Surprise Anniversary Trip

Well, it was kind of a surprise. I knew we were going somewhere, just didn't know where. He's quite the secret keeper and I promised not to snoop. All I knew is that wherever we were going was much colder than here. It wasn't until I recieved my boarding pass that I learned... we were going to Vail, by way of Denver. Denver was BEEE-A-UTIFUL this time of year. Here are a few of the highlights..

We stayed at the cutest place called the Sonnenalp. Here is a picture:

EVERYTHING was so cozy! The hotel, the town, etc.

This was my favorite day. He promised that we would have no agenda & just "chill." And chill we did. Our schedules have been crazy since he's working towards his MBA & I'm in my pre-req classes right now. This weekend was just what we needed as far as quality time and R&R.

Here we are on our actual anniversary night after dinner..

This is what we drove home in. We both would have been perfectly fine being snowed in and staying a few more days if we absolutely HAD to. :)

And that's it for now!

Happiest Year of My Life

One year and two days ago...

I married this man.

I knew early on that he was a keeper. And vice versa.

Our relationship was easy, and fun.

We were equally yoked.

After a year plus some, we tied the knot.

And today, one year and two days later he has me rapped around his little finger.

And he gets me.

He's so good with me.

He has learned to live with my blonde moments and has somehow learned to find humor in them.

He is my favorite person.

To say he is a hard worker is a major understatement.

He takes his job as our protector, preacher and provider very seriously.

I want nothing more than to be with him endlessly.

He let's me dream and ramble, but also keeps me grounded.

I love his unselfishness..

His willingness to go above and beyond to help anyone.

I love his discipline.

He challenges me to be better than what I am.

I love the way he perceives me.

He valued me first as his friend, and then as his bride.

I love the way he pushes me closer to Christ.

He knows that he will never be enough to fulfill me, but trusts that God will.

I love his smile.

Better yet, I love making him smile.

He is awesome.

And he is mine.

Thank you, God!

I am smitten.

BARGAIN!!!

Happy Monday, everyone! I can't wait to blab about our anniversary weekend, but until I get pictures uploaded.. this is all you get.

For all of you bloggers, go here http://bit.ly/sfly2010 and get 50 FREE Christmas cards! I used shutterfly last year for our cards and just loved them. Woohoo! Just in time too... My sister @ http://amycophotography.blogspot.com/ is taking our Christmas card pictures this weekend. I haven't quite decided on which card we'll choose, but here are a few of my favorites:

You're welcome. :)

More to come soon.

October in Review

Happy November! Here is a brief recap of our October:

I mentioned last post that I resigned from my job. My co-workers organized an "Emancipation Party" with an evite and all! They took me to one of my favorite restaurants, In the Raw.

My parents have season tickets to the OSU football games and between working UCO games, Chris' landscaping schedule, etc. we hadn't been to a single game all season. For the OSU Homecoming game, my sister got an all access pass to take pictures of the game from the sidelines! Huge honor. How cute is this:

That was some serious equipment she was lugging around all day.

Here is a family picture of us tailgating.. (& freezing our patooties off)

Chris is STILL not wearing orange to games. He is making baby steps though. When OSU scored, I caught him participating in the "waving wheat" celebration. That's more of a giant leap than a baby step for an OU fan, I guess.

In the world of baby news... I'm not sure if' I've mentioned this or not, but BOTH of my sisters-in-law are pregnant. Ashlee is due in February with a little GIRL. Maggie is due in May. Last week she called with a fun little "project" for Ashlee and I to work on. Unannounced to everyone, they found out the sex of the little baby Belden. She asked us to get the appropriate color balloons to give to her parents (my in-laws) to tell them the exciting news. this is how it went...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlhyFVbc8kQ

Such a fun thing to get to share with the family. We're so excited to meet this little guy in May. This was the card attached to the balloons..

Every Halloween, we go over to Scott & Ashlee's to hand out candy and let the guys watch football. This year was Superhero themed.

Batgirl, Robin & a pregnant Wonder Woman

My sister (aka Cat Woman)

The cutest "Night hawk" I've ever seen. HA.

And last but not least... this weekend is our 1 year anniversary!!! I CANNOT believe it has already been one year. This will have to be a post in itself, because my sweet husband has planned a secret/surprise "getaway" for the weekend. He's had it planned for quite some time now and I am always impressed with how well he is able to keep secrets. Everyone that we know, knows the plan and I have not heard one peep. Impressive. Chris is so sweet and thoughtful and I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve. :) He did tell me earlier this week that we are flying out of OKC really really early Friday (tomorrow) morning. Really really early as in 4:45 in the morning! I also know that wherever we are going is really cold, so I am supposed to pack accordingly. More to come on this "Destination Unknown" later. :)

Have a great weekend! I know I will. :)

Gena

Playing Catch Up with Pictures..

