Our 2013

2013 started off great! Katie, Cora and I took Nevaeh to see Justin Bieber in concert. And as much fun as she had I think the older girls had more fun LOL. We watched my cousin get married up on the mountain side. Nevaeh performed in a musical with her 2nd grade class.

 March 15th the townhouse went on the market. And to my surprise for more then what I ever thought I would get for it. By March 20th we were under contract, and now needing to house hunt for something to buy. At the end of March I decided I wanted to change up my look. So I decided to do something with my hair that was extreme for me. 

At the end of April we closed on the townhouse, and since we didn't have a house to buy (because our first realtor sucked) we ended up moving into Johnny's moms new house. One afternoon in mid May god was really watching over Johnny as he was in a car accident on his way home from work that totaled his car. Thankfully he walked away with only a small headache and some body aches. 

On May 31st we closed on our very first home together. 

In July Nevaeh lost her 6th tooth. We took our annual trip to Glenwood Springs, to take the hike to Hanging lake to visit Johnny's dads tree. We watched a few firework shows with friends, saw Kenny Chesney in concert, and re arranged the house a few times LOL. We also went back to the Fertility clinic to see what we needed to do to start the process to get pregnant. We were given' the run around 2-3 times and had already put out a couple hundred dollars so we were tired of it and just wanted to get our process started.

Our house was starting to finally feel like a home.... because we had such a horrible time buying we had to settle on a house that wasn't exactly what we had in mind for our home but it was going to fit us for a little while.

In August we celebrated Johnny getting a new job with Mike and Travis doing fiber optics and telecommunications, Volleyball tournaments, Katie's bridal shower, Nevaeh's first day of 3rd grade at a new school, my golden birthday and Katie's bachelorette party. It was a busy month to say the least.

 

First day of 3rd grade

September finally meant Katie and Mike were getting married!! We had so much fun celebrating with her and Nevaeh made a new best friend. 

Rylie and Nevaeh

To close out the year we celebrated our 3 year anniversary, spent Thanksgiving with Johnny's side of the family and then had our first Christmas at our new house. 

Closing out 2012

In June our good friends Katie and Mike got engaged, and we couldn't be happier for them. We finally got our pictures taken as a family LOL. Another one of our friends Lindsay and Mike got married in July. My best friends mom got married in August. And we finished out the summer with Mary Peacock's wedding.

                                            

   Nevaeh started 2nd Grade!











 In September Johnny's grandpa passed away and that was very hard for him and his family. October we moved back into my townhouse as the renter did not work out. We also made a trip back to The Melting Pot to celebrate our 2 year anniversary!!

In November we decided we were going to re do the floors on the main level of the townhouse to get the nasty carpet out and also to hopefully increase value so we could sell. During this process we found out that the sub floor was messed up and uneven. We had to completely re do the sub floor so we make the hardwood level. Thank goodness we have good friends or it would of never got done!!

The nasty carpet before

Re-doing the sub floor

Hardwood after

The Holidays were approaching quickly. We had Thanksgiving at our house with my dad. I cooked a Turkey and the whole shebang. We went black Friday shopping for the first time. It was a fun experience but didn't get involved in any of the craziness because I wasn't shopping for anything in particular. Sparkle (The elf on the shelf) showed up the day after Thanksgiving to watch over Nevaeh for the next month.

Disney World

Surprise!!
 Nevaeh turned 7!! We decided we would surprise her and take a family vacation to Disney World.  It was her first real vacation, and first time on an airplane.

Our Vacation began May 5, 2012. We got to Florida, checked into our rock-n-roll hotel and began the journey around the area. We walked around the hotel to see all of the statues of all the different characters.

  


 That night we had princess dinner plans. Nevaeh was so excited to get dressed up in her princess dress and have a tea party style dinner with the princesses. 

The next day we would go to the Disney park. We got up bright and early and headed for the shuttle bus to take us over to Disney. It was pretty hot that day. Nevaeh got an autograph book and made sure that we stood in line for every single princess so she could get their autograph and a photo.

   

Our next day we made a trip down to Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. These stops were very short because Nevaeh didn't see any characters at these places that she wanted autographs from. She was also very hot so therefore was getting grumpy. But she did manage to get her face painted. We made it back to Disney that night to see the firework show, and Tinker Bell fly through the air.

The next day we did some swimming at the pool and just hanging out as a family. Later that night  we made it to Downtown Disney, and Planet Hollywood.  Nevaeh had a shirt made with her name on it. We checked out all of the shops and just wondered around. 

 All in all it was a wonderful vacation.

2012 is rolling

 January 2, 2012 was the day that we put down the smokes. As if that is not stressful enough for one person we were doing it together.. It definitely wasn't easy! We were always grumpy, didn't want to go anywhere that had the temptation to smoke, short tempered, and got sick of each other very easy. Ugh it wasn't the greatest time LOL. But we have never felt better and it only has been a few months.

Nevaeh has started Gymnastics and is liking it so far. She doesnt have much arm strength so some of the activities are hard for her.

