Merry Christmas to you:)
love,
the Piankos
Archive for 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
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Sunday, December 11, 2011
so little time!
this one is just going to to quick and photos are going to do most of the talking:)
we drove to tennessee for thanksgiving to visit big sis and it was amazing...first road trip together... success:)
the scenery was just stunning...we wanted to stop every few minutes that passed!
thanksgiving is my favorite:) we watched the parade and ate cinnamon pumpkin pancakes...yummers!
we made lots of food...and ate it too:)
and we skyped with our whole family...and received a little bit of news:)
on our way back, we filled our tank with the cheapest gas ever!!!
when we got back, i started reading this, thanks beccers:) it is so beautiful. God is.
and just before we left for tennessee, i got a copy of this...my voice got to be a part of it. it was super. so grateful.
side note-> we love to spend time in the kitchen together:)
also at work:) i am so lucky to work down the hall from my sweet:) i recognized the penmanship;)
i love this man...so much:)
we finally took chloe in. she was fixed. completely different cat. in a good way...she's not crazy anymore:)
last night, he went out...and came back with "i love you" flowers. perfection.
and he had this too. red velvet? yes, please!
and then this morning at 3:30, something happened and it led us to the ER. my sweet fellow was feeling so horrible this morning and it turned out to be a kidney stone:/ he is so brave says me and the doctor who treated him. that darn thing is still there but it will be out of there soon!
the past couple of months have been just chaotic but i am so happy that my God is bigger than all of it. i can hardly believe Christmas is just days away. Cali, see you SO soon! saturday to be exact;)
Monday, October 31, 2011
spooky!
can't believe it's already that time of year:) i love halloween, even if this year zack and i are sitting at home reading and grading and basically everything school:) the lower school had a costume parade and oh my goodness, they were so stinking cute!!! the craziest part is realizing we are three weeks down the road from thanksgiving which is my favorite:) i love everything about it with the exception of note being with my entire family when it comes. that's what christmas is for:) i hope you all have a wonderful night. safety first and always, friends!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
going home home:)
last weekend, zack and i took a very short trip home home:) where the families are, california. my little brother, who is not so little anymore, tied the knot and it was such an honor to be able to be a part of something so special. he married a gal who is perfect for him, i think we were all kinda hoping joe would make her our sister, and last saturday he finally did! laura is such a special girl and the way she loves my little brother makes all of us so happy and we know God is the reason for all of that:)
even though our trip was so short and we were not able to see so many special people, we were able to spend time with our families and that was so important for both of us. i remember just before leaving for california i told zack the thing i was most excited about was hugging my mom...i really needed a mom hug and i got one:) spending time with my entire family and zack getting to see his mom and spend time with her was so needed and such perfection and i am so grateful for the short weekend we were able to have together.
i know a lot of people say they have the best family. but i am so sure i do:)
now for some photo madness:
zack and i, love him:)
had to sneak this one in because they just celebrated 33 years of marriage!
my amazing sisters- and oh so gorgeous!
the happy couple and my sweet folks:)
the original six- love, love, love them:)
love:)
the gals and their mama:)
married!
our new sister:)happily ever after:)
Monday, October 24, 2011
thankful for all things.
today is one of those days. zack and i are sitting at home grading:) we grade a lot... all the time. luckily, we love what we do:) anywho, it is one of those days where here and there i am distracted by my thoughts and today, thoughts of things i am grateful for...not a bad distraction at all. next week, we are driving to tennessee to spend thanksgiving with my big sister. i am so grateful and excited that we get to do this. we are going to be driving for hours and it will be just us and the road and that is going to be good quality time for us! we also just purchased our tickets to fly home for christmas! over two weeks of family goodness, all of us together:) i am so grateful for my husband. he is a wonderful man. he does little things, like every time we walk near a car door, he runs ahead of me to make sure i don't open it because he likes to do it. that's just one thing among the many. i just wanted to point out something that may seem small but really, it's lovely.
attention florida drivers....
apparently, florida drivers are our worst nightmare. yesterday, a women tried to make a u-turn on the turnpike- a freeway that's not free, and she almost slammed right into us. thank goodness I hit the brakes, otherwise we may have had a serious problem...
Sunday, September 11, 2011
3 months
this is our first photo we took as a couple way back when:)
today is a day to remember in so many ways. we did a great deal of 9/11 rememberence but we had to take a little bit of time to remember that today is our 3 month wedding anniversary:) i know, i know, three months, woohoo. BUT it really is a woohoo! it has been the best three months growing with zack. starting the school year together. making new friends. plugging into church. and the list goes on and on and on:) words will never be able to fully express just how grateful i am for this guy:)
God is good. Amen.
