Living so far away from family and friends makes any type of contact with them extra meaningful. We had two fun surprises this week that reminded us how grateful we are for our loved ones.
The first surprise was coming home on Thursday night to find a package from our sweet friend, Megan, with a picture frame for our ultrasound picture. So sweet of her to think of us during this time. Since this is the first addition to the nursery, it spurred in me the desire to start looking for a crib and rocking chair! Send me any pins of cribs and rocking chairs you like on Pinterest!
The second surprise was coming home on Friday night to the news that our wedding video was uploaded on Northernlight Filmworks Blog. It was so neat to watch the video on Friday night and relive our wedding day. We will show the video to Baby Hiatt one day. đ
This weekend was monumental for a few reasons–the greatest reason being that I finally caved and purchased maternity pants. I entered a new dimension of comfort that I have never known before and I love it. The pants make me feel better about my changing body since I no longer have to pull my pants closed with a hair-tie extending from the button to the buttonhole (see here). Once I put the pants on, I magically felt like my body is supposed to be this way, and I no longer have to compensate for it.
Another reason this weekend was monumental is that we finally had an opportunity to play with one of my birthday presents–a camcorder! Here’s a short video of our adventure to Minnehaha Falls:
Minnehaha (hahaahahaha….) Falls was so beautiful! Melting snow isn’t the most photogenic thing in the world, but I couldn’t love it more. We soaked up the 40 degree weather, which is about 50-60 degrees warmer than the past few months. Maaaaaaybe spring will come?!
It’s the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning.
And it’s the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night as I prepare the pot for the next day’s dose.
Like anything else in life that is amazingly good, one can consume too much, not enough, or just the right amount. (I guess Goldilocks had it right the whole time)
This is how I use the amount of coffee I drink as an indicator of the priorities in my life:
1.Too much coffee: Can there be such a thing as too much coffee??!! Yes, there can. When I think of someone who drank too much coffee, I think of my creepy middle school band teacher who always had a cup o’ joe in his hand and the smell of burnt coffee on his dry breath. I would practice my clarinet so much so I wouldn’t mess up in class for fear Mr. Woodworth would walk up to me in class, lean in real close, and tell me with his smelly breath that I messed up. I’m not kidding. He had quite the pot belly, too. When bored, I would imagine that if I stuck a needle in his belly, coffee would sprout out.
I do not want to become that person.
More than 2 cups is too much for me, and that’s when I stop myself and think of Mr. Woodworth. I think Mr. Woodworth drank too much coffee because he was bored with his job. But for me, too much coffee usually means I am overworking myself, and I need to get more sleep. The time in my life when I drank too much coffee was during grad school. I drank coffee for the energy to study. I would drink it morning, noon, and night. I didn’t even stop and enjoy it really; I just drank it as a drug to stay awake and alert. So if I am tempted to reach for that third cup, I remind myself to slow down.
Studying over coffee
2. Not enough coffee: Aside from the times when I used coffee as a drug to stay awake and alert, I love the experience of sipping coffee. My earliest memory of coffee is watching my mom sip it in the morning when I would get ready for school. She would wake us up, help us get our breakfast and lunches ready, then sit in her robe and sip coffee. She would hold her mug with two hands, keeping it close to her mouth. I asked her once why she held her coffee to her mouth when she wasn’t drinking it, and she said, “Because I love the smell of it.” I would board the bus, turn around and wave to mom, and she would smile over her coffee mug. At an early age, I couldn’t wait to be an adult and enjoy coffee. I recognized that sipping coffee was an experience to be savored and appreciated. Now, as an adult, I often find myself running out the door in the morning without my morning coffee because there are thingsineedtodo and peopleineedtosee. That’s when I think of my mom on our early school mornings and remind myself to slow down.
3. Just the right amount of coffee: If I am drinking just the right amount of coffee, I am able to sit, sip, and simmer. The experience of 1-2 cups of coffee provides time for a good conversation with a friend, the formation of a new idea, or the necessary closure to an ongoing thought. When I am drinking 1-2 cups a day, I am spending the right amount of time in purposely purposeless thought.
