A Look Back on 2013

As 2013 comes to a close, I look back on the year and I see how much God has blessed us.

I am in complete awe as I look here and see what has been accomplished and what we've done.

In 2013, I made my word of the year, 'Grace.'

We bought a new-to-us car for Tyler.

We had our first B&B experience.

We vacationed at Walt Disney World {Here, here, and here}

We started a new way of eating.

I wrote for Young Wife's Guide.

We celebrated two years of marital bliss.

We had a getaway to celebrate those two years.

I quit my horrible job and got a new one!

We bought our first home!

I learned what grace really meant.

Overall, this year has been a milestone for us in our adult-hood.  We've made a lot of adult decisions, but it's been a fun year!  I am extremely blessed to get to do life beside my best friend.  

I hope and pray that your New Year will be blessed! :)

Two Years

Two Years.

In some ways it feels like we've been together for a lot longer.

In others, I can't believe it's been two years.

I am so blessed to be married to my best friend.

The one I'm glad I get to come home to each day.

The one who makes me laugh.

The one who makes me feel like the only girl in the world.

The one I get to serve Jesus alongside.

I'm so thankful for Tyler.

I am thankful for the two years of marital bliss. 

And I'm not saying that sarcastically, as some might. ;)

I pray that God will bless us with many more years!

I'm thankful for our family's legacies of long marriages and what we have to look forward to.

I thought I'd share a few wedding pictures, since I'm not sure I've posted any here.

We had the wedding that was better than my dreams.

I'm so thankful for my parents and the willingness and their hard work that they put forward to help make my dreams a reality.

That is one perk to being the only daughter...haha!! :)

Happy Anniversary, Tyler!

I love you SO much more now than I did on our wedding day!

You are so good to me.

Thank you.

The Proposal Story

Since I posted yesterday on my facebook and instagram about it being 3 years since Tyler proposed to me, I had several questions about the story.  I had written the story out right after we got engaged and posted it on our Knot page...so without further ado, I thought I'd share it with you.  Sorry if you've heard it a million times...but I love it.

Let me preface this by saying that we both worked for our University's orientation program, so we were living on campus, working our jobs.  Being that our orientation program was awesome, we got 3 day weekends all summer long. :)

July 2, 2010

It was a Friday morning, and I was cleaning my room.  I had texted Tyler twice, but had no reply from him.  That was unusual, because he's pretty good at replying to me.  My last text had been at 11:30 am asking when he wanted to eat lunch.  We usually eat on campus since it's free.  He called me back at noon and told me he would come up to my room when he got back to campus.  I asked him where he was, and his reply was that he went to the mall to go shopping with Rachel since she needed to take a dress back.  That was weird to me too, because he normally doesn't get out of bed until 11 am on days when we don't have to work. 

He came up to my room, and I looked like crap.  I had shorts and a t-shirt on, no make-up, and my glasses on.  He was all excited to see me, and asked if I wanted to go eat at Bandana's (a BBQ joint).  I said sure, but I needed to at least put my contacts in.  He was being so impatient, and was being weird.  I was putting my second contact in when he comes over to the mirror with my purse, sunglasses, and keys in his hand. 

He said he would drive (which is also unusual).  He made a wrong turn, which he says is my fault because I'm supposed to tell him where to go.  Whatever. :]  Anyway, we turn around, and as we're driving past Bandana's, I point to it and say, "Uh...there it is."  He said he knew, but that he wanted to go find this store down the street.  I asked him which one, and he didn't answer. 

Soon enough, we pull into this strip mall and park in front of a furniture store.  I asked what we were doing, and he said, "This furniture in the store is made entirely of wood."  I said, "Yeah, so?"  He said, "Let's go in."  At this point I'm super confused.  He's out of the car before I can even open my door.

I'm walking behind him, and he turns around abruptly and gets down on one knee.  At this point, I'm freaking out.  He pulls out the ring, and says some sort of lovey-dovey stuff (neither of us remember what was said).  Then he points to the store name and asks, "Wood you marry me?"  See, the name of the furniture store is Wood You Furniture.  I'm freaking out so much, that I can't even remember to say yes, but finally I do.

Funny thing is...we didn't even eat at Bandana's. :]

We were headed to my family that weekend, so we knew we would announce it then.  My mom and dad graciously host a 4th of July party each year, so we could tell them all at the same time.  It was really difficult to hide my ring {and I didn't not want to wear it}, but we finally told them all and they were excited for us!

We are somewhat of a spontaneous couple, so this makes since.  We always said that we would go purchase something in that shop to put in our home.  We haven't done that yet, but I would love to go back and do that. 

My Life Update

This week has been so busy that I haven't had time to blog!
Maybe I can get caught up this week...we'll have to see.
I thought I would give you a little life update, since I posted my whole heart on this post.

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Back in February, Tyler and I went to Branson to hang out with my Mom and Dad.
We met up with them in Springfield at Braum's.  
My brothers and their girlfriends were there, so I know this was a God-thing.
We got there, and instantly I knew something was wrong.
My mom didn't even look up to say hi.
She had this look on her face, and I was about to ask who died.
Literally...it was that bad.
Seconds before, my dad had gotten off the phone with his sister.
She had told him that their other sister (the baby of the family) had just been told she has

C A N C E R.

That's not a scary word when you're not directly affected by it.

But oh goodness, it is scary now.

You may say that I'm not directly affected by it now.

You're right...she's not my mom or sister, but she is my aunt.

See my family is a little strange (okay, maybe a lot).

All of us love Jesus a lot!

The Buntons have a legacy.

Whether they are my extended family or my immediate family, they are still my family.

Cancer is something that takes an entire family (plus some) to beat.

My heart aches, knowing that she has to go through this.

But God has a plan.  A wonderful plan.

My momma brought my aunt up here to see a special doctor this week.

She had seen 2 others, but she wanted another opinion.

So on Tuesday evening, we had a houseful of guests!

My momma, aunt, uncle, and cousin (who lives here in town) all came over for supper!

It was great to see them, but the circumstances weren't so great.

We had a lot of laughs and numerous conversations about our quirky family.

Ya know, we may all have our moments, but I wouldn't trade them for anything in this world.

Long story short to say, please pray for her!  

Also, pray for her husband and 6 kids.

We would really appreciate that!

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We also got to see my brother this week!
He brought his girlfriend up on Wednesday to hang out (it's their Spring Break), so we met them at The Cheesecake Factory for supper!
It was so nice to see them and get to catch up for a little bit.
I hope they'll come up again soon and hang out longer!!

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After many visits with area churches, we were just struggling and aggravated.

We decided to go back to the church that we originally liked and have a small group with.

However, against my traditional ways, we decided to attend the Saturday evening service because there are 2 couples from our small group that go to that service.

We decided that this could be a positive thing, and they could possibly introduce us to other people.

We've only been going back for 3 weeks, but we've hung out with several people since then.

This has really helped me, since I'm an extremely extroverted person.

I need to be around people to recharge my batteries.

I am hopeful for what is to come in the future.

I am grateful for the people who've been praying for us.

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I do have to brag.

My husband is a stud at his job!

He got "TSR of the Month" for the month of January (yes, they put the wrong year on it), AND he was the fastest TSR to get $1 million in setups for his job!

That may mean nothing to you, but just know that he is amazing at what he does.

He also has a VERY proud wife!! :)

We are hoping to go on vacation in about a month, so stay tuned for that! :)

We are just living the working couple's life right now.

I feel that life is getting better, and our my attitude is getting better.

Those are both positive things!

Oh and I did just give my shop a little update.
Get 15% off your order this weekend with code NEW15!

Miscellany Monday

Oh Monday...
Today I woke up feeling like I was ran over by a Mack truck.
But alas, I took some Claritin D and ran out the door.

Our mid-week was a little crazy, because we had a half snow day!
My office closed down at noon, and I made the trek home.
It only took me a little over an hour (it is usually a 35 minute commute).
We got tons of snow in a matter of a couple hours.
I'm thankful we didn't get as much ice as they were predicting.
I'll take snow over ice any day.

