Someone is having a birthday...

Today is Jesse's (my soon-to-be-husband) 29th birthday!

Thank you for loving me and being my best friend. I'm so excited to marry you and have you be mine for eternity.
Happy Birthday, love!

Birthday Weekend: Part 2

For the second part of the birthday weekend I'm going to sum it up in pictures...

Raven Run where we went to hike on Saturday the 10th...view of the Kentucky River.
Taking a picture of Jesse taking a picture.
Winnie the Pooh ice cream birthday cake from DQ.

Beautiful flowers from Jesse
The delicious cake Brenna made me. Yum!
The present from Jesse! (Don't mind the messy background).
Brenna and Jesse lighting the blazing inferno...
I got them all out in one blow. :)
Cutting the cakes."Natasha,

I love you
more than
Pooh loves Honey

and
more than
Tigger loves
Bouncing.

So when your feeling gloomy like Eyeore, worried
like Piglet or lost in a hundred acre wood. Remember someone loves you
I DO"
Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It was a good weekend. As my mom always says, I have a knack for spreading my birthday celebration out over a few days...in this case, a whole weekend!

Birthday weekend: Part 1

Wow, what a weekend! I have so much to say and not enough words to express it all...this weekend has been wonderful, sad, reflective, and bittersweet all at the same time.

Friday the 9th-my birthday:
As Friday evening rolled around we were undecided whether to celebrate my birthday out or go for a night hike in Berea as planned (which was the Friday night activity). We decided to go on the hike, and as Jesse came to pick us up, his arms were full of a bouquet of flowers and an ice cream cake from DQ! What a wonderful present!

When we arrived at the Pinnacles, there was an ampitheater which we went to look at...a guy in the group told me to go down the steps to look at it better. When I turned around the group started singing "Happy Birthday" to me. Sneaky Jesse, who told me he didn't say anything about my birthday! It was a nice surprise.

The hike, about 2-3 miles, was a little steep (and muddy) at times, but once we got to the top the view of the city was beautiful and peaceful! Jesse and I had a little bit of time to sit and reflect and it was wonderful. I'm so glad we all went. Once we got back it was about 11:30 and we all decided to save cake for Saturday since we were tired.

Saturday:
Jesse and I decided to head out to the Arboretum (even though it was officially closed due to the football game, he got in because he's the horticulturist there!) to look at the bird house exhibit... we painted a birdhouse together and Jesse wood burned one so we entered them both (it's a fundraiser for them). I have pictures, but I can't find my camera cord! Arrrr. Jesse told me as we were leaving that he hopefully would have my birthday present finished by the evening. I told him I thought the flowers and ice cream cake was my present!


As Jesse was under a tree retrieving a heart nut to show me, he must have bothered a wasp nest since he got stung twice- once each on two of his fingers. As he came back out he told me to hurry away from the tree since a few of them started chasing us. Hurting Jesse- the nerve of that wasp!

After the Arboretum we headed out to Raven Run for a 4 mile hike.
As we were driving there, I mentioned to Jesse that I sometimes miss being a kid and doing kid things like running around sprinklers, bike rides, and playing outside with no cares in the world.

When we got to Raven Run the weather was perfect and it was lovely spending time in nature with Jesse. It took us about 3 hours to go four miles which is pretty slow considering some people run a 15 minute mile... but, in our defense we stopped to play in the streams, look at plants and trees, take photographs, play Three Billy Goats Gruff on some bridges we found ("who's walking on my bridge?"), and pick up buckeyes (which I eventually had to put back. Sad). Jesse took some wonderful nature photographs and also one of me as I was playing in a stream. It was fun how the hike made me feel like a kid again.

After the hike we went to Olive Garden for a birthday dinner. When I got home Brenna, my sister, had presents waiting for me. Such lovely birthday gifts- a pair of fuzzy socks, Twix bars, little notepads, and two wall phrases to hang up in our new apartment once Jesse and I are married.

Later that evening after resting for a little bit, Jesse came back over for ice cream cake and chocolate cake which Brenna made. As he was walking up the steps he was carrying something in his arms....

Post 2 coming soon...hopefully with pictures.

September love

I always think of Septeber 1st as the beginning of Fall, though I know it really doesn't start until the end of September. But the days do start getting cooler and more fall-like...

