Our First Christmas

This year we were both really in the Christmas spirit. We got our first Christmas tree together and decorated the house for the season. We put up lights and stockings and a wreath. While putting up our tree we had a special little helper. Ne-J was so curious about the tree that she was right there making sure that we did everything right! We had such a wonderful Christmas spending it with family and friends.

Louisburg Cider Mill

On my birthday Neal took me to the Louisburg Cider Mill. It was such a great day. First we went and looked at the cider mill that had been making cider since the '70s. They have hay rides, a corn maze and a pumpkin patch that we did while we were there. 

We had such a great time doing the corn maze, then searching for our pumpkins and and going on the hay ride. Once we were done with that we stopped by the General Store where we had some hot apple cider and cider doughnuts. It was a great fall day to spend at the cider mill and a wonderful birthday!

Our Disney Honeymoon

Day 1: The Start of Our Disney Honeymoon!

Mostly travel, we flew to Orlando, FL to go to Disney World. Once arriving we got to the Disney Magical Express that would take us to our resort, the Port Orleans Resort. The Port Orleans is designed after Louisiana plantation homes. Once there we check in and then went to our room and did some exploring. We decided that  the got some food, I got a turkey sandwich and Neal got pasta and we each got a dessert. and explored the Port Orleans Resort.


We got there great buttons since we had just got married and we wore the the whole time we were at Disney World!






Day 2: Animal Kingdom here we come!

 Here we went to Mt. Everest and made it past the Abominable Snowman

Then we went on an African Safari and saw giraffes, elephants, lions, hippos and a tons of other animals on the African plans. After all our adventures we decided that we needed some sustenance so we got some ice cream.
For dinner that night we went to a restaurant called Sanana which served African food.









I had lamb and rice with jasmine and Neal had a sirloin steak. Then for dessert we had a trio of chocolate cake, the best chai mouse and a mango sorbet.

 Everything was so yummy!

Day 3: Magic Kingdom
Our day at Magic Kingdom was so much fun! Our first stop was Tomorrow Land where we went to Space Mountain and Monster's Inc Laugh Factory. Then on our way out we saw this trash can that was talking to different people. The trash can started talking to us and was asking us where we were from and asked us if we had just got married and we sure did! We also saw so many different Princesses and Princes and we fit right in! Next we saw Pirates and Buz Light Year, and went on a boat jungle tour. Then off to Splash Mountain. At first I did not want to go because I did not want to get wet, but Neal said 'Oh you wont get wet' but he was wrong I got soaked. But I do have to say that even though I got totally soaked Splash Mountain was a fun ride.

Once the sun went down we went to the Haunted Mansion where Neal was shaking in his shoes since he was a bit scared. Then we went and watched the Electrical Parade while we were waiting to have our dinner at Tony's Italian Restaurant which was from the movie Lady and the Tramp. We had awesome Italian food and for dessert we a yummy had tiramisu.

Day 4: Hollywood Studios

First stop the Rockin' Roller Coaster which I think was one of Neal's favorite rides.

Then we and watched the Indiana Jones stunt show again that was super cool. We walked around and saw a ton more shows and road some more rides and then we had to hit the road and head over to the Polynesian Resort for our luau show and dinner.

Once there we went to the beach and enjoyed the sand where Neal wrote our names with our anniversary then we went over to the show where we got flower leis. The we had dinner which included a wonderful salad and pineapple bread. For the main course we had chicken and veggies and for dessert we had chocolate lava ice cream caked with a pineapple drizzle and while we ate we watched the Spirit of Aloha Show. During the show we saw Hawaiian dances and a guy eating fire. All I have to say the the show was way cool!

                                       

After the Polynesian show was done we headed back over to Hollywood Studios and watched another show called Fantasmic. It was an awesome light show with all the Disney characters.

Day 5: Epcot

Welcome to Epcot. Today we went around the world. First we went on all the rides. There were so many of them. Since it was not peak season at Disney we were able to go on all of them that we wanted.  We saw Nemo, Dinosaurs, and went on this ride through this experimental plant nursery where they were looking into new ways to grow plants. We also went on the GM Test Track where you got to ride in a car that was going through a whole bunch of safety tests.

Then we went on a ride called Mission to Mars. It was so cool, when we got in the ride each person had a 'job' I was the Navigator and Neal was the Pilot. During the ride it actually felt like you were in space with no gravity. It was such a cool experience!




For lunch we went to the Finding Nemo restaurant called the Coral Reef. There I had lobster ravioli and Neal had chicken with risotto, then for dessert Neal had almond ice cream and I had chocolate lava cake. Inside it there was a huge aquarium where there were a ton of different fish, and if you wanted to and had your dive license you could go diving in the aquarium.




During the second part of the day we went through the 'World' part of Epcot. We went to Germany, China, Norway, Mexico, Italy, and France. That night we decided to stay in France and have dinner at this French restaurant called Bistro de Paris. There we had such an amazing and romantic dinner it was so very nice. That night for starters we had a pea soup, then for the main course I had chicken and Neal had a steak and last but not lease for dessert Neal had creme brulee and flan and I had chocolate cake and sorbet. Yum!


Then that night through the windows of the restaurant we saw the Epcot fire works that were amazing!

