Closing out 2013

As 2013 comes to a close,I decided to take a look back at my goals I'd set last year at this time. Some I did well on, others not so much. Here they are: 

I did a great job blogging more personally, but for sure failed on blogging photography. I WILL do better in 2014!!

I totally feel like our year was spent with great friends that like us for who we are and don't think we should be any different! For them, we are so thankful! 

I signed up for a 1/2 marathon in March and didn't run it. :( I got an injury just 6 weeks before the race, and it just was not possible. I signed up for a 10 mile race in October and the friend I was going to stay with and run with never called or emailed me back, so I skipped that. I've kind of concluded at this point that spending money signing up for races may not be the best thing for me at this point in my life. I'm ok with that. I want to do well balanced workouts and mix it up as often as I can. 

I think I could have done a better job if spending time just the three of us, but we had a good year all in all! We did a lot of little weekend trips and things that were fun. I'm looking forward to deer season being over so we can have more family time. Adam has some job changes coming up that will put him home more often (we hope!) so I look forward to the time that affords us. 

I definitely fulfilled my wish to photograph more nature! My trip to Europe was amazing, and I had the best time taking photos of some really beautiful places! 

Lastly, I said I wanted to say, "no" more often. I think I did so-so with this one. I can improve in 2014, but I'm proud of how far I came in 2013! 

So, that brings me to my goals for 2014: 

2014 Goals:

Blog blog blog and blog some more for photography. It will help with SEO!!

Network more!

Try to limit my editing hours to when Sadie is asleep. I don't want to say, "In a little bit, mommy is editing," so often. 

Play with Sadie as much a possible! 

She's only little for a short time. 

Not compare myself or my family to others-our life is unique and special and fits us the way we are.

Meal plan meal plan meal plan, and accept the fact that my husband won't like it! ;) 

This one is a long shot- be a better morning person. I'd love to get up and walk just 15 minutes in the morning! 

Organize more! Especially my office! :)

Cut down on wine-both to save calories and money! 

And finally, live minimally. What I mean by this is to get rid of "stuff" and not buy things just to buy. We lack nothing. I want to simplify. I also want to sell "stuff" on eBay and Craigslist instead of giving everything away all the time. I'm always giving away things that I no longer need or want because I can't be bothered with taking the time to sell them. I know I could make some nice spending money by doing this! 

That's it! Looking forward to 2014! Love to all! 

Christmas letter 2013

Thought I'd share our letter on here this year. Enjoy!

Dear family and friends,

We can’t believe another year has come and gone! January started another busy school semester for Adam. Each class he takes gets harder than the last. We are so proud of him! He was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa and is currently finishing up a physics 2 class. He is also still working at the credit union, so it keeps him away a lot, which has been hard. 

Sadie continues to attend Trinity Lutheran School and is learning so much! We cannot believe how grown up she is becoming. Every day she discovers something new. She is such a sweet girl with a very tender heart. We just love her to pieces!

I continue working at the bank as well as shooting lots of weddings. It keeps me extremely busy!

Here are a few highlights from our year:

In February I flew out to Arizona for one quick day and night and spend a very fun afternoon with one of my best girlfriends, and then surprised my dad by showing up for a birthday dinner. It was a lot of fun! At the end of March and the first week of April I went to Italy with my friend, Dory. We met up at JFK and flew to Milan together where we met up with our friend Priya, who lives there. We enjoyed going to The Cinque Terre, Verona and then back to Milan. From Milan we flew up to Norway to visit my cousins. We got to go to cousin Jan Viggo and and Solvar’s house in Elverum. It was so neat to see their home and experience small town Norway. They cooked for us and made the most delicious meal! The next day we went to my cousin Viggo’s flat in Oslo. My cousin Julia and her boyfriend also flew in from Trondheim  for the weekend. We had the most amazing time and I cannot wait to go back! Adam’s mom was kind enough to come up and help with Sadie while I was gone. 

In April when I got back from Europe, we took Sadie to the Ear, Nose, and Throat Dr because she had about 7 ear infections over the course of 6 months. We decided that tubes would be the best thing, so on April 29^th, she got tubes. It has since been great, as she has not had one infection since!

May and June were busy for me with wedding season, including one in Jamaica! It was a whirlwind quick trip but was so much fun to photograph! Adam took summer classes so between my wedding schedule and his classes, we were very busy! We made it through those crazy couple of months, and then in July my cousin Viggo and his girlfriend Nora came from Norway to visit us! We had a blast showing them around Dallas and East Texas!

In August Adam participated in the annual Texas International Fishing Tournament.  Sadie drove down with him and I got to fly down after work on Friday thanks to his grandparents! We had a very fun weekend. Sadie sure does love the beach! Sadie and I flew home Sunday afternoon while Adam drove.

Come September we celebrated my birthday by having a few friends over, then went into major planning mode for Sadie’s 4^th birthday (September 29^th). She requested a “Purple Painting Party” because a rainbow one just would not do. J I worked very hard to create the perfect day, and she had a blast! Oma and Grandpa (my parents) came out from Arizona for the occasion and were a lot of help. The day after her party we got to go to the East Texas State Fair. We all had a great time, especially Sadie!

