5 years of Happily Wedded Bliss!

5 years ago from today, one of my dreams came true...I married my best friend! Wow, we have changed and grown a lot in 5 years of marriage. I am more in love with my husband than the day I married him. I still can't think of a single fight we have had (yes, we bicker, but that doesn't count). God has been faithful in keeping His promises, since we were faithful to Him on the day we were married. We have strived to keep Him at the center of our marriage, and yes, many days we fail (we are still sinners and need God's mercy).
I feel so blessed to say that on this day and everyday my husband makes me feel loved, cherished, valued and respected...and I hope he feels the same b/c he truly is! I can't imagine going thru life without Shane, and have enjoyed the ride thus far and look forward to what God has in store for us in the many, many, many years ahead!
We laid in bed this morning in awe of one of the most amazing gifts God has given us...Emma, and know that the best gift we can give her, is to love one another and stay true to our wedding vows! I also pondered how many more of these special little gifts we will have in another 5 years!

Here are just a few pictures from our wedding day.

Heather Hughes, Jon Jakub, Me, Shane, Codi Chandler and Tanner Struckman

Miss Kenna Rae

The kiss that sealed the deal!

And one of my all time favs!

So, here is to you honey...the love of my life, my best friend, I promise to stay true to you and stand by you no matter what this life throws at us. But most of all, I promise to never stop seeking God, and His will for me as your wife and mother of your children. I love you!!! And happy 5 year wedding anniversary!!!!!

Yes, that really is a braid!

Emma and I were playing on the floor last night and I thought I would see if her hair was long enough to braid, and sure enough it is! I can't believe I can actually braid my 9 month old's hair! It still amazes me that God blessed her w/ a head full of beautiful, dark hair!

So, I tackled the shirt I was wanting to make today. I've been wanting to learn more about actual garment construction and I don't know how or where I can do that around here, so I guess I will just have to do trial and error on my own. Here is the finished result. I am very pleased with it! I did a lot of praying during this project...I didn't want to go to all that work and end up with something that I didn't like. You will have to excuse the way I look in the pictures, I have no make-up on and I didn't do my hair today (such is life for a stay-at-home mom!)
The shirt looked a little too much like a maternity shirt, so I also threw together a little tie belt to go with it.

The cost of the shirt was around $20.00 for fabric, bias tape and the pattern, so no its not really cheaper to make your own clothes, but it was fun! And Shane liked it, too!

Update...

We had a good weekend...or at least I would say that, can't say for sure for Shane since our Saturday involved shopping ALL day! We were up and ready to leave the house by 9 am...had to get an early start, and we managed to make it to every place and see a movie (more on the movie later). All the places we hit were:

Carter's Outlet (yes, I only went into that store at the outlet mall...otherwise we would have been there all day!) - New pj's were on our list for Emma (we are getting into the sizes I don't have much of), so she scored some cute new jammies as well as some other cute stuff! I could have bought 3 times of what I did!
Common Threads in North Liberty - They are one of the few stores around here that carry Amy Butler fabric, which I love! I picked me up some patterns the other day to try making a shirt, so I wanted a cute print to use. When we got there, turns out the store was having an 'Amy Butler Trunk Show'...so cool, plus all Amy Butler fabrics were 15% off (which was great, b/c its pricey).
Stuff, Etc. - Its a consignment store...I needed to hunt for jeans for diaper bags and I scored 5 pairs.
Target - Wanted to pick up some of their diapers to try, got more clothes for Emma, and a few other things
Best Buy - To look at the Ipod Touch
Went to movie 'Up' - Emma was in need of a nap, but wouldn't fall asleep, so her and I only lasted about 15 minutes. Shane stayed for the rest of it, so Emma and I went to Hobby Lobby, Emma was asleep by the time I pulled out of the parking lot!
Hobby Lobby - I needed to pick up the remaining flowers that I needed for Codi's wedding...but of course they didnt have all I needed...so will have to try the QC this weekend when we go to the zoo. I got done there in perfect time to pick up Shane.
Iwireless - We went to check out the Blackberry Flip to see if I would like it (the one in Muscatine didn't have one that you could turn on and try out). Still wasn't impressed, so we are still undecided on phones.
Lowe's - I wanted to see what they had for tile for my kitchen countertops and Shane needed to at least see a tool on this shopping trip!

We got home at 7pm. Emma did great the entire day, and Shane did too (we prayed for him an enthusiastic attitude the night before!)

Sunday we went to church and then to a BBQ for Shane's Top Gun graduation. He is now done with that. It was a big commitment on his part and God has really blessed him for it. I have seen him grow so much in his personal relationship with Christ, as well as the husband and father God calls him to be.

