{Non-White} Christmas

When I heard these dreaded words last Tuesday I couldn't fight the serious disappointment that followed:

"If you're hoping for a white Christmas, the chances of that are ZERO"
- Weatherman

Gasp!  No snow for Christmas?  I racked my brain for a memory of another Christmas that came and went without at least a dusting of snow... fail.   Neither Kurt or I can remember another non-white Christmas in all our 25 years.  Much to my surprise, the weatherman was right this time.  We had no choice but to up the Christmas cheer with extra carols and cookies.  I went into crazed baking mode and whipped out an embarrassing amount of goodies, which of course isn't a problem this time of year because we had plenty of people to share with. :) 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge & Snowmen on the Stick

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies, puuurdy.

 Rolo Cookies

As it turns out, Christmas doesn't have to be white to be wonderful.  In fact we even enjoyed the comfortably cool weather and ideal driving conditions.  Now that Christmas is over my constant "let it snow" cry has disappeared and we are counting this abnormally mild winter amoung our many blessings. (Let the record show that a light layer of nice fluffy snow on Christmas morning would still outweigh the aforementioned pros)

Speaking of blessings, the holiday season has an awesome way of reminding everyone how lucky they are.  We always feel extra grateful to be surrounded by family and friends at Christmas time and this year was no exception.  Although we've been sharing holiday traditions for the past few years, it was exciting to share in each other's family gatherings as an "official" member this time around.  Here's a little glimpse at the fun that we had:

 Yes, we did have a cowboy themed Christmas.  Awesome right?

 

Christmas Eve with the Kelly Family

 

Love this picture with Kurt's Mom, Siblings and their families!

 Wonderfully chaotic = Christmas at the Simon's.

 

Cousins on the Westra side! =)

PS.  HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, MAX!  Look how little and cute he was!! It's been a fun memorable year... Here's to a many more (and hopefully calmer) years to come!

 

PPS.  CONGRATULATIONS to our great friends, Lauren & Kevin, on their recent engagement!! We couldn't be more excited for you.  XOXO

Wowzers!

What an amazing month!  This very well may have been the most entertaining month yet -- we've managed to do a little bit of everything.   Last time you heard from us we were gearing up for a fun concert and counting down the days until our honeymoon, now we're looking back at the all the fun we had and all the unforgettable memories we've made. Wowzers!

Backtrack a few weeks and imagine us in the front row of the Zac Brown Band concert.  Um, yeah, that really happened.  Talk about the best birthday gift ever -- I can't even put into words how awesome the show was.  We had a blast hanging out with Emilee and her boyfriend (Zach) before, during and after the concert! We learned to be a seamless team in order to hold our sweet spots in "the pit". It's amazing how many people will try to befriend you when you have a better view than them.  Luckily, I'm not afraid to hold my ground (or push, squeeze and talk my way back to our spots after each and every bathroom break)... especially after a couple beers. =)

Ahhh best band ever. =)

Fun Fun Fun!

Next up was Thanksgiving and we ate as much traditional feast food as possible and enjoyed the company of our families!  We even hit up a near-by Walmart for the 10pm sales but when we looked for the check-out line we decided to head home. Ha!  My mom and I did score some good deals and finish up our Christmas shopping on Black Friday though --- not in the middle of the night but mid-day without the long lines and stampeding. 

Before we knew it we were on a plane heading towards Punta Cana.  Ok actually we hit Atlanta for a night before continuing to our real honeymoon destination.  We had a ton of fun every step of the way!  Our flights were smooth and we navigated the airports without problem -- even in Punta Cana where they literally roll up a staircase and have you walk off the plane and onto the tarmac before you wander into a huge hut-like building without walls.  Pure proof that the weather there is gorgeous, always.  And it was... 85 and sunny every single day.  We did get sprinkled on for about 5 minutes a day but before you even thought about going inside the sun was shining again.  It was perfect.

Maybe I felt a tiny bit like the President walking down those stairs... or maybe not.

The BEAUTIFUL (sunrise) view from our balcony.

Just another gorgeous day in Punta Cana!!

