Gas Leak!

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I’ve promised some stories, and I’m not about to let July get away before I share them.

One of the many things I love about our new home is that I have a gas-burning stove to cook our food on. I’ve never had a gas-burning stove and I’m definitely enjoying the difference it makes, albeit small.
The one thing about a gas burning stove is that it’s actually directly connected to a gas line (I know, who would have thought?) thus increasing the risk of a gas leak.
About a week after we moved in to our new home something fell behind our oven. Bryan went on a quest to retrieve said item and pulled out our stove slightly. He was able to retrieve the item, but in the process, he saw this little gem:


How could we possibly pass up a darling little porcelain cow that doubles as a salt shaker?

Bryan made the obvious decision to pull the stove out further, so he could in turn fit his entire self behind the oven and retrieve the precious item.

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Yep, he ripped our gas hose.
As I could smell the gas from across our trailer in another room, I became worried at the amount of gas that was pouring in our atmosphere. Bryan thought quickly to turn the gas off as I opened the windows.
The next morning, we called Mid-American Energy to come and replace our hose and all was well. But our trailer smelled of those glorious gas fumes for a least a few days.
The joys of owning a trailer!
The best part of all of that, is that we received an adorable little cow salt shaker for the price of about $40 to replace our gas hose.
You may ask, was it worth it?
And I say, is that even a question? Look at that cow! : )

StuffMart…Free Couch Giveaway!

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Have you ever seen the Veggie Tale of Madame Blueberry? If not, I highly recommend it, even as a 22-year-old. This lesson is not just for kids, folks!
Before our IKEA trip, we made sure to check out this highly recommended consignment shop (“shop” is understatement, “warehouse” may be more appropriate) called Stuff, Etc. Let me just say, it was amazing. There was so much…stuff.
The entire basement was devoted to furniture, where we found a beautiful wingback chair for a great price and we also found two, completely different loveseats. We liked them both, and they were both only $50 each. We considered just getting one, but well, we got caught up in the moment. An impulse buy.
I’ve lived in this blessed country all my life, and I’m not immune to the defects we Americans have. We are a people who cannot live without instant gratification.
After spending $50 on a loveseat we’re not even going to use, it made me consider how many times I use the following line, “Oh, and this was just an impulse buy.” How much of our money is wasted on things I think I need in that one tiny window of emotional attachment? I don’t even want to know.
And how fortunate am I that I have money in my bank account to afford such impulse buys, especially compared to rest of the world?
We are certainly blessed, and honestly, we tend to be on the conservative side when it comes to our finances. But we can easily convince ourselves that we need much more than we do.
That said, does anyone want a free couch?

IKEA & The Perfect Couch

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Isn’t she beautiful?

Bonus: The couch is comfortable too!
We went to IKEA on the Fourth of July and we found so many perfect things for our new home. We had a long list of things we needed, including a desk for each of us, and a bookshelf, among other things. Wanna see what we picked out? I thought so! I’ll take pictures of out actual home soon, but there are still some things I want to finish up before the reveal on the world wide web.
First, the couch story.
We actually weren’t planning on getting a couch from IKEA. We had just visited this consignment store in Iowa City called “Stuff, Etc.” and we found two really fun loveseats (more on that in the next post). Originally, I was thinking our living room was small enough for two loveseats rather than couches, but once we got them inside, the one looked too small against our wall. I was slightly bummed, but we also decided it was for the best. So we were looking for a couch, but not necessarily from IKEA.
But then, we saw the couch, it was with the 50 other couches on display at IKEA. But we knew, this was a great couch. (Ok, so I’m over-dramatizing a bit) But, really, I feel in love with it. It was comfortable (not all IKEA couches are super comfortable), it was fun, it was stylish, and it was not super expensive. Mostly, it was the perfect size for our living room and for welcoming people into our home and having people over!
On the downside, they had just sold out.
They usually have a lot in stock, and they were going to get a big shipment in tomorrow. But we had already driven 4 hours to get there-to drive another 12 in the next 24 hours seemed disgusting but I was completely ready to do it for this couch.
However, the wonderful employee, Andrew, who was helping us suggested that we simply drive 24 miles north to the OTHER IKEA in Illinois. Bryan couldn’t believe that there were two so close to each other. Andrew checked with the other store to make sure they had the couch and cover we wanted in stock and sent us on our way!
Once we got there, I quickly planted myself on the two boxes that held the last couch that was in stock until Bryan got a cart to push it away on-we got our couch!
If you endured that not-so-exciting story (sorry, it was more fun for me, and didn’t translate well on paper), you deserve some pictures of the other things we picked out at IKEA. Without further ado:





Back to Blogging!

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Consider this blog my comeback blog.

I love blogging, I really do! I know it hasn’t seemed like it, as I’ve taken a little leave of absence for the past month. But really, truly, I’m back for good.
And if it gives you any comfort, nothing really exciting even happened in June. So there’s not much to catch you up on. We basically spent the whole month packing, packing and packing. There is one downside to loving organization (as I do) and having slight OCD (as I have): I’m usually alone in my organizational endeavors, namely packing.
I did most of the packing myself, that is correct.
Don’t get me wrong, Bryan tried to help, he begged me to help, and when I was exhausted enough to give in, I finally let him help. He’s so patient with his crazy wife.
Anyway, we said our goodbyes to many of our friends, I got to hang out with all of the fun high schoolers I know one last time. We had our last “Family Fun Night” with my family. We played Killer Bunnies with our Connection Group Homies. And we drove to Iowa City for good on Wednesday, June 30th.
We welcomed our first guest to our home on Thursday, July 1st. Our house was still completely in ruins, but Sara didn’t mind at all-she even helped us unpack.
Oh yeah, I also did most of the unpacking myself-why can’t I give up control?! : )
We went to IKEA on Sunday, July 4th, and got the furniture of my dreams. Seriously, I love everything we purchased. And I loved the prices even more. Who doesn’t love IKEA?
On Monday, we set almost everything up, and it took THE WHOLE DAY. I did not expect all of that build-it-yourself furniture would take so long to build-it-ourselves! Maybe we’re just extremely pathetic. That, or we got too many things at IKEA.
This post is already getting long. So I’ll leave you in suspense for the following posts:
  • Our trip to IKEA, and what we would do for the perfect couch.
  • Our new favorite store in Iowa City, and a Veggietale Lesson
  • I feel light-headed, is that gas I smell?
  • Termites! Oh wait, that’s just an Ant eating through the wood in our cupboard. What?!

everyone blogs on mondays

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Ah. It’s good to be back. Although, I’m not making any promises that I’ll be writing frequently or anything until July-life is a little crazy right now!

We are moving to Iowa City. It’s actually happening. I’ve had this month planned for so long and I keep rehearsing it over and over that in my mind-this month is already over. Every single time I’ve looked at the date I keep thinking, It’s only the 14th? It’s weird.

It’s dragging by, yet, there is so much to do. I think that may be way it’s dragging by-because my days are so full, they last a little longer than normal.

I haven’t been to Cornerstone in 4 weeks. We’ve been in Iowa City almost every weekend. I thought I’d be holding on tighter, but I seemed to have let it go pretty easily.

I’m sorry, I’m in an emotional writing mood, so this blog post already sounds a little emo. I get this way sometimes, when everything seems a little darker than it is or should seem. I don’t know why I feel that way now, but I do. Maybe it’s a side-effect of the moving process.

My mind is wandering. I have too much to write about. I’ll write it all out sometime. Until then, I just want to share the most recent impact on my life:

We went to Walmart in Iowa City on Friday night to pick up a few gallons of paint and some supplies. It was around 10 at night, so we expected the normal quality of service of the employees who were working the crappy shift-at Walmart nonetheless.

A little background, I’ve been learning to slow down lately-especially when I’m shopping. I can get so focused on the most efficient routes and plan of action that I can be rude-either to Bryan if he’s with me or to the employees helping me. It’s been very, very good.

I don’t know what it was, but I walked out of Walmart feeling so blessed I could cry-in fact, I am crying now (I told you I was in an emotional mood. It happens.). We had the most attentive guy mix our paint. From filling in the little swatch circle on the paint can precisely, to dotting the paint swatch and blow-drying it dry so that I could see that the paint matched the swatch color exactly. Yes, it took a considerable amount of time-but I was so put at rest knowing that my paint was the perfect pearl gray that I’d hoped for. He was so kind and patient and detail-oriented. I was blown away-I wish I would have caught his name.

We encountered another nice man who pointed us directly to the Raid Ant Killer Spray, with a smile and a laugh.

But the lady who checked us out-she is what is bringing me to tears right now. She was a true and absolute blessing. I’m almost positive her name was Caroline, but you can bet I’ll be frequenting that Walmart more this summer just so I can be around her more. Wow.

My sinful nature tugged at me as we got into her check-out lane and I realized she was asking the man in front of considerate questions. She was taking a long time and he looked a little annoyed that she was keeping him by asking, “Are you sure I can’t help you find anything else?” I wanted to get to work, and I hoped she would check us out a little faster then the man in front of us.

