Family

Family

2011

8:37 AM Posted In , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
*WARNING: Long Post!* I’m slightly late on this post but better late than never! Another year has ended. 2011 brought many more positives for me than negatives and turned out to be a pretty great year. Here are my highlights and lowlights of 2011:

January
*We started the New Year off at my house with friends.

* Vader’s 3rd birthday was January 4th. Since I’m late on this post and it’s now 2012 he just turned 4 the other day! Seems like just yesterday his momma was trying to give birth to him on our bedroom floor and had to be rushed to the vet to have a c-section. I love my little Vader very much!

*I started painting the house at the farm. This was a difficult task emotionally but I think it helped me to work through some things. At first it was hard to be there but after the many many hours spent painting and working on the yard it became easier and started to be more positive - filled with lots of good memories instead of just bad ones.

*I started wedding dress shopping. I met up with my bridesmaids and we went to David’s Bridal and then went out for dinner afterwards. I didn’t end up finding “the dress” but had fun trying on tons of different styles.

February
*I had an appointment at the Wedding Shoppe on Grand and found “the dress”! This was exciting because I had 3 of my bridesmaids with me and my two aunts. After buying the dress I went out for dinner with my aunts to catch up on life.

*Winston came into my life! After Phil and I finally closed on our house I started the hunt for a golden retriever puppy. I finally found one a few hours away and I called my brother up to see if he wanted one too (since he said he wanted another one someday). To my surprise he said yes and we went together to pick out our pups. I immediately was drawn to Winston and in less than a second I said dibs! I love my Winnie Winston so much (even though he’s naughty sometimes)!

*February was also a sad month. My Grandpa’s wife, Barb, passed away after fighting cancer. She was a fantastic lady and I will forever miss her. My poor Grandpa is lonely and sad after losing his first wife about 8 years prior and now losing Barb. But he is one of the strongest people I know!

March
*I started the month off getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Not the most favorable thing but it wasn’t that bad. The worst part was eating soft food for a few days.

April
*We started our yard demolition. My brother and a buddy of my dad’s came out and re-did our entire lawn. They had to till it up, rack it, level it and seed it.

*We had our food tasting for the wedding and decided on lemon chicken and pork loin.

*I bought my Honda Pilot! I love love love this car. The only bad thing was after a few weeks of owning it I realized that the AC didn’t work so I had to go get that fixed.

May
*100 mile garage sale with the girls. I didn’t really find anything great. I just enjoyed the time I had with my lady friends.

June
*Started working on the garden at the farm. The start of many hours/days of work I put into it with the help of my aunt, friends and family. By the time the wedding came around it was beautiful and I was very proud of myself!
I never got a "done" picture but here is close to done picture of part of the garden:

*I had my first dress fitting.

*Phil’s sister and her husband came to town from Portland and we went to see them at the Tourville pig roast.

*Met with the florist and picked out the flowers for the wedding. Another check off my long wedding to-do list!

*Phil and I had our engagement pictures taken by a friend who was in our wedding.

July
*Phil and I went and saw Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. This is on my list because Transformers is one of my favorite movies! I’d say it was my 2nd favorite out of the 3 so far.

*Went tubing down the Apple River with a bunch of friends. Good times, good times.

*Phil and I went to the Stillwater fireworks with our friends Josh and Lynsie. This is the second year in a row we did this together. We went out for dinner and then watched the show. I remember it was hot hot hot that day and we were sweating our balls off.

*Phil and I went shopping for Phil’s wedding ring. He made it easy for me and we only made one stop at the Shane Co. and within a few minutes he picked it out! Easy-peasy.

*My friend Lynsie had her bachelorette party and bridal shower. The bachelorette party was on a boat and then we went out to the bars afterwards. Good times, good times.

*Started building the deck. And it’s still not finished…

August
*My bachelorette party. We got a hotel downtown Minneapolis and walked to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then bar hopped for the rest of the night. Good times, good times. :)

*The day before my bachelorette party I sold my Honda Civic. I was glad to get rid of the little go-cart!

*Phil and I went to the courthouse and got our marriage license. So exciting!

*Two of my very best friends, Josh and Lynsie got married on August 20th and I was so happy to be a part of it! Their wedding was perfect (except for the fact that I had bronchitis – but I still managed to have a real good time at the reception).

*I attended my bridal shower. My aunts threw it together for me and it was a small gathering at my aunt’s house in Stillwater.

*The law firm I work for puts on a summer outing for us every year and this year we went to a Saint’s game. This was my first experience at a Saints game and it was pretty fun. We had a little “tailgate” party before the game and then watched the Saints kick the other teams’ butts.

