answers revealed - part two (love, marriage, and family)

Updated to add on 5/25/09: The first question is for Kasey's Friend Makin' Monday and since I had already answered it, I thought I would link up this post!

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Welcome to Part 2 of "answers revealed"...I hope that you are enjoying getting to know just a little bit more about who is behind this crazy blog! Check out HERE for part one.

Question #2 from Vivienne at The V Spot - How did you meet your husband and how did he propose?

My husband and I met at a Christmas party in 2002. My very good friend, Kara and her roommate were having a casual get together of friends during the holiday season. I was invited by Kara and Ryan (my husband) was invited by her roommate. It was obvious at the party that he was into me, so I was happy to see an e-mail from him on Monday morning at work. The day after the party, he had asked Kara's roommate for my e-mail and phone number. We "chatted" away on e-mail for a week and then it was my Christmas break (I was a teacher at the time). He just so happened to be taking off some time around the holiday as well, so we ended up doing quite a bit together throughout that next couple of weeks, and then pretty much became inseparable after the New Year. It was obvious from the very beginning that we were meant to be together! To make a long story short, we were in engaged by August 2003 and married just 4 short months later in December 2003.

Ryan proposed to me on August 1, 2003. I had been camping with my family and he was going to come up later in the weekend. However, he surprised me by arriving the day before he was supposed to get there. I didn't think anything of it until he asked me to get into the car because he had something he wanted to show me. At this point I started to get a bit suspicious. He took me to a secluded part of the beach where he had set up a blanket surrounded by red roses.

this picture came from my scrapbook
(I guess I hadn't gone digital yet?!)

He had packed a picnic lunch for us and he had also written a song that he sang to me (after pulling his guitar from behind the large piece of driftwood you see in the picture). It was a very romantic moment and one that I will never forget. We both were beaming from ear to ear after we got back to camp. Later in that same day, he took me horse back riding on the beach!!


My mom was visiting for the summer and leaving fairly soon so he wanted to ask me to marry him while she was here so we could go dress shopping together, but he hadn't officially gotten my ring yet, so I had one "on loan". I actually got proposed to twice (by the same man, of course!) because about a month later, he gave me THE RING on a day at the beach.


Question #3 from Emily at Powell Power - What are some of the details from your wedding?

Ryan and I were married on December 13, 2003. Of course the visions were of snow falling all around us, but I should have been a little more realistic and living in Oregon there was no sign of snow on our special day, but instead a whole lotta rain! Despite the weather, it was a beautiful day. We got married at 4:00 in the afternoon, so my plan was to use lots of candles in the church. I am a pretty simple gal, so I (with a lot of help, of course) did a lot of it myself. I met with my church decorator pretty soon after getting engaged and had all of the details laid out. Since we were getting married around Christmas, we collaborated with the church decor team and they agreed to use the colors I had chosen for my wedding in their Christmas decor. (For a few more decor details, check out this post.) I remember walking into the church before the guests had arrived and seeing all of the candles lit and remembering how perfect it looked! I was happy with the way it turned out. The only thing I would change was our photographer. I don't think he captured the moment at its prettiest. Too bad my friend Annie wasn't doing photography back then!


The reception was also something I had envisioned. I love how it turned out. Again, it was simple, but perfect!! We decided that instead of sheet cake, we would do cheesecakes for the guests and have one small cake for us to cut into.


To end the evening, we ran to the car under an umbrella tunnel (Ryan had purchased nice umbrellas for all of his groomsmen!). I wouldn't expect anything less living in Oregon.


Question #6 comes from Shelley at Through A Mother's Eye - Do you plan on having any more children?

On this day, at this moment...no, we are not planning on having any more children. We are quite content with having one boy and one girl and doing man-on-man defense. Our two children are pretty close in age (only 17 1/2 months apart!). Not something we had planned per se, but something that we really enjoy now. So, it doesn't mean that 3 (or 4) children are out of the question (just kidding on the 4, babe!), but for now life is good and we're satisfied with the two blue eyed blessings we have. We'll just have to wait and see...

Question # 9 comes from Mimi at He & Me + 3 - What is your family's favorite thing to do together?

I have to admit that we are quite the homebody family. We enjoy outings every now and then, but Austin is hit and miss with being out and about (he's not as easily content as Mikayla was at his age). So at this stage we enjoy doing things here at the house. Our favorite is when it's nice outside because then we'll just hang out and watch the kids play. Sometimes we'll also just hang out indoors doing the same thing...watching the kids play. We also like having family over for dinner to just relax with us. We'll watch an occasional movie together as a family, but usually the attention span doesn't last for a whole movie (mine and the kids!). My hope is to start doing themed movie nights with fun food! We'll see if that happens, but I love the idea of it.

Question # 14 comes from my *new* friend Sarah O. (we met through MOPS) - How old are you and your husband, where did you both grow up, how long have you been married and where do you guys go to church?

Gotta love this one...nice and easy! I turned 31 in February and my husband will be 29 in July. I grew up in Newberg (surprise, surprise!) and my husband grew up in Gresham. This past December we celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a trip to Southern California just the two of us! (If you're looking for something to do, you can check out the fun we had HERE.) Just this last fall, we began attending Woodhaven Community (in Sherwood), but before that we attended Northside Community (in Newberg) where I had been going for 30 years!! I'm a creature of habit, what can I say!

Coming up next?
A little bit of random!!