2009 In Review

Hopefully MANY more pictures to come with this post . . . we shall see . . .

I know this post is about a month late, but I wanted to recap what all happened in 2009.  It really wasn't the BEST year for me, but it will be nice for me to just have a record of it.  I would like to put a disclaimer that this post will contain both good and bad things that have happened this year.  I won't go into details about anything, but as I said, I'd like to have a record of everything I've been through.  So without further ado:

January:

Matt turned 28 - we celebrated at Morgan Street Brewery and Talayna's
(Matt and Erin dancing at Talayna's)


Sunny turned 5!
(I can't believe my baby is getting so old! - Seems like yesterday he looked like this)


I became a Godmother
(Love you Drew!)


Lots of job seraching!

February

First Married Valentine's Day
(We celebrated at Cafe DeMenil - where we had our reception)

I turned 28! (Pictures coming - I hope!)

A lot more job searching!


March

Spent St. Patrick's Day in Dogtown for the first time!

Matt and I went on several job interviews

I got a job!

April

Started back up with softball league

Went on our annual Memphis trip with mom and dad! (Pictures coming - I hope!)

May

Celebrated our First Anniversary!
(We went out to the Tenderloin Room for dinner then back home to eat our one year old cake.  I swear, it was actually GOOD!!!! - I have proof, I made many others try it!) (Pictures coming)

James Graduated with his MBA! (Pictures coming)

Erin and I threw a baby shower for Ann (Pictures coming - I hope)

Sabrina got engaged (Pictures coming - I hope)

Started feeling sick and threw up a lot!

June

Attended my 10 year high school reunion

Went bridal dress shopping with Sabrina

Despite several vists withe the doctor, remained undiagnosed - threw up a lot!

July

William Arnaud Schulte was born!  I'm an aunt!


Attended FanFest with Matt (Pictures coming)

Was diagnosed with gallstones and had my gallbladder removed - hopefully the throwing up will end now!

August

Grandpa Herm turned 90!

Alyssa turned 2!


Unfortunately the vomiting didn't end :(

September

Attended an awesome CJ retreat!

Found a breast lump

Vomiting continued

October

Had an endoscopy and was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia, put on meds and the vomiting stopped!  YAY!

Had an ultrasound of my breast and found out the lump would need to be removed :(

Carved pumpkins with Adam and Katie

Started this blog to cheer me up . . . it's been working!

November

Will was baptized

I had my surgery

Rick turned 60!

Drew turned 1!

Took a trip to the ER for an allergic reaction

Anna and Matt's baby, Braden was born!


Found out I needed yet another surgery :(

December

Watched Erin, James and Nick complete the Memphis Marathon!
(All 3 got PR's - Way to go guys!)

Had my second breast surgery

Went on our annual Hermann Trip!

Celebrated Christmas

Celebrated New Year's Eve

So it's definitely been quite the eventful year!  I am very happy about all the wonderful things that came out of the year, but I have also had some trials.  Thanks for all everyone did to help me through the rough spots!  I am very blessed . . . but here's to a much HEALTHIER 2010!

THE SQUIRREL!

Random post here, but I think it must be documented . . .

Sunday morning, January 24th, Matt and I were sleeping in.  8:30 hit and we were stirring a little bit . . . suddenly we heard a glass break.  Startled, we got up to find a glass broken on the kitchen floor.  We were quite confused, but decided to go back to bed . . . then suddenly . . . out of the corner of my eye, I caught a squirrel!  IN OUR HOUSE!  How did a squirrel get in our house????  We still don't know!  Anyway, we immediately ran to the bedroom and shut the door.  As I was screaming about "how did a freaking squirrel get in our house?!?!?!?"  Matt calmed me down and said, ok, we need to re-group and get some weapons . . . WEAPONS, seriously???? 

So, "armed" with a wrapping paper roll and a golf club (yes, I know . . . to be fair,  it made sense at the time . . .), we went out into the main room . . . it was quite intense.  Here is what went down . . .



And about 20 minutes later . . .



Woo Hoo!  He FINALLY left!  Thank God for having a sense of humor!  All I know is, I want to know how he even got in there! 

No wonderfuls today . . . well except for having a sense of humor about having a squirrel in the house!  Does that count???

The Last Supper Part 2

As I mentioned in my last post, we had my "Last Supper" before my December surgery a few weeks ago with Katy and Kirby.  We had wanted to get together with them for dinner for a while and Matt was planning on cooking for them.  Well, since we planned dinner for the night before the surgery, they offered to make dinner for us instead so we could relax.  Twist our arm!  (For those that don't know, Kirby is a professional chef).

It was delicious!  Kirby made us a yummy steak with a delicious sauce, spaghetti squash and the best cheese potatoes I have ever had!



To top it off, they served us off their fine china and their beautiful Waterford wine goblets!  (I loved them so much, they were afraid I might slip one in my pocket and walk away with it! - HAHA!)



But as wonderful as the food was, the company was even better.  Here is a picture of the lovely Katy and Kirby Jones.



And one of Matt and me . . .



Then they brought out the champagne so we could do a toast:



It was such a wonderful evening!  The only thing that would have made it better is if I wasn't so nervous about my surgery the next day!  Thanks so much Katy and Kirby!  We are so lucky to have you two as friends!

Today's Wonderfuls:

• Delicious food
• Yummy wine
• A fun champagne toast
• Great, supportive friends ho make me laugh even when I'm nervous

Whew, lunch break is over . . .

Ok, I updated as much as I could today . . . Much closer to catching up!  However., we still have some more.  Wait up for our Memphis weekned, the "Last Supper" with Katy and Kirby, Christmas (which will consist mainly of Will . . . but I'm sure no one is opposed to that)  and New Year's Eve.  It will all be here soon. . . hopefully before Matt's Birthday stuff comes along . . .

I apprecieate you all!  Thanks for reading!

Caitlin

El Mariachi's

A few weeks ago, Matt and I went to a Mexican Restaurant with Elizabeth and Jason.  It was quite a fun night!  This post will be mostly pictures since eating at a Mexican restaurant is pretty self explanatory, however there will be a few things that need some emphasis along the way.

E&J looking so cute!



Matt and myself posing with Armando:



After a little while, we decided to bring Armando to our table.  I'm fairly certian that we are all saying, "Armando!!!" (imagine an American trying to imitate a Mexican accent and you can pretty much figure out how it sounded) in this picture . . .



Jason listened intensely to Armando's music . . . and what sweet music it was . . .



So sweet, I just had to give him a smooch!  Luckily Matt is not the jealous type . . .



Suddenly, Jason thought this was a Japanese place:



And Matt followed suit:



Awww, now we come to some SIL love:





And some BIL love (with Armando of course):





It was a very fun night.  We plan on doing another one soon! 

Today's Wonderfuls:
- Having a fun Brother-in-Law and Sister (in-Law for me, not Matt) to go out with
- Armando - really do I need to elaborate?
- Yummy Margaritas
- Delicious Food

Nacho Nacho Man

This post is about one of the things I am MOST thankful for (well, besides the real big stuff, God, my family, my friends etc.).  This is simply a random night Matt and I recently had.  (Yes, you get a peek into a typical night at the Schulte Vogt home).  We were watching a movie and I asked Matt to pause it so that I could go to the bathroom.  As I was coming out of the bathroom, I heard a grinding sound coming from the kitchen.  I went in to find this:







Apparently Matt decided to craft some sort of nacho cheese creation. . . right in the middle of the movie!  I'm still not quite sure what all went into it, but it was good!





Today's Wonderfuls:
- A goofy and spontaneous husband who makes life more fun to live
- Movie nights at home
- Having so much fun doing "nothing"

Christmas Tree 2009

Matt and I went to Eckerts again this year to cut down our Christmas tree. We went on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and keeping true to the last post, it was a gorgeous day! I don't remember EVER wearing short sleeves outside after Thanksgiving. However, a beautiful day means a big crowd.  When we got there, there were no saws left, so we had to wait for one.  We got lucky though because a big family who had gotten there before us was waiting for some other people to come.  So when the tractor came they saw us without a saw and gave us theirs!  They said they'd have to wait for the next one anyway, so we may as well get on this one.  Woo hoo for nice people!

After the tractor ride, we took off in search of our tree.  We headed straight for the scotch pines.  We went all the way to the back of the field where I saw "the one" . . .



Or so I thought.  Matt had a different idea of what he thought "the one" was:



We "discussed" for a while and finally settled on looking for another one.  I saw this one and liked it . . . I even put my "marker" on it (Matt makes fun of me because I put some dead grass on a tree if I like it but we are still looking.  But I need to make sure I come back to the right one!):



Matt wanted to keep looking.  So we kept on going.  As Matt was looking at this one:



I spotted off in the distance, "the perfect tree". 



