Happy New Years!

As 2008 comes to end I sit back and reflect on what a year it has been. 2008 was such a big year for Derek and I. We welcomed our little Ellie girl into our home at the end of February. She was 8 weeks old when we got her. I will never forget the moment Derek walked in the house with her. This little fluffy, floppy eared puppy came running in the door. My heart melted.....it was love at first sight. In the beginning it was as if we had a new baby in the house. I now fully understand what new mom's go through with not getting much sleep at night. Ellie would wake up a couple of times a night needing to go outside. The night she slept all night long without needing to go outside.......was the best sleep I had in such a long time. Such a milestone! Heehee : ) Ellie is very much a mommas girl. She is the sweetest little thing. She has a way of looking at you with her puppy dog eyes that makes you give into her.

Ellie and dad. Awe....puppy girl. : )

In May we bought our very first house. What an exciting and stressful experience that was! I wanted to see EVERY single house that was on the market in our budget.....I didn't really like any of them......and Derek of course loved them ALL! (He is much easier to please than I am!) We found one house in an area we really liked and put in a bid. We were too late and missed out on it. We were so disappointed. The house hunt continued. Derek was getting to the point where he didn't even want to go out and look any more. I too was feeling like we would never find anything we could agree on and it was starting to not be fun anymore. Then one day our realtor friend Dianne suggested we go look at a house that she kept overlooking because it didn't have everything on our....well my....list of requirements (wishes). When I saw the pictures on the virtual tour I did not even want to go look at it. Derek convinced me to go. We walked into this charming little 1950's ranch. Perfect condition. It didn't have a lot of the things that I was hoping for in our first house.....but there was a lot of potential. Seeing it in person really made a difference. It was a little outdated in some ways, up it's nothing we couldn't update in time. Best of all it had a HUGE back yard! This was the first one that we both pretty much could agree on (other than the first one we lost). Sold! We put in a bid right away. We were so nervous waiting to hear back. The thought of getting all excited and losing out again was a little nerve wracking. We crossed our fingers and hoped it would work out. And here we are today living in our perfect starter home for us in a quite neighborhood just 3 blocks away from Lake Loveland. Perfect for walking the dogs. We have done a few changes......nothing too major. It's fun to think about all the things we would like to do to our home. And it's been even more fun turning this house into our home and making it ours. This past summer we spent so much time out in our backyard BBQ-ing and getting to know our neighbors......and making new friends. We had a blast! We are very lucky to have such good neighbors who all help each other out and help look after things. Ellie LOVES to run up and down the fence with all her new friends. We planted a tree the first month we moved in. (Thanks mom!) It will be neat to see how big it grows over time. We are looking forward to making more home improvements now that all of our money and time is not going to planning our wedding. : ) We LOVE being homeowners. All the joys and tribulations that come along with it.

The very first thing we did.....take out this 1/2 moon wall table in the kitchen. It had to go! It opened up the space so much more.

Here is Derek planting our first tree.....with Ellie's help of course.

October 1st I became Mrs. Derek Norton. It was the happiest day of our lives.....so far. We had the most beautiful fall wedding on the most perfect day of the month. We could not have wished for better weather. It was almost 80 degrees that day. A little warm while the guys were taking pictures that afternoon. But for those who know Colorado weather.....it could have been snowing that day. Our outdoor ceremony took place that evening and the weather stayed just as perfect. God was really looking out for us this day. It was meant to be. : ) Our wedding day was so much fun. I didn't want it to end. I don't think that I have even been so happy like I was that day. I was just walking around in complete happiness and bliss about how much I loved this man that I was marrying. We had all of our close friends and family with us to share in our joy. What could be better than that?! I love to look at our pictures and go back to that day all over again. I love weddings. They are filled with so much joy, love and laughter. Which is what we hope our marriage will be filled with. It's such an exciting adventure. My brother wrote this awesome note to us on our signature mat: "The past is a memory........the future is a mystery.....today is a gift, that is why it's called the present." All of our messages still make me cry when I read them. We will cherish them always. We are so blessed to have found each other and have such wonderful family and friends who love and support us.

