What We've Been Up To...May

**May**

May is one of my favorite months! It's my birth month, marks the end of the school year (Yay!), Derby, and nice weather! :)

1.  Derby-We had a mini derby party at Kara and Justin's with lots of food and drinks! :)

2.  Mother's Day cookout at my parent's house! Matt and I picked up meat, vegetables and cheesecake from Sam's and took it out to my parent's house.  I love celebrating this day with two of the best mothers I know! 

3.  Weekend in Nashville-The weekend before my birthday we were in Nashville for a weekend getaway with Matt's sales team.  It was so fun and so nice because everything was planned and paid for! We went on the General Jackson show boat, stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and had a wonderful steak dinner at Old Hickory Steakhouse.

4.  My 27th Birthday!

Cheesecake Factory! Yum!

I don't like regular cake so my sweet hubby and family got me all my favorite desserts! :)  I'm glad Matt was able to help me eat them! :)

5.  Taking Grayson to the Newport Aquarium (I was able to go twice in May because we took the third graders on a field trip there the beginning of May.  I loved it both times! :)  ) and the Louisville Zoo!

When I went to the Aquarium with school a colleague and I did the penguin encounter and it was so fun to get close to and pet the penguins! They were so cute!

 

"The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched-they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller

What We've Been Up To...April

**April**

April was such a great month for so many reasons!

1.  Lily's 3rd Birthday was on April 5th! 

2.  April 7th-14th we traveled to the West Coast during my Spring Break.  This was my first trip to both Las Vegas and California! Two places we will definitely visit again!  Here are some highlights from our trip!

*Vegas*

1.Serendipity 3 Frozen Hot Chocolate

2.  Seeing Penn and Teller at the Rio

3.  The Sugar Factory

4.  Voodoo Rooftop  Night Club

5.  The Ice Bar at Mandalay Bay

*San Diego*

1. The sea lions and dinner during the sunset at La Jolla Cove

2. Sea World-We loved the Whale and Sea Lion Shows!

3. Coronado Beach-Seeing The Del Hotel

4. Visiting the vineyards in Temecula

5. Visiting the Gas Lamp District downtown and meeting up with a friend from college

Thank you for hosting us Aunt Marilyn!! It was so good to see you and Jenna!!

3. Keeping Grayson all night while Kara and Justin were in Mexico! Matt and I stayed at their house so Grayson could sleep in his own bed and he slept all night without a peep (he hadn't been sleeping well at my mom and dad's and they were both battling the stomach flu :( so we decided to take him to his own crib)! Getting myself and him ready the next morning and both of us to school was a little more chaotic then I thought it'd be! :) Matt is his best buddy!

4. My school's talent show was the end of April and it was so much fun! Matt, Mom, Dad, Kara, Justin and Grayson were able to come and watch me MC. :)

5. We finally got to use Matt's birthday reservations at St. Elmo Steakhouse at the end of April! We had a fun day of outlet shopping and eating! :)

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." -Annie Dillard

Trust in the Lord!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5 NLT

Shortly after Matt and I got engaged and he moved to Jeffersonville, we started visiting churches.  We went to Southeast Christian several times with my sister and her husband in Louisville and visited the Southeast branch here in Jeffersonville.  We also began visiting Eastside Christian which is only about 4 minutes from where we live now.  There was just something about this church that we both liked.  We felt welcome, really enjoyed the music and the sermons really touched us.  We continued to visit for almost a year and always left loving the worship time we shared there and on March 11th we became members through baptism!! I had been baptized through immersion as a teenager in the Baptist church my parents still attend.  Matt was baptized as a baby but never immersed.  After attending an information session offered at the church we decided to both be rebaptized and become members of the Eastside Christian Church congregation. My mom, dad, Kara, Justin and Grayson were able to come watch this special moment! We are so happy we found a wonderful place to worship! Thank you Lord for bringing this special home into our marriage! :)

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself  because it is not there.  There is no such thing." -C.S. Lewis

What We've Been Up To...January/February/March

1.  Celebrating our six month anniversary (Now that we are less than a month away from our year, it seems like the 6 month was so long ago)!!! Matt and I went to Jack Fry's on Bardstown Rd. in Louisville and had a wonderful dinner! :) We love trying out new restaurants!

Our Family on our 6 Month Anniversary!

2. Dutchess turned 5!! We aren't sure of her exact birthday because Matt adopted her from a kennel and they weren't sure of the exact date so we celebrate it on February 9th!

3.  First Valentine's Day as a married couple! I'm so mad I didn't take any pictures this night! When I came home from school on that Tuesday night Matt had dinner, wine and beautiful roses waiting for me! Soooo Sweet! He had the week of Valentine's off for vacation so I took a personal day that Friday the 17th and we planned a day of fun! I had a pedicure, we went to lunch, went to see a movie and then went to Hollywood Casino! Matt loves the crab leg buffett there, lol! Of course Lily and Dutchess got Valentine's Day cookies too! :)

4.  Watching UK play in the first two rounds of the NCAA! Matt's sales team won tickets to the NCAA tournament at the Yum Center for a sales competition! We were able to watch the first and second round games and I was soooo happy UK was one of the teams playing!! Although Matt wasn't that excited I was super stoked we were able to watch them in the NCAA tournament during a year they won!!!

(For some reason Kara kept putting him in the wrong color! :) )

5.  Matt's 27th Birthday!! I'm so mad I don't have any pictures from this day either!! Matt's birthday was on a Friday so I took him to one of his favorite places in Louisville, Holy Grale (It's a neat little pub and restaurant that's in an old church); made him a yellow cake with half chocolate, half white icing (his request :) ); and made reservations to take him to one of his favorite steak houses in Indianapolis; St. Elmo! We like St. Elmo more than Ruth's Chris and Jeff Ruby's! It's amazing! We also went to see 21 Jumpstreet the night of his birthday (It was hilarious)!  The next day we went to Cincinnati to celebrate with Matt's mom and sister at an Italian restaurant! (We LOVE to eat! ) Then on Sunday we celebrated with my family at Lynn's Paradise Cafe!

"You are a precious treasure from God.  Be thankful for everything He has given you!"