These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

First things first, I'm bad at blogging. I got it. Let's move on and be friends. We shall overcome this dark night of my blogging career.

Instead, I'd like to stretch out my sore writing muscles and share some of the happenings around the Werner household the last few months! If you haven't kept up with us, Luke and I are living in colorful Colorado now, and oh-em-gee-like-totally you guys, we love it.

Here are a few of my favorite things -

1. The Rocky Mountains are our playground. 

Now readers, I love me some Illinois cornfields, but there is just something so breath-taking, so adventurous about living near/in the mountains. It's unpredictable and beautiful, wild and yet ageless. We have soaked up every minute we could this summer and fall trying to explore the Rocky Mountains' endless treasures, and we still can't get enough. We haven't even scratched the surface (or peak, shall we say) of all of the places we want to see.

 (View from near the top of Cheyenne Mountain. We live right at its base.) 

 (Estes Park, probably the most beautiful place I've ever been.) 

(Luke and I in Estes Park, contemplating becoming hermit mountain dwellers.) 

2. Hiking, camping, and other outdoor activities. 

Now I'm not one for skipping a night sleeping in my wonderful bed. But if it makes my sweet husband happy, I'm willing to try out some of his beloved hobbies. I doesn't hurt that his beloved hobbies give us views like this one. I have slept outside in the mountains (well, in a tent, but that doesn't protect you from bears) for the first time since we've been here, and although I nearly cried tears of joy when I was back with indoor plumbing, it was still a fun experience. We've also done plenty of hiking and driving, and have gotten some awesome views for our work. 

3. Our house. 

I just love our little abode. Alright, not so little. We have more space than we know what to do with right now, but I'm having an excellent time of crafting to fill the walls, nooks, and crannies. We live on post and can't get enough of our fenced-in back yard, short commute to Luke's work, and lots of neighborhood friends.

(Creep-proof picture of our house. Don't be that guy and try to find me for my autograph, okay?)  

(The coffee nook! Right beside our kitchen, it houses my books, Keurig, and keyboard and is my inner-hipster's dream.) 

4. Visitors, near and far! 

We have had so many people we love (and who love us!) come visit us this summer. Since we live so far away, I can't explain how nice it is to have some "normalcy" with our family members, even if it's just for a week or two. I loved getting to host, cook for, and hang out with everyone who has made the trek from IL to visit! 

We also have family in the area too! Luke's brother Jake, in particular, has been such a blessing to have close by. He attends the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs (same town, about 40 minutes away). He and Luke have lived apart for 5 years, so to have him so close is great. A boy can only go so long without his best friend. 

(My parents... my dad loves Colorado but hadn't visited in almost 30 years and it was my mom's first time seeing mountains. I don't get to be selfish with my time with them very often, but I was this trip!) 

(My siblings [+niece or nephew Zimmerman!!!]. Two and a half weeks of adventures, laziness, laughter, and reduced cell phone bills. I can't even begin to describe how much fun we had, so I won't try in this post. It was THE BEST.)  

(Luke's parents + Jake. They got to visit TWICE this summer! It was lovely and well needed! Plus his mom stuck with my craziness and helped me pick out our new couches ;) ) 

5. Army life is like "Beauty and the Beast". 

Some days it's smart and beautiful and so far from provincial. Some days it's unkempt, grouchy, and unreasonably territorial over where you can and can't go. 

Or maybe that last one is just me. 

Nevertheless, it is an endless learning process that pushes both Luke and I to be better people, better servant-leaders, and better partners to each other. Luke absolutely loves his job and his guys, which makes even hard days worth it for both of us. It is always challenging, full of ups and downs, but we are better every day for it. 

(That's Luke commanding his Stryker, a picture featured in the Ft.Carson newspaper about 5 weeks after we moved here. What can I say, he got famous fast.) 

 (Luke's office some days)

("Helping")

(Gettin' fancy... it's a definite perk. On hard days I remember Luke gets to wear a Stetson on Fridays and everything magically melts away.) 

6. Most of all, my favorite thing is that my soul is doing this most of the time. 

I am genuinely happy and joyful to be where I am. I am loving life, along with the monotony and curve balls it throws at me. God is good and I am reaching more for Him on my own personal journey than I ever have before, and I'm so overwhelmed with gratitude to realize how He fulfills his promises. And I'm thankful to be surrounded by the beauty of His creation while He's at it. 

Come visit us so I can show you more of my favorite things! 

I Love You Because...

This is going to be a simple post. No list, just short, sweet, and to the point. This project has literally been one of my favorite things Luke and I have done together. It is our "I love you because..." board. I am big on leaving notes for Luke because he gets up wayyy before I do and I don't usually get to see him before he leaves for work around 6 AM. I like to let him know why I love him, appreciate him, and understand that he is getting up early to do uncomfortable and demanding things for BOTH of us. He likes to tell me that he's thinking about me and notices the little things I do to keep our family running at home.

