Love Story {Part VI} Then Comes Marriage

You can bet that the next six months were spent very impatiently awaiting Martin's arrival to Denver. But finally, after two years, he made the journey to the big city that would now be his home. But this time instead of tears there were smiles that couldn't be stopped.

We felt complete again. This was the way it was supposed to be. We didn't have to plan days in advance of when we would get to see each other. I could eat dinner with him on a Tuesday night if I wanted to!  

Martin arrived in Denver just in time to help me put the finishing touches on our wedding plans.  Our wedding day would take place in a small Colorado town, overlooking the mountains with our closest family and friends. 

When I look back on our wedding, it makes me smile. It was a beautiful summer morning and as I got dressed I nervously waited for the moment when I would get to see my groom for the first time. 

When it was time, my dad walked me down the stone staircase reminding me to breathe. He held onto my shaking hand and as I finally looked up all I could see was Martin waiting for me.

 We made our vows to each other, exchanged rings, and sealed our love with a kiss all while the birds chirped happily around us. 

We had started our life together as husband and wife. After seven years we were finally married. It was, is, the best feeling in the world to know that you get to spend the rest of your life with your best friend. 

It's been two and half years since our wedding day and I am more in love with my husband than ever. I still sometimes can't believe that he chose me to be his wife.  We have been through so much these past two years that have made us stronger and more thankful that we have had each other to grow side by side with. 


 And now with the start of a brand new year we are about to begin our newest and greatest adventure together yet...

Love Story {Part I}

Love Story {Part 11} A Mild Lapse in Judgment

Love Story {Part III} Fate is in Charge

Love Story {Part IV} Survival Mode

Love Story {Part V} Promise

Love Story {Part V} Promise

Thanks for reading along with me as I've been documenting our Love Story.  I wanted to have a place where it was all together...from the beginning to today :)

* * *

I was a college graduate.  It was the summer of 2007 and I was headed for the real world--the real workforce. Joining hundreds of thousands of other young folks just like me. I was living on my own for the first time in my whole life. My own apartment, my own rules, my own little space in the big city of Denver. I finally felt like an adult, making my own decisions, supporting myself.

I began my summer with my continued job search and summer nanny job. In June, I got the call I'd been praying and hoping for since I had started college four years earlier.  I had been offered a fourth grade teaching position!  I called Martin immediately and told him my good news. He was so happy for me and in my state of bliss I didn't or rather couldn't dwell too much on the fact that my new job was in Aurora and Martin was still in Greeley. 

We both knew I had to take the job.  We talked about how the next year was going to look. We knew it would be at least another year of long distance, lots of driving, lots of phone conversations. But there was no hesitation that this was the right thing to do. So we decided that the minute Martin graduated he would join me in Denver.  

I spent that next year being what I had always wanted to be, a teacher. All those years of playing pretend classroom in the basement with my sister had payed off.  I didn't have to pretend anymore and I got payed for it. 

I loved it.

When summer came I was ecstatic to be able to spend my summer vacation with Martin. One particular summer day Martin planned out a day in the mountains for us.  We would drive to Rocky Mountain National Park, find a quiet picnic spot, and enjoy the beautiful summer weather.  I didn't think anything of our day trip because Martin planned things like this all the time for us to do. So we packed up our lunch, hopped in the car and made the drive up the winding mountain roads.  We pulled off to a picnic spot that nestled right up alongside the river...it was peaceful and the wind rustled the pine trees.  As Martin set up our lunch I wandered around taking pictures oblivious to the magical moment that was about to occur. 

A few minutes later Martin called me over and took my hands in his. He began telling me sweet things that I truly wish I could remember :) But I do remember him telling me how much he loved me and that he promised to spend the rest of his life with me. Then he asked me to marry him. This was the greatest promise of love. 

I don't think I had ever felt as happy as I did at that moment. We soaked in our good news, just the two of us, for a long time before we headed back on the road.

