26 Candles!

September 7th marked my 26th birthday... 26 - what?!

I can't believe I'm almost 30 is all I kept thinking that day lol

The Monday before my birthday, we celebrated my birthday at Jane & Joel's house. Jane made one of my favorite dinners (her homemade mac & cheese), along with lots of other yummy things :) It was a great night out, and we were able to sit around the table outside and talk & laugh for a few hours. On my actual birthday, Jordan had my family over for a BBQ - always a fun time :)

It may not be the prettiest cake, but it was sure delicious!

26 :)

My Mom made me take this picture, literally! lol I felt like I was 5 all over again ;)

Blowing out the candles! Jordan of course got "trick" candles, so it took a while ;)

Looking forward to all the things God has planned for this next year of my life :)

Love & Blessings,

Jenna

365 of the greatest days...

So, I know I am a little late with this post, but we have been very busy! Regardless, this is a VERY important post & I finally have time to blog about it :)


August 28, 2011 - marked day 365 of the greatest year of my life. I have never made a better decision in my life than marrying my very best friend. Jordan, you are my everything. Thank you for loving me, supporting me, working so hard to support us, always making me smile and laugh, kissing away all of my tears, for always cheering me on and encouraging me, and for giving me the greatest gifts in the world: your love, your friendship, and the greatest 3+ years of my life. I love you most.

God has surely blessed me with an amazing man to spend my forever with. We celebrated by spending a beautiful week in the mountains. We talked about our life, our love & our future - which all rest in God's hands, for there are no better hands for it to be in. Our first year has definitely been a whirlwind, the love that we felt for each other on August 28, 2010 has grown ten fold. God has so richly blessed us with a beautiful love for each other, a beautiful life, and a beautiful future. We look forward to all He has planned for us and starting our own family very soon :)


Celebrating our first year of marriage at beautiful Alpine Lake-Bear Valley

One of my most favorite things to do.

On one of our many hikes :)

Love

On Friday, we went to Calaveras Big Trees

On Saturday, we went wine tasting at this super cute little vineyard in Murphys.

The Richards :)

Love this one!

Can't get enough of those ;)

Our Saturday night dinner - yum-o!

Bonfire time :)

1 year!!

Happy :)

Love him to pieces.

On another one of our many hikes.

Gorgeous view.

8.28.11 - Starting out our anniversary at Lake Alpine :)

It was a beautiful day :)

Getting ready to head to dinner :)

So handsome :)

Lucky in love.

Delicious dinner @ Lake Apline Lodge

Yes - our anniversary dinner was cheeseburgers & fries. It was deeeelicious!

It was the cutest, quaint little restaurant :)

Happy Anniversary to us! :)

Toasting our 1st year of marriage :)

Love our rings, and everything they mean.

I have the sweetest husband, ever! He wrote the cutest little notes on each candy :)

Looking forward to the next 100 years & all that God has in store for us.

Love & Blessings,
J & J

Heaven

I find it hard to believe that I have lived 1 year without her... her love, her amazing advice (she would always say; "everything is going to be all right.") & her sweet-funny faces. I love knowing she is with God & all of her loved ones that she missed so much, but that doesn't make me miss her any less. I have truly missed her every minute since she left. I was given this advice this morning... "Think of it like this... She's not really gone, she's just away & we will all be together again one day. Live your life & make her proud... look up... she is just beyond the clouds." -My Momma

This past year... heaven gained two of the most important people in my life. My Nanny, and my Dad. One was sadly expected, the other, completely unexpected. Death is never an easy thing to understand, but I was hit head on with having to try & understand, while all the while knowing I shouldn't ask "why?". A few things I know for sure that have gotten me through the heartaches of the past year... The first, is my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Knowing that He has the plan, that He sees the big picture, that one day I will see all of those that have gone before me... that gave me hope. The second, my amazing Husband. We have faced more things in our 1st year of marriage, than some couples face in 20 years. We believe the trials & struggles we have endured have only made our relationship stronger, and have brought us closer than we ever imagined. We are reminded that the trials & struggles of this life, only help us to draw closer to God, and make us appreciate our blessings even more. These are lyrics from one of my favorite Christian songs... "Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops? What if Your healing comes through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near? What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?" -Blessings by Laura Story. The third, my wonderful family. They haven't invented words for how much I love them. We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

If you haven't heard the song "Knowing What I Know About Heaven" by Guy Penrod, as well as "Blessings" by Laura Story, please look them up on Youtube. They both have the most amazing lyrics.