So, we made this "I love you because..." board so that we have a daily opportunity to acknowledge how the other person is so special. We write meaningful and silly things to each other, inside jokes, whatever... and take turns with our day. It's so easy and it's the best thing ever to wake up to something nice and a little butt-shaped heart from my hubs. (But seriously... his hearts are lacking some, uhhh... artistic shapely style).

I hope we continue this tradition with our kids as well. I think it would be sweet to have this board on their bedroom doors, so anyone could write a reminder of why they are loved and appreciated. It would be fun for dorm room doors, too!

Here it is. White board from Wal-mart, permanent marker for the title words, dry erase marker for hundreds of love notes. Well worth the investment.

Blogs and Other Things I've Failed At

I have failed majorly at blog-writing. I know this, you know this. My sweet husband even knows this, for when I'm being particularly bothersome, he asks nicely, "Hey, why don't you work on your blog?"

So then I don't, just to be more bothersome.

This is my feeble attempt at getting the ball rolling. If I just put up a new, general post, it will take the pressure off of catching up on five months of cyberspace nothingness in one brilliant, star-studded prose... right?

Well, hopefully anyway.

Here are 10 things that have happened since September that I may or may not elaborate on in later posts.

1. My sister Katie came to visit. She put up a lovely play-by-play with pictures about our three day adventure in Georgia here. We made some awesome food, enjoyed the sun, and sat on the couch a lot. It was pure loveliness.

2. I flew back home with Katie and got to see all my friends and family that I'd been missing so much. The air was crisp, the leaves were falling, the crops were being harvested, the humidity was below 99%.... Midwest heaven on earth. Fall doldrums became a thing of the past.

3. We hosted Thanksgiving for some of our Army friends. It was one part stressful, two parts fun, eight parts me obsessing over setting the table with my fancy new dishes. I'm not sure where those "parts" breakdown came from, which is probably why Luke is better at following recipes that I am.

4.  Luke graduated ABOLC (Armor Basic Officer Leader Course) in December and Bradley Leader Course in January, and is now enrolled and half way through ARC (Army Reconnaissance Course). I'm so proud of him! He inspires me every day with his passion and dedication. Way to go, honey!

5. We went home for Christmas. I can't even explain the wonderful feeling of being all together again (since Luke got to come along this time). We tested puppy-drugs on Scout to knock her out during the 13 hour car ride (success!), we crafted (success!), we watched movies on movies on movies (success!), and made up for lots of lost time.

6. I started working for the American Red Cross teaching CPR, First Aid, and AED skills. I'm enjoying it so much so far! It has been fun teaching people who know how to raise their hands when they ask a question and not get all up in my grill when I ask them to put their phone away.

7. Luke and I are currently teaching Theology of the Body to our 6th and 7th grade Religious Ed class. We love it. They squirm. We love that they squirm. They learn how to love and respect their body and God's plan for self worth, dignity, and marriage. It's a win-win-win-win.

8. We bought a car! After much back-and-forth discussion about what to do with my old 2-door Saturn Ion that would soon be making the trek to snowy Colorado, we upgraded for a beautiful Chevy Equinox that we got for a God-given (literally... it's quite the story) deal. It's a beaut', and I'm in love.

9. Scout-puppy is not really a puppy anymore. :( She is the bane of my existence and I love her for it. She gets her bothersome abilities from her mama. 

10. I have learned more and more about how to embrace and enjoy Army life. I am really starting to love the lifestyle and the people I meet. Even the acronyms. (Hey, just so you know, when Luke is done with ARC we are going to PCS to Ft. Carson doing a full DITY CONUS move. I still have to go to JAG and ACS to check on my POA and his LES, but we already have our DD-1172. He's hoping to be a PL when we get there, but if not he'll be put in HHQ.) This. Is. Daily. Conversation. Can I put 'Army' as a second language on my resume? 

Alright, that's enough for now. I will catch you up soon on being embarrassed by my hermit-crafting skills, our upcoming second cross-country move in less than a year, and all the other adventures we've had!

PS- THANKS to whoever is loyally checking this blog for updates. Literally, THOUSANDS of hits in the last five months without a single new thing. Where are you coming from?? Kudos to your patience. 

(AKA, here ya go, Mom! Your hard work paid off!)

I Must've Done Something Good: Part V - Where the Army Sends Us

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not so great at this blog thing.

As I sit here in the living room of my beautiful apartment, alone on a Friday night as Luke has all-night staff duty, I wonder why it's taken me so long to update.

