View out the Window...

The sun is out, the trees are green, it's a Friday - Life is good....

Katy Trail...

The Katy Trail runs right behind our apartment complex. It is an old railroad track that has been converted into a trail. We've taken advantage of it quite a bit since the weather has been nice-taking walks, runs, and now bike rides! For his birthday (and mine), Mark's parents gave us bikes. We took our first bike ride and these are a few shots I took with my phone. It was a beautiful ride and next time, I won't forget the camera. We love where we live!

A Birthday Visit...

Mark's parents came up for this last weekend for Mark's Birthday and although their visit was short, we enjoyed having them in town. We showed them around Columbia and introduced them to one of our favorite shows (The Biggest Loser). They also came to church with us and met our ward and agreed with us that we have a GREAT ward.

On Saturday, we stopped at Sam's Club, and while there the subject of flowers was brought up. Mark teases me because I like to have real flowers at the table and he doesn't see it as something that important. Mark's Dad, upon hearing this comment, said, "Well, I'm going to get you some flowers!" And he did! How sweet is that!!

Happy Birthday Mark!!

For Mark's birthday, I ran a 5K with him. (Yes, ME run...I must really love him!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!

Meet the Kiddos...

Coco...

In her brand new pot...

Shibumi...

...and Le Cagot...

(And if you ever want to read a good book, try Shibumi.)

Spring Break

Mark and I toyed with several ideas as to what to do for Spring Break - we ultimately decided to visit his sister Sarah and her family since we don't get to spend much time with them. We had such a FUN time! They made a welcome sign, the boys took our bags in, and Miss Margaret gave us a tour of the house. (THANK YOU to the boys for letting us crash in their room!) They also had a talent show ready all ready for us! Margaret (Meg) read a scripture, Andrew recited the poem "Alligator Pie", and Tanner played a song on the piano.

We spent lots of time playing with the kids and were able to help Charlie (the dog) out by starting on his dog fence so he can run and play around in the backyard. We also went to the kid's school fair and watched Andrew win his penguin and Margaret get her puppy. Tanner's classroom became a 'Jail"...and both Andrew and I ended up there thanks to Uncle Mark. (Don't worry he bailed us out too!)

These are the thank you notes we received from them after our visit...aren't they cute?!

From left to right: Andrew's, Margaret's, and Tanner's

The Burke Kiddos: Andrew, Margaret, and Tanner

We then headed down to Cape and visited the rest of the McMullin clan for the first half of the week. We were hoping that Baby Harper might make an appearance before we left, but alas, she decided to stay in her Mom's Belly...which is a good thing too. :) One of those nights, we went over to Emily and Abe's house and played Wii...check out their blog for a GREAT picture! Markii has the moves!

We came home for the last half of the week, which was quite peaceful and relaxing, except for the incident involving an overly friendly wasp. We had left our balcony door open to let in some cool air and in flew in a wasp. We tried shooing it out, but instead it ended up under our couch. My imagination went haywire and I could just see us getting stung through the couch. So how do you get a wasp out from under a couch? We tried a fly swatter, a water bottle, a rolled up sock...all to no avail. The only thing that worked was an airsoft BB gun. It flew out from under the couch, but sadly, not out the door.

So onto plan B - we attacked it with vinegar water and a fly swatter. The vinegar water made it so it couldn't fly anymore. I then whacked it to the floor and a few more times to make sure it'd be dead. It took all of 45 minutes, but we got what we wanted! No wasp in our couch!

(PS-the lights are off so that the wasp would find its way out into the balcony)

What we've been up to...Part 2

February brought quite a few surprises...

Before moving to Missouri, I asked Mark about the winters here and he said that when it snows, it rarely accumulates beyond 3 inches....Huh.....As far as I know, 3 inches does not look like this....





























...Or this...

2 storms with snow accumulation over 12+ inches...yep. It seems I will not be escaping the snow just yet. Mizzou cancelled classes for 3 days because of the 2nd storm so Mark and I made sure we had a pantry-full of food and lots of candles. Lucky for us our stockpiling was never needed since the power stayed on and the roads cleared out within a few days. We suffered nothing more serious than a cracked windshield (my car). We started reading Atlas Shrugged. (We still have not finished, but so far it has been an AWESOME book!)

On another one of our evenings that month, I talked Mark into trying out waffles and ice cream...He loves waffles! But he'd never heard of waffles and ice cream (to be honest, I have no idea where or from whom I heard it, but I know I had heard it somewhere...), so here's the result:

Yay for Lactose Free Ice Cream :)

Waffles and ice cream and peaches (the peaches are for me - I love them). I really liked it because I'm a sucker for breakfast foods but Mark not so much, either way - it was great to finally try it. Now if I could just remember who told me about it in the first place!