 

 

Our trip was everything that a honeymoon should be - fun, relaxing and romantic!  We stayed at Secrets Royal Beach and it was (as you can see in the pictures) gorgeous.  We'd totally recommend it to other couples, too.  The service was great and the rooms were clean.  The only so-so part was the food.  At first we thought it was great but by then end of the week our stomachs didn't think so.  None-the-less it was an amazing vacation!! We spent time on the huge white beach everyday, we swam in the ocean, learned to "drive" a catamaran, floated in the lazy river, frequented the pool/beach bars, snorkeled, swam with sharks and sting rays (which sparked child-like fear in Kurt, which seriously cracks me up), met tons of great couples, got dressed up for dinner at night, got a couples massage on the beach and even caught a few impressive performances by the resort's Entertainment Team.  *Sigh* Although it is nice to be home again, I miss that place and literally dream of it at night. 

After re-adjusting to life at home, we celebrated my 25th birthday, in style!  I kind of still can't believe that I'm 25.... it just sounds so much older than 24 did.  With this in mind, we opted for a theme party to help embrace my "old age" and it was a knee-slappin' good time!  See what we mean....

Clearly the coolest friends ever... Right?

So there you have it.  I'm not generally one to use weird words but I bet you want to say "Wowzers" now, too. There's just not a real word that appropriately communicates the overwhelming amount of memory making that took place in the last few weeks.  Now that this whirlwind of once-in-a-lifetime events is wrapping up we're preparing to dive into the excitement of Christmas!  Our tree has been twinkling for weeks already (yes, I totally put it before our trip) and we're getting anxious for our first of 6 (yes, six) Christmas gatherings which is taking place this weekend. 

Until next time we hope you're all staying warm, counting your blessings, shopping smart but also taking time to reflect on the true meaning of this holiday season.  Merry Christmas to ALL!

Life is Good.

We have been in awe of life lately.   I feels so good to take a step back and examine the life that your living.  Really take it in.   Somehow we've managed to find ourselves in a grown-up life full of blessings and the reality of it all just smacked us in the face!

You know how adults are always telling you to enjoy being young because it goes so fast?  But at the same time they say life keeps getting better....  I guess we now fall into that "adult" category because all those wise words are clicking.  (Yes, Mom, you were right.)  We are more aware than ever that God has provided for us and dang, He's good.

Kurt has been rambling about being 25 for literally the past 4 years.  Even when we began dating I remember him talking about his big dreams and for some reason he had it in his head that all of this stuff should be accomplished by the time he was 25-years-old.   I'll admit it, I smiled and nodded even though I felt that some of those ideas where just plain unrealistic for someone to achieve in their twenties.  But then here we are basically living the dream (well, our dream anyways) and we're only 25 (well, Kurt is anyways).  :)  It's funny because I was raised to be very rational but if you look in the Dictionary Kurt's picture can be found under "dreamer".  Although we have tons in common, this is our biggest difference. We challenge each other at the core and learning to balance our different strengths and attitudes has proved to be the key to our own paradise.

One thing in particular that Kurt has been pumped up about lately is our recent purchase of a '63 Chevy Nova II.   It was a steal of a deal and evidently my husband has high hopes for turning it for a pretty profit down the road.  Check it out:

One thing in particular that I have been pumped up about lately is our plans to see (quite possibly my favorite band of all time) the Zac Brown Band on Saturday, as in TOMORROW, squeal.  I can hardly wait!!!  This is my early Birthday present from Kurt and it is going to be SO much fun.   We're hitting the road to Des Moines along with Emilee and her boyfriend and I guarantee we won't be listening to anything other than ZBB for the entire drive.  Which is what I've been doing for the past week or so.... I'm thinking if I haven't gotten tired of it yet then I never will. 

Of course, there's this big huge obvious thing that we're both particularly pumped up about, too.... our HONEYMOON!!!  We are literally counting down the days.  We broke out the luggage and started digging out warm weather clothes this week.  I can't believe it's almost time for our trip!  AHHH, so excited!

Although we have a lot of big exciting things going on right now that's not the only reason we're preaching this "life is good" attitude.  I guess it's all the little things that are really making us happy.  We've been reading Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen, too, and apparently it does what it claims.  This book is full of encouragement, spiritual guidance and practical advise on how to find joy and happiness in every day of the week, everyday of your life -- the kind of joy that we all feel at 5:00pm on Friday. Ha!

Speaking of joyous Fridays.... that's TODAY!!  Time to go enjoy the weekend. We'll leave with you with some of our favorite quotes.  Hopefully they inspire you, too. :)

Blink. October is Over?!?

