Katie & Daniel: 2009

Saturday, November 28, 2009

A Change is a Comin'

Well, the end of the semester is almost here. Daniel and I have been back in the States for more than five months. We close on our house on Monday and on Wednesday we go in for our first ultrasound. Wait, say what? An ultrasound? Oh, yes, that is right. We are expecting our first little one on July 16, 2010. We have not really told anyone yet, and do not plan on making it public knowledge per se, but I figured, if anyone actually reads this you can be privileged to this exciting information. Please feel free to call us but do not put anything on facebook yet. We just want to make sure that the little one is healthy and all is okay, Lil P as Daniel calls him/her and Sweet P as I call the blessing.

Other than that, I was lucky to get to spend a week in Memphis and get my fill of Mom, Dad, Bub, Brooke and Annabelle. Duke went with us. He wasn't so sure if he was at the right place. Since he has been there, there has been a new dog and a baby added into the mix and he just wasn't so sure how he felt about all that. But then, once the table food started flowing and the nights of sleeping on a bed added up, I think he felt he could get used to the changes.

Well, I am ready for some dinner. This lil one keeps my hungry and sleepy, so until next time blog world!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Playing Catch Up!

Okay, since school as slowed down a bit, let me fill ya in on a bit more of what went on during my blog sabbatical, if you will. In the end of May we took an amazing and much needed cruise. We left out of Miami and went to the Grand Caymans, where we visited a turtle farm and swam with the dolphins; to Honduras where we visited a cool park- Gumba Limba and held monkeys and birds that attacked my ear lobe going after my earring; to Belize where we did a 3 part adventure- spelunking, off roading in Land Rovers and finally a speed boat ride down the Belize River; our last stop was Key West- we didn't go on any excursions here, instead we just toured the quaint isle on our own and enjoyed some R&R.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Hello, my friend, hello

Wow! It has been a while, it seems like a lifetime in reality, since I have posted. I promise at some point to get better.

Tonight I am running short on time so let me just fill you in on the highlights of the last 4 or so months.

First of all, Daniel and I moved back to the states. We are both back in school at Auburn. I am finishing my degree in journalism, while Daniel is a PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering. While we are currently living in a condo, we are in the process of building our first house and it should be completed by Thanksgiving.

Being back in Auburn means football, friends and Toomer's Corner.

Our beautiful home to be!

Secondly, I am an aunt to the most precious baby girl in the world. Annabell Grace Ehrhart made her appearance on September 23, 2009 at 7:07 p.m. Due to the move I was able to be there for the birth! What a blessing is that. Annabelle is now nearing 6 weeks and is as healthy as can be. As of now she has Bub's blue eyes, but they have Brooke's shape and definitely has Bubby's nose. She is the perfect combo of her loving parents.

Isn't she perfect?

Growing up so quickly!

Those are the two biggest pieces of news that will affect this blog the most, but furthermore, as a result of the move, I was able to get the medical attention that I needed and finally got a diagnosis! It was what I suspected all along but Dr. Tom would never listen to me so thank you Auburn Medical Clinic for not writing me off as over paranoid. I am now on lots of meds, and everything is going smoothly. I got my first lab work done last week since I have been on all of the meds for two months and should be getting the results back soon. Fingers crossed that levels are up and we are on the right track. If not, still no freak out yet, there are other routes that can be taken.

Well, now that I am back at Auburn, I should be getting back to school work. I am going for the second semester in a row of a 4.0. Fingers crossed for that too. Mom and Dad have been amazing in still supporting me through school, but Daniel and I are also paying some now too so A's are the only option I have in my mind.

I'll update more later.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

ABC party and Tide Pools

The beginning of May seemed to be packed. First we said goodbye to our bud Frank, but not before he threw one last party : ABC Party (Anything but clothes). The costumes were out there that is for sure and we all had a great time. A few weeks later it was time to say goodbye to one of my best island friends Jenny, although we never thought she'd actually leave. She was flying standby and it took the poor girl three tries to get off this rock! One Saturday I was also fortunate enough to go to the Tide Pools with Daniel and Kyle. we climbed, we swam, we jumped, I fell (typical), and of course we mudded in the jeep on the way back and stopped to get Kyle some food, go figure.

Kristina, Kyle and me

Hovensa Boys : Please note Daniel started off with no costume, then went to clothes with box, clothes with box with tie, box with tie with undershirt, then box tie sans undershirt. all of this was parallel to how empty the Jack Daniels got, coincidentally :)

Jenny's going away dinner : take one :)

Tide pools: Daniel jumping off the cliff

True Katie style- slipped on the rock and let with some shiny war wounds

Daniel and Kyle climbed, I stayed on lower ground

Kyle kickin it 80's style My jump that I was scared of for no reason. Silly boy getting me all worked up

April Showers bring.... MORE VISITORS!

In April, Daniel's cousin Michelle and 4 of her teacher friends came to St. Croix for their Spring Break. We had such a blast getting to know all of the girls and having them here. The first night they were here we went to disco and another night we drug them to a white trash bash at our friend's place. Poor girls being subjected to that. The last night we spent at where else, the Brew Pub.