Did y'all have a great weekend?
Ours was really busy.


Friday night, we went out for a spontaneous movie night.

I was on the fence about this movie...I'm not really into dark/scary movies at all.
Of course, I would not say that it's a "wholesome" movie, but it was better than I expected it to be.

Saturday mid-morning, we left for a quick trip to Dallas.
Tyler's company was having a Year End Party and paid for us to go!
It was actually kinda nice...

We stayed at the Gaylord Texan.

It was such a fun hotel!

About 8 years ago, my family went to Nashville for the Supernationals Chess Tournament, which was held at the Gaylord Opryland.

Don't laugh...one, if not both of my brothers came home with a trophy.

Anyway, the Opryland hotel was amazing...

And they say, "Everything is bigger in Texas."  

This time I have to disagree.

The Opryland hotel is way bigger than the Texan.

But both have an amazing atmosphere.

It was fun to get dressed up for a night.

My handsome date really knows how to look good!!

Oh, and the food was really good.

We got back Sunday around 1 pm.

So I had plenty of time to catch up on stuff around the house.

Except...I didn't.

I was so tired, I felt like a zombie and didn't do much at all.

We did, however, get our taxes done.

I hate taxes (says the girl with the accounting degree).

Okay...

Here's some other random things that I'm super excited about:

Have you heard of the Hope Spoken Conference?

It's going to be in Dallas next March.

I'm secretly hoping that I can attend since so many of my instagram friends will be there.

I would just LOVE to meet them all.

For more information, you can check out this website.

If you are planning to attend, leave me a comment and let me know!! :)

See that pink-ish button up there that says, "A Simple Kind of Love?"

That is my very first blog advertisement!!!

You can check it out here in person.

I am praying that God will open some doors through this,

and that I can use my shop for His glory!

Oh, and did you hear?

I updated my shop on Friday!

Check it out!!

I hope ya'll have a wonderful week!

Linking up with Carissa today!

The Date Box...Questions Answered

One thing that I have had tons of questions on is the date box that I created for my husband last February.  I'm bringing back a portion of this post from last year.

Let me preface this by saying {for those of you who don't know} that we lived in Oklahoma City from January-March of last year.  We then moved to St. Louis at the end of March.  The pictures were taken from my iPhone 3GS because my camera was packed away in storage somewhere...and I hadn't upgraded to the 4S yet.

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I got the idea from this blog.  I thought it was really neat, so I thought I could do it for my husband.  I call it the Date of the Month Club.  I started out just writing a list of things we could do.  It was hard to really plan, because at the time we had no idea where we would be for the month of March. (For those of you who don't know, March 29th is Tyler's last day in OKC.)  Planning was actually harder than it sounds because we haven't actually lived in STL yet either!  With help from my friend, Kelsey, (by the way, if I forgot to send you a thank you, THANK YOU!!!), she gave me some ideas of things to do in the area.


Then I cut up little cards with the month on them.  These are for clues.

I wrote each clue on the card and bought the needed accessories to go with each date to put in the envelope.  These are pre-planned, and mostly pre-paid.  I also planned some weekend getaways to use throughout the year.

I wrote a card introducing him to his gift.  I told him what he got and how to use each thing.  Then, I wrote a Date Agreement Card.  He had to agree to those things, sign the card, and return to to me in exchange for some Romance Reward Tickets.  He also got a special bag of chocolate caramel (because that's what I like) in exchange for real kisses.

I searched high and low for a box to put it all in, but I finally found one at Hobby Lobby (my most favorite craft store)!  AND it was half off!!! 

I jazzed up the envelopes a little bit as well.  I didn't like the boring yellow, but I didn't want to decorate them a whole lot since they would most likely just be thrown away.

I was really pleased with how it turned out, and I really hope that Tyler likes it as much as I do.  I am super excited about our date nights for the next year!!  The best part is that each one isn't super expensive.  They are interesting and cheap! 

Some frequently asked questions that I've received:

1.  What kind of dates did you plan?

          - I went with dates that I knew we could do.  I planned dates that were cheap or free.  I kept a running list of all the places that I thought were reasonable and planned by the month {weather-wise}.  If the date included a meal, I purchased a gift card to put in the envelope so Tyler could have some sort of a clue as to where we'd be eating.  

