Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Nick and I wold like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. Please be careful with all your travels!! Hope Santa finds you!!

Happy Birthday Lucas

Today (December 10) is Lucas' 23rd Birthday!! I cant believe you are 23. I feel really old :( I was only three when mom and dad brought you home for the hospital, but I hear about it often because I put your whole foot in my mouth and bit down. I wanted mom and dad to take you back!! I am glad they didnt because my life would not be the same without you. Happy birthday little brother!!

Happy Birthday MOM

Today is my mom's 45th birthday!! (December 7) Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear mom. Happy birthday to you. That was me singing to you without putting you through the pain of hearing my lovely singing voice. You are the bravest and most beautiful woman I know!! Glad we got to celebrate this weekend. Dad the cherry delight was great! I love you, mom!! Happy Birthday and I wish for many more to come!!

let the holiday season begin

Lots has happened since my last blog. Kelly and Brooks Thomann tied the knot on the 21st of November. It was nice being able to get together with friends and catch up. Congrats Kelly and Brooks!! The next week was Thanksgiving!! I love Thanksgiving because it is my favorite meal!! I made my first pie from scratch, crust and everything!! I was proud of myself because it was done all by myself. On Black Friday, Nick and I braved the crowd so get a start on our Christmas shopping. I thought it was a blast. The lines in Old Navy and Bath and Body Works were terrible, but other than that the shopping spree went well. I only have one more person to buy for and than I am done. I even have all of my purchases wrapped and underour tree. I love Christmas time!! Here are some recent pics of my peeps!!

long time no blog

So I have not updated my blog forever so I got lots to say!! We have been pretty busy the last month. Angie, Mike, Lucas and his friends along with Nick and myself headed down to Ste. Genevieve, MO to Crown Valley winery. This is an annual event that is only allowed to take place once due to the craziness we get ourselves into!! Wine is a different kind of drunk, one minute you are on a tour feeling fine the next minute you are grinding with the class of '79 (that would be my brother)!! We then ventured to the new brewery down the road. I dont like beer so I drank the heck out of Fizzy Izzy root beer. After about an hour or so, everyone was starting to get crazy so we called it a day and went to eat. Good wine, good friends, good memories!! The next week Nick and I attended a wedding of Carl and Aimee (Nick works with Carl). We got to experience the worlds worst wedding crasher!! An Elvis impersonator was hired by the bride's parents to perform a few songs at the reception. You should have seen the look on there faces, fear, disbelief and anger!!We all got a laugh though. The next weekend Mallory, mom and myself went to the Coevered Bridge Festival. This year we decided to spend the night in Terre Haute and go 2 days instead of just one. It was a little chilly but lots of fun. Last year, every pumpkin I found I bought and this year it was snowmen. Mallory was getting crabby because I picked up every snowman that I saw and tried to picture where in my house I could put him!! The following weekend I went to Newton to help my mom paint her bedroom. She has not re-done her bedroom since we moved in to the house 15 years ago. She had a brilliant idea to stripe one of the walls. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but half way through we decided it was not so brilliant. We eventually finished and I have to say it turned out wonderfully. I did not get to see the entire room put back together so I am excited to check out the end product. Last weekend we celebrated my sister-in-laws birthday. Christy turns 29 on the 29th, her golden b-day!! Happy early b-day, Christy!! And last but not least Happy Halloween!! I know it is early, but I figure I probably would forget to update and the holiday would be over. To all my friends with kiddos, send pics of all your ghosts and goblins.

