This past weekend we got to go to an amazing resort in Gatlinburg! Yes, this was the 3rd trip we’ve taken there in the past year. But we love Gatlinburg!

We went for the Strong Bonds Marriage Retreat. We had SO much fun! For the retreat, we went through the 5 Love Languages book and videos. I really enjoyed that. We learned a lot about each other and us together. We also got to watch some videos from Mark Gungor. He is HILARIOUS! I want to see the rest of the videos!

The resort we stayed at was like a giant log cabin community! Gorgeous. I thought we would be staying in a normal hotel room, since the Army was paying for it. (The last retreat we went to, we had a room with two double beds! Not the best for a marriage retreat!) We were pleasantly surprised! We had a one bedroom suite! There was a living room/kitchenette, a bedroom with a KING size bed, and an amazing bathroom with a huge shower and a washer/dryer combo, as in ONE MACHINE! It was pretty impressive.

We also had the chance to do some more letterboxing! All in all it was a fantastic weekend!

We didn’t take too many pictures this trip, but here are the ones we did take! Enjoy!

Santa came to see us! And he brought lots of goodies! See the big one? It was from my sister. The label said it was for my stepdaughter. She opened the box to find another wrapped box and a small bag. The bag was for her, the box was for my other stepdaughter. So she opened that box and found ANOTHER box and a small bag. This kept going until we all had opened a box and had a small bag. Nine people all together with one last small box. (Which was for my aunt’s roommate’s granddaughter.) We all opened our bags together and found crocheted scarves in each person’s favorite color!! My sister had been working on this since the beginning of November. She’s brilliant.

Here are my other gifts!

Santa was very good to me this year! And so were all of my awesome family members. I think my favorite gifts would have to be the chocolate pearls from my husband, my waffle maker from my husband and stepdaughters, my scarf from my sister (obviously!!) and the cookbooks from my parents.

My stepdaughters had a good Christmas too. They were both so thrilled to have so many gifts to open! It was fun to watch them open their gifts!

It was a great day. The best part of my day was watching everyone else open their gifts. I love seeing their faces. I surprised my sweetheart with a US Marine Corps NCO Sword. He wanted one for retirement but I surprised him.

Also, my husband and I, my sister and my mom surprised my dad with a share of the Green Bay Packers. He has wanted that for a long time. He is so proud to be an Owner of the Green Bay Packers.

And here is my favorite picture of the day! My sister always does this. I love her!

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My grandparents weren’t able to travel to be at my wedding. This picture is of me talking to them on the phone. It meant so much to me for them to be a part of my day, even though they weren’t physically there with me. They were there in spirit.

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My beautiful, sweet Grandma passed away one week ago today, on April 6th 2011.  She is in the presence of the Lord. I’m sure she’s up there singing praises with her beautiful voice.

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I wish I could describe her so that you could know her like I did. But that’s no easy task. She was such a beautiful person. At the funeral, one of the pastors who did the service talked about how he couldn’t find a way to describe her. Then he looked at the book of Ruth in the Bible. He talked about how she was a diligent caretaker of her family. She worked alongside her husband. She was a great friend to many. She spent her whole life living as Christ would live.

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She was THE most amazing woman I have ever known. (with my mom being a very close second) She was loving, caring, giving, the best cook, a beautiful piano player and singer, the BEST Grandma ANYONE has ever had!

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She taught me how to play the piano, but most of the time she would play and I would sing with her. She LOVED to hear me sing.

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I was her sunshine. She would always sing “You Are My Sunshine” to me. At my bridal shower, she wrote that in a card for me.

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I loved to just sit with her and hold her hand, or lay my head on her shoulder. We would lay in bed with her and watch tv.

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When we were little, she would take us to the movies. She would have snacks in her purse for us. She loved to take us to the zoo and the library and to swimming lessons. Every time we would visit, she would buy us clothes and we’d put on a fashion show for Grandpa. She was the first one to suggest that we “perm” Grandpa’s hair!

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She loved my Grandpa so much. I never had any doubt. They were always very much in love with each other. They were married for 60 years!

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Whether they were apart, when Grandpa was overseas…

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Or right next to each other all day, every day. They were the best example of a loving and committed marriage. I will never forget that.

My Grandma was a beautiful person. And she is greatly missed.

I love celebrating my birthday! Even though I’m getting older, I cherish each year. This birthday is bittersweet for me, since my husband is still deployed (but coming home SOON!) and because my sweet Grandma is not doing well at all. Thankfully my sister and our best friend Cara are here to help cheer me up! Last night we spent time making dinner, with our new pampered chef stuff! Then we watched a movie. Today we are going shopping, maybe letterboxing, and going to see a movie. I’m excited! Here’s some pics from last night.

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My sister gave me a $25 gift card for my Fave place! Starbucks! YUM!

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I got money from my grandparents, my aunt and her roommate. The stack of $1′s is from my Aunt. LOL!

And today I got some beautiful flowers from my deployment support group! These girls are amazing! I love them so much!!! (I’ll post pics tonight. I’m about to go shopping!) So far it’s been a great day. Especially since I got to talk to my sweetheart for a couple of hours, online AND he called me! Oh how I love that man!

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After

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My beautiful stepdaughter C has her daddy’s eyes. They are so beautiful. I love looking into them. Of course, she and her daddy both know that and will close their eyes to be mean! But that’s ok. I am so thrilled that I got this picture. It’s definitely one of my favorites. Here’s another one.

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This was from our wedding. So beautiful. (I’m not partial or anything!) C is the sweetest girl I’ve ever met. She loves to cuddle with me. I call her my Monkey because she likes to hang on me. I love it.

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Here is our happy little family the day that my sweetheart proposed to me. I am so incredibly blessed. (This picture is missing her 2 sisters, but they were thought of!)