Ten Year Dating Anniversary: A Decade of Just Us

I love fall. Even though it doesn’t cool down in Texas until November, it feels like a season of change and renewal. For the last ten years, September has also been the month Chris and I got to celebrate the beginning of our story.

Christopher and I started dating on September 20, 2007 after what is still the most confusing conversation I’ve ever had in my life (you can read more of that story here). We had both recently turned 18, were freshmen in college, and still had a lot to learn about what it is like to be in a serious relationship. Even so, we fell for each other very quickly, and I definitely remember how crazy my friends thought I was when I started telling them this was a forever kind of relationship.

When we first got married (about two years later), I could have never imagined that we would spend the first decade of our relationship as “just the two of us.” Honestly, though, it has been good for us. We’ve experienced so much growth in the last ten years, both individually and together. I was able to support him from the beginning of this crazy medical journey, and we were still able to make time to go on many adventures together. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’m so thankful to have Christopher by my side.

Now, a little over a month until my due date, we celebrate all the amazing times we’ve had and are so excited to start this new chapter! Here’s to us, Christopher! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us (and our son!).

PS-Sorry I’ve been so MIA this week, friends. I brought home a cold as a souvenir from the conference, which is a little rough at 34 weeks pregnant! Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch up on all of your blogs soon!

Eight Favorite Experiences in Eight Years of Marriage

Chris and I celebrated eight years of marriage while we were in Maine, and I love using our anniversary to reminisce on all the special moments we’ve had throughout the years. Today, I thought it would be fun to share eight of our favorite experiences in our years of marriage. These are off the top of my head and in no particular order.

Celebrating Our 21st Birthdays and One Year Anniversary in Las Vegas
We had so much fun on our first trip to Vegas together! We saw Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE and KA and ate at so many amazing places. Vegas is still one of our favorite places if we only have time to get away for a few days.

Related Posts: 
Best Shows in Las Vegas, Best Buffets in Las Vegas, Hiking Through Valley of Fire State Park, Best Things to Do in Las Vegas if You Don't Gamble or Drink

Studying Abroad in Europe
There’s something special about being married and getting to study abroad in Europe together. We went with a group of about 40 other students from Baylor and were definitely the “mom and dad” of the group, but we had the best time! Our study abroad program was heavily focused on travel (Fridays off and lots of holidays), and we took advantage of it by seeing 16 different countries. I’m so glad we were able to do something like this before the craziness of medical school.

Related Posts: 
European Train Travel Tips, Three European Travel Stories I Will Never Forget, Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle, Via dell' Amore, Cinque Terre, My Top Five European Travel Moments, Three Cities to Visit in France (Besides Paris), Three Great Day Trips from Paris, 24 Hours in Strasbourg, Eight Ideas for the Best Romantic Getaway in Paris, 24 Hours in Stresa, Italy, Three Relaxing Destinations in Italy, 24 Hours in Bath, England, Five Things You Must Do in Marseille, France, Five Places in Europe I Would Love to Visit Again

Discovering a Love for Cruising
I hadn’t been on a cruise in the United States (we did a month long cruise from Russia throughout Europe when we lived there) until we got married, but we’ve done six together since then! (two to Alaska, one Southern Caribbean cruise from Puerto Rico, one Eastern Caribbean cruise, one Western Caribbean cruise, and one fall color cruise). We haven’t been on one in almost three years mostly due to Zika, but I am definitely planning on going again when the baby is old enough!

Related Posts: My Three Favorite Caribbean Cruise Ports, Cozumel, Belize River Cruise, Belize Lamanai Mayan Ruins, Maya Key in Honduras, Emerald Princess Review, Saint John and Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Bar Harbor and Acadia, Maine, Portland and Kennebunkport, Maine, Brilliance of the Seas Review, Seven Reasons I Choose to Cruise, A Crab Feast Excursion in Ketchikan, Alaska

Graduating Baylor
Baylor will always be a special part of our story: we met on our first day on campus, spent that first semester falling in love, and got married the summer after our sophomore year at a gorgeous spot on campus. All of that made graduating together from the university we love even more wonderful. We were in different colleges, so we got to watch each other’s ceremonies. It was such a great day!

Related Posts:
Seven Years: A Short Version of Our Love Story, A Waco Weekend

Watching Chris Become a Doctor
I’ve never been one to sugarcoat medical school. It’s not easy (though it’s a cake walk compared to residency). Still, there was nothing better than watching my love fulfill his dream during those four years. I was so proud as he crossed that stage and officially became a doctor in 2015. Now we’re making our way through residency, and it’s hard to believe that day was over two years ago!

