Life, Love and Remembrance

Via

    Tyler came home Saturday!!! Yay! :) I made us a nice dinner of baked chicken, potatoes (which I boiled, then put in oil in a pan) and broccoli. It was delicious. Sunday, I made my first ever cheesecake from scratch. Wasn't half bad...meaning, it was lumpy but still tasted good. I took a look at a few different recipes and tried to make it my own. It was just your basic cheesecake (cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, eggs...crust with graham crackers and butter) with a sour cream topping. The topping consisted of sour cream, sugar and vanilla, and was really good!
    It's so great to FINALLY have Tyler back. I mean, I did deal with back pain (which is pretty much better), internet/phone problems (which is also solved as of Friday) and other things by myself, but I'm glad I don't have to do it alone anymore.
    Thursday, the in-laws will be here. Tyler and I are excited, but we would also like some more alone time before he has to go train again. Ah well. We have lots of exciting traveling ahead of us at least :).
    I guess I got to finish up my cleaning and stuff before they get here haha. Last night there was this really intense/cool storm, so there's all these leaves in the apartment. Also gotta fold laundry. ugh. I don't hate it, but sometimes it just takes so long.

 *****

    Before I go, I wanted to touch on 9/11. 10 years ago yesterday, I was in 8th grade...I was coming from band (we had band class before school started a couple days a week) to my classroom. I walk in the teacher and some of the kids that were already at school were fidgeting with the TV. I asked what was going on. "one of the World Traders was just hit by an airplane!" What??? What does that mean? I was so confused, and to top it off, I had no idea where the World Trade Centers were. Embarrassing? Probably. So, I ask and was told New York City. We FINALLY find a station that came in on the TV (not in Spanish haha) and start to watch. I remember sitting there, more people are coming in, but we're still all starring at the TV, trying to figure out what this means for us.

Via

I remember seeing the second plane hit the second tower live. I remember watching people jump from the towers, wanting to die from that fall rather than burning or being crushed. I remember watching both of the towers collapse live. I remember the Pentagon being hit live. I remember the other flight crashing in to the Pennsylvania field. I remember not really having class that morning. I remember finally "having" class in the afternoon, but not really because the TV was still on in the background and some kids were taken out of school by their parents. Once I went home, I learned that even certain buildings in Dallas were evacuated just as a precaution. I remember people scrambling to call their friends, family and loved ones in the New York area. I remember people also trying to get in touch with those they knew who worked at or near the Pentagon. I remember Peter Jennings trying to get in touch with his son and crying on air. I remember this day, and will never forget it.
    This morning, Tyler and I were watching CNN International before he went to work. There was a segment about people in Afghanistan not knowing about 9/11. Everyone seemed so shocked, but if you think about it, why would they know? How would they know? They live in a world that's basically in a different time. What was shocking to me however, was the fact that interpreters for the US military forces and the Afghan Army did not know what 9/11 was . I feel like that would be an important thing to tell the people who are helping you. What also shocked me was this, why has it taken 10 years for this to be a thing? Why has no one tried to explain this to them before? Maybe some have and we just don't know about it.
    This was a terrible day for America that will clearly never be forgotten. I hope those who were directly affected have found some peace, and know that their loved ones did not die in vain (military included in this)...their lives/service will never be forgotten. 

   

Happy Anniversary

To me! Well, Tyler and I. Today, we have been married two years, and I can hardly believe it. Man how time has flown. And in 3 days, we're having our celebration of marriage. SO EXCITED!

Sorry that I've been a little MIA since I've gotten back to the states, it's just, there's so much to do for the celebration, people to see...this just gets pushed aside. Sigh.

