5 year anniversary

Today I have been married to my best friend for 5 whole years!  I am realizing that I never have documented anywhere how we met.  So for my personal purposes I am going to write it down, or rather type it:)  It is going to be long, but I enjoy the story:) At the time I met Chuck I was dating someone else.  It was kind of an 'off and on' relationship I guess you could say.  I didn't know what I wanted.  I was only 18 and had just graduated high school and started to date people 'seriously'.   According to my dad; one day when he was at work, his fellow co-worker, Babette, was talking about her son.   I think she had said something about how he wasn't having luck with the girls he was dating, that they were not what he was looking for.  So my dad asked her what he was looking for.  She said, a girl that likes to get dressed up nice, likes to be active, and is still girly.  My dad said, " I have one of those!" haha!  So he gave Babette (chuck's mom) my number.   I am pretty sure that my Bro in law, Shane actually gave Chuck my number, because my dad had given him our home phone, but that is besides the point.  He called!  We set up a date.  I remember being so nervous that he was going to be an ugly toad.  So I made my sister Stacey answer the door.  I remember her coming back to get me and saying, he's cute, you don't have to worry.  I went out and I was very impressed:)  He was cute and poor Chuck was totally bombarded by my whole family.  I mean I think everyone of my siblings was there.  Not to mention that they were passing around a cup of Mate... haha!  He said that it was kind of strange that he met everyone, I think he was glad when we left!  I remember my feelings when we were in the car and looking at him and just having that sense of familiarity.  I felt like I knew him already and that we were going to be together.  I know that it sounds corny but I think that when you are meant to be with someone that, that is what I always thought would happen.  I remember never running out of things to talk about.  We could have talked forever because we carried on conversation so easy!  We went rock climbing and I remember thinking that he had a cute toosh when he was climbing up the wall:)  We went  and got a burger and then watched a movie.  I can't remember the movie name but remember talking the entire time!  It was so nice to go on a date where conversation never got old.  Now, Chuck claims that I kept texting during our date, I personally don't remember doing that, but oh well.  He dropped me off and I felt good about the date.  Well the next day was church.  I was still kind of dating this other person so I sat by him at church.  I remember at the end of church I see this guy walking to the front of the chapel that looked strangely familiar.  It was Chuck!  I couldn't believe it.  I am sure he saw me with this other guy with his arm around my shoulder.  In fact I know he did...  I immediately felt my stomach drop.  That was when I knew that, ya, we had only been on one date but he meant something to me.  I called my sister and she said to text him.  I had said something like, I think it is ok to cuddle at church don't you?  haha something really strange.  He wrote me back a somewhat reassuring text, I don't remember what it said but I still felt sick the rest of the sunday.  He called me again to talk and he was kind of cold.  He was telling me how I wasn't the only girl he was dating and that it is ok if I also want to date other people.  It was a weird conversation.  I hadn't heard from him for a long while.  I thought that I had screwed things up.  Now Chuck says that his friend (who was a girl and liked him) was taking pictures of me with other guys and was telling him that I was kissing and canoodling these other guys.  So he told his guy friend about it and that he just was never going to call me again.  His friend encouraged him to give me another chance and to just see where things go, not to write me off so quickly.  THANK YOU!  I think if he hadn't of said that I would not be with Chuck today.  Chuck is so strong minded that when he makes up his mind he is pretty set.  It must have been the day after he had that conversation that I was walking on campus and saw him like 3 or 4 times!  I had never seen him on campus till that day, it truly was a sign! Chuck has even said to me how strange it was that we saw each other so many times that day since we never saw each other on campus.  So he asked me on another date, and then from then on we continued to date and get married.  Chuck says that he liked that he felt like he had to chase me, I think that was how I snatched him:) 

So thanks to our parents who had the novel idea of setting us up on a blind date.  It was a great idea:)! Chuck you are my best friend and I love you.  I know we have ups and downs (who doesn't) but without those we wouldn't have something to look back on and laugh.  We have been through living in the dungeon basement apartment, medical school, moving 2 times to different states, having Penny (who is in a challenge in itself:) We love you Penny! ), to now being pregnant, starting residency, and living in a new place. You sacrifice so much for our family and I hope you know how truly grateful I am for everything you help to keep us a float! All the while you have dealt with living with someone who has two left feet and runs into everything, to thinking she has every disease she hears about on the news,  I say we have done pretty good, pretty darn good.  

 

The Place, The Belly, The Goats, and Big Stories

Like my title says this post will be about our new place, my big belly, Penny and her goats at the zoo and the big stories in the time we have lived here.  I will be going in that order, in case you are wondering...haha!

Ok, So, I finally had every room in my house clean and was able to take pictures.  I don't know if it totally does justice on the amount of space we have but I can tell you that this place has over 6 massive closets.  It is really great!  I wasn't given the talent of decorating or the means to do it, so it may look bland to you, but it is home to me:)

Here is our dining room

 Kitchen, with lots of cabinets that are really deep! Not a ton of counter space but I was working with none in Milwaukee.

 Living room and Entry way

 Penny's bedroom, she has a walk in closet.  It is pretty nice.

 Our Bedroom

 1/2 Bath, downstairs by living room.

