Disney and Counting

To me Disney is an amazing place! My mom has instilled a love for this magical land in me from a very young age and 26 years later I still got it! So when Ev proposed we try to get a way for a few days this summer of course I brought up Disney as a possible destination. He suggested Vegas, Cancun, or a Cruise. Disney was not on his radar as a pratical adult vacation.


So as I began to plan possible vacation venues it became clear that none of our ideas were budget friendly. So we decided to scratch the whole "going away" idea and revisited some Michigan favorites (Traverse City/Mackinaw/South Haven). I had a hard time getting into planning my Michigan summer adventure, mainly because I still had visions of Ev and I relaxing with drinks in hand and palm trees swaying in the breeze at the pool.



After a few days of internet searches for the best deal, I told Ev our proposed budget for our Traverse City vacation. I could tell 1.) he was suprised at the cost and 2.) he wasn't thrilled about it either. Frustrated that neither of us could get on board with our first real vacation together since our honeymoon, I was ready to scrap the whole thing!!! Then on a whim I decided to log onto my favorite travel site and search Disney vacation. I was shocked at how affordable it was. I told Ev in a "hey did you know" kinda way what I had found. Next thing I knew he took the computer from me and clicked Buy Tickets!!!! I was shocked and thrilled that my husband committed so quickly and made the decision for us.

In 30 days from now I will be boarding a plane with my amazing husband for a 5 day vacation in Florida. I can't wait!!!!! I am sooo excited to go to Disney with Ev, I'm just hoping he finds it as interesting as I do. Okay that may be a stretch. So I will settle for not bored to tears. (I think I sold him with the 11 nations food walk in Epcot!) Stay tuned for more Disney pics/stories when we get back!!!!

Hurt and Hope

This blog post has been a long time coming. I have been rewriting this post over and over in my head trying to get my thoughts and emotions to come across just right. Each time the message is the same but the words are different. Mainly the reason I have been struggling with writing this is post, is because when I finally commit the words down they become real and raw.



Over 2 years ago my husband and I made the decision most couples make...... a decision to start a family. Through that decision came alot of tears, a lot of pain, and a lot of heartache. Our journey to say the least has not been easy. Instead of joy we have felt loss, anger and hurt.

After countless doctors visits, the grief of a miscarriage, 2 surgeries and months of fertility treatment later we were told that our hopes of becoming pregnant may soon be over. Heartbroken and angry I blamed God. I didn't understand why I was being denied a baby. Why when pregnancy seemd to come so easily to others, I was being told NO? Why was God making me feel so strongly about having a family and then making the process so painful? I have struggled with these thoughts and many others. It seemed like each time we were offered a chance of hope, it was stripped away.

I have prayed to God for answers. I have cried to him, bargained, yelled and simply asked to be shown the path he has intended for me. As I prayed and finally allowed myself to become at peace with my fertility struggle it seemed like God was showing himself to me. Unfortunately, being the stubbon person I am, I pushed his will away. But of course he kept correcting my course and slowly through his persistence I began to see. I strongly feel that God is leading my down the path of adoption! Evan and I have talked about this idea for some time now. I am still not sure what the future for us will hold. I am trying to stay open to HIS plan. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-14 NIV

Home and Happy

We did it!!! We have officially lived in one place for an entire year together. This is a big accomplishment for us considering this is the first time we have been able to say this in our marriage. Our housing stats are not to be desired. In the 3 1/2 years we have been married we have owned 2 houses, lived in 2 apartments, and for a brief stint in time even lived with my parents!

Although we still have a lot of projects on our "To Do List" we plan on taking our time while trying to finish them. We are in no rush to leave. I will admit sometimes I wonder what kind of adventures we would have had if we were to move cross country. Especially during these cold, gray months I find myself thinking about it more. I will never say we will never move again, but for now we are at home and happy

Good Riddance 2010.... Hello 2011!!!!!

Even though New Years gets downplayed with all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, it is still one of my favorite holidays! Not because my exciting social life has me buzzing all around town (most years I'm asleep before the ball even drops!!!) But because of the sense of hope and new beginnings come with a new year!!!

This past year for me will not be missed. Although in 2010 we moved into our new home and welcomed Baby AJ into our lives, we also had a lot of heartache. Still with all of our struggles, I am hopeful that 2011 will be our year. I have so many goals and dreams for this new year. This year on my 2011 wishlist is......

+ I hope to be enrolled in at least one class to work towards my BSN-I have been saying this for the past year though :)
+ To have 2 debts paid off!!!! Yay for debt snowball
+ New jobs for my husband and my dad!!
+ a Baby - I'm still hoping for this and praying for answers everyday
+ Running a 2nd Half Marathon
+ Vacation .... I'm thinking either Punta Cana or Cabo!