After all, it’s the subtle nuances of everyday life that should be appreciated over a cup of coffee. So when I am so busy that I need coffee as a drug to stay awake, or so busy that I don’t have time to enjoy the experience of coffee, I remind myself to stop and smell the coffee to fully appreciate life.
So it snowed 10980982483924 inches over the the past few months. And the crazy thing about Minnesota is that it never melts. Until maybe April/May? That’s what we hear. At least it’s pretty here in Hopkins, MN.
We love Hopkins for its cute shops, local bars and restaurants, and bike trail that goes through town. We went exploring yesterday since it was so pretty outside.
I’m the girl who thought she could move to Minnesota and get by her first winter without snow boots. I’ve been wearing rain boots with 3 layers of thermal socks. Needless to say, I need to buy snow boots.
For some reason, older women decide a young engaged girl should know “something will go wrong on the wedding day.” I heard horror stories of the DJs’ speakers being blown out, the roof of the reception venue leaking due to rain, the limo running one hour late, the priest getting in a car accident….
So I just knew something was going to go wrong on our wedding day, and I told myself to just focus on seeing Davey at the end of the aisle.
And guess what…nothing went wrong. I got to marry my husband.
The memory of our wedding day is so sweet and unforgettable. We are thankful to our photographers, Stevi and Andrew Clark of Honey and Salt, for capturing our special day exactly as we would have wanted it captured. All the photos in this post are their work. Since they did such an incredible job, I am going to try to let the pictures tell a thousand words.
Photo credit Honey and Salt
My best friends, my mom, my mother in law, my dad, and I all got ready at my parents’ home, just as I had always dreamed.
Photo credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and Salt
I was so excited to show my dad his daughter as a bride. I got a little teary when he walked out the back door to see me.
Photo credit Honey and Salt
He didn’t want to touch me because he was afraid he was going to “mess me up”!
Photo credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and Salt
It was so calming and peaceful to pray the rosary with my bridesmaids and parents before the ceremony.
Photo credit Honey and Salt
My grandparent’s love story is one that Davey and I both admire so much. Davey was able to get to know my grandfather in his last 5 months of life; I am so grateful for that time. Grandpa told me before he died how much he loved Davey. Here is a picture of my grandma watching me walk down the aisle. I love making her proud.
Photo credit Honey and Salt
There is nothing like looking at everyone you love watch you walk toward the man of your dreams. I had an indescribable sense of peace, joy, and gratitude for everything I have been given.
Photo credit Honey and Salt
Before I met Davey, I had a recurring dream of walking down the aisle, then bolting before I could see my groom’s face. Weird, huh? On our wedding day, I wanted to runto Davey.
Photo credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and Salt
Just before this next picture, Davey said, “You’re my wife!”
Photo credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and Salt
Our reception was in an old church that had taken out the pews. We used the sanctuary as our dining and dancing space and the choir loft as the cocktail space.
Photo credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and SaltPhoto credit Honey and Salt
Around 11:15pm, Davey and I left the reception. We ran under a tunnel made by the arms of all our guests. I don’t have any photos of that moment, but it’s one of the clearest in my mind. It felt like we were getting hugged by everyone we loved. I looked back at everyone right before we walked out the door, and it was as if time stood still—maybe because I wanted it to stand still— I saw everyone looking at us cheering, clapping, waving, crying, holding drinks in the air. My husband reached back for me, grabbed my hand, and we walked out the door, both sad and happy at the same time. Sad to leave our loved ones–happiest for the best life we could have imagined for ourselves.
Davey proposed on March 9, 2013 in a chapel of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Carmel, IN after mass. Some of my closest friends were in town from Washington DC, Atlanta, GA, Chapel Hill, NC, and Athens, GA; they were there and all surprised as well when Davey got down on one knee. It was awesome to share that moment with all of them.
Of course, if Davey was going to marry me, he had to propose to all the girls (he knew what he was getting into):
I am not the event-planner-type. I hate to-do lists. I hate decisions. I hate looking at color samples. (side note: I also hate waking up in the morning) So planning for a wedding was a little frightening at first. But Davey and I constantly reminded ourselves that we weren’t planning a wedding; we were planning for a marriage.
