Josh N Dina

Grandpa's Memorial

2012-01-22T18:03:00.001-05:00

On Christmas evening, Logan and I headed up to Michigan. I'm so grateful that Logan came with me so I didn't have to make the trip by myself. And if you know Logan, he makes anything fun! We had a nice ride up there. We got to my Grandma's (Mom's mom) house pretty late, but she was still up! We chatted with her for about an hour or so (it was like midnight!). Then we went off to bed. The next morning, Grandma woke us up by making us blueberry pancakes and bacon! YUM!!! After we ate breakfast, Logan and I took off and went to the church where Grandpa's (Dad's dad) memorial service was being held.

It was such a hard day for all of us. We all loved him very much and are so thankful that we were able to have him in our lives for as long as we were able to. He always made us laugh and was always so kind to us. He is truly missed, but we know that we will see him again! It was a good service. Sad, but good. I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to go. It was also good to see some family relatives that I don't get to see very often.

Josh and I felt bad for Logan not really being able to have a Christmas, so we bought him a few small gifts. Because our Christmas was a little crazy, he ended up opening them out of my trunk in Michigan. I just love my little brother! He lets me take lots of pictures of him :) Here's a few of him opening presents.

That was probably the last time that I will ever be in my Grandpa's house and I have so many fond memories of that house. My grandpa had built it from the ground up. It will soon be on the market though. I wanted to take a few pictures of it to remember it.

Then Logan let me take a little photo shoot of him...He's such a good sport :)

The Dill side of the family always is having some sort of fun; so they decided to go out to this small town's 'downtown' area. They had this HUGE Santa on display, so we all took a few pictures.

These are my cousins {Candace (Willie's wife), Kelly, Mandy and Aunt LeeAnne}

Logan, Brayden, Me and Dad:

That night, Logan and I headed back to Cleveland. Then we flew out EARLY the next morning to go to OKLAHOMA!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-15T16:02:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone! I'm only about three weeks late. Better late than never though. Josh and I had a great Christmas. It was a very odd Christmas, but a good one. We spoiled each other and were spoiled by our families. This was the first year that we were not with family for Christmas. We got up early on Christmas Eve and opened presents. It was nice and we got some great things! The only sad part is that most of our stuff was put into boxes right after opening (we are living out of boxes pretty much right now), but it was still fun. I can't wait to get everything in our next place.

Sadly these are the only two pictures I got to take before my camera died :( And typically Josh, didn't want his picture taken.

We had a great Christmas on Christmas Eve. Later that night, Logan flew into Cleveland! It was so good to see him and have him see a little bit of Cleveland...He was only here for about 24 hours though. We just hung out and watched movies that night.

Christmas morning, our friends from church, the Egners, invited us over for a delicious breakfast! It was wonderful! We have had a blast getting to know them while we have been here. After breakfast, we headed straight to church for a wonderful sacrament meeting. We had all the missionaries over for dinner and games after church. We had a blast! Unfortunately though, Logan and I had to skip out early and headed for Michigan...that will be in another post.

We had a great Christmas! and hope that all of you did too! Merry Christmas to all!

Grateful

2011-12-20T21:33:00.001-05:00

Tonight I feel completely grateful, which is not something that I thought I would feel at the end of the day today. My day started at 5:40am when my alarm went off. I got to work at about 6:55am with the plan that I would be working a longer day, but would be going home around 6pm. Well, things kept piling up and as I am leaving town, I have to get a lot of stuff done before I leave. I ended up leaving work at about 7:45pm. As I started to drive down the road, I thought it felt a little rough. But then I thought about how I live in Cleveland and all the roads are rough. I got on the highway and was talking to Josh on the phone. I told him that I think I might have a flat tire. He asked how I didn't know if I had one or not. :) I thought I was fine, but a little further down the road, I thought I better stop and check. Sure enough, my back passenger tire was completely flat. Oh great...here I am again with a flat tire and Josh out of town. I called Josh back and he said he was going to try to call a few people to see if they could come change it. With a lot of our friends being out of town for the holidays, I wasn't sure that he would be able to get ahold of anyone. I told him that I would try to change it myself, but wasn't sure that I would be able to see well enough as there were no city lights where I had stopped.

Luckily, I found a little flashlight in our glove compartment. I cleaned out my trunk, got the spare tire out and the jack. I struggled a little trying to lift the car up with the crappy jack I have. I looked something like this...but it was dark and COLD and wet.

Just as I was starting to try to get the lug nuts off (and they were on TIGHT), a pickup truck pulled up behind me. A woman about my mother's age, got out and asked if I needed some help. I told her that I had a flat tire and yes, I did need help. She then motioned for her son and husband to come and help. They changed my tire for me...I would have been stuck there for quite some time trying to do it on my own. I felt truly blessed that they had stopped. The mom told me that as they drove by, their son said "Hey, I think that was a girl. We should stop." He seemed a little embarrassed as he said "well, it's different if it's a girl." I laughed and said I totally understand. So they turned around and came back to help. The mom said something to the effect that she got out first so I wasn't scared by a man approaching me on the side of a dark highway. They seemed like such a nice family and I'm so grateful they stopped to help. It's good to know that there are still those nice people out there. Tonight wasn't the best of nights either; it was cold, the ground was wet and it was completely dark and really foggy, but they still stopped and helped anyway. It reminds me how much our Heavenly Father looks after us at all times. I know that I am truly blessed and I know that he sent this nice family out to help me in my time of need. It was a great experience and a great reminder that there are good people out in the world still and that our Heavenly Father is continuously watching over us. I feel so grateful for this family, for the way they approached me, for changing my tire and for their kindness. I hope that next time Josh wants to stop and help someone, I won't complain and will be happy to help them in their time of need. Tonight, I am truly grateful for this family that took 20 minutes out of their evening to help me. I just hope that next time I get a flat tire, Josh will be in town :) Good night everyone!

December 2011, Thus Far

2011-12-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how fast this month has already flown by! Time really must go faster as you get older; but with that, I am worried how fast time might fly ten years from now. We have had a great month thus far. I LOVE Christmas! I really have to hold myself back from getting tons and tons of Christmas decor. We did, however, get a new tree this year. We had an old Charlie Brown tree that we had gotten for free and gave it away at a garage sale we had this last spring. We weren't planning on buying a tree this year because we don't want to have to move it; but since we are going to be home, I talked Josh into getting one. I absolutely LOVE the tree we got. It's prelit and has both pine cones and berries mixed within the tree. We got a great deal on it too, 50% off! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

I wanted to do a few Christmas crafts this year too. Because we got a new tree, I decided to do a tree skirt. I absolutely love how it turned out. Here is a picture of our beautiful tree with the unfinished tree skirt. I was just wanting to see how it would look.

Josh surprised me with an early Christmas present. It's this tree topper with the nativity in the center. We saw this in Amish country earlier this year and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I LOVE it!

My mom wanted to see some pictures of the tree skirt. Don't look too closely to any of the seams. I still have MUCH to learn about sewing. I'm really not that good.

Here is our finished Christmas tree! I love it and I think the skirt looks great underneath and the star looks BEAUTIFUL on top. Santa even came a little early to our house and dropped off a few presents for us.

And just some random pictures I took of the tree.

Early this month, we were able to go to a hockey game. Cleveland has a minor league team called the Lake Erie Monsters. Its been a long time since I have gone to a hockey game. We had soo much fun though and I hope we will be able to go again soon. I didn't bring my camera, so only a few pictures from my phone.

We can't believe how fast time has gone already this month, but we are hoping that it will continue to fly by, at least for a little while. We are anxious to find out where we will be for residency and we don't find that out til April. That's all for now.

November 2011

2011-12-11T10:22:00.001-05:00

Things have been absolutely crazy around here. Time is flying by as usual this time of year and it doesn't help that I have been working overtime for the last 6-7 weeks with no end of it in sight. I don't know how some people work well over 40 hours a week on a continuous basis. The most I have worked is about 50 hours and I have been completely exhausted. But other than that work has been going pretty good. I still love my new job. It is the perfect job for me, which is something I never though I'd find :)

Josh has been busy going to clinic, lots and lots of church things (3 baptisms in the last month) and studying for the fast-approaching boards and interviews. This month he is out on externships and is completely ready to be done with this chapter in our lives.

Here's a small recap on November:

We got some family pictures taken by a friend. We took some of their family and they took a few of us. We were lucky to get them done before all the leaves fell for the season. Our favorite one is the one above used as our blog header.

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving. We spent it with some of our best friends here in Ohio. I wish I would have taken pictures as this is our last Thanksgiving with them. But it was fun! I don't know how some women do a whole Thanksgiving by themselves though. I made homemade rolls, green bean casserole, fruit salad and a pie. I was completely exhausted after that. I can't imagine adding a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and everything else added to that! It was great food with great company. We spent the afternoon/early evening eating, chatting and playing every one's new favorite game, Telestrations! We LOVE that game!

We also had a very successful Black Friday. I can't believe how many stores opened so early though. I feel bad for the employees. I went with a friend to an outlet mall near by; it opened at 9pm! But I was able to get a few things. It didn't seem to be too crowded until we were leaving. Most people must not have realized how early it opened. Josh went out really early Friday morning and got a few things too. We spent more money than we probably should have, but oh well.

In November, my grandpa passed away. This was a day that everyone in my family has dreaded the most. He was the best grandpa anyone could wish for. I loved him very much and I hope he knew that. I don't have a single bad memory of him. He always had fun with us, never forgot a birthday nor a Christmas card. I miss him so, so much already.

Love you, Grandpa!

November is a month full of Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. I am very thankful for the wonderful husband I have. I'm thankful for my job and how it all seemed to fall into place. I'm so very grateful for the gospel and the peace and happiness it brings into my life. I love and miss my family. I'm grateful for the bond that I have with my siblings. I am truly blessed to have the in-laws that I have. They are such wonderful people who I love and care for. I don't think I could have asked for any better in-laws. I am very thankful for my grandpa and for the life that he lived as well as the happiness that he brought into mine. Hope you all had a great November full of Thanksgiving!

Coverage Bridge Tour

2011-10-25T20:48:00.000-04:00

So, I'm pretty sure that I have the best husband out there. Josh was able to spend a few days in Indianapolis with his family. He had a great time and I totally wish I would have been able to go with him. He came back on Saturday afternoon and after his five hour car ride, when he got home, he hopped right back in the car and went on the covered bridge tour that I have been wanting to go on for quite some while. It was mostly spending lots of time in the car, but it was the perfect date. We had a blast. Here are a few of the many many pictures I took and the description of each bridge found in our little brochure. Don't feel like you have to read them, you can just look at the pretty pictures :)

Doyle Road Bridge:

"A 94 ft long Town lattice bridge built in 1868. Doyle spans Mill Creek. Mill Creek is a tributary of the Grand River. This bridge was renovated in 1987 when a laminated arch was added."

This is a few of the views from the Giddings Road Bridge:

Giddings Road Bridge:
"Pratt truss construction was used for this 107 ft bridge built in 1995 with funding from an ODOT Timber Grant. It cross Mill Creek in Jefferson Twp."

Just a pretty barn that we saw along the way. I love how you can see the shadows of the trees on the barn.

Netcher Road Bridge:
"The bridge is constructed over Mill Creek in Jefferson Twp and features a timber arch with inverted Haupt walls. The 'Neo Victorian' design structure is 110 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 14 feet six inches high. Construction was funded by an ODOT Timber Grant and was opened to traffic in 1999."

This one was probably my favorite that we saw. It just had so much character. I love it!

South Denmark Road Bridge:
"Built in 1890 this Town lattice bridge spans Mill Creek. The 81 fr structure was bypassed in 1975 but is easily accessible.

This one was off the main road way but you could still drive through it.

Just another country picture I took. The country out in that area is just absolutely beautiful!

Caine Road Bridge:
"This first Pratt truss bridge in Ohio was built in 1986 in honor of Ashtabula County's 175th Anniversary. The 124 foot long bridge traverses the west branch of the Ashtabula River in Pierpont Twp."

We had a fun time at this one too. We got out and did some climbing and exploring here.

Graham Road Bridge:
"The Graham Road Bridge, which was built from remnants of a bridge washed downstream in the 1913 flood, now sits in a small park on the south side of the road. The 97 ft Town truss was over the west branch of the Ashtabula River in Pierpont Twp."

I like how this one said it was in a park...It's not...the "park" is just the bridge on the grass which has a picnic table inside it. That's it.

Root Road Bridge:

" A 114 ft Town lattice built in 1868, Root crosses the Ashtabula River. It was raised 18in during the rehabilitation in 1982-1983 and new laminated girders and a center concrete pier were added."

Middle Road Bridge:

"This 136 ft Howe truss bridge was built in 1868 over Conneaut Creek, which is the longest river in eastern Ashtabula County. It was reconstructed in 1984 with the help of three volunteers and four college students."

This is just another barn we saw on the way. Josh LOVED it. It's a hexagon barn.

State Road Bridge:
"Containing 97,000 ft of southern pine and oak, the State Road Bridge was erected in 1983 across Conneaut Creek. The 152 ft Town lattice span was the first covered bridge designed and built by County Engineer John Smolen, Jr. A four foot tall window extends the length of the bridge showing the Town lattice construction. The dedication of the bridge in 1983 was the forerunner of the Covered Bridge Festival."

We did see a few other bridges but it was getting to be too dark and none of the pictures really turned out. We had such a great time and it was just gorgeous being out in the country especially this time of year. I love fall out here!

Weekend in Michigan

2011-10-21T16:38:00.000-04:00

My mom was in Michigan last week visiting her mom and sister. Luckily, I was able to go up there for the weekend and see them. It was a fun weekend, but as always it was too short. We mainly just hung around eating and talking. On Saturday, we did drive up to Houghton Lake to go to this amazing craft store called Arnie's. I could have spent A LOT of money there and had to limit myself majorly. It was definitely fun.

