Third Anniversary

...and I thought I loved you then.

Today we celebrate our third wedding anniversary. A few things have changed in the 1,096 days since we said "I do," but I wouldn't trade a single one of those days for anything in the world. Of course there have been bad days and rough patches, but every single day of the past three years has been a part of our journey to get us to where we are today.  We are in a very good place...and I truly don't think it's possible to be happier than I am at this point in time.

Together we have built a great life...with an incredibly supportive family and amazing friends. Each night as we pray together with Huston, we thank God for the overabundance of good He's blessed us with. We try hard to express our gratitude {to the Lord, to each other, and to those around us} and to not take anything for granted.

The commitment that I made to this man three years ago was the best decision of my life. Not only does my love for him grow with each passing day, but my genuine appreciation for the man that he is and all that he does for our family strengthens as well. The phenomenal father he is to our son is one characteristic for which I'm most thankful. I realize how lucky I am to have a life partner who truly shares an equal {or bigger!} part of the load in every aspect of life. We make a great team...a team strong enough to take on anything that comes our way! Here's to many, many more years of anniversaries!

Happy Anniversary to my handsome husband! Thank you for loving me. I love you with all that I am and all that I will ever be.  Always and forever...and ever!

Three years down, FOREVER to go!

Our first anniversary

Our second anniversary

Second Anniversary

Wow...it's crazy how much can change in two years!

On November 2, 2013 we said, "I do!"...and it truly was the perfect day. 

 Wedding Photo Credit: McGowan Images 

As cliche as it sounds, I didn't think life could get any better than it was on that day...but I was so wrong! It's been an amazing ride these past two years. We've had our ups and downs, but the good has far outweighed the bad! 

November 2, 2015

Dear Ryan,

Happy Anniversary! There are no words to properly relay my feelings, so I'll just start with THANK YOU! Thank you for loving me just as I am...the good and the bad. Thank you for being the love of my life, my very best friend, and better half! Most importantly, thank you for making me a momma...far and away the very best gift you could ever give me. 

This past year has been incredible...but becoming parents is one memory that I highly doubt we'll ever top. Watching you care for and interact with Huston can seriously bring (happy!) tears to my eyes. You are an exceptional father, and I'm so very grateful to be on this parenting journey with you by my side. Your son and I are very lucky to have you in our lives, and I promise we'll never take that for granted.

Two years down, forever to go! I love you with all that I am and all that I'll ever be!

Love you Forever,

L

Happy Anniversary, Husband!

32 Looks Good On You!

Dear Ryan,

Happy Happy Happy Birthday, Husband!

I could never find the proper words to express how grateful I am to be sharing this life with you because I’m certain those words just don’t exist.  You’ve brought so much joy and happiness into my life…and this is just the beginning.  In just a few short months, we are going to be parents…and I truly cannot wait to see you as a dad.  I hope our little guy looks just like you {handsome like Daddy}.

You are the most selfless man I know…always going above and beyond to make others {me!} happy.  You always think of me before ever considering yourself.  It’s the little things…

·         Grocery shopping because you know I am afraid of hate the grocery store.

·         Eating something else for breakfast so I can have the last bit of milk for my cereal.

·         Random texts or calls just to see how my day is going.

·         Eating Mexican food 95% of the time we go out because you know it’s my favorite.

·        Running nine million errands on your one day off because I didn’t have time {or was too lazy} to do it on the weekend.

Even on my very worst days, you know exactly what to say to make me feel pretty and remind me that you’re proud to call me your wife.  You always make me feel appreciated, never letting anything go without showing gratitude in some way…even if my attempt to make dinner was a near-fail or I shrunk your favorite sweater while doing the laundry.  It’s only been recently that I’ve realized how truly lucky I am to have a husband who loves me just as I am, the good and the bad, never trying to change me…just loving me, day in and day out.  Thank you for that…thank you, thank you, thank you!

You are something pretty special, Ryan Martin, and I don’t tell you nearly often enough how incredibly thankful I am that you’re mine! I respect and admire the man that you are, and I love you with everything that I am. Always. Forever. And Ever.

Photo Credit: McGowan Images

Happy Birthday, Babe…32 looks good on you!  There’s so much to look forward to in this coming year…let’s make it the best one yet! I love you!

Happy 32nd Birthday, Ryan!

Merry Christmas 2014

Now that our Christmas card has been revealed, I can share some of our favorite pics from our anniversary photo session. As always, thank you to the fabulous McGowan Images for capturing these images!

One year down, forever to go!

Yes...we really climbed that tree!

And because I didn't have this lil' bloggety-blog last year, I'm also including our 2013 Christmas card...

Merry Christmas from the Martins!

