One Month Anniversary

Just one month ago we exchanged vows. I have to say this last month has been an amazing month. We've traveled to Mexico, became husband and wife. Visited our friends and family in Iowa twice! We've even gone camping and hiking!
"There are three things that last: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love."
Greg, I think you said it best at the reception when you said "Nothing changes when you've married your best friend."
I'm looking forward to all of our adventures and new memories as man and wife. I am happy to share them with my best friend as well:)
I love you tons! More and more each day:)
Happy one month anniversary!

We love camping, Mogollon rim and Bear Canyon Lake Hikes

This last weekend is the type of weekend that really makes it hard to get up for Monday!Actually I had such a great weekend I think I can tolerate this Monday.
We started the camping season off at the right time. As Greg and I were driving up to Bear Canyon Lake, just North of Payson, we noticed the temp in the car read 110 degrees. We are finally starting to feel the Phoenix heat:)Pool weather here we come.
Bear Canyon Lake is a rustic environment. Its about 12 miles from where we camped last year near Knolls Lake. We had to bring in our own water and enjoyed the joys of vaulted toilets.
Greg and I headed up after work, so Mike and Mara (The Syrings) were able to go up earlier and secure a nice spot for us. Great spot guys! We were tucked in and rarely saw any other campers. Maybe a few ATV's that flew by. I still think it was hilarious when Mara said "wow there are some young kids driving those I hope they are safe" and then a few hours later we had to take the SUV somewhere and the father who was the leader of the ATV's stopped to get out of our way. His son right behind him didnt see him and plowed into him, then the son following the first son plowed into both of them. As we drove away you could see the father jump off his ATV and start waving his hands around. They all seemed to be ok though.
We enjoyed hot dogs, beans, corn, smores and pudgy pies. Thanks Mike and Mara for Pudgy pies, they were good:) Plus we cant forget salty chips and fish crackers.
Saturday we went on a few hikes. All were beautiful but my favorite was the 3 hour hike around the lake. The meadow at the end was just breath taking. The pictures don't even begin to describe how beautiful it was.
When we returned to our camp Mara spotted a few things out of place. Poor Mike, lost his Cheetos, we are thinking the birds ransacked our camp. They got into the coffee and Ro's diapers! Every last one of those Cheetos was gone!!!! We had all kinds of visitors from mother nature this last weekend. Greg had a run in with a nasty looking spider. We had squirrels, snakes, Elk and huge ants:) I had spotted the snake as we were walking back from the rim, it was little but enough to freak me out! Plus it entertained the boys:)I was still a little paranoid though.
Saturday night we were a little tired from our long hikes so we wanted to relax and get a nice fire going. The boys discovered a nice piece of wood on our way back to camp. Or should I say a small tree. As you can see from the pictures, it was a NICE BIG fire! We actually had to back away in order to enjoy it. Dare Devil Abby, who is always cold, tried to get right up next to the flame, thankfully Aunt Mara scooped her up!
We all enjoyed a game of Apples to Apples, discovered a few things about our sense of humor and made smores. I have to say Mara, that wine in a box was pretty darn good!
little Ro had slept for all of our hikes so he was wide awake for a majority of the night. He was a great little camper though. Greg and I were very impressed with his camping skills! Such a happy little guy!
With the beautiful scenery I tried out a few of my new camera settings. Still getting used to all the fun gadgets. I hope you enjoy!
Please don't mind the sound on some of the videos, it seems every time I hit record the boys had interesting stories to tell:)



Gregs Snake

Camping Camping Camping!

It is that awesome time of year again!!!! Here are some pics from our campsite last year. We will be close to the same area this year. Abby is all packed and ready to go! Smores and marshmallow races here we come!

Our Saturday Walk in Cedar Falls Iowa

June 20th 2009
Greg and I had stayed in the Blackhawk hotel and even though we stayed up until like 4am partying with friends we were up and at them by 930am. We went down and enjoyed a very nice breakfast at the hotel and went window shopping on main street. We stopped in a few shops and then headed across the way to the bridge. The wild flowers were beautiful and the slight breeze made the sun even more enjoyable. It really didn't feel like there was an humidity at all!
Ryan picked us up about 11:30am so we could head to UNI. First we had to stop at the bookstore and pick up some new UNI gear and then we toured the UNI campus. They are always updating things. The fountain by maucker union is getting renovated and they are adding grass. The trees were amazing as always.
We stopped by the four trees off of 18th street so Ryan could get a picture. The four trees are about 100 years old. The Guy who lived in the house was the botanist for UNI and he scored the bark on the four trees then wrapped them together so that they would all heal as on large tree. Ive always thought it was just beautiful!
We headed home for some gift opening and grilled out with friends and family. That evening we had dinner with family and Jovanna and Wyatt were able to join us. It was nice to be able to actually sit down and talk to the two of them since the last time we saw them it was their reception and we know how busy receptions are!!!

