Love...

What is it really?  Does it change?  Do we see different kinds and levels of it?  Why does it seem like there is never enough of it to go around?  Catherine and I are in love.   There is no other way to describe the force that pulls us together and makes us want to be near each other every waking moment.  For some reason, in this world we live in today, many think of this as a young love.  The love that lasts in newlyweds lasts only for a short time, but why is that?  Why is it that "lasting love" requires the compromise of work and hobbies and sports and movies and girlfriends and bros and so on and so forth?  Why is it that in the world we live in today the ideas of the important from the unimportant are so cloudy and faded that the importance of family is hard to see?  I have heard the advice that couples need to make sure that they have given each other enough space that they can both accomplish their carreers and do the things they want to do in life.  But really, in they end, all the fame, education, promotions, and accomplishments will be water under the bridge.  No matter if I'm a doctor saving a life or the maid cleaning up in the hospital, it is not worth it if I have no time for my family.  I don't care how much I accomplish in life as far as work goes. If my family doesn't know they always came first in my life, what is really the point?  Now, is it really still possible to have the life I want?  Is it possible to live in a nice home with a white picket fence without selling my soul to my job?  Is it still possible to give my family the time and attention it deserves?  I believe it is.  I believe it comes down to the fact that we all need to stand up for ourselves and take hold of our lives.  I have seen too many families fall apart because one or both parties involved are more commited to other things in life rather than each other.

I knew that Catherine and I were right for each other when we both realized we cared more about talking to each other than doing anything else in life.  I need someone I care about more than anything else.  I want to want to come home from work.  I want to be excited for every moment I get to hold her in my arms.  She became my best friend in 6 months and my eternal companion in a year and a half.  I will always have her with me and I plan on making my life one in which I can be with her as much as possible.  My life choices will be based out of how it will allow me the quality time I desire with my family.  I may leave some money on the table and some wonderful job opportunities may fly by but in the end it would all be tedious if it took away from my sweet Catherine.

So what really is love?  It is the desire with every fiber of my being to bring happiness to someone else.  The people we love are those that we want to spend all of our time with.  I love you Catherine.

I love my husband

I don't have a long time to write because I've been gone all day and Mark will be going to bed soon (he has to get up at 5 every morning and because I can't stand being up while he goes to sleep, we always go to bed together even though it takes me forever to fall asleep cause I sleep in late since school hasn't started back up yet) so that means I will be going to bed soon and want to spend a few precious minutes with him before the day runs out...

But I just wanted to take a few minutes and say how awesome he is.  I baby-sat all day and he gets home from work at 3:30.  When I got home at 7:30 he had a delicious dinner waiting for me and now he's busy working on trimming my resume's for me perfectly with a straight edge because I can't ever seem to get it right and he just finished that and now he's putting cookies in the oven because I said I wanted some.  I mean, isn't he just the absolute sweetest guy ever???

I love him soooo much and I am the luckiest girl ever to have him for my sweet husband.  My patriarchal blessing even addresses him as 'my dear husband' when talking about him.  I'm so happy I found my eternal companion.

Happy New Year!

2014 is here!  I think 2013 has been the best year of both our lives so far but I'm thinking 2014 might be even better!  I love starting off this new year with  my sweetheart by my side.  Life is so much better when you have someone to share it with!

At this very moment, Peanut is behind me in the kitchen making strawberry-banana waffles and dancing his cute little butt off to "Got to be Real" by Cheryl Lynn...it's a real girl power song that reminds me of "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" that came up on our "Walking on Sunshine" station on Songza.  He looks pretty adorable! :)

I guess I haven't posted since Christmas...the big gift I got Mark is a tablet!  I got him a Nook HD +.  He needed a laptop really bad but I couldn't afford to get him a great laptop so I just got him a great tablet instead, which is practically the same thing and just as good for what Mark does anyway (read sports articles, watch sports videos, and check his email).  He was pretty excited!  I loved spending Christmas with my love.  He got me Hunter boots!  We also got really spoiled from my parents...they were so worried we weren't going to have that many gifts that they got us more gifts than Sean and Stephanie, haha.  After they had finished opening theirs we were scrambling to open all the rest of ours as quick as we could but we had so many!  Mostly because my mom wraps every present individually and she got us a lot of DVD's and this fairy tale collection of books so that was like most of our presents.  We also got Christmas ornaments, picture frames, Mark got a robe and keyboard for his Nook, and I got more Wizard of Oz memorabilia than you've ever seen!  Haha, I do love Wizard of Oz but my mom went a little overboard there...but I loved everything!!

We spent New Years at Esther and Jacob's.  She made us delicious teriyaki chicken and rice and we spent the night playing movie charades.  We were pretty entertained by Yosh most of the night and he kept us up until midnight when we went on the roof of their apartment and watched fireworks.  Pretty good New Year's!

Here's to our first full year of married life!  I can't wait!!! :)