Counting My Blessings

As November draws to a close and we begin moving from the official Thanksgiving season into Christmas, I've tried to take some time to count my blessings.  Jonathan and I agree that family is more important than pretty much anything else.  We've had some great examples set by parents and grandparents. 

We were both off of work on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  We went to Raleigh on Tuesday night and stayed through lunch time on Friday before heading to Pfafftown until Sunday afternoon.

I actually managed to take some pictures this time, which was nothing short of a miracle, since I usually forget that I even have a camera.

 I am thankful for the laughter that Jonathan provides on a daily basis...this was a photo shoot he wanted to have to show the many emotions that he experiences and the many ways he expresses himself...this is "Innocent Jonathan".

 We are thankful for Granny Dot and her sense of humor.

 We're thankful for Grandma Mary and her kind heart.

 Emily made this Tree of Plenty for everyone to list some things we're thankful for.

 This was from Emily...I think she's glad to finally have some more girls in the family.

 This was Jonathan's and I only had to hint a little bit that he should mention me specifically.

 This is mine.

 Jonathan is a blessing to me every day.

 Jonathan felt blessed to be able to drive Grandpa's truck.  Grandma and Grandpa are both very giving and want their kids and grandkids to be happy.  Before we left for a drive, Grandpa asked if we had enough gas and then told us to, "Run it all out."

 I'm thankful for the example that all of my grandparents have set in teaching us how to be a family.



We've Made It A Year!

As I mentioned earlier, we recently (July 16th) celebrated our first wedding anniversary.  We went to the Greek Isles restaurant to eat, then came home and cut the top layer of our wedding cake.

A waiter offered to take our picture.  I didn't have the heart to ask him to re-take it to get the sign IN and the take out bag OUT.

In case you're wondering, yes, those ARE my wedding heels.  I love them!

Jonathan wanted to take this picture, "In case something funny happens while you're cutting the cake."

(His words, not mine). 

Not the best picture, but the cake was still good! 

New York, Niagra Falls

After we left the Outer Banks, we spent the night in Raleigh, and my mother-in-law took us to the airport to catch a flight to upstate New York.  We went there to spend time with our friends who have a cottage on Conesus Lake.  We had a BLAST!

We ate at the Conesus Inn, a restaurant famous for their prime rib.  This is Jonathan's "queen" cut.  The queen is two ribs of meat.  He didn't quite make it all the way through.

We went to the Museum of Play in Rochester, NY.

"Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?" 

I know, it was awesome! 

We went to Niagra Falls (first time for both of us).  It was spectacular! 

We had tickets that allowed us to go behind the falls for a totally different view. 

It was a bit intimidating, but I'm so glad I did it. 

Of course we rode the Maid of the Mist to the falls!  Jonathan and Justin decided to ride on the top level of the boat, and I couldn't be outdone by the boys.  It was great! 

We went on a white water walk.  After the falls, the river flows along and has Class 6 rapids.  It was amazing just to stand and watch the water.  Unfortunately my camera died and this was the last picture I could squeeze out. 

Thanks so much to the Kohl family for hosting us...was had a great time!

OBX 2012

After Austin's (Jonathan's brother) wedding, we went to the Outer Banks to celebrate our first anniversary a couple of weeks early. We had lots of fun and it was especially nice to spend time with each other without having other commitments to keep up with.  These are some pictures of our trip.

Priority #1: Check into hotel and take pictures on the balcony.

Jonathan had lots of practice at catching moths.  Now, he is talented in many ways, but this is not his greatest skill.  I know I wasn't much help because I was too busy laughing at him and taking pictures of this escapade.

We went to a recreation of the Native American and English settlements on Roanoke Island. 

This is a replica of the ship.  It's called the Queen ______. 

We went to the Lost Colony play on Roanoke Island.  This is one of the first jobs that Andy Griffith had, and the day after we saw the play, he died on Roanoke Island.   Since the fourth grade curriculum focuses on NC history, I really wanted to see this!

We went to Jockey's Ridge.  It was hot.

We went to the Wright Brother's Memorial.  It was hot there, too. 

The best meal we had during our trip was at Kelly's.  We (Jonathan) had calamari... 

oysters, clams... 

salmon...and peanut butter chocolate cheescake (not pictured). 

We ate at another restaurant that wasn't very good, but you can't tell me this isn't the sweetest face you've ever seen.  :) 



My New Ring

Jonathan (being the awesome husband he is) gave me a great present for our first anniversary.  He made me a ring for my right hand!  The ring is made out of titanium, so it is very light weight.  I plan to have it engraved with our wedding date.

He worked so hard!  This took about three days to make, but he worked after work on Friday, ALL DAY on Saturday, and all afternoon on Sunday after church.

Jonathan started with a solid piece of titanium and worked it into a ring. 

You can see him shaving off the edges in this picture.

He polished it (several times) before he would let me wear it.

The finished product!  I will post more pictures when I have it engraved. 

Thank you Jonathan...I love you!



Summer Projects

Since I don't work during the summer (I know, lucky me!), I definitely have some summer projects that I'm working on.  Now, I'm not killing myself to get things done, and I spread the work out over several days, but I have kept busy.  These are some of the projects I've worked on:

-put shelf liner in the kitchen drawers

-decorated the guest room

-cleaned the fans

-sorted clothes to donate to Goodwill

-ironed all of the clothes that I've been ignoring

-found and eye doctor AND went to the eye doctor

-cleaned the baseboards

-made a wreath with our last name

One of the projects that I'm proudest of is cleaning (and I mean deep cleaning) the blinds.  I know that they haven't been cleaned since Jonathan has lived here and after our honeymoon last year I had to go back to work when we got home.  Anyway, I've tried to vacuum, dust, wipe, and ignore all of the dust, but they are sparkling now!

I went through trial and error to find the best way to go about this.  I tried taking them down and just putting them in the bathtub in soapy water.  That didn't work because the little pieces fell out.  So, I had to take the pieces out and wipe them individually with Clorox wipes.

Well, that took forever and a day, so I decided to just put on my bathing suit, hold the blinds up, and turn on the shower.  Then I took the blinds out to the front yard and put them on some old sheets (thanks, Grandma!) to dry.  Since we have hardwood floors I put towels down to walk on from the shower to the front yard.  I also vacuumed the window frames and sills, which made everything look so much better.

Jonathan's Beard

Most of you know that Jonathan and I disagree over what his beard should look like.  I'm fine with him having facial hair, but this was a bit extreme.  Jonathan grew out his beard from Christmas until Memorial Day.  If you look over the last few posts, you can see the beard grow.  These pictures are from the day he shaved.  As if these aren't enough to scare you, he left the beard on his chin as long as it was before he shaved, and went to work like that.

Update on Us

This is what we look like now...we're both growing our hair out.  Jonathan hasn't shaved since before Christmas, but is (hopefully) planning to do so soon. He thinks it's awesome, as do all of his coworkers and our friends.