Summer Summarization :)

*Deep inhale*

What an amazing summer! Getting married definitely has to be one of the coolest things I have ever done :) The past month has been pretty crazy for Zach and me. We got married on July 26th (pictures of that to come later), a week later left for our two week honeymoon in Kauai, then spent a week in limbo between working at his grandparent’s farm and being in St. Charles. Almost two weeks ago we finally made our “permanent” trip to Kirksville. We set up our house (more pictures for later) and now it is a real home! College has begun again and we are about to end our second week of the fall semester.

And that is a very brief summary of our summer.

But what I know you would rather see are some pictures from the honeymoon! I only took about….1,500.

I’ll try and make it semi-chronological. Obviously it’s impossible to completely cover 14 days of adventure. Just take my word for it—every day was fabulous.

Alright, we shall begin with the plane ride. ‘Twas a lovely 9 hours....lots of good ear popping :)



We arrived at about 9:30 Kauai time (1:30 Missouri time) and from their our interesting first night unfolded... I will attempt to give you a brief version of the excitment:


1-A hardened, tatooed Hawaiian man flies up in a car, points at us, we get in the car, and he goes flying through city streets in the dark--without saying a word. (This was actually our rental car company taking us to the shop to pick up our car. However, in the moment it was quite terrifying)

2-We get our car and drive aimelessly around this strange city until we find Wal-mart--a familiar beacon of hope to any frazzled traveler.

3-Next we drive to the "safe, state beach park" where we will be camping on the beach. Long story short, there are police cars there and one of the cops informs us that the park is known for being an area with heavy meth-amphetamine and drug trafficking.

4-We finally arrive at a different park (suggested by our cop friend). Without really knowing the rules, and without a camping permit--we plop down our tent in the middle of a bunch of strangers. (It's quite late by this point)

We are the yellow tent (Zach is underneath, tearing it down at this point) It is about 6:00 AM and we were up and out before the park ranger could charge us for a permit :)

And that is the story of our eventful, hectic, and entertaining first night in Kauai.

We're marrried!!

Well, this is the first post from the official Mrs. Amy Vicars. Still seems funny to say :)

We've been married for almost a month now, but have been so busy! I promise there shall be photos/stories from our honeymoon in Kauai very soon.

Marriage is absolutely wonderful. We pretty much love it :)
We finally arrived home in Kirksville yesterday. Today we've been running around taking care of insurance, name changes, thank you cards, etc... We stopped by the library to pick up a few DVDs--were hoping to hook up our DVD player tonight.

We miss everyone back home but we're very excited to see what God has planned for us!

Much love,
Zach and Amy

A summer of so much blessing....

It is amazing how this summer is flying by. Zach nor I have been overly faithful to the blog. Busy might be an understatement... Zach has been working, and working, and then he fits in a little more work. This next week is going to be rough, but then he only has one more! Don't get me wrong though--the job was a huge blessing for us. On my side of the busyness ist his tiny little factor called a wedding. And let me tell you what--wedding planning is terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You make a decision, put in a lot of thought, feel really good about what you've accomplished. But while you have your hands up in victory--BAM--3 more "to-dos" come knock you in the gut. Luckily I have an insanely wonderful, loving and incredibly talented force of women who are helping me. I might have eloped if it hadn't been for them. Just kidding...well, I think so anyway ;)


BUT I don't want that last paragraph to leave you thinking Zach and I are overwhelmed and miserable--because we are far from it. This summer has been awesome! We've been working on our house up in Kirksville, hanging out with our families and friends, eating way too much good food, getting lots of gifts, the list goes on...

Last week Bobbie, Sonia and I went up to the house to work on the kitchen. Zach and his dad came up later that night. We got the rest of the flooring put in, the kitchen wallpapered and painted, the oven fixed, the kitchen table put together, 4 doors painted, the lawn mowed and a ton cleaned. Oh, and we found this amazingly cheap and delicious little restaurant called "Rosie's Northtown Cafe"--those finds are always fun in Kirksville :)

Here are a few of pics from the weekend:

I owe these two a TON. They help not only on the house/wedding--but on life :)

Zach would probably rather me put up a picture of him sawing the boards (more manly) But I put this one up 'cause he is just so dang handsome :)

Our kitchen with the paint/wallpaper and new floors! You can also see the bottom cabinets my dad installed and the new countertop. Woo hoo!