So, to catch you all up...Friday I got to see/hang out with dear friends at a birthday dinner. Saturday I checked out the wedding location one last time with my coordinator and mother-in-law, then I went shopping at the outlets with some friends. Sunday I did lots of wedding stuff, getting ready for the 4th, and went to dinner with a friend. Monday was the 4th, so the Berry's had their 3rd annual bbq potluck function. Always a good time. I also got my dress fitted and bustled.
Tuesday Tyler's Aunt was still in town, and their cousin/uncle came to visit. We went out to brunch and saw Super 8. LOVED that movie.
Wednesday I did my hair trail, went to the caterer, ran errands, did wedding stuff...ya know. 
Today, as I said above, is Tyler's and my anniversary. :). To celebrate we're going to and Angels game with the family haha.

Most of my time has been spent doing wedding things and trying to see friends and family. I was in kinda a bad mood yesterday because I was so stressed. Ah well. Happens.
Hope everyone had a good 4th! :)

Time for a Review

   On Wednesday, I baked brownies and cleaned up the place. I love baking so much. They were dark chocolate with chocolate chips in love...so good. More please?
   On Thursday, Tyler didn't get home til 8pm...argh. Ok, hold up, let me start at the beginning...It was like 5:40 in the morning, and I noticed Tyler left with out coming in to give me my goodbye kiss. Huh, weird. Apparently, I got so thrown by this, (well, that and I started thinking about stuff I still need to do for our upcoming Celebration of Marriage) that I couldn't sleep. I stayed up until about about 7:40 and decided to try and go back to sleep. You see, the night before, I had a little too much fun creating the seating chart and stayed up til like 1 or 1:30. haha. I got a few more hours of sleep, and was then ready to start my day. After a breakfast, a good workout and doing the dishes, I heard something start to vibrate and then ring. Ok, that's not my phone, where is this coming from? Yup, Tyler left his cell. Oh boy. Later that day, I got the meat out to defrost and started to prep what I was going to make for dinner. It got to be 5:30 pm, he still wasn't home and I was getting hungry. It's not like I could call him and be like hey, when are you coming home? Sigh. I didn't want to start dinner, because I was making fish tacos, and those are pretty fast (and easy) to make. So, I just made myself a small PB&J to tide me over. Around 7, I was finally becoming suspicious and starting to wonder what he was still doing at work. Finally, a little after 8, he came home. He had to stay and get things ready for the high ranking people visiting the aid station the next day. Understandable. A phone call would've been nice though. Oh yeah, he also said they gave him pizza so he didn't need dinner. Boo. I ate chip and salsa. haha.
   On Friday, we FINALLY GOT A TV!!!! Oh man. Listen everyone, it's been such a long time since I've had a TV. I can finally watch my shows/movies on a bigger screen! :)
   Saturday, we Volksfest, a local carnival/county fair type thing, with the neighbors and some other friends. It was a pretty good time! Lots of good food, drinks and friend time. :) 
   Sunday, Tyler and I went X-Men. We both really enjoyed it! I feel like such a nerd saying this, but I LOVE superhero/action type movies. So great.

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   Today, I started to pack for our trip to California and cleaned the apartment. We leave Wednesday, and I hate to leave a messy apartment. I have more to do tomorrow, like clean/mop the floors, but hey, I'm close. I can't believe we're going to California on WEDNESDAY!!! Oh man. Also, I can't believe that we're having our celebration of marriage in 13 DAYS!!! AHHHH!!! SO EXCITED!!!

July 7, 2009 :)

 How was everyone else's weekend? Any big trips coming up?

Celebration of our Marriage

   This summer, Tyler and I are renewing our vows and celebrating our marriage. We will be doing this Sunday, July 10, 2011, 2 years and 3 days from the first time we got married July 7, 2009. Now, we could've waited for our 5 year anniversary, 10 year anniversary, etc. but at this time in our life, we decided to do it now.
   Around April/May 2009, Tyler and I decided to get married in early July he was set to deploy to Afghanistan and that was when he would be home on leave before the deployment. We just wanted to get married in the courthouse and have a picnic with those who could be there after because there wasn't much time to plan anything bigger, and most locations were already booked for the time he would be home in the summer. Then, Tyler's parents suggested doing it at Angel's Stadium since they were going to an Angels game anyway. A couple days before the big day, one of my best friends decided to throw me a bachelorette party with lingerie given as gifts. I loved it! It was so much fun...we had appetizers, dinner, LOTS of drinks, some fun games, followed by a slumber party :).
   On Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 6:05 in the evening, we were married (by my Uncle who is a pastor in the San Diego area) in a suite at Angel's Stadium in Anaheim, CA.

