Birthday Weekend Mini-Vacation!

My 28h Birthday was the 14th and Rusty arranged for a little mini-vacatin to North Carolina. It was so nice to just get away for the weekend and RELAX!

We left on Friday (the 11th) to make the six hour drive to Lucama, NC where we were staying with our good friends Alex and Freddy. We took our time getting down there, making a couple stops along the way.

Friday evening we went out for Italian food..... yummy pizza and then for some frozen yogurt. That night we spent just talking and making up for lost time.... we all share a love for Disney, so there is never a dull moment in coversation :)

Saturday we headed to the Smithfield outlets to do some shopping, we found some goodies and of course had an awesome lunch at Zaxby's. I always feel like I eat ALL weekend we go to NC, I can't help it.... I have to eat all the food that I can't get in PA!

Saturday afternoon I spent some time reading and took a two hour nap.... I rare event for me, but much needed. We then headed out to eat at El Tap for some yummy Mexican food. I thought we were just going as the two couples, but Alex arranged for a suprise birthday dinner with my friends from college. It was so GREAT seeing everyone.... it has been too long. Here is a picture of everyone at dinner, thanks again to everyone who took time to come to dinner!



We then headed back to Alex and Freddy's house to hang out and play some games, we found a newlywed game online which turned out to be a good time, Ha!

Sunday morning we headed back home but not before we got our fix of Bojangles.... yummy in my tummy (so wish there was one of these in PA!) We then met Kati and Billy outside of DC for lunch, it was good catching up.... it also had been too long since we hung out!

All in all, it was an awesome weekend followed by Monday off for my actual birthday. We met yup with Julie and Danny for lunch at Red Lobster and then just hung out/relaxed at home... nothing too exciting but very relaxing, which is just what I was looking forward to!

2012 Year Review

Happy New Year! I have been a very bad blogger in the year of 2012. I think I only did like three posts all year long! I am jumping back into blogging and hope to be much better in 2013.

2012 has been a very rough year for me.... more on that a little later. I am hoping and praying that 2013 will be a bit better- although it has started off a little rough so far! I was hoping to have this post done around the 1st of the year but on the 2nd I woke up with the stomach bug and spent the next few days in not so lovely shape and recovering! Then my poor fur baby girl, Sophia, hurt her back again (a flare up from her previous back inury in November when she popped a disk out in her back)- needless to say we have to keep her on bed rest for the next couple of week- which is not easy! Thank god she has to take pain medication which helps to keep her sleeping- a lot!


Back to the main reason for this post- my 2012 Yearly Review. I thought since I was such a bad blogger for the year, I would do a recap of each month to catch you up on our lives.... nothing too exciting but at least we would all be back on the same page. I am not sure how many readers I still have left, but let me know in the comments if you are still reading along!!

January

- Celebrated my 27th Birthday on the 14th with a movie and dinner date day/night with Rusty
- Rusty's uncle passed away on the 23rd from an accident. HIs death was very hard on us and our family. I think its hard when you have no time to "prepare" for the persons death- he was not dealing with an extended illness and was only in his 50's- We miss you Uncle Kenny!

February

- I reached a major goal in my weight loss! Still working on my final goal but I was proud to have reached one of the major goals along the way
- We are not much of valentines day junkies but we did have a nice dinner at home, just the two of us

March

- March is when things starting to go down hill for myself, related to my health and my struggle with endometriosis. I ended up having to have surgery to remove some of the lesions, howerver, it was found during surgery that my lesions are mostly inside my reproductive organs and could not be removed. My condition was much worse than what my doctor was hoping for and expecting
- I spent much of the month recovering from the surgery and disussing my options moving forward

April

- Was the month of birthdays in our family- three birthday parties, three weekends in a row. We started off with my nieces's, Hannah, 2nd birthday party- Minnie Mouse themed. Next was my nephew's Alex's 1st birthday party followed by my other nieces's, Ava, 3rd birthday party, - princess themed.
- We ended the month with Rusty suprising me with a date day in the inner harbor in Baltimore. Completed with an awesome crab cake dinner, walking around the harbor with the beautiful weather, and ending the day with tickets to go see the braodway show Mary Poppins. It was just what I needed, I am not sure how he always knows just what to do to make me feel better ;)