Disney continued

Day 5: Magic Kingdom again. Happy Birthday to me!! So I got the royal treatment today with the pin and the gift card!! It was great hearing happy birthday a million times that day and of course getting to spend it with some characters and I am not talking about nick, mal and Shelby!! Ha, ha!! It was corny, I know! Anyway, we basically just stalked characters all day. we found out exactly what time each character was coming for meet and greets and where and we went. It was a blast. We also rode a few more rides again, thunder mountain (rollercoaster) and Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney remade the pirate ride and now it mimicks the movie featuring Johnny Depp. His character in the ride looks exactly like him, it is crazy!! We watched the Spectromagic parade again (we watched this one on Monday also) and then saved the best for last, the Fireworks display called "wishes". It was awesome, everyting was synchronized to music and Tinkerbell flew from the top of the castle. It was beautful and very magical. For whatever reason my computer is not letting me add anymre pics so you will all just have to wait to see the Disney Scrapbook. Oh yes, there will be one. We bought special Disney books with our gift cards!! Anyway, after shopping a bit and eating everything Disney had to offer, we decided to head back to the resort and get our stuff ready for departure the next day. The trip went by so fast, but the memories will last forever. I strongly advise everyone to visit Disney as much as possible because you can enjoy it no matter what your age!!

Disney continues

Day 4: Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom was vey different than any of the other parks, but still really neat to see. Expedition Everest is the rollercoaster there where you are in search of the Yeti. You actually go backwards during part of the ride. It was pretty cool. We then decided to hit the water ride despite Nick and Mallory's opposition. Mallory got drenched, Shelby was pretty wet, my butt was wet and Nick got a few sprinkles. Lucky him and probably lucky me too because he would have killed me if he was the one drenched!! Check out the pic. Mal looks like a drounded rat!!
We all dried off during the safari ride. We got to get up close and personal to many animals and see them in their "human-made" natural environment. There was also many shows to watch. Bugs Life was probably the best. It was 3D and everything that happened you could feel or smell (seriously one of the bugs farted!!). The icon for this park is the Tree of Life. It is huge with over 300 animals carved into the trunk. It was a shorter day because the park closed at 7 so we decided to go back to Downtown Disney to eat and party. By the time we ate, I was ready for bed!! Everyone else wanted to stay out and party so we stayed for a while longer. All of the clubs are closed now and being renovated into resturants. However, every restaurant has live music so there were dance parties everywhere!! The girls danced in the street and Nick and I took pics of them. Day 4 complete. One more day of magical moments await us!!

Disney continued

Day3: HollywoodStudios

Tower of Terror and Rock n Rollercoaster!! Need I say more!! We immediately went straight to the big rides and rode them 3 times each. They were both awesome!! The rollercoaster may have been a little more awesome because you got to jam to Aerosmith while doing crazy turns, dips, cork screws and more!! There were many shows to watch too!! One of my favs was Beauty and the Beast: the Musical. Oh, also our building got struck by lightning while we were waiting for the show to start!! No one was hurt, thank goodness. We saw many more characters there including Woody and Buzz from the Toy Story and Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater from Cars!! Another fun filled day!!

Disney continued

Day 2: Epcot

There were only four rides at this park, but a handful of shows and lots of places to eat. This park showcases eleven different countries that are all one world. It was neat seeing all of the different buildings from the different countries and you could also try many different kinds of food!! We also met up with a couple characters. The best ride there was the test track. You are in a car which takes you through all the tests a new car goes through before being released to the public. You went through extreme heat, cold, speed bumps, crash test, anti-lock brakes and of course speed!! It was awesome!! We also saw "Reflections", which is a firework show. It was pretty cool!! Another exhausting day, but many more too come. The next day is Hollywood Studios.

p.s. we dont have a ton of pics on our cameras for me to post because we used a photo pass where Disney's photographers would take our pics and put them on a disc for us and we dont have the disc yet!!

Disney continued

Happy 18th Birthday Mallory!!(August 3) Today we went to Magic Kingdom!! Since today is Mal's b-day, she gets in for free, however we already purchased the tickets so she opted for a $75 gift card to spend at any Disney park!! She also got to wear a birthday pin so everyone knew whe was celebrating today. She got all kinds of free stuff and a million happy birthdays!! We started the day off by eating breakfast at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and his friends. Aunt Buffy and the kids also came to eat.



After breakfast, we were off to the rides!!

You cant help but become a little kid when you hit Main Street and see the castle!!We stayed at the park til 11ish and saw every parade, character and rode every ride there!! Our feet hurt and we were exhauted. Time for us to go back to the resort and get some sleep before Epcot the next day.