After the brief words and exchanging of vows, we met some of the Angels staff, including Rex Hudler and the communications director. Then we had delicious Angel's style BBQ, watched the Texas Rangers beat the Angels and had some good cake.

   The next day, we went to Disneyland with some of my family. On the 9th, Tyler and I drove up to San Francisco for a few days there, followed by a trip to Ukiah, CA, to see Tyler's great uncle and aunt who have a vineyard there

    When we were married, we were only together a short while, then he had to come back to Germany and I went back to my internship and back to school. Right before he was deployed in November, he got to come back home for a few weeks. Some marriage, huh? Then I didn't see him again till March, again, only for about 2 weeks. Then, I didn't see him again till November when he was back from being deployed. In our first year of marriage, I saw him maybe 2 months, if that. For the first year and a half I think it totals to about to about 4 months.
   Now, why do we want to renew our vows, and why do we want to do it so soon? It's not that we've forgotten the vows we made to each other on that day in a suite in Angel's stadium, it's just, well, we've been apart for so long, and we want to recommit to each other in front of God, friends and family. We also want to celebrate our marriage with all of those friends and family. When we were married, there were only a  few family members and friends in the suite with us. I, I guess selfishly, want to have the wedding celebration you dream about with all of our friends and family (those who can make it out anyway).  In our "first" wedding, there was no real walk down the aisle, no first dance, no father daughter dance (no dancing at all actually...silly baseball game), no garter or bouquet toss...there were some toasts and a cake cutting at least. I didn't even wear a wedding dress, I wore a white cocktail dress from Target, which is cute, but not what you think of. I want to wear a real wedding dress, have a first dance, a father daughter dance...
   Later, in August 2010, my sister did throw me a bridal shower, in my home town of Dallas, since I never had one. It was so cute! I loved it.
   Am I being selfish in wanting another wedding? Maybe. But so many people are renewing their vows or having "another" wedding with the same person, I figure, why can't I? Many people in the military do this as well. So again, why can't I?
  According to theknot.com article about Wedding Vow Renewal: How to Retie the Knot, they answer the question why renew? Their answer, "To celebrate. Perhaps you've made it to 10, 25, or 50 years together and you want the world to know that you'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Maybe you want to reaffirm your commitment to each other after a rough period in your relationship. There's no wrong reason to renew." Exactly why we want to do it...to reaffirm our commitment to each other and to celebrate with friends and family! :)

   I have gotten some crap for wanting "another wedding" and have been called selfish. Some have said it's not fair, why should I get two weddings? What's not fair is that for the first year of our marriage he was in Afghanistan for basically all of it. What's not fair is that some people didn't acknowledge or remember I was married because he was never around, I still lived in a dorm room and they didn't see us get married, what's not fair is that people stopped inviting me out because, "oh...I didn't know you still wanted to go out being a married woman and all." What does that even mean?
   Most of those close to us have been supportive of our decision to have this "celebration of marriage" and are really excited about it! It's a time to have fun and finally celebrate our lives TOGETHER with friends and family. Having the wedding I've always wanted doesn't hurt either. Well, I can't say always wanted, because I did want to get married by a castle or something like it (hahaha...not kidding unfortunately). If I had millions of dollars to spare? ha.
  All in all, I'm really excited about this upcoming event! And I can't wait to spend this special day with friends and family close to us :) 

Here's some info about our upcoming Celebration of Marriage...
Location: Walnut Grove
Website: http://www.mywedding.com/tylerandbethberryswedding
Food: California BBQ
Dessert: Pie :) 
My dress: Can't share that yet. Tyler may stumble upon it, and he's the one who doesn't want to see or know anything about the dress until the evening of July 10th. Cute, huh?
Tyler's outift: He'll be wearing his Army Dress Blues
Bridesmaid Dresses: In the color of midnight
Groomsmen: Will be wearing tuxes from Friar Tux.

