Three Years of Marriage

Three years of marriage. 8.5 years together. One sassy kid and another on the way. Travels. Cross country moves. Air Force life. Late nights. The good, the bad, and the everything in between. We've been through a lot in our time together, and I wouldn't want it any other way. The bad makes us appreciate the good all the more. The occasional distance makes us not take each other for granted when we're together. This life isn't the easiest, but it's special, crazy, and fun. It's unique and beautiful, and there's no one I'd rather co-pilot with. Happy third wedding anniversary to my handsome husband!

I accidentally called Dan my wife at the end of my vows (that I wrote) in front of all of our family and friends and had the moment epically captured via photographs AND video... see below! Ha! 

We couldn't have done it without all of these amazing friends! I'm sad that the last time we were all in one place was at our wedding. 

Forever thankful to have a husband who will dance in the rain with me! 

Our First Anniversary Photo

I have been such a bad blogger lately. I am on NO schedule, which feels as awful as it sounds. Yes, I still have my calendar up-to-date with posts I WANT to be sharing... but this third trimester exhaustion sure is taking a toll on me.

By the time I finish my daily shop orders and chores, I just want to nap... so I do... because it's the only way I can function by the time Dan gets home from work. 

Because of my crazy lack of updates, I never shared our first anniversary photo. I loved this idea when I saw it on Pinterest before we were even married, and I couldn't wait to do it! I've also seen many friends and bloggers use this idea... so it must be a really cool one. 

Yes, our anniversary was in May. Oops.

We wanted our house to be in the background, so we tried our best. We actually got this photo on the very first try... by setting the timer on our camera and placing it on the bed of Dan's Dodge Ram. Next year, we'll have a different house in the background!

Do you do the anniversary picture-within-a-picture too?
Do you keep your anniversary photos displayed in your home?


    

Six Years Together

Six years ago tonight, Dan and I went on our first real date.

We had been friends for several months, and we hung out a lot... but our first DATE was on February 25th, 2009. He took me to get hibachi for dinner about 45 minutes away from our college campus, and then we went to a comedy show.

It was a blast, and we never looked back!

I can't believe we've been together for so long. And we're FINALLY MARRIED now! Nothing beats that - it's pretty awesome! AND we're expecting our first baby.

I can already tell this year is going to be an amazing one with such a wonderful man by my side.




How long have you been with your significant other?


    

Six Months of Wedded Bliss

Yesterday (Sunday, November 30th) marked six months of marriage for my handsome husband and me.

Since we got married in May, we have stepped foot in eight different countries, moved across the USA to our first home together, celebrated a few holidays, hosted our first Thanksgiving, dealt with a strange illness, joined a church and started volunteering with the youth group, had house guests, Skyped with faraway friends, tried many new recipes, set goals, celebrated the Royals going to the World Series for the first time in our lives, learned how to live together, and many more exciting things!

We are so happy to celebrate our first six months of marriage, and we can't wait for months and years to continue passing by... just as long as we're at each other's side!

It's About Freakin' Time! {We Tied the Knot}

On Friday, May 30th, 2014, I finally married my handsome love. While he was a cadet at the Air Force Academy, he wasn't allowed to have any dependents... and since he graduated on May 28th, we didn't waste much time!

I'll post all about his graduation parade, commissioning, and actual graduation later, but I wanted to show off some of the pictures people took from their phones during our ceremony and reception on Friday.

We won't get our official photos back until the end of the summer, but that's okay because we're leaving for a six week honeymoon VERY soon anyway! :)

The weather was NOT as nice as it had been all week, and that was kind of a bummer... but Mother Nature did her best to take care of us, and it didn't start raining until the ceremony was complete! We were able to dodge the weather for pictures as well, and everything fell into place.

Our guest book! We will add a photo from our wedding when we get them back and hang it in our house each time we move. It'll be a nice piece of stability wherever we go. It's BIG! 

My little brother walking me down the aisle... he looks so proud!

Our ceremony was a blast! We had so much to laugh about, and I was SO giggly! 

Seriously. Our officiant (and friend) made us laugh several times.

I had an AMAZING time during our ceremony!

We sealed up a bottle of wine that we made together along with love letters that we wrote to each other from separate places the night before our wedding. The plan is to open it on our five year anniversary, but if we have a big fight before then and need to remember why we got married, the box will always be there! 

I felt 100% triumphant as I slid that ring onto his finger!

You may now kiss your bride! (and he did... a few times!)

Feeling on top of the world as we walk away!