May

- Started off with me tripping over Snickers at the top of our steps and taking a fall down ten steps- rolling head first to the bottom! I ended up with a broken left wrist and a badly bruised leg.... and a lot of pain! I was actually very lucky since I hit my head/neck/back the whole way down.... It could have been much worse. I spent the next couple of months in a cast followed by 4 weeks of physical therapy to get my wrist back to "normal"
- To end the month, I started my first non-hormone therapy injection- called Lupron. It is a nasty injection that I had to get monthly for the rest of the year, in hopes to shrink some of the lesions in my reproductive organs. The injections tricked my body into thinking that I was in menopause- including all the symptoms: hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, anxiety, fatigue..... let me tell you, it was a whole lot of fun! I told you this year was not very kind to me!

June

- Poor Sophia's allergies hit her very hard this month and she ended up with a severe hot spot on her tail.... she had to have her tail shaved and had to wear a cone around her neck for about one week until it was able to heal. You would have thought this was the end of the world for our little diva ;)
- We spent a great deal of time out on our deck at night, listeing to music and watching the stars. Trying to relax our minds and body from the stress of the above months!

July

- We celebrated Rusty's 32nd Birthday July 3rd, Rusty had to work on his birthay due to the holiday the next day but we celebrated that evening with dinner at his favorite mexican place and dessert at Chili's!
- We traveled to Southern MD for Nicci's wedding- it was an awesome time! It was great to get away for the weekend and re-connect with some of the best friends a girl could ask for! I miss my college buddies all the time- I wish we all lived closer so we could hang out more!

August

- I went on a weekend beach trip with a friend from work to Ocean City, MD. I had not been to the beach for about 3 years.... it was nice to finally see the ocean water again, even if we didn't have the best weather!
- I had my 4th injection of Lupron this month and was full blown into the symptoms, making it a very long and HOT summer but I was determined to stick with the injections with hopes that it would bring positive outcomes!

September

- Was a very slow month, nothing too exciting happened. We enjoyed the last bit of the summer out on the deck, one of our favorite past times is sitting out on the deck at night with the radio playing and candles just enjoying the view!

October

- We got new cell phones: Samsung Galaxy III- we love them! They take awesome pictures, which I promise to post more on the blog after this post!!
- We celerated our 4th wedding anniversary, howerver, I was sick with bronchitis, sincus infection, and double ear infection: talk about Happy Anniversary to me!
- Rusty's brother was able to score two tickets to the Cowboy/Ravens game in Baltimore, if you know my husband you know he is a HUGE cowboys fan. He was so excited to go to the game with his brother. That morning at 2am, Snickers had a seizure. Once of the scariest things I have EVER gone through in my life- I thought that he was having a stroke or worse. We ended up having to take him to the Vet ER in York- only for them to not know what exactly was going on with him. Thank god our regular vet is family member and she saw him on Sunday and ran some blood work and determined that he had a seizure. We still are not sure of what caused this, but we thank god every day that he has not had any more! I made Rusty still go to the game, but needless to say he was not really able to enjoy himself fully due to the stress on his mind.
- I celebrated a good family friend, Gail's, 60th birthday at a tea room. The ladies tea was a great time- I want to go back to another tea party!!!

November

- We started off the month going to Rusty's brother's band, Liguid Lucky, first concert since they got back together this year. They are an awesome band and its always a good time watching them
- Sophia injured her back on the 12th- we are not sure exactly how she did it but she popped one of her disks out in her back. Our vet thinks it might have happened when she jumped up or down from the couch or bed but luckily it went back in but she had to be on two weeks of bed rest and some pretty strong pain medication to get her through the worst of the inury- poor baby! It was not a good year for our pups either....
- I received my last Lurpon injection, they did some image studies which showed that there was no improvement from the injections and the lesions actually got worse. I was crushed- I had 9 injections and went through all the symptoms for what seemed like NOTHING. My doctor was unsure of what direction to head next and wanted me to ses a specialist which was arranged for December 17th
- Rusty and I went out for our yearly ritual of black Friday shopping- I am happy to report in 24 hours we got all of our Christmas shopping done (other than gifts for each other!)
- On the 30th we left for our Disney trip for eight wonderful days.... one day just the two of us and the remainder seven days was with Rusty's mom, brother and sister in law and their kids, sisters in laws sister and her husband and two kids, and our sister in laws parents.

