Family Photos

I have a friend that was hosting a spring mini photo session as a fundraiser.  I knew it was happening in early April, and thought it would be a good time to get an updated picture of my whole clan.  It just so happens that we had the pictures taken on our 10 year anniversary!  The pictures were taken in my bible study teachers back yard.  They own a beautiful house with an even prettier back yard.  My friend, Jessica, helped set up the backdrop and she did a great job too!  Here are some of my favorites :)

(kids in the background :))

My favorite

Chinese & Tattoos {Part 2 of Our Celebration}

After Kevin and I made our skydiving reservations, we were also talking about what else we could do to make it an epic day.

We have talked for years about getting matching tattoos.  We talked about getting our wedding bands tattooed, but we just couldn't decide what we wanted, so we never got anything.  We decided to think outside the box.  We spent an evening throwing out ideas about what we could get.  Since the reason for celebrating was our 10 year anniversary, I started thinking about how we could incorporate "10" in our tattoo.  We knew X was the roman numeral for 10, so we brainstormed "X" ideas.

When Hayden was a little baby, we picked out Psalm 127:4 as a verse for him... it say, "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth."  This just seemed to fit.  The highlight of our marriage will always be the children we had in our youth!  So I picked out arrows I liked, and he picked out arrows he liked, and we hunted for a tattoo shop between the skydive place and home.

We found a place called Billy Joe's Tattoos in Terre Haute.  It's actually owned by a pastor and his wife.  She runs a boutique in the front and he owns the tattoo and piercing part.  Marcus is that tattoo artist, and we just felt like this was the place to go!  We also wanted Panda Express in Terre Haute for dinner.  So we made appointments for the 8th at 6pm.

After skydiving, we were both hungry and ready to eat.  We had barely eaten anything all day because our nerves kept us from feeling hungry.  We snacked a little and drove an hour and a half south to Terre Haute.  We picked out our favorite dishes at Panda Express and scarfed them down.  The tattoo shop was about 5 minutes from dinner.  We got there about 15 minutes early.  Marcus was just finishing up his appointment before us.

Us at Panda Express

We had texted him pictures of what we wanted earlier in the day, so he drew up the designs for us and made sure we liked them.  I wanted mine smaller than what he drew, so he shrank it down, and I told him again to go smaller, so he shrunk it again.  I was still thinking smaller, but he told me it would look really good with Kevin's the size it was and he could do all the little details I liked.  If we went smaller it would be less detailed.  So I went with it!

Our designs... I wanted my arrows up, Kevin wanted his arrows down.

Our new tattoos :)

Closer up of Kevins

Closer up of mine.  Allie decided she's the arrow with the frilly ends, and Krissy is the arrow with the feather end. 

Just like the skydiving, I went first (which was how I wanted it :))  I hadn't had a tattoo in 15+ years so I had forgotten what it felt like.  I kept quiet and tried not to talk or move.  I didn't want crooked arrows!  Kevin mouthed, "Are you ok?", and I was, he was just afraid it was too painful for me.  After mine was done (it probably took 10 minutes), we went out in the lobby so he could clean and get ready for Kevin's tattoo.  I told him it hurt, but I was just trying to keep quiet and not move.  Kevin's seemed to go faster than mine.  We paid, got our tattoo goo, and were headed home.  We got our skydiving pictures emailed to us on the drive home. 

We got home right at 8pm (we gained an hour with the time change), and were thrilled to be back home with the kids.  We were both mentally and physically exhausted from the day's emotional roller coaster.  We showed the kids our pictures and everyone went to bed!

Sunday afternoon, our videos were emailed to us, and we just kept reliving how incredible the day was!  Kevin kept smiling at me saying I have to be the coolest person he knows.... lol he makes me smile.  I'm so glad we stepped out of our comfort zone and did some memorable things to celebrate our big anniversary!  Fishing would have been fun, but it just wasn't what I had in mind :) 

"WE DID IT!" {Part 1 of Our Celebration}

Most of you that read this blog also follow me on instagram, so you know my big news already. 

At the beginning of the year, I decided I was going to read the entire bible.  I have an app on my phone that tells me what chapters to read each day.  On March 15, I was reading Deuteronomy 10 and verse 20 says, "Fear the LORD your God and serve him.  Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name."  This verse stuck out to me and I started thinking about things I fear... the first thing that popped in my head was skydiving.  

On one of my first dates with Kevin back in 2004, he told me he wanted to skydive.  I told him I'd go watch, but I'd never do it.  We had been talking on and off all year long about how we should celebrate our 10 year anniversary, and in early March we decided we'd spend the day at Barkley lake and go fishing.  But after reading this bible verse and meditating on it for awhile, I really felt like God was pushing me to take a leap (quite literally) of faith.  He wanted to show me I didn't need to fear skydiving.  I've been reading in the old testament about how God has delivered his people, and I felt confident that even if we had a faulty parachute, God would still deliver me safely to the ground.  I know I have nothing to fear, other than the Lord, but I don't usually live that way.  I talked to Kevin when he got home from work and asked if we could scrap the fishing plans.  I told him I wanted to plan a more exciting day.

