10 years later, you're still the one !!

 Our Story began in October 2001. I met Nicholas Hambarian while visiting my friend Lauren at ASU. She had become good friends with him and they lived in the same dorm. Nick was one of the few people with a car at college and so Lauren asked if he would go pick up her Best Friend at the airport. That was a great weekend; we went to a football game, hung out in the dorms and walked around town. Nick and I hit it off right away as friends and we knew a lot of the same people. I left that weekend thinking I met a great new friend and we told each other we would keep on touch and I would see him over the holiday break. I remember this so clearly, my mom picked me up at the airport and I could not stop talking about how much fun I had and about this new "FRIEND" I had made. He was sweet, caring and we had great conversation.

 Thanksgiving rolled around and he was home for break we hung out a few times, He took me to the movies and out to dinner "as friends" and actually its funny but we both said we were tired of the dating game and wanted to find somebody and we decided to try and set each other up (that never ended up happening). He went back to school and came home a few weeks later for Christmas break. We hung out a lot during that break and one night he had a party at his Dad's house......We had our first kiss in the laundry room ( romantic right?) and we have been together ever since! He officially asked me to be his girlfriend on NYE.

 These past 10 years of our lives have been filled with happy, exciting, sad and crazy moments. The first year of our relationship was probably one of the hardest years of our relationship and my life. We were doing the long distance thing him in AZ and me in CA. We tried to see each other as much as possible and make each weekend we were together really special. My parents decided to move to Indiana and I wasn’t sure what that meant for us and me. Then on Jan, 25th 2003 our lives changed forever. Nick was on his way up to see him Mom in Northern AZ for the weekend I was in Laguna Beach having lunch with my mom. I hadn’t heard from him that morning and I assumed he was driving and would call me when he arrived. I got the call at 11am, Nick had been in a terrible car accident and he was been flown in a helicopter to St. Josephs Hospital in PHX. I can't tell you what went thru my mind in the next few minutes because all I could think of was get me to him. My mom and I drove straight to the airport with no clothes and booked 2 tickets to PHX on the first flight they had. I didn’t know how bad of condition he was in until I got to the hospital. Nick's friend Pete met me and my mom at the airport and drove us straight to the hospital. He was still in surgery when I arrived and would be for the next 5 hours. His injuries were as follows: A broken leg, a broken pelvis, a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen (which they had to remove due to internal bleeding), a shattered ankle bone, a broken arm and severe lacerations all over his body. He was in ICU in a medical induced coma and they couldn’t tell us what the outcome would be from all the injuries he sustained. I cried, screamed and just about lost my mind in the days, weeks and months to follow....moving from one hospital to the next and from rehab facility to rehab facility. Living in hospital rooms with him and hotel rooms with his mom and step dad because I refused to leave his side. We eventually ended up living at his moms after he was released and spent the summer helping him recover and get back to being Nick. This tested our relationship to the fullest and made us the strong couple we are today. Nick made a full recovery but as we get older he has aches and pains that a normal 29 year old shouldn’t have and is starting to feel some affects of the 89 screws and 4 rods he has in his body. He  is such a tropper and whenever someone asks about all the scars on his body he give them a creative story...like he rescued me from a shark or something. Haha, Weirdo. 

 The next 9 years went gone pretty smoothly. We took trips, made great friends, had a blast living in a college town, we loved going to concerts and having movie marathons in our little one bed room apartments. I moved to AZ in 2004, we lived in Tempe, Scottsdale, and Phoenix all while Nick was in school and I was working. We got our first dog Maverick and he was our little baby (we now affectionately call him our 1st furry baby).

 In August of 2005 at my parents 25th wedding anniversary party Nick proposed. It was one of the happiest days of my life. We bought our 1st house in Surprise, AZ and quickly settled in. We got married on August, 12th 2007. The company I worked for was in the real estate market and when the economy took a turn for the worse I was laid-off in Jan of 2008. We decided to move back to CA and have been here ever since. We found out we were expecting a baby the summer of 09 and we couldn’t have been more thrilled. Our beautiful baby girl Taelyn Reese Hambarian was born May, 21st 2010 at 8:31 pm. She is the JOY of our lives and the BEST thing either of us have ever done.

 I look back at all the trips, laughs, sadness, joy, pictures, mementos, love letters, cards and memories we have made and feel so incredibly blessed to have such an AMAZING man in my life who makes me feel like I’m the only women that exist. The love I feel for him only deepens with each year that passes and I can’t imagine a life without him. Happy 10 years baby, you truly are my everything.

