Happy 8th Anniversary to us

On July 22, 2008, we celebrated our 8th Anniversary! (Happy Anniversary to us!) :-) Here's some pics:

Our Wedding Day - July 22, 2000
Celebrating by going out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse Sat. night
Flowers Chris brought home for me on Sat. (they were actually from a friend/co-worker's wedding reception, but hey - I'll take flowers however I can get them!) :-)
At a Louisville Bats (baseball) game on our actual anniversary (not the greatest pic!)

I just have to say that I have a WONDERFUL husband! We've been through a lot the past 2 years, but I'm so thankful that the Lord has given us the grace to get through it all, and to bless us with an even stronger, better marriage because of the trials. Chris is amazing, and I'm so thankful that he continues to put up with me! I told him when we were at the game that he better be thankful that he has such an awesome wife... this is the 3rd anniversary out of 8 that we've spent watching a baseball game! :-P He's so lucky! Seriously, though, we probably would have done something a little more romantic, but we didn't know until the day before that Chris would be able to get off work early, and we also chose to spend most of the money that we had put away for our anniversary to use on someone else who needed it more. (Not to brag, just letting you know that we don't ALWAYS go to games for our anniversary!) :-)

It was great just spending time together. I'm so thankful that God knew I needed CHRIS as my husband, and I think HE's THE BEST!!! :-)

Chicago sights part 1 ***Edited***

I love taking pictures (in case you haven't noticed yet!) One of the things that I loved about Chicago was the awesome architectural details of the buildings, and how the architecture of older buildings was so vastly different from that of the newer buildings. However, both old and new architectural styles are fascinating to me! On top of that, Chicago also has the natural beauty of the landscaping in the heart of downtown, the parks and fountains, and God's hand in the creation of Lake Michigan. So - here are some of my pictures of architecture and nature... Stay tuned for more!

Chris and Heather 2007 ***Edited***

In honor of our 7th Anniversary, I am posting these pictures. These are just a few of the pictures from various events that we have done in this past year. Enjoy!

Anniversary Trip to Chicago 2007 ***EDITED***

Here are some pictures of Chris and I from our anniversary trip. We had tons of fun... you can see my posts below about the trip itself. I loved the surprise aspect of it, and it was nice to relax and just spend time together.

More Anniversary Details...

So - on Monday morning, we slept in again, ate breakfast at the little deli by the Hancock Building, and then walked down Michigan Ave some more. We then took a bus to the Shedd Aquarium. In my opinion, for being the 2nd largest indoor aquarium, we were very disappointed. Most of you know that I LOVE dolphins, and I was even disappointed in the dolphin show! It was more "tree-huggin', whale-kissin' " (as my dad would put it) earth-friendly plugs than it was about the dolphins. On the way to the Aquarium, we walked through Grant Park and saw the Buckingham Fountain. We also saw a few bunnies in the park, which I thought was pretty funny for the city. They do have beautiful parks, though.

From the aquarium, we took a water taxi over to Navy Pier. We walked up and down the Pier, then did a little shopping. By that time it was time for the White Sox game, so we took the bus down to U.S. Cellular Field. The lady I sat next to on the bus was very nice, and we had a good conversation. She was actually reading her Bible on the bus in Lamentations 3, so I made a comment because my life's verses are 22-23 of that chapter.

We arrived at the game, and had a great time. As we were getting ready to leave, we were asking the guy next to Chris if we had to have exact change for the "L" to get back to the hotel. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a card with $4 on it and gave it to us to use. He said, "Happy Anniversary!" It was such a blessing to not have to fight all the crowds to get the cards, and so nice of a stranger to just give us the card!

Tuesday morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed and to the airport to get "back to life, back to reality!" We had a blast spending time together and just relaxing and sleeping in!

Now, on to other stuff... When we got home, we had to go back to work. I've been working since then to try to get the house unpacked and decorated, besides working to make up from the time I've been gone.

Yesterday, I finally finished decorating the house. I wanted a cohesive design, but as I was unpacking everything, I just couldn't bear to part with a lot of my stuff, so the kitchen/dining room is cohesive, and Chris' office is pretty cohesive, and the rest of the house is eclectic! I think it looks pretty good, though! :-) Again, when I can get the internet up on our home computer, I'll post pictures of the house, too.

Tomorrow is Chris' 32nd birthday, so we're having a party for him and having an open house party as well. I got the house done just in time! :-)

I'm still having internet issues with the computer at home, so bear with me if I don't get posting done consistently.

