a day of magic

it had been two years since diana had been to disney. in fact, when we first started chatting with each other online for the first time, she was actually down here with her family! for me its been a bit longer since i was down here in disney. i went about ten years ago with a bunch of buddies (sidestreet guys forever!). we both wandered through the magic kingdom so happy to be there, remembering all the memories from visits past, sharing them and telling each other stories of the fun and craziness! we wandered through main street, then over to adventureland and frontierland, then liberty square.
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welcome to disney world

saturday morning we were let loose on the park- it was just diana and i, and we wanted to make the most of our first day! mom and david dropped us off at the entrance for the magic kingdom. they had plans for the day to stock the house with groceries, pick up barbara and nick from the airport, and go get grandma so she could come and stay with us for a couple days!
when diana and i arrived at the gates, we purchased our tickets (5 day passes) and found the right monorail, and we were off!

the vacation begins

friday i raced home from school. why? well, because my wife and i had some big plans for the weekend. we were going to disney land! we were gearing up for a long weekend at the happiest place on earth! when i got home my wife, her mom and david, were all waiting there for me ready to wisk me away to the airport- we had a 6:30 plane to catch! fortunately we got there in plenty of time, which was a good thing since diana had some problems with her ticket and we needed that time to sort it all out. barbara and nick were supposed to join us at the airport, but when barbara called us they hadnt even left south bend yet. oops. they had to switch their tickets to the next morning, but everything worked out well and they joined us saturday. everything else went smoothly though, and we arrived in orlando later that night. when we got there we got a rental car and headed out to find the rental house david had booked for us for the week. we arrived at the house and it was huge! like excited kids we wandered around the house checking out all the bedrooms. we picked the second best room (mom and david got the best one, of course!) and unpacked. we didnt stay up for too much longer that night, after all, we had a big day at the magical kingdom ahead of us!
[ed. note: content corrected for factual accuracy]

ali's reception

over christmas break one of the teachers i work with got married. she and her husband are not from around here, they actually are both from oregon, so they had their wedding up there with family. they didn't want to leave out all their friends here in indiana, so they had a small reception at their church here after christmas break. diana and i went to celebrate with them on this saturday evening. they showed some photos from the wedding, as well as the video of their childhood pictures. we all had some cake and enjoyed the time together. congratulations again, ali and jeremy! hey, another married couple? -want to hang out sometime?

miranda and levi drop by

sunday miranda and levi stopped by for dinner with the family. diana's aunt, uncle, and grandma were supposed to be with us for the weekend, but the 10 inches of snow that came pouring down friday and saturday left them stuck down where they live. since there was so much extra food, mom and david insisted that miranda and levi stop by and help get rid of some of it! we had fun talking and catching up with everyone that afternoon.
since miranda was around, she and diana made plans to color each other's hair! so all that night the two of them were cutting, coloring, and tinkering away in the kitchen- i think they were at it for about six hours or so! yikes!
now that the weekend is over, its time for me to head back to work. it sure has been a ton of fun and another great christmas vacation!
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gifts and such

since diana's mom and david were visiting alanna over christmas weekend we didnt get a chance earlier to exchange gifts with them. this weekend we found the time when all of us were there together. a tradition that diana and her family have always had is gift stockings. her mom and david got all of us a stocking filled with fun little gifts which we had a great time unwrapping and playing with!
one of the gifts i got that afternoon from nick was the new 'star trek' on dvd. mom and david hadnt seen it yet, so that night we gathered around the living room and had a great time watching it- i loved it cause i'm a trek nerd, they both loved it because of the clever references to the old tv show. it was really a great night!
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playing games

saturday we hung out and mom and davids. nick, barbara, and miranda came by as well, so we figured we should play some games! we pulled out one of my favorites- phase 10! the only bother about that game is that it takes so long to play! i think over the weekend we started three or four games and never finished a single one!
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new years weekend

after the new year we had another long weekend ahead, so we went to spend some time with diana's family. friday night we made our way over to barbara's place and went out for a nice dinner with her and nick.
at the end of the night we got ready for bed and pulled the bed out from the couch. it was surprisingly comfy for a hide-a-bed, which diana then piled mountains of blankets on so she would stay warm and i would sweat the night away! when morning came we got ourselves ready and went over to mom and davids!

hello new year!

i know its cheesy, but i wanted to take our first picture of the year! this will be the first year that we will spend all of it as husband and wife and i wanted a little photo memento. i think this may be the start of something- i think i will try to take a photo of us a minute or two after the new year every year! if so, this is the first one in what is hopefully a very large series of pictures!

goodbye oh nine

diana and i didnt have any plans in place for new years, so when she called me after her school and asked if it would be ok if a couple friends came home with her i was all for it. diana's friend from work, jenn and her sister jessica didnt want to hang around their house, so they came over for a night of fun! soon after they arrived we headed over to fridays for dinner. we had fun chatting and hearing all about hair stuff from the week at school. when we got home the girls wanted to watch a new episode of 'jersey shore' (i played around on the computer while they let the reality show grime wash over them...) as the night rolled on we had more and more fun, we rang in the new year and had a great time together!
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closing time

when morning comes, we all started to roll out of bed. ben and faber were the first ones up, so they stoked the fire to keep it warm. when everyone was up, we made a visit to star fine foods grocery store (we dont start the water pump when we go up, so no running water or bathrooms that work...). we got back and ben and faber soon headed in to town. we gathered up our things and packed up, making sure to clean up the place real nice. with the cars loaded down and the cabin in good repair, it was time to draw our time at the cabin to a close. another successful year! i should probably start planning for next year so that we wont double book it again...
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cabin fever