There are soooo many pictures from the last decade, Here are just a few the are special to me.

NYE 2001

The early days.

Our 1st House.

1 of the many Angels games we went to.

Cruise to Mexico.

                                           

Our Wedding.

Our Family.

The Holidays 2011

I really am bad about this blog updating thing. I want to do it way more than I have time to do it. So its been awhile. Taelyn turned 18 months November 21st and I must admit I feel a little badly the day came and went and we didn't do anything special for her. It feels like we should have, oh well. I can't believe she is 1 1/2 years old! Just blows my mind how quickly that snuck up on us. We spent our Thanksgiving up in Big Bear where Nick's family has a cabin. We love it up there, there is no cable, barley any cell reception, no computer we just sit by the fire, take walks, cook, eat and drink. AMAZING!

Earlier in the month we took Taelyn to the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at  the mall. They do a little show, Santa is there and the have fake snow and fireworks. We went last year and she mostly slept, this year kinda the same. She looks so tired in the pictures but she was a trooper.

I love all the trees up there! That's Jade one of our dogs.

Taking a walk before we head home.

Uncle Josh and Tae at the cabin
Uncle Josh singing and playing guitar with Taelyn, P.S. that's his wife's guitar, he doesn't rock a pink guitar I swear.

Thought the lighting in this pic was so cool.

We put up our tree as soon as we got back from the cabin. (Nick's birthday is on he 28th of Nov. and he has a rule no xmas decorating until after his birthday, weirdo) It was a challenge to figure out how we were going to keep Tae away from the tree but I think we figured it out (giant baby gate) .

Read the ornament, we got this the year I was pregnant! So cute!

Anytime you put a bow in here hair she says, "awe, pretty" So I put them all in there!


We are getting very excited for chirstmas and I cant wait to see Tae open all her gifts. I have a really hard time trying not to go overboard with the presents, it can be pretty easy to do. She is the princess of the world after all, or at least we think so. hehe.

Pumpkin Patch and Birthdays!

Taelyn  is 17 months now and I can hardly believe it. She loves to talk and express her emotions in so many ways. Her new word is shirt. I'll give you one guess as to what it sounds like? I know she is saying "shirt" though because it's always when she sees a shirt. We were in target the other day and as I was picking up a shirt for me to try on she kept repeating it... "shirt..shirt..shit...shit..shit!! " I looked around and of course there had to be two other moms standing right next to me giving me the eye. Yep, Mother of the year award right here folks! lol. She's is pushing the boundaries and testing my patients,all part of being the mother of a toddler. However, she is sweet and mellow for the most part. I just always try and avert the inevitable melt down by making sure she is fed and rested. She LOVES books!! I always have books stashed in my diaper bag and the car because she will read anywhere. If I have to get some shopping done I bring a few books and can usually finish before shes done looking at all of them. If you are sitting on the couch she will go over to her toy area and bring you a book and climb onto your lap and wait for you to start reading to her . I guess I should be stoked she loves such a quiet activity :).

She also loves to dance and listen to music.I put music on when I'm cooking and most of the time I find her spinning around in circles and stomping her feet, the cutest thing ever.That's what shes up to these days. We have had a very busy month. My birthday, Taelyn's bff Gwen's 1st birthday and lots of other fall activities. We took her to the pumpkin patch and she was able to really enjoy it this year, such a fun age shes at. She rode the pony, went to petting zoo, picked out a pumpkin and had a blast. We went twice. Once with her group of Tae's baby friends and once with the family, my sister-in-law and nephew. Alexander is 5 months older then Taelyn and they are supper cute together. I love that she has a cousin close in age she can grow up with. Here are some of the pictures from this month.

Fall 2010

Fall 2011

Daddy and Tae 2010

Daddy and Tae 2011

My Little Pumpkin.

Gwen's 1st Birthday!

All Tae's Friends. (Tae is in the lamb costume)

Helping Mama with her Birthday cake that Daddy made!

The family dinner.
The next day all my ladies and I went and got mani/pedis and had an amazing lunch.

Happy 29th Birthday to Mommy!

I find myself rocking Taelyn to sleep a lot more now, I stopped rocking her to sleep when I stopped bf and I guess I just started to miss our intimate cuddle time at night before bed. She is so precious and growing so fast. It's funny that as a mom you try so hard to do everything just right. So much info out there that says what to do and what not to. I sometimes listen but lately I've found this "gut instinct" every other mom has told me about and I tend to stick with whatever it tells me. Right now it's telling me the moments spent in the dark rocking my daughter to sleep are moments I will never get back and I should soak up every last one!