3 years of wedded bliss

Today we've been married for 3 years. We now own a house, have a (nearly) 4 month old baby, two cats, two dogs, and a lot of love to this day. We've been together 8 years now and it has been a wonderful 8 years filled with so many experiences and lessons. We've learned a lot of patience and trusting. I'm so happy with where we are right now... I wouldn't change a thing.

Here is a photo recap of that amazing day I will never forget... July 21, 2007 @ Riverwood Mansion in Nashville, TN.

Giving Thanks

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Even though it has been one of the most trying years of my life, it has been one full of many blessings. I've learned to always look at the light at the end of the tunnel, even if the light is as small as a laser pointer. There is always a light, and things could always be worse. These are some things I'm incredibly thankful for...

My husband.

I am thankful to have Glenn as a husband. He strives every day to be the man God has called him to be. He is most definitely the head of my household and I am so thankful to be blessed with a man like him. I respect him and it's easy to respect a man of God. I'm just so thankful he has chosen that path and works so hard to be the man he is meant to be.

My pets.

My pets have been my loving children and filled a void I had in my heart most of this year. We got Falkor in the spring when the PCOS diagnosis was getting worse and I didn't see much hope for me. Having a puppy helped put more joy in my heart than I could have asked for. My other pets have been wonderful, too. Yumi is the only problem child I have, but even she is one of the most loving cats I've ever seen. My pets humble me and love me unconditionally... I'm thankful to have them and to be taught the value of love through them. (Note: Falkor is now much bigger than the above photo... I'm talkin' 102 lbs at 9 months old, but he's my big baby!)

Our house.

Glenn and I worked very hard on the house all year... back in January, we didn't even have a floor! Since then we have renovated the entire upstairs and only have a few minor things left, plus the nursery. Eventually I'd like to redo the floors in the bedrooms, but that will come in time. I'm thankful that we got such an incredible deal on this house and that we can stay here for many years to come. There is room to expand and for our family to grow. We are very blessed with this house.

My Pregnancy.

It really is a miracle. I didn't exactly expect it to happen this year... the way things were looking, we were going to have to stop in October for the rest of the year, save some money, and pick up with more aggressive fertility treatment in January. Now I'm so thankful that I can say I will be 6 months pregnant in early January. Sometimes it still doesn't seem real, but now I am starting to feel a little more movement.

I'm thankful for a lot in my life, but this year these are the things that come to mind the most. I've been looking forward to being pregnant for Thanksgiving because I will get to devour more food than ever. What makes it even better is that baby will be size of a sweet potato the week of Thanksgiving. Is it morbid if I inhale 3x my body weight in sweet potatoes next week?

[almost] Married for 2 years, together for 7... it's a piece of heaven!

I know, cheesy title. But I gotta say... with Glenn and I closing in on 7 wonderful years together, I can't believe how the time has flown by. We're fast approaching our second wedding anniversary and our trip to St. Augustine, FL. Our second anniversary also means the beloved "traditional" gift... year 1 was paper so we just got cards for each other and went on our vacation. Year 2 is cotton! While I'm totally unsure of what to get Glenn that is made of cotton, in my mind I imagine myself in 3rd grade gluing cotton balls all over a piece of construction paper in the shape of a heart. Next year, it's leather. Hmm. That can go in many different ways, lol... I'm sure I'll stick to a wallet or something.So as I reminence over the past 7 years and what they've been like, I've decided to highlight some of my favorite moments:

-Watching the lunar eclipse together during our first summer of love :)

-Incubus concerts

-Buzz Fest concerts

-Swing Dancing... getting him to come out of his shy shell on the dance floor

-Date nights at The Melting Pot

-Lazy weekends in our P.J.'s eating stuffed jalapenos and watching B-rated horror films

-Church softball games

-Proposal at church

-Lake house trips with Jon & Jenna (our fave traveling buddies)

-Watching him play Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill in the dark

-Putting the offer on our house

-Carving pumpkins together for the first time

-Seeing him tear up when he sees a father/child moment on a TV show or commercial

-Seeing him smile at babies

-Practicing our first dance in the apartment living room before the wedding

-Our first & last dance on our wedding day, it was like no one else was there!

-Honeymooning in Belize

-Experimenting with new types of sushi and sashimi

-Everytime we go on road trips because we fill the ash tray in the car with gummy candy!

