Happy Valentines Day!!

Now that we're caught up on recent times, i can brag a little about how wonderful my valentine's day was yesterday :) I had work and practice, so Kyle had said he would make dinner, and we'd just do something low-key at home since I wouldn't be home till later. Boy, was that an understatement! He outdid himself this time. I got home to a candle-lit apartment and roses on the table :)  

Kyle even allowed me time to shower and get comfortable before dinner. Dinner was probably the best I've had in a long, long time...and Kyle made it all himself, so I felt the need to document it ;)


Our first course was shrimp in a garlic-butter sauce, which was delicious!

The second course was a spinach salad, with some kind of sweet oranges, cheese and a red wine vinagarette dressing. Really, really good! :)

Our third, and main, course was an absolutely perfect filet mignon. We had potatoes and a red wine sauce to go with the steak. I was (and am) still so impressed with Kyle and his culinary skills!

And our last, but definitely least course, was dessert...dark chocolate fondue with strawberries, banana's and cheesecake to dip in! And notice the absolutely adorable way he placed the cheesecake and fruit in a heart shape?? :)

And if that wasn't enough, he got me a gift certificate for a massage! What an absolutely sweetheart! And he did all of the dishes! ALL OF THEM! I continue to thank God for how richly he has blessed me with such a sweet, kind, caring, considerate, romantic, wonderful husband!!

Long overdue...

It has been wayyyyy too long since I've last posted! I really need to get better at this. Anyway, lots has happened since my last post...Katelyn and Alex got engaged! Woohoo! So excited for their big day, coming up in November. Christmas and New Years has come and gone, although I loved having our apartment decorated for Christmas...and even more, I love going to Disney to see the Christmas lights. It really is a magical place that time of the year!

After the holidays we headed back to work and club volleyball began. i have a great group of sweet-hearted girls, and enjoy getting to spend time coaching them. Kyle has been on the hunt at Disney for potential job opportunities, and just a few weeks ago was put into a manager's pool, which was very exciting! Now he just waits to find out where he will be placed, once they need him. 

Life has fallen back into our everyday routine, and I thank God everday for blessing us with each other, our wonderful families and friends, our health and our jobs. We truly are so blessed!

To the Mountains we go!

It has been hard to contain our excitement, but tomorrow is finally the day (or night I should say). Tomorrow night at 3 in the morning (technically Saturday morning) we are headed to the creek house, and we are all just a little excited :) We have been talking about this trip for months, and now that it is finally here, we are all just ready to go! Last year, we went up after Christmas, and for new years, and it was just a little bit chilly...so hopefully this trip will be more comfortable! I am so excited for fall weather, and to meet my cousin's little baby boy Noah!


I'll post more once we get back, but here are a few pictures from our trip last year...

More to follow once we return. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our First Home!!

This has taken me entirely too long to post, but here it finally is! After 7 months in our new home, you can see if for yourself, haha. These are just a few pictures to show what it's like. This first picture is what you see when you walk through the front door...our dining room, with kitchen straight ahead and living rooms up to the right. 

This is just another angle of the dining room, with the front door on the left. I love the table and china cabinets that Mrs. Dawes gave to us, and I love that map on the wall of St. Lucia that we got there on our honeymoon. 

Here you have our kitchen, which, quite frankly, Kyle uses more than I do. But, now that volleyball is done I plan to change that! (Although everything Kyle makes is very good!)

These next two pics are of the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Dawes helped us paint it blue right before the wedding. We're still adding touches here and there to make it our "home".

The hallway leads to our bedroom and bathroom, as well as the laundry room. I'm making this sound bigger than it is...the laundry room is in the same hallway as the bathroom. That's better :) I do love the little table that Kyle painted black though, good job hun! And just a quick shot of our bedroom, because it's not finished yet either :)

Last but not least...the bathroom :) 

Well, there you have it! Our first home :) We love it, and have made it truly our "home". 

St. Lucia, here we come!

We're married!! We left the reception and headed to the airport where we stayed the night at the Hyatt before rising bright and early to catch a very, very early flight. Some of our wonderful bridesmaids and groomsmen even ran by the hotel to bring the ipod that we forgot and pick up our tux and dress :) 

Once we landed in St. Lucia, we had an hour ride up to our resort, at the top of the island. The resort was beautiful. We had a perfect view from our room. 