Other events... we have a new niece she was born this morning! She didn't want to come into this world, apparently, b/c she didn't come after her mom was induced, and they eventually had to do a C-section. I'd put more info and pictures of her on here, but I haven't asked her parent's permission, and they are pretty careful about stuff posted on the internet (which I totally respect and honor that!) We are very excited about this new little one and hope to meet her sometime soon.

This coming week will be busy for me. I'm working 5 days a week now, so that takes away some of my free time. Monday night is a stamping party, but I'm not buying anything this time. I mostly just go to stamp and enjoy the fellowship. Thursday, I get to see one of the little boys that I used to take care of when we lived in Maryland. His family is from here, and they are coming down for a visit. I'm excited to see them again! Then on Saturday, some friends of mine from MN are coming down to drop their daughter off at the college that our church runs. I have not seen them for 4&1/2 years, and am so excited to visit with them! Also on Saturday, I celebrate my 30th birthday! I know, it's hard to believe that I am 30 already, but I'm actually kind of excited about it (I know, I'm really weird!)

Oh, yeah - one more thing... my parents are moving! My dad has a job as an administrator of a school in Waupaca, WI. They are very happy to be moving back to the midwest, looking forward to settling there, and being a lot closer to the grandkids! :-) I was telling my mom that I'm glad I don't live with them... they are loading the truck on my birthday! Much of my life we were always moving or at camp on or around my birthday. Not a very great birthday present!

Well, I gotta get going! Please bear with me as I attempt to get our internet issues resolved. I PROMISE to post pictures as soon as I can, but I can't promise when that will be!

Internet Issues

I know, I know... I keep promising to get this up to date, however I've been having some internet issues. I wasn't sure if it was just our home computer, or actually the internet connection. I think we've figured out that it is the internet connection, but I'm still not sure.

So - here's the summation:

July 16 - we signed our lives away to buy a new house! :-)
July 17 - Two Men and a Truck company came and moved our stuff from our apt to our new house. I was VERY impressed with their service, and the fact that the two men were in their early 20's and were very careful with our stuff, as well as being very polite and respectful. I would highly recommend them!
July 21 - We left to go on our anniversary trip.

Our anniversary trip was AWESOME! I still didn't know where we were going until we were standing in line to board the plane! Chris had handed me my boarding pass to go through security, but said, "DON'T LOOK AT IT!" I was a very good girl, and didn't look! So we were standing in line (we flew Southwest, so you get your seating first come, first serve!) and they announced boarding flight whatever to Chicago. I looked at Chris and said, "We're going to CHICAGO!?!?! SWEET!"
We ended up arriving at our hotel in Chicago around 7pm. I took my first taxi ride ever to get from the airport to the hotel. We stayed at the Whitehall Hotel (which is in the National Historic Preservation Society) right off North Michigan Avenue right by the Hancock Building (for any of you that are familiar with Chicago.) The hotel was REALLY nice, with a HUGE fluffy bed that made just want to run and jump into it (which I did later.) The hotel also had bell hops... another first for me! I promise I'll post pictures eventually!
We were going to go to Giordano's for their world famous deep-dish Chicago style pizza, but the wait was 3 hours (and it was already 8:30pm.) So we walked a few more blocks and got into Gino's Pizzaria East for the deep-dish pizza. We ended up starting up a conversation with 6 older gentlemen that came in and sat at the booth next to us after they asked us to take a picture of them, and they returned the favor for us. One of the guys actually ended up pulling up a chair and sitting at our table talking with us until our pizza came! Pretty funny that a total stranger would just pull up a chair to our table, but we didn't mind. Come to find out, they work for the Reader's Digest, and meet for conventions. While in the area, they try to go to as many of the Major League Ballparks as they can (just like we are trying to do!) They actually were at both the Cubs game on Sunday and White Sox game on Monday that we attended as well!

Sunday morning, we slept in, then went down to a little deli just below the Hancock Building for breakfast. They had a really cool fountain down there, too. We walked down Michigan Avenue and just looked at all the buildings and stores. I love the architecture of the city buildings, both old and new. We went into Niketown and bought flip flops (neither one of us have had them in AGES!), then to the Sunglass Hut to buy Chris some GOOD sunglasses to protect his eyes while he is at work on the car lot. We then headed back to the hotel and dropped some of our stuff off, and headed to Wrigley Field.

