Why I love September

1. Football is Back!

Growing up in a houseful of girls football really wasn't a big thing to watch on Sunday's.  But then as I got older I watched it because my Dad was watching it.  It was something that we could do together (if you call me asking many questions and dad being patient enough to answer... when the play was over)

Was able to attend the opening game this year!

So ever since I started watching football the Colts were my team that I watched and you knew the fall was coming when you had football to watch on Sunday afternoons!

2. The weather is unpredictable

This September has already been really crazy!  How can we have the hottest day of the summer two days in a row (in the 90's!) and then the next day the high can only be in the mid 60's?  That is Indiana for you!  While that means that you have to pay attention to the weather in the morning before you know what would be reasonable to wear for the day.  While I love fall weather I am a bit crazy, because I am always cold...

3. Birthday Month!

In our house growing up we would always have birthday cake and ice cream for everyones birthday and in September that meant 3 cakes!  My sister Angela's on the 14th, mine on the 18th and then my mom's on the 27th.  

Was able to be home to celebrate Ang's Birthday on Saturday

While I am not living at the house anymore September has always been special with those birthday's.  Granted now April is taking over being the popular birthday month in our immediate family (at least 5, but I might be missing one...)

4. One more Nephew!

Us girls in the Sherburne family are really outnumbered!  I never really thought that it could happen, but now with brothers-in-law and nephews there are only 8 girls (Mom, 6 sisters, 1 niece) and 10 boys (Dad, Travis, 4 brothers-in-law, 4 nephews). 

can't get much cuter than that!

Somehow each time that I have seen little Thatcher I have forgotten to take a picture :-(  But that just tells you how cute he is!

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While I love September I think that I am still in denial that it is already September!  I keep asking myself what happened to May?

The Day I Became a Mrs.

I have been married to Travis for 19 days already and it has been crazy getting used to this new normal that I am in now.  Between unpacking, rearranging, working on Thank Yous and work I have had a bit of a chance to really reflect upon our wedding day.

So I have a Top Ten from our Wedding Day:

10. Bridesmaids Dresses

I was so excited to have sisters and friends stand up with me.  I just wish that I had one of their dresses!  I know that nobody ever thinks of saying that. But they were navy blue and they carried sunflowers.  So the blue on yellow was so exciting to see.  I was excited to have that point come together because I was initially having trouble finding a dress color and picking out flowers.

9. The Shiloh

Life was so crazy leading up to the wedding that I don't know how I could have done it any other way.  The Shiloh Reception Hall was my one stop shop for some many parts of the reception.  In one meeting we took care of the Hall, food, decorations, and cake.  I was able to be efficient with my time and didn't have an over abundance of meetings that I had to go to.  They even when above and beyond because I wanted mason jars for the centerpiece and Dana brought the mason jars from her home at no extra cost! I was excited to get the centerpieces that I liked and I didn't have to set up the hall in the morning.

I was really happy with they service before the wedding when it came to planning, and during the reception with their wonderful service.

8. My Little Ring Bearer

I have one Godson and he is my sister's oldest.  At 3 years old he could have either done extremely well and people would have thought that he we cute, or he could have done something wrong and people still would have thought that he was really cute.

I don't think that he could have been any more adorable!

7. Music

I love music, especially good Church Music.  So this was one thing that I was looking forward to planning, our Wedding Mass Music.  I honestly don't remember any music when I was walking down the aisle.  But when I got up to Travis and he was holding my hand we sang an opening song.

The beauty of it was hearing all of the people behind us sing along!  It was a little heaven on earth moment, because you could just feel the love of everyone surround you.  Ahh it was so wonderful and just from that moment, you could hear people singing and that moment was wonderful!

6. Photographers

I have only seen three pictures from our Photographers that they had on Facebook, but even if those were the only three pictures that came out I would be happy.  Our photographers were Jacobson Photography Inc. a husband, wife duo that are actually parishioners at the church that Travis will be teaching at in the fall. They did my sister's wedding last summer and my friends wedding two months back. What I really like about them is that they are two so you always have the great angles and they work so well with you and your wedding party.  They listen to what you want and don't push anything on you.

I mean how can you hate a photo that turns out like this?  

Just last year I went to 8 weddings and you notice that most photographers leave once all of the reception things are done (bouquet toss, cake cutting, first dance, etc.)  but the Jacobson's stayed up to the last song.  They take pictures of people dancing and they get the pictures that you would have wanted.  And before they leave they ask if there is anything else you wanted.  They were easy to work with and I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!

5. Spending Time with Family

Now I am not what you would call a social butterfly (That would be my new husband!)  But having his family , aunts, uncles, cousins and friends there, along with my family, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends there - nothing can ever really replace that.

4. Mass

Travis and I met at Newman group at IPFW where we went to school.  So our Catholic Faith has always been a central part of our friendship and relationship.  So there was no question that we were going to have a Mass for our wedding.  It was so beautiful to come together in the Sacrifice of the Mass and have that be the frosting on the cake (pardon my pun!) to the whole wedding ceremony.

It was wonderful to have Fr. Tom (My parish Priest), Msgr. Galic (Travis' Parish Priest), and Deacon Jerry Kohrman (Travis hung out with that family now and growing up) all come together and celebrate the Mass together.  With knowing so many priest through IPFW's Newman group and my job, it was almost like we could have had more, but I think that 3 was enough to celebrate the Mass together.