-Our first Christmas as a married couple

-Spending every New Years Eve with Jon & Jenna

Things I am looking forward to in upcoming years...

-Creatively telling him I'm pregnant (when the time comes)

-Spending entire Saturdays in our P.J.'s with the kids

-Going to Japan

-Demolishing our debts

-Decorating for holidays for the first time in our new house

I know this looks like a ridiculously small list, but everything I can think of involves us with our future children, so in order to keep this from looking sad, I decided to keep it small. ;) I love my husband and our life together. I love our random tickle attacks and cuddles under a blanket on the couch. I love when we share ice cream together, right out of the gallon! I love when we go to the movies, hold hands in the mall, play music loudly while we clean and organize, text each other silly comments all day, and so many other things I could spend all day listing!

I love my hubby.

all about us <3

Our love is so bright, it'll blind you!

-Names: Jessi & Glenn

-When and where did you first meet?: 1999, Springfield High School, out front after school while waiting for rides to come. I was a freshman, he was a senior

-When did you first start dating?: 2002, the summer after he graduated and before I started my senior year. We started "talking" in May and started dating full-time on July 5!

-Describe your most memorable dates: Concerts we've been to together and when we go to The Melting Pot, it's pretty amazing. :)

-When did "I love you" come into the picture?: I honestly don't remember... I know he told me he wanted to marry me 3 months into our relationship while we watched a lunar eclipse!

-Where did you fall in love?: 2002, the summer we got together... it was July, after an Epiphany softball game, we went to The Evans' house for a pool party and ended up staying until 2 a.m. with our feet in the pool just sitting under the moon and talking. I remember that night like it was yesterday. I knew he was the one.

-How long did you date before getting engaged?: We were creeping up on our 4 year anniversary

-How did he pop the question?: Ha, funny story actually. He did a good job. :) It was at church during Subject In A Sack... he and I were up at the front of the congregation with all the kids and letting them relate things we pulled out of the sack to God. Glenn had put a fortune cookie in the bag and little did I know, the "fortune" was his proposal. It was Mothers Day 2006 and it couldn't have been the best way for him to do it. In front of all our friends and family.

-How long were you engaged before tying the knot?: 1 year and 2 months

-When and where did you get married?: July 21, 2007 at Riverwood Mansion.

-Where did you go on your honeymoon?: Coco Plum Caye, Belize! It was amazing.

-As of today, how long have you been married?: We're creeping up on our 2 year wedding anniversary!!!

-As of today, how long have you been together?: We're creeping up on 7 glorious years together!!

-Where have you spent your anniversaries?: Last year we went to Gatlinburg, TN for almost a week with another couple. We rented a private cabin in the woods and it was amazing. This year, we're going to St. Augustine, FL for a week and staying in a condo!

-Where did you go on your first road trip?: When we hit our first year of dating, we took a day trip down to Chattanooga, TN and went to the Aquarium! 2 hours down and 2 hours back, haha. That was fun and very spur of the moment. I remember when we told his mom that day, "We're going to Chattanooga, see ya later!" She was like, "Don't come back married!" haha

-Where do you hope to spend the rest of your life together?: Honestly, in the house we're in right now... the only reason we'll move is if we design and build our own house, which could very well happen when this one is paid off. But we like where we're at and love the home itself.

-Do you have any children together?: No, but we're working on changing that. ;)

-How many children do you want and do you have names picked out?: We'd like 2 or 3, we want a mix of boys & girls. Our first boy will be Glenn the 5th, our first girl will be Zoey. Then we also like Adia and Lennon for names.

-If a $5,000 travel allowance fell into your laps, where would you guys want to go the most?: Japan!!!! Especially Kyoto... we'd like to stay with families instead of swanky hotels and just travel throughout the country, seeing gardens, eating sushi, soaking up the history, and probably buying swords, lol.

-Where all have you traveled together?: Lets see... Chattanooga, TN; South Bend, IN; Independence, KS; Gatlinburg, TN; Jacksonville, FL; Memphis, TN; Belize...

-Where do you plan to travel in the next couple of years?: St. Augustine, FL in July... we've discussed going to Cali next summer to visit family out there... definitely Gatlinburg again!! Possibly another FL trip in there somewhere.

-Finally, what is your favorite thing about your husband?: He is hilarious! He always makes me laugh and I can't stay mad at him long. He can totally tick me off and in no time I'm over it because he's such a goober, I convince myself he can't help it. ;)