Duncan Love

Our really great friends Chris and Chantelle Duncan finally came out to The Big Apple!  We had such a blast with them!  We crammed in about as much as possible on their two day trip to the city.  So glad they came out!  Miss you guys already!

Time Square!  It was bitterly cold that night!

 

Spending time with Eloise

I came down to Maryland for the week to meet and spend some time with my sweet new little niece, Eloise.  She is just so precious and tiny!  She's actually a really good baby...which is probably a good thing for me to see.  If we plan on having a child sometime, I need to see the positive sides of a newborn :-)

I think she was considering a cry but almost looks like a smile! 



This morning she was just snoozing away in her bouncing seat...so precious!

I'm gonna miss seeing little Ella when I leave tomorrow but the good news is they will be in Florida for Christmas so I can see her in just a few weeks!
Anna and Glen are doing such a great job taking on the parent roll.  This little girl doesn't quite know how lucky she is and how many people love her!  But she will quickly learn.

Our New Niece!

Anna and Glen finally had their little girl!  Eloise Verna Ramsey was finally welcomed to the family on Saturday the 27th around 12:30pm.  I can't wait to meet her!  Congratulations Anna and Glen!

Eloise Verna Ramsey

Thanksgiving in Florida

We were fortunate enough to head down to Florida for Thanksgiving to spend some time with my family...We had such a great time and DEFINITELY ate too much!

We went to Heritage Park in Macclenny to see the Christmas lights.  It's just a shame that my hair is covering my nephew Hudson's face and my nephew Chapman isn't looking at the camera.

My sweet nephew Chapman...he was my little buddy while I was home.

We were checking out the pond behind my Aunt's house after gorging our faces with Thanksgiving dinner...YUM!

Chapman...such a cutie

Hudson and Chapman...we were walking the trails behind the house...working off our dinner

Nephew Carson...growing so fast!

My oldest niece Lailan - so pretty!

Bryn and Keaton - he just couldn't get the smile right...he was trying!:-)

That's my guy!  Gary taking in all the nature Florida has to offer!

Greg Laswell

Gary LOVE'S Greg Laswell - so as I posted earlier I got him tickets to see him in New York.  We had such a great time.  We also brought a friend of ours, Suzanne to the show...I think she had a pretty good time too :-).

Greg Laswell and his band

Greg Laswell

This was after the show...you can see the lights behind us.

Me and Suzanne...Thanks for coming with us!

The Olsen's take on Laurel, MD!

Well, my sister and her husband moved to Maryland and since they were so close to us we decided to make a weekend trip out there to visit!  We had a great time!  I was really hoping Anna would go into labor while I was there so I could meet Eloise but looks like I will have to wait until Christmas.

Outside the Washington D.C. Temple

The D.C. Temple Visitors Center

At PF Chang's

We had to try out Georgetown Cupcakes - Pretty good too!

Well Saturday happened to be mine and Gary's 1 Year Anniversary!  Since we went to Hawaii in September and deemed that our anniversary gift we didn't have anything planned for the actual day.  But we had a great day!  We went to the temple with Anna and Glen and hit up Georgetown Cupcakes after lunch at Chili's.  And if you know Gary you know he had no objections to Chili's with a cupcake for dessert. :-)  Seeing it was our anniversary I couldn't let the day pass without doing something so I got Gary a card and 2 tickets to see his all time favorite artist, Greg Laswell here in NYC.  Needless to say I earned brownie points with that one!  He of course had to one up me and get me gift card to Nordstrom - since I LOVE that place!  That will be spent in no time :-).  !
We had a great weekend with Anna and Glen!  Thanks guys for letting us come visit! Love you!

Anna & Glen

A quick update!

Wow how time flies by!  Our last post was in June and here we are in November already!  We have enjoyed our summer and fall days so much...Half way through the month of July, Gary headed out to the Philippines for work but there wasn't much complaining going on there - He served in The Cebu Philippines Mission and was pretty excited to go back and visit!  While he was in The Philippines I headed back to Nashville to see friends and work from the office.  Nashville will always be one of my favorite places :-)

Gary got back from The Philippines the middle of August just in time for a little round of golf in Alabama with his brothers and dad.  It was a well deserved trip for him and we had a great time in Alabama with family (and not to mention mine and Rachel's afternoon of shopping :-)).
After Alabama, we headed back to New York but that was short lived for Gary...he left a week later for China and I stayed in New York to prepare for company :-).  Yes Sterling and Missy came for a visit to The Big Apple!  We had so much, went to see Wicked on Broadway (which was amazing), toured the city and indulged a little with cupcakes from Crumbs and lunch at Shake Shack!

Gary did surprise me with a last minute trip to Florida for my birthday weekend since he was out of town...He is so thoughtful and knows exactly how to make me happy :-).  It was a great weekend for me to be with my family while he was gone.
Gary got home from China on the 30th of August and on the 2nd of September we jetted off to Hawaii for a much needed vacation - as if we aren't gone enough, this was a true relaxing time - no worry of work or reality.  Just a little time in paradise :-).  My sister Lucretia and her husband Bobby were able to come to Hawaii with us.  They haven't been and I'm sure it was a much needed vacation for them too!  We went to The Big Island and Oahu.  While we were there we checked out Volcanoes, Waterfalls, rain forests, good eats, snorkeling, beaches, The Dole Plantation for some pineapple sorbet, the Temple in Kona and in Laie and a little Matsumoto shave ice on North Shore -yum!  Enjoy the pictures!

Outside our hotel in Kona on The Big Island

Bobby & Lucretia in Kona

Volcano

Lava fields

smoke cloud from the active volcano

Some smart person built a house on the lava rocks...if there is harden lava then there is a chance hot lava could flow there again

Kona Temple

on the submarine at Pearl Harbor

So serious

Fallen soldiers at Pearl Harbor

At Laie Temple visitor center

Beautiful Laie Temple

The Polynesian Cultural Center

North Shore on Oahu

Lucretia & Bobby

that's a huge sea turtle - it was hanging around us for a good half hour

Dog The Bounty Hunter's Bail Bonds - Gary is wearing the shirt proudly!

After we returned from Hawaii we had a little time at home to settle back down a bit before Gary headed out again to Korea. Gary's brother and sister in law, Randy and Shauna were able to come out and visit and we had such a great time!  Shauna and I shopped (this was just the beginning of my out of control spending), we toured, we went to Broadway to see Rock of Ages (actually pretty fun play), went to Little Italy and ate ALOT (which I loved)!
I left for Utah on the 5th of October and Gary left for Korea on the 7th...Utah was a BLAST for me!  I was able to see friends I hadn't seen in so long!  I am so glad I was able to go out and see all my wonderful friends!  Gary on the other hand didn't have such luck in Korea.  I think the traveling has finally gotten to him.  He was ready to come home the minute he got there.  He did some pretty outrageous things while he was there (well outrageous to me).  He went to Dr. Fish to get his feet "softened"...meaning...you put your feet in the water as fish food and the fish come up and basically eat the rough, dead skin off your feet.  Not really something I want to try but of course Gary was up for it :-).  He also decided it would be cool to risk his life and go to the DMZ which is the boarder between North and South Korea.  He said it was pretty interesting but I would DEFINITELY have passed on that adventure if I were out there.
Needless to say we are finally home in New York and enjoying seeing each other again!  We will be married one year on November 13th...wow how the time flies!