And then I remember in the last 2 months, I've gotten married, moved, made new friends, tried to figure out what being an awesome wife to my endlessly good husband means, signed up to teach Sunday school, started a job, and got a puppy. And blogging is not on my to-do list every day. I will try to change that in the weeks to come. ;)

In this final installment of my summer series, I'm going to tell you what moving 800 miles across the county looks like:

An extended cab truck filled to the brim, both inside and out, a trailer hauling a Saturn with zero oxygen space, crates strapped on all around, a very expensive, VERY beloved Harley-Davidson motorcycle perched (at times precariously) on the back, and a conversion van with barely enough room to fit two awesome parents-in-laws in the front. Dats how we roll, people.

By the way, when we got here, we found out the Army would have paid for the biggest U-Haul we could rent. HA!.. Ha... ha. *sobbing quietly*

It was nuts. It was stressful and emotional and nerve wracking. I cried until we were out of Illinois, and went through two boxes of tissues: one for tears and one for a massive head cold that decided to plague me during probably the hardest couple of days of my life (excellent timing).

And then suddenly, it was okay. It was sometime as we were rolling through the gorgeous hills of Alabama that I reached over and took Luke's hand, and I knew it was going to be worth it. Sure, I'd never seen the house we were moving into, never visited the state that I was about to be a citizen of, and never intended on ever leaving my sweet country home prior to meeting this man. But I knew it was going to be fine. It was going to be better than fine. It was going to be great!

And great it is!

We moved into one kick-butt apartment. Seriously, I can run laps. I do, actually. It's beautiful and has such great charm.

(This is me, totes excited. "We get all this!?")

And got to decorate to my heart's content. 

(We're like...adults.)

After searching and church hopping for WEEKS within a two-state radius (no joke), Luke and I finally found a church that we love. Oh yeah, did I mention.... it's a block away? We started attending St. Maurice Catholic Church on Ft. Benning, and have't looked back. We had some misconceptions about attending a church that would obviously be so tied to the military, just because we thought it would be nice to "get away" sometimes and intermix with our civilian brethren (I joke... makes us sound like aliens. "Hello, human. Teach me your ways of not using acronyms for everything."). God had other plans, though, because after attending daily Mass one day on post, I somehow managed to walk away with a Sunday School gig for Luke and I.  We will be teaching 6th and 7th grade, focusing primarily on Theology of the Body Ah! Love. We are excited to share our passion for our faith and Christian sexuality. 

Coming here, I started out with no friends... 

("It's just me and you against the world, buddy!") 

(Yes, that's a HUGE DEAD cockroach in my house. Gross!)

And now we've met some amazing ones! We're meeting new people all the time, and just got back from a Florida vacation with some great new friends. It's very exciting, even for an introvert like me. 

(My first time in Florida! I didn't get eaten by a shark. Whoo hoo!)

Speaking of Florida, I have gotten to see some pretty cool, new, and exciting things while living in the south. Although I miss my mid-western manners* and corn fields, the south is a really unique place to live. (Besides the trees... the trees here are weird. They've got moss and pine-y things and...... never mind. Come visit and see them for yourself.) We've been all around Columbus area, Atlanta once, Destin, FL last weekend, and even threw in some pretty Alabama sunsets for good measure. 

(This is me petting a sting ray at the Atlanta Aquarium... so, so neat!!)

*Sidebar: Midwestern Friends, have you ever noticed how often we say "I'm sorry"? Apparently it's a mid-western thing that I never noticed. If I bump into you, I say, "I'm sorry." If I cut you off in the cereal aisle of the grocery store, I say, "I'm sorry." If you drop something on the floor that was 0% my fault, I say, "I'm sorry."  It's weird now to think about it. I have a friend from Oklahoma that pointed it out, and now we laugh about it every time. Sorry. 

Back to my point... 

I get to hang out with this guy ALL the time. I know, we're married, so that's like a thing now, but I'm still excited about it. 

(He is just so irresistibly good. He has an open mind and a kind heart. And he flosses every day, which I think makes him a saint.) 

After much discussion, I finally convinced Luke that we needed a companion, but not in the baby-shaped-sort just yet. So we got a sweet new puppy! Her name is Scout Francine, named after her Armor Corps roots and St. Francis of Assisi, who we believe is ever praying and interceding for us. He's also the patron saint of animals, which we're hoping will help since little, energetic Scout is quite the rascal sometimes in her puppy-ness.  She's keeping me busy, that's for sure! 

(Look at that face! How do you discipline that face?!)

And I'm sorry (ha!) but I'm going to say it. My hair in the Georgia humidity rocks. And so, I guess, I'll stay. ;) 

Army life has been a whirlwind, but it really has been nothing short of a great experience so far. People here are kind, and I am continually amazed at the genuine character and goodness of the men and women who serve our country, and their families who support them. I'm proud to count our little family among them. 

And so, the adventure continues... wherever the Army sends us next! 

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

I Must've Done Something Good: Part IV - The Honeymoon

Alright, hiatus over. Back to the good stuff.

