Halloween at Home

Happy Halloween from Oak Harbor! 

We started the festivities off here early with a Ward Hillbilly Harvest Hoedown! We all dressed up like cowboys and cowgirls and had ourselves a hoot n' hollarin' good time!

I was on the committe, so I designed the backdrop for our photobooth - as hillbilly as I could make it, of course.  It was fun to feel like I was living in the wild, wild west with a handsome cowboy to protect me!

Caroline, Taylor & Eli

Eli doesn't like his photo taken.

Of course, it was a lot of work, but these events are always worth the extra effort to make them special.  I also designed the invitation and we had a bigger turn out than expected.  We were asked to invite our friends and neighbors to the activity, so I brought Caroline, Taylor and Eli Phan, as well as Sarah & Don Cameron and their two sons Markus and Jonah (we didn't get a picture, sadly!).  Everyone enjoyed eating, but shied away from the dancing!

Brecken holds tight! 

Folks enjoyed the photobooth a lot.  I saw a lot of families get their photo taken, but my favorite was little Brecken (Dano & Jeremiah Church's son). Dano and I did a lot of thrift shopping for the event and she found him the cutest outfit!  He was the most captivating cowboy there!

My favorite part of the night was the country dancing.  We did some fun line dances and even learned some really cool hoe-down moves from a real caller.  I'm so blessed to have a husband who loves to dance with me.  I hope it's something we do together for the rest of our lives.

 


 

Laura & Henry Campbell

We both have felt welcomed in our ward here.  It seems like we get to know people better at every event and find even more joy in sharing the gospel with these fine folks.  My neighbor and friend, Laura Campbell has already helped me out more than once!

Pumpkin Pina Colada

After the excitement of the Hoedown, I decorated the house for fall and made a DELICIOUS pumpkin pina colada drink. It was soooo good, that it may need to become a family tradition!

We also had our inaugural Nederhand Pumpkin carving.  I love being newlywed because everything we do together for the first year is NEW (and a sign of many wonderful years to come!)  So far, we established that Anthonie is more patient at pumpkin carving than I am (no surprise there!)  He was so meticulous and took his time to make our pumpkin perfect.

Pumpkin guts are yucky!

Our owl pumpkin is coming to life!

I also have spent a lot of time working on my chalkboard art while working at the Purple Moon. Couldn't resist sharing on the blog as well!

 

When we got the pumpkins all lit, I decided to throw together a last minute costume -- just for fun!  I really am sad that the yellow duck costume has not survived all the family moves, but at least I have a picture!  

Then & Now Halloween Costumes

Don't miss out on hearing our funny voices!

Insta Halloween Art

Happy Spooking everyone!

There's No Such Thing As A Good-bye

Anthonie left for a DET yesterday. I'm not excited about it and have been in denial that it was really coming all week.  It was hard to say goodbye and I'm the only wife who came to the terminal to kiss my sailor goodbye.  After he left, I immediately wanted to go home to Utah and even spent half of a day learning about Space-A travel in the hopes I could fly home for free.  (No such luck -- he has to be with me, or on orders of 120 days.)

Last photo together... on Anthonie's new phone

 I spent the late night before he left writing some LOVE NOTES for him to find in his luggage!  He had a hard time finding the V and the N, but he was sweet enough to take a photo for me!

LOVE NOTES

My hubby loves me so much, he even made an antique version of the picture!  (His new phone is really cool!)  I love that Anthonie knows how to make me feel special and appreciated.  I hope that my efforts to keep his spirits high helped him to feel as loved as he makes me feel.  We're so happy to be married!

Antique LOVE NOTES

Now that hubby's away, I'm going to be working on a lot of projects in the next few days!  Stay tuned for photos and a tour of our cute house!

xoxo

1st Month Anniversary

Today is our First Month Anniversary!

I posted this picture on Instagram saying, "Yay, baby!  We made it!"  Of course, this is only the first of many anniversaries, but we still wanted to make it special.  I made sure to capture the most important things in our home right now -- our wedding rings.  (Of course, I had no table to put them on, so they're resting on the TV for now, but THINGS don't matter!)

Before I could even get my picture posted, Anthonie wrote me a sweet love note before leaving for work.  Of course, it made me cry. The best line was, "Thank you so much for making this place a home. I love what you have done with it."  I am so blessed to have an appreciative husband who loves to compliment me.  I am so grateful for everything he is doing and how hard he works to provide for us.

Right after the inagural anniversary post, I opened the front door and found this:

My diploma!! I feel so honored to finally have a piece of paper showing my sacrifice and accomplishment in college.  Yay!!

Later, Anthonie took me on a special date.  We hiked to the highest spot on Whidbey Island.

Panorama of Goose Rock, near Deception Pass

We ate a little picnic of summer sausage, cheese, and "Mormon Wine" (aka. sparkling apple cider) as we basked in the spectacular view and enjoyed holding each other.  We also finished the book we've been reading together, "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss.  I highly recommend it; the main character, Kvothe, is so interesting.  All in all, it was a very monumental, romantic and memorable day.  I'm so happy to be married to my love, for time and all eternity!

Cute Cuts

Apparently, we've been spending a lot of time primping post-wedding.  I don't know why, but lately ALWAYS I am obsessed with pictures of my nails:

Aren't these chevron's to die for?

And my bedspread is pretty cute too!

Not only am I pimping out my nails, but I'm also now the professional hair-cutter in this house!  Can you believe Anthonie actually ASKED me to cut his hair?  My sister, Tessa, would have probably advised him against it. (I tortured her with hair dos and 1st-degree-burns from curling irons for years!)  To have a willing patron, I am flattered to say the least!  Plus, I think it turned out pretty great!

So relaxed!

Perfection is a Process

I went for the emo / old-school swoosh in the front on this one.

UPDATE:  The next time I cut Anthonie's hair, I totally trimmed the front off and didn't even take pictures.  I'm already so casual about it now... Funny how time and practice takes away the magic!  But we work hard to keep the magic in other areas of our marriage!