In that respect, being engaged was SO FUN. We loved our pre-cana retreat. We loved talking about our futures together. We loved reading Karol Wojtyla’s Love and Responsibility. We loved thinking about the Sacrament we were entering into.
With our focus on planning a marriage, wedding planning seemed easy-peasy (for the most part). A lot of decisions we just made on a limb. For example, we never met our cake-baker or did a taste testing. We never met the singer for our wedding ceremony. The first time I heard her voice was during our mass (she was from another church).
We focused on the things that were important to us. I think one of the first things we did was choose the mass readings and songs. We wanted to the ceremony to be prayerful.
After that, making sure our guests would be able to feel how grateful we were for them supporting us was a priority. We made personalized favors by writing their names on coffee mugs and firing them in the oven. It’s been so fun getting text message pictures of my friends on snow days sipping hot cocoa, coffee, and hot toddy’s. đ
Photo by Honey and SaltPhoto by Honey and Salt
We also wanted to capture the day in a beautiful way so that we could show our future generations how it all started. This involved finding a good photographer and a good videographer. Mission totally accomplished in that department. đ
And honestly, that was really all for the “important things.”
By the way, our cake turned out AWESOME. And the wedding ceremony singer–loved her.
I learned a lot during the engagement period. First of all, through a lot of prayer, I learned how to surrender my life to someone else. Marriage requires selflessness, and I prayed for it in preparation. My grandma told me that if I always focus on Davey’s happiness, then I will in turn always be happy. It has not been the easiest thing in the world to dedicate my life to someone else’s happiness–but my grandma was right. I feel the most joyous when Davey is happy. I learned how to let go of what I want, and focus on what Davey wants. I am lucky enough to have a husband who tries to make me happy as well. This is something I know we both work hard on everyday.
My bridal shower
Second, I learned that when we are not focused on our faith, the worldly things become overbearingly important. The days I found myself stressing out about the color of the bridesmaid dresses or the fact that Macy’s could not for-the-life-of-them send us the right ties that we ordered for the groomsmen…well, those were the times I was losing focus on what the wedding was representing and what marriage was about. This lesson also comes up in day to day things as well. I find myself stressing about what we should make for dinner, why my car won’t start, how we should decorate our new house, etc, etc. It’s so easy to lose focus of the “point of it all”, and admittedly I sometimes use worldly distractions if I am not doing a good job of focusing on Davey’s happiness. I am thankful to have learned how to recognize this when we were engaged.
Lastly, I learned that love is an opportunity. To fall in love is happenstance. But to choose to love someone for the rest of his/her life is to take a risky opportunity to participate in the essence of the world’s joy. I am grateful everyday to have been blessed with the courage to take this amazing opportunity.
Itâs the week of love! In the spirit of Valentineâs Day, I want to share a love story with you. Ours! I love a good love story, and ours happens to be my favorite.
Davey and I both grew up in Geist, a reservoir town in an Indianapolis suburb. He lived on one side of the reservoir, and I lived on the other. The reservoir separated us into rival high schools and connected us through our communityâs church.
I knew of Davey in high school because Davey isâŚwellâŚhow should I say itâŚspirited. Energetic. Funny. Basically, he makes himself known. I, on the other hand, spent most of my high school career trying NOT to be known because my hair was too frizzy, and I needed to study. So Davey never really knew me.
Seven years after high school, I had travelled the world and lived in 9 different cities for more than two months at a time. I had become resilient, adaptive, adventurous, and more confident. It dawned on me that it didn’t matter that I had frizzy hair, and I no longer needed to study because I got my degrees.
So I accepted a friendâs request to help out at the church for a youth retreat when I moved back to Indianapolis, and thatâs where I met Davey, who was also helping out. Believe it or not, Davey told me he liked my hair that weekend.
So we started dating and quickly realized this was something. Something life changing and exciting. We knew we were never going to be âDaveyâ or âKayleeâ anymore, but we would always be âDavey and Kaylee.â
We went about dating in a very traditional way. We didnât live together or stay at each otherâs places. Every relationship is different and living apart while we were dating just worked for us. We are both reflective people, and the time we had apart from each other was just as important as the time we had with each other. It gave us an opportunity to reflect on who we want to be for the other person so we could be the best version of ourselves. Since we fell in love quickly, it also gave us the opportunity to slow things down and go about things rationally so we werenât blinded by our strong feelings toward each other.
