1 Year Anniversary

I cannot believe we have been married for a year.  It seems like just yesterday that I was walking down the aisle toward the man of my dreams.  That day is still so clear in my memory.  Before we were married people always told us that the wedding day is the best day of your life.  Well, I hate to tell them…that is a lie.  Life with Brian has gotten better and better with each passing day.  If you do want to read all about our wedding day click here.

The happy couple

This year has been the most amazing year of my life.  I thank God everyday for such an incredibly loving, thoughtful, fun, handsome, silly and sweet husband.  (The list could go on forever, but I will spare you from the mushy stuff.)  We have been through some ups and downs this year and have come out stronger than ever.  After losing my job, Brian worked over 60 hours a week between his two jobs to be able to provide for us.  He did not complain about the hours and time away even once.  He kept a positive attitude the entire time and focused our attention on God and each other.  Times like those is when I wonder how I got so lucky.

The Wedding Party

We created a lot of new memories this year.  We had our first Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter together.  If you look back on some of our other posts you can see the trips we have taken and the moments we have shared.  It is a little scary that it has already been a year.  I cannot believe how fast time has flown.

We are married

We are celebrating our anniversary by going to Fogo de Chao, a brazilian steakhouse in downtown Indy.  We are also going to eat the top part of our wedding cake.  Now I am not going to lie, this seems like such an odd tradition.  Eating a 1 year old, freezer burnt cake does not sound like that good of an idea.  But, it is traditions so we have to do it.  I will let you know if either of us end up in the hospital.

Mr. and Mrs.

Before I go, I thought it would be fun to share some video taken from The Flying Toasters concert we went to two weeks ago.  This was the band that played out our reception.  They made our reception a night that none of our friends or family will ever forget!  Hopefully we will have our wedding video done soon and can share all of the laughter, tears and just plain sillyness of the day.

Reception at the Music Mill

Weekend in Pittsburgh

This past weekend, Brian and I drove to Pittsburgh to spend time with his family.  We also celebrated our 1 year anniversary a little early.  Brian’s parents bought us Cubs vs. Pirates tickets for Monday.  That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  We had great seats, ate Primanti Bros sandwiches and watched the Pirates set the record for the most consecutive losing seasons in all of professional sports.  That meant it was a good day for me because the Cubs won.  Sorry Brian, just wait till next year.  I am a Cubs fan so I pretty much live by that mantra.

View from our seats

Let’s back a few days and start from the beginning of the weekend.  On Friday, we spent most of the day at Brian’s grandparents house helping to fix it up so they can put it on the market.  We even got to stop at Grace Manor Assisted Living to see his grandparents which is always a nice treat.  That evening Jonathan (Brian’s brother) and his girlfriend showed us around the southside in downtown Pittsburgh.  We went to some pretty neat places there and I got to try the most amazing pumpkin ale!

Saturday was another busy day.  We got up early to spend the day at Kennywood, the local amusement park.  Some of my favorite rides include the Thunderbolt, Jack Rabbit, Phantom’s Revenge and Ghostwood Estate.  The amusement park is so neat because it sits on the side of a large hill/mountain and a few of the rides have drops that you don’t even see coming.  One of the rides starts at the top and you go down a hill immediately out of the gates.  It is a fantastic place!

Phantom's Revenge & Thunderbolt

On to Sunday, grandpa’s 90th birthday party.  We went over to grandma Mary’s and had a huge family gathering.  One of my favorite things about being married to Brian is getting to be a part of all the family events.  I love the Raves’ family so much and they usually have one big gathering every time we come to visit.  We had a great dinner and of course there was a big cake for grandpa.  It was a fun weekend and, of course, went by entirely too fast.

Raves’ Vacation – Beach 09

Every year Brian and I get the chance to go to paradise with his family.  We take a week off and go relax in the tranquility of Isle of Palms in South Carolina.  This is a tradition that they have been doing since Brian was a little kid and have kept it going ever since.  This was my 4th year on the Raves’ annual beach vacation and, as always, we had an amazing time.

We got there on Sunday, but sadly Brian’s mom had to go back home on Monday to help out her dad.  We did miss her a lot because she is the one that gets everyone else to do stuff.  Mom Raves is like our cheerleader on vacation.  On the upside of things, my parents drove up from Florida to visit.  I have not seen them in a few months so it was nice to have them there.  Plus the usual gang was back.  Every year Brian’s family friends come with us and man do they make it so much fun.  All of those boys together certainly know how to make us laugh.

So what all do we do on this whirlwind vacation?  We mostly veg-out, go swimming and eat a ton of food.  This year we hit up a new restaurant called Coast in downtown Charleston.  Needless to say, it was amazing and we went back later in the week for more.  One of my favorite things about vacation is my morning run on the beach.  It is something I look forward to each and every year.  Another highlight of these trips, besides getting to spend time with our families, is the houses that we get to stay in.  This year we stayed in a 10 bedroom, 8 bathroom house that had a great view and incredible pool.  We spent most of our days in the ocean or in the pool.  One day, Brian even challenged himself to stay in a body of water for a full 12 hours.  I brought him his food and drinks all day long so he could complete this mission.  Well, he did…yay Brian.

Here are some pictures and a virtual tour from our vacation for you to take a peek at!

The House

The Pool - good times had here

Brian in His All-Day Pool Extravaganza

Brian Relaxing in the Pool

More Summer Fun

There is a lot to pack into this post, but I promise it won’t take that long.  First, I want to share a funny video of us at my sister’s house last Monday.  Every Monday we go over to their house and have dinner together.  As always, the kids provide us with a lot of entertainment. The newest edition to the family, Sitota, keeps us laughing all the time.  Here is a video of Brian getting Sitota to laugh.

Last night Brian’s band, the Tyler Bender Band, played at Birdy’s Battle of the Bands.  They won 1rst place by a landslide!   The Tyler Bender Band took home $600 and are heading to round two, then hopefully the finals where they have a chance of winning $10,000.  We are praying for great things to come for the band.  If you have never heard them play before, they do have a Coldplay type sound.  Tyler has one of those voices that you can pick out and, of course, the drummer is the best!   Here are some videos of the guys in action (sorry you can’t really see Brian he is in the back).

Tyler Bender Band “In Between”

Tyler Bender Band “More Than a Word”

Tyler Bender Band “Stir” (this one was taken from my iPhone so quality is not as good)

The Beatles – Symphony at the Prairie

Yesterday we went to the Classical Mystery Tour – A Tribute to the Beatles version of Symphony on the Prairie.  It was pretty amazing.  We had gone to the symphony on the 4th of July, but the music they played last night was beyond comparison.  The dynamic 4 musicians started out with some old school Beatles and slowly progressed to their later hits.  Of course, no Beatles concert would be complete without “Hey Jude” which was their final song.

Curtis, Carrie, Cassie, Blake, Brian and I went early and took a picnic so we could have dinner while we were there.  We laughed while Cassie polished off a loaf of bread…she is tiny and eating for 3 so it was cute to watch.  While the girls were gabbing, the boys tried to polish off a footlong summer sausage.  I was impressed with how far they got.  Check out our fun videos!

The opening song at symphony.

“All You Need is Love” video.

Polka Boy

On Friday we went to Cool Creek Park to see Polka Boy.  After seeing them at The Rathskeller a few years back, I knew that this was going to be a good night.  Brian and I packed up the car with yummy food and drinks and met up with my sister, her husband and a group of friends. It was an entertaining night to say the least.  We did a lot of dancing, ate a ton of food and laughed at each other throughout the night.  Check out some of our pictures (thanks Em for always supplying us with photo memories).

Polka Boy

Brian and I

This worries me

Watch as Shelli gets soaked while Aaron opens a beer.  You might not be able to see in this video that he is opening a beer bottle with his flip flops, but that is what makes it so funny.  See our fun group, and the band play, in this next video.

Summer ‘09

I realized it has been almost a month since we have posted a blog entry.  Brian and I have been keeping extremely busy these past few months.  With cookouts, work, weddings and more, we have not been home more than a few hours at a time.  So what have we been doing might you ask?  Where do I start…

June started off with a bang when Brian and I went to the Coldplay concert!  Brian’s parents got us the tickets as an early birthday present for Brian.  We had amazing seats and at one point were just 10 rows away from the band!  Out of all the concerts Brian and I have been to collectively, we both said it was by far the best one ever.  They are so interactive and there is just so much to take in at one of their shows.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going to D.C. for work.  While I was there I was able to see Kelsey (the girlfriend of Brian’s brother).  We had a great time catching up and eating yummy sushi.  I can imagine that Brian had just as good of a time hanging out at home playing Farm Town on Facebook.

