Well folks. Stephen and I have made it a whopping six months and have been pretty much stoked about every minute of it. We have created a really cute apartment. Managed to secure really stable full time jobs. Stephen is on a Fire Department. I have auditioned at Disney. We have managed to keep our friends as friends despite living hundreds of miles from a lot of them. And we have enjoyed getting to know each other in this whole new way! God seems to be deciding that it is time to shake things up a bit for us.
There have been a few things coming our way lately that suggest we might be changing things up soon. OR things might stay exactly the same as they are now, WHO KNOWS? I can't write in detail yet about what has come my way because it has not been decided. I can tell you that if it comes to fruition, we will be moving. Ultimately, we don't even know where we may end up in the end, but we would be leaving our cute little apartment. So for now, I will leave it at that and update here soon.
For Stephen, he just found out that there is another Grand Rapids Fire Department recruiting test. For those of you who don't know the story, Stephen took this test last year sometime. At the time, the dept was hiring 12 new recruits. About 1500 people showed up for the test (it's a two day thing). Stephen made the first cut, which narrowed the field to 150 people I believe (maybe 200... not sure). The second test narrows the field to 30. Stephen's score made him number 31. Yeah. He was close. The next part of the exam would have been the physical, which I know he would do great at. So yeah, this has come around again and there is this whole new possibility in front of us. I am not sure how we would work this with my new opportunity, but we are pretty awesome at working things out.
So our lives are in complete upheaval right now. Both working hard still, lots of conversation, lots of love, and still a lot of fun. We are learning a lot about making these huge-ola decisions together and it is definitely nice to know that we are very good at communicating how we feel about all this. It's sweet! So we will let you know what is going on when WE figure out what is going on!
For now, life is good. And Happy Six Months of Awesome to my mega hot husband.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Jon and Kait. An Engagement Preview.
Jon and Kait are good friends of Stephen and mine and I am shooting their wedding this summer! They are so much fun to hang out with and they were so natural in front of the camera! Granted, Kait admittedly loves to have her picture taken, so this was pretty much just another day living the fabulous life! This was my first engagement session and it was absolutely wonderful! I hope I have the opportunity to do it again. Jon and Kait, hope you love em!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Festivus for the rest of us.
Let's start with Baking and Bonding! As per tradition, Stephen and I, and Liz and Jay, Brad and Ash, all the parents and Jord met up at the Ronketto's to commence with some SERIOUS baking. The gingerbread house building contest commenced. There were obstacles as the gingerbread houses were about 3 inches tall and 3 inches wide. If you would like to vote for the winner, feel free to visit Ashley's facebook page. Just keep in mind that Jordan cheated, Liz and Jay's hose was not even whole, Brad didn't actually do anything, Ashley commandeered both her and Brad's houses, and Stephen pulled the God card.... Just food for thought. The rest of the night consisted of lots of sugar, dirty jokes, cigars, beer, and being verrry sleepy. It was a wonderful kick off to the Christmas festivities!
Then, Christmas Eve was a Stephen and me celebration! We spent the day relaxing, finishing up Christmas wrapping and such, and then we feasted! Grandpa got us a package of Omaha Steak products, so we partook in the Filet Mignon, twice baked potatoes, and some awesome Broccoli. It was an awesome date and a wonderful meal! Best first Christmas Ever together.
Then Christmas day came along and I had to work..............It got better though. After work, we headed over to Stephen's parents and had a real Christmas day! We feasted, we wii'd, we feasted some more, and we had a lot of fun. It was an awesome Christmas day!
We stayed the night at the Eich's, went to church in the morning, and laid around watching some serious football then next day. Ahhh... life. The week was work. That's pretty much it. Then came NEW YEARS-MAS! I worked on New Years Eve, and then we headed down to my parents house. Had Thanksgiving dinner (don't ask), then off to the Millers for New Years Eve festivities! We played this game, that's not really Beer Pong, but it pretty much is, except there is not a table, it's more that you use your body.... and as that sounds inappropriate, I am just gonna put some pictures up. 
So, we got home late, slept for a long time, and then it was officially, Christmas (the second). We had an awesome breakfast of Mimosa's and Cinnamon rolls. Matt and Megs surprised us all and Christmas could really begin! It was so fun having Miles and Ramona there; Miles, because he is really funny and thinks every present is his, and Ramona because she is just precious. The day was spent eating, opening presents, and once again, watching football. (I have found that football has become an integral part of my life since marrying Stephen and it is actually really fun when you know what is going on.)