Our Iowa wedding reception

I would like to say thank you to all of our friends and families that were able to attend our wedding reception Friday June 19th 2009. It meant a lot to Greg and I to have everyone there to celebrate our marriage. I believe we had about 200 guests and and we could of easily partied for another few hours on the dance floor of the UNI Ballroom:)We hope that we were able to visit with everyone:)
We started the reception mingling in the lounge hallway greeting guests as they arrived. We made the wedding party announcements and made our entrance:) It was overwhelming at first to have so many of our wonderful friends and family standing there applauding us! It sure was a full house!
Greg and I then cut the cake to Adam Sandler's grow old with you song. Its an adorable song and it always makes me think of our relationship:) Greg is so wonderful. Now with the cake cutting, Greg snagged the big piece first and smashed it in my face!!! I guess that's payback for Mexico!!! He didn't get any on my dress either! That's talent!
We followed that with dinner and toasts. Tessa, you melted my heart. I tried not to watch you as you gave your speech since you were nervous but I couldn't help it. I was too moved by your kind words and wanted you to know how much I appreciate you. It was from the heart and I loved it! I know Aaron was beaming with pride as well. He ran up as soon as he could to give you a supportive hug. You truly are a wonderful couple and we are blessed to have you in our lives.
PJ your toast was AWESOME! I loved the new addition with Thom the Bomb ha You sounded like a professional speaker! Our guests were very entertained! Thank you so much for the kind words. I know Greg thinks of you as a brother:) We think of you as family:)
Greg, sometimes I think maybe my life didn't start until I met you. I mean I know It did, but I think this could be the beginning since I could never imagine my life without you now. I know you had a few "points" you wanted to discuss and didn't formally write anything down but you did a wonderful job. I get teary eyed thinking about your response to the question "Is married life different?" Your right, I did marry my best friend:) I love you more;)
Our first dance was to Tim mcgraw's Shes my kind of rain and we talked about Rhubarb the whole time like the magazines said to;) Greg will understand what that means.
We did have a little chaos so the father daughter dance was put on hold, my little cousin Lexie only needed 3 stitches and is perfectly fine now. Greg danced with his mom to Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World. I shared a dance with my dad to Heartland's I loved her first. It was a dance I was looking forward to.
Everyone was getting to know one another and socializing! We played our slide show which contained pictures of our childhood and our engagement/wedding.
We moved right into the garter/bouquet toss. Vaughn was the lucky one to catch the flowers though Mandy tried really hard!!!!!!!! I know Dan was deteremined to get that Garter!HA It was all fun though. Thanks to AJ for being a good sport and helping me play a trick on Greg. I think he realized it right away when he touched your big toe that it wasn't my foot:)
We partied well into the night and headed to Berks where they were Happy to have our business. Greg got up on the bar at Berks and gave a toast to the 30+ people from our wedding reception taking shots! That same group headed over to Jokers to close the night with some more dancing! Greg and I even had a small after hours back at our hotel with some out of town friends.
It truly was a fun night and we appreciate everyone support! Thank you!!!

Iowa Vacation June 19th 2009 UNI Commons Ballroom Decorating

June 19th 2009
I started the day off a little slow! I know Greg was feeling it after his fun night out with Dad AKA Thom the bomb:)
Greg and Ryan took me to my hair appointment in Cedar Falls at Polk a Dot. My friend Candace who used to do my hair before I moved did my up do. And I loved it. Of course nothing is easy with us though ha I had forgotten my veil so my wonderful brother took Greg to his moms hotel to share our slide show for the reception, drove all the way home to get my veil, drove all the way back to get Greg to take him to pick up our kegs, then dropped him off at the UNI commons to turn around and come back to pick me up at the salon to turn around and get lunch and head back to the UNI commons.........hes a GOOD brother:)Thank you Ryan!!!!!
When I arrived at the ballroom everything was pretty much set up. I had shared with my parents exactly how the centerpieces were to look and we had a little confusion in other areas but we got it all taken care of:) Just a few minor issues with setting up the slide show, which Greg set up correctly and then a staff member changed it and set it up incorrectly which we discovered during the reception haha
Thank you to my parents Lynn and Thom,Tessa Gregs Mom jan, Ryan, Vaughn, Reagan, Leigh, Ashley, Jama, Kathy, Susie and Dee Dee for all of your help!!!! We couldn't of done it without all of you!
I was sooo excited to see our cake. I had originally went with Johnson Bakery, but she kept telling me one story and my mom another. She said we had to make the sea shells our self, the coral our self she would not do the pearls, she would not do colored frosting, she would not use the style frosting we liked. So in the end she was going to charge us for a cake that we were going to pretty much make. It was a disaster and I was finally fed up with her lying to us and I asked for my deposit back from her at Johnson Bakery and she said I could not have the whole thing. It made no sense since she said she couldn't even do the cake in the first place! BUT Hy-vee came to the rescue. With only a month left to find someone to do a wedding cake!!! I took a picture in and she said "that is no problem". As you can see by the end result I was very pleased with the Crossroads Hy-vee! They were so easy to work with, so I went ahead and got flowers from them as well! It was hassle free!
After decorating Ryan Greg and I traveled to the Blackhawk hotel. Greg and I needed to get checked in.
The historic Blackhawk Hotel is a beautiful cozy bed and breakfast. It has been around since 1879. They have everything a regular Ramada or Holiday inn would have but at the Blackhawk hotel you get the personal service and the feeling of being at home! Each room in the hotel is different and has its own character and charm. Plus we had a view of main st:) We both agreed it was the perfect romantic spot to stay:)

