My Man

This man

Rocks my world. He's hot. And sweet. And forgiving. And loving.

He's goofy.

We can be silly together. And, I love that about us.

And apparently, we can rock out the Snuggie pretty well :-D

He's my past, my present, and my future.  He's my world.  My love.  He lifts me up and prays with me.  What sweeter thing is there then a man praying with his wife. Ok, so listening to children praying is pretty darn sweet too...but alas, we have none yet.

I love you Steven.  I dread leaving you to go home and work and to get things setup for when you come back. But, even though i'm not gone yet, I am already anxiously looking forward to seeing you step off that plane in July. Then my love, we are (hopefully) going to the beach for a week.  And, we're going to relax like it's going out of style.

Ok, enough mushy gushy stuff.

For now at least, haha.

Here's a glance into some of the stuff Steven's finished up for his portfolio. Awesome? I think yes!

Sunday Entertainment

Does playing Word Racer via Yahoo against your husband while you're both sitting in the same room qualify us as dorks?

Isn't it funny what becomes "fun" when life becomes so simple?

Ooooo, gotta run and go kick my husband's booty in Word Racer!

My man is busy drawing some things for his portfolio, while watching Pearl Harbor of course, so I thought it would be a good time to update ya'll on our non-excitement filled life :-)

His break thus far has been filled with friends, food, sleeping in, staying up late watching movies, and cherishing the time we get to spend together. He goes back in a few weeks to start his second semester.  This semesters project will revolve around car interiors and Steven is really looking forward to it.  It's so weird to think that he only has one more semester (after this one starts) and then he's done here! Pretty exciting if I can say so.  We are greatly looking forward to him graduating and working towards us both being "settled" for once. We were laughing the other day because in about 1 1/2 years time, we have moved twice and will probably be moving again at least one more time this year.  Crazy.  We have a couple of decisions to make coming up and are having fun thinking/praying and dreaming about them. But obviously, more will be shared when we know more and feel like it's a good time to share :-)

We've been having a lot of fun trying out new recipes lately and have been greatly enjoying trying new recipes regarding desserts!  Last night, we made Apple Betty in the crock pot... it was quite good!

Anyways, I can't really think of anymore updates.  See, told ya we live a non-exciting life :-) Haha.

Until next time...

10 Things I Love About MY Man

Happy Valentines Day all! I hope you all are having a fun, love filled, relaxing day! I know I am. Today's theme brings this love filled feast to an end.  So, what better way to celebrate Valentines Day than to profess all the things you love about your other half!
       To my love:

Here are 10 things I absolutely love and adore about you.  Baby, I'm smitten by you :-)

So, here they are in no specific order.

1.  I love the way you hold me. It makes the rest of the world disappear.

2.  I love the way you say, "Hold my hand tighter" in that cute little voice you use when you want to be closer to me.

3.  I love how dedicated you are to me and our family... all 2 of us!

4. I love how you dream and what you dream about.

5. I love the way you smell.

6. I love your undying love for me and how you pray for me and with me every night.

7.  I love how you push your glasses up your nose when they're falling down. And no, not literally up your nose, haha.

8. I love that no matter how busy you get with graduate school you always make time for me. And, how you leave me little, "SHMILY" notes in random places.

9. I love how patient and forgiving you are!

10.  I love the fact that God has allowed me to be married to you.  I truly am the luckiest girl alive!

I love you, Steven Wayne Bockmann... Happy Valentines Day!!!




       

  

What were you thinking?!

I am just loving these Valentines Extravangaza this week! It's given me something to do while I'm stuck over here in Germany for a little while :-) So, onto the theme for today.... romantic screwups. Ouch. This post should be interesting.

I don't know about ya'll, but I have a perfect marriage. No fights, no yelling, no "I'm not talking to you" moments, no attitudes....nothing. Ah haha, righhhhhhhht.... That's just what I like to think. In all honesty though, we really don't fight.  Bicker sometimes, oh yes, but fight? Not so much. Ever since I read that today was going to be about our "romantic screwups" I've been racking my mind trying to think of anything. I even asked Steven.

