Christmas in Missouri

Neil and I had so much fun decorating our house for Christmas for the first time. When he brought in the tree I had visions of "The Grinch".

Here is our best Grinch impressions:

I made mine and Neil's stockings

A holiday basket

Our Holiday Hearth

My Christmas wreath that Matt got me from Starbucks!

Welcome to our home!

Merry Christmas 2009

We want to wish all our friends & family a very Merry Christmas! This is our Christmas card for 2009. You'll notice that the zillion little snapshots (slight exageration) attempt to tell the story of our year together in clockwise order from the purchase of our new home at the start of the year all the way to Christmas decorating! Below are a series of links that will take you to blog entries that tell the stories behind the pictures:

Picture 1: We bought our new house at the very, very end of '08 and spent all of January moving in :) No links for this one because the blog had yet to begin!

Picture 2: A little St. Patrick's Day cheer as we got ready to celebrate Julie's birthday.

Picture 3: I got this one out of order! It didn't happen until the summer. Nonetheless, we took a trip to St. Louis and got to hang out with Kenny & Karen.

Pictures 4 & 5: We took a trip to Angel Fire, NM with friends from our "Barbarian" transformation group. Neil's parents also met us there.

Picture 6: We got to spend some great time with the Phillips for the 4th of July.

Picture 7: Neil got to sing with his Dad at one of our church's Gospel Homecoming.

Picture 8: We met Mimi & Papa in Little Rock and had a great visit! No blog entry here...how did we miss that?!?!

Picture 9: Baby Griffin has arrived!!!

Picture 10: We celebrated our 1st Anniversary by heading to Branson for some big-time Ozarkian fun :) (this blog is continued in a second entry)

Picture 11: Neil got to speak at Camp Sharon's Middle School summer camp. He & Jon baptized about 8 students in the Lake of the Ozarks! No blog entry here, either...it was a VERY busy summer ;)

Picture 12: Marty came for a visit! We were so glad to spend some fun times with him.

Picture 13: Paul, Freda, and Lori all came to see our new house and to hang out with us for the weekend.

Picture 14: Thanks to Mimi & Papa we got to spend our vacation on the beautiful white beaches of Florida. We also got to spend some way-too-rare quality time with our cousin, Krystin! (this blog is also continued in a follow-up entry)

Picture 15: Mimi & Papa told us that we should check out the Blue Angels since they practice just a few minutes away from the condo. It was awesome!

Picture 16: We went to Estes Park, CO to lead worship for a youth retreat there. Added Bonus: Getting to spend time with college friends who live so far away now.

Picture 17: We really had fun "Decking the Halls" of our house for the first time. While Julie has blogged about our Fall Decor, the Christmas Decor blog is still "Coming Soon" :)

Note from Neil: I just want to thank my wonderful wife for her work on this blog. It is a blessing to me and I know it's a blessing to many of you, too! I did not reference the blog when I first put together our "Christmas Card" and I just tried to pick some pictures that described our year. I am so impressed to look back and find that there is a blog for just about everything that's happened to us over the past year. Thank you, Julie Ann, for being the historian of our adventures! All the memories with you are my favorite part of 2009 and I can't wait to spend another wonderful year with the love of my life ;)

Fall-ification

Well, since we just decorated for Christmas, I guess I should go ahead and post my fall decor pics! haha!

When Neil and I got married we decided that we should only buy decorations for the 4 different seasons instead of each individual holiday. That way you have a few items that can easily be switched out for the seasons, and you aren't using a lot of space storing items you only put out for one month of the year! I thoroughly agreed with this logic when we decided on it, but now that we have had a full year of marriage (and we have a house to decorate) I want to put out things for every event! It just doesn't feel right to have Easter with out colored eggs... and the 4th of July just can't be fully honored with out red white and blue paraded through out the house! I'm not sure at what point I became decoration obsessed. Growing up we really only decorated for Easter and Christmas... and we put the flag up for the 4th!

My sister Karen had a really good idea, to make a chalk board sign for outside the house and write a different greeting on it for each holiday or event! I really want to try to do that too, maybe even make one for inside the house! She is brilliant! If I had one right now it would say "Happy Harvest!" If I do make one, I'll let you know!

This year I set about trying to Fall-ify our house - while spending little to no money. It looks like I spent $1.56 :) unless you count the little pumpkin on my front porch that was deceptively priced at $0.78 but turned out to be $0.78 a pound! It cost me like $4! I'm still a little bitter....

We got the Joy sign from Neil's Aunt Vicki for Christmas last year, and Neil's mom gave us this sweet little pumpkin and baby corns. I picked up the little pumpkins at walmart because I thought the orange one needed a friend.