Happiest we've ever been!

I love this one because it's so candid. His tongue is out, and I'm smiling ear to ear!

Of course we had a saber arch! I can't wait to see the real photos from this moment! We had six AMAZING friends do this for us, and we couldn't be more thankful that they all agreed to. 

One of my coworkers and friends made all of these cupcakes for our guests... and a cake to cut on top for us! (And you can KIND OF see the groom's cake to the left... it had a Thunderbird (Air Force jet) on it, and Dan was so surprised.

Cutting the cake with the saber - such a fun moment! 

Three amazing friends and fellow wives of USAFA grads came to watch us get married... so here we are in year order showing off our rings! Danielle is married to a 2010 grad, Ellie to a 2011 grad, Lizzie to a 2013 grad, and me to a 2014 grad!

We made 120 bottles of wine ourselves to serve at our reception. They were a BIG hit! A friend of a friend designed the labels for us, and they are ADORABLE! I can't wait to share a better picture when we get them. 

This is the "Fab Five" from high school... the five of us ALWAYS hung out together and had a lot of fun eating Chinese food and making prank phone calls... and they came out from Washington, Kansas, Florida, and Missouri for my big day! Love them!

I sat on the Best Man's knee while my groom fished out my garter with his teeth... awkward but so much fun!

Dan called up the entire Air Force Academy Flying Team (the team he was a part of until he graduated), and they serenaded me Top Gun style with "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"... and it was SO MUCH FUN! A friend posted video of it already, and it's great. I'm so glad those guys (and gals) were able to make it! 

I feel AMAZING right now. Our wedding day was definitely the best day of my life, and I can't get over being called "wife", "bride", and "Mrs." - so fun!

Honeymooning Isn't Good for Blogging

As my last post stated, I am getting married NEXT FRIDAY! We will be leaving shortly after for a long drive to drop our cats off with a family member. Then, we're heading to a friend's wedding in another state, and finally, we leave for our HONEYMOON!

After graduation from the Academy, fresh 2nd Lieutenants get 60 days free from all military duty, and we are definitely living it up during that time!

We'll be exploring many different European countries this summer (and even a special surprise - for one week, I have NO IDEA what we're doing or where we'll be, and I can't wait to see what my handsome man picked out for us!)

Due to being out of the country, I will not be blogging... but please don't leave me! I'll be back at the end of July and will be posting regularly again. Hang in there with me... and I MAY schedule some posts for this summer so I'm not just falling off the face of the earth.

• Have you ever been to Europe?
• What's your favorite place to visit?
• Where did you go on your honeymoon?

{Less Than}Two Months Until the Wedding

I can't believe we're under two months until our wedding day! In fact, we are just under eight weeks away.

Dan and I have been engaged for SO LONG that it seems CRAZY that the light at the end of the tunnel is finally nearly here.

We have been squaring away our last minute details and just can't wait for our big day!

For more details, check out our wedding website: weddingwire.com/janelleanddan

Dating, Engaged, Married DIY Framed States

Today's DIY craft is something I've been wanting to share for a while. I made these last spring when I had a day off of work. However, life got busy, and I'm just now getting around to posting about them.

Since Dan and I started dating in Missouri, got engaged in New Mexico, and will be married in Colorado, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to make these ADORABLE prints to hang in the living room. 

I am SO happy with how they turned out, and people comment on them all the time, asking where I got them. 

To start, I bought some colorful cardstock at Hobby Lobby. I chose a textured teal color because it goes with the earthy tones in my living room but also stands out quite a bit.

Then, I picked out a patterned scrapbook paper (and bought a couple extras in case I messed up!).

When I got home, I searched on Google Images for the three different states I was looking for. I picked silhouettes and printed them on regular printer paper.

Then, I cut out the states.

After that, I glued the cut out states to the back of scrapbook paper and cut out the states again. New Mexico and Colorado were super simple, but Missouri was a piece of work!

Then, I made a template on Microsoft Word with one of my favorite fonts and practiced printing on a plain piece of printer paper to make sure it was spaced out right. Once it was, I printed the three on my teal paper. 

Now comes the glue! I actually used Mod Podge because it is sticker, and I'm used to working with it. I glued the states down as close to the middle of the teal paper as I could.

Last but not least, I added the small red heart stickers I bought for this project over the approximate location of the cities that these major events happened/will happen! 

• So, what do you think? 
• Would you make something like this to decorate your home? 
• Did these three big life events happen in different places for you as well?