So, the Christmas of Oh-ten is officially over and Oh-eleven(?) has begun. It was a pretty great year last year, so we will have to see what is going to make this year even better. Love to all and to all a good year.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Florida. In words.
This is going to be long but here is the story.
For those of you who don't know, I went on QUITE the adventure this past weekend. It all began a few weeks ago when I saw on DisneyAuditions.com that there was to be an audition for Ariel in Voyage of the Little Mermaid (full-time and part-time). And after much conversation and ticket searching, Stephen insisted that I head down to Florida (ON MY OWN!) to do this audition. We are in no way ready or even wanting to move there quite yet, but we figured if God wanted us to, then this would be a very fruitful audition. I had to at least give it a shot. It helped that we found a super cheap ticket down there.
So I devoted most of my life for the past few weeks to preparing for this audition. I spent part of most days at my brother-in-law, Phil's house, using his piano and singin away. THANKS SO MUCH PHIL POOP! I am so grateful to have been able to do that because it absolutely gave me the confidence to walk into that audition and sing my best.
Fast forward to this past Wednesday. I headed to the parents house because they were going to take me to the airport the next day. We were hearing rumors of the big storm that was coming, so I was very grateful to be leaving right away on Thursday morning. Liz and Jay ended up taking me early in the morning because they had a meeting somewhere down 275. THANKS LIL and JUAN! I was a nervous wreck that morning. Most people know, I am just not a great flyer, and this time I was doing it ALONE. This was a very big deal to me. I got through security just fine(sorry to the lady behind me who got chosen for the annoying scan) and went on my way to wait for my plane.
I feel the need to take this opportunity to tell you not to fly Spirit airlines. Yes, they sell you cheap tickets. No, your carry-on is not free. No, your checked baggage is not free. No, you do not get free drinks or pretzels. Yes, they will over-sell their flights often. Yes, they will have mega delay's and not update it ever on the internet.
Needless to say, the lady at the gate was so frazzled that she didn't end up charging me for my bag on the way down and our flight that morning was more or less on-time. I managed to sleep on the flight, which is a first, and I didn't have anyone annoying next to or behind me. Woot. We arrived in Orlando to about 50 degree weather, so that was a slight improvement. Luckily, I had done the whole "Magical Express" experience before so I knew right where to go and how to get on. I was beginning to relax just a little bit. Though, the idea of auditioning the next morning was starting to come back to the forefront of my mind. I got to Coronado Springs and checked right in. I had quite the adventure getting to my room as the complex was ENORMOUS and the map doesn't quite represent certain paths and places correctly. Luckily it was sunny and I didn't mind the walk too much:-) The room was adorable! I was expecting it to be a little less cute and a little less fancy since Old Key West tends to give me a skewed vision of what hotel rooms should look like, but it was lovely. AND QUIET! I hadn't eaten yet so I was off to find some grub and maybe go on an adventure. Hey! I was alone and had the whole "World" to myself! I discovered my new favorite little quick take-out place in the resort called Cafe Rix and took my food outside to eat my first alone meal:-). It was wonderful. I read my book, enjoyed the sun, and enjoyed just being there.
I spent the rest of the day exploring the Boardwalk area and after a pretty cold and long trip home (stinkin Disney Transit denying me a bus ride), I got back to my room and really needed some time to relax and focus on the audition again. I did my best to relax and sing it through a few times and got to sleep pretty smoothly.
The next morning I woke up right around 6am because I really wanted to be able to warm up slowly, take a long shower, and relax. I had scheduled a cab for me the night before, and true to form, they were waiting for me right at 8:45 when I was to head over there. He didn't speak very much English so I had a small freak out that we weren't going to find the place very easily. But he got me there and I was one of the first twenty to arrive so I knew I wouldn't have to wait TOO long to sing, which I was very grateful for. I made a few friends while waiting; a couple of them were totally new to the audition world and one was a "veteran" so there was lots to talk about between the four of us. They took us back in groups of ten to wait outside the rehearsal room door. I heard probably the ten girls before me and around 8 of the 10 were absolutely fabulous and out of those, only one got a callback sheet. I was pretty confident that I wasn't going to get a callback, just because the girls they had picked were probably 15 pounds lighter than me or more. I am pretty confident that they want MEGA-petite girls for Ariel. I believe I sang well and did it with confidence so I am in no way disappointed with myself and I really did learn a lot about what they are looking for and how I need to present myself and such. I called my taxi man back and began to truly relax.
