Zoo Day

Thursday was a gorgeous day outside, and it began with a special Valentine's Day gift from Grandma and Grandpa McDonald. Auntie Kipley also threw in some fun Valentine's for us as well as an adorable unicorn pony as a late Christmas gift. Arista has been carrying it around everywhere, and loves it.



Grandma Sue sent Grandma Mary some fabric to make a little blanket for Arista. Grandma Mary used her skills and put together an amazing quilt. Arista loved to lay on it and carry it around with her little pony. Chris and I were talking that we need a quilt for us. ;)



We decided to take Arista to the Zoo since it was so nice outside. We brought Grandma Sue in on the fun too. We started out by staring at the Emu. Arista was a bit afraid of him, and I can't blame her. He was giving us the stare down.



The panda bear was ADORABLE! She was just sitting on her cute little bum chewing on some bamboo. I think we were more enthralled with the panda than Arista was. Chris can we get one?









Arista was not down on any family pictures this trip at the zoo. All she wanted to do was run around. Silly girl.





There is this cool kid's play area that is all about pizza. Arista had a blast playing on the giant cheese wedge and trying to pick up the giant mushroom. She was really sad to leave. Grandma Sue made the sauce while Arista played with the toppings. Too fun!











"Bye bye Zoo, bye bye Zoo, we will see you someday soon!"

A HOT Weekend in Hot Springs

Saturday morning Chris and I woke up and headed off for our weekend getaway to Hot Springs Virginia. It's a 4 hour drive, and I took the first 3 hours while Chris studied. I kept myself entertained while jamming to the radio and practising for my future American Idol audition. When we hit the 3 hour mark Chris drove the 60 mile windy road to The Homestead 1776 hotel. I was very excited to get out of the car, since I get motion sickness.



We arrived at the hotel around 2pm, checked in, and then went to the Casino restaurant for lunch. We both had delicious pizza's, then went back to the hotel to walk around. I have never been to a nicer hotel in my life. It was like an old southern mansion, with marble floors, old paintings, old furniture, and my favorite part...3:00pm tea time. Every day from 3-4 they serve all the guests tea with cucumber sandwiches and bread. To us non-tea drinkers they served hot chocolate with marshmallows. It was the best hot chocolate we have ever tasted. After sipping our drinks we browsed through the shops and then took a long nap in our beds. Yes, we had 2 full size beds in our room. We were a bit disappointed that we reserved a room with a king sized bed, and ended up with 2 full. However, we moved both beds together and made it work.





After a wonderfully long nap we woke up and started getting showered and ready for our night out. We both dressed up in fancy clothes and walked around the hotel. We checked out the pool, bowling ally, spa, and all the other amazing things the hotel had to offer. At around 8:30pm we went to the main dining room for our candlelit dinner. Our appetizers were crab cakes and braised beef with cheese grits. Then for our main course we had trout and apple bourbon pork. The food was the best we have ever tasted. Everything was perfect! For dessert we had a flour less chocolate cake, a cherry cordial cake, and an orange rum cake(free from our waiter). After stuffing ourselves with dessert we hit the dance floor. We requested "Come Fly With Me", and danced to 3 other romantic songs. The band was incredible, and the dancing was amazing. Right when the last song of the night was ending, I looked over and there was this woman wearing the SAME DRESS I WAS! What are the chances of that happening?! After leaving the dining hall we sat by the fire in the great hall, and my dress twin walked past us. I was hoping that they didn't see me but to no avail the husband ran back over and said "Cute Dress!". We all had a great laugh over it. I should have requested that we get a picture!







After a wonderful evening we settled into our room and watched "Love and Other Drugs". We really enjoyed the movie, and thought it had a wonderful love story behind it. We exchanged gifts, and Chris loved what I got him. I had a beautiful statue made of our family. Chris gave me the new Katy Perry nail polish and a massage and body wrap! Waking up the next morning at 8:00am wasn't too much, but we had a fabulous breakfast put on by the hotel. It was huge with homemade donuts, and any breakfast food you could think of. Thinking about it makes me hungry!





Breakfast



From breakfast we went back to our room to pack up our things. After checking out we sat outside in the rocking chairs in the front of the hotel for awhile, then went bowling. I started out bowling really well, then Chris came from behind and bowled a turkey! He was very proud of his score!





After bowling we walked around the grounds of the hotel, watched ice skaters skate, sat by the outside fire, and played a few games of checkers.





Around 3:00pm we took a shuttle up to the horse ranch where we got suited up for our hour long ride. Chris is petrified of horses and watching him get on the horse was pure entertainment. I wish I could have taken a picture of his face. He was scared out of his mind. After about 10 minutes into our ride he finally realized enough to enjoy it. We rode through the beautiful mountains, with no problems what-so-ever. We had 2 very tame horses. Chris rode Lou, and I rode Rickey.





From horseback riding we started our long journey home. The first hour was pure hell. That windy road was a killer, and I ended up throwing up all the way home. It was awful! What a nasty way to end such a great weekend! To make matters worse I ended up dropping my bag of throw-up on my foot and all over the car floor. We also left a lovely bag of vomit on the driveway of someones house on accident when we did a quick "pull over I am going to throw up!". Sorry whoever you are!! When we finally arrived home the nausea subsided just from seeing our little Arista's face. She was so happy to see up and was talking up A storm about all her adventures.

Empty Box, Broken Heart

Last Wednesday Chris and I went over to workout at our community gym. While there I got onto the treadmill and started to run. After a few minutes I decided to take off my wedding ring and wedding band, since my fingers were beginning to swell up. After running I grabbed my ipod, water bottle, etc..and left the gym. For the first time ever I decided not to wipe off the machine because I didn't touch any of it. Around midnight I realized that I had left both of my rings in the tray on the treadmill. After a LONG night of anxiety and prayer I woke up at 4:55am to run over to the gym to see if my rings were there. I ran in the gym as fast as I could and the rings were GONE. No one working there that night has seen them, and the cleaning lady didn't see them. The gym closes at 11pm everynight and I left the gym at 9:45pm. Such a short time frame for some dishonest person to take them. We talked to many employees, managers, and made fliers but the rings have not shown up.

After a few days we realized that the rings would not be returned. We filed a police report, and have an officer working on talking to everyone who was at the gym that night. We are so lucky however that we insured both rings. It has been a challenge to gain receipts from our jeweler to turn in but this evening they finally found the receipt they had been searching for. We are hoping to have this all resolved soon.

I have been devastated by this loss. I know that it is just rings, but they have some serious meaning to me. I wore these rings through the most difficult experiences of my life. These rings symbolized the everlasting bond between Chris and I.

I have learned a very valuable lesson from this. NEVER take your rings off and leave them on a treadmill.

I think it's time for an upgrade on my next ring. What do you think?

My Baby Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

If I Had A Million Dollars

I would be sporting these adorable shoes. These shoes are like Dorthy gone pageant! With a pair of shoes like these, i'd need a whole new wardrobe. Excuse me while I drool over these glitter goddesses.