Two years

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my amazing husband to still makes my heart skip a beat.  

I really am the luckiest girl in the world!

Love this guy more than I can even express.

our Christmas highlights

What a blessed Christmas we had.  We tried to soak up every second we had off work and enjoy the time together with family and friends.  Here are our highlights.

One

I remember the day we were married like it was yesterday.  I remember trying to hide behind a temple worker as I walked into the temple because my hair wasn't quite perfect yet and I didn't know he would be sitting RIGHT THERE!  I remember the look in his eyes when we were married and the way he held my hand as we imagined our future. I remember I tried to fight the tears through the whole ceremony and finally just let them flow.   I remember his face as I walked out in my wedding dress.  I remember how full my heart felt, how happy I was to be surrounded by family and friends.  I can't believe that day was a whole year ago.

For Real - Friday, Friday!

For Real... We were married 10 months this week - on 8/22 to be exact.  It was a spectacular day. Yes, I like to celebrate every milestone in our lives. I know, 10 months isn't much yet it feels like we have been living this life forever, but not.  It's weird to think about.  There are a couple things I know though - best decision of my life and I wouldn't trade the love and goofiness of that sweet man for anything in this world.  Not anything.

For Real.... I am feeling completely torn between beautifying my house and beautifying myself.  I mean, it shouldn't have to be one or the other, but I get so obsessed caught up in one that I forget about the other.  Currently I am decorating and re-decorating our house in my head.  There are pain samples ALL OVER and I change my mind every second.  Once I get it right in my head it will move into real life.  Ugh, my brain hurts from thinking about it and my shopping for self is severely lacking.  Like, I can't even remember where to shop - while the husband is doing handstands in the background I am wondering if I have seriously gone nuts.

For Real...  I decided today was the day to start running again.  I had the best of intentions of running one million miles and then feeling super proud of myself after.  One million may be an exaggeration, but I was hoping for 6 or 8 and then be super surprised because I was sure I would look down at the red numbers on the treadmill and see a big fat number 10!  It didn't happen.  Not even close.  I looked down and saw 1 and 1.12 and 1.14 and 1.67 and thought - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!   It happens.  I know that not all days are days where you feel like you could run across the country. Literally.  Especially when you are coming back from an injury and you haven't run for an entire Summer.  An ENTIRE Summer!  I should have lowered my expectations so I wouldn't be so deflated and I should have lowered my goal because I know better {and I teach better}.  It would be plain stupid to try to run 10 miles out of the gate.  Even still,  it's sad to remember when...

For Real... Pinterest.  Do you know about it?  Thanks to sweet Jessi, now I know.  Basically, it's a website where you can virtually "pin" pictures that inspire you.  Home decor, clothes, shoes, quotes - just stuff you need to remember for your life!  I know, I am  the last one to the party, but it is SO MUCH FUN.  If you don't have an account you need one.  And if you do have an account, you can follow me and see all the beautiful ideas that I am stealing from other people. :)  I know, I just made your dreams come true. 

For Real... It's FRIDAY, FRIDAY!  Everyone's looking forward to the weekend, weekend!  I started singing the Friday song from bed this morning at 6am as Ben headed for the door to leave for work.  I woke up so excited that it's almost the weekend, weekend!  I have already decided it is going to be FANTASTIC!

Happy Weekend everyone... for real!

Sweet Bliss

Bliss is... 98 cents for a box of candy and trying to make a decision between millions of sweet sugary choices while holding a snowcone.  Two sugar addicts have never been so perfectly matched.

Bliss is... A 6am flight and a whole row all to myself.  No peanuts for me please, I'll be sleeping.

Sunglasses

Every time Ben and I travel somewhere sunny we forget our sunglasses.  I think in my head, "remember the sunglasses" and inevitably we end up walking out the door sans glasses.  EVERY. TIME.  This is why I don't pay more than $20 for a pair!  We now have sunglasses from Lake Tahoe, Utah, San Diego, Hawaii, Newport Beach, and most recently, San Jose.

