Date ideas

Ideas for future adventures:
San Fransisco trip (We're going thanksgiving week!)
Ride in a hot air balloon (I've always wanted to!)
Go to a comedy club.
Attend an air show.
Carve pumpkins (this week hopefully!)
Go to a planetarium.
Ice skating.
Make homemade ice cream.
Rent a boat in a lake in the mountains (Big Bear or Lake Arrowhead)
Fly kites (spring)
Go berry picking
Picnic in the woods.
Go camping (we were given a tent as a wedding gift!)
Go to a shooting range.
White water rafting.

I'm a married lady!

Things I love about being married (just to name a few):

1. Having someone to dream about life with.

2. Making dinner for my husband (and more often, him making dinner for me!)

3. Savoring every moment together.

4. Kissing despite the morning breath.

5. Feeling my heart leap when I hear his key at the door.

6. Saying things like, "I'll have to check with my husband."

7. Figuring out each of our strengths and weaknesses and how we can encourage each other.

8. Praying daily for our marriage and for our future family.

Bridal Shower

Today is my bridal shower and I was up at 6 am, wide awake...like I used to do on Christmas. Sidebar: I feel such an overwhelming love for this man. Our premarital counseling with Pastor Dan (the minister who is doing our wedding) has been fabulous. Marriage is such a precious gift and as long as we continue to treasure, love, and respect each other, we will have an amazing shared journey! Back to the shower. Mom and I have been planning ideas like crazy. We're sticking with our robin's egg blue theme, but tying some light brown (burlap) and green into the mix, just for the shower. We're going to have a table of desserts, each type placed separately and labeled (with labels my artistic sister designed). Bridesmaids are bringing different types of salads, their "specialty" salads. We have manzanita branches in pots, holding these adorable birdseed hearts that we made (gotta give the birdies some love!). The hearts took forever to make, I thought my mom was crazy, but they turned out adorable. They will be favors for the guest to take when they leave. One of the games we have planned is Scrabble! However, it has a unique spin on it. We have "Kenton and Anna" already glued horizontally on a framed square of burlap. The guest arriving then have to use the provided letters to come up with words or phrases that have to do with love, marriage, us specifically, etc. Whoever comes up with a word that uses the most points wins! We have some other games too. My favorite decoration pieces are banners that we made using different patterned material and burlap. One says "Kenton & Anna" and one says "Love Birds". I'm so excited! Ah! Pictures to follow. :)

Our Engagement Photography

I carefully placed two of my favorite vinyls in this picture. Our faces sum up our relationship where musicals are concerned. I'm obsessed and he puts up with my excitement. :)

Reading and relaxing. Sidebar: the book we're reading is a copy of literary theory discussing Shakespeare, published in the '30s. Kenton gave it to me as a gift on our first Christmas together.

I love this one. We're looking toward our future (notice the symbolic fork-in-the-road ahead!) and I'm clearly enjoying the journey.

Being a bit silly. 

Finally a man has come between me and my books. 

This sums up the playfulness our relationship entails. He keeps me laughing continually. I cannot wait to marry my best friend.

Vinyl: Carole King's Tapestry (one of my all-time favorites, and Kenton actually likes it too)
Books: A medley of vintage literature collected from antique shops. (Including several Shakespeare volumes and Dante's Divine Comedy)
Jean throw: A blanket my grandmother made for my parents when they married. She made it from old pairs of jeans! I love the fact that it was given to my parents on the eve of their marriage and their marriage is an inspiration to me.

Sneak-attack-kisses are the best kind.

This one is very "down on the farm" but I love its vintage feel.

Sheer bliss.

He's leading me. I love having such a strong leader as my future husband.

Have you guessed yet that the vibe for the wedding is vintage?

Cheesy faces!

I love the overgrown grass.

He loves me.

Note the Bob Dylan-Blood on the Tracks album and my grandmother's fabulous jean throw.

What he does when I'm reading.

"Let us delight ourselves with love." Proverbs 7:18

In 65 days we will be: Mr. and Mrs. Kenton Van Tassel.

Renting...elsewhere!

After much house drama (the gas couldn't be turned on because it was a fire hazard, among many other issues), we are no longer moving into that adorable little place on Olive. We have decided to rent an apartment, still in downtown Redlands, but cheaper, and save to buy a house! (Kenton's parents are going to help us with a down payment once we've saved up for a while.) This weekend has made me aware of how wise my fiance is and just how perfectly God has placed us together. Every time there is a challenge, we pray about it, and God leads us in the right direction. I love having a man who also listens to God. I know that our lives together will be abundantly blessed! Our new place will be on Citrus Ave. Once we start moving in, June 1, I'll post pictures!

Cheesy installing-the-shower-curtain photos!

Our first place!

We are official renters now. We have this adorable little apartment on Olive Ave. in historic downtown Redlands. It's a 1930s house that has been renovated into 4 apartments. It has charm. We fell in love with it. We've been moving our things in. Obviously I won't be actually moving in unto July 30 (the wedding), but that won't stop me from calling it "ours"! We have 2 bedrooms, an itty bitty bathroom, an almost-as-itty-bitty kitchen, a porch, a side yard... I am overwhelmingly blissful. Last night we brought over plates and things we've already begin to collect (oh how I love garage sales and antiques!). I filled out our names and addresses on luggage tags that my dear friend Jolie gave us at our Engagement Party (Mine says Anna Van Tassel!) and admired my amazing fiance as he hung the shower curtain. Life is fantastic. We listened to a medley of The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, Adele, and The Shins and discussed our future. Who could ask for more?