California's Wilderness Park

The super amazing fiance {eeeekk!! kinda like the sound of that!} always has such amazing date ideas. For example our bittersweet celebration of our one year anniversary, January 11. Bitter because my flight out of town was leaving that afternoon. Sweet because I have had one whole entire amazing year with the super duper hunk of a dude!! BooooYAH!!

We got up early and had breakfast at a little cafe. Then Adam whisked me away to show me the local 'Wilderness Park'.

Now before you bust a gut like I want to, read this whole post and see all the amazing pictures of pure wilderness. Seriously guys. It's worth a trip to California to just experience it!!

My hubsy-t0-be practices signing our names together. He says I should get used to it. Riiight on Captain.

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Ok guys. Do you see all these trees?! I mean, come on. It was amazing. We searched and searched and searched {for a whole 5 minutes} to find the perfect kissing tree to take our kissless pictures in. {Yeah, kinda a let down I know. I mean, what are kissing trees without the full-on kissing that goes with it?!}

{super patience man models for me while I set up the self-timer}

Yeah. Can you see the breathtaking wilderness in this photo?! {Ok. Try to mentally block out all those houses and smog in the background... yeah?! No. Ok.}

- - - -

Enter perfect tree. And the {slightly less than perfect} saga that follows:

{Boyfriends climbs tree} {waits for Girlfriend to set up camera} {Both bustin' a move trying to get into places}

Sad to say, we never made a successful go of that photo attempt. Instead I massively cut up my fingers while trying to scale the tree in the 6.298 seconds the camera waits before firing. This is the second time I've cut myself while climbing trees with Captain Awesome. He really ought to ban me from the activity.

OR .... maybe we should have read the wilderness park instructions before we roamed the area. How did I miss the part that clearly states:

"Climbing in trees is prohibited"

Here we thought they were going all Nazi on us. When REALLY they were only trying to protect us from their killer, cutting trees. If I had only known.

- - - -

Seriously guys. Hanging out with this guy rocks my world every second of every day.

And I really think I {L O V E} him...

He said {will you} I said {yes}

On January 5, I was standing in a shack, beach restaurant, waiting for my amazing man. He walked around the corner and my heart stood still as he came towards me with happy, nervous smiles. With his arm around my waist, he lead me outside and we started walking down the beach.

My heart was pounding.

{T O D A Y was the day!}

We came to a trail of sparkly, blue stones and one corked bottle sticking out of the sand. Inside was cream paper with gold trim. The scrawling writing said all kinds of sweet things and ended with

"maybe it's bribery, but this is my attempt to keep you around..."

As we followed the trail of two more corked bottles. One had a list of things he loves about me and one had a list of his favorite memories with me. I laughed along the way and told Adam "I really think I want to get to the end of the line!"

{Random note: Who the heck calls you when you are being proposed to?! Seriously. And no. I didn't answer it.} ;)

When we came around the corner, there was a table with roses and candles and a picnic basket. And one more corked bottle. Inside was a poem. It said he was a lovesick boy. And the only cure was an answer to one question...

He got down in the sand on one knee and a gorgeous, sparkly ring came out of his pocket.

{And how could I say anything but Y.E.S.}

{Follow this with lots of laughter, jumping, hugging, and stares at my brand new glam. Notice the motion of hair. Did I say LOTS of jumping and laughing?! Yes.}

I love this amazing man so much. I feel humbled that he wants to be my husband. I am unbelievably blessed by God. Adam is the best gift He has ever given me.

We are so excited to get married. June 4 seems so far away. But in the next 126 days, we are going to rock the world by thoroughly enjoying being engaged... until we can rock the world as the amazing Mr and Mrs Neesby.

{B O O S H}

- - -

Speaking of rocks, check this little beauty out. Didn't my man do amazingly?! He picked this out on his own. Wow. Have I mentioned that I love him?!

I Think That I'm Falling In Love

Falling in love with {Adam Dane Neesby} to be quite exact. As K and I were walking around the gorgeous city of Sydney on Monday night, this song kept poking into my thoughts "It's a grand night for singing, the stars are bright above. The earth is aglow and to add to the show, I think that I'm falling in love. Falling, falling in love!" {sigh} How true that is. I know you are all here to read of my adventures in the wild and wonderful land of Australia, but indulge me for just a moment.

