Kate and Chad

WHO COULD ASK FOR MORE?

2011-08-19T10:08:00.012-04:00

Just because I’m blogging today doesn’t mean I’m back for good! But I’m making an appearance for a good reason. Today is our 5th wedding anniversary. Anyone who knows me will attest that I’m not a big celebrator of birthdays (I hate being the center of attention), but it’s also because I feel like I didn’t do any of the hard work on my birthday. Shouldn’t I be celebrating my mom on my birthday? She’s the one who carried me for 9 months and did all the work! (Maybe that’s just my weird thinking). I’m getting off track, but I do think it’s important to celebrate and acknowledge the accomplishments and milestones in life. Marriage is such a gift and making it 5 years is an accomplishment. Some years have been harder than others but in the end it has been the learning and growing and supporting of one another that is sooooo worth the effort.

Today I want to pay tribute to the one I love the Most!

Here are 5 random facts about Chad and I.

1) In our relationship I do all of the driving. I get carsick if I don't, but the perk of this driving relationship is that DJ Chad without fail, IMMEDIATELY plugs in his I-pod so we don't go a second without great tunes to listen to.

2) I have an unhealthy attraction to men with beards. Chad awknowledges this and even though he can't grow the beard of my dreams he keeps his face scruffy just how I like it. He also allows me to have many beard crushes.

3) Chad and I always share a dish when we go out to eat. The hard part is the picking what to share and even harder is the 30 minute discussion on where we want to go out to eat. Some may call it indecisive....but I like to think of it as being easy going:)

4) Over the years, I've adopted many type "A" personality traits. I'm highly organized, task oriented, and probably OCD. With this change in my personality, I sometimes like to think that I wear the pants in the relationship. Chad puts me in my place often and reminds me that isn't the case.

5) Along with my obsession with beards, I'm also obsessed with animals. Chad is often left to snuggle himself while I'm busy snuggling my overly needy and possessive dog Nash. Chad takes my neglect to show him affection like a champ! He also plays a long and takes me to look at puppies once a week as he rolls his eyes and thinks i'm crazy.

Will you still need me? Will you still feed me, when I'm 64?

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

2010-07-05T17:17:00.014-04:00

We just got back a couple of days ago from this years Dehner Family Retreat. We went to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. It was a nice change from the Outer Banks and did not disappoint.

This was Chad's first Oyster. He smothered it in cocktail sauce to help it go down smooth.

There was lots of sun, swimming, lounging, sun-bathing, eating, and late night gaming

We ate lunch at the famous tourist spot The Salty Dog Cafe. Chad had to get Key Lime Pie for dessert which was the highlight of the meal

Scott showing Chad how to properly slurp down an Oyster

Mom bought a really cool basket from a lady who weaves by the side of the road

One of the days we headed down to Savannah Georgia to eat at Paula Dean's restaurant Lady and Sons. It was OH SO TASTY AND BUTTERY!

9 MONTH OVERVIEW

2010-07-05T13:24:00.021-04:00

So I guess it's been 9 month's since our last post. I'm not going to throw out a bunch of excuses, I'm just going to get to it. Here's the last 9 month's wrapped up into one long post. Luckily our life is pretty simple and easy to follow. Enjoy!

For Halloween this year Chad was a sumo wrestler and I was a mime. Chad's costume was a hit! Everyone loved it which won him best costume at all of the parties we attended this year. He defintely wore it well!

In November, Chad's dad was able to come out for a quick visit. We were able to get box tickets for one of the biggest games of the season. Not a bad way to experience your first Ohio State football game. Ohio State won in overtime, earning their place in the Rose Bowl.

Chad and Warren enjoyed some time in the pre-clinic lab drilling on fake teeth and touring the dental school.

For Spring Break this year we went to Arizona for a week to visit Chad's family. We had a jam packed week planned. We had Chad's grandparents in town from Idaho, a cousin to see off before leaving for Afghanistan, and the rest of the extended family to see all in the couple of days we were in town before leaving for the reservation. The majority of our friends have all moved back to Arizona since graduating from BYU, so it was nice to get together with everyone especially since there have been new babies, spouses, careers, and houses since we have seen everyone last.