My original plan was to not tell Kevin about skydiving until we got to the airport on April 8th.  After about an hour of my heart racing and me sweating profusely (I usually never sweat!), he was dying to know.  I thought maybe we could process this together, and get excited together, so I told him the plans.  He was shocked.  He was hesitant.  I reminded him this was something he told me he wanted to do!  He said he was enjoying this predictable life we live, which I was nodding in agreement, but he said "Let's do it!"  I put down our deposit online.  

We both thought of backing out several times over the next few weeks, but when one of us was weak, the other was strong.  Telling him was definitely the right choice!  We watched YouTube videos of people's jumps, I dreamed crazy skydiving dreams, I looked up tandem skydiving death statistics (which was actually really encouraging), I wrote a goodbye letter to the kids just in case,  and we sang "Live Like You're Dying" under our breaths and smiled at each other because we liked having a secret.

The night before our jump (which was actually a day after our anniversary), we slept so great!  I woke up a bit early but stuck to my morning routine, and we got ready and left for the day.  It was about a 3.5 hour drive and that was probably the worst part of the day.  We chatted to calm our nerves, but it was obvious we were both out of our comfort zone. 

We arrived at Frankfort Municipal Airport about 12:25 and our scheduled time to start was 1.  We were immediately taken back to watch the saftey video and fill out paper work, and by 12:45 we had paid and were ready to get fitted in our jumpsuits and harnesses.  There was another young couple ahead of us.  They were there celebrating his 25th birthday.  They were actually from southern Indiana too, so we just made small talk.  A couple instructors came up and talked to us, which helped calm some nerves too.  Kevin's tandem partner, Kramer, was a little older than us, had been doing this for 20 years, and had jumped over 13,500 times.  My partner, Ryan, had 1,500+ jumps. 

We watched the couple infront of us go and come back safely and they kept talking about how awesome it was.  We did a interview for the camera and then tightened our harness.  My instructor told me he was invested in me and this was going to work, and we'd land safely.  All that was reassuring to hear.  We headed towards our little 1970s plane driven by a college kid.  That was probably the scariest part of the whole thing. 

Once we got in the plane, my partner was so good about keeping me calm.  He kept encouraging me to take deep breaths, and talked to me almost the entire time.  And I like to talk when I'm nervous.  And apparently (from watching my video) I smile too much and wave nervously at any camera pointed my direction - haha!  The best thing my partner said was right at the end of the flight.  He said, "Just remember to enjoy it.  You're just along for the ride!"  I don't know why that eased my mind so much but it did! 

The door I was squished against during the flight up was opened, my camera man crawled out over the top of us (we were packed in the plane like sardines which I don't think I've mentioned yet), and I followed procedure.  My partner put one foot out, I was supposed to put my two feet out, then he'd put his last foot out and off we'd go!  I was so calm during this part and I thought I'd be freaking out.  I think this was just God answering all the hundreds of prayers I had said!

It's hard to describe the fall.  It's not like a roller coaster, but it definitely feels like you're falling.  I was hanging on to my straps for dear life, trying to get my bearings, and when I opened my eyes my camera man was looking right at me!  I tried to smile for the camera, and before I knew it the freefall was over and the parachute was opening.  Parachuting was the BEST part for me!  It was easy, nothing scary about it, and I felt like, "ok, we made it!"  And then that's exactly what my partner told me. 

He had to adjust his straps and asked me to hold on to the parachute and stand on his feet.  I don't think this part was planned, but if it was he hadn't prepared me for it.  I heard what sounded like two buttons snap and he screamed, "OH GOD" and I screamed, "OH MY GOSH!" and he said, "Just kidding."  I didn't find that nearly as funny as he did!  He was giving me landing instructions and told me we'd slide in instead of landing on our feet.  While he was talking I realized Kevin had already landed.  I was confused how that happened since I jumped first, but all I knew it we were coming in fast for our landing.  It was probably the ugliest landing I could have imagined and my back popped a funny pop when my legs got stuck behind me.  Nothing graceful about it all. 

My camera man was immediately back in my face asking me questions and I wish I had thought about how I was going to answer them ahead of time!  "The coming down part" means parachuting by the way :)  I was listening to my partner talk to Kevin's partner about how ugly his exit from the plane was.  I knew his foot had fallen asleep on the flight up, but the exit felt seemless to me.  My partner got out of his harness and back into a new one because he was on the next group to go up.  He wished us a Happy Anniversary while Kevin & I took a couple more picture.

We hugged, kissed, and said, "We Did It!" --- which is kind of how we felt about being married 10 years!  We made it past some ugly, hard, rough times.  It really was an incredible experience that I will never forget.  People keep asking if I'd skydive again, and I think I would.  I have no plans made in the future though.  And if I never do it again, I'm fine with that too. 

