Paul & Whitnee Lear

As I said in my earlier post we went to Colorado to be a part of Paul and Whitnee's wedding! What an amazing day! We all got up and went to the meadow to set up chairs (the wedding took place with the mountains in the back ground.... beautiful!) and then took about a mile hike up into the mountains. I will have to be honest.... it wasn't so hard to walk up the mountains but we had the hardest time catching our breath! The elevation was about 7,700 feet. We hiked into another meadow that was just beautiful. Where Paul and Whitnee got married we had to drive through Ralph & Rachel Lauren's 17,000 acre ranch (yes Ralph Lauren as in Polo) and was really cool. One of the brides family members stopped and talked to him... how cool was that! I would have loved to had my picture taken with him! The evening was perfect and we are so happy that we could be there for Paul and Whitnee. I don't think I have seen Paul this happy before and I know he has found his true love! I just love happy endings :)

Colorado

Brandon and I took a little trip to Colorado from July 8-11, 2010. A good friend of ours, Paul Lear, was getting married and we wanted to be there to help celebrate this special occasion! Paul and his woman, Whitnee, lives in Montrose, Colorado and we were able to fly into their airport which was 10-15 minutes from their house. Paul, Whitnee, Shane, Elaine and Connor came and got us and we all went to Chili's for dinner. We got up the next morning and headed to Delta then over to Olathe, CO. Brandon and I just couldn't believe the amazing view that was constantly around us! Our travels took us to Ridgeway, CO and ate at True Grit Cafe which was a John Wayne inspired cafe (www.truegritcafe.com). The movie True Grit was filmed in that town and Brandon is a huge John Wayne fan! This picture was taken on the way to the meadow that Paul and Whitnee got married at. They call this spot the little Grand Canyon. It was an amazing trip and we can't wait to go back!

A little miracle....

My little sister, Ashley and her husband Greg, are having a baby! This is some very exciting news in our family! Ashley is my only sister and has wanted a child for years. Finally baby Adams will make his/her debut around February 19, 2011! Our mom and dad is so excited about this news and the baby will be here for dad's 60th birthday! We were depending on Ashley and Greg to have children since Brandon and I are not. I can't wait to spoil this little baby rotten! Aunt Shell can't wait!  Ashley and Greg are going to make wonderful parents.... Congrats!

Hummingbirds

Brandon's Grandma Ruby loved hummingbirds. When Grandma passed away Brandon wanted to put a hummingbird feeder in the front yard of the shop so that we could see them. This morning I happened to look out and catch one at the feeder. It seems like every time I grab my camera they are gone.

It is so cute because he is the one that makes sure it's full and clean.... just like Grandma Ruby did. I can't help but smile when I see Ruby Jr. taking care of the little hummingbirds.  :)

The Wiswall Boys

Derry & Lisa Wiswall have 3 boys, Dawson, Logan and Owen, who were asked to be in the new Boone Hospital Center's baby commercial! (They just started running this weekend) How exciting is that! Derry, Lisa and the boys were all born at Boone Hospital Center and in the new campaign they wanted to showcase some of their Boone Babies! We couldn't be more proud for the Wiswall's! What handsome boys they have..... Good job guys! There is 4 commercials total and you can see them all if you go to www.youtube.com and search for this commercial by putting "Boone Baby Commercial Magical Place 2" in the search line. I'm a Boone Baby..... Are you?

Rivera Maya, Mexico 2010

Brandon and I planned a little get away along with another couple this past week. We left Monday June 28th and returned last night on July 3rd. We stayed at the Valentin Maya Resort which is all inclusive and adults only. It was so nice to get away and we are so thankful that we have great people on our team (Derry, Kim, Rhoda and Brian) that took care of the office end and made sure everyone was doing what they needed to do allowing us to get away. The weather was perfect! Hurricane Alex was moving in the Gulf of Mexico and we wondered what we would be up against but it was perfect. There was overcast of clouds and a nice 25 mph wind that kept you cool. We had a wonderful time and checked out the resort for the first couple of days. On Wednesday we went to the newest park "XPLORE" which was really cool. First we rode John Deere gators through the jungle and in caves. Next we did the zip lines. We climbed up a tall tower zip lined over the jungle to another tower and went all over the park. What a blast! A couple of them took you through water so you had to wear swim wear or walk all day in wet clothes. We then paddled by hand on a raft through caves/caverns which was really neat. Lastly we swam through a cavern. It was a day full of adventure and things we had never done before. We stayed at the resort again until Friday and went into Playa del Carman and took the ferry to Cozemuel. Once in Cozemuel we took a taxi all around the island. The taxi driver was our personal tour guide and it was just 4 of us and the driver. It was really neat because we got to see the whole island (in a quick tour) in 2 hours and because he has lived there for 30 years he could tell us things that others didn't know. Check out time was noon on Saturday and our shuttle picked us up. As soon as we left it started pouring down rain. We got to the airport and they told us we needed to go to gate B11 and we even asked the lady at the gate if this was right (no screens showed Miami, FL) and she said yes. She didn't know what we were saying and thank goodness Brandon and Josh checked because we needed to be at another gate in like 2 minutes. We ran hard to get to were we needed to go and made it just in time! Needless to say it was a complete zoo until we got to St. Louis! It's so good to be back home!

Dr. Paul Shurnas

On July 3, 2010 a life was taken far too young and far too soon. Dr. Paul Shurnas was killed in a one car accident near his home in Columbia, MO. I worked for Dr. Shurnas, who was a foot/ankle orthopedic surgeon at Columbia Ortho Group, as his Secretary/Office Manager from December 2004- September 2006.  I left his practice to become full time in my own business. I was looking through my pictures trying to find the picture of myself, Dr. Shurnas and Amy Sanders (his PA) and found this one. It reminds me of the crazy way he would make you laugh and how full of it he was. He had passion for helping people and wanted to make them better. He was an excellant surgeon and was really good with his patients. He would have patients drive up from Mountain Home, Arkansas (where he practiced before coming to Columbia, MO) to see him because not only did they trust him, they built a friendship with him. I saw him for the first time in 4 years in Westlakes about 3 weeks ago. We spoke but we were both in a hurry. You know it's a funny thing how you have someone in your life that pushes you to become better.... well without going into great detail a comment that he told me over and over again has pushed me to become better. Until today I always felt I had to prove myself to him in the sense that I didn't have to have a college education to be successful.... yet I belive that he may have pushed me to test myself.... did I have it in me to be the best I could be? This is something I will never know but something that I think about all the time. My heart goes out to his wife, Jennifer, and their 3 children. Rest in peace Dr. Shurnas.....