So....let's see... romantic screwups that i've encountered. Hmm.... you mean besides the time Steven dumped me at my birthday party? It's alright though, because he admits now that it's the biggest mistake he ever made So, to all ya'll dating people that think that you should break up to "fix" your problems instead of staying together to fix them.... don't listen to what other people say, they're wrong!  Hehehehehe. And yes, I had Steven's permission to share that, we laugh about it now... kinda ;-)

Moving on...

Steven's biggest "romantic screwup" is one that we laugh about now.  In fact, we've had a good couple of laughs about it recently. Oh, the lives of newlyweds.  Onto the story...

We had only been married a few months when this happened.  I had always told Steven that I cannot wake up to that annoying beeping noise of an alarm, but instead have to wake up to quiet music. For some reason, when i'm sleeping I get in such a deep sleep (especially right before the alarm goes off) that if there is a loud noise it will literally terrify me when I wake up.  I guess waking up to that noise it the equivalent (to me at least) to having someone, while you're still dead asleep, come and blow a trumpet over your head. Yeah, not good. So anyways, I guess one day Steven got tired of not hearing the alarm go off (even though I would and then would wake him up) and decided to make it so the next morning, we would be shocked awake by the annoying and super loud sound of beeping.  Ohh...that was not a good morning. Side note here, Steven always sets the alarm SUPER loud.  So, the next morning rolls around and I'm peacefully asleep dreaming about tutu's and candy. Kidding, I don't dream about that.  All of the sudden there is this ear shattering screech of a beep, and I am literally jumping out of the bed. It scared me so much!  Oh, bad move baby, bad move.   Steven starts laughing. I am furious.  Hey, we all have our pet peeves, right?  Let's just say long story short, I was not happy and Steven was well aware of the fact that I wasn't happy. I think the first time we exchanged words, happy words that is, was about 1 1/2 hours after the incident had happened.  Needless to say, if Steven didn't believe me before that happened, he believed me then :-)

However, Steven has learned that I really mean it when I say I don't like to wake up to beeping, I apologized immensely for overreacting and for ignoring him, and we moved on.  Lots of hugs, kisses, and "i'm sorry's" later... it was like nothing had ever happened :-)




      

It's a Love Story Baby Just Say Yes

Let's talk about love....

Let's talk about us...
Let's talk about life...

Oh sorry, I was just singing along to Celine Dion, "Let's Talk About Love." Ok, embarrassingly enough I had to google "let's talk about love" just to see if there were any songs that had that phrase in it.  Can't say i've actually ever heard the song.

Er... okay back on track.  Today's topic for the Valentines Extravaganza is proposal stories! Aw, don't we all just love it when our man opens up and proclaims his undying love for us? I know I do!

Steven proposing to me was a day that I never thought would come.  We had been dating for almost 6 years and we knew we wanted to get married, but when was another issue.  A couple of months before he graduated college I started getting anxious. Ya see, all of my friends were engaged and getting married very soon. Were we? Oh no.  Eh, you know the saying, "Good things come to those who wait"? Yeah, Steven said that all the time to me. My response was, "Um...i've been waiting for a long time, haha. However, I knew my time was coming.  We had been discussing him going to grad school in Germany and had discussed that it wouldn't happen unless he could bring me with him. Who would go to school overseas and leave their girlfriend of almost 6 years behind? No one in their right mind.  So, when August (of 2008) rolled around, I knew that the proposal was right around the corner. See here's the thing, Steven was thinking of going to grad school and leaving in Jan. of 2009, and he wanted me to come with...which meant that in order for me to come we had to get married.  We also had discussed how we wanted at least 4 months to plan a wedding...which meant that August was my proposal month.

So, when August rolled around, every date we had I thought, "Oh, could this be the day?!?" I remember one time in particular we went hiking at Umstead Park. We were hiking on this pretty trail, the sun was setting, everything was perfect. All of the sudden, Steven stops walking and is just looking at me admirably.  My heart started racing... Oh my gosh, is this the day?! Nope, false alarm...he was just looking at his awesome girlfriend :-)

