*Our 1st Christmas*

In the end, Dan and mine's 1st Christmas together was awesome (+ some excitement)!! Thursday (23rd) night, I mysteriously chipped my tooth...literally doing nothing! Dan took me to the ER where I was there for hours just to find out there was nothing they could do that night except give me pain meds. I was told to see a dentist the next day and it couldn't wait. There was only 1 place open on Christmas Eve and they were terribly rude, inconsiderate, and made me cry! (Don't ever go to Immediadent!!) I have no dental insurance so I paid a hefty fee for the dentist to barely spend 5 minutes with me and tell me I can shell out a few hundred dollars for a filling that may not stick or I can spend $1000 and start the process of getting a post and crown put in. I said uhh NO and uhh NO to both! So I left in tears. I'm still working out how I'm going to get my tooth fixed, something has to give and I'm trying to find other dentists that are cheaper and that we can do payment plans with. Getting a credit card is out of the question. Needless to say, we're saying lots of prays for the

Lord to help us with this one. Anyways, Christmas was great! Dan and I had ours at Midnight on Christmas Eve, then my dad's on Christmas and his parent's as well, and my mom and brother's the day after Christmas. I am posting only 1 PHOTO of my tooth because I've learned that even tho I look like a HICK and have a lisp sometimes, I can make fun of myself. SOOOO crack your jokes and make fun of me, here is some photos :)

Yea yea laugh it up...this is the last time you'll ever see me like this...

Niko LOVED opening presents!

hahaha Dan caught a great picture! Too funny!

Jeez, this bone is already almost gone!

Christmas at my Dad's

Not used to keeping my mouth closed!

My mom and neice, Alexis

Me, Dan, and our nephew Layne aka My Michelin Baby

In Memory of: Betty Ann Mann

In Loving Memory: Betty Ann Mann, 4/15/35-12/22/09
July 2009- My Granny was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer and was given 3 months to live. She survived for 5 months...enough to give us one last Thanksgiving with our family and to know that I was baptized on Nov. 22. When I went to see her for Thanksgiving, I told her I had just been baptized a week prior...she was very happy. And although at that time, she didn't nor did I know that Dan and I would soon be engaged a few months later. Yet she made it a point to tell me that she liked Dan and she knew he would take care of me. She even left me a couple of cookbooks with notes written in them for "Couple's Cooking"...now how did this lady know that Dan and I would still be together? :) That lady was mysterious...but I believe she knew Dan and I would be married, I don't know how but she did. Exactly 1 month after her passing, Dan asked me to be his wife. It was all surely meant to be :) Now onto the hard stuff, watching my Grandmother pass away slowly and painfully was extremely hard! It was emotionally and physically draining. I was trying to go to school full time and having a rough time with a teacher that later failed me and now is the sole reason I didn't graduate this past May. At the same time, things in my personal life were chaotic, I got in an accident and broke my right collarbone, I was working, and I was seeing my Grandmother 1 to 2 times a week. Towards the end, it got really draining. Family was coming in and out of the house so much because everyone that was family was in coming into town to say their goodbyes and EVERYBODY wanted to be there when she was going to pass. I must say that were several close calls and some false alarms. But each time I'd get a call saying "Hurry come over, she's not doing good"....I dropped whatever I was doing whether I was asleep, busy, working on a final, anything....and I went straight over to her house. Finally, early in the morning on Dec. 22, I got 1 false alarm...headed over WAY early in the morning, get there, and she is doing okay. Wait a little while...she's doing okay, so I go back home to go to bed. Get a few hours of sleep, get a phone call, and all I can hear is everyone crying....my heart dropped to my stomach, I just said "I'll be over". I got back up in my pj's and  headed over to their house for the last time. It was so cold that day....so close to Christmas too. I walk into a solemn room filled with tears, sadness, and crying. I'd never experienced this before....nobody I knew that well ever died. My mother walked me up to her on her hospice bed, I rubbed her face and picked up her hand...bent down to her ear, said " I love you. May you be in a better place" and that was the end. The next few days were filled visitations, funeral, LOTS of crying, watching her slideshow on a dvd from the funeral....and some more crying. Never experienced a loss before and this was something definitely different that I was completely out of my element on. Anyways, below is her eulogy I gave at her funeral and some pictures I like :) This is our family's 1st Christmas without her but she will always remain in our hearts. I love and miss you Granny! Don't get into too much trouble up there! ;) Merry Christmas!!

