Honeymoon Days

It is nearly impossible to believe a month has passed since our big day! Everything about our wedding day still feels so fresh in our minds. We remain basking in the glow of the love that our family and friends poured out for us over the weekend of May 15th. There is no better way to start a marriage than with the incredible support of friends and family. Thank you, again, to those of you who participated in making our wedding week and day so memorable and special!

You may be thinking we've fallen off the map over the last 4 weeks. We have been busy moving across the country, unpacking, settling in and getting used to each other. Frank has gone back to work at FedEx after his 2 week wedding vacation and Alita has been making the trailer a home and starting her job search. We've enjoyed spending time with Frank's family and making a ton of new friends at Austin New Church.

We'll leave you with a couple photos of our cozy abode. We're looking forward to building a deck on the outside and planting more grass and flowers and possibly some garden plants in the future.

Much Love,
the Bathams

Moving Day

Two weeks ago today we moved our cute little home into its new spot. Our day began with church and "dinner on the grounds" (commonly known as a potluck in Oregon territory). We then said good-bye to good friends, Joseph, Kayla & Lucas Carlton who had come down from Longview to visit for the weekend. Then the afternoon's adventure began!

We packed everything up and hooked "Sydney" up to Frank's dad's truck.

After a while of working on the truck's lights (which weren't consistently working) we were finally on the road to Austin!

It took us a good hour on the back country roads to get to our new home. Frank and his dad, along with a little help from a couple of our new neighbors got the trailer backed into the spot.

Frank has been living in it now for almost 2 weeks and loves it! He really enjoys being a couple minutes from work, and coming home every night to a little workout gym, swimming pool and hot tub. Needless to say, I can't wait to join him! Two weeks to go until we can finally make our little nest together!

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