Home Is Whenever I'm With You

Iris Evelyn's Birth Story

2016-03-07T23:12:00.005-08:00

As my pregnancy came to an end, I was so sure I was going to be late. From the very beginning I had a feeling that my sweet girl was going to be a February babe and while we knew her name before we even knew she was a girl or not, we had no idea that the flower for the month of February was the Iris. And while she wasn't late, like I thought, she arrived right on her due date, just like her brother.

Anyways, as I sit here nursing my sweet five week old little girl, listening to her breathing and her little sighs, I'm taken back to 6AM on February 1st, 2016. I woke up to go pee, nothing out of the ordinary there. As I got back in bed, I felt some cramping and didn't think much of it. I decided to time a couple, just to see where we were. Since I had been having cramps all week, I was sure they were nothing, however 30 minutes and 6 contractions later, I was starting to think this might be the real deal.

Before I started labor, I tried so hard to prepare myself and my body for the amount of pain I would be experiencing. After all, I was in labor for days with Owen and I didn't know how long labor would go with her. I researched pain coping techniques, spent hours doing breathing exercises, and lots of time went on to perfecting my labor playlist! I felt good. I felt ready. I felt empowered to take labor by the horns.

The first hour of labor went by smoothly. Contractions went from 5 minutes to 4 minutes and were bearable. I called my parents to come to the apartment to watch O and woke up Tyler and had him start packing the car.

As time went on contractions got worse. They were still bearable unless I was up moving around, then it would feel like I was having a constant contraction.

Around 745 my parents finally arrived. Tyler was still packing up the car and I was still managing my pain quite easily. Music was in full blast and my breathing was centered and steady.

We left to go to the hospital at 8 and it was the longest ride of my life. I must have just started to transition (the hardest part of labor) because shit got real on that drive. As were checking in, my contractions felt constant and I was nervous because I didn't want triage to send me back home (like they did 3 times with O). As we arrive in triage, the nurse asks if baby is head down. I tell her yes, but she's having a hard time finding the heartbeat and does a bedside ultrasound. After she does an ultrasound and see's that our little girl is in fact head down and perfect, she FINALLY checks me. The moment of truth... The nurse tells me I'm ready to deliver and I let out a few curse words in disbelief and relief. The nurse was confused and was like 'excuse me?!', like she had never heard a women who is in labor curse before. Tyler laughed and I was just ready to get going.

Apparently the nurse wasn't sure because she had another nurse check me and then she thought I was a 7-8. Either way, I was admitted and off to the delivery room we went. As I'm really riding the contractions, my sweet labor nurse is guiding me through each one and helping me breathe. I loved her. I ask her how long it usually takes to dilate from 8 to a 10 and she tells us usually around 1-2 hours. I felt like it was doable at that point. I got this. About 10 minutes past that I tell her I'm starting to feel lots of pressure. She checks me and I'm at a 9. Yay! 5 minutes later I'm feeling even more pressure and starting to feel my body push, I'm at a 9.5! This is it! I feel my body pushing, regardless of me trying to stop it, it's the craziest feeling in the world. At this point I'm sure I look like the girl from the Exorcist, trying to rid herself of her demon.

Finally the doctor is in the room and tells me to push! Two pushes later and our little girl is born. 9:26 am. A little over an hour after we checked into the hospital and just 3 1/2 hours after I had started labor. I couldn't believe it. My little girl was here. As she laid on my chest, the exhaustion and joy was overwhelming.

So that's that. I got my natural birth and short labor that I so desperately wanted and it was everything and more. Iris Evelyn.... You are here. You are loved. And you are so perfect. Thanks for choosing me to be your mom.

Starting Baby-Led Weaning (& a recipe)

2014-07-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

Guess what?! I suck at blogging. Maybe it isn't my forte. Maybe...? No, it's definitely not. My time management skills seem to be lacking. But only because there's a little person who is quite the time suck these days and he's much cooler than blogging. Sorry guys!

So why am I here about to blog if I suck so badly at it? Well, that's a great question. It just felt right. Owen is napping and I'm listening to music and sipping my daily iced coffee. All those circumstances make for great blogging time. However, I feel by just typing the words, I send signals to Owen in his sweet slumber to wake up. Don't do it, child.. stay asleep for mama!

Okay, so updates... Owen is pretty much an adult now. 6 months and a half months... He eats normal people food (well he practices.. he's still an avid milk drinker though, in case you needed to know?) We have decided to skip the purees and do Baby Led-Weaning (what the heck is she rambling on about...?) I know, I must be crazy... But hey, being a parent rocks because I get to raise my child whatever way I want.

Anyways, I have had lots of people ask me how BLW works and I figured this would be a great blogging opportunity. Let me start off by saying, I have absolutely no problem with mama's who decide to feed their babies purees. That is what they choose to do and if that works for them, then that's okay, too! We are all parents and we get to make those decisions for our children.

I decided to do BLW because I'm a weird mom, some would call me "crunchy". I wouldn't say I'm at that point, just yet, but I'm getting there. Haha. Anyways, BLW... it's the idea that your baby is able to eat normal food from the get go. It makes meal times much more enjoyable for the family instead of having to feed the baby something else, while everyone else is eating. BLW lets your baby take control.

They (who are these people anyhow?! The American Association of Pediatrics, or simply, AAP) recommend you wait until your baby is 6 months because that is generally the time when your little one is able to sit up without help and bring things to their mouth without missing. It's also when their digestive systems are geared up and ready for solids, which is the most important part. Now, you may be like... well what about cereals?! Feeding your baby cereals is absolutely unnecessary! It has little to no nutritional value for your baby. The only thing that your baby needs for the first 6 months of life is breast-milk or formula. Again, if you feed or have fed your baby, cereals that's totally okay, I'm the odd one out!

Now you're probably wondering how babies eat solids without teeth?! Babies gums are incredibly strong (if you've ever had a your finger gnawed on by a teething baby, you know this..) and they can mash foods up pretty well. There are some foods that are going to be harder for babies to eat, so you're not going to be able to give your baby a raw carrot and expect him to eat it, sorry! But, you will be able to give your baby soft foods and they will be able to eat it. Foods that Owen loves right now are avocado, peaches, cucumber, baked zucchini, bell pepper, and toast. He has even sucked a piece of steak dry; again, he can't eat it but the juice of the steak is high in iron which is amazing for babies!

