Jenny's a Dental Student for the Day

So this afternoon we went to school to study- I was heading to the library and Chris was heading to the lab at the dental school to practice his lab stuff. We figured out that I'd never really been into the dental school even though it's right across the street from my building... So he took me on an official tour. Our last stop was the lab which is where he spends many hours a week. Before today I really didn't know what he did in there but today, he not only showed me, but I played with his stuff for awhile!!  He showed me what a random "prep" looked like (a "prep" is how they begin taking care of a cavity filled tooth I think... like how they drill is out).  I used the drill and made one myself! Then I got adventurous and asked him to show me how to use the composite (sp?) to fill it back! 

I was so proud of my tooth!

The catch is that you have to recarve all the little grooves that our teeth naturally have... NOT as easy as I thought.  Another catch is the tooth stays in a mouth that stays in a head so you don't have a lot of space to work with, nor can you get a good look at it.

  I worked hard, but my finished product wasn't too good!  I got to use all of these tools:

So many of them!

Even though I could have stayed there a few more hours and played with the teeth, I went to the library til it closed, but it closed before Chris was done so I came back into the lab and studied there:

One of the stations in the lab

Chris working his magic!

I didn't even attempt the mirror stuff

It was really fun to see what Chris does all the time and what he's learning to do! I'm so proud of him :)

Our First (and Perfect) Easter Weekend!

So this weekend was our first married and non-study-filled weekend we've had!  

Friday afternoon it was GORGEOUS outside! So we parked at the seminary and went on a run/walk around the gorgeous neighborhoods over there.  We passed our dream home several times :) 

I stopped us for a quick pic :)

It's a joke how gorgeous it is here this spring!

 It was fun to get to hear each others "dream home" qualities.  I had never thought Chris to be one who had a dream home in mind, but he definitely wants a welcoming home that's conducive to having a lot of people over! He pointed out many homes that he loved and I did as well. Hearing that made me so excited! 

After our run we went at got some dessert :)

I LOVE the "Add your own toppings" places... I get every kind of chocolate candies there are =)

Then we went for our "groceries for 2 weeks" shopping trip and did it in UNDER 16 minutes! We owned it! We did the divide and conquer approach and it was AWESOME. I think we should always do that.

Then we went to our church's Good Friday Service.  It was such a neat service.  Instead of the normal worship then message combo, it was straight worship with Jesus's 7 last phrases that he spoke on the cross talked about between songs.  The most powerful phrase to me was when Jesus "It is finished".  There are no more words needed, nor are there any other words more comforting to me.  The God I serve paid for my sin and won against sin and death once and for all.  It is finished now and He won.  "It is finished" not only talks about my salvation, but it is speaking to my sins being paid for over and over again, and my way to having a relationship with Jesus possible.  I loved it and it has been on my heart to live my life as if I serve a God that "finished it".

After the service, we went and had dinner with one of our favorite couples, Stuart and Taylor!

They are SO busy so Chris and I were thrilled to hear they didn't have plans for after the service! 

Love him!

The next day we slept in and had a slow morning.  These are my favorite! I wish I woke up early enough to have slow beautiful mornings every day!  I went to Pure Barre (Still obsessed) and then came home and studied for the afternoon.

That night Chris and I went to see the Hunger Games. OH MY GOSH IT WAS AWESOME!   I mean it was just as good as the book!  We both really enjoyed going to see the movie not only because the movie was so good but because it was forced chill time.  We couldn't study or play on the computer even if we wanted to.  It was such a relaxing experience to me! I really want to go see another movie this weekend just for the relaxation! Ha!

After the movie we went to Walmart and got stuff for each other's >$10 Easter Basket.  This was really just for me because I panicked that I'd be upset if this was the first year I didn't get an Easter Basket....  It was slim pickings though! We'll have to remember that for next Easter and go earlier...

The next morning we were up bright and early. We served on the Connect team for the 9 am service and then attended the 11 am service.  Afterwards, we went over to Stuart and Taylor's house for Easter lunch. Like 4 other couples from our Community Group joined so it was lots of yummy food and good fun times.  

