HATU

Happy Anniversary To Us! :)

Josh and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary last Thursday, on the 22nd. It's been a wonderful couple of years, that's for sure! Here's the breakdown...

Year One, May 2004-May 2005: The year of firsts-- first apartment: a TINY one bedroom, so little the dining room was a wide spot in the hall and there was A closet for storage. First pet: Tess... who became Truman on her (his) second visit to the vet! And the not so fun firsts that come with learning to be a husband and a wife: first screaming fights, and slamming doors! First year of youth ministry... more fights, and lots of growing! Our first anniversary, spent in the same suite as our wedding night.


Year Two, May 2005-May 2006: A second house: this time a duplex with a real yard. We had a great time painting and decorating our new house. A second pet: Isabelle, who has certainly made life interesting. Lots of trips to SDC, we got in the swing of things for youth ministry, not so many fights! :) A really fun Spring Break trip to Jacksonville to visit Jess and Mike. A scary decision to start trying for a baby in the fall.



Year Three, May 2006-May 2007: Started this blog... and am using it to keep track of the memories now! Truman caught a mouse and let it go in our bed, one of the great stories of our marriage! My last summer of softball. More fun trips to SDC, and a Cardinals game in the new stadium. The worst float trip ever (think flat tire, getting lost, being late, setting up tents in the dark... the list goes on)! Josh made the decision that he was being called into full time ministry, and started taking classes at SBTS. A fun trip to KC for Josh's birthday- a concert, a spontaneous night at a hotel, and going to IHOP at midnight... pretending we were in college again! Our last spontaneous trip because we had already found out we were pregnant in January... found out it was a girl the week before our anniversary... bought a house in May.



Year Four, May 2007-May 2008: Moved into our new house, Isabelle went to doggie jail (told you she made life very interesting). Experienced the joys of full term pregnancy together (midnight leg cramps, gestational diabetes, waddling). Josh went on his first youth trips without me. HAD A BABY in September. Life hasn't been the same since! The last half of this year of our marriage, we have been learning some all new things-- like how to be a mommy and a daddy at the same time as we are a husband and a wife. I have fallen even more in love with my husband watching him become a daddy. He loves his little girl with all his heart.



All in all, it's been an amazing ride! I love the new(ish) country song "You're Gonna Miss This" because it is so true! The second verse even talks about a new bride in a tiny apartment, looking forward to owning a house and having kids. Her dad tells her that she will miss this little apartment, and that's so true. There are many times I think of that first carefree year, when the biggest responsibility we had was a cat! Not that I would trade our life, but it certainly has changed!



To celebrate, we took an evening away from our sweet baby girl and had some husband and wife time! We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie (definitely worth seeing), went out to eat at Sophia's, and capped the night off with a trip to Encore. Encore is a restaurant that is a cafe by day, and turns into this high-class dessert bar at night. You can go and get these awesome desserts and wine (or coffee, which is what we chose!). I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures from that night, but I found pictures of what we got: a chocolate pyramid and an apple dumpling. They were pretty fantastic, but my favorite part was my caramel macchiato- it was superb!


The Apple Dumpling...

The Chocolate Pyramid...

The beautiful flowers my husband surprised me with. I absolutely LOVE daisies. It's so fun because I know that as soon as the daisies start showing up in the road ditch, it must be almost time for our anniversary, because we used "road ditch" daisies in our wedding, and were TOTALLY stressed out when they weren't blooming until literally THE WEEK OF the wedding!

It was a great evening celebrating the four years we have spent together. I still have trouble believing God blessed me with such an amazing husband to spend my life with. I wouldn't change a thing about him, and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together. Sometimes it feels like we've been married forever, and sometimes it feels like we just got married yesterday. I think that's a good thing... :)

City Museum

So, this is a little late, but I'm realizing as I work on this why it's so hard for me to keep updated on my posting... most evenings 'Lena and I are home by ourselves while Josh is at meetings. Elena is wonderful, she is FASCINATED by the computer. She loves to look at the screen, loves the noise the keys make when you pound on them, everything about it. So I start typing, and I have about 1 minute before she makes it1 `to me and helps... there was an example of her "helping!" qsv czx xdddddddddddssssssssaaaa
When I pick up the computer to move it away from her, she starts crying, and follows me. This whole "mobile" thing makes life very interesting!! So there's my (not very good) reason for not keeping up with the whole blogging thing! But I'm hoping to get several done tonight, so here goes!!