But no, she was just as kind and considerate to us, and my heart melted as I began to adore this sweet woman scanning my items. She asked us how we were doing tonight, and she looked into our faces for an answer, because she really wanted to know. She was efficient, but carefully scanned each items so that she could see if we had any other needs. She really did want to know if she could get anything else for us-she asked if we wanted to get batteries for the flashlight we got. Her exact words were, “I just don’t want you to get all the way home and realize you don’t have any batteries!” She meant every word.

By the time we had paid, and she was telling us to have a great night, my heart was a complete puddle. I told her, “You have been absolutely wonderful, thank you!” and she replied, with a cute excitement in her voice, “Well, you, you have been AWESOME!”

I couldn’t stop talking about her all night. I think Bryan thought I was acting strange, but something about her selfless, servant-heart really made me think about how selfish I am most of the time. And by God’s grace, Caroline was the perfect picture of what I had just read in my latest read, Lies Women Believe.

I’ll end with this excerpt:
“How often have we heard someone say, “I’ve never liked myself,” or “She just can’t love herself.”? According to Scripture, the Truth is that we do love ourselves-immensely. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, the point is not that we need to learn to love ourselves so that we can love others. Jesus is saying we need to give others the attention and care we naturally give ourselves.
“We are constantly looking out for ourselves, deeply sensitive to our own feelings and needs, always conscious of how things and people affect us. The reason some of us get hurt so easily is not because we hate ourselves but because we love ourselves!
“The fact is, we do not hate ourselves, nor do we need to learn how to love ourselves. We need to love how to deny ourselves, so we can do that which does not come naturally-to truly love God and others.
“Our need is not to love ourselves more but to receive His incredible love for us and to accept His design and purpose for our lives.”
-Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Lies Women Believe
Pages 70 & 71

Anniversary Weekend: The Real Deal

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On our actual anniversary weekend, the weekend of May 23rd, we had a TON of fun as well. As I mentioned, Bryan had to “lay down his tracks” for the next Anthem CD. He went up on Friday night and got back around 4pm on Saturday.

I took advantage of this time to clean everything and make pita bread. Can I just say, that this pita bread is the best I’ve EVER eaten? I was SO PROUD of myself that I ate two whole pitas fresh out of the oven! DELICIOUS!

When Bryan got back from Minneapolis, we left for Iowa City almost immediately and arrived by 7pm. The Robinsons (our future Trailer Park buddies) were awesome enough to put us up for the night. We met up with my little brother and his girlfriend and we all went out on the town for the evening.

On Sunday we went to Parkview Church, which was fun because after we plant our church, we won’t really be trying out churches in Iowa City, you know? Then we grilled out:
and hiked:
and watched LOST for the next…9 hours. Yep. That’s what we did on May 23rd, watched LOST for 9 hours. We wouldn’t have had it any other way!

The highlight of my weekend was actually Monday, though. We called our workplaces and told we weren’t going to able to make it. We really did need to figure out the problem with our mail key [our mail keys didn’t work for some reason], and thankfully we were able to do that. But we also got to hang out with the Robinsons for an EXTRA day! We played the Farming Game with them for around 6 hours. They, of course, loved it. We ALSO found out that that the BOWLING ALLEY/MINI GOLF (you read that right, bowling and mini golf in one?! YES) which is located RIGHT NEXT to our Trailer Park is AWESOME!!! It’s only $2.75 for mini golf, $4.75 for bowling and $.25 for arcade games! And me and Miranda got to ride on Chuck-E-Cheese-like RATS!!!
In other words, we are excited to live in Iowa City and our actual anniversary weekend was a major SUCCESS!

"Anniversary Weekend"

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Bryan has been the best husband ever lately! Well, he’s always the best husband ever, but he planned our “anniversary weekend” wonderfully.

Bryan had to record his bass tracks for the next Anthem CD in Minneapolis on our actual anniversary weekend, so the weekend before, Bryan treated me like a queen.

On Saturday, Bryan had to go to work, so I lazed around the house until he got home. He came home with pretty yellow daisies and said, “I thought we could go to The Spice for lunch.” Are you kidding me?! I love the Spice, it’s pretty much tied with the Cafe as far as restaurants in Ames go. They have amazing Thai food, but really just amazing food! Yum!

The Spice is on main street, so Bryan conveniently led us over to Chocolaterie Stam where I proceeded to pick ANY chocolate my heart desired. Again, YUM!

I was then whisked off to the land of Reiman Gardens, where we Gnome hunted:
After the gnome hunting, we went to an AMAZINGLY FUN WEDDING and danced the night away.