Our room was up on the "bluff", which was the perfect location. We were right across the street from one of the smaller, quieter pools, as well as a restaurant that had breakfast, lunch and dinner. We were just a short walk up the hill from the main lobby and pool, which translates to "we got our exercise everyday" :) 

Our first night there, we got dinner at a pub, right off the lobby. Let me just say, we did not let the "all inclusive" part of the honeymoon go to waste! If there was an appetizer and dessert offered with our lunch or dinner, you can bet we got it ;)

Day 1: We had breakfast in the main restaurant, where we enjoyed a variety of breakfast foods. While we were enjoying our breakfast, one of the "event coach's" asked if he could join us. I forget his name, but he had a great sense of humor and loved his job. During our breakfast, he convinced Kyle and I that we needed to be a part of the "carnival" that afternoon, so we told him we'd check it out. 

After breakfast we walked out to the pool to lounge and enjoy the sun. We played a "fishing" game, and although we lost, still had a good time playing :)

While relaxing at the pool, Kyle went up to the lobby to sign us up for a few adventures during the next few days, as well as getting us reservations for dinner later that week. At around one o'clock, we headed over to the tennis courts to see what this "carnival" was all about. Let's just say, we should have stayed at the pool, because we ended up walking  around the resort looking like this...

After the carnival, we were hot and tired, so we headed up to the pool across from our room to cool off and relax. 

Some of the restaurants at the resort require reservations for dinner, while others don't. We decided to try one of the restaurants that didn't, and figured if we couldn't get a seat, we could wait for the night carnival at the beach to eat. But we were able to get a seat at The Pitons restaurant, and had a wonderful dinner. The Pitons are the two mountains St. Lucia is known for. 

After dinner we walked down the beach to check out the night carnival. There was a great steel drum band, and of course, more food! After dessert (of course) we headed back to our room to call it a night and great ready for a busy next day...


Day 2: After another wonderful breakfast, we headed up to the lobby to catch our bus that would take us to the zip-lines. We had an awesome tour guide, Greg, who pointed out all the St. Lucian sights and products. We stopped along the way to see a spot where part of "Pirates of the Caribbean" was filmed. 


When we arrived at the zip lines we were informed that we needed to wear shower caps under our helmets, or we could purchase bandanas...so bandanas it was :)  


Despite the rain, we had an awesome time zipping from tree to tree, taking pictures and videos, just enjoying the beautiful nature all around us.  

When the zip lines were done, we made our way back to the resort. Our tour guide, Greg, entertained us with St. Lucian history, along with letting us sample some of the island's natural treats...

We even got to stop and take a few pictures of the beautiful sights...

When we got back to the resort, we quickly showered and headed over to one of the other resorts for dinner at The Pier. The wait was over an hour, so we decided to take a walk into town and check out a local shopping center recommended by Greg. We must have got there too late, because most of the shops were closed, but we had a fun walk :) Dinner was wonderful, and it was cool getting to see one of the other resorts. 

Once back at our resort, it was off to bed again to get ready for another busy day to follow...


Day 3: Another great breakfast done and over, we headed back to the lobby to catch our bus that would take us to the marina for our "Sea and Land tour". We boarded the catamaran and tried to find a dry spot to sit for our voyage down the coast of St. Lucia. 

As we left the marina in Castries, we saw numerous cruise ships docked. In the next picture, if you look over the girl that's standing up head, you'll see our room...it's the orange building just to the left of her head. (I guess it's kinda hard to see, but you get the idea :))

Our boat docked in the town of Soufriere, where we were getting off to walk through the volcano, see the botanical gardens and eat an authentic St. Lucian lunch at a local restaurant. 

At the restaurant, there was a gift shop with an adorable little boy named "Kyle" standing outside, counting the number of customers that went in and out.

Back aboard the boat, we headed up the coast to do some snorkeling. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of us in our snorkeling gear, but we did get a few after :)

That evening, we had a reservation at Kimono's, a Japenese Hibachi steakhouse. It was a very fun dinner, starting with the "woo-woo", ending with our hilarious "black-enese" chef :)

Day 4: Our last full day was a day full of relaxing and enjoying our resort. We started with an awesome breakfast in bed...

Followed by time lounging at the pool (I think I could do this everyday :)) Then dinner reservations at my favorite restaurant, La Toc. It was an absolutely delicious French restaurant!

After dinner, we headed down to the lobby for a fun casino night, although our play money didn't last very long :) Back at our room, we had a fun surprise waiting on our bed...

We couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon. it was wonderful getting to spend our time together doing all of these fun things. We were looking forward to coming back as a newly married couple, but definitely a little sad to be leaving.