Enjoying It

In a mere thirteen days I will be a Mrs. and I like that. A lot.

I absolutely should not be writing a blog right now. I should be sleeping. Or, at least if I'm not sleeping, I should be working on wedding things. But I am fooling myself into believing that it doesn't need to be done tonight... whatever "it" is. I'm ready for the wedding to be here. I am ready to post a blog showing you all some awesome pictures of all of the things that have been made by my parents, Trey and myself. It has been awesome DIY-ing so many things, and I am SO grateful for my parents (and Trey's) willingness to help with everything! Getting married at my parents house, at the place I grew up, is such an awesome thing. I know that I took it all for granted as I was actually growing up, but now, now I truly appreciate every little thing about this place.

There are so many simple, lovely memories that come back to me every time I stroll through the yard: rolling and sledding down the hill back by the pond, which apparently is not all that big... playing baseball/soccer/football in the yard in front of the barn... playing countless games of horse/1on1/2on2 in the driveway... swinging on the swings just to get to the highest point so we could jump off on the count of three... getting "under-dogs" on the tire swing and quitting when my brothers would start to spin me so much and so fast that I thought I would die... hunting Easter eggs... riding horses... playing in the sand box... running through the sprinklers... building snowman families and igloos... skating on the pond... raking all of the leaves into one huge pile so we could jump in them just to realize that no matter how many leaves we put in one pile, the ground under them was still very much solid and painful... following mom from garden to garden pretending to help weed but having no idea what a weed was in comparison to a potentially gorgeous flower (sorry mom, for probably pulling out a whole lot of your flowers)... playing fetch with the dogs... lining the cars up for our own car washes... asking dad to help me fix/build something and standing next to him while he did it... I enjoyed it.

And inside the house has it's own endless list of vivid, beautiful memories: playing dress-up with the daycare kids (even the boys)... racing matchbox cars down a ramp and fighting to get the fastest car... building all sorts of unrecognizable things out of Legos... coloring in coloring books at the table and always being the last one to get bored with it... helping mom make snack... playing dolls and barbies in my room, often by myself, simply changing their clothes and putting them away... playing cards and board games... Christmas time when the living room gets filled with Tuperware bins FULL of holiday decor... dying Easter eggs... sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags... building blanket forts... Friday night pizza on a blanket in the living room watching TGIF... the smell of mom's caramel rolls fresh from the oven... hearing the cuckoo clock every 15 minutes... dad waking me up and making me put my feet on the floor before he would leave my room... playing Monopoly until everyone was mad at everyone so we were told it was time to stop, at which point we were all ready to quit anyway... dinner conversations... praying with  my parents before I went to sleep...  I enjoyed it.

This place is what I know. It is everything I grew up knowing to be a home. Until I moved out to go to college, I didn't know people lived any differently. I had a blessed childhood and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I continue to have a blessed life and I am enjoying it now as well. In the next two weeks, I know I will become overwhelmed at different points by the details of our wedding day and I know it will be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the rainbow after the storm, the prize at the finish line. But, when all is said and done, I will enjoy the day. Yes, I want it to be gorgeous. I want it to be fun. I want it to be perfect. But really, that's not what's important. I will spend my last moments as a Downing in the place I spent all of my firsts, and, come the end of the day, I will be married to my best friend and I will be an Erickson. I have been reminded by many people to, "enjoy it; it all goes by so fast." And so, that is what I plan to do. 

I will enjoy getting ready in the house I got ready in for so many years. I will enjoy taking too many pictures to count in the yard I played in so many days. I will enjoy sharing the day with our closest friends and family. I will enjoy praising the Lord, through it all, and spending time in worship. I will enjoy all of the hard work we put in to make the day happen. I will enjoy my Trey, my best friend, my HUSBAND, because I love him. Whatever the Lord blesses me with, not only on June 23rd, but always, I will do my best to enjoy it. 

-Han

Only 66 to go...

Why am I blogging with 66 days till I am a wife? Well, because.

Because I am so beyond excited to be marrying my best friend.

Because there is SO much left to finalize, I couldn't even tell you where I'll start.

Because I have been thinking about all of the wonderful people who are preparing to make my wedding day so incredibly special.

Because I am getting married. And I'm allowed to blog about it.

How cool is it that I am getting married?!?!!