I feel really good about the whole audition experience; I am pretty sure Stephen was more disappointed than I was. I went in there with confidence. I sang my heart out. I looked professional. And I will absolutely do it again as soon as we can afford to send me:-) And so, my vacation truly began. I had worked nine days in a row leading up to this, so it was a much needed break. The rest of Friday was spent riding the monorails around the Magic Kingdom area resorts and EPCOT. It was so fun seeing all of the lobby's decorated for Christmas! The Grand Floridian has a full size Gingerbread house! It was amazing! Every single lobby has a giant tree in it that is decorated for the theme of the hotel:-) I could catch glimpses of the different parks, which I have never seen in person. It was a totally new Disney experience, which is hard to come by for me. I headed to Sarasota Springs since I had never seen the inside of that (too confusing of a layout to be pretty), took the boat to Downtown Disney so that I could catch my bus back home. I caught dinner at Cafe Rix for the millionth time (The individual pizza's are SO good!).
The next day I got to spend a couple hours at the pool! It was probably right around 70ish and perfectly sunny, which I believe is the absolute best laying out weather because you don't sweat up a storm. After another quick bite, I headed out to explore Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge. I had never been to Animal Kingdom Lodge and I refused to believe that they actually have animals right outside the guest rooms but THEY DID! They were right there! It was so fun just because I was not expecting it! The Jambo House lobby is also BEAUTIFUL! Its just a beautiful resort in general. I apparently missed out because I didn't go check out the pool, but I have to leave something for my next solo trip right? Then I headed to Magic Kingdom and caught the boat to Wilderness Lodge. I hadn't been back there since I was a little tyke and I was so IMPRESSED with that lobby. It is MASSIVE and everything in it is massive. Just gorgeous construction. Yes, this is the epitome of the nerdiness of Laura, but I was just in awe. Headed back to my room for the night and watched all three of the Tim Allen "Santa Claus" movies, which was thouroughly delightful!
On Sunday, I hit the pool early because I knew the cold front was coming and I actually ended up watching the line of clouds and cold come accross our lake so I was very ready for it. It got cold and windy very very fast so I got some hot food and ate it inside this time. My final resort goal was to go see the Port Orleans resorts so I headed to Downtown Disney and caught the boat... mostly because I love that boat ride, although it was not quite as nice as it is when it is closer to 100 degrees....I stopped at the French Quarter first. Unimpressive. Then off to Riverside, which is forever Dixie Landings to me. This is a much more beautiful grouping of buildings. The lobby is fine, the pool is super fun, and it has a stinkin water wheel. It was much more beautiful than I remembered even though I was seeing it through the rain. I boated back to Downtown and got to whitness a pretty hysterical angry lady that said the boat captain leaving some pregnant lady back at the dock , because, his boat was full, was like leaving her in a concentration camp...... ridiculous? I think so. Got back to my room and had to get a little pretty before meeting up with Tangie and Jim for dinner! We eventually found each other and headed to Celebration to eat at a place called Columbia that Jim knew about. It was so fun to hang out with them and the food was so incredible! It was just nice to hang out with people and especially someone that I miss a lot like Miss Tangie!
I was stuffed and sleepy so bedtime was easy. Monday morning, I woke up unusually early and putzed around because I knew I would have to check out around 11 and then I would be stuck out in the cold the rest of the day. I had some lunch, went over to Downtown to waste some time but it was just too chilly so I headed back to try and find some place warm to wait for my 2:45 magical express. At this point, I was very ready to be home. I sort of shifted from place to place reading my book and trying to stay warm. I actually found a place outside that was sheltered from the wind and was in the sun so I was fairly warm. Eventually I got on my bus and got to the airport only to be told that the flight would be delayed an hour. This turned into 2 hours... two verrry long hours as the magical express takes your three hours before your scheduled flight to ensure you making it on-time. ! So I went to Ruby Tuesdays and walked and sat and read and walked and got some coffee and called people and sat and read... you get the idea. It was decided that I would not be going to work the next day and would not be driving home that night... :-( I just wanted to see my hubby! I got back to Detroit around 10:30 and to the parents around 11:30 and the roads really were terrible. I spent the night and finally made it back home to Bay City around 1:30pm yesterday.
Stephen had taken the day off of work because we had a pipe burst next door and he had a few fire calls the night before so we got to hang out alllll day! It is nice to be home, though I do miss the palm trees. Pictures will be coming soon! I am so excited to edit! Next up on the docket... Baking and Bonding!
For those of you who don't know, I went on QUITE the adventure this past weekend. It all began a few weeks ago when I saw on DisneyAuditions.com that there was to be an audition for Ariel in Voyage of the Little Mermaid (full-time and part-time). And after much conversation and ticket searching, Stephen insisted that I head down to Florida (ON MY OWN!) to do this audition. We are in no way ready or even wanting to move there quite yet, but we figured if God wanted us to, then this would be a very fruitful audition. I had to at least give it a shot. It helped that we found a super cheap ticket down there.
So I devoted most of my life for the past few weeks to preparing for this audition. I spent part of most days at my brother-in-law, Phil's house, using his piano and singin away. THANKS SO MUCH PHIL POOP! I am so grateful to have been able to do that because it absolutely gave me the confidence to walk into that audition and sing my best.
Fast forward to this past Wednesday. I headed to the parents house because they were going to take me to the airport the next day. We were hearing rumors of the big storm that was coming, so I was very grateful to be leaving right away on Thursday morning. Liz and Jay ended up taking me early in the morning because they had a meeting somewhere down 275. THANKS LIL and JUAN! I was a nervous wreck that morning. Most people know, I am just not a great flyer, and this time I was doing it ALONE. This was a very big deal to me. I got through security just fine(sorry to the lady behind me who got chosen for the annoying scan) and went on my way to wait for my plane.
I feel the need to take this opportunity to tell you not to fly Spirit airlines. Yes, they sell you cheap tickets. No, your carry-on is not free. No, your checked baggage is not free. No, you do not get free drinks or pretzels. Yes, they will over-sell their flights often. Yes, they will have mega delay's and not update it ever on the internet.
Needless to say, the lady at the gate was so frazzled that she didn't end up charging me for my bag on the way down and our flight that morning was more or less on-time. I managed to sleep on the flight, which is a first, and I didn't have anyone annoying next to or behind me. Woot. We arrived in Orlando to about 50 degree weather, so that was a slight improvement. Luckily, I had done the whole "Magical Express" experience before so I knew right where to go and how to get on. I was beginning to relax just a little bit. Though, the idea of auditioning the next morning was starting to come back to the forefront of my mind. I got to Coronado Springs and checked right in. I had quite the adventure getting to my room as the complex was ENORMOUS and the map doesn't quite represent certain paths and places correctly. Luckily it was sunny and I didn't mind the walk too much:-) The room was adorable! I was expecting it to be a little less cute and a little less fancy since Old Key West tends to give me a skewed vision of what hotel rooms should look like, but it was lovely. AND QUIET! I hadn't eaten yet so I was off to find some grub and maybe go on an adventure. Hey! I was alone and had the whole "World" to myself! I discovered my new favorite little quick take-out place in the resort called Cafe Rix and took my food outside to eat my first alone meal:-). It was wonderful. I read my book, enjoyed the sun, and enjoyed just being there.
I spent the rest of the day exploring the Boardwalk area and after a pretty cold and long trip home (stinkin Disney Transit denying me a bus ride), I got back to my room and really needed some time to relax and focus on the audition again. I did my best to relax and sing it through a few times and got to sleep pretty smoothly.
The next morning I woke up right around 6am because I really wanted to be able to warm up slowly, take a long shower, and relax. I had scheduled a cab for me the night before, and true to form, they were waiting for me right at 8:45 when I was to head over there. He didn't speak very much English so I had a small freak out that we weren't going to find the place very easily. But he got me there and I was one of the first twenty to arrive so I knew I wouldn't have to wait TOO long to sing, which I was very grateful for. I made a few friends while waiting; a couple of them were totally new to the audition world and one was a "veteran" so there was lots to talk about between the four of us. They took us back in groups of ten to wait outside the rehearsal room door. I heard probably the ten girls before me and around 8 of the 10 were absolutely fabulous and out of those, only one got a callback sheet. I was pretty confident that I wasn't going to get a callback, just because the girls they had picked were probably 15 pounds lighter than me or more. I am pretty confident that they want MEGA-petite girls for Ariel. I believe I sang well and did it with confidence so I am in no way disappointed with myself and I really did learn a lot about what they are looking for and how I need to present myself and such. I called my taxi man back and began to truly relax.
I feel really good about the whole audition experience; I am pretty sure Stephen was more disappointed than I was. I went in there with confidence. I sang my heart out. I looked professional. And I will absolutely do it again as soon as we can afford to send me:-) And so, my vacation truly began. I had worked nine days in a row leading up to this, so it was a much needed break. The rest of Friday was spent riding the monorails around the Magic Kingdom area resorts and EPCOT. It was so fun seeing all of the lobby's decorated for Christmas! The Grand Floridian has a full size Gingerbread house! It was amazing! Every single lobby has a giant tree in it that is decorated for the theme of the hotel:-) I could catch glimpses of the different parks, which I have never seen in person. It was a totally new Disney experience, which is hard to come by for me. I headed to Sarasota Springs since I had never seen the inside of that (too confusing of a layout to be pretty), took the boat to Downtown Disney so that I could catch my bus back home. I caught dinner at Cafe Rix for the millionth time (The individual pizza's are SO good!).
The next day I got to spend a couple hours at the pool! It was probably right around 70ish and perfectly sunny, which I believe is the absolute best laying out weather because you don't sweat up a storm. After another quick bite, I headed out to explore Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge. I had never been to Animal Kingdom Lodge and I refused to believe that they actually have animals right outside the guest rooms but THEY DID! They were right there! It was so fun just because I was not expecting it! The Jambo House lobby is also BEAUTIFUL! Its just a beautiful resort in general. I apparently missed out because I didn't go check out the pool, but I have to leave something for my next solo trip right? Then I headed to Magic Kingdom and caught the boat to Wilderness Lodge. I hadn't been back there since I was a little tyke and I was so IMPRESSED with that lobby. It is MASSIVE and everything in it is massive. Just gorgeous construction. Yes, this is the epitome of the nerdiness of Laura, but I was just in awe. Headed back to my room for the night and watched all three of the Tim Allen "Santa Claus" movies, which was thouroughly delightful!
On Sunday, I hit the pool early because I knew the cold front was coming and I actually ended up watching the line of clouds and cold come accross our lake so I was very ready for it. It got cold and windy very very fast so I got some hot food and ate it inside this time. My final resort goal was to go see the Port Orleans resorts so I headed to Downtown Disney and caught the boat... mostly because I love that boat ride, although it was not quite as nice as it is when it is closer to 100 degrees....I stopped at the French Quarter first. Unimpressive. Then off to Riverside, which is forever Dixie Landings to me. This is a much more beautiful grouping of buildings. The lobby is fine, the pool is super fun, and it has a stinkin water wheel. It was much more beautiful than I remembered even though I was seeing it through the rain. I boated back to Downtown and got to whitness a pretty hysterical angry lady that said the boat captain leaving some pregnant lady back at the dock , because, his boat was full, was like leaving her in a concentration camp...... ridiculous? I think so. Got back to my room and had to get a little pretty before meeting up with Tangie and Jim for dinner! We eventually found each other and headed to Celebration to eat at a place called Columbia that Jim knew about. It was so fun to hang out with them and the food was so incredible! It was just nice to hang out with people and especially someone that I miss a lot like Miss Tangie!
I was stuffed and sleepy so bedtime was easy. Monday morning, I woke up unusually early and putzed around because I knew I would have to check out around 11 and then I would be stuck out in the cold the rest of the day. I had some lunch, went over to Downtown to waste some time but it was just too chilly so I headed back to try and find some place warm to wait for my 2:45 magical express. At this point, I was very ready to be home. I sort of shifted from place to place reading my book and trying to stay warm. I actually found a place outside that was sheltered from the wind and was in the sun so I was fairly warm. Eventually I got on my bus and got to the airport only to be told that the flight would be delayed an hour. This turned into 2 hours... two verrry long hours as the magical express takes your three hours before your scheduled flight to ensure you making it on-time. ! So I went to Ruby Tuesdays and walked and sat and read and walked and got some coffee and called people and sat and read... you get the idea. It was decided that I would not be going to work the next day and would not be driving home that night... :-( I just wanted to see my hubby! I got back to Detroit around 10:30 and to the parents around 11:30 and the roads really were terrible. I spent the night and finally made it back home to Bay City around 1:30pm yesterday.
Stephen had taken the day off of work because we had a pipe burst next door and he had a few fire calls the night before so we got to hang out alllll day! It is nice to be home, though I do miss the palm trees. Pictures will be coming soon! I am so excited to edit! Next up on the docket... Baking and Bonding!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Ramona Jean. This is the story.
Ramona Jean was born on November 12, 2010. Mom, Dad, Liz, Jay, Papa V, and Mama V were all able to come meet her!
We had a wonderful time ooing and ahhing all night and day long.
Plus we had a whole bunch of fun with Mr. Miles.
He is a new firefighter in training, by the way.
Let the story continue...
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