Holiday kickoff!

Daniel and I are officially enjoying the holiday season. We started off with a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Simmons. Daniel and I got to have everyone in our home which was so much fun. We were able to squeeze 19 people in the house and 7 of those were children 8 or under. There weren't many dull moments. We had a wonderful time and it was so great to get to visit with everyone. I am always so thankful to be apart of this family.




After Thanksgiving, we spent our first December weekend participating in what I like to call "Christmas kickoff 2011!" We shopped (mostly online), wrapped a few gifts, enjoyed potato soup and hot cocoa with friends, made it to the Carol of the Lights at Tech and got our own lights up at the house. The Normans got to help with light hanging, not sure if they knew what they were getting into but it was a great time.





And, finally we co-hosted our first annual Christmas party with the Cates and Normans last weekend. (It didn't feel right without our friends Bryce and Amanda there but we still managed a good time).

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Fall with Friends

Well...I noticed that the last time I posted was last May which is sad but not suprising. Daniel and I are doing very well but between work and school I just don't make my internet time much of a priority. This summer we celebrated our 5th anniversary in Hawaii. It was so much fun and quite surreal. It was my intent to post pictures but at this point the moment has come and gone. I also feel that all of our house guests have suffered enough with the MPix photo book viewing, complete with panaromic pictures. Yes, we are those people.

We have had a wonderful fall and are thankful to have gotten to spend a weekend in October with our closest friends, The Hays, Normans and Cates, in the retirement community of Granberry. We filled the weekend with enough activites for an entire week of enjoyment. We ate ALOT, played a number of games including the Newly Wed game, Outburst and toss with household objects (This involves throwing a frisbie, football, kitchen trashcan and roll of small paper all at once. Words cannot describe how fun this was!), watched a subpar comedy play about Licoln's assasination that was really entertaining and went roller skating (roller skating was complete with squat races, couples skate, frozen pickle juice and suicides). It was a weekend full of laughter that I hadn't had in months. I cried and almost wet myself multiple times. I am so thankful for friends that remind me what it means to relax, have fun and enjoy the simple things in life!

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Hawaii!!

Turns out I had created a Hawaii slide show but couldn't get it to post and forgot I had it...so now others can be tortured with the same photo book pictures our poor house guests have been subjected to.

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Five years of joy...

This summer it will be mine and Daniel's 5th anniversary, it seems to have gone by so quickly and I can confidently speak for both of us when I say we love each other more now and value our relationship more now than the day we we got married. But...enough with the sentimental thoughts. I will save those for our actual anniversary. The reason I am posting is because since Christmas I have been wanting to take "anniversary pictures". Daniel and I have not had pictures made since our engagement pictures and I wanted to capture both of us 5 years down the road. Well, we got them taken! And I have to say I am impressed with myself for getting it done ahead of time and actually getting these pictures posted. I am impressed with Daniel because he went to 3 different locations, changed outfits 3 times and enjoyed every minute (yes, I am married to the best man in the world)! However, I am most impressed by and thankful for my sister-in-law. She took the pictures for us and they turned out wonderful. If you are interested I can give you her info!

So here they are: (a few are cut off, not because of the photography but my inability to use smilebox)

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TahDah!

After a lot of hard work and a very busy fall, our kitchen is almost completely finished! I absolutely love it and am enjoying it so much. It was finished just in time for the holidays and we have gotten a lot of use out of it already. I must say that I have the most talented and skilled husband and father-in-law ever! I may be a little biased! :) We also had the help of our great friends Bryce and Amanda and my parents with painting and sanding. Let's just say it has been a family effort. I have posted pictures below. (there is an island that eventually will go in the middle but we all needed a break to enjoy the holidays, especially Daniel) Speaking of the holidays, we had one of the best seasons ever (getting to see lots of friends and family)and I will post pictures as soon as I have time to transfer them. As always, I feel so blessed and am truly grateful!

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Wow.....

It has been a really long time since I blogged and a lot has happened since then:

1) Daniel and I closed on and moved into our first house! It has been so fun but we are still in the process of rennovating our kitchen. (For those of you that know me, my obsessive compulsive tendencies don't mesh well with a continuous mess but it will be well worth it.)

2) Daniel and I took a trip up north with my parents to see my Uncle and Aunt. It was so much fun! We went to Port Huron, Michigan, Niagara Falls and ended the week with a couple of nights in Chicago. It was great and we absolutely loved Chicago, can't wait to go back.

(the new house!)

3) Daniel is really enjoying his job and I am back at school. It has been a busy start to the school year but I will get into a routine soon.

When we get the kitchen finished, I will post pictures.

Oh, and I better not forget, we participated in our first adventure run with our friends Bryce, Amanda, Paul and Sarah this past weekend. We "ran the jailbreak" mud, water, barbed wire, tires and all. It was so much fun and just an awesome weekend seeing great friends! I will post pictures as soon as I get them from Amanda.

THE NEXT CHAPTER.....

Wooohoooo! Daniel has graduated from both LCU and Texas Tech. The past 2 weeks have been extremely busy, but very exciting and we got to share the celebration with family.

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We both feel extremely blessed. Daniel began full time employment as an Electrical and Automation Specialist at Hurricane Test Laboratory.....I intended to make this a "reflective" blog, some of my friends do and I really enjoy reading them. But, it took me so long to figure out how to make that slide show, it is too late for me to be feeling very reflective. Maybe tomorrow I will come back and reflect on this next chapter of our lives as I originally intended....haha. I do know,though, at this stage in our lives I feel more content, fulfilled and happy than I ever imagined. I am married to a kind, thoughtful,funny, strong and intelligent man. I am so thankful for him and his accomplishments. I believe God is good and he does bless us richly! (Maybe I wasn't too tired to reflect..lol).