highlights

It's Christmas-time and I haven't blogged in 6 months! Yikes! What a crazy, fast year this was. Let's take a look at how great it was...
We got to spend lots of time this year with our neice, Bella! We saw her in Little Rock, St. Louis, and Columbia, MO.


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We had a fun Cinco de Mayo party with our friends, and then went on a cruise. Our garden was hard work, but a lot of fun.
In August we went camping and a bunch of our friends came out for the day.








Thanksgiving was at our house this year. My family and grandparents came and we ate a ton of food! 40 pounds of fried turkey ended up being too much for 9 people so we had leftovers for a few days. My Meema got a speeding ticket on the way over here from Tulsa. Dad and Matt kept busy with the birds.




Halloween was spooktacular, of course. We had a costume party with home-made costumes for me and Matt. Matt was a Lego man and we papier mache'd his head! If you ever want to strengthen your marriage and gain more patience, try papier mache-ing together! I was princess Leia from Star Wars and yes, those are actual honey buns on my head. The gown was sewn from a white sheet and I used alluminum foil to make my belt. So fun!


Most recently we attended the second annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party at the Wheelock's house. It was awesome. The sweaters were wild and the food was great. We wore the same sweaters as last year because they are hideous.

I think the best part of this year has been getting to know the couples in our lifegroup. We have great friends that we get to see each week to study God's word. They are a huge blessing and encouragement.
Christmas is quickly approaching and we are so excited about seeing our families and going to Disney World!

key west

This year we took a Carnival cruise to Key West. Apart from the storm in the Gulf, it was a wonderful, relaxing trip! Seriously, people were injured from the rocking of the boat. But we enjoyed good food and fun in the sun, especially when we docked at Key West. It was such a beautiful place. Our boat docked at 6:30 in the morning so we walked down Duval street until we got to the "southernmost part of the USA". Then we sat on the beach and had some coffee until the shops opened at 10:00.

The other destination was supposed to be the Bahamas but the storm was so bad that they couldn't dock the boat! Bummer! Oh well, we still got to enjoy a fantastic new towel animal each day. By the way, does anyone know what this one is??

el jardin

Our latest ongoing project has been our garden. After a lot of hard labor and money (dirt gets expensive!), we have finally completed it for this season! We originally started everything from seeds indoors in like February (not a good idea). When we had beans climbing up the chandelier in the kitchen we decided we should just wait for warmer weather and start from scratch outside. So far so good. We've got the workings of future tomatoes, pole beans, okra and cucumber. On the other side of the patio we just planted some black beans, a variety of peppers, and more okra because the other ones aren't looking so good.



So exciting! Can't wait to enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of our labor! We have fruit already developing on the cucumbers and tomatoes.


Here's a shot of the entire backyard...standing in the corner as far as the new fence would allow us to go. Check back soon for more photos of our backyard adventures!

hemming

I just hemmed my own jeans!! Matt and I found some great deals on Black Friday at the Banana Republic outlet in Branson and so I got two pairs of jeans. But when I got home I realized they were way too long so I called around and found out it costs $15 to get a pair of jeans hemmed. Then I found this website where it shows you how to hem jeans while keeping the original hem at the bottom. So I tried it with my new sewing machine and it worked! No need to spend $30 when I can do it myself!

I just wanted to share this valuable information with everyone since it is a very useful skill. It was sooo easy and you don't even have to cut them. Here is the link to the website so all you crafy cats can do this too!

http://www.daciaray.com/?p=38

One Year

Last weekend Matt and I rented a cabin at Devil's Den with our favorite outdoorsey couple, Amy and Eli. What fun we had. The cabin was perfect and cozy. Suprisingly, there was a tv there with cable and since none of us have cable in our homes, we got sucked in to watching some pretty crazy shows. But it was a great time to relax.

It had been a while since any of us had been to Devil's Den so we enjoyed the hikes and caves very much. It's never a dull day when you get to see bats, a salamander,lots of green moss, and Matt hanging from a tree.

It was also the weekend before our one year anniversary!! Wow, it was a wonderful year full of exciting changes and huge blessings. We feel so incredibly blessed to have each other. Despite having to work hard in the real world, we wake up every day and think "could it really get any better than this?!"

monkeys and softball?

Wow, we are continually amazed and humbled by the enormous blessings God has been pouring on us. Matt's job has been great, he really likes the people he works with and his income has been completely supporting us so far. I graduated on September 6th and was super excited to accept a position as a nurse in a new children's clinic that is opening on October 1st. It is in Bentonville, very close to our home, and I'll have the same work hours as Matt! I am sooo excited!I have been training this week and I love it! We had a nice break before I graduated and were able to go to Destin with my family. (see picture) We didn't do anything but sleep, eat good food, and play on the beach - and we loved every minute of it). Earlier this summer we went to Tulsa and Mema Gunselman took us to the zoo! It was really hot but we saw some funny animals and this ADORABLE monkey!! He was so playful. I could have watched him all day.

The church that we found up here has been wonderful in so many ways. We have met some great friends and a few of the couples live in our neighborhood! This fall we will start a young married couple "life group" and we will focus on glorifying God through our marriages as well as serving people in need. Matt joined the church's men's softball team and has really impressed me with his athletic talent. They have games every week this fall and he really enjoys the time with the guys. One thing that I love right now is being able to step outside after dinner and enjoy the end-of-summer weather. Matt and I like to walk around barefoot and check out the yard and then take a walk around the neighborhood. Sounds very Arkansan, I know, but I love it.

la casa

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...a house!
We bought a house! Matt and I have been looking at houses in the Bentonville area since he got the job at Wal-Mart. We found a great deal on a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in Centerton. It's about 3 miles west of Bentonville. We are so excited! It is the perfect place to start our family.

We've been learning so much together about how big God is and how everything is in His hands. We feel so blessed for everything we have but know if we lost it all we would still have all we need in Him.

Nursing school is awesome... and hard and gross and tiring. But I love it. This semester I've been able to experience many different areas of nursing. So far my favorites have been labor & delivery, hospice, same day surgery, and clinics.
I just need a little more practice with IVs. Any takers?