All of our friends and family! We are so loved! Thank you to all of you.

Right after we got back from our honeymoon we had the crazy idea of getting Ellie a playmate. She was getting pretty bored at home alone and needed someone to play with. She couldn't go to work with mom everyday! We called the breeder where we got Ellie from just to see when they were thinking of having another litter. It turns out that they still had one puppy left from Ellie's litter. This little guy was spoken for twice and it just didn't work our for one reason or another. We decided to take the 4 hour car ride and go get Ellie's brother.....Chubs.....and bring him home with us. Chubs was 9 months old when we brought him home. Chubs was the name the breeder's gave him because he was the chubbiest puppy of them all. He is not chubby now.....just a very hefty boy. HUGE paws! We were going to change his name and then just decided to keep it. He very much knew his name already. It was just easier that way. He has the same coloring that Ellie does. Black and white with brown eyebrows. So CUTE! I love that they look so much a like. You can definitely tell which is which though. Ellie is our petite little girl. No one can mistake her famous "ellie look" on her face she gives you. Chubs is all boy. What a lovable and dopey dog Chubs is! Oh we love hims so! Ellie was not too crazy to have him in the house at first. She was VERY territorial and still is at times to this day. Brother and sister and inseparable now. We love to watch them play together. It's so funny. They wrestle any chance they get, chase each other in the yard and fight over toys. Ellie always wants to have what Chubs is playing with or chewing on. Chubs is a super sweet and lovey, dopey dog. He just looks at you with this innocent blank stare. I call him "butters". He just melts into the floor like butta when you pet him. I was very much hesitant to get another dog. Our house just didn't seem big enough for all of us. I am so glad we did. They are monsters at times and my house seems like twice the mess now.....but they are so worth it. I can't imagine not having the two of them. They are our "double trouble". They are so happy to have each other to play and love on. Tomorrow on January 1st my baby dogs will celebrate their 1st birthday! I can't believe they are already 1 yrs. old. They have grown up so fast! Stoli was our first fur-baby. He wasn't crazy about Ellie. He was a little mad at me. He changed a bit. Over time they got used to each other. Or should I say Stoli got used to Ellie. Ellie loved Stoli......he was someone to play with! When we brought Chubs home......he really wasn't happy with us (well me). Thankfully Chubs and Ellie pretty much keep to themselves. However Stoli is still pretty grumpy with them. Anytime they even just walk by he growls and swats at them. Every now and then I will catch him walk up to one of them and start to give them what seems to be some kitty kisses.....and then he will just bite them. It's pretty funny. He is such a stinker. Stoli doesn't completely dislike them always......most the time you can find him piled on the bed with all of us.....one big happy family. : )






Wow! What a year 2008 has been. This year has flown by so fast. We have so many good things going on in our lives. We have been very blessed. I am so thankful and so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. Derek works so hard to take care of our family. He is absolutely my rock. I know we have a lot of good things planned for us and I can't wait to see what 2009 brings us. Here's to another great year! Cheers!

xoxox
mrs. norton

Twas the night before Christmas....

