Honeymoon

Someone told me I needed to write about my honeymoon or I would forget it; however, with all the pictures we took, I don't see how I could but thought I would share what we did...It was a lot, but I still wish it was longer! We caravan back with Jason's aunt and uncle and cousins.  Wow! What an interesting ride to Maryland! Jason and his cousin, Zach decided to do impressions of some dude the whole way there and cracked themselves up! I didn't see what was so funny about the impressions, but listening to laughing made me laugh.  We arrived really late Sunday night and pretty much unpacked and went to bed.  Monday, we slept in and then went to lunch at Uno's and walked around and took pictures.  After that we went to Swallow Falls and hiked on the trails and saw beautiful waterfalls! Then we went to Lakeside Creamery for some of the best ice cream!  When we got back to the house, we relaxed in the hot tub and out on the deck. Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent the day touring Washington D.C.  We bought the double decker bus tickets for the two days we were there and got to take the Twilight Tour Tuesday night which was amazing getting to see D.C. at night and all lit up.  Wednesday we got back to the house really late because we met Gary for dinner on our way home and he showed us some of our wedding pictures.  Thursday, we made plans for the next two days.  We went out to Englanders  (Dottie's) for breakfast and tried buckwheat cakes.  Then we went and saw a man made whitewater river rafting course that the Olympic team practices at.  We then went zip-lining! That was exciting and scary at the same time! We then went to the beach at Deep Creek Lake and the water was so cold!!!  That evening, we went to Santa Fe Grille.  The food was great and from the deck where we ate at, we could see the zip lining course up on the mountain which was pretty cool.  We then enjoyed more Lakeside Creamery and sat on the porch and watched the storm come in! It was pretty neat and crazy at the same time.  The next morning, we woke up and had plans  to get in the hot tub; however, silly Jason, turned the knob all the way down the first time we were in it and the water was freezing! So we went out for breakfast instead.  We ate at Canoe on the Run.  We shared an omelet and each got a dessert.  The cookie I had was huge!  We went shopping at a tourists store to kill time and then went on the ski lifts to see the view over the mountain and rode a mountain coaster!  Back at the house, we wrote in the book and told the Wall's thank you.  Then headed out.  We stopped a place called Katie's Ice Cream on the way out of town.  It was like a fall festival booth on the side of the road.  Other than trying to put my straw in my float and the float shot up thru the straw, it was really good! The ride home was nice, but I was sad to go and for the honeymoon to be over with.  I felt like it wasn't long enough, and we didn't have enough us time; however, we did get a week over the summer just to ourselves even though we both worked, we didn't have Eli because he was on vacation with his mom.  Therefore, we had our evenings just us which was so nice! We lied around and watched movies like every night and just enjoyed our time together.  It was great!

What's been happening in my life since the day I got married?

I feel like I have not been able to post in so long.  Life has been crazy trying to get back into the routine of work again.  It's been so busy, it had been almost a month since I saw my niece and nephew which I was seeing them two to three times a week.  It's sad how when the school year starts back up, life becomes a blur.  I feel like I have not had the time to focus on anything, but work, house cleaning, and finding a new wardrobe.  It's hard not being able to wear flip flops and tennis shoes! Talk about a huge change for me! Anyway, let me start back from the beginning right before the wedding.  So wedding planning was going smoothly.  Jason was a huge help and God was so present in the mist of it all.  My mom and I had fallen out for awhile; however, are back to normal since the wedding is over with.  I wouldn't say we didn't talk, but it was hard to plan for a wedding knowing my parents were struggling financially and my mom was stressing and depressed for months before my wedding because she knew she couldn't afford to help out much; however, going dress shopping with me and buying the dress she knew I really wanted no matter what the cost meant more to me than she will ever know.  With all this being said, I was told by the school I was working in there wouldn't be a place for me in the fall due to enrollment being down by quite a bit.  Being a first year teacher, needless to say I didn't really have an option; therefore, on top of planning for the wedding, I was job hunting.  I was very blessed to be offered a summer job at St. Joe in the County just through word of mouth and the people I know.  Having that job and still having income from previous job coming in all summer, we were able to save up and are still doing fine financially even without having a pay check for the past month.  I did get another job! At Christ the King where I am currently working as a pre-k teacher and preparing to hopefully  be a director within a year.  I can't thank God enough for providing me with this job.  It's wonderful and so are the kids! I love the other employees and feel very welcomed.  Back to wedding planning, God used so many people to bless us! I posted on several of those postings back in May.  Things were going smooth leading up to the wedding! I was so blessed to have the friends that I do in my life.  I grew closer to them through the whole process including Julie Burton, my sister, Jessica Kneer, Heaven Johnson, Ashlynn Bass and Sara Calverley.  They were a huge help throughout the whole process.  Julie was always there when I needed her and I mean always.   I was so blessed to spend the evening before the wedding and the most of the day during the wedding with her! I can't thank her or Hank enough for what  they did for us! Priscilla constantly continued to help me even though she was on bed rest and then having a newborn at home.  She was amazing and was constantly there throughout the tough mom moments.  Sara was also there and sat with me as I cried the day before my wedding after listening to a voice mail.  Jessica and I grew very close being able to talk and the fact that she came to Nashville with girls she barely knew and was definitely a blessing to the other girls!  I know because a couple of the girls told me how much her conversation in the car meant to them.  Heaven was always willing to come over and help with getting things together as well as running to different stores so I didn't have to go alone.  Girls thank you so much for being there for me throughout the wedding planning each one of you is a blessing from God! The other Jessica...thanks for being there in prayer and being a part of my special day as well!  Can't wait til that day for you! The Thursday before the wedding, Heaven and I went shopping, then to Eli's game and visited with my brother, andrea and my niece and nephew who was in town for the wedding as well as Jason's family who was in town.  We all then went to eat at GD Ritzys. Around 10:00, Heaven and I went to Wal Mart for last minute things.  (a black curtain for our back drop that we forgot to get) She then stayed over until very early the next morning to help finished up things.  Friday, I can't remember much about except I met Sara for lunch because she insisted to not do anything that day and just relax and enjoy it.  That is when I received a voice mail and finally for the first time lost it in tears.  Everything for the most part was going smoothly except the relationship between my mom and I.  After lunch, I came home crying and Jason was there for me! After clearing things up, I managed to get ready and head out to the rehearsal.  The rehearsal went smoothly.  Everyone was such a huge help setting up tables and lights.  It looked beautiful when we finished.  The rehearsal as usual was a little unorganized, but we got through it and things went well other than Shyler's shorted us an entire thing of meat and some  people didn't get any.  Jason's parents drove back into Evansville from Boonville to get the rest of the meat; however some people had to already leave because it was getting late.  I went back to the cabins to hang out with my dad, the twins, and Jason and his family before heading home to meet Julie who stayed the evening with me.  Other than getting locked in Scales Lake, the ride home went well.  I met Julie at my house and we talked and laughed and I started a book for Jason that had pictures and sentences that described everything I did from the minute I left him til an hour before the wedding.  The next morning, Julie and I drove over to Off the Top together to get my hair done.  Sandra was her normal goofy self which made things fun and enjoyable.  She joked around with Jason when he called and wouldn't let me talk to him.  She also did Priscilla's hair and Ashlynn's hair so I got to see Paisley for awhile before the wedding.  Jason's aunt and uncle drove back into Evansville with Jason so that he could get his rental car and so that they could get pictures of me.  They met me at Off the Top where they brought me Starbucks where Jason wrote on the cup the ingredients:
Love, care, heart, sensitivity, tenderness = perfect relationship Custom made by Jason for my love, Kristina

It was a nice, special surprise!  After getting my hair finished, Julie and Micki helped me get my dress on and we drove down to the riverfront and U of E for bride pictures.  They turned out wonderful!
Julie bought the wedding party lunch meat, cheese and bread so we were able to take that back to Scales for everyone.  Only I don't think anyone ate any.  Back at the cabins, Kalyn and my mom helped get my dress back on and Micki took pictures while Gary took pictures of the girls and Jason at the Pavilion.  Afterwards, the girls and the guys all cam to the cabin and we took more pictures.  Pastor Jeff came in and prayed with me. Then it was time to go to the Pavilion.  I had to stay back in the back room so Jason wouldn't see me.  Back there people came in to see me.  Cill and Sandra redid my makeup.  I had me and Lexi time (my flower girl) which was so meaningful.  She sat on my lap and talked about how our dresses were alike and different and then just put head on my chest.  I think she thought I was a princess.  After that, Micki had me say something to Jason on camera.  That was the first time my voice started cracking and I almost started crying.  Then as I was waiting, getting nervous about all the people and seeing Jason, I got tears in my eyes and Cill and Sandra made me laugh to keep me from crying and then they reapplied my make-up once again.  Then it was time to walk down the aisle.  What a moment! I saw Jason and he wiped his eyes and when I saw the tears in his eyes, I couldn't hole mine back any longer.  It was a very emotional moment for me, especially because I am not usually an emotional person.  The wedding was beautiful and we ended with friends and family laying hands on us and praying as a way to help us be accountable in our marriage.  Other than being called the wrong name by the photographer, which I can now laugh about, everything seemed to go as planned. We didn't have time for all the pictures afterwards and had to leave the reception to get some of me and jason, but the pictures we got were well worth it.  The reception went well other than slide show that we spent days on didn't work and another one was made at the last minute.  Things went really well! After the reception, we took pictures of us jumping on the beds in the cabin! Can't wait to see those pictures! The next morning, we ate breakfast with Jason's family in the other cabin, looked at pictures from the wedding, watched a storm come and go, and then headed out for our honeymoon with his cousins Zach and Josh.  Honeymoon happenings as well as summer happenings leading up to now soon to come!