Skip a few weeks and its the day of August 28th.  Steven had called me earlier that week asking me if I wanted to go out to a nice dinner because he had been really busy with stuff and said that I deserved a nice dinner for (in his words) putting up with him.  That afternoon, I decided I wanted to wear a cute sundress and I remember my mom coming in my room telling me, "Oh, dress up... you're going to a nice dinner." Or something along those lines.... Hmm...I thought, that's interesting. But, I concealed any hopes I had and didn't let Steven know that's what I was wondering. Steven showed up with my absolute favorite flowers, stargazer lilies. And then, we went to dinner at Firebirds (super good restaurant) and as we were leaving the restaurant, I walked behind Steven a few feet.... ya know, just to check him out. That's what I told him at least, but I was secretly looking at him from behind to see if I could see any box shaped objects in his pockets, hahahaha! I still felt kind of nervous that night and kept wondering, "is this the day?".  After dinner, I asked to go to the mall and we walked around for a little bit before leaving.  We started driving around and all of the sudden Steven starts turning into this park.  I'm all like, "Oh my gosh, are you taking me dancing?!?" Background info here: while we dated, Steven would randomly make a mixed CD and surprise me by taking me dancing in the park, very cute.  So, dancing in the park was nothing "out of the ordinary" to me.  I'm still clueless by this point.  We park, get out, he turns on the music and we're dancing to "Brown Eyed Girl".. I think, haha.  That song ends, we're still dancing, and the song "Going to the Chapel" starts.

Um... that's an interesting song of choice, Steven. Steven?! Where are you....oh my gosh, you're on one knee!  That's what was going through my mind, haha.  I remember telling myself to smile because I was shocked that it was actually happening.  So, after many minutes of screaming, laughing, kissing, hugging, and jumping up and down, I finally realized that I should probably look at the ring! Hahaha, I was so happy that he was proposing that I could've cared less for the ring!  Long (really long, huh?!) story short, I said yes, we were engaged for 4 months and happily married on January 17th, 2009.

The night we got engaged

 

He did good!

       

Not Me! Monday

It's Monday and ya'll know what that brings, Not Me! Monday!  This blog carnival was created by MckMama. So, head over there to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

It is not me who was having a crazy insane dream the other night and started choking on something... in my dream of course.  In my dream, I did not start spitting in order to stop choking.. which totally doesn't make sense by the way.  It was not me who woke up to find myself spitting all over my pillow. I did not then wake up my husband who was in a deep sleep, just to tell him I had spit all over my pillow because I thought it was hilarious. Oh, the joys of acting out dreams...which I apparently do all the time, haha.


I am not unbelievably excited that my husband is done with his first semester in grad school.  I have not already started thinking of everything I want to do with him on his couple week break. I do not happen to think that I have the absolute best husband in the world!

Finally!

The pictures you've all been waiting for! Sorry that a lot of them are blurry, the lighting in there made it hard to take clear pictures.

 

  

 

 

The black lines were not on the poster, I blacked out his cell phone number and email... 

We don't need freaks trying to get ahold of us :-)

  

Picture courtesy of Seungmo Lim - a guy in the design school, thesis semester

Here's a picture of everyone that was taken the last day.  I made it really big so you can see everyone. I think it's such a cool looking picture... the guys in the front all look like they're modeling! 

*You can click on any picture so see it bigger

Pillow Talk

It's almost 3 am. What an appropriate title to this post.

I'm exhausted. But can't sleep.

Husband is snoring.  He's so tired. It's keeping me up. I"ve been laying in bed for 2 hours trying to sleep.

I love that man even though I can't sleep.

My side feels like someone is stabbing it. Not good.

My stomach hurts, eh, at least I'm alive. Right?

Design show was awesomely cool. Lots of cool designs and concepts there.

A decent amount of car designers showed up from various car companies like BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, etc.

A couple of internships given out.

Excited for the people who got internships. Lord knows this economy sucks.

Wondering if I'm allergic to cooking oil. Wondering if that's even possible. Maybe i'll allergic to potatoes?

Had the song from Happy Days stuck in my head. All. Day. LONG.

Contemplating sleeping on the couch. Yes, i'm that desperate for sleep.

Wondering if it's possible to muffle snoring by applying pillow to said persons face without killing them. Probably not a good idea. Please don't take that as I want to kill my husband. No need to read into that :-)

SO wish it was Monday afternoon.

Dreaming about Steven graduating.  Wonder what life will be like once we get settled.

Love being Steven's wife.

Loving not having contact with the world. Yes, it is nice at times.

