the family photo ordeal

Two posts back to back is not my norm but I was browsing through iphoto yesterday and this series of photos cracked me up.  This is how my family preps for a family photo while Isaac tries to get us all in focus....

to 28...and a perspective check

Yesterday I celebrated my 28th birthday! Adam was really sweet and woke up early and ran to whole foods to buy me flowers and surprised me with breakfast in bed! It was such a great way to start the day.

Our families chipped in to get me a new camera lens I've been wanting. It's a cannon 50mm/1.4 and Adam and I have been taking pictures of everything in our house. I love it!

This morning I was reading a friend from highscool's blog who is battling cancer and it was a good perspective check. I spent yesterday working, talking on the phone and celebrating and she spent yesterday in pain in a hospital bed. We are both newly married and our daily lives look so different right now. Sarah is such an encouragement and inspiration. Her blog posts and videos show such a sweet intimacy and peace with Christ that many may never experience this side of heaven.  It's such a great reminder that life is such a gift and I want to make the most of whatever the Lord has in store for me. Beleiving that "He who started a good work in you, will carry it out until completion."

Lord, be with Sarah today, may she continue to know your presence and experience your love and healing moment by moment.

http://sarahchidgey.blogspot.com/

Wedding Guest Book

Here are all the guestbook photos.. minus a few really funny but minorly inappropriate ones from our friends.  You can see those next time you come over :)

3 months!

Adam brought me these flowers to celebrate our 3 month anniversary! I'm sure to the long-time marrieds this feels very small but to us it's another big milestone!  Adam asked me what I had learned or newly realized since being married so I thought I would share a few with you.

1. Adam's eyes are not bigger than his stomach.- I assumed when I got married I could just double the amount I used to cook, but really, I have to at least triple or quadruple it.  However, I think Adam secretly likes when he doesn't get enough to eat because he uses it as his excuse to eat half a container of ice cream.

2. Be a cleaner, not a fighter- No matter what time of day, if Adam and I have conflict or are bothering each other, we both get in super cleaning mode. I get scrub-happy with dishes and clean every countertop while Adam takes out all the trash, recycling and compost.  Then I decide I need to clean out all our junk mail and to-do piles and Adam switches all the laundry.  Once we run out of things to clean we parlay on the couch and work out our disagreement.  The nice thing is it gives us time to think, which involves me stepping off my "I'm right!" pedestal, and coming to terms with my own brokenness that helped cause the conflict. It also gives us a really clean house!

3. Watch your words...or lack there of- Being married gives you a powerful place in your spouse's life. Adam and I see each other in our most vulnerable moments; moments that no one else can speak into the same way that we can to each other. I love Adam dearly but I am not immune from those moments where it feels easier to disengage, criticize, or just not be intentional to encourage Adam.  I am thankful for Christ's conviction in those moments of my vow to love Adam "without reservation." I'm reminded of my deep neediness for Christ's love, knowing, and encouragement to fill me so that I am able to shut the computer and hear about Adam's day, encourage Him as he talks about His ideas and not criticize, tell Him how much I love him and how thankful I am for him instead of being silent.  My prayer is that I would continually be dependent on God to love Adam in the way that God only knows he needs- that my words would be "sweet to the soul" Prov. 16:24

Happy Cinco de January!

The title has nothing to do with the blog post except that it is the 5th of January and I was looking at a bowl of 4 ripe avocados we have sitting on our counter and envisioned guacamole. Anywho, the snow is finally melting away, Adam is at work, and I am on my way out the door to start my marathon of returns to stores whose customer service lines I avoid after the holidays until everyone else is back at work :)  I actually start back to work today too. DU classes are up and running and the intersection at University and Evans are filled with students walking to class as usual.

In warmer news! I'm going to the beach! We are taking a Hen (I'll explain the term in a later post) trip to Florida in February and I am pumped! In honor of beach trips, here is an old photo from my beach days in Port Aransas, TX as a kid. I'm the one in the hat :)

dear 2010, thanks!

Happy New Year everyone!  This year we did New Years Callaway style ( a very fluid term, since we've only been married 3 months).  We had friends over to celebrate and a few of them wrote down their new year's resolutions for me. I'm still thinking about my goals for this year but I at least got a shot of one of them.  When I figure out the rest, I'll let you know. 

i think tifah needed an easy win

 he doesn't normally look like a beaver

a few of the festivities...

Thank you eb for the japanese tape!

I found this apothecary pitcher at World Market and was excited to use it :)

 Balmer brought his trusty chocolate fountain...

 getting ready for the bowl game