Central League

If you've followed my Facebook page, you would have seen that Jason's summer baseball team won the Central League Championship this year, which hasn't been done since the 1980's!

What's even cooler is that there wasn't a photographer at the game that night, so the local newspapers printed my pictures :-)

How awesome is this!?!

One Year

It's so hard to believe that it's been one year since I got that call during In Service that I needed to get to Penn State Hershey immediately.  It was a Tuesday, and we had just been to the hospital Friday, Saturday and Sunday the weekend before, but I knew this time was different.

 

That weekend, we had seen a decline in her functioning after her seizure, and in increase in her discomfort, but nothing could prepare me for that phone call.  Jason and I had been bouncing calls back and forth since we had both gone back to school by then and were in and out of meetings.  It was after lunch that I realized that this wasn't just another bump in the road, this was a serious pothole.  I was crying so hard that I couldn't even see to get myself down to the office to ask to be dismissed to get to the hospital.  The next few hours are a complete blur.

 

From doctors reports to waiting with family, I was just counting down the minutes until we could see our princess.  We all took turns with her saying our goodbyes and telling her how much she was loved by us, and my chest still gets tight remembering that room.  The staff at the hospital were amazing and allowed someone to always be with her, and those last visits were priceless.

 

I didn't know how to say goodbye to one of my favorite people in the world.  What do you say?  How do you remain strong when all you want to do is hold her in your arms?  She was my buddy.  When we would have a get together, we would play on the floor with her favorite toys, we would play school and she even could convince me to help her clean up her room.  Watching her grow up was incredible.  She could draw the best pictures and her writing was advancing at a dramatic pace!  At Thanksgiving 2011, we wrote out Christmas lists for some family members and she decided what she thought each of them should get from Santa.  Those lists provided many chuckles, of course she thought Nonny wanted a fake rose for Christmas, it showed just how creative her little mind was.

 

When telling her how much I loved her during those final days and nights, I know that she could hear us.  She was with us as we all painted our fingernails to match hers so we could share a piece of her.  To this day, my toe nails still match hers and my future daughters will have the same nail polish so they can remember their cousin and how loved she was.  These pictures are our last memories with her and they are worth a thousand words to all the people who were there.

 

Our sweet angel has shown us so many signs lately, but the beautiful sunrise was the icing on the cake.  We have been so blessed to have our amazing niece in our lives and we think of her everyday.  She has taught me so much about life and I can't wait to tell our future children about our first love, our niece.  While the love may be different, we will always love her to the moon and back. <3

New Look!

I finally bit the bullet and took the next step to customizing my blog and making it something I'm more proud of.  What do you think?

 

I bought a template from Kristie at The Dandelion Girl Designs on Etsy, and she made me feel like a genius!  Part of the reason I didn't want to take the next step was because I was afraid of the installation.  Not only did she create my template, she gave me step-by-step instructions on how to install it!  She even made customized social media buttons as well.  She's AWESOME!!!

 

If you are ever looking for something, check out her page!!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thedandeliongirly

 

Also, she created some signature options for me, so I'm looking for your input!  Thoughts?

 

#1

 

#2

 

#3

 

P-a-t-i-o

One of my favorite things to do at my parents house was sit out on their screened-in-porch.  While I knew I'd never win the screened-in vs. patio battle, I couldn't wait to get a backyard that I loved to spend time in.

 

Cue the backyard that we moved into...

 

 

Beautiful, huh?  While it wasn't our dream backyard, we got a steal on our house, so we knew we could eventually make it what we wanted it to be.  So what we did originally is just rip up the gorgeous hideous mismatched pavers that were so strategically put in place, run where the sump pump puts out the water to farther away from the house and we got this once the grass grew in:

 

 

 

 We filled in the big hole in front of the Bilco doors and gave them a fresh coat of paint as well.

 

We didn't spend much time out in the backyard even though the grass grew in, instead we were those people who sat on their driveway in folding chairs at nighttime to enjoy the outside.

 

We saved up for two whole years and finally got the ball rolling with Travis from Webster's Landscaping and of course I took pictures to document the process.

 

This was the end of day 1, ground leveled and graded, and ready for day 2.

 

Day 2 was full of stones and compacting

 

 

 

Day 3 was pavers, pavers and more pavers.  Somehow I even got roped into helping with this day.

 

 

 

Finally, Jason added some new beds, we put out our patio furniture, and we're starting to get the yard back in order with grass seed and straw.

 

 

 

We have already spent many nights out on this patio and cannot wait for all the memories to come!  It's FINALLY finished!!!

 

Check out pictures from this project and other house projects here: http://jasonandmalerieshouse.weebly.com/

 

 

Aruba

We were lucky enough to go on a second vacation this summer, and this vacation was to Aruba!  We got up extremely early on a Sunday morning and returned extremely late the following Sunday, but it was totally worth it!

 

I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from the trip!

 

This was our resort at the Marriott Surf Club in Aruba.

 

 This picture was taken from our room.

 

The beach was a few steps past the pool area.

 

 Here is the same view at sunset.

 

While we were walking downtown one night, we found this sign, and while they are dark, we took them anyway!  They turned out great!

 Ryan and Felicia

 

 Gary and Sue

 

 Jason and I

 

 Original Kelly Family

 

 Aruba was so Americanized that there was a Hard Rock Café downtown!

 

 

We spent one day exploring the island of Aruba and we saw many great places! 

 The lighthouse in Aruba

 

 Ryan and Felicia

 

 Sue and Ethan

 

Jason and I

 

 I loved these gorgeous flowers!!

 

 The breathtaking view

 

The trip wouldn't be complete without these pictures...

 

 

 

 The church in Aruba

 

 Gorgeous sea cliffs (yes, that's the Science teacher coming out in me)

 

 Caught the water just right

 

So pretty!!

 

 This was at what was called the Natural Bridge

 

 Ryan, Felicia, Ethan, Jason and I

 

Gary and Sue

 

 Jason with the money he won at the casino!  He was one happy camper!

 

 So Americanized that they not only had McDonalds restaurants, but locations dedicated solely to dessert.

 

Our last night there, we went on a Sunset Cruise, which was a lot of fun, and to answer your question: no, none of us got sick!

 

 Crazy wind, but on the cruise

 

Ryan and Felicia

 

They even had seagulls!

 

How cute is he?!?

 

 All of us on the boat, the guy who was running the cruise insisted on taking our picture

 

 As much of a sunset as we got that night because it was overcast.

 

 He loves ruining my pictures...

 

 Three brothers

 

Gary and Sue

 

 Felicia enjoying the cruise

 

 This one is blurry, but I still had to share it.  The guy running the cruise was so good at his job, that he even got a conga line going at the end.  Everyone enjoyed it!!

 

 Until next time, Aruba!!!  We had an amazing experience!!