November

This month brought in election drama as well as midterms. We had both been anticipating the election for a while now and following the exciting race all the way to its conclusion. For the first time a few years, I didn't work the Republican party polls - partly because I was going to be out of town as we travelled to Martin, TN for Andrew to take his GRE test, but also partly because I knew I wouldn't be voting with my party this time! On the day of, Andrew and I stood in line for over an hour to vote in the most crowded election I have ever seen. Later, as the results came in, MSU's campus went wild with the announcement of our new President, Barack Obama! Firecrackers were set off, and people poured out of the dorms, running throughout campus in celebration. It truly felt like a part of history, which of course it was.

Other than that, the month passed with the anxiety of Andrew's senior recital speeding it along. Of course, it all went well and he played brilliantly. Over 100 people attended his recital, and of course I made the programs! All his hard work really paid off. He played selected works from Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and of course the infamous Stravinsky.

October

We celebrated our first Halloween as a married couple! I honestly don't remember what we did.

September

September was a month of blustery storms and more of just going to college. I started my practicum experience at Mayfield high school and was interrupted by the remnants of hurricane winds which blew out the power in half the area. Subsequently, my days at work in Wal-mart were jammed with freaked-out people. Andrew just kept practicing away! Meanwhile, we continued setting up house and making a little home out of our apartment. At our initial move-in, we didn't have a proper bed - instead, we were provided with two mis-matched twin sized beds. Seeing as we had already bequeathed all our dorm-room bedding onto younger siblings, this presented a bit of a problem, and it took the university weeks to get us a regular bed. After that fiasco, it took us forever to figure out what to do with all of our wonderful wedding gifts, and we probably rearranged our bedroom at least five times before we were satisfied with it. With the help of two carpets, at small TV set, a nice desk, and a rubber-tree plant from our wedding, it even started to not look half-bad. We celebrated our one month of marriage by eating the top layer of our wedding cake (I know a year is tradition, but we weren't sure how long the freshness would hold up). It was still completely delicious, and we munched on it for the majority of the month.

August

The months leading up to August and the days leading up to the 16th went by in a blur. Over the course of the spring/summer, we went through venue after venue before finding the beautiful Murray Woman's Club, and I went through three dresses searching for the perfect one, only to discover mine in the unlikliest of places: ebay! Now you all know my secret...

The preparations for the wedding went smoothly for the most part; until the few days before, that is. I had just started a new job (Wal-Mart, ugh) and was struggling to balance work with wedding preparations. Once we started setting up at the Woman's Club, I soon realized that my visions for exactly what I wanted to do with my stacks of decorations were not very well thought out, and we floundered around sticking up bows here and there until we were rescued by a hoard of helpful relatives; Amy and Aunt Cathy revived the limp mantel decorations, Carol ironed every tablecloth, and Karen and Beth brought in centerpieces that just happened to match perfectly. Nan of course put her craftsmanship to work as well, tweaking the decorations to pull together the whole look. Meanwhile, sisters, Mothers, and the crazy me went scurrying around trying to get the wedding party into shape. I was apparently a nervous wreck at the rehearsal dinner, but I must have blocked that particular memory out. Of course, for all of you at the wedding, you know that it went off without a hitch (except for the most important one, that is!) and I truly couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

For our "mini-moon" we traveled up to Grand Rivers to stay at Steve Estes' beautiful Bed and Breakfast, The Rose of the Lake. The weather was beautiful and we loved our cozy little cottage up there. We would love to post pictures of our little honeymoon, which also included a wonderful dinner at Patti's and a 3 a.m. trip to IHOP, but unfortunately we didn't exactly get around to taking pictures.

The rest of the month zoomed by as we moved into our horribly run-down little apartment at College Courts, entered our last year of college, started classes and went back to work. The fun was just beginning!

Welcome to our blog!

Hello friends and family!

Welcome to our new family blog. This first year of marriage has gone by so so quickly, and we wanted a way to document where we've been and what we've been up to for this tumultuous year. On here you can find pictures from our wedding and from the various big and little events throughout the year, and we'll try to keep you posted about what's going on! For those of you that were a part of our lovely wedding, thank you for being there and thank you for keeping up with us. For everyone else, well, we're glad you're here too!