AND (as if this weekend couldn’t get better) Bryan also surprised me by getting a room at the Gateway Hotel, which is probably the nicest hotel in Ames. We ordered breakfast in bed the next morning and everything! What a treat!

I love my husband, isn’t he the best?!?

The first ANNUAL Alsbury update!

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People have been asking us lately, “How was the first year?”

As I’ve been answering that question, and thinking about the answer to that question, I began to consider what everyone told us about what the first year of marriage was sure to be like. You see, many, many people in our lives whether friends, family, or complete strangers made sure we knew what to expect as newlyweds. And while I’m thankful to those friends, family members and strangers who gave their opinions, advice and warnings, I must say, we were generally misinformed.


We were told that this first year was going to be hard. We were told that this first year was the “honeymoon” phase, and that we were unlikely to find anything wrong with each other. We were told that we would find ourselves in conflicts with our in-laws. We were told that this would be the best year of our marriage. We were told that this would be the worst year of our marriage. We were told we would fight about money, sex, and/or family. Etc.


I can’t say our first year of marriage matched any of those descriptions, but I also can’t say that our first year of marriage matched none of those descriptions. I suppose that’s the problem with blanket statements. Although, those advice-givers who had been married 30 or 40 years, I can see how to them, the entire first year could be blanketed with one such statement.

But Bryan and I haven’t been married for 30 or 40 years, we’ve just been married for one. And this one, wonderful, crazy, fun, whirlwind of a year ended yesterday.

I replied to one asker, “It feels like we’ve been married forever.” He laughed as he understood my words to be a negative thing. But I meant those words in the best way possible. I meant them to say, “I know our marriage has been short in the grand scheme of things, but it’s so…right that I feel as though it could have been forever.”

My best (girl)friend, Audrey, has told me several times that she admires the companionship Bryan and I share. That is a great compliment! Yet, I couldn’t agree more. We truly are best friends. We can’t stand to be apart and he still calls me every day (which started about nine months before we started dating). More recently, I’ve discovered that I absolutely despise going out in public without him. Thus, I’ve discovered the meaning of the phrase, “my better half.”

I’m getting mushy already, that’s what this kind of love will do to you.

We have a deep kind of love for each other, and this love has manifested itself in many different ways over the past year:

  • Telling Bryan how crazy he is for wanting 71,894,167 different types of cleaners so that every different surface in the house has its own special cleaner when we could just have ONE bottle of Shaklee H2 Multipurpose solution that cleans everything. That is love.
  • Bryan sending me all sorts of texts that start with, “help me remember…” and me remembering almost everything. That is love.
  • Organizing all of Bryan’s video games, computer games, movies, and records. That is love.
  • Bryan allowing me to create, decorate, and rearrange our house whenever I darn well please even when he has no idea how it’s going to turn out. That is love.
  • Bryan telling me, “you’re amazing!” when he sees the final product of the above noted creations, decorations, or rearranging adventures. That is love.
  • Bryan telling me how crazy I am for thinking we don’t need a toilet brush. That is love.
  • Working hard to stick to our budget and save a ton of money so that Bryan can graduate college without school loans. That is love
  • .Bryan doing the dishes. That is love.Bryan cleaning the bathroom. That is love.
  • Researching cleaning products, recipes, coupon methods, natural remedies and countless other things in order to care for my family in the best way I possibly can. That is love.
  • Bryan telling me I’m beautiful, that he likes my outfit and/or that I look cute. That is love.
  • Deciding to leave everything I’ve ever known as home and move to Iowa City with my husband who also decided to leave his home. That is love.
  • Making Broccoli Braid every week for about two months because Bryan can’t get enough. That is love.
  • Ceasing to make Broccoli Braid for about 4 months because Bryan’s had enough. That is love.
  • Encouraging each other to stay in the word, stay pure-minded, stay joyful, stay humble. That is love.
  • Fighting because I want Bryan to be the best husband ever. Making up because Bryan is the best husband ever. That is love.


What more do I need to say? We love this marriage thing. We think we’ll do it forever.

Now that this year has come to end, as has this post, I’d like to let you know that my monthly marriage updates will also end. Nobody likes those people who say their kid is 39 months, and I don’t want to be disliked for saying my marriage is 14 months, 17 months, 21 months, etc.

Now, I’m off to celebrate my anniversary by eating our year-old-frozen-now-thawed cake topper and watching the season and series finale of LOST. Happy May 23rd!

Click any of the pictures to see a facebook album of all of our favorite wedding pictures taken by Mandy Bee Photography.