Fall is in the air! And I could not be more excited about it. :) This is my favorite time of the year. I will have to post pictures of the decorations I've been dragging out all week, but for now, I'll just play catch up on what we've been up to since my last post.

Our sweet friends, Alex & Laurin, are (finally) engaged! :) The wedding will be next summer.

We went to Nashville for a friend's wedding & a fun Labor Day weekend with several friends & my in-laws. L.O.V.E.D. Nashville!

My friend, Lacie, that I posted about a while back had her crazy bachelorette party....

and GOT MARRIED last weekend!!! Are you noticing a trend here? Weddings, weddings, weddings... :)

My hot date..

My momma

The beautiful bride

This past weekend, we went to the fair with my sister, friend Kirsten, and her little boys.

Chris and I are officially students again. I'm taking some prereq classes and he just started working towards his MBA. Needless to say we say, "Hi" and "Bye" as we come and go. Our schedules couldn't be more opposite. We just keep reminding ourselves that it's only for a season.

This past weekend we did a lot of this...

.. since we were pooped and studied out. We needed r&r. Badly.

Other fun things:

-I turned in my two weeks notice at my work.

-We are going to OU v. TX this weekend with the Steves. The guys go to the game while the girls shop. Yippee!

-Chris is planning a little surprise getaway for our first anniversary! Time has flown.

-We are really pumped about the Poteau Balloon Fest coming up soon. Neither of us have ever ridden in a hot air balloon. Here's to trying new things!

That's all for now. Have a great week & Boomer Sooner!

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Me!!!

You may have noticed in my post last week, that I didn't say anything about my birthday. June 10th it was. As usual, I tried to stretch the celebrating out as much as possible. I thought one of the perks of being married was a month long bday celebration.. no? 1st weekend: Friends... 2nd weekend: Just the two of us... 3rd weekend: my parents... and 4th weekend: in-laws. This sounded like such a great idea in my head. And then, the World Cup rolls around and has it's opening weekend on none other than, my birthday weekend! We somehow did manage to celebrate much longer than the actual day though, so I was happy. Here are some pics of the best month of the year: June! :)

Weekend 1: Spiro
We went to my hometown to hang out with my family for part I of my birthday. We started Saturday morning off with a little run. Just kidding... a 5k... in the most extreme heat/humidity I've ever thought about running in. Rooney ran with me/almost pulled my arm off. We were super excited to be part of Spiro's first annual "Stride for Pride." I've gotten a lot of questions about the name they chose for their annual race, and no... it has nothing to do with gay pride. Moving on.


This is me at the finish line wanting to die. I seriously wanted to just go hop in the pool after block one.

Here we are after the run at my parents garage sale. :)

The rest of the day was so much fun! We had a big cookout & were able to relax. Before we left on Sunday, my mom insisted on a "family" photo shoot. This is one of our favorites:

Weekend 2: Edmond

I woke up on my actual birthday to Chris asking if I wanted coffee/breakfast. Nothing out of the norm, except he never came back and brought it to me? In an attempt to sleep right up to the very last minute, I have to stay focused to get ready at lightening speed before running out the door. As I walked out of the bedroom area, I see Chris standing with coffee & breakfast in hand (so proud) under this:

Made my day!!! He spent so much time gathering the materials, and crafting me a birthday banner! I LOVED IT! I loved it so much that I left it up until this past weekend. :) He is seriously the sweetest. That night, Tate & Kristen (our newly engaged friends! Yippee!) came over to go out to dinner. Somehow the little stinkers all got together, gave Kristen one of my cake dishes & she made my very favorite birthday cake in the whole wide world! Wish I had a picture of it. SO SWEET! Gosh... what a wonderful day. Here are some pictures of our Saii Sushi photo shoot:

Maybe I got a little picnik-happy here?:

Weekend 3: Edmond (In-laws)
Another perk of being married is that I get to share my actual bday with my nephew, Ben! Here we all are (minus the Beldens) at Hideaway:

This is my bday card from Scott & Ash. Ben drew me a "yeti."

Weekend 4: Girls Night
It's so dang hard to get a big group of girls together, so we just did a little impromptu dinner at Bellini's. These girls are a blast. Here is a picture:

I think I got everyone in? I had lunch with Kirsten & baby Gavin at Nikkellette's, but we didn't get a picture.

Thanks to everyone for helping me stretch my birthday out way too long for someone in their 20's. :) I love you all dearly!

Have a great week!

Love,

Gena