 Master bath, upstairs by our bedrooms

Well that should give you a general idea of the place that we live.  We also have a basement but it isn't that exciting.  We also have a patio but it is boring...  Well not boring it is just cement.  Chuck loves its:)

Next we have my belly... These pictures aren't that great.  I look gross because I didn't do my hair today, it is just too hot!   I will be 17 wks tomorrow.  This baby is a mover.  I have felt him/her a lot and am looking forward to an ultrasound in the near future to tell me the gender ( all of our guesses are another girl:)) We couldn't get the lighting right since our walls are a light yellow so Chuck make me go out on the patio against the brick.  I like the top one better than the bottom, but oh well:)  I can't tell you how much weight I have gained because I don't know, but I think it is 4lbs.  That is mighty better than with Penny.  This pregnancy I have still been dealing with morning sickness but, it is usually when I have had a crappy nights sleep.  Other than that, things seem to be going good.  I have a Dr. appt on Friday so we will go from there!

We have a zoo pass here so, we have been taken advantage of that on days that it is nice.  Penny just loves the zoo.  When we get near she can see the waterpark slides and she instantly gets very excited.  She screams WEEEE!! and then laughs.  She has 2 things there that are an absolute must each time we go.  Brush the goats, and ride the carousel.  They have this pen that has about 10-15 goats and a bucket full of brushes.  You can just get a brush and go brush them!  Those of you that know Penny well know that she is quite into brushing hair so of course it would be a favorite event. 

 This little white and brown one is her favorite.  She always goes to her.  The last time Penny brushed her hair she fell asleep, so I think she likes Penny and her technique:)

When I was little we went to Lagoon and my Mom has pictures of me screaming on the carousel.  Penny is quite the opposite.  She screams when it is over and has to get off.

Oh Penny we will come again!!

The stories I have to share are quite dramatic.  At least they are to us.  The first night we moved in Penny got a minor concussion.  The way our basement is set up, is that the stairs have only one wall and the other side is open to the basement floor.  Penny decided to wear my shoes and go down the stairs to follow dad.  Unfortunately, the side of the stairs that has the hand rail is the open side.  I know that she was holding on to the railing, because she always does.  All I heard was a smack and loud thud, and then a few seconds later Penny screaming in a cry I have never heard before.  She took a long time to take a breath, I think she had the wind knocked out of her pretty bad.  We took her upstairs and Chuck looked her head over for any bumps, we couldn't find anything, so we assumed that she hadn't hit her head.  Well about 5 minutes later she fell asleep.  Not a very good sign after falling down, but because she didn't seem lethargic like most concussion cases, we just thought it was the move, late nights, and no naps.  I put her in bed and about an hour later went and checked on her.  She immediately started to puke.... and puke....and puke.  Then we started to get worried.  Chuck examined her and she was just very alert.  We just watched her during the night and when she woke up the next morning it was like nothing was wrong.  She ate, and kept everything down.  It wasn't until I pulled her hair up that day that I noticed that the top of her ear and the surrounding area was a very deep shade of black and purple!  We thought, well there is her head injury.  We felt so bad for her.  She is fine now.  It was just very scary, especially after just moving in.  

My other story is about the crazy time we had with no electricity.  On Friday, some of you may have heard that we got slammed with a high wind, rain and lightning storm.  I tell you, I have never seen the sky so black.  Nor have I seen the wind so strong.  Chuck was working that night till 10pm.  So I didn't want to make dinner.  I decided to just put in a frozen pizza for Penny and I.  It was about 4:55pm that I started to preheat my oven.  As soon as I heard the beep for preheat, my power turned off.  I was bummed, but thought that the power would be back on in a few hours tops!  Me and Penny sat and watched as the storm came.  It was pretty powerful, and I later learned that the wind was 85 mph, which is a hurricane force wind. I started to get worried at about 7:30.  So I called the power company and of course It was an automated machine telling me that my power was out and they had a high volume of calls...DUH!  I just wanted to know when the estimated time my power would come back on.  I put Penny to bed, and it was getting dark outside.  So I called Stacey and she was so nice to sit and keep me company till Chuck came home.  Otherwise I would have just sat in the dark, hungry and alone, with nothing to do.  I didn't have a flashlight, so it wasn't like I could pick up a book.  Finally Chuck came home and I went and got us some food.  It was a ghost town, all the lights were just out.  The street lights, stop lights, everything.  I found a White Castle, which by the way were the worst burgers Chuck and I have ever ate, but we weren't going to complain because we were starving.  I wouldn't recommend White Castle...  Anyways, I kept thinking during the night that the power would come back on... Nope! The next morning a gal from our neighborhood came over and told me that the power was going to be out for 3-5 days!  Can you believe that!  I was so overwhelmed by the amount of time.  I had someone from the ward with power freeze my meat.  Then the next night (sat) the power came on at about 8.  So we were without power for 27 hours!  I know that sounds pitiful that I was freaking out, but being pregnant in 90+ weather and humidity makes for one nauseous lady.  We were so excited when the power came on, and glad it wasn't the predicted 3-5 days.  Right now there are still people without power.  Statewide here in Ohio there was about 600,000 people without power after that storm blew through.  It was a crazy adventure.  Well that is all for now! Until next time:)