my heart

"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul." -Judy Garland

photo: jcorr photography

One Year

A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN A YEAR.

A year ago today I sent a random message to, unbeknownst to me, my future husband. Yep, that's how it all started (for those who are new to this blog). A simple Facebook message sent to a handsome Soldier Boy. It was so cheesy, but you know what...he responded and the rest was history. It was beautiful. A lot of you here saw it all unfold. There is so much we don't know about each other, but then there is so much we do know! I love my best friend, my Soldier, my Husband.

 

April 2012

Married June 2, 2012

God has such great plans for us all. Most of the time it's right under our noses. We just have to trust in Him and his timing. It's always perfect.

Jeremiah 29:11

Hawaii- Part 3

Part 1 - Part 2

My last two days in Hawaii were quite eventful. 

We decided to hike Koko Head bright and early. It was also a great workout but so much fun to have him by my side. I love love love how physically active and adventurous he is. Koko Head was no joke though. 642 ft high. Steep steps. Legs burning. Next time I def want to do Diamond Head. 

Afterwards we set out to treat ourselves with a beer at Kono Brewing Company. Where I fell in love with yet another Hawaiian brewed beer. 

As soon as we made it back from our hike it was time to get ready for the ball. Eeek! I could not wait to get my dress on and see my handsome Soldier Boy in his blues. Boy did not disappoint. We pre-gamed and I got to meet his buddies. One in particular who I had become friends with while he they were on deployment and who gave me the name of Cupcake Princess. It was fun to see Soldier Boy interact with his guys.

{go big or go home}

Note to self: never hike or do something extremely active before planning to booze it up that night. We both got drunk very quickly. I ended up spilling wine on my dress (white wine, thank goodness) and a certain someone, cough cough, passed out early. It was a bummer to only be in my dress and with him for an hour or so, but he redeemed himself and hopefully this won't be the last ball we attend together. I felt beautiful though. Soldier Boy did a great job at picking out my dress and I got so many compliments on it. 

The next morning was a bit on the rough side. But, it was a beautiful day out and my last day so it was one to not be wasted. We eventually made it out to Pearl Harbor. It's pretty crazy to think about all that happened there. I mean I just can't imagine. 

So yeah, I cried. I really tried not to because I hate crying. But, I didn't want to leave. How do you leave your heart behind? Your other half? The trip went far better than I could have ever imagined. I fell harder in love with this man. The moment he kissed me good bye at the airport I was already missing him. The long travel home, 15 hours, was really really hard. The further I got from Hawaii the more my heart ached.

I did get a lovely welcome home from my baby boy, Jax. 

Puppy kisses will just have to do for now.

Which, I just realized, Jax is now 2 years old! Time flies.


Soldier Boy, if you're reading this.... I really miss your farts....
Oh yes... I just went there.

The good news? We get to see each other again in 10 days, for about a month. He'll be in our ol' stomping grounds this time. It will be the best month ever, I just know it. Can't wait!!

Home is where the heart is.

And this, my dear friends, is the beginning of our beautiful love story.......... 

Hawaii- Part 2

 Part 1

So... after about 10 hours of flying, I land in Hawaii. I have to walk a million miles away to baggage claim, which ended up being good for me to get my wits together. I walk down some steps and that's when I see people gathered around. Cue a minor freak out.


The moment I had waited months upon months for was finally here!!


I spot Soldier Boy. He spots me. I'm pretty sure I had a huge grin at that moment. He leis me. Then grabs me and gives me big kiss. (I had multiple dreams/daydreams of how that moment would be. So much better in real life.) I'm pretty sure I told him, while we were waiting for my bags which I so desperately hoped had made it there, 'omg, your real'. Haha. The cutest moment was when we were in his truck leaving the airport and out of nowhere he says... "Oh ya!" I'm thinking, he forgot to tell me something about what we are doing or he had exciting news. Then he says "I LOVE YOU". Our first time being able to say it in person to each other.

Cue melted heart.

I honestly felt nothing but comfort, sure a little bit of nerves were there, but we just felt so natural together.

I could not get enough of kissing him, holding his hand, touching him. (Which I thought I had never been a touchy-feely type but that has most definitely changed. I think touch is my new love language)

Don't take those little moments, that y'all get to experience daily, taken for granted. For us long distance lovers, those are treasured moments. Every single one. I'd give anything to be able to kiss him again.

I surprisingly stayed awake til a decent Hawaiian time, thanks to lots of caffeine and a love-high. I was enjoying the moment, soaking it up. Taking in the beauty of Hawaii (Oahu) and this handsome man in front of me. I will never forget that first day. Ever.