How to Defrost Your Wedding Cake After a Year

Like I mentioned last week, we accidentally left the top tier of our wedding cake at the Iron Horse Inn {the incredible bed and breakfast where my family/wedding party stayed during our wedding weekend}. We weren't expecting much from our wedding cake after it sat in a freezer for a year, but it turned out to be DELICIOUS! I asked Diana {owner of Iron Horse Inn} what she did to prepare our cake for our anniversary celebration, and she shared the following process with me:

1. Remove the wedding cake from the freezer two days before the anniversary. 
2. At the same time, remove the multiple layers of plastic and foil used to wrap the cake and re-wrap it loosely with wax paper and plastic cling wrap. Place the cake in the refrigerator.
3. One the morning of the anniversary, remove the cake from the fridge and set it on the countertop. Also remove the plastic and foil used to wrap the cake. 
4. Leave the cake out on the counter under a plastic or glass cake platter the entire day. 
5. Gently touch the fondant or buttercream frosting to see if it has softened. Once the frosting is soft, the wedding cake is ready to eat.

As a sidenote, you're most likely to get the best results if your cake is wrapped with plastic cling wrap and foil and then placed in a cake box that is then also wrapped with cling wrap before you place it in the freezer to await your first anniversary.

We're still enjoying the top tier of our cake. We're keeping it wrapped up pretty tight and storing it in the refrigerator to keep it as fresh as possible...and, as good as it is, it won't be too long before it's gone!

First Anniversary Gift Ideas

Yep, it's still Anniversary Week here in my world, so let's talk a little bit about gifts.  I knew of the "Anniversary Gift Guide" that suggests traditional and modern gifts for each anniversary, but apparently there's a flower and gemstone tied to each year too??? I'm not going to report on those though because, being the good researcher that I am, I looked at several sources and each listed a different flower and gemstone for Anniversary Numero Uno. {Have I ever mentioned how much I hate unanswered questions/inconsistent information???} Anyway, back to the point at hand...I'm only going to discuss paper gift ideas because clocks are, well, clocks...there really aren't a lot of options. Duh.

Plane Tickets

...or ANY kind of tickets {concert, theater, sporting event, etc.}. We decided that we wanted to take a trip {Anni-moon in Napa...details & pics next week!}, so we gifted each other plane tickets to San Francisco. 

Just be sure to save the tickets {frame them, include them in photo album, etc.} so you will have a keepsake to always remember the occasion.

Daily Journal

This one takes some planning {as in keeping track of daily life for an entire year}. I think I saw something like this on Pinterest before we got married, so I kept a journal of our daily life beginning on our wedding day. I gave each day its own note card, so we can keep the journal going for years to come. I realize it's highly unlikely that we'll remember to write something down for EVERY.SINGLE.DAY beyond this first year, but I have high hopes that we'll at least remember to do it on a regular basis. It was fun to look back and remember little things from just ONE year, so I can only imagine how sentimental I'll be after several years.

I ordered the wooden box and tab dividers from this Etsy shop. {You have to request a custom order for a double-deep box because the regular size recipe boxes aren't large enough for 365 cards plus the dividers.}

Personalized Stationery

This is the obvious paper gift. No explanation necessary.

Monthly Gifts {IOU Cards}

This was Ryan's brilliant idea that he may come to regret! 😉

He gave me 12 note cards {one for each month of the coming year} that I can "cash in" for ANYTHING.I.WANT...plus three bonus cards that he already filled in for me. This is going to be fun!

A Few More Ideas

• Photos: put together an album or calendar of photos from your first year of marriage
• Subscription to favorite magazine or newspaper
• Framed vows: there are options all over Etsy for something like this
• Handwritten clues for a scavenger hunt {Gone Girl style...but not really!}
• Menu to a favorite {or new!} restaurant where you've already made reservations
• Or go the modern way and give a watch!

And now I probably should start thinking about what I'm going to do for our 2nd anniversary COTTON gift.  Oh wait...I've got Christmas, Valentine's Day, and birthday gifts to figure out first!

Q&A: His Thoughts on Marriage

In honor of it being Anniversary Week {yes, we're celebrating all week!}, I did a little Q&A with the husband about marriage. 

A Q&A is perfectly appropriate because our relationship was pretty much built on a high-stakes question game. I say it was high-stakes because he informed me that "we" weren't going to work if we weren't in love with each other by "Question 100." {Although he now claims that he already loved me when he put that rule in place...he was just trying to get a feel for how I felt about him????}. He followed that one up by telling me that we should probably just break up if we weren't engaged by "Question 1,000." {And he let me know that he was keeping track of the question numbers in his head. He'd update me at certain milestones, so I didn't need to worry about it.}

Our question game even showed up on the bow of my Christmas gift.
"One year closer too/to/2/two Question #1000." 

