The biggest surprise of my life

I thought that in honor of Valentine's Day this week I would actually take the time to write down our engagement story. When Dan proposed in 2007 it was before we all did a ton with Facebook and blogs and I want to get this story written down before too much time passes and I forget all the details. Even though so much has happened since then I still remember the excitement waiting for my man to propose.  

Dan and I started dated when I was 19 and a sophomore in college. He was a 5th year senior at a different school and we were set up on a blind date. I remember my friend's boyfriend telling me that Dan was a basketball player and I said, "Basketball?? How tall is he??" For those of you that know me, you know I'm not that into sports. Honestly, I could care less but I do enjoy a good Aggie win every once and a while. Whoop! Anyway, when I first met Dan I immediately noticed how freaking tall he was. I'm 5' 3-1/2". (You can't forget that half inch) Dan is 6'8" which makes him a whopping foot and a half taller than me. Besides his height, he also had a witty personality and was quite the gentleman. Our first date was Taco Cabana and Scary Movie 3. Such a romantic that Dan Tumis :) He swept me off my feet with queso and tortillas.

Our first picture- November 2003

Let's fast forward 3 years with both of us graduated from college with full time jobs. I was sure that Dan would propose any day. We knew that we wanted to be married, we both had jobs, he just had to propose. I was soooo old by then at a whopping age of 23 waiting for the man of my dreams to ask me to marry him. Dan's birthday passed, Christmas passed, my birthday passed, Valentine's Day came and went and no proposal.

One Monday morning my phone rang at 5 am and it was Dan.  He said "I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, the bad news is that you are going to have to work for it. I'm leaving today and you are going to meet me in another country on Wednesday." 

It would be an understatement to say that I was shocked. I knew that Dan would propose eventually, but I had no idea he was planning something like this. The only person that knew was my boss because Dan had asked him if I could take a few days off 6 months prior. 

Dan heads to leave on a plane somewhere and I head to his apartment to see what he has planned. At his apartment he had left me a Power Point presentation where he had gone to all the places that were important to us and taken pictures. The first place we met and the A&M football field were two of the places on the show. He also left a stack of wedding magazines, and a ring box. I opened the box and it said "see you in Venice." I really wish I had pictures of all of that.

I don't remember this, but Dan says that years prior he asked me if I could go anywhere in the world where would it be and my answer was Venice.  So when I was sweating it out waiting for a proposal Dan was planning the trip overseas in secret. Truly, the biggest surprise of my life. 

Engaged! February 2007

I met Dan in Venice, Italy and he proposed that first night. That was our first trip to Italy and since then we have been back three more times. Italy has such wonderful memories for us and now you know why.

February 2007-Venice

April 2009- Rome, Sienna and Florence

April 2011- Rome and Sorrento

August 2012- Rome and Sorrento with ADP

My husband has always been so thoughtful and such a romantic. I feel as though we have grown up together. I look at 23 year olds now and they seem so young and I can't believe that we got married so young, but we have been able to do so together much the past 10 years. I would do it all again in a heart beat and hopefully he would say the same!

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day typically because it's kind of a cheesy holiday (in my opinion) but let's face it, this blog post is oozing with cheese right now.

Happy heart day to my Love, and the most wonderful Daddy I know. I want Charlotte to find a partner just like him one day.

A perfect day.

Last Friday I turned 29...(insert big gulp). As I enter the last year of my 20's I have thought about all that has happened the past 9 years. SO MUCH.    I'm not sure how you can cram any more life changes into a decade as I assume most do in their 20's. I graduated college, married my love (we met when I was 19), we have purchased two homes, traveled all over, changed jobs twice, and oh yeah...had a child. Everything that has happened over the past 10 years has flown by in the blink of an eye. I wonder how my 30's can even top my 20's. Hopefully my 30's will bring more children, more travel, and more time with my sweetie. I hope to further my career and still strive to have a healthy work/life balance. Who knows what life will bring, but right now I have no complaints. Anyway, I'm not 30 quite yet, so I'll make the most of year 29.   My actual birthday was made so special by Dan and Charlotte. Dan loves making a big deal out of my birthday and each year he still manages to surprise me. The day started with Dan and I taking off work to spend the day together, just him and I. It's rare that we are both home during the day just the two of us. We had breakfast as a family and then took Charlotte to school for part of the day. He told me that we could do anything I want, so what did we do? Cleaned out the garage. Super crazy, I know. It didn't take long and we have a clean and organized garage now. I should have taken before and after pictures, but I didn't so I will leave that to your imagination. Next we went to lunch and did a little shopping before picking up Charlotte. It was such a fun day and I felt like the Queen Bee.

