C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E

Last night we all went to Hershey Park. Speaking of traditions, this is one that I forgot about. It's funny when I try to think of things we do every year, I always seem to forget a few. We started off by going to "Chocolate World" to see the tour of how the chocolate is made.



Then it was off to the park. Rides, sights, lights, lines and munchies!!


We finished off by visiting Santa's reindeer. I was very impressed by how the girl who was working there was able to point out to inquisitive Riley each Reindeer by name. I didn't think he was going to stop questioning her (who is the most important reindeer (why?), why do they lose their antlers, what happens if they don't get them back by next year, etc.











I was very relieved to also see this sign that they had posted!

Everything is BIGGER in TEXAS!

Okay, so the #1 motivation for this blog entry is to keep my good friend Erin happy!! I do not want to be taken off of her blog (I've already been warned). Some of you know what I mean!!!

I admit, I haven't been too good with the blogging lately. Looking back at my blog, it seems that I only want to blog about the good times or "occasions" that have been happening. Not too much has been going on lately and I'd hate to bore everyone with little details of my life right now.

But, again, for my good friend Erin who I love dearly I know this means a lot to her! I will give you all an update!

I am not working right now, yes collecting unemployment for the first time in my life and actually just for this moment it feels pretty damn good to get some of that tax money back that I've paid into all these years! The only thing that I am regretting right now is that besides for the temporary relaxation, I am not doing anything meaningful with my time right now and it is getting to me. I will have my AS in Behavioral Health/Human Services in about 2 weeks (yipee)! It only took me about 7 years :-)

I have been traveling with my dear husband for his work which is going great! I am so proud of how far he has grown with the company he is with, he is doing very well in his "After-Market Sales" career. We have been so far this year to St. Louis, Hornell (NY), Pittsburgh, Binghamton (NY), and the past few days we've been in Dallas (TX). I just haven't taken any pictures - we didn't really do any touristy stuff, but we did drive by the "grassy knowl" where JFK was shot. We wanted to stop there but we were on a highway and believe me the way the people in Texas drive, you do not want to mess around! It's funny, being out there for a few days I realized how rushed we Philadelphians are all the time. Everyone out there is in slow-mode pace (except for on the highway!) I actually stopped and thought "why are we always in such a rush?"! John went to one of his customers and the company's break room had a pool table and all in it. They really know the meaning of "taking a break".

Well, right now it is 1 o'clock in the morning and I am rambling! Hopefully I can post something more meaningful in the next few days!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIDEN!!

Yesterday was my oldest nephew Aiden's birthday. I can't believe he is 6 already!

We can't wait to see you Saturday! Enjoy your special day!

Happy Halloween

Here are some pics of the pumpkins John carved for Halloween:





Sad Pumpkin





Asian Pumpkin

Jen & Dave's Wedding

This past weekend my cousin Dave got married! It was so nice for John and I to be at a wedding with our family where we were the "guests". We got to dance, drink and socialize with everyone - much more than we got to at our own wedding!!
Here are some pics to recap the night:

Jen (and Dave's) Bachelorette/Bachelor Party

Last weekend John and I went to my cousins' bachelor/bachelorette parties. There were about 10 of us girls and we went "bar hopping" to all of the local places that Jen liked to hang out. Unfortunately for Jen, she had to figure out from the clues that her bridesmaids gave her, what bar we were going to next. It wasn't too hard because we managed to get to all 3 (or 4?) of them that night! Even my mom and Aunt Brenda were with us! The guys ended up going to the Log Cabin (and didn't move all night!)





Here are some pics to recap the night - Oh, and by the way, just for the record, Annie and I did manage to hang later than the guys - they took Uncle Irv home around 12ish and then we had to leave (around 1ish) so we could go to Sheetz and get them food. Overall it turned out to be a greatr night and I know that Dave & Jen enjoyed themselves.




Congratulations to you guys and we can't wait for the BIG DAY!!

Pics

Here are the links to our Wedding Pics and the Hawaii Pics

Some people weren't able to see them from the e-mail that I sent, hopefully these links will work.

Blue Hawaii

We're back!!! Two weeks is a long time to be gone from home - I was glad to wake up in my own house Sunday morning, espscially for having 12 hours on a plane, 3.5 hours of layover and losing 6 hours on the way back. It almost took us 24 hours in clock time to get home!!


Yes, this is the infamous Coco Palms hotel that Elvis filmed hios movie "Blue Hawaii" in Kauai. Unfortunately you weren't able to tour the grounds unless you were part of a "tour guide", which in my opinion was a waste of money because you are stuck for the entire day on a tour bus.






I put together a Comcast photoshow, not sure if I can post the link here or not - I can try. But here are a few photos that I thought I would share with all ya'll






Anyways, Hawaii was awesome! We couldn't of picked a greater place on earth to spend two solids weeks with one another to celebrate our marriage. We spent one week on the island of Maui and another week on Kauai. Kauai is the romantic island and Maui is more of the activity filled island. They were both great in their own ways. We went to a luau, went snorkeling, drove the famous "Road to Hana", drank, hiked, went to all of the beaches that we could, ate, and "stuff" (that was added by John).

The Best Day of our Lives (so far)

I am assumming that will change when we have our first child! :)

Here are a few photos of our beautiful wedding day! We couldn't have been blessed with a nicer day - the weather was perfect, everything went as planned and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. Here are a few pics pre-ceremony


Me, mom and Danielle - final touch-ups of hair








Me getting my hair done by Danielle and doing Erin's make-up - talk about multi-tasking!













Here are a few pics of the ceremony/reception. Unfortunately most of the pics that I have so far are from the photographer, so I don't have any digital ones to post. If anyone has any - please send!!



The cake (Designed by Tanya Distler)


The parents!

