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. 

Crooked Souls Trying to Stay Up Straight

It's been nearly a year and a half since I've been with Hailey. The woman I'm going to marry in under two months now, and we've been tested and pushed to limits I didn't know I, or we had. Yet we're still standing tall. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's the backstory in short: four days after we started dating, her grandma, known commonly as 'Nonnie' was diagnosed with uterus cancer. This led into a six-month battle leading up to her passing away two days before Hailey's 19th birthday. What made this hard was that Hailey and Nonnie were close. She was one of the closest people to Nonnie, and it crushed Hailey day after day when all of this was happening.

 Nonnie passed away, only for me to find out that my grandmother in Colorado had lung cancer. I flew back with my family to spend time with her before it became terminal a week after I had visited with her. She passed away shortly after I saw her for the last time.

Then, during all of this..I lost touch with my family. Actually, I had lost touch with them before all of this, but I didn't realize it. You see, before I met Hailey, I dated....a lot. I saw dating as going out with someone to get to know them, and it wasn't a relationship until I asked them to be my girlfriend. Anyway, I lost touch of who I really was in my relationship prior to Hailey. The girl I was with controlled a lot of things, and I bent myself backwards to make sure she was happy, but I was far from it. I changed my goals and dreams, and I fought my parents and sister over things deep down I knew was right, but didn't know how to deal with in the relationship with this girl at the time. I broke up with her, spent some time reflecting, and finally realized what I wanted  in relationships. I said I was going to stay single for a long time, only for that to change when I met Hailey (six weeks after I broke up with the other girl). But, I lost touch of who I was, and was trying to show that I was back to being 'normal' me. It took a lot of struggles for my family to see that, and to see that Hailey was it.

We had a lot of drama with my family, and we all had to learn to meet in the middle, and work things out like we never have done in ways before. And through this, I had friends and 'family' who I trusted, and who I vented to, and people I expected just to be a listening ear, and let me get my frustrations out. Turns out that that caused drama to ensue as well, feelings to be hurt, people to drop out, and plans to change. Yet, I'm still standing. It's hard, because I've lost people I've cared about. I know that I opened up a bit more than I should have, and didn't know better, but I also wrongly expected things from others that just simply didn't happen. I pray that all my friendships and relationships can be fixed, but that comes with time, and I'm deeply grateful for the friends who have stuck by my side through all of this.

Also, factor in a car accident that totaled my first car, and recently, Hailey's dad who could have died if we didn't get him to the hospital in time due to strep throat and pnuemonia, there has been a huge amount of pain and negative things happening. Yet, we're still standing tall.

I'm getting married to Hailey on March 22nd. She is my best friend, and I love her more than anyone in this world. She's smart and intuitive, and she's beautiful. Her smile is contagious, and she has a wonderful laugh that is infectious. Some people think we won't work. Some actually from what I've heard, have bets placed on us on how long we'll last, even if we're married. Some think we're too young. Too immature. Too this, too that. Well, I'm not out to prove anyone wrong. I'm too busy for that. So, in 25 years, I'll let my actions and love speak for itself. Because I believe in love. I believe in forever. I believe in Hailey, and I believe that God's given me the best gift I could ever have received, and that's a partner who will love me for all the goofy stupidness that I am, a partner who will just get up and go with me on the grandest of adventures. I believe that this is a love that is once in my life time, and if you love someone so much like this, you can't ever let it go, because something like the way I feel about Hailey? You can't ever have something like that again. I believe that the last year and a half has been hard, yes. But I believe  that if we can get through everything that we have: death, accidents, medical emergencies, lost friends and family, and more, then we can get through anything together. This year, on March 22nd is going to be a symbolic day not only to show that our marriage is starting in front of our family and friends who are there to support us, but also a day to start fresh and new, and pray that the road ahead is a tad easier than what it's started out to be. But above all of this, I know that we're going through it all together. 

Hailey's First Blog Post

Hey guys! So I have yet to actually right a blog post on here yet… That's Jacob's job ;) But, I feel like with everything going on that I should post! So, things have been a little tough. My Dad was hospitalized with pneumonia and strep where we almost lost him (he is thankfully recovering wonderfully now), and I also lost my dog of 14 years. So the past couple weeks have pretty much sucked. However, throughout all of that, I was reminded yet again of just HOW blessed I am. Jacob is my total rock. When I am beyond upset and scared, he is right there to provide that comfort for me. He is that shoulder to cry on. Now, I'm not saying that Jake and I have it all together, because I'll be real honest and say we are far from it. We are young, we're growing, we're adapting, we're learning, but we are in love and know what that means. We know that on March 22nd, Jacob and I will be at that alter in front of our closest friends and family, vowing our lives to one another. We also know that isn't all rainbows and butterflies in the tummy… because quite frankly, we haven't been able to have much of that with all of the death, sickness, family issues, and other problems we've had to face. I mean, my only Grandmother got sick with Uterine Cancer 4 days after Jake and I started dating, only for her to pass away 6 months later, then his grandmother a month after that. Now, I'm not trying to get all "pity party" on you, but more to just let the people who choose to read this blog know that Jake and I have had our trials to face, that we have had those problems to conquer and pain to deal with. It HAS been tough, but let me tell you… it's been one hell of a ride I wouldn't trade for the world. Jacob is something special and I truly believe I was blessed with the most precious, beautiful, amazing gift God could have ever given someone. I truly do not know how I could have gone through the past year and a half without Jacob by my side. Every day I'm blown away that God has given me this man to love, respect, cherish, and be with for the rest of my life. And every day I'm amazed that he gives me another reason to love him more than I did the day before which seems crazy to me. I look at Jacob and for the first time feel like I'm home… and now I have 40 more days until I have his last name.

