Winter is here

It's official. In case you haven't heard, winter is here!!! We've been in a blizzard warning for the past three days and we probably have 10-12 inches of fresh powder; however, it looks much deeper because the wind is blowing snow drifts up for four or five feet! It's absolutely crazy. I haven't been this cold in my life--- the high today is 8 and the low is -12 tonight. North Carolina doesn't get weather like this.

We've shoveled our drive way four times in the past 24 hours. Jason really wants a snowblower now for Christmas. Sadly, they're like $500 for one that does a decent job. I told him that we are able-bodied young people and should be able to handle it. That doesn't mean that everytime I get bundled up to go back outside to shovel I don't think of how nice it would be to have a machine that could do the hard part for us.

None the less, we're having a ball playing in the snow. I just made a pumpkin pie and a big pot of chili for tonight! The house smells delicious. We went sledding yesterday afternoon and we've watched mindless television. It's crazy because all of the schools are closed, now for the second day, which rarely happens. The most fun of all is watching all of the kids play!

Living History Farms XC Race

Kim and I are headed to Des Moines, Iowa this afternoon to run thie Living History Farms 7 mile Cross Country race! I don't think I've run 7 miles since doing the Loco Ocho run back in the spring with Jen so it could be a long day! However, I'm so excited--- check out a youtube video of the run from last year.

Jen Kirby--- you need to come to do this with me next year!

My first turkey cookin' experience!

I must say, I was really excited to host an early Thanksgiving dinner at our house for all of our friends; however, I also was really nervous because that meant that I would have the responsibility of cooking the turkey. I don't cook. Wait, I didn't cook...

I do think over the past five months I have grown leaps and bounds in the cooking arena--- I haven't totally ruined anything and most things have been alright, if not delicious.

I read hundreds of reviews on allrecipes.com and got advice from others and decided on a recipe. The secret was to cook the turkey upside down in the roasting rack for the first 2/3rds's of the time and then flip it over to get the top (pretty part) brown. All of the yummy juices drip into the breast of the turkey and make the meat super juicy!!!

Here's the recipe I found on allrecipes.com and I followed the instructions exactly (I'm not quite at that point where I can "just throw things in"... maybe, one day).

Thanksgiving Dinner pictures

The whole group, minus the missing spouses after our very yummy early Thanksgiving dinner.

The whole spread--- not including desserts!

I made a pumpkin cake--- it was a success!:)

Before it was cut-- so pretty! Okay, I was REALLY proud of myself!

Dinner is ready!

Omaha ladies:)

I always talk about them... but these are the lovely ladies in Omaha who keep me sane when the boy's not around! :)

backrow: Wanda, Jenny, Brooke, Kim, Lisa, Ginny and Erin
front: me and Jessica

missing: Michelle, Brynn, Alicia and Tiffany

A few picture updates

Dad and I went to see "White Christmas" at The Oprpheum. It was such a great perfomance--- the music was fabulous, the pageantry was incredible and The Orpheum is just beautiful! We had the best time.

Halloween party at Jake and Kim's--- the whole bunch!


My neighbor kids--- how cute are they???

Dad's awesome last minute halloween costume--- Hello, redneck!

Jason and me at Vala's pumpkin patch after our first snow.

I'm no good...

at the whole blog thing. But here are a few pics to recap the past couple of months...

UCF @ ECU... with the UCF fans:)

the best brother in the world... we made it home for a game!

Jason and I apple pickin' at Kimmel Orchard during the AppleJack Festival

good friends at the Sarpy County Fair

Jason and I at the horse races in Omaha, where we ALMOST won a trifecta. The horse was disqualified for pushing. BOO!

I hate being called out.

And, I was. By Jennifer. She posted on her blog that I am back on the blog scene; therefore, making me feel completely guilty for NOT blogging over the past few weeks. And I have no excuse. I don't work. My days consist of going to the gym, catching up on DVR'd episodes of Good Morning America and The View, making lunch for Jason and then napping and watching The Food Network every afternoon. Exciting life, I know. So, Jennifer, thanks for the encouragement.

Everything in Omaha is still great. The weather has been abnormally mild for July. The high temperatures have been low 80's. It's incredible. Jason and I have tried to fill out afternoons with outdoorsy things and we've just had the best time. We played golf with Kim and Jake (another AF couple) today--- maybe I should rephrase that. Jake and Jason played golf, I attempted to play 9 holes (I think I shot an 83 on 9 holes) and Kim just drove the cart. It was really enjoyable. The temperature was perfect and there was a little breeze the entire time. The best part was going to Dairy Queen after the golf adventure... chocolate dipped cone was heaven.
We're looking into investing in road bikes but we don't want to spend $1,200 on new bikes. Well, maybe I should say, we don't have $1,200 TO spend on new bikes. There are awesome bike paths all through the city... it must cover more than 75 or 100 miles. Bikes would be so much fun to enjoy on a day like today. I keep reminding myself that I had a road bike in NC and it didn't get too much use and dad ended up "owning" my bike. I felt way too guilty to ask him to bring it to Omaha, so it's still in North Carolina.