We left off here: Part III.

This handsome fellow and I had just said, “I do!” to morning-coffee-drinking, dirty-laundry-doing, random-slow-dancing, bed-hogging, you-are-stuck-with-me-FOR-EV-A marital bliss, and we were ready to party.

Our reception did not disappoint. Have I told you how fun our friends are? 

(Also, ladies, please take note how ridiculously awesome and professionally good-looking Luke's best man and my new brother-in-law Jake is, way over there on the left. You're welcome, Jake.) 

The morning after the wedding, Luke quite literally had to drag me out of bed. I had a grip on my pillow that would suggest I had a million dollars hidden inside of the pillow case. Though this sadly was not true, I was tired. So, so, so tired. 14 months of planning our big day, mixed in with a dash of 1^st year teacher struggles, plus the idea of packing up to move 10 days later was finally catching up to me and made me want to bury my head in my fabulous hotel pillows and never come out, a-la-scared-turtle.

Alas, I did, but not after making Luke promise that I would get daily naps for the next few… oh… months. He’s kept pretty good on that promise.  

We spent the morning with our families at Panera opening our cards, and then were off on our fabulous honeymoon awaiting us! We headed north into Wisconsin, toward our final destination of Door County, Wisconsin. After a somewhat scary encounter of getting lost in Milwaukee, in which we encountered a hit-an-run accident in a not so great part of town, we decided to go a little farther and stop for the night. We had our first married date at Panda Express (because we are fancy like that) and bought an $8 bottle of wine for our stop at Super 8 for the night. Ahh… the dream honeymoon getaway.

On Sunday we actually made it up to Door County. Luke and I were loving all of the car time, because it is usually the only place that neither of us are distracted by computers, chores, T.V., etc. We had some really great talks and went through an entire game of Honeymoon Table Topics (if you are a talker and you like conversation starters, I highly recommend investing in some of these bad boys).

When we knew we were getting close, Luke insisted that we needed to pull over to take a picture right as we got into Door County. This is how that conversation went:

Luke: “I bet there’s a huge sign with a pull off so tourists can stop and take pictures!”
Emily: “ I bet it’s a small county sign that we’ll nearly miss driving past.”

Mmm… who was right?

Once we got there, we checked into our absolutely fabulous hotel, Stone Harbor Inn . We cannot say enough good things about staying here. 

  

 After we checked in, all of our days seem to run together, which was exactly what we wanted. We had no schedule, no appointments, no where to be at any particular time. And so, we got to do a little adventuring of our own. 

(The two of us exhibiting our new status as married adults by riding on the luggage cart.)

Waking up to my new husband serving me breakfast in bed. 

(I tell ya what, I am a lucky lady!) 

Biking 10 miles around the lake. 

(One of us was more excited than the other.) 

Kayaking on the bay side in the early morning fog.

(Scary cave we "walked" our kayaks through because it was so low! It was awesome!)

Some of you may ask, "Golly gee, Emily, why do you look drenched in some of these pictures?"
Ahh, thanks for asking, loyal reader. My hubby decided about an hour into our tour that he needed to enter into more of a state of "exhilaration" to get all the bang for his buck. Enter in white caps near to shore.  Enter in Luke paddling us over near them. Enter in kayak tipping in said white caps. Enter in tour guide laughing hysterically as I point at Luke saying, "Lucas! You did that on purpose!!!"

Enter in getting the kayak right-side-up and ourselves situated just as another wave tipped us over again. Our tour guide asked us if that was grounds for divorce.

(He looks quite pleased with himself. I look quite cold.) 

 All in good fun. It made for a great story. 

More of us exemplifying adulthood. 

Pondering the meaning of life, marriage, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Not needing to ponder anything at all. 

Eating. Lots of eating. 

Fancy date nights in fairy-tale-esque places. 

Playing "Find St. Francis." 

(Seriously, St. Francis adopted us. He followed us everywhere. We should not have been surprised seeing as we met here.) 

An afternoon spa surprise, planned ahead of time by by this guy, who made this girl very, very happy. 

(Kayak incident forgiven.) 

Studying the local art. 

But best of all... getting to wake up next to this face.

(And the gelato, of course.)

We never wanted the few days to end, as we finally got to sit back, relax, and soak in all of the blessings God has given to us this past year. We talked about the wedding a little bit at the beginning, but in truth, we spent most of our time just laughing about silly things and enjoying not having to "discuss" or "plan" or "decide". We just were, and we did it together. 

I am quite sure that there is no one else in the world that I would rather be annoyed by, tickled by, prayed for, laughed at, or laughed with for the rest of my life. 

Even if that means tipping over in a kayak once in a while to keep things interesting. 

Next up, the last in this series of posts! I Must've Done Something Good: Part V - Army Life, Army Wife!