OK seriously, the last month has been a complete blur.  The only reason I'm sitting down to blog now is because my Mom has reminded me like 5 times in the last week that it's been over a month.  Sigh.  I know, I'm a slacker and if you* visit us I'll make up for it with baked goods galore!!

Now to re-live this crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful month.... in a nutshell:
(Deep breath)

• We kicked off October in Northeast Iowa where my biggest fundraising event of the year takes place.  I put Kurt and my family to work as volunteers and my Grandma & Grandpa Westra even came to participate this year.  I was ecstatic to see months of hard work pay off with a record breaking Walk to End Alzheimer's!  (Donations are still being accepted, every little bit helps in the fight against Alzheimer's disease!)
• We traded in Kurt's old (and stinky) car and are now the proud owners of a way more useful Jeep Cherokee.  Although it's new to us it's nowhere close to being new but it meets our needs and fits our lifestyle so much better than the beat-up, manual, tiny car we had before!  It's great to actually be able to travel comfortably with our dogs and to actually have a reliable vehicle to pull our boat with.  :)
• We took Cedar Falls by storm and celebrated UNI Homecoming, alumni style.  It was a fun-filled weekend featuring some of our favorite people, lots of panther spirit, tailgating, bar hopping, huge burritos, patio drinking and live music.  As a result of all this craziness I managed to lose my good camera (this is the awful part of the month), which happened to be full of pictures outlining our attempt to be college kids again (this is the tragic part).  I'm going to change the subject really quickly now because I'm still upset about the whereabouts of said camera.  
• I baked, a lot.  We enjoyed some super delicious chocolate oreo cupcakes with homemade cookies & cream whipped cream topping, along with a batch of Snickers cupcakes topped with carmel buttercream frosting, and recently some plump peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  I also whipped up some snickerdoodle cupcakes with sugar-sprinkled cinnamon vanilla buttercream and some ridiculously tasty "loaded grahams" for an Alpha Phi fundraiser.  Plus some wanna-be gourmet white chocolate dipped and drizzled pretzel rods for my Walk volunteers.  I gotta admit that I'm really loving this new hobby. So much in fact that we're scoping out gym memberships to counteract the possible side effects! Ha!
• We spent a couple weekends back home in WL where we watched my not-so-little brother play football, worked on Kurt's firebird, enjoyed time with our family, took a hay rack ride, played with our nieces and nephews, went out with friends and even rode in the combine with Grandpa Simon!
• Last but certainly not least:  Kurt got a new job!!  He started this past Monday at Wayne Engineering as a Welding Technician and he's loving it.  He's pumped to be out of concrete work and is excited to be adding this skilled trade to his resume.  He essentially gets to build trucks all day.... Kurt's dream, right?!  I think the best thing about his new job is the hours.  At his old job we never knew when he would be home and he often had mandatory Saturdays.... now he works 7am-3:30pm and has the choice to put in 3 hours of overtime a day.  We have both been on cloud nine all week because we are finally able to have a LIFE (this is the almost magic part of the month). This has truly been a game changer for us and we're extremely happy to be starting this new chapter in our life.  =D

So there you have it, you're all caught up!  Here's a few pictures (courtesy of our old, crappy back-up camera) to fuel your imagination.

My first combine ride!

Making progress on the Firebird.

My October baking adventures!
Not pictured: Oreo Cupcakes...because we ate them the day I lost my camera. :(

On that note, have fabulous HALLOWEEN weekend!  We, sadly, are not busting out any costumes this year.  (Gasp!)  We're attending a wedding on Saturday and they weren't too keen on the idea of guests in costumes... dang.  I guess we'll have to make-up for this monster disappointment by getting some sort of a theme party on the books, like pronto.  Stay tuned for details.  :)

For once, my jack-o-lantern is cooler then Kurt's! HA!

*You must fall into the BFF or Family category if you're actually considering an impromptu visit. :)  ....You never know who's reading this stuff, a little disclaimer is always helpful, right?

Reminiscing...

It's time.  Time to look back and gush about our wedding day, that is.  I've been kind of ignoring the fact that our once-in-a-lifetime, magical, memorable, monumental big day is actually in the past now. Like, it is over.  It's a weird feeling and I'm 1000% (yes one thousand percent) sure that this is the usual wedding wind-down for brides and grooms all over the nation.  