Some examples of the date ideas (some that we did):  

• the zoo (free) with a Subway picnic lunch--the zoo here allows you to bring food in.
• the science center (free) with a meal at Steak 'n Shake (which was right down the road)
• bowling
• mini-golf
• a slumber party complete with pizza and games (this was my favorite date night!)

Be creative.  Research your area if you're unfamiliar with the activities around you.  I did a week's worth of research because I had absolutely no idea about the area we were in or we would be moving to.  It would probably be easier if you've been in the area for a while. :)

2.  What was in your agreement?

          - I wanted one night a month where we could just focus on each other.  One of the big things was that cell phones weren't allowed.  They had to be shut off.  Another thing was that the date card would be given on the 1st of the month, and we had to put it on the calendar (to make sure it would get done).  Also,  the gift cards had to be used on the date...they couldn't be used elsewhere.  It was full of things that allowed us to make sure we completed the activity.  Oh, and no peeking allowed!

3.  What are romance reward tickets?

          - These were extra little things that I created to make it extra special.  For example, one of the tickets was a "Yes Day."  He could redeem the ticket and I had to say "yes" to whatever he wanted to do.  If he wanted to go shooting, I said "yes."  If he wanted his favorite meal, I said, "yes."  It's little things like that, that help make him feel special.

4.  What are the vacation cards?

          - These are also an added perk.  They aren't supposed to be expensive, just little mini-getaways during the year when you feel like you need some time together.  

Some examples could be:

• A Bed and Breakfast nearby for a night or weekend
• A night in a downtown hotel in your city
• He chooses and plans

These are just few of the questions that I've been asked.  If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to ask!  My email address is on the "contact me" tab or you can leave a comment and I will get back to you!

And if you're just looking for a nice Valentine's Day gift that you don't have to plan for, I have some Date Night Jars in my shop...with the dates already in them!  Check them out!!

On the 11th Day of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me...

A year ago yesterday, we were packing up our tiny one bedroom apartment in Springfield, Missouri...

Sorting things into piles of "I won't need for 3 months," and "I will need this in the next 3 months."

We loaded all of our belongings into the farm's trailer and 15 passenger van.

We made one last sweep through, reminiscing about the memories made in the few short months we lived there.

We climbed into our vehicles and made the 80 mile journey to Lamar, where we would unload the trailer and van and put our "home" in storage until the end of March.

My heart aches as I remember back.

Sometimes I wonder if that ache will ever go away of if it will always be there.

Springfield holds so many good memories for Tyler and I.

But with that said, I wouldn't trade our past year for anything.

I don't want to do it all over again, but I wouldn't trade it.

The experience has made me realize the need for my husband that I might not have realized in any other circumstance.

Today, I want to share why I love you, Tyler and what you mean to me.

1.  You are a very hard worker.  You have worked so hard at your job this past year and have received many compliments from your superiors as well as your co-workers.  I'm so proud of you.

2.  You are just as stubborn as me.  When you make up your mind to do something, you will see it through.

3.  You love me at my ugliest days...and I don't just mean my appearance.

4.  I can trust you with my whole heart.  I know that I can tell you anything and you will still love me, no matter what I have to say.

5.  You keep me laughing.

6.  You do your best to console me when I need to cry...especially when I get homesick.  And then remind me that God has a plan...

7.  You support me and my crazy ideas...even when you might not want to.

8.   You see how much family and traditions mean to me and are wanting to start our own family traditions. :)

9.  You have grown so much in your relationship with Christ.  I love being able to see what you're learning and how God is changing your heart.

10.  You see us as a family...even when we don't have kids or pets.  I absolutely love that, because it is exactly what we are! 

11.  You're my very best friend and I would not have survived this past year without you.  I'm so blessed that I get to be the one who does life right beside you, that I get to be the one you come home to every day, and that I get to be the one you confide in.