I hope you all have had a good Wednesday.

hannahtrey.ourwedding.com

A Tuesday Afternoon

Due to the crazy heat wave that is running through Sioux Falls right now, I (apparently) felt it was necessary to go buy cookie dough and 3 things of Ben & Jerry's ice cream...

Can you say, "Over-spending on unnecessary items?" Whoops! 

On a lighter note... (lighter in oz. and in calories)

Trey and I went rollerblading this afternoon. 

As always, I took a few pictures along the way. And Trey cooperated (better than normal even). Unfortunately, the pictures of the scenery are not blog-worthy. So here are some of us. ;)

You should know, the heart was Trey's idea. :)

There are many post-worthy things that have happened in the last few weeks, so expect some more blog entries coming soon.

Hope you're all enjoying the beginning of Spring wherever you are. 

.h.m.d.

If we can't ice skate...

...we'll rollerblade!

As much as I absolutely love winter and snow and everything that comes with it (even scraping my windsheild), I was very excited on Wednesday after work when it was nearly 60 degrees in good ole Sioux Falls.

Trey had a meeting after school, so I went to his apartment to wait (im)patiently for him to come home. As soon as he arrived, he changed into sweats, we threw on our blades and we were off!

We rollerbladed to "our place" TC's Referee, had some food- salad and fries for me, salad and wings for him- and we were back to the pavement to make the trip back home.

My true love gave to me...

In an attempt to spread holiday cheer, or at least make myself feel more like Christmas was approaching, I suggested to Trey that we celebrate 12 days of Christmas. We agreed that it would be something fun for the two of us to do and depending upon how it turned out, maybe it would become a tradition. So the first four days were pretty fun, giving and receiving little gifts proved to be a good idea. Come the fifth day, Trey had a brilliant idea.
*cue oohs and ahhs* 

After we met at church to set up chairs, the two of us grabbed some coffee, bought a Christmas tree, and headed back to Trey's apartment to make some pancakes. 

When we arrived, Trey asked if I would like my gift; please note, I am NOT a morning person and it was still only 8:45am. So, I obliged and waited outside of his bedroom doorway sipping on my coffee and playing with my phone. Trey came out with a jewelry box containing a ring pop. I smiled, thought he was cute, thanked him and went back to being distracted and tired. He told me to wait, there was more, to which I responded, "don't give me more than one present today. Save it for a different day." He ignored me. Trey came back out with another ring pop in another jewelry box (this time unwrapped). Once again I smiled and thought he was super clever for putting them in ring boxes. 

*side note* Earlier in the week Trey told me I needed to be fitted for a ring pop. I told him I was unaware that they made fitted ring pops now-a-days, but he assured me that they indeed do. 

Once again, I was told to wait, there was more. I set the two ring pops on the counter behind me and waited for Trey to come out with the third present. He came back with yet another jewelry box containing yet another unwrapped ring pop to which I questioned why he had unwrapped two of them, because I wouldn't be able to save them for weeks like I do with my Halloween candy. Trey gave me a much deserved eye-roll, and returned to his room to fetch a fourth ring pop (unwrapped and in a jewelry box).

As I stood there smiling at him thinking I was lucky to have such a sweet man, he asked, "How many is that?"

"Uh... four. How many are there?" 

Trey once again retreated to his room. I went over to the counter to put down the fourth ring pop and began thinking that he, being the thrifty person he is, must have gotten some sort of sweet deal on multiple ring pops while he was getting one of my other presents. But he hadn't. 

I know as an outsider to the story, it is completely obvious what is coming next. But trust me, if you were there, you really wouldn't have seen it coming (also, please recall the "NOT a morning person" statement earlier). Especially not with Trey, because he is always goofy and creative like this. I thought it was just him being funny by putting them all in jewelry boxes because of our earlier conversation of ring pop sizing. 

So, out he came, a fifth and final time, dropped to one knee and...

"Will you marry me, Hannah?"

"Mmhmm."

Every inch of me wanted to shout "YES!! YES, I'LL MARRY YOU!!!!" But I didn't. I just said, "mmhmm." Then, I awkwardly tried to hug him while he was still on one knee, expecting him to stand up and he remained on one knee holding the ring wondering if I even wanted the ring or if I hated it. 

It was perfect.

   

     

So, on the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, four ring pops and a gorgeous diamond ring. 

*cue trumpets*

Yes, we took a cheesy engagement day picture, hand on chest and all. ;) 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas time with family and friends! 

So excited to begin blogging again! Check back soon for fun holiday crafts to put on your to-do list for next year!