Last weekend, Brian’s parents came into town for the 4th of July.  On Friday, we went to Conner Prairie’s symphony and saw the fireworks while listening to great music.  After giving mom and dad a tour of Butler, we went to one of our new favorite restaurants, Brugge.  Brugge is a Belgian restaurant in Broad Ripple and known for their muscles, crepes and beer.  Sunday we took it easy and worked on the wedding album most of the day.  Brian’s mom brought all of her Creative Memories tools and we started on our wedding album.  She is amazing at it so I can’t wait to see the finished product!  That evening, we all headed to Maggiano’s for an amazing birthday meal.  We hadn’t been there since the rehearsal dinner so it brought back some very fond memories.  Sadly, on Monday it was time to say goodbye.  The good news is we only have one month until vacation.

Last night, was round number three of Brian’s birthday.  I surprised him by taking him, and our friends, to the No Doubt concert.  I wanted it to be a surprise so I made Brian wear a blind fold to the ampitheater.  Our friends followed us the whole way just laughing and taking pictures while I drove all around the neighborhood so he wouldn’t know where we were going.  Once we got there, all the parking attendants were cracking up as we drove through the lot trying to find a good parking spot.  Needless to say, it was a huge surprise and we had a fabulous time at the concert.  On a side note, Gwen Stefani is probably the second best performer I have ever seen.  Not to mention how unfair that it is that she is in better shape than I could ever be (even after having two kids).

I will stay more up to date on this in the future.  We have a lot more exciting events coming up that I know we will want to share!

Sitota’s First Birthday

I don’t really have much time to write, but wanted to leave you with a funny video.  Last Sunday we celebrated Sitota’s first birthday with good friends, family, and a “yummy” cake.  Shelli and Aaron have always had a cake for each of the kids’ birthdays and Sitota was no exception.  

The picture below is the before and after of the cake.  Sitota’s go-go-gadget arms are the result of the giant hand print in the cake.

The best part of the evening was when it came time for the little guy to actually eat the cake.  From the awful gagging noises he made, he must not like chocolate.  Really, what kid doesn’t like chocolate?  It is a pretty funny video!  Check it out here:  http://samandemilyjackson.blogspot.com/2009/06/happy-1st-birthday-sitota.html 

Weekend of Projects

After my busy day of light instalation on Friday, I decided that the rest of the first floor was ready for a makeover.  I headed to Lowe’s Saturday afternoon and picked up a few paint samples.  I got home and painted the wall with the different colors.  After an hour of pacing back and forth passed it, I picked the color, went back to Lowe’s, and purchase a couple gallons.   3 hours later, the room was finished but I was very unsure about the paint color.  The color is okay for the dining room but I was not set on it for the living room/office.  

So…on Sunday, I head back to Lowe’s to stare at paint samples for another hour before picking out a different color.  Again, I came home and finished the front office 3 hours later.  I am not sure about this paint color in this room either.  I like them both in some lighting, but not all the time.  Brian told me to leave it so I am taking his advice for now.  Thank goodness I have a patient husband.  I also put new curtains up…gotta love Target!  What do you think? 

P.S. That weird mark on the dining room wall is not there, it must be the lighting.  

Office/Front Living Room Take 1

Office/Front Living Room Take 1

 

 

Dining Room Take 1

 

Dining room take 2

This is What Happens When I’m Bored…

This week was a great week at work.  On Wednesday, our power went out so we were able to go home around 3pm.  Then, to my surprise, they let us go home early on Friday.  When I got to work yesterday my email said that they were letting us leave at 1pm to get an early start on Memorial Day weekend.  I absolutely love working at Butler University!  It is so nice to have a job I really care about and enjoy.  Not to mention, my boss is one of the best I have ever had.  She expects the best and truly appreciates all of the hard work people put in. 

Back to the reason for this post.  I realized that I was going to be bored sitting at home all afternoon while Brian was at Carb Day.  So what do I do?  I decide to go to Lowe’s and pick up a few paint samples.  Which, by the way, I still can’t decide on what color to get.  I wish I knew an interior decorator!  After getting a few paint samples, I headed over to the lighting department.  This was the day that I was finally going to change that annoying, buzzing florecent light in the kitchen.

It did not take me that long to install since I have had a lot of practice installing the rest of the lights in the house.  Basically, this is what happens when I am bored…I piddle.  Yes, I am my mother:)  Here are some pics.

 

The new light

Take 2