I'll end with these...

"God is able to accomplish, provide, help, save, keep, subdue... He is able to do what you can't. He already has the plan. God's not bewildered. Go to Him." -Max Lucado

"If today were your last, would you do what you're doing? Or would you love more, give more, forgive more? Then do so! Forgive and give as if it were your last opportunity. Love like there's no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again." -Max Lucado



The most beautiful, sweet, amazing woman I've ever met... I will miss her everyday until we meet again.
I love you, Nanny.


Love & Blessings,
 Jenna

Busy busy bee's :)

The last 2 months have definitely been busy months for J & J! 

Here is a little rundown on the last couple of weeks:

- We celebrated our 3 year anniversary.

- Backyard Re-model - tons of work, but absolutely worth it.

- Jordan's Softball team became the champions out at Big League Dreams, go team B&Z Auto.

- Jenna had her first root canal, ouch :(

- We celebrated a few good friend's b-days.

- We celebrated our first 4th of July as a married couple :)

- Jenna went fishing for the first time, and caught her first fish in the first 5 mins. Woohoo

- We've made a couple of trips to the lake, one of our favorite pastimes.

- We had our first bbq in our new backyard.

- We spent a few nights enjoying Concert in The Park in downtown Modesto.

- Jenna got a new job at Shoob Photography! Absolutely love it! :)

- Jordan has still been training hard for his FBI fit tests, still unsure of his academy date.

- We celebrated our 10 & 11 month wedding anniversaries. We can hardly believe that it's almost been 1 year!!

We are enjoying every little bit of life & every day that God gives us with each other & the ones we love :) We are looking forward to all of the weeks & months ahead that God has planned for us. 

Here is our quote for the day:

"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace & your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

Love & Blessings,

J & J

More Summer Fun...

 So... the day that we finished our yard, as if we hadn't done enough that day... Jordan decided to take me fishing! I had never been before & was beyond excited! :)

Fishin' at The Delta with my boys :)

Waiting for a bite...

He is so presh :)

Giving me a heart attack!

I absolutely love him to pieces :)

Love.

Adorable ;)

Woohoo, I caught my first fish!! A catfish :)

Yeah buddy!! P.s. They made me kiss it - yuck!! :-/

Gorgeous sunset.

Look closely... you can see Austin :)

A successful first fishing trip for me, thanks to my Hubby & Uncle Vic :)

After our successful first fishing trip together, we were beyond excited to have our backyard done in time for the 4th of July! We really enjoy having everyone over & love love love being outside, so we were very excited to be able to do both :)

"I got you, yea you're it, the missing piece that makes me fit. I got you, the breath I breathe & there ain't nothing else I need. I don't need a big ole house, full of stuff. What my arms are wrapped around, that's enough. Your morning smile, your kiss goodnight & everything's alright. When the right goes wrong, when I'm scared to death and got nothing left to lean on... I got you."

Getting ready to have our first bbq in our beautiful new backyard :)

J Sandwich - Josh, Jenna & Jesse :)

Just a few of our good friends - Eddie, Josh, Jenna, Jordan & Jesse :)

William & Jenna :)

Up to no good I'm sure ;)

This year was our first 4th of July in our house, and boy do we have fun neighbors! They set up this huge slip n slide at the park across the street from our house :)

Ms. Annie Rose taking her turn going down!

Jordan's turn!!

Having waaaay too much fun!!

Wiffle ball game with the neighbors :)

Uncle Victor & Jordan :)

Firework time...

So pretty!

My blue-eyed boy :)

Happy 4th of July 2011

We spent spent one of our beautiful Summer nights bbqing dinner for just the two of us...

My sweet hubby bbqing away :)

Dinner for two :)

The fur babies - taking full advantage of their new backyard!

MercyMe came to the Stanislaus County Fair

The concert was absolutely amazing! It was so amazing to see all of those people - of every age, worshiping God & at the county fair no less.

 We hadn't been out to Jordan's parents in a while, so we took advantage of another beautiful Modesto night & walked out back to take a look a the Candy Cots :)

L.O.V.E.

We hope you all are having an amazingly blessed Summer. Cherish every moment you have with one another :) You never know what tomorrow will bring.

Love & Blessings,

J & J