a birthday in pictures. [plus a few words]

the view from this restaurant is unbelievable! this is what 30 stories up on a sunny portland evening looks like.

on the left: appetizer. fall-off-the-bone duck with sticky buns. drooling.
on the right: 10 oz. top sirloin cooked medium rare  topped with mushrooms and buttery, salty potatoes with crisp green beans and tomatoes on the side. seriously drooling now.

homemade carrot cake topped with cream cheese frosting and 23 sparkler trick candles.

took at least 10 attempts with both of us blowing these crazy candles out.

last time i buy "sparkler" candles! [that barely even sparkled!]

the end of a great birthday. :)

april second.

someone's birthday is today.

and by someone i mean my cute husband, charlie!
he turned 23.
[does being a whopping 4 months older than him consider me a cougar? haaa]

anywho- since i'm always the one doin' the talking on this thing, i thought it would be nice for all of you to get to know him a little better!
i promise you'll like him. everyone does. :)

23 things you probably didn't know about charlie

1. if he had his way, he'd be in bed asleep by 8:30pm every night. such a morning person.

2. he's played the piano, the saxophone and the guitar. though, he currently only keeps up with the guitar.

3. he is not a picky person [i can thank his mother for this!!] and i am slowly trying to become a good cook [i'm more of a baker, like my mama] so, when i try new recipes they're usually a miss. but he is always so sweet and eats every bite.

4. he is a major goofball.

5. if you were to ask him who his best friend is, he would say "my wife" [what a sweetheart] but a close second is most definitely our dog, wrangler. they are two peas in a pod.

6. he knows his way around a gun with his eyes closed. you don't want to be an intruder in our home. :)

7. he played baseball while in high school. i've been told he had quite the pitcher's arm. [& ooo what i wouldn't do to see him in those baseball pants.]

8. even though he says he doesn't have a favorite color, i can tell you his favorite is blue. he just doesn't realize it. :)

9. he is a MAN'S MAN. outdoors, hunting, fishing, guns, camping, hiking, running, weight lifting, baseball, learning more about cars, hates going shopping [even though i sometimes wished he enjoyed it more..] loves taking care of his family, etc.

10. he ALWAYS smells good.

11. always has to be doing something. as long as we've been married i'm pretty sure i've seen him have only two days where he doesn't have anything planned and just stays home and is "lazy". [his words] haha

12. loves and i mean LOVES country music.

13. kids adore him.

14. he makes a meeeean breakfast sandwich.

15. he's a veteran. served 4 years in the marine corps infantry. i am SO proud of him for that.

16. he sings "my girl" to me at random times, even if i'm not in the room. i can hear him throughout the house. it's cute.

17. he looks amazing in a suit. well, that's my opinion.. :)

18. he has two tattoos.

19. he graduated from high school early to join the marine corps.

20. he owned his own window cleaning business in high school.

21. loves being an American.

22. definitely doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve. only a few choice people really get to see his emotions.

23. is the most wonderful husband.

happy 23rd birthday, babe! i love you!

two.

two years ago today, charlie made me his wife. 

and soon, he will make me a mother. 

to this day, i still can't put into words the love i have for my husband. 

it grows every. single. day. 

i am so thankful for our beautiful marriage and i cannot wait to see what eternity has in store for us. 

[my apologies to those that have seen this picture numerous times- it's my favorite! :) ]

happy anniversary, charlie! 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

*photography by Terina Matthews Photography in Southern California

pen pals.

meet hunter.

a 10 year old competitive and sports loving boy who, last halloween, wanted to send all of his halloween candy to someone serving in the military. [i know- i was impressed, too!]
luckily enough, hunter's mom knew someone that is very involved with a program called "operation santa". that someone was connie, who often sent packages to charlie throughout both of his deployments [bless her heart! so sweet.]
sooo, connie then of course suggested that hunter send his candy to charlie!
another bonus? hunter only lives less than an hour from where charlie is from [and basically where we now live] so it was nice of him to want to send packages to a local marine.
the two of them wrote just a couple times within those months of c's last deployment. [thanks to the snaaaail mail!] but it meant a lot to both of them.

since we have finally settled down into a somewhat normal routine here in oregon, we decided to take the quick trip to visit hunter and his family and meet them in real life. [facebook connected us a few months back.]
and ohhhh boy! was hunter excited to meet his marine pen pal!
i could just see in his eyes how much he looks up to charlie. it was precious.
the both of them played video games, baseball, had a nerf war and had time to toss around the football while we visited yesterday. all while i chatted with hunter's mom and sister. :)
we just love their family!
they are the sweetest, and we just feel so lucky to have been connected with them through this whole thing.

ch-ch-ch-changes

looky up there!
see those new tabs?
i've been trying to figure those babies out for the past few months and dumb-dumb me didn't even notice it was available on the side of the "design/layout" page.
no html secret codes to figure out or anything! yay!!

in other news...

charlie signed up for college! [thank you GI bill for paying for his education! we're forever grateful!]
first day of school is towards the end of september! you better believe i'll make it special for him. :)

wrangler had his 12 week check up last wednesday and we are loving the veterinarian clinic we chose.
our breeder suggested we try a more holistic approach and i'm so glad we followed their advice!
you see, weimaraners are a little more very sensitive when it comes to vaccines, and since most vets like to over-vaccine, we didn't want to risk it.
luckily we live super close to holistic pet vet clinic.
here's our big boy [weighing in at a whopping 26 pounds!] at 12 weeks old. :)

shout out!

to this guy!