And so the question game continues...

Me: What, if anything, has changed since we said "I do"?

Ryan: Hmmm...{thinks for a minute or so}...Well, what has changed for you?
Me: My last name.
Ryan: Umm...my address?
Me: No.
Ryan: What? That's not good enough?
Me: No, it's just not true.
Ryan: Oh, ok. {thinks a bit more as he's browning hamburger for dinner} One thing that's changed is that I really have to mash up the hamburger when I cook it now...you know, instead of leaving it chunky like I like it. THAT is one thing that's changed...but it's ok, I'll make it how you like it.  

Me: What is your favorite memory from our first year of marriage?

Ryan: That one Saturday we went to Canton {Canton Trade Days} and then went out with my friends that night. It was just a cool day. You shopped all day, but you were still up for hanging out with my friends when we got back to Dallas. 

That one day we ventured out to Canton Trade Days...
and survived! 

Me: What's the most important lesson you've learned so far in our marriage?

Ryan:  Sometimes it's best to just give you your space.
Me: Touché.

Me: What's one tradition/habit we've established during our first year of marriage?

Ryan:  Ordering pizza on Sunday evenings.

Me: What do you appreciate most about me?

Ryan:  How much you care about people other than yourself. How you put others before yourself...that would be the more proper phrasing.

Me: What’s one thing I do that drives you crazy?

Ryan: Leaving your wet towels on the floor...or the bed...or anywhere that's not hanging up or in the hamper. ORRRR telling me I can't wear spring colors in the fall.  

Me: I said ONE thing.

Me: In what way do you hope our future children are like me?

Ryan: Your gratefulness and thoughtfulness toward others.

Me: What is one quality of mine you hope they don't inherit?

Ryan: Your insomnia.

Me: What three words best describe me?
Ryan: Beautiful, smart and unstable...{laughs hysterically}. I'm just kidding about the unstable! Beautiful, smart and determined.

Me: What advice would you give a recently-engaged or newlywed couple?

Ryan: Don't let her eat the cake. No, no, no...I'm teasing. Don't put that. 
Me: Too late.
Ryan: You know what "Don't eat the cake" means, right?
Me: ... {I just rolled my eyes}
Ryan: Learn to pick your battles. I'm leaving it at that. And never go to bed mad.

Me: Is there anything else you'd like to say about marriage?
Ryan: It looks good on me.

Me: {I can't help but agree!}

Photos by McGowan Images

First Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my handsome husband!

Photo by McGowan Images

To borrow a few lines from my wedding vows:

You are truly my prince charming...my best friend, my soul mate, the love of my life.

Thank you for being the calm when I am the storm...sometimes even a tornado. Thank you for being rational when I am ridiculous. Thank you for being my rock, my strength, the saver of my sanity. Thank you for loving me just as I am. I love you with all that I am and with all that I'll ever be...for the rest of our lives.

And because I love our wedding highlight video so much {and look for any excuse to share it}...

Leslie and Ryan Martin's wedding highlight from Turquoise Video Productions on Vimeo.

One year down, FOREVER to go!

Attitude of Gratitude

Today I am grateful! 

via

Grateful for so many things, including...

Christopher Columbus

I'm very grateful that Christopher Columbus found America...and very happy that the bond market is closed today to honor Columbus and his fabulous discovery! Thank you, Christopher Columbus, for sailing the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria across the ocean blue in 1492.

Weekend with my mom

My mom spent the end of last week and the weekend with us in Dallas. I love love love having her in town. Her only request is to have as many meals as possible on a patio, weather permitting, of course. 

I'm often told how much I look like my mom. That is such a compliment to me. I can only hope I age as beautifully as she has. I love that lady so very much...and I am beyond grateful for the close relationship we share!

Upcoming Anniversary Trip

We {finally} decided where we are going to celebrate our first anniversary...and our trip to Napa Valley is officially booked! SO EXCITED! Just a few weeks away...

This Guy

Speaking of our anniversary trip, I'm grateful for an A-MAZing husband who makes this journey through life worth traveling. I'm thankful he loves me even at my worst {pretty much any morning before 8:00 am!}

Jayhawk Basketball

Last Friday night, "Late Night in the Phog" marked the official kickoff of the 2014-2015 basketball season! ROCK CHALK!

I'm so grateful that I'll be meeting several of my college roommates in Lawrence the last weekend in January for the KU/K-State basketball game.  Can't wait to {Re}live the college life...for a weekend. Or just one night.

March 2013: the last time we were all in Lawrence together! 

For what are you most grateful?

Today I'm linking up with Emily from Ember Grey for "Grateful Heart Monday."