December

- We spent the first week in Disney- We stayed at Disney's Old Key West with our family and had a WONDERFUL time. The weather was great!!! I didn't want to come back to the reality of the real world...
- When we returned from our trip, I went to see the specialist only to find out she too was not sure what direction to head next. We were running out of options and things were getting bad, quickly. I was informed that more than likely I would need to have my uterus (the worse of the organs due to the endometriosis) removed and that I would not be able to carry my own children.
- This was the worse month yet this year. I have kept a lot of this "hidden" because simply put.... its hard to talk about. But I need to start healing... which means that I need to accept what is happening and part of that includes talking about it, I am hoping it will help more me along in the healing process
- We celebrated Christmas with both of our families and of course the pups- who we made sure got extra spoiled due to their hard year as well
- We ended the year celebrating New Years Eve with our best friends- Danny and Julie.. We went out to dinner and came back to our house to hang out- awlays a good time

Well- there you have it, our year in reivew! I told you it was not a very good year for us! I am hoping and praying for a better 2013. As far as my endometriosis is concerned- I am meeting with two specialist coming up this month- I am hoping for some more answers and a more detailed plan moving forward. My wonderful husbad, Rusty, has been a rock for me through all of this- supporting me every step of the way. I am not sure what I did to deserve such a wonderful person in my life! Thank you to all of my other friends who have all texted, called, sent cards, etc to support me along the way: you all are wonderful and know who you are!
Sorry again for being so bad at blogging this year, I really hope to get back into blogging on a regular basis this year!
Happy New Year!!

Healing Time!

I am recovering from my surgery and have had a lot of time on my hands! My surgery was a little bit more involved than what I was thinking.... a lot more pain, pressure, and larger incision than I was hoping for but at least I am on the mending side. I had the surgery last Wednesday and was hoping to return to work today but will be out a couple more days than planned. The first few days were VERY rough.... lots of pain and pressure. The surgery didn't go as well as planned. They were hoping to go in and remove endometriosis which they thought was building up in my cervix. When they went in for the surgery they were not able to find any endometriosis in my cervix, instead it is behind my uterus and possibly involved with my colon too :( Not a very good outcome from the surgery- they were able to cut and remove some pain fibers which have grown from the edometriosis so the surgery was not a complete waste. They also took a biopsy of my uterus since it didn't look "normal"- I am still waiting for those results. I will have to see a GI doctor for more tests regarding my colon and develop a plan with GYN doctor on how to proceed. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers, I am nervous about the outcomes. I have been doing a lot of laying around, watching tv, and napping. I tried to read some, but always found myself falling asleep- I think I have the pain medications to thank for that! Speaking of, I need some good reading recommendations- any ideas? I promised that I would include a picture on this post- haven't been up to taking many pictures but I did have these two cuties to hang out with while I was recovering. Not to mention a lot of help from the best husband and Julie who came to sit with me while Rusty had to work! Thanks for all the cards, texts, and goodies- they have been much appreciated!

Random Post- but At Least I am Back!!

It has been over a month since my last post. I have just been in a blogging funk.... I don't know what to write about anymore. I am open for blog suggestions, just leave them in my comment section :) But here is a random blog filled with all of the random thoughts in this wonderful hear of mine! - We have been some birthday junkies lately....it seems like a lot of our nieces and nephews were born around the same time of the year. Last weekend we had Alex's first birthday party, this weekend was Ava's third birthday party, and this coming weekend will be Luke's fourth birthday party! Super fun times with the family but I have had to "just say no" to the cake and ice cream at each party!!!!!! - Speaking on saying no to the cake and ice cream, I am still working on the weight loss. It has officially been one year since my "lifestyle" change of eating healthy and working out! I am down about 90 pounds, about 20 more to go!!! These last few pounds are slow, but I am determined!!! - Who else was super depressed that they were not able to attend "One more Disney Day"??? Magic Kingdom being open for 24 hours straight, I know I was super sad that I had to miss leap year day in Disney!! I hope they plan to do this every Leap Year, if so I am planning my trip in four years. - I have been having some medical issues lately....you know the female kind. Unfortunately, things are not getting better and I have to get surgery. I will get my surgery date at my appointment with the surgeon on Tuesday. I am nervous about the surgery but hopeful that it will help to correct some things and help my pain/discomfort and fingers crossed will not reveal any other problems! - Rusty and I have started to watch Nurse Jackie on DVD. We have finished Season one and two and are working on Season three now. We really love the show, she is very witty. She makes you really like her personaly, hard to remember that she is a drug addict! - We got an invitation for a wedding of one of my friends from college and guess what.... it is at the beach!!! I am excited for a trip to the beach in NC this summer :) - I got my first gel manicure yesterday, I love it so far. Makes you nails so smooth, thick, and hopefully the color will last a lot longer than a regular manicure! Well I think that is all the random thoughts for now.... I promise to add some pictures next time :)

Funk!

I am in a funk.... there is no other way to say it! I will be back when I have something nice to say..... or at least worth reading :)

27th Birthday Celebration!

Last Saturday was my 27th Birthday.... I am a little behind in reporting my current events! It was a wonderful birthday weekend.... full of lots of fun, relaxation, and celebrating!!! I had off all weekend and Monday....a three weekend (a rare treat for me!) Rusty took off on Saturday, so we had lots of time together. We both work six days a week and every Saturday.... I am jealous of people who have off two days each weekend! Anyway, back to the birthday celebration! Friday night we headed out to dinner with Julie at Chilis for some yummy food and then to the movies to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D.... I loved it! I love anything Disney and this happens to be one of my Disney favorites.... I am a sucker for the love story :) I also was a sucker for the butter popcorn too.... not the best for my diet, opps!

Saturday we slept in and just took it easy for the morning. We then headed out to run some errands and some some shopping...I ended up with some new clothes which is much needed right now (not a bad thing since everything I have is so big!) We ended up at Chipotle at lunch, my kind of b-day lunch, I love me some Chipotle! We then came back home to relax some more and watch some tv, we are into a new TV show- Nurse Jackie. We are wathcing season one on DVD, pretty good show. We then headed out to a local coffee shop for a drink and talked about planning our next Disney trip which will be in December :) Next it was off to dinner at C & D Bar and Grille- our new favorite restaurant! It is a locally owned place with great steaks and seafood. We both got the stuffed shrimp with crab imperial- super yummmy and of course we can't forget the crab dip as an appetizer and chocolate peanut butter cake as dessert (lets just say it was not a good diet weekend!) Here is a picture of us before we headed to dinner :)

Sunday we ran some more errands in the morning (exciting trip to the Farmers Market for some veggies) and then ended up just hanging out at the house most of the day. While Rusty watched some football, Julie and I headed out to get our nails done. Thanks Julie for the b-day treat!! The best thing about Sunday was knowing that I had the next day off! Monday was spent at the doctors office in the morning for a routine physical and follow up and then cleaning the house.... still it was a good day off! Hard to believe that I am 27 years old.... that means only three more years to the big 30!!!!

"Ugly" Sweater Bowling Night!

Rusty and I headed out to lightening bowling at our local bowling alley with some friends Saturday night(several of Rusty's co-workers and Julie our best friend came along). The guy who planned the whole event requested that everyone wear an "ugly" sweater, it was a good time.... funny to see what everyone decided to wear. The whole concept oif lightening bowl was fun, lights were turned down and they had the music up loud.... a first time for us :) Rusty and I made a trip to the good will to find our "special" sweaters as like to call them.... you can see pictures below, how do you think we did..... they are pretty ugly, right?

Rusty and I

Julie and I

The Whole gang, minus me (I was taking the picture)..... please note Rusty's pose, I have NO idea what he is doing!!!

Pork Fried Rice, Healthy Syle!

Rusty and I made a new recipe the other night, it turned out pretty good!! We also had a lot of fun making it, rusty got off early so we actually got to cook together! The kitchen was full of music, dancing, and of course cooking :)

It was pretty easy to make and you don't need much, just whatever veggies you have around the house.

Here is what we used:
1.5 cup brown rice (follow directions on the box)
2 pork chops cooked and then chopped
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
4 carrots, chopped
Broccoli chopped

Cook veggies until tender, season with minced garlic, soy sauce (low sodium), and pepper
Once veggies are tender mix rice and meat together with the veggies and let simmer. You can add more soy sauce to taste if you like

It's that's easy, super yummy and healthy :)

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2012 Goals!

I have enjoyed reading everyone's goals for the upcoming year. I thought I would go ahead and share some of my goals for the upcoming year. I had to think hard about these goals.... I have been working on one of my big goals for the past 9-10 months (my weight loss) but I knew that I could come up with some other goals along the way.... plus it would be fun to have them "written" out here on the blog, so that I can check next year on how well I did on my goals. My Goals: 1. Continue my weight loss journey... I have lost about 75 pounds so far and have about 25-30 more pounds to go! 2. Get back into working out five days a week (something I have been slacking on since the holidays) and maybe join a local gym to work on weight lifting 3. Blog at least weekly, hopefully a little bit more. I have become a very bad blogger.... so this is something that I hope to improve on (thanks for reading even when I forget to blog in over a month!) 4. Meet new friends, become more "social" with my community.... I am not sure if this is the best way to word this goal but I miss being involved with groups (like I was in college, so I would like to join some sort of community group or organization) 5. Be more budget friendly.... Rusty and I are both quilty of spending unecessary money and would like to become better at this. Sure, we are able to pay our bills each month and are not suffering by any menas but it is always nice to save more money when able, even if it is just to use it for fun stuff like Disney :) Just joking.... I think ;) What are your goals for the near year????

Hoping for a peaceful night sleep.....

I have been having a really hard time getting good sleep for the past few weeks.... I wake up tossing and turning most of the night and can never seem to get comfortable. If that is not bad enough, when I go to get out of bed in the morning my neck, upper back, and shoulders are killing me. At first I thought it was our mattress.... but then I started to think that there is no way that our mattress would need to be replaced after only three years. So, I talked with one of the physical therapist at work who suggested that it might be my pillow and suggested a memory foam pillow. Tonight, Rusty and I went shopping.... I never knew there would be so many choices for memory foam pillows! The one that I picked out (it felt the most comfortable) is actually a memory foam/gel pillow. It feels awesome, I just hope it does well tonight! Have you all ever tried any memory foam pillows, if so what do you think??

My New Car!!!

Wow, it has been almost a month since my last post. I have been super, super busy between work, preparing for the holiday's, and searching for a new car. It took us about two weeks to find the right car, but I am glad that we took our time and found the right one. I was super sad to even have to get a new car.... after all, I love my little beetle! However, after spending tons of money this summer to fix some major problems..... it was hard to digest that it was starting to have even more problems (and big ones too). I couldn't see putting any more money into it.... so a new car was a must! We ended up getting a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport.... a small crossover! I love it.... its fun sitting up high on the road :) The fact that I can put into 4WD is nice too.... after all making home visits in the snow is not always fun! The heated seats and awesome look are an added bonus!

Healthy Dining Finder

Since I have been watching my calories and working on dropping some weight, I am always looking for new recipes, ideas, and way to eat out but still stay under my calorie limitations. This evening I came across an awesome new resource for planning your meals out at a restaurant. Whenever I know that I will be eating out, I try to think in advance what I will be able to eat without feeling guilty. I use a calorie counter on my droid phone and it has a lot of restaurants listed but some of my favorites are missing or the ones that are listed only have a couple of items listed (usually stuff that I am not interested in ordering). So, I found this new website called Healthy Dining Finder. Click on the name and it should link you to the website! You can search restaurants by alphabet or even by your zip code. The menus listed for each restaurant only include healthy options and even list low sodium meals if that is something you are looking for as well. Looking at the site made me hungry- ha (you have been warned!) Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!!!!

I am here.....

I have been a little MIA lately...between sickness and work, I am staying busy. Last weekend I woke up feeling super sick and ended up at the doctors on Monday. Diagnosis: Upper Respiratory infection, Sinus Infection, Left East Infection, and Bronchitis. I was out of work for several days and slowly returned towards the end of week, but I am still getting over the feeling of having no energy, coughing up my lungs, and just feeling bad! To make things worse, things have been rough at work..... like I needed anything else? Working in hospice care is rough on your heard and sometimes it just gets to be a little too much.... well I think that is where I am right now! I need to find a way to relax and try to leave work at work and not bring it home.... easier said than done! So, anyway. I am here.... I am hoping to get back into more routine posts and something a little more exciting..... sorry!