after a loud thud, the night changed into the final portion of the night. we all found our seats and dug into some good conversation. ben and faber soon called in a night and headed up to the loft to sleep. the generator was turned off, so all we had was candle light to illuminate our discussions. the topics ranged from silly to deep, then back to even sillier! this time is always a highlight of the cabin visit and part of the reason its worth traveling up here each year. it was great to reconnect with all of these guys after such an unusual and change-filled year.
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game spot

we got back from dinner and it was time to play some games! dusty brought his game again this year (after i requested it) called yahtzee deluxe poker. its a really fun game of poker, but with dice instead of cards (which is the only option, really, when you have a few guys along who hate card games...). ben and faber were up for it as well, so we all gathered around and had a blast! we played for a couple hours and everyone really enjoyed it- we are going to have to make this a staple game for our cabin visits!

sporty's

jeffry lee had to work a bit late, so he and keith joined up with us a bit later. after they got there (and the whole ben and faber situation had been explained) we gathered up to head out for dinner. as usual, we drive into the thriving metropolis that is baldwin and eat at sporty's. now, the bar we eat at isnt actually called 'sporty's', but it used to be and i refuse to use the new name!
we chilled out there for a couple hours, filling up on their famous burgers and tasty wiskey sours. it was definitely a slow monday in baldwin because there were only two other people in the whole place, and one of them worked there! though the place was cold and the service was terrible, we all still loved it!
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get lost!

usually when we arrive at the cabin we get the fire started and then go for a walk in the woods (often getting lost along the way). since ben and faber had beaten us up there by a couple hours, the fire was already warming the place up. we went for a walk anyway, out of tradition. when we go for a walk, we bring our guns of course! rex brought his and i had my dad's old 22. we each took turns shooting at different tufts of snow or tree branches. as darkness fell, we wrapped it up, jeffry lee and keith should be arriving soon anyway!
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unexpected guests

the cabin we always go to is owned by my dad and a couple uncles. since it is a family cabin, sometimes others go up there as well. this year i made the mistake of not calling my uncles to let them know that we would be going up. oops. turns out my cousin was planning to go up the same night! when we arrived we were quite surprised to see my cousin ben and his buddy faber chilling out- i'm guessing they were pretty surprised too! we talked with them and ben said 'well, you came up all this way, we might as well hang out together!' we had a great time, and ben was really understanding!
(shameless plug: my cousin ben and faber are in a band, check them out here!)

the ol 'hunting' trip

its that time of year again when the guys and i make our annual trip up to the cabin!
monday morning i kissed my wife goodbye and drove up to grand rapids. i stopped at mom and dads, got the keys and a gun. now i was ready for the trip! i went over to aarons to meet up with the guys at 1:00pm for our take off time. dusty and rex joined us soon after, and after getting the word from adam that he wasnt going to make it this year, we headed out! along the way we made our usual stop at burger king in big rapids, and then made our way, slowly due to snow and wind, to the great town of baldwin for another legendary year.
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christmas leftovers

after all these posts about our christmas vacation with the families, i find that i have a few random photos left. so here is where i'm putting them. this photo is of diana striking a fashion pose for me to take one of my first pictures with my new camera phone. lovely, isnt she!
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an open fire

saturday night we eventually made it over to diana's mom and step dad's house. it was great to see them again! they had recently been down to the boston area to see david's daughter, alanna, who had just had a baby! congrats! we got to hear all about it- we will certainly have to travel down there soon to see the little one ourselves! saturday night we hung out and chatted with them until we were all falling asleep in the living room... eventually we made it to our beds. on sunday we hung out for the day and enjoyed the time with family. we played a lot of cards, and enjoyed mom's new fireplace! (granted, they always had a fire place at the house, but david's christmas gift to mom was getting it working and all the stuff needed to have a nice warm hearth) she was really proud to show it off- and diana was more than willing to warm up by it!
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curly cut

while we were at the allen family christmas, diana's aunt becky raved about diana's beautiful haircut. she and diana got to talking, and diana offered to give her aunt a hair cut like it if she wanted. aunt becky stopped by after the party and took her up on the offer! diana was excited about it because her aunt had the same curly hair as she does, and was looking forward to making it look as cute as hers. aunt becky came buy with cousin rachel, and the two of them had a blast as diana gave becky a makeover! aunt becky wasnt quite willing to go as short as dianas hair, but did go a bit shorter than she had planned. by the end it looked fantastic, and all the girls were very pleased with the new look. diana sure is getting good with those shears!

family gifts

after the allen christmas, we headed over to barbaras again to open gifts with her and their dad. we hung out for a while and just caught up, it had been quite some time since diana was able to just chat with her sister and dad, so we took advantage! diana's dad was excited to see all of us, and poco was especially excited to see him! over the years there have been times where dad took poco to dog sit for a while and he would always take poco on walks- often two mile long walks which poco doesnt really get from us...
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the white elephant in the room

the day after christmas diana and i said our goodbyes to my family and drove down to see her family. we first went to her sister barbara's house, got her out of bed, then went to the allen christmas party. i dont know her extended family very well, but i sure do enjoy them! the party was at aunt nancy and uncle arnold's house, they had just finished their basement (literally, they just finished putting the flooring in that morning!) and everyone was having a great time. one of the fun things about that side of the family is the gifts they give: all the adults give white elephant gifts. all are put in the center, and each person grabs one and opens it- hilarity ensues! they certainly take their white elephant gifts seriously, each gift is more clever than the last. many laughs were had by all!

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