The highlight of the trip was the couple of days we spent in Chinle and Canyon De Chelly on the Navajo Reservation. Chad has told me sooooo many stories of the time he spent there as a child, so it was great to be able to see it for myself.

All of the kids at Spider Rock

Kent in front of the Hogan where Chad's aunt Lisa was born

Grandma Ma' sani's house on the Reservation. I love how she lived here with no running water, and an outhouse. She lived in the most humble home with the most amazing view!

family picture in front of a Hogan on the family property in Canyon De Chelly

We were headed out of town just as the snow was heading in

Meet Nash! the newest addition to our family. In the beginning of April I went to one of our properties to take pictures for one the the marketing flyers I was working on. My brother and I walked inside and saw this little guy prancing around and I immediately fell in love. Apparently someone had just dropped him off and abandoned him. The manager had been taking care of him until she could find him a permanent home. Since I'm the biggest animal lover and sucker for anything furry, Nash has been with us now for 3 months and we love him to death. Chad was given exclusive naming rights as one of the conditions of us keeping the pup, and he named him after Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns

For Chad's 26th birthday this year, my parents treated the familyto Tommy's Pizza and a Graeter's ice cream cake. Chad's a simple man.

Two years ago my sister visited Chad and I in Provo right before Chad graduated and we moved to Ohio. While she was in town, Chad dislocated his left shoulder for the eighth time while putting on a sweatshirt so we could go out to dinner. We missed dinner and spent 7 hours in the emergency room and ate dinner at 2am at Ihop. Two month's later Chad had shoulder surgery.

A couple of weeks ago my sister ramdomly sent me pictures from that night that looked like this....................... however this picture took place 2 days after my sister sent me those pictures. Chad dislocated his Right shoulder this time. I think she jinxed us. Chad now needs surgery on his other shoulder! Here he is after they knocked him out to put it back in place. I watched the whole thing and loved every minute of it!

June 10th, 2010 - Chad finished his 2nd year of dental school yay! Chad gets two weeks off to study for boards and then it's back to school full time. He will now be in the clinic full-time taking patients and I highly recommend him!

Poor Chad has had a lot of distractions when he's supposed to be studying for boards. I've been really sick with my Migraines for the past four months and was just hospitalized again. When Chad wasn't at the hospital with me, he was at home trying to get some studying done but unfortunately Nash and Harley wouldn't let Chad get much done. I think Nash was trying to email my doctors to let me come home!

FLORIDA VACATION

2009-09-13T23:04:00.019-04:00

Chad and I just got home from a week long vacation in Orlando, Florida with Chad's brother Kent and wife Liz who came all the way from Utah. This trip has been in the works for the past 8 month, so it was a long time coming and much needed.

Our first night in Florida, Chad and I decided to drive down to St. Pete's Beach in Florida's gulf coast for a day of rest and relaxation. I've never swam in warmer water in my life. It was awesome!

I think Chad liked it too. He's just happy to have a 3 week break before starting a new quarter. This is his last big break until he graduates Dental School in 2012, so to celebrate we grabbed a grouper sandwich for lunch before heading back to Orlando.

Our first night in Orlando was spent on I-Drive with dinner and live music at BB Kings restaurant. Awesome Ribs and great music!

A couple of the evenings we went to Downtown Disney for dinner, shopping, and dessert. A must stop for us was Ghiradelli's for a hot chocolate chip cookie sundae and goofy's sweet shoppe.

When I was younger I was deathly afraid of little people and would break down into tears everytime I was near one. To this day I still cannot watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or Wizard of Oz. So....this was a huge step for me to look at my short stumpy arms in the mirror at Goofy's Sweet shoppe. It's pretty creeepy.

Animal Kingdom was probably our 2nd favorite park. The scenery and props were really well done. The safari was a fun way to see most of the animals in the park, but we were all dissapointed the Lions were sleeping and didn't want to come out for us to see. This was the first park we went to, and none of us were prepared for the intense heat and humidity.

We made our acting debut by participating in a special effects movie scene. We were volunteered by a family who chickened out. Little did we know that we would smell like these nasty, wet, moldy suits the entire day and would result in THIS.......................................................

