Scrapbooking Retreat

I’m back from my scrapbooking retreat. I had a great time! Sarah and I left around 9:30 am Friday morning and were in Gettysburg in time for lunch. Then we unpacked all our things and started scrapbooking. It took me a little while to get into a groove and start moving but eventually I did and I got way more accomplished than I had anticipated. I began with when we first started dating and Jon gave me my iPod for my 20th birthday. By the time we left (around lunch time on Sunday) I was up to the processional of our wedding!! I started with about 430 pictures and got almost ½ of them in my book. I’m really happy with how the pages have been turning out.

Sarah and I had fun driving there and back and hanging out while we were up there. On the way there we discovered that I can’t drive and talk at the same time… I slow way down when I get talking! :) So, on the way home I used my cruise control most of the time and we made better time :).

Saturday afternoon we went shopping at the Gettysburg Outlet stores that are right next door. I just about went crazy with the great prices! Thank goodness Sarah was there to remind me not to spend too much! :)

I had a lot of fun but I was glad to get home and be with Jon on Sunday night. He went snowboarding both nights I was away – his knee is feeling just about normal.

Last night we went to Chili’s with Osborne’s and then came back to our house to discuss Love that Lasts. It was encouraging and fun. Tonight we’re going to the Inn for dinner with our couples group and then we’ll probably come back to our house to talk.

Manda might be coming over Wednesday to hang out with me for a while. That would be great! I hope she can come.

Everything is going pretty normal otherwise at our house. No injuries or sickness for now… :) We’ll hope it stays that way for a while!

Scrapbooking / Snowboarding / Emergency Room

As always I am keeping very busy. In the last week or so I have spent most of my free time getting ready for the scrapbooking retreat I am going on this weekend with Sarah. Tonight I hope to finish organizing and editing all my pictures and then take them to Costco to get developed. Sarah and I decided now, to leave early Friday morning so we’ll have even more scrapbook time. I’m leaving my house right after Jon leaves for school and picking Sarah up to head out to Gettysburg.

This past Saturday Jon and I went snowboarding for the first time this year – it’s been so warm we couldn’t go earlier. We went down the hill once and got back on the lift. There was a skier that I didn’t know sitting next to me and I was afraid I would run into him getting off the lift (I’m not that good at getting off smoothly) so I asked Jon if he could try to hold me up. So we got to the top and off the lift but soon after that both of us fell together. I hit my knee and got a bruise… Jon hit his knee really hard. He said he got really dizzy and thirsty and started blacking out and doesn’t remember much. He stood up for a little and was leaning on me but then collapsed taking me down with him (he doesn’t remember that). I think that’s when the ski patrol guys saw us and came over. They asked all kinds of questions and offered to take Jon down on a sled. Jon didn’t want that so he just sat down for a while and then made it down the hill to the lodge… that was then end of our first snowboarding trip! Not much snowboarding but we were both glad to be together.

Sunday morning Jon’s knee hurt extremely bad when he tried to walk so we stayed home from church. Sunday afternoon we found out Jon's parents had crutches at their house so I went and got them for him. That night we went to my cousins birthday party. Everyone was saying that Jon should get his knee checked out because it could be something serious even though it was starting to feel better.

So Monday morning we went to the emergency room to get an x-ray and a doctors opinion. The x-ray showed that it was just a deep bruise and the doctor said for Jon to continue using crutches for a few days and take it easy.

I was really glad to know that it was nothing serious and Jon was glad because it means that he can go snowboarding this weekend while I’m away – as long as his knee feels fine. Yesterday he started walking without the crutches and today he said it’s feeling really good!

How crazy! We are barely 6 months into our marriage and have already been to the emergency room twice! At least this time we got answers.

Just an FYI… the Passion Fest website that Jon’s been working on is live now: www.passionfest.org. Check it out! Jon did all of the image and animation work on it. They’ll be continual updates as the event gets closer.

Weekend Fun

I survived Jon being away at the men’s retreat! :) Thursday night I kept myself busy grocery shopping, cleaning and doing wash till Manda got there at around 10:00. We talked for about an hour and then went to bed. Friday night, after work, Manda was with me all night. We made dinner at my house and then went out to Starbucks for some coffee and to talk some more. We were able to really catch-up with what’s going on in each others lives, which was great! After Starbucks we went to Blockbuster to pick up Sweet Home Alabama… that’s one of my favorite movies and Manda has never seen it, so we watched that. As always, I cried when Melanie went to visit Bear’s grave in the coon-dog graveyard! :) That part always gets me. Manda had tears in her eyes too…

We talked till late into the night and when we woke up Saturday morning we talked the whole morning until she had to leave. I had a lot of fun and it distracted me from being lonely. Jon got home around 4:00 Saturday. I was so glad to have him back at home! Jon said the conference was really good and very encouraging and challenging. He went over all the messages with me and explained what he learned from each one. That was fun hearing all the things he was taught and it was really exciting to see him learning and growing.