Really loving being able to experience this with Steven. Sometimes feel special for being able to experience this with him alone. 

Lips hurt real bad. Why is it I get chapped lips every time we go out?

Praying for internship.  Too bad I heard that they are no paid internships for 1 year.

Really wanting to go home. To Raleigh.

Really miss Chick-fil-A and family/friends.

Starting to think this post is getting too long. Wonder if people realize that writing helps me get my mind off things.  Wonder if people know what "pillow talk" means. 

Hmm...to sleep on the couch or not? Or sleep with earphones in? Wishing they sold Breath Right strips here. Desperate for quietness :-)

Have I mentioned today that I love Steven. He is amazing.  I loved watching him "man" his project.  He's such a trooper :-)

Oh, so of course when I found a link to a "How Well Do You Know Your Spouse?" quiz on Dr. Phil's website, I just had to do it! So, let's see how well Steven and I know each other... we'll see how well we've e listened to each other after 7 years of being together :-) His answers will be in blue and mine in red.

My quiz on how well I know Steven: (Steven's answers in blue, mine in red)

1. What is your spouse’s shoe size? 11 1/2. True

2. How many children did your spouse want when you got married? 2. Actually 2.5...just to keep up with the statistics for an ideal family.

3. In what city was your spouse born? Don't know the city but it was somewhere in NJ. It was Ridgewood.

4. If your spouse had his or her dream job, what would it be? Car Designer or Nascar Driver.  yeehaw.


5. What was your spouse’s first job? Maintenance crew at Providence. Cleaning toilets was just glorious.


6. What is your spouse’s mother’s maiden name? Belanus.  Yes, it is... now stop with the jokes, haha.


7. Has your spouse ever had a nickname? If so, what was it. Bubba... yeah, except he's not fat like the typical "bubba's". It's a family nickname, I did not give it to him, haha.  Actually my nickname came after I saw Forest Gump and began to recite all of Bubba Gumps lines..while pretending to have big lips. Yes honey, but you aren't retarded..which is why you shouldn't be named after him :-) Just sayin'...


8. What single word would your spouse use to describe you? Outgoing. I only get one word?......if a picture is worth a thousand words than my wife is worth over a million.....but if I really have to pick one word, it would be......Hyper.


9. What is your spouse’s blood type? I have no earthly clue... maybe I should find that out, haha. I don't even know my own blood type, oops.  Sad thing is....neither do I.....I guess I'm a goner if anything happens to me!


10. What is your spouse’s favorite way to wind down after a stressful day? Play on the computer and look at cars online. Watch all of the movies I have seen like a thousand times....just so my mind has to do little else but tell me to breathe.


Steven's quiz on well he knows me: (my answers in red, Steven's in blue)


1. What is your spouse’s shoe size? 6 1/2. Yep baby, you got it... i'm short and sweet w/ small feet :-) Wow, i'm a poet and didn't even know it!

2. How many children did your spouse want when you got married? Hmmmmm.....2. Yes, either 2 or 3... leaning more near the 3 children side... 2 biological and 1 adopted. Adoption has always been a huge desire of mine (and Steven's).


3. In what city was your spouse born? Boynton Beach, Florida.  She is still a beach bum. What, beach bum?! Me? No way. Ok, so you're right... Boynton Beach is where this girl made her appearance!


4. If your spouse had his or her dream job, what would it be? Owning her own small cafe. Well, that or/and being a stay at home mom or being a cancer researcher/oncologist.


5. What was your spouse’s first job? Chic-fil-a baby!!! Oh yeah, I can cook some mean fried chicken ;-) #1 no pickle please!


6. What is your spouse’s mother’s maiden name? King. Yes, acknowledge the royalty in my family please :-) Kidding...King is right!


7. Has your spouse ever had a nickname? If so, what was it? Boo Boo....well, actually I have no clue. But a couple of mine for her are: baby beluga (it comes from a children's song), chipmunk, goober, DQ (and not because of the ice cream), and bam bam. Hmm... well technically, it was Kimbo growing up...
 
8. What single word would your spouse use to describe you? Awesome....hehehehe. Awesome, really?! Ok, so you are awesome. But, if I had to describe you in just one simple word it would be, patient.