So it was a little windy right by the lake and it was COLD!!! The wind makes them look a little scary in the picture below, but I still like it :)

It was a beautiful drive especially this time of year. If only fall could stay around much longer...

My mom drove up to Michigan, so I was FINALLY able to get the painting she did for us. It's huge and I LOVE IT!! She's been done with it for probably a year now and I'm so grateful I have it now. She did such a good job. Here's a picture of it:

It was a fun weekend! I can't wait to be able to see my mom again. I don't get to see her enough. Thanks for the fun weekend and the beautiful painting :)

Darcy

2011-10-20T18:42:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, I was able to see a part of my family out in Utah for a funeral. It was a sad occasion as my aunt passed away. She was such an amazing person! She touch so many people's lives. She is missed by all who knew her. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go. Love you, Terry!

It was great to be able to see my family even though it was a sad time. While I was there, I was able to take a few pictures of Darcy. She's such a happy girl and I had a ton of fun playing with her throughout the weekend.

The next weekend, Josh & I went to Cedar Pointe with a few of our friends. Sorry, no pictures. I didn't want to have to carry around a camera all day. It was so much fun! By far the best amusement park. It was SUPER crowded though. We waited an average of two hours per ride waiting in line; but the rides were totally worth it. Next time, we won't be going on a Saturday; that's for sure. On one of the rides, it takes you from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds. You go straight up and come pretty much straight down. It was awesome. Love all the rides that we went on.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-18T11:43:00.002-04:00

I started this post about two weeks ago and I'm just now getting back to it...so sad...For Labor Day, I went up to Detroit and spent the weekend with my friends Valerie and her kids. Our husbands? They decided they needed to go to this...

Yep, they went to the opening BYU game down in Mississippi. I am glad they got to go. Josh had a great time.

We girls had a fun time too. We watched "Justin Beiber: Never Say Never" while we painted our toes :) Yep, we totally felt like we were back in 7th grade. But it wa fun and actually a pretty good movie. I wasn't very familiar with him before; but I definitely have Beiber Fever now :) I even downloaded his lastest album...

We also went to one of the Ford's homes. This was actually Henry Ford's only son's house. It was HUGE. If I remember right, it was something like 30,000 square feet and amazing!

My favorite thing was probably the fact that they have a little "doorbell" in EVERY room, that they would push to have the butler come to them and see what they needed....I think I totally need one of those! Here are a few pictures. I didn't have my camera, just my phone, so none of them are very good...

The grounds there were absolutely beautiful. Every room in the house has an amazing view of the lake. Then they had an awesome swimming pool, rose garden and even a play house that had a working bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen...everything was 2/3 of a the size of a normal toilet or whatever it was. Perfect for little kids. It was just an awesome place...I wouldn't mind living there.

Thanks Waters for hosting us yet again :) We headed back home kinda early on Monday. We went to a little BBQ with some friends that night and then got ready to get back to reality :(

Things have actually been pretty good for us though. I finally got hired on as a permanent employee! YAY! Great benefits here I come! And I got a decent raise too :) Life has been great...we can't complain. We have a busy next couple of months, but it should be a lot of fun.

Indianapolis

2011-08-29T19:11:00.000-04:00

Yay! We have Internet again AND blogger let me upload pictures in a timely manner! I don't know why but I have been having some serious problems uploading pictures. Some days it would take like an hour to upload one picture. It seems like I have been working on this post for like ever!

After two long weeks for both of us, Josh and I met up in Indianapolis for a weekend. It was a lot of fun. We didn't stay at a very nice place; in fact, it was pretty gross, but we got to see each other :) We did things the Wray way and kept busy the whole weekend.

First stop was Eiteljerg Museum, which is just a small western art museum. This was Josh's favorite painting:

The had a pretty cool kid area, which we both totally loved.

The tepees that we made:

After the museum, we went to the NCAA Hall of Champions. It wasn't what either of us thought it was going to be and were a little disappointed in it, plus it was pretty crowded.

Lastly, you can't go to Indianapolis and not go to the race track. So, to the racetrack we went. It was pretty cool. We rode a little tour bus around the track. It took us about 10 minutes to go all the way around. It was pretty cool

We went into the museum to see all the old race winner cars. It was neat to see the change in style throughout the years.

Here is their trophy. I thought it was so odd that it is covered by the faces of those who have won. How strange is that? Not sure that I'd like me face on a trophy.

Overall, it was a great weekend. It was nice to be able to see each other too. Indianapolis has a pretty nice downtown area. It was much smaller than I thought it was. It was fun.

The next weekend, I went up to Detroit and spent the weekend with the Waters. It was fun to see them again! Valerie told me about a website called Pinterest.com. I don't know where I have been, but I had never heard of it before! I was completely addicted by the time I left.

Josh came home this last weekend and it home for the next few months! YAY! This fourth year is almost over! May just can't come soon enough. And this gets us all caught up...for now.

Michigan Vacation Part 8: Mystery Spot

2011-08-16T13:59:00.000-04:00

Ok, here it is...the LAST post about the Michigan trip. On Thursday, we went to the Mystery Spot. It was actually way cool. It's basically just a shack where they play games with your mind/eyes.

This was a "Who's Taller?" trick. Somehow, the person on the right always seems to look taller even though we are standing on level cement blocks. They had us switch places and such; I couldn't tell you what it looked like because I was standing on the blocks the whole time.

The first room in the little shack. They don't let you see anything from the outside because it would ruin it all, so it was hot in there.

Karri said that it felt like she was standing normally with her feet flat, but definitely doesn't look like it.

Here is Josh doing one of the demonstrations...I don't quite remember this one.

Logan had to get out of this chair without using his arms...It tried and tried but couldn't ever get out. That was fun to watch :)

Standing in this spot was the only spot that Karri and I didn't feel nauseous. (Our tour guide in the background).

Logan climbing the WALL:

Another mind game. This is actually a level platform.

After our tour of the Mystery Spot and after cooling down a bit in the air conditioned gift shop, the boys and I went on the zip line! It was soo much fun!!! I totally want to go to different places around the world and do this. It was really cool.

This is us before:

This is me on the first line:

Josh:

Not sure who this is, but this was the second line:

After the zip line, we all went miniature golfing. I'm telling you, this place was awesome!

They also had a fun little maze.

This place was just awesome! We did all of these fun things in one place. It was just totally awesome. We had a blast!

On Friday, we took it totally easy. We went to the beach again in the morning. Josh left after that. So I spent the rest of the day just chilling with my family. I don't think we really did anything. Most of us took a nap or two. Then we left early Saturday morning. I just want to say thanks to Dad and Nola for putting this all together. We had such a great time and would definitely love to go back to this place. It was awesome! No bad memories from this trip!

On the way back, a few of us stopped and spent the day with my Grandma Brooks (mom's mom), some cousins and my Aunt and Uncle Foltz. It was good to see them all and to be able to hang out with them all for a little while. It was such a great trip. And now, this blog can finally move onto something else.

Michigan Vacation Part 7: Lake Superior

2011-08-15T14:14:00.001-04:00

After the hot day, we headed to Lake Superior. But by the time we had got there, it had already cooled down a considerable amount. A few of us put our feet in, but only Josh and Logan got completely in the lake. Lake Superior is the farther north lake of the great lakes and is known as being the coldest...and it is :) Here are a few pictures:

I love lighthouses, so of course...

The beach. It had lots of sand, but also some trees and sticks. A nice beach overall though:

The ran in and froze. They were in there for longer than I would have thought they'd be. They said it wasn't bad, but then again, they are male. They froze when they got out though.

Brayden really wanted to get in the water, but it was just too cold. He settled on playing in the sand.

The sunburn is from days before...OUCH!...but here we are right before we left.

No pictures of anyone else because they all stayed far away from the sand and water. After this day, we had been in three of of the five Great Lakes!

Michigan Vacation Part 6: Soo Locks & Tahquamenon Falls

2011-08-15T14:07:00.000-04:00

While we were up in Michigan, we went even farther up north to the Soo Locks. It was something that my dad really really wanted to see. :) We all went and had a great time. The day started out a little cooler, but ended up SUPER hot.

The statue of Logan:

James:

The locks with the bridge to Canada in the background:

We did get to see two small boats go through the locks. It was pretty interesting.

They also had a little shipwreck museum that was neat.

After Soo Locks, we ate lunch then headed up to Tahquamenon Falls. I went here when I was probably ten, but didn't remember any of it. At this point it was SUPER hot and soo humid, so we took the shorter trails that got directly to the falls. While Karri, Logan and Josh took the four mile hike (crazy!).

Grandpa is one STRONG guy. Here he is holding up this big tree all by himself:

It was beautiful there and even though it was really hot, we had a good time. After the falls, we headed to Lake Superior, the COLDEST lake ever.

Michigan Vacation Part 5: Mackinac Island

2011-08-11T13:54:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, July 19th, we all got up super early (for vacation) to head to Mackinac Island. Mackinac Island is really the only reason why most people go to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It's a touristy thing to do, but it was a lot of fun. When we woke up, it was soooo foggy out. We couldn't see anything while we were on the ferry. I'm surprised that we didn't hit anything.

Oh and I forgot to mention, we were the ONLY ones on the ferry that were going to Mackinac Island to visit; everyone else on the ferry was there to get to work. Once we got there, we found out why...Nothing opens til 10am and and we got there at about 8! (This is when you know you are on a Dill Family Vacation) That's ok though, we just went for a quick, quiet stroll. It was kind of nice cause no one was out yet.

Once places started to open up, we went on a horse drawn buggy tour ride around the town. It was really interesting to learn about the city. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island (only a few exceptions for lawn care). Also, they don't deliver mail there, residents have to pick it up at the Post Office. There are only about 200-300 permanent residents that live on the island.

One of the places we stopped at was the Butterfly House. It was pretty awesome. They were all so beautiful.

This blue one was my favorite:

It was a really amazing tour with a few other stops along the way and they told of lots of different stories about the Island. Definitely worth going on.

A few of us checked out the stables of the Grand Hotel:

This would be THE Grand Hotel. It is really expensive to stay there. They don't let anyone walk the grounds. The told us that we would have to pay $10/person just to walk to grounds!!! If you stay at the hotel, women are not to wear pants after 6pm! They have some crazy rules there...

The Bridge view from the island:

It was a HOT day, so we sat on the grass to rest for a while...that is until we got yelled at and had to move to another grassy area.

View of the Grand Hotel from the ferry:

We had a great time at Mackinac Island and would love to go back when we have all the money in the world :) It was a really nice place though and fun going into all the little shops they had. We went home hot and worn out from the day, so you know we had a great time.

That night, we came home and celebrated Josh's BDay. Happy Birthday, Josh! I hope it was a good one for you. Love you!

Five parts down...a few more to go :) Then we can move on!

Michigan Vacation Part 4: Beach Day

2011-08-11T13:36:00.000-04:00

I know, I know...More about my Michigan trip. Well, suck it up because I'm thinking I have at least 3 more posts after this one. So, I think this was on Monday, July 18th (Happy B-Day Nichole)...We took this day pretty easy but had a blast. In the morning, we went down to the Ojibwa Native American Museum. Karri and I rode our bikes down there (about a mile) and it rained on us! Really the only part of the whole day that it rained. It was still fun. We met everyone else down at the museum. It was a really really small museum and not that great of a museum, but here are a few pictures:

Not sure how this one got in here. This is Dad & Brayden at Lake Huron:

Jared & Darcy outside the museum:

Logan getting speared:

Logan again:

Grandpa got a little bored too and join Logan & I outside:

After the museum, we all headed down to the beach. It was a perfect beach day. Perfect weather, decent waves, not crowded and clean water. Not all of us went swimming, but everyone was there. It was fun.

After the beach and getting all cleaned up, Dad wanted to go to some scenic spots and get some pictures. So just the five of us here went.

Then the same five of us plus Grandpa & Darcy went for a walk downtown and bought our ferry tickets for the next day...(Everyone else went to see Harry Potter)

Michigan Vacation Part 3

2011-08-01T18:20:00.000-04:00

So this post probably should have gone with the last post; but I was getting annoyed at how slow the pictures were being uploaded. So this is just a post of pictures :) These were all taken within the first few days of arriving in St. Ignace. Most of them are taken from a few of our walks into downtown St. Ignace.

Downtown St. Ignace so very small but consists of tons of tourist gift shops and lots of other fun little stores.

Darcy, Shawnee and myself. Not sure what Shawnee is doing, but I thought I looked good in this picture:

This is Logan doing one of his many poses. He is also standing in front of Zak's Fudge Ice Cream shoppe, which has the BEST ice cream ever! In fact, we all went there several times throughout the week to get ice cream...no wonder I gain weight while I was there :)

Logan & James either really excited to see each other or really excited about the walk we were about to have:

Logan & I. I forgot how much I love my little brother. It's nice that he has matured somewhat too, but I had a lot of fun with him! I definitely miss him! There is never a dull moment when Logan is near. Also one thing that I really enjoyed this trip was staying up late the first night and just talking with Logan one on one. He is truly a great guy. His wife will be very lucky!

Karri: I think she look beautiful here:

Darcy making a silly face:

Karri & Darcy:

Logan inside one of the museums:

I think these next set of pictures can explain themselves...

So Logan, James and I decided to go explore a little on our own. We drove down to some dirt roads that got you right to the water near Mackinaw Island. When Logan and James saw all these seagulls, they couldn't resist. It was a blast though. If you are on facebook, check out Logan's video of this little adventure here.

The Mackinac Bridge:

I had such a great time. The best part was just being with my family, but enjoyed it all. It was such a fun vacation! I would LOVE to go back! Have no fear though, more posts to come...A week is a long time to put in just a few posts :)

Michigan Vacation Part 2

2011-07-31T18:24:00.000-04:00

I realized that I need to do my Michigan trip posts quickly before I forget all the fun things we did. Saturday morning after leaving Valerie's and several stops along the way, Shawnee, James and I made it to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Before I get any further, can I just tell you all that it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL up there! I wouldn't mind having a summer home there.

