2014 begins...

we started off the new year by having dinner and appetizers with our friends the miller family... after we put the kids to bed we played rumikub.  it was a nice easy night and we happened to look up at the clock in time to see it was 11:59 so we could kiss at midnight.  the rest of the week chris had off from work so we relaxed at home a bit and took a trip into wilmington to go to the childrens museum there.  daniel had a great time running around to different things... his favorite was a slide in a tree house... a car... a shopping cart to push around and the bus outside...

it was pretty cold outside so we mostly stayed in doors and daniel had fun playing with new toys.. 

and we came back from vegas with really bad colds.... mostly daniel and chris had it the worst...

we also helped out our friends the millers with their daughter baptism... aida is my special friend... we have fun together and she is just a hilarious child... so i was glad to be there and witness her baptism...

the next week our plans for the month changed when i got the call that my grandpa vern had passed away on January 8th.  He was 89 and had been diagnosed with liver cancer a few months before.  it was a great relief to him to be gone but it has sure taken a toll on me and my family to have him gone... a huge void for sure.  i will write another entry about him later.  i cried pretty hard that afternoon, but by the next day was doing better and ready to buy plane tickets home.  my birthday happened to be the next week so i just had my to good friends over for lunch from olive garden... pretty low key even though it was my 30th birthday i just didn't feel like celebrating...

we flew home wednesday for the funeral on saturday... i worked the next couple days helping my mom pick out songs and pictures and what not.... i even got to go help dress my grandfather in his burial clothes... which was a beautiful and spiritual experience... i'm really glad i went.

my sister and i were set to sing how great thou art till i got the really bad cold and completely lost my voice... could hardly talk.  i was so upset because my grandpa was always my biggest supporter when it came to singing and i wouldn't be able to pay this tribute to him... plus it meant i was leaving my sister to sing alone... which is really hard. especially for this funeral.. but we worked it out and were able to find her a good song to sing. and man did she knock it out of the park... just beautiful.  and so musically emotional... my brothers also sang with all the other boy cousins and did beautifully.  i did get to participate by leading all the cousins and spouses in a family choir singing i know that my Redeemer lives... and cried the whole last verse... sorry guys! my mom of course gave an incredible eulogy.  perfectly painted the picture of grandpas life.  it was so fun to see so many faces at the funeral and viewing the night before... some of course the second i saw them started bawling my eyes out... the worst being ed and shauna smith..  ed was my grandpas business partner and one of my biggest fans... he always made me feel so smart and beautiful and like i would be the greatest catch of a wife in the world... and he was always good to my grandpa.  after the grave side dedicaion we went back to the church for lunch.  it was really fun to see all my cousins again.  then they all jumped on planes and headed back home.  my sweet inlaws sent us these really nice flowers... which was super sweet of them...

and will was playing with my phone and took this great picture and posted it to my instagram... haha

david getting ready to dedicate the grave

chris and i stayed till the next tuesday.  sunday we had a little family lunch after church... it was one of those first oh man... we will miss grandpa moments not having him there... he's been coming to my moms for the last 8 years... then monday i thought we should go to olive garden as grandpa had taken us there at least once a month the whole time chris and i lived with him.  that was my moment to break down.... i could probably also blame it on hormones but really i was a little sad... and felt silly for crying in the middle of olive garden.

playing with grandmas glasses and piano

once we got home chris went to work only one or two days till the craziest ice and snow storm hit our little town... and quite a bit of the eastern coast. the morning the storm was supposed to hit was super cold... so i bundled daniel up in a snow suit aunt sharon had sent us and he went outside... only for 2 min as he was just too cold.

 it started with freezing rain which put about 2 inches of ice on everything including the roads....   then the snow started and man... it just kept coming till we had several inches of snow!  the town completely shut down... good thing i went to the store the night before for essentials like milk,, even though the line took an hour it was worth it... nothing was open for 3 or 4 days... the ice on the roads took forever to melt... and it was cold!!!

we did play outside a bit... we grabbed our boogie board and took daniel sledding in the front yard.  he loved all of it till one sharp turn and he face planted.  chris even pulled me around for a bit and i pulled him for two seconds... to weak.

we watched a lot of movies and ate food... nothing else to do! we did decide to take the time and move daniel into a toddler bed... he really liked it... slept on the floor quite a bit here and there falling asleep on the floor for nap time... he only fell out once but it wasn't too bad.  

he also had a good time playing with his monster trucks while watching monster truck videos.  and playing with his mr potato head.. star wars!

the next week after that was our anniversary.  my awesome friend sara watched our kid for us and we drove down to wilmington.  we walked around the river walk where two of my favorite shows were filmed... dawsons creek and one tree hill... i was totally geeking out pointing things out to chris that i recognized.  then we had dinner at this fondue place called little dipper... it was awesome.  great food and fun atmosphere.  we were in our own little alcove... with a tiny table... really fun... great way to celebrate 3 years of marriage.

leerys fresh fish from dawsons creek... 

overall it was a tough month with lots of stress and sickness and sadness from grandpa passing but two big milestones... me turning 30 and our 3rd anniversary!! and it was an awesome 3rd year... let me tell ya!