Related Posts:
Match Day Process, Match Day Results

Celebrating the End of Medical School with a California Road Trip
We’ve been blessed to visit many amazing places in our eight years of marriage, both in the United States and abroad, but our California road trip ranks as one of our favorite trips. We were celebrating such a big occasion in a place full of incredible views and so many fun things to do. I loved visiting La Jolla and the San Diego Zoo for the first time, and our drive up Highway 1 was absolutely incredible. Someday I’ll get around to finishing up my recaps of that trip, but it’s definitely a trip I will always treasure.

Related Posts:
Seven-Day Itinerary from San Diego to San Francisco, Old Town San Diego, La Jolla, San Diego Zoo Tips, San Diego Zoo Private Tour, Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, Hearst Castle Views, Hearst Castle Grand Rooms Tour, Hearst Castle Upstairs Suites Tour, Pacific Coast Highway Tips, The Most Beautiful Place in Big Sur, Five Things You Must Do in San Diego

Our Year in Chicago
Y’all know the story by now: I moved to Chicago kicking and screaming…and then I fell in love on basically the first day. Intern year was hard, but living in Chicago made it so much better. That year ended up being one of my favorites of our marriage so far. I loved exploring a new area of the United States with my love, and you better believe I left Chicago with tears in my eyes when the year was over.

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Best Weekend Trips from Chicago, Three Great Day Trips from Chicago, Best Places for Brunch in Chicago, Best Deep Dish Pizza in Chicago, Wendella Lake Michigan Fireworks Cruise,  Seven Things You Must Do in Chicago During the Holiday Season, Shoreline Sightseeing Classic Lake Tour, Best View in Chicago, Lake Michigan Circle Tour Itinerary, The Field Museum, Sunset Dinner Cruise on Lake Michigan

Our Journey to Parenthood
Of course, I had to include the last few months in my favorite marriage experiences. We have been so excited since finding out we’re going to be parents, and it’s hard to believe we’ll be mommy and daddy in just three short months! As much as I have loved all of our adventures, I know this one will be the best one yet!

Related Posts:
Our Announcement, All About Baby, Pregnancy Confessions, Gender Predictions, Gender Reveal, How I Told Chris About Baby

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How I Told Chris About Baby

Happy Friday, friends! Fridays are even more special to me during pregnancy because they’re the beginning of a new week. Today, I’m 25 weeks pregnant, and I’m finally feeling great after that nasty cold I got from Chris last week! I’m definitely showing these days, and our little guy is constantly moving. I had no idea how much I would love feeling his movements! I’ll write out a full second trimester update after our trip (I can’t believe we are leaving in a little over a week!), but today I wanted to share the story of how I told Chris I was pregnant. I always love reading these stories on other blogs, so I thought it would be fun to document my own!

Walking back from dinner on the day we found out. We were so excited!

I had always wanted to come up with some fun, creative way to tell Chris I was pregnant. Honestly, I thought I would have plenty of time to come up with an idea, but, as I mentioned in my first post about our little one, we got pregnant right away, and I had to think fast.

I found out on February 17, and on Valentine’s Day, Chris had written me a poem. I decided to play off that and wrote a short “poem” to tell him about the baby. I put it together, printed it out, and did whatever I could to kill time waiting for him to come home from the hospital. When he called me to say he was on the way, he asked if he should go to the grocery store on the way, and I told him to just come home because we had leftovers (with the full intention of going out to eat to celebrate the news).

When he got home, I told him I had decided to write him a poem since he had written one for Valentine’s Day and apologized that it was late. I started filming him as he was about to read it, which he thought was weird but figured it was because I’m crazy about documenting things. Here’s what the paper I gave him said:

Life with you is the greatest adventure 
I treasure every moment, big and small 
The only thing better than having you as my husband 
Will be seeing you as a daddy 
I’m so excited to meet Baby Ball!

He jumped when he saw the last line and asked me if I had taken a test. I told him I had and showed it to him (side note: I only took two tests that whole day. As soon as I saw those two pink lines the first time, I was confident it was real.). He gave me a big hug, and then, like the doctor he is, told me not to get too excited because it could be a false positive. We went out for our favorite sunset fajitas to celebrate, and it was honestly the very best first day of knowing we had a baby on the way!

Soon I'll share the stories of how we told both sets of parents!

Nine Years

Nine years ago yesterday, I was having one of the biggest and most confusing conversations of my life. Our “defining the relationship” conversation started at around 11 p.m. and lasted till 3 a.m.

Freshman formal

It was all my fault. I didn’t come right out and say What are we? Instead, I began this long, convoluted story of how our college friends recently became official and asked Chris what he thought of that. I was so nervous to just come out and say it. Chris and I had both dated our best friends our senior year in high school, and the relationships had ended badly. We had gotten super close over the last month (you can read more about that here) and were both afraid to mess it up.

It’s the best risk we’ve ever taken. Before I met Christopher, I hadn’t even wanted a relationship, but I could quickly tell that this relationship was different from any I had been a part of in the past.