The sudden acceptance of our wedding's place in our memory bank was sparked by our recent attendance of yet another wedding.  We hit the road to Chicago last weekend and shared in my cousin, Christy & Wayne's big day!  They planned an intimate wedding in the city complete with an amazing venue right on Lake Michigan.  It was simple, beautiful and perfectly fitting for the happy couple!  (CONGRATS guys!)

Check out that view!  And gorgeous weather, too!!

Just lovely, isn't it?! <3

When we got back home, I finally popped the DVD of our wedding day in.... and it made me so so happy to watch!  I was totally filled with emotion, and it was really fun to see the day from a different perspective.  Hearing us speak our vows was a refreshing reminder of our commitment and seeing the joy on our faces (and our friends/families faces!) was just plain cool.   We ended up reminiscing about the wedding on our drive back to the 'Loo and we're still feeling really blessed to have such amazing and meaningful memories. :)  Sigh.

On that note, we'd like to share the slide-show that we put together for our wedding!  It makes us smile every time we watch it... plus, you might learn a little about Kurt & I as you see us grow up.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?! Haha!  This slide-show was played at the church while guests were seated before our wedding ceremony.  Our awesome pastor ended up using it as the inspiration for the sermon she gave during the ceremony -- I think of it often and I'm sure it will always have a special place in our hearts.   Enjoy!   

(Ps.  There's music!  Turn it up, yo!)

Wake me up when September ends

Holy smokes it's been a long time since we've blogged!  Time totally gets away from me this time of year... we've been soaking up the last days of summer, spending time with family and working our butts off at work.   I've managed to either run myself down or develop some seriously inconvenient adult allergies because I woke up Tuesday morning feeling like a train hit me and it's only gotten worse.  Yay for cold weather..... not (in case you didn't pick up on that heavy sarcasm). 

Backtrack.  We enjoyed a PERFECT labor day weekend full of everything that was long over-due.  We finally made it back to West Liberty (the first time since our wedding) and took advantage of the long weekend to log some QT with our families.   We were so busy enjoying the company of our parents, in-laws, siblings and nieces/nephews that I forgot to bust out the camera.... FAIL.  You'll just have to take our word for it when we say that the kids were cuter than ever and the weather was to die for.   The one thing I did snap pictures of was the newest addition to the (extended) Simon family:  Meet Caiden Thomas Simon.

This adorable little fella belongs to Adam & Jill.
(Adam is Kurt's cousin and good friend, too!)

 Caiden is the 40th great-grandchild in the Simon family! WOW.

Other recent developments include my new (more-so-than-before) obsession with baking.  I've decided that since I no longer have a wedding to plan I need a new hobby and since I (honest-to-God) cannot live without chocolate and thoroughly enjoy baking I've taken it upon myself to hone my baking skills.  Don't laugh, because I am beyond serious here.  Although I've been baking since I was about 2 years old thanks to my mother and grandmother -- my family baking experience has been limited to the tried-and-true (and totally delicious) classic recipes so it's time for me to branch out!  I'm all for a good batch of brownies-from-the-box but I am laser focused on baking from scratch now.  I'm discovering new ingredients (although I usually have a hard time tracking them down in the store), forcing Emilee and her houseful of sorority sisters to eat my concoctions and using the heck out of my pretty KitchenAid mixer.  =)   I began my baking adventures with a special request for Emilee's 20th Birthday (side note: OMG when did Em grow up?! This means I'm getting OLD.) which was Funfetti Cupcakes.  And look.... I pulled it off!

Made from scratch Funfetti Cupcakes w/ homemade Cream Cheese Frosting - piped!
With Sprinkles (duh!).  =D  YUM!

After eating a few cupcakes, Kurt tackled a big project of his own... remember that HUGE blue boat cover that he's been slaving over?  Well,  he assembled it last weekend.  Whewwww, that thing is cool.  If I had a pontoon boat, and a dispensable income, I'd be putting in an order for one of these custom-made beauties.  See for yourself...

This boat is ready for Fall. :)

Last but not least, I have 2 new obsessions:  Twitter & Pinterest.  I know, twitter is old news but I finally gave in and am tweeting.... except for I don't have a smart phone so my tweets aren't live-at-this-moment updates.  None-the-less it's still cool and you should follow me by clicking HERE.   As for Pinterest, join at your own risk. It's absolutely, positively addicting.  It's an amazing virtual pinboard ready and waiting to fuel your creative juices!!  I now have about 98792834 crafts and recipes that I have to try because I pinned them.  Love, Love, Love it.