All of us sitting down to eat (minus Stuart who's pic this is)

I think the dessert spread should win awards! It was YUM!

The "real" food

The table

We got to play with Chip and Lauren's beautiful babies! I loved it! They were so much fun and so sweet !

Lauren snapped this pic of us! I love it!

Holding Mr. Will! He studied me intensely!

They were so unbelievably cute it was a joke!

Then, to my delight, we dyed Easter eggs! Back at home this is an official sport and is taken seriously so I'm SO glad that Taylor and Jamie wanted to dye eggs with me!

Taylor working hard

The three of us working on our masterpieces

Pros

They turned out pretty darn good for the super basic kit we had!

And the boys watched the Masters all afternoon!

It was such a fun day and Chris and I were so thankful to have our church family to spend our first married holiday with!  

Honeymoon!

So I'm doing things out of order because my camera had some bad luck (someone brought into the pool with them on the honeymoon...)

Anyways, I have most pics from the honey moon so we'll start there.

We had to leave our hotel at 3:45 to drive the hour to the airport so we could be there in time for our 6 am flight.  After our wedding the night before, that was NO FUN!  But we made our flight and made our connecting flight and landed in *St. Lucia* that afternoon.  From the airport to our resort it was about 1.5 hour drive and the roads weren't the best and I got a little car sick on the way there.  So bad we pulled over 3 times :/ So that first night I went straight to sleep.

The rest of the time was just heavenly! We stayed in an all inclusive type place so everything was included.  There was absolutely NO stress! We lounged on the beach, by the pool, in the pool at the pool bar, in the hot tub... It was perfect! On the flight over we met 2 other couples that were married Saturday night like us and were on their honeymoon, so we ended up hanging out with them a lot.

This picture sums up the blissful fun that made up the week!

Mimosas were my drink of choice

Husband and I on the first or second day!

Sunset 

On the third day we were there, we went on an excursion.  It was by boat so no worries of me getting car sick :)

On the boat on the way!

Oprah's Vacation Home!

Margot Bay

Chris and I by the Pitons!

Post Snorkeling "Island Punch"

In front of the Volcano that makes a mineral hot water spring we used in our mud bath

Authentic Island Food for lunch!

Overlooking the city

Gorgeous!

After wednesday we moved into a new room that was a little house with it's own pool/hot tub/hammock so we were in heaven and found it hard to leave!!

Me in our pool!

Our breakfast nook- we had breakfast delivered every morning

The two chairs where Chris and I read for hours straight!  The hot tub is behind the pool

But while in the really nice room we went to dinner at the 2 nicest restaurants on the property and had fun doing so!

In front of our "Home" before dinner!

About to eat some yummy food!

Mr. Handsome

This is at the fancy Italian restaurant...

We literally just ate, drank, talked, rested and hung out with our newlywed friends!  It was a perfect week!!

Just Perfect!

That is what the last month has been!
I'm sad I haven't blogged about any of it, but I think I'm going to do 5 follow up blogs: One on the last 2 showers, one on the wedding weekend, one on the wedding, one on the honeymoon and then our new home/married life....

For right now though I am focusing on getting my "life plans" refigured out.  I think I've decided against finishing with my Ph.D.  I'm thinking a masters will be sufficient for what I think I'd do with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which right now is teaching high school or community college science! I just think it'd be such an  honor to share my love and excitement for science with the students.  Also, maybe I can help the cheerleading squad out too ;)

My new long term dream is to open up a Pure Barre wherever we end up.  I'm so in love with the entire company and everything I know about it so I think it'd be a dream come true to open up my own studio!  Although I'm not sure where that fits into the Airforce time/ house buying/ Chris starting his practice :/ But a girl can dream!

I do know that first and foremost I want my life to be lived only as a result of what Christ wants it to look like.  But, I still think it's important to dream big and have a vision of where I see my life going!

It's a big and beautiful world and I'm excited to explore it :)

It's My Wedding Week!

