Blessed and Thankful

Andrew and I traveled to Iowa this year to celebrate Thanksgiving with his side of the family!  It was a safe trip up north (thank goodness) without any snow.  :)  Some of you might remember that a trip about a year ago landed us in the ditch because of the snow. 

We had a wonderful time visiting with his Dad, brothers, and extended family members in Cedar Rapids.  Then, we made a short trip even further north to visit Andrew's mom in Wadena.  Nokona joined us for all the fun too!  She even got to burn off her energy at Kathy and Steve's farm by chasing us on the four-wheeler!  It was definitely cool to see her running as fast as she could - - she looked like a race-dog!  I wish I would've captured it in pictures or video, but I didn't. 

All in all, we had a wonderful trip and we're reminded how grateful we are to God for the amazing people in our lives.  We are truly blessed.  What a wonderful Thanksgiving!





1st Birthday Bash!

On September 21st, my "niece" celebrated her first birthday!!!  (She is really my second cousin, but more like a niece to me.)  Danner celebrated with her family and friends by eating a filling meal at Sirloin Stockade and then digging into that PURPLE cake!  She and Jaxon got to play too!  :)  But... it was around naptime so we didn't get to see her opening presents.  It was a wonderful time with great family.  By the way... Andrew was not there because he was hunting in western Kansas with some friends.  I know what you are thinking... Andrew hunting???  I know, I thought the same thing.  He came back without any wounds though!  :)

The birthday girl walkin around with her sunglasses on and her cowboy boot in her mouth!  So precious!

Jaxon with his daddy

Jax LOVES to eat!  Ummm mashed potatoes - - he is a big boy!

Cousins playin' together.  So stinkin' cute!

I love my nephew!

That a girl!  Danner getting her cake all over!  :)

Tired baby boy... I love putting my nephew to sleep.  He fought it for about 15 minutes, but he finally fell asleep.

30 before 30!

I have been thinking for quite some time now that I want to do several adventurous, exciting, thrilling,... or whatever you want to call them... events before I turn 30!  So, I started creating my list about a month or two ago and finally got it completed.  Some of these will be easy and may happen very soon.  Some are challenging for me and might take several years.  Others are just goals I have or things I would like to do - - yes there are many trips and places I would like to visit on this list!  So, they may not all happen because of the expenses involved (and the hubby may not approve of all this money spending in 4 years!), but they are still things I would like to do at some point in my life! ... so here goes nothing.... my list of 30 before 30 (or maybe 35 for a few of these)!

(Oh yeah, and I think my good friend, TK, has done just about all of these already - plus much, much more, and she is my age!  I don't think I could ever live up to her adventures!)

30 Before 30!

1. Finish my Master’s degree

2. Go on a cruise

3. Go skydiving

4. Go SCUBA diving again (with Andrew this time!)

5. Go snow skiing again (with Andrew this time!)

6. Try snowboarding

7. Ride a snowmobile

8. Go white-water rafting again (with Andrew this time!)

9. Ride in a hot-air balloon

10. Visit Hawaii!!!

11. Try surfing

12. Buy my first car (other than what my parents got me in high school!)

13. Run a 5k race

14. Run a 10k race

15. Buy an investment property with Andrew

16. Renew my wedding vows (on our 5 year anniversary)

17. Plan (or help plan) our 10 year high school reunion

18. Go to a Chicago Cubs game

19. Go on a zip-line adventure/tour (preferably somewhere exotic-ish!)

20. Go to a Chiefs game

21. Finish our basement

22. Get more involved in our church

23. Go on a father/daughter trip with my dad

24. Adopt a family or child for the holidays

25. Visit New York City

26. Take a horse-drawn carriage ride during Christmas time (around any city)

27. Visit (and camp) at Yellowstone National Park

28. Create and keep a blog

29. Document all 30 things in pictures or videos

30. And, last of all…… have our first child (or children if they're twins!)!!!

Welcome to the Blogging World!

Hello everyone!  So...I decided to begin a blog about Andrew and me and our experiences together!  I'm very excited to get this blog going and to share many memories with our family and friends.  I was thinking that I wanted to wait until the New Year to start this, but there are so many exciting times around the Holidays that I just couldn't wait!  So.... here we go!  This will be a learning experience for me and probably very time consuming because I think I might get a little addicted!  :)