We had known for a very long time that we wanted to be by each others sides for the rest of our lives, but now the pieces were finally falling into place. Martin only had a semester left of school, I had a job I enjoyed, and soon he would be with me in Denver.

Love Story {Part I}

Love Story {Part 11} A Mild Lapse in Judgment

Love Story {Part III} Fate is in Charge

Love Story {Part IV} Survival Mode

Love Story {Part IV} Survival Mode

In the late fall of 2006, I opened my placement letter for student teaching. I had been placed in a city I had never wanted to go to and I was devastated. Those who know me well know that I am a homebody. Home is where I feel the safest. Looking back now though, I can see that maybe I needed to be pushed to expand my wings and try something new. I would never have left on my own accord.

I would be moving to our state's capitol, somewhere I had only been with my family for special occasions...when we visited the museum or the zoo. I had never in a million years pictured myself living amongst the hustle and bustle of big city life. I was scared to death and didn't know what these next six months were going to look like. 

But there was one bright light amongst all these gloomy thoughts.  My big sister, Elizabeth, was already living in Denver working towards her PhD, and without hesitation she had asked me to live with her. I was beyond relieved.

I remember saying goodbye to Martin. We stood outside his rundown apartment across from campus and he held me in his arms for what didn't seem like long enough.  The cold wind whipped around us and I thought it was fitting that everything around us was dead and covered in dirty snow. Through my tears he told me it wouldn't be so bad. He would come visit me as often as he could and I would do the same. I nodded and gave an unconvincing smile. I got in my overpacked car and couldn't look back as I drove away. 

As I made my first drive to Denver...to my new home...I cried even more tears. It was almost a two our drive to see the love of my life and I knew we would both be very busy with school.

I slowly began to unpack my new life. I started my placement at a school in Aurora, a suburb of Denver.  The school was rough and I had been assigned to a 5th grade class of kids who were much taller than me, where the boys were already growing mustaches, and where I was told by the students that they didn't like me. I worked hard, proving myself to those around me that I could do this. I began to fit into a community where I was the minority and I began to earn the respect of my new class. 

When my school days were over I longed for the moment when I could see Martin. We made the two hour journey more times than we could count, through blizzards and rush hour traffic. Our two weekend days together would fly by too quickly. It wasn't enough time to catch up on what we were missing. Some weekends we couldn't see each other at all.  Some weekends we spent arguing about things that didn't matter. But we continued to talk daily and continued to make the best of what we had.

When Spring came I felt like I had literally survived a battle and I was waking up with the sun. Somehow I made it through my placement with only a few emotional scars and much thicker skin. I was more ready than ever to take on my own classroom.  I was excited about my future. I applied to hundreds of jobs...mostly back home where I desperately wanted to return to. 

Martin still had a year and half of school left after switching majors and my number one goal was to move closer to where he was.

Love Story {Part I}

Love Story {Part 11} A Mild Lapse in Judgment

Love Story {Part III} Fate is in Charge

The Floridans are Cold!

It's amazing what a couple years of living in tropical paradise will do to two native Coloradoans. Just a few minutes into our photo shoot and my twin sister and her fiance were freezing their rear-ends off. They've spent their entire vacation wrapped in quilts, huddled together on the couch. I think they're secretly looking forward to when they feel the warm humidity on their skin in a few days. 

I love how these pictures turned out. The red against the white world looks so beautiful. 

Scenes from Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I've been enjoying my days off from teaching, spending every waking moment with my twin sister before she heads back to Florida. I loved being home this Christmas with my whole family together.  We spent hours staring at my nephew, eating our favorite Christmas foods, and enjoying each others company. 

My mom has her original santa stocking that her mom made for her when she was born and has created her families stockings from the same pattern. The past few years we've added more stockings to the mantel as each of us has gotten married and now even the first grand baby has his very own santa stocking.   

It's hard to believe that Christmas is already over and in just a few days it will be a brand new year. I always feel a little sad when the year ends. But then again we have a fresh start to look forward too...an empty calendar with days that will be filled with more happy memories and new adventures :)