Last weekend (before Memorial Day) we went to the City Museum in St. Louis with the college kids from church. Josh teaches the college Sunday school class, and it's been a fun new ministry for us. After we went to the City Museum with the youth in January, the college kids have been dying to go. So we finally had a weekend off to go, and we had a great time! Trips with this group are way more relaxing then youth trips because we don't have to worry about anyone- everybody is a "grown-up," even if some of them (particularly my husband) are really just big kids! But the City Museum is the best place for big kids!! :) Since I had Elena in January and didn't get to do much of the fun jungle-gym stuff at the museum, we brought Mom along this time to watch Elena... it was perfect! I got to go and run around with my husband, but still got to feed Elena whenever I needed to. We had a blast, and I think the pictures speak for themselves!!

On the way there... everbody pretty much passed the time by making faces at Elena!

Some of the fun things to do at the City Museum...

the outside- a huge jungle gym with all kinds of metal tunnels bars to crawl through. You can even go up in the plane, it's pretty cool, and TOTALLY exhausting!

There are no words...

A giant ball pit for grown ups. Josh and I didn't make it into the ball pit, I'm still a little gun shy after the whole glasses thing!
One of the sky-high tunnels to crawl through. Pretty cool!

"IT ROCKS TOO MUCH FOR ONE HAND!"

And fun stuff inside! A slide in the "skateless" park, which is a huge section that looks like a skate park, only you run around it instead of riding a skateboard. It's pretty awesome.
Ruth, Charlie, and James in the mirror tunnel.
Charlie and Ruth on the "gerbil wheel." It was pretty funny, because you had to run the same speed as the other person, or you fell down. So, of course, Charlie tried to make Ruth fall down, because he's a brother and that's what they do!
The whole group: Ruth, Tara, Charlie, Josh, me, Elena, Corey, Andrea, Missy, and James. We were a little worn out, because this was the end of the City Museum!

We were so worn out that we decided to leave the City Museum early and head to the Galleria. We were planning on going to dinner there (The Cheesecake Factory-- YUM), but headed there early and went to see a movie- Prince Caspian. The movie was great, dinner at the Cheesecake Factory was AWESOME, and we headed home exhausted. They weren't as excited to talk to Elena on the way home!

Woohoo, one post down, and it only took an hour and a half! We'll see about the next one... it may be tomorrow! :)

New Me!

That was then...
This is now...

Well, it was bound to happen, and eventually it did! Part of my birthday present was money to go get my hair cut. My last hair cut was in October 2006, so it was high time for a cut! And, since I'm a mommy, I went for a mommy cut! I like it a lot, though it is much shorter than I've had for a long, long time (like since 3rd grade)! I cut a full 10 inches off, and it's now laying on my kitchen table, waiting to be mailed to Locks of Love. Kinda weird to see your ponytail sitting on the table! I can still pull my hair back into a tiny ponytail, though the bangs definitely don't stay in. The bangs are really just longer layers, but I could (with a lot of gel, mousse, brushing and blow drying) part my hair on the side and have the pull across the forehead bangs. But my hair naturally goes to zipper head with a part straight down the middle, so most of the time my bangs are really just long layers.

Anyway, thought I'd pass along the pictures! :)

P.S. Don't you love the self-photography?!

Finally, I know!

Well, I know it has been far longer than is excusable since I've posted on this blog. I have a lot of reasons, but no really good ones! One is that I'm just ridiculously busy. Between my work (crazy since it's the end of school), church, and, you know, Elena, I haven't had much time to update. And the time I have had, I've updated the Baby Blog (because, let's face it, that's what you all want to see anyway! :) Also, things have not been great with my job, so I haven't really been in the mood to blog. Not that I don't like my job, I actually love it. I get to do something a little different every day, I get to work with teachers and students all over the district, and I get to learn something new almost every day. That part I love. The part that isn't going so well is the politics behind working for a school system. If you live in Columbia, you're probably well aware of the situation (tax levy failed, much talk of cutting people, positions, and programs, rampant dissatisfaction with the administration, low morale and lack of community support for the schools). Well, my position was one of the "70 new positions" everyone is upset about, and it is now the middle of May, and I don't know what I'll be doing next year because the Board of Ed. hasn't voted on the budget yet because they're having disagreements with the administration on where to make the cuts. SOOO, with all that up in the air, plus being busy, I've been a little too cranky to post!