............RASH, which is covering Chad's entire body and looks 10 times worse than this. Do you think we can sue Disney?????

I think we all agree that Disney's Hollywood Studio's was our favorite park out of the four theme parks that Walt has to offer. We spent most of the day riding the Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith rollercoaster repeatedly. Just a warning, apparently the Tower of Terror triggers migraines..........not by the free fall drop, but by the stupid movie you have to watch before the ride even begins. This turned out to be a major buzz kill.

My first visit to Epcot when I was much younger, ended with my cousin Mark throwing me into the water spouts, drenching me from head to toe. This time I stayed far away from the spouts, and instead spent the majority of the time stuffing my face with French pastries.

Kent served his mission in France and thanks to Chad's insisting, he ordered dinner for all of us in French.

Posing on the Jungle River Cruise

Teacups. Let's just say that I opted out of this ride and volunteered to be the photographer. Even though it's in the little kid section of Magic Kingdom, I know better than to ride with these three.

I volunteered for the second time to sit out on this one and take pictures. Nothing will ruin your day more than soaking wet jeans rubbing against soaking wet thighs.

While we were planning our trip, the one thing Kent had to do was go on an airboat ride and search for gators. Even though we teased him, this ended up being one of the highlights of our trip.

Kent's wildest dreams came true when he was made co-captain and had the best seat on the boat, right next to the captain.

After the boat ride we each had a chance to hold a three year old Gator.

A friendly game of miniature golf. We thought putt-putt at night would be the perfect way to end the day, but it turns out that even putt-putt at night causes extreme sweating.

Waiting in line for the Toy Story ride. We had to wait in line 20 minutes for the Toy Story ride due to thousands of teen, Christian youth groups taking over the park. 20 minutes is a long time especially when all week we didn't have to wait in line at all for any of the rides. Disney in September has spoiled me.

THE LONG AWAITED RETURN

2009-09-13T22:37:00.007-04:00

After two long years serving a mission in Chili, Scott made it home a little bit taller and a little bit Chilean.

Chad and I are definetely glad we have our 3rd musketeer back. We made our traditional midnight run to White Castle in celebration of his return, and now we feel complete.

Thanks Scott for not coming home to0 weird!!!

SUMMER RECAP

2009-09-13T21:42:00.007-04:00

While baby Will was being born on June 6th, we spent the day with Morgan and Miles to keep them busy until it was time to visit their new baby brother in the hospital. Morgan made her debut as little miss muffet in her dance recital, and Miles loved critiquing each performace. Morgan was the star and loved having her cousin there to give her flowers.

I can't believe I'm posting these hideous pictures.....but this explains my lack of blog updating. After three months of migraine's 24/7, many visits to see my Neurologist and even more unsuccessful prescriptions I was gratefully admitted to the Hospital for tests and treatments. I wasn't the happiest camper but by the fourth day the doctors were able to break the Migraine and I was discharged.

I have the best family in the world. I was visited by everyone, brought food each day, and was showered with love and cookies the entire time. Even Will who was born a couple days before I was admitted made it to the hospital to meet me.

We had a fabulous 4th of July full of family and fun. We had our regional family reunion at my parents house and were lucky enough to have a couple of our cousin's and their families make the trek from Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Cincinnati. My grandma was also able to make it from Oregan for the festivities.

Our 4th wouldn't have been complete without the Upper Arlington parade and fireworks that night.

Nothing Cheers Me Up Like Turkeys

2009-06-02T19:47:00.008-04:00

This Post has one purpose and that is to shout the praises of my wonderful husband!! Despite being in the middle of studying for and taking 9 or so finals he has sacrificed his time to snuggle me, kiss my forehead, crack plenty of jokes to keep my spirits up, and just be extremely sweet and attentive to my every need. Chad's been a whiz in the kitchen lately and tonight didn't dissapoint. He made my favorite obsession lately. TURKEY BURGERS! With lots of Avocado! He even cut them up into triangles... and to make sure they didn't fall apart they were held together with designer toothpicks. too cute.
Thanks again Hun!

P.S. Mike & Amber and Kent & Liz: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

Also Mike and Amber - Our fingers are crossed for baby to come any day now!!

Happy Birthday Amber

2009-05-05T09:29:00.004-04:00

It's this lovely ladie's birthday today! The Lyons family wanted to wish her a very happy one. And we would love to watch your kiddos so your husband can take you out for a night on the town.

Thanks for being fun to hang out with and talk with, a great mother and wife, and especially for all of the tasty food and treats you make for us. Without you we would probably starve.

Just Because.

2009-04-27T14:41:00.009-04:00

Chad and I were talking the other day about documenting our life a little better. I always wished that I had more of my parents pictures to look at growing up. I would love to see more pictures of how they lived, dressed, and looked when they were my age....so Chad and I wanted to take some pictures of our apartment here in Columbus to show our kids some day. We wish we took pictures of our first apartment together in Utah, but unfortunately we didn't, so these will have to do. Plus Chad and I have pretty much come to terms that no one wants to come to Ohio for a visit :) so we thought we would show our out- of- town relatives our place.

OUR PATIO. I absolutely love the spring time in Ohio. Its gorgeous!! This weekend was in the upper 80's so we spent almost all weekend out here grilling, studying, and catching some sun.

OUR LIVINGROOM. We will forever be grateful to Verna for our couch. It can comfortably fit about 80 people.

DINING ROOM.

DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM.

OUR CUTE AND COZY KITCHEN.

OUR STAIRS. Who would have thought that having stairs in our place would keep our cat happy, but running up and down keeps Harley sane.

There wasn't anymore room in our U-Haul when we packed up our stuff and moved to Ohio so we had to leave a lot of our furniture behind. My sweet grandpa gave Chad and I his old kitchen table and chairs so we decided to recover them which definetely gave them new life.

More of our Living Room

Our little Desk nook...and Harley's favorite Chair. He is very possesive.

BEDROOM.

UPSTAIRS HALLWAY.

2nd Bathroom. My least favorite room in the house. I don't know why?? I think it needs some natural light.

CHAD'S SANCTUARY. This is where you will find him most days of the week. He takes FREQUENT study breaks to jam out. (one of the things I fell in love with when Chad and I were dating.) He is so musically talented and doesn't even realize it. I wish he were home right now strumming in the backround :(

Bottle it up and Sell it

2009-04-09T12:05:00.006-04:00

Chad has been trying out a new musk lately. Some may find it to be a bit strong, but actually it just has longevity. No matter how long and vigorous his day was the scent smells like it was applied first thing in the morning. I think i'm going to bottle it up and sell it and call it "Cadaver Juice"

I could insert a very graphic picture here, but I will save my reader's stomachs. I bet you wish your husbands could spend three days out of the week in the dissection lab too. Mine smells Mighty fine!!

Spitting Image

2009-04-08T11:22:00.003-04:00

Chad has recently gotten into the sitcom "King of Queens." Most people watch sitcoms to escape reality, but honestly this show must have been patterned after our life, minus my father-in-law living in our basement! The main character Doug is just like Chad it cracks me up.

A Quarter of a Century and Still Counting

2009-04-07T13:07:00.007-04:00

CHAD IS 25!! and the cutest 25 year old I know. Yesterday for Chad's actual birthday my dad treated the entire family to Mexican Food.

Chad opened presents, and then the moment the kids were waiting for finally happened. The sombrero and whip cream in the face!

Babe I just want you to know that you are the best husband a girl could ask for. Thanks for almost 3 great years of marriage, and I'm glad you were born so I could find you.

The Windy City

2009-04-07T12:20:00.010-04:00

For Chad's birthday I surprised him with a weekend trip to Chicago. The weather was perfect, and it was a great trip. We decided this is something we definately have to do more often.

The first night we arrived in Chicago was just in time for Dinner. Chad's uncle Chris gave us some great recommendations and we were so glad we took his advice. That night we ended up eating at Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Grinder Co. It was AWESOME!!! Definetely the best meal of the trip.

The next day was spent on Michigan Ave shopping our hearts out. The sun was shinning so we decided to slowly make our way back to hotel and walk instead of taking taxi's everywhere. Lunch was spent at the restaurant made famous by John Belushi and SNL. THE BILLY GOAT TAVERN.

It was fun walking around the city with Chad especially since he had never been to Chicago and was amazed by city living.

Pickle's anyone?

2009-04-07T12:02:00.004-04:00

Chad loves Pickles! I like pickles too, but he's the type who everytime he goes to the movie theater chooses a soggy pickle over popcorn. Ewwww I know! and I have to smell it while I sit next to him in the theater. I do however jump on the pickle bandwagon at one of our favorite jewish Deli's. Katzinger's Deli is bordered by old brick roads, and everytime we go we feel separated from the big city

Chad has a hard time deciding amont the barrels of free pickles which type of pickle to eat with his sandwich, so he eats one before, during, and after his meal.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it

2009-04-07T11:21:00.010-04:00

The past month I have been working with my mom and the start up of her new business! We've been shopping, organizing, and I've spent a lot of time designing. I think she has a great idea here, and I would love for everyone to check it out and pass it along. She takes any extra or old T-shirts you have laying around the house and makes a quilt out of them. Just ask Chad...we made him one for Christmas and he LOVED it!!!

Check out her Website at www.crewneckquilts.com

Lemonade from Lemons

2009-04-07T11:00:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago my worn out, student husband got a much needed week off from school for Spring break. I don't know what we were thinking, but instead of going to sunny Florida or on a Mexican cruise with the rest of the dental students we stayed home in old faithful Ohio. Lets just say that after day one at home we immediately regretted our decision. So what does one do when faced with an entire week off, you go to the Airforce Museum of course!!!! (insert sarcastic tone here)

Merry Belated Christmas

2009-04-06T15:31:00.017-04:00

Just to let our readers know, blogging isn't something I excel at. As you can see I'm not the best at keeping up to date, but I do this for Chad. And since our blog is also a way to document our life and experiences I just want to post a couple of pictures from our Christmas vacation in Arizona.

It's a Lyons Christmas Eve tradition to check out the temple lights, so off we went with the entire gang. In case you were wondering....yup, I'm the whitest one in the group.

Christmas morning was a success. The Ohio State gifts were flowing, Denim shirts were given, and Chad finally got the snuggly T-Shirt quilt of his dreams

One of the best parts about spending Christmas in Arizona are the late late nights playing Dominos. Well I'm a little bit of a light weight and can't quite handle the late hours, but the Lyons sure know how to party with or without me.

I had to ditch out early for work, but Chad was lucky enough to spend some alone time with his family after I flew back to Ohio.

MY WEEKEND WITH THE KIDDO'S

2008-12-16T21:37:00.004-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, My brother Mike & Sister-in-law Amber headed to Memphis for him to run the Memphis Marathon (yahoo!!!) I was sooooo lucky to be able to babysit Morgan and Myles. They really just wanted their uncle Chadee, but unfortunately we come as a package deal. Chad was too busy studying that weekend for finals, but the kids and I had a blast together. Saturday a little bit of a snow storm blew threw, so we threw on our snow clothes and out we went.

Since the snow was too fluffy to make a snowman, the kids jumped right into making angels

EVENING WITH MY BOYFRIEND LABRON

2008-12-16T19:36:00.009-05:00

A couple of Saturday's ago Chad and I headed up to Cleveland for the day to hang at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and then that evening we had tickets to the Cleveland Caveliers game. The Rock and Roll hall of fame in my opinion way way overrated. It was extremely overpriced and not packed with enough exibits to keep our attention. They did however have a really cool musical montage of all of the inductees for each year. I was singin' and boppin' the whole time. We stayed until they closed, but mainly because we didn't want to go outside in the freezing death storm blown in from lake Erie.

After the Musuem, We met up with a bunch of the other dental students and their spouses. The Cavs were playing the Utah Jazz, and with the majority of our group from Utah, Chad and had had to show our support for Labron James and the rest of the Cavs.

Chad and his favorite Cav's cheerleader "Brittany". Actually I made Chad get his picture taken with her, and he was blushing and bashful the whole time. It was really funny, and a little creepy, how many grown men were oogling over the cheerleaders and pulling out their memorabilia for them to sign.