Here are some things that I'm excited for in September:

♥ Today is one month and one week till I marry Jesse! ♥ my birthday (beginning of September) ♥ Jesse's birthday (end of September) ♥ beautiful fall leaves changing color ♥ cool morning air ♥ soups and chili ♥ evenings with blankets and snuggles ♥ giving and receiving birthday presents ♥ delicious homemade bread ♥ my upcoming wedding (refer to the first thing on the list) ♥ Labor day weekend ♥ Possible trips to Mammoth caves, Natural Bridge, etc for hiking and looking at fall leaves ♥ My passport coming! ♥

*******************************

In other news, we finished registering for our wedding.

Two of the big things we registered for?

A Kitchen-aid mixer (professional series!)



and

Roomba- a vacuuming robot!

The Roomba was pretty much scanned as a joke (but not the kitchen-aid) since I'm pretty sure we won't get either of these things (expensive!). But Jesse said he would laugh if we got the Roomba and not the Kitchen-aid. But I told him that if we got the Kitchen-aid he would get more homemade bread- which he loves. One can hope, right? ha ha

My mind...

somedays I don't know where it goes.

For example...I was at the post office turning in my passport information and the following conversation took place. (M=me; P=postman)

P: Everything looks good so we'll get it mailed off for you.

M: Good, thanks!

(as he was putting the envelope in the mailing bin)
P: Have a great trip!

M: Thanks, you too!

Umm...I guess he could have a good trip home or to the bathroom...

A new find

I've been hesitant to put a new blog post up because I like looking at Jesse's handsome face when I see my blog, but I guess it's time for a new one since I can see his handsome face in person.

When Jesse was 8 years old his family lived in a semi-rural area in Arkansas. One day when his parents and siblings were gone and Jesse was home alone, an electrical problem started a fire in the house. As the fire started increasing Jesse called the fire department and his Dad who was about 45 minutes away and then he grabbed a picture of Christ and a family photo and got out of the house.

Recently, in the middle of wedding planning I came across this new (to me) website and I can't stop looking at it.

The Burning House is a blog where the author asks people the world over this question: "If your house was burning, what would you take with you? It's a conflict between what's practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condesnsed into one question."

It's so facisnating to see what people would choose...

From looking at the pictures, here are few things in common that people would take:

People and animals that are currently in the house
Moleskin notebooks/journals
Photographs
Cameras
Phones
Passports

Bleuenn age 2

David age 27

Jennie age 19

Janet age 58

What would you take with you if your house was burning?

A few more engagement photos

As I mentioned before, these were taken around Keeneland. Sara, the photographer ended up with about 800 photos by the time we were done. She edited them down to around 220 for us to pick an engagement photo from...and now I'm showing you these ones. I wanted to post more but didn't want you to be subject to too much gushiness! I'm only thinking of you afterall.

Enjoy...

We call this one "Professor Jesse"

Getting ready to put a flower in his hair

"Behind bars" (notice the police cars behind us...)

The one we chose for our engagement photograph...?

We thought it was a good representation of Kentucky.

Google...

Have a look at their amazing benefits. Also here. Crazy!

Free lunch everyday, made with love by gourmet chefs?

And the first year in working there you get 15 days of paid vacation. Wow!

Help for Africa

I don't normally post about things like this on my blog, but during lunch I was reading the news (briefly) and came across this slideshow and story on msnbc.com about the famine in Eastern Africa.

As I was looking at the slideshow the pictures drew me in. I must be living under a rock because I had no idea that a famine was happening. I started crying and feeling really guilty for being so stressed over my wedding preparations when there are children and families dying of hunger. I am really blessed.

View the complete slideshow here
And ways you can help here

Expressions of love

How grateful I am for Jesse's expressions of love-
A kind word when I've had a bad day
A hug and a kiss
A joke he tells to make me laugh
His wonderful drawings with love letters included
The words: "I love you"

He is smart, funny, thoughtful, selfless, and ever willing to serve. He always sees the best in me, even when I don't, and helps me to feel the love of my Heavenly Father.

I'm so grateful that he will be mine for time and all eternity. And that knowledge is oh, so good.

Preview...

We went to Keeneland this past Saturday and had our engagement pictures taken by the lovely Sara J. We took some near a police car while we were behind "bars" (i.e. jail), and took some by horses when they tried to eat us. A few of them were a little cheesy, but some have to be, right?

Here is a preview...

For our very first date, we went to The Mad Potter and painted these...Cletus and a flower pot. Who knew we would end up getting married!
She posted a third one, but it's just a close-up of the second one.

You like? More to come!