We went to the Sarpy County Fair last night with two other couples and had an exciting night eating fried oreos and funnel cake. Wow! What an adventure. It was really a fun time! I felt like I was in the backwoods somewhere. They had all of the typical "carny" rides, a rodeo, livestock and a beer garden. As we went to the beer garden for a drink and live music, a huge thunderstorm came up! It POURED down rain and was thundering and lightening for most of the night after that. We ended up having to run to our car from the other side of the fair grounds. We got absolutely soaked!

The best part about the past 24 hours... We got our WEDDING PICTURES:) Ashley did an incredible job. It's going to be so hard to pick the best ones! I am working on uploading them to shutterfly so that everyone can have a peak. I'll post a link when that gets done.

The job search is still a search. I had an interview last week with United Way as a Loaned Executive. It would be a temporary position from August-November, but it would be a chance to meet a ton of executives around the Omaha-metro area. Hopefully, I will hear something from them early next week!

Our Honeymoon

We spent the week after the wedding exploring the US and British Virgin Islands. Everything was so nice and perfect! We didn't want to leave and we would love to go back... We stayed the first four nights at the Westin, St. John and the last three nights at Frenchman's Cove Marriott, St. Thomas. If you ever have a chance, I would highly recommend this vacation to anyone.

The weather on Tuesday was overcast and then in the afternoon it started raining. We ended up spending the later part of the day at Mongoose Junction, a shopping area in St. John. As we walked by a store, I heard someone say my name... I turned around and I was so exicted to see a great friend from Western Carolina, Emily! She was there vacationing with her boyfriend and his family. We ended up getting together for drinks later in the week!

Jason, me, Emily and Dave

On Wednesday, we took a ride on the Bad Kitty to the British Virgin Islands! We went to the baths, Cooper Island for lunch, snorkeling and then Jost Van Dyke-- home of the Soggy Dollar Bar! Kenny Chesney sings about this place in many of his songs. Oh, and how could I forget? The entire day was a "booze cruise" with rum punch and drinks served all day... We actually met a couple from North Carolina who had just married on June 13. It was really neat to talk to them, we definitely kept the party going!After Bad Kitty and Woody's happy hour with our NC friends:)

St. Thomas was much more commercialized than St. John, but we still had the best time! It was fun to haggle with the salesmen, trying to sell you everything from a Rolex to diamonds... we didn't buy anything! We also climbed "99 steps" and had a beautiful overlook of the city.

There were so many more pictures and they're all posted on Facebook. Below are other pictures from an incredible honeymoon!!!

Magen's Bay on St. Thomas



Snorkeling at Cinnamon Bay, St. John

Sunset on St. John

Trunk Bay, St. John (I think)

Magen's Bay, St. Thomas (I think, again)

Home Sweet Home

I know, I'm doing this backwards. I should post about the wedding first and then the honeymoon and then the house.. but I'm doing it differently. I am really in love with our new house, I adore everything about this little ranch:)

Guest Bathroom

Master Bathroom (yes, a jacuzzi tub and a shower!)

Master Bedroom (this pic was taken before I cleaned off, it's very clean now)

Guest bedroom--- doesn't it look cozy???

Kitchen---

Breakfast nook/Dining room

Living Room

Jason's favorite thing in the house--- the tv!

We're now taking visitors... so come play in Omaha! Pictures of the office will be posted soon... it's looking really good!

Back on the blog

Okay, I have decided to try the entire blogging idea one more time... too much going on in my life to call and update everyone all the time and I am horrible at returning phone calls. And, I must confess, I am a blog stalker (Jennifer, Emily, Ashley) and I do get so many ideas that I just love. So, maybe people will read this... maybe not... if you are, enjoy my waste of time. Ha.

Quickly--- I would like for this blog to be a update on what all is going on in my crazy life as a new wife, a new town, a new house and a new life! I will start with wedding stuff and house stuff and go from there...

The house-wow! I just love it! We actually just bought lots of new furniture at Nebraska Furniture Mart (soooo overwhelming) and it is getting delivered TOMORROW!!!! I promise those pics will be up soon.

I will start with pics from the wedding... two of these are by the INCREDIBLE Story Photographers (http://www.tellingyourstoryphotographers.com/). They were absolutely wonderful and I will HIGHLY recommend them for ANYONE who may ever need any pictures done! The other is by Nate... who took some fantastic pictures as well.

At the train station right after the wedding... so cute. This MAY be one of my favorite pictures:)

Jason and his stud groomsmen at the lake house before the wedding. David actually got in the water to get this shot--- the bomb.com.

Nate captured this moment... I have no idea what was said that caught this reaction, but it must have been good!