How He & Me Became "We"

Growing up I had an idea of what the person I married would be like. Not that I was in a hurry - I certaintly wasn't - I just had my ideas of what "he" would be like. He would be from TX; we would live in the country; raise cattle; have sons who would be in 4-H and FFA; drive large diesel trucks. So...who did I end up with? He's from FL; we live in town, in a subdivision; raise one dog; probably no 4-H or FFA in our future; drive small vehicles. And I couldn't be happier! ;)
So, how do a TX girl and a FL boy get together? We get that question a lot! It's kind of complicated, but not really. ;)

*singing* "wrote a song about it, wanna hear it?, here it go" *end of singing* (name that tune!)

My Aunt and her family lived in a small town in the Atlanta area. David's Uncle and his family lived in the same small town. All the years growing up our family would make a trip out to GA every summer to see our extended family, and on occasion would see David's Uncle(Tio)/Aunt/Cousins also. Tio got the idea in his head many years ago that this "cute little Texas girl" would be just right for his nephew. Problem was, nephew lived in Jacksonville, FL so that didn't make it real convenient to introduce us. Several years went by and we never met. But I did hear about "the nice S. boys in FL". And you know the first thing a teenage girl thinks when she hears "they're such nice boys, and one of them is really quiet and shy (David)"...nerd, weird, not attractive, and a host of other negative things. I never even gave them a second thought.

A few years later my cousin Shelley got married and David happened to be visiting his Tio that weekend. After the wedding was over, a group of us got together and played basketball. David came to the game - supposedly to play, but I think it was really to scope me out. ;) Afterwards he gave me a ride back to my Aunt's house. The truth is, I was attracted to him at that point and he was to me also, but we were young and dumb so neither one of us said much of anything on that long drive! End of story.

Life happened and I ended up moving in with my Aunt/Uncle a few years later. I became good friends with Cindy who was dating Daniel, David's brother. Daniel was still living in FL at the time so he made many weekend trips up to GA. David decided to start coming with him - just to keep him company during that 6 hour trip you know! That was the story any way. ;) Needless to say David and I started dating during that time. Life was grand, things were rosy, then life happened again.

I moved back to TX to go to "College Round 2" and he moved to MN to go through the Radiology program at Mayo Clinic. We said we would keep and touch - we talked on the phone one time after that! I dated other people, he dated someone else, but we were never to far from each other's minds. Of course neither of us knew that at the time. Over two years passed and I was in a relationship with someone else. I was struggling in my situation - I liked that person very much and had absolutely no negative feelings at all about that person, but I knew he wasn't the one for me. It was a very hard thing for me to do, but I finally got up the nerve to end that relationship. The next day David called me. Talk about shell shocked! I knew his voice the second I heard it. The first question he asked me was "what's your status?". Yeah, it didn't take him long to cut to the chase! That was in December. In January we met in Atlanta - it was kind of a "neutral" place for us. In February, I went with him to Cindy and Daniel's wedding. In March he came to visit me in TX. In April I moved to FL. Mind you, his parents hardly knew I existed prior to me showing up to Daniel's wedding. They had no idea David was coming to see me every weekend when I lived in GA. They really thought he was going up just to keep Daniel company on that long road trip and to see his Tio and Aunt. ;) So they were a little surprised when I moved all the way out there after "only seeing David once or twice and talking on the phone a few times." My parents of course knew all about David. I remember telling my Mom one time "David is the kind of guy every mother would want her daughter to bring home".

I moved to FL in April '02, we got married in April '03, and Jacob was born in April '06. We moved back to TX in July '07 and Lia was born in Sept. '08. That's our story in a nutshell.



* I decided to do this post after reading someone else's post about how she and her husband met. I'd love to hear your story if you care to share it!

Happy 1st Birthday Lia!

Where has this past year gone? It's seemed to be the fastest year of my life! One year ago today I woke up at 5:30 AM KNOWING our baby girl would be born within the next 24 hours. I was shocked, unprepared, scared, nervous, and excited. The origional plan was that when the time came for us to go to the hospital we would take Jacob over to my brother's house...
A. plans are made to be changed
B. baby girl was coming earlier than expected
C. Brad and family were out of town
D. we quickly came up with "Plan B".
We called our friend "T", told her we needed to drop Jacob off at her house, and we were there in 15 minutes. In the mean time we called my parents who immediately started driving toward the town we live in (1.5 hrs away). They picked up Jacob when they got to town, and came to the hospital. Thirty minutes later "T"'s house cought on fire. I kid you not! (It was put out before to much damage was done.) To say that it was an exciting morning is an understatement. Seven hours later our Lia Renee arrived. Talk about love at first sight - she was the most precious baby girl I had ever seen. ;) I will never forget holding her all night long that very first night - I was "officially" feeding her, but really I was in awe of and savoring this brand new life that I was granted the privilege of having. Since we've already had one baby and really know how fast they grow/ change in the very begning I didn't want to miss one second of her being in my arms. She's still in my arms several hours a day - everything else can wait - I've got precious babies growing. She and Jacob have brought us so much joy - we can't imagine life without them.

newborn Lia

(photo courtsey of Shanda's Shots)

Lia 6 months


Lia 1 year

52 Weeks of Mom in the Picture

I'm getting back on the band wagon...I never meant to get off but somehow I did. Yes, you've probably seen this one before...but I love it and it was taken this week so I'm sharing it again.

13 of 52

1st Birthday Party

Lia had her first First Birthday Party this past weekend at my parents house. (I say first party because we'll have another one on the actual day - must celebrate multiple times you know!) We had a great time - the weather was AWESOME and the company even better. ;)

Party guests:

Alison, Caroline, Kayleen, & Allie P.

Charles & Norma

David & Brenda C.

Papa & Nana C.

Great Grandma C.

Dennis, Carla, & Adam C.

Brad, Lesha, Trace, & Trevin C.

Lena, Linda, Brittany, & Wyatt C.

Kevin, Audra, & Salem C.

Time to play in the pool!! All the kids had a grand time - I remember when it used to be my generation playing in the pool and our parents supervising. Now I'm the "parent supervisor". How and when did this happen?? All these little kids here...I used to play in the pool with their parents when we were their age...it's mind boggling to think about how fast time has passed.

My two cute kids (and their cute dad)...just because.

Time to eat - "OK kids - line up on the clown car". It was quite handy actually. (car explanation coming in the next post)

Time for cake...

...and ice cream!

Lia had many helpers when it was present time...little Salem, however, had better things to do. A girls got to get her beauty rest you know!