{our first picture together}

{first beer together}


We spent the entire week talking, laughing, and goofing around. We became Facebook Official, yeahhhh. Learned/ing how we work (in person). Each others lil quirks, which I grew to absolutely love. We even got into a lil rough patch, but it was good for us to experience that and how we deal with the conflict between each other. And of course lots of ice cold beer together and great food. We even ended up having our own lil 'things'.... like our virtual high fives, are now air high fives. Totally silly but it's special to us. Makes me giggle to even think about.

We did some site seeing off and on throughout the week. The scenic drive up to North Shore was beautiful, despite the nasty weather. Played around at the Ala Moana mall. Unfortunately, he had to be on base a few days so I had some mornings and one really long day by myself. So, I did a lil bit of my own site seeing in Waikiki, soaking up the Hawaiian sun and the beauty of the water.

{Waikiki Beach/Diamond Head}

{He is so handsome}

{fire dancer}

{Prince Charming}

{Bellows- Look at that water!}

{Bellows}

 {Lava Rocks}

{Yummy drinks at Ola in North Shore}

{Very cool Christian store- James 3:30}

{Fort Derussy Park}

{Waikiki}

{200 beers on tap. I loved this place}

{Me and my yard}

 {Boyfriend and Beer...heaven}


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I'll be posting Part 3 tomorrow!
More scenic pictures and of us at the Ball!

xoxo.

Love Story/Hawaii- Part 1

To fully understand the beauty of my trip to Hawaii, I must share with you our love story, from my point of view. Soldier Boy might make a guest appearance to tell his side.

Soldier Boy and I have kept our relationship pretty low key for the past seven-eight months. Only a select few have known the depth and intensity of our relationship. Now that we are 'official', I happily get to share it with you.



Soldier Boy + Cupcake Princess

How did it begin? Any of you remember his guest post on my blog back in October? It was so cute. It doesn't begin there though. It all started back in August. 

Facebook so kindly suggested that I add Soldier Boy as a friend. He had this sexy picture (I have a thing for a man in uniform) soooooo I did what any single girl would do and decided to stalk him. Then, I messaged him. To this day I have no idea what provoked me. We were mere acquaintances in middle school and high school. I hadn't talked to him in over a decade. But I did it.

"David! I didn't realize you were in the Army AND living in Hawaii?! How awesome! I have a gf in 

Hawaii who is in the Army too. Hope all is well! Seems like life has treated you well :)" 


'Seems like life has treated you well' -aka- you're hot. Luckily he responded and thus began our daily conversations. He was in Afghanistan at this time on a deployment that wasn't very active so, thankfully for us, he had time on his hands as did I. We talked about anything and everything under the sun. Really deep conversations and some ridiculously silly ones. He made the mistake of saying he loved answering questions. I was so interested in his life and him. I longed to know more. It soon became the highlight of every day. I told myself it would just be a fun friendship. He is a great guy. No harm to be done.


We have exchanged over two thousand Facebook messages to each other.


It's hard to say when it really hit us that there was something there. Browsing through our convos it was probably around October-November. It became obvious we were attracted to each other. It became obvious to me when I really missed him when he was gone for a day or two and couldn't talk. But I'm pretty sure I won him over with my care package delivery of cupcakes. Yeahhhh. We all know the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. We sent each other pictures, videos, emails and skyped. He melted my heart when he would call me at work. Along with the "I miss you's" which is just ironic in itself but we just wished we could be with each other. It just came natural to say that.

'I've Got A Feeling' became our song. He sent me beautiful Christmas roses. There were a lot of hard days. I questioned a lot, as did he, what we were getting into. He made very sure of what life would be like with dating someone in the Army. I'm very thankful for him doing that. (and very thankful for my fellow military-wife blogger friends) As much as it scared me, I knew that I could not let this man go.

At some point we started talking about Hawaii and the possibility of me coming out there to visit. It became official when he called to ask me to be his date. It was adorable. And thus my heart melted.

He stole my heart.

We fell in love.

We admitted it to each other mid-January.
Three months before we would get to see each other face to face.

It's pretty crazy that I would fly all the way to Hawaii to spend a week with him, right? It was hard to talk about with family and friends because they didn't know the intensity of our relationship. Some people thought it was weird. Some people warned me. I prayed about it, a lot actually and about us. I didn't want to go through all of these emotions, all this time, and it be awful or I end up heart broken for the millionth time. I felt God telling me it was what I should do. I knew I would forever regret it. And so my little butt got on that plane on April 21, bound for Hawaii.

Quite possibly the best decision I have ever made.


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Stay tuned for tomorrow's post of my arrival, the nerves, becoming official and our first kiss!


Click here to catch up on all the posts about Soldier Boy.

{I pinky promise I will not drag this out}