Blizzard of 2009

So, here we are in Baltimore during the Blizzard of 2009. We started off yesterday evening with green grass and no precipitate and it has been constant since. This is Nick clearing the snow for the fifth time. Just so we have some sort of clear path for tomorrow morning. There isn't much of a wind, so it's not drifting. It just keeps falling.

My Envoy is on the left. This was about 5 pm. we had to re shovel and my car is completely covered now. Just a large white pile of snow.

This is Bella, trying to find a place to pee. Nick cleared a spot of grass off for her, but she apparently prefers the sidewalk. As you can see, the snow is inches over her head.

It's been a great day to stay indoors. Too bad I have to work tomorrow :)

Winter Fun

To start off this month, Nick was in Ft Indiantown Gap, PA for a week at the reginal NCO of the Year competition. And he WON!!!!! Not only am I super proud of him, but the next level of competition is in Hawaii in March. AND I GET TO GO!!! We are so excited :)

Here's Nick in all his glory :) He came home with a bunch of army stuff for winning...an Army camo folding chair, backpack, medal, certificates, gift certificates....and a lovely winners cup with his name engraved on the plaque. Even Bella was in awe of him. :)

That weekend we went to one of my coworkers house in Annapolis to see the boats that people decorate. The pictures ended up a little blurry, but it was pretty cool to see what people came up with. We had a nice time and Annapolis is such a great little town that we'd love to make it back there just to check it out. Maybe when it's a little warmer out :)Here's Bella, trying to get into the spirit of the season. I don't think I've convinced her yet that she looks good in red.

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving, my sister Caite and her boyfriend Brian came to visit us for the week. We had something planned for everyday they were here...we wanted to show them all the great things to do here.

On Wed we went to Philadelphia and ate at Geno's with their famous Cheesesteaks. Then we did a tour of the historic area and stopped in at Betsey Ross's house, the liberty bell, Congress hall and the Federal Reserve. The weather was pretty crappy but we had a good time.

We also took them wall climbing....they did a fantastic job for being first timers! I think they were surprised at what a great work out it is.

There's my baby sister making her way to the top!! I was so proud of her :)

We also drove down to DC and spent the day looking at the monuments and checking out the museums. We saw the White House, Capital, Washington and Lincoln Monuments, and the Viet Nam, Korean War, WWI and WWII Memorials. The weather was beautiful for all the walking around that we had to do outside.

Nick and I in front of the Washington Monument

This was my favorite memorial in DC....for the Korean War.

To end the week, we went to Boordy Winery were Cait and Brian were able to go wine tasting. It was a beautiful day and a great way to end the week! Wish we could do stuff like this more often!

Sept, part IV

After our wedding we spent a wonderful relaxing week in Cabo San Lucas.

Our room was amazing and had a perfect view of the Sea of Cortez.

We swam with the dolphins, went snorkeling, raced American Cup boats and spent a day on the zip lines.

Ofcourse, every afternoon we were in the pool making good use of the swim up bar!

There were activities every night. We happend to be there for the Mexican Independence day and they had a huge fiesta with live entertainment and great food.

We had some amazing dinners and tried all five of the restaraunt at some point during the week.

We were able to have some professional photos taken while we were on the resort. He did a great job and was really able to capture just how beautiful it was there.

We are totally looking forward to an anniversary trip!!

Sept, part III

Sept 12 started off by the girls in Coldwater getting our hair done. Then on to Elder Beerman's for make up. We ended up having some time to spare, so we went to lunch at Northwoods.

All the bridesmaids looked amazing. I loved their dresses! It was a lot of fun getting all dressed up with my best friends.

My sister Caitlin was the Maid of Honor. She looked soooo pretty all dressed up! She was great MOH. She fluffed and fixed and did everything perfectly during the ceremony :)

Tricia , who was my Matron of Honor and her husband, Jason. It was great having my college roomie with me. She kept me calm and collected during those busy days before the big day!

Kari was beautiful as always. We had such a great time at the bachelorette party, I think she was still recovering...two days later! haha

Becky had just gotten married a few months before us, so it was a lot of fun for us to celebrate eachothers day together!

My cousins Brea and Kelly were also part of our wedding party. I had a great time out on the town with them at the bachelorette party and getting all prettied up with them for the wedding. The both looked AMAZING in the blue dresses....lucky girls have blue eyes to match!

And finally, at 5pm we got married! We had a beatiful day and were surrounded by people that love us. What more could you ask for?? Everything went as planned (well, except for the bees and the cows mooooing! haha) everyone looked great and had a great time!

A girl Nick and I graduated high school with owns a bakery in Coldwater and did our cakes for us! They turned out perfect! They looked great and were delicious!!

Lauren Sterling did our wedding pictures and they are all up for viewing at l5sterling.zenfolio.com

Sept, part II

After our early morning rehearsal, most of the wedding party came out to my grandparents lake house for some snacks and just relaxing and hanging out on a beautiful day! During some modified games of bacci ball, my grandpa came rushing out of the house....and we realized his boad was just floating away! It was quit a scene!

Luckily, Nick's best man and brother Mike jumped in to chase the boat down and saved the day! My dad drove everyone around the lake for a relaxing ride.The trees were already starting to change and the colors were beautiful! It ended up being a graet way to spend the day with friends.That night we all got ready to go out for dinner at Bill's Steakhouse in Bronson. It was a great steak dinner had all around! Nick presented me with some beautiful pearl earrings that I wore on our wedding day. I gave him a book that I had made starting with the day we met 20 years ago!! We had a great dinner and really enjoyed having all our wedding party able to be there and just hanging out with everyone!

Here are all my girls!! I don't have a picture of all the guys online yet....but hope to soon!

Catch up for Sept

The thursday before the wedding Nick and I had our Bachelor/bachelorette parties (separate, ofcourse!) Nick, with his 'game over' t-shirt and the guys went to Indiana for some go-carting fun. They were just covered in black soot from the exhaust...but had a great time! Then they went to dinner and had a taco eating contest. Nick had a great time hanging out with all his groomsmen and our dads.

Us girls, on the other hand, rented a party bus that drove us up to Kalamazoo. My mom provided us with wine and snacks for the drive up! Trish gave me a list of 20 'tasks' I had to do. It proved to be the entertainment of the night! We went out to dinner at Old Peninsula and then dancing nearby at the piano bar.
We all had a great time, dancing all night long (well, except for Kelly. She enjoyed the wine a little too much :) haha)

I was provided with some fun jewelry and candy to get us all in the mood for the evening!

ugly morning

So, this morning when I woke up, I found that Bella had some GI upset. It left for a very messy, smelly apartment. So, we took the opportunity to rent a carpet cleaner and wash our carpets.
Bella also got a nice bath. It turned out to be quite a long day of cleaning!!

3lb steak...yummy!!

A few weeks ago, Nick decided to try another eating challenge. A 3 lb steak. He didn't quite finish it, but he made a great effort :) So, here's the starting proof.

Here's a little size comparison. Even this didn't deter him.
This was our meal that night, I had a full size chicken breast....Nick's meal wouldn't even fit onto a regular plate, he had to use a platter!!

Here's Nick happily starting his large meal...with a bloody mary, ofcourse!And here's Nick when he gave up :) He made is about 2/3 of the way. The steak made for good left over stir fry the next day.

A Boordy Saturday

This Saturday, our friend Ed, Nick and myself all went to Boordy winery to enjoy some wine, food and big band/jazz music/swing music. We managed to find ourselves a perfect spot up on the hill to enjoy the festivities. They offered a half hour of swing dance lessons before the band started to play while we enjoyed our dinner and wine. We were having a great time people watching right up until it started to sprinkle. We stopped on the way out to buy a couple more bottles to continue the night back at our place. It was lucky we left when we did as it really started to rain just as we got to the car.

We continued the night of fun with Bananagrams, Blues Brothers and wine. It was a perfect Saturday night!