Sept. 11th- ten years
on friday, i had a student ask me why september 11th happened. my initial reaction was shock and from there i moved right along and explained it to her. globalization, terrorist organizations, all of it. as my day went on, i kept thinking about her and her question. i had this weird question mark in my head- i didn't get why i was being asked that question and soon, slowly but surely, it hit me. That horrible day was going to be having its 10 year anniversary in a couple of days. TEN YEARS. and all the pieces fell into place. my sweet student was so young 10 years ago. i was in high school, senior year, and i will never forget that day. we hear at home and at school, a great deal of our day went to different news stations. i will never forget the horror i felt in my heart. i was young too, but old enough to understand what was taking place AND more so, that hatred is such a real thing and such an ugly thing. i remember feeling so brokenhearted and even this morning as my husband and i are sitting here watching the ceremony that is going on, my heart is still hurting and i'm fighting back the tears and it feels like maybe two years have gone by since that day.
i don't know if it will ever really feel like it was 10 years ago, or 15 years ago, or 25 years ago. i don't know why, but with this one thing, it doesn't feel like it happened so long ago. it feels like it is staying really close to us, following closely or something. and maybe that is because we have a responsibility to keep it fresh and to remember and to share it with those who were young or perhaps not even there when it took place. it's a history thing. if history is cyclical, which i believe it is, we must remember things like this and pass it down and learn from them and do what we can to bring about change.
i hope you take a little bit of time to just remember those who lost their lives on such a dark day. one of many dark days in our history but more than deserving of a little bit of our time.
that's all. i know my thoughts may be a little bit incomplete but i don't think anyone out there really has complete thoughts about something like this. thanks for reading.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
the new year!
it has been too long since my last post so i am going to try to give a quick summary of the past few weeks... i have tons of grading to do:) we made it through the hot florida summer and it is getting cooler every day, or so it seems. we are now in school and just finished week two and are both very grateful for a lovely three day weekend. i started my second year at MVA and the only thing that could make it that much better is that i didn't start alone... zack began this year with me...and our classrooms are in the same building:) how amazing is that?!
seeing the old faces come back and seeing the new faces has just been such a treat. there is chaos but it has just been so wonderful and i know it will just get better. zack and i are loving it all so much. we don't have very much time these days for anything but lesson planning and grading but we love that we get to do it together. i love, love, love so much that he gets to be a part of something that is so special to me. something that i tried to make him understand for so long and now don't have to anymore because he is living it with me. the only word that comes to mind is...BLESSED. cliche? sure but so very true.
sometimes we draw up pictures in our minds what life will look like and even if we think we have it right, we are most of the time wrong. but it's ok because our creator already drew up the picture and it is always so much better than anything we are capable of drawing up for ourselves. i would take where i am now over anything i could have imagined life like a year ago.
i have an amazingly supportive family at home, i work at the most amazing place with the most amazing people, i have the most amazing students...really, i am married to a man who loves me terribly and i him, i have the loveliest friends any gal could ask for...here and those i miss dearly at home, i have a sweet little home with two crazy little cats, and the list goes on and on. i am glad that i don't get to decide how life goes because it wouldn't be as good as what it is if i had my way:)
i love having zack here with me. it has been so fun getting to learn how to live with a boy full time. we are both so different and learning how to compromise may not always be fun but it sure is hilarious and when all is said and done...we are so good together:) zack cleans different, does laundry different, does dishes different, pretty much everything different....but i don't care because he does it:) i love that sometimes when i am grading, i hear the kitchen faucet running and know he is in there doing dishes. i don't ask, he just does. so i am learning that IT DOESN'T MATTER if it's different because it is from the heart and it is getting done:)
i love that we get ready for school together in the morning. i love that we have lunch together at school. i love that he tucks me in sometimes when i go to bed before him because i get sleepy first:) i love that sometimes after long grading sessions, we sit together and watch hey arnold! i love that last night he took me out on a date because we were lacking in us time. i love that he took me to see a movie that he knew i would love and took me to a mexican restaurant with mariachi men:) he is good to me and God is good to me for giving him to me:)
zack on his first day:)
and me too:)
my students are still working on the new name thing;)
Monday, August 1, 2011
the wedding:)
ok, so it has been long enough and it's not on purpose. life, it is a crazy thing and it is just so hard to keep up sometimes...especially posting things on here. the wedding morning came and what can i say? i didn't have butterflies in my stomach, true story:) i was just ready and excited and a little bit/ a lot emotional. i couldn't help but look back on all that zack and i had been through and experienced together and apart and how it all led up to this one special day.
we all woke up early and made our way over to the wedding site and began the setup. it was very smooth because everyone was incredible. we worked so hard and we worked together and when the time came, i got to make my way over to redlands for hair and make up. my to lovely friends ash and danielle did a brilliant job and truly truly, i just felt so grateful. the flowers came while i was away so when i got back up there, i was absolutely beside myself when i saw all the lovely pieces arranged by my ever so sweet friend, diana:)
it was all happening and gosh oh gosh, my heart was more than full!
when i put my dress on, i don't know, there was just something so good about that moment. my sisters and lovely friends were there with me. it was wonderful. we had the loveliest gals shooting our special day. erica and amy. twins. photographers. lovely people. they really captured our day. from getting ready to walking down the aisle to our first dance to cake eating(yum:), they captured it.
walking down the aisle, i will never forget it. looking at zack and him looking at me. and our ceremony was so wonderful. i know people say those are the details you forget, but i don't think i ever will. our friend jon officiated the ceremony and it was personal and full of God and perfect and unforgettable.
the reception was lovely, the details, the food, and our cake...well, it was five layers of so much goodness:) thank you jen strahl:)
so all in all, it was an unforgettable evening:) so enough of the chit chat and time to share just a few photos. there are tons so i had to be picky but there are hopefully enough just to share what an amazing day it was:)
i will post a few more later on:) that's all for now:) happy thoughts and a good night:)