Did someone disappear?

Wow, a month and a half and no posts what so ever! I guess my blog isn't too fun to follow. But guess what's on my list of New Years Resolutions....you guessed it! MORE BLOG POSTS!

Now what have we been doing since the middle of November....LOTS!!

We helped these two celebrate their wedding day in Manhattan.

We had a blast and it was so nice to be on the guest end!

I also experienced my first GLEASON Thanksgiving. This is an all day deal. I didn't realize this. Now I do! And it was like every other Gleason holiday i've experienced, FANTASTIC! I made these adorable Pilgrim Hat Cookies! Definitely a big hit! I suppose I should start looking now for what I'll be bringing to Gleason Easter!Then the first weekend in December we helped these 2 celebrate their birthdays! Now, no offense John, but Aunt Kelsie gets way more excited about a 4 year old's birthday than she does yours! Sorry! How can you not when one of the cutest nieces in the world gets just as excited over a HUGE case of make-up and her first Barbie as she does Chaps and roller-skates. Madison, you are a one of a kind niece and we wouldn't trade any moment we get to spend with you for anything!

We followed up the birthday party with company Christmas parties the next two weekends. I did have to leave Dan unsupervised for a bit at his because I had some pretty important plans that I had already made with some pretty important ladies!Madison, Mom, and Grandma met me in Wichita on the 17th for a great girls weekend. We met at our motel and it was off to shop from there. Friday night we took the Holiday Lights Trolley tour through Wichita. If you ever get the chance, I reccomend you do this once. I have a few new houses picked out if Dan and I were to ever hit the lottery. We had a great weekend of laughing, shopping, dining out, and quality girl time. We finished off this amazing weekend by taking in the Nutcracker on Saturday evening. WOW!! I can't even begin to describe it. Ballet is a very serious talent and a beautiful display to watch.

This year we spent Christmas up north. We got in some good quality time with lots of very important people. We had a fantastic dinner at Nelson's Landing with Shawn, Steph, and Miss Klara on Thursday. Klara just keeps growing like a weed and she is really starting to move.

We spent a few nights at my Dad's house and had a great Christmas with him on Christmas Eve. It was fun to spend some time with just Dan and Dad, and I got to spend some time with just Brock and Dan. I'm sure the three of them were trying to figure out a way to ditch me so they could get some guy time! Ha ha, not this year boys, maybe next year! We left Dad's and headed to Mom's to keep Christmas going. We had a wonderful Christmas at my mom's house. This year my Sister and I decided to make homemade gits and this was so much fun. I know I put so much time and thought into everyone's gifts so the appreciation on their faces was 10 times more precious. We were really lucky to be able to hit Christmas with both of my Grandma's while we were back. We had Christmas at Grandma Bruna's on Christmas night

and Christmas at Grandma Ohlde's on Sunday.

Last night we finished up the Christmas Holiday and went to Joe & Becky's for supper. We ate a great meal, got to spend some time with everyone there, and did some serious battling on the Wii. I'm super pumped about my gift from Cheryl. Poor Dan, my Christmas movie collection grows every year!We see no slow down for life any time in the near future, but being surrounded by such wonderful friends and family is worth all the running and traveling. I am headed back this weekend to help my Dad enjoy his Christmas gift. Brock and I went together and got 3 Chiefs tickets for the game on Sunday vs. the Oakland Raiders. I'm super excited for some alone time for the three of us because it has been a long time since we've done that.

We are headed back to Kansas City on the 8th for our annual trip to EM CHAMAS! Look it up online, I promise you will want to come too! I can't wait until I am in a food coma! Miss Klara get's baptized the 9th, and Dan and I are so fortunate to be asked to be her Godparents. Everybody will be headed to Dodge the 15th & 16th for a weekend full of pheasant hunting, laughter, beer, food, and good times. So far, (fingers crossed), we have no plans for the last weekend of January. I am really hoping for a laid back do nothing kinda weekend but we'll see.

We hope this blog find's everyone healthy and happy. We hope all your wishes for Christmas are now realities and we're wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Day 27: My Pets

Meet the Gleason Kids: Cinch, Missy, and Doc!

