A week of Freedom

We started out my week of no school off right with FISHING!

Dad was supervisor to begin with.

 But we finally talked him into fishing too!  This is him pretending that he had a real big one. :-)

 But actually it was Mom who was the super fisherwoman of the day.  She caught the biggest fish. One of the cool parts of the morning was finding turtle eggs on the bank of  pond.

 This pond is 4 acres!  The guy who owns it, built it with a big CAT and said that it filled up in one Missouri rainstorm and has never been empty since.  I think my Dad was so jealous.  He would love this much water in Park Valley!

 Later that afternoon after attending a Missouri softball and baseball game, we decided to go hiking.  We went to Rock Bridge State Park.

 Dust and I in front of the natural bridge.

 Mom and Dad at Devil's Icebox. Sadly we couldn't go all the way to the entrance because it was closed off for the bats.  Apparently it is an endangered species and they were trying to protect them during their mating season. But it was still a fun hike.  This underwater cave is over 7 miles long!

 The rest of my week after Mom and Dad left was pretty boring.  Dustin still had school so I was home a lot by myself.  I read books, watched movies, stained the deck, played in a softball game, went miniature golfing, cleaned my house, baked some yummy goodies and such. But yesterday we had the chance to go to Ha Ha Tonka State Park down by Lake of the Ozarks.  We got to hike to this really cool old "castle."  It was built in the early 1900's by a rich Kansas City businessman that had always dreamed of having an old school English Castle.  It is in the middle of dense forest and the base structure is made entirely of rock.

 Sadly the castle was struck by lightning in the 1940's and was totally demolished. It was pretty cool to walk around!

 In the distance is the 80 foot tall water tower that was built to supply gravity fed water to the house.

 This was also destroyed by fire, but not from lightning.  It was destroyed by vandals in 1972.

 Dustin, Aaron and Lindsey!  This was a fun day trip to celebrate Lindsey's Birthday!!

 what a silly look....:-)

 Next we hiked down to this beautiful spring.  This spring water was pumped up the hill over over 300 feet to the water tower and then gravity fed to the castle.  It flows over 400 million gallons everyday and the water always stays at 54 degrees year round.

After this we went to a park and had a picnic lunch, then a little shopping at the outlet mall and back home to Columbia.  Overall it was a fun filled day of much laughter and enjoyment of the outdoors!  Now back to school on Wednesday and the beginning of my last semester of nursing school will be underway! :-)

Our newest friend in Columbia!

So a few weeks ago (like 6 or so) we had a little girl knock on our door selling cookie dough for school.  It was kind of expensive, but Dustin figured it was for a good cause so we bought some and paid her for the cookies.  We were the first person she had sold too and she wasn't quite sure what she was doing.  Dustin asked her how we got the cookie dough and she didn't act quite sure.  But as she left the house she took a long look and stated "I can remember this house."  Well after six weeks we were pretty skeptical about getting our cookie dough.  In fact just yesterday we went for a walk and Dustin and I were chuckling about not seeing that little girl again.  We weren't angry, but just figured she couldn't remember who we were or where we lived.  Well not an hour after we got home from our walk the door bell rang.  Lo and behold it was that little girl holding our cookie dough!  Dustin about busted out laughing at the coincidence of talking about never seeing the cookie dough and it showing up on our door step an hour later.  To make things even better, our new friend wrote us a message on the box. I hope you can read it! This is what we got out of it:   

Dear Customer: I'm sorry the cookie dough is so late. I just got it today. You probably thought I was a criminal, but I'm actually a really nice person. So sorry. Your new friend, Aliyah

How cute is that message!  It made us smile and laugh!  And now we can't wait to try out chocolate, caramel, pecan cookie dough!  So thanks Aliyah for remembering where we live and being our newest friend in Columbia.  You can come and sell us cookie dough anytime!!

4th Anniversary!

 May 06, 2012

I woke up to a beautiful surprise this morning!!  Seven stems of BEAUTIFUL orange lilies!  These are my all time most favorite flower!  To make it even better all of the flowers were dispersed around the house, so I had to find them all and then I got to arrange them!

 This next one makes me chuckle!  It looks like it is poking through the shower curtain right..... well that is because it is.  While I was home for Christmas, Dustin thought he heard something in the middle of the night.  Well we keep a gun in the house, so he grabbed that and double checked all the rooms in the house.  When he got to the bathroom and went to turn around to leave he brushed the curtain and it moved.  The sound startled him and he whipped around with the barrel of the gun. Now he didn't shoot a hole in the curtain but he did rip a hole as he turned the gun around.  So this is now a funny reminder everytime we shower!

The beautiful end result!  How can you not love these flowers.  I know roses are traditional, but we are anything but a traditional couple.  So extremely bright orange flowers is much more fitting to our crazy and charismatic personalities!

 Me holding my flowers before church. We thought this was a fun wall to take the picture with because of the "and they Lived Happily ever after"  I could not have asked for a better last four years and I can't wait for the next decades of fun to be spent with my best friend.

