This post might be more cheesy than usual.....

Okay, I know some of you roll your eyes at how lovey I am about Neal... if this is you, you might want to stop reading now. I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones, but I've been feeling really, really, REALLY grateful for Neal lately. This will probably come as a surprise to him because I've yelled at him a bit more than usual lately too... I still can't figure out how these events coincide but they do, and I blame the pregnancy 100%.

For those of you who don't know, dating Neal required hard work and some stalking on my part--I'm embarrassed now about how shamelessly I pursued him. Exhibit A:

"I saw you at church, but you didn't say hi
so my Neal o'meter is running quite dry."

That's right, a poem AND cheesy... plus this was before we'd ever been out on a date! This was July 2nd, 2008, to be exact, and our first date was August 2, 2008--sheesh. But, there's more! Neal's response to one of my many e-mails, word for word:

"You are SUCH a stalker...merciful heavens! Why must you creep me out?"

I know, I'm ashamed. HOWEVER, as you can see-- IT WORKED! So the moral of the story is, it's okay to be a creepy stalker as long as it produces a husband--it worked for Machiavelli and it worked for me. I have never pursued anyone in my entire life, so I think it was good for me. It should also be pointed out that after our first date, Neal pulled out all the stops to woo me, it just took him a WHILE to actually ask me out. (and by a while, I mean 2 months of Hannah charm. Sheesh!)

Anyway the point of this blog is that I'm so glad Neal and I got married. It took him a *whole* SIX (6) months to finally get down on one knee... but I'm glad I was so patient about the whole thing, because marrying Neal has been the best thing to ever happen to me. Neal is the most patient and loving person I have ever met in my life (seriously) and he is also hilarious and loads of fun to be with. I could go on and on, but it suffices to say that I feel so grateful, and nigh unto emotional, to have Neal as my husband. I love him more and more every day, and I can't wait to see him being a Dad in a couple of weeks! He'll be awesome-- I would know, I hand picked him!

Our first date part one: August 2, 2008-- peach picking and a picnic at Great Falls Park

First date part two: Rodeo and movie. (Note disgusting facial hair... lucky for him I was already on the Neal train) Yes, our first date was an all day thing-- seriously 12 hours together with a shower/shave-gross-facial-hair break in the middle.

February 11th, 2009: Neal about to propose! Note the symbolic peach.

May 16th, 2009: Our wedding day! What a blissful, perfect day.

Last weekend: Still happy and in love nearly 3 years plus one (almost) baby later!