Palmyra

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

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!

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

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...

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.

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!

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 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...

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

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!

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)

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

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!