I wanted to take a few minutes to share my memories of Granny. Something that I’ve always admired about our family is our closeness. Other than Kentucky Cousins Camp, my favorite memories are those big dinners and gatherings at Granny’s. Till this day Granny is infamous for her amazing home cooking! Times at Granny’s were always loud and fun. I remember her specifically always having chocolate filled chocolate cookies in a jar. I made sure to always ask for a cookie and when she wasn’t looking, I’d sneak a couple more J I remember always being scared of Rusty...I don’t think he liked me very much.  Granny also introduced me to one of my all time favorite videos....Can’t Buy My Love. I must have watched it a 100 times at her house and till this day, there is a copy of it in my room. Finally, I’d like to say Granny was a well loved beautiful lady. She will be watching over all of us as our new guardian angel. She will remain present in our everyday lives through pictures, videos, and stories we tell our children. If I’ve never told any of you, I love each and every one of you. Despite our quarrels and disagreements, your all a part of my family and will always be.

 These are the flowers, my "then" boyfriend, Dan, sent to the funeral home for Granny :)

 This was early in her stage of cancer, My Papa, Grandma, & Me

 My Mom and Granda

Granny's Final Wall...she got to look at this every day...

Heartbreaking....but this was my last picture with her...approx. 2 wks before she passed....

 

Good picture of my Granny and Papa

Our Kid's Portraits!!

Well since our kids are our family, I had to get a picture of the kids infront of our tree and together! Do you know how hard it is to get 2 dogs to sit next to each other, keep the big one from trying to eat the little one, and keep the little one from running away from the big one? The answer= Treats! And a husband named Dan! We took photo after photo and this is what we came out in the end with :) I present to you......

1 Husband + 1 Wife + 2 Dogs= My Family :)

Of course I had to add an extra one of my princess!



Welcome Home! Come in and take a look!

 

The Marino's - First Christmas Tree 2010!!

 I'm a huge Christmas lover and a few days before Christmas I was already bringing out the Christmas decor! I love to put up as much as possible but we don't have much money so I made do with what we had. I think we did great considering it's our first year :) So I just wanted to show off some of our Christmas decor! :)

 Yes I even stuck lights above our bed!

 

Dan surprised me with our first name engraved item! I <3 it!!!

 Entrance to dining room

 

I made my own centerpiece with cinnamon scented pine cones and old cheap ornaments I had. Easy peasy but I just wanted to "make" something :) 

 Made another one...those are silver and blue btw. The tea lights were gifts from the hubby again because he knows I just LOVE Christmas!

 

That's a cookie plate I got from a former Visiting Teacher before she moved. Now we use it as a decoration :)

 And finally.....Welcome Home! :)

TEMPLE BOUND 12/11/10

HAHA first off I just realized when I typed the date of it, it's 12 11 10...too funny! So I just had to blog since it had been a little while since I had. As a lot of people know I am headed back to the temple soon to do my endowments and some important work. I'm very excited and just got my stuff ordered (Thanks to my mother-in-law) and can't wait to get the show on the road. But I have to be honest at the same time...part of of me is still very sad. Half of me is excited and half of me is sad and it's quite a bittersweet moment. Any time I've ever did something that was extremely important to me, my family no matter what was there to support me including at my baptism. Unfortunatelly, they cannot come to the temple with me. I understand the reasons and I understand that they don't believe in the same things I do and have their own faith, but it still stinks. It's automatic for me to run to my family to say hey I got this big thing I want you to come to but in this case, all I can do is try to explain to them to the best of my ability what and why I'm doing what I am doing without saying too....which won't be too hard since I don't even know everything I'll be doing, hehe. So I just had to be honest in throwing it out there that while I'm excited for this moment very much, I'm also missing the people that should be there but can't.

Now, the person I did ask to escort me was my mother-in-law, Shelly. I'm honored to have her there with me. She along with Dan have been there through the entire process with me and she helped me out BIG TIME with my baptism with speaking at it, getting it together, and even bringing food and drinks along with a few others :) So I felt it was only right to have her there at the single most important moment in the temple at least until Dan and I get sealed :) Okay well I'm done for now...chao! :)

Us with Dan's parents

*HaLLoWeeN*

This is Jack, the "special" o lantern. Haha...Dan and I thought we could do this with a knife and spoon...umm yea didn't turn out like we had hoped. Next time, were buying the pumpkin kit.