I also can't forget, Friday night, Shane hung my new bedside shelves! Yeah! They are great! I will post pictures once I make mats for them and get matching lamps! It is soo nice to not have to use my pillow to go searching for a kleenex or my phone! ha!

Here are some pictures from the past week:

Emma playing w/ Bella

My goofy girl!

Emma had to pull my recyclables out by the back door

Coca-Cola model?

Emma's amazing eyes!

Going for a walk with mommy and daddy

Getting ready to go shopping!

Emma checking out her new diggs she scored!

I think she was more interested in the tags than the actual clothes

I love getting to shop for a girl!

Emma's Sunday outfit

Below are the many faces of Emma:

We have a busy week ahead...I worked on flowers all day today. I hope to make my shirt. Emma starts swim lessons tomorrow. I am waiting on fabric for the next diaper bag I am making and then will start cutting everything for it. Thursday morning I have bible study. Friday night is our monthly bible study (and our 5 year wedding anniversary!!!). Saturday, we are going to take Emma to the zoo in Moline. Sunday is church and Tanner and Krista will be arriving to stay with us for a few days (so sometime this week I need to clean...anyone want to volunteer?)

9 Month Check-up Stats...

Emma had her 9 month check-up today. The doctor said Emma is doing super...but could poop more! ha! She only poops once every 10 days. Its not a big deal though, cuz it doesn't bother her when she finally does go and the doctor said her stomach was nice and soft and didn't feel like she was backed-up at all.
The doc also loved Emma's pigtails and said she was such a delight. Emma was all smiles with her today (must be because she wasn't getting any shots)!
Emma's new stats:
18lbs 4 oz (25%)
27 inches (30%)

Our next transition is moving Emma to her crib. We also start swimming lessons at the Y next Tuesday. Tomorrow we have my moms Bible study. Last week Emma didn't make it more than 30 minutes back in kidcare before someone came bringing her to me. Its a really bad time to go since its right when she usually takes her nap and she is so tired but can't sleep with all the activity. Tomorrow I help with kidcare so I don't have to worry about it. She does fine back there if I am back there.
Well, we are off to bed.

Checking In with the Struckman's

Its been really hard lately to find time to sit and blog, and quite frankly, I haven't had much desire to be on my computer. But in order to keep the grandparents happy, here are some pictures and a quick update!
This weekend we accomplished more things on our to-do list, and also added to it! Yikes!
Saturday, Shane put together our nightstands and I started painting them. I am painting them the dark brown of our room, and have 1 more coat (I hope) left to go. We should be able to hang them this weekend.
I also converted 4 of Shane's long sleeve work shirts that were wearing thin in the elbows to short sleeves...he is very happy about that. We also went to look at new cell phones (blah!). My phone won't charge anymore cuz a piece broke off, so we have been charging my battery in Shane's phone. Our phones have lasted us over 2 1/2 years. I of course would like to get a phone with the internet (its a want not a need) therefore, my hubby says nay! But we checked out prices at iwireless and we can get the internet and enough voice minutes for $10.00 cheaper than our regular plan with Verizon Wireless! Our hesitation you ask...well, we have had no probs with Verizon Wireless cell service and are leary about switching companies. So if anybody has iwireless and can provide us with some feedback, we would love to hear some. Also, iwireless carries the Blackberry Flip (I have to have a flip phone), but I was not overly impressed with it, so I could use some feedback on that as well. I would be happy with just getting a phone with Wi-Fi, but Verizon Wireless disables that function on the phones that have it.
Moving on, I know we got a bunch more done this weekend, but I seriously cannot remember without looking at the list, and well, that would require getting up, so not gonna happen! Therefore, I will just move on to pictures!

Emma being cheesy!

Isn't this just the cutest summer outfit? Gotta love Target!

'Oh, my nose itches'

This was Emma's Sunday outfit...Aunt Heather and Uncle Jon, be sure to take notice of her cute shoes!

Emma is fasinated with my sewing fabric tape measure...maybe she will take after her mommy.
(She is just as fasinated with her daddy's tape measure though too!)

Emma's cute shoes

Today we had Lynette, Alaina and Emmy over for a playdate:

Emma and Emmy

Alaina

Me with all the girls

Emma chowin' down on some puffs

She couldn't get the puffs in her mouth fast enough, so she decided to just pick the bowl up and pour them into her mouth...talk about impressive problem solving skills!

Tomorrow we go for Emma's 9 month checkup...I will post her new stats then!
Until then, Goodnight!