9. What is your spouse’s blood type? I have no clue, but you could ask the blood bank that she passed out at. Yeah, i'm with ya on that one. I have no idea what blood type I am... I meant to ask the girl who drew my blood on that blood bank bus...but I passed out afterwards and forgot, haha.

10. What is your spouse’s favorite way to wind down after a stressful day? Definitely taking a shower....this is why I take cold showers. JK. Oh yes, you know me so well! I definitely take a shower whenever I'm stressed, not feeling good, or um..oh yeah, dirty  :-) But, it is the #1 way I wind down.

How Well Do YOU know Your Husband?

Since Steven is spending countless hours in front of the computer, I thought I'd do a post on him.  Well, more a post about him :-) I found this survey and thought I'd give it a try and see how many of answers are right :-) We'll see how well I know this boy! Warning, this could be a long post. I'm that bored, haha!

So, you're next... how well do YOU know your husband?


1. Sitting in front of the tv, what's on the screen?

Sports, 24, or the news.


2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?

Italian


3. What's one food he doesn't like?

Asparagus

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order?

A dark imported beer. But, if we're not at a bar probably sweet tea or coke.

5. Where did he go to high school?

Leesville High. Gag me. Just kidding baby!


6. What size shoe does he wear?

11 1/2


7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?

Car models or watches.


8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?

BLT

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?

Steak and potatoes.

10. What is his favorite cereal?

Lucky Charms.

11. What would he never wear?

Skinny jeans.

12. What is his favorite sports team?

NC State

13. Who will he vote for?

He voted for McCain/Palin.

14. Who is his best friend?

Me

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?

Feel sick so much.

16. How many states has he lived in?

2


17. What is his heritage?

German and Dutch.


18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?

Ice cream cake or cheesecake.


19. Did he play sports in high school?

Um, no unless band counts.

20. What could he spend hours doing?

Looking at cars online.


21. Do you know if they have a favorite color? If you answered yes, do you know what it is?

 Blue


22. When was the last time your spouse ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

Last week.

23. Speaking of sandwiches, how does your spouse feel about BLTs?

 Loves them. See question #8.

24. Revisiting the topic of peanut butter...if your spouse likes PB, do they prefer it chunky or smooth?

 Smooth... chunky is nasty.

25. How does your spouse get dressed? From top to bottom or bottom to top?

 Bottom to top. I mean, most of time I'm admiring him, not taking note of which direction he dresses from ;-)


26. What's your spouse's favorite song?

 I have no idea. Maybe some song by Skillet.

27. What concert would your spouse fork out big bucks to sit front row at?

 Skillet.

28. What radio station does your spouse listen to most?

 We don't listen to radio stations over here in Germany but he listens to itunes a lot.


29. What CD is in his or her car's CD player right now?

 He sold his car....tear.


30. What's your spouse's dream job?

 Being a car designer.

31. Speaking of sports, do you know if your spouse had a sports hero growing up and who it was?

 I have no idea.

32. Sticking to sports, do you know if there's an athlete your spouse would like to meet?  

 Philip Rivers.


33. Have any movies ever made your spouse cry? Do you know which ones?


 Marley and Me. He's a softy for animals dying :-) But, just to clarify... he didn't cry he simply teared up.

34. What expression does your spouse use most?

 "I guess so."


35. How would your spouse dress 24/7 if they could?

 Race cars.


36. What did your spouse eat for lunch yesterday?

 I have no idea...he was at school. But according to him, he had a ham and cheese sandwich. Opps, I cheated :-)


37. Whose email addresses are stored in their computer's address book?

 Mine, his parents, my parents, and other important emails.

38. Whose phone numbers are stored in their cell phone?

 Some random ones with German wording that we don't know what they're for,  my phone number, Silke's, and some friends from school.

39. What kind of burial preferences does your spouse have?

 Weirdly, we have discussed this...ya know, just in case the worst ever happens we know what each other wanted since we each determine each other's burial location, etc. Anyways, he/we both want to be buried at the cemetary next to our home church. It's huge and beautiful. Oh, and no cremations here!

40. Has your spouse ever wanted to know how to speak another language? If so, which one?

 German but i'm not sure if that was a "want" or a "need" since we are now living in Germany.


41. What's the longest book your spouse has ever read? 

 I have no idea.