Davey spent a lot of time with my grandpa while he was in hospice
Our work shifts were opposite, so we were very creative on finding times to see each other like over lunch breaks or meeting for early morning masses. We learned how to make time for each other and how to make our relationship a priority, which has made a good impact on our marriage. I was literally so excited every single time I got to see him. In a way, the rush I got walking down the aisle toward him on our wedding day felt like a familiar rush I got every time I got to see him when we were dating. I think I have been walking down the aisle toward him my whole life.
So when Davey proposed on March 9, 2013, I accepted. Ill post about that tomorrow.
I shared a room with my sister growing up. Our brothersâ rooms were right at the end of the hallway next to ours. At bedtime, my dad would stand outside our doors and say a âHail Maryâ. Our small voices would repeat each line after him.
After he walked away, I would always pray that I could be like Mary. I told God that I would be courageous enough to do whatever He wanted me to do, and I asked him to use me for something great, like he did with Mary.
As I grew up, life took some twists and turns, and I realized itâs not always very easy to know what God is asking of me. I spent more time doubting and questioning than I did saying, âI am the handmaid of the Lord.â
Through all the doubting and questioning, I still imagined that prayerful decisions I made in my life would fill me with an overwhelming sense of peace and allow me to reflect on how all my previous experiences have led me to fulfill the purpose God has for me.
Last Sunday in church was one of those occasions.
I have sang âLord, prepare me to be a sanctuaryâ countless times in life, but that song takes on a different meaning at 17 weeks pregnant. This Sunday in church, I fully recognized that God has indeed prepared me to be a Sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. He is using me and my body to fully create another human.
With thanksgiving, Iâll be a living, sactuary, all for you.
Sometimes we don’t know where we are going…or what we are praying toward…but somehow it all comes together. And that’s when we get a glimpse into God’s plan.
Davey and I were in need of closet space for our upstairs hallway and our bedroom, so we searched Craiglist for some old entertainment centers, and voila! We have closet space!
Davey was proud of his Craigslist finds.
I was happy because we moved Davey’s clothes into the entertainment center, and I now have my own closet. đ
I have spent a long time looking for a running shoe that has firey blazes shooting from the back that miraculously make me run faster. My search continues to this day. I will not give up.
“Mama says they was magic shoes.”
In the meantime, itâs important to find a shoe that fits the shape of your own particular foot, promoting the best and most optimal relationship between your foot and the ground. A fitted shoe has the ability to lower your risk of injury.
Finding the right running shoe requires an understanding of foot mechanics. To simplify foot mechanics, think of two different foot movements: supination and pronation. Both of these movements are very complex and involve multiple joints, but for the purpose of this post, pronation is when the arch of the foot moves toward the floor and supination is when the arch of the foot is raised.
In a static standing position, you may have a supinated foot defined by a raised arch. This type of foot is classically more rigid.
A pronated foot has a collapsed arch and is classically more flexible.
To decide what type of shoe is best for you, the first step is to figure out if your foot is pronated, supinated, or neutral. To figure this out, I recommend having someone trace your foot while you are standing. Look at the tracing and determine if it is more pronated, supinated, or neutral. It is important that you are standing so the you are fully weight bearing.
This is an example of a pronated foot with a notable rectangular shape:
This is an example of a neutral to supinated foot with a larger curve on the inside:
Ideally, the bottom of the ideal shoe should match the shape of your tracing. If your foot is pronated (or flat), the bottom of the running shoe will look more like a rectangle. If your foot it supinated, the inside of the running shoe should curve inward.
It is also very important to consider what happens to the arch of your foot when you move. Some people may stand with a very high arch, but once they walk or run, their arch collapses. If you feel as though you fit in that category, I would recommend finding a local running store that has a good reputation. They should be able to watch you run and recommend a shoe for you.
So as we wait for rocket shoes to be invented, make sure your current running shoe is the right shape for your foot–and if it’s not, be sure to invest in a new pair to prevent injuries.
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