September
*Sad news first - Phil’s Grandpa Louie died after battling cancer. :(

*Back to good news - Phil had his bachelor party with his boys. I think they had a bbq at his friend, Scott’s house and then went bar hopping and then ended up at our house playing video games.

*The day before our wedding we had our rehearsal dinner at the farm. We just had a small get together of the wedding party, ran through it a few times and then had a bbq.

*Phil and I got married on September 16th! Everything was perfect (well, the weather could have been a little bit warmer but it could have been worse). Best day of my life thus far!

*Phil and I went on our honeymoon. We went to Orlando, FL and went to all the 4 main theme parks. It was hot, hot, hot down in Florida and we spent the majority of every day walking! My calves were rock solid by the time we came home! As much as I love a good vacation I also love coming home. Mostly because I missed my puppies and also wanted to eat like normal again. I was so sick of eating out.

October
*Finally got to changing my name. It was really weird leaving the Walton name behind. I still miss it from time to time and catch myself writing it down. It’s funny because most people who try to say my new last name can’t say it right. It’s kind of annoying to have to spell it for everyone. Oh well, right?

*My 26th birthday was on October 31st. We had a low key evening. Went to Applebees for some apps and then downtown for the bars. Good times.

*Coldplay came out with a new CD – Mylo Xyloto. Coldplay is by far my favorite band so I was quite excited when their new CD came out and it is awesome. However, atm I’m not too happy with Coldplay. They are only coming to about 17ish US cities in their 2012 concert tour and I can’t go to the only one nearby because I have a wedding that day. I’m totally bummed and I’m mad at them for not coming to Milwaukee!

November
*I went to see the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 with my Monday crew girls. We went out for a little dinner and then went to see the movie. This was my favorite movie thus far from the Twilight Saga. They keep getting better and better!

*Black Friday – one of my favorite times of the year! This year we started at midnight and went until 8 a.m. and I’d do it again!

December
*December started off with an office Christmas party at Luna Rosa. It has only snowed a few times so far this winter and Mother Nature decided to pour on the snow that night. Oh well, we made it to Stillwater and back alive.

*The Monday crew decided to do a “Thanksmas”. It’s a little get together between Thanksviging and Christmas – just eat a good dinner, hang out and play games.

*Winston’s 1st birthday was on Christmas Eve. What a great birthday!

*This year I decided to go to Brainerd to spend Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. The last two years I stayed home. The reason being is that it’s a 3 hour drive there and that usually means that I have to skip Christmas with my dad’s side and Christmas with Phil’s side.

*To celebrate x-mas with my Monday crew we decided to do something different this year. We usually make dinner or go out to eat and do Secret Santa. But this year we decided to go to Acme Comedy Club for dinner and a show. It was a lot of fun and my face hurt from laughing by the time we left.

Plans, hopes and dreams for 2012:
*I am hoping to have a baby sometime in 2012 or at least be pregnant.

*Phil and I are thinking about going to Arizona in March (at the same time as my brother & girlfriend) to visit my grandpa and get out of the cold for a few days.

*I’m looking forward to having at least two more nieces or nephews (hopefully more).

*Phil’s sister is getting married this summer (not sure on the date yet) but we will be going to Portland at some point this summer! We are actually thinking about a road trip out there... :)

The good and the bad of 2009

12:28 PM Posted In , , , , , , Edit This 1 Comment »
I want to start off with the very end of 2008 because it was so wonderful and it feels like it was part of this year!

In the beginning of December, 2008 Phil and I went to the US Virgin Islands to be a part of my very good friends wedding. We had a wonderful time and I wish I was there in the sun right now.

After the trip we celebrated Christmas and New Years with friends and family.

2009 started off on a very good note. I got a promotion at work (yay!). I went from being a receptionist at a law firm to being a paralegal.

Other than that I just spend lots of time with family and friends.

I made many trips up to the Brainerd area to visit my mom, sister, aunts and other family. The drive is never fun but it is always worth it.

There were some nice trips over to my dad’s shop to hang out with him while I changed the oil in my car and gave it a bath.

My friends and I continued our Monday nights and we had our annual weekend at the cabin. We also had a ladies night in Minneapolis and many more nights out at the bars/clubs.

Phil and I started a Friday night date night, which we don’t get to every single weekend, but most. Phil and I also started our hunt for a house! We haven’t found anything we want to buy yet but we are in the process of it and hopefully in 2010 we will find the one.

A few really good movies came out. The best were Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen & New Moon.

My friend Jewells and I went to two Coldplay concerts!

For my birthday in October I got a new tattoo, which I love.

December 5, 2009 my dad passed away.

2009 started off pretty good and was a somewhat good year and then December came and it was ruined. This horrible event will mark 2009 as the worst year of my life. I can only hope that in 2010 things get easier and start to turn around.

