Another Year Down

I cannot believe we are wrapping up 2012 and heading into another year.  Each year truly goes by faster by than the last and the older I get, the more I realize how short and fragile this life is.  We have been truly blessed again and sometimes I just cannot wrap my head around it all.  We have such incredibly amazing families.  We truly couldn't ask for better role models, friends, supporters, babysitters, and FUN people to be my family.  We are so lucky to have such great relationships with our friends.  Childhood friends, neighbors, sorority friends, work friends, and even internet friends...we are so lucky to be surrounded with such incredible people.  I truly cherish these relationships.

2012 was a great year for us.  We were able to travel to some great places!  In March, we spent a weekend in New York for Mike to do a photoshoot.  (I took this pic from my friend's apartment.  Nice view, huh?)

 We celebrated my 29th birthday in Mexico with great childhood friends.

 We even got to cruise around Alaska in July with Mike's family.  It was beautiful!

We celebrated Ethan's 1st birthday with a cute carnival at our local park.

We sold our first, sweet home and moved into our new house in December. We celebrated the holidays in our new home and have started redecorating!

What a wonderful year 2012 has been.  I am always hopefully for the next year and I pray that 2013 is equally blessed for our family and for all of you.  Happy New Year!

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Sold

Our first home holds so many memories.  The home we moved in together after we were married.  The home where we learned to be husband and wife.  The home where we welcomed Mia. The home that held parties, whiskey fires, showers, and happy hours.  The home where we bought Ethan home from the hospital.  The home where we learned to be parents.  The home that held us through many late nights.  So many memories are wrapped in these walls and I can't help but get emotional to think about moving. 

After our first open house last Sunday, we got an offer. After going back and forth a couple of times, we accepted the buyers contract and that was it. Of course, we have inspections and appraisals so the deal isn't completely finalized but it is getting close. We still have other agents and prospective buyers coming in just in case. And now, we need to find somewhere to live! We have mixed emotions about leaving and moving on.  We know we will make new memories in our new house, but for now, we're enjoying this last month in a home that is so very special to us.

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Balloon Glow and Hop in the City

Last weekend was jam packed with fun, family, and friends. On Friday night, we went to the Balloon Glow in Forest Park. I had never been before and it was a really cool experience. We arrived at about 7:15 and most of the balloon were up and glowing.There were so many people and beautiful balloons. We were joined by my parents and my sister and her boyfriend, Kyle.When the sun went down, the balloons really started to glow. Every few minutes, someone would blow a bullhorn and the all of the balloon would fire up and glow. The whole area would light up and you could feel the heat on your skin. It was an awesome sight!Mike loved taking pictures of the fire up close.(You can check out more pictures on Mike's blog.)
At about 8:30, we started the trek back to our car. Then, we sat. In traffic. Not even traffic. In a parking lot. For 1 hour and 30 minutes. I was NOT a fan. We did see the fireworks from the lot but we weren't too happy. Final verdict: Although I loved the balloon glow and thought it was a great experience. However, I won't be going back for a long time. It was one of those "see it once, and don't need to see it again" kind of things for me. I am sure I will bring my future kiddos there someday but obviously, that won't be anytime soon.

Saturday was the day of the Hop. We weren't able to go to this amazing event last year but we did attend in 2007 and 2006. There's not too much to say about the Hop. You get a little cup and are able to taste 40 different Schlafly beers. It all starts off just great and turns into a pretty hot mess quickly. We even ran into Jenn and Mary. Great seeing you girls! Ok...time for the pictures...Final Verdict: I will attend this event every year that I can. SO. MUCH. FUN.

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Crazy weekend (Part One)

I think I am still recovering from one of the most fun weekends we have had in a while!

My sister works at the Zoo and invited us to Zoofari, which is one of the Zoo's biggest events of the year. The theme is "creative black tie" but unfortunately, we didn't get too creative! Mike was out of town all last week and he flew into St. Louis and drove straight to meet us at the Zoo.

Zoofari was amazing! There were 60 restaurants that had booths all around the paths and were sampling their best dishes. Think of a restaurant, it was there! There were also bars with every alcohol that you can imagine.
Reunited with my hubby...see the bears behind us?

The boys (Mike and Ali's boyfriend, Kyle) enjoyed some interesting things...oysters....and pulled pork (literally pulled off of the pig...uch...).

Group picture...(This is where the heat became unbearable. It was probably 8:00 and 90 degrees.)The Commodores were playing on the main stage and we were dancing the night away.And then the rain rolled in...It was awesome! So much fun just running through the rain. We were soaked!Such a blast! Thanks Ali for inviting us. Hopefully we can go to Zoofari again in the future.