This was the view we had from the living room window:

It doesn't seem like we really did too much on that Saturday afternoon. We had pizza for dinner as the Dill Family Tradition states we must do the first night of a vacation. Then we just kind of walked around and explored the great town of St. Ignace. It truly is an awesome little city!

James, Shawnee and Grandpa on our walk down into town:

Brayden at the pier:

Dad & Grandpa waiting for the fireworks:

The gorgeous sunset:

Nola, Jenna, Shawnee and Grandpa...I'm guessing Nola didn't know this one was the "silly face picture"

Oh and that night the moon looked so cool...It was so big and red-orange. It was awesome. I tried getting a picture of it, but this was the best I got:

Every Saturday night in the summer, St. Ignace does a fireworks show. It was a pretty awesome show, but no pictures. It took forever for it to get dark enough and then it seemed that they may have been having some technical difficulties, but it was worth the wait. It was fun! By the time we got back to the house from the fireworks show, Karri, Jared, Darcy and Logan had made it up to the house. It was so good to see them and everyone else that made it on the trip! This trip was really the first time that I have been able to get to know Jared and first time to really be able to play with Jenna and Darcy...both who are just too adorable.

Darcy:

Jenna:

Sunday was a pretty good relaxing day. We went for a few walks and walked through downtown. I don't think we did anything too exciting. That night was played games and really just hung out together, which are some of my most favorite times. Josh also came on Sunday night so it was good to see him and be able to spend the rest of the week together especially after he had been gone to Houston for a week.

Just thought I'd throw this picture in. Logan seemed to do a lot of this. I don't know how he could sleep as long as he did:

That's all for now... Part 3 Coming Soon to a Computer Screen near YOU!

Michigan Vacation Part 1

2011-07-27T19:50:00.001-04:00

We recently spent a little over a week in Michigan with friends and family. We had such a blast! I'm not sure how many parts I am going to have to do to cover the whole trip...so if you get bored, just stop reading :) I came home with about 1500 pictures on my SD card. So there are lots of pictures to go with all the fun we had.

It all began on Thursday night. I headed up to Detroit straight from work. I stayed with my bestest friend ever, Valerie :) We went to see Harry Potter opening night at midnight! We got there early and were surprised that tickets weren't sold out yet and hardly anyone was there! We watched Part 1 at the theater first, maybe that had something to do with it. But by the time the show finally started, the place was packed. It was such a good movie, but I'm a little sad there is no more Harry Potter :( It's all over!! That just seems totally wrong. Anyways...We watched it in 3D with special Harry Potter 3D glasses :)

After my last midnight showing, I swore I'd never do one again! But how can you say no to Harry Potter??? Luckily, this time around wasn't so bad. I'm not sure what it was, because I didn't really sleep in that late but I was fine.

The next day, I just kinda of lounged around with Valerie and her kids. We ended up exploring Detroit a little. Don't worry we didn't get into the heart of Detroit, but we did see what had to be a drug deal! It happened right in front of us as we were stopped at a red light. Two guys came from opposite sides of the street, stopped in the middle for a few seconds. Guy #1 handed guy #2 some cash while guy #2 handed guy #1 something in exchange and then they both went their separate ways. It was soooo strange. We couldn't believe it.

Shortly after the drug deal, we made our way to the park and got out to explore it a little. It was such a cool park with the potential to be an AWESOME park. It was right on the lake. I never realized that Canada was SO close!

This would be the great downtown Detroit:

Valerie and her kids with both Canada and Detroit behind them:

We even played in the water for a little while:

Anyone know what this type of boat is called? I can't think of it and it's been bothering me ever since we saw it. It was HUGE!!!

That night I picked up Shawnee and James from the airport. It was so good to see them. We all stayed the night at Valerie's. She made us all pancakes and eggs for breakfast! Thank you Valerie! You are an awesome hostess :) And we had to get one group picture before I left:

It was so good to see Valerie and her family! Josh and I both miss them all terribly! Thank you for letting me crash your house for a few fun days! Hope to see you all soon!

After leaving Valerie's...Shawnee, James and I headed up north...way north:) And that will continue on part 2...

Independence Day 2011

2011-07-10T11:04:00.001-04:00

We had such a great 4th of July! Josh and I decided to go to one of our favorite places in Ohio...Amish country! We have been down there several times; yet every time we go, it's a completely different experience and this time was no different. We decided that we wanted to go on a tour and learn more about the Amish. It was really good; I feel like I understand them a lot more and found it interesting that some of their believes are very similar to my own. It was just a great time.

Our tour included two houses, a barn and a school. Neither the houses nor the school are used today except for the tours. It was just so interesting to learn about their believes and lifestyles. This community is actually the largest Amish community in the world! There are about 80,000 (I think that's the right number) in the area.

Believe it or not, some of the Amish still cook on stoves similar to this one:

The grounds there are so well taken care of. It's just beautiful.

One of the houses was built back in 1866 by the man who first settled in the area and it still in pretty good condition.

They had TONS of animals there: Cats, dogs, ducks, horses, mules, pigs, etc, etc...I'm not really into cats but this kitten was just too cute and I loved this picture:

Like I said, this part of the country is just absolutely beautiful!

Our tour also included a ride on one of these...

For some odd reason, I have also wanted to have a buggy ride. Now the buggy ride was nothing extravagant, just a loop around this little circle trail, but I still enjoyed it :) The Amish guy that drove us around, even took our picture for us:

After the tour, we went to a few other shops and stores. We were a little disappointed that quite a few shops were closed for the holiday, but we still had a good time in the stores we did go to.

This was inside a store called Wendell August. You may have heard of them before, they aren't really Amish, but have AMAZING metal engravings. In fact, I almost bought this tree topper for $50!!! It's a good thing I was able to talk myself out of it. I still may buy it; but I'm gonna have to save up for a little bit. The store was amazing though! Inside the store, and probably the only Amish thing in the whole store, was this buggy. This is actually the largest buggy in the world. I wish I could remember the dimensions of it, but I don't. It was HUGE though.

That night, I dragged Josh along with me to go see fireworks. We really didn't want to get into the big crowd so we park about a mile away and then walked a few blocks down to watch. It was still an amazing show. However, not a great spot for taking pictures as you will see the big telephone pole in the middle of the pictures :) Oh well....we were able to get home before most people were probably able to get to their cars...well worth it to me this year.

Happy Independence Day!

Christmas in July

2011-07-03T12:18:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, Josh and I went with some friends to the house where "The Christmas Story" movie was filmed. It was a lot of fun and we learned lots of great little facts about the movie. This house was actually only used to film the outside scenes and scenes that occurred inside the house were done off set because of the large equipment.

This car was used in the movie, but was not used as the family's car....It was just casted as an "extra."

The leg lamp...

Street view of the house with the lamp in the window.

Once we were inside the house, they let us play and touch anything in the house. It was really neat. All of the important, untouchables were in the museum across the street. I got the BB Gun for Christmas and Josh got a bowling ball :)

We went with some friends so we actually got pictures of us together! So nice :)

It was really neat and fun to go to. I love this movie! It made me want to watch the movie again soon. We are so happy that we were able to go and cross it off on our list of things to do in Cleveland.

Indians Baseball

2011-06-28T18:11:00.000-04:00

There never seems to be a dull moment in our lives right now! Things have just been absolutely crazy. I guess that's what happens when you are moving though. This month has gone by sooo fast! I don't even know where to start! We have been having some internet/computer problems lately too. And for some reason I have the hardest time commenting on blogs, but I do want you all to know that I do read them!

So the beginning of this month, I started my new job. I absolutely love it. It is the perfect job for me. It's not that I enjoy working by any means, but since I have to this is the right job for me. To celebrate the first day of my new job, we went to an Indians baseball game (with tickets that the owner from my previous job gave me). Going to watch the Indians have been something that we have really enjoyed being able to during our time here in Cleveland.

Every game they have ketchup, mustard and onion race. Before the race, Josh and I put a little bet on who would win. I went with ketchup because he has won the most and Josh went with onion. Sadly, the onion won; but it was still fun to cheer them on.

We really had a great time and are thankful we were able to go.

Other than the baseball game, not much has been going on. We have just been packing and getting ready to move this weekend. Like every other move, I can't wait to get this one over with. Luckily, we were able to sell and just get rid of a bunch of stuff.

Memorial Day 2011

2011-06-17T18:47:00.007-04:00

Josh and I have been very fortunate these last few years and have had great Memorial Day celebrations! They have been ones that we will never forget. Last year, Josh's parents came out to Ohio and we got to celebrate with them by going to Kirtland, Palmyra and Niagara Falls. The year before we had an awesome time in Michigan with my family. This year, we stayed home but still had a great time. Our Memorial Day really only consisted of going to our ward's picnic, but it was so much fun. The boys played softball, which Josh had so much fun playing. We had great food and great company.

As things were wrapping up, a major water fight started. All the kids and a lot of the adults were all in the water fight. It was so much fun. I don't remember the last time I got into a huge water fight like that. Everyone was completely drenched from their heads to their feet by the time it was over. The kids had no mercy and got anyone and everyone wet. We had a blast. After the initial water fight, the kids decided to get the slides wet and fly down the slides. They got some good speed going down; I don't know how no one got hurt. I decided that I had to get in on the slides. I flew down but it was so much fun and definitely a little dangerous.

I didn't get very many pictures because as I stated earlier, the kids had no mercy. They would get me wet, camera or no camera in hand :) I did get a way too cute picture of my friend's kid though. This is Andrew. He's just too cute.

Andrew and his family moved away from us this last weekend. Andrew's mom, Valerie, has been my best friend for the last few years in Ohio. They are already greatly missed by us! We wish you well on your journey in Michigan, but we miss you guys so much! It's hard for me to believe that there will be no more going to the movies with you or playing games or just the great talks that we had. Thank you for all the many blessings you brought into our lives! We miss you! Thank you for a wonderful Memorial Day! This year would not have been as much fun without you guys!

My New Camera Strap!

2011-06-05T11:48:00.000-04:00

While Josh was gone, I had to find things to do to keep my self busy. I must have been able to find enough things to do because the two months went by so quickly! I'm just hoping that the rest of this year will go by just as quickly. One of the things I did while Josh was gone was making this new camera strap cover. It took MUCH longer than I thought it would. I got the idea off of a crafty blog. I absolutely love it! I'm still not the best seamstress, but it's good enough. Hopefully with more practice I can get a little better. Here are a few pictures:

I was also able to take a little camera class that taught me how to use my camera. I still need LOTS of help and LOTS more practice, but I did learn a few tricks and hopefully I can get out and use my camera a little more.

Josh is now home and life has been even crazier. In this last week, we had a garage sale and have started packing as we are moving at the end of the month! More posts and pictures to come.

Hangin with...

2011-05-20T17:41:00.000-04:00

THREE OLD FARTS :) My mom, Grandma and Aunt Valerie all came to Cleveland to hang out with me last weekend. There is nothing like hanging out with them. They are one of a kind...each of them. And really I am not degrading them by calling them old farts; it's what they call themselves. I have a great time with them all. They can keep anyone entertained.

It doesn't seem like we really did much. We mainly just hung out talking and laughing. We did go down to Amish Country, which is always fun. And it's always a different experience every time I go. I love all the little shops no matter how touristy they are.

We also attempted to go see the covered bridges of northest Ohio; bu on our way in the rain, we hit a pothole and got a flat tire. Oh I was sooo mad. WE had to wait about an hour for someone to come change the tire for us. My mom and Grandma wouldn't let me attempt to do it myself. I ended up having to get a new tire too. Needless to say it was a ton of money for a trip to nowhere. Oh well, the old farts kept me entertained while we waited. And a not so bad looking police officer stopped and gave me a letter. He said for us to send our receipts in and try to get reimbursed by the state. I will most certainly be doing that!

Here are the few pictures that I did take:

My Mommy:

Aunt Valerie:

Grandma during her facebook lesson from my mom (now that was fun to listen too :))

Thanks Mom, Grandma and Aunt Valerie for keeping me company for the weekend. It was great to see you all. Come again! Love you all!

So Blessed!

2011-05-10T20:53:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to write a quick post. I got a new job offer!!! I am beyond excited. Since the beginning of the year, my job has become more and more less desirable. I couldn't take it any more. At times I thought I would be able to last another year then the next day something else at work would happen and I didn't think I could take another day. A few weeks ago I started to apply for some new jobs and posted my resume online. I got a few calls, a few phone interviews and a few personal interviews. The day after I really started to look for a job, I got a phone call from a medical billing office. As soon as I heard what type of position they were looking for, I totally wanted the job. It's actually my favorite part of my current job and I would be doing just that full time! I went in for an interview...my first in 3 years and I felt a little rusty. I didn't think it went over that well. A week later, they asked me to do an Excel test online. Then another week went by. I was thinking that it wasn't looking good even though i had only missed one question on the test. Then I got a phone call for a second interview, which was scheduled for yesterday. On my way to the interview, I prayed that whatever what going to be best for me would happen. I also prayed for comfort. I went in and felt totally confident. I knew my Heavenly Father was there. It was a pretty lax interview and I walked out feeling great. I got a call this morning and was offered the position!!! I am so unbelievably happy. I truly feel that this job just fell into my lap. It's not one that I applied for; they found my resume online. I know that my Heavenly Father wants me to be happy.

I also have a GREAT friend who had me over for dinner. She even made me a cake to celebrate the new job. And her family sung to me as well! I am so grateful for the friendship that I have with them. They are an amazing family and have no idea how much they will be missed by the Wrays when they move :( Thank you so much! You are the best!

This day has been a great one! I got a new job! My new running shoes FINALLY came were delivered! I can't wait to wear them! We also had a little thunderstorm...nothing like an Oklahoma storm, but it was something. Overall, a GREAT day! I feel so truly blessed by my Heavenly Father who wants me to be happy and also puts great friends into my life. Ok..I'm off to go watch the Biggest Loser, read or clean...I need/want to do all three but I know that's not going to happen...We'll see which one wins.....Coming Soon...My Mother's Day post (maybe).