Yes we have 3 dogs, yes I tend to think it's too many, no I won't give any of them up!

This is Cinch. Cinch is Dan's dog and sometimes I think Cinch is smarter than Dan is, not slamming Dan but this dog is insanely smart. Dan got him from a friend quite a few years ago. He is extremely protective, very smart, very hardworking, and likes to just keep to himself, but ask him to show you his belly and you just made a friend for life!This is Doc, also Dan's dog. We just got him about 2 weeks ago and he is definitely a puppy. He chews EVERYTHING, doesn't know anything but his name yet, and is pretty much a pain! But he's really cuddly and pretty cute so I guess we will keep him!This is the lady of the group, Missy. Dan got Missy for me as a birthday gift a year ago. She is EXTREMELY hyper, loves to run, used to like picking on Cinch but has now changed to picking on Doc, and very much an attention lover. She loves running laps around the garage or racing Cinch to get his toy before he can. She's quite the little whippersnapper!

Day 26: A Picture of Your Family

Really convenient having just gotten wedding pictures back!

This is my Stone Family!This is my Bruna Family!

And this is my newest family, my Gleason Family!

Day 25: I-pod Shuffle

Today's blog challenge said to put your I-pod on shuffle and write down the 1st 10 songs.

This is what I got....

1. Tight Fittin' Jeans -- Conway Twitty
2. Pray For You -- Jaron and the Long Road to Love
3. Baby It's Cold Outside -- Dean Martin
4. Figured You Out -- Nickelback
5. My Humps -- Black Eyed Peas
6. You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet -- Bachman-Turner Overdrive
7. Teach Me How to Dougie -- Cali Swag District
8. Smoke A Little Smoke -- Eric Church
9. White Trash Story -- Casey Donahew Band
10. Keeper of the Stars -- Tracy Byrd (PERFECT ENDING)

Hows that for eclectic?

Day 24: Something you've learned

Something I've learned....hmmm, I've learned a lot of things over the years and I learn new things everyday. This could be a long list if I let myself get carried away, but to save my readers the agony, I will discipline myself and keep it contained to 5 things.

1. Time goes quickly, so make every moment count. Take the time to enjoy yourself and the people around you because you might not get another chance.
2. Your parents are right, always. Sometimes it takes longer to realize but they are so listen to them.
3. Free and easy. This is something I learned from Dan. I tend to get very worked up about things, and if I just slow down and go at it free and easy, I get through it and feel a lot better about things.
4. Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have. I had a substitute teacher in high school, K.P. and this was what he always told us, if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
5. Never go to bed mad. Thank you Ben and Jean! Some friends of ours gave us this advice shortly after we got engaged and it has made a big impact on our relationship. Everyone fights but no fight is important enough to go to bed mad about!

Day 23: Favorite Vacation

O.K. here I am playing catch up again! That's not really surprising!

Day 23 is Favorite Vacation and I feel like it's somewhat repetitive. So instead of telling you all about Colorado Springs again, I'm going to tell you about my Most Recent Vacation! It's my blog....I'm changing the rules!

Dan and I knew we didn't want to leave on a big honeymoon right after the wedding! AND good thing we didn't because we were EXHAUSTED!! But we did want to get away and enjoy ourselves for awhile, so we took 2 days off work and left Sunday. We set out for Santa Fe, NM! Neither of us had ever been so it sounded like a good idea!

These are the things I learned about New Mexico

1. You can't get a good steak without paying A LOT of money!


2. Everything shuts down EARLY....like old people early!


3. Antelope are only cool to see for the first few......after that they are really boring

That makes it sound like our vacation sucked.....and it definitely did not. But it is not on our list of places to return to that's for sure.

We left Sunday and drove to Santa Fe. It was a fun drive at first. We laughed about the wedding, filled each other in on things we had missed, and really just had a great time being alone after all the wedding festivities! It was only supposed to be a 7 hour drive and with changing time zones we gained an hour, so we started out thinking very positive about the drive.

