Two Years and An I-Do Later...

Today's pretty crazy to think that two years ago I asked Hailey to marry me, and we've been married for a year and a half now. Tomorrow is also the day I asked her out, so these two days mean a lot to us. Looking back, it's great seeing how even in two years how far we've come

First stop on the date for us was the Zoo. I'm still trying to get her a meet and greet with a baby monkey (her one of many life goals).

Next up: Santa Monica Pier

Now, this is where I open up about a story I haven't posted about, and only friends we've told in-person have heard. 

Hailey really shouldn't have married me. Not after what I did to her leading up to it. The entire day went great. Spent the day at the zoo, enjoyed the pier, and enjoyed LA. I had dinner plans at Charthouse in Marina Del Rey for us that night, and it was going to be awesome. But, because of a variety of issues, mostly related to family, I was scared out of my mind to ask her. I knew I wanted to, but I let the pressure of what my family would think get into my head and I nutted up in the worst way. Everything I was going to say or do just went out the window, and it fell apart. 

Well, you're probably thinking, "Jake, it couldn't have been that bad, I mean, she still said 'yes', right?" 

YEAH. It was that bad. To me it was. 

So, walking up to Charthouse, we saw this odd couple. The dude was incredibly short, balding, sorta fat, etc. chick was incredibly tall, hairy..just a dynamic that threw off the balance, y'know? 

Hailey leans over to me and says "what I was that much taller than you?" 

I replied, with no filter to my idiotic thought: "what if I was that much more bald than you?"

STRIKE. ONE. 

You see, Hailey has alopecia. Don't know what that is? It's basically a autoimmune issue where her white blood cells get bored and attack things like hair follicles. It's not really bad for her, but occasionally she'll get a bald spot, and we go to the dermatologist and take care of it. 

So, I just called my future wife bald, and made fun of her autoimmune issue. 

I somehow made it through dinner without flubbing anything, but afterwards didn't stop me from

STRIKE. TWO. 

We're walking on the beach of the marina, she looks over to me and says "hey do I have anything in my teeth?" I go...."yeah, a fake one."

Firstly, my wife is a badass. She lost a tooth to a basketball fight in high school. Like, how many chicks do that?! Second, I'm a jerk. Like, how many dudes say that?! 

You'd think I'd be good by now. I get the jitters out of my system and I proceed with the night..

You'd think that it'd be smooth sailing by now, and it'd be all wonderful, right? 

There wouldn't be anything coming up around the corner buuuuutttt.....

STRIKE. THREE.

So, Hailey's wedding ring is actually her late-grandmothers. It was given to me to give to her by her family. I thought this would be a brilliant idea. Why? I have NO FREAKING CLUE. 

But, I ask her if she wanted a surprise. She knew it. She had every idea in the world of what was to come, and I shouldn't have said anything and just dropped a knee then and there. Nope. 

I hand her an empty ring box. Told her that the ring could be hidden at the restaurant, at another location, back at home, and she had to guess. 

I WAS SO DAFT. It never occurred to me that this was a bigger issue than I had thought, all because of her late grandmother's ring being in the possession of someone else. I was just trying to find a fun way to do this. 

I told her to close her eyes, I got behind her and dropped to a knee. Told her to open her eyes and she turned around. I asked if she wanted to marry me, she said yes and cried (I think more out of relief the ring was safe and the torture was hopefully over...). I hugged her, we kissed, and stood there for a long time. After that, we drove back home, with Hailey calling as many people as she could, elated. Why, I don't know. I just struck out, and yet I still somehow hit a home run. 

But now, because I made such a horrific mess of the proposal, I now intend to find a creative way to ask her every year to be my girl all over again. A lifetime of different proposals makes up for one bad one, hopefully. Either way, I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have a girl that puts up with some massively bad blunders. 

Meet Winnie

It's been about a week since we've had our new family member, and she's already captured my heart. It's funny, because I didn't even want her. Hailey has been on me for about the last six months, trying to convince me that we needed a dog. I haven't wanted one since I lost my first dog DJ. It just never really felt right.

But, a week ago, after coming home from a trip to Long Beach, she had looked up at least half a dozen puppies of various breeds, and wanted to 'just go look'. I had started to take a nap, but I was woken up around 8:00pm with a phone in my face and Hailey saying "Theres puppies we can 'just go look' at right now. Well, look at how well 'just go look' went. We 'just bought' a puppy. Not just any puppy, the first puppy we looked at. There wasn't any hesitation or doubt. She was ours.