April Recap

2011-04-29T21:39:00.001-04:00

I can't believe that April is just about over! Where did the time go? Actually I am very thankful it went by as fast as it did. I'm just hoping that this next month goes by just as fast. Josh has finished his rotation in New York. He will be home soon and will be here til Sunday morning then off to Kansas City. I have actually been very busy this month and have been able to see Josh every weekend. I have been very fortunate and this first month away hasn't been too bad. Busy with just me being home by myself? Yes, that's right. Here are some of the things I have done. I have been doing a lot of job searching. Things at work have been a little rough this month, so I have started a search. I'm not sure that I will actually go through with it as I only have a year left here and I'm hoping that I can make my current employer last at least that long, but I'm not sure that I can. I have done a lot of searching online and have had 2 in person interviews and 4-5 phone interviews. I have also been busy with my calling. I've had a few meetings and have to make sure I have teachers, etc, etc...I have also been able to do a few things that I enjoy. This last week I started reading a book that I really enjoy. Tonight I made sugar cookies for Josh.

Yes, they are feet. We like feet around house...hopefully soon they will start making us money :)

I made this birthday wreath, which I love:

I have also done a little sewing. Not much, but some.

I mowed the lawn for the first time. I actually really enjoyed doing it. I had my iPod going with headphones so I could hear and mowed away. Luckily our lawn is small, but I did enjoy it. I also got the car's oil change and new brakes installed for the car. About 4 hours later and too much $$$, my car feels much better :) I'm proud of myself. Overall, I feel like I have gotten a lot accomplished this month. It's been hard being away from Josh, but I have definitely kept myself busy enough that it hasn't been too bad. Now I need a few projects for this coming month...Any ideas???

Birthday Weekend

2011-04-25T21:04:00.000-04:00

Ok, Ok...I know I'm a little late on updating, but after this post I should be all up to date. I really had a great birthday. I know that as I get older that birthdays really just aren't the same any more; but this year my dad, Nola, Brayden and Jenna all came up to Ohio to come celebrate with me! It was their first time to come visit us in Ohio; yes, that's right it took them just about THREE years to come visit me and they fly free!! :) It's ok, I'm so glad they came and we had such a great time. It all started with me getting to leave work early on Friday! WooHoo!! That alone could have made my weekend :) But I was lucky and my weekend continued with greatness. I left work at about noon and went straight to the airport to pick up Nola and Jenna (Dad and Brayden got stuck and ended up on a later flight). Then us girls went out for lunch at Penn Station, our favorite sandwich place here in Cleveland...YUM! We came back to my place and just talked and hung out until we got the call from Dad. Then I left to go pick them up. To continue with the Dill family tradition for dinner we had pizza. We enjoyed Donato's Pizza...our favorite pizza place in Ohio. Even Jenna enjoyed a little bite :)

Happy Jenna: She hardly fussed at all the whole time!

Josh came home late Friday night then we all went to bed. Saturday was suppose to be our fun day of adventure in Cleveland, but the weather rained us out. It pretty much rained all day. We drove up to Lake Erie and just drove by because it was raining so hard. Then we went off to Brandywine Falls. It was still pouring and we all got soaked, but it was fun and worth it. Josh and I have been there several times and have never seen the waterfall so full; I guess there is an upside to going while it's raining.

Here is Brayden in the "rock cave:"

Brayden & Dad:

Then we went on to Amish Country. By that time it was a little late in the day so we didn't get to see too much as they close at 5pm. But what we were able to see and do was pretty cool. We stopped at a furniture store....BEAUTIFUL! Their woodworking is AMAZING...and expensive :) Then as we were driving into the town we saw a free petting zoo; so we stopped and finished our tour of Amish Country there. Brayden loved all the animals. And we all had a great time at their stores and even with the animals.

This horse was HUGE! If I remember correctly, it weighed 3000 lbs!

So they had this GIANT rocking chair outside. It you can't tell by my face, I was a little freaked out sitting in it. It totally feels like you are going to fall and flip backwards.

After Amish country, Dad ad Nola took us out for a birthday dinner at LongHorn Steakhouse. It was pretty good, but we were all sooo exhausted by our long day. By the time we got home, we were all ready to go to bed.

We went to church on Sunday then went to Kirtland. We didn't stay at Kirtland for too long and the kids were ready to go, but it was fun to go. Josh left from there to go back to New York. When we got home, my dad grilled some hamburgers and I made some corn on the cob! It was yummy!

They left early Monday morning. It was a short trip, but I am so thankful they came. It was nice to be able to show them around a little and really just to see them. Thanks Dad & Nola!

Just so that I am totally caught up now, Josh came back this weekend as well. I have been very fortunate that we got to see each other every weekend this month! I won't be that lucky next month :( This last Saturday, we went down to the Columbus Temple. It was an amazing experience to be able to do sealings for family names, including my great grandparents. We didn't really have a chance to do anything special for Easter. We just went to church, came home, ate hot dogs then Josh left to go back up to New York to finish his month out there. But Happy Easter to everyone!

Bizzzzzy

2011-04-11T21:15:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh! Seriously, where has the time gone??? This last month has gone by so fast. It's like I blinked and it is now April! Josh and I have been SUPER DUPER busy lately. I have read most of your blogs, but haven't commented cause when I do sit down at the computer I rush to read everyone's updates for the last week or two. I honestly don't know where to begin and unfortunately I'm not sure what all we did....so here's March of what I can remember.

Some time at the end of February to beginning of March, I was released from my calling in Primary. I had mixed emotions about being released. Happy to have the pressure gone, but sad to not be teaching the children any more. They are such sweet kids and I enjoyed teaching them once a month for sharing time. A few weeks later, I was told the Bishop wanted to talk to me. I knew I must be getting a new calling, but I never thought that I would be called as the first counselor in RELIEF SOCIETY! Yep, that's right. Actually the day that I was called, I was sitting on the stand as I was giving a talk that day. It was fun to see some of the shocked faces of some of my good friends :) I too was very shocked. To be honest, I have never really enjoyed Relief Society and I wasn't too shy about it. But I will say that I know it's where I need to be at this time in my life. I have already grown a huge appreciation and love for the sisters in the ward and I know that will continue to grow. Needless to say, this calling has kept be VERY busy this last month :) For some reason, I feel much busier than my Primary calling, but I am happy to do what I can.

Josh is still the Ward Mission Leader, which has also kept us very busy. We have had two baptism in the last month. The first was for three young girls in an amazing family. The second was a guy married to a great lady who is a member. Both baptisms were amazing and filled with the Spirit. Josh also helped a kid in our ward with him Pine Wood Derby car. They didn't win, but did a great job. I went and took a few pictures.

I don't know how these parents feel about pictures of their kids online, so just pictures of their cars. But these boys were all super excited the whole night. It was fun to see them all and have them race their cars...plus there was lots for dessert :)

On March 27th, we had the opportunity to go to the Kirtland Temply for a special fireside celebrating the 175th aaniversary of it's dedication. It was such a neat experience. I'm so glad that we were able to go. No one could leave without feeling the Spirit and only a few left with dry eyes. It was an amazing fireside.

At the end of March, Josh finished his first rotation as a fourth year podiatry student! We are both so excited to just have one more year left of school/rotations! This month, Josh is on rotation in Johnson City, NY. He is really like the program up there and the area. I drove up there this last weekend and we had a blast. It was fun to explore this new town with him and just be able to see each other. We didn't do anything too exciting as Josh was on-call all weekend, but it was nice to see him. I didn't realize how much he does for me until he was gone! He is such an amazing guy who has done our dishes by hand for the last year and a half! :) I do miss him terribly, but I'm doing ok. Sorry...back to our weekend. We just did a lot of exploring of the town and shops. Josh only got called in to do/see one surgery, so it wasn't so bad. On Sunday, we drove down to Pennsylvania. This whole area is just so beautiful! Most of the pictures that I took were wile we were in the car driving around, so not the best quality and I don't feel like editing them to look any better :)

Trying for a picture of the sunset:

So, I thought Oklahoma had a ton of deer, this place has more than I have ever seen!

Pennsylvania did a great job of welcoming us...New York, not so much (couldn't get the camera out in time)

The Susquehanna River...BEAUTIFUL, my picture does not do it any justice....Guess we should have gotten out of the car:

We stumbled upon our DREAM house. One day we will be living in a house quite similar to this...It was AMAZING!!

Just a cool barn that we drove past:

Hello March!

2011-03-05T15:27:00.003-05:00

And Hello to being fourth year podiatry students! Yep that's right, Josh is now a fourth year! He is now done with all of his classwork! Yay! For the next year, he will be doing his hospitals rotations around town and around the country! We are pretty excited and Josh is very relieved to not have any more "test weeks" or finals!

March is such a great month! My favorite color is green, so I love St. Patty's Day! It's also a great month because it FINALLY starts to get a little warmer. I know we are suppose to get snow tomorrow, but not very much! Spring is almost here! And the sun is shining for a longer time. I'm lovin March so far!

How many of you have recipe blogs? If you have one or follow one, please let me know. Josh & I are tired of eating the same things all the time and I'm tired of cooking them. PLEASE (yes, I am begging) let me know if you know of good recipe blogs! I want to try to make at least 1-2 new recipes a week! We are also wanting to eat a bit healthier, so please share your favorite "healthy" recipe. Thanks! Happy March!

Not A Snow Day...

2011-02-25T08:15:00.000-05:00

But a BLIZZARD day! Yep, that's right. Winter is not over yet! We were able to enjoy one day of 60 degree weather a week or two ago but winter is back full force! I have been awake for some time. The wind this morning woke me up. I looked outside and wasn't sure if I should attempt to go into work or not. All the school districts around me and around where I work were all closed. But they have been closed before and I haven't had any problems traveling. I thought today would be a little different though with the wind and the forecast says up to 8 inches of snow by late afternoon. For some reason, probably the fact that payday is coming up, I decided to go and try to make it to work. I didn't get very far. I got completely out of the driveway then completely stuck. Luckily Josh was home and was able to dig me out and the car went straight back into the garage. I came inside to call my work (I do actually feel bad because I was the only one that was going to be there in the billing department today, but there's no way I would have made it there and home) and Josh tried to clean off the driveway. Then our friend that lives downstairs was trying to pull into the driveway to come home and got stuck too. Josh helped him get his car inside the garage.

I tried to take some pictures, but it was kid of hard since most of our windows look like this:

Well here's to my much needed/wanted day off! Putting the PJs back on! Yippee!!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T18:32:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are all enjoying your day of LOVE! Josh and I celebrated this last weekend since Josh's finals week has began! We just went to dinner. We were going to go to Texas Roadhouse, but decided that we didn't want to wait 90 minutes for a table for two! So we went to plan B, which was just as good if not better. We went to our favorite place here in Cleveland called Penn Station! They have the BEST sandwiches and we even had a buy one get one free coupon! So it ended up being a great night out.

This year we went way simple on gifts. I got Josh a lovely fogfree mirror for the shower! And he surprised me today with flowers and Swedish fish in my car after work! He's such a sweet heart! I think I may have the best husband ever!

We definitely had a day of love! We love Penn Station, we love to spend time together, we love Sewdish Fish and I love getting flowers! Happy Valentine's Day! How did you celebrate your day?

Snow Blowin'

2011-02-10T19:36:00.002-05:00

CAUTION: This is me being completely bored last weekend and dying to use my camera.

Nothing new is really going on. This is probably the most boring post ever. This week Josh is preparing for his LAST finals week EVER! I can't wait to get this over with. We haven't really done anything exciting but last weekend I was dying to get my camera out and take pictures of something. So, I look out the window and saw this little bird. I couldn't believe that a bird would be this far north as this time of year. I thought to myself "poor little guy."

Then I looked over to my neighbor's yard and saw this:

I couldn't believe all the birds there! (I told you, not a very fun post...it's about birds!) Towards the end of the day, I ventured out with Josh to clear the driveway. In all honesty, this was my first time in my life that I have ever had to do that. (Oklahoma didn't get snow when I was growing up and when we did, it was nothing like they are getting now.) Here are a few pictures I took.

And no, I did not just go out there and take pictures and watch Josh. I actually did some too. I did the whole driveway while Josh shoveling the sidewalk.

Not bad for a first timer, huh? Although I did have to have Josh come help me several times. I couldn't get the sprayer thing to turn and had a few other problems, but for the most part I think I did pretty good.

And I can't believe that I am actually posting this nasty picture of me; but here it is...This is Josh and I with our snow gear on after finishing the driveway. We were running late and this is the only picture that Josh would let me take. But I hardly ever post pictures of us.

So, there you have it; the most boring post ever! We are both sooo ready for Spring/Summer! It's been nice that the sun is staying out longer, but I'm ready for temps that are above freezing!

Good Thoughts!

2011-02-04T17:44:00.000-05:00

This week has beena really tough week at work. I am usually able to go to work, do my job and come home leaving my job at work; but this week was a little different. It was just such a hard week not only for myself but for everyone at the bottom of the organizational chart :) But I am sooo glad that it's Friday! And I just wanted to hit on a few good things that did happen this week!

First...On Wednesday, my camera was delivered. I was soooo happy. I was grinning ear to ear the rest of the day. And coldn't wait to play with it. But since it was dark and too cold when I got home, I just took a few pictures around the house. And that's really about all I have been able to do.

That night our friends took us out to Red Robin! It was super nice of them! And we had a great time! Their burgers are sooo good.

Last night we were able to feed the missionaries, which is always a good thing. Then went out to visit a few people with them and I watched Twilight. It was a good night :)

The best thing about this week is the sunshine that we were able to see! It was sunny both yesterday and today! Not a cloud in sight! OH how we have missed seeing the sun! Here is a quick picture that I just took through out back window...not the best, but the sun is there!