3. Grandparents

I was so excited that my grandparents were able to come to the wedding.  The weeks and even months leading up to the wedding I was told not to have high expectations.  But Travis and I went to go visit them two weeks before the wedding and Grandma showed me the two outfits that she was thinking about.  She said that she was glad to get the bride's approval!

When I was headed to the back of church to 'hide' while people were showing up they walked through the door!  It was a wonderful thing to see them before the ceremony.  I think that having Grandma and Grandpa there will always be a special part of the day!

2. Family

It is always great to get the family together!  It is crazy to see how much we have grown as a family.  My first sister was married just 7 years ago.  Now we have 5 more guys (4 brothers-in-laws + Travis) , 3 nephews, one niece.  We went from a family of majority girls to now the girls are outnumbered (by one, but who ever thought that would happen?) But nothing can replace a family.

The Entire Family

Travis and I had a goal to get all of our siblings involved in the wedding.  Between the both of us we have 10 siblings. So between wedding party, ushers, readers,  and singer we were able to have all of the siblings be a part of the wedding.


and the Number one point from the wedding day....


1. Getting to Marry my Best Friend!

I mean how could this not be the best part?  I get to see my best friend every day.  I don't have to call him every night to pray together.  I might have to deal with his cheerful mood in the mornings.  But despite all of the changes that we are going to go through together in the future. I wouldn't ever change who would stand by my side through it all!

:-D

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Now it is the new challenge and adventure of getting used to this new normal!  and I can't wait!

Two Years Ago and Just a Blink

How has these past two years just flown by?  Two years ago I was blessed to start dating the man that became my best friend, and in 18 days I will be blessed and honored to call him my husband.

Travis and I even before we started dating

Two years ago Travis and I went on our first date :-)  We went bowling with Angela, and she was the one that had to convince me that it was actually a date.  I think that I was either in shock that it happened or that I was in denial and I never thought that it would happen.  I didn't realize then that I went on my last first date.  On that Saturday in 2011, I thought that I just went bowling with one of my friends from Newman Group and Students for Life. I was trying to make decisions, and decided to make the leap of faith.

Travis Proposing at Notre Dame 

 In two years we have gone from Friendship to Love, to Engagement, and now to (almost) married. Never did I think that I would be in this position two year ago.  But as always God has a better life story for us than what we could ever dream for.

Travis and I at a friends wedding

Our Journey has had its ups and downs, but I am a better person having Travis by my side.  Please keep us in your prayers as we get closer to our wedding date.  Because together with God we are going to start our life together and begin a new chapter of our lives :-)

The Next Great Adventure

Now you might be thinking how have I gone this far in life and never moved.  Well if you stay at home for college and get married a year after college, I never really saw the point to move out. I thought of it more as an expense that I couldn't afford.

Now I am good at moving rooms.  Having 4 older sisters and roughly 4 bedrooms (three actual bedrooms and the large old 'play room/classroom' converted into a bedroom)  I think that every time a sister went away to college we all rearranged rooms and moved.  I think that some time or another I have occupied 3 of the four rooms, some rooms at different times in my life.

But this move is different... Much different...

This time I am not moving down the hallway.  I am not staying in the same home.  I am moving five miles into town.  Yes I know that it could be much further, but right now it seems really far away.  But it is just the next adventure that is on my life path.

It is like going up the Millennium Force's first hill.  you keep going and  going up and your stomach and brain start deceiving you and con't decide if this is going to be wonderful or terrifyingly hard.  It is like I am at the crest of that hill that I have been climbing for awhile now.  and it is time to enjoy the ride down the exciting and thrilling coaster.

The great thing that I have to always remember is that I'll have Travis right beside me.  And remembering that is just half of the great adventure!

My new Favorite Thing

Summertime in Indiana brings about one thing, a VERY hot car by the end of the work day.  It doesn't help that I also have leather seats, so it makes it feel even warmer.  Recently I have been making the mistake in leaving my water bottle in the car, so by the end of the day, I have water that is about to boil.

my water bottle in the morning before work

So I have finally decided to use that to my advantage.  One morning last week I decided to put a tea bag and some sugar (not a fan of unsweetened tea) and leave it in my car all day.  So by the end of the day, I have a nice bottle of sweet tea for my drive home.  If I am thinking about it I also try to grab some ice cubes from the work freezer before I leave for work.  

Sweet tea by the time I leave for work!

Even if I forget the ice cubes, warm sweet tea is always better than warm water in my opinion.  Try it out if you have a warm car this summer, you will never regret leaving your water bottle in the sun again!

What Memorial Day Means To Me

For some people Memorial Day is all about the lake and sleeping.  Growing up for me it was about sleeping and a day off from school - the kick off to summer.  But, every Memorial Day my dad would wake up 'early' usually with one of my older sisters and head up north. No, they weren't headed for the lake. 

They were driving toward memories.

Before I was even a twinkle in my parents eyes, my dad's parents passed away. I was never lucky enough to meet them. But every Memorial Day weekend some of the family jumps into our big blue 8 passenger van and head north - towards memories - towards my dad's history.  We visit, clean, and put flowers next to my grandparent's grave.

We relive my dad's memories.

When I was in high school I started traveling north with my dad.  Maybe at first it was for our yearly ice cream stop in Fremont. Over the years though it became much more. It was a trip down memory lane. It was tradition. We would visit my grandparents grave, along with my dad's Grandparents, place flowers and clean it all up.

It became Tradition.  Something that I would never change.

I was never blessed to know my grandparents, but I am lucky enough to have this day where we visit their grave and we talk about memories. And that in itself are memories to hold onto.