I'm hoping by writing these goals down it will make me more accountable to achieve some of them! Although my two biggest goals for this year are completely out of my control, I'm going to keep praying for answers!!!

October

Well we started the fall season off with a bang. Ev and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary this year! I can't believe everything we have gone through together. All the ups and downs of this past year have definately brought us so much closer together. If we weren't sure before how strong we were as a couple or how unconditionally we love each other, we for sure do now.

Here is a list of the other October events that filled our schedules!!!

( I will let you find the overall trend in our lives right now)

Hockey, Laura's off orientation in the Neuro ICU (and loving it), Hockey, Hockey, Laura's first Half Marathon, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Ev sick with pneuomonia, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Decorated our new house for Fall, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey!!!

Stuart Summer Happenings

I know this is very, very late. But better late than never right?!? But finally I've come out of my blog blues and have decided to update the site. I orginally started this site to help keep people updated on our Vegas Adventure. But as many of you know that dream among others fell through :( Instead of being down about everything I've finally decided to at least keep up on the events and changes in Ev and my life. So in a nutshell here are just a few of the lastest of the Stuart Happenings!

Very slowly we are working on making our new house a HOME. We are absolutely in love with our new house because for the first time it feels like home! Our first project was a front landcape facelift. After 20 bags of mulch, 2 cans of spray paint, 2 flats of flowers, 1 quart of paint, and countless loads of rock we came out with a front yard that makes me smile everytime I look at it.

Also this year we decided to forgo a big summer vacation, Dave Ramsey would be proud! Instead we wanted to do a few stay-cations and save our money for a big vacation this winter when the cold weather has us begging for sunshine and margaritas. So far we have enjoyed nights on the patio with a bottle or two of wine, Put-Put Golf, and a trip to Binder Park Zoo. Neither Ev or I could remember being to Binder since we were in grade school. Yikes! The best part of the zoo was the feed the giraffe exhibit. I hate to admit had it not been for that experience it would have been a bust.

Ev and I have love, love, loved to be able to spend a lot of time this summer with our munchkins!!!! Watching Bres and Lou Lou last weekend was so much fun. The kids spent the night with us and both days we watched them were filled with smiles and laughter. Some of my favorite things from the weekend were watching Bres and Lou chase Mason thru "the Tunnel" aka our entryway hallway, taking them to the playground near our house, and watching the nakey babes run thru the sprinkler in the backyard. It was a fun and exhausting weekend. I am so glad we did it and was grateful yet sad when we passed them off to Memo and Bop-Bop for the rest of the weekend.

I absolutely LOVE this picture!!!!

Pound Puppy

So since I have known my husband he has CONSTANTLY asked me for another dog! I was able to put off the subject by using the excuse that we should wait until we were in a house......but I don't have that excuse anymore.

It seemed like since before we even closed on the house, Evan started asking me about getting a dog. I kept coming up with excuses why not to get a dog such as the shedding, potty - training, and overall I just didn't want one. Eventually he wore me down.

After Ev got the green light he threw himself into the task of finding his perfect dog. He toyed with the idea of puppy vs. older dog and breed. Finally he had it narrowed down to 3 dogs. His top 2 picks were out of town, and there was one locally. He agreed to see the Jackson dog first, but had you asked him he would have told you he didn't think it was going to work out......he was wrong! Ev took one visit and fell in LOVE!!! Over the course of the next couple days he saw this puppy twice a day. On Monday I went to see the dog as well. She was gorgeous. The first day I met her she was very calm and I secretly liked how she followed me around so much and wouldn't even budge when Ev tried to take her outside on the leash!

The big test came on Thursday afternoon. Cascades Humae Society has a policy that if you already have a dog you must do a "Meet 'n Greet" to make sure neither dog is aggressive towards each other. We didn't think Mason would have a problem with this since he's Mason, but we were a little concerned about Sugar (that's what Cascades called her). It didn't go great. All Mason wanted to do was hide and all Sugar did was bark......alot. We took some time to rethink if this was something we really wanted, but in the end it was Sugar that helped us decide to take her home!!!

Sugar, now renamed Saige (mix of Gage and Sarge) is doing great! Ev and her are attached at the hip. Wherever Ev is, Saige is close at his heels. We have only had her for 4 days now and already she knows how to sit and lay on command. Ev is soooo happy he finally has his puppy and I am surprisingly happy too. Mason on the other hand is less than thrilled.