They're souvenirs. And heaven forbid our weak Northwest-hardly-see-the-sun-eyes get exposed to anything brighter than a cloudy day.  Honestly, the second we walked into the sun I thought my eyes were burning inside my head!  {so dramatic, I know}

Since I was in picture taking mode while in the car I had to snap a few of my favorite car shots.

This is called:  I am so scared of your driving + we have no idea where we are going + California drivers are crazy nuts + I like to show off my double chin.

This is called: Ben don't you think I am funny when I take pictures in the rental car while you drive in circles + Oh, wait, am I supposed to be giving you driving directions right now?

This is called:  Amber stop taking pictures and look at your phone and tell me where to go + why does everyone keep honking at me + I am not as good at looking scared as Amber, I need to work on my dramatic effect.

This is called:  Check out my ultra long hair that I always pull up because my long hair has no volume + It's too hot to have hair on my neck + hair picture on the first try! + Practice makes perfect and I am not even car sick. Boom!  

This is called: Well at least we have sunglasses so our eyes won't start on fire + hurry up the light is about to turn green and you still haven't given me directions + They lived happily ever after saving their eyeballs..... Until Ben's glasses broke 24 hours later.
How are the $9.99 As Seen On TV HD sunglasses not durable?  Ha, weird.  At least they got a photo shoot.

Betrothed

One year ago changed my life.  Changed Ben's life.  Seriously rocked our worlds.

June 19, 2010.  It was this day when my sweet boyfriend flew to Utah to be at the finish line of a long Relay Race.  "How sweet", I thought, "for him to fly all this way just to surprise me."

And with the best surprise of my entire life, he did certainly surprised me.  You can read the whole story here.

Look at those happy smiles and my cheesy medal {oh man}!  It's hard to believe this day was a whole year ago!

What a crazy busy -wedding planning -marriage happening -house buying -amazing fun year it has been! I liked being engaged and love much more being married to the most patient, loving man I could have ever dreamed up. One lucky girl, right here.

SIX months baby!

Today, Ben and I have been married for 6 months!  The last 6 months have gone by in record speed.  It's like someone hit the fast forward button on the DVR of our lives and we are walking in x2 speed through every day.  Ben and I were talking the other day about how six months isn't very long, but it feels like we have been together for a lifetime.  It's kind of strange how your lives just begin to meld together.

So, in celebration of 6 months, let's talk about 6 things we have learned about marriage...

1.  Two people go through a tube of toothpaste faster than I ever knew possible.  We have almost been through 6 in the last 6 months.  I don't even know if that is normal.  I am thinking I need to start buying it in bulk or stop writing secret messages on the mirror in toothpaste. {j/k I don't really do that}

2. King beds save marriages.  People tell me all the time that they sleep in a queen and I stare at them wondering how it is even possible to fit two adults in a queen.  Maybe they are not married to a giant whose legs hang off even a king, but our kind bed saved us.  The first night we came home after the wedding we had a queen bed.  I woke up a few hours after we had fallen asleep smashed against the wall blanket-less.  We had no other blankets unpacked except for one on the lay out lawn chair in the wood floored TV room.  I decided the lawn chair was a better option than the wall and spent the rest of the night there, freezing in one fleece blanket.  The next day we bought a king bed {and some furniture since the lawn chair wasn't cutting it}.  You see my point.

3.  Two is better than one.  I never realized this before.  I thought I was a genius independent woman who never needed the opinion of another.  Having someone to share everything happy, everything sad and everything in-between with is amazing.

4.  Good things don't come without work.  Seems simple enough and a lesson for everything in life really.    Caring about other people more than ourselves makes everyone happy.


5.  Two people who love candy equals a lot of candy in the house.  I don't think either of us thought we would find someone who loved the sweet nectar of sugar as much we did ourselves.  Match made in the sugar factory.

