I Smell Snow

With the change in weather I am finally in the mood for the Holiday Season. I will have to admit that when I walked into a certain favorite store of mine the day after Halloween and was greeted with Merry Christmas and Christmas music blaring I was not ready for the change in season.

Although this year is less crazy without the constant traveling to see my husband it still seems to be flying by and when November 1st rolled around I was less than excited to greet my usually favorite time of year. It also didn't help that we had already had two snow storms (and I thought I had moved to a state with less snow)

But now with Thanksgiving rapidly approaching and some of my favorite things appearing (Christmas cups at Starbucks, sweaters and the smell of homemade breads and sweets) I have started getting in the mood for Christmas and even ordered our Christmas cards!

I hope this Holiday Season is a wonderful and filled with loved ones whether you are enjoying the snow or not!

And to give you a reason for the post title here is a link to a clip from my all time favorite show! Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuS5IrQPqFg

Jackaolpe Jump - Team Mia

Well after all the holiday fuss and the start of the New Year...also comes the Jackalope Jump. If you don't know what this entails, let me tell you: It is a cold water jump in March to raise money for local Special Olympic Althletes to have money to go to local, state and national games. We have created a team to celebrate the joy, love and trust that Mia Grace celebrated on this earth for her short 20 months. She embodied the joy, love and celebration of each day that we want our athletes to have each and every day. If you would like to participate please check out the donation page or email me! http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/jennifer-storrie/team-mia

I will admit on here only that this has been a hard year to get Team Mia up and going because I don't want people to feel that I am holding so tightly to her I am not living in the present or that I am drudging up old pain. But with those feelings I also always want Mia's life celebrated, because as much as I will always miss and grieve her she was the most amazing angel I could have been given, no matter how short of time I was graced by her!

It's a Miracle (Back to blogging)

With a new year, I figured I would end the blogging dry spell and give a brief run down of the holidays! I know it is crazy that I haven't been on here in so long but with my resolutions this year hopefully it will get better.

Lets see this holiday season was primarily spent in Ft. Collins and CO. We were able to see Allie and Nate and spend a lot of time just being together which was nice after the first part of the school year was so hectic.

This year some thoughts and resolutions:
1. To blog at least once a month just to stay on top of my happenings, see growth and also keep up with few blogs I do look at.
2. To try and reach my students in this last semester and really push them to becoming even more amazing kiddos.
3. To really search and take to heart studying the Bible each day along with taking time to be still and prayerfully see what God wants in my life!
4. To find a job in Ft. Collins or continue on with my masters.
5. To enjoy each day as it comes with people I love and let each days worries be sufficent for the day.

Now some pictures from the Holidays!

Lazy, Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

I can't believe that I have yet to blog since winning the wedding, however if that is any indication it should tell you that married life is wonderful and very busy. The school year end in its usual fury and busy fun, and summer started exactly where school left off just as busy but fun.

We were able to spend some time this last weekend with friends and family roasting a pig and having a ton of relaxation! Which the pictures will be posted below. We also are looking forward to some fun tubing down the Poudre with Jessie and moving Matt to his new apartment for grad school. The other exciting adventure for us this month is that we decided to buy a new/used Saturn Vue which we are both in love with! Okay that should be enough talking now for some pics!

The Wedding, Winning and Pics

Well we won for those of you who don't know we won the Ft. Collins Wedding in a week contest. It was such a whirl wind of an event and we were so blessed by each person who voted for us, the vendors who donated services to us and to the people who we were able to invited and who could make it on such short notice.
Everyday that week we had appointments, errands to run and me traveling back and forth so I could be with my students a little more that week. Thursday we had amazing rehearsal and dinner put on by Kev's family and then Friday it all happened so fast. I had to be on TV on Friday morning and then I did hair and make-up. Then we decided to have the revealing moment of Kev and I seeing each other for the first time at The Oval on the CSU campus because then we could have more pictures taken. We were so blessed to work with Sarah from www.sarahchristinephotography.com she does an amazing job with photos and she makes it fun. Then we parted ways and waited to get married at The Tapestry House in LaPorte. The ceremony done by a family friend and judge was beautiful and included a moment of silence for Mia and those not with us and the sand ceremony was done with a touch of pink for our girl! Then we were able to have appetizers and drinks then off to the dancing. Our first dance Kev completed with a brilliant dip and I was able to dance with the 3 dads from the Longmont "fatherhood" and end the dance with my mom who is my guidepost in this life. Then the toasts and lots of fun followed and by the end of the evening of fun, laughs, an interpretive dance by Nate and Ben, we had had a wedding that was beyond anything we could have imagined and felt so blessed as we were whisked away to our hotel by the limo.
Thank you so much to everyone who voted and helped us and please know we love and our thankful to each of you in our lives!

Love and God Bless

Kevin and Jenn McDonald

And if you stayed through that long post you can now enjoy these wedding pics (which of course are loaded backwards)

~Finally Wedding Pics

PLEASE HELP US OUT

Hi Everyone!

Well Kevin and I have done a crazy thing! We entered into a wedding in a week! This is a contest in which you win a wedding that is entirely paid for by a Colorado radio station, News Channel 5 and a local businesses. We are so lucky to have been chosen as one of the top 5 contestants and now we need your help! If you go to http://www.kissfmcolorado.com/pages/weddinginaweek.html and vote at http://www.bigcountry979.com/pages/wedding_in_a_week.html you can vote for us and see a piece of my essay that I wrote. We are couple # 1. We feel so blessed to have you all in our lives and to be given an opprotunity to get married a little sooner. Please know if we win this we will be getting married on Friday January 29th. I hope that we can do this and plan an evening wedding so you all can attend.
Thank you so much for your love, support and vote!
Love and Hugs,
Jenn and Kevin
P.S. You can send this too your friends and family too - any votes help!

Jackalope Jump Time Again

Hi Everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and a wonderful start to the New Year. I just wanted to remind everyone that with the Holidays over the Jackalope Jump is fast approaching. I know that some of you have said that you would jump or come support so with that said let me give you a little info.

~To donate or have friends and family donate you can go to www.firstgiving.com/teammia and donate on-line or you can do it in person to one of the team members or me personally.
~To join Team Mia and create your own donation page you can go to www.firstgiving.com/teammia and on the right side it says join this team click on it and then click join now and set up your page. If you do not want to do this but still want to join please contact me and we can set you up with a paper sign up sheet to collect donations.
~Please remember you DO NOT actually have to get wet to join the team or collect donations or email the link along to friends and family memebers or to wear pink / your Team Mia shirt on Fridays in February! Also we always need photpgraphers, towel holders and cheerers at the event!!!

I am so thankful for all of you who want to not only help out the Laramie Special Olympic athletes, but who also are helping keep the memory of the Mia alive. Please remember Fridays in February are Team Mia month if you have a team shirt please wear it or please wear some sort of pink. Alos if you have any questions please let me know and I should have donation sheets with me as of Tuesday January 5th if you would like one!

Thank you all again for your awesomeness!

Lots of hugs and smiles ~ Jenn