Here's a kiss for you Labron!!

MY VERY OWN GARBAGE PAIL KID

2008-12-16T14:43:00.004-05:00

I was sitting at work one day, and as usual Chad called me to chat a little bit. We carried on a normal conversation for a while and towards the end he said "I have a funny story to tell you..." I instantly perked up, because I love a good story. Then he said "Well, so, ummm....I was taking out the trash and as I opened the lid to the dumpster my wedding ring fell off". I immedietely put down the phone, got in my car and drove home to help my poor little man look. I pulled up to our house and I see him inside the Dumpster dry heaving! At that point he had already been searching through the trash for about an hour, and he felt so defeated and exhausted. He even let a little old lady who lives next door throw her trash away while he was inside. He decided to give up, when I asked him to hold on a second so I could grap our camera and capture the moment, and say goodbye to his NOT SO INEXPENSIVE wedding ring. Just as I came out with the camera this is what I saw.........

The long sleeved t-shirt tied around his face was his attempt at blocking out the odor so he didn't puke everywhere, and yes he is wearing blue surgical gloves.

CIRCLEVILLE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL

2008-12-16T14:05:00.006-05:00

I absolutely love the fall in Ohio!! When the leaves change color it is gorgeous here. So to get into the spirit of fall, Chad and I headed down to Circleville, Ohio for their annual pumpkin festival. I guess it's a pretty big deal for the country folk every year, so we thought we would go and check it out. After sitting in traffic for 45 minutes just to get off the freeway exit, we realized we underestimated it's popularity.

After exploring for a while, we kept overhearing something about Pumpkin Donuts. Well....we found them, and after an hour and a half in line we finally were able to taste them. Lindsay's Bakery did not dissapoint, especially when you get a batch fresh from the oven.

Our bellies were full of Pumpkin Crepes, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Burgers, Pumpkin Cream Puffs, and Pumpking Donuts, and here we are still smiling after all of that!

HALLOWEEN 2009

2008-12-14T17:07:00.005-05:00

This Halloween was spent traveling between my brother's house and my sister's house to see our neices and nephews in their costumes.

Morgan and Myles as SuperGirl and Batman. I felt much safer with them watching over

Next we headed to my sister's house to see a Ghost, Woodland Fairy, and a little tiny ninja

WHITE COAT CEREMONY

2008-12-14T15:00:00.008-05:00

In September Chad was officially welcomed into The Ohio State University's Dental class of 2012. They had a really nice White Coat Ceremony for all of the incoming dental students. They had to walk across stage and be introduced just like at graduation to receive a white lab coat with their name on it. He's OFFICIAL!!!

The Ceremony was followed by a really nice outside reception. While the families ate, the students had their class picture taken spelling out "OSU"

Here Chad is taking his place in the "Block O" Chad has always been very comfortable with The Ladies! I was actually surprised at how many females were accepted in his class

WALLOON LAKE - Petoskey Michigan - August 11th - 16th 2008

2008-12-14T14:33:00.009-05:00

In August, Chad and I went up to Michigan with my family to spend a week on the lake. I think if someone asked me if I would rather vacation on the lake or the beach, I wouldn't be able to decide. They are both equally great. We were so lucky to do both this summer!

WASHINGTON, D.C.

2008-12-14T14:08:00.007-05:00

On our drive home from the beach we decided to drive through Washington D.C. and spend the day touring around since Chad has never been before. It was a short trip, but I think Chad got the idea. It's a little bit like Texas....they don't know how to do small. The buildings, monuments, and museums are huge!

Our first stop was The Holocost Musuem. We went through it pretty quickly, but I can never make it through that museum without being a little emotional and in awe of the magnitude of that part of our world history.

We went to the Vietnam Veterans Wall. Of course Chad zoned in on a couple of Navajo's paying tribute to their fallen family members. We spent some time talking to them and found out that they were participating in "The Longest Walk" where they just finished spending the last 8 months walking across country. They started in San Francisco and just ending in Washington D.C.

Here we are at The Lincoln Memorial. I think Lincoln had pretty good taste in Shoes!