Disney vacation

Nick, Mallory and Shelby Matson set out on our adventure to Disney World on July 31. We first stopped by the visit Grandma and Grandpa Frazier in Palatka, Florida and
then hit the outlet mall!! That nght we stayed at my Aunt Buffy's condo on the beach at ste. augustine. The next morning we woke up, threw on our suits and off we went to the beach. I could live on the beach easily!! I love it!! That night we went to the Outback Steakhouse, which is a family tradition for my mothers side, with Aunt Buffy, uncle Steve and Gabi and Izzi. Since we were in ste. augustine, we decided to go into downtown and check out the little shops. We took a horse and buggy ride through downtown and listened to the history of the oldest city in the U.S.
The next day we headed to Orlando to visit Mickey and his friends!! When we arrived we checked in and had a gift basket waiting for us. Thanks MOM and DAD!! Check out the hats!!


We then headed to Downtown Disney where the girls (Gabi and Izzi) were to be made into princesses at the bibbidy, bobbidy, boutique. You get to pick your princess, the hair, and the makeup and then get your pics taken for a pretty penny of course. Gabi did wonderful and sat there like a perfect little angel, Izzi on the other hand was a monster. I dont have any pics of Izzi because she did not like the process. Here are some pics of Gabi though!!





After Downtown Disney, we went back to our resort, The Caribbean Beach Resort, and swam.

Roadtrip to Paula Deen

On Sunday, mom, Mary(Nick's mom), Christy (Nick's sister), and I all jumped in the car and roadtripped to Savannah, GA to visit Paula Deen's restaurant. For those of you that do not know who Paula Deen is, she is a cook on the food network that is famous for using lots of butter and always says "Hey Ya'll". We drove all day and night (10 plus hours) on Sunday and arrived in Savannah at 2:00 AM Monday morning. We got up the next day and hit historic downtown. We did a bit of shopping that morning, but mostly ate!! We stopped at every candy store they had (there was about 5) and had free samples and then bought some to go. Pralines and salt water taffy were the big hits!! We then decided to go on a tour of the historic downtown by horse and buggy. We learned about the history of Savannah and got to see the historic buildings that were still standing from years ago. We were upset though because the bench from "Forest Gump" was removed and put in a museum so we were unable to sit on it to take pics. Mom and I had a whole page in our scrapbook that we envisioned with the bench that we could not do because someone decided to mke money. Crappy!! Anyway, I did take a pic of where the bench wold have been if it was still there today. It is called Chippewa Square!! That night we ate a The Lady and Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant). Everything was amazing, especially the banana pudding and pecan pie made with real whipped cream. After stuffing ourselves like pigs, we shopped at her store and bought some souvenirs and cookbooks to made the memorable event. We then decided to do a haunted pub crawl. Savannah is known for their paranormal activity so I wanted to see what it was all about. We walked the entire historic district and stopped at 5 different haunted bars and listened to ghost stories for 3 hours. It was a lot of fun!! Mom and I kept takin pics to see if we could get a paranormal in our pic. I got something that was not normal, but dont know what. Mary and Christy said it was a street light, however there was no street lights around!! Freaky!! The next day we went to the beach at Tibbey Island. I could have stayed there all day, but we had other things to do. We went back into historic downtown and again stopped at the candy store and then boarded a boat for a dolphin excursion. We got to see a handful of dolphins in their natural habitat following a shrimping boat, eating the leftovers. They did a couple jumps for us, however they were too fast to get many good pics. That evening we made one last trip around downtown and then went back to the hotel to get rested before having to drive the entire next day to get back home. The trip was short, but it was a lot of fun.

