Letter

Since it has already been sent, I thought I would post our New Year's letter on the blog:

2010 was a wonderful year for us. On January 22^nd, Bryan proposed to me and of course I said yes! I was thrilled that my parents, our friends Chad and Carly and my Aunt Lorraine from Philadelphia were all there to witness it!

In February, Bryan and I went to Seattle and Vancouver. I had never been there before and was very excited to visit the cities, as well as see Bryan’s Aunt and Grandmother. The first night we were there, Bryan and I went to the Space Needle and had dinner. We had thought about not going that night, and coming back later in the weekend. Thankfully we stuck with our plan……The next day we drove to Grandma Mildred’s house where I met her and Aunt Lynn for the first time. They are both so wonderful and I was thrilled to meet them both. From there we went to the hotel where Bryan and I would be staying and checked in before we saw some sites in Washington. As we were getting in the car, I stepped off the curb wrong and broke my foot.  I spent all day at the hospital and then the rest of the trip in a boot. This did not stop us, as we decided to head to Vancouver the next day.  Aunt Lynn graciously offered to get me a wheelchair and her and Bryan took turns pushing me around in the rain.  The Olympics were going on, and we were able to see a tiny bit of the torch and some of Vancouver. I would love to go back when I do not have a boot on my foot. Aunt Lynn and Grandmother took great care of me. I just wish I would have made a better first impression! After 6 weeks of being in the boot, the day after I no longer had to wear it, I fell down the stairs and broke my other foot.

The year went by, we kept busy with the boys, and in June we flew to New Jersey to spend a week on the farm with Grandma and Grandpa Fithian. It was my first time meeting them, as well as seeing the farm. What a cool place! We had a wonderful week spending time with each other, visiting the lake, going to the shore and squeezing in time to go to Philadelphia to see my friend Suzy and my Aunt Lorraine and family. Thankfully the humidity was not too bad and we all had a great time!

In July Bryan and I went to Disney World for our wedding planning session. We had our engagement pictures taken, had our menu tasting, and spent some time in the parks. It was ridiculously hot and humid, and the lines were long so we fast passed most rides and then ventured to air conditioned locations. It was a short trip but we managed to do a lot in a short amount of time.

In August, Camden and Torrin both started school. Camden is in Kindergarten and Torrin is in half day preschool. My niece Mikaya and Torrin are in the same class, and their cubbies happen to be next to each other. On the first day of school, the teacher told me he kept kissing a little girl named Mikaya. I informed them that they would soon be related and she is used to his affection. Camden is 6 now, and Torrin is 3. They keep us busy and entertained, especially Torrin. We are not sure where he gets his vocabulary but he makes everyone laugh with the majority of things he says.

In September I celebrated my 34^th birthday on a Thursday and on Saturday my sister threw me an amazing bridal shower with help from my wonderful sister in law.  My friend and bridesmaid Carolyn did a fantastic job with my bachelorette party. My great friends Nicole, Jan and Suzy flew out and it was a fun weekend. After the shower, we all headed up to Breckenridge where we went to dinner, played games, had a lot of laughs and stayed the night at a condo. Just my kind of bachelorette party!

Halloween and Thanksgiving came and went in the blink of an eye, much like 2010. We had a great Turkey Day in Ft. Collins hosted by my sister and her family. It was delicious and a great time. A week later we headed to Disney World for our wedding. Torrin repeatedly told people he was marrying me and would like to tell me this as well. He would always follow it up with, “Aren’t you just so happy?” About 65 people made the trip down there and we could not have been more thankful. Although the weather was much colder than expected the week we were there, we managed to pull off what we considered a great wedding! A huge thank you to Ken and Susan for hosting the welcome dinner and to my parents for making our dream wedding possible. The night of our wedding, Bryan and I went to Hollywood Studios and rode the roller coaster. We figured it was a great way to start off our marriage! The next day we celebrated Bryan’s 32^nd birthday with his family at Magic Kingdom and then at dinner in Downtown Disney. Three days after our wedding, Bryan and I braved the bitter cold temperatures, put on our wedding attire, and had professional pictures taken at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Disney liked one of our pictures so much, they used our image on their Blog as well as their wedding Facebook page! We are hoping we get royalties for the use of our awesome faces, but we will not hold our breath. J