It's my wedding week! I can NOT believe it!!  

The last 2 days have been so much fun and filled with sweet, joyful people.  

Saturday night when I came in we had dinner at my dads house! We grilled out some hamburgers and they were yum!

My cute lil bro's and I ;)

Sunday I had my last bridal shower! Two families so dear to my heart hosted it for me.  They went above and beyond! From the decor to the food, everything was just perfect!!  I was *showered* with love!

I love my K!

The wonderful Hostesses and I by the gorgeous table of food!

Loves!

MOH and her set up presents display

Some of the cutesies at the shower!

It was such a lovely shower and I loved that it was a week before the wedding because it makes it all so real!

The rest of Sunday, I really just hung out at the beach house with my mom and MOH.  Carla and I painted some, but mostly we hung.  K came over later and stayed the night! I got to meet Mr. Leland and he got to play with my Annabelle and my mom's Iris! Too much fun! 

The 3 of them playing!

Today we woke up and did our final meeting with Christina to go over the checklist and timeline.  Let me tell you, Christina is THE MOST amazing planner ever.  I can not begin to describe what a blessing she's been to the wedding.  She handles every little logistical thing you can imagine.  I'm only responsible for listing my opinions and desires and picking bridesmaids ;)  

Seriously though, anyone getting married, hire a wedding planner!

Then Carla and I went to a Pure Barre Class in Santa Rosa Beach and it was exactly what I needed! Then we came back to the beach house and literally just hung out and worked on a few little wedding things, but we mostly chatted.  Then mom went to pick up Momma Chelle!  I'm so glad she's here!!  

Pretty much everything is done... We didn't have much left on the To-Do List to do for this week.  It's such a blessing for me to have the mental capacity to get excited for the upcoming marriage.  It's all because of the people around me who are above and beyond in their graciousness.  My mom had a "wish list" from me of over 14 things that I wanted her to do/make for the wedding.  She finished it LAST Thursday.  Christina made me get things done last month so paperwork and stuff is way done.  Carla is the best Maid of Honor a girl could ask for.  Seriously.  She is present for everything, helps me with everything, remembers everything and when I'm exhausted and turned off, she can take working in silence! She's the absolute best! Lastly and most importantly, Chris has taken over the money side of it all and has made all the payments and things... I was not good at that and it stressed me completely out.  With that responsibility lifted, I'm a new being!  He's also done every last little thing I've asked him to help me with.  

I am so thankful and blessed to be experiencing such a fun, joyful and rich time in my life! I'm so excited and relaxed, I'm giddy!  I CAN'T WAIT FOR MARCH 17th!

This is my moms dog Iris and she's just so cute I had to include her!

Making a Home

Yesterday I got a break from the intensity of wedding "to-dos" and got to spend the afternoon with our "marriage lesson givers" 3 adorable girls.

The big task of the day: To plan a "fancy tea party"!  What could be a better way to spend an afternoon in this hectic season of my life.

They came with me to one of my last wedding dress fittings (Thanks to Pure Barre, I have to have it taken in!) and while I was worried how 3 little girls (ages 3-7) would behave in such a new and quiet place, they were amazing! They sat in awe at a table, looked at Bridal magazines and gave their feed back on the dress.

When we got back, we began preparation for the tea party.  The middle little girl made our to do list and  2 hours later, we were ready to be served.

In the midst of Planning for the tea party

My place setting.  Note that we made our own placemats with pictures from a bridal magazine, and note that my silverware is tied and my name written on it :)  It's all in the details!

The finished product! Ta-Da!

I haven't been exposed much to young couples homes.  I have been in college (where there are no families) and then home with families of children my age or a little younger.  I love being in Beth and Josh's home.  They have done such a good job of making it beautiful, functional and fun for the girls.  Everything has it's place, the girls know where that is, and it makes playing so much fun!

With all of this weddingness, it's nice to be reminded that the wedding is NOT the final destination!

Now on to my HUGE list of to-do's so that my planner doesn't not pull her hair out (and so I guess we have a functional wedding?)