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Birthday Fun

I have been such a bad blogger lately. I hate to keep blaming it on Mia but really...it is her fault! (Click on the picture below and see the face up close...oh my gosh...)My Memorial Day weekend was wonderful!
Friday- Glendale Jazz Fest. You can't ever go wrong with beer, lawn chairs, and jazz music. Mia played with an adorable 3 year old, Emiline. It was hilarious watching her drag Mia all over the lawn.Saturday- Birthday celebration with the family at Hacienda. Gotta love a taco salad and strawberry margarita (thanks, Ali!). My mom knows me so well. As part of my present, she bought me color pens I had been lusting over. Does anyone else get super excited about colored, gel pens? I know my fellow teachers are nodding their heads right now ;)If so, go get the Pilot G2 gel pens, right now! They are wonderful and look at the great colors!
Sunday- Birthday BBQ at our house. The clouds were menacing all day but it hadn't rained by our 2:00 start time. When the party was in full swing and Mike just placed the burgers and dogs on the grill, the sky opened and it POURED. It was hilarious but a little bit of a downer. Luckily, it passed as quickly as it came and the rest of the night was beautiful.I LOVE cleaning the house and decorating. I finally took our our bud vases and put them to use! (I am also proud because I took that picture!)
Monday- No celebration on Monday. Just cleaning, report cards, cuddling with the pup, and recovering.

Today is the big day. I can't believe that I am actually the big...My "Golden Birthday" to be exact...I am 26th on the 26th! Fun, huh?! Birthdays have always been a big deal to me. My parents always set out this red plate on our birthdays and it really is such a great memory for me. I think I want to buy one some day and start the same birthday tradition for my kids.This really is the first year that I haven't felt like my birthday is a big deal. So much is going on right now and I think I am just growing up (about time, huh?!).

Tonight Mike and I are going out to dinner at Maggiano's. We usually don't go to chain restaurants but Rigatoni D at Maggiano's is AMAZING. I can't wait to get some of that in my belly soon : )

Alrighty...need to go! Ciao!!!

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The road to meet Mia.

I woke up on Saturday morning with butterflies in my stomach. I was nervous and excited to finally meet our puppy but honestly, I was way more nervous than excited. We pulled up to the gas station because Kenneth (Mia's previous owner) agreed to meet us halfway. The moment I saw her, I almost died. My heart melted and I actually started to cry. I really hadn't ever seen anything so adorable! We put her in her travel crate and started our journey home. We had prepared ourselves for a drive home full of poop, pee, and puke. But instead, she fell right asleep. Like, dead asleep...snoring and all!We has to wake her up each time we stopped so she could go potty. Here are pictures of our first pit stop in Arkansas.She was so good in her crate the entire time. She would fall right asleep until our next stop. I just kept looking back and starting at her.After 6 hours on the road, we were finally home and my parents came over for a delicious dinner! Of course, I took many more pictures of our baby!My mom even brought Mia presents that she loved. She can't wait to be big enough to play frisbee! (I have a feeling that it will be sooner than later.)I have gotten a bunch of questions about the first night. Honestly, it wasn't too bad (the second night was much worse!!!) She woke up and cried at 12, 1, 2, and 4. She woke up at 7 am for the day. No accidents in the crate and she peed each time we took her out.

Sunday, we celebrated Mother's Day (my first) at our house with bagels and family. It was lovely and we had more chances to take pictures of our pup. We started to wait at GC but after 45 minutes, we decided to leave. (Doesn't my mom look AMAZING only 2 weeks post surgery? Sorry, Mom...you do!!!) Someone at home was being a ham for the camera...Happy Mother's Day to me :)And family pictures without the canine...After a wonderful Mother's Day, we were exhausted. Mia didn't want to sleep last night. She cried every hour and I wasn't a fan. Waking up for work at 6 was super hard and I was dragging all day. It is 9:30 right now and I am going to hop in bed because I have a feeling it will be a repeat show tonight.

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Arkansas Roadtrip

On Friday, I left work right as soon as I could and hurried home to pack for our roadtrip. At about 4:00 we hit the road to begin our 5 hour trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas. We got in town around 9:30, went to Danny's (Mike's brother) house to freshened up, and hit the college bars. Oh...how I miss the college years. After hitting the bars with Danny and his girlfriend, Jesse, we had to get some late night Taco Bell. While winding down, Danny and Mike played guitar and played around with the camera.The next morning, I woke up with butterflies in my stomach as we drove to meet our new baby girl. I have to run and eat dinner but I will post more tonight!

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