Here's a video of Owen eating solids for the first time! It's in fast-forward mode but it's hilarious to watch.

So here are some pointers that helped me immensely:

If you don't have a history of any food allergies, you don't have to wait to offer wheat, dairy, or egg products but if you are concerned, discuss with your pediatrician first
Nuts, honey, and peanut butter should be delayed until after 2, or after discussion with your ped
Cutting fruits & veggies into fry-sized pieces with some skin on helps your little one be able to pick up and grasp them easily
The first couple weeks to a month of BLW it's more of getting to know the food and playing with it, your baby doesn't realize that it's food, so allowing more opportunities to "play" with the food will allow your baby to quickly realize that its food to eat
Gagging and choking are two VERY different things, babies gag VERY easily as their gag reflex is right at the front of the tongue, so naturally, when a piece of food is on it, they will gag, the more opportunities that babies get to eat, the more their gag reflex will adapt and move back
If your baby is gagging and you are worried, don't be afraid to offer a little sip of water to help wash the food down for them
Brush up on baby CPR and print out step-by-step instructions to put on the fridge or somewhere nearby, this will ease your mind in case something does happen
Try to limit salt intake to little to none; if your baby does have something salty (like ham) just make sure they up their fluid intake
Never substitute a meal for a milk feeding and remember "food before one is just for fun." Babies still need all the condensed nutrients that breast-milk and formula offer until they are one; around 9 months they will naturally start eating milk less and solids more but milk will still be the primary form of nutrition
BLW is MESSY! Buy a high chair that is easy to clean!
Don't overload your babies plate with foods, they will get overwhelmed easily, start by offering just a couple pieces of food
Do what works for you, BLW is very lax and doesn't need to follow a bunch of exact times. We try to have breakfast every morning right now and that is what is working for us. If lunch or dinner work for you, that's great, too!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! There is probably a bunch of stuff I'm leaving out and I'll edit as needed.

With all that said, I wanted to share a waffle recipe that Owen & I both love and eat on a regular basis.

BLW-friendly Blueberry Waffles
// makes about 3-4 depending on how much batter you use

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or all-purpose, do what works for you)
1/2 cup oatmeal (we used quick cooking)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp olive oil (coconut oil, grapeseed oil, vegetable oil, could all be substituted)
1/2 cup milk (coconut, soy, almond, even breast-milk can be substituted)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp of water (if your batter is looking a little thicker, you can put a bit more)
& blueberries to top when baking, I put about a 1/4-1/2 a cup per waffle

I usually just put all the ingredients into my magic bullet and give it a whirl. But if you don't have a mixer, just combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined, then add your wet ingredients and mix until no longer lumpy. Pop about a 1/2 cup of the mix into a griddle or waffle iron and cook about 2-3 minutes. Let cool slightly (for baby) and cut into thick strips (again, for baby) and enjoy! These are super healthy for you and baby and can be whipped up relatively quickly.

Baby-Led Weaning has worked really well for us, but I absolutely understand that it doesn't work for everyone. I just wanted to share these tips for starting BLW. These are the tips I wish I knew when I started and I thought I'd share with other moms who might be wondering the same things.

Thanks for reading!

xx

update //
I just received a comment from an anonymous person telling me that I should be careful about what I post on my blog and that someone should call CPS if they know what's good for me. I am really offended for someone to think that I would ever even think about endangering my child! If you do not agree with BLW, that's 100% OK, but don't come on my blog and threaten me. Just because it is different from what you would do, doesn't make it illegal or wrong.

Life as a New Mom

2014-02-19T18:38:00.001-08:00

These past 8 weeks have blown by incredibly fast, as I mentioned in my post below. It's hard to remember what life was life before Owen graced us with his presence. It's even harder to think I've only been a mommy for 8 weeks (plus 40 weeks, if we're counting pregnancy). I was looking at my bump pictures the other day and I couldn't believe how big I was!

I'll be honest with you guys, when we first brought Owen home, I never thought I would sleep again and while I enjoyed life with my new baby boy, it was so rough getting used to life with a newborn. That, on top of recovering from giving birth and dealing with all the insane hormones (or lack thereof) that my body was trying to adjust from was so hard. I was so thankful that Tyler was able to get a week off of work to help me regain some strength but unfortunately, he had to go back to work the first day that we were able to take Owen home and I had no idea what to expect and that first night was so tough to push through. I thought it would never get better...

Even though that was only seven weeks ago, I wish I could go back and tell myself that it is all going to be okay, so I'll tell you guys, as some of you will be new moms soon: life will get easier, taking care of a baby will get easier, it just takes some time to get into a schedule, and don't be afraid to cry and let it out. Cry.. and cry some more! I don't think I've ever cried as much as I did those first couple weeks after Owen was born.

Now that it's been 8 weeks since Owen's birth, we have gotten our routine down. While Owen still runs the show over here, life is easier and I'm much more adjusted to the lack of sleep. My days are filled with many lattes (my espresso machine is a life-saver), feedings, diaper changes, diaper washes.. (hooray for hand-washing cloth diapers everyday... we really need a washer & dryer), google searches (if you have kids, you completely understand), and lots of cuddles. It's amazing when I find time to make dinner for me and Tyler (yay for bacon-wrapped meat loaf tonight!)

Espresso is good for the soul... and sleep-deprived moms

Even though I have a lot on my plate, I still find myself craving to work and craft. There are so many things I keep adding to my to-DIY list (I have even been looking at 1st birthday party ideas.. I'm getting a little ahead of myself) and I can't wait till I have an opportunity to do some of them. Some crafts I hope to do sooner than later are: baby leggings, making a tablecloth for our dinner table, and hopefully getting around to getting our photo gallery up. We moved into our new apartment in the middle of November and still really haven't gotten around to doing any home decor (we still really need an ottoman and end tables). By the time we have it all situated, our lease will be up!

I wish I had unlimited space & money for fabric alone..