Dan (and Charlotte of course) surprised me with a gorgeous necklace and bracelet and a beautiful jewelry box. This box is so special because when we were in Italy last August I had spotted the jewelry box and fell in love with it but didn't purchase it. Dan knew how much I loved it and tracked down the shop in Italy and ordered it for me. I was shocked and so touched at all the effort he went through. I loved the gifts of course but I really loved a day with my family.  

 

The weekend was relaxing and involved a lot of sleeping for both Dan and Charlotte. I guess they were both catching up. The weekend also included us staying in our pajamas for a lot of the day and me not wearing makeup. Talk about a peaceful weekend!

 I tried to get a birthday picture with Charlotte but she won't sit still these days so this was the best one we got. She was happy, I promise.

House Update: The Mud Room!

When we moved into our house we knew that there were things that we wanted to update over time. So far we have redone the third bath, painted the family room, fixed up the play room, and redone Charlotte's room. All of these were minor projects that only involved some paint and a little face lift. Our large projects include the middle bath, master bath, kitchen and our room but in due time. Nothing is wrong with any of these they just need to be updated to our taste.

Anyway, the point of my post :) Last week we had our mud room redone. At the end of our main hallway is a small staircase that leads to the guest room, loft and garage. The staircase had a banister with nothing underneath. A sturdy banister, but having a VERY mobile one year old could have led to serious disaster if someone forgot to shut our baby gate. 4 ft drop=recipe for disaster with a baby.

Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot have a half done project. We could have had a half wall built and called it a day, but of course we couldn't just build a wall...why not fix up the entire area while we're at it?

Please excuse the messy guest room in the background

The space is perfect for a mud room because it is our walkway from the garage and is our catch all when we walk in with our hands full. They had a large cabinet with a counter top in there that was really a great piece but not useful for what we needed in the mudroom. I scoured Pinterest and Houzz for days trying to figure out what the perfect plan was for our mud room. If you follow me on Instagram (emilytumis) you have already seen some of these pictures.

We solved the baby could fall off the edge issue and the mom wants to fix up the room issue.

No more risk!

I installed child height hooks so Charlotte can reach her things.

Charlotte has enjoyed the new room and going up and down the stairs. Over and over. She's excited that she won't risk breaking her neck too.

 Isn't it amazing what a little paint and $30 bead board will do?

Top 12 of 2012

Wow 2012 flew by! I know that each year will continue to go fast but we are going to soak in as much as possible. So much happened over this past year and looking through our thousands of pictures it was really hard to narrow it down to just 12 things but I'm going to try. Get ready for major picture overload! A lot of these are from my Instagram (emilytumis). In no particular order, here are some of my favorite moments of 2012. 1) Spending every waking moment with our newborn while I was on maternity leave was incredible. It was a really fast 7 weeks but it was so fun. Sometimes I miss those days of laying in bed with her sleeping the day away. There were a lot of iPhone pictures taken to send to Dan during the day.

2) Charlotte being baptized was a highlight of the year for sure. That afternoon she smiled and giggled more than she every had. Such a sweet day.

3) Moving into our dream home and being closer to family- It was a wild ride with a new baby, new job and moving, but so worth it. We love it here.

4) Our trip to Italy- I didn't blog about this but in August Dan and I took our 4th trip to Italy. This time it was with Dan's company on his sales incentive trip. We love Italy and hope to take Charlotte there one day. 

5) Our first family trip to the Hill Country- Such a relaxing mini vacation for us.

6) Charlotte's First Birthday- What a fun day for us! I had so much fun planning Charlotte's birthday and it was the perfect party for our little lady!

7) Our first visit to Colorado for Thanksgiving- I was really nervous for the drive but it was a great trip!

8) Mother's Day- My first Mother's Day was so special. We spent it with my side of the family and had a large brunch at our house. Such a special day for us. 

9) A personal highlight of the year was finding a way to exercise that I truly love. I've already signed up for two races for this year and I'm excited to complete my first half marathon.

10) Finger Painting with Charlotte- I loved when Charlotte was in the snuggle stage, but now that she can kind of do things, it is so much fun. I can't wait for her to help me decorate cookies next year. 

11) Spending time outside- Now that we are on a little bit of land we spend a lot of time outside. It is so nice to take C out in the wagon, swim in our pool (I know it's a blow up pool but it counts!) and we don't have to worry about our neighbors watching our every move. 

12) Family Visits- We have had so much family come stay with us the past year and we feel so fortunate that they want to come see us! Our new house is also a lot closer to my family so we spend a lot of time together.

2012 is going to be hard to top! Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2013 has started off great for all of you!