That is until we got to this 82 mile stretch of NOTHING. I mean absolutely nothing but Antelope. This got very boring, very very very boring. I would be perfectly happy if I never saw another antelope in my entire life, I have seen enough.

We did keep going after that TERRIBLE stretch and made it to Santa Fe Sunday night. Grabbed a bunch of brochures, went swimming for awhile, and then crashed!

Monday, we got up and headed out for a day of casual browsing and adventure. We found a lot of pamphlets for this place. The Loretto Chapel.It wasn't even really so much about the Chapel, but more the staircase in the chapel. I was somewhat skeptical at first because I didn't understand how a spiral staircase could really be that interesting. I was wrong, it was really interesting once you got the history on it. This chapel is tiny and doesn't hold a very big congregation. When the chapel was completed in 1878, there was no way to get to the choir loft, aside from a ladder because it caused the least interference with seating. The Sisters of the Chapel sent up a novena, and their prayers were answered. Some mysterious man showed up with a carpenters square, a handsaw, and a hammer. For no pay or thanks, with no nails, he built this magnificent staircase that makes 2 360 degree turns, and still baffles architects and engineers today. It really is something to see. The Catholic faith is strong in Santa Fe. We also toured this church, while we were there, The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. There has been a Catholic church on this site for over 400 years. It really is a beautiful church.This was also a very interesting part of Santa Fe. The Indians sit down on the square and roll out blankets to sell their BEAUTIFUL handmade jewelry. It's awesome to just walk up and down to see everything they have made. Dan, being the AMAZING husband he is, bought me a ring and the indian we bought it from showed us pictures of the mine that he got the turqouise from. It was very neat to see them with all their goods. I could have dropped some very serious cash!We ate lunch and felt like we were running out of things to do. So we started grabbing more pamphlets. Dan found one with this picture on it. It was for a Trading Post. He thought it sounded neat, I thought it sounded neat, so we decided to check it out. WE WERE WRONG!Very Very Wrong. We went to the Wheelwright Museum and the Trading Post was in the basement. This is what was in the Wheelwright Museum.Yep, rugs. They were pretty, but they were still just rugs. That's it walls and walls and walls of rugs. Sure didn't take us long to walk through that Museum. We get down to the basement and almost immediately ran out. The Trading Post was actually just their gift shop and EVERYTHING was expensive. Like handmade rope baskets for over 2 grand. "Dan put your hands in your pockets, don't bump into anything, and let's get out of here."After a long long failed search for a steak that didn't cost us a small fortune, we did find somewhere to eat but weren't quite ready to call it a night. So we decided to head out to the Casino. We wound up at Camel Rock Casino. Of course, I lost money FAST, but I always do. I pulled out another $5 more than I wanted to spend and Dan and I started playing Blackjack. And we both won all of our money back. It was a good time and a great way to end the evening.

This is Johnny. Johnny is who made our trip to Santa Fe one to remember. A little backround information....I had gone on a hot air balloon ride when I was little, like 8 or so, and I have wanted to do it again as an adult. When we went to Colorado, I wanted to do it but Dan is a bit afraid of heights and he wasn't to keen on the idea! But something must have been o.k. with it in New Mexico and he let me book the flight. So I called Santa Fe Ballooning and booked a flight for Tuesday morning. They told us they would pick us up at 5:45 a.m. at our hotel. Whew, thats early! But I was excited and we were ready to go when he got there. He took us on a short drive north of Santa Fe to this place. We took an hour long balloon flight of these ravines and it was absolutely breathtaking. Dan loved it, I loved it, and Johnny was the best pilot in the world. He even let us run the controls. The flight was definitely the best part of our quick little Honeymoon!

Day 22: Favorite City

I am not a world traveler by anymeans. In fact a lot of my traveling has been done while sleeping in the back of a van for Livestock Judging! So this presents itself as a pretty challenging blog. We all know my favorite vacation was to Colorado Springs with Dan, but the actual City wasn't that fantastic. And although Dodge City ranked rather highly (NOT), I'd have to say my favorite city is

Tucson, AZ

I LOVE the weather

It's a little dirty (what city isn't) but not terrible

I can actually manage driving in the traffic

There is SO SO much to do

So not that it won by a landslide or anything but I would say that Tucson is my favorite city.