Proposal

   As I was reading a post from Cait over at Fit, Fierce and Fabulous about the Big Blow Out Proposal , I was thinking to myself, maybe I should share my proposal story with everyone.
   It was the night of September 25, 2008. Tyler had come home from training (medic training in the Army), and was taking me out on a romantic dinner. He came early with beautiful yellow roses in hand. I was finishing up getting ready in my dorm room. Just as I was doing the finishing touches of my makeup, the fire alarm went off. Of course it did. So, we went outside until we got the all clear, I finished getting ready and we were on our way. We pulled up to Mastro's Steakhouse, a restaurant I had driven by hundreds of times, but had never been to. It's a very nice and expensive place, we couldn't even find the door at first haha. Tyler told the hostess the name on the reservation and we were seated immediately. After giving our drink order, I went to the bathroom and came back to the table only to notice the best breadbasket of my life sitting there, so naturally, I had to start eating it. This meant of course, that I did not notice Tyler had put a small box on the table, a small ring box to be exact. To my defense, the ring box and table cloth were both white...that and I really wanted to eat the bread, haha. I started to eat bread and talk to Tyler. He was acting very nervous and wasn't really eating much. Eventually he started gesturing with his head towards the ring box, because I still hadn't noticed.
   Finally, I noticed it and said, "Oh, you must be kidding! You're going to fake me out again...you're gonna wait til Disneyland or when I visit you in Germany or something."
   Tyler replied, "Oh really? Well, you might wanna finish chewing and swallow that." Tyler then proceeded to get up and get down on one knee.
   People around us in the restaurant started saying,"Oh my gosh! He just got down on one knee!"
Tyler said some beautiful things and asked for Beth's hand in marriage. Trying not to cry, I let out a yes.
We then hugged, kissed, and people clapped.
   Our waiter came up to us and said, "Did I just see something? haha, congrats you guys!"
Then we got our food, which was delicious if you were wondering. Then after we were done, we were given free dessert with chocolate sauce on the plate saying: Congratulations 9/25/08!

Now, this may be just another restaurant proposal, but I loved it. It was simple, heart-felt and so sweet. Would be proposed to at Disneyland have been cool? Yes. Would being proposed to in Germany been cool? Yes. Did I like the way he chose to do it? Absolutely. It was the way he wanted to do it, romantic, a surprise and it fit us. :) 

Day 5: Favorite Memory

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory

   I  have many memories that I enjoy, heck, you may even call them favorites...but here is my favorite memory thus far...

The day Tyler and I got married...July 7, 2009. :)

