joined together, forever.

Here are some sweet photos from our wedding. I'm basically re-posting these photos from our wedding photographer's blog because I haven't received our CD with all of our photos on it, and I'm much too impatient to wait for it to come. I've already waited THIS long to share them. I find that very impressive.

Our wedding was perfect. It was at my grandparents house in the country, where I grew up. It was a romantic evening wedding. Just a tad of chill in the air. The sun sat as we said our vows and afterwards we went into the pasture and celebrated with all of our loved ones with campfire, dancing, and libations to warm us. We wanted our entire wedding to have a very community feel. We set the tables up in a large circle(ish) shape so we could all enjoy one another and the dance floor was in the center. For dinner, I asked everyone to bring a dish of any sort. We had such a fantastic turnout. It couldn't have gone better. I'm so thankful The Hibben's were there to capture it all. 

I didn't snag all of the photos from the photographers blog, but I snagged many of them. So if you'd like to go see a few more you can head here. 

#20 Learn to make apple butter

1. Buy a house

2. Have a second baby
3. Get married
4. Open a storefront
5. learn to sew.
6. Learn to dance.
7. Grow a garden.
8. Eat out of the garden.
9. Get a gym membership... and use it!
10. Keep my house plants alive. (I killed a cactus last summer!)
11. Have a real Christmas tree in the house.
12. Have a proper studio for my creations.
13. Get to my 1000th blog follower. (this seems like such a far stretch at this point)
14. Fly in a hot air balloon.
15. Get my kicks on Rout66 :) I want to take a roadtrip through the country.
16. Ride the train to Dallas
17. Limit eating out to twice a week.
18. Make a list of books to read. (minimum of 30 books)
19. Read the list of books.
20. Learn to make apple butter.
21. Start communicating with out of state/country friends through handwritten letters and packages.
22. Get rooted in our church. Be part of a community.
23. See a ballet.
24. Take Fern to New Zealand to see my old friends.
25. Be featured on somebody else's blog.
26. Have a booth at a local craft show.
27. Increase my product list to 5 varieties. ie: mobiles, dreamcatchers.... etc.
28. Sell my first item on etsy.
29. Own an english bulldog.
30. Host Thanksgiving dinner.

I get to tick one off! I get to tick one off! Above is my 30 before 30 list, and slowly but surely I'm ticking them off the list. 

A couple of my very favorite ladies didnt get to attend my (very last minute) bachelorette party. Which consisted of bottles of wine, dance music in Marek's living room, and falling asleep to "Bridesmaids". Party Animals.  Since they weren't able to make it, they thought it would be nice to hop on my 30 before 30 list and have a little girl time doing one of the things on my list. Well wouldn't you know it, Brooke makes rosemary apple butter every year. She's a regular Ree Drumond in the kitchen. 

It was such a wonderful evening. I just love spending time with those girls, and it was so special that they took the time and thought to mark something off of my list. 

I got a babysitter for Fern, we met at Brookes house and got to work. Our blood (mostly Jordan's), sweat and tears (of laughter) went into that apple butter, and what a rewarding labor it was! I'm forever grateful for those ladies.

In the end, it wasn't even that I got to mark something off of my list, or learn a new recipe, or even that I know how to can things without all the expensive gadgets... It was about my sweet friends making memories with me before I was a married woman. Taking time and energy to do something special for and with me. Gosh I'm blessed. 

#18 make a list of books to read

An easy one to check off the list, really.  It's #19 that'll be the challenge really, in reading them all. Some of you book junkies out there don't think that 30 books in 4 years is a challenge, but let me tell you, for me....  well let's just say, I'm skeptical. I could give you a list of excuses why I'll probably fail, but I'm not going to, because I don't want to give up this early in the game. Plus.. I just discovered books on tape/CD recently, so I may have a fighting chance.

For now here's my list:

 1. The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski

 2. The Light between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
 3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
 4. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
 5. Eleanore & Park by Rainbow Rowell
 6. A constellation of vital phenomena by Anthony Marra
 7. An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender
 8. Under Wildwood by Colin Meloy
 9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon 
10. The Firefly Dance by Sarah Addison Allen, Kathryn Magendie and Phyllis Schieber
11.Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
12. Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
13. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
14. Wish You Were Here by Stewart O'Nan
15. Divergent by Veronica Roth
16. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
17. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
18. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
19. The Rules of Inheritance by Claire Bidwell Smith
20. Bloom by Kelle Hampton
21. Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas
22. The School of Essential Ingridents by Erica Bauermeister
23. St. Lucy's Home for Girls raised by Wolves by Karen Russell
24. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
25. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
26. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
27. The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
28. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
29. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshily Jackson
30. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry


A huge thank you to everybody who pitched in their suggestions on facebook. I couldn't have picked out 30 books if my life depended on it. I got 42 comments with several suggestions, so I had to just pick out 30, but I've saved all the recommendations, because after I read these I'll need to make a new list! (That's postitive thinking, right?)

Thirty before thirty

I get to mark off #28, because after I wrote this list a lovely lady named Kacie from LA purchased the LED cloud mobile! and shortly after that my old friend, Reghan, purchased one of the Chloe dreamcatchers! This is so exciting. Not only because this is finally real, but I don't know Kacie at all. Support from your friends is a beautiful thing, and I've been blessed beyond belief with mine, but once you make that first sale from somebody you don't know, it feels like the universe saying "well done. you've been accepted into the etsy club. People really like your stuff". Thanks universe! and thanks Kacie!