Of course, two days later it was October, which began another crazy Fall wedding season for me. Ever since Sadie was born Adam’s birthday has gotten a little overlooked, as he and Sadie are just 6 days apart, so I decided to throw him a surprise party. His parents came up and his dad had the job of distracting him so Pam and I could get everything ready. Well, Johnny fell asleep and then took his time getting Adam out of the house so Pam and I literally had 45 minutes to transform the house from hanging out mode into party mode! We were so funny running back and forth from room to room! But, with the help of some very dear friends, we pulled it off! He was very surprised and happy to have a birthday celebration.

I finished out the crazy October wedding month and then before we knew it, November was upon us. On November 11^th Adam and I celebrated our 7^th wedding anniversary! Yes, you read that right-7 years! Hard to believe! My mom flew in from Arizona for the weekend to babysit while Adam and I got to go to our aunt’s house in Granbury. It is a very cute little town and a relaxing getaway.

For Thanksgiving we got to have my dear friend Dory here and her wonderful boyfriend, Mike! What a great time was had by all! We feel so blessed to have such great friends! We are looking forward to staying here for Christmas this year. As much as we will miss everyone in Arizona, work calls and it is nice to not have to do the holiday travel craziness.

We truly hope this letter finds you well. We are looking forward to some exciting changes in 2014! To keep up with us all year long please follow our family blog at www.thecareyhaus.blogspot.com

Lots of love, Marissa, Adam and Sadie

Tis the Season!

Today we started hanging Christmas lights! Our friend has a tall ladder and came over to help. The boys got the front done but then it started raining and thundering so it will have to be finished another day. Sadie had fun watching them and playing in the leaves while doing so. :)

One of my favorite things about living in Texas is living somewhere with real change of seasons. It's so fun for Sadie to get to see the leaves change color and play in them! 

7 years and not a bit itchy!

On November 11th, Adam and I celebrated 7 years of marriage. We have been together for 8 years now. That is hard to believe! We always try to do something special for our anniversary and this year was no different.
We actually had plans to go to a castle in Mingus, Texas, which is about 45 minutes West of Fort Worth. It is a hunting castle, but very nice, so was a place that I would not mind going to. I found it about a year and a half ago and booked it back in April. Of course, we didn't know Adam's school schedule at that time and it never occurred to us that he would wind up having class Monday morning at 8 am. He is currently in Physics 2, so it is not the kind of class you miss. The manager was nice enough to let us reschedule, although we don't know when we will go.
At this point, we had already booked a plane ticket for my mom to come babysit, so we decided to ask our Aunt Amy and Kim if we could use their lake house. They were kind enough to let us stay at their place for a night. It is located on Lake Granbury, which is about 45 minutes South of Fort Worth, so about a 3 hour drive from our house.
Adam went hunting Saturday morning, so we got a later start than planned, but that was ok.
We arrived at their place around 4 and got settled in and checked out what was currently the "lake."

 

After getting settled we called a local winery to see how late they would be open. They stated that they would be closing in 10 minutes. The winemaker, Tiberia, overheard and invited us to still come on out. First of all, he is one of the nicest people we've met in our travels, and the wine he makes is fabulous! We tasted a couple whites, then a rose, followed by some specialty reds. They had a private birthday party going on that evening for a friend of the winemaker, and ironically a large majority of the people at the party were from the Tyler area. Every person there kept inviting us to stay at the party. We actualy wish we would have! They seemed like a fun group and the food probably would have been better than where we ate (more on that in a bit)!

Here are a few photos from the winery.

 

Following the visit to the winery, we looked up the steakhouse that everyone recommended and that had overall good reviews on Trip Advisor, and made a reservation for 8:15. We headed to the town square to walk around. I love having an anniversary near the holidays since it means lights and decorations.:)

We learned that the clock tower in the photo above is the sister clock to Big Ben. How cool is that?! There are only two like them in the world, and one is right here in Texas. 

As we walked around Adam saw a sign for a "Ghost and Legend Tour," so we asked how long it lasted. It was starting at 7pm and would last one hour. This was the perfect thing for us to do while we waited for our reservation. We learned a lot of really neat history and learned about some possible ghosts that hang around. (We find that stuff pretty interesting so it was fun for us). As you can see from the photos above and below, I opted to shoot without flash, as I felt like it made it a lot cooler. During the tour we walked all over the town square and saw an old house where they have seen a little girl in the window-crazy! I took a photo of the house, but no such luck. :)

 

They also took us by the old jail that was still active until 1976, I believe! That seems pretty recent!

 

After our tour we headed over to dinner. We each just ordered a glass of wine and both decided on steak. It was not up to par at all with Maestro's, Fleming's or Ruth Chris, but their prices reflect that they are. Adam says he's had better steak at Texas Roadhouse, so you can imagine our disappointment. But, oh well huh? At least we got a free dessert out of it! :)

This photo below is why I need a good point and shoot to carry around! Only the dessert is in focus, haha! I can't expect a server to know what to do with a 5k piece of equipment though. Lol!

  The next morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast on the square and then toured the inside of the jail.

 Following touring the jail we walked around the shops, and bought Sadie some candy and popcorn from a very cute shop in town. (Again, opted to shoot these without flash as well, this time because I didn't want to be that annoying person in the tiny shop with the giant flash!)

After that we decided it was probably time to head back and get packed up. We had one last look at the clock before heading out.

We headed back and got packed up and made a quick stop at a lunch place that Aunt Amy recommended. It was super yummy. We got on the road and arrived home to a pretty table with hand picked flowers and a sweet card from our Sadie girl! It was a quick weekend away but very fun and relaxing!

Happy 7 years, Adam!