Sadly, both of our dogs Sadie and Corona went to doggie heaven this year so one week after we got married, Bryan and I got a 4 pound furball. He was born on 10-10-10 and is a Bichon-Poo named Mickey. I have never had a puppy so this has been an interesting experience. He is ridiculously adorable and the boys are madly in love with him. Overall, he is a pretty mellow puppy but now he has started to enjoy chewing things and running away from us. As I write this, he is having a fight with one of my socks. Today he experienced his first snowfall and loved it!

New Year’s Eve consisted of Bryan and me crashing my sister’s family’s tradition of going out to dinner at Old Chicago’s  and then to see The Fighter. I was surprised there was fighting in the movie (kidding). I believe it was the first time in my life I saw a movie with my sister in a theater.  We know how to party. On February 5^th, we will head to Sandals resort in Negril, Jamaica for our honeymoon. We will be staying in the “Millionaire Suite” and will be waited on hand and foot by two butlers. I know I will have a hard time letting go of control and having someone else do everything, but I think I will get over that quickly. It will be difficult to come home, but we are looking forward to this once in a lifetime vacation.

If you would like to keep up with us, please read my blog: http://thatswhatdsaid.blogspot.com. We hope 2010 was good to all of you, and that 2011 will be filled with much love, laughter, good health and happiness.

Goodbye 2010

It is hard to believe 2010 is coming to a close in 63 minutes. Where did the time go? It seems like time goes faster and faster every year. This time last year I was not even engaged. Now, I am married and a step mom. This year was filled with changes, vacations, broken feet (yes, two of them), moving in with 3 men and two dogs, getting my first puppy, etc. So many changes in only 12 months. Now I sit here in Ft.Collins, on the computer. My sister is next to me on her computer. Jeff and Bryan are in the other room watching Jersey Shore. I have never seen the show, nor do I intend to. I find it odd they are watching this. Quinn and Ethan are downstairs playing Play Station. Such family bonding we have. Sophie (my sister's dog) is staring down our dog Mickey as if to say, "Why are YOU in MY house?" They have a love/hate relationship but this is to be expected as Mickey is a puppy and Sophie is used to being the queen. I hope they grow to love each other during the week they spend together when we are in Jamaica.

Today Bryan and I drove up here, spent an hour trying to print our New Years newsletter at his Dad's house (we were unsuccessful so people might get an email instead), came to the Holders household, hung out, then went to Old Chicago's for dinner. There was a balloon guy there and he had a button on that said Happy New Year-scrolling electronically. Pretty awesome. Dinner was fun, then we headed next door to the movie theater. The same movie theater where my now husband first told me he loved me. That was October 9th, 2009 at 9:09 p.m. Yes, I remember the day and the time. I am weird like that. I can't believe it has been almost 1 year and 3 months since we were last at that movie theater and how much has changed since then.

We saw The Fighter. I honestly believe this was the first movie I have seen in a movie theater with my sister in my 34 years of life. Perhaps we saw a movie together when we were kids, but I have no recollection of it. Bryan asked if we went together when we were teenagers. Um, she is 9 years older than me. She did not want to hang out with me back in the day. We were not a family who went to movies together. I remember road trips, but not family outings. It was cool to go to a movie with my sister, brother in law, husband (still so weird to say and write) and my two oldest nephews. Quinn and I sat next to each other-we had some laughs at things that were not supposed to be funny (the movie was a "Close to the Hole Production"-we are terrible)-Christian Bale and his movie mom sang together and we wondered if they were in the glee club like my mom was (she has always told people she was in the Glee Club. It is one of our favorite Nana-isms). We joke that Quinn is my biological son as we are so much alike. As the movie went on for what seemed like a long time, we both said how it seemed really long with nothing going on. I love that kid.

All of this is rambling, as always. I will post pictures when I get a chance to upload them. They are not fabulous but they are something.

Here's hoping 2011 will be amazing!