This past week was our 8th Anniversary!  Its hard to believe its been that many years.  In fact, as I was putting a couple of pictures on my computer to upload them to this post, I accidentally titled them "Anniversary6."  Huh?  Guess I'm not counting the first two years of our marriage?  Who knows.  What I do know, is that time flies!!

We had a wonderful lunch together.  My friend, Heather, watched Gia for us so Sean and I could go to Fogo de Chao.  Whoa, fancy!  We went to the one in downtown Indy and it was so nice!  Sean had been before, but this was my first time.  First of all, the salad bar.  Holy cow.  Talk about amazing!  And you know how when you go to a salad bar, there are always a few "mystery" items that you put on your plate just to try & they usually wind up being gross.  Well, not here!  I tried a lot of interesting looking items that I had no idea what they were, and they were ALL delicious!  My favorites were these siitake mushrooms that were marinated so perfectly and these super thinly sliced & pickeled white onions.  Amazing.  My mouth is watering now.  Sean laughed at me when I filled my salad plate, but it was one of my favorite parts of the meal!

When I had finished my yummy cold plate, I was ready for the handsome Brazilian boys to bring on the meat.  I flipped my little coin to green and they immediately started bringing out skewers of piping hot meat- it smelled so delicious!  My absolute favorite was the house special called Picanha- it is a top sirloin with fantastic seasoning of simple sea salt (and maybe something else).  I definitely ate my $30/person worth of filet mignon, picanha, lamb chops and lamb steak.  Oh yum.  They also brought out sides of mashed potatoes (didn't waste precious tummy space with any of these- plus they probably had cream and cheese in them), carmelized bananas (a surprisingly delicious compliment to the savory meat) and delicious sweet polenta (I had about six squares of these)!  This is now my new favorite special place to eat!  It was a wonderful anniversary lunch!

The restaurant was downtown, so we had to walk a few blocks from our parking garage to the restaurant.  There was this really cool painted wall on one of the buildings (see below pic).  I love big cities and love when they have vibrant downtown areas.  There's just something about the energy of all those people and beautiful architecture that is so fun!  I am so blessed to be married to such a Godly man.  I have seen him (and us) grow more this past year than in the previous decade that we've been together.  I love that we are in this marriage for the long haul, and that we both work equally hard to continually make it better.  I love that my husband is constantly bringing our marriage back to the basics and making sure we are centered on the Gospel.  I am so thankful for his leadership, unconditional love, and fun that we have on this adventure together!

I've been keeping reading lists for a couple years and this summer will be no different.  Though there are no plans to chillax on a beach or anything fun like that, I am hoping to make it a habit to read more some evenings.  Plus, I've discovered that a 45 minute work-out on the Precor EFX Elliptical Crosstrainer goes by really fast when I'm reading something on the Nook.  So far, I've been reading the books I do reviews for during my workout time, and that's been working really well.  Oh, how I love to multi-task!  In addition to the delightful host of review books I plan to work through this summer, I've come up with a list of things I want to read this summer/fall/year-ish.  So without further ado, my to-red tomes of twenty twelve:

I haven't forgotten about the 13 month pictures... they're coming.  I'm working on it but I've been so busy around here.  I am so in love with my little girl... she is hillarious.  Every day she does something new that just cracks me up.

We went to a garage sale this afternoon and found some great deals.  Most of the kids clothing items were 10 or 25 cents!  While we were there, there were several little girls who were looking at Gia as I was looking through all the clothes.  One little girl said, "Why does she look like that?"  I asked, "Like what?"  She said, "She has no hair!"  I just laughed and told her it wasn't growing very fast yet!  Haha. My sweet bald baby.  My mom told me that she didn't have to cut my hair until I went into Kindergarden!

Lately Gia's been picking up new words, and associating objects with those words in new contexts.  Its so fun to watch her connect the dots!  For instance, while she was taking her bath tonight, she was playing with her rubber duck.  I was teaching her to say "Duck" which she did pretty good.  Then, we were reading a book before bedtime and there was a picture of a rubber duck in the book.  I asked, "Gia, what is that?"  She just stared at it for about a minute, then said "Duck!"  (Or as she says, "Duh!")  So cute!

I am so thankful for the wonderful fathers in my life- my own dad, Sean's dad, and Sean as a dad.  I have lived long enough and met enough people to know that Godly fathers are not a dime a dozen these days- they are precious, priceless gifts!  And I feel so blessed that I have not one but three Godly fathers in my life.  We didn't really do much for Father's Day because Sean had a lot of things he had to do for work, but we sort of celebrated the night before.  I tried to take some pictures of Sean and Gia, too but that didn't work out too well.  Gia was not up for a photoshoot!  See for yourself:

Sean trying to coax Gia into the picture.  I love this man!

Like father....

Like daughter.

Haha!  Well, it was a good try, right?