4th of july

Nick is the operations manager for three campgrounds in IL and MO. So for the 4th we went to one of them, HoneyBend Resort in Litchfield, IL so he could supervise the activities. We played tug-of-war, and slip and slide or rather we laughed our butts off watching the campers do these activities. After all the fun and games, we went out to eat at a cute little historical cafe on the historical Route 66 called Ariston Cafe. It was pretty good. After stuffing ourselves full of good food and of course dessert, we went back to the campground for some fireworks. The show did not last long, but they were pretty good. The next day, nick and I went to visit Gail and Dave Johnson at their new home in Springfield, IL. I graduated with both of them from Maryville and Gail was my roommate in college for 3 years and was an usherette in my wedding last year. Needless to say we have a long history together. I did not get to attend their wedding in June because we had another family wedding the same day so Nick and I decided to go and see the new house and catch up since it has been awhile. It was so good to see them and their house is adorable!! After catching up with Gail and Dave, we drove back home. We were going to go and watch some fireworks at the mall, but instead we walked the neighborhood and saw everyone else's firework show.

Happy birthday and Fathers Day Dad

Happy Birthday and fathers day, DAD!! My father turned 47 on June 19!! Nick and I got him a headlight to wear on his head because he ducked taped a flashlight to his head many years ago and we still remember that and give him hell for it. He loved his gift!! We took a pic but I unfortunately do not have it, so mom you need to send it too me so I can post it because it is hilarious. For fathers day all of us kids bought the whole family cards tix. We go in September!!

off to college

So I know that I am really behind on all of my blogs, so I am catching up today!! Mallory, my lil sis, graduated in May and is off to pursue a career as an RN at SIUE. I still remember the first day that I met her. She came home on my eighth b-day and she was the best gift a big sis could ever get!! Cant believe she is old enough to be starting college in the fall, but the best part is that she will be only 45 minutes away so I can check up on her!! Good luck Mal!

Farewell to the bug :(

It is a bitter sweet day at the Joggerst home because we just purchased a new 2009 Chevy Traverse. This thing is loaded with leather, 2 sunroofs and a DVD player!! It is a pretty sweet ride. However this means that I am selling my beetle bug. I am very sad about getting rid of my bug, but I cant see the point in keeping it and letting it slowly die because it won't be driven. It still has many lives left and I want it to make someone else just as happy as it has made me for the last 5 years. It will definitely be missed!! We have been through a lot together. We buzzed in and out of crazy traffic on the way to Florida, Tennessee, Springfield, IL and Terre Haute, IN not to mention the many miles I put on it going back and forth from STL to Newton!! I have decided that I will own another beetle bug in my lifetime. A convertible!! That way I can buzz around once again. This car was perfect for me and I received more compliments on the car than I can even count. So farewell to the beetle, you have been a wonderful car and you will be missed!!

Happy Birthday Gabi

Happy 3rd birthday Gabi!! For those of you that do not know who Gabi is, she is my godchild and flower girl for our wedding last year. Nick, Mallory, Shelby and I will be going to Disney World at the end of this month and Gabi and Izzi will be coming with us for a day. Can't wait to see how big you have gotten!! See you in a couple weeks.

Happy Anniversary!!

Today is me and Nick's one year anniversary. I cant believe that it has been a year already. I still remember all the preparations for the big day and wondering if we would ever make it there without killing eachother and here we are one year later. Most of the day went by so fast it was a blur, but I will never forget the look you gave me and the words that came out of your mouth when I made it up the aisle, "You look beautiful" than it was followed by "why are you crying". Good times and good memories. I finished the wedding scrapbook so now we can look back and remember every moment from the beginning!! For our anniversary I ordered a cake since we ate our top tier at 6 months. We are both inpatient when it comes to dessert!! Nick went to pick up the cake from McArthurs bakery and did not pay any attention to what it looked like. When he got home he opened it and took a closer look and discovered that our anniversary cake said "Happy Birthday Anne". It makes for a good laugh. We took a pic and ate it. Anne, happy birthday, your cake was delicious and I hope ours was too!! Since I ordered the cake for Nick he got me chocolate covered strawberries, my fav!! I ate them all by Saturday afternoon!! Saturday night Nick took me to Dierdorf and Harts Steakhouse at WestPort. I was very good!! Afterwards we took a pic by the water fountain which happens to be the same one we were at last year before the wedding reception. I am a dork and thought that was sort of fun and romantic!! On Sunday, the actual anniversary, I had planned a picnic lunch, however a huge storm came our way which reminds me of the storm that came through on our wedding day also. They say that it is good luck if it rains on our wedding day, but what do they say if it rains on the wedding day and the first anniversary? I guess we will find out. Happy Anniversary to my best friend who I love more every day. I cant wait to see what the next year brings!!

congratulations and happy birthday

Congratulations to Michael and Allison for giving birth to a beautiful baby girl. I cant wait to meet her!!

