061. Plant a vegetable garden in the backyard. - Summer 2010

In April of 2010, we started our vegetable garden in the backyard. We planted a large variety of vegetables and have some good stories to tell as well. One consists of re-planting the corn three times due to an overzealous husband. Growing up, my family never had a garden for various reasons and I always enjoyed getting fresh produce from neighbors who did. Our garden was quite successful for a beginner. We were harvesting food into October. The garden consisted of: tomatoes, onions, zucchini, pumpkin, cantaloupe, corn, beans, banana peppers, bell peppers, jalepeno peppers, sweet potatoes, carrots, and radishes.

We have already started the garden for this year and hope to be just as successful.

025. Get a passport. - February 2011

I finally got a passport. The reason: a summer trip to Seattle, Washington with a stop in Vancouver, Canada. With the various rules for crossing the border, it was a needed item. I could get into Canada without a passport, but could not get back into the United States. I figured that would be a bit eventful if the band director was detained at the border.

021. Host a party for one of my friends. - May 30, 2010

I hosted a bridal shower for my good friend Shannon. Being the Matron of Honor in her wedding, I actually hosted her two parties in the span of a few weeks. Her bridal shower was over Memorial Weekend and the Bachelorette Party was the weekend before her June 19th wedding.

Both parties were a ton of fun to host.

016. Visit home at least 2 times a year (3/6) 5/28-5/31 2010 & (4/6) 6/10-6/21 2010

Again another long hiatus, but I have been working on the 101 Things and still need to update from before.

This past summer and fall, we went back to Minnesota 4 times.

The first trip that we took home was over Memorial Day Weekend. It was the first time that our daughter was able to visit with family and friends from our home town. During this trip, I also had the great privilege of hosting a bridal shower for one of my good friends. It was an awesome trip and we got a lot done in the one weekend. Here are some photos from that trip:

Memorial Day Weekend 2010 (May 28-May 31st)

Ella met her two uncles, my brothers. They were very excited to meet her. This is my siblings and I with my daughter.


A stop on the way home.

Week in June (June 11-20th)

My best friend was married on June 19th and I as the Matron of Honor in her wedding. We drove to Minnesota the weekend before the wedding to visit family and to host the bachelorette party. I stayed the week while my hubby drove back to work and then came back for the wedding. It was fun to stay at home and be around for the final preparations of my best friend's wedding.

The Bachelorette Party The Wedding

017. Celebrate our first anniversary (5/16/2010) by doing something special.

It has been quite awhile since I have updated the blog -- however, I still have been working on some things off of the list.

On the day of our actual anniversary, I had to go to work to direct the band during the commencement ceremony for the school I work at. Then my husband and I went to a few graduation parties. And then he broke my car driving on dirt roads in the rural areas of town. Needless to say we were not very happy with each other.

However...we did celebrate on Monday night (so the day after our anniversary) by going out to dinner and eating the topper of our wedding cake.

I hope next year is not as eventful on our anniversary and we are able to enjoy the actual day more.

082. Go on a picnic (3/23/2010)

Since the weather has been getting nicer and I have needed to get out of the house to walk around as part of my recovery from the C-Section, we have been grabbing dinner to go and going for a walk. On one of the many nights, we went and got sandwiches at Jimmy John's and then had a picnic.

049. Donate my unused clothing or items to Goodwill. (3/28/2010)

This is another thing that we've been meaning to get around to doing and didn't have the time to do so. We finally went to Goodwill today and dropped off a bag full of clothes and a box full of items that we no longer needed/wanted. It was great to finally get those out of our house.

023. Become a member of a church. (March 2010)

We finally registered with the church we've been attending in town for almost the last year. As part of getting our daughter baptized, we needed to be registered members of the church -- so we figured now was as good of time as any.

022. Become a mom. (3/5/2010)

We welcomed our first baby on Friday, March 5, 2010 at 2:04 a.m. It was a long ordeal, but totally worth it. I went in on Wednesday evening to start an induction due to rising blood pressure and a fear that the baby was going to be large. Contractions kicked in during the night and by Thursday morning my water was broken. I then labored for 18 hours with back contractions and no pain medication. By midnight, I was ready to push. Pushing lasted over an hour and the baby was not dropping. The decision was made to go ahead with a C-Section and in the wee hours of Friday morning we welcomed our daughter - Ella Adeline.

I became a Mom.

059. Paint at least one room in our house a color besides white or off white. (Jan 2010)

The painting half way through

The room we completely re-did was the baby's nursery. The wall now sports a light greenish yellow on top and green on the bottom.

The nursery all complete (mid February)