Kitchen table--we love it!

So the house is coming together. Almost finished...
The wedding is also coming together. I wish I could say almost finished...
Zach and I are enjoying all the wonderful people who love and support us. We're so excited to get married! I'd like to say we will blog before the wedding--but I can't make any promises. But I do promise some awesome pics from our Hawaiin honeymoon when we get back!!

So much love,
Amy

The Transformation

Over Memorial Day weekend, Amy and I set out to remodel our starter-home in Kirksvile with the best construction crew around: our family. My parents -- Scott and Sonia, Amy's parents -- James and Diane, and my grandparents made up the rag-tag team. We planned to clean up hte yard, finish painting the front rooms, lay wood flooring, and install custom cabinents. Our goals proved to be a little bit ambitious, but we still walked away with a totally different house.

There is still a lot of work to be done -- the cabinents are definetly a work in progress -- but here are some before and after pictures. They really don't do justice to the transformation that took place thanks to the hard work of family and the grace of God.

The Yard -- my baby....

The living room -- a group effort: Gramps, grandma, Dad, Amy, and I all helped lay the floors; Amy, Grandma and Mom took care of the painting.

The kitchen -- this is far from done, but James worked insanely hard to get it ready for the cabinents to be set in place.

The food -- this was Diane's taco meal. She worked all weekend to feed all these hungry laborers.

Office/2nd bedroom--pretty intense, eh?

And lastly, the porch swing -- Bobbie's perfect gift to Amy and I.

All Creation Sings...

Spring this year has been so rich and lively. I am constantly reminded of the delicacy and beauty of all that God has created. The way the robins lay eggs in Spring, the rains come, the worms rise to the soils surface, and then the birds can hop about the yard all day plucking worms for their hungry children.

My friends and I had a campout in my backyard last night. And right on schedule this morning, the sun rose and every bird in our woods seemed to have a thousand things to say. And although we all grumbled at the 5:30 awakening--it was still amazing to hear how their songs swelled with the rising sun.

And this little flower I found while out in my backyard. How amazing to think that God crafted those colors and shapes. All these things of Spring are singing praise to the Lord. They use what God has given them, whether it be a song or a colored petal--and they use it for the glory of God. It reminds me of all that God has given me and encourages me to join with the rest of creation in praising my Creator.

Chicago

Yesterday Zach and I drove up to Chicago to pick up Tyler from college. The day entailed loading up the car, eating deep dish Giradonos pizza, walking through the city and hanging out on the "beach." Weather was gorgeous, city was windy. It was a ton of fun getting to hang out with Tyler and get a personal tour. It was a very good day :) Hope you'll enjoy a few of the pictures....

To finish--here is a carrot I carved with my teeth during the 5.5 hr drive home. I was proud.

I risked my eyeballs for this blog

Yes--the title of this post is true. I shall explain.

There is a robin nest under our deck. We have had robin nests before and the parents always just fly away while if we walk close to it. I have taken photos of little birds and eggs this way. However--this nest does not house your ordinary robin couple.

If you get within 4 feet they will fly away, yes......but then they will circle back around and start divebombing you!! Seriously--I go to great risks to take photos but this was almost out of my league. Cute little robin parents with their claws out in front, speeding towards your eyeballs with fury in their wings!

See the evil in that eye? Sorry for the blur--this bird was after me!

I finally convinced my brother Shane to come out and distract/block me from the attack while I tried to take photos. We were both laughing, my heart was pounding--but I got a few photos. They aren't super amazing because I wasn't putting my eye in the viewfinder--had to keep it on the enemy.



They are cute in a very ugly sort of way :)

Notice: Despite their attempted violence--I do believe the robin parents were acting like any good parent should. And no robins (young or old) were harmed in the making of this post.