Oh PS.  I whipped these up this week.... I call them PMS bars, but I guess you could call them Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars if you are a freak that doesn't crave chocolate want to.

Yes, I did find the recipe for these little pieces of heaven on Pinterest.

Ta ta for now!  Benadryl and bedtime (yes, at 8pm).

Nothing Compares

We'd have to agree with the marketing genius that pitched this year's Iowa State Fair slogan.... Truly, nothing does compare to the Iowa State Fair!   So corny, we know.  But we seriously enjoy it every year and it's growing into a very fun and memorable tradition for us!  This year might just be the best year yet... although we basically just walked around drinking and eating we're still talking about the fun we had.  One thing we enjoyed was the top-notch company, our buddies Chad & Abbey made the trip this year and proved to be prime fair-goers.  It takes a rare combination of qualities to keep up with Kurt & I at the fair but these two didn't have a problem!  We conquered all our favorite parts of the fair and are already making plans for next summer.

 15 Steps to a Fun Fair Experience

Step 1:  Pitch tents while sipping on beverages of our choice.

Step 2:  Nearly pass out due to the weatherman's incorrect temperature predictions, followed by various wardrobe changes (for the ladies that is, because Kurt insisted on wearing his cowboy boots which require jeans... regardless of the heat).

Step 3:  Enter Fairgrounds and proceed directly to the Hot Lips stand.  Sooooooo good you can't even share.

Step 4: Wander around while making a mental list of funny things to people-watch for. 

Step 5: Pay incredibly too much for a cup of beer, but insist on doing so because it's the State Fair. 

Step 6: Gawk at the unbelievably (but clearly real) HUGE cows and pigs.

Step 7: Convince the wimp to ride an innocent looking roller coaster which results in many screams and sobs.

Step 8:  Laugh so hard at the roller coaster photo that you have to purchase it.

Step 9: Eat more than your fair share of fried food.
(But don't feel bad about it, because it's the fair!)

 

 Step 10:  Purchase cowboy boots and rock them the rest of the night.

 

Step 11:  Eat more food-on-stick or fried food (your choice.. if it's fried AND on a stick that's even better).  Step 12: Proceed to the campsite for a good night's sleep. Camping at the fair is by far the best option.

Step 13: Beat the crowd and enjoy a morning ride on the Sky Glider. (A prime people watching opportunity)

 

Step 14:  Relive your childhood by riding down the GIANT slide.  It's OK to giggle and/or scream.

 

Step 15:  Get at least one more order of hot lips before hitting the road home. 
Hey, you only get these things once a year!

  So there you have it, folks.  A foul-proof recipe for a memorable weekend.  Sadly, the State Fair is over and we're facing the cold reality that Fall is it's way (pun intended, ha!).  Although Fall isn't bad, in fact there's many things we enjoy about it, it still means winter is around the corner and that is not something we look forward to.  

On a side note, work stinks.  This calls for cookies!!  Baking makes me happy.  On the other hand, Kurt says baking makes him fat... we're in the process of finding a happy medium on the acceptable quantity of baked goods to have in the house. =P  I think oatmeal chocolate chip is in store for us tonight.  Mmmmm.  Adios!

What a week!

We've been busy since our last post!  Are you surprised?  ...We didn't think so.

Let me just start by gushing about my good friend, Caitlin's wedding which took place last weekend:  Looooooooooved it.  I was lucky enough to be included in this special day as Cait's personal attendant and it was SO much fun.  I think I may have found another dream job to add to the list... wedding planner! :)   Caitlin & Eli planned an amazing wedding down in southern Iowa aka the boondocks (I believe we passed a sign that said 15 miles to Missouri).  Don't jump to conclusions though because this affair was nothing short of gorgeous and it was a blast to see the two lovebirds take the plunge.  So much fun in fact that I apparently got jacked in the nose on the dance floor (evidently my face is elbow height).  I woke up Sunday morning to a slightly swollen, noticeably bruised, rather painful reminder of this party foul.  True evidence of a epic celebration.  Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. Kilburg!!

With the beautiful bride!  I love you!

We also thoroughly enjoyed spending time with this lovely couple.

 

Our first wedding as a married couple.  Awwwww

 After that great weekend we were totally pooped.  What can we say... we're just not as young as we used to be!  Of course, by the time we made it back home it was practically time to jump into another crazy work week.  This week turned out to be unusually crappy.... at least on my end.  It was the regular level of crappy for my hubby (work, work, work).   I'm personally coming off one of those weeks packed with family drama, long days at work, a $114 speeding ticket and then more family drama, all things that are considered to be crap-inducing in my book.  Drama is not my friend, and now apparently neither is my cousin.  (....If I bite my tongue any harder I will definitely start bleeding.)

Now that Friday has FINALLY arrived, I took it upon my self to cash in an impromptu afternoon off.  I'm finally feeling like I can relax for the first time this week.  Kurt's already making plans for a movie night and enchiladas are in the oven!  :)  But never fear, we don't relax long around these parts... we're packing up and hitting the State Fair bright and early tomorrow.  I have a feeling that chicken lips, sweet potato french fries, a cow sculpted from butter, some live music, $12 beers and an assortment of food-on-a-stick will be just the cure I need for this crap-tastic week.  If you're at the Fair, call us up!!! 

Look who's back!

Since our computer is seriously slow (slash the DVD/CD-Rom drive is broken) we're going to skip the attempt to upload wedding photos on the blog.  You might notice some new pics in our layout but other than that we'll be directing our followers to our handy Facebook album if you'd like to get an inside look at our wedding.  Check them out, we're still kind of obsessed with reminiscing about the big day and your comments totally make us smile. 

Here's the album:  Our Wedding <3 June 25, 2011

Whew!  Now that that's out of the way it's time to get back to basic blogging!  We've been slacking in the blog department but lets see if we can get you up to speed with a POWER RE-CAP:

We took a little road trip to the Wisconsin Dells after our wedding and enjoyed a "mini moon" full of fun, relaxation and memory making.  We were SO glad that we decided to go on this trip and fully take advantage of the natural "high" we were feeling as newlyweds! 

We enjoyed the scenery with a stroll down the main strip & a near-by trial.

...Explored some tourist attractions...

Hit the "hottest night club in the Dells", Marley's.

Made some new friends and had a great time livin' it up with them!

Spent some time at the pool/beach... after a 3 hour kayak trip (not pictured)

Soaked up extra sunshine and even hit Noah's Ark, the largest water park in the US!

We also had a super fun 4th of July weekend, too.  Started things off at The Lake where we enjoyed some swimming, boating, fishing and grilling out with my family before heading to West Liberty for Joe & Chana's first annual 3rd of July party.  We got a little rowdy but hey, you can do that in the USA!  :)

Happy Birthday, America! :)

Nice face, Kurt.

Fun times!

Kurt celebrated his 25th birthday by doing "whatever he wanted" which basically included drinking for the entire weekend.   A couple friends came to town and we put our Margarita-ville mixer to good use, went out in Waterloo and then topped the weekend off with a float down the river on Sunday.  Our innocent little float ended up being a 7 hour ordeal, which didn't bother us because it was so much fun!  However, it did result in Kurt being covered in poison ivy and my mother being about 10 minutes away from calling in a missing person's report.  Oops! (Love you, Mom)

We helped my little brother celebrate his 15th birthday with a delicious dinner in CR.   I hit the town in Des Moines with my college friends to celebrate Caitlin's last night out as a single lady.  Kurt jumped back in on the Firebird restoration project.  We've been taking advantage of the opportunity to do some fishing, rollerblading and grilling out, too! 

We love our new grill!! Thanks, wedding party!

That brings us to this past weekend which was also full of fun in the sun.... We had a great time at the annual Trueg Fish Fry partaking in fried catfish (some of which we caught), cold kegs and a bags tournament before spending a lazy Sunday at The Falls.  It was the perfect day for some water slides and lazy river action!

It's hard to believe that August is here -- we have another month of summer fun planned and I'm sure time will continue to fly by.  We're enjoying the opportunity to actually stick around home instead of having to travel back to WL every weekend but our families are not so hot on this change.  I think they got comfortable with our constant visits in the weeks/months leading up to the wedding.  As much as we love seeing everyone back home (and miss them when we're away), we gotta do our own thing too.  :)   For the record:  We love visitors!!

In other news... Kurt decided to shave his head on a whim (imagine that)... and Max has apparently developed a drinking problem.  HA :)   Enjoy these last photos -- we'll be back (SOON, we promise!).

"It's just too hot to have hair"

He must have been thirsty!