One Year Down

First of all, I will apologize to blogger for the disappearance and completely neglecting my blog for the past eight months or so. Let's see.... where do I even start? So much has happened this year. I seriously need to start posting more often again so that I am not forced to sum up an excessive amount of time and events into a single post. Sorry, friends! I guess I will just throw in some of the highlights from this year thus far. I can now check "Go ziplining" off of my bucket list.

Jason and I went with my dad to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee back in March for five days, so we all three got to do a zipline tour. Of course, it was a blast! We also went to Dollywood (my first time there)for a day and did a bit of site-seeing around the Gatlinburg area. I love the Great Smoky Mountains. My dad ended up investing in a time share, so we look forward to many vacations in the future! The one he bought is in Orlando, but he can use points to trade so we can go other places as well.

Jason and I also got another chance to go skiing this year with our friends Kory & Megan. Megan's family owns a cabin close to Snow Shoe, so we got to ski there this time. I ended up with a pretty nice bruise on my shin, but we survived with no broken bones and a whole lot of fun. I also had my TEN YEAR HIGH SCHOOL CLASS REUNION this summer. Holy Moly.... where does the time go?!?! I can hardly believe I have been out of high school for ten whole years. Time has really flown. I think back to ME then and who I wanted to be, and I have to say that I am beyond pleased with where I am today and the paths I have traveled. I have done a hell of a lot in the past ten years, and I look forward to what is yet to come. Not many people showed up at the reunion which was disappointing, but I did get to see several of my very best friends from high school and reminisce about the old days.

We have done a lot to our house since I have lived here, and I think we are both pleased with the progress. We did some landscaping at the beginning of the summer and planted some pretty flowers in our yard. We recycled the wine barrels I brought back from California to use at our wedding. They are now planters. We finished the other half of our downstairs (which was basically storage until now) except for the laundry room. We painted it a mustard seed yellow and decorated with a vintage car/garage theme. It actually turned out to look very cool. We still have to get a few small pieces of furniture and a street rug that I'm wanting, but other than that (and laundry room), it's finished. We are currently working on refinishing a bar to put downstairs as well. Jason is doing all the work on it himself. He started it before having surgery on his shoulder (he had a cyst removed), and the weather has been crappy... we've had booked up weekends, etc... so he hasn't been able to work on it much. We will eventually get that finished.

I gained a sister-in-law last month. Scott and Whitney got married on July 28th at the University of Charleston. The wedding was beautiful, and we had a lot of fun. At the end of the reception, there happened to be a pretty sweet fireworks show across the river at the capital. It was a surprise ending to a great day for them. I guess the rest of the year has been filled up with work and play. I got to go to a couple of concerts including Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker as well as Jimmy Buffett.

I missed my family reunion this year because it was the same weekend as Scott and Whitney's wedding. However, I did run into a couple of my cousins at the Buffett tailgate, so I thought that was pretty awesome. We had a great time, and I look forward to going back next year if possible. People there are wild and totally hard core... that's for sure! Along with all my crazy, fun friends comes crazy, fun parties. Here are a few of the themed parties over the past several months: Robbie's Murder Mystery birthday party was in February. Everyone was given a character ahead of time, so they had to dress and play the part accordingly. Each character was unique and funny in some way. It was definitely a good time!

Brandy's St. Patrick's Day party was in March. This was the first one I've been able to make it to.

Audra's country western hoe-down birthday party was in April. This was probably the only time I will have ever seen Jason wearing cowboy boots and a hat! :) He makes one sexy cowboy, I must say!

My white trash birthday party was also in April. I'm tellin' ya.... our friends go ALL OUT for parties like these. Great fun was had by all! We had a spitting contest, belching contest, kiddy pool coolers, trash in the yard, Christmas lights on display, and a whole spread of spam, pork-n-beans, & easy cheese laid out on the ironing board! ;) Oh what fun!

Our neighborhood had a fiesta themed block party in June. It was nice to finally get to know a lot more of our neighbors. Our families came over for the event, and we all had a good time.

Speaking of family... Jason went to Indianapolis for a safety conference in June, so I invited the girls in my family over to my house for a sleepover. My niece, Kyra, was in town from NC, so she was able to come.

My sisters Jenn and Mary Ann were here along with Mary's girls Michele and Leann. My bestie Kayla came and brought her daughter Delaney for a bit as well. We ate junk food, played games, got in the hot tub, rented movies (which we ended up not watching), and finally all spent time together for the first time since childhood. What a blessing. We spent the 4th of July at Pat and Emily's house this year and were able to watch the Barboursville fireworks from their back yard. We went to Brandy's annual 4th of July party a few days before.

Other highlights: I shot a gun (HUGE deal for me and my uber fear of guns)!

I discovered that I now have a brick with my (maiden) name on it outside of the Marshall University football stadium. I got it for cheering four years in college. Yay, GO HERD! :)

And, NOW we are into August. Next week is our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary. I'm telling ya, this has been such an incredible year for me. I have grown to love my husband more and more as time goes on. We have so much fun together and truly understand each other. I can 100% be myself which I don't think I ever was before. Jason makes me feel safe and adored. He gets me when nobody else does. My overall positive attitude in life has improved since meeting him, and not a day goes by that I am not appreciative of all the love and attention he gives me. A year after marriage,

Jason still writes sweet notes on post-its and leaves them on the bathroom mirror for me to find when I wake up in the mornings. He still fills my kitchen vase with fresh flowers to make me smile. He opens my car door for me EVERY SINGLE TIME I get in. He laughs at my corny jokes when they aren't even funny. He doesn't judge my hair twirling habit or the fact that I'm 28 and still have a blanky. He doesn't pout when I show our dog more attention than him. He tolerates my shameful repertoire of television shows I sometimes make him watch with me. He cheers me up and calms me down when I need it. He helps me with cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping and doesn't judge me when I want to be lazy. Jason and I have grown and learned a lot this year. We have had WAY MORE ups than downs in our first year of marriage. If we go by the theory that the first year is the most difficult, then I'm pretty darn sure we have many great years ahead of us. LOVE conquers ALL! I'm looking forward to next weekend. Since Jason starts class back on our anniversary (it's a Monday), and I have to work... we are celebrating on Saturday. I have some super secret but awesome surprises for him. He's in for quite the treat! Can't wait! Cheers to happy endings! :)