Like I said, lots of reasons, but no good ones! So, to compensate, here are some of the things we've been up to lately, in pretty much random order...

The Digital Camera Scavenger Hunt: One of my favorite youth events, we moved it from downtown Columbia to Rock Bridge Memorial State Park. Since the adults weren't allowed to help, Mom, Ruth and I tried really hard to keep from cheating... and failed miserably! But there were only two girls, so we felt sorry for them. The girls did dominate the guys, though- we won by like 30 points!!

Taking a picture with "roots"

Hugging a tree!

Laney hanging out on a vine

With the weather so nice, we've been taking lots of walks with Elena and Isabelle... clearly, everybody loves it!

Our church had a 30th anniversary celebration. I thought the centerpieces were really neat... and I had just gotten my new camera, so I had to play with it! :)

The flowers my wonderful husband got me for my birthday... along with a box of chocolate covered strawberries from Elena (what a smart little girl she is!) and, of course, my new camera!

Celebrating my birthday with my family... lemon cake, what else? I'll have lots more cute pictures from this party on the baby blog... whenever I get a chance to post there! Probably tomorrow... but I make no promises! :)

That's a lot of candles...

Well, I can't promise to not ever go that long without posting again... but I'm going to do my best! I am only going to do the Baby Blog until September, so then I will have lots more time! I'm sure my schedule will really free up then... or at least that's what I'm telling myself!

Happy Birthday!

In honor of my Aunt Jane, I dug through my old pictures... and found this masterpiece...

Happy Birthday, Jane! 20 years and 20 days before my birthday! That makes you... 25, right? :)

Long Overdue

I just realized that I hadn't posted about a very important event in our lives... Josh's birthday!! :) Last Saturday we celebrated Josh's 27th birthday! Josh and I started the morning with breakfast for him- chocolate chip pancakes, of course! We just hung out at the house all day and enjoyed some time together as a family. Then we headed to my parent's house for a joint birthday dinner for Josh and Ellen. Josh got to pick what was for dinner, and he picked Hot Dog City. This is a meal that his family loves, that was totally new to my family! It's basically just lots of hot dogs, and every imaginable topping for them- chili, cheese, cole slaw, relish, ketchup, mustard, dill pickles, and lots more! We hung out, told stories and let Elena entertain us all evening! We definitely missed our 3rd March birthday- Jess!

Look at all those candles!! Elena had to help Daddy blow out all 27 candles! :)

Modeling the new onsie that Elena got Daddy for his birthday! Funny that a "gift" for Josh can now be a onesie! :)

It was a lot of fun, and I never mind celebrating the awesome man God brought into my life! He's such a wonderful husband and father!

On another note... some cool weather around here yesterday. March came in like a lamb (beautiful, sunny, 60s) and is definitely going out like a lion! We had thunderstorms complete with hail yesterday afternoon. I took this video because I thought it was cool. It's amazing how LOUD it is, so be prepared!

Truman has been obsessed with going outside lately (must be spring fever) and the hail didn't deter him at all. He was very careful to stay uner the eaves, though!

Elena Says...

HAPPY EASTER!!

Here's hoping this Easter finds you remembering the true reason for the holiday- Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

Beautiful Day

I know it's been entirely too long since I've posted on this blog, but I've kind of been waiting for pictures from our trip to Illinois to get here. However, I got some great pictures yesterday, so I'm going to have to subdue my OCD and go (slightly) out of chronological order here!

For those of you in Missouri, you know that we have had absolutely FABULOUS weather this weekend. In the 60s yesterday AND today. So, since Josh and I had a long-overdue weekend at home together, and the weather was so nice, we decided to take advantage of it. Despite Elena's ear infection (she stayed home with Daddy on Friday, but was feeling MUCH better by Saturday, thank God for Amoxicillin) we had a wonderful, restful day.

We started off with one of our favorite things to do on Saturday mornings: breakfast! We headed to Hyvee for some good, simple, inexpensive breakfast before we went grocery shopping. A quick trip to Walmart, and we were home for the afternoon. We watched a movie and took a nap. Then we decided to really get out and enjoy the weather, so we took Isa for a walk. We hadn't actually tried to take Isa out with the stroller and everything, but she basically totally ignored the stroller, so it worked out well. We wandered around the neighborhood for an hour or so, just talking, which was sorely needed for Josh and I.

