Is he real?...

..."no, of course not...Happy Halloween!" Okay, so it was a little white lie but, come on, it's Halloween! You're supposed to get scared! So tonight was our first Halloween as a family. I was the candy distributor and Matt was the scarecrow that scared the bejeezus out of everyone AND their mom! Two kids jumped about 3 ft in the air and ran straight to the stop sign 3 houses away!

Okay, hopefully this video works-its the first time I've uploaded one. Our friends brought their boys over to trick-or-treat before they started their night. Cody was the first to fall victim to Matt. He will probably never speak to Matt again though!

There's my hub....yep, that's him in the mask.

There's my hub and I...our first Halloween together...awww, aren't we cute?

Happy Halloween! Here's our jackolantern!

Now to those of you who may think this was mean of us...in our defense, we did hand out full-size candy bars so they had to EARN it! Here's to happy spooking!!!

BOO!!!

...Happy Halloween! I love fall and Halloween time!!! Tomorrow will be my third year in my house and my first year to actually hand out candy!!! I've had to work the past two years so I'm super excited. Matt and I got full-size candy bars to distribute so we don't get tricked. Tomorrow, we're going to get a straw bale and he's going to dress up like a scarecrow and scare the older kids...we can't wait!!! Before the trick-or-treaters arrive, we had to do a little preparation:

First off, last night we went to the hospital to visit my dad and a little witch made a visit.

Here is Matt trying on the witch hat...he's sticking with the scarecrow thing!

Today, we decided to carve our pumpkin and Matt had a helper named Shadow.

Isn't he a good helper? He ate the pumpkins eyes!!! Yes, this dog will seriously eat ANYTHING!

Here's my family proudly displaying their work of art!

Of course we saved the seeds and are roasting them right now! I found this sweet website that gives a variety of recipes for the seeds. We tried the Halloweeny and they taste like cinnamon toast bread! So I hope everyone has a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!!! Be safe and be careful!

And the award goes to...

...my husband, Mattie!!! Every year, Matt and his friend, Tom, take a week of vacation and camp out at the St. Charles County Fair. They direct parking, help build different areas, and basically run around like a chickens with their heads cut off! They LOVE it! This past weekend, we went to the Fair Appreciation Dinner. At this dinner, they honor 4-5 volunteers who go above and beyond and this year Matt and Tom were two of them honorees!!! He was so surprised! So here's to my Mattie, I'm so proud of him!!! Next year, I'm working on the Fair Auction Dinner which is their major fundraiser.

Here is he with his award-check out that smile!


This is us at our friend's wedding this past weekend. Yes, my lips got majorly burnt on the honeymoon and are slowly recovering.


I'm not as into decorating as some but I'm trying!!! So here's the outside of our house...hey-its a start!

Don't go chasing waterfalls...

...geez, that song brings back memories of 7th grade. So on the honeymoon, Matt and I traveled to Ocho Rios to Dunn's River Falls. It is a 600 ft natural waterfall that we climbed to the very top! You are in a group of about 50 people and you have to go boy-girl-boy-girl and hold hands. Luckily, I had Matt behind me and another guy our age in front of me so I had lots of support on both sides. So parts were pretty tricky to climb while others were pretty easy. Matt and I loved it (it was our first excursion of the trip) because it was fun, beautiful and a pretty good workout.

Here is us at the very top! I was holding on to the sign so I wouldn't get swept away.

This was the very beginning of the waterfall...can you tell I wasn't used to the water yet-it was FREEZING!!!

Sunset and JUMP...

...these are the two things that Rick's Cafe in Negril, Jamaica are famous for. Rick's is a bar/restaurant that sits on top of bluffs that overlook the ocean. The bar is busiest between 4-7pm...once the sun sets, its a ghost town! So Matt's doctor (chiropractor at that)told him about Rick's and that we had to go watch the sunset and jump off the cliffs (his back doctor told him to jump!!!).

So on the Friday of our honeymoon, we loaded up and went to Rick's Cafe. I told Matt that I wanted to jump...oh wait...jumping doesn't seem like that big of deal right? Well, there are 3 different spots to jump...one is 10 ft, one is 70 ft (which only the locals do and they are CRAZY) and the main spot is 35 FEET!?! So I told Matt I wanted to jump and I wanted to go first so I didn't chicken out. We got there a little after 4, watched a few people jump, found a table and ordered a drink. Matt kept trying to talk to me but I wasn't listening...I finally held up my hand which was shaking uncontrollable and said, "Let's get this over with!"

I went up to the 35 ft (yes, I jumped from 35 ft...everyone that was there and I told that I jumped was like, "OH the 10 ft one"...NO ladies and gentlemen...I, the wife, jumped first off the 35 ft cliff. I didn't even hesitate, I knew if I did I wouldn't do it. I took one giant step off thinking this isn't so bad then I noticed the cliff sticking out. The two thoughts that went through my mind: 1. I hope I don't hit that cliff and 2. I don't want to do this!!! Well, I did, I splashed the water filling my entire nasal cavity with salt water. I swam to the side and got out running to my husband (trying to fix my swimsuit top....no nips exposed but it was a close call). He was so proud of me and he cheered for me....I was still shaking and wouldn't stop talking. A couple guys standing by asked me if it was worth it, I honestly told them, "No!" but now I can say, been there, did that, not doing it again. Mattie went to jump but ended up jumping twice because I missed the picture the first time.

This is me jumping...you can barely see me but I'm above the lady in the black swimsuit...the little dot with pink shorts.
All week Matt wanted to see a steel drum band...well they were at Rick's and they were good!!!

Mattie and I and the beautiful sunset behind us.

There's Mattie on jump #2. He still thinks its a bad picture because I didn't let him straighten out to a pencil before I took it.

Us in front of the Rick's sign (sorry these pics are great...they were taken with a disposable camera.

So here's to Rick's and cliff diving!

The honeymoon...

...is over! Not really but really...My Mattie surprised me with our honeymoon to Negril, Jamaica mon!!! (It's just so natural to say mon when you say Jamaica). It was great...relaxing, away from drama (kinda) and, most importantly, it was just the two of us! We climbed Dunn's Rivers Falls, we snorkeled and rode on a catamaran (while getting fried), we jumped off a 35 ft cliff at Rick's Cafe, we got chocolate massages (OMG-wonderful), drank Electric Lemonades and the list could go on.

It was bittersweet to leave because we were having a great time but at the same time, we were ready to come back and start our lives together as husband and wife. We came home to two very happy puppies, more gifts to open and three flats of canned food (thanks for stocking us up mom).

Now that the wedding and honeymoon are over, there are a couple of things I need to work on....1. Relaxing and enjoying life. I had a hard time just sitting on the beach doing nothing, I felt like we needed to be doing something....playing bocce ball, kayaking...something so I need to learn how to relax. 2. I need to stop worrying about other people. I know that I am a true, respectful person and because other people may not be, I should not get upset or let it bother me. They obviously aren't upset so why should I be? 3. I always, always, ALWAYS need to wear sunscreen on my lips!!!

Thanks to my wonderful husband Matthew for an amazing wedding, honeymoon and marriage. As I sign off, here are just a few of the pics from the honeymoon (I'm uploading 150 right now and that doesn't include 2 disposable).

Here I am with my Electric Lemonade (I really liked the blue color):

Here I am with my husband, so far every day with him has just gotten better and better:

We did it!!!

...we're married! We are officially now Mr. and Mrs. Groeteke!!! How exciting!!! The day was perfect, it was seriously a fairy tale wedding (Matt's cousin kept calling me the princess)...there is nothing that could have been done to make it better. My mom did an awesome job decorating, my dad did a great job keeping me calm and I'm married to the man of my dreams!!!

This time next week...

...I'll be Mrs. Matthew G! Yes, people, we are within days of the big wedding! I can't wait! All last weekend and this weekend, Matthew and I have done nothing but clean, clean, clean!!! Yesterday and today, in preparation for the honeymoon (which is still a surprise and I won't have any idea where until we check in at the airport), we both decided to go through all our drawers and closets and the final result is three bags FULL of clothing that we're going to put out for the Veterans on Thursday.

Then after we finished with the clothes (and my bag is packed!!!), we went to the kitchen and cleaned out our pantry so now there is actually room to look around and we can actually find stuff!!!

We just sat down to dinner, which Mattie made and it is delicious, and relaxing! I think we are both nesting in preparation of living together in holy matrimony. Now I just have to get through 3.5 more days of work and then I'll be Mrs. G and on my way to a nice relaxing honeymoon in ????