6.  The government must not appreciate two working adults getting married and not having a child.  For that reason, they take a lot of money from you and make you pay thousands of dollars in April.  It's rude and has to be unlawful.  We decided it was their way of saying, "get some kids people!"  Well government, I stand up and say - "Give me a break!  It's only been six months!"

Happy 6 months!

Ben got a surprise walking up the stairs today.

On our Honeymoon in Hawaii we stayed at the Marriott Edition Hotel.  It was brand new, modern and completely gorgeous.  They have a scent that is very prominent through the entire hotel and in their lotion and shower gel given to you in the room.  Ben LOVED the scent and brought home the little samples hesitant to use them knowing that the tiny 1 ounce bottles would run out. 

Now he has his very own 8 oz sizes ordered straight from Hawaii so he can use it freely knowing we can always get more.  Plus, the smell really is amazing and makes me reminisce about Hawaii!

It's still weird to think we're married, yet weird to picture our life without it.  I know we have so much more to learn and experience.  I'm excited what this marriage will teach us as we live and learn together for many more years to come.

Sayonara sweetheart

This weekend we are jumping on a plane headed to Newport Beach.  We are so excited for sun, fun, sleeping-in and relaxing!

We are also excited to celebrate the marriage of this awesome guy:

Ben, is that my garter on your arm?  Why yes, yes it is.

to this gorgeous girl:

See people, the superstition is true because Tasha caught my bouquet too... just sayin.

Ben squared {that means Ben and Ben... get it?} are long time friends that grew up playing soccer together.  Tasha is so amazing and a ton of fun. We love them both.  We are so excited for their life together and honored to spend their special day with them!

We decided to extend our trip a bit for a little R&R. With our extra days you better believe we will visit the happiest place on earth.

We are  crazy excited to see this guy: 

The Mouse himself

He and Ben have never met and I am promising him it will {ALMOST} be the happiest most magical day of his life!  Next to meeting me, of course....

So, sayonara sweetheart, we'll say hello to Mickey for you!

Special Edition of T.T.T

It's TUESDAY again... The time when I tell you 3 things that tell you way to much about everything we do.  Today I bring you a very special  Three Tangent Tuesday and since it's tradition and we are all doing it you should go do it on your blog now!!

1.  Ben and I have been  married 5 months TODAY!  I must take some time to on our weekly Tuesday blog to tell you that these last 5 months have been incredible and incredibly fast.  We have definitely done some learning, some growing, some communicating and some compromising.  I am confident that every day we learn something new about how to make our marriage successful.  We have such a great time together.  I love this man more than I ever knew possible.

2.  Our garbage disposal broke.  It was super disgusting.  Let's just say if you would have surprise visited us in the last couple days I would have barricaded the entrance to the kitchen and refused to let you in.  Now I am being dramatic, but it really was out of control, dishes could not be done, gross.  The good news is, BEN FIXED IT!  I didn't know he had magic plumber/electrician skills.  It took 5 stinky hours to change the disposal, figure out it still wasn't working, take it apart, and clean out disgusting yuckiness in every single pipe known to man, try to plunge the sink, threaten to throw up everywhere, put it all back together, finally do the dishes and get our kitchen back into working order.  FUN night!  Super awesome husband who told me I should leave the room as he cleaned out the pipes.  It was not pretty.  He certainly took one for the team.

Ben was so excited to get this party started  he could hardly stand it!

I don't need instructions, I am secretly an electrician.

Good thing Amber, Emily and Matt got me all these awesome
 tools for my birthday last year!

Wow, this kitchen needs help.
 Maybe Amber should stop baking when she knows she won't be able to clean dishes....
 just a thought. 

3.  Ben and his friend LeRoy photographed a good friend's wedding on Saturday.  LeRoy took the below picture at the wedding and sent it to Ben, who then sent it to me after I had fallen asleep Saturday night.  Sunday morning  I woke and grabbed my phone to check the time.  This picture was the first thing I saw.  I was completely freaked out!!  My face looks very suspicious. It was way too early and I couldn't, for the life of me, comprehend why there was a creepy picture of myself starring back at me on my own phone.