Out of Order

Apparently blogger can't count or something.....read them in whatever order you want but I swear I can count!

Day 18: Something you regret

"Accept everything about yourself -- I mean everything. You are you and that is the beginning and the end -- no apologies, no regrets." ~Henry Kissinger

This is OH SO TRUE.

I am just like everyone else in the world, I have made mistakes.

In fact, I have made some pretty big ones.

But every little experience, good or bad, mistake or triumph,

has made me who I am today and that I am happy with.

I absolutely love my life and wouldn't change any of it.

This is who I am, take it or leave it, because I love it!

Day 21: A picture of yourself

This is the most recent picture I have.....Check out that Short hair! LOVING IT!!

Day 20: Nicknames

GRRRRR.....If I had a fun nickname this would be a fun blog post. However, I do not. So I guess this is where I bite my lip and keep typing and share with all of you my nickname. BUT, the only people who get away with calling me by my nickname and live are my Dad and Uncles so unless you are one of them DO NOT I repeat DO NOT ever call me........Ralph. There really isn't even a great story to it, at least not that I know of. But that's what Dad and my uncles have always called me!

Day 19: Something You Miss

My Grandfathers: I miss both of them so very much. Especially around this time of year. I was blessed to have two wonderful Grandfathers, each special in their own way. And I do miss them both very much!

Day 17: Something you are looking forward to

This little girl turns 4 in December!! And she has some of the best birthday parties!!

This Hottie comes home from the Carribean next month and I can't wait! Best drinking buddy ever and now we are officially family!

Hurry Home Sadie!

And of course:

CHRISTMAS

I can't wait for Christmas.

Decorating -- Especially my yard!

Shopping (started already)

Wrapping Presents

Family Time

Cooking

Christmas Movies (started already)

Christmas Music (started already)

Everything that Christmas is about......I am so ready for!!

Especially seeing the Nutcracker!!

Grandma, Mom, Madison, and I have tickets for the ballet, a holiday trolley ride scheduled, and motel rooms booked! Come on December! This girl's ready for Christmas!

Day 16: Dream House

Oh yeah! This one is going to be fun! I dream about a new house every single day. Don't get me wrong, I love our house and think it's a great first home for us. However, if you don't have dreams what's the point of going to work everyday! And if I have a carpeted kitchen for the rest of my life.....someone is GOING TO GET HURT!!



So here is what these Gleason's are shooting for (or at least me):

Bedrooms: I want at least 4. I don't want a monster house but I want spare bedrooms that I can turn into an office or a man room.

Bathrooms: NO LESS THAN 2 and a half. I grew up in a 1 bathroom house and although it worked, I have now been spoiled with more than one so now I feel as though I need more than that.

Ceilings: BIG TALL VAULTED CEILINGS. I married a hunter, a very proud hunter who thinks dead animals belong on walls. Although I don't love the dead animals, I love Dan and he is proud of them so they get to stay on the walls. However, they look very misplaced and extremely creepy when they stare you straight in the eye (or your husband has to look down at them)!

MUD ROOM: No ifs ands or buts about this one. If your husband works in cow sh*t all day, this is a necessity!


Front porch: I NEED a front porch. Doesn't have to be fancy, just a roof and a floor. And some awesome adirondack chairs! Thats it!

Cedar sided with a green tin roof: This is one thing the Hubster and I agree on! My thoughts, If you're gonna have dead animals on the wall you better make sure it looks fitting. His thoughts, You never have to shingle!
Basement: I want one, doesn't have to be huge, even a 1/2 basement would do. Just an extra family room and maybe a bedroom downstairs!

And for the part I dream about all day long......the Kitchen

This is what I want. An island, beautiful cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling so you don't have to dust the tops of them, ceilings tall enough to have a hanging pot rack, WOOD FLOORS. The whole thing I am in love with!


Hmmmm.......someday!