[hulk hogan?..is that you?!]

ahh, my husband.
i just want to publicly show my appreciation for all he does for us.
for what a hard worker he is.
for how determined he always is. in every aspect of life.
for how proud i am of what he did for this country. [although i'm breathing a sigh of relief that his four years with the corps is now over. :)]
for being such a good friend to all his buddies.
for all the love and comfort he constantly gives me.
for making me laugh pretty much all. day. every.day.
for taking interest in my interests.
for just being the husband i always dreamed of having.

he is just the greatest.
& i'm so thankful.

birthday boy!

today is charlie's birthday!
[and he had to work. booooo.]
but after work called for celebration! yay!

he smiled at our decked out room in honor of his day. [his crazy wife of his loves birthdays and is a firm believer of if there's no balloons- it's not a birthday!]
he opened his present.
he hugged and kissed me. [hehe. :)]
we had sushi.
we flirted.
we snapped some pictures.
we ate homemade chocolate cherry birthday cake with ice cream.
and we cuddled while watching "i love you, man." [his favorite movie.]
perfect birthday night with the love of my life.

i hope he had a great birthday! because he's someone who truly deserves it.
love him.

C's birthday sack lunch. complete with a birthday note, of course. :)

[please excuse our over sized and modge podged decor in our "studio apartment" in my parent's home. moving day is approaching! wahoo!]

i told you- i'm birthday crazy.. :)

take a look at the cute card my parents got charlie. i love it! and it's so true. especially the floating hearts above my head. ;)

i think the little characters are squirrels but C thinks they're bears. what do you think they are??

his gift from me. :) a spiffy fossil watch! he makes anything look good. 

isn't he the cutest?! i think so.

look at how freakishly excited i get when someone makes a birthday wish. i'm such a bday weirdo! 

until next year. happy birthday, babe!

love you forever and ever.

♥

finally. ♥

213 days after charlie left for war in afghanistan, he was finally back on american soil and i was finally back in his arms.

words can't possibly ever express the amount of joy, excitement & nervousness i was feeling the days leading up to his homecoming. [not to mention all the butterflies in my stomach! haven't had that feeling in a while.. :)] i can't imagine how anxious charlie was feeling!

my parents, charlie's 2nd mama, a few of our friends and i came to welcome our hero home. 

since he was supposed to be arriving around 12:30am, and we wanted to be there a couple hours early, we arrived at camp pendleton around 10:30pm. 

and of course, with the craziness of over 1,000 family and friends waiting for the 308 marines coming home, the time got pushed back a wee bit...

to 3am.

but man, he is SO worth the wait. :)

i can't describe how amazing it feels to have my husband safely home. 

all my [and all of our friend's and family's] prayers and faith worked. 

and i am SO thankful.

i just keep thanking our heavenly father every time i look at him. 

we've been enjoying each other's company to the max!

lots of cuddles

lots of laughs

& lots of loving has been happening the past two days. 

we just can't get enough! 

charlie and i are looking forward to finally starting our life.
outside the marine corps.
:)

 my amazing friend teleatha and i cuddling in the cold waiting for our husbands.
i can't imagine what i would have done during this deployment if it wasn't for her!
sad we'll be living on opposite ends of the country in a couple months.. :(

 the freedom riders [marine veterans] escorted our men from the air force base they landed on all the way home. patriotic doesn't even begin to describe the vibe they brought to the atmosphere.

our giant neon arrow signs that made our husbands find us worked like a charm!

[don't mind my horrid hair. the salty ocean air cramped my style. big time.]

this is the few seconds that i was looking for charlie through the crowd. luckily he knew where i was the whole time and found me in no time!

my expression when i laid eyes on my husband after a long 7 months..

our first kiss since last summer. ♥

didn't want to let go. it's safe to say separation anxiety was in full effect. haha!

♥

[looking for his gear.]

photography by Jenna of Operation Cherish Photography. 

when we got to our hotel room, charlie was welcomed with this..

welcome home gifts!

one last deployment package filled with presents. :)

and some of these! chocolate covered strawberries with some filled with cheesecake filling. 

he was a happy boy.

YAY!