How I Met Your Mother and Real Life

   One of my favorite TV shows How I Met Your Mother. Tyler is really the one who turned me on to this show, it's his favorite currently airing show. Anyway, I've only really be religious about watching all of this past season, season 6. Other then that, I just catch How I Met Your Mother on re-runs. I recently decided since Tyler has all the seasons, why not start from the beginning. I realize as I'm watching them that I haven't really seen a lot from season one. Then I remember something. WARNING! SPOILER ALERT! I remember an episode where Lili and Marshall aren't together and she has to move in with Barney. But, in season one they get engaged and are planning their wedding, how can this be? They're like the Corey and Topanga of this show! They've been together 9 years and are finally getting married. Well, Lili wants to see if she's any good at her art so applies for an art fellowship in San Francisco. Her and Marshall fight and she breaks it off and leaves for San Fran. I bawled.
   Now, you may be asking yourself, why I am telling you about How I Met Your Mother? Well, here's the thing. Lili had been freaking out about getting married. She was saying stuff about how she hadn't done all the things she's wanted to do yet, how she's only ever really been with Marshall, should she date other people, etc. etc. I myself remember freaking out about similar things before tying the knot, but my conclusion was different then Lili's was at first. I realized that, why would I give up the love of my life for chance? Maybe isn't a choice. Sure I would love to grow and find myself, but why can't I do that with Tyler? Why can't I do any of these things with Tyler. I love him. And that's all I needed. Don't worry, Lili and Marshall get back together and she realizes he's the only thing she really wants and wants to do things with him alone, blah blah.
   Freaking out before you get married I feel is completely normal. It is a HUGE commitment. Things don't magically become perfect or better just because you get married...things take work, love, trust, hope, faith, commitment, etc.
   Part of the reason I may have freaked out even more was because I was so young. Yes, I will be one of the first to admit it. We were both 21, he was off to A-stan and I was entering my senior year of college. When I look back, I do not regret getting married that young, heck, I married the love of my life, why should I? Sure we spent a year apart, which sucked if you wondered, but I still don't regret it. Some may say that I was married to young, I should  have waited, I should've have moved to Germany, but I don't think any of those things are true. Yes, I could've have waited, and while I agree I was young, I don't think it was a mistake. I also don't think moving to Germany was a mistake either. I JUST graduated college May 2010, many people travel and take breaks after they graduate. What do you think I'm doing? I'm living abroad and traveling. Bonus is that I get to do it all with my wonderful husband, Tyler. When else am I going to have to awesome opportunity to live in another country and travel all over Europe? Sometimes I think, man, what would life be like if I would have stayed in California...what job would I have? But then I think, who cares? I'm with Tyler, in Europe! Awesome. I can worry about a career later. I mean, I don't honestly even know what I want to be or do.
   Thus, I digress. People, including myself freak out and worry to much. It is natural to do, especially before big moments in your life. I'm trying to not do it as much, but it's hard. Just a work in progress, much like life. haha.
   I hope everyone has a great day! :)

"An old friend never can be found, and nature has provided that he cannot easily be lost." -Samuel Johnson

   First post with my new computer! Who's excited?! haha. It's really ok if you're not, I'm just excited to have a computer that doesn't randomly crash, runs at a fast pace and can read script (whatever that means anyway). Plus, my wonderful husband bought it for me as a birthday/Christmas present! :) Love that man. The only downfall is that I'm going from a wonderful Macbook back to a PC. Oh well.
   Speaking of not knowing what things mean, I've decided that I need to learn how to make my blog fancier, er, well, I need to make it look better. I also need to remember to label things in my posts. The problem is, I suck at almost all things computer. Granted, I took computer classes and stuff in high school, but for some reason, this stuff is hard for me. Sigh. Maybe the hubby can help. He's good at this stuff. He's actually really smart in general; it's kind of intimidating.
   Today, Tyler, my parents, my sister and I went to the Dallas Zoo. Man, I hadn't been there in ages! They've really improved things.Tyler's hand got licked by a giraffe, we saw male lions getting trained...where can you really do/see that? Of course, it's no San Diego Zoo, but hey, I liked it. Side note, it was REALLY nice outside...like 75 and sunny. AMAZING!
   If I've lost you by now, sorry. It's honestly just how fast my brain works, well, or it could just be that my life isn't to exciting right now haha.
   Tyler and I leave for California tomorrow. I am excited about it, but I will miss my family and friends here in Texas. It was nice to be home for a little though. It's nice to know that after all this time, that I still have friends (two in particular) who really care about me and hang out with me whenever I'm here. The two in particular are even going to be bridesmaids. :). I hope and pray I can say the same about some of my friends in California. I know I have to "move on" and make new friends where I'm at, but I still want to remain friends with at least some of them in California. I mean, it's not like I will be gone forever. Tyler and I are planning on coming back to California after he's done. Sigh. I hope it works out. I really do. I like my friends there lots. Even love many of them. Some are even like family to me. Wow, I sound pitiful. But, alas, it's how I feel. I've had a lot of ups and downs this past year (my husband being deployed, graduating college...just to name a few), but I feel if these friendships and my marriage have made it, man oh man, nothing can stop me now! (I hope.) Here's to looking on the bright side of things!