The girls before disco Top (L-R) Stephanie, Anna, Lindsey (Darbs), me, Megan
Bottom : Michelle and Ashley

Before dinner at Dashi and then the white trash bash!

Frank and Chis at the White trash bash

The girls' last night in STX

March- Jobs, parades and visitors!

March was a big month around here. I started a job as a nanny for a family just up the street. When I started the oldest was four years old and the baby was not quite three months old. Right after I started I took a week off because we had a gang of visitors come in town. Mom, Dad, Mr. & Mrs. Nicholson, Amy, Jana, Mary Kay and Lois & Paul all came down. We had such an awesome time with them and tried to get in as much as we could. There was golfing for some, Hotel on the Cay bar-b-que for all, snorkeling at Buck Island and lots of relaxation. There was even a vendor from Daniel's work who took the group (minus the Nicholson gang who had already headed home) our to Savant for an excellent dinner. The day that everyone flew down was the St. Patricks Day Parade which is always a blast. If you've never been to St. Croix, that is the time to go!

my first paycheck!

St. Patty's Day Parade!

The three amigas- Caitlin, Katie and Kristina

My lover and me.. haha

Amy and me!

Friday, May 22, 2009

The rest of December

When we left Vegas, we headed for Memphis. It was time for some r & r, or as much as one can get when having to divide times between families and friends. We also headed down to Alabama to visit Mr. and Mrs. Horn, as well as Daniel's sweet grandmother in Oxford. What was really neat about this Alabama trip was that while we were in Birmingham we went to the assisted living facility where Big Daddy and Big Mama, Mr. Horn's parents live, and had an awesome dinner with Mona and Wobby and Diane and James and their grandson Skyler. I had never met Diane and her family and it was great to see Mona and Wobby again so it was a really nice time to have together.

We headed back up to Memphis for Christmas with our families and had a great time there. We spent Christmas Eve, as we have every year we have been together, with Daniel's family. His sister and Mackenzie weren't able to make it that day so we went down to Tunica and ate at the Paula Deen buffet, seriously you haven't tasted good until you have had some of that macaroni and cheese and fried green tomatoes (I don't sound like a fatty there or anything). We had Christmas with everyone, Mack and Jess included, the Saturday after Christmas and we even went bowling. Dick and Daniel showed all of us girls up, but I think we did pretty well holding our own.

On Christmas morning we were at my mom and dad's and Bub and Brooke came over. We had a great brunch, as always, courtesy of Mom and then opened up our gifts and had some good quality family time.

New Year's was lots of fun. We went to Amy and Brandon's house and had a quiet evening. Just our style! We were able to catch up with the old Corbin gang and Daniel got his video game fix with the boys while the girls chatted away down stairs.

After the New Year came the inevitable, time to head back to our little piece of paradise. While it's always hard to say goodbye (yes, I still cry when I say bye to my mom and dad) it was nice to get home and have our own place with our own things!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Antigua

For Christmas Daniel surprised me with a trip to Antigua. We have thoroughly enjoyed traveling the Caribbean and will miss these opportunities when we are gone. Anyway, we stayed at the Sandals resort and were there for 5 days. We had a blast on resort as well as SCUBA diving and exploring the island.

This is Devil's Bridge. People sold into slavery would runaway to this bridge and throw themselves into the tumultuous waters to avoid the horrors of slavery.

Where the waves crash into, presumably killing the slaves. Freaky.

Daniel on the bridge.

The wave attacked me

Big-bada-boats!

I don't know what this church is, but I just think it is adorable. I made Daniel go back by a second time so I could take more pictures. Funny enough my friend Evers just went there and took pictures of the exact same church.

Shirley's Heights. It overlooked Nelson's Dockyard and all of the island, really.

Dinner at Elinor's. The somelier was awesome and helped us pick out this bottle of Sangiovese!

We had pictures taken by the Sandals people, but this is just one some lady took. I have such a handsome husband.

Our last night. Isn't the sky beautiful!

Viva Las Vegas

After Matt and Jamie's wedding we headed over to Sin City for a little fun with old friends. While there we stayed at the MGM Grand and met up with Austin Walker, Justin Yarbrough, Faron and Charlie Davis, all Auburn Phi Tau alums like Daniel. We had a great time and made some lifelong memories

Daniel and me at the Luxor

Austin, me and the blue men

You can't really see us but that is us under the Vegas sign

I made him get the same picture that mom and I took when we were there for my 21st

California Part III- Playing tourists

Sunday, our last day in LA, was a very lovely day. First, we went to a post wedding brunch at Jamie's mom and stepdad's house. This brunch introduced me to my new weakness- HALLAH BREAD! Holla for Hallah! Afterwards, Daniel and I went exploring Hollywood with my Aunt Lori, Uncle Kevin Edwards, Ben, Meg and Nick. Later that night we met up with Uncle Kevin Ehrhart, Susie and Big Kev's friend for dinner at a charming Italian restaurant in Santa Monica. This place also had bread to die for and the whole restaurant chimed in to sing That's Amore!