My princess Lola as one cute sailor :)

Dan Marino and his security officer LOL. They both went trick o treating with us!

Of course I just had to add 1 more picture of Lola. Our dogs are seriously our kids...and I'm pathetically in love with them =)

SOOOO I don't feel like typing a whole lot but I just had to vent about last Friday. It was a HORRIBLE day! I had just gotten a job a couple of weeks ago at the Mouse Trap and things were going great so I thought. After I finished my shift, lets just say, things didn't work out and I end up walking out bawling my eyes out. I was so upset because I had just gotten the job and was working really hard to earn money. Dan and I needed that money and in a flash it was gone. I didn't "love" my job...but it was a job and I was willing to do it because it paid money. So after that I went to my 2nd part time job at school. I talked to an advisor and found out the details of why my 112 hr practicum would NOT transfer, putting me an extra semester behind and my graduation date is set for Spring 2012. After all of this, plus going off of little sleep from working both jobs and going to class that day, I just felt very down on myself for the entire night. Hubby came home and that weekend I began a strong search for another job. And to my surprise, I filled an application out on Monday, turned it in, asked to come back later for an interview, went back and walked back out with a job...all in 1 day! I was amazed! Did I mention it's for Bath & Body Works? Did I mention I LOVE Bath & Body Works AND not only do I get a discount there but also at Victoria's Secret? It was great! Today was my orientation and the girls are so sweet! And I'm just absolutely in love with our products! So far so good! Now let's just hope it stays this way!

Missing Oahu Hawaii!!

I decided to catch up on lost time, I'm going to post a few old pictures here and there and then tell the story behind them. For those of you who don't know, I used to model a lot though I took a break for a while but now I'm getting back into it (just more conservative). Well I had the opportunity to get a free all expenses paid trip to Hawaii to model. We went in 2008 and I have missed it everyday! Hawaii is a wonderful amazing place! Gorgeous, nice people, and just so relaxing! I miss it all the time and will go back someday!! So here is my reminiscing for ya!

This is Waikiki Beach...come out of our hotel and walk straight into this :)

Beautiful trees/flowers everywhere!

Another view of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head Volcano

Lanei Beach

Manoa Falls! I literally had over 25 bites on the back of my legs alone! Tip for next tim: Bring bug spray if your going hiking!

Manoa Falls is where the show Lost has been filmed along with parts of the Jurassic Park series :) It was muddy, hot, sweaty, and GORGEOUS!

Missing Hawaii :(

My first blog, My first post!

Sooo...I've never actually done this before but decided to start it since it seems everyone at at church has one and Dan and I are just starting our life together. I decided to have my first post to tell a little about Dan and I in case some people don't know.

*Dan and I originally met in high school. We both had history class together and were both very outgoing and talkative. Over the years we always liked each but for some reason or another we never dated. Then April 2009, I moved back to Lexington, just from Richmond where I was attending EKU, and I just became single, Dan and I started talking. Things progressed through the year and we had a lot of trials but we also overcame every obstacle and I've never denied that I'm madly in love with him.

*In January, he finally asked me to marry him! Right on a bench by a lake which was our favorite spot to go to relax and talk. I was so ecstatic that I didn't realize I kept him waiting on his knee while it was sinking down in mud...lol.

*We wanted to get married soon...we knew this much. We were (and are) so in love with each other, we thought, what was the point in waiting? So we set the date and got married on May 8th, 2010 at our church in Lexington and then we went on our honeymoon to Oak Island, NC.

*We came back, moved in together, and started our new life together :) I'm so grateful for him...I don't know what I would do without him!

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Another subject, I gave my testimoney for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I'm happy to say that everyone loved it and weeks later, I still have people telling me how much they enjoyed it. I also attending the temple for the first time this month (Oct. 5th) to do baptisms and it was absolutely amazing! I'm truly blessed! Dan introduced to the church and with the help of my mother-in-law, I got baptized and confirmed in November of 2009. It was the BEST decision (besides marrying Dan of course) I've ever made. He is my everything and so much more that words can not possibly explain. I LOVE the true church and I LOVE our members, friends, family, and of course, our Prophets. And I can't leave out our 2 dogs, Niko and Lola. They ARE our kids and they definitely keep us on our toes. I LOVE my life!!