We had a great time at the game, though the ballpark was a lot different than most of the parks we've been to so far. It was really neat to see them change the score on the scoreboard by hand, and I think it's probably the only ballpark that doesn't have a jumbotron. The Cubs ended up losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

From Wrigley Field, we decided to walk over to Lake Michigan and walk down the shoreline. We kind of just meandered down the path (where we decided that EVERYONE in Chicago goes to exercise.) We ended up walking back to our hotel from Wrigley Field, which was about 6 miles of walking as far as we can figure.

We got back to the hotel, changed clothes, and then went back out for our anniversary dinner. We ate at this really cool Italian restaurant, and actually ate outside. The ambiance was really cool, and there was a street performer playing his saxophone across the street the whole time that we were eating. It was really neat. We finished the night by walking down Michigan Ave to the Chicago River and back to the hotel.

Well, I hate to leave you hanging, but it's late, the laptop battery is dying, and I need to go to bed. I promise I will finish this ASAP, complete with pictures, as soon as I get all my internet issues taken care of.

I'm HOME!!!

Hello everyone!
I'm finally home from almost a week away. Actually I got home around 10:30pm Sunday night, but am trying to recover from my vacation. I'd tell you all about it, but some of the people involved have asked that I not include them in my blog for their protection, and I want to honor that request... SO - I'll just have to share bits and pieces with you, along with maybe a few pictures here and there.

First of all, I have the FedEx story to tell you...

I told you already that Chris has planned our anniversary surprise trip. Well, 2 weeks ago now, I came home and found a FedEx slip on the door. I didn't know what it was about, so I called Chris to ask him. He confirmed that it had something to do with our anniversary trip. He was supposed to pick up the 2 packages, but with his work schedule it makes it very difficult (He's not getting home until after 9 pm these days.) So, after 2 days of debating what to do and discussing the options, he told me that he needed me to go pick them up at the FedEx office. I asked him how I was supposed to do that and not find out who they were or what size they were, etc. He came up with the plan for me to take another bigger box into which both packages would fit and ask the person at FedEx to put them in that box without me seeing them. (I guess they were pretty small.)

So, feeling just a little bit foolish, I drove down to the FedEx office with my empty box. I entered the office, and explained the situation to the man behind the counter (who was very sweet, I must add!) I told him that I was there to pick up the 2 packages, but my husband didn't want me to see them. The man kind of raised his eyebrows at me like, "What kind of naive wife is this?" Noticing the doubtful look on his face, I explained to him that Chris was taking me on an anniversary trip and it was a surprise. He, in turn, asked when our anniversary was and how many years we were celebrating, and if he did this for me, did he get a trip, too? I replied that I didn't think it worked that way, to which he just laughed. He also asked me how he was supposed to know that I wouldn't look at the packages when I got into the car. I told him that he would just have to trust me, and that my husband is very fortunate that I like surprises! Besides, if my husband trusted me enough to send me to pick up the packages, I guess the FedEx man would just have to trust me, too. :-)

After exchanging a few more questions and comments, he went into the back room to retrieve the packages. He placed them on a table just inside another doorway where I couldn't see them. He came back in, grabbed the scanner, and went around the corner to scan them. Then he came back and checked my ID, took my empty box, and disappeared around the corner again. A few seconds later, he reappeared, picked up a roll of packing tape and walked back around the corner. I heard the tape going and going and going... I think he must have wrapped tape around that box probably 6 times!! Finally, he emerged with my tightly shut taped box, and sent me on my way.

When I got home... I opened it! Just kidding!! When Chris got home, I told him the story, and we had a good laugh about it. (I love it when employees of companies make it so nice to do business with them!) Chris then took the box into our room and emptied the contents. After hiding everything that was in them, he came back to tell me that not only did Mr. FedEx tape the box so thoroughly, he also put packing materials around the boxes inside to ensure that they wouldn't shake and rattle around and give me a clue how small/large they were. I thought that was very funny! I then told Chris that even if this trip is just in town or whatever, it will probably be one of the most special anniversaries, just because of the memories involved in the whole process.

So, there you have it... special memories from the FedEx man going above and beyond in his job!