Now it's your turn....
Happy special Tuesday everyone!

TWINNERS

We were getting ready for church today.  I was all dressed and putting the final sprays of hairspray on my hair.  You know, the just in case a blast of humidity comes rushing through the chapel I better be prepared with extra hairspray already applied, sprays. {Which no one who has ever lived in the same house as me seemed to really appreciate. Ben likes to pretend he is choking.  Shannon used to hold her breath and wave her hand. At this point my mom pretends to ignore it.  I don't get it - don't they know good hair takes a lot of hairspray?} Anyway, that's actually not the point.

The point is, I was putting the final sprays on the curled hair when Ben came in tying his tie and pretending to choke {from the hairspray}.  I looked at him, looked at myself and yelled "TWINNERS!"{Ben absolutely hates that word! I couldn't help myself.} 

I married a pirate... did you know?

Cheese!

We were wearing matching orange sweaters!  I really wanted to photo document this in history, but we were not doing a great job of being photogenic for our self portraits. My apologies, but these will have to do. We looked like we were going to a high school Sadie's dance and I am positive everyone at church enjoyed our matchy matchy outfits.    

A date to remember

Exactly 2 years ago, February 21st 2009, Ben and I went on our very first date. 

I will now tell you about this monumental day. 

Ben and I met at church, I noticed him.  Ben was the ward mission leader and led a Sunday School class every Sunday.  Deneal, Liz and I decided the best way for me to talk to him would be to attend his class.  We went for a few weeks in a row.  I never said a word to him.   I didn't dare, I couldn't decide what I would say after, "Hi, I'm Amber."  I had nothing to say and I am not good at starting conversations with new people.  Especially new, tall, dark and hansome, hot males of whom I may be interested.  So I sat in Sunday School class, learned, and hoped we would talk afterward.  We didn't.

One day, I got up all my courage and decided I would speak to him.  We were at a mingle after church was over and I decided it was the perfect opportunity.  I stood with my friends waiting for my perfect moment.  It never came, I was too scared and still had no idea what I would even say.  He left and I missed my chance.

That Sunday when I got home I checked my cell phone.  I had a missed call and a voicemail.  I listened, "Hi Amber, this is Ben Walunas.  I am not sure if you know who I am.  I sat next to Amy in Sunday School today.  I am wondering if you are available sometime this week, I would like to take you out." WAHOOO!!!

Of course I gathered myself and a few hours later calmly called back and accepted.  We scheduled a date for today.

We sat 2nd row at a Winterhawks Hockey game and had dinner at The Deschutes Brewery.  I can honestly say it was an awesome first date, no weirdness - just a good time.  This weekend, in celebration of our first date anniversary, we decided to recreate it.

We enjoyed a Winterhawks game
We tried to recreate first date conversation

We went to the Brewery

We enjoyed a fabulous meal

And we agreed that although our first date was wonderful, this date was better.  Being married and able to share these memories and live our lives together as bestest friends is way better.

I love you

I have been thinking about the first time Ben said, "I love you".  Maybe because a romantic holiday is dawning on us. Maybe because it was simply a fabulous moment. In celebration of Valentines weekend,  I want to tell you about it.

It was March 21, 2010.  We had dated here and there for over a year.  We had been dating "seriously" {serious = the intent to decide if we should tie the knot} for about a month.

We decided we should date with this serious intent a month prior.  Valentines Day weekend actually. We took our first trip together to San Diego.  We visited friends, enjoyed the sun and had a fabulous time.

Together, on the plane home from San Diego, we decided that what we liked what we had. We decided it might just be the kind that you keep around forever.  We decided to give that thought a try.

Now back to March 21st.  Ben had planned a date to go to Dar Essalam.  A Moroccan restaurant in Oregon. One of Ben's ultimate favorite places to eat.  It was my first time.  I was wearing this.

