a meaningful gift

Getting married is so much fun, for many reasons of course! One being, the creative gifts that people come up with. I have been so impressed with a shadow box of our wedding invitation & engagement photo, a photo collage that spells our last name, and the most recent one came in the mail today from my Uncle Don.

If you know my uncle, you may be groaning right now with the anticipation of what he has come up with. He is my quintessential unique uncle, who walks to the beat of his own drum. Every family needs one. I have more than one, but we'll save those details for another time. ;)

Uncle Don thoughtfully and lovingly sent me a framed photo of my grandmother's high school graduation photo from 1942, along with her favorite cook book, "Woman's Home Companion Cook Book," copyright 1945. The book was most likely purchased as a wedding gift for my grandmother. It is filled with food stains and handwritten notes, as well as every section tabbed by my highly organized grandmother herself. I love it! My Grandma Dorothy (Tombleson) was the last of my grandparents to pass away in 2005. I am sad to not have any of them alive today to celebrate with Frank and me, but it is so special to have something that she cherished and used to raise her family as I embark on my own journey into marriage & family.

Much Love,
Alita

Home Sweet Trailer

As we prepare to merge our lives into one, we are also making the decision to "live like no one else." Inspired by Dave Ramsey and his counterparts, along with our personal convictions to be wise stewards of our finances, we have devised a plan to live in a 30' camp trailer for the first two years of our marriage to accomplish our mission to be debt free.

Surprisingly, many people have been very supportive of this plan. I anticipated a lot of wide-eyed responses laden with warnings about the stressors of marriage and living in tight spaces. I am looking forward to the challenge of living in a small space, along with being newly married. I figure if we don't know any different, it might not be as difficult. I'm sure there will be days when we will be really tired of it, but I also know the end result is by far worth the means. I'm especially looking forward to indulging my type-A side with clever organizing ideas and keeping everything clean & tidy. There will be no room to "let things go" in this space!

Stay tuned, I'm sure the "buzz" will be dotted with several posts about our life in our beloved miniature home!

Much Love,
Alita

A New Life

For many years now, you knew Frank as "just" Frank, or Alita as "just" Alita. Now we'd like you to get to know "Frank and Alita." Our long distance relationship & engagement has made it difficult for our friends to know "us" so we'd like to give you that chance as we begin our lives together. The most fun part of the journey? We'll be getting to know "us" even better ourselves!

So join us as we explore what it's like to be married, to live simply while we pay off debt, to try new recipes, to find fun things to do in Austin, and to grow in our faith as we grow together.

Thank you so much for your love and support of us as individuals so far. We can't wait to make trips to visit our friends and family all over the country in the coming years!

Much Love,
Frank & Alita