I'll post more on my trip some other time. Let me just say that I enjoyed my time away very much, and I have another whole batch of memorable events added to my memory bank, in spite of the irritations and annoyances that come with lots of people and little sleep! :-)

Misc. Cards - April 2007

Here are some of the cards I made this month. I think I somehow deleted the pictures of the three FAVORITE cards I made... which I was very disappointed about. Anyway, there are patriotic ones, Mother's Day, anniversary, birthdays, etc. I apologize once again for the quality of some of the pics... I was told that you're not supposed to use flash when photographing cards, but the light in my house is so yellow that it turns out like this! I generally use flash, and then edit the pic to decrease the amount of exposure in order to make it look more like it does in real life. I'll have to make those 3 cards again... I LOVED them! (Go figure... it would be my FAVORITE cards that I delete pics of!!! Hope you like 'em!

I am so excited!!

So let me tell you why...

The other day my hubby called me while I was at work. (Although I am always excited to talk to him, he regularly calls me several times a day ~for which I am thankful~ so that wasn't the big excitement.) The excitement came when he told me to not check our "junk mail" e-mail account, and not to check purchases on our credit card account until he tells me it is OK. Now, you may think this a little weird, but it is not weird to me. I check our e-mail daily, much more than he does... then I just tell him when he needs to read something. As for our CC account, I also frequently check that as well, just to make sure nothing is on there that shouldn't be on there, or I check it when I am paying bills, etc.

You may be asking, "Why in the world would he tell you not to check those things?" Well, let me tell you what ELSE he told me... He told me that I needed to make sure that I have off work on July 23 and even possibly the 24th as we will be arriving home VERY LATE on the 23rd. So, what is the big event, you ask? July 22 is our anniversary ~ 7 years!~ and Chris is planning a surprise trip for me! The not checking things is so that it will continue to be a surprise. Now, luckily for him, I LOVE surprises, and so I don't check things on the sly. Why take the fun out of it for someone else?

Now, let me give you a little history about how we've celebrated our anniversaries:
1st - "window" shopping at outlet malls in Appleton/OshKosh, WI, then a round of mini-golf (in which I got a hole-in-one... funny story!) I think we went to a nice Italian restaurant, too.
2nd - Attending a TimberRattlers baseball game. (It was SO hot that day that the ushers were walking around spraying people with squirt bottles.)
3rd - Chris surprised me at work with a dozen roses since I was working a 16 hour shift that night. I was so concerned with getting my hours in that week before we left on vacation, that I didn't realized that I had scheduled myself to work on our anniversary until the week before, and I couldn't change it! We "celebrated" by going on vacation the end of that week to my bro's wedding in MI (from FL), then to Family Camp at Northland.
4th - a trip to Pensacola/Ft. Walton Beach, FL, for his sis' grad, then a long weekend at a 4-star hotel, dinner one of those nights with friends, and a trip to the Gulfarium, where I got to touch a dolphin! :-)
5th - dinner at TGIFriday's
6th - dinner at TGIFriday's and a delayed trip to Hershey Park (a gift from a friend)
7th... to be discovered in a couple of months!!!

As you can see, our anniversaries have been incredibly romantic! :-) Actually, I have enjoyed them all, and have great memories of them, but at the same time, it is nice to actually be able to do something nice for our anniversary. To Chris' defense... most of those years we either were not able to get time off (working at camp) or we didn't have the money to do anything super special. We were just thankful to have the time together.

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, and overwelmed at the ways he has shown his love for me the past few weeks. I almost cried when he told me he was planning something for us... because I was so surprised and excited. I'm not even that concerned what it is, but the fact that he is planning it 3 months in advance is a HUGE deal to me! I love him so much!

Happy Birthday&Happy Anniversary

Happy Birthday to Kevin Hoffman(January 3rd) and Happy 4th Anniversary(on January 11th) to Kevin & Josie Hoffman, very dear friends of ours. I'm a slacker... I forgot both of these! What a great friend!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MOM&DAD!

Mom & Dad Chromy - Labor Day weekend 2006

HAPPY 36TH ANNIVERSARY, MOM & DAD!

May God bless you with many more years together to serve HIM! Thanks for the example of faithfulness in a Christian marriage. We love you and miss you!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, TIM & CRISTINA!

Tim & Cristina May 2006
HAPPY 9TH ANNIVERSARY, TIM & CRISTINA! May God bless you with many more years together. We love you and miss you!

Happy Anniversary, Pete & Amy

Happy Anniversary, Pete & Amy! We pray that God gives you many more wonderful years together as husband and wife. We also pray that God gives you great wisdom as you raise your family - Michael now and Chad, when he arrives! - to serve Him. You are great friends, and we miss you so much! Enjoy your day!