6 Years of Marriage

We celebrated our 6 year anniversary this past Sunday.  Our recent trip to Florida was basically our gift to each other so we just enjoyed a dinner out at Americana while a couple of friends watched Lily.  We would both say that we have grown so much over the past 6 years.  God has blessed us far beyond what we deserve and we look to the future with anticipation for all that He'll continue to do in and through us.

 Justin's tiki burger.  He let me try a bite - it was fantastic.

 Justin's pick for our dessert...bacon brownie sundae.

Best Friends.  Lovers.  Made for Each Other.

A Day out With Thomas

Last Saturday we headed over to Boone for "A Day out With Thomas".  I think Lily has only seen the show a couple of times but she knew what it was all about.  It was cold when we arrived - I was wishing we were wearing hats and mittens!  But about halfway through, the sun came out and it warmed up.  We enjoyed the morning with my friend Sarah and her two boys.

First Orchard Visit of the Season

We love going to Center Grove Orchard.  We got season passes last year and knew we'd do that again!  After going twice, it pays for itself.  Here are a few snapshots of our first visit this fall.

 The cider donuts are a hit.

 the jumping pillow

And we ended the day going on a hayrack ride.  We squeezed onto the trailer packed full of 2 kindergarten classes!  In this photo Lily is enjoying roaming around while the other kiddos got off to pick out gourds.

Siesta Key: Last Day

Our last day consisted of traveling home bright and early in the morning.  We were greeted by my mom and Lily at the airport in Des Moines which was fun.  Much to our surprise though, Lily was super shy towards us!  I don't think she knew quite what to think about the whole situation.  After having lunch though, she came around and was her usual spunky self.

 We'd never boarded a plane from the outside before!

 Our welcoming crew.  

We were a ways off and Justin zoomed in so I don't think Lily had spotted us yet. :)

 She's smiling here but she did not say one word til about 15 minutes later.  We were so glad to see her!

 Very clingy with Daddy

Home sweet Home!

Siesta Key: Day 3

This was our final day in Siesta Key so we tried to get in as much beach time as we could.  In the morning, after breakfast, we hung out at Crescent Beach, right by our resort.  I think we both walked about a mile along the shore, it was so peaceful.  Then we enjoyed lunch at Siesta Key Oyster Bar and headed back to Siesta Beach.  We could barely bring ourselves to leave that afternoon to head back to Clearwater!  But it was a very smart idea...since Siesta Key is about an hour drive from Clearwater (where we flew into), we figured it would be probably be best to stay close to the airport our last night in Florida before our early morning flight.  It was sooo nice to be nearby and not have to wake up as early and/or risk running into traffic or traveling problems and possibly miss our flight.  Good on us!

 Breakfast at The Good Egg

 Yoga on the beach!

 The whole outside of the restaurant was covered in dollar bills - I can think of better ways to spend that cash.  Silliness.

 You can see by this photo of how far out the water was waist deep.  We were easily 200 yards out at one point and still, only to our waists.  Also, the sand is 99% quartz so it's never hot.  That in itself was awesome!  It was very fine and white, looked alot like powdered sugar.  Ahhh, heavenly.

 It was much less crowded the two previous days

 On Clearwater Beach.  We ate at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill.  When we checked into our hotel, the guy at the front desk asked where we were having dinner.  When we said on Clearwater Beach, he responded with "Oh, you're eating at Frenchy's then?"  Needless to say, it's a popular place!

It was overcast most nights of our trip but we were still able to see some splash of color as the sun set before the rain started this night.

Siesta Key: Day 2

This blog post will be mostly pictures and a ridiculous amount of them - you have your fair warning!  The scenery was so beautiful that we just kept snapping away and it's too hard to narrow them down, so forgive me. :)

 Think I could make it as a maternity model?

Yeah, me neither.  But let me tell you...the salt water was Ahmazing to float in and feel weightless!

 We had a couple of different people offer to take our picture for us but we were having way too much fun using the tripod. :)  It always makes us laugh.

 Lunch!

 Before going out for dinner

 29 weeks along

 Our tapas spread at The Cottage

This is the view of the outside of our room and the deck that we shared with our neighbors.  It was fabulous to sit in those loungers at night, enjoying the ocean breeze!