I tied fall leaves (another gift from Neil's mom) on my pillar candles, this was inspired by one of the blogs I follow - here

This isn't necessarily autumn-ish, but I put these candles up on the entertainment center.

I bought them for the church (we did a Fireproof series, so I needed some more candles!) but I think I will just not turn in my receipt and keep them now that we are done with them at the church. I like the soft glow they put off. I guess that brings my fall budget up to $4.56 (they were $.50 at walmart). But really, they aren't just a fall item. So I am taking them back off my budget *wink*

Last but not least, when we went to the Rutledge Wilson Farm Fall Festival when Marty was here, he bought me this Fairy Tale Pumpkin! I think it is so beautiful that I had to put it on my back porch so that I can see it every time I go in the living room, instead of on the front porch where I never look *grin*

I really enjoyed this fall decor and I am just as excited about the Christmas decorations! I'll post about them soon :)

Rocky Mountain High

This weekend, Neil and I headed west because he was asked to lead worship for the Colorado State Youth retreat.   

One of Neil's best friends from college, Justin Brown, was the director this year, and Neil's other friend (and Justin's brother-in-law) Tim Jones was the speaker!  So it was like a mini reunion.  We headed out Thursday after work and drove to Kansas City.  We had booked the hotel there months in advance for a king size room.  Well when we arrived they were completely booked and only had double beds left.  This may not sound like much of an issue for us normal people, but when you are 6'4", a double bed hits you and midway down the shin.  So the hotel said they would send us a voucher for a free stay!  Score!  So, we spent the night there and flew out the next morning to Denver.  

The retreat was being held at the YMCA of the Rockies at Estes Park.  It has just snowed the week before, so all the mountains and grassy areas had a beautiful dusting of white.  The campus was really nice and rustic and when we drove up there were several elk there to greet

 us!

We had a really great weekend and we got to interact with a lot of the kids.  Neil even joined in on the talent show when he, Justin and Tim had an impromptu Kaleo concert!

(I'll try to post a video of it here when I can get it from Justin)

I thought they did great, considering they haven't sang together in 6+ years, they didn't have the lyrics and the hadn't even practiced!  

On Sunday we headed home.  Justin and Sara took us back to their house for a few hours before our plane left, then we borrowed their car and headed to the airport.  We ended up leaving their home at 5, it took an hour to drive to the airport and our plane was taking off at 7.  So we were cutting it a little close, but it was fine.  Then we remembered we had to stop and get gas.  So we did that then drove and drove.  We were gaining time, slowly, and found the airport, then started looking for the economy lot where we were so posed to park the car for Justin to pick up.  Well we took a couple wrong turns (their directional signs were terrible!) and by the time we found the lot, we were way to late to park, wait for the shuttle and get to the airport.  So we had to park in a closer more expensive lot!  (sorry Justin!  We left you some money in the console!)  So at 6:20, we flew out of the car, and ran like mad people towards the terminal.  I was carrying Neil's big guitar, and Neil had his huge backpack, my rolling bag, and his big duffel bag.  Let me tell you, that would that have been hard in Missouri (an elevation of 1, 299"), let alone in Denver (at 5,318")!  

We could hardly breathe!  So we rocketed into the airport, headed for the checkin and waited and waited in line.  We finally got to the counter and an alarm went off!  The man said that since we were checking our bag less than 45 min before our flight, they were not guaranteed to make it on that fight.  great.  

We flashed through security (not literally flashing them, more like The Flash) and made it to the gate before they even began boarding! sweet!  Then we found out we were the very last people to board the plane.  not sweet.  I found a spot on the front row believe it or not.  Second to last person on the plane and I got to sit "first class" (if there were a first class section on this plane which there wasn't).  Neil had to cram into the back, poor guy.  

When we got off the plane we found two of our bags, but not the duffel.  So we waited for the next flight that was coming at 10:25.  We finally left the airport sometime after 11 to start our 3 hour trip home and finally get some dinner.  

I was dreading getting home so late and having to go to work the next morning.  Neil was so sweet, he told me to sleep on the way home.  Then when we got home, I was really dreading having to wake back up and unload all the luggage.  Neil said, just go on and get right in bed, I'll take care of all this!  He is so wonderful!

Blue Angels

On our last day in Florida, we woke up early and went to watch the Blue Angels practice.  Since it was our last day, I felt a little torn about wanting to spend more time on our deserted beach, and wanting to go see this local attraction.  

When we got to the airfield in Pensacola, there were lots of planes everywhere.  It is also the location of the National Naval Aviation Museum.  

We settled into a small set of metal bleachers and I thought, oh boy, hope this was worth the drive, and the waking up early, and the missing out on our last morning on the beach... I wonder how many shells I am missing out on...