I'm so glad it's Friday and the weekend has began! Hopefully next week will be a little better :)

Since We've Been Home

2011-01-30T20:53:00.003-05:00

I forget how traveling for a long period of time makes it so hard to get back into the groove of things when you get home. It has taken me a few weeks to get back into the routine, but I think I have finally got it. We've been quite busy since we got home, or at least I feel like we have. Here are a few things that we have done. We still don't have a camera, so pictures from this post are compliments of Google Image Search :)

First we turned this:
(This actually looks way better than the chair we had. Ours was in worse condition and much older)

Into this:

Thanks to Wray Family Santa Clause! We LOVE it and are so thankful for it. Josh is still a little sad to give up the pink chair for some reason that I just don't understand. It still hasn't made it's way down to the street, but I assure you that it will this Tuesday on Trash Day!

Second, we have decided that we NEED a strict budget. After looking and talking we finally found something that works for us! We never have cash and use different cards/bank accounts for certain things based on reward programs and needed something that would track all of our accounts. We found MINT.COM! Oh my gosh, we LOVE it. It tracks all of our accounts and allows us to categorize each transaction. We also have a budget set up and it will tell you how much you have left to spend for the month in each category. If you are an online banker and need a new budget system, this is the way to go! And it's FREE! I love it! It makes me happy :)

Third, we filed our taxes and got a nice tax return already! We used TurboTax and it was so easy! It was/is in our bank account already! YIPEE! The only good thing about paying taxes...getting a hug lump sum of money!

Fourth and probably the most exciting thing that we have done since we have been home is that we bought a camera! I am sooo stoked and cannot wait to get it! We bought it on Amazon and should be getting it this week. After much researching, talking and debating, we decided to go with the Nikon D3100. I can't wait! I'm soo excited. It's Nikon's most basic DSLR, but I can't wait to start using it...not that I am going to know how to use it for a while though. I'm hoping to catch on quickly though...fingers are crossed.

The best part about it is that we had to pay hardly anything out of our own pocket. How you ask? Well, it's mainly thanks to Swagbuck.com! You can click here to get more info and to sign up! (Oh and please do click the link if you decide to sign up; that way I can earn swagbucks when you earn them.) We have been using Swagbucks as our search engine for a little over a year. We use it to search everything, even sites that we already know, like gmail or facebook. We also did a few surveys, daily polls and swag codes. But we ended up earning about $400 in Amazon gift cards! Then used our tax return to cover the rest! We were going to wait a little longer; but now that our camera doesn't work anymore, I just couldn't....Just wish I had it right now :) We are now going to start saving our swagbucks to buys a XBox 360/Kinect. I never wanted to have a gaming system in my house (I never had one growing up), but we played the Kinect at our friends house and fell in love. I believe it's way better than the Wii; although I do still love the Wii. Hopefully we will have enough swagbucks to get it soon!

Ok..so now that I have advertised Mint.com, TurboTax, Nikon, Amazon, Swagbucks and XBox Kinect; I think I better stop before this post turns into a huge advertisement :)

Taylor & Becca's Wedding Weekend

2011-01-25T20:58:00.001-05:00

I left Oklahoma on Thursday afternoon. I hadn't been feeling well all that day, but nothing too bad. I was flying by myself because Josh left the day before (flying standby and didn't want to chance not making it to the wedding). My flight out of Oklahoma City was delayed, I didn't think much of it. I already had a three hour layover in Vegas and thought that it would just cut into that time. Once I got on the plane, my cold or whatever it was hit me hard. I sneezed the whole flight and felt AWFUL! Luckily I had some Puffs Plus with Lotion tissues, but only enough for that flight. I felt so bad that as soon as I walked off the plane in Vegas, I went straight to the little shop and spent a ridiculous amount on money on medicine and the cheap tissues that hurt my nose. My flight into Salt Lake was then delayed too. I didn't get into Salt Lake until about 1am (3am my time)! Not only was I exhausted but not feeling well at all. We stayed the night at Josh's aunt and uncles (thanks Jordan and Melissa). Josh had gotten sick too, so we stopped and loaded up on NyQuil and the good tissues! That night I slept in until I HAD to get up to get ready for the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony in the Bountiful Temple. I felt bad though cause I was coughing and sniffling the entire time. It was so embarrassing, but I got through it. Then pictures, it was soo cold. I don't know how Becca did it without a coat! I was freezing and we were out there for quite a while. After pictures at the temple, we headed to the luncheon. It was really beautiful and great food. I could only eat a few bites though! Didn't really even eat my cake and that is just crazy for me! After a few bites, I went and found a little couch and took a nap. Then off to the reception and more pictures. The reception was at Becca's parents' GORGEOUS house! We were there for a little bit, but Josh and I left a little early. I slept all the way to Idaho and then slept til about 5pm the next day, getting up only to get some medicine ever couple hours. I felt so bad not spending time with Josh's family especially since we don't get to see them very often. I once again only got up to go to the reception. When we got back home, I went to bed and slept pretty much until we had to leave for the airport. I couldn't believe how much I slept that weekend! I don't think I have ever been that sick from a cold before! Sorry, now I'm just being whinny...

Anyways, it was an interesting weekend for me! But Josh and I are both so happy for Taylor and Becca! They are completely happy and we all LOVE Becca! She's great and they make a perfect match! Congrats you too! We love you guys!

So, I still didn't have my camera, so I stole some pictures from my sister-in-law's blog (Thanks Ashley!)

Here is Taylor & Becca coming out of the temple:

Rylee & I waiting for them to come out:

Reese & Josh:

Congrats again Taylor and Becca! We are so happy for you guys! It was a short weekend and I wish could have been more help or awake to spend more time with the family. Hopefully next time I won't be so sick. It was good to get home and to get back to "normal." I was sick for a while once we got home too, but am much better now! We finally feel like we are back into the swing of things after a lot of traveling. And now I am almost all caught up on blogging...feels sooo good!

Oklahoma 2011

2011-01-21T20:58:00.002-05:00

Yes, we are alive and doin well. It's been a crazy month for us! We have been doing a lot of travel and are happy to be back in Cleveland! When we got back from Idaho for Christmas, we were only in Cleveland for a few days then off to Oklahoma. I was suppose to be going by myself, but Josh was able to get one more day off clinic and my dad overnighted a pass for him to come out. I flew out on the 30th and Josh a few days later. I spent New Years Eve with just my mom and David! It was really low key but super nice. We just watched a movie then the ball drop and off to bed!

The next day Christine's family came down from Nebraska! That night we let off a few fireworks. They were totally awesome. We went to bed about an hour after the fireworks. Shortly after we had fallen asleep, Christine comes running into the room Josh and I were sleeping in and says there's a fire. A little out of it, we jump up and run outside. Sure enough, the trash cans that we put the hot fireworks in had caught on fire and a little bit of grass. We were really lucky that it didn't spread that much and we were able to get it out with a shovel and a couple buckets of water! It was crazy and we were all in a little shock and had a hard time falling asleep after that :)

For the first few days there, we didn't do anything way exciting. Just relaxed, did a little shopping and ate at my FAVORITE burger/ice cream place...BRAUM'S...Oh I LOVE that place. We actually went there a few times while we were there. In fact, it's where we went after picking Logan up from the airport. It was his first choice!

I pretty much stole Christine's camera while we were there so I could have some pics! Ours, unfortnately, still not working...but I am getting a newer and better one SOON!

Here is Josh, Emmi and myself:

Robby and Christine...always doing their strange poses:

Emmi:

While we were there I met Darcy (Karri's baby) and Jenna (Dad & Nola's) for the first time. They are both super cute.

This is Darcy! She's adorable!

Shawnee holding Darcy:

James & Josh:

You will notice lots of pictures of Emmi...She was always ready to pose for a picture for me. She's so cute and I can't believe how big she is now!

This was just adorable. I wish I could have gotten a few better pictures of this, but here is Emmi (loving her picture being taken) kissing Darcy on the cheek. It was too cute!

When we got there, Stirling had a VERY VERY loose tooth but was nervous about losing it. We tried to get him to let us take it out, but he wouldn't let anyone near it. The one morning that Josh and I were watching the kids for Christine and Robby, Stirling is eating his cereal and hits his tooth causing it to just dangle there. After a few words of encouragement from Josh, Stirling finally lets Josh near it to finish taking it out. Here is Stirling with his front tooth missing and a few tears :)

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of Nathan and his family :( Nathan is super busy with working mandatory overtime and going to school full time. Plus both Nathan and Nichole were really sick. But here's Matthew, one of the CUTEST boys EVER!

Ok...Hang in there. I'm almost done. I thought about doing this in a few posts, but decided that I just needed to get it done or it may never happen...so one LONG post it is :)

On Monday, January 3 of 2011, Logan came home from serving a 2 year mission for our church in Ogden, Utah! We were sooo excited to see him! He is such a good brother and was an amazing missionary. He's all grown up now and actually mature ;) This was the first time all of the siblings were together in well over 2 years. He came home to some older and some new nieces and nephews and a new half sister! I think he may have been a little overwhelmed at the airport.

Here he is, right off the airplane:

I love this picture, except for the ugly OU banner in the background. I should have cropped it out...Here's Shawnee, Stirling, Logan, Christine and I! We were all so excited to see him especially Sitrling!

Logan and a very happy Mom!:

That night we had Christmas with my mom! Then the next night, Christmas with my dad! It was so nice to finally all be together again. It's great having Logan home! We missed him tremendously and glad to be able to call and text him all we want!

We all got PJs from my mom and Kylie had the cutest ones! Here is a picture of her in them. A little random to put it at the bottom, but too lazy to move it at this point.

We had such a fun time in Oklahoma, seeing all of my family and eating at all the places we love in Stillwater! Oh and it was pretty nice weather too! A nice break from the snow and COLD!

After leaving Oklahoma, we went straight to Idaho for Taylor and Becca's wedding...but that will have to be in another post :) which will hopefully come sooner rather than later...but no promises...

Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T12:38:00.000-05:00

Josh and I were able to have a great Christmas this year with his side of the family. We drove out to Idaho to save on a little money since we are going back in a few weeks for Taylor's wedding. On the way out there, we stopped at my sister, Christine's. She lives pretty much half way between Cleveland and Ohio. It was so nice to have somewhere to stop and stretch our legs. Plus she made a very tasty dinner and a great breakfast at like 6:30 in the morning! Thanks Christine! It was fun to spend some time with my niece and nephew too. I got to have them all to myself for a couple hours before we went to bed. Then they even slept in our room on the hard floor! They are such cute kids and I can't wait to see them in a few days!

On the drive out to Idaho, I realized that our camera broke! I was so sad. There were sooo many beautiful scenes I wanted to take pictures of as we drove across the country. Plus no pictures the whole trip :( Bummer! I am hoping to get it working before I head out to Oklahoma tomorrow, but I doubt that will happen. All this fun and exciting stuff, but no pictures to prove it!

We had a great time in Idaho once we got there (after the long 26 hour drive). We were very fortunate that we didn't hit any bad weather and Josh only got pulled over once for speeding, but no ticket! We were very blessed. We were able to meet Becca, Taylor's soon to be wife! We loved getting to know her and are so happy for Taylor and Becca! Right before we left to come out to Idaho, Josh's mom broke her leg! We felt so bad for her; she was in a lot of pain the whole time. When we got there, we helped finish up the basement. We mainly painted. It was actually pretty fun. We did that most of Monday when we were there. Tuesday must have just been a relaxing day for us, cause I don't remember what we did. On Wednesday, all the girls went to lunch then a bead shop and made some necklaces. It was fun and good to get out with just the girls. As I kept breaking all the little things, I found out that jewelry making may not be for me. My necklace did turn out very pretty though! Next time, I may just have to have Paige do it for me though :) She's awesome at it! Thursday we had family pictures. I can't wait to see them! I love getting family pictures and I loved the places we took them in Idaho Falls.

On Christmas Eve, Josh's family friends came over for games. It was a lot of fun. I forgot how much fun it is to play games with a big group of people. That night, grandparents and a few aunts, uncles and cousins came over for dinner and acted out the Nativity Scene. It was really nice to see everyone. Christmas morning, we woke up at about 7:30 and opened presents. We got some great things like a new office chair! Chase made me an AWESOME OSU ribbon board; I totally LOVE it! Josh got some dress pants and I got two cute purses and a few other things. I got to talk to my brother, Logan, who is still serving a mission in Ogden. He comes home one the 3rd of January. I can't wait to see him! It was a great Christmas!

We headed back on the 26th! It was a LONG drive. It seemed much longer than it did getting out there. We decided we wanted to get home quicker, so we drove farther the first day and didn't end up staying at Christine's. We did split a hotel with a friend of ours that we met up with (he was driving back from Idaho too).

We had a great time getting to know our neices, Rylee and Reese. We feel so bad that we don't get to see them often and that they hardly know us. But it was fun playing with them and getting to know them. They are such cute girls!
Thank you Wray family for the great Christmas! We can't wait to be back for the wedding in a few weeks! Love you guys!

Let It Snow?

2010-12-08T21:03:00.000-05:00

Cleveland is having a HUGE snow storm right now. It has been crazy!. My normal 35-40 min commute has taken me over an hour. It started snowing Sunday night and hasn't stopped. Per the weather service, it was suppose to stop last night at 7pm, then this morning at 4am and then this evening at 8pm and now its suppose to stop at 10pm. I don't think it's ever gonna stop. Today we got hit the hardest in the area that I work. By the time I left work, I easily had a foot of snow covering my whole car and it was still coming down pretty hard. I wish I would have had my camera to take pictures. It looked something like this, but with more snow:

My drive home wasn't too bad but I wouldn't like to do it again...It looked something like this the whole 45 minutes home:

I just couldn't believe how hard it was still coming down. The craziest thing is that when I got home, there were only a couple of inches on the ground where I live and some of it was from days before! I wasn't ready for winter, but winter didn't really seem to care. I just hope that things clear up for when we drive to Idaho!

What's a Girl to Do?