 This is day two of the flowers.  A whole bunch more blossoms had opened up and I couldn't help but take another picture.  The hands are just something silly I made.  I cut out my two hands and they say I love you...... and in between it says this much.  I ran out of paper and Dustin gave me a hard time about the gap not being very big but it was the thought that counted. :-) 

All in all it turned out to be a great fun filled casual anniversary.  We got to spend the afternoon with friends at barbecue and couldn't have asked for a better day.  This week Dusting starts a new block of classes.  He has three surgery classes and is excited to get into the more hands on part of Vet School!  I have 3 finals this week and graduation!  The highlight = MY PARENTS ARE COMING!!  Can you tell that I'm excited!  I feel kind of bad because it is such a long drive for them, but I am going to lie that I am thrilled to see my Mom and Dad!  Life is good and I couldn't ask for anything more!!

Whoa Whoa.....wait a minute...It's been almost how many years?

FOUR!!!!!!

That's right.  Sunday will be our 4th wedding anniversary!!!  I'm sure more pictures are to follow of the actually occasion but I couldn't help dig through all my old files of picture and find some of my favorites!  So be forewarned.......picture explosion to follow!

First up!  I had to find pictures that truly demonstrate our relationship.........non stop teasing.  I don't think I can count the number of food fights we have been in since we started dating.  These pictures are the result of trying to clean up a chocolate fountain from one of my bridal showers!

 I think this is one of our first "official" pictures.  Official meaning the first time I was meeting his family. :-)  Such good memories at state volleyball!!!

 This is temple square with his family!  This is not long before we got engaged.  It was a beautiful night and I'll never forget walking the temple grounds holding his hand!

 This is a glimpse of engagements, bridal, and wedding photos.  It was so hard to only include a few.  What a wonderful, beautiful, perfect day Tuesday May 6, 2008 was for us!  I got to marry my best friend surrounded by our loving families in the most beautiful place on earth.  It doesn't get much better!

Since then we have managed to find our selves in the occasional "tight" squeeze.  But we have always made it out alive and always with a good story to tell.  

 We also always found time to relax in the sun too!

Hunting on Elk ridge!  Very Beautiful and VERY rugged country!!!

 Lake Powell!!!  Fun times with Kris, Randy, and Parker.  Highlights included catching lizards, trying to break my leg on an air chair (the chair paraplegics can use to water ski), and Dustin finding a rattle snake and showing it too all the boy scouts!

 Fishing at Lake Powell and SHORT hair!  Cutting my hair was one of the ways I got myself ready to move to Missouri!  Bring on the humidity!

 One of our favorite places in the world.....spacious Colorado.  No cell phones, no TV, sleeping in a cabin, riding for miles in pristine silence, and cows!!!

 Since we have moved to Columbia, we have had the chance to be a little crazy!  This is me being an oompa loompa for Halloween at work! And our 17 inch snow storm that shut down Columbia for 3 days.

 Above is us with a baby bunny caught in our yard!  Dustin was nice enough to hold it hostage in MY SHOE until I got home from work!  Next is us at the end of a fun day canoeing down one of the inlets to the Missouri river with our best Missouri friends.  We would be truly lost without them!  

But we couldn't miss some time home in Utah either!  Dustin was lucky enough to visit when Miss Pailey was just days old!

 And we were able to enjoy some time at my house.  This is Rio!  Our 3 year old Palamino gelding.

 I just can't help but love these two boys to death.  They have been best buds since the day they met on Dustin and I's first date!!( I was babysitting and Dustin cooked me dinner!)  Uncle Dust has a special place in all of our nieces and nephews hearts.  Whenever I call, they all want to talk to Uncle Dust!

 I couldn't leave out a picture of good old Missy!  She is our constant companion when we are home.  She loves to go out to the farm with us and still plays like she is a puppy even though she is at least 12 years old.

 This is Dust and his milk drinking buddy Aubrey!  These two can empty a gallon of milk in no time flat! Aubrey learned very quickly that Uncle Dust was a big tease and got very good at telling him "Oh wa" aka NO!

This is just a cute picture of us last summer in front of our house after church!

 First professional baseball game last year on our 3rd anniversary after a fun day with my parents! And the Cardinals did us the favor of winning the World Series too!  We decided we better go back this year too, so we can spread on some more of our good luck!

 Like I said.....all the nieces and nephews can't help but love Uncle Dust! But then neither can I!

 Every once in a while I get a little credit for not being too bad of an Aunt Kel too!

 More fun at the farm this Spring with Kelsi!

 Easter Mushroom Hunting

 Fishing in shorts in Missouri in April!

 

 Dust taking a picture with me after my awards banquet for nursing school!!! Absolutely love this man to pieces!!!  He is absolutely so good to me!  He supports me no matter what, even when I am onery and sassy!  He can always find a way to make me smile, especially when I don't want too!  He encourages me to fight for my dreams and to be my very best.  I would be utterly lost with out my best friend by my side!  It's a little early but all the same Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!  And here's to many more fun filled and adventurous years to come