You Know You are OLD

I have been thinking a lot about things that make me feel old and adult-like. I started noticing some of these when I graduated high school and went to college. Now I just feel ancient. Here are some of the things that used to make me feel old:

• having a job
• buying my own groceries
• having a debit card
• paying rent
• paying bills
• being in college 
• buying a car/getting a loan
• having my own insurance
• paid vacations/sick days

These things seem like no big deal to me now. Here are things that make me feel super old now:

• Knowing I graduated from high school SEVEN years ago
• Knowing I graduated from college FOUR years ago
• Being married for almost a year
• Buying a house and paying a mortgage 
• Seeing kids I used to babysit being teenagers/going to college
• My body hurts all the time-my knees creak every time I use the stairs -I know some of you might laugh,but a lifetime of sports has aged me :)
• My hobby is working in the garden
• Being ready for bed by 9pm, trying to be brave and make it to 10 since it is the weekend
• Everyone constantly asking me when I am going to have a baby...umm hello, since when did I stop being 16?! 
• Going to YM/YW activities, not as a youth but as a leader (well Jon is a leader but I have to help sometimes. 

 I'm sure I have more to come...these are just on my mind right now. Please somebody make me five years old again.

We Do Fun Things...Sometimes

Since we have been lame and haven't updated, I decided I will do a photo overload for your personal enjoyment. Here are some pictures from our summer! Pictures are more exciting than posts with words, right!? More to come soon...

                                    Yes there is white water rafting out east...West Virginia!!

                                                       the turtle face strikes again....

                                                  First day of school, year three as el Profe.

                                                            I wanted to swim with this bear!

                                                  Memphis Zoo with my sister and Jessi.

                                        Pure joy! Jessi scaring Grampa with alligator noises.

                                          an oldie but a goodie. I love this picture of Jon!

Recent Hapenins

I have been meaning to post about this for several weeks now, and I'm just now getting around to it (¡Sorry!). Janet and I went out to visit Brian and Mandy in the beginning of June for Hali´s dance recital (she did soooo well!). We had tons of fun. We spent a lot of time playing with the kids, went to a frozen yogurt place called frogs, Brian made some awesome bbq, we watched some youtube videos, and I got makeup attacked by Janet, Milaya, and Janet. It´s basically a given that they will do that every time. Here are some pics from that trip.

 Sorry... I post a lot of pictures. I think these are all sooo cute, so I want to share them all.


Also, the last few days have been super eventful. Janet and I went and saw Coldplay on July 3rd (so freaking radical!!!). The openers weren't that great (the first band was okay but the second was ridiculously stupid... it was a girl named Robyn or something) but Coldplay rocked the house. We got these wristbands that lit up and they controlled them during a few songs in the show. They are a very high energy band and they performed super well. Chris Martin danced around a lot and you could tell he absolutely loves performing. Then July 4th we stayed in bed watching Prison Break until noon, which was nice and relaxing, went grocery shopping and got stuff for dinner and made it (kebabs and angel food cake with festive toppings), and then we went to a baseball game with fireworks. Janet also put together some homemade frozen meals which look awesome (we will probably post more about it later). Anyway, here are some pics...

Note Janet's festive colors. I felt left out and lame (I almost wore an Olympic Mexico shirt that I got a couple weeks ago with her, but then I decided that wouldn't be wise) so I put on more festive colors to match her as well. She is so gorgeous!

 This first picture goes with Jon's last post, this is where we ate on our first date, Benson's BBQ. It wasn't really that great of food from what I remember, but the company wasn't too shabby.

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Strawberries from our garden! Critters ate most of them, but luckily we also had my parent's strawberries to pick.

 Red potato from the garden, I planted old red potatoes and magic happened.

 This picture does not do it justice, this thing was huge! We have zucchini coming out of our ears right now.

 

MY FAVORITE!! Oh my gosh, eating blueberries everyday is heaven for me. 

I made freezer jam! A month or two ago I made strawberry freezer jam, I used a low-sugar recipe that is weird, it makes great salad dressing but is a little tart for PB and J. However, yesterday I made peach freezer jam and raspberry/blueberry freezer jam and they turned out fantastic!! I can't describe how delicious they are! And they were low-sugar recipes too and are plenty sweet.

I feel like such an old grandma. I pick produce daily and I bake/cook all the time (ok maybe not but it feels like it sometimes). My back has been aching so I am taking it easy today and staying in bed all day. I am too young for this! p.s. I love my job. One of my new clients ran up to me on Friday, put her hand on my stomach and said, you have a baby in your tummy! haha nice try but I do not. I guess I shouldn't wear that shirt again... ok am I boring you yet?! thanks for reading about our fruits and veggies. We are so exciting.

p.s. these pictures are from my phone so don't judge the quality.    
pps. have you ever tried homemade chicken nuggets? they are a staple food in our house now, so yummy and easy to make!                                     

Our garden is growing like crazy! I love having fresh produce from my backyard. I am counting down the days until we have blueberries and tomatoes ready. This year we have already enjoyed the following: spinach, basil, romaine, sugar snap peas, red potatoes, strawberries, and raspberries. We still have a lot of stuff we are waiting to finish growing. So yummy!

Over Memorial Day we went to the beach with my parents, cousins, and my aunt and uncle. Here are some pics! 

These next few are from a local petting zoo...I have been begging Jon to take me and so off we went yesterday! He was grossed out by the animal slobber.

"First" Date

Way back in April of 2011 over Easter weekend Janet and I had our first date. This was when she invited me to see her in Atlanta while she visited for her nephew Xander's baby blessing. It was such a fantastic weekend! I was super nervous to go out there since it was our first time seeing each other in person since New Years, but I was also so extremely excited. I had been in Costa Rica the week before, and had been talking about her, and visiting her pretty much the whole time I was there. I kept thinking about all the things I could take her there to do and see and how much greater it would have been with her there. Anyway, we were to have our first official date that weekend. We went to a park and drew with sidewalk chalk next to a pond. Then we spent some time looking for somewhere to set up my slackline, but we didn't end up finding a good spot. So we went out to eat at a local bbq restaurant. It was pretty good. If I remember correctly Janet got a bbq sandwich and I got ribs. It was decent, but not the best bbq. Then we went and bought some ice cream (which we didn't end up eating) and we returned to Cameron and Sandra's house to watch a movie. We watched I Am Legend, and of course, Janet fell asleep within the first 20 minutes of it =). I ended up dosing off at the end of the movie as well. When I woke up, that was when I kissed her for the first time... a small peck on the lips to wake her up. It was so amazing to be with her, and it is something I will remember forever. Anyway, here are some of the pictures from that date.

This past Easter, we went back to Atlanta to visit Cameron and Sandra. We were able to recreate the date to a certain extent. We went back with sidewalk chalk to the same park, and re-drew some of the pictures we drew the first time. Then we walked around the park and sat at one of the benches all the while talking and remembering last year. Janet has been such a blessing in my life, and I am so grateful for her and all she does!

 

 

 Here is the pond! It's a pretty one... though it's hard to tell in this pic.

 Here are some super cute pictures of us... especially Janet. She probably won't be too happy that I'm posting these because of the faces she is making, but I think they are super cute.