2010-12-05T20:55:00.000-05:00

What's a girl to do while her husband is away studying and her best friend is out of town for the month? Hmm....now that's a very interesting question. I have done LOTS of shopping lately. It's been fun...and expensive. I love shopping during the Christmas season, getting good deals and just being out and about with the other holiday shoppers. I have the tendency to buy a lot of extra stuff during this season; I have a hard time telling myself "no" when it's a REALLY good deal. This has made me come home and realize that I shoudn't have bought something and then taking it back, which is a good thing. But then when I take it back, I tend to look around the store some more and just buy other things :) I have already taken stuff back to Target twice this last week! Oh how I LOVE Target...Just rambling now...Anyways, this last week I have kept myself very busy. I have finished all of our Christmas shopping! I have finished a few projects too! I made me niece, who LOVES horses, a really cute blaket (I should have taken a picture before I wrapped it) I also made a few other gifts for Christmas presents too. I have wrapped all of our gifts and put them under the tree. But all my Christmas shopping and projects are done, now what am I suppose to do? I still have 2 more weeks of tests! Well....I can BLOG! or maybe I"m just rambling. I did take a few pictures around the house to post! I love Christmas! Here is a little bit of what Christmas looks like at the Wray home. (No judging on the pictures...we are still having major computer problems and I didn't really want to deal with editing them)

When we got married, we decided that we wanted to hang our stocking from snow globes. I LOVE our snow globes...can you guess who's is who's?

I made this for an Enrichment project. I love it :)

Our PITIFUL Christmas tree, but it was free...

I love the traditional colors of Christmas!

I love Yankee Candles..and this one smells sooooo good.

Yay! I finally changed my towel! I love all of them!

Fall is offically gone for us here in Cleveland...Forecast calls for snow, snow and more snow...This is just the beginning

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A Little Behind???

2010-11-28T17:24:00.002-05:00

My lovely sister-in-law made me these way cute towels for Christmas two years ago. They are so cute and I love having one for each month; however, this is the one that is STILL hanging...

Where has October and November gone??? I can't believe that December is just a few days away. We have been quite busy this month. After lots and lots of shopping around and discussing, we got a new car! The X-Terra is gone much to Josh's sorrow :( He loved being able to "pull things." But we are soo happy to be in our 2007 Saturn Aura! I am completely in LOVE with our new car! And we are able to have a much smaller car payment! That took a lot of our time this month.

We also have been having fun with our friends out here. I made this with my friend Valerie.

It's the only Christmas decor that we have up right now but not for long! Decorations usually go up on black Friday in my house, but due to shopping and having to work, they will go up tonight! I'm so ready for Christmas!

We had a great Thanksgiving with our great friends out here in Ohio. It was really a good Thanksgiving, but what Thanksgiving isn't? We enjoyed yummy turkey, rolls, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, pies, fun company, etc....It was really great; too bad there aren't any pictures to prove it :( Oh well...I know December will be great too and can't wait to see both of our families including brothers who have gotten home from their missions, meeting a niece and half-sister for the first time and a brother in law getting married. We have a BUSY next month but can't wait!

Squire's Castle

2010-10-21T12:47:00.000-04:00

Are you loving fall yet? 'Cause we are! One of the good things about living in Ohio is being able to see the beautiful fall trees! They are absolutely gorgeous here. We definitely had a beautiful earth created for us. Last weekend, finals ended and externship applications were submitted! It was time to get out and enjoy ourselves! We have wanted to go to Squire's Castle since we have been here and we thought that it would be a great time to take the drive up there. It was a lot of fun. We went on a little hike and the colors on the trees were just amazing. The only thing that was a little disappointing is that we didn't get to go inside the castle because there were 2 different weddings going on while we were there...Bummer! Now we know not to go on a beautiful Saturday! Here are a few pictures that I took while we were there. On this little outing I realize how much I dislike my camera....Hopefully, very soon I can get my new camera....I'm always dreaming :)

Yes, a picture of me! I was there and have proof!

My Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-19T21:44:00.003-04:00

I have finished more pumpkins for my pumpkin patch. I am loving all of them. As you can see below, they are all different shapes and sizes. I just love all of them. I tried picking a favorite one but I like them all for different reasons. I have been on a pumpkin break for that last week or two but I am hoping that I can get back into doing more before the season is over. I still have tons of fabric and even a few different fabrics that I haven't even touched yet. To answer questions from before, I started with a pattern that you can find here then I just adapted it to make all the different shapes and sizes that I wanted. Or I did make one of them this way, which was even more simple, but you can only use one fabric per pumpkin that way. They were so simple to make and I love them!

Going to Grandma's

2010-10-16T22:36:00.001-04:00

This last weekend, my grandmother has some major surgery. My mom drove up from Oklahoma to stay with her and I was able to go for the weekend. Luckily, the surgery went well and good news was given. She is now home recovering. I am glad that I was able to go up there and spend time with them. I was nice and didn't take any pictures of her in the hospital, but here is one of my favorite pictures of when I was a baby with my mom and grandmother:

Love you, Grandma!

This is prime time for the beautiful fall colors. I was able to take a few pictures as we drove by some incredible scenery. Not the best, but they will have to do. After all, I was in the car while I took these.

I was also able to stop by and see my Grandpa, Dad's Dad. It was so good to see him. I stopped by and he was raking leaves! He's 84 and still raking leaves! He amazes me all the time. I love his house. Everything about his house brings me feelings of happiness. I once wrote a descriptive report on his house...I wish I could find that. Oh well....I didn't take a picture of him, but I did take a picture of his house while I drove by :) I know, I'm strange....

I had a good time and we were all very happy with the results of my grandmother's surgery. It was a short little weekend trip, but I'm very glad I was able to go.

The only thing I didn't enjoy was the fact that it's suppose to be only a 3.5 hour drive, but it ended up taking me FIVE hours both ways! On the way there, I hit traffic and some construction and then got lost....I thought I would be golden on the way home leaving on a Sunday afternoon, but I wasn't that fortunate. There was a really bad accident. They shut down the highway and it took me 2 hours to go about 2 miles. I won't give details, but it was the worst accident scene I have ever seen and I drove by about an hour and a half after it had happened. The accident has kind of haunted me this last week. I have prayed for those involved and their families several times. It turns out that 5 people were killed and 4 were seriously injured. My thoughts and prayers go out tho them and their families.

Just so I don't leave on a sad note...While I was in the traffic, I saw a couple of hot air balloons. It was nice to have the short distraction as I sat and waited. I even got my camera out and took a picture.

That's all for now...Love ya Grandma! Get well quickly!!!

Fall is Here!

2010-09-30T21:37:00.000-04:00

Fall is here. This year it feels like fall came over night. Last week we had temperatures in the upper 80s and lower 90s, which is unheard of here. We were setting record high temperatures. I used to always enjoy fall, but living in Ohio has changed that a little bit. I still like fall and the colors around this part of the country are absolutely BREATHTAKING...but I don't feel like I ever really got a summer even with the hotter temperatures. Maybe that's just part of getting older...No more summer breaks, no more days of lounging around or going to the pool daily or fun amusement parks everyday. I guess the main reason I'm not looking forward to fall this year is because I know that cold and sunless skies are ahead and will be here before I know it. I am going to try my best to fully enjoy fall this year. Tonight I got out my Halloween decorations! Decorating will ALWAYS get you in a good mood! Also this year I have decided to make my own pumpkins. I finished my first big one last night and I am absolutely in LOVE with it :) I plan on making my own little pumpkin patch, but they are taking me a lot longer to sew than I thought. For some reason, I couldn't get the pictures in the order that I want and I'm too tired to spend any more time on it, but here's the pictures of what I have so far:

This one will be the biggest pumpkin in the patch:

Here is my big pumpkin with my two little "trial pumpkins"

So, I put my phone on top so you can see just how big this one is. I didn't mean for it to be this big, but I still love how it turned out!

Wish We Could be There!

2010-09-27T18:58:00.003-04:00

September has been a great month for our families! My sister, Karri, had her first child, Darcy Elizabeth! We are so excited to have another niece! Here are a few pictures I was able to grab off facebook! Isn't she so cute??? I wish I could have been there or that I could see her and hold her! She's so precious!

We also had Josh's brother come home from his full two year mission! Go Chase for completing an honorable mission! We are so proud of you and can't wait to see you! We wish we could have been there when you got off the plane or on Sunday for your homecoming talk! We love ya and miss you!

It's times like these that we REALLY REALLY wish we lived closer to our families! We love and miss you all!

Country Jam 2010

2010-09-25T18:38:00.004-04:00

Oh how I LOVE country music and country music fans! This year Country Jam was on both a Friday night and all day Saturday. I was able to go with 4 other girls and we had soo much fun. They had a HUGE line up that included Gloriana, The Band Perry, Danny Gokey, David Nail, The McClymonts (who you have to check out on itunes! I LOVED them), Jason Aldean, Sara Evans and several others that I can't think of now. We had so much fun until.....it started to rain. We were all pretty bummed that it rained. The show continued but we weren't that prepared for the rain. We did get to see everyone except for Sara Evans and Jason Aldean, who everyone wanted to see the most, but what can you do! We left and went to eat at Chili's...YUM!!! Even with the rain, we were able to have a good time. I only took ONE picture the whole time we were there and it wasn't even of the girls that I went with....Well here it is. This is The Band Perry:

It was a lot of fun and all the artist were pretty good. I really like the McClymonts the best though. Maybe because they just surprised me by how good they were...not sure, but you should all definitely check them out. The fans were just as entertaining this year too :) There are some CRAZY people out there. Next year, I promise to take more pictures. I can't wait for next year! It's been a fun tradition for me here in Cleveland!

Labor Day 2010

2010-09-23T18:37:00.001-04:00

What? I'm only two and a half weeks late! I can't believe that September has already FLOWN by! I don't remember it even beginning and now I am sitting here and it's already the 23rd! Time is just flying by! This year we were able to have a pretty good Labor Day. We went to breakfast with our friends Dave and Valerie and their kids at Bob Evans. YUM! Their food is oh so good! We have so much fun with them too! After breakfast we went on a hike with them to Brandywine Falls. It's GORGEOUS there any time of the year! Here are a few pictures from our fun excursion:

We taught her how to do "The Thinker:"

And this girl would pose for me any time I asked :)

Like always, we had a blast with them! They are soo much fun and have such great kids! We had a great Labor Day this year. I have no idea what else we did that day, but I'm sure we had a great time doing it...After all, I wasn't at work and Josh wasn't at school.

Grrrrr . . . .

2010-09-16T12:34:00.005-04:00

So I have sat down quite a few times in the last few weeks to do a blog post, but I never got more than a sentence or two written..But I am FINALLY here and I hope I can update the last few weeks in just a couple of posts. Yesterday, I had a dentist appointment right after work. I figured that if I left work RIGHT on time, I would make it there early enough to fill out the paperwork first. Like most, I have never enjoyed going to the dentist. In fact I haven't been in a really long time...Probably somewhere between 3 and 5 years. But I am starting to have a tooth ache and I have dental insurance now. So I made the appointment. But what happened after work? First I got called into a meeting at work that only lasted about 15 minutes, but I was already suppose to be gone. Then when I hit the road, what do I come across???

Yep, that's right..TRAFFIC! Now I am usually able to miss the majority of the traffic on my way home, cause I get off at 4:30 and get a head start. But it seems like whenever I HAVE to be somewhere after work...there's ALWAYS an accident along my way. I ended up having to cancel and reschedule my dentist appointment. Oh well...no big deal. Luckily I had their phone number in my phone! but as I was sitting and sitting (it ended up taking me about an hour to get home), I was reminded of a time just a few weeks ago when I was sitting in traffic. That time I was suppose to bring a new mom dinner. I felt AWFUL. I called her and told her I was stuck in traffic...she ended up having dinner around like 7pm! Why is it that when I HAVE to be somewhere, I hit really bad traffic?? I just don't understand. Can anyone shed some light?

Oh Timmy!

2010-08-13T19:42:00.005-04:00

Last week I got to go to a Tim McGraw concert here in Cleveland! It was soo much fun. Lady Antebellum opened for them as well as Love & Theft. It was such a good concert. It was on a Thursday night and it was sooo HUMID that night, but it was also so worth it. I LOVE going to country music concerts and events. There are such interesting people that go to them. Sometimes it's just as entertaining to people watch as it is to fully get into the concert. There were a TON of people there. I was amazed by the number of people and yet how quickly we were able to get out of there. Anyways, here's a few pictures:

The Crowd:

Valerie and Cassie:

Lady Antebellum:

And Mr. Tim McGraw:

It was a lot of fun and Tim was AMAZING! And I can't wait to go to Country Jam next month for more and see even more interesting people ;)

Who Knew?

2010-08-07T16:33:00.004-04:00

Who knew that getting up at 7:30 on a SATURDAY wasn't so hard? Who knew that you could get so much more done on a Saturday if you woke up before noon? Not I...until today! I've been running about 3 times a week with my friend for a few weeks now. Our schedules were crazy this week, so we decided that we would get up early on Saturday to go running. I got up somewhere around 7:15ish and I was able to run 2 miles, shower, go to 2 different stores, get my oil changed, go to the bank and the post office and make it home all but 11:30! To honest, that's usually when I wake up on Saturdays! I was very impressed with myself, not that I am looking to do this EVERY Saturday. Saturdays are my ONE and ONLY day to sleep in but I did enjoy getting a lot of stuff done early and still have a full day to do other things like....

SEW! I can't believe how many comments I got from my sewing machine, so I thought that I better use it soon so I don't disappoint all of you. Now, don't except great things from me anytime soon, but I did do a few burp cloths. I know a lot of people including my sister that are having girls or just had girls, so I thought this would be something easy to do. Don't look too closely at the stitching! I thought they turned out pretty good. Now it's about 5pm and I have a talk to write!

