weekend.

I freakishly love when James has days off work. 

I've been especially lucky this week because I really was beginning to miss him more than usual and my secret wishes came true! We got a long weekend together (he didn't have to work!) and we woke up together every morning (instead of the usual kiss goodbye before he leaves when I fall asleep & wake up in a panic that I slept the day away) 

Anyway, Saturday, we went with his grandma & grandpa down to...actually, I'm new here. So that's my excuse for having no clue where we were. But it was time to give up my fatty old purse (boy was it harder than I'd ever admit) and my sweet little hubby got me this awesome new one! This place called Sam Moon had EVERY purse, wallet, belt, and accessory you could ever want!! As hopefully you can tell from this picture.

New home, new places to shop!!

He picked out this purse AND the sunglasses! I LOVE them!

The line for the gun show, also going AROUND the corner!
That's Texas for ya!

Then we got YUMMY sundae desserts at Braum's (it's like their Dairy Queen! But cheaper!) and I thought I could die of happiness. It was sooo good. Saturday, we ran errands which, until I had James, was never ever ever fun. But he makes everything feel like a fun adventure! Seriously! I love it. And I love getting to spend time with him doing anything. He's such a great shopping partner. Sunday was family dinner, and I love that they all do that together here. I love seeing everyone and eating together and catching up. I hope that's something that we carry on with our kids and families.

All in all, it was SUCH a fun weekend and I can't wait for so many more! So excited to be here!

honeymooners.

Our honeymoon was…well..not exactly what most people think of when they hear “honeymoon.” But! Still nice to have a little getaway and ESPECIALLY to have time just with each other. Ours came in parts.

Part One.

We rode down to San Diego where James had booked a really pretty hotel! It had an amazing view right alongside a marina with a garden and another marina in the back. But poor James barely got to enjoy any of it. He could hardly move and his stomach was killing him. I tried to scratch his back and get him to eat or take medicine but I also went on a couple walks or would do something in our hotel.

The Marina right behind our hotel!

Actually, the best part for me was when James wanted to get himself doing something to take his mind off of his stomach so we decided to play some online games. It. Was. So. Fun! He actually made me laugh so hard that I cried. That’s just James. Still making my day even though he was at his worst.

Part Two.

James & I had talked about taking him to the doctor, but he kept putting it off. Finally though, that just wasn’t an option and he decided he did not want to be paying for a hotel room he had cabin fever in any longer. So we packed up and checked out a couple days early. James took me first to these little tide pools off the coast and we walked around there for a little.

Then we went to this awesome lighthouse that was really cool! It was almost like a museum! But eventually, James was just not feeling it (I could tell, he would never say that if he thought I was enjoying myself) so we left and went back to my parents’ house. My little sister Rachel, her husband Blair, and their friend Big Mike all were there and Rachel was especially excited to see us. But eventually, they had to leave and my mom woke up so I entertained her & Qiarra while James took a nice peaceful nap.

Over the next couple days, I tried to load James up on medicine and we mostly just hung out with my family and ran errands. And we opened our awesome gifts! And he got a little bit better each day. Eventually, we all went to Big Bear to tube down the slides with my mom and sister. That was pretty fun and I’ve never enjoyed myself in the snow as much as I did then, cracking up with James and tubing right beside him. He was so cute. We got there only an hour before they closed (yeah, that’s a story in itself. Chains, food, traffic, snow storms like I’ve never seen, cars sliding around. It was a mess) which was lucky because James wasn’t prepared for how cold his feet would get in his Sperry’s.

I sure love this man.

The next morning, we left for Texas! James will be going back to work for his uncle’s custom building company, Design Classics, and I will be fulfilling my internship requirements so we can graduate after our last semester this spring. I’m so excited!

married.

Well it’s true folks! It finally happened! We tied the knot! And it was the best decision we ever made.

Every day leading up to the wedding day was kind of a mess. I was stressed, James was stressed, we both had school & jobs to worry about, plus my poor parents could hardly ever get a hold of me.

Even the day before was rough. We had no flowers, dirty table cloths, and we couldn't get a basketball hoop up because the lock was stuck and the only person with a key wasn't showing up for hours. And I was no help. My attention was being pulled 5 different ways during decorating at any time so it was hard to get a straight answer from me. I felt so bad. BUT. We did have a little miracle: everyone had left since we were stuck until we got the hoop up except my dad, mom, James's mom, me, and my sisters Qiarra & Rachel. So we were all pretty frustrated and decided to say a prayer...I'm not kidding you on this next part...literally 7 seconds after we finished, the man with the key walked in a fixed it. Like he'd just been waiting for his cue or something. It was AWESOME. So I knew someone was watching out for us.

And I did end up getting a little girl time after a day of decorating and that made the night much better. Then, finally it was WEDDING DAY! And every stress melted right away. I told James NOTHING would stop us from enjoying our day.

 

And theeen the poor guy got the flu. Yes. On the day of his wedding.

The temple was great! We took amazing pictures with all of our friends and family and he looked just as handsome as ever. And the reception was absolutely beautiful! James was such a trooper and stuck it out as much as he could. It meant so much to me that he tried so hard. But it just kept getting worse. So I was so thankful when our families snuck out together to give him a blessing and then told us it was okay to cut out early. I know James felt so awful, which made my heart break for him, but it really made me see what a caring and sweet person he was to care so much about me & our friends and family. We even got to take some pictures with people and of cutting the cake and he put on a brave face for all of it. But honestly, I was so happy to go and take care of him. His sweet mom kept saying “he has his new wife to take care of him. He’s going to be fine.” It was kind of empowering! That’s all I wanted to do all night was try to make him feel comfortable so he could feel better.

So we had my sparkler exit and left for San Diego and poor James went right to bed. Afterward, we were talking in the car about how we hoped so much that everyone would stay and enjoy it so it wasn't all a waste. And of course, the awesome people in our lives kept the party going. We were sooo happy.

Everyone keeps talking about how great it was that I could leave my reception early and how having a sick husband would have ruined their day. But I would make the same decision a billion times over. There is no way I was going to make my sweet husband suffer because I wanted to stay. There wasn’t even another option in my mind, no brainer. Nothing like that ever even crossed my mind. But it also showed me how right James is for me and how much I really do love him. Marriage is all about putting your other first! James is my best friend in the entire world. I only want him to be so happy and I will do absolutely anything & everything to make that happen.

I am so happy to be married to him and we both agree that being married is a thousand times better than being engaged or dating. I am loving every millisecond of it! But he is waking up so I'm going to try to get him a little something to eat. Ps: have I mentioned, I'm James's wife now and how much I LOVE the sound of that?!