Anthony's Birthday...Wedding Planning...Valentine's Day

I realized it has been a really long time since I have taken the time to blog about our life and what has been going on lately. So here is what we've been up to for the last month....

Anthony turned 31 on February 3rd. We had a house party on January 31st with our friends to celebrate. It was a lot of fun! We borrowed Daniel's beer pong table so that the boys could play beer pong outside and had the playstation set up inside so that they could also play Mortal Kombat. Overall, we had a lot of fun and I was really glad Anthony was able to spend time with friends. Here are a few pictures from that night.






On Anthony's actual birthday, he and I took off from work and went to Animal Kingdom for the day to enjoy the free entry Disney is offering. It was a lot of fun! We really enjoyed the new roller coaster Expedition Everest! We didn't take many pictures that day, but I have a couple.



Wedding plans are coming along very slowly. We haven't made any final decisions really at all. But I have my wedding party picked out, so I feel like I have made at least one step towards the big day. Tomorrow a few of us are going to David's Bridal to try on dresses for Jessica's wedding and then hopefully they can try on a few for mine too. I'm mostly just excited to see my girlfriends and try on a couple pretty dresses!

Valentine's day was really nice this year. Neither of us spent a whole lot of money, but we were able to spend the day together. We went to the movie theater yesterday, which we hardly ever do, and saw Push. It was interesting and a nice date. I'm making Anthony a special dinner tomorrow for Valentine's day with lobster, twice baked potatoes, and strawberry cheesecake. I'm looking forward to it!!

The Magic Kingdom...Where Dreams Come True

Anthony and I went to Orlando last weekend to celebrate our one year anniversary. Friday night we had our celebratory dinner at Fulton's Crab House in downtown Disney. It was delicious!!! We also spent some time walking around and window shopping.


Saturday he and I went to the Magic Kingdom for the day. We had a very full day beginning at 9:00am. The rides were fantastic because the lines were not long at all. We spent the entire day riding rides and checking out the shops. We even saw Stitch while we were walking around!




That night he and I were very excited at how beautifully the castle was decorated. It would randomly change colors and the lights were so gorgeous! We decided to stay for the Spectro Magic light parade. While we were watching the parade, Anthony told me how much he loved me. He told me how much he really did want to spend the rest of his life with me and asked me if I knew that he really did want to be with me forever. When I said, "yes of course I know that," he said, "then let's take the next step," and there was my engagement ring. It was so beautiful! The lights were so beautiful and the castle made it just like a fairytale! I'm still a little shocked that we're engaged, but I couldn't be any happier!

Three Days of Christmas!!!

On December 23rd Anthony and I headed to Wauchula for three days of Christmas celebration. Tuesday night we went to my Nana's for my families Christmas gift exchange. Everyone was there this year except Daniel Cook who had to work a night shift at the mines. We exchange gift cards every year playing the "dirty santa" game. You may know it by some other name, but the basic concept is to draw numbers and then number 1 opens a gift. Number 2 can take number 1's gift or open a new gift. It continues that way until the end of the game. It's always a lot of fun and there is usually a gift card everyone wants. This year's hot choice was a 30 minute massage from Master's Touch. Anthony and I ended up with Target and Barnes and Nobel!

After leaving Nana's Anthony and I went to Jessica's house for a few minutes of hanging out. It's so hard to get to see everyone now that we all live in different parts of the state! It was nice to see Jessica and Kelly, even though it was only for a few minutes.

Christmas Eve we stayed home most of the day and helped my mom bake cookies. Well, I helped and Anthony played Wii. My parents have a Wii and we aren't fortunate enough to own our own so we have to enjoy it when we can! Anthony did pop in and help me make and decorate spritz cookies. All of the cookies turned out fantastically!

That evening we went with my parents to church for the candlelight service. There we were able to see Damon and Alecia's new baby, Caleb. He is beautiful! After church we had Christmas Eve dinner with my parents. It was delicious! My mom made prime rib, twice baked potatoes, and green beans. All of it was very tasty!

The dining room for Christmas Eve...


After dinner we opened our Christmas pj's from my parents. This year I had blue monkeys with santa hats. Anthony's had Christmas trees! It was his first year celebrating the pj tradition my family has. Every Christmas Eve my mom gives us our Christmas pj's and we wear them all day on Christmas. My aunt Susan also let us open all the gifts from her. We received so many cool gifts!! We've been really into game night lately and we got Pictionary, Taboo, Apples to Apples, and Rumikub! My aunt also gave Anthony some grilling accessories that we are looking forward to using!! I got a free night in an Orlando hotel that we'll be using for our anniversary trip coming up! There was so much more I'll just list a few: reed diffuser, tanning lotion, gift cards, and perfume.