You may remember for Mothers Day, Sean and Gia got me a subscription to Birchbox. Each month I get a pretty pink box filled with fun samples and make-up type stuff. Since you can kind of tailor your box to your own liking, there are a lot of different combinations of goodies. In other words, what comes in my Birchbox any given month will not necessarily be the same bunch of goodies that my sister in law gets in her Birchbox. So, I thought its be fun to share what I got, and what my fave things are from it.

This month's theme is Jet Set. Lots of stuff for on the go travel or enduring long flights.

When I first picked up this book, I had hoped to find some encouraging words for enriching my marriage.  Every couple could use some insight into marriage, even when things are good in the relationship.  In my mind, the title suggested a book for married people. I was a bit disappointed when I realized that the bulk of this book was not geared towards those who are already married.  Rather, it seems to be directed at singles or unmarried, dating couples.  Of course, that is fine- I wish this book had been around when I was just dating!  But there did seem to be a bit of confusion in regards to who the target audience is... Singles?  Dating couples?  Married couples?  I suppose you could say that there is a little something for everyone in this book, regardless of their relationship status.  But for me personally, it made the content of the book irrelevant in many places and only applicable in a few.  I almost wish the content was split up into several books: before marriage and after marriage.  The intermingling of the two just didn't work for me.  

"You're done for tonight until its time to nurse Gia. Why don't you go take a bath?" Those were the beautiful words my husband said to me tonight as he began feeding Gia the dinner he had already prepared for her. What beautiful words to a tired momma! I am so blessed to not only have a loving husband but also a hands on baby daddy.


As I was soaking in my warm bath, filled with hot water and eucalyptus/peppermint oils, I thought about how lousy a job I've been doing lately of loving my husband first. This wasn't a woe-is-me, Debby-downer session. Nope, just an honest and truthfully long over do bit of self-examination. When Sean took over Daddy duty tonight, I realized that by taking care of her right now, he is actually loving me first. But how have I done that for him lately? The hard truth is, I really haven't.



As a mom to a little one, it's easy to use the excuse of "oh, they just require so much time and love and care when they are so little." I'm even guilty of once telling my husband if he ever needed to be fed 12 times a day and have his diaper changed equally as often, then I would promise to devote as much attention to him as I was to my newborn. (I was really sleep-deprived then! I'm not really that horrible!) But my point is, it's really difficult to find balance between loving my husband first and foremost while also loving my daughter who requires so much attention.




Before God blessed me to become a mom, he allowed me to become a wife first. That is and always will be my priority, second only to living and serving as a child of God. But somewhere between the diapers, sippy cups, stroller rides and park trips, I've neglected my first calling- wife. Yes, motherhood is a calling, too. A beautiful, blessed one wherein we would all be useless if it were not for the calling of our own mothers. However, to be a good mom I must first strive to be a loving, God-fearing wife.  What does that look like in the every day life as a mom of a busy one-year-old?  Because let's face it: life is busy.  The demands of a young child (or children) are very real.  Here are some practical things I am going to try putting into practice to make sure my husband knows both how much I love him and that I will always love him first:

1. Greet him at the door (or close to it).  Get up off the floor, carefully step over the maze of toys and give him a big 'ol kiss.  Even if I'm cozied up on the couch with a cuddly babe, I'll put her down to greet Sean when he gets home.  He works hard all day long so that I can stay home with Gia all day.  Greeting him with a smile and a kiss are the least I can do.



2. Keep a happy home.  I know its not sunshine and roses all the time, but I can definitely do a better job of keeping our home a happy place to come home to.  Granted, we've been moving all this past month and its been a bit crazy.  But I want this to be a haven for my husband.



3. Use my time more wisely throughout the day.  I've already started doing this lately, and I'll share more details soon, but when I spend my time throughout the day more wisely (as in doing some housekeeping, cooking, etc) my head is in a better place to enjoy my husband.  I was the person in college who had to clean my dorm room before I could study for a test.  Having a clean, orderly space is a necessity for me, but one that is not always realistic.  In part, I need to let go of the perfection I'd like to have in my house, but I also need to use my time wisely so that I can have the cleanliness and order I desire.  Because when I have that, I am truly relaxed and enjoy the evenings more.



4. Appreciate hubby more.  Say it often, show it often.  I need to speak his love language more, and show him just how much I really do appreciate all his hard work.  It can be tempting to think, "He has no idea how hard it is to be home with a baby all day."  But that is so wrong!  Yes, its difficult, but its also a joy!  A gift!  A blessing!  And I have no idea how difficult it is to do his job with the integrity that he does, and to have the weight of our household on his shoulders.  So comparing "I have it harde than you do" is silly.  Each role has its challenges, but when we work together and truly appreciate what the other does (instead of focusing on what the other doesn't do), that helps keep the joy in it all.


So I'd love to hear from you guys... how do you keep the balance?  What are some practical ways that you consciously put forth the effort so that your husband knows he is #1?