It's Time For Real Life

    We have now reached the "real life" part of being married. Sure, lots of it is still the honeymoon phase, but slowly and surely we are making the move towards normalcy...

     

    When we were talking about getting married, and my mom was all, "Oh, boy! You'll have a whole house to take care of!"

 I was pretty sure it wouldn't be that difficult. There's only going to be two of us - how hard could it be? 

It is HARD! 

     Even with just the two of us. We don't have a dishwasher so all the dishes are by hand - that wouldn't be bad, except I love to cook and experiment which equals lots of dirty dishes. Honestly, washing dishes is still pretty relaxing. The question is, how long will that last? 

     We also don't have a washer or dryer yet, so we go over to my parents or his parents to do about 2 weeks worth of clothes in one run. Lately, I've started working more hours at my dad's clinic, which means I don't get home until 5, and every other weekend I host weddings so I'm gone for the majority of the weekend. That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for housework. 

     I also have to keep track of bills; when things are due and where. That's actually pretty fun... if it wasn't real money leaving our real accounts. 

     Then there are the other things like emptying the trash in the house, organizing the boxes of stuff that still don't have a place, dusting, and still feeding my husband who manages to track dirt clods all over the house and leave his hunting stuff out. 

     Don't get me wrong! I love being married. I love cooking, washing dishes, and all that comes with it. I just didn't expect it to be so... much. How in the world do all you mothers do it?! 

     All in all, this past week has not gone as smoothly as the previous weeks. We've fought over things, made up, gotten annoyed with each other, and somehow still love each other and had fun. I'm not even sure how that works, but I'm glad it does! 

    At our wedding, we had advice cards on the tables for guests to fill out. Now, a month into being married, I think it's time to look back through them. There was definitely some good (and goofy) advice we received, and I've picked out a few of my favorites to share! 

If you are going to fight, fight naked. If you can still fight it is worth fighting about! 

Do not hang wallpaper together. 

Each of you make it your goal to be a life long student of your spouse. Learn all about what makes them tick. 

Kyle should always wash his hands when he comes inside. He may have had his hand inside a catfish, or just skinned a squirrel, or roasted frog legs. 

Always make her feel beautiful! Buy her flowers (even $5 ones from Wal-mart)! Love God more than you do her. 

Give Kyle a hug every time he comes in the door. 

If you have kids, always have Kyle go change diapers and get up in the middle of the night. Lol. 

Marriage is not 50/50. It's 100/100. 

We both LOVED reading these, so thank you to all of you who filled them out! There were more categories besides advice, such as: how many kids we will have, where we will be in 25 years, what we should name our kids, etc. Some of them are HILARIOUS, so I'll have to share them too! 

Here is one last bit of advice that really hit me, especially when it comes to the "normal" view of love and marriage.  

To love is a choice. Choose it! 

The Adventures of Newlyweds

      Honestly, I wasn't too thrilled when Kyle suggested we go to Branson for our honeymoon. Branson just doesn't scream romance to me. But I also hadn't been there in years, so I agreed to go. I'm so glad I did! Colorado is great and all, but you have to drive FOREVER to get anywhere and there isn't much to do in comparison. We went shopping, cooked frozen pizza in our cabin, went fishing, shopped, ate, slept (I did LOTS of sleeping. Turns out planning a wedding really takes it out of a person).

     Anyway, here are lots (and lots and lots) of pictures from our honeymoon! 

About 45 minutes into the drive and we had to switch spots because Kyle was so tired. Aw. Poor baby. 

On the way, we stopped at Lambert's Cafe in Springfield - land of throw'd rolls! 

We finally arrived and our cabin was SO CUTE! 

After we got settled, we went to the fish hatchery and then walked around by the river. 

We ate loads of delicious food, shopped, mini-golfed, and went to a wax museum. It was a blast! 

That's Angelina Jolie and her infamous leg if you can't tell. 

Of course, you can't go to a wax museum without doing the Titanic pose. 

After that, we played more mini-golf! I'm not very good technically speaking, but I did win with a little luck once. Kyle tried to teach me, but it's way more fun to just take a whack at it. 

The shopping was probably my next favorite thing we did besides mini-golf. Kyle needed some nice shirts so we spent a long time picking out new clothes for him. It's way more fun to dress him than it is to dress me! 

Pretty much the whole trip, I was still in shock that we were actually 100% married. It's finally starting to sink in now, and it's been 2 weeks! 

After a few days in Branson, we drove down to Eureka Springs and Roaring River for a day or two. 

While we were there, it rained. So, we went to visit the glass chapel which was so stunning and peaceful. 

Then we went to Roaring River where I watched Kyle fish and caught crawdads. 

It was awesome to see rainbow trout swimming around my legs. The water is so clear there! 

Overall, our trip was fantastic and it was great to spend some time getting used to being married. I'm so blessed to have married someone who is truly my bestfriend. 

I love you, Kyle! 

Mr. & Mrs. Kyle Bliss

*I wrote this last week and then promptly forgot about it... Don't worry, I'll catch you all up soon! 

Holy cow. We're married!!! 

That's pretty much been my thought process for the past 3 days or so. Honestly, it still still seems like we're playing house; like when we get back home, we'll go back to our separate houses and continue dating forever... Thank goodness that's not going to happen! 

Those of you who were involved in the wedding week process (HUGE shout-out to a bunch of friends and family that brought us food and helped set up and take down; you're are the best!) knew how worried we were about the weather. The previous weekend had been rainy and it had continued to storm off and on throughout the week. Our multiple weather apps were being checked every 5 minutes. When Katie's app finally said 0% for the whole day, we flipped out and I took a screenshot. 

As it turns out, everything was PERFECT. The weather was perfect, the bridesmaids were perfect, the groomsmen were perfect, my hair was perfect (thank you, Kaci!), and the pictures are super perfect! 

It's definitely a little sad to not be a Davis anymore, but I'm blessed to add a whole other family to my life. I prayed for my future in-laws (mostly that we'd get along), but I never imagined getting so lucky! I've had so many people tell me how awesome it was to be getting to join their family; let me tell you, I know it! 

* * * * * 

People have asked us how it's going so far, and it's always the same answer - great! We've only been home 3 days, but it already feels like this is where I'm meant to be. Of course, things are new and different. Neither of us is accustomed to living on our own; I have semi-strict (ok, fairly strict) housekeeping rules that Kyle hasn't quite picked up on yet... but I'm trying to be relaxed about that and have fun! 

Right now, one of my favorite things about being married is getting to cook whatever I want! Yes, I have already made WAY too much food; it's hard to go from cooking for 12 to cooking for 2. We will be eating leftovers for quite a while. 

So here's a challenge for my readers, send me - via comment, Facebook, email, etc. - your favorite recipe! I have so much fun trying new things and it makes it even more fun when I know that someone else has tried and loved it. 

Alright, guys. That's it for now. Check back soon 'cause I'm excited to share honeymoon pictures!