We called and texted our parents and siblings on the way to our next planned stop.  Everyone was shocked, just as we expected.  We had kept it a secret because we didn't want them worrying.  That was definitely the right choice too. :)

Here are the videos... Kevin definitely wins the award for looking the coolest!

And some pictures...

Some random things I don't want to forget:

1. This was SkydiveIndy's second weekend being open for the season.
2. The big plane that holds 14 people hadn't arrived yet (it was in Florida for the off-season), so that's why we had the tiny plane that had duct tape in it!
3. My partner had only been in Indiana about 24 hours before we jumped.  He usually works for a company in New York, but came to Indiana because they needed more help until the full crew was there.
4. I didn't realize that skydivers travel so much.  Kevin's partner is gone 3-4 months of the year to work in California.
5. There was the cutest dog at the hanger named Charlie.  He helped keep me calm.
6.  The weather was sunny/clear skies and temps in the lower 60s 
7. The sweet couple we chatted with while we waited were Ben & Shelby.  They were just dating.  I asked if he planned to propose when she came down and he said they weren't ready for that.   Bummer!  I would have loved to see that!
8. There was a man in his 80s just hanging out watching people jump.  He said he jumped last year on his birthday, but didn't think he was going to this year.
9. I had a separate photographer that took my pictures and video.  Kevin's partner had a GoPro camera attached to his arm and that's how he got his pictures and videos - and that's also why our videos are so different!

A Decade with Him

It's hard to believe we've been married a decade!  I thought today I'd share 10 books I've loved (and there's a few I still want to read on this list) about marriage and being a wife.  I also made a list of 10 things I have learned in 10 years of marriage.  Obviously, I have a long way to go, but we've come really far from where we started :)

10 Books

1. The Bible
2. The Love Dare
3. Love & Respect
4. Sacred Marriage
5. 31 Days to a Happy Husband
6. The 5 Love Languages
7. The Whole Hearted Wife
8. Cherish
9. Swipe Right
10. The Power of a Praying Wife

10 Things I've Learned in 10 years

1. Date nights are really important.  It's important to keep having fun together just the two of you!
2. There's going to be rough days, weeks, and seasons.  I think being sleep deprived (from young kids) increases the frequency of rough days!
3. Get all the skeletons out of your closet. I don't think you can really truly share oneness with someone that doesn't know everything about you.
4. Every marriage has problems.  They may be different ones than you have, but everyone has them!  This is one reason why I love my weekly bible study so much.  I see women at church and I think their lives look so perfect, but once we get talking, I find out they don't have a perfect life like I think.
5. Talk to a counselor when you need help working through an issue.  We started counseling after a few years of marriage and went to the same lady for several years.  We haven't been in awhile, but we learned some valuable tools for communicating.  
6. Appreciation vs Depreciation - Kevin really wanted me to read The Love Dare, and I'd highly recommend it, which is why it's on my list above.  Day 7 talks about spending time appreciating your spouse rather than time depreciating your spouse. This topic deserves a whole post,but for time sake....  The quick breakdown is your heart has an appreciation room and a depreciation room from your spouse.  In the appreciation room, written on the walls are things you love about your spouse.  Usually you fill the walls while you're still dating.  The depreciation room is all the annoyances, struggles, & conflicts you have.  People end up divorcing when they're spending too much time in this room.  The book says the only time you should go by this room is to see how to pray for your spouse.  This concept was so eye-opening for me.  It made me really focus on all the good there is in Kevin
7. Ladies, take compliments from your husband!  I'm still learning how to do this.  I want to model it well for my girls, and I love how the boys are learning from Kevin how to give compliments.  Kevin has told me for years he thinks I'm prettier now than the day we got married.  I'd roll my eyes, and think about everything I dislike about myself and think 'he can't mean it', but he really does mean it!  His compliments boost my confidence.  
8. Work on oneness.  The more I'm reading my bible, the more I'm being convicted about this.  It's showing me areas we still need to work on.  God says marriage is two people becoming one.  I'd say for most of our marriage, it was two people being two people.  But I want oneness now!
9. You can never communicate too much. 
10. Patience.  We've both learned patience in the last 10 years.  With each other, with the kids, with daily life.  I think learning it makes life more enjoyable.  And we aren't perfect at it.  I think we both still fail daily.  But we also got better about asking for forgiveness.

And Lastly..

10 Things I Love About Kevin 

1. He thinks about me often.  And I know he really loves me
2. He's a great dad
3. He makes me laugh all the time
4. He's a great griller
5. He's Mr. Fix It
6. He's great at his job
7. He's a good listener (I'm usually the talker!)
8. He supports and encourages me 100%
9. He's generous
10. He's always willing to help - me or anyone that needs help

I'm really excited for the next decade!  And the ones after that!  Being married definitely has ugly moments, but looking back, all the stands out is the beautiful and the good.  There's no one else I'd rather have by my side!

Love you Kev!!!