4 Years and Counting!

February 18th marked our 4th anniversary. We both agreed that it feels like we just got married yesterday but at the same time feels like we have been married forever, if that makes any sense!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day this year started with Jesson surprising me with a beautiful bouquet of yellow Tulips and a very sweet card that said "I Love You".

That evening Jesson and I went to a cooking class with my parents. The class was a ton of fun and the food was amazing! Below are pictures of each of the courses.

We started with an oyster shooter. It was a single oyster in a cream sauce. I am not an oyster fan but I thought it was fantastic!

Next was a round of Camembert cheese that had been warmed and melted in the oven with sauteed wild mushrooms and walnuts on top. We ate that on top of a thinly sliced french bread.

Our first main dish was a pasta with a lobster cream sauce. Those are fresh chunks of lobster on top of the pasta, they just melted in your mouth!

Next was a thinly sliced, herb rubbed steak over a bed of arugula with a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice with fresh shaved parmesan cheese.

For dessert there was a chocolate cupcake with creme fraiche, a balsamic reduction, and fresh berries.

We all had a great time and will hopefully be going back for another class soon!

Big Cat Rescue

Jesson has started volunteering at the Big Cat Rescue right here in Tampa. Their website is: www.bigcatrescue.org and their purpose is:

"Big Cat Rescue, a non profit educational sanctuary, is devoted to rescuing and providing a permanent home for exotic (i.e. wild, not domestic) cats who have been abused, abandoned, bred to be pets, retired from performing acts, or saved from being slaughtered for fur coats, and to educating the public about these animals and the issues facing them in captivity and in the wild.

The sanctuary is home to the most diverse population of exotic cats in the world, with 16 species and subspecies of wild cat represented among more than 100 residents. These include tigers, lions, liger, leopards, cougars, bobcats, lynx, ocelots, servals, caracals and others, many of whom are threatened, endangered, or now extinct in the wild."

Below are some of the new "friends" that Jesson has made at the rescue:

Sabre the Black Leopard:
Aspen Echo the Cougar:

Zeus the Siberian Lynx:

Cheetaro the Leopard:

China Doll the Bengal Tiger:

Grace the Ocelot:

Zabu the White Tiger:

Cameron the Lion:

Hockey Night in.....Tampa?

Jesson and I have had the chance to go to two different hockey games here in Tampa recently and have had a ton of fun! The first was the Islanders vs. the Lightning (Tampa won!). The second was the night before our 4th anniversary, the Lightning were playing the Chicago Blackhawks, who were Jesson's favorite team growing up. The Blackhawks won in the end, but not before Steve Stampko's of the Lightning scored a hat-trick!

West Edmonton Mall

While we were in Canada we took a day trip up to Edmonton, about 3 hours to the north. We visited Jesson's Aunt Kirsti and Uncle Brad as well as their little girl Skye. While there, we went to the West Edmonton Mall, which has a pirate ship, water park, skating rink, and much more all inside the mall! Below are a few pictures from "West Ed" as it is known.

Christmas Day 2008

Christmas Day was spent with the Novaks here in Tampa. The day after Christmas we flew to Calgary to spend 10 days with Jesson's family. Once again, we are so thankful that we were able to spend time around the holidays with both families!

Ryan had fun with his wrapping....
...and shared some of it with Nano!

The boys all put together Ryan's new computer.

Buddy hugged Mom, it was a rare event!

One of the gifts I gave Jesson was personalized Jones soda Rootbeer.

Jesson and I always take a day and go to Banff when we are up in Canada. On our way back to Calgary, we stopped in the small town of Canmore and got dessert at a small French restaurant. It was good and, due to the poor weather, we were the only ones there so we had excellent service!

We had strawberry crepes with chocolate sauce...

...and maple terrine with maple sauce.

Jesson had the change to play hockey the night before we left. He has not gained weight, those are hockey pads!

Christmas Eve Ride

On Christmas Eve Nano came out to the barn with me and took a spin around the pasture with Reno and I, and then decided that he needed to ride on Reno as well! He puts his front paws up on Reno's front legs and I can lean down and pick him up and put him in the saddle. Reno is a very good and patient boy to stand still for all of this! Jesson came out with us to take a few pictures. It was a great way to spend the morning.

It's a race! I wonder who will win...

Reno congratulating Nano on a well run race!

Time to go back to the barn. Nano was too tired to walk!

The face of a very happy dog!

Christmas Light Date Night

Around the middle of December, Jesson called me at work and told me that he had planned a date night and I should pick him up at the mall and we would go out. He kept what we were doing a surprise. He had and address and put it into our GPS and I just had to drive wherever it told me to go! After a little over an hour of driving, we arrived at a botanical garden in Largo. I was a little confused because I thought you had to look at flowers during the day. I got the idea when I saw this sign greeting us:

The entire garden had been decorated with Christmas lights and we spent an hour or so strolling through the garden and looking at all the different lights, like the gingerbread house below:

My favorite was the polar bear pulling an eskimo on a sled:

Jesson liked the turtle the best:

Someone was nice enough to take our picture under a gazebo:

Despite the many signs posted around, we never had any trouble with gators: