Time flies - An update on life in KCMO!

Since I have moved to Kansas City time seems to fly by even faster than usual. I can't believe January 8th marks our ten month anniversary and ten months in KCMO. I have grown to love Kansas City! A few of my favorite things about living in this new city would have to be:

1. The amazing weather! Actually having a few fall months was a new and fun thing for Andy and I. We enjoyed burning wood and sitting by the fire! 

2.) Our lovely home that the Lord has provided! We have truly loved having a space that we can call our own. After so many years of doing projects on our family members' home it is nice to finally get to work on our own. We have enjoyed remodeling the bathroom, living room floors and painting the entire house. We hope we can continue to do more renovations down the road. 

3.) Exploring new bike routes! During the summer, Andy and I had more time to bike and we really had a blast exploring new bike routes. We even went on a group ride once! We are looking forward to biking again come the spring.

4.) Making new friends! It has been such a blessing to have made new friends rather quickly. I have enjoyed meeting Andy's school friends and getting to know them. I have also made some new friends at work. It's nice not to feel so alone in a new city.

5.) My fantastic new job! I really love my new job. I have been so much busier than I was at my other job and working hard has been so fulfilling. I am learning more and more about retail, flowers and marketing. The way I got this job is such a God thing. He paved the way and I am thankful!

There are so many more things that I love that I quickly want to mention.... less traffic, working directly across the street from Starbucks, my office, our huge backyard, the farmer's market, gardening and leaves....lot's of them!


I am going to try and do a better job of blogging the next year. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: I am married now!

It has been way to long since I last posted so this post may be long and a bit random. I seem to constantly find myself wanting to stop blogging for so many reasons, like lame content, sucky photos, infrequent posts, etc. but then I remember the main reason why I ever even started my blog.. it was to have a way to look back on my life and read and see about all the events, parties, dinners, get-togethers that I may have otherwise forgotten about.

So here it goes from the top:

Here is one of the last family photos we took before I got married! My grandmother threw a "despedida dinner", also known as a farewell dinner for Andy and I. We got to spend quality time with my family before the wedding day which turned out to be so valuable because I did not get to spend hardly anytime with them on the day of the wedding.

^This is my maid of honor who went above and beyond during my five month engagement. She did a lot of driving from Austin to San Antonio to make it to the special showers, parties, etc. THANK YOU!

 Below are the two photos I took on my phone on the day of the wedding!

 ^ I was too cold walking around in my dress, so to keep my arms warm I wore my "Mrs. Rafie" robe!

^This photo was taken by my 6 year old cousin Diego. He came to our table to say hi and then decided to snap an iphone photo of us. I am glad he did!


My Aunt Googie took some photos on her professional camera during the ceremony and below are the two she sent me. I absolutely love them! I can't wait to see the rest.

After the wedding Andy I stayed at the Elian Hotel and it was so nice! I wish we could have stayed more than one night.  The hotel manager blessed us with a free breakfast. It was the best meal that I had consumed that week. (side note....plan a move to different state, a rehearsal dinner and a wedding and you will for sure not have anytime to sit down and eat) so with that said, I was starving Sunday morning after the wedding so that made everything taste even better!!

 Above ^ elian hotel lobby ---

 ^Sunday morning breakfast at the hotel.



Later that day and I picked up our suitcases at this parents house and then were driven to the airport and flew out to Kansas City at 6 p.m. It was hard to say bye and I had to hold back tears as we left the airport, but change is good and this is Andy's and I little adventure that we will always remember and look back on and smile.

Here we are waiting in the security check line at the San Antonio airport.

Here I am at the Kansas City airport waiting for Andy to get the car. 6 suitcases total!!

This is about 12:30 in the morning and I couldn't help myself when I saw the gifts! I just had to open some of them!

And the photo above is the first photo taken of me in my new home as a married woman. As you can see I didn't wait a second to start opening gifts! It felt like Christmas coming home to all these boxes. Because of everybody's generosity Andy and I have some many nice things now! Thank you!

PART 2 to be continued later this week!

Bridal Shower Numero Uno

I don't want to forget anything so I better hurry and write it all down.....

I had my first bridal shower this past saturday at Allie's house! It was so perfect and so much fun! Allie took care of every single little detail. We arrived and were promptly served a mimosa and then we mingled until everybody showed up. After that Brooxie prayed for the food and for Andy and I's future. Then we ate this amazing egg casserole that Allie had prepared. There was also a huge bowl of fruit salad, little smoked sausages and sock-it-to-me cake. We played two games. A toilet paper dress competition and a clothespin game, where if you say "marry or marriage" you had to give your clothespin away to the person who caught you.

Then to the really fun part when I got to open some gifts. I loved everything my friends bought me. Something about getting gifts makes me feel so loved. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that this person went out of their way to buy me something that they think would look great on me. Ahhh! It was great.


Here are a few photos from the morning.

Home Sweet Home!

Sometime back in November Andy and I flew to Kansas City, Missouri to shop for our future home. We hit the ground running as soon as we got picked up from the airport. I had made a list of the homes we wanted to checkout, so one by one we begin to visit them. It only takes about three minutes to decide if the house is a yes or a no. After about five houses into the list, all of which were a big NO, we stopped for lunch and decided we wanted to scrap the list for the afternoon and go look at the house that Abe and David had selected for us. Apparently earlier that week they had stumbled upon this house and said it was one of the best homes, for that price range, that they had seen in Kansas City.

As soon as we got to 11212 Applewood Drive Andy and I knew it was the one! It was everything we could have wanted! A cute red front door, a big kitchen, an enormous backyard, no basement (something I think I spooky and prefer not to have), two bedrooms and one bathroom. Oh and it has good door knobs according to Andy! This house is also near a lake and in a safe side of town. It's all so perfect!

This will be out first home as a married couple and it will always serve as a reminder of how amazing God is to take care of us. For a numerous amount of reasons this house could have very easily not worked out, but God provided for us is a huge way. He paved the way, when for a while it seemed there was no way for us to own a house.

First of many photos to be taken at this house :)

The back yard is longer than a football field, it could hold an olympic size pool, you could run laps and get tired!!