The Post You All Have Been Waiting For...well, maybe

NO, I'm not pregnant! BUT, on Friday July 8th, me and my sisters, my best friend and my sister Stacey's best friend all hopped into the car to make the 4 1/2 hour drive up to Tacoma, Washington. Why you ask?? WELL, to see New Kids On The Block, of course!! These pictures will probably be out of order, but oh well...we had SOOOOOOOOOO much fun!!!

These pictures are totally out of order, sorry about that!

Me and my best friend Kathy at Red Robin for dinner

My awesome sister Stacey and her best friend Tiffany

My funny and awesome sister Kelli and I



Sisterly Love <3





We got to meet up with an old friend/neighbor who lives up in Tacoma for dinner...here is all of us L to R: Kathy, Me, Stacey, Tiffany, Kelli and Angie

Kathy and I before we left...NO makeup or crimped hair yet :(

Woo Hoo Concert Time!!

Very blurry picture, but I crimped my hair, its awesome!

Kelli and I decided to take shots of Patron

YUMMY

Kelli Dancing!

Stacey and Kathy

Getting our drink on...well, except for Tiffany, shes with child :)

On our way in!! I made my own shirt because I lost my NKOTB shirt :( then my hubby found it just this week...bummer...I hate that my hair is in my face!

Me and my sissy

Me and my bestie Kathy...did you know? Jesus cares about you!!

The End...what a great time full of wonderful memories.

Thank you girls for being a part of this awesome experience with me!

Enchanted Forest

There isn't a whole lot of fun theme park type things to do here in Oregon. We have one place up in Salem called Enchanted Forest, I hadn't been since I was 5. My best friend Kathy and her family decided to go last weekend. I borrowed my nephew for the day and we had such a blast, I can't wait to go back. It's a super cute place. Here are some pictures of our adventure :)

Humpty Dumpty

Austin, Avery and Kylee

Me and my nephew Avery

Avery in the crooked house


Me being a total dork in the crooked house

This was one of our favorite things, the log ride...you get super soaked!

This was SO cute, all Kylee wanted to do was hold Avery's hand

Panning for "gold"

Me and Kylee watching the gang go on the log ride...she was too little to go :(

Bumper boats!!

My beautiful best friend Kathy and her daughter Kylee

Kathy, Brandon, Austin and Avery on the log ride making a big splash!

Alice in Wonderland's rabbit hole

Me and Aves in the "witches mouth

It sure was a great time and I so cant wait to have more fun adventures this summer...now that the sun has finally decided to show up in the Pacific Northwest!!

WINNER WINNER!!

I used Random.org to get the winning number...I used #'s 1-5 because my friend Pam from Womens guide to surviving motherhood couldnt get her comment to work...anyway, without further ado...

the winning number is #4!!!!! Congrats Sarah!! email me at murphia3@yahoo.com with your email address and favorite color...woot woot!!!

Also...I did my first 10K this weekend, holy moly, my body HATES me right now, like literally hates me. I wasnt able to run the whole way but probably ran a total of 5 of the 6.2 miles...not too bad, now onto the 1/2 marathon in September...YES I AM CRAZY!!

GIVEAWAY TIME

I haven't done a giveaway in awhile...but figured since I reached a big goal of mine (NOT DONE YET) and one of the things that has helped me get there is drinking LOTS of water-why not do another Camelbak giveaway?? (This has been purchased with my own money) All you have to do to enter??

Leave a comment and/or blog about it, also, become a follower of my blog, its that simple!!! Leave me a comment for each that you have done...The winner will be chosen July 5th at 12:00pm PST. Good Luck!!

100 pounds gone photo shoot

One of the best things about having a photographer for a sister is well...pictures!! Stacey did some family pictures for the Cone side of the family on Saturday out at my sister in law's house since everyone was in town for once...I asked her to take a few pictures of me to document my 100 pound goal, oh and also for my upcoming 30th birthday party invites...enjoy!!

Photos courtesy of little avocado photography. littleavocado.com

Almost 30...

And Honestly, I cannot wait!! I KNOW most of you (like my whole 3 readers) think I am crazy, but I have always said that I cant wait to be 30...figured I would be where I would want to be in life by then...I am ALMOST there...

I have a wonderful husband...a beautiful house...but there are 1, 2, or 3 maybe even more things missing...KIDS. I cant wait to be a mama, its all I have ever wanted. I just get depressed thinking that it hasnt happened yet, but then I have to think "everything happens for a reason. I KNOW I was suppose to lose this weight first (which I would like to lose about 40 more before having a baby) but I sure am glad that I have nieces and nephews to fill my time...which by the way, our family has grown by 1 new niece...Matt's sister and brother in law adopted a little girl from Korea, she is beautiful, her name is Gemma. :)

My WONDERFUL husband (with a crooked tie)

I LOVE my kitchen, too bad I have no idea how to cook...

thats where Matt comes in real handy :)

The front of my house-not too shabby for our first place

A new picture my sister took of me the other day

XOXOXO, Julie :)

wow...what an accomplishment!

Today...I reached a MAJOR goal in my life...Today is the day that I am officially down 100 pounds!! HOLY CRAP!

Dave Matthews - I'll Back You Up 10.24.02

Steven Curtis Chapman Cinderella Music Video and story

WC #11

11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!


Our song is "I'll back you up" by Dave Matthews...I've always known that I wanted to dance to this song at our wedding...Its so meaningful to us

Here are the lyrics:

I remember thinking I'll go on forever only knowing I'll see you again But I know The touch of you is so hard to remember But like that touch I know no other And for sure we have danced In the risk of each other Would like to dance Around the world with me I'll be falling all about my own thing And I know your the heaviest weight When your not here that's hung Around my head And your lips burn wild Thrown from the face of a child And in your eyes The seeing of the greatest few Do what you will, always Walk where you like, your steps Do as you please, I'll back you up I remember thinking Sometimes we walk Sometimes we run away No matter how fast we are running Somehow we keep Somehow we keep up with each other I'll be falling all about my own thing And I know your the heaviest weight When your not here that's hung Around my head And your lips burn wild Thrown from the face of a child And in your eyes The seeing of the greatest few Do what you will, always Walk where you like, your steps Do as you please, I'll back you up.

Also, In my family...since my daddy had 3 daughters (Im the youngest) its been tradition that he gets to pick the song that he dances with us to. He picked a song I had never heard before, but he heard it and it made him think of me. The song was "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman

Here are the lyrics:

She spins and she sways To whatever song plays Without a care in the world And I'm sitting here wearing The weight of the world on my shoulders It's been a long day And there's still work to do She's pulling at meSaying "Dad, I need you There's a ball at the castle And I've been invited And I need to practice my dancing Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms'Cause I know something the prince never knew Oh, I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song 'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone...

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed She wants to know if I approve of the dress She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away And I need to practice my dancing Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms'Cause I know something the prince never knew Oh, I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song 'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone She will be gone

Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand Just glowing and telling us all they had planned She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away But I need to practice my dancing Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I will dance with Cinderella While she is here in my arms 'Cause I know something the prince never knew Oh, I will dance with Cinderella I don't want to miss even one song 'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight And she'll be gone

Since Im still kinda blogger dumb...I cant figure out how to post the video's in this post, so I may make another post with them in there :)

WC #10

10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!


The cake didnt really turn out how I wanted it to, but oh well...I didnt eat hardly any of it except the first bite that Matt and I took together, we had 3 laters, raspberry poppyseed, chocolate and carrot cake, all with cream cheese frosting.


For the food we had a choice between turkey and steak...it was hard because most of Matt's family has celiac disease which is an allergy to gluten. So we kinda had to have things they could eat to...but basically just the meats, some veggies, rolls and fruit. Pretty boring :)

The cake...looks like it was lopsided to me :(

We were very nice to each other and didnt shove the cake in our faces :)

I love him!

WC #9

9. the ceremony and reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?


So...I told you there would be more of the "Cone" reference later on in my posting. Matt and I got married in Salem, which is about an hour north of us on a college campus, Willamette University. We got married in a chapel that is called "Cone Chapel" its named after his grandparents who both went to WU and donated a great deal of money to have the chapel renovated. I LOVE that we were able to get married there. Matt is the only grandson who carries the last name Cone and it was everything I ever wished for. We got married on May 22nd, 2010 9 years and 2 days after we started dating :)

The campus was beautiful and with lots of old beautiful buildings for pictures...warning this might be a picture overload :)

The back of the chapel

Our "Love Tree"

Daddy walking me down the isle

for some reason I love this picture...all the guys waiting

in the side room for the ceremony to start...Matt looks nervous

The inside of the chapel...sorry its a dark picture