Rehearsal Dinner...

Okay, I am starting out slow with coming back to the "blog world". It seems like my relationship with the internet and any form of "information technology" has come to a halt since we flew out to Hawaii. How great it is to be free of the internet, answering telephones that never stop ringing, traffic jams, rude people, etc. Life in Hawaii is about as pleasant as you can get! It is total bliss over there - anyways, back to the real world! I am going to start off with pics from our rehearsal dinner at Dave & Buster's the night before our wedding...


Kung-Fu Annue and my brother

The infamous Oden and Ri-Ri

Johnny and Joe Bohr, like usual not paying any attention to the person who is taking their photo (Mom Quinn)





My cousin Mis and her husband Greg who were in from Chicago - no kids, aka having the ability to let loose!!; me and Dave

Natalie, me and Danielle

Erin & Jermaine in from Maine, also "no kids"!!









We had a great time and also got the opportunity to celebrate Danielle's birthday since we are stealing her thunder by being married on the same day of her birth!! We are sooo mean! Just kidding - she was actually cool with it, it was either going to be 9/16, or 9/23 - but she was also in a wedding that day so we couldn't burden her with making that type of decision. In the end it all works out, we actually get to have 2 things to celebrate every year!

4 More Days!!!

I am finally in a state of bliss when it comes to any final touches to the wedding planning. A lot of people have said to me "wait until the week before, you will have yourself crazy!" Thankfully, I don't have that - John and I are so excited we can only manage to get about 5 hours of sleep a night!
Everything is pretty much done, it's just a matter of answering any final questions that all of wedding people have and waiting!
My mom came down this past weekend and we went shopping for the rehearsal dinner at Dave & Buster's and got some other shopping done!!
Well, I can't wait to see all of you on Saturday (and some on Friday)!!

You probably won't get another blog out of me until October!

PS - One picture I wanted to post from AC of me and Vickie...

First Day of School!

I probably should be blogging about my "Bachelorette Party" this past weekend, but this is much too important!

My oldest nephew went to his first day of school this past Wednesday! I can't believe it, it seems like only yesterday he was just this little baby crawling around and now he is going to school.

It shows just how much I feel like I am growing up - I found myself engaged in a conversation at the nail salon with some woman who is a student aide for Abington School District. I was asking her all sorts of questions about the schools, the students, the teachers. Last night over dinner John and I were saying how weird it is that we are discussing how we don't want to move out of this area because of how wonderful the school district is and we don't even have kids yet!!

All I know is I can't even imagine what it will be like when I have my first child let alone when they go to their first day of school!



Oh, and I can't forget about Riley (my other nephew). This past Monday was his 4th birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY!
Aunt Kristy & Uncle John love you!

Darn Blog

I am so frustrated with this blog! It's like you can only post 3 pics at a time (and only if they are the small ones). So, I am going to just keep posting until all the pics that I want are up.

Showers, Trips & Family!!

John and I are definitely being spoiled by seeing our extended family this many weekends in a row! Between my bridal shower, our PA weekend in DE (I'll post pics later, I had my "manual camera"!), and my soon to be cousin Jen's bridal shower this past weekend - I can't tell you how much fun we have when we are all together!



Oh, and by the way, Jen's soon-to-be husband Dave (my cousin) is having his bachelor party up in the Poconos this weekend, so I will again get to spend time with them! The girls are going out, and with my cousin Missy in from Chicago it should be a great night!




Anyways, back to Jen's shower, she had a beautiful day and her and Dave were also blessed with family and friends and gifts, lots and lots of gifts! It's funny, because I remember her saying at one point, about her new plate set "I have been using the same plate set from when I first moved out", as I was thinking in my head -I am still using hand me down plates that were from my sister-in-law Annie's house growing up!! It's great to be able to start your marriage with all of these beautiful things to enjoy with one another!


The night ended up at my Aunt Brenda & Uncle Dave's house (cousin Dave's parents). Most of the families came over and Dave and his brother Mike put on a spectacular fireworks show! The kids absolutely loved it!!


Congratulations again Dave & Jen!! Can't wait to see you guys this weekend!!

Aloha

I cannot even begin to let everyone know how grateful John and I are for the beautiful shower that was put on for us. Much mahalo (thanks) to my mom, Pat, Erin, Annie and Danielle for making it all come together so nicely!



It was a wonderful day, although it could've been a few degrees cooler (I think it hit 98 degrees), but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.




My shower was actually a luau complete with a tiki bar, pig roast, coconuts and leis. It is always great to be together with your ohana (family). These are just a few Hawaiian words John picked up from Lilo & Stitch, one of our favorite movies! Here are some pictures of the day for you all to enjoy.

"Going to the (Moshulu) and we're gonna get married..."

Ever since October 29th of last year my life has been pretty crazy. The day that John asked me to marry him was the happiest day I have ever experienced!! What I didn't know that day was how much stress, anxiety and anticipation there was to come! I still cannot understand why anyone would want to be a wedding planner.

This planning though has also been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Just knowing that I am taking this step and that I am going to spend the rest of my life with John makes all the little things just disappear. I have been so giddy since we hit the 60 days mark until our Wedding. There may even be a newly found diagnosis, similar to "intermittent explosive disorder" just for stressed brides. Hmmm, maybe it can be called "acute bridezilphrenia borderline disorder"
!

I was in Michael's Arts & Craft store the other day, picking up more ribbon, and I started conversing with a girl who looked around the same age as me - engaged to be married 2 weeks before me. It was nice to chit chat to someone who is on the same emotional roller coaster as you - I didn't feel so crazy!

I do need to thank my Mom, who has been my rock for the past 6+ months!

I cannot wait for the big day, and to have everyone who John and I love and care so much about with us to share in our happiness!