Hello...

Hello, friends.

To say the past 18 days have been

hard is an understatement.

Those of you who do not know me personally,

we lost Ryan's father, Ed Soladay, suddenly on Friday, January 14.

You might remember that Ryan and I had just

spent 7 fantastic days visiting his parents in NY

just after Christmas, and as my brother said in Ed's eulogy,

we will probably remember that as our best vacation ever.

Ed was not just my father-in-law.

He was a man I loved and respected as much as my own father.

He was a man of integrity,

taught his son never to take the easy way out or rely on others

to bail him out of difficult circumstances,

taught him how to be a dedicated father and loving husband,

loved his family more than anything in the world

and was humble despite his esteemed level of professional success.

Ryan and I returned from NY last night,

and after we put the boys to bed, we sat and talked about life after his father.

It still doesn't seem real.

So many plans left undone.

So much life was still left to be lived.

Ryan told me that he was so glad he was able to share his father with me.

I feel so blessed for that time over the past 4 years.

Although he is no longer physically here with our family,

he will always be in our hearts and

his name and legacy will live on in his son, my husband.

I will always be proud to be Ed and Carol Soladay's daughter-in-law,

and Ryan Soladay's wife.

Somehow our little family will get through this time,

despite feeling like it's not possible at the moment,

because that's what Ed would want us to do.

We love and miss you, Ed, every single minute of every single day.

Be Mine!

Picture this:

I am sitting in the recliner in the family room with a blanket over my legs.

The fire is going.

My reading glasses are perched on the end of my nose.

I am.........cross stitching.

Am I old?

I always thought of cross stitching as something

only little old ladies did.

I love it.

I am addicted.

Look what I made:

It's not perfect.

Do I care?

Nope.

I downloaded a free pattern off the Internet,

and here she is.

I decided to put it in a frame,

but the only available one I had was too big.

Solution.

I cut out some fabric to fill the frame,

and simply tacked the four corners to keep it in place:

Then I put it in the frame.

Easy.

Inside the hearts, I put the initials of our 4 boys.

You like?

Yes, I do realize I have a problem....I can't stop.

Now, if only I could get paid for doing this.

Linking up with:

Weekend Recap & Valentines at Home!

Look at what it looks like outside here today!!

Holy snow!

More on that in a minute.

First, let's talk sports.

Trysten had his first basketball game of the season on Saturday.

He loved it.

His team is called the Red Raiders...although their uniforms are orange.

The whole league has orange uniforms.

Made it a little difficult for the kids to decipher their teammates from their opponents.

Well...maybe it was just me.

Carter does NOT understand why I take so many pictures.

Look at his face.

Can you tell?

Hot chocolate and basketball.

Awesome.

Okay.

Back to the snow.

Ryan brought the boys' ski clothes down from the attic,

and the party was on.

Good times!

This is where I spent most of Sunday.

With the fire going.

My mother-in-law taught me how to

cross stitch while in NY,

so I camped out in the recliner and made the little ditty below.

You'll see what I did with it in a few.

Next month is "LOVE" month,

but I decided to break out the decor now,

so we could enjoy it for more than just 2 weeks.

Sue me.

Sass, you might need a "vomit bag" with all

the shmoopiness you're about to encounter.

Just sayin.

The "IN OUR HOME..." sign was already on the mantle,

but I thought it was perfect for Valentine's Day, so I left it.

I found the directions for the heart garland on Martha Stewart's site,

So easy.

Remember my NOEL letters from my Christmas mantle?

I used the L, O and E and just bought a V (I painted and blingged that bad boy out.)

to spell LOVE.

I added a little ribbon and a rose to the O.

So easy.

Remember these candles from Christmas?

Yep.

There's no need to reinvent the wheel.

Use what you already have.

I made these tags to hang on the candlesticks.

I used these 3 red guys in a Christmas vignette.

Same black and white polka dot ribbon.

I just changed the contents under the glass domes.

So easy.

It's kind of hard to see because of the glare,

but all I did was cut out hearts from scrapbook paper,

sprinkle a few scatter hearts, wrote a Valentine themed word on the hearts

annnnnnnnnnnnd DONE.

Ryan and I bought these kissing monkeys in New Orleans,

and I thought they were perfect for Valentines.

Have you noticed I love to decorate with these little signs?

I love these chalkboard hearts.

I wrote on them with a chalkboard marker

and adhered them all over the place.

Fun!

More signs!

I made this for a lamp that needed some love.

I bought this little sign in the craft section at Hobby Lobby.

It was primed and ready to be painted.

I changed out the ribbon, sprayed it with chalkboard paint, added a heart

and wrote on it with...again...a chalkboard marker.

A $2.99 purchase from Target.

See the "LOVE" cross stitch?

I changed out the Scrabble tiles.

I know.

I'm jumping the gun on Valentine's Day,

but who cares!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend, friends!!

Linked up to:

2010: A Year of Memories

                                     Turn on your volume and enjoy!

                        

New York Shenanigans!

Shenanigans

Definition: silly or high-spirited behavior

That's what New York was.

Total blast.

As was expected.

Humor me, and hang on for the ride.
Prepare yourself.
This is long.

Real quick!
Ryan's parents made a 2 day trip to Texas to celebrate
Christmas with the boys before Ryan and I left for NY.
Here are a few pics of the fun.
Then on to NY.
I promise!

Preston, Pop and T
Silly boys.
Please, Preston, whatever you do, do NOT smile.
Thanks.

The annual Boys' Christmas Scavenger Hunt!!

Pop always starts it off.

Each of the boys take their turn reading a clue.

While the adults standby for help.

This year was especially special because

Carter could read his clue without any help!

We're so proud of this smart little guy.

Once the clues are read,

the boys take off to their destination!

The surprise!

Pop and Grandma gave the family a projector for our media room!

It is awesome, friends.

Fo real.

It sounds just like we're in a theater.

 Lot's of fun will be had in here.

The best part, we can take it with us when we move.

More on that later.

Big plans on that note.

What was in the box?

Movie supplies of course!

I think they like it.

 Thanks, Pop and Grandma!

Please excuse Preston's bed head.

Okay, on to NEW YORK!

Lunch at Chicago O'Hara airport.

Let the vacay begin!

The view from Ryan's parents' house just outside of Syracuse.

Beautiful.

The back of their property is a snowy haven for little boys.

Ours loved it last year.

 Leaving for the Adirondacks.

Brrrrrrrr.

The ride was incredible.

I love that we were able to see parts of NY in addition to the city.

New York has some of the most breathtaking countryside.

I don't know why I didn't take any pics while in the Adirondacks.

Not smart.

I was, however, so intrigued with its history.

Do you know the story of the famous murder that took place there?

Carol told us all about it.

She read the book documenting the legend,

and graciously passed it down to me.

Awesome.

I'm 1/3 the way through.

I love reading the history behind places.

Makes it so much more.

More than just a city.

We stopped at local dives along the way,

ate dinner at a restaurant in the middle of no where, and watched as a

man tried to pick up Carol right in front of us.

She's a hottie.

The next day was Niagara Falls in Canada.

On the drive out, Carol had made plans for us to

make a stop "only 15 miles" off the route at the famous

MacKenzie Childs

It ended up being a tad off the beaten path in Aurora,

but HOLY COW was it worth the drive.

The grounds were out of this world.

The old family house still stands on the property

along with the barn where the products are made.

Outside the shop looking out to the Finger Lakes.

Love all the live garland.

The entrance to the shop.

Love.

She is famous for her black and white stripes and checks.

I'll take 2.

Look closely at the chandelier.

See the spoons?

She is a creative genius.

This table and chairs were to die for.

I want all of this, please.

Need a mini kitchen?

