Love will keep us together

This past weekend, Jason surprised me with a trip to Catalina Island for our second anniversary. If you didn't know, Catalina Island is just about 1.5 hours off the coast of Orange County. And let me tell you, it is a little slice of paradise.

Arriving

Our hotel- Hotel St. Lauren. The 3rd floor room with curtains open is ours

Our room

exploring the pier that evening

The night we got there, we enjoyed exploring the little town of Avalon. You can walk everywhere!

The next day was packed with activities! Morning yoga on the beach, hiking, a bike ride that covered the whole town (which is not as difficult as it sounds), tacos for lunch, and a night out!

Hanging out at the Wrigley Gardens... and yes, it is the same Wrigley as the infamous Cubs!

The peak of our hike

Great View!

the trail up to the gardens

beautiful tile at the gardens

Out for dinner. Jason took me out for seafood, and I followed in my mother's footsteps of NOT being a cheap date... I ordered lobster.

On Sunday, we had until the afternoon to enjoy the island, then our boat was heading back home to reality. We stopped by the island's museum. We walk into the gift shop to see that 50% of it is full of... what? Chicago Cubs paraphernalia! You can imagine I was shocked to learn that for about 30 years, the Cubs would travel to Catalina Island for their spring training! Wrigley, who owned the Cubs, also OWNED Catalina Island. Not a bad life, if you ask me. They used to even have an exact replica of Wrigley field on the island. The Cubs' spring training used to be the main event of the island- everyone LOVED it! Whaddya say, Cubbies, lets get back to that tradition!

napping on the beach

naps and reading. beach bums

Jason's dream hobby

and the sun sets, once again, on our lovely trip home

We have had a magnificent second year of marriage together. God has been just too good to us. His mercies never fail! I have made great steps in finishing my bachelor's, have a crazy wonderful job that will provide me with experience for my degree, a move to California, ALWAYS having the things we need, love, laughter, a beautiful home, healthy family, a fantastic church, and so much more. I can't believe how much we have been blessed with in just the last year of marriage. Here's to happy memories, and looking forward to the adventure to come!

spring in my step

Here are some little snippets of life's little pleasures lately.

homework at the pool? Don't mind if I do.

my new bike. well, new to me. This shot was an accident.

nephew Ralston. wants to grow up to be just like uncle J! He will be 1 in April.

Life is so good. God always gives blessings. I just hope I remember to take the time and thank Him for them.

There's a first for everything

I have finally, finally begun making my very first quilt. It's not really a quilt, because I am not actually piecing different fabrics together. But it is a quilt in the fact that I am sewing mostly straight lines over all the blanket. I am following this awesome tutorial I found on the wonderful, marvelous pinterest. It's about time, considering this was one of my 2011 2012 New Year's resolutions. Better late than never, right? Here are some snapshots of the process so far.

AKA "sewing machine for dummies". I'm a fan though. This baby is like the little engine that could

they are almost straight!

my very first time running out of a spool! How exciting.

Here's to hoping that the finished product will be posted up here sooner rather than later...!

accidental snapshots of life

I'm thinking I will try to do this type of post every once in a while. With a little photo editing, sometimes the pictures are telling of my life. Maybe they shall reveal something in my life that needs editing of its own.

trail walk at sunset. what better way to spend a saturday night? better than the movies, I'd say.

Confessions of a wife

Last night, Jason was helping me cook dinner. So sweet. We were talking about the lunches we had that day. Fascinating, I know. The day before I had packed a lunch for him to take. He informed me that he ate that, and also picked up some more lunch at the commissary. This quickly turned into sobs of "I am such a BAD WIFE! We have been married for almost TWO YEARS and I can't pack you a sufficient lunch?! What is wrong with me?!" Yes, as the words came out of my mouth, I did know how ridiculous they sounded.

I'm NOT crazy, I'm NOT!! :)

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season! Here are some snapshots of the Floyd's Christmas 2011. Have yourself a merry little Christmas :)

Let your heart be Light

From now on our troubles will be outta sight

"All I want for Christmas is you... and 5 things on my list"

Thanksgiving as "grown-ups"

This year was Jason's and my first holiday without any family. All growing up, I had Thanksgiving with my family and my sweet Grandma Wendy. Grandma Wendy is now in heaven, and so last year was the first Thanksgiving without her. My parents ended up inviting Jason's family to Chicago, so we didn't have to "choose" which family to be with. It was awesome! We both have the coolest families, and they all get along so well! So, this year, my parents invited them all again. The only problem? Jason and I, the whole reason they are all even friends, weren't going to be able to make it. How completely unfair is that?! Um, hello? did you all forget about who is the reason you did that for? Well, that's how I felt at first, but wrongfully so. We are so blessed and thankful that our families get along so well, and it really couldn't be better.

Once I had accepted the fact we weren't going anywhere, I decided to fully embrace it. I had the whole week off from work, and I had worked way ahead into my classes while Jason was on his FEX, so, for the first time in a while, I had a large chunk of free time! It was so refreshing too. I was able to spend time with friends, preparing the food for the big day, and doing all the crafts I could dream up. I even was super wild, and drove to Temecula (about  a half hour away) so I could once again experience the fantastic, magical, Hobby Lobby. Pretty sure when I pulled up, I actually screamed "It's Hobby Lobby!" I think we were there for 2 hours (I went with my sweet friend Bridget), and we both agreed this would have to be a regular occurrence.

My excitement could not be contained

We went the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was perfect, I had plenty of fun Christmas decor to make while Jason watched football and ate all day long.

We love Koolaid.

 We had more than enough food. We did a little 6 lb turkey, and it turned out great! We didn't have any cooking malfunctions, other than that I put my makeup on, and then chopped the onions, which left me looking something like this:

It also left my hands completely black. it was awesome.

We had such a lovely long weekend together. We are so blessed to have each other. Jason is totally my better half. We are also beyond blessed with our wonderful families, whom we got to Skype with on Thanksgiving. We love the church we have found here, and that is such a gift! I can't even begin to express all the things we have to be thankful for. We have had a year of blessings overflowing.

Saturday Jason and I drove to Camp Ironwood, near Yucca Valley. It was about 3 hours away.. We rented a truck so we could pick up this little beauty for Jason for Christmas:

Boys and their toys, I tell ya. It was actually a blast though! Jason worked at Camp Ironwood about 5 years ago. He found this bike in the junkyard, and the guy told him he would sell it to him for 200$. It's a 1971 Ducati, and according to Jason's research, in the state it's in, it's worth at least 1500$. He put 40 bucks down way back when, and recently called, curious if they still had it. Sure enough, they did, because they are in the middle of nowhere, and so we went to get it! It was fun to do it together, and it was even more fun to get a tour of Camp Ironwood. They have some really gifted people there, and God has been doing so much work there! What an encouragement.

Overall, we have had a great kick-off to our grown up, all alone holidays, and have already done alot of fun things! Looking forward to celebrating the Messiah all the Christmas season long!