Iowa Vacation June 2009

June 18th 2009
Greg and I finished the party favors and relaxed with my family enjoying some cocktails and sharing stories. My brother Ryan was flying into Waterloo Airport that night and Gregs Mom Sister Jama, brother Pat Ashley and Ethan had just arrived. They drove from Wyoming to Iowa in record time!
Greg and I planned for a little family dinner at the Brown Bottle in Cedar Falls where Greg worked during college. I found out his Mom Jan had worked there when she went to college as well.
The little gathering turned into about 12-13 people:) My Aunt Lana was able to join us as well as Gregs Aunt Susie, her son Nate, Gregs Aunt Kathy and her daughter Vaughn. It really was a fun bunch!
After dinner (in hopes of waling it off)we took a walk down main st. We window shopped and took pictures in front of the Blackhawk hotel, which is where Greg and I were staying after the reception. The hotel has been around since 1879!
Gregs family headed back to their hotel to get rested for the big day on Friday and Greg, Lana and I headed to Berks to meet up with mom and dad for a few drinks.
Lana mom and I had a blast playing pool while Dad and Greg bonded and held the bar up:)
Mom and I left Berks to head to the Waterloo airport leaving the boys behind to relax at Berks. We headed back home where Ryan and I sat on the computer and just watched some comedy skits. It really was great to have him home. The two of us haven't been home at the same time in a few years! I honestly do not remember the last time we were home at the same time! It may have been before Greg and I left for Phoenix.
Apparently we missed out on an adventure that night. Greg and Dad came home around 1:30-2:00am. They decided to hit up a few spots on the way home, the screaming eagle, loftys, Caseys 3, and the classiest place of all Hoochies haha Sounds like they had a lot of fun though!

Iowa Vacation June 2009

We started our travels June 17th to fly into good ol Waterloo Airport. Our flights were smooth for the most part and Greg and I had the whole row to ourselves (every flight).We flew from Phoenix to Mnpls and then caught a smaller flight into Waterloo.Our pilot explained there was some "interesting" weather. I had dozed off for about 30minutes (the majority of the flight) and woke to a BRIGHT flash outside the window. Greg and I were wowed by the fact that our plane was flying down the center for a lightning storm! So on each side of the plane we could see intense strikes of lightning. Of course it was beautiful:)
We were greeted in the airport by my mom and Tessa. They had been waiting for us an additional 45 minutes since we were delayed because of the storm. It made for some fun conversation on the way home.
The next day it was raining, Greg and I had a lot of running around to get done for the wedding. I had party favors to make and Greg needed his suit cleaned. Greg was off running around and Dad had just come home from his visit to the hardware store. He was so proud of his $2.78 repair kit for the leaky faucet in the bathroom. About 20 minutes later I heard a clanking noise and followed it to see if my dad needed any help (keep in mind I have not showered yet). He asked me to press on the faucet (which already had a wrench on it) while he used another wrench to turn it.....I was a little panicked, my fingers are fragile haha I watched as he put all of his weight into it and the whole piece moved the WRONG way severing in half.......so his 2.78 cent project was now going to add some zeros:) Thankfully Dad was able to get a hold of Uncle Mark who came to our rescue. So after 3hrs of making a 3ft whole in the closet and soldering pieces back together we had water again:)
Gregs comment on Iowa weather, as we were driving to Hobby Lobby for extra supplies, "only in Iowa will you use your heater, AC, headlights and wipers in a two hour time frame!" Its so true! The sun was shining and you would of never known that it stormed that morning!

The Bizz

This is just a pic for Jackson (Michelle's son) from his pal Abby AKA Abber or The Bizz

Yes Greg I hear you, Im sick, I know.

Dbacks vs Astros

The day started out nice. Mike, Mara and Rohan stopped by about noon and we grilled while Greg was working. Little Abby was excited to see her new friends Schroeder and Linus were there as well:) It was definitely a hot day, about 100 degrees, but the pool water still felt pretty cold. It didn't stop us from enjoying it though. Mike couldnt get Schroeder to jump into the pool and lil Abby was all too familiar with that so she stayed away:) We had decided to go to the Dbacks game later in the day. So Mara and Rohan stayed behind and studied while Mike Greg and I went to the game. Sadly the Dbacks lost but watching Greg and Mike was enough entertainment for me. They lost 4-6.

The best man speech

Only Part of my brothers speech

Thanks Greg for capturing this:)

Gregs EEL in Mexico 2008

Mexico 2009

It was a year ago this month that Greg and I took our first vacation down to Riviera Maya Mexico. We stayed at the Barcelo and fell in love with the atmosphere, the service and the beaches. Wow only a two minute walk from our hotel room to the beach. You can not beat that. Even the buffet food was great! So of course when we were deciding on our destination wedding location it was in our top 3 spots! We are happy we chose the Barcelo Maya Palace. Our friends seemed to really enjoy the jaguar lounge as well as the night time entertainment. The resort is close to Tulum and Playa del Carmen. There are tons of options for swimming with the dolphins as well as snorkeling and scuba:)The resort also has several very nice restaurants that you may eat at for free, since it is all inclusive:)We couldn't have asked for a greater group of friends to celebrate our monumental day. We hope everyone had a fabulous vacation! We sure did!

Dbacks game with Tony Caldwell

First of all, the Sox beat the Yanks last night!!! Thanks to Beckett for the 7-0 win!That's something to celebrate. Tony, Greg's cousin, was in town so we decided to hit up a Dbacks game. We ran into Baxter the mascot and we felt like this was going to be a good game! The score was tied and then within minutes it went down hill. Maybe we weren't as good of luck as we thought we were:)We enjoyed some 4 dollar beverages and found our way to the TGIF restaurant that over looks the field. All in all it was a good night even though the Dbacks lost 4-9.

A day in Tulum Mexico

So there were 9 no wait 10 no wait 12 of us that went to Tulum. We also learned that after Ive had a few cocktails I can no longer count. The poor taxi driver finally just said, someone sits on the floor in case the policia drive by. Ryan, my brother, was the chosen one:) We crammed into this mini van with AC and found our way to Tulum. I learned from my last experience to stock up on water. Once your there in the ruins there is nothing until you head back to the main road on the trolley. Part of our group split up but we all toured the beautiful ruins on our own and ended up in the same spot.......the beach:) The waves were amazing! I don't know that I have had that much fun at the beach EVER! They were huge white cap waves that were crashing down so hard, some of us had a hard time keeping our swimsuits on. Not that the boys were complaining! Poor Mandy, she was hit by the waves the worst! I thought I would be funny and try to dunk my dad, the joke was on me. As I was turning backwards a huge white cap lifted me off the sand and threw me forward about ten feet it was followed by two more huge waves so I couldn't catch my breath! You do not mess with mother nature! We ended the trip in Tulum at an outdoor restaurant and enjoyed some cold Sol and Margaritas. They were a great deal! Aaron and I were double fisting it.Aaron and Dad had their picture taken with this huge orange iguana. Not that we didn't see a million of them while touring the ruins:)It was another day in the sun, but it was a great one!