A volunteer who appeared to be a retired Naval pilot began talking to the crowd about the planes, answering questions and giving general information, and then he said, ok, they are about to take off.  We looked down the runway and sure enough two bright blue planes were slowly taxiing along.  Without warning they lifted off and swooped past us.  I couldn't believe how little space they needed to get up to flight speed.  The other 4 planes quickly took off as well, and they immediately began flying in tandem and doing daring stunts. (The military refers to them as maneuvers.  In fact, our announcer probably wouldn't like it if he knew I called them stunts!)

I was shocked at how close together they flew (18" from wing tip to cockpit at one point) but also at how close they were to us!  I guess I was expecting a farther away more visual experience, but this show vibrated my entire being!  When the planes flew by in one of their first formations, it took my breath away!  This sounds silly, but I thought I was going to cry!  My eyes welled up and it was just an overwhelming experience.  I felt brimming with pride, pride for our country, and the great men and women we have in our military.  Pride in the human race for being able to develop such incredible technology.

Blue Angels Info

During the show, the fastest speed is about 700 mph (just under Mach 1; Sneak Pass) and the slowest speed is about 120 mph (indicated speed; Section High Alpha), both flown by the solo pilots during the show. However, the plane can reach speeds just under Mach 2, almost twice the speed of sound or about 1,400 mph. 

The highest maneuver is the vertical rolls performed by the Opposing Solo (up to 15,000 feet) and the lowest is the Sneak Pass (50 feet) performed by the Lead Solo.

Here are some of the "maneuvers" we saw that day.

This is two planes flying side by side.  One is right side up, the other upside down.  (Isn't Neil an awesome photographer?)

After the show was over, they had a jet open for people to take pictures in!  I thought it was the coolest thing ever!  Neil was not as enthused, but he agreed to take my picture!  

Needless to say, it was well worth the drive, and the waking up early, and I don't think that I even missed out on any good shells ;)

Florida Part 2

One of the wonderful parts about this trip was getting to spend so much time with family.  On the way down to Florida, we stopped and stayed the night in Jackson, Mississippi with Neil's Aunt Lora and Uncle Tim.  We didn't get to spend nearly enough time with our wonderful cousins before we had to head out.  

We picked up Neil's cousin Krystin in Hattiesburg and brought her down to Florida where we met up with Mimi and Papa.  Mimi met us at the door with fresh baked cookies and we immediately felt right at home.  We loved the laid back pace of beach life.  Go to the beach when you want, hunt for shells, good eating, shopping for the girls and football for the boys.  Not to mention a few mean games of dominoes and Rook!  

We were spoiled rotten that entire trip!  Not only had Mimi and Papa paid for our plush lodging, they also cooked our meals, took us out to eat and on 

shopping excursions.  Neil even got to go scuba diving!  *Wink*

Mimi and Papa and Krystin headed back Sunday afternoon, and neil and I stayed through Tuesday.  As I mentioned before, we were basically all alone.  

Since this is considered the off season, there were hardly any people around.  It felt a little like "Jurassic park", when the scientists are asked to come check out the park and give their endorsements.  It kept reminding me of the movie, because there was no one else there, not because of the threat of being eaten.... 

Anyway, we loved just being on the beach, listening to the waves and taking long walks along the shore.  

Neil enjoyed reading his book and I LOVED looking for sea shells, particularly mother of pearl shells which seemed to be plentiful this time of year.

It was so incredible to be so isolated in this beautiful area.  I would HIGHLY recommend going to Florida in October, and I hope that we can do it again.

Perdido Key

Last week, Neil and I were able to take a trip to Perdido Key, Florida.  His wonderful Grandparents had rented a condo at The Eden for the entire month of October, and so generously offered for us to come down and spend some time on the beach!  It was such a wonderful, relaxing and rejuvenating trip for us.  Perdido means Lost in Spanish, and it really did feel like a hidden resort.  Since this is Florida's off season, we were about the only people at the place!  The condo we stayed in was GORGEOUS!  It had flat screen tv's, two fireplaces, a full kitchen, washer and dryer, the works! 

(The living room, looking out toward the balcony)

(The master bedroom, I love that peacock blue!)

(Balcony)

(view from the balcony)

   All around the grounds were water falls, tropical flowers, palm trees and clear blue water.  Our balcony overlooked the lush resort and was right on the beach.  We loved sitting on the deck each night, listening to the waves crashing in.  

(The Eden at night)

"Have you ever looked at the ocean,

Seen the white foam at your feet,

Felt the endless thundering motion,

Then I say you've seen Jesus my Lord"