Matt and I spent the weekend baking and decorating Christmas cookies together. We used his mom’s old sugar cookie and gingerbread cookie recipes to make them from scratch, and they taste delicious. We made “ugly Christmas sweaters” out of the sugar cookies, and gingerbread men with the gingerbread. We started to run out of unique ideas for decorating by about cookie number 50, but all in all I think they turned out pretty good!
It’s our favorite time of year and we have been busy decorating and doing Christmas activities here at home. We have two full size trees and one smaller tree up, tons of decorations throughout the house, and lots of lights outside for everyone to enjoy as they drive by. Last weekend Matt and I built gingerbread houses, and made it a competition to see who could make the best one. We took pictures and put it to a vote: the results came back tied 11-11! We had one of our good friend’s little boy be the tie breaker, and he chose Matt’s house. As the winner, Matt now gets to pick what we have for Christmas dinner =)
The weather is finally starting to cool down and the leaves are beginning to fall from the trees. It’s officially time to welcome Fall! We love decorating and making our home festive. This last weekend was perfect weather for a trip to our local farm to stock up on pumpkins and flowers =)
Finally got to visit family in person! Such a fun weekend riding bikes and playing tennis. We always have such a good time together. ❤️
It was a bit too hot today to exercise in the sun, but we are near a trail that is completely shaded and perfect for long bike rides. 13 miles this morning to jump start the day!
The weather was amazing this weekend! We enjoyed the day on the water kayaking at a nearby state park.
COVID-19 and social distancing restrictions definitely changed the way we celebrated this year. No BBQs with friends and family throughout the weekend like we normally do. But we were creative and found great ways to celebrate, just the two of us and Bailey. We had a picnic under a pavilion at a nearby park, took a morning hike along the river, and spent the evening on our deck listening to music and playing cards games together. We even tried out some new recipes and made bruschetta with homemade ciabatta bread, a fresh mozzarella and pasta salad, and grilled some bacon cheese burgers and corn on the cob. It was delicious! Overall, a wonderful weekend outside in the sunshine and nature.
Bailey joined our weekend FaceTime session with the family. We took him on a long walk at a new park the day before and he is still exhausted! My mom took a screenshot because he looked too cute to resist.
Celebrating Mother’s Day with a virtual hangout this year. Looking forward to getting to visit in person once this pandemic ends. Hopefully soon!
Spring is gorgeous!
These weekend Zoom hangouts with family have been a life saver during quarantine. So much fun chatting and playing games with this crew ❤️
We live in a charming white cape cod with a red front door in the suburbs. We love our house! The moment we saw it, we knew it was meant to be ours. It has 3 stories, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a large finished basement, which we can't wait to turn into a playroom. We have a large backyard, with a white picket fence, and plenty of room for our dog Bailey to run and play ball. We love to host backyard BBQs, birthday parties, and game nights on our back deck for friends and family. During football season, you will find us curled up on the couch in our living room, with Bailey snuggled between us. We look forward to family football Sundays all year! Our neighborhood is quiet and safe, and full of families, weekend garage sales, community festivals, and people walking dogs up and down the sidewalks. Our community is well known for its excellent schools, and we live within walking distance to all of them. We are surrounded by parks and play grounds, and both the YMCA and library are just up the street. Matt and I enjoy playing tennis on the nearby courts, or hiking at the local state park. We also enjoy walks with Bailey in the evenings. There is an outdoor shopping plaza with restaurants, movie theatre, ice skating rink (in the winter) and community concerts just a couple of miles away. We feel like we have the best of everything right outside our door!
We also have a uniquely intimate and unbreakable bond between us, our family, and our close friends. Our transplant journey was something that everyone in our lives played a huge part in. From waiting for the call with bags packed, to sitting with Matt at the hospital all day and into the night during surgery, to cooking meals, taking care of Bailey, and taking up running to support Amy in running races. We had 27 people, run a 5K with us six months post transplant. Those same friends and family are in our lives on a daily basis, and can't wait to be a part of this next journey with us.
We have a dog named Bailey, he is a white and tan Papillion, with giant ears and a tongue that is almost always sticking out! He is happy and energetic and LOVES playing fetch with his ball more than ANYTHING. He sometimes even falls asleep with his ball because he doesn't want to let it out of his sight. He is the most friendly and social little dog! He adores people and children, and loves spending the day in our backyard when we host parties. We think he is the best little dog in the world and he brings us a ton of happiness and love.
Perhaps the most important lesson we learned during our journey through organ donation is to remember that there are two sides to any important or life changing decision. New lungs for Amy was an incredibly happy and joyful time for our family because we knew that it was an opportunity for Amy to have a full and happy life. However, this organ donation was only possible because a family made an unimaginably difficult and selfless decision; a decision they will think about forever and will always associate with difficult emotions. We have promised each other to never lose perspective on what that must have been like for that family, and when we are connected to an expectant parent we will never lose sight of how hard this will be for her, and how she will think about this forever, and how our happiness will cause heartbreak for another. We talk constantly about how we wish we could thank Amy’s donor for their life changing gift, and we are so grateful that an open adoption will allow us to show birth parents the life of her child.
Our story began 12 years ago during a training class at work. Amy was the instructor and Matt was one of the interns in the class. There was an immediate connection. Once the class ended, we remained in contact and developed a friendship. We finally started dating about a year later. It didn't take long for us to realize that we were in love, and our relationship became serious almost immediately. We already had such a strong friendship, and got along incredibly well. Being together was easy, and we could have the best time together just doing simple things, like sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch talking and laughing. We loved each others family and friends, and our lives seemed to blend together without effort. We also shared the same values, and had similar goals for our future. We both valued our relationship (now marriage), family, and close friendships above most other things. We believe that life is empty without those close relationships, and we put in the work required to maintain them. Matt proposed after 3 years of dating, and we were married in October of 2013. We love date nights because it gives us an opportunity to spend hours catching up and checking in with each other. We faced our most difficult challenge when the health of Amy's lungs took a sharp decline and she needed a double lung transplant to survive. Matt spent countless nights sleeping in a chair in Amy's hospital room, and spent every day at home taking care of her during the months of recovery that followed. We have come out the other side closer, stronger, and with even more love and appreciation for one another than before. The level of trust that we have for each other, and the commitment to our marriage makes us the most amazing team, able to get through absolutely anything. Amy is now incredibly healthy, which has opened up a whole new world for us! We are eternally grateful and spend each day appreciating how amazing our world is, and doing everything we can to honor the gift we received from Amy's donor.