It's weird that I know what I was wearing, I know.  But I have good reasoning.  One - I always associate big moments in my life with what I was wearing.  That's how I remember, it works.  Two - I was doing a 'no shopping' challenge and I took pictures of the outfits I put together with my existing clothes.  This was one. I love that flower.

We had an amazing dinner and stuffed ourselves full of chicken and beef, veggies and couscous, pita bread, hummus and mint tea.  It was so yummy, so flavorful, so memorable.  Ben chatted with the owners, fellow soccer players, and the chef came out to greet us.  By the end of our meal I was STUFFED, but Ben insisted that we order dessert.  "It's the best dessert you will ever have," he said.  It didn't take much convincing.  We all know I have a soft spot in my heart for dessert.

When the chef personally brought out the dessert I knew something was going on.  With a big smile on her face she placed the beautifully plated dessert in front of me.  Behind her stood two smiling waiters.  They told me to enjoy our dessert.  They could hardly hold in their excitement.  I looked at them confused as they walked away.  I looked at Ben who was smiling his "I don't know what the big deal is" smile, then I looked at the plate again.  Around the thick edge of the pearly white plate it read, "I love you Amber" in perfectly printed red letters.

I loved him too, and finally we said the words we were both dying to hear.

I kick myself for not taking a picture of that perfect dessert.  I wish you could see the perfect moment, the memory in my head.  I was so filled with excited butterflies grabbing a camera wasn't at the top of my to-do list. I guess we will just have to leave that for Ben and I and our special little, I love you.

I just started running

(Brace yourself for cell phone pictures and lots of words)

Yesterday was a weird day for me.  My scale told me things I didn't much appreciate.  When do I ever appreciate what it has to say.  I need to throw that stupid thing away.  But that is a discussion for another day. I love to run, you know that - but lately my runs have been melancholy, here and there.  Not fast, not far, just getting me moving, keeping me healthy, and trying to keep my mind sane. I have actually enjoyed the "break"  from pressure.  I just run when I want as fast as I want and feel good about it.  I haven't done anything over 4 miles since about November.  I was starting to become accustomed to running at lunch, keeping it short and sweet and  4 miles was about perfect.  Around the holidays I started running less, knowing around February I would really have to ramp it up and do some serious miles.

So back to yesterday.  The weather was rainy and the sky was grey {welcome to Jan in the NW}. The scale made me angry {working on that} and work was busy {I should be grateful}.  I didn't have a chance for a lunch time workout.  I didn't even get into the shower until 3.... yikes!  When my sweet hubs came home he had the most beautiful mood altering rose for me - I hadn't told him, how did he know?? Laying my head on his shoulder made me feel better.  Oh how I love being married.

After dinner we were catching up on our favorite Food Network shows {obsessed with FN these days}.  At about 8pm as hubs was beginning to yawn I started getting antsy.  I can't sit long and on a day where I have worked at home all day without a chance to leave the antsy-ness is turned up a notch. Since Ben wakes up at 5am, he needs to go to bed early.  I love when we go to bed together, but some days I can't do the early to bed so I will  tuck him in and join him a couple hours later.  Last night I was the opposite of exhausted.  I needed to move, I needed to get these crappy feelings out.  "I think I am going to go running when you go to bed," I said to him.  "Outside? Not outside I hope?!"  "No silly hubs. At the gym, it's open till 11."

At bed time I left.  I went to the gym not sure what the plan was.  I just wanted to move.  I thought to myself, "I think I will just run until this treadmill times out."  The treadmills at my old gym timed out at 60 mins.  I though the treadmills at the new gym would do the same and I was pretty sure I could handle that.  When I started I felt AWESOME!  Seriously it was the amazing running when you don't even feel like like your running.  It feels good and effortless like this and this.  OH. SO. GOOD.  When I looked down and saw 61 minutes I wondered what was going on?  I guess this isn't going to end at 60 mins!  I was almost to 7 miles. "Wow, I didn't know I could still run 7 miles", I thought.  "I bet I could do 8.  Actually I know I could do 8, I bet I could do TEN!"  I scrolled through the options on the treadmill trying to see when it really was going to time out.  99 minutes.  I had a little over 30 minutes to get there.  I could do it.