Then for supper, we kicked off the barbecue season! We fired up the grill and cooked some chicken legs and thighs (our favorite thing to grill), made some corn on the cob and cole slaw, and had a regular feast. The best part was just hanging out with the whole family outside while the chicken was cooking. We cranked up the Tab (Benoit), opened a few (root) beers, and had a great time.

It was a day of rest that Josh and I were really needing, particularly before this week, which is going to be a crazy one for me. I just wish it wasn't going back to highs in the 30s for the rest of this week! Oh well, the brief glimpse of the coming spring and summer was awesome and refreshing!

Out for a walk... can't forget the shades!

Hanging out on the back porch... this was our solution to letting Elena be out there with us, out of the reach of Isa (not that we don't trust Isa, but she's a LITTLE energetic!) without having to hold her all the time. She seemed to love it!

Even Truman came out with us... and found a nice, high spot to survey his kingdom from.

Elena, hittin' the sauce a little early!
A man and his dog... need I say more?

What a blessing this weekend has been! Hope your's was the same.

The Big 5-0

Well, life has been crazy the last few weeks, but I finally have time to post about Mom's 50th birthday party! It wasn't anything too exciting, but we definitely had a good time! Well, except that I was sick, and managed to get everyone else sick while I was there! But, we still had fun...

The Birthday Girl... all smiles! :)

Even though I felt yucky, Lena obviously felt great!
Trying on the new hat Grandma Price got Elena, isn't it adorable! It's a little big now, but next summer it should be great, and with her "porcelain" (i.e. PALE) skin, Elena will need to get very used to wearing hats! :)
Well, Ellen couldn't resist the hat, either!

We hung out, we ate good food, we laughed, and we told stories. It was the perfect Price birthday party! The girls also broke out Mom's birthday present- Mexican Train dominoes while the boys actually cleaned the kitchen (what a great birthday present for Mom!).

Happy birthday, Mom! We all love you!

My Josh

The best daddy... What is his name? Josh

How long have you been together? Wow, that's a long story... we met my sophomore year in high school, we've been married for 4 years in May.

How long did you date? Again... long story! We dated for about 5 months in high school, then another 8 months in college, then engaged for a year!

How old his he? 26... turns 27 in March! :)

Who eats more? Typically him... unless it's something I love, like ice cream!

Who said I love you first? Ok, so I kept reading everyone else's responses to this question and felt REALLY guilty because I couldn't remember... so I finally got up the nerve to confess this to him, and he didn't remember, either! :) So, I felt better... when we thought about it longer, we thought it was probably him, mostly because we're pretty sure I wouldn't have the guts to say it first. The funny thing is, we also think it happened in the doorway of the house we own now... funny how life works sometimes!

Who is taller? Josh, but only by a couple of inches... great excuse to wear flats ALL the time!

Who can sing better? Him, for sure

Who does the laundry? Well, we both do, but I'll freely admit that he typically does it more often.

Who pays the bills? Me, actually, which is funny since he's the banker!

Who sleeps in the right side? me, but only since we moved... I had to switch so I could sleep on my left side and be facing away from him (we both need our space) while I was pregnant.

Who mows the lawn? Definitely Josh-- I grew up in the country, we knew it was time to mow when we couldn't see the dogs anymore for the grass! Josh has less of a tolerance for tall grass!

Who cooks dinner? Typically me... although Josh can cook a pretty good meal himself...

Who drives? Depends... sometimes me, sometimes him... him most of the time, but if we're in a hurry he'll let me drive because he thinks I drive fast. I don't, he just drives like a grandpa!

Who is more stubborn? Yeah, it's definitely a tie-- it's hard to find people more stubborn than we are, which will make our children VERY INTERESTING!

Who kissed who first? The first time around, definitely him- on my parents' couch while we waited for his parents to come pick him up after we'd gotten into a wreck on our way home. The second time around, well, him again...

Who asked who out first? Definitely him the first time... when he asked for my number in high school, I told him it was in the phone book! He was (obviously) determined! The second time around, he still asked, but he copped out by doing it in an email!

Who has more friends? Josh for sure, just compare our facebook profiles!

Who is more sensitive? That would be me...

Who has more siblings? Me- I have 2 sisters and a brother, he has one sister and one brother

Who wears the pants? Josh does, though I'm not afraid to make my opinions known.

Well, that was fun! I've enjoyed reading everyone else's!! If you haven't done it yet, get on it! :)