Day 6: Headed Home

On our final day we did not get to do too much so we checked in out luggage for the flight then explored the ground of our hotel some more before we had to go and wait for Disney's magical Express to take us back to reality. We were sad to leave but we had such a wonderful time!

Then we got to the Orlando Airport to wait for our flight back to Kansas City

  

We had such an amazing Honeymoon it was a wonderful way to start out life as a married couple!

A Year in Review, First stop Our Wedding!

There have been a ton of awesome changes in my life in the last year. So lets start in October 2010 and move towards the present....

Our Wedding
On October 10th 2010 I married the man that I love, Neal. We have an amazing wedding and got to share our special day with our family and friends. On that morning I woke up and started packing the car and getting everything that I needed for the day. Rings, marriage license, unity sand, flowers and of course the dress. When we got to the venue where both the ceremony and reception was to take place we started setting up. I was so very blessed to have friends and family help me with all of this it was a really stress free beginning of the day. Getting hair done make- up on and finally the dress I was finally ready to start taking some pictures. Neal and I did not see each other until the ceremony so these pictures were of the myself and Neal with bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Finally, the ceremony was about to start, everyone was seated. The wedding party and Neal were up at the front and I was waiting with my dad for the doors to open. I was so excited to see my future husband on our wedding day. Then the instrumental version of Unforgettable started to play and the doors swung open. It was a amazing experience walking down with aisle with my dad. The ceremony went so fast but at the same time it was like time was standing still watching it from the outside. The next time I walked down the aisle was with my husband!

We went and did more pictures with our awesome wedding party, from left to right Nathaniel, Mallory, Kelly (Maid of Honor), Me, Neal (my new husband), Mike (Best man), Ethan (ring bearer), Corinna, Luke and Thomas. And up to the reception where we ate amazing barbecue, a magnificent cake that my aunt Sandy made for us.

Then it was time for dancing and then mingling with our guests. After an amazing evening we headed out to start our married life together.

Next stop our Honeymoon to Disney World...

Project Complete!

One project started. One project completed! All 146 tiles cut, laid and grouted. It feels so nice to have accomplished laying the tile in my sunroom. With the help of my dad and mom I was able to undertake this project. Last Friday I left work a bit early and came home to find that my parents had started laying the tile and they were about half way done. So I just jumped in and started helping. We got to the end we ended up being two tile short so a field trip to Lowes. The next morning we the did the grout for the tile. Once that had started to dry we then cleaned the tile and finished letting it all dry.
It is so nice to have a beautifully finished floor in my sunroom and is such a dramatic change from the plywood that was there before. Now I am so anxious to start decorating it and making it a relaxing reading and plant room.
Thanks mom and dad for all your help!

My First Project

I am undertaking my first project on my house without hiring someone else to do it for me (I had someone paint the inside of my house and refinish the wood floors). What do you ask am I going to undertake? Well the floor in my sun room now is a 'wonderful' plywood so I am going to tile the floor.

I am so excited to start this project! I went to Lowes this last week and spent about an hour looking at tile and contemplating all the different choices. I went in thinking I would get one color but ended up with a totally different color. (You don't get to know the color til I get the room finished=)). Twelve boxes of tile, two bags of mastic, one bag of grout and one bag of spacers later I officially had a low rider for a car. I cant believe that it all fit in my car but it did. I then had to drive really slow home and took all side roads. Taking everything out of my car was such hard work. I feel like I had just moved 300 pounds of tile into my shed and I was only half way done with moving all that tile. Where are the big strong guys when you need one? Oh well I got it all moved. Now all I have to do is start laying it. Wish me luck!

Crazy Two Weeks

Lets first start with Labor Day weekend. I came home to Colorado to spend the long weekend with my family. It was so nice to be able to see everyone as always. My cousin Jenny was on leave from the Air Force from her deployment in Honduras and it was wonderful to be able to spend time with her since I have not seen her in quite some time. Ne-J was also extremely excited to see Jamba and Sydney. The night we arrived we walked into the house and Ne-J and Jamba pretty much attacked each other and ended up playing for about 2 hours before we separated them and went to bed. The whole weekend consisted of seeing Neal, my family and a few friends. I really had nothing planned and ended up just hanging out and relaxing.

Then the weekend after Labor Day I went camping in Lebanon, MO with my church. It was such an amazing time to be able to fellowship with God and other people in the church. Ne-J was great through out the weekend. She did amazing around all the little kids and was so gentle with them. I thought that she would be crazy around them but she was so calm when they wanted to pet her.

On Saturday we went on a float trip down the Niangua River. We canoed about 8 miles down the river. I was so happy that our canoe did not flip especially since Ne-J kept wanting to stand on the side of the boat and every time she would do this the canoe would rock. She only jumped out once but we were only in about 4 inches of water when we got grounded and had to push our canoe a bit into deeper water.
On the look out to find a good place to play in the water....


Just guarding lunch from the fish....


Then that evening after the float trip we all had dinner together. After dinner a campfire was started and we sang songs and worshiped. And you cant go camping without have a s'more so that is what we did roasted marshmallows and made s'mores it was great fun.
Then on Sunday the guys of the church made everyone breakfast. After breakfast we went down to the river and had the Sunday morning church service where there were about 6 people who got baptized in the river. It was so cool to watch these young people profess there love for Jesus. Such an amazing weekend