Another surprise in February came in the form of a package...that had this in it...

"Trust me, I'm a Doctor"...Thanks Ash!!

My friend Ashley and I have been in love with Dr. Pepper for MANY years...it was an integral part of our times together. Once upon a time, on one of our many Walmart runs, we stumbled upon a Dr. Pepper T-shirt. Sadly they didn't have our sizes or it was more than we were willing to pay for it (I can't remember), so we didn't purchase them, but we thought they were the coolest things ever (because let's be honest, they are!). We've always looked back on that with a little regret. So a few weeks ago, Ash was on a Walmart run and lo and behold...a Dr. Pepper shirt! She didn't waste this chance and got one for herself and for me. How sweet is that! She had told me that it would be coming, but when I got the package, it was still such a surprise! Love you Ash!!

Pretty aren't they? Despite the snow storms we've experienced, Spring has started to make itself known. Schnucks (a local grocery store for those who've never heard of it) had them on sale and since it was sunny out I had to celebrate. It made me smile every time I looked at them...and it's true - I'm SO ready for Spring, Summer, and sunshine to get here!

What we've been up to...Part 1

So here comes the long catch up email...the McMullin adventures for the past 3 months.

In January, after the wedding celebrations ended, Mark and I enjoyed the sites around Missouri.

First was Fulton, MO and this guy... Winston Churchill gave his famous "Sinews of Peace" talk where he refers to the "iron curtain" that had descended upon the European continent. Very cool person and a very nice museum. Westminster College is a beautiful campus (even in the wintertime) and the museum is housed in the Church of St. Mary originally built in London during the 12th century and then relocated to Fulton in the 1960's.

What did I learn? Winston was a big traveler and reader and had a way with words. He wrote articles of his traveled and earned his celebrity in that way before he ever became a politician. What impressed me about him was that he never gave up. He suffered lots of setbacks during his life and he always picked himself up again and again. He had a purpose/direction and he wasn't going to stop until he achieved it - even if other things got in the way.

Mark and I with Winston C.

Second was Kansas City and Independence/Liberty, MO. Mark will be living in Kansas City this summer for his internship and we visited the city to look at an apartment for him. We also took this chance to check out some church history sites. We stayed with the Shulls-friends of Mark's family and we had an INCREDIBLE TIME!! They were so friendly and welcoming, we credit them for making the entire weekend such a wonderful experience!

In Kansas City, we visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum...totally by accident. We were following a line of cars and they were all going into this building, so we decided to see what was going on. It turns out the museum was having their Chinese New Year celebration. (Happy Year of the Rabbit!!) It was a thrilling find! This is a serious museum - the kind built with personality and meant to last forever. Mark and I had a great time going through the exhibits and I hope that I get to explore it some more during this summer.

Happy Chinese New Year from KC!!!

Some of the many things to see...Again, I'm excited to be able to see more of the museum this Summer!

Mark and I at the Nelson-Atkins Museum

Saturday we went to Independence for the Community of Christ Temple, the LDS visitors center, and the Harry S. Truman Library. I've heard about the Community of Christ temple before (the conch shell), and my first impression of it was that it was more of a softserve ice cream cone than a shell....that's just me though. Inside the building was very architecturally interesting and the guides were very sweet.

At the visitor's center (no pictures here, sorry), we spent some time talking to a sister missionary-Sister Bowman. She knew who my brother was and we were able to get a note to him thanks to her.

Then we stopped at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. Harry grew up as a farmer and the S. is just an initial - it doesn't stand for anything (I didn't know that). He had 3 interests - music, reading, and history. He fell in love with Bess Wallace and she turned him down when he proposed. So he went off to make his fortune so he could propose to her again. She said yes to him this time (8 years later). He became a county judge, senator, vice-president, and then president when FDR passed away. One of the great things about the library was that President Truman recorded a lot of the narratives, so you actually get to hear his voice as he tells you about what he had to do as president, diplomat, etc. He sounded like such a nice gentleman!

Mark and I with Harry S. T.

Isn't he handsome? I don't mean the one in bronze...

Finally, we went to Liberty Jail - which is just something you have to see to gain an appreciation as to what the Prophet and the early leaders of the church had to go through. It was SO small (the building is built around the jail) and SO cold (even though it is indoors now)!

To be continued...