The weather this weekend has been wonderful, specially for Kansas City in the middle of January. You would think we were in San Diego today. With the weather in the sixties yesterday and today, Zach and I knew we had to take advantage. Yesterday we went on a gorgeuos hike around a beautiful little lake. We took Kona and decided to spend a few hours soaking in some much needed vitamin D. It was so nice to be outside.

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Zach and I both had today off, which doesn't happen often, so we knew we wanted to do something. With Zach being the coffee lover he is, and me wanting to see something new in Kansas City, we decided to tour The Roasterie (Kansas City's finest coffee roaster). Alec and Kelcey joined us as we toured the roasterie and learned all about how they find, dry, roast, and package coffee. We had a great time. We also took home a little souvenir to join our Maui coffee sack. We ended the day by walking around Crown Center and enjoying the wonderful weather a little more. 

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So in the interest of saving a buck, we decided to write our christmas letter on our blog instead of printing it out and sending it by snail mail.  Some may call this being "green" or technologically savvy, but really, we are just cheap.  So hope you enjoyed the postcard we sent you (sorry if you did not get one - send us your address and we will add you to the list for next year) as well as our "green" christmas letter.

2011 has been a pretty exciting year for us Ellises.  The first of the year brought a new job for Zach.  He has been working as a teller at a local bank in Kansas. Coincidentally (or not...), Borders Books closed its doors shortly thereafter.  Who knew Zach was so vital for business?  This job has been perfