Date 1: Bowling with a COLORFUL Twist

Date #1

Bowling with a Colorful Twist

This idea came from The Dating Divas and we had a BLAST!  The rules were very challenging! Each person picks a M&M, and you have to follow the rules accordingly!

                  
 

52 Dates

52 Dates

1 Year

Recently, I have enjoyed reading many blogs written by friends/strangers, so it encouraged me to pick back up on mine.  

So, 52 dates.  When Kaden deployed to Afghanistan last summer, I patiently waited on Skype or the phone.  I read many books last summer, but one day I was tired of reading so I started searching the internet for dates.  I have followed The Dating Divas since 2010 and they always have the BEST date ideas.  The best part of their website it they include several printables for FREE!  They were my inspiration! I searched the internet in hopes of compiling a list of 52 dates: 1 for each week of the year.  I spent several days working hard on my list and it's been in my closet for almost a year.  We moved into our new condo this past week and when I ran across them, Kaden told me to pull them out.  We will post each month on our fridge.

This year should be much better!  After being on antibiotics for over 280 days our 1st year of marriage, I had sinus surgery that has COMPLETELY changed my health.  I have never felt better.  More energy, no more coughing, and definitely no more antibiotics, I am rebounding!  Follow us on our journey as we blog about 52 Weeks of Dates!

Newlywed Newbies

Once again, I have neglected my blog that once recorded so many memories.  Kaden safely returned from Afghanistan (a second time), and we were married on a cool, cloudy and rainy day in August.  Many people have asked me how I would describe my wedding day.  Leading up to the wedding, the stress of it all: dress, music, food, etc, nearly about killed my sweet Mom and me.  I am nothing short of a handful, and when you get two personalities and two opinions thrown into the mix, things can get a little stressful.  However, my parents provided me with the most wonderful day of my life and for that I will always be grateful.  People showed us so much love during our wedding and I can assure you that every kitchen appliance, piece of furniture, lamps, pictures, and dishes have molded our marriage because not a day goes by when I don't thank God for all of the wonderful goodies we received.  I am probably the only person that can tell you exactly what each person gave us, along with their address.  Somehow, I looked at Wedding Addresses WAY to much :)

When God changes the direction of your life, we often say "Why?" "What is our purpose?"  
Kaden knew he was separating from the Air Force in September, so he had a wonderful job lined up in Augusta, Georgia.  We had a down payment for a quaint little 1950's rent house, Kaden's job was lined up and ready to go (or we thought), and I was starting the process of my teaching certificate in Georgia.  Long story short, someone didn't process Kaden's security clearances & paperwork for his new job so about a week before our wedding, we had no plan.  We didn't want to bum on my parents for possibly 3 months as we waited for paperwork to clear, so Kaden denied the job and we were left in Oneonta, with absolutely no plan.

After our return from Cancun (so beautiful I must add), we were back home with my parents, and 1 schnauzer who we both adore.  Should we wait for the Augusta job or should we find something else instead?  With our Bibles wide open and our heads bowed, we asked God to show us where to go.  We waited for 2 more weeks as we enjoyed Mom's home cooked meals.  During the waiting process, I got a call from a friend saying she could get me a low paying daycare job (hoping I would eventually find a full time job) in these hard economic times.  With faith, we took the leap, signed the lease on a apartment in Tuscaloosa, and four days later I was working with 4 year olds.  Kaden quickly found a job at a Car Wash and we were worn slap out.  

Luckily, I looked online for full time job postings in Tuscaloosa and I applied for one at a school called Walker Elementary.  I applied online, got an interview, and a week later I was employed as a 1st grade teacher.  I started November 1.  5 months later, I have been surrounded by such a wonderful and uplifting faculty and not to mention the most precious 1st grade class ever.  I have learned A TON, and I am continuing to LEARN every single day.  If I could sit down with you for 10 minutes you would understand just how precious my firsties are!


Not even a month after our 1st month of marriage, and our 1st month of working, I began to go downhill, and I mean fast.  Sinus infections, coughing, and allergies through the roof, my immune system would not fight for me.  I was in and out of the doc-in-the-box, sleeping every chance I got, and quite honest, the most miserable I have ever felt in my life.  7 rounds of antibiotics, and 2 trips to the ENT, I decided that taking antibiotics were out of the question, and I needed to find a more natural way.  A friend introduced me to a NASA certified Air Purifier (that is used on the Space Station), and I was sold immediately.  I also began taking SPARK, and AdvoCare all natural energy drink that would boost my immune system.  I would drink it every morning before work, and within 48 hours of my Air Purifier on FULL BLAST, I began to feel better.  It takes ALOT for a product to impress me, but my Air Purifier and SPARK are now my 2 children.  We recently just got back from a road trip from Texas, and Kaden and I both double checked our children on our 15 hour trip.  Kaden is now an AdvoCare representative and we are excited to improve the lifestyle of others!  

https://www.advocare.com/130412047/default.aspx 

If you don't believe me, take a look for yourself.  


I am still on the road to recovery of my terrible sinuses.  I am scheduled for another ENT appointment in a week, and another round of Allergy Shots.  I am PRAYING for some type of Nasal Surgery that will give me FULL relief.  A Cat Scan should be scheduled soon.  I can't wait to tell my ENT doctor that a AIr Purifier and AdvoCare has made me better; not all of those antibiotics that were making me sick to my stomach.  Before I close, I must give a shout out to my sweet and amazing husband Kaden who has driven to CVS several times at 3 a.m. because I couldn't breathe, and heard every single complaint come out of my mouth.  He is my gem.  He is enjoying The University of Alabama where he is majoring in Computer Science and Math.  I am SO proud of my college student :)


Continue to pray for me, because there is POWER in PRAYER!  We are so blessed.  Now, we are starting to truly enjoy our marriage because I'm not the crazy lady in the back coughing up a lung.  People must think I smoke 5 packs a day :)

08.18.2012

Considering it's nearly the 1st of July & I have updated since April, I decided to fire up my old Dell computer and write a quick post!  Things have drastically changed in the past few months. Kaden left for the 2nd time to Afghanistan on April 3, 2012.  I flew home from Nebraska, only to get stuck at the DFW airport the day the tornadoes ripped through Dallas.  Luckily, I caught a flight later than night and settled back into the routine of a long, LONG, long-distance relationship. Kaden safely arrived back at Bagram (his second home, literally).  I definitely got spoiled last deployment because we were on a great schedule, and a great Skyping schedule for that matter.  I soon realized my computer was too slow and Skype wouldn't respond, so we began talking on the phone again with the usual, "Huh, what did you say?" conversations.  I should not complain because I am thankful I can hear him at all.  Kaden quickly hopped on the schedule where he is working nights.  Keep in mind Afghanistan is 9 1/2 hours ahead of Alabama, so it basically puts us waking up and going to bed at the same time.  Overall, it has been the biggest blessing yet.  Kaden also found out that he is OFFICIALLY, yes officially... getting out of the Air Force early.  Saying that, I'm not moving to Nebraska.  Soonafter finding out the big news, Kaden was offered a job in Augusta, Georgia.  I was hesitant to even tell anyone our news simply because you never know when the military will tell you one thing, then do another.  It's all about being flexible, and that's exactly what I've become.  So, in two months if you see me writing yet another blog post about how we are really moving to Nebraska with 2 feet of snow, you'll understand that's just how the AF rolls.  It's been quite the exciting adventure though :)  




Here I am, thinking how in the world I have 49 days until I marry the most loving, supportive, and caring man alive.  I know ladies, you think the same about your man :)  When we got engaged, I was the "Oh my gosh, I'm engaged, I must have a countdown" type of girl.  So, I bought an impressive little app for a wopping 99 cents to keep me on track.  When I started the app, I was on 203 days.  Look how far we've come!  Time flies is probably the most true statement out there.  Everything is falling into place, but I just wanted to share a quick fact about my wedding that many people may not know.  Call me crazy, call it God, call me weird, call it a blessing.....




In January of 2011, I was home for the anticipated Christmas break.  I was a senior in college, about to begin my Internship with the University of Alabama.  I had just a few more days ahead until I went back to Alabama to prepare for such an exciting time in my life.  Growing up, and still to this day, I have the most vivid dreams about everything.  I can recall nearly every single detail of the dream and I believe our dreams can teach us many things.   Oh yeah, and today on Twitter...I read this fact.  "Depressing people have more vivid dreams than non-depressing people."  Considering I'm not depressed, I immediately laughed at the random fact for the day.  Anyways, back to my awesome dream....


I had been asleep for at least 4 hours when I remembered an exact part in my dream.  I was sitting somewhere looking at my Wedding program and on the front it read, "August 18, 2012."  Oh, and it was my wedding.  Somehow, I woke up and started laughing.  You mean to tell me that A. I'm not dating anyone and B. I'm getting married NEXT year?  Later, I looked at my calendar in my phone to see that 08.18.12 was on  Saturday. HA.  


Months went by and I forgot about the dream as I focused on enjoying my last semester of college.  Two short months later, I met Kaden and almost immediately fell in love.  We started dating, fell in love, and enjoyed every waking moment we had together before he deployed.  We both knew his deployment would be a test to see if God really wanted us together.  Kaden said that throughout the deployment that God told him that if we made it, I was the woman he was going to marry.  As we started talking about the future, it became very real to me that Kaden was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.  As we got engaged, I eventually told Kaden about my dream that I had before I even met him.  No pressure, huh?  As we started looking at wedding dates, my heart became very open to living out my dream.  Kaden was of course 100 percent supportive of my idea and he swears it was God all the way.  Not many people were supportive of my Alabama-August-oh-my-gosh-that-is-the-hottest-part-of-the-month-Wedding, but I just laughed and smiled like any Southern girl does and said "thanks for the suggestion."  So here I am, reflecting on a wonderful 23 years on Earth blessed with a man who loves on me each and every day.  I glad I followed my heart on that simple dream, because August is shaping up to be the best month ever.  KK is getting out of the Air Force, we are getting married, honeymooning to Cancun, moving to Augusta, Georgia, and starting his job on the military base at Ft. Gordon.  




Thank you to all of you have supported us 100 percent along this journey.  It has meant the world to US  God is SO good and we give Him all the praise!

 

Deployment #2

What a crazy few days it has been!! This past weekend Kaden and I decided to take a quick little road trip and drive 6 hours to The Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Neither of us had been to Minnesota before so we both decided it would be a fun state to tackle together as we marked another one off our list. I've become slightly addicted to crossing off another state and I believe I am at 31 states. However, there are more that I want to "re-do." As we started traveling together, we wanted something we could remember each state by. We finally decided on buying magnets from each state! We have a great collection of them so far: 12. I want to find a magnet set that has molds each state together but I don't know if they make one or not! During each visit, we continually thanked God for letting us have the opportunity to see such marvelous sights and eating at nice restaurants. I realize that there are people out there that would give anything just to get out of the state they live in. I have a whole new insight about traveling and I definitely don't take it lightly. Kaden knows as we enter into a new state, the first thing he does is pull over the truck so I can get a picture in front of it.

As we drove to Minnesota, we first passed through the state of Iowa. Iowa is beautiful with some rolling hills and plenty of farmland. Old barns is the number one thing I saw on our trip to the mall. Absolutely beautiful, let me tell you.

The mall was INSANE, consisting of over 520 stores and 50 restaurants. The parking garage was labeled by states. We parked in Nevada, section P. The mall had it all, and even duplicates of many stores: Old Navy, Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret, etc. My favorite store was Godiva where we indulged in chocolate covered strawberries. Kaden enjoyed the Lego store where there were HUGE things made out of Legos. We finished the day riding the roller coaster that went straight UP and straight DOWN, followed by a upside flip. I love getting adrenaline rushes but let me tell you, I am terrified, petrified of roller coasters. I am so weird, I LOVE the roller coasters at Disney World. But roller coasters anywhere else, I become the biggest scardy cat. I guess I feel safer at Disney World than anywhere else. I finally agreed to ride one since I wasn't seeing any little kids flying off. I was so scared but I had to suck it up because there were 8 year old kids jumping up and down because they were SIKED about this roller coaster! As we turned the corner, I had one last chance to bail but considering Kaden had my hand in a death grip, I was stuck. In no time, I was strapped in but not until I checked my seat belt 50 million times. Kaden was a great support system as he laughed at me the whole entire time. I am here to say I survived, and God willing, I will tackle on Six Flags (one day)

Yesterday morning at 3 AM, we were getting ready to head to the airport when I realized I had left my wallet at Buffalo Wild Wings the night before. We went to the airport as I boo-hooed my eyes out thinking I would never make it back to Sweet Home Alabama. Luckily, I found out that you can fly on an airplane without a Driver's License: you just have to be patted down by the TSA. We changed my ticket for a later time and headed back waiting on BWW to open up. Around 8, I called the store hoping someone would be there and to my surprise the manager answered. We retrieved my wallet, called a taxi, and arrived with all of our bags. Kaden kept reminding me, "Catherine, thank God for this day. Tell him how thankful you are for everything. It's going to be okay." I realized Kaden was 100 percent right about the terrible day I was having. God was going to work it out for the best and smearing my mascara was doing me no good. We said our final good-byes as we knew it wouldn't be too much longer before I saw him again.

After being stuck in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport for 10 hours yesterday, it feels so nice to be home. I became a little shook up at the airport because the weather was extremely dangerous and people were being too lackadaisical. I politely told one older lady that tornadoes are VERY real and in seconds, it can wipe out a town. Coming up on a year of the Tuscaloosa Tornado, I made sure to tell her how devastating tornadoes are. With over 400 flights cancelled, and 110 planes damaged by the unbelievable hail storm, I made it to Alabama last night around midnight.

I had a day of lots of praying and lots of thinking. How Great is our God? Like me, we may not always respond to mishaps in the right way, but in the end....It's gonna be okay.

Please continue to pray for Kaden. He called today from Turkey. 3 more months, 3 more months (fingers crossed) He has a wedding to attend :)

Videos from our Road Trip

Nebraska

Wow! It's hard to believe that in 143 days I will become a Mrs, take a new last name, and move to Bellevue, Nebraska. These past few months have been extremely exciting and sometimes overwhelming! Kaden and I returned from our 5,000 mile road trip across the Western United States and settled back into every day life. I found my wedding dress, picked our band and photographer, and started looking on pinterest (probably too much)

Soon after Kaden's return to Nebraska, we found out he would

soon be re-deploying to Afghanistan. Thankfully, we found out his deployment would only be 3 months instead of 6, so I came to the conclusion that with as much wedding planning as I had, I COULD DO IT. 3 months flew by the first time and with God's amazing grace, we could do it together.

My first trip to Nebraska was on Valentine's Day where we spent 2 weeks having fun together: eating out and finding the best restaurants Omaha has to offer, buying a bed together, and packing all of Kaden's belongings into a storage unit. The time went too fast and before I knew it, I was back in Oneonta! Luckily, I found myself subbing nearly every single day for the next month. Kaden flew to California for a week of training & I started to pack my bags for my 2nd trip to Nebraska :)

So here I am now....Sitting in Bellevue, Nebraska looking out the window of a busy intersection. It is so hard to believe that in 143 days I will be moving to a big city where I will know no one except my husband. Bellevue is 15 minutes away from Omaha, Nebraska. The past week we have looked at nearly 15 apartment complexes as we search for the perfect one. Can you believe I will be living in a city where I have access to Starbucks, Target, and TJ Maxx?? Living 15 hours away from Alabama may be difficult but I'm hoping for some road trips from friends and family... wink, wink :)

As far as wedding planning goes, I have the BEST Matron of Honor and the BEST bridesmaids EVER. When I say they are on top of things, I'm not kidding. My life has been so full of JOY from the support and kindness I am getting from all of my best friends. Mal is getting married June 23 and Savanna on June 2! I am SOOOO excited for them!

Our honeymoon is booked for Cancun, Mexico :) We are staying at the Sun Palace Resort...here, take a look

http://www.palaceresorts.com/sunpalace/promotions-en.html?ADID=ppcsp&phonalytics=87z&gclid=CPz5kOvRiq8CFUUZQgodyCP8Rg

We are staying Monday to Monday and even flying first class! My past two flights to Omaha, I have sat on the 1st row of "Coach" and I get so jealous when the flight attendant whips back her curtain so separate me from first class. Let me tell you, 1st class gets the hook-up when flying! I am excited to get cokes and cookies on our flight!

Overall, Kaden & I have had a wonderful week together in Nebraska. Kaden's dad came up for a few days and took us out to eat and we even went to the Zoo! 5 hours of looking at animals was a blast! We had a great time :) Especially looking at the monkeys and giraffes! We went to a local Baptist church where we stood out like a sore thumb, looked at apartments, went to Nebraska's largest winery and sampled some wine, and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather Nebraska is having right now! 80 degrees.....Believe me when I say it feels like 65! NO HUMIDITY! I need to go ahead and apologize for my August Alabama wedding...geez! Praying for great weather!

As for now, it's back to help Kaden write a research paper for his online English 101 class. Love you KK! You really are so amazing and I'm so glad God brought us together. You keep me young by your sweet and silly personality that always keeps me laughing. You have made me laugh more than ever this week...And I will get you back for all of the pranks.

Pranks this week:

1. Kaden's live background on his Android is of grass blowing. He told me to "Blow on the phone" and the grass would start waving on the screen. Yeah, after I tried it for a few seconds of working really hard, Kaden started laughing so hard. Yes, I looked like an idiot in the middle of lunch.

2. Kaden told me that "I saw this written down somewhere and I didn't know what it meant." He said, "Catherine, what does this say? Read it out loud." He wrote..

WE TODD ID

Pretty mean, huh?

3. I did get Kaden by standing behind his wheel by his truck. I got him with the usual "AHHH" scream.

4. Oh, and I literally experienced the saying "Laughing until you cry." We were sitting there laughing about something (can't even remember what now) and then in the middle of the hardest laugh of my life, I started BAWLING my eyes out like I had lost my puppy dog. No kidding, I couldn't even breathe. So then, Kaden thought I was "faking crying" because of all the times I have fake cried and he believed me. He sat there and just stared at me saying "OHHH KAAAYYY, Catherine, Whatever. You're aren't really crying." When he started seeing all of my REAL tears, he finally gave me a hug. It was one of the strangest things I have ever experienced and I wasn't even upset. Pretty dramatic night, huh?

Never a dull moment....

I hope everyone is having a great day

Count your blessings