42. What's their favorite book?

Besides the Bible, he has favorite authors but i'm not sure if he has a favorite book.

43. Who was their favorite author as a child?

 Dr. Seuss? I don't know...


44. What was their favorite book as a child?

 Once again, I don't know :-)


45. Did their parents read them bedtime stories?

I'm sure they did...

Five Question Friday

Ah, Friday. You took your sweet time getting here this week, but alas, you did.  Thank God.  Ya'll know what Friday brings, right? Well, besides my hot date with my hot husband. Hot. Husband. Have I mentioned yet that he's one hot fella? Ok, you've probably gotten the point by now. Anywhoodles. Ah, I wish that word was a "real" word, haha.... it just sounds fun rolling off the tip of your tongue. Ok, back to what I was saying.... or typing. Friday means it's time for 5 question Friday! Yes! I love little question and answer sessions.

Ya'll should definitely check out this cool chic's blog. Ya know, because she started 5 question Friday and everything. Not to mention she has some quite funny stories. So, hop on over to Mama M's blog for some other intriguing 5 question Friday's.



1. Worst trouble you ever got into as a teenager?
Ok, let's see... I shouldn't have to think that hard because it seems that right until I started dating my now husband, I was always in trouble or grounded.  Ah, the life of a rebel. Totally kidding.  I'm sure there were times when I got in A LOT of trouble, but the one that stands out the most in my head, is the day I snuck out to lunch. A girls gotta eat, right!  Anyways, I believe it was the beginning of 10th grade in high school and I hadn't made straight A's for the term, so I couldn't get my lunch pass.  That meant, I would have to wait a semester to get my off campus lunch pass. And, that wasn't going to cut it for me because all of my friends were able to go off campus for lunch.  So, one day the intelligent kid that I was agreed to sneak off campus with my friends. They all got in the car, I got in the backseat with 2 other people and then they pulled down the back seats so I could hide. Yup, I crawled into the trunk to hide. Classic I know. We had this not so mean looking police officer at our high school that would check your passes everyday just to make sure you were allowed off.  Later that day, I was bragging to my friend on the phone about what I had done and lo and behold, my mom heard me talking... and shortly after her hearing our conversation, I was grounded. Surprise, Surprise.

2. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Night. Mornings and me to not mix.  Unless of course, you consider 11-12 pm morning hours.

3. Are you a one-handed or a two-handed Texter?
Two handed all the way, baby! I'm not talented enough to text with one hand. Maybe one of these days I'll be that good.

4. Democrat, Republican, or Independent..or maybe even Green Party (whatever that is).
Republican. I like being an elephant 'cause we all know what the donkey really stands for.  Haha, ok, that was a bad reference. Plus, if it wasn't for the democrats we wouldn't have this ridiculous health bill being passed. Ok, sorry I won't get all political on ya'll :-) Just my personal opinion.

5. Are you a pet person?
Yes, for the most part.  See, here's the thing. I LOVE dogs but, they can't be the small, yappy kind. I like big dogs that intimidate potential house robbers, haha.  Ok, so they don't have to be intimidating or huge... more along the golden retriever size.  And, I love kittens. Kittens, not cats. They are cute, cuddly, spunky, hyper, and well, cute.  But, I have this thing against grown fat cats. I don't care for cats like that...I don't hate them, I just don't personally love them. Ah, I can feel the glares from my in laws, I swear I love Colby, he's an exception, haha!  Now, if it's my personal cat that I've raised since it was a kitten, that's different.  It's just they get slow and boring as they get older and they just sit there. Ya know, it's true about all cats at times. Oh well, at least dogs you can always interact with.

Prepare yourself... this is a picture only post.

Gasp, what?! Yep, I'm here to bore, I mean entertain you with random pictures I just found from when we were home :-)

First, I must share these next two photos with you. I find them quite hilarious.

Should I wonder where my husband gets his silliness from? Hmm, no, I think not!

I guess the old saying is true here: Like father, like son!

Now, onto more serious stuff. Ha, right....

Ok, I'll stop writing since this is suppose to be pictures only, haha. We'll see how that goes :-)

Some of the American goodies we brought back

 

My momma and me!

Daddy-O and me rockin' out my brothers new sunglasses!