Congratulations to Stephanie and Jimmie on their engagement. I cant wait to meet him!!

Congratulations to Jessica and Derrick. They entered wedded bliss on Saturday, April 18. Wish I could have been there!

And last but certainly not least,

Happy 26th birthday Angie!! I cant wait to celebrate this weekend.

Mallory rocked the stage

For those of you that did not know, my sister, Mallory, was the lead in her highschool musical Thoroughly Modern Millie which was performed this past weekend. She was amazing!! I thought she sang the best that I have ever heard her sing before. I was so proud. We dont have any pictures yet due to some technical difficulty with the camera, but as soon as I retrieve them, I will post them. My grandparents from Florida as well as Aunt Buffy, Izzi and Gabi and Will and a friend came to see Mallory perform also. It was great to see them since the last time we were together was my wedding. Gabi and Izzi have gotten so big in the last 9 months. Amber came over and took pics of Mallory, the girls and I since we are the proud godparents and of my fam and the grandparents. Look for them soon on Amber Lindemann's website. I will keep you informed. Anyway, I just want to congratulate Mallory on a great performance. Way to go out with a bang little sis!! Lots of love from your biggest fan!!

Easter

I got to host Easter this year for my family and Nick's family. It was a blast, however hard work, I did not even do all the cooking. I posted a pic of the spread!! I was so proud of everything, but the dessert. I decided to make homemade icecream since Nick and I have not used our new icecream maker yet, however I did not read the directions before starting the task. I glanced over the ingredients to make sure I bought all the items needed, but somehow missed the most important paragraph (the very first one). It informed me that I had to freeze the inner container for 6-24 hours. Well, needless to say our pie was icecream free. Oh well, next time I will know. The great part about Easter was that I hosted my very first "party" and it was a success!! Also, I got to show off our house to my Grandma B. I think she was impressed. After everyone had left, Nick and I went for icecream and called an early night since we were exhausted.

Nick's 26th B-day

So I am really behind on blogging. Oops!! Even though Nick's birthday was April 2, I thought I would still share in the fun we had. I sent a singing balloon to work for him with Jelly Bellies (his Fav) attached to the bottom. I know he loved them!! That night we went out to eat at a fancy restaurant called Stoney River steakhouse in Chesterfield which is where nick proposed 2 years ago. Ahh!! Then it was time to open the gifts. He is very hard to buy for because he never wants anything so to trick him, I had bought some items for our house and put them out and waited for him to noticed. And of course he did. He is very observant. When he asked what they were, I sang "Happy Birthday" and explained since he did not voice a want for anything that I got something for the house instead. I came clean and gave him his real gifts consisting of a CD and some clothes. That will teach him to not give me any ideas!! Oh, I also made an amazing cake for his birthday. His fav, a confetti cake with rainbow chip icing. His birthday turned out to be great!!

per stephanie's request...

Stephanie has requested that I post a pic of my home so she can check it out since she has not been able to see it in person. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath ranch with an unfinished lower level. We love it!!

Friends

I enjoyed going back to Newton last weekend and catching up with all my hometown friends. It is great to know that even with distance between us, we are able to catch up right where we left off the last time.

new to the blogging world

So I finally got around to figuring out how to create my own blog. No babies or anything like that to brag about, just Nick and I. Nick and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary and instead of waiting for a year for the cake we busted it out early!! Surprisingly it was good! We finally got our furniture in so our house is fully furnished. I am working on scrapbooking the wedding process. The only thing I have left is the wedding. All the showers, bachelorette party, painted hollow, rehearsal, etc. is done. I am pretty proud. Oh, by the way, my little sister is, Millie, the lead in her highschool musical production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. She is pumped and I am a proud big sis!!