Last night, I was quite distraught with my overwhelming feelings of missing my Captain Awesome. Los Angeles is so far away, as is Monday when I get to run into his strong arms as I bust off the plane. But that's besides the point. I am missing our two hour {plus}, nightly conversations, I am missing being able to text him whenever I want. And all coupled up with that is my plain 'ole missing him in general. Missing just being together. Missing laughing over stupid things with each other. Missing holding hands. ... ... {Yes, yes, I hear you. I will stop now.}

A N Y W A Y S. After typing a rather long, depressing monologue email for him and getting ready to cuddle down into bed, these sweet words popped up on my Skype chat

hey my love! r u still up? u wanna skype really quietly for 5 minutes? skype and type? I miss u soo bad. i love u....

{Insert lots of awww's and maybe a little teary eye.} My sweet, loving, sacrificing man woke up at {what was his} 4:00am just to talk to me. And what was suppose to be 5 minutes turned into well over an hour. How amazing is he?! Seriously. I was touched to my pinky toes and soon my depression turned to sappy delight as we talked and prayed together. {Sigh} I love him.

{Note to my single girlfriends out there. Never, never, P L E A S E never settle. Never settle for second best. Never settle for less than God wants to give you. Never settle for a man who does not want to love you like Jesus loves His church. The waiting is crazy hard. And never fun. But it's so incredibly worth it. And when that hunk of a man comes along and sweeps you off your feet. Treats you like the princess you are. Loves you and sacrifices things for you like Jesus does for His church. You will be smiling at the fuzzies around your heart. And will be so glad you waited. Ok. End of soapbox!}

- - -

I am also falling in love with Australia. The beaches. The cities. The brilliant blue sky. The lights at night. The people. The food. Here's a snapshot {or two or twenty} of our two day trip into Sydney.

It was quite funny how, the city that we thought should come alive at night, actually went quite dead around 8:00pm. We were desperately looking for some delish place to have our dinner, but unless we wanted to pay posh prices for posh food, we had to settle for McDonalds. In Sydney, Australia. Go figure.

The next day, we had breakfast at a tiny sandwich/coffee shop we found near our hostel. Like their tee-shirts said "Come for the coffee, Stay for the service". Our super friendly friend, Harry, had us in stitches as he served us our coffee and carrot cake.

After breakfast, we headed to Manly beach via the big green ferry.

{Note to self: Return to Australia with Captain Awesome after getting married. Return to Sydney. Return to ferry. Go to destination stop 1 on 'My Ferry2'. Stay there for a long time.}

{No, I cannot think summer. It's November for crying out loud. Christmas and Summer will N E V E R be synonymous. Period. End of story.}

{We passed scores of school kids taking part in surf education. Are you serious?! Surf education. I would go back to school in Australia just to be a part of that. Top coolness for sure!}

{If I had to be a pigeon, I would want to live in Sydney. Pigeons are treated right there. You would be allowed to enter the open McDonalds and eat fallen french fries. Awesome. You would be allowed to fly onto the ferries and skitter around til you reach the other side. Adventurous! It would be a good pigeon life to be sure.}

{C H I N A T O W N!!! And my favorite red tea. A little bit of heaven!}

{Eating real aussie food: Kebobs! With open air music by the local police band. Thank you, Manly!!}

- - -

This made me so happy. Just like Brian Reagan talks about, the 'Sprinks-Mix-For-Lunitics'!! I'm still trying to figure out the logic behind this sprinkle design. Hmmm....

Today I'm {Loving}

... Enjoying the early morning while tucked into a blue kayak and paddling around an island

... An egg and bacon wrap fresh off the barbeque grill. {Nothing better than the smell of bacon frying in the morning air}

... The color on my arms and legs from this blazing Australian sun {No pastey Midwestern girl for me!}

... Watching my handsome man get all distracted by our Skype date. {He's super cute when he's tongue-tied}

... Blowing him kisses from the land down under

... Talking in excited voices about our upcoming nine days together {nine whole glorious days!!}

... A comforting peace from {Psalms 42}

... A cozy nap and the whole world goes dead around me

... Climbing a big hill and gawking at the blue-green ocean on all sides of me

... Laughing with K as we crumble to the ground in hysteria

... Spoonfuls of cool refreshing {lemon} sorbet after dinner

... Hanging my wet laundry outside in the delicious night air

{what i'm N O T loving}

... Being over {7000} miles from my handsome man's arms

... The kink in my computer screen which makes it only work when opened at a 35 degree angle

... My hair that has gone spastic on me the last week

... The lack of working out with my bro, Tim {my would-be-muscles are disappearing}

... Lyrics of a new song that will N O T leave my head {I actually don't mind this, it's just getting a little over the top}

... Not having hugs from my adorable sisters

... The last {tim-tams} that disappeared from their package this afternoon {I actually am really loving this. It means I can no longer be tempted to eat them}