It was like a halo was shining down upon it saying, pick me, pick me!  I just looked in awe and said, "Matt, take a look at that one."  He looked in awe himself and decided to go down and check it out. 



After circling it about 5 times and discussing which side would go against the window and which side would be towards the table, we both agreed that this was it.  This is the Schulte Vogt Christmas Tree of 2009.  So Matt went ahead and cut it down:



He usually has to drag the tree to the pick-up place, but since this tree was a bit smaller than what we usually get, he decided to carry it.  He said, and I quote, "Real men carry their trees."





When he laid the tree down to be picked up, we waited for the tractor to come pick us up again.  In the mean time we asked a very nice lady to take our picture.  I decided to hold the saw to make it appear as if I did anything else besides point to a tree . . . I didn't . . .



Finally the tractor came and picked us up.  I wanted to take a picture of Matt on the tractor, but he was not cooperating.  I took it anyway:


(Take that Vogt!  Ha!  That'll teach you not to mess up my pictures! - Love you by the way!)

While we were waiting for our tree to come back suddenly I was sooo hungry!  Uh Oh!  Matt promptly went to the concession stand and got us each a hot dog.  The hot dog was really not that good, but I was so hungry I didn't care.  And Matt was happy that he was able to provide sustenance and avoid the "evil Caitlin."

Finally our number was called and Matt carried our tree to the car.  He strapped it on and we were on our way.


(this picture makes me laugh because he is doing the same thing with his hands in a picture we have just after we got married.  It's kinda like, ok, that's done . . . what next?  Haha!  I'll try to dig up that picture and post it here.)

By the time we got home, it was too late to decorate it since we had plans for the evening.  So we just put it in the stand with some water and headed out.  The next day we decorated it and here is the outcome:



Ok, the star is a little wobbly but we did take care of that problem a week later.  We had so much fun!  It was a wonderful day!

Today's Wonderfuls:
- A beautiful November Day
- Nice people who gave us their saw
- Having a place close to home that we can cut our own tree
- A wonderful husband who not only cuts down our tree, but carries it to the car and ties it on.  Oh, and who feeds me when I need it (although, this may be more for him than me . . . hmmm).

Ste. Genevieve, MO

As promised, I am backtracking a bit here and will hopefully get caught up very soon!

We had a lovely November here in St. Louis and what else do you do in this area on a lovely fall afternoon . . . the wineries of course! I mentioned it to Pops (what I call my dad sometimes) and let's just say that it took no arm twisting. So Mom, Dad, Erin, Matt and I all went out to Ste. Genevieve.

We started at Crown Valley Winery since my dad had never been there. We found a place on the patio and got out the cheese, crackers, fruit, chips, sandwiches, etc and had a nice little picnic while sipping on some of Crown Valley's finest wines.

Erin, Matt and Me



Erin, Dad, Mom and Me
(check out Erin's arm . . . we were actually getting some sun . . . in NOVEMBER!)



Funny thing that happend . . . Mom got something (a sunchip) stuck on "the porch":



On that note, we decided to move onto Chaumette Winery. Mom, Dad, Grams, Aunt Betty and I had been there over 6 years ago when it was brand new and hadn't been there since. So we decided go to bring back some memories. It was getting close to closing time, so we just shared one bottle of wine there. The scenery is as beautiful as we remembered it. I only wish my Grams could be there with us again . . . All I know is that I was so fortunate to get that opportunity to go there with her once. I know she is in a much more beautiful place now which helps a lot. Especially when I'm in such a beautiful place on this earth.



(I think we look superimposed in this picture)



When we were finished at Chaumette, we were hungry again. Erin had the most genious idea at that point in time. She suggested we go to Dewey's. So we went to Kirkwood and enjoyed some yummy pizza from Dewey's. Meatball, Socrates Revenge, Chicken and Pesto, and (sorry, anticlimatic, I don't remember the last choice we came up with). Here's a picture though:



It was a wonderful day with the family. The only thing that could've made it better would have been if Ann, James and Will would have been able to join us. There will be many more family winery outings though, so I'll post those when it happens (hopefully this spring or fall).

Today's Wonderfuls:
- A great family - need I say more?
- Yummy wines
- Beautiful Missouri rolling hills
- Delicious Dewey's pizza
- The best Grandma EVER that will NEVER be forgotten

Miss you Grams! (By the way, the whole "wonderful" theme of this blog is a tribute to Grams. I'll get to that at a different post, but if you knew her, you already know).