Day 15: Favorite Bible Verse

I have been slacking.....like for a week!! Sorry! So today is a big catch up day for me! If you need some blog reading time, I guarantee you will find it here today!


Day 15 of the blog challenge asks for your favorite bible verse. I really love some of the readings that we used at our wedding, but my all time favorite verse is this:

Phillipians 4:13

I can do all things through him who strenghtens me.

This is such an inspirational verse. Sometimes it's hard to figure out how I will get through something, however, I can do all things, as long as I keep God first.

Day 14 : A Picture You Love

This was pretty hard considering I just got back over 500 wedding pictures. There are a lot in there that I love, but this one has to be my favorite.

Day 13: My Goals

This is an ever growing/changing list for me. I am always adding and accomplishing things. I couldn't get through life without lists, so here's another set of lists for my readers!

Short Term Goals

• Finish painting the rooms in our house
• Decide what kind of SUV I want
• Finish the blue afghan (this has gone on way too long)
• Build a faux fireplace
• Decide where to go on our Honeymoon

Long Term Goals

• Go back to College
• Start a family
• Buy a home
• Take a vacation every year
• Visit Europe

Day 12: What You Believe

What I Believe In:

• I believe in never going to bed mad
• I believe that you must do the best you can, where you are, with what you have
• I believe good friends are hard to come by
• I believe in the importance of Family
• I believe in having fun
• I believe in second chances
• I believe everything happens for a reason, you just have to be willing to accept that reason

Day 11: Favorite TV Shows

Before you read this post I need to explain something, I watch t.v. with my husband. He has almost completely converted me to man shows. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy them, and we don't sit in the living room belching and smashing beer cans on our heads. However, Paula Deen, The Duggars, Kate plus 8, Desperate Housewives, those shows don't even exist on our t.v. anymore. We don't watch a lot of t.v. and what we do watch is usually from the DVR (no commercials)! So here is what you will find on our playlist.......

I am going to take credit for this one. I started watching it one night and got addicted......fast. So now it's become one of the regulars. There is nothing classier than bibs, missing teeth, guns, boats, and subtitles. This show is pretty awesome though and I don't like to miss it.

This is a back up. We don't watch it religiously but do enjoy it when we watch it. I think one of my favorite episodes was when the guy tried to sell a shrunken head.....seriously people, where do you come up with some of this crap?

THIS IS MY FAVORITE. I had gone to my moms for the weekend and got back early on a Sunday and Dan had recorded and was watching a few Sons of Anarchy episodes. That was all it took. I was headed to Hastings to start renting previous seasons. We got all caught up and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this show. Biggest problem, I bartend on Tuesday nights so I have to wait all the way until Wednesday to get my weekly fix.....Thank God for DVR!

I started watching Grey's Anatomy when I lived with Jessie. I really liked the show then, and got severely addicted. Now it is slowly sliding into an o.k. category. I still like it, but it isn't a big deal if i miss it.

Day 10: Something You Are Afraid Of

Glad Dan doesn't get to write these. I think his favorite thing about watching a movie with some suspense is seeing how high I can jump off the couch. I get scared VERY easily.

So here's my list......

• Scary movies: Even slightly scary ones. Don't even consider watching them.


• Failure: I am terrified of failing at anything. It happens and I get over it, but I truly am afraid of failure.


• SNAKES -- don't like them at all. I even pick my feet up if I drive over one!


• House fires


• Losing a loved one early or unexpectedly

This was not a fun post. So I'm going to lighten it up a bit and tell you about my newest project. PAINTING!!

And I hate it. I love the color I picked out, the best way to describe it is a 1950's appliance green. Trust me it really does look good. But if you've ever painted paneling you feel my pain.

EVERY SINGLE STINKIN' LITTLE GROOVE.

However my dining room has transformed quite nicely, but I hope Dan loves the color "Country Club", because his wife is never painting that room again. And it's going to take lots of motivation to paint the rest of the rooms in the house.

Day 9: Pictures of Your Friends

My Mom: My Closest & Dearest Friend

Sadie: The friend that I miss the most,

please leave the Carribean and come back!