Sewin'

2010-08-02T18:50:00.003-04:00

Yep, that is right; I have a sewing machine. I didn't think this would happen for quite some time, but when I was in Michigan a few months ago, my cousin gave me my Grandma's old sewing machine. I'm pretty excited. I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but I am a little excited to learn. I'm not nearly as a perfectionist as what I was when I tried sewing a few years ago. Hopefully this will all go well. This is a pretty easy machine to use though. Just in the last couple of hours I have been able to learn how to use the automatic threader, the bobbin thing and play around with a lot of the different kinds of stitches. Yes, don't you just LOVE my terminology. I'm sure that it is really called the "bobbin thing" :) Anyways, don't expect great things from me anytime soon, but maybe sometime in the future I can be half as good as my mother and mother in law. Yeah for new toys and trying new things!

Josh's Birthday!

2010-07-26T19:13:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday Josh! Josh's birthday was last Monday and we had a great time. A few weeks ago, Josh and one of our friends made a Cornhole Game. Cornhole is a HUGE backyard game out here in Ohio. And although I am TERRIBLE, it is a lot of fun to play. So anyways, last week we had a few friends over for cake, ice cream and corn hole! It was alot of fun! Now I didn't take any traditional birthday pictures, but at least I took some. Besides, I made the cake so it wasn't anything great to look at anyways :) OK, so here are a few pictures of the night:

Josh TALKING on phone (had to take those birthday phone calls, of course):

Dave & Steve battling it out:
Lizzie and Valerie:

Caprie (probably looking at Josh who she isn't so sure about):

And Birthday Boy again:

We had a great time! Thanks to the Waters and Shaeffers for making it a great birthday! OH and before I forget; they did a short little article on Josh's hamburger contest here. He did such a great job! Love you Josh and hope you had a GREAT birthday!

Oklahoma Pictures

2010-07-24T10:24:00.008-04:00

I've got pictures from my trip to Oklahoma! Now, they are all from Christine's camera, but I did take most of these myself. While I was there, we went to the park with all the neices and nephews. It was really hot but really fun as well.

Here is Matthew:

Matthew & Stirling:

Kylie:

Christine:

Emmi:

Matthew:

Emmi:

Then here are the only pictures that were taken on our "eclipse" night, it was so much fun!

Here we are inside the theather:

Me waiting to get inside the theather: (I only post this one because I don't think I usually ever put pics of myself on here)

And everyone outside the theater:

I had a great time! I love seeing all of my sisters and we have SUCH a fun time when we all get together!

101 Catching Up

2010-07-18T20:10:00.005-04:00

Oh my! It's been a LOONG time since my last post. Things have been EXTREMELY busy this last month here in the Wray house! At the end of June, I was able to go back to Oklahoma for a week. It was so much fun and great to get away from work for a week. It was filled up lots of family fun. Of course I didn't take any pictures and my lovely sister, Christine, has yet to send me any of the pictures on her camera that we took. When I first got off the airplane, my sister picked me up and we headed straight to White Water Bay, a water park in Oklahoma City, and met up with the rest of the family. It was really fun to ride all the rides that I rode when I was younger. For some reason though, the rides just aren't as exciting when you're older. Thankful NO PICTURES at all were taken there, but here is a picture that I found online.

We went to church at my Dad's ward and then hung out at my Dad's on Sunday. Then off to Mom's house for the rest of the week. Christine and her kids were also there the whole time from South Dakota. Nichole and her kids also stayed at my mom's all week. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them. We went to the park and really just hung around. On Tuesday night, we went to see Twilight: Eclipse at midnight! We were also able to watch the first two movies in the theater before watching Eclipse. It was soo much fun and the best of the Twilight movies!

On Friday night, we went and saw the movie again but this time ALL of my sisters were able to come and Nola too! We went to a really nice theater with balcony seating and servers that bring you dinner. It was a fun experience! On Saturday, we had Karri's baby shower! It was a lot of fun and she got some really cute things! I flew home on the 4th :( No fireworks for us this year. The flights made me really sick on the way home and neither of us really felt like getting out again.

Last Friday night, Josh competed in a hamburger eating contest down in Akron and he won!!!! There were 6 guys total competing to eat THREE pounds of beef patties and the bun. Josh came in in first place finishing in 6 minutes and 16 seconds. The next guy was a near two minutes behind him. It was amazing to watch him finish! He did so well and won us $250 cash!

101? I'm sure you are wondering about my title. This is my 101st post on my blog! I know I should have reached this point long ago, but I'm finally here. Hmmmm....I think that about wraps it up. Tomorrow is Josh's birthday; I'll be sure to take some pictures at our little celebration!

Amish Country

2010-06-20T14:00:00.005-04:00

The last weekend that Josh's family were here, we went down to visit an Amish community that isn't too far away from us. I don't think that I have ever seen near as many horse and buggies! It was very interesting and actually very touristy. We went to a farm where they have all these different exotic animals. They take you around in a wagon and you are able to feed the animals. They had several kinds of animals. Half way through the wagon ride, my camera died. But here are some pictures that I was able to take

After the farm, the boys headed to the Football Hall of Fame and we girls stayed about the Amish community and looked in all their shops. It was a lot of fun. While we were there, a HUGE storm hit. As we pulled into a parking lot, we saw these really black clouds to the north. As soon as we opened our doors, the wind starting blowing REALLY hard and it started to pour. As we walk open the door, everything flies everywhere. The tornado sirens start to go off and the women in the store rush us down to the basement. The turn on the radio to see what is going on (Yes, they have radios! Who knew?). After waiting a few minutes and seeing the winds die down, we decide it's safe to go back up into the shop. It was quite an interesting experience. We look around and then after we leave we see tree branches and signs everywhere. No tornado, but ALOT of wind! It was pretty crazy and probably an experience to never forget. :) We have a TON of fun with Josh's family and can't wait to see them all again. Thanks for the good time and getting Josh & I out to FINALLY see some sights :)

Palmyra

2010-06-13T19:34:00.009-04:00

On Memorial Day, Josh and I were in Palmyra, New York with his parents and sister. We had such a great time on this weekend vacation. It was soooo nice to get away and spend time with family. We started out at the Smith Family Farm and the Sacred Grove. It was really a great experience. Here are a few pictures:

This is in the Sacred Grove with the sun peeking throw the trees:

This is the view of the temple from the Smith Farm:

After the Sacred Grove, we headed up to the temple. It was beautiful! Here's the pictures I took while there:

All the doors and windows were the "Sacred Grove" stained glass. They were BEAUTIFUL!

Then off to the Hill Cumorah!

View from the top or the hill:

There was a really cool Visitor's Center at the Hill Cumorah that we went to and we watched the Joseph Smith movie. It was great, as always! It was really such a great experience and it was fun to see all the sights again! We drove threw Palmyra then grabbed lunch on our way home and said goodbye to the Wray as they went to explore Washington D.C. for the week. We were able to have another WONDERFUL weekend with the Wray family the following weekend as well...Another post for that one as well!

Niagara Falls

2010-06-10T20:41:00.008-04:00

On Sunday after church, we went to Niagara Falls. It was so much fun and so much bigger than I remember. It was BEAUTIFUL too. It didn't seem like we were there for that long but it was so much fun! It's such a beautiful park even without the falls. I'm not extremely happy with the way any of these pictures turned out, but here are the best ones. (and thanks for all of your WONDERFUL comments from my last post!)

I just thought that this was a pretty cool bridge that was on the way:

These aren't the BIGGEST fall there, but still beautiful!

Josh's parents took us on the Maid of the Mist! It was completely awesome. I've never done anything like it before and LOVED every minute that we were on it. Such a fun experience! I highly recommend going on it if you go to there!

Josh in front of the smaller falls with the awesome rainbow:

Smaller Falls again (maybe I should have looked to see if they have a name):

This is actually the major falls that you go to see. This is before you turn the corner though if that makes any sense at all

Part of the major falls there:

This is us actually in the circle of the main falls. We got SOAKED even with our ponchos. I couldn't believe how much mist there was! It was sooo cool though! Sorry about the drops of water on the lens :(

Me, Momma Wray, Paige and Daddy Wray:

Water still on the lens, but this is our "after getting soaked" picture

Josh, Myself, Momma Wray and Paige:

Thanks Wray family! We had soooo much fun at Niagara Falls! It was beautiful and so much fun! After the falls, we drove to Palmyra and stayed the night there. Monday was spent visiting all the church sights...but that will all come in another post :)

Kirtland!

2010-06-07T18:07:00.007-04:00

As mentioned before, Josh's parents and sister, Paige, came out for Memorial Day Weekend! We had so much fun having them here and being able to do all these fun things with them. They got in late Friday night, so on Saturday we headed out to Kirtland. It was the first time for me to go and see all the sights since we've been here. I went about 13 years ago with my family but didn't remember much. I did take a fair amount of pictures like I promised. I didn't think you would want to see all hundred of them, so here are a few of my favorites:

The Kirtland Temple:

A shot of the front of the BEAUTIFUL building:
Paige, Josh and I in front of the temple:

Another shot of the temple:

We were able to take a tour through the temple and walk through the grounds. What a great spirit that the temple still has. It was a great experience to be able to walk where the prophet and the early saints walked.

This is just a picture taken in Kirtland on our tour through the old city:

This next picture is of us in front of the N.K. Whitney & Co. Store. This store was located on the corner of the two main streets at the time. The doors are actually the original ones that were on the store.

Myself, Josh, Momma Jill, Paige and Daddy Vince:

Momma Jill & Josh sitting behind the temple:

This is the Saw Mill...nothing too exciting, I just LOVE how the picture turned out:

Where the Saw Mill is located:

Just a cool picture near the Saw Mill:

After visiting the site, we went to Mary Yoder's Diner, which is an Amish diner. We enjoyed GREAT food there! Then we headed home! On Sunday after church, we went to Niagra Falls and on Monday we went to Palmyra. More to come on those adventures. We had a great time in Kirtland and enjoy the nice Spirit that we were able to feel and share with family!

May Flowers

2010-05-28T12:27:00.005-04:00

I'm trying to get this month caught up before June comes. May has been such a good month to us. Warm weather has arrived and actually stayed all month. This whole week it's been in the upper 80s and SUNNY! That's right, Cleveland has actually seen the sun! Josh and I have been able to play tennis and I've gone running a few times. Also this month, Josh finished his second year of Podiatry school! WOOHOO! We are officially half way through! He has done so well and I'm constantly amazed at how much time and effort he puts into school. I know I definitely couldn't do it! He had a week off to help a few friends out and to be a little lazy. Then he started his third year this last week!

For Mother's Day, I had the opportunity to go to Michigan! It was such a fun short vacation. My mom flew up to Michigan from Oklahoma so i was able to spend it with her and my grandmother, aunt and cousins! It was soo much fun! We also got to go to Ikea. Yep, I have another Ikea store crossed off the list :) And my cousin Jamie took portraits of us all...but STILL waiting to see them ;) Those will be the only pictures that I have from the trip. The camera stayed in my purse or suitcase the whole time. But a very LATE "Happy Mother's Day" to all the mother figures I have in my life!

Then last weekend, Josh and I were able to go on a Daycation (Day Vacation) with a friend of mine and her kids. (Her husband was gone on an externship.) I'm sure we looked like quite the polygamist :) But it was so much fun. We went to the Erie Canal for a picnic until it started to rain then we went into the visitor's center where they had a display of how the used the canals to travel. It was really neat and the lady who gave the demonstration was awesome! Then we went on a few walks to just be outside and enjoy the outdoors. We found a waterfall and walked up in the creek. We all slipped and fell in the water at times but had so much fun. I didn't think to bring the camera until we were on our way. So again, no pics :( But it really was a fun day! Thanks Valerie :) Your kids are so much fun!

And that has pretty much been our month of May until today. Now, Josh's parents and sister are coming into town this weekend and I PROMISE I will take pictures to post!

The Ants Go Marching One By One...

2010-05-26T13:17:00.005-04:00

But there is no "Hoorah, Hoorah!" Ants have been attacking our house! When I'm actually home, it seems like I spend way too much time tracking down and killing these HUGE black ants that are now all over our home.

(Thanks to google image search for the pic of the disgusting ant)

We have no idea how they are getting in or why they won't leave. They have now been invading our house for about two weeks. And Josh's parents and sister are coming in to visit this weekend. Great! The ants just had to come right when they are about to come! We have deep cleaned our whole house for two reasons: 1.) Family IS coming and 2.) trying to get rid of the ants. We haven't been leaving any food out. And not only are the ants in our kitchen, but also in our bathroom and office. After are deep clean and spraying raid everywhere, we haven't seen as many but they are still around. Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of them? At this point, I am completely open to all ideas!

Promotion!

2010-05-25T12:45:00.004-04:00

Hello My Long Lost Blog,

No, I haven't completely forgotten you. I have just been super busy. I have gotten a promotion at work. I am now a Biller at my job. I am enjoying learning the new things that billing entails, not that I'm even close to knowing half of it. My hours at work are different now and I have to travel farther to a different office. I spend much more time on the road than I'd like to. I'm completely drained when I get home, hence the no blogging. I haven't even read the updates on my friends' blogs :( But I am enjoying the new position and the learning experience. Hopefully all of this will come in handy when Josh has his own practice.

I think every post needs a picture. That explains the lame pic on here. I do have my own office now. It has four walls and a door...no windows. I think I will also enjoy the pay raise :) That's all for now. Hopefully I can update you again soon.

With All My Joy and Happiness,

The New Biller who has her own office!

How do you turn this...

2010-04-30T21:45:00.003-04:00

INTO THIS...

So if you have been to our home ever, you most likely saw all of our clean dishes laying out to dry on the right side of our sink or if the dishes weren't there then you at least saw the towels laying there. This is something that has driven me NUTS since we moved into this place. THERE IS NO DISHWASHER! I know there are only the two of us but I really, really miss having a dishwasher. I also NEED the extra counter space. Having this side of the sink literally doubles the amount of counter space I have. Anyways, when we moved into the place, Josh agree to do the dishes (except during test weeks) and I was in charge of putting them away. Let's just say that I wasn't the best at putting them away. But I have decided that it's time to change. For the last week, I have HAND DRIED the dishes with a towel (I know, who has to do this anymore besides us?) and put them away right after they have been washed. The towels don't even stay on the counter any more. I know it's sooo simple yet it's sooo hard sometimes. It's so tempting to let them "air dry" and stay out for quite a while or until we use them again. But it's been so nice to come home and have our kitchen look clean finally or at least decluttered! And it's been nice to have the extra space! It's amazing how simple things make such a BIG difference! Now, shall we take bets on how long this will last? Maybe not such a bad idea :) But I'm really enjoying it so hopefully it will last a very long time....