Like Grandma's Chicken Pot-Pie- Recipe

I found a new healthy recipe the other day and gave it a try.... it turned out super yummy and the best part was I didn't have to feel quilty about the calories. Pretty simple recipe with a few changes to the traditional Chicken Pot-Pie which is not usually so healthy. Like Grandma's Chicken Pot-Pie 2 pounds of chicken breasts (about 3-4) 1 teaspoon black pepper 4 teaspoons flour 2 teaspons chicken bouillon 1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup 1 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup 2 soup cans of water 1/2 bag of frozen vegetables (I used the one with corn, carrots, green beans, lima beans, etc) 1 can of reduced fat or wheat biscuits 1. Boil chicken and cut into cubes 2. Add chicken, soups, water, black pepper, flour, chicken bouillon, and vegetables into the crock pot- stir well 3. Cut uncooked biscuits into quarters and then gently mix into crock pot 4. Cook in crock pot on low for 5-6 hours It turns out looking like this- we loved it! It gives you that home made, soul food feeling that chicken pot-pie usually does without the quilt!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Little Girl!

We celebrated Sophia's 3rd birthday last evening. I can't believe she is already 3 years old.... I remember the day we got her (she was 10 months old!)
She was a very timid, scared little thing.... boy how she grown! Now she doesn't think twice about pushing her poor, big brother around, but I guess that's why we love her ;)
We had a little party for her last night, her honorable guests consisted of her mommy, daddy, and her best friend and brother- Snickers!!


We even had party hats!


Party treats for the pups!


Birthday Girl- look at that sweet face :)


Birthday Toys!


Big brother, Snickers, helping to celebrate (dark picture, his little face looks so dark!)

I think she loved her party.... her toy was a big hit. I put both of them down on the floor and she picked the corn, she has not let it out of her sight since :)

Happy Birthday Sophia! I hope you had a wonderful day. It will be time to celebrate Snicker's 4th birthday (very hard to believe) in a couple of months!!!

Fall Bakery Treats!

Rusty and I ate at Perkins the other night and found these lovely fall goodies. We couldn't resist....cinnamon bun with icing and pumpkin muffin with icing. We shared both of them.....they were delicious!!!
But no more treats, its back strict on the diet :)

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Poor Rusty...

Poor Rusty woke up Sunday with some pain/stiff neck. I thought it was just caused from sleeping on it wrong, but come Wednesday he didn't have any relief from the heating pad and over the counter meds. We headed to the orthapedic urgent care and got his neck checked out....rusty was in so much pain at this point. It checked out to be a severe pulled muscle- so now we are trying more heat, stronger meds, rest (when possible), and stretching as tolerated. If it doesn't get better within one week, he will have to start physical therapy. I am hoping and praying it will be better by then.....I am trying to give him lots of TLC to help speed along his recovery!!

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Look into the Future!

Here is a look into the future (well about 60 years from now).....we will call it "Christman's gone Silver!"



This was Halloween customs for a party we attended over the weekend. We decided to go as an "old" couple. While we were shopping we found a lot of tacky Christmas clothing and thought it would be funny to say that we got "confused" and thought it was a Christmas party instead of Halloween! We had a good time.... the wigs were super itchy but well worth it! The walker, cane, and depends were cherry on the top ;)

Back to Reality!

Well all good things must come to an end, and that means our Disney vacation too! I can't believe 9 days and 8 nights went by that quickly!!
We had such a good time...... I will be sure to do more posts about our trip over the next couple of weeks.
I will leave you with a couple of pictures from our trip, we had so much fun.... we are already planning our next trip- ha!~

Twas The Night Before Disney!

Twas the night before Disney and craziness was through the house
All because of that magical mouse!

The suitcases are packed and the cars full of gas
We came from PA, only four more states to pass.

It's time for bed, we are done with the hassle
Next stop is that beautiful castle!!!

- hope you enjoyed our Disney poem, yes I know we (meaning rusty and myself are dorks!)
- we are excited to be heading to Disney. check out my Disney blog for more updates!!!

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