Our wedding 5-30-09

January 3rd 2009 Greg proposed in Sedona AZ. It was a breath taking view and a magical moment. I can honestly say I had never felt that way before. But nothing describes the feeling I had the day I walked down the aisle to marry my best friend.
We planned a dinner rehearsal the night before the wedding at the Caribe restaurant. We felt it would be a nice way for everyone in the group to mingle as well as find out where the ceremony would be held. Turns out it was a great success. There were many new friendships made and I heard lots of new AJ /Caldwell stories:)
While in Mexico we celebrated two birthdays, Truc Nguyen and Nate Johnston. After Greg and I had passed out our gifts to the wedding party, we presented Truc with a special gift for also being our officiant. We had a special hand made Iowa Hawkeyes cape made for him. He shared with us that his super powers were just being "awesome". The cape was shared by the other birthday boy Nate. Nate received a birthday shot which he had to drink thru a straw and did I mention it was on fire? Later on Nate had an allergic reaction to something and his face swelled up! Thankfully Kristen was there to save the day with her stash of Benadryl!! Maybe we should let Kristen wear the cape for a while guys:) Everything turned out ok.
We planned this event for the last five months and couldn’t have asked for nicer weather or such a great group of friends and family to celebrate with.
We stayed at the Barcelo Maya Palace in Riviera Maya Mexico. We had vacationed there last year so we knew what a beautiful resort it was. The service was amazing and the walk to the beach was maybe two minutes. Did I mention it was all inclusive:)
I always hear about brides stressing or panicking that maybe they had forgotten something. Greg and I had already had a talk before; you can’t sweat the small stuff. If it rains, its good luck and it would all work out. I can not remember stressing about anything on my wedding day and if I did it wasn’t important. I was just so excited to see Greg standing there.
Our hair appointments took a lot longer than planned, so I really only had a half hour before the ceremony to get to my hotel change into my dress and put on some makeup. Thankfully I don’t wear a lot. I think I still had time to spare when all was said ha Thanks Tessa and Kayanne for helping with the under garments!!! Mom you did a great job bustling my dress and capturing the moment. You also looked stunning in your dress!! Dad is a lucky guy!
There was a bit of a delay and the wedding did not start at 1pm like planned. Thankfully April took that call haha The videographer was running late. Greg knew how important it was to me to capture this day on film so he asked that we not start the ceremony until he arrived. Plus it gave me and my bridesmaids more time to hang out in the air conditioned room!!! Poor Greg was feeling the heat in his suit! I signed the certificates and as I was doing so two of the sheets managed to blow away. We were on the third floor and our wedding coordinator had to run down the stairs to try and keep them from blowing into the fountains! Everything worked out though. Ana our wedding coordinator then took me and my six bridesmaids up to the hotel on her golf cart to the parking level of the Palace. We all managed to cram into one very small elevator and headed up to the gazebo. It was so adorable to see the little girls with their mothers walking by in amazement complimenting me on my pretty dress.
I had butterflies in my stomach but I was just smiling ear to ear. I didn’t start to feel emotional until my dad started walking up. He had planned a small speech for me before he walked me down the aisle. It was so heartfelt and turned me to mush. I was trying to keep my composure and thankfully wore waterproof mascara. The violinist started and I felt like I was missing the action, not being able to see the girls walk down the aisle with the groomsmen and then the wedding march started. And I just took a deep breath then dad and I started on our journey. As I came around the corner I could see Tessa my matron of honor was teary eyed and I couldn’t fight it anymore. I saw Greg and just shrugged my shoulders and smiled as hard as I could. They actually caught that on film! He looked so handsome standing there. He didn’t look nervous at all and neither of us could stop smiling!
Truc did an amazing job. He had a calmness in his voice and a comforting smile. It felt like it was meant to be. It meant a lot to Greg and I to have Truc marry us, it will be something we will always remember. As we were standing up there I made it a point to look around to everyone in the audience thanking them without words. My bridesmaids Tessa, Kayanne, Mandy, Lynnelle, April and Jama were all amazing. Thank you so much for your support girls!
We did forget to put sunscreen on and we didn’t think anything of it while we were standing in the sun for an hour and a half getting pictures taken after the ceremony! We got a little toasted and it wasn’t even time for the reception yet! We felt like movie stars. As our photographer was snapping shots we saw about 8 other cameras taking the same pictures! So we are thankful for everyone who helped capture our special day! Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE to take pictures! I believe I had about 500 not including our wedding photos on my camera alone.
Greg and I made our way to the palace AC lounge once our portion of pictures were done, found ourselves a cold drink and relaxed with family. We made our way back to the hotel room, changed out of our outfits into our reception out fits and met our guests at the banquet room at 5pm. It was the fastest 3 hour reception ever! Thank you to everyone who signed the Guest book;) Dad you did a great job asking everyone. PJ and Ryan gave some heartfelt speeches. Ryan I broke down and cried during your second speech. I had to ask Greg to record because I couldn’t keep steady. You are an amazing brother and best friend. I can not begin to share with people how proud I am of you. I know you will be starting a new path in tel aviv Israel this July but it meant so much to us to have you there with us in Mexico to celebrate this special landmark in our lives. I love you so much and thank you for everything.
Later on we headed to the disco, where Dad shared some Cuban cigars with Greg for the groomsmen. Everyone had so much fun. Thank you so much to everyone who helped make May 30th 2009 a special day for us. Thank you Greg for all your support, you are an amazing man and I am one lucky woman to have you in my life. I love you more and more each day:)