Amanda, Me, Ashley, & Sara
Amanda: Probably my oldest friend, been friends since kindergarten
Ashley: AMAZING friend, love that she knows how far and
boring the drive to Dodge City is and she still comes to see me
Sara: Newest friend and one of the main reasons I have survived in Dodge City

Brock: the brother, and from the looks of this picture my least cool friend ; )

Me, Sarah, Jessie, Ashley, Madison, Madison, Susan

A GREAT GROUP OF FRIENDS

Sarah: My college roommate,
also the taught me how to take my first shot (didn't drown)

Jessie: Been friends since the 4th Grade,
don't know what I would do without her

Ashley: Craziest Friend, too! Forgot to mention that above

Madison: Sister turned dear friend.
Can't imagine what life without a Sister is like.

Madison D: My youngest friend ; ), and the coolest neice in the world

Susan: Friend, Counselor, Drinking Buddy, Great Shopping friend,
and now SISTER-in-law

Day 8: A Place You've Traveled To

Colorado Springs

This was my favorite trip ever. Almost exatly one year ago we went our our very first trip together. We really didn't go far at all but definitely had an absolute blast. We made no plans other than a destination and it was so relaxing and fun.

While we were in Colorado Springs, we saw so much. Went to the Garden of the Gods, Cave of the Winds, and the PRCA Museum. We even got suckered on some "tourist trap" Old West Town. The neatest thing about that place were the trick mirrors.

We drove up to Cripple Creek one night. This was Dan's first time gambling and of course he had beginners luck, me, not so much. But it was really a fun night. Minus getting car sick on the way there.

The day we were headed home we went to the Royal Gorge. I was so proud of Dan. He claims to be afraid of heights, but went across the Gorge in the tram car and walked the bridge with me. If he is afraid of heights he must really love me because on our honeymoon I even got him in a hot air balloon.
While we were there, we drove up to Denver. Dan wanted to visit the Coors Brewery. Pretty sure someone told him there was free beer. The brewery was neat, but I didn't even like Coors Light fresh. No thanks, Dan I promise to not steal your beer. I really wanted to hit the Denver Aquarium, so we did. I ABSOLUTELY loved it. There were all kinds of fish and you could even feed stingrays when you got through it.

But the best part of the whole trip was Manitou Springs. We both enjoyed it so much. We spent so much time just strolling through the little shops and checking everything out. Dan even wanted to go back and shop again! By far the best trip we have taken and I can't wait to go back!

Playing Catch Up: Day 5, 6 & 7

Woops! I was really busy this weekend. So today you get a triple dose! That will make today more fun! So here goes.....
Day 5: Siblings

Brock

Meet my brother Brock, the coolest little brother in the world! We are 4 years apart and extremely close. We weren't super close until I was about 15. We constantly bickered back and forth until one day it just clicked and we have been buddies ever since. Brock is finishing up school at Beloit this year and then headed back to Washington to work at Bruna Implement. He really is a great man and I can't think of a better little brother!

Madison

Meet my beautiful little sister, Madison. She is growing up to be one of the most amazing young women I have ever met. She is not afraid to do her own thing, always stands up for herself, and is super caring just like my mom. She is also an animal nut, and has way too many cats in my opinion! Madison and I are ten years apart, and have always been close as sisters, but the older she gets the closer we are getting as friends. Having a sister is the best friendship in the world. I wouldn't trade our relationship for anything. I love you, Madison!

The In-laws

Here's a picture of my other 11 (newly acquired) siblings. And I wouldn't trade a single one of them. So here's my new 11 siblings, from left to right
Bottom Row: Cheryl #7, Madison (neice 1), Mary #5,
2nd Row: Tyler (Meagan's Husband), Meagan #4, Sharon #8 Susan #1, Dustin (Susan's Husband), Jessie (neice 3) Grace (neice 2), Jarett (Mary's Husband)
3rd Row: Matt #2, Becky (mother in law), Me,

Dan, Joe, John #6

Day 6: Things that make me happy

This is a fun list! So here goes:

• Dan
• My family
• Our neices and all the other wonderful little people in our lives
• A clean house
• Missy, Cinch, and Doc (our 4-legged babies)
• CHRISTMAS (definitely a big one)

Day 7: Favorite Movies

I'll give you my top 5 or this could end up being a very long list, so in no particular order:

• Fox and the Hound
• Where the Red Fern Grows
• Lonesome Dove
• Steel Magnolias
• National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

Now that I got this all caught up, heres a little peek as to why our weekend was a little extra busy. Meet the newest member of our family, Doc. He is already spoiled!

