Merry Christmas!!

We hope you are all doing well. We are doing well. Marriage has been a walk in the park... well an amusement park. You know sometimes it's great and fun, but sometimes we feel crowded and tired. God is good though, he is teaching us a lot about each other and ourselves.

Just to keep you updated, we are both working. Joey is working part-time with Christmas trees. (It is kind of fun because we still have the smell of a live tree around even though we have an artificial one up.) His job will probably continue in the garden department even after the season is up. I am working part-time for my aunt's bookkeeping servicing company. This give us plenty of needed flexibility since we share one car.

Please keep us in your prayers. Joey is continueing to look for a permanent full-time job. We would love to eventually get a place of our own. Thanks!!

Love,

Joey & Heather

P.S. Here are some pics from our recent trip to Disneyland... Joey's first time there.

For Thanksgiving this year, we spent the day with my mom and step-dad. My mom and I did almost all of the cooking... we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potato casserole, asparagus, cranberry jello salad and my step-dad made pumpkin pie for dessert. It was pretty good... but way too much food!!

It's been a while...

Life goes by and sometimes we don't even realize it. Sometimes Joey comments about what we were doing a year ago on this day or that day. It was over a year ago that we were in the Czech Republic for the Teach Overseas "Thanksgiving" weekend. ...AND IT WAS SNOWING!!! Here in California the temperatures have been in the 80's lately. It's hard to imagine snow.

Things are going well for us. Joey just recently got a part-time seasonal job. It's good, gives him something to do while he is still looking for something permanent. We are living with family, so our bills are minimal. It's a huge blessing!

Today we decided to do something different. Joey has been wanting to get involved with Hungarians living in the Los Angeles area. So today we went down the the United Hungarian House. There was a traditional Hungarian folk dance show. It was fun. This was the first time for me to hear Hungarian (well except from Joey) since I left Hungary. Hopefully there will be more events in the future.

East Coast Wedding Reception

Once again, we are posting this in October, but labeling it as September in order to "get caught up" - as if we can ever get caught up. This September has been a busy month for us. If one word could describe this month, it would be "travel". For Labor Day weekend, we interviewed at a church in the mountains of Arizona. So, we got to drive about 9 hours or so across the deserts of California and Arizona and eventually up to the mountains. We spent several relaxing days there, and on the way home, we took the time to go by the Grand Canyon. I had always wanted to go, and since we were so close, I didn't want to miss this opportunity. The visit to the Grand Canyon was worth the drive in itself.

Later, Joey's parents held an East Coast reception for us in North Carolina on September 20th for all the friends and families who could not travel to Southern California for the actual ceremony. We went out to North Carolina on Saturday September 13th and we stayed till Monday the 22nd. While there, we spent much of our time visiting family, traveling for job interviews, and meeting up with some of Joey's friends. My dad, Heather, and I got to go and visit the NC Zoological park in my hometown one day. It was a great chance just to spend time with my dad and see some of the beautiful things that the Lord has created and blessed our planet with. However the high light was the reception held at the church that Joey's grandmother had been a part of for many years before her death in 2000. We are thankful for all the friends and family we have on both sides of the US - and around the world for that matter!

WE TIED THE KNOT

Yea!! The day finally came... and went (so quickly)!! We have now been married for (let me think, Joey's better at this than I am) 25 days. Wow, that went by quickly.



The wedding was wonderful. All I could want and more, thanks to my matron of honor, Pam. She planned the whole thing. I hope to have some pictures up soon.



Our honeymoon in Big Bear Lake was so nice and relaxing. We spent 5 nights at the Sleepy Forest Resort. We had nice woodland trails in the area to go on walks. We went to a zoo/animal park for a few hours one day. We went on some drives. We also did a lot of resting, definitely needed after the busyness of the wedding.



Our honeymoon in Kauai was fabulous!! My mom and step-dad blessed us with the use of their time share for 7 nights. Kauai is such a beautiful island. It rained everyday a little, but we didn't mind. They actually receive around 430 inches of rain a year, that's what makes it so lush and green.

Wedding and Honeymoon

No, you didn't miss an August update on this blog. We just decided to place an arbitrary August date on it so we can keep it a little bit more organized. It is of course now October. Anyway, we are hoping to post some pictures of our wedding and honeymoon in the near future, but we are having computer problems and so we are not sure when we will be able to get to them. In the meanwhile, I will share a little bit about our wedding. We of course got married at 11:00am Saturday, July 26th. It was a really nice wedding, but I don't think neither of us remember much about it because we were so nervous. Also we concluded that brides get cheated out of their own weddings because a lot of things happen before they walk down the aisle and thus aren't able to see. (So any of you future brides should keep that in mind before you stress too much over every perfect detail - my humble opinion). Our wedding took place at Heather's home church - the Sanctuary - here in Santa Clarita. Anyway, the wedding went off without a hitch - no body fainted, died, or tried to stop the wedding. Pastor Marty did a good job of keeping it light humored enough to make us feel comfortable, without taking away from the "dignity" of it. We are both thankful for his help in that matter.

Later we went to Studio City for our reception. Word to the wise - newlywed couples should eat ALL of their food before they begin visiting other folks, otherwise they can never finish. We had been warned of this, and so we ate about half of our food, but we probably should have been a little bit more diligent. Even so, it was a fun time celebrating with family and friends and with people both of us hardly knew.

As many of you know, that due to mission agency guidelines, I had to resign from the mission organization I was working with. The bright side to this was that we got to have a 2 week honeymoon. Our first week, we went to Big Bear Lake here in Southern California. It is a ski resort town high in the mountains. Of course it was too warm for snow, but it was still very peaceful and relaxing. Later, as a gift from Heather's mom and step-dad Bruce, we got to go to Hawaii and stay a week in their time share on the beautiful garden island of Kauai. We had a blast in both locations.

Heather's step-dad, dad, brother Scott, Joey's dad, and brother Jerry

Heather with step-dad, mom and dad

Heather with Summer, Renee and Pam

Less than 4 days!!!

We have less than four days until the wedding! I can't believe how quickly time has passed. Joey arrived here on July 17. We had a meeting with the bridesmaids, a couple with family and then an open house for friends. We have been busy trying to get everything done. Tomorrow we hope to pick up our rings. Then on Thursday we pick up his family from LAX. Friday we have some final parties and the rehearsal. Then Saturday we're getting married!! Yea!!

Catching up...

Much has happened since the last time I wrote. I spent my last week in Hungary with some friends in their flat. That was from June 16 until the 22nd. It was really nice to spend the last week with them as I have really enjoyed their friendship over the last year.

I came back to California on June 22nd. My flight was pretty uneventful, but I did get stuck in New York for six hours due to weather. Joey flew back to Virginia on June 23rd.

I had my first bridal shower on June 28. It was a lot of fun. My mom and my friend Judy did a really good job. It was so good to see many people that I haven't seen in about a year. Things are moving along so quickly. I can't believe that the wedding is in two and a half weeks. It always felt so far away while I was in Hungary. But now that I'm back in California, it's just right around the corner.

Last night I came home from the east coast. I spent a week in Virginia and North Carolina meeting Joey's family. We really had a good time. They had organized a cook out for the Saturday while I was there so I could meet the whole family... all 26 of them, plus some friends. I really enjoyed myself, I look forward to getting to know them more in the future. I will post some pictures once I get a little more settled back here in California.

Going Away Party

Joey and I had a going away party on May 31. We had to have it a few weeks before we leave because our weekends are full. It worked out well though. We ended up having two parties in one day. His colleagues had a lunch cook-out for us and a few others who are also leaving this month. Then we had an open house in the later afternoon/evening. We had fun... just check out our pictures...

Check out the size of that pizza!! We had to practice our cake cutting pose for the wedding ;-)Me with Lauren and Erin, both teachers with ESI at different schools

Of course... another picture of the happy couple

My colleague Izabella... my closest friend at school

Dinner and a Movie

Joey and I went on a date last night. We celebrated one year of dating. In some ways it's hard for me to believe it has been one year because it doesn't seem that long, but I can't imagine my life without him. I'm so excited to be getting married in two months!!

The date was a lot of fun. We went to dinner at Iguana. It's a Mexican style sit-down restaurant. One of my students was our server. :-) Then we went to see a movie. We saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. After that we got palacsinta (aka crepes) for dessert.

We both enjoyed the evening... but then again... we usually do when we're together. That's why we're getting married. :-)

Easter in the Czech Republic

Joey and I went to Prague for Easter. We stayed with Joey's friends Greg and Andrea. It was a lot of fun. We drove up on Thursday after I finished school. On Friday we did some sight-seeing with Kelly, my field director. It was cold, it actually snowed a little everyday.

On Saturday we took a day trip to a little town called Kutna Hora. That was very nice as well.

On Sunday, we went to church outside of this old castle. It was a combined service with the local baptist churches. The service was held in Czech, English and Russian.

The Czech's have this tradition of hitting the women with a stick on Easter. It is supposed to be a symbol of fertility I think, but I don't really understand it. While we were in Kutna Hora, Greg bought one just for fun. So here's some pictures of the guys using the sticks on us girls.

Heather's Birthday

I had a very relaxing low key birthday this year. It was so nice. Joey bought me a hydrangea plant to add more color to the entrance to my flat. He brought that over on Thursday.

Then on Friday I had a small dinner party at my flat. It was a lot of fun. We had Mexican food! I had some ingredients from the states. We also played Apples to Apples. In this picture... I said something that I thought was funny... and Joey didn't really agree with me... you can tell by the look on his face. :-)
On Saturday, Joey picked me up and took me to his house. We had lunch there and then went on a drive looking for a botanical garden. We didn't find it, so we turned around and went back to his house. Then we watched Shrek the Third and No Reservations on DVD. They were both very cute.

Since Saturday was my birthday, he gave me a dozen gerbera daisies ** wedding theme :-) ... so sweet!! And he gave me a gift certificate to go get a massage. I have been wanting one for a long time. I'm so excited, I just need to go make the appointment.

Joey's Birthday

Joey's birthday was last Wednesday, February 27. We had both been wanting to go to the thermal baths for a while. So after our first pre-marital counseling session on February 23, we went to Szechenyi furdo. It was nice... well actually it was really cold outside, so we only went to the pools inside. Then on Wednesday, Joey came over and I gave him his birthday present, then we went to dinner at a new little Mexican Restaurant. It was pretty good considering how far away we are from Mexico. Then we came back to my flat and had some lemon bars for dessert. Joey really likes lemon desserts and I found a good recipe on allrecipes.com. Even though it was his birthday I really enjoyed myself. It was good to spend time with him in the middle of the week.

Preparation Updates

For those who are wondering how things are coming along... my mom and my matron of honor are pretty much planning the wedding for me. They do send me e-mails to keep me updated and ask questions... but they are the ones contacting the vendors and tasting the cake... yum!! I can't wait to try it!!

So... my dress has been ordered. The church and the reception hall have been booked. The cake has been picked out. They have met with some photographers, but a decision hasn't been made yet as to which one to go with.

Joey and I will start our premarital counseling in a week with a friend/missionary here in Budapest. I have been going through a woman's book with our counselor's wife.

This is an exciting season in our lives!!

Valentines Day

It's so fun being in love!! For our first Valentine's Day together, Joey picked me up from work and then we went to dinner at a nice little restaurant in Liszt Ferenc Ter called Cafe Vian. We enjoyed our dinner and some conversation. Joey was having a phone conversation with a potential employer at 8pm. So he dropped me off at my flat at around 7pm to make sure he had enough time to get home before the phone call.

He is so sweet... for Valentines day he gave me two boxes of chocolate, some cut flowers and a small potted gerbera daisy. The gerbera daisy was my favorite because he got it to go with the theme of our wedding.

My Ring...

I have heard a couple comments about seeing a bigger picture of my ring... so here it is...

Christmas

Joey and I spent our first Christmas together in Budapest. We were originally hoping to be able to travel some, but since I still wasn't feeling well we decided to stay local. It was very nice as we were able to relax and watch some movies. We also did a little bit of shopping and went on a couple walks when I felt up to it. The weather here was very nice. It was cold, and we had snow over the winter break. Here's a couple pictures from one of our walks.