making for us, it was more like my inner voice trying to convince me because my other voices were all screaming, "No way!  You barely know him!  Are you CRAZY??"
But in my heart, I just knew. 
Over the next two months, we were inseparable.  I began to realize he met all the criteria I was looking for.  A year before I met Abe, I had written down about 20 or so qualities or attributes that I wanted my future husband to have.
Abe had every single one! 
So for his birthday in February, I got him a gift and a card and stuck that list of attributes in the card.  He loved it!  And to my astonishment, for HIS birthday, he cooked me dinner and then proposed with the most beautiful ring!  The whole thing was very sweet.

So we made our plans over the next few months and were married in the Bountiful, Utah LDS Temple.

We had both always secretly made fun of other couples who met, got engaged and then married super fast.  But... we can no longer poke fun, for we are now one of those couples.  We met the end of November 2006, were engaged by February 2007 and married by June of 2007.  CRAZY!!!!

We did a casual luau style reception with a fabulous band and yummy food.

We went on a very romantic honeymoon to Maui, HI.

And then to make it even crazier, we decided it was time to try for a baby only a month after we were married.  We both felt it was time and I was pregnant almost instantly. 
Noah was born April 1, 2008.

This was a little impromptu family photo during Noah's little photo shoot recently.  Doesn't Abe look handsome?? 

It's fun to be able to look at your husband and still feel all twitterpated and in love.  The other day I went to a court of honor (Abe's a scout leader for the 11 year olds) and I had one of those moments.  It hit me so unexpectedly (I mean he was wearing a scout uniform for pete's sake!), but I thought to myself..."What a handsome husband I have." 
My husband is such a good man.  He's super supportive, loving, caring, sweet, kind, funny, smart, talented, good provider, amazing daddy and on and on and on.  I mean that too!  His goal in life is to make our family happy and he's very good at it.  And I know for a fact he has a daily goal to make me laugh at least once, if not more.  He almost always succeeds!
He's truly sweet and wonderful and I love him so.
We have the best time together!
I love you, dear!  Happy anniversary!