We said I love you quickly. We didn’t want to wait to get married until after college when we knew we were ready for marriage. (Such a bummer, though, because it meant we got married before Pinterest. ;)) One of these days, I will share about our wedding (I wanted to on our anniversary this year, but it turned out to be close to my surgery), but we got married the summer after our sophomore year in college.

Nine years ago, I had no idea what an adventure we were starting. If you had asked me then what I thought my life would be like today, the answer would be extremely different from reality. My life isn’t what I expected. It’s so much better, all thanks to that conversation nine years ago.

PS-I'm over on Ashley's blog today sharing five things you must do in one of my favorite cities in the world, Prague!

The Man Behind the Blog: A Q&A with Christopher

Christopher recently joked that he has never made a guest appearance on this space of mine, so today I thought it would be fun for y’all to get to know him through a little Q&A.

What do you like to do to unwind after a long day?
Easy…sleep. But I’ll assume you meant before that. In that case, it’s veg out in front of the TV. Doesn’t really matter what’s on it as long as it’s talking at me.

What is the top place on your travel list?
Places I’ve been or want to go? My favorite all time place I’ve been is probably when we took our trip to Prague, although I’m still disappointed they didn’t know what kolaches are. There’s also a lot of good places in the US. Our trip to California was really fun, but basically the entire American West has loads of amazing places. I think I’d have to pick Yellowstone as my favorite place I’ve been in the US.

As far as places I haven’t been but want to go to Australia would probably be top of that particular list. The problem with that destination is the flight…but really who can say no to kangaroos?

What has been your favorite part of living in Chicago?
Chicago has really surprised me. Growing up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Texas, I didn’t really expect to like it here. If you have to live in a big city, this is a good one to do it in. It’s got just about everything you could want to do in your time off, it’s easy to get around, and it’s relatively clean with great parks and the lakeshore. Also I’m going to pretend every Chicago winter is like the one we had this year…thanks, El Nino.

I know you’ve been excited about the Monopoly game the grocery store is running as an incentive, but what is your favorite childhood board game to play as an adult?
So many great choices…Let’s be clear, no one actually really deep down likes Monopoly all that much. The go to is probably something like Mousetrap, but then you have to deal with all of those parts with the one curvy piece that never works right. And don’t even get me started on Scrabble. Overall I think I would have to go with Clue.

What is your favorite meal?
Mac and cheese.

What is your favorite season?
Fall. Not too hot, not too cold. Several exciting holidays, football, and pumpkins. Don’t really think we need any more explanation for this.

If you weren’t going to be a doctor, what profession would you choose?
Maybe a teacher, but let’s be honest, my dream job is stay at home husband.

What is the strangest thing about having a Russian wife?
What isn’t?

What do you want to name our next dog?
Mr. Puggles. And I feel strongly about this…doesn’t matter if its male/female or what breed it is.

Who is your favorite author?
Probably Glen Cook. I’ve read all but one of his books so far and thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. He is really good at creating interesting characters and then further developing them throughout the plot. Generally, his stories revolve around a protagonist with a dark side (not always quite an anti-hero but close) and focus on a plot where the good guy isn’t always good, and the bad guy isn’t always bad.

I resisted the urge to comment on all of his answers, but it was fun to come up with questions for him! I might have to do another Q&A with Christopher in the future, so let me know if y'all have any questions for him.

Seven Years: A Short Version of Our Love Story

Seven years ago, Chris and I were two freshmen adjusting to college life. We met on our first day at Baylor, a week before classes started because we were in the same Welcome Week group.

A few days later, I was in his car as we carpooled to an event, and we struck up a conversation on our way back. From then on, we became fast friends. Every night after we finished our homework, we would meet and spend hours walking around campus. We told stories about family and friends back home—he was from a small town (graduated with 13 people) while I graduated with one of the largest graduating classes in the nation.

Our conversations quickly grew deeper. We often discussed our hopes and dreams for the future.  Our conversations went on for hours. We had trouble deciding when it was time to go back to our dorms. It wasn’t long before it became obvious to both of us that we were interested in each other.

We were anxious about starting a relationship. We both dated our best friends in high school, and those relationships ended badly. We were worried about ruining what had become a strong friendship.  Plus, I had been telling everyone back home that I was planning to focus solely on my studies and didn’t want a serious relationship until I graduated. (Ha!)

On September 20, 2007, after a long, drawn-out, confusing conversation that lasted five hours, we decided that it was worth it for us to give a relationship a try.  I’m so thankful for that night seven years ago when we decided to take the risk because the reward was greater than I ever imagined.

Chris, I can’t believe it has already been seven years since that night. These past seven years have been amazing, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us. I love you!

Note: One of these days I’m planning on writing out a long version of our love story with much more detail, but I thought it would be fun to post a short version today.