COROLLA, NORTH CAROLINA

2008-12-14T13:35:00.005-05:00

This blogging thing isn't easy. If you don't update as often as your loved ones (who have way too much time on their hands, if you ask me) then they start to pour the pressure on. So to appease all of my blog stalkers out there, I'm setting aside today to get my blog completely up to date.

Starting with.....THE BEACH CONTINUED!!!

Our week was full of family, fun, sand, sun, water, water aerobics, food, relaxation, and laughing.

4TH OF JULY ROADTRIP

2008-10-21T22:27:00.011-04:00

Ok so just to warn everyone....this post is going to be long and painful.
Our 4th of July started out with a 14 hour roadtrip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. My entire family was headed to the beach for a week on the beach in Carolla to meet up with my Aunt Diana and her entire family. On our way we stopped by the famous Greenbriar Hotel to watch their little 4th of July parade.

We talked my parents into ending a long day of driving in Staunton, Virginia so we could enjoy our 4th of July the real way and not in a car. We stayed at a hotel with the rest of my siblings and met up that night for dinner. Staunton was the most charming little town, who knew?

And now my favorite part THE BEACH!!!!

TO BE CONTINUED.......

JAZZ AND RIB FEST

2008-10-21T21:38:00.007-04:00

My dad is the one person I know that is a constant mover and shaker. Most of the time this character trait of his drives me crazy. I will never understand how someone can't just sit down for a half an hour and watch a little tv, but his unwillingness to stay in on a weekend night came in handy. Instead of going downtown for the Jazz and Rib fest we created our own.

We parked dad's boat outside of the Columbus Zoo and listened to a private Jazz performance and ate Ribs from City Barbeque

After we ate, it seemed like word got out and lots of other boats joined with us and even some kayakers. The evening was perfect! Chad and I snuggled under a blanket while we watched the stars and fell asleep to great music in the backround.

CREW GAME

2008-10-21T21:04:00.007-04:00

For a brief moment this summer I worked for the official Chiropractor for the Columbus Crew Professional Soccer team. One of the perks of the job were free tickets to the games. In July, Chad and I went with my dad and nephew and a purse full of smuggled burritos and enjoyed a night out.

We returned Dillon to his parents at the end of the night hopped up on Pepsi and Dippin' Dots....That's what family is for right? Have all the fun, without the responsibility

FREE BURRITOS...WHAT'S THE CATCH?

2008-10-07T18:45:00.003-04:00

One of the restaurants Chad and I missed the most while we lived in Utah was Chipotle. The giant sized burritos always satisfied our hungry stomachs. This summer, Chipotle advertized free burritos one day only from 7-9. Chad and my parents met me after work to stand in line with all of the other crazy people. We were only in line for about 15 minutes until a huge storm came through. We were surprised how die hard people were. A little rain and lightning wasn't going to make us budge.

CHAD'S GRADUATION

2008-10-06T21:49:00.010-04:00

Wearing a cap and gown is manly right? I don't think Chad gave it much thought....one day in a black polyester dress and cap with a hanging tassle is well worth having a degree to hang up on the wall.

We had such a fun weekend with all of our family in town. Chad's brothers were hooting and hollering trying to get us to kiss in the pictures. I'm not one for public displays of affection or being the center of attention, but they eventually won!

THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM

2008-10-06T20:56:00.018-04:00

Chad did it!! He is the first college graduate in his family and we couldn't be more proud. What a smarty pants he is. All of his hard work and late nights over the past couple of years paid off and gave us a reason to celebrate.

My parents came from out of town to Provo so they could join in the graduation festivities, plus we needed all the help we could get packing up our apartment for the big move across country (Especially since Chad decided to dislocate his shoulder right before graduation)

It's a Dehner tradition to eat in the Tree Room up at Sundance when someone graduates, so we spent a relaxing evening dinning just the four of us before the crazy days ahead.

THE FIRST POST

2008-10-06T20:36:00.005-04:00

Chad and I have literally spent the last 6 months creating a new life together here in Columbus. We are so excited to be close to some of our family, but have realized how much we are going to miss being closer to his side. We have also left a lot of our friends and great memories behind. Hopefully this will be a great way that we can keep in touch with loved ones and friends throughout the years.