Christmas morning we woke up kinda early to have a terrific breakfast! Note the sleepy look of our eyes!


My mom made her traditional pancakes with hot apples and dad grilled sausage and bacon. It was all so tasty!! Then we all settled in the living room to open our presents!





First we opened our "Santa" gifts. Anthony got a Rubix cube that is electronic and I got a Pixos. Yes, me and every other 4 year old out there got a Pixos Studio for Christmas this year! I loved those things as a child. If you grew up in the 80's then you know what they are. My mom aka Santa, said she couldn't resist buying it for me because of how happy they made me as a child. I'm excited to have a whole week off to play with it!



After opening all our gifts and spending most of the afternoon with my family, we packed everything into the car and came back to Fort Myers. Anthony opened all the gifts from his parents. The most interesting thing that happened during that was the remote control spider. I am deathly afraid of spiders and all things involving spiders. Anthony was letting me help him unwrap his presents and unknowingly gave me a remote control spider to unwrap. I only tore off a small amount of paper before screaming and flinging the present away from me. It was amusing! Here he is with his presents!




He and I were going to open our presents on the morning of the 26th but we just couldn't wait! We opened our gifts from each other last night and had so much fun! I loved all the gifts he gave me, and he really liked his too. I took pictures of us with all of them wrapped and unwrapped and a few of us unwrapping. They tell the story...

 

I think that this was the best Christmas I have ever had! It was very amazing to be able to share the entire thing with Anthony and have him be a part of my family traditions. I hope all of you also had an amazing Christmas!

Ready for xmas

This is the first post from me (Anthony) on here. I'm not much for writing on things like this, mostly because I think people just don't care to know this much about me, but whatever. Anyway... ready for christmas to come and excited to be sharing them with alisha. Hope everyones christmas and new years is great. My one and only wish from you guys is stop the politically correct bs. It's merry christmas, not "happy holidays". If you're jewish, wish people happy hanukkah, or whatever else you do... or I might cut you :). Anyway, the police still haven't found my car, so if you still got some money left over from the holidays that you're not sure what to do with, I wouldn't complain if you bought me a car. Just saying...

Happy Holidays!

It's been a while since I have blogged so I have a lot to catch up on!!

Since my last post we have had good news and bad news. I'll get the bad news over first. Anthony's car was stolen the weekend after Thanksgiving and we still haven't recovered it. The police told us there is a really good chance of getting it back, but at this point we're not sure if it will be in that great of condition if we do ever get it back. Thankfully, we live very close to his job (a 2 minute walk) so he can still get to work without too much trouble.

On to the good news....

My first chorus concert with my new students went very well last Thursday. I had been so nervous about their behavior and their sound, but they ended up making me very happy. I watched the video with them on Friday and they were also very pleased with the way that it turned out. We have a week left before Christmas break and we're going to spend it picking out new songs.



My younger brother proposed to his girlfriend Meg on December 9th. I will finally have a sister! Everyone is very excited for them. I think the wedding will be sometime around May 2010.



Anthony and I went to Busch Gardens this weekend so that we could use our pass one more time before they expired. It was a great day, a little chilly, but the lines weren't too long. The Christmas decorations were also very pretty.



Now we are just finishing up all of our Christmas shopping and getting ready to spend the holidays with family. Here are some pictures of how the apartment looks for Christmas!!

Thanksgiving...

Anthony and I had Thanksgiving in Wauchula with my family on Thursday. It was really tasty, and very nice to see my family. This year some of our extended family dined with us. It gave me an opportunity to introduce Anthony to some family that he probably wouldn't have met any time soon.

We avoided Black Friday this year and I really am not that sad that we did. No one seemed to have great sales. We did go to the outlet mall around midnight to check out a couple early sales, but were disappointed.

If you are a fan of Christmas movies you should check out "Four Christmases." It was really funny and had a nice storyline. I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday!

One Word
TYPE ONLY 1 WORD. IT’S HARDER THEN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Your significant other? amazing
3. Your hair? darker
4. Your mother? wauchula
5. Your father? same
6. Your favorite thing? love
7. Your dream last night? weird
8. Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. You’re in? pj's
11. Your fear? spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? family
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you’re not? sleepy
15. Muffins? baked
16. One of your wish list items? engagement
17. Where you grew up ? WAUCHULA
18. The last thing you did? decorate
19. What are you wearing ? pj's
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pet? pest
22. Your computer? hp
23. Your life? meaningful
24. Missing someone? friends
25. Your car? dirty
26. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
27. Favorite Store? target
28. Your summer? moving?
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

Now it’s 4 answers
32. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME? mom, susan, jan, jaime
33. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: pasta, pizza, lasagna, broccoli
34. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW? bed, north carolina, new york, beach