Time Out For Women Weekend

2010-04-26T21:13:00.007-04:00

This past weekend, I was able to go to Pittsburgh with a few friends for Time Out For Women! I had SUCH a great time. Pittsburgh is only about 2.5 hours away and is such a neat city. We were busy the whole time we were there but I definitely want to go back and explore! We left Friday afternoon and YES, I did get to leave work early! (That might have been the best part of the trip...j/k.) Once we got there, we checked into our hotel then off to a wonderful dinner at Olive Garden! Yummmm....It was ssoooo tasty! Anyways, then we went to the conference. It was really good. John Bytheway is an amazing speaker. And the others were awesome too. After a little sleep Friday night, we got up early and went to the conference pretty much all day on Saturday. For lunch, we went to this cool little pub/cafe in downtown Pittsburgh (which I just realized has an "h" on the end). It was so much fun and I had a blast with the other girls. I did better on this trip of taking pictures, but still didn't do great.

Here is a picture that I stole from my friend, Rachel's, blog:

After the conference on Saturday we headed off to IKEA!!!! I LOVE that store. It was so much fun to go again. I have now been to three different ones and I have a blast every time. I joked to Josh that I now want to visit every IKEA in the US now....but maybe I wasn't teasing so much. It would be fun :) Anyways, another great collage of pictures from Rachel:

OK, so the rest of these pics are mine :) Like I said before, Pittsburgh is such a cool city. It's right on a river that goes through the city; so there are TONS of bridges everywhere! And they are all painted yellow! They look so cool. Everything about the city was so interesting and unique. I loved it all. Here are a few of my pics:

PNC Park, where the Pirates play...just ignore the big tree in the pic:)

This is the Bridge Transformer that some artist guy created for Pittsburgh's 250th Birthday back in 2008. It was soo cool and totally looks like all the bridges in the city. So cool:

Pic of one of the bridges:

And here's a pic of the downtown area:

It really was a fun trip and I can't wait to get back and explore the city some more. A great short trip filled with great conversations, food, entertainers and friends! Thanks Rachel, Roni and Crystal for such a great time!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2010-04-17T20:12:00.002-04:00

April is probably my most FAVORITE month! I actually like it for more reasons than just my birthday, like the thunderstorms (best in Oklahoma though), the warmer weather and the beautiful scenery that appears after a LOOONG winter in Cleveland.

But the best part of April is definitely my birthday. This year as my birthday was approaching, all I could think about was how birthdays just aren't the same any more. I was a little saddened by these thoughts. I told my mom and she totally agreed with me. But this year turned out to be one THE best birthdays. I got the BEST birthday card from my mom. She actually drew it herself and it made me laugh soo hard. (Love you Mom!) Josh also made it really special for me. I got my first present (an awesome OSU sweatshirt) five days before my birthday! On Thursday, some friends all met up a Steak-N-Shake for dessert to celebrate with me. On Friday, the girls at worked surprised me with cake and ice cream. Then on my birthday, we went to a place called "Steak on a Stone" for lunch. (Now the camera had no batteries all that weekend, so no pics)

Those two pics were taken from their website. But it was an AWESOME restaurant. They bring your meat out raw and they bring out a stone that is heated to 750 degrees! Then you slice your own steak or duck or lamb or whatever meat you chose and cook it yourself on the stone! It was soooo good and so much fun! We had a great time!

After lunch, we had to hurry off to a soccer game that Josh is helping to coach with a friend of his. It's an 8-year old girl team. I felt soo bad for the girls cause this was their first game and it was sooo cold and rainy the whole time! But they did win!

We then went to go see "Date Night," which neither of us thought was all that great. Then we went home and put this together...

Ooooooh yeah!!! That's right, I got a grill for my birthday! And yes, it's for me and not Josh! I've been wanting one ever since we moved last August! We got a great deal on this one and I put all of my birthday money towards it! I think I'm in love :) We have been able to grill on it twice now and can't wait to be able to do it more often!

To finish the night, Josh gave me a poem that he had written titled "No Girl Like You." It is a super sweet poem! I loved it! And I loved my birthday! It was such a great day and I owe it all to the most wonderful hubby ever! And also all my family that called and friends that helped me celebrate! Love you all!

Metro Challenge

2010-04-02T19:41:00.001-04:00

Why hello, Everyone! I know it's been quite some time. I have a lot of catching up to do. Back on the 2nd of April, Josh and some friends went down to Metro Burger to compete in the Metro Burger Challenge of eating THREE pounds of meat, fries and a drink all in 20 minutes! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go...Someone has to work in this household :) Thanks to my friend, Mattie, for all the great pictures she took and shared with me. It's almost like being there! So, do you think Josh finished? Guess now.....

Just looking at this makes me sick! I can't even imagine eating all of this in 20 minutes, you?

The Before picture (All smiles now):

Josh looking not quite sure about it:

Yep! That's right; he did finish within the 20 minute time limit. Only him and one other friend made it (Shane, the one to the right of Josh). They all got shirts for participating. For finishing, Josh got a $10 gift card and the opportunity to come back and do it again! Yep, in a few months everyone that finished has the chance to come back and compete to win more cash! I'm not so sure that he will do it though. He wasn't feeling all that great the rest of the day and didn't eat for a LOOONG time afterwards!

A BUSY month!

2010-03-28T16:14:00.002-04:00

Wow! I can't believe March is already over pretty much! This month has FLOWN by. We were able to start out the month by going to Idaho for Josh's Spring Break! It was so good to see his family because it had been waaay too long since we have visited. Unfortunately though, my camera has stayed in the bag ALL month long...No pictures! These ones I stole from my sister-in-laws blog Thanks, Ashley :)! But we had a great time in Idaho. We were able to surprise Josh's Dad for his 50th birthday! We got to see family, play games, go swimming and were able to go back to the Idaho Falls Temple for the first since we've been married. It was my first time to do a session in a bigger temple, first time in the Idaho Falls Temple, first time to rent clothing and first time to be the witness couple. It was a great experience! We were so happy to be able to see family and to spend a couple days with them! Thanks Wray Family! We love and miss you all! Here are the pictures from swimming that I took from Ashley who I think took them from Jill :)

Josh with Niece Reese:

Going left to right...Ashley, Rylee, Reese, Andrew, Josh, me, Vince and Taylor:

On the 15th of this month, Josh and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary! These two years have flown by! I am so thankful to be married to such a great husband! He got me some beautiful flowers! I wish I would have taken pictures, but once again...camera was left behind. We went out to a fabulous dinner at Olive Garden and were able to just talk and enjoy with other's company.

The last two weeks have been spent with Josh doing pretty much nothing but studying and sleeping for his hardest test week yet! We're both sooo glad that that's over. But I was able to keep myself busy with lots of girls night to movies and dessert and just fun! And now on to April! I'm ready for it, even if I do become a year older ;) I'm ready for more sunny and gorgeous days!

Tobogganing

2010-02-20T12:38:00.002-05:00

So some of my pictures look a little extreme, maybe, but I was just having fun checking out all the editing tools. Anyways....a few weekends ago, we went tobogganing with some friends. The Cleveland Metroparks are amazing and offer tons of outdoor fun all year round. We decided that we want to have a good experience in the snow, so we all went tobogganing. It was soo much fun and we had just gotten quite a bit of snow, so it was BEAUTIFUL too! Here are just a few pictures from our day.

This is some of our friends at the end of the ride:

It's a lot steeper than I would have thought and you get a lot of speed coming down. The first time we went down I thought there was no way we were going to stop in time.

And just a few pics of us that one of our friends took:

We had a GREAT time! They even have a little "lodge" with a HUGE fireplace for you to come and warm up and get some extremely overpriced food! The only bad thing about going is that you have to carry your own toboggan up to the top...which still wasn't too bad for me cause I have Josh :)

Oh Sunshine, Blessed Sunshine

2010-02-18T19:35:00.003-05:00

Yep, that's right! We saw some sun today here in Cleveland! This doesn't happen often and it seems like FOREVER since we last saw you! I was excited when I walked out of work and this lovely sight greeted me!
In fact, I was soo shocked and happy that I just HAD to call my mom and let her know the exciting news! My phone was dying, so it was a quick call. Anyways....My drive home from work takes about 30-35 minutes West depending on traffic. Today, I was COMPLETELY annoyed the whole way home. There was just waaay too much SLOW traffic. It ended up taking me a little over an hour to get home :( I was not happy at all. When I finally did get home, I sent a text to my coworkers/friends to let them know how long it took me to get home so I could get some sympathy. :) One lady texted me back asking "why did it take so long." I replied "I have no idea. I didn't see ANY accidents." And her reply was "It's the sun. Nobody know how to drive in it." I laughed so hard at that, but it's sooo true. I had to call my mom back and tell her too. Clevelanders know how to drive in the snow (for the most part), but they sure can't drive in the sun!

Dinner and a Movie

2010-01-17T18:04:00.003-05:00

Last night, Josh and I went to dinner and a movie! It's been WAAAY too long since we have done that. I know, it's really sad! But we had a great time! We went to see.... "The Blind Side" and we both loved it! It's such an amazing story and a GREAT movie! We then went to Champs for dinner! It was so good to get out there and have some fun with just the two of us before tests start!

The last week has been unusually warm here. Most of the snow that we got dumped on us is now melted! It's been really nice! I know that winter is NOT over yet though :( In fact it is suppose to snow a little this week but then this weekend, it's suppose to warm back up! And by warm, I mean above freezing...upper 30s! But I'll take it! I was able to take some pictures of our icicles before they fell. You really had to see them in person to get the full effect though. They were awesome! Really close to hitting out window! Here are the pics!

Time Flies...

2010-01-07T18:53:00.008-05:00

When you are having fun! I can NOT believe that it is already January of 2010 (twenty-ten is how you say it if you were wondering). I really was planning on posting quite a bit more last month but it just never happened.

This year for Christmas we drove down to Oklahoma! We were VERY fortunate to get there without running into any weather and we made it in 14.5 hours! We got into Oklahoma at about four in the morning on Christmas Eve! Shortly after we woke up, the worst winter storm in Oklahoma began to stir things up! It all started with a little sleet and ice and progressed from there. We didn't think it would be that bad, so we started the "one hour" drive to my dad's house in Oklahoma City to celebrate Christmas with them before they left for Utah. That one hour somehow ended up taking FIVE hours! It was crazy! They closed all the interstates in the area once we got there so then we were stuck with the side roads. I really wish I would have gotten my camera out because it was CRAZY! We were very lucky to get to my dad's safely! There were sooo many stranded cars everywhere! Josh and my brother in law, James, spent 3 hours in the wind, snow and ice pushing cars up a hill that no one seemed to be able to get to the top of. They were actually on the local news too for helping! Once they got back in the car, their eyebrows has icicles on them! They looked completely frozen! But we made it and didn't have to get a hotel or sleep in the car so we were all very happy. They next morning, Karri and Jared, finally made it up from Dallas after spending 12 hours in the car and sleeping in a hotel about 35 minutes away. Nathan, Nichole and their kids were able to make it to Dad's that morning too. It was a very crazy Christmas morning! One that we will NEVER forget.

We didn't do anything too crazy or exciting while we were there, but it was sooo good to spend time with my family, especially with my mom! We also got to meet our new neice, Kylie, who is now about 3 monhs old! She is such a pretty baby. It was fun to watch Matthew open all of his presents too. We had a great time in Oklahoma and can't wait til be able to get back soon (hopefully).

I was pretty lazy and never took out my camera, but here are a few pics I did take:

This is what it looked like the whole way down to OKC:

Matthew made this face everytime he opened a present: SO cute!

Kylie:

And the arch on our way home!

I know....not many pictures but I promise to do better next time!

Josh N Dina

Grandpa's Memorial

Christmas 2011

Grateful

December 2011, Thus Far

November 2011

Coverage Bridge Tour

Weekend in Michigan

*Darcy*

Labor Day Weekend

Indianapolis

Michigan Vacation Part 8: Mystery Spot

Michigan Vacation Part 7: Lake Superior

Michigan Vacation Part 6: Soo Locks & Tahquamenon Falls

Michigan Vacation Part 5: Mackinac Island

Michigan Vacation Part 4: Beach Day

Michigan Vacation Part 3

Michigan Vacation Part 2

Michigan Vacation Part 1

Independence Day 2011

Christmas in July

Indians Baseball

*Memorial Day 2011*

My New Camera Strap!

Hangin with...

So Blessed!

April Recap

Birthday Weekend

Bizzzzzy

Hello March!

Not A Snow Day...

Valentine's Day

Snow Blowin'

Good Thoughts!

Since We've Been Home

Taylor & Becca's Wedding Weekend

Oklahoma 2011

Christmas 2010

Let It Snow?

What's a Girl to Do?

A Little Behind???

Squire's Castle

My Pumpkin Patch

Going to Grandma's

Fall is Here!

Wish We Could be There!

Country Jam 2010

Labor Day 2010

Grrrrr . . . .

Oh Timmy!

Who Knew?

Sewin'

Josh's Birthday!

Oklahoma Pictures

101 Catching Up

Amish Country

Palmyra

Niagara Falls

Kirtland!

May Flowers

The Ants Go Marching One By One...

Promotion!

How do you turn this...

Time Out For Women Weekend

Happy Birthday to ME!

Metro Challenge

A BUSY month!

Tobogganing

Oh Sunshine, Blessed Sunshine

Dinner and a Movie

Time Flies...

Darcy

Memorial Day 2011