Being a new mom has been such stress and fun and I wouldn't have it any other way (okay.. maybe I wish Tyler could work from home) and while there are days when the house isn't in the condition I would like it to be, it's still filled with the people I love the most and if I spend more time cuddling with my son rather than cleaning a few dishes, who cares? I am going to enjoy every moment I can as a new mommy with my adorable family..

Little Owen enjoying his first fire!

Quiet Morning

2014-02-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

Good morning, sweet people.

This morning, I find myself reflecting on this past year, especially these past couple months and how much they have changed my life. I am sitting in bed, coffee in hand, enjoying the oddly quiet feeling in the apartment this morning. I don't know if it has to do with the fact that my little guy slept for 5 1/2 hours straight last night (an all-time record!) or what but, it has me in an extremely reflective mood.

I am in utter shock as to how quickly life is going by now that I'm done with school, married, and have a little one.. to think that I did all of these things in just under a year is impressive and I'd like to say I'm at a point in my life where I am just content, I don't need anything else in my life right now. It is just right.

All my life there has always been something to strive for whether it be a degree, a perfect guy to share my life with, or a sweet little person(s) to fill our home with.. there's always been something, but today, I find myself really relishing in all that I have. I am truly grateful for my little family and to be honest, a little emotional towards the fact that time is just going by too fast, no matter how slow the days seem to go by. I had my precious bundle of joy almost 7 weeks ago and in all honesty, it feels like just yesterday I was in the hospital. You always hear people tell you, "cherish every moment, they will be grown up before you know it", and I'm just now realizing how true those words are. Tyler and I were talking yesterday about how we're going to be old before we know it and if time continues to go at the rate it is, we will be in our 60s by next month.

I can be extremely uptight sometimes and it's easy to get wrapped in frustration from the day-to-day activities, so I hope I can hang on to this peaceful feeling for a while. I am so happy that I'm able to document these experiences and I can only hope that by reading this posts in the future, I can recapture this sense of calm and peacefulness I am experiencing today.

And I'm off to go to tend to my sweet baby boy.. I hope you guys have a great day.

xx

Something Sweet Sunday

2014-02-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an amazing week. Things were pretty boring in the Johnson household (well as boring as they could get with a newborn), but we enjoy the slow life here. Before we get started here are my favorite pictures from our week. The many faces of Owen. Life with a newborn is so much fun... we are getting good at this!

He cracks me up!

Anyways, for this week's 'Something Sweet Sunday' I made a blueberry-cream-cheese-croissant-bake! For names sake, let's just call it Blueberry Bread Pudding, because that's what it pretty much is.

This was such an easy dish to pull together and with my little guy, easy and quick meals are a necessity. My favorite part about this is that it serves well as a breakfast or dessert dish (at least it started out as breakfast and I found myself eating it later for dessert.. Haha).

Okay moving on to the recipe.

Blueberry Bread Pudding:

3 large croissants (I had 6 smaller sized ones)
1/2 cup of honey
3/4 cup of milk
1 16oz package of cream cheese
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 package of blueberries (8oz, fresh or frozen but, fresh is best, frozen blueberries tend to retain a lot of water)
Powdered sugar

** if you want to use regular sugar it's 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk

I'll start with my ingredient picture, doesn't it all look so pretty together? Haha, anyways, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and gather all your supplies!

Now get to whipping your cream cheese (so there's no clumps!) and always make sure it's room temperature.

Mix in your honey with the cream cheese until combined, then add the rest of your ingredients.

Then put your croissant pieces in a bowl (or you can put them in an 9in square pan and skip the nonsense) and then add your cream cheese mixture and let sit for 20 minutes.

Then sprinkle your blueberries all over. I put half the blueberries in first and kind of mixed it in with the croissant pieces and then topped the rest with the remaining blueberries. Then put in the oven for 20-25 minutes. YUM! Almost there...

Okay, now let your beauty cool just a bit... and get the powdered sugar ready! (I love my oven mitt and I thought it looked good with the picture :])

Cut a nice slice out and powder it up! Of course you can always put maple syrup as well, or you can eat it plain. Either way, it will be great! The cream cheese definitely makes this recipe shine. Yum, yum, yum!

Next step, EAT and enjoy!

Something Sweet Sunday

2014-02-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I hope you are enjoying your Superbowl Sunday (& Groundhog Day, too!). This week I have been wondering what to post about and while I came up with a couple good ideas (I'll save those for later), I wanted to find something to inspire me to continue to post on here and I thought what better way to do that than by baking!

Over the past few months, I have found that I have not been baking nearly as much as I'd love to and of course since having the little guy, there really is not a ton of time to get that done. So, my recipe collection has continued to grow. To eliminate this problem I have decided to set aside one day a week (or maybe more) to make one of the delicious foods I've been meaning to! So, this Sunday will mark the beginning of that journey for me and I thought that it would be a pretty great thing to blog about since there's no better inspiration than food.

This Sunday I made Oatmeal Cake w/ Coconut Pecan Frosting! Ahhh, I have been meaning to find a recipe like this since me and Tyler went to San Francisco for our anniversary this past July. We stopped by an adorable little (seriously.. it was maybe 150 sq ft) coffee shop, Hollow. At Hollow, we enjoyed this cake, coffee, and endless conversation. Ah, I love San Francisco. It brings out a whole new personality in me and Tyler. We need to go back soon!

Anyways, this past week, I saw that a friend had pinned a recipe for that cake that I forgot about and I knew I had to make it this week!

So here it is--

Oatmeal Cake:

1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal
3/4 cups boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/4 cup of butter

Coconut Pecan Frosting:

3 tbsp melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Now gather all your ingredients and take hundreds of photos of them! Haha... I'm kidding.. sort of. ;)

Then combine your oats & boiling water and SET ASIDE.

Take the remaining ingredients and combine well.

Then add in your oatmeal mixture and it will look like this picture above.

Butter & flour an 8x8 pan (square, circle, whatever floats your boat) and pour mixture in. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Gather all your frosting ingredients!

And combine until it looks like this.. just take a spoon and mix it all together.

Then once your cake is out of the oven, spread this on top and send it back in on BROIL until the coconut is browned (this part goes quick, so keep an eye on it), then VOILA, you have a cake.