Day 3 & Day 4

Day 3......My first love

My parents. I have the best parents in the world. They are each amazing in their own way and I wouldn't trade them for anything. But I would definitely say that they were my first love!

Day 4......My parents (see why I did these two together?!?!)

I am blessed to have the 3 sets of the best parents in the entire universe. All of them special in their own way, but equally amazing!

My In-laws

Meet Joe & Becky. I am so blessed to have such great in-laws. They made my move to Dodge City so much easier, and have always included me. They really are amazing parents and raised 8 wonderful kids who I am proud to call my in-laws. They are hard working and both have such strong faiths. I appreciate them very much. Thanks for being wonderful in-laws and making me really feel like a part of your family. I love you both!

Gary

Meet the best stepdad ever. Gary is an amazing man and I'm not sure what we did before him. I once had someone tell me that being a step-parent is the hardest job in the world. I definetely don't doubt this, but Gary should write a book about it because he rocks. He has always treated Brock and I like his own, he never calls us his stepkids, just his son and daughter. Gary first won us over shortly after he and Mom got engaged. He built us a lemonade stand and let us paint it however we wanted.....it was extremely ugly! He also ranked pretty highly when we were remodeling our home. Bribery works wonders people, and Gary bought us more Gas N Shop slushies and pizza than any person should ever have to buy in their lifetime. Gary is so quiet and level-headed. He's a fantastic husband to my mother. I hope he understands how important he is to Brock and I both. Love ya Gary! Thanks for doing an amazing job, you've had a huge impact on the people Brock and I have become. Thanks so much!

Dad

Meet my Dad! This is where I get my height, my big feet, my curly hair, my big nose, my temper, and my laugh! My dad is amazing! There is no other man in the world like him! This is who I go to for the hard truth. Even when I don't want to hear it, I know my Dad will always shoot me straight. This poor man has been on the receiving end of too many bawling phone calls, lots of times for wrecked cars, sometimes for stress, and sometimes just because. He claims I cry when the wind changes directions....he might be right! This is the man who taught me to shoot a gun, cook everything with cream of mushroom soup, never give up on things, crack a joke, ride a bike, and a million other things. This is also the man who built me a picnic table when I was little, tried really hard to braid my hair for picture day, swore I would never learn to drive, bought me a pony, and lots of other things. Dad made our childhood a lot of fun and we experienced lots of things because of him! Thanks for being one in a million, Dad! You've always been there for us and you'll never know how much we appreciate you!

Mom

Meet my Mom! This is my best friend. I truly treasure our friendship. She made our childhoods unforgettable. She made Easter dresses, Halloween costumes, and every Christmas amazing. This is who taught me how to make anything with a hot glue gun. My mom has the biggest heart and is always doing for other people. This is who taught me how important family is. She made a beautiful home for us, and always made everyone feel welcome there. When I was in college and came home, Mom would get up on Sunday mornings and make breakfast for me and my hungover friends. This is the woman who made pancakes in the shape of our age, every year. This is the mom who makes everything fun. We've laughed so hard together so many times. This is the woman who taught me to be confident and to laugh at myself. She made sure we knew our potential and always pushed us to exceed it. She is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. She has had jobs that I wouldn't even consider. She's the mom who plans a trip for us girls every year at Christmas time and makes it so much fun. She has taught me so much and has had the biggest influence on the person I have become. I hope someday, my kids love and respect me half as much as I respect her. Mom, you are amazing! Thanks so much for giving me the best family, thanks for all the great memories, for teaching us how to love, for the best little brother and sister, and for always being there.

You're an amazing woman and an even more amazing mother! I love you!