Registry

Well, we got our registry set up! We're working on one more, but we are now registered at Bed Bath and Beyond. Also, we have a registry set up through honeyfund.com, which helps us with the honeymoon. If you wish to view either registries, the links are added in this post, as well as at the top of the site page. We can't wait to see everyone at the wedding, and we're counting down to the big day! We're just under two months now!

Bed Bath and Beyond Registry

HoneyFund Registry

HoneyFund

So, I'm here to explain what this is. Some are confused by it, and I'll clear this up: we're using this registry site called HoneyFund to help assist with our Honeymoon. Now, there isn't any details about where we're going, because it's a surprise to Hailey. We can afford where we're going and what we're doing, but it's a way for people to give us donations for what we'll be doing, over getting us that third blender, or fifth set of drink coasters, and give us a chance to even do something we wouldn't be able to afford in the budget that's set for the honeymoon.

All you have to do, should you choose to, is go to the site here: Jake and Hailey's Honeyfund, choose what you want to gift (airfare, food, ground transportation, massages, etc) and gift a selected amount.

I personally was a bit confused at first about how it worked with setting the amounts, but now that I understand it, here's the breakdown..with the gifting, the price total is divided by monetary amounts. 16 gifts of $50 would pay for the entire airfare ($800 total). If there's two gifts of $50, then that's $100 towards it. This site is basically a cool registry way of doing honeymoon things over the other normal registry. Again, this is nothing we're expecting from anyone. We just thought it was a cool thing to add to our list, and if people see fit to give, then that's a definite blessing.

We're really looking forward to documenting the rest of our engagement and everything leading up to March 22nd. It's going to be such an amazing time! 

Club 33

Merry Christmas from New Orleans Square! 

Last weekend, we were gifted with a really awesome opportunity from a good friend of ours to do what a few people can: step inside that infamous green door, in the back alleys of New Orleans Square at Disneyland, and dine at Club 33.

I was asked, in return by our friend, to document and take photos of the experience. Well, we took a lot of photos, and spent a lot of time inside the club. It's truly an amazing thing to get to experience.

So, along with text, here are a handful of photos that we shot on our camera and iPhones from the trip.

This is probably one of the coolest license plates I've seen so far. Pixar reference to the gas station first used in Toy Story, and then throughout all the other films as well: Dinoco! 

Had to get that awkward 'can you take our photo in front of the sign' shot. 

And now, we feast! 

I (Jake) have had the chance to eat here for dinner before, and now that I've had both lunch and dinner here, I really prefer the lunch better. 

Mickey and Pluto congratulated us on our engagement! 

And here is where the food shots come...

appetizer..

Hailey's Lamb

Jake's Filet

And probably the most delicious macaroni and cheese ever!

Champagne inside Disneyland? Only time I can do this? Sure! 

Views out the front balcony of the club.

Showed Hailey the trophy room. For those that don't know, this room was designed with microphones inside the chandeliers, and audio animatronic birds that were once supposed to interact with guests. It didn't happen, though. 

Look close and see the microphones..

This room is going the way of yesterland though (they're expanding the kitchen), once they expand the club next year. 

And..Hailey had to see 'The Thrones' for herself. 

By the time we got done with lunch, the entire place was near-cleared out for them to prep for the dinner crowds. We spent nearly three hours inside the club, asking questions to our server about the history, and turns out, her boyfriend is the city planner for Bakersfield! Small world!

Oh, and did we mention that there was a dessert buffet? 

And it.

Was.

Glorious.

Macaroons, caramel orange cupcakes, sugar cookies, fudge cupcakes, and the best spiced hot coco this side of Spain. 

Chocolate cake, cheesecake tortes, cake pops....oh my.

He never was inside the club when it was finished, but we found out that we sat at 'Walt's Table', which was really cool to know! 

It may be a fancy dinner, but we still have to have some fun! 

After dinner, there was a final expedition on the Mark Twain before it went down for the night to prepare for Fantasmic!, so we asked if we could ride in the wheelhouse of the ship, and they said yes! After all the years of going to Disney, this is still something I haven't done until now. 

Signing the book. 

Looking down on the lights being tested for the show. #GeekLife

So high up! 

And any trip here can't be completed unless we go over to bug my big brother...

So hi there, bro! 

Per the request of our gracious friend, we can't reveal who gave us this opportunity to step inside the Green Door, but we are incredibly grateful for the chance to do something so amazing. It was definitely a wonderful, and memorable experience we won't forget.

The Adventure Starts Now...

Hi there! Unless you're a random internet user who happened to find this site, you're more than likely friends and family of Jake and Hailey. We're just two people who fell in love young and are getting married on March 22nd, 2014.

This site is designed to help everyone with the wedding details and follow along with our journey as we prepare to get married!

You can click on the links below our photo at the top to find the church location, the "who are we" is our story of how we met, and how we got engaged, and the contact info is info to get in contact with either Hailey, myself, our mothers, or our Maid of Honor, or Best Man. We tried to make this as simple and straightforward as possible, so it should be pretty easy to find what you'll need. Also, coming soon (later this week, hopefully) we'll have a registry up online as well.

For now though, the first update is this: Last night we spent the evening with an amazing friend of ours. Makenzie is a great photographer here in Bakersfield (check out her site here: Makenzie Photography) , who spent a couple hours with us taking engagement photos. We should get the prints in about a week or so, but here's a shot of the 'behind the scenes' from yesterday!