You'll have to shell out 5 figures.

Filing this away for next year.

As if I can duplicate it.

Okay, get ready.

This is a doll house.

A doll house.

Really?

Checkout the goodies hubby bought me:

and

Carol escaped with a few prizes of her own.

I think we're going to start collecting her dinnerware.

Love it.

After some power shopping, we hit the road to Canada,

not stopping until we set our eyes on this:

Are you kidding me?

It is absolutely so incredible.

Everyone should see this once in their lifetime.

It is too hard to put into words.

     

Hubby and I!

It was beyond frigid.

I think we lasted about 5 minutes outside.

Carol and I decided we were wimps because we

saw lots of people out as if for a Sunday stroll

showing no aversion to the chilly air coming off the water.

It's called acclimation, people.

And we're not acclimated to that nonsense.

Isn't this a great picture of Ed and Carol!

Love them.

After making our way indoors, I took another pic

to show the shear magnitude of Horseshoe Falls.

In the warmer weather, you can take a boat ride

right up to the edge of the falls.

No thanks.

Can you believe people have gone over the edge in barrels

and walked across on tightropes?

Crazy.

We ate dinner at the top of a revolving tower

overlooking the falls as well as downtown Ontario.

Incredible views.

So beautiful at night.

Dinner:

Salmon

and beef tenderloin

YUM

Next stop, the casino.

What a fantastic day.

You can laugh at the pic.

We did.

A lot.

The next day was spent reading and relaxing at Ed and Carol's

before a night of dinner and gambling

at Turning Stone Casino in Verona.

No pics.

I know.

We had the best time.

Carol and I found a bar to sit at

while the boys made us some money playing craps.

We girls had fun gossiping and trash talking.

Good times as always.

The men made out like bandits,

and then we hit the road back home.

We woke up the next morning,

and Carol and Ed drove us to the train station in Albany.

I love traveling via Amtrak.

The ride is beautiful.

As soon as we arrived at Penn Station, we dropped our

bags at the hotel, got a bite to eat at an oyster bar,

and shopped til we dropped.

So.much.fun.

When dinner rolled around,

we asked the concierge for a sushi restaurant recommendation,

and this is where he sent us:

Good times!

You can tell I've had a long day.

Cold sake makes everything better.

After dinner, we hit a local pub for some fun.

Love this handsome man!

The next day consisted of shopping, shopping and did I mention shopping.

We did New York City.

Along the way we stopped at Ground Zero.

I wasn't prepared for how it made me feel.

Brought back so many memories of that day.

Hubby on Wall Street!

The financial heart of our country.

It was pretty cool to see.

We had to stop and checkout this Home Depot.

How many Home Depots have you seen with a holiday window display

Only in NYC!

We considered doing one of the big parties on NYE, but that's just not us,

and I didn't want to have to get all dressed up

so Ryan took me took a wonderful dinner after a

long day of shopping...I'll show you some of my purchases in a future post...we went

back to the hotel to shower, and went to a now favorite spot by our hotel

to ring in the New Year Soladay style!

While there, we met THE sweetest newlywed couple from Germany.

Meet Kim and Jenny:

They were so much fun.

It was their first time in America, and we had a great time

swapping stories about our homelands.

It also fun introducing them to some American drinks!

We watched the hoopla outside the bar at midnight.

It's madness!

Don't gag, Sass.

                       

Back inside the bar, Ryan did his

usual picture taking mania before calling it a night.

I won't subject you to all that mess.

It was good though.

The next morning came way too early,

but we made it to Penn Station for the ride back to Ryan's parents.

Goodbye, NYC.

Until next time...

Carol prepared a fantastic last meal for us

that night, and we sat around the table trading stories from our week.

What an out of control FANTASTIC week.

Blessed, blessed, blessed we are.

We couldn't have asked for a better way

 to end an incredible year for our family

and begin another one.

Happy 2011, friends!