The owner was a good old country boy. I'm not talking your basic redneck. I'm talking, the guy had a definitive twang, and when we walked up, he was finishing up a pack of bud light with his friend, and smoking deer jerky from a recent hunting trip. Shorts, tank top, fishing hat, he fit the stereotypical bill for redneck. But, he was an absolute gentleman, and came off as a guy who would hug you over hit you. His dog, our puppy's mom, was super clean, well behaved, so I figured the puppy had to be the same way. We walk to his backyard, and there she was, laying by the side wall of the house, in the shade. There she was, a little half Queensland, half uhm...half...Schnauzer? Terrier? We don't really know. Anyway, Hailey held her first, and watching her, I knew that this was it. The minute I would hold her would be it. I'd melt, and say yes.

Now I've got two girls to look after. 

Well, that obviously happened, because now we're a week into owning this puppy, and she's adapted so well into our little family of two. Hailey was right. A dog would be great for us, especially me. I've been grumpy lately, because of a variety of reasons. Coming home now to a dog gets my mind off things, and I've got a little thing that loves me unconditionally and doesn't care what happened during the day, and just wants to play. It really is the best.

 Obviously we're still learning how to train her and housebreak her a little bit, but she really is quite adorable, and learns fast. On friday nights, we decided she gets to sleep up on the bed with us, but otherwise she's adapting well to her crate. In the next few weeks we go to get her second round of shots, and once she's cleared, I'm thinking a trip to the park to play is in order.

As for now, I'm going to go play some tug of war with this little one, and just enjoy some pure happiness. 

No Bake Energy Bites

Hi everyone!
With all the stress of wedding planning, moving, school, and much more I found myself letting myself go. (No excuses though, purely my fault). However, I REALLY have no excuses now. It's time to get back into it! Jacob and I have been swimming and bike riding a lot plus playing softball twice a week. I have been doing a lot of meal prep and eating whole foods instead of processed. And we both have committed to drinking a gallon of water a day. And even within the last two weeks I've personally felt a difference in how I feel throughout the day. My face has cleared up, I'm not as bloated, my metabolism is getting faster, and I have much more energy.

But even with clean eating... my sweet tooth is still something fierce, even more so with eating right. So what do you do about it? Ice cream? A candy bar? Cake and cookies? Sometimes... sure. (No judgement here) But every day? NO. So this is one of my absolute favorite recipes to crave a sweet tooth in a healthier way.

No Bake Energy Bites

In a medium bowl mix oats, coconut flakes, peanut butter, flaxseed, honey, vanilla and chocolate chips.

When you choose your ingredients, remember CLEAN EATING! So with coconut, either buy your own coconut and roast it and shred it yourself or get unsweetened organic at the store. The other important ingredient to get clean is the peanut butter. Don't go with Jif or Skippy with all of the extra unnecessarily ingredients, go with a much natural peanut butter. Take a look at the difference in ingredients from Skippy on the left, to what I used on the right...

Once you're done mixing all of the ingredients together, use your hands to make ball shapes. I make mine about an inch by an inch.

Then pop them in a big ziplock bag and refrigerate them until you are ready to eat them. I usually like mine in between breakfast and lunch as a little pick me up. They're SO good and very filling.

Ingredients:
1 cup of whole wheat oats
2/3 cups of unsweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/3 cup of honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup of chocolate chips (you can add more or less depending on what you like)

You can add more or less of whatever ingredients you'd like. I usually add craisins, chia seeds, or any type of nut as well. Since they are no bake, there doesn't have to be an exact ratio of anything. I like to substitute honey for agave nectar sometimes too. The possibilities are endless!


Happy Healthy Eating!

-HW

Young, Wild, and Married

I got married 5 days after I turned 20 years old. Because of that I got a lot of "Wow you are SO young" "Are you sure you're ready!?" "You already are getting tied down THIS young!?" A lot of the comments I got were pretty negative or doubtful. And I know that some may look down on young marriages, but honestly, I don't get it. I found my person that I want to spend the rest of my life with... without having to search for very long.  I didn't get my heart broken a bunch, I didn't sleep around, I didn't have a ton of failed relationships. It's not a negative thing, it's a blessing. A big blessing. Not only did it save me a lot of heartache spending many years to find the one... but it also means that I get more time with my spouse (God willing). Do I regret getting married young? Not one bit. I am so incredibly in love with my husband and best friend.

Marriage has honestly been the best thing to happen to me. While Jake and I have a lot of similarities, we are also pretty different in some aspects. It's these differences that make life interesting. Before being with him, I think I lacked every possible ounce of compassion where he had plenty of it. He was patient, I wasn't. He was kinder with his words… I wasn't. But never once did he look down on me for that, or love me less because of it. Instead, he used his compassion, patience, and kind words to help me. We grew together, and that is a beautiful thing. I have been blessed to see many wonderful marriages in my life, and I always prayed that one day… someone, somewhere, would be able to look at my marriage and think the exact same thing. And I truly believe that that will happen.

At the moment, Jake and I are simply a family of two. Our own little Williams family. One day, not anytime soon, but some day… we will expand our family. Until then, Jake and I are working to create that strong foundation for them. It is our job as husband and wife to love and live deeply. To set our family rules and beliefs into place now rather than later. To work hard and play hard. We are only four months into creating our family's foundation… and by golly I think we are doing a pretty damn good job.

So to all the "haters" who questioned, doubted, and thought we were stupid… you were wrong. I'm not in this to "prove anyone wrong" because ultimately that isn't my goal nor my intentions. My goal is to have the best marriage possible with my absolute best friend. And while doing that, sharing my revelations, recipes, DIY projects, thoughts, and anything I feel like on our blog. And maybe that one person… somewhere… someday… will stumble along our blog and be inspired by our marriage and our love.
-HW

The Past, Present, and Future Journeys

Mother's Day was yesterday. It's the first year Hailey and I are out on our own. It's interesting, but a lot of fun. This whole thing, about growing up, and learning more about yourself and your significant other is unbelievably wonderful. I love it. It's one of the greatest challenges I've had. Yet, I've really been thinking back about some things, specifically this week, about my family. Family is important. It's important to invest in their lives. Not just doing the basic work that makes your family keep going. No. Not that. Investing in their lives where you're able to pick up their mood immediately as they walk into the room. Going to surprise them with a little gift you know they'll like, just because you love them. Investing where you know what to order for them at restaurants if they aren't there, and be right the first time. I've come from a family where all of this has happened. Where we've done family trips all over the country, because we all love exploring. Where we may fight, but the fights don't last too long, and we're stronger after it, and don't make the same mistake twice. After all, it was my dad who said as I was growing up: "Measure twice, cut once".

I want to take a moment to write this out. I don't care how many people read this. I'm doing this for me, because I love writing, and I love sharing what I write, even if it's with a small audience. My family is important to me. So I want to write out my thoughts on each member.

First: My Hailey

This is the girl that stole my heart. She's smart. In year of college, she did two. She works two jobs, and has this work ethic of getting things done faster than you can ever imagine. Did I mention she's beautiful? With eyes that you can get lost in for forever, and a smile that will make anyone's bad day instantly better, I'm a lucky man to now be waking up next to her every morning. Oh, and did I say yet about how much she cares? No? Okay, let's put it this way: The first time I ever got sick, she drove 30 minutes out to the middle of nowhere where I work, brought me a 'Thank You, Jesus' (Secret Jamba Juice Menu...get on checking that out...), and cough drops, took my temperature, and asked every day when I was going to make a doctors appointment, because I was going to just ride out the cold, and she wanted me to go to get checked out, so she bugged me until I went. Because she cared. Ah, and I haven't mentioned her sense of humor. She can get me laughing to the point of tears. I haven't laughed with anyone more than her in the time we've been together. She's everything I could ever ask for in a wife and more. 

Next....

Hannah

So much could be said for this now seven year old. I was privileged to travel to China when we adopted her. She has a cleft lip (fixed now) and cleft palate (going to be fixed). You'd never think she had it though, with her spunky personality. She's seven, and at a fourth grade reading level. She is at the top of her class and at the top level for her age at the moment for gymnastics, and she's got her first meet already this coming July. She, next to Hailey is the girl who has me completely wrapped around her finger, and I'd do anything for. Hannah has adopted my love of Disney, and every Friday on my lunch break, she asks to watch an old Mickey Mouse short, and wants me to show her old photos of 'what was at Disneyland before I was born.' Her giggle is infectious, and her desire to be the best is inspirational. She loves any princess,  and adores reading and telling everyone about her latest book she read. It's really a blessing to see how far she's come, and will go.

Now for...

Emily

This girl...this girl is awesome. She's got the biggest heart of gold. There's been so many times through my life she's done things for me just because she wanted to, and I didn't realize it was something special until much later. For instance, when we were kids, she ran into the kitchen and asked my parents for a cup of water. They gave it to her, she ran back the way she came. Seconds later, she was back, and asked for a second. They asked "what'd you do with the one we gave you?" she replied: "That wasn't for me. That was Jacob's. May I have one for me now?" Things like that throughout my life she's done. We've argued like any siblings do, but at the end of the day, this beautiful girl is my sister and I'd do anything for her. She's amazingly smart and wants to get into wedding/event planning as a career, and I can't wait to see how it works for her. She's been drawing dresses and writing up what parties would look like ever since I could remember. Oh, and she has the COOLEST taste in music. My blondie found out who the Lumineers were before they became popular. Like, she was jamming to their EP months before they won grammies. It's amazing to hear what she finds, and then hear it months later as it's playing on the radio. As my closest sibling in age, she's one of my best friends. 