At about 8.5 miles my body felt tired.  I couldn't remember the last time I ran 8 miles. When I am  not training for something I usually stick around 6 - 7, but hadn't even been close to that lately. So it was probably before the wedding planning got crazy - maybe Sept? Yikes.  {I should add here that this is how people get hurt.  I would never ever suggest increasing your miles like this. I should know better. The endorphins got the best of me.} Then I saw 8.75, the 9 and I thought, good job Amber.  I hadn't given myself props all day.  I had been so hard on myself this morning after the scale incident.  How thoughtless and rude I had been to my body and look what it was doing for me. It was tired and it kept going because I asked. It sprinted that last mile just so I could see 10 on a treadmill.  It did that for me.  Finally I saw the 10!

I felt something about running that I hadn't felt in a while.  Appreciation.  Appreciation to myself for fueling with good food so I could run 10 miles.  Appreciation to my muscles for moving me forward. Appreciation to my bones for enduring the pounding impact.  I felt cheesy and wondered why I was making such a big deal about it since I  had run 10 plus miles so many times before.  Then, I remembered mile 8 in my very first half marathon. I thought about what I was actually doing and wanted to break down and cry because I was so thankful for a healthy body allowing me to run mile after mile.

Thank you healthy body.  I don't tell you enough - I appreciate you.

Our First Christmas

Our Christmas was wonderful, I hope yours was just as fabulous.  This is the first time in my 27 years of life that I have been away from my family for Christmas.  Although the "I miss you's" and "see you soon's" pained my heart it was fun to wake up on Christmas morning with my husband and celebrate the blessing of Christmas with the Walunas family.

On Christmas Eve my family has a tradition of giving gifts to the homeless.  We would put together little presents of warm clothes and food and take them downtown and wish those we could find a warm and happy Christmas.  Everyone receiving our gifts were always so gracious and sweet.  I remember one time a gentlemen so overcome with gratitude gave me a huge hug with tears in his eyes blessing my family. It is a special tradition that reminded our family the joy that comes with giving and reminded Nate and I the true spirit of the season.  I was so sad to miss this festivity with them this year, then I realized I could keep the tradition going!  Ben and I gathered socks and gloves and some gift certificates for food and put together our own little gifts.  Then on a rainy Christmas Eve we headed out to give them away.  It was a wonderful start to our Christmas festivities and so fun to share with each other Christmas traditions!

After spending Christmas Eve playing games with the Walunas family we came home and broke out our new Christmas PJ's before we went to bed.  My parents and I both both bought us Christmas PJ's so we decided we would wear ours for Christmas use theirs as our New Year's PJ's. Pajama's for every holiday!

Ben modeling his new Christmas PJ's

Of course, any excuse for jumping pics!

 

In true Christmas spirit I woke up Christmas morning about 4 am.  I don't know why I have done this every Christmas morning since the beginning of time, but at least in my older age I can tell myself it's too early and to go back to bed. My poor parents couldn't always convince me of the same. Finally, our alarm rang and

 IT WAS CHRISTMAS!!  

We slipped on our slippers, Ben turned on the Christmas lights and much needed space heater, I grabbed my blanket and we went to see if Santa came to visit....   

He came and filled our stockings nice and full!

Ben delighted that he has the hose he been dying for so he can give our cars a good wash.

Amber excited for a sewing machine so she can sew her crafting projects.

My most favorite part of Christmas this year was looking at Ben and saying, "It's Christmas and we're married!"  It was wonderful being together, spending time with family and knowing the ones we love are happy and healthy.  1st Christmas = success!