Staying in St. Louis

My parents live in South Illinois, about 45 minutes from St. Louis. Daniel and I had a few extra points at Marriott, so we decided to leave the little pipsqueak with my parents and have a few nights away.

We stayed downtown and just did fun stuff. It was supposed to rain the whole time, but we ended up having great weather. We spent the first afternoon just walking around.

I of course missed our little pumpkin, but it's great to get away sometimes too.

We went to dinner that night and then went to the movies-one of my many love languages. We saw the new Spider Man movie. It was really good, but I might've had to close my eyes a few times-just a little too much action for me.

We found a GREAT restaurant right around the corner from our hotel. It's call Roosters and it was amazing. i'm seriously drooling right now just thinking about it. One thing you should know about me, is that I am a lover of all things Smores. (sidenote DQ has a Smores blizzard out right now and it's so yummy). Roosters has a Smores crepe which I paired with mint coffee. We actually went two mornings in a row.If you live near St. Louis-go to Roosters!

Later, we hung out at the pool, then went to the Cardinals game. I did love the location of our hotel-it was perfect walking distance! We walked around the Arch before the game.

It was just a quick 2 nights away, but it was so much fun to spend time with my love and have real conversations and be able to eat without having to cut up someones meat first. :)

Thanksgiving, Shower, Birthday

I completely forgot to post about Thanksgiving!

We spent the day with some other American friends who live close by. We all brought stuff, and you'd hardly even know that we weren't in America. We ate turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, veggies, dip, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and pies!

My friend made these placecards for us. Mine has a little turkey on it for Paige, isn't that adorable?!

Just a few days after Thanksgiving, my friends hosted a cupcake shower for Paige!

(it says "Welcome Paige")

I love these lanterns-they match the nursery perfectly!

These cupcakes were amazing!

Me with the hostesses!!

Jut two days later, we celebrated Daniels' 33rd birthday!!! I insist on putting a candle in everything the day of your birthday....and singing....it just never really gets old. 

We had homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. 

Daniel's fave is cookie cake. I added mint chocolate chips this time too.

I am going to try to post pictures of the nursery before we leave tomorrow....but no promises. We're packing now and getting everything ready to go. We'll be in the States tomorrow!! 

love

laura

Daniel's FIRST Half-Marathon

This past Sunday, May 1st, Daniel ran the longest distance of his entire life! He ran his very first Half-Marathon of 13.1 miles!!!

We really weren't sure if Daniel would be able to run, because last week his achilles started causing him a lot of pain, and he wasn't able to run more than a few miles before needing to stop. He RICE'd it all week and did a quick mile run on Saturday to test it out. He felt pretty good so we woke up at 4:45 am on Sunday and headed downtown!

It was pouring down rain.

It rained HARD the entire day.

Here's Daniel still happy about getting ready to run in pouring down rain.

You can't really see it, but his bib says "Nomad Boy."

The race was delayed 30 minutes due to lightning in the area. So we hung out in the rain. Did i mention it was cold????? We could barely feel our hands.

I didn't run. I'll explain more on that later.....

Here's the starting line!

And they're off! There were 25,000 runners!!! It took Daniel almost 12 minutes to get from the starting corral to the official start line. PTL for chip timing, ha!

There he is....lookin' good!!!

I then walked back 20 minutes to the car to wait. While i love Daniel, standing in rain for 2+ hours in the COLD is not my idea of a good time. I had extra clothes (since we're moving) in the trunk, so i changed my soaking wet jeans. (I ended up changing clothes 3 times that morning due to the rain).

I headed out to see him finish! I was SOOO proud to watch him come across that finish line! I couldn't believe how well he did considering the weather, cold, and everything. He finished in 2:28. It would've been 2:20, but there was an 8 minute wait for bathrooms at mile 8. His pace was less than 11 minute/miles. In rain and cold conditions!!! He rocked his first half!!!!!

Here's his very well-earned medal!!!