Yesterday we had lunch with Nate and Shawna and then went to my parents house - Nate and Jon were target shooting with pistols. They’re both all into pistols these days so Jon was excited to get to shoot one. We also went over to visit Grandma Bea’s mom – Grammy – who turned 101 yesterday!! It’s amazing how much energy she still has.

Last night we had some people over to watch a new movie called “The Illusionist”. I had never heard of the movie before but it was really good. Nate and Jon installed my under-cabinet CD player in the kitchen. I’m looking forward to trying it out tonight.

My big project right now is getting ready for the scrapbooking retreat I’m going on with Sarah the last weekend of this month. It’s coming up quick and I still have to sort, crop and edit all the pictures I’ll be using and get them printed out. I think I’m going to be working on a 12x12 album of Jon and my love story, including our dating, engagement, showers, wedding and honeymoon. I’m excited to get started on this album.

The scrapbooking retreat, I’m sure, will be tons of fun! It’s in Gettysburg at a hotel which is right across the street from shopping outlets. So when we need a break from scrapbooking, we can go shopping! :) It’s going to be another weekend away from Jon though – I’m not looking forward to that. :(

Life is Slowing Down... For Now

Life has been moving along at a slightly slower pace since New Years. It’s been nice having a few more open nights in the last week or so. This past Saturday Jon and I went out on a shopping spree for a good chunk of the day. We were supposed to be looking for clothes; I came home with quite a few things but Jon didn’t get a single piece of clothing! Haha! The only thing he got was a Nintendo DS Lite, which is a hand-held video game system. He sold his old DS on ebay so he could get the DS Lite, since it is smaller and better quality. He also got a Super Mario Bros game. This game led to something he wasn’t expecting, and neither was I…

I’m not a major video gamer - or whatever you want to call it - however, there is one game that I used to love playing when I was younger…Super Mario Bros! Guess who used Jon’s new DS Lite first? ME! I discovered that I really enjoy playing this new Super Mario game, and it’s a lot easier than the classic version that we have been playing on the Wii. Jon said yesterday “Now I have the perfect wife!”. Of course he was joking around; but in reality, he is really excited that I now enjoy playing video games with him, even if it’s only when he’s playing Mario :).

Jon’s leaving tomorrow afternoon for “The Quest” Men’s retreat in Hershey, PA. He’s driving out with his dad and Dave. I’m really going to miss him! He’ll be gone until Saturday evening which is the longest we’ve been apart since getting married :(. Amanda is coming to stay with me tomorrow and Friday night so I won’t be alone. Tomorrow she’ll be out till later, but Friday we’ll be able to talk and catch up all night! I’m looking forward to that.

New Years Eve 2006!!

Not only was New Years Eve 2006 Jon and my first one together after being married, it was also our first New Years Eve Party in the little cottage we call home :).

Over the course of the night we had about 18 people in and out. A smaller group of our friends came over early to watch the Eagles game and have dinner. Then everyone else started showing up around 7:00. We played video games, card games, watched a movie, talked, and ate TONS of food! I should have taken a picture of it. Our kitchen table had the leaf in and was completely crowded with food + some.

December 31st is also Steve Heebner's birthday so I had secretly baked him a cake (which Jon decorated) and hid it until everyone was there. Then we randomly started signing happy birthday to him as we brought it into the room he was in. He was so surprised! :) 3 minutes before midnight we turned the tv on and watched the ball drop as we counted down. Then at 12:00 am we toasted the new year with sparkling cider and ran outside to lite off a bunch of fireworks in the back yard.

At around 2:00 am I had stayed up as long as I could, I crashed in bed with my noise machine on, and amazingly, didn't hear a bit of the noise that was right outside my door. People slowly headed home but a bunch of the guys stayed. At around six in the morning they found spots all around the house to sleep and stayed the "night" and into the morning. Everyone was awake and gone by noon on new years day.

For the rest of the day on New Years Jon and I cleaned up the house (which wasn't too bad) and took down our Christmas tree and all our other decorations inside. That night we went over to my parents house for dinner with my family, Nate and Shawna and the Clemmers.

