Aaron and I had a fantastic honeymoon. We went on a 7 day cruise through the Western Caribbean; Grand Caymans, Roatan Island, Belize & Cozumel. It was perfect. We had lots of yummy food, plenty of entertainment & some very beautiful places to visit. Best of all, we spent 7 whole days with just the two of us. No family or friends, no computers or video games, no normal life distractions. Just lots of laughing, talking, kissing, snuggling & enjoying the little things in life. It was wonderful. I loved every minute of my Caribbean Honeymoon with my husband.

• We went snorkeling- Aaron loved it so much he went twice
• We ate shark & it was good
• We went to some fantastic comedy shows
• We went down the water slide like little kids- Aaron went 21 times
• We ate lots of soft serve frozen yogurt
• We found fun art to hang in our house
• We only got sunburned a little bit
• We climbed some beautiful Mayan ruins- I kicked my feet out over the edge while sitting on top & Aaron found out he's afraid of heights

I checked more things off my 101 list.

The number one item on my list is Marry Aaron and I did that on 11-11-11. It was a wonderful, beautiful, magical day that I will always remember and cherish. It was perfect. I know nothing is perfect but even with it's imperfections our wedding day was perfect. 

I checked a second thing off the list that day. #28, slow dance with Aaron. And that's just what we did. We also decided that we have two songs that are "our song." The first is Marry Me by Train. The other is Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO. If you haven't seen that music video take a minute to watch it. Aaron and I both love to shuffle. We did it at our wedding. With a whole big group of people. It was pretty much awesome.

On the 13th we boarded a giant cruise ship together for our honeymoon and checked off #71. It was amazing. More about that later though.

On the 16th we spent the day at the beach on a beautiful island off the coast of Honduras. It was so fun & even though I'm as pale as they come I only burned a tiny bit. I was proud of that fact. And we checked off #77.

On the 17th we got caught in a few freak rain storms and checked off #101, kiss in the rain. It was just as fun as it sounds.

And on the 15th we accomplished #100, Do something wild that must be kept a secret. No, I won't share. 
But it was FUN.

I am thankful for my husband. Aaron is a wonderful man, a caring husband & an all around fun person to be with. He is my favorite.

I am thankful for my parents. They have always been such a great example to me of how to love and be loved.

I am thankful for my brothers and sisters, both by birth and by marriage. I have a wonderful family. They are my best friends and constant support system.

I am thankful for my friends. I have some truly spectacular friends. They are fun, silly, crazy & make me so happy.

I am thankful for Skype. It's the technology that allows me to talk to my husband even when he's 3000 miles away. 

I am thankful for my healthy body and my powerful mind.

I am thankful for my wonderful life. For the good and the bad. The ups and downs. The happy and the sad. Through all the trials of life there is always something to be thankful for. We simply have to remember them.

The wedding was perfect, the honeymoon was fantastic, we had a wonderful holiday with my family & now Aaron is on a plane back to Japan. It will take me some time to add pictures and write updates but I thought I'd do a mini one with the few wedding pictures I have so far. 

Our wedding day was perfect. Truly it was. It was everything I'd imagined and more. Aaron looked so handsome in his dress blues and every time he looked at me with so much love in his eyes I felt like the most beautiful girl in the world. We spent the day surrounded by our closest friends and family. There was so much joy and love from every person there, we felt so blessed. 

So now to share these lovely pictures from the best day of our lives. The last one is my favorite so far. I absolutely love this man.

Well it's coming. The wedding is less than a week away. I'm going crazy with anticipation. Not so much for the wedding but for the fact that Aaron will be here in 3 days and 19 hours. And yes, I've been counting hours for about 3 weeks now. 

I thought I'd share a little bit of pretty for the upcoming event. This my friends is my spectacular bouquet. My absolutely fantabulous cousin Caitlyn made it for me. It's hand-crafted, hand-dyed, hand-painted & completely original. It is my FAVORITE detail for the wedding and I love that I'll be able to put it in a vase and keep it forever! There's nothing more to say, it's absolutely perfect.

Tonight I went out to dinner with some of my favorite people to celebrate my impending wedding. It's ONE WEEK AWAY! Can you believe it? I sure can't. But we figured since it's coming we should celebrate. So we got all dressed up and went to dinner at Mikado for some sushi & Japanese food. Not as good as Japan but I'll take it. I decided since I was getting all fancy anyway I might as well cross something off my 101 list (#53) so I threw on some red heels and red lipstick to make my outfit awesome. Of course being the genius I am, I forgot to take a picture of our whole group. Suffice it to say that I love my girlfriends and it was a fantastic night!

"And if you were with me tonight I'd sing to you just one more time, a song for a heart so big God wouldn't let it live. May angels lead you in."

This has been a rough week. I sat down a week ago today to write about how great life has been lately but I got busy and decided to just finish it later. Obviously that post never got finished. Because it was the same day tragedy struck; my sweet cousin Danny had ended his life. And just like that, he's gone. There's no way to express the grief of our family and especially those closest to him. They said it best in his obituary, "We know that he is in a better place, without pain and that he has found peace, but he has left a hole in our lives that will always yearn to be filled." 

Danny's funeral was today. It was heartbreaking to watch Mindy and his family immediate dealing with their grief in their own ways. They spoke and sang about his life and the beautiful person he was. It was a wonderful tribute to the loving life that he lived. And wherever he is now, I hope he's finally at peace.

Danny, the world is a little less bright without you in it.