All i keep hearing the last few days is "I want to do another half!" I can't wait to run another half! (i think i've created a monster)

i am SO SO SO proud of Daniel, not only for accomplishing an amazing run, but for doing it in the worst of conditions at an amazing pace!!! Can't wait for the next race!!

love

laura

They say it's your Birthday...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So...quick recap.....

Daniel's birthday was this past Monday. We celebrated with family and a few friends on Sunday night at his parents house. The food was a plenty with hot dogs, hamburgers, hot links (i still don't really know what those are), quac, nachos, jello fruit salad (made by the birthday boy himself!), and a chocolate eclair for dessert. We didn't go hungry i can assure you!

   

Ummmm did i think to take any pictures??? Right as Daniel was blowing his candles out, i remembered that i even OWNED a camera!

Here are a few i took after most of the festivities.....

He got his long awaited Nook Color. He's been drooling over this for a while......for my sake, i'm glad he got it :) And yes, if you haven't noticed...he is practically bald. He was trimming his hair on Friday, and went to touch it up and forgot to switch blades/guards? and ended up shaving a good chunk off. So he had to cut it all that short.  We finally started speaking again this morning. I prefer my man with hair.....

Daniel and Jason admiring the Nook.....

Daniel has an obsession with knives. He has quite the collection, and i don't really know what most of them do. So, I got him a knife for his birthday- pictured below with Christian.

It's like an awkward family photo.....but we were so glad Christian, Diane, and Jason could make it!!! They're great friends that we're grateful for.

I was planning on redeeming myself by taking lots of pics on Monday night when Daniel and I went out to dinner. However, I walked in the door Monday night and Daniel was SICK. Probably the sickest i've ever seen him since we've known each other.
We decided it would be much cooler to spend his birthday at Urgent Care and skip food for several hours. It was quite the unforgettable birthday let me tell you....

I felt SO bad because birthday's are a HUGE HUGE HUGE deal to me, and i hated that he felt so miserable and couldn't even enjoy his day.

Fast forward to today, and he's feeling much better. Still not great, but i can understand him when he talks, and he isn't constantly shivering like a hypothermia victim.

The plan is to re-do his big birthday dinner this weekend.

I had this amazing birthday post written in my head on Monday that i was going to do.....but i can't really put to words the glamour and fun that happens at Urgent Care. on your birthday. on a Monday night. in below freezing weather. without food.

All that to say.......Daniel, I hope your birthday next year is better than you could ever dream or imagine!
I love you so much and am so glad you are in my life! I hope you know how loved and appreicated you are by all those around you!

 

love
laura

2 years

2 Years Ago Today.....


Daniel said "I like you," bought me a Starbucks, and that day was the start of something wonderful!!!

I love you Daniel!!

love

laura

 

Oklahoma!!!!!!

Let's catch up shall we? Cos i have way too much to say!

Daniel has been working crazy hours this week, and is actually currently away working as i type. Despite the craziness of our week, we took a few hours away and headed to the state fair on Thursday. I had never been in OK, just Texas. I really just go for the food. pictures to prove that in a minute.

As soon as we got there we headed for the petting zoo. I'm not a huge "have animals live with you kind of person", but i'm a sucker for a good petting zoo!!!

you can't really tell in this pic, i'm very excited!!

me living it up!!

Goats scare me because they attack you. Let's not talk about family vaca of 08. don't worry it's all on video.

 

Daniel getting in on the action.

the yak was my all time fave!! he's so cute!!

 and then we ate...and ate....and ate...

First....chocolate covered cookie dough...mmm mm!!

Second....pork chop sandwhich...surprisingly delish!!

ummm hello!!! please appreciate the joy! we got the sampler...fried mashed pot's, fried manicotti (my fave), fried ravioli, and chicken tenders  (fried of course).

i want you to feel like you were there...

i like this pic cos it wasn't really planned but it captures the essence of our love, ha!

this poor lady took this pic for us and kneeled in the rain to get it!

it rained a little, but that didn't stop us from fried oreos!! (these were actually my all time fave!)

have a good Saturday!! stay tuned for more :)

love

laura