Now for....

The Parents

This was originally meant to be posted over the weekend as a Mother's Day write up, but since have changed it. My parents are the best. My dad has given me the chance to grow into the man I am, and I wish I could be half the man he is. My mother has given me the chance to learn compassion and love for others. Both of them have given me the chance to see the world I live in, experience flavors and styles of all over America and China. They've given me the foundation of my passion for life and exploring the world around me. My dad has given me the love of movies and music, and understanding why artists create their work. My mother has given me the love of Disney, and shown me so many wonderful stories that she grew up on, and I got to grow up on as well. They're the reason I've become who I am, and I'm beyond thankful for that. 

Which leads me to this: I'm now the man in my own family. I lead my family. It's definitely not something to take lightly. But with that said, I want to write this out: My family is never going to be stagnate. The world we live in is small enough already, and our lives are too short not to explore it. I've been blessed to be able to see over half the US and counting, and experience life in China when we adopted my sister. My family is going to experience culture, and new food, and countless memories made on trips. I would rather have a smaller house and a cheaper car, if that meant I can give my family the experiences of a lifetime. Through all of this, I'm sincerely thankful for my parents, who inspired me to see what's outside of my backyard, and explore what's around us. I'm thankful for a wife who's willing to be able to get up and go with me, and not just stay home doing nothing. I may only be twenty-one years young, but the life ahead of me and Hailey, I intend to live exploring the world around us. Which is why I'm thankful for this blog, where I can document and share the experiences we have. 

In Sickness and In Health

This past week Hailey has been feeling a bit ill. Yesterday she really wasn't feeling it, but went over to the beach to celebrate our little sisters' 7th birthday. We were planning on staying the night, but decided to cut the trip short, and head home.

She tossed and turned, and once kicked me trying to get comfortable, but with antibiotics, and even with a tub of sunscreen on her, she still got pretty burned on her legs. Last night, I was up thinking about how marriage vows really do play into married life, whether we notice it or not.

"In Sickness and In Health"

I took her to be my wife, and with those vows that I said, I promised to be there for her when she's healthy, or when she's down and sick. It isn't too hard to do, being there for someone when they're sick. Granted, this is nothing more than a small cold and some sinus issues, but I've heard older family friends of mine talk about how they have to take care of the kids, run the errands, make dinner, go to the meeting for work, etc. and their spouse is off in their world doing what they need to do for them. I'm not saying I'm not selfish, and I'm the worlds' best guy. But I actually enjoyed taking care of her. Running to CVS to pick up some NyQuil and cough drops, and grabbing a Jamba Juice C-Booster for her.

I know we're young and married, and older couples will probably say 'just wait, life hasn't fully kicked in yet'. They're probably right to a degree. But that view is cynical. It's not that positive and it doesn't make a good impression on me when I promised her to be there for her when she's sick, and when she's healthy.

Which leads me to another thing: Why is it so hard for married people to keep their promises? After all, the promises and vows they made get broken when divorce happens because of whatever reason, right? Is working hard at a relationship that much of a struggle? Or is it that people just aren't as willing to work for it when the going gets tough? Why do people end something they loved?

New Changes

Sitting here in this cozy little apartment, still with wedding gifts scattered around, curled up on the couch with my bride, catching up on The Following, and faintly, I hear drops. It's an unfamiliar sound, for sure, especially in this part of California. Bakersfield hardly, if ever, gets rain. But tonight, I mute the TV, and just listen. The drops start to increase. Slow at first, but faster and louder as they hit the concrete and small bushes just outside my door. Hailey's curled up and not paying attention to anything but the psycho-horror show we both love, so I stand and step outside for a moment.

That smell. It's not one I grew up with in the country. It's new. Warm, wet asphalt. Soaking up as much water as the dirt that once surrounded me as a kid. It's harder to breath in, but it smells great. Somehow, oddly refreshing. The alarm on my phone goes off, so instead of stepping inside, I take a quick walk to the small building in our apartment complex that houses the washers and dryers. A few minutes still left on the cycle, so I wait it out, still listening to the rain outside and the humming of the old dryers drying out our clothes.

These things are still new to me. Rain on the asphalt. Laundromats. And all of it now, is because of a new life I'm living with my wife. It's only been just over a week, but we're starting to acclimate to living together, and tonight with the rain in a dry county such as this, it's a good promise to me that new things are good, and can be a wonderful change of pace in life.

Now, the clothes are dry, and it's time to walk back through the rain and back to my wife. Back to the new changes.