Then the hard part comes and you have to wait for it to cool. Yep, awful.. to speed the process along, I usually just set it in the fridge because I'm impatient and tired of waiting!

Once your cake is cooled, cut that bad boy up and serve with a couple shots of espresso or a big glass of milk. Or whatever you want. I don't mind.

Welp, that's all I got for this evening. Tyler and I loved it and I haven't officially had a slice yet so I better go do that before the babe wakes..

Owen's Birth Story

2014-01-29T01:40:00.000-08:00

Hi again, everyone! It's been awhile hasn't it? Of course it has, because while I have a million ideas of things to blog about, I just never seem to sit down and do it. You guys should try to get me motivated. See what I did there? I'm already putting the work on you. Ha!

Well anyways, I have been wanting to post on here for a while. I always want to post and since an amazing thing happened, I figured that is reason enough for me to get on here.

So last time I was on here, you guys found out we were expecting a boy and guess what?! We just had him over a month ago. A month! Seriously where does time go? I mean, I've been a walking zombie this past month and yet, it was the quickest month that has ever passed. Oh, the joys of parenthood.

Anyhow, back to the point.. so we had our son, the cutest, chunkiest, little boy. I have always enjoyed reading birth stories. I spent countless hours perusing countless birth stories while I was pregnant and knew that I would have to share mine once I had the chance. This may seem weird to some of you and you're probably wondering why the heck I would be sharing such an awkward thing, but honestly, even though it was such a crazy experience, it was one of the best times of my life (I mean, I must really be insane..) and I actually miss anticipating the arrival of my little guy.

So please bear with me, this is going to be a REALLY LONG POST. Oh, and any grammatical errors, as intelligent as I am, I don't have a lot of time to edit with a newborn. You have been warned.

On Monday, December 23^rd I had an ultrasound to see how Owen was measuring to determine whether or not I would have to be induced within the week, since he was turning out to be a pretty big baby. When I went in for my ultrasound he was measuring 9lbs 1oz and the cut off for the induction was 9lbs 4oz, so it was looking like he was just going to come in on his own time.

After my ultrasound, Tyler and I went to lunch with my parents and while we were all sitting there I started to notice I was getting cramps that would come and go. My mother insisted that these were contractions and I should head on over to labor and delivery. I was hesitant because I didn’t want to get my hopes up! Could he really be here before Christmas? Ah, the excitement was unbelievable, as we had been beyond ready for our little man’s arrival.

As we headed home from lunch that day, I went home and packed up our belongings that we would need and then we ventured off to the hospital. When I got there they had me hooked up to all these machines, like some science experiment and guess what, I WAS HAVING CONTRACTIONS. Tyler and I sat there anxiously as the monitor picked up more and more contractions. We were so hopeful that this little man was going to be here soon. So what was the hold up?!

Well if any of you have been pregnant, you know that it is NOTHING like Hollywood plays it out to be. My water didn’t break abruptly and I didn’t have to panic on the way to the hospital worrying about having my baby on the way there. Nope, instead, when we got to the hospital we were sent to the labor and delivery triage, where they play God and decide if you deserve to be admitted (at least it felt this way… I’ll explain more). Anyways, I was not progressing enough to be admitted, even though I was in ACTIVE LABOR. UGH. So, they had me walk around the hospital for an hour to see if this would help speed things up…

It didn't and we were sent home.

I continued to have contractions through the night and as the morning approached, (Christmas Eve!) I was dancing about the apartment to Christmas tunes (this was the only way I could tolerate my contractions, I had to move around) and wrapped a couple last minute gifts for Tyler. As the morning progressed, I got ready for my prenatal appointment, where I was hoping they would give me some good news and they did! My OB told me it looked like it was time and for me to get some lunch, walk around, and then head in to the hospital! Ah, I couldn’t even begin to tell you guys how excited I was. Finally. My little one was going to be here possibly on Christmas Eve. What a day. So, I did exactly what my OB told me to do. Once Tyler got off work we headed into L&D again and started the process again.

Low and behold, I STILL was not progressing enough to be admitted. Yay, just what I wanted to hear. Couldn’t they just call my doctor and listen to what she told me!? Apparently not. So back to the hospital halls we went, to walk for another hour. Nothing changed, so we were sent home again and unfortunately, I was in an abundance of pain. My contractions were unbelievably strong and I was trying my hardest to breathe through them, like me and Tyler so diligently practiced. I was trying to picture myself on the beach in Hawaii. In the mountains. In the snow. I tried everything, but nothing worked.

After I was discharged for the second time, we stopped at my mother-in-law’s house to celebrate her birthday. I thought that I could handle an hour of visiting everyone, but by the time we arrived at their house my contractions were hitting me like bricks. I felt bad for making everyone watch me in agony while they were all celebrating my mother-in-law’s birthday. My mother-in-law suggested that I hop in the shower to alleviate some of the pain. I was probably in the shower for about 45 minutes and while I was still in a tremendous amount of pain, it felt better than being out of the shower. Well, I eventually had to get out and there my contractions were getting closer and closer together. Tyler started timing them to try to get an idea of where I was in terms of labor. They were averaging 3-4 minutes apart and lasting over a minute and a half. At this point I was in pure agony. We were going on nearly 30 hours of constant contractions.

Back to the hospital we went. They wanted me to walk another hour. Yeah, right. We started walking and my body was not letting me. I stood for most of that time. And again, I was sent home. They gave me something to try to help me go to sleep that night since I had not gotten any sleep since Sunday night. Again, if you’ve ever had contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart, you know that it’s impossible to sleep through them, so that definitely was not going to happen. We got home around 1AM on Christmas morning and the rest of the night was a blur of me pacing the apartment through each contraction.

The next morning was Christmas (yay!) and Tyler excitedly woke up and arranged our gifts and stockings perfectly so we could begin to open them. I felt so bad. It was Christmas and I knew that I was not going to be able to enjoy the festivities, regardless if I was in the hospital or not. I told Tyler, Christmas is going to have to be postponed for me and that I wasn’t going anywhere unless it was back to the hospital.

An hour or so later, I told him we needed to go back to labor and delivery… so off we went. I don’t even remember the drive there, but I remember the exhaustion and hopelessness we were feeling. Off to the triage again, off to wander the hospital halls again… ready to be sent home again… we just were not feeling it any more. This time I did not walk at all, my feet might as well have had bricks attached to them because they were just not going to move for another hour. Tyler and I went outside of the hospital and just sat there in silence, enjoying the fresh and cool Christmas air. When our hour was up, we slowly walked back to the triage, knowing we were probably going to get sent home for the fourth time. At this point I asked my nurse if there was anything she could do to STOP this labor. She asked me why I would want to stop my labor. Uh, lets see. We’re coming on 48 hours of nonstop contractions, 48 hours without anything to eat, and over 48 hours without sleep and clearly this baby is not coming! I was so annoyed and as she checked me I prepared myself to hear that I had not progressed any, that was until she told me I was at 6cm (I had been at 5cm since the very beginning) and I was going to be admitted.

Thank freaking goodness.

Tyler and I finally got settled into our room. The room that we would be having our son in. We were in utter disbelief. This would be the day and Christmas, at that!

As many of you might have known, I was going to try to have an all natural birth, meaning no epidural or pain relief, but the second that they came in asking if I would be having one, I said yes. I had made it this far without any pain management and not knowing how much longer I was going to be in pain was my main influence for getting the epidural and let me tell you, I am so happy that I did. The second that the epidural kicked in, “Michelle” was back. For the past couple days I had been walking around like a zombie and I felt so terrible for Tyler having to see me this way, when we are so used to always laughing and being dumb together, so when I finally got the epi, I was finally making jokes and felt as “normal” as I could under the circumstances.

I was admitted around 12PM and they broke my water around 3PM to speed the process along since I was still at 6cm. When that didn’t work they had to give me more medicine to help things progress. Hours later and the threat of a c-section, I was finally fully dilated and ready to push. At 10PM I started pushing and at 1032PM, Owen Charles Johnson was officially here, all 9lbs 14oz of him. My doctor and nurses all raved about how well I handled giving birth to him and told me that I was made to have babies. I didn't scream and I never yelled out any profanities or blamed Tyler for causing me all this pain. I was a champ and I felt good about it, I still do! Owen was 21 inches long, brownish-red hair, and big blue eyes (he also had a major case of conehead). I’ve never felt so much love in my life.

We were able to spend a few hours with him before they took him away due to his heavy breathing. Unfortunately, the first moments of us being a family were experienced in the NICU while Owen received antibiotics. It was so hard watching him be attached to so many machines. I’ll be happy if I never have to hear those annoying monitors again.

Owen was finally able to leave the hospital on New Year’s Day and begin his life with his mom and dad at home. I can’t believe it’s already been a month since he was born… while he has brought me many sleepless nights and many more to come, he has also brought me incredible joy and fullness. I have loved every moment of mommyhood, even though it hasn’t always been perfect and watching Tyler become a daddy has been a heart-melting experience. He is so sweet with Owen and I love watching them together.

Starting a family is something that I’ve wanted for a very long time and now that I finally have it, my heart feels full and my life feels complete. It’s been such a short month with Owen, but I can’t imagine what life would be without him anymore. This story is something that I want to remember vividly, and this helps me do so. Thanks for letting me share with you guys & if you got to the end, you deserve a cookie.

ps: to see more pictures of Owen, you can click here!

It's a....

2013-07-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

BOY!!!!

I think it is safe to say that those wives' tales were definitely wrong! We are most definitely having a boy, no question about it. Our little guy is measuring as expected and we could not be more excited.

Pregnancy Update; Team Pink vs. Team Blue

2013-07-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone.. I am back at it again (shocking right?!.. I'm shocking myself too, believe me) and I thought I would share some of my experiences so far with my pregnancy.

Here is our pregnancy announcement in all its glory in case you haven't gotten a good look at it yet (it's pretty adorable right?!) and most would say it's extremely fitting.. (bun in the oven... catch the baking pun?)

So while I have always wanted to be a mom and experience pregnancy (those baby bumps are quite envious, don't you think?), I really never knew what to expect once we saw those two pink lines on the pregnancy test. My mom had always told me her not so pleasant experiences, so I figured that was what I was in for. But, I also heard (and hoped) that every pregnancy was completely different.

For me I have had it relatively easy compared to those horror stories that I encountered. Aside from feeling complete and utter exhaustion & some heavy bouts of morning (more like all-day) sickness from time to time, I've been doing great. Like most, I have my good days and my bad and I have been feeling really good lately. Especially since we get to find out whether or not this little one inside of me is a boy or a girl on Thursday! So much excitement is ahead and it helps to look forward to that whenever I am feeling gross. Here's little one at my last ultrasound weeks ago.

Another thing that helps me feel wonderful is being able to hear my little one's heartbeat just pounding away. I was told not to buy one of these before I got pregnant because it could cause unnecessary stress if I couldn't find the heartbeat, so I put off buying the Doppler until I knew I could probably hear it. While I was frustrated at first because it took me about 20 minutes to finally find the heartbeat, once I did it made everything worth it. The sound is so soothing (to me & Ty at least) and I could fall asleep to it. I guess the feeling of knowing your little one is so alive inside of you is what makes me the happiest. Here's a little video from today of our little one's heartbeat. I think little one is sleeping in this video because its heartbeat at the doctor yesterday was way up in the 160s.

What do you guys think if you had to guess? Team Blue or Team Pink? Tyler & I don't have a clue and will be over the moon with a boy or a girl. We cannot wait to see what little one is!

That's all for now. See you all Thursday ;)

Breakfast with the Johnson's

2013-07-13T22:55:00.000-07:00

Such an old picture. We have always loved cooking together.

As most of you know, Tyler & I love to eat. If you didn't know that, then well.. take one look at our Instagram's and you'll be in for a real shocker. But seriously, as much as we eat, we love to cook and cook together, at that. We are always scrounging up ingredients in the house to make something to satisfy our hunger pains or food desires.

So, while we love food, we love breakfast foods especially, though it's hard for either of us to get up and actually eat breakfast during "breakfast hours", we usually just make it for lunch or dinner. Maybe even dessert. It still counts right? ... Okay good. One our favorite things to make, aside from the classic egg over easy on toast with turkey bacon, is crepes!

