Dedicated to my Love...

Alright, I'll admit. I'm a total chick. I cry during sappy movies, occasionally (today) record a Lifetime movie just because I know it will have a girly ending, and I love romantic surprises. I'm not sure Alex knew exactly what he was getting into when we started dating, but I'm dedicating this early Valentine's Day blog post to the wonderful man I am so excited to marry this fall.


I would be lying if I said we have a fairytale romance. However, he treats me like a princess and often goes out of his way to make me feel special. Whether it be picking up flowers as a surprise or doing the night-time feeding just to let me sleep, Alex is always thinking of me and I love him more than I can say.

Our little family has had a whirlwind year. Alex and I were both attending Oregon State until he graduated in June. We spent the summer beating the heat and having a blast at many family get togethers. As is quite evident in the above picture, I grew in width most of last year until October 28th when our beautiful girl, Olivia Rylen, joined our family. Alex started his job and we learned about our job as parents, and just had an adventuresome fall. In November my little sister Tasha got married, so Olivia and I took our first trip to Utah over Thanksgiving. Alex couldn't go with us (work) and that was the first time I truly recognized all the things he does for me every day. Christmas was another big day, Olivia had her first Christmas (she slept the whole time ... ) and Alex asked me to marry him (OF COURSE I said YES!). Since then we have been enjoying the craziness of planning a wedding ... OK mostly I have been enjoying it and Alex has learned just to say he loves it and give me a courtesy glance at the computer whenever I have some new hairbrained idea (P.S. Thanks Dad for teaching me a word like hairbrained).

It's true that sometimes I feel like we're in too deep (haha get it?) with all the things we have going on. I'll admit that right now I'm sitting in a very unclean living room with dinner dishes still on the floor and an unfinished craft project on the table that will probably stay there for weeks. However, every time I feel stressed, I just have to think about the other things around me and I feel much better. For example, tonight Alex made that great dinner that's still on the floor, and he's sitting on the couch right now putting Olivia to bed. How could I not love every minute of this time?

Alex, I love you. You are the best dad and fiance I could ever ask for. I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life with you. Happy Valentine's Day babe :)