Things I love…

4:02 PM Posted In , , , , , , , , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
I have been feeling pretty crappy and negative the last few days so I thought I’d write something positive and write about the things I love. Now this whole list has no order; however, I am putting Phil first because he is the only thing on this list that will always be number 1. :-)

Phil- He is my best friend and I can’t wait to marry him some day (soon I hope)!! He treats me very good, buys me flowers for no reason, fixes my computer, my car, or whatever is broken, he cooks me food, he is just wonderful! I’m so excited for what will come in our future. I can’t wait to marry him and have lots of babies and I can’t wait to buy our first house together!

Our babies- Vader and Precious… oh what can I say besides I love them to death! Since we have no real kids yet, these are our kids. The hardest part of the morning is when I have to say goodbye to my babies. But the best part of the day is when I get to come home and hear them crying (happy crying) when they hear us pull up in the driveway when we get home from work. Sometimes I just want to kick their ass because they peed on the carpet or chewed up my purse or shoe but I love these dogs too much to stay mad at them. Some of the things they do just make me crack up! How could anyone not love them!

My friends- You know who you are!!! Life would not be the same without them. I have the greatest friends. I love you guys! I love our Mondays, our “girls night out”, our trips to Rachel’s cabin, our vacations we take yearly no matter how small or big.

Ketchup- I love ketchup. Anyone who really knows me would know that I love ketchup. Ketchup is best with French fries and meat loaf! Without ketchup everything is so bland and boring. We go through quite a lot of ketchup in our house and I think I’m the only one who really eats it. ;-)

Coldplay- I love Coldplay! This is the only band that I like every single song they wrote/play. I went to their concert in November and it was the best concert I have ever been to. They put on an awesome show and they walked 3 feet from us and played a couple rows up from us. My friend Jewells and I are going to their concert in East Troy, WI in July!

Lilacs- There is nothing like walking outside in the summer and smelling the wonderful aroma of lilacs… and the fact that they are really pretty helps too! However, Phil is allergic to them so I can’t put them in my house. :( The only time I can enjoy them is when I am outside. When we buy a house I’m going to buy a bunch of lilacs and plant them outside! They don’t really bother him when they are outside.

Christmas trees- I love REAL Christmas trees. I grew up with real Christmas trees and Phil grew up with fake ones. There is just something about going out with the family after Thanksgiving and cutting down your own tree. But, that is another thing Phil is allergic to so every year we have to put up the same stupid fake tree… ‘sigh’…

Clean blankets and sheets- There is just something wonderful about getting into bed after you have washed all of the sheets and blankets! Everything smells so good and no longer smells like sleep and dogs!

Showers- I love the feeling right when you get in the shower and hit the hot water! It feels so good! I also love the feeling of being completely clean and then slipping on clean clothes when you get out of the shower.

Sleeping in- I love laying in bed after a long day and knowing that the next day I don’t have to get up at a certain time… I get to sleep in!!! My body doesn’t usually let me sleep in much longer but the thought is nice.

EmergenC packets- I used to drink coffee and I need that something hot to drink in the a.m. I like the pink lemonade and the raspberry and I heat up some water and drink it like tea! They are quite delicious and have a ton of vitamin C. They also give you a small amount of energy which is nice.

Sun- I love sitting in the sun taking in the rays! It is especially nice when you are at the beach but I’ll take it anywhere I can get it.

Thunderstorms- I love thunderstorms!!! I like the really loud ones that practically shake the house. And when the lightening lights up the whole night. I love the adrenaline rush when you think there may be a tornado. I love when you can actually see a tornado close to your house too. Now I’m not saying that I wish a tornado to come and destroy everyone’s house or anything! I just think they are cool. We had a tornado when I was a kid and basically left our home alone but hit our shed down the road and killed a bunch of cows and took down tons of trees.

Certain movies- I am addicted to the movie Transformers! I cannot wait until the next one comes out on June 24th. I can watch that movie over and over again and never get sick of it! Phil is pretty sick of my addiction to Transformers. I also have an addiction to Twilight but it is not half as bad as Transformers. I loved the books and the first movie was alright. I’m excited to see the next one. I’m also excited to see the new Iron Man movie and Sex and the City 2. All these great movies to look forward to!

Grilling out- I love to grill steaks, barbequed chicken, wieners and hamburgers. Nothing screams summer like grilling out and eating outside with a cold beer.

My birthday- I love birthdays, especially my own. I have an awesome birthday too because it is on Halloween.

My family- Though there has been a lot of troubles and hurt I do really love my family. I wish I were closer with my dad and little brother and I wish my mom didn’t live so far away. I would like to see my baby sister more often and I would like to see my mom’s side of the family more often. I just have to say that I had the best childhood a kid could ever have!