I can hardly believe that it is Christmas eve......even more that Christmas is tomorrow! In some ways it just doesn't feel like it. I think that it just came upon us so quickly this year. Don't you agree? I baked up a few goodies last night for Christmas dinner including a rum cake. Mmmmm it smelled so good. I hope it turns out. : ) Tonight we will be going to my mom's house for dinner. I think my mom mentioned watching....you guessed it....Christmas Vacation! Derek will most likely not be joining us. He has been working nights and will be off tomorrow with all of us and will return to work on Friday for a normal day shift. So......his plan is to try and stay up as long as possible today....sleep like normal people do tonight and get up tomorrow morning for Christmas breakfast. My dad, Grandpa and Grandma Mein and my brother are all coming over in the morning. My dad is making his famous biscuits and gravy. Oh yes....they are famous! And so good too. He taught me how to make the gravy.......I had NO idea you could make gravy out of milk and flour (and the sausage and sausage grease of course too)!! Wow. Amazing. Derek thinks I am strange....he of course knew that this was how it's done. Must be that Iowa home cooking thing. Heehee : ) Then tomorrow afternoon we will go to my Grandma Clark's house. We will have Christmas dinner around 2 o'clock. I sure hope we won't be too full from breakfast. We plan on having prime rib. I am bringing my Brandied Steak Side Mushrooms (OMG I *heart* mushrooms) and I am also going to be bringing homemade Chunky Chi Apple Sauce. I have never attempted to make apple sauce before. I didn't get Grandma Norton's recipe (I wished I would have thought of it sooner) so I found a different one. We will see how it turns out. You can't really mess up apples, cider and spices too much.....can you? I am also making a Chocolate Pie (I'm going to cheat on this one just a bit......semi-homemade we shall say). To make up for the semi-homemade....I am going to make REAL whipped cream. The LAST time I tried to do this.....I forgot to add in some sugar and a splash of vanilla! OOPS.......not so good. I sure won't forget it this time by golly!! Teehee I'm sure my pie will be good (who doesn't love a slice of chocolate pie with REAL whipped cream) but I know it will not be as good as Connie's. She makes the best I have ever had so far.

When I was a kid our tradition for Christmas Eve in my house was that my brother and I always got to open one present. But this one present was the same each and every year. A new pair of pajamas!! It was so fun to go to sleep all cozy in our new jammies. One year I remember that we complained about ALWAYS getting pajamas. So my mom tried something new that year and got us something else. I think it was some sort of hand held games or something. We were so disappointed not to get p.j.'s even though we complained! That was the last time she did that and it was p.j.'s every year after that up until I moved out (for me anyways). Long gone have been the days of Christmas Eve's with new jammies. I sure do miss it sometimes. I think everyone enjoys new pajamas. I wonder if we will continue that tradition with our kids??? I would guess probably so. It's so much fun!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope Santa is good to you all. : )

(get to bed early and don't stay up listening for the reindeer)

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas......

Last week my mother in-law was out here for work. While she was here she took Derek and I to the Carousel Dinner Theater in Fort Collins to see the musical White Christmas. What a show! It was so much fun. The actors were really great and had such enthusiasm. I could tell that Kathy really wanted to jump right in and belt out most of the songs and sing along with them. She got her moment at the end when the audience got to sing along to a song. I have never seen the movie before, so I wasn't familiar with the story line. A White Christmas is a BIG deal in Derek's family on his mom's side. Kathy grew up watching this movie every holiday season since she was a little girl. Apparently she even got to skip out on her school's Christmas program one year because it was on tv that evening! Too funny. Derek too has grown up with this movie. It's so weird that all these years I have never seen it. But now after watching this little musical, I would like to sit down and actually watch it. Derek has the movie on VHS (I know....so ancient) and he loaned it to my mom last year. I think we both completely forgot about it until I mentioned us going to the musical last week. My mom told me that she still had it and needed to return it to us. I told her not to worry too much since we don't have a VHS player any more and Derek was talking about going out and getting a White Christmas on DVD. So what does my mom do.......she went right out and got Derek his movie on DVD to add to his gifts. : ) Derek will be so happy. I have a funny feeling that this movie will make it's way into our own family tradition of watching this every holiday season.....along with the movie that I remember ALWAYS watching.......National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation! : ) Teehee

Derek's Christmas movie pick

My Christmas movie pick : )

Sweet faces!

My two bestest girls....taken the other weekend while holiday baking. What a picture! Awe...I love these two girlies. This picture always makes me smile. : ]

3 days until Christmas.....

Oh my goodness we should be put on the naughty list......Derek and I FINALLY went out on Saturday to do our Christmas shopping. Can you believe us?! It wasn't as bad as Derek was anticipating. I was SO glad for that because Derek HATES to go shopping and he always gets so grumpy. I was going to just go myself but Derek said he wanted to go. It actually went pretty easy. It helped that our list was simple and we went early in the morning so there really wasn't too many people out yet. I still have to buy for my mom, dad and brother....but that should be pretty easy. I will just have to make time some day after work or on my lunch hour to finish up. So because of our lateness with Christmas shopping......Derek's family will be getting their gifts in the mail late. Oh I feel so bad! I am really sorry Kathy, Ben, Dennis, Connie, Grandma & Grandpa Graham and Grandma Norton. The worst of it is that I left the house this morning with out grabbing them so I will not be able to get them out in the mail until tomorrow! Arg!! Sorry!! :(

Oh Christmas Card....Oh Christmas Card

So........we FINALLY took our family photo (Stoli is missing...he would not cooperate) for our Christmas cards that I hand-made about 4 weeks ago with some friends. Good thing since Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. I thought we would never get it done. I was starting to think that I was going to have to save them for next year. I worked so hard on our cards and I REALLY did not want to save them. I was out until 2:00 AM with the girls making cards. You should have seen us.! It was so much work.....but so worth it. Gotta run....I am off to go start to address envelopes!

Awe.... : )

(I couldn't fix Chubs' eyes....no matter what i tried)

Lovin' from the oven

Jessi and I baked up some yummy goodness yesterday afternoon. We got all the way through our list of goodies except for the toffee. I did not have a candy thermometer. : ( Oh well. We were pretty tired by the end anyways. If you couldn't tell......Jess and I LOVE our coconut. 3 of the 6 items we made had coconut!

OPEN WIDE! : )

We had lots of fun getting messy. Derek couldn't hardly stand it for us to finish SOMETHING! So while we had the 7-Layer Bars baking....we made HIM some Muddy Buddies! Him was so happy. : ) As we continued on our marry baking way at one point it was awfully quite in the living room. I said to Jessi... "what do you want to bet Derek is sleeping"? Giggling she went to check on him. Yep, fast asleep! Content with his finished snack of Muddy Buddies.

Shhhh.....hubby sleeping.....visions of Muddy Buddies dancing in his head. Haha : )

Once we were done at the end of the day.....well evening I should really say......we made up some plates and took some over to the neighbors. Hope they enjoyed our treats and didn't mind that the Ginger Snap cookies didn't come out quite as I hoped. And we hope you like coconut too!! heehee

-Made with love xoxox

Holiday baking

Anyone who knows me knows that I love love love to bake. I am so excited to do some more holiday baking. Jessi is coming over on Saturday and she really enjoys it as well. I love that she likes to bake and enjoys learning about it. This just reminded me of last year when she came over to help me. She was oooh-ing and awww-ing over the smell of the vanilla extract. I let her put a dab on her finger and taste it......and she made the most horrific face! That was so evil of me.....I know! She just couldn't believe how something that smelled so good, tasted so bad. Hahaha Sorry Jes! : ) So here is my list:

-7 Layer Bars (maybe my all time fav)

-Haystacks (I over toasted the coconut last year, so hopefully we do better this time)

-Rice Krispie Sandwiches

-Muddy Buddies

-Coconut Snowballs (never made these before....so we will see how they go)

-Toffee

-Ginger Snaps

We are going to be busy little baker elves baking away. I really want to make my mom's Buttermilk Cookies and decorate them (they are the BESTest Christmas cookies EVER and so much better than sugar cookies in my opinion).....but they are pretty much a two day project and I don't think that we will get to them. Maybe I will make them later on. I will make sure to take pictures for us girls covered in sugar and spice and everything nice. : ]

We're Back!

Happy December everyone! We just got back last night. Oh my goodness is it good to be home. We missed the pups and Stoli so much. They were so excited to see us! We were so tired from the long drive yesterday. We left at 3:30 a.m. Colorado time and walked in the door at about 5:00 p.m. Sigh. We did stop at Derek's friend Clint's parents house for a late lunch and visited for a while....so that is why it took us as long as it did. The drive was clear just windy as heck! It was so not fun waking up this morning for work. We both hate to come back from a trip and go right to work the next day. Oh well....that is how it worked out. Iowa was so much fun. We really had a good time. The trip was too short as always. It was so nice to spend time with the family. It always makes me miss my side as well. My thoughts were with them though and a few phone calls helped. : ) We had a really wonderful Thanksgiving. There was about 25 or so of us over at Grandma and Grandpa Graham's house on Thursday. (that is Derek's mom's side) What a household! The kids got to decorate grandma's tree. I think only a few ornaments got broken. The little ones really enjoyed wrestling with uncle Derek. Poor Derek. He really took a beating! They wore him out pretty good. At the end of the day there was a bunch of us piled on the bed looking at all the ads for Black Friday. I contemplated going, but luckily aunt Sandy goes every year and was happy to pick up the one thing I crazily was going to go out at 3'o clock in the morning for....which was a Dirt Devil Broom Vac. It was such a good deal and I am anxious to try it. I hope it works good. : ) Nick made sure to let us know he almost had to go to blows over this thing and that we were indebted to him by naming our first child after him. LOL Thank you Nick for being so brave. Maybe a middle name. Maybe. Heehee On Friday we had 12 of us over at Grandma Norton's house for Thanksgiving. I don't think there is anyone who can resist that lady's home cooking. : ) We played the game Catch Phrase. It is so much fun!! It was hilarious! It took us a bit to figure out just what we were doing and we finally got the hang of it. The boys won over the girls. Dang it! They just got lucky. It's so funny to watch each other figure out the word or phrase and see how everyone tries to get their team to guess it as well. We will for sure be busting this game out more often at gatherings. : ) Saturday was a busy day for me baking cookies with Derek's mom, grandma Graham, his sisters, Ben (yes even Ben was there having a good time) and aunt Sandy. We baked so many different kinds. My job was manning the oven. Although I did burn a batch or two (including my finger). I wanted to fire my self...but grandma wouldn't let me. : ) It was a messy day for sure. We were there for 4 hours baking. We all got to take home some of each along with some chex mix Kathy made earlier in the morning. We were definitely loaded up with plenty to snack on for the car trip home. I will try and post some pictures that I took. I just haven't made time to get them off my camera. : )

Today is the day!

So we leave for Iowa today right after work. It's going to be a long day! The car trip is 10 hours long. I'm not entirely looking forward to that part. Ugh. But I am super excited for Grandma Norton's carmel rolls in the morning. Oh they are so so so good. Mmmmmm! (I have got to find a way to do "smell-O-blog"!) My house is clean! I love coming home to a clean house from a trip. I spent the entire weekend cleaning. I wrote out all my notes for our friend who is going to be house sitting for us while we are away and staying with our babies. : ) I even made her a batch of brownies while I was finishing up the last of the laundry last night. I can't thank her enough for staying with them. It makes it so much easier on everyone. I now fully understand what it is like to have to make plans for the pups while we are away when we don't take them with us. It's not as easy as one might think. Stoli is so low maintenance, but not the pups. I am just so thankful that it worked out this time. I will miss them so much. I wish we could take them, but it just won't work out. I know they will be taken good care of....but I am still sad to leave them. I hope they know we will come back!?? (We will come home soon my little luvs! I promise!) : ) I looked up the 10-day weather report for where we are going. Looks like is should be almost in the 50's while we are there. Doesn't look like there will be any snow! Yay! I hate to drive in bad weather. Should be good for the trip home as well. Looks like I will still be able to get some more use out of my flip flops. I made sure to pack 2 pairs. Haha...yes I am crazy! I just really don't like socks and shoes. I live in my flip flops. I *heart* flops. : ) My friend Beans understands this and is the same way. I think I got it from her when I lived with her. It drives my mom CRAZY when ever she sees me wearing them in the cold-er weather. So anywho...enough about my flip flops. We are really excited to get back to Iowa. It should be a lot of fun. Derek plans on hunting most of the time. He says he is going to feed us all winter long with his killings. (that sounds so bad huh?) I said you won't be feeding me! Ewww! We will have Thanksgiving on Thursday with Derek's mom's side of the family and then on Friday we will do Thanksgiving all over again with his dad's side. LOTS of food! Oh my goodness. My tummy is grumbling just thinking of all the good food. And then on Saturday I am going to do some holiday baking with Derek's mom and sisters. That will be a good time for sure. I love Thanksgiving. It's all about family and food. It's so hard fitting in time for everyone when we visit. Our time is always so busy and too short. We are so thankful for the time we do get to spend with them. The miles between Colorado and Iowa makes it really hard sometimes. Never take the time for granted. Cherish every moment. : ) 6 hours and counting and we are Iowa bound. Ready or not....here we come! : ) heehee

Pizza and Mussels....huh?

So the other night after work I went with a few friends out for dinner. One of our friends just moved into these new apartments that are in downtown Loveland (super cute and new york city like). We were going to go to this fabulous Mexican restaurant that is literally down the block from her apartment building....but by the time we sat and talked, had a glass of wine and walked down to the resturant the wait was like an hour or so. We said no way and walked back to the apartment. Our friend suggested this new little pizza place that is just below her building. It's called Sisters Pizza and Mussels. Yeah, my thoughts too....pizza and mussels.....huh? We agreed to give it a try and boy was I glad. Now mind you the first time I had mussels was on our honeymoon in Steamboat at this great steak house that we ate at. It was Derek's first time trying mussels as well. Surprisingly I liked them after hesitantly trying them. Again, I was hesitant to try them this time as well. But let me tell you; they are awesome! I got them in a white wine sauce. Mmmm they were good. And I even got one slice of cheese pizza on the side too. It was good as well. Light sauce, lots of cheese and thin crust, Jersey style. (I guess that is what you would call it. Where you might fold it in half to eat. I saw it on tv once.) The combination was weird but sooooo good. I was really shocked. Who would have thought!? This little pizza place is very small. All the tables but one seat 2 people. Luckily the one table was open for the four of us. Derek was a little jealous that I didn't even bring him any leftovers. Hopefully I can take him there soon. He will just love it I'm sure. So my friends....if you get the urge for some good mussels (and heck a slice of pizza while you are at it) give this place a try. It's good. True story. : ]

Count down to Iowa!

My darling husband drives me crazy sometimes. He freaks out and stresses pretty easily. Last week he was thinking that he wasn't going to work the entire week (his work is really slow these days) so he was all upset carrying on that we weren't going to Iowa for Thanksgiving. Well he ended up working the whole week (yay!) and now Iowa is back on! We are in the count down! We are getting super excited to go. I think Derek is more excited to go hunting more than anything. He has informed me that he will pretty much be hunting any chance that he gets while we are there. Sounds like I am going to be a hunting widower. LOL Oh well. I am sure his family will keep me plenty busy. We don't get to see his family but once or twice a year...so it's nice to have this time to catch up. The holidays really make us wish all of our families were closer together. It's so hard sometimes when they are 600 miles apart. But that is not going to ever change so it's something we will always have to deal with. At least it gives us an excuse to get out of town. : ) It's a 10 hour road trip. Ugh! Not so crazy about that. I do enjoy road trips sometimes. It's fun to eat snacks and talk. But after a while the car gets uncomfortable and boring if there is nothing to see. I do tend to get a little car sick too. Thankfully the trip is not windey roads! I hate that more than anything. I always get super sick. ick! So aside from the long ride there we are excited to see family we haven't seen in a while, have some fun and eat lots of good food! Just now grandma Norton's cinnamon rolls popped into my head!! Mmmm We can't wait. : )

First day of snow

Brrrr! It's chilly outside today. We got our first snow of the season. It's not much....but the lawn is pretty frosty. And boy is it windy out too! I think that is the worst when the wind is blowing. I hate the wind! It's supposed to be 39 degrees today. I was told that it is blizzard like conditions in Denver. Thank goodness that is not the case here! Our poor puppy dogs are left at home outside today. At least they have the shop in back of the garage to go in and take cover. I keep bugging Derek to put in a doggie door. Right now we just prop the door open with a rock. A doggie door would keep that area much warmer. I feel too bad to keep them in the house in the kennel all day (they sleep in the kennel at night) and they are not trustable to be left out to wander in the house all day alone. So outside they go. I don't entirely LOVE the snow always (I do have my moments though) but I am secretly hoping for some more. I am making our Christmas cards this year and we want to take a family picture. We are hoping to take a snowy one. Being that it is only mid November.....there is still PLENTY of time for snowy days. I am just a bit eager to get our picture taken. I start working on the cards next Friday with some friends from work! Should be fun. I can't wait!

So here we go....

I sit here in a bit of a hesitance wondering just what the heck am I doing. What has possessed me to start a blog??? Well, I still can't give a clear answer. What the heck...let's give it a try. Seems like it could be fun. Right?



People often ask me.... "So has it changed being married now"...."does it feel different"? Honestly, not all that much. Which I think is a good thing. I do feel more grown up. But doesn't everyone? Derek and I have been together for 2 years now and have lived together pretty much the whole time. Rewind back 2 years and a lot has happened. My oh my how the time does fly! Fast forward to today....and here we are; our own family now. Hubby and wife, 2 crazy loveable dogs and 1 fat cat. We just bought a house 6 months ago. I can not tell you how much fun and stressful that experience was. It feels so good to just sit in our back yard and think...this is ours! We live in the cutest little ranch that was built in 1959. It's in exceptional condition but we have some pretty big wishes for updating. That will all come in time I suppose. This past summer was so much fun having parties in the back yard and getting to know our neighbors. We have become good friends with them and it means so much to have that type of relationship with your neighbors. Along with making our new house a home....we just got married 6 weeks ago to the day. It was so much fun planning our wedding. I really tried to just relax and enjoy the time. I tried hard to not fret about the little things and tried not to stress about much. Our wedding day was so beautiful and perfect. I was in such bliss. I think we both had the biggest smiles on our faces the whole day. It was the happiest I have ever been and we had so much fun! I just want to do that day all over again! It's fun to look back at our pictures. I can honestly say that I was just a teeny weeny bit sad when it was all said and done and there was nothing left to plan for. But then I realized that we actually have the rest of our lives to plan for. Which is even more exciting. We have so many hopes and dreams and it's fun to see what is waiting for us around the next corner. I can't wait to start our own family traditions as well as carry on the ones we know. I truly do feel blessed in my life. I have a sign for the wall that says "Family, Friends and Traditions that I keep meaning to hang up. What an awesome motto! We have so many good things and such great people that surround us. I think that one of the biggest changes that has happened is that now we have a much larger family. I am lucky that pretty much all of mine is here in Colorado....but all of Derek's is in Iowa. Which the exception of Denise and Paige. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that I now have in-laws, instant nephews and built-in sisters. This is very new for me. All of Derek's sisters have been married and have children of their own. Derek's little brother Ben is the only one left at home. Being so stretched apart makes it a little hard to keep up with what is going on in each of our lives. Even keeping up with friends that live near by. The time just flies and so much changes. Life gets in the way and makes is harder to connect. So maybe this is my answer. Maybe this is why I am starting this blog. Maybe this is my way of letting you know what is going on in the Norton house these days. This could be fun. (Or a bit boring or even suprising. Who knows?!!) : ] So...here we go!