No words can give this picture justice, haha

Family numero dos

Steven and I call "him" Mr. Spanky.

How can you not love this face?

Goober. Gotta love a man that loves Fun Dip.

New Year, New Times, and New Experiences

It's almost that time again... ya know, the end of an old year and the beginning of a new year. Ah, I love the word "new."  I simply cannot wait to see and experience everything that I know this new year will bring.  Obviously, I do not know what it will bring but the one thing I do know, is that it is going to be one heck of a ride! And, a fun one at that.  This last year brought about many changes and Steven and I both know that this next year will bring about a lot more changes.  As I do every year, I thought I would do a run down of our yearly "highlights."

January 2009

- Steven and I got married!
- Took our first vacation by ourselves
- I (Kimberly) experienced taking a cruise vacation for the 1st time... and now, I (we) am/are hooked!
- Moved into our first place... a cute little apartment by NC State
- I worked at a restaurant, Steven at a design corp.
- Celebrated 6 years of being together

February 2009

- Had our first Valentines Day married!
- Quit my job at the restaurant I was working at
- Discovered the meaning of a "stay at home wife" and fell in love with it. Hey, admit it... it's fun :-)

March 2009

- I started a new job at The Goddard School in Fuquay-Varina
- Steven and I began the fun adventure of driving to work together everyday :-)
- We started a fun date "tradition" of going letterboxing... so fun, google it.

April 2009

- We started taking mini vacations and the first one was to see the North Carolina Battleship at the beach
- Threw my mom a surprise birthday party!
- Took our first real long rode trip up to New Jersey to attend Steven's sweet grandmother's funeral. I got to meet a ton of family on Steven's side that I had never met...

May 2009

- Became Uncle Steven and Aunt Kimberly for the first time with the birth of Kara Smith! So exciting :-)
(and now, my sister's baby is due in May 2010...so we'll be aunts/uncles to another sweet baby)
- Had front row seats to see one of Steven's favorite bands, Skillet, in concert (early birthday present).

June 2009

- Had my family's annual reunion at Emerald Isle for a week - a much needed vacation!
- Went and saw Cape Lookout and then we all had the bright idea to walk 4 miles to the point.
- Steven left for Germany for 4 days for his interview with Pforzheim University
- Celebrated Steven's 23rd birthday at the beach... which is always fun
:-)

July 2009

-  Steven got his acceptance letter for Pforzheim University
- We began putting most of our belongings on Craigslist
- Started looking/applying for housing in Germany (student housing)
- Started researching Pforzheim even more!!!!

August 2009

- Celebrated my (Kimberly) 23rd birthday
- Never heard back from student housing so we started looking for other housing
- I quit my job
- Steven ended his job
- Spent 2 weeks packing up our apartment until 3 am most days
- Sold our cars
- Began eating enormous amounts of food that wouldn't be available in Germany, haha
- Moved to Pforzheim, Germany on August 27th
- Lived with Silke and Dirk for about 4 days (Thank you guys again!)

September 2009

- Moved into our first apartment in Germany
- Saw my first castle!!!!
** There are so many highlights of this month that I won't list anymore or else you'd have paragraphs upon paragraphs to read, haha **

October 2009

- Steven started his graduate program
- I stay(ed) at home for the first time ever!
- Started attending IBC - International Baptist Church of Stuttgart
- I began taking beginner German classes, which were really like advance classes, go figure.
- We finally met and started having some friends!

November 2009
- My German language classes ended
- Had our first Thanksgiving as a married couple... it was so fun and so sweet

December 2009

- Experienced our first snow in Germany
- Went frequently to the Christmas Market in Pforzheim
- Had 2 fires in our apartment building (not our apartment... we never cause fires, gosh)
- Traveled 21 hours home to North Carolina to see our friends and family for Christmas!


Now, I know that the months September and on don't look too impressive.  But, let me tell ya, we had so many new and different things we were trying that I can't remember half of them. All I know, is that in 8 months my life went from being "normal" to being beyond interesting! In the last year, we have experienced marriage and moving to a new country where we knew no one and nothing! Talk about a lot of change...

I cannot wait to see what this new year brings and to be able to share it all with ya'll. 

Happy New Year from the Bockmanns!!!