Tuesday I took off work to stay home and finish getting my house in order and run some errands. I got so spoiled between Christmas Weekend and New Years Weekend! I only worked 3 days in between the two long weekends. Needless to say, this past Wednesday, I DID NOT want to get up and go to work again! :) haha... but I did. It makes me hope for the day when Jon's done school and gets a Job and I can start working part-time or none at all. I was so relaxed and not stressed out and I got to see Jon way more than normal.

Now that December is over Jon's back to working only 2 nights a week, last night and tonight. Last night Sarah came over to scrapbook and tonight I went grocery shopping, made brownies and have been blogging ever since.

I think it's about time I get up and start getting some stuff done. Jon should be home anytime!

Our First Christmas

Christmas Eve and Christmas were two very busy days for Jon and I, Christmas Eve we had church in the morning, which ended fairly early. Then we went straight to Nana & Pop-pop’s for the big gathering of my Dad’s side of my family - my favorite part is Nana’s homemade Chicken Pot-Pie! :) After that celebration, we headed back to church for the Christmas Eve Service. From there we went over to Jon’s parents for dinner and to open our stocking stuffers from them. It was a late night but it was fun. Here's a picture of us at Nana's (click to enlarge):

Christmas morning we slept in until around 8:00. I had made Cinnamon Buns ahead of time for breakfast and prepared coffee to brew first thing in the morning, but we aren’t big breakfast eaters, so neither of us was even hungry for the cinnamon buns. But we did drink our coffee while we read the Christmas Story recorded in the book of Luke. Then we poured ourselves some egg nog and set out some white chocolate covered Oreo’s and began our gift exchange. First we opened our stocking stuffers from each other and then our bigger gifts that were under the tree. Jon had been warning me for days that I wasn’t getting much for Christmas because my biggest gift was really expensive - he said it wasn’t something from my list; So I was really curious to find out what it was. Of course, Jon made me wait till last to open it, so I’ll wait till last to tell about it :). I got a big tub of gum balls (my favorite candy), some Creative Memories things, a cute pink cell phone holder, and a bunch of fun stocking stuffers. Jon got the new Ipod Shuffle, 2 video games, a wallet, a video game strategy guide and a bunch of stocking stuffers. I ALSO got a remote starter for my car, which was fully installed and functioning on Christmas morning!! That was my big gift, in case you’re wondering. I have no idea how Jon thought of the idea because I didn’t even realize I wanted one until a few days before Christmas, when I heard that someone else was getting one. I was so excited! He was really sneaky and got me to leave my car home two different days – one time I thought he was going snowboarding and the other time, he went out to start my car in the morning and said it wouldn’t start – while I was at work those two days he had the remote starter installed in my car! Isn’t he great?! :) I’ve been enjoying never getting into a cold car ever since Christmas. Below is a picture of one of Jon's gifts to me. He bought this really cute paper that wasn't actually wrapping paper, but he liked what it said, so he wrapped one of my gifts in it, I thought it was adorable!

After Jon and I opened our gifts from each other Christmas Morning we went over to Jon’s parents to spend some time with them and open our gifts from them. We couldn’t stay long though because by 12:30 we had to be at Grandma Bea and Pop-pop’s for my mom’s side of the family gathering. There we ate a yummy lunch and opened more gifts! Right from there we went over to my parents house to spend time with just my immediate family and open our gifts from my parents. Once again, we couldn’t stay long… we were back to Jon’s parents by around 5 or 5:30 to have a light dinner and then go over to the Inn for hide and seek, which has been a tradition for years. Christmas Day is the only day of the year that the William Penn Inn is closed; and Christmas night we go over with a bunch of our friends and play hide & seek all over the restaurant. We’re allowed to eat anything we find too! This year I was sort of a bum, I only played the game for a few rounds and the rest of the night I sat and talked with the moms. I was really tired. Jon had a great time though, especially when his team found a hiding spot that no one discovered for most of the night :).

So, that was our Christmas! I’m sure I missed plenty of things but I got the gist of it. I thought everything went really well for it being our first Christmas “on-our-own”.

Since we didn’t have that much time to ourselves during the actual holidays, Jon and I got steaks and had a nice candle-lit dinner Tuesday night. That was fun! Jon made the steaks and I made corn bread, noodles, beans and a baked potato for Jon. After dinner we just relaxed the rest of the night. It was great spending time together and not feeling rushed or stressed. Here's a picture of the table all set:

I'm so far behind in my blogging! I'll be writing about our first NEW YEARS in a little while!

Oh, and here are those long awaited picture of the outside of our house decorated with lights: