Looking Back

2009 was a big year for us! Here's a recap based on our blog posts over the past year.


January

• We rang in 2009 at home on the couch since Jason was sick
• Our friends Jessica and Daniel got married at the Ninth Strett Abbey
• We booked our honeymoon to Maui
• We celebrated Jason's 25th birthday with a Wii party

February

• Wedding planning was in full swing with cake tastings, registering, and selecting our save the dates
• We celebrated Valentine's day with a quiet dinner at home
  
• I spent a few days in Connecticut visiting my sister and Jason celebrated Mardi Gras in Soulard

March

• More wedding planning (this pretty much consumed 2009!) as we got the Save the Dates in the mail and ordered bridesmaids dresses
• Our friends Marisa and Chris got married at the 3rd Degree Glass Factory
• My mom's birthday
  
• March Madness

April

• Jason and I spent some time outdoors exploring Lone Elk Park and Forest Park
• It was a rough month at work with a lot of layoffs at my company and a pay cut for everyone else
• I found out that my sister and her family were moving back to St. Louis
• I had my first bridal shower hosted by my mom, sister and bridesmaids
  
• Easter

May

• We decided to buy a house and started looking
• Celebrated Mother's Day
• I was excited to begin receiving wedding related items; shoes, napkins, bridesmaids gifts
• We found our house and put a contract on it

June

• We met with the florist and picked out our flowers for the wedding
• The bridesmaids dresses came in
• We hit the 100 day mark until the wedding
• I had my first major bridezilla moment and fired our stationer (so glad I did this because I loved the invitations that we ended up with!)
• I ordered 3 pairs of wedding shoes before finding the perfect pink pair
• We closed on our house
• Jason finished grad school

July

• We moved into our house over 4th of July weekend
• I had my second bridal shower hosted by Jason's family (the shower was actually in June but I posted about it in July)
  
• We started learning and adjusting to being homeowners
• Merrill was born
• Wedding invitations went in the mail
• Jason had his bachelor party in Memphis

August
I didn't blog at all between August and October! So this is from memory

• Had my bachelorette party in Chicago
• My sister and her family moved back to St. Louis from Connecticut and we met Merrill for the first time
• Celebrated my 27th birthday
• Finalized wedding details

September (by far the best month of the year!)

• The wedding!
• Honeymoon in Maui

October

• Many of my blog posts were recaps of the wedding. I was still on cloud nine!
• We participated in the Walk Now for Autism Speaks fundraiser and walk
• We made our first trip to Eckerts for apple and pumpkin picking
• We carved pumpkins with my family
• Millie's 2nd birthday
• Halloween

November

• Fall kickball tournament - we took 3rd place!
• Jason's dad's birthday
• Playing at the park with Millie and Merrill
• Unfortunately, November also brought one of the hardest times of the year - the passing of Jason's Uncle Skip
• We got our wedding proofs
• Thanksgiving

December

• I came to terms with my new name ;)
• Jason and I celebrated 5 years together
• We celebrated my dad's 60th with a surprise party
• Baking lots of cookies with both sides of the family
• Christmas Eve with Jason's family
• Christmas Day with my family
• Lots of time with family and friends

Whew! No wonder 2009 flew by. We were busy! We accomplised a lot of big things in 2009 - bought a house, got married, Jason got his MBA. Jason and I have both commented that we won't know what to do with ourselves in 2010 without so much to do!

Christmas

Jason and I had a wonderful Christmas!
This Christmas brought many firsts:

• Our first Christmas as husband and wife
• Our first Christmas in our new home (Jason and I celebrated at home early Christmas morning before heading out to my parent's house. It was so nice to have some time just the two of us to exchange gifts and be in our own home. I think we will make this a tradition!)
  
• Our first Christmas with my sister and her family back in St. Louis
  
• Our first Christmas spent entirely together. (In the past we have split up to accommodate the many family gatherings going on simultaneously)

Christmas Eve with the Griesenauer's. This is one of our favorite days of the year! We spent Christmas Eve morning and afternoon at Jason's parent's house, ate a delicious brunch, exchanged presents, and then napped before heading to church. It doesn't get much better! After church we headed to Jason's Uncle's house to celebrate with the entire Griesenauer clan. They always have the best food and I ate way too much but loved every bite!

The little girls in this family are too cute! It's so fun to watch them all together and I think it's so awesome that they have their great-grandparents still around to spoil them :)


Christmas Day with the Ross'
Christmas is getting more exciting at the Ross house with the addition of two little girls! Millie was much more into Christmas this year and was soo happy to get her red wagon (the rest of day pretty much revolved around this wagon ;))! It's so fun to watch her excitement. I can only imagine how the next couple of years will be as Merrill gets older and is able to join in the fun!


Jason got this very handy book. I'll have to get started on my 'honey do' list!

Christmas afternoon we baked Christmas cookies. One of my favorite Ross traditions!
Millie was not digging her chef hat, but it was so cute!

She decorated about two cookies and was over it ;) But she did such a good job!

So did Jason :)

We wrapped up Christmas with a delicious dinner and watched a movie with my brothers. It's hard to believe it's all over, but I can't imagine a better Christmas.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Thanks for all you have done for us this year! We appreciate it and love you very much!

Uncle Jason

Jason has been a part of my nieces lives since the day they were born. He was even given the important title of Godfather to Millie before we got married. Now he is officially Uncle Jason, although we aren't so formal in our family and he is just Jason to the girls. I love watching Jason interact with the girls. He is so good with them and they both adore him!

Now that Millie is 2, very active and quite the little daredevil, Jason loves to throw her around and her response every time? "Again!"

Every great uncle has to play horsie. Jason loves me for coming up with this idea one night ;) Millie asks to play "giddy up" all the time now! Millie is so tiny I have to hold her on his back!

Jason used to be a little hesitant around infants not really wanting to hold them. But he took right to Merrill as soon as she arrived in St. Louis at 3 weeks old! Merrill seems to like Jason just as much.

He is able to get her to sleep.

And stop crying. I was babysitting the two girls one night and Jason came over after he got off work. Merrill was not a happy camper and when I asked Jason if he would take her for a minute he was like 'oh great, give me the crying baby'. But she stopped crying almost instantly and was all smiles a couple of minutes later. He has the magic touch with her!

Jason is an awesome Uncle and I can't wait to see him be an amazing father one day!

A Little Sunday Funny

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Five Years of Love and Happiness

Five years ago Jason and I had our first date in Columbia, MO.

Five years ago I knew on some level that it would be my last first date.

Five years ago I learned what a real, healthy relationship was like.

Five years ago I could not get enough of this new person in my life.

Today we are married!

Today we still try to go on date nights once a week.

Today we are happier than ever and our relationship stronger than ever.

Today I still can not get enough of this person and am happy that I have the rest of my life to try and get my fill :)