                                    

Johnny and I decided that we were going to rent out my townhouse and stay with my mom for a few so we could save money in order to buy a bigger house for our family. During this time we found out that we would not be able to conceive a child of our own. We were going to need to start at a fertility clinic to achieve pregnancy. We were devastated, crushed, mad, sad, all the emotions that you could imagine. Our hopes of expanding our family seemed so far away. The cost of doing any sort of fertility treatment was anywhere between $5,000.00 and $30,000.00 just depending on what treatment you need. So as much as we wanted to get pregnant as soon as possible that was going to be on the back burner for the time being so we could save all that we could in order to buy a bigger house. We also had a surprise planned for Nevaeh for her birthday.

Nevaeh's 7!

The first year...

Now that we had been married for a few months, things got a little complicated. I wouldn't say that married life was all fine and dandy. No one really told us that the first year would be the hardest. We definitely had some rough times and didn't see eye to eye on very many things. But we made it!! We put all those stupid petty arguments and disagreements behind us and were determined to make the best marriage. We decided that since we didn't really take a honeymoon that we needed to get away, and plus Johnny had never been on an airplane or seen the ocean.

Nevaeh's birthday was just around the corner. She was turning 6. We decided that the perfect gift to her and our family was to get a dog. I always wanted a Teacup Yorkie. My mom and I did the research and found a lady that was selling some. My mom Johnny and I drove out to Elizabeth to look at the puppies. I was in love, they were so small, and cuddly. I fell in love with this one that was probably the smallest of the litter, it was a male and had brown and black markings. Johnny and my mom fell in love with a different one. He was cute too, but I liked the little one. Johnny's main focus was on the brown one that had a big butt almost like a bear. (hints where we got the name) After an hour or so we left with both puppies (my Mom and Johnny convinced me that we needed both)

Bear (left) Tiny (right)

After planning our honeymoon get away we were so excited to head out of town. So April 15, 2011 we hopped on a plane and headed to California for a long weekend. We enjoyed each others company and had a wonderful time checking out the ocean, shopping, the nice weather, and sunshine.

Johnny's first time on an airplane

Us on the pier

First time at the beach and seeing the ocean

Later in the year Nevaeh started first grade, and Johnny and I decided to take a cruise with a group of our friends. We wanted to take a "one last vacation before kids" kind of thing. I love cruising and have been on several but this will be Johnny's first time along with a few of our friends that were coming with. The cruise was so much fun!! We left out of Tampa Florida on September 25, 2011, on Carnival Cruise lines. We visited Cozumel, Roatan Honduras, Grand Cayman, and Belize.

We returned from vacation and celebrated our one year wedding anniversary with a nice dinner I cooked for the two of us, as well as the top on our wedding cake. For being one year old it wasn't horrible, but we only had a bite!

November 11, 2011 Nevaeh lost her first tooth. She was terrified when she saw the blood, but when she woke up the next morning and found money under her pillow she was excited.

 As the year was coming to an end Johnny and I decided that we needed to do something  better for ourselves. So we decided that on New Years Eve we were going to give up smoking cigarettes. One of the easiest things to say but the hardest things to do. So lookout world..............

Our Wedding Day 10-10-10

The morning of October 10th was very rainy and gloomy but nothing more than exciting for Johnny and I. I stayed at my moms with Nevaeh, while Johnny stayed at our house the night before. Us girls woke up and showered, got Nevaeh somewhat ready and headed to the hair salon. Katie, Tara, my Mom, Nevaeh and I all enjoyed mimosas and girl talk while at the salon.

We left the salon and headed down to the Church. What the adventure that was with Katie, Tara, Nevaeh and I. We stopped at McDonalds for Nevaeh to get something to eat and while in the drive thru, the bottle of champagne we had left over went everywhere. Us girls were laughing so hard and having so much fun. Mainly trying to keep everyone calm :) If anyone knows Katie, they should know that she LOVES (wink wink) Champagne. And now her entire car smells like it. We got to the Church and they had us girls set up in the daycare area of the church to get ready.

Time was going by so fast and I was starting to get nervous that everything wasn't going to get done before the wedding was supposed to start. (We set up all of our own decorations, and created our own CD for the music)

And then it was time!!! Time for my Dad to walk me down the isle in front of all of our friends and family and give me to the man that would be waiting for me. 

Our wedding was wonderful, we vowed to each other and I to Nevaeh that we will love each other forever. We joined sand together as a symbol of the promise we made to each other. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! 

Next it was the reception. Food, drinks, and party time!! There were so many people that we wanted to go around and say "Thanks for coming" to but there was just not enough time in the night. We did the money dance, listened to speeches from Tara and John, did some line dancing, and all of the normal wedding reception activities. We even had a tribute to Johnny's father, which was very emotional but beautiful. 

We had so much fun, there was even some cake fights. We made it into the early morning hours, and finally ended our night at the strip club across the street from our hotel.

The best part of the night/day was being able to say that we were HUSBAND and WIFE!!!!