The thing I love about crepes is that you can do pretty much anything with them and with all the berries in season right now, it makes for my favorite crepe which is raspberry & pastry cream. YUM! I could eat these all day. Tyler isn't a huge fan of raspberries, however he did have a few bites of mine and liked it. Tyler's favorite crepe is strawberries & pastry cream. And of course, Nutella & banana crepes are always a hit.

Another one of our favorites is puffed pancakes! We heard about these not too long ago from one of my favorite bloggers, LoveTaza. Since then, we have made them quite a few times and like crepes, they are pretty versatile, but we usually just stick to putting fresh fruit & syrup on them. (that sounds kinda funky doesn't it?, it's good. trust me.) Since I have been getting a couple requests for our recipes that we post, I figured I would kill a few birds with one stone by posting the recipe on here for everyone to enjoy. Here you are. Enjoy!

Crepes: makes about 12 crepes
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Combine all ingredients in blender and pulse for 10 seconds. Allow crepe batter to sit aside in fridge for about an hour, this allows for the bubbles to subside so that there isn't any tearing when you're cooking the crepe. If you're impatient, go for it. I've done it and haven't had any problems. (don't blame me if they don't turn out... you were warned)

Pastry Cream: makes about 3 cups (this will be enough)
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Crack eggs into a container and lightly beat, place these on the side. In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine milk sugar and cornstarch. Let the milk start to bubble but be careful because it is really easy for the cornstarch to clump on the bottom of the pan. Once the bubbles form, take off the heat. Before you add the eggs, you need to add about a 1/3 of a cup to the eggs to temper the eggs before the eggs can go into the milk mixture. If you don't do this, you will end up with egg whites in your cream. Once you have mixed the mixture into the eggs, add that to the milk base and continue to stir. Once stirred in completely, put the cream back onto the burner and let cook for about 2 more minutes; don't let it boil. Take off the heat and add vanilla.

*If you get egg whites into your pastry cream, strain mixture and it should take care of the little whites and it'll solve the problem for the most part.

Puffed Pancakes:
3 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup milk *heated for 20 seconds in microwave
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. White you're doing this, put your 3 tablespoons of butter into a large saute pan (I use a clear pie pan). Meanwhile, combine ingredients into a blender and pulse for 10 seconds to insure that is combined well. If you mix by hand, make sure everything is combined and not clumpy. Take out your pan from the oven. Swirl butter to make sure it's coated completely and pour batter into the pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until it is golden brown around the edges. You can add fresh berries (or any fruit you desire), whipped cream, syrup, powdered sugar, or anything your heart desires on top! Enjoy!

New Adventures as Husband & Wife

2013-07-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It has been just about forever since our last post... I can't believe it's been about six months. There has been so much chaotic goodness that has happened in both our lives so I'll try to keep all the gushing down to a minimum.

As most of you know, Tyler & I got married!! It was such an insane day full of so many emotions. Maybe one day I'll share all the hectic events that happened/didn't happen on our wedding day.. that will be an entertaining post. So far we have had a somewhat quiet couple months of marriage and to be honest, it does not feel any different being married.. maybe when I settle into my new last name I'll start feeling different? Maybe not. :) The important thing is that we are happy and enjoying being newlyweds.

On to other exciting news, I also graduated college. It was such a wonderful day. I actually said the words, "I'm going to miss school... a lot" yesterday. HA! Miss school?! Who would have thought. But, I am truly missing some amazing people that I left behind when I moved back home. Ah. Distance sucks.

Is that enough exciting news for you guys? I hope not because I have yet to share the most exciting news of all...ready?!

There is a bun in the oven baking up a storm right now. That's right... we are expecting!

This has been one of the biggest dreams come true for us. I feel like we have been talking about little one's since we started dating.. (we are crazy, I'm aware) and always knew that we would want to "start trying" (I really hate that term.. but whatever) once we got married. We didn't think it would happen so quickly, but we are more than thrilled that it did. I cannot even begin to explain the love I feel for that little one growing inside of me right now. My heart is overflowing.

Okay, I promised no gushing, but seriously?! That's kind of impossible for me. I guess I'll blame it on my pregnancy hormones.

I will leave you guys with a ton of amazing pictures of all the awesomeness that has taken place in the past six months. Unfortunately, there aren't too many pictures of our big day since we are still waiting to get those pictures back (the wait is almost over! hurray!).

We need help guys!

2013-01-15T03:38:00.000-08:00

Hello dearest followers!

Me and Tyler were entered into a contest to win our
DREAM WEDDING CAKE.

We need help!
If you guys could click HERE and like the photo, we might just win!

This is our "dream wedding cake"! Please like!

Thanks in advance, everyone!

Happy New Year!

2013-01-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

Happy 2013 Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great time enjoying the holidays!
Tyler and I were able to spend a large chunk of time at home and I couldn't be more grateful. It's so nice being able to spend time with your family especially around the holidays.

As some of you may know,
Tyler and I will be getting married on May 11th, 2013!
Seriously though... that's just about 4 months away. I cannot even believe it!

And with that being said, I will be graduating college just a week before Tyler and I are getting married. I could not be more excited for 2013!
It is truly going to be a wonderful year.

Since time is sort of wrapping up on our engagement (4 months is going to FLY by) we have started finishing up more stuff for our wedding.

One major check of the list that we did just this week was
we ordered our bridal party's flowers! (YAY/*sigh of relief)

I also surprised Tyler on Christmas and ordered him his wedding band! He picked it out a couple months ago, not knowing that I was going to surprise him on Christmas! :)

We also ordered our cake topper and

other small items that I cannot wait to see.

For the most part, we only have smaller things left to do

which is nice since I'll most likely be bogged down with school these next 4 months.

Last but definitely not least, WE FINISHED OUR INVITATIONS.
Ah, I'm so excited to check that off the list.
Now we just have to get them all printed out and sent on their way.

I hope you all are enjoying 2013 so far!

PS: One thing that we are having trouble with STILL is our honeymoon. So wish us luck while we make that decision hopefully within the month! :)

Happy Holidays!!!!

2012-12-02T22:11:00.003-08:00

Hello everyone!
Tyler and I have been busy celebrating the holidays with each other & our families... and then there was also work & school that are always in the way of a good time. Here are some pictures to catch you up on all the fun and excitement that we have been having.
*Oh and in just 8 short days, we will be getting married in just 5 MONTHS!!

Phew! That was a lot of pictures and quick look through our excitement.
Even in the midst of all that we were able to do some planning for the wedding.
We made some adorable yarn letters, we are in the final steps of the invitation planning,
we got bridesmaids & grooms/men outfits, and the list keeps going...
...now if we could only figure out where we want to honeymoon!

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season!
I know that we have TONS to be thankful for and couldn't be more happier for the things that we have and the people we get to share those things with!

<3

Wedding Registry Excitement!

2012-10-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family, I hope you are all enjoying the week so far!
As for me and Tyler, we are extremely busy with work and school
however, this weekend we were able to finally finish registering for our wedding!


Doesn't he look like Michael C. Hall as Dexter in this picture..? Maybe it's the creepy face and knife, I don't know.... ;]

Of course I'm scanning cupcake tins....

We registered at of course, Target. And Bed, Bath, & Beyond.

You can view both of our registries here:
Target Registry & Bed, Bath, and Beyond Registry.

I think registering has been Tyler's favorite part of all this wedding planning so far. Not just picking out gifts for our loved ones to get us,
but walking around and getting ideas of what our future home will be like.
It's so exciting, and I think it's safe to say that registering has been one of my favorite parts as well.

Other than registering, Tyler and I have been enjoying cool weather by baking, cooking and glorious cups of espresso. Here are a few pictures to leave you with.

Oh, the places we'll (want to) go.

2012-10-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

$2000/per person for airfare to Australia.

$1200/per person for airfare to New Zealand.

$900/per person for airfare to Sweden or Ireland.

$400/per person for airfare to Hawaii.

Finding a place far away from home to honeymoon inexpensively: impossible.

So... Tyler and I have been talking about all the places that we would love to go on a honeymoon. We have both decided that we wanted to go somewhere far from home (which is proving to be an expensive task).

Ahhhhh...

I mean... Who DOESN'T want to go to Ireland?


We have actually talked about moving to Sweden & even attempted learning the language. Haha.

We want to be able to go somewhere that we know we will never be able to get the chance to after we are married and settled down. We have so many ideas but they are all so expensive! It's such a let down. I just need to keep telling myself that I will honestly have a blast no matter where I go with my future hubby.

I honestly wouldn't even care if we didn't have a honeymoon. But, there's that part of me that really wants a lavish vacation that we can remember for the rest of our lives. Ahhhh...

If anyone has any suggestions to where we should go or what we should do, we would love to hear them! We are open to anything, really.

The Proposal

2012-10-10T13:19:00.001-07:00

It wasn't too long ago that I proposed to Michelle and saw the tremendous amount of happiness in her eyes, but time is flying quick (already 7 months until the wedding)!

Anyways, for those of you that haven't heard how it all went down, this is the post to read:

Michelle and I had a camping trip planned at Huntington Lake, nothing out of the ordinary, just another regular camping trip we wanted to take like all of the others we love so much. I figured that that weekend would be the perfect opportunity to pop the question; us being in the mountains and surrounded by trees, it's everything we love.

So I decided that I would place the ring on top of the frosting on a cupcake since baking is her biggest passion (it's what she's basing her life around anyways!) But that wasn't easy, I had to sneak over to buy the cupcakes without her noticing or finding them in the fridge since I had bought them the night before. The next day came around and I was glad she hadn't found them yet, but now I had to sneak them into the car with all of our camping stuff and hope she wouldn't see them again, and thankfully it worked out... again.

As the night rolled on and we were all settled in at the campsite after a fun day, I got more and more nervous to get the cupcakes out, set the ring on top, and bring it out to her in a cute and romantic way. Eventually when the time was right, I walked over to the car and opened up the cupcake box and opened I up... they were both melted to the point of looking like hot fudge splattered all over the inside of the box. My heart was racing and I had NO CLUE what I was going to do now. The night was coming to an end and we sat inside the tent talking before bed like we usually do, but my mind was so pre-occupied I couldn't really concentrate and felt like she could see something was wrong.

The next day, after a lot of thought, I figured that I would just take her for a drive and see if I could find a cute, secluded and elevated area to pop the question. We drove around and eventually came to the Huntington Lake dam and decided we should walk down and just relax by the water. We found an area just past the damn with a secluded shoreline where we could just sit right by the water and hang out. I finally realized that this would be the perfect area to propose, but there was only one problem. The ring was still hidden in the car (from me thinking there would be nothing special by the dam). I needed a reason to go back to the car to get the ring, so I made up an excuse to head back to our camp a mile or two back to get my swimsuit, which I really didn't have and needed. After we got back to the dam I made sure to stuff the ring in my shoes in our tote bag.

The view from the dam

We hung out by the water for 30 mins or so and ate some snacks and tried to catch minnows with Ziploc bags (for Michelle, I swear she insisted we catch one). I eventually noticed that to the right of where we were sitting the shoreline stuck out a bit (to where you couldn't see what was around it) and then back again. So I tucked the ring box into my waist band of my swimsuit and walked across the rocky shoreline to the alcove (while almost dropping the ring in the water) and saw a perfect tiny log to place the ring on. So I set it down on top of it and tried calling Michelle over to me to sit where I was and hoped that as she came around the bend she would notice it and I would ask her those four words. But she didn't want to come over at the moment, so I walked back to her and sat for a few more minutes.

Proposal right around the corner!

Eventually I said we should go to where I was because there was shade and we didn't have sunscreen. She finally gave in and began walking over while I walked right behind her. She got about halfway over (right to the point where you could see around the bend) and stopped. I could tell she noticed something weird.

Turns out she was just pointing out some trees along the water that looked like they grew cotton on them... great, she didn't even notice the ring! A few second later after admiring the trees she asked me what the heck was over there and I told her I have no idea what you're talking about. She said, "Ty, I think there's a ring over there, OH MY GOD I think somebody was going to propose here!"

She had no idea!!!

Just as I came up right behind her to pretend to see what she was talking about, she turned around and saw me on one knee. I told her how much I loved her and asked if she would marry me, and I was only able to make it about halfway through before the tears started flowing (and she almost got me going too!).

And I don't know why so much nervousness had built up inside me all weekend from just the thought of me asking her, because of course she told me yes, albeit in the midst of her crying.

I swear we spent the rest of that weekend camping just looking at the new ring on her finger with huge smiles on both of our faces; we couldn't stop talking about it! But I guess that's what happens when you decide to spend the rest of your life with your best friend and the most amazing girl in the world.

Insider Edition

2012-09-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

If you want to get an insight of our relationship,
here are three things that allow us to enjoy life just a little bit more. :)

1. Written By A Kid - Ep. 1: Scary Smash

seriou

They turn kid's funny stories into actual little movies. As their slogan goes "we make videos based on what they say", it's seriously the cutest & funniest thing.

2. Coffee, coffee, and more coffee (specifically iced)

Okay, so there's some hot coffee in there too, but if you want to learn how to cold brew your coffee then click here for the details! Warning: it does take 8-12 hours to go through the complete process but it's definitely worth the time.

3. Ticket To Ride

We recently started getting into board games and can't get enough of this one. Each player draws a couple routes that they try to complete by the end of the game using their train pieces. For every completed route you get points added to your total, but for every incomplete route you have, you get points subtracted from your total. It sounds simple, but chaos ensues as every player starts to get an idea of what route you're trying to complete and tries to block you off. If you want to get a better understanding of how it's played, click here. Thanks TableTop!

I hope you're hungry!

2012-09-24T17:17:00.002-07:00

So as Michelle has recently started her senior year at college it felt like the wedding planning would start to slow down quite a bit, but we're still making a bit of progress! We recently finalized the menu for the reception...

and it's BBQ!

Look at those baby pies!


I mean, seriously.... how amazing does all that look? We're drooling..

It took us a while to come up with what type of food we even wanted to begin with since we eventually decided against our first idea. And we know BBQ is typically a messy type of food so we're keeping the finger-foods to a minimum (because we don't want it to look like the end of a wing-eating competition by the end of the night).

As of right now here is what our menu looks like:

Tri-tip (as a sandwich or by itself)
Pulled pork (as a sandwich or by itself)
Mixed-greens salad
Corn on the cob
Baked beans
Potato salad

I'm sure we might add some more to the menu if we come up with anything, it's just so hard finding what works best for the occasion. If anybody has any ideas of something we could add to the menu, let us know in the comments.

Work, work, work!

2012-09-05T00:11:00.000-07:00

This week has been insane... from planning a wedding, to saying goodbye to loved ones (only temporarily), to moving & unpacking, to starting up school (YAY! LAST YEAR!). It feels like there hasn't been any chance to catch a breath these past couple weeks but now we're relaxing and just finished up a shopping trip at WalMart (because we're classy).

For those of you who would like an EXACT date of when our wedding will take place... get those calendars out and mark off

MAY 11TH 2013

and "save our date". We are incredibly excited to keep this wedding planning going and believe it or not, we have accomplished SO MUCH... here's a list so we can see all the progress we've made.

X Found an AMAZING venue (Thanks Kathy & Charlie)

X Figured out our colors/theme

X BOOKED OUR PHOTOGRAPHER!

X Booked the Port-O-Johns :)

X Booked the chair/table rental

X Made parts of our amazing centerpieces

X Made our backdrop

X Decided on the food.....

X Set up a wedding registry for one of the two places

X OH AND WE (Michelle) SAID YES.... TO THE DRESS!!!

X ...other things that cannot come to mind. :P

Here are some pictures of the things mentioned above. Enjoy!! :)

Where we will be saying our "I do's"

Really want this chair for the wedding...

Had to say goodbye to this precious little girl for the next 8 months... :(

...And an early Happy Birthday :)

Finally getting started

2012-08-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

After much delay and thought going in to exactly what we want to have for everybody to feast their eyes on at the wedding, we finally got down and dirty and put our hands to work!

We started off our crafting binge last night with the process of cutting down some fabric to the proper size. It seemed like such a simple process for what we were planning to make (and it was really), but man, using a pair of scissors for any extended period of time starts to take it's toll on your hands! After much hand crampage (for lack of a better term), we finally had the finished product on our hands; some amazing mason jar votives (there will eventually be candles in these)!

I'd say these turned out great!

Tonight we hesitantly got started with DIY project #2, while still feeling the effects of those scissors from the night before. This was another very simple decoration, just somewhat time consuming getting all of the fabric ripped down to the strips that we needed. After lots of sweating while sitting out in the front yard getting everything cut down to size, we were both happy to get back in under the air conditioning to start putting everything together finally.

The backdrop

While you wait...

2012-08-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

If you want to get a feel for what type of wedding this is going to be you can look at both our Pinterest's and Instagram. We update those daily.

Michelle: Instagram/Pinterest
Tyler: Instagram/Pinterest

Wedding planning?!

2012-08-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

As the realization of my new addition to my finger starts to set in, so do my wedding fears. I have been thinking about this moment in my life for years, and now that it is here I don't know where to start! How typical.

As of this moment, Tyler and I are hoping for a May wedding, and as most of you know, I'll also be graduating early May as well. Not to mention that I'll be doing all this planning while living in Riverside. AHH!

I'm not going to lie, I am honestly really excited to start the whole process and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it (as much as I can). If anyone knows any good photographers that are not extremely overpriced then I would love to hear from you! Actually, any suggestions for anything will be greatly appreciated.

All in all, I'm just happy to be looking at my ring knowing that it's not a dream.
Cheesiness. Yay.

This picture was one of our first pictures taken together. I think I knew that we were perfect for each other by our weirdness and our inability to stop laughing.

He fell asleep on Christmas. CHRISTMAS!

We're gettin' HITCHED!

2012-07-30T22:41:00.001-07:00

So as many of you probably know now.... me and Tyler are getting married!!!! We are beyond excited to enter this new part of our relationship.

We decided to make this blog that way we can look back and remember our engagement since it will go by so quickly. We also wanted to keep our friends and family updated with any plans or if you just want to stalk us from time to time :)

We hope that you will enjoy this just as much as we are going to!