So while I may not have the same plan that God has for us, I will pray that God will lessen the ache in my heart.  I will be content in my circumstances.  I will always thank Him for the best friend that he gave me 4 years ago...and I pray that I will always be the wife that Tyler  needs me to be.  This has been a learning experience for me, and I pray that God will always give me the chance to learn.

Thou Shalt Build a Winning Team

Well, today's the day.  It's the final day of our "10 Commandments Tuesday" series.  These past 10 weeks have been so good for me as I have been able to read and convey the principles of this book to you.  I hope that you have been able to take away something to practice in your own marriage.  This week's commandment is

Thou Shalt Build a Winning Team

"It is not good for man to be alone;  I will make a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 2:18

God intended for man and woman to join together and become "one flesh."  They are supposed to be united and on the same team.  So how do we build a winning team?  Well, here are some components for a winning marriage team:

1.  The Eternal Architect

God designed marriage.  He made it to be a perfect union.  However, sin has made a huge dent in that union and if not careful, can completely ruin it.  But knowing who the Architect is and following his instructions, we can still build a winning team.

2.  The Right Coach

Jesus is our coach who not only tells us what to do, but also shows us.  Ed says, "The staggering reality is that a husband and wife who have individually invited Christ into their lives "have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16).  All the treasures of Christ's mind are now in the spirit of the person in whom He dwells.  The issue is accessing what we already have and putting it to practical use."  The more we intimately walk with Christ, more of His wisdom and knowledge we'll gain.  The more His wisdom is gained, the more the relationship grows.

3.  The Players
"God has recruited us as players for His Kingdom's purposes.  When we allow Jesus Christ to be our Coach, He can take our most ordinary talents and abilities and do extraordinary things with them.  Without Christ on our side, we can do nothing.  But with Christ on our side, we have all the talent we need to build a winning marriage team."

4.  The Intangibles
Goal setting, commitment, discipline, togetherness are all examples of the necessary intangibles in marriage.  When you are working together on the same team, with the same goals in mind, you're strengthening your marriage.

5.  Fan Support
Encouragement is a necessity in marriage, whether it comes from family, friends, kids, coworkers, church family, etc.  These people are to help encourage you in your marriage.  They are to support you and to be there for you.  So it's important as you choose those friends in  life, to choose ones who will encourage and support you.  These people should also teach and minister God's Word.

Reflecting on Your Relationship:

1. If your marriage were indeed a college football team, where would it be ranked?
   -We're in the top five, vying for the championship.
   -We're in the top ten, thrown for a loss once in a while, but we're a winning team.
   -We win some, we lose some, but we could be a lot better.
   -We're losing more than we win; we don't let the Coach lead us in the day-to-day party of our marriage.
2. In what areas does your mate need some "coaching?"  What about you?
3. How does your family and friends provide "fan support" for your marriage?
4. What is the greatest strength of your marriage team?

I'm so glad you stuck with me through this 10 week series.  I hope you learned something that you can put into practice in your own marriage.  In what ways have you been challenged?  In what ways do you feel affirmed?  If you feel comfortable, would you share?

If you missed any part of the series, you can catch up here:

Part 1: Thou Shalt Not Be a Selfish Pig

Part 2: Thou Shalt Cut the Apron Strings

Part 3: Thou Shalt Continually Communicate

Part 4: Thou Shalt Make Conflict Thy Ally

Part 5:  Thou Shalt Avoid the Quicksand of Debt

Part 6: Thou Shalt Flee Sexual Temptation--Online and Otherwise

Part 7:  Thou Shalt Forgive Thy Mate--490 Times and More

Part 8:  Thou Shalt Keep the Home Fires Burning

Part 9:  Thou Shalt Begin Again and Again

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Happy birthday, Love!

I'm so thankful God brought you into my life four years ago.

I am excited to see Him working in your life.  

You have grown so much since I met you, and I am excited to see the plans play out that He has for you.

Thank you for being my best friend.

Thank you for making me laugh.

Thank you for loving me for me.

Thank you for loving Jesus first.
Most of all, thank you for choosing me to do life with you.

Happy 23rd!  Here's to oh, so many more!!

I love you!

P.S.  Hurry home!  I miss you!