Our first fourth

This past weekend marked our first official fourth of july together as a married couple and as parents if you count murphy. I would have to say that overall our weekend road trip was a success. The trip was strategically planned by danny's mom and consisted of routine bathroom stops for either diaper changes, dog walks or pee breaks, visiting grand parents, a huge indoor water park, and some ice cream here and there.

Starting Thursday evening after we both got off work, Dannys parents along with his sister, her husband and their daughter picked us up (including murphy) to head to Missouri. We stopped in Joplin, MO about 11 pm that night and stayed at what we first thought would be a sketchy Best Western but ended up being pretty nice and some what dog friendly. Friday morning we were off to Warrensburg, MO to see Danny's Dad's Parents and then to Cameron, Mo to meet Danny's Mom's mom. There we met up with Danny's other sister, Shelly,her husband and their 3 kids! Making the grand total being: 8 adults, 4 babies, one dog and a baby on the way (angie's pregnant!) Danny's grandparents are both unable to travel and therefore I have not been able to meet them until this weekend. Both visitations were very sweet and I feel very blessed and thankful to have been able to meet such a big part of danny's back ground and where he comes from.

After visiting the grandparents, we were off to Kansas City, KS to the Great Wolf Lodge! In case your not aware of the repetitive commercial that comes on about 57 times a day about the Great Wold Lodge, its a lodge of course with a huge indoor water park. It was filled with lots of sweets!, a couple of restaurants, an arcade, a couple of gift shops, miniature golf, scavenger hunts, and of course the water park and a nice relaxing out door pool. There was also a carnival that went on while were there for the fourth of july and fireworks surrounded the lodge. It was pretty cool. And though this probably wasnt the ideal vacation for a couple of newlyweds, it was definitely a great way to spend a holiday with the whole Ruth family! Thank you ROB & SUSIE for once again spoiling us, We LOVE you and yes we had a great time!!

Sadly, I didnt take any pictures but both of my sister in laws did so maybe i'll post some pics later once Im able to steal some from them =)

Oh...starting tonight, I will begin studying to take the National Counselor Exam in October to obtain my License of Professional Counseling. If I pass the 4 hour test which covers my entire masters program I will then have to do a 18 month internship to fully be considered a Professional Counselor. With that said, blogging will have to be put on hold...well lets not got that far... I just might not be able to blog as often. For now on 5 days a week I am committed to the following: studying for the exam, finishing up decorating my home, and house breaking murphy. Last night I spent almost 3 hours learning the best way to house break Murphy Lee Ruth and we are on full all out potty training mode. More to come on Murphy! He's doing great, growing like a weed and is a serious flirt whenever we take him out in public! =)