February 22, 2010

I couldn't help but think how surreal it was to be celebrating the one year anniversary of our wedding. We were in Savannah, but every time I looked at a clock I couldn't help but remember where we were at that exact time the year before:

7:30am (Josh had to get up early to get a hair cut and I looked at the alarm clock) - I had just gotten up to shower and get ready for the day. There's no picture of this, because I am not a morning person. =)

9:30am (Getting out of bed) - Robyn and I were eating our Embassy Suites breakfast in the hotel room and the hair stylists were just arriving.
11:00am (Packing to come home from Savannah) - My other bridesmaids had just arrived and were starting to get their hair done, and my mom was on her way to the hotel.
12:15am (On the road heading home from Savannah) - All the girls and me were running late, but finally leaving the hotel on our way to the Lake Mary Events Center. Heather drove me in my Mustang.
1:00pm (Standing in line with Josh at Chick-fil-a waiting on our food) - I was walking down the aisle seeing Josh for the first time. I'll never forget his face. And then I started sobbing.
5:15pm (I had just gotten back to Orlando from Savannah) - Our reception was wrapping up. We were getting ready to run through bubbles out to my decorated Mustang where the groomsmen hid the keys....Josh and I both can't believe it's already been a year. It absolutely flew by. I know I'm much more emotional about it than him, nostalgic even. But I keep thinking how fun it's going to be when this 1st Anniversary turns into our 5th Anniversary, then our 10th, our 25th, our 40th....

Because we love being married. It's so much fun - we laugh so much. And we've learned a ton about each other and ourselves this past year. I'm sure by reading this blog, even you all have noticed that. No, it's not always sunshine and butterflies, but compromise moves us along (Thank You Maroon 5) and we definitely don't take each other for granted. We are so blessed that God put us together. His plan is definitely perfect.

We can't wait for the year ahead of us. Who knows where we will be on next anniversary, at the exact time we were married TWO years prior. I can't even begin to guess... but that's the exciting part.

Josh, Kim & Abby

One down, one to go!

Josh passed his Standards Instructor course and graduated yesterday! So proud of him. This was a huge accomplishment. Yay!

And, with no rest for the weary, he starts another training course today called Dunker Training. This one is actually a re-certification that he has to do every 5 years, so it's only two days long.

The purpose is to learn how to evacuate a helicopter if it crashes into water. So, they literally strap the guys into a helicopter simulator, dunk it underwater, and turn it upside down. Then the guys are to figure out which way is up, get their regulators situated, and escape the simulator... all while they're essentially blindfolded.

Sounds like a good time, no?

I was asking Josh questions about it last night and he directed me to YouTube because there are videos of the actual simulator. I found a good one that I thought I'd post it here for you.

Just press the play button.

Last time he went through this training, he smelled like chlorine for a week. Now I can see why.

Josh, Kim & Abby

The Wife Chop

It's a phenomenon among newly married women. Over the past couple of years, I've seen so many new wives do The Wife Chop, including myself.

It's even a discussion topic on most wedding websites/message boards. It will probably be added to Webster's dictionary next year.

I'm talking about when we women decide to cut our hair short after getting married.

I don't know whether it's because most women grow their hair out for their wedding (for the purposes of a certain wedding day hair-style), or because women feel different being married and want to dramatically reflect it on the outside, or maybe because women feel the need to look more "distinguished" or "wife-like"...

Or maybe it's a combination of all three.

Robyn just recently did her Wife Chop. It got me thinking about all this, as I've seen multiple friends cut their hair short over the past couple of years after getting married.

At any rate, we may not understand why we, and all our wife counterparts, do The Wife Chop, but we certainly know we look fabulous.

(Side note, I'm about over my short hair. And I've noticed that women who have been married over a year tend to start re-growing out their hair. This trend has yet to be named.)

Josh, Kim & Abby

Disney with Kristen!

Last weekend, Kristen and I got to go to Disney for FREE. With Park Hopper Passes and everything!

Kristen and Josh's cousin Courtney and her boyfriend Ray work at Disney, and Ray had some extra tickets he didn't need. So, he asked Kristen is she wanted them, which she happily accepted, and then called me to go with her!

We had so much fun.

We went to Animal Kingdom in the morning, which I had never been to before. The African Safari was amazing!! And Everest was a blast.

In the afternoon, we hopped over to Epcot, which I hadn't been to since 5th grade. It started raining about 3pm, but we just donned our poncho's and kept going.

We finished up the day with dinner reservations at Rose & Crown in Great Britian, where we had our Fish 'n Chips and Shepherd's Pie as we had planned.

By the end of it, we were exhausted, but as happy as little kids.

chillin' at the entrance to disney about to get our free passes!

in front of the "tree of life" in animal kingdom

safari time!

kristen LOVES giraffes. and we got up close and personal with them.

on the jungle adventure walkon our way to ride Everest!
beware the Yeti!!
on our way to Epcot
spaceship earth... the big Epcot ball ride
kristen caught me playing the games while waiting in line for Soarin' lol
Soarin'
Me in Japan
Kristen in France
Go Vikings!! Love Percy Harvin & Brett Favre!
In Great Britain.
My fish 'n chips
Her shepherd's pie.
The end of our long day.

Thanks for a GREAT day Kristen! I love you!!

Josh, Kim & Abby

Bathroom Humor

There are many things throughout my daily routine that remind me how absent Josh currently is. His clothes aren't beside (yes, beside) the hamper, his coffee stuff isn't all over the kitchen counter, there are not tents drying out in my dining room...

But the one thing that gets me every morning is how empty his side of our bathroom sinks is. He's not the tidiest of men when it comes to our countertop in the bathroom, so normally it's completely covered. It doesn't really bother me much.

Right now though, his side of our bathroom sinks is completely empty except for a single razor in his palm tree toothbrush holder. OK, fine, it's my palm tree toothbrush holder. But anyway.

It gets me thinking about how we originally picked which sink would be whose. Or, rather, the funny circumstances that led us to picking sides.

I asked Josh before we moved in which side he wanted. He chose the left side, which was fine with me, because my right side had the medicine cabinet and a convenient plug for my hair stuff.

So, when we got all moved in, I set up my stuff on the right side, and neatly arranged all of Josh's stuff on his left side.

Not two days later, I noticed several of Josh's items had migrated to my side. I didn't think anything of it, and I politely moved them back over.

The next day, they were all back.

It made me smile.

This continued for about a week, until one morning when Josh wasn't home I completely swapped all of our stuff. Complete mirror image of how we used to have it. And then I waited to see what would happen.

Josh never mentioned it. And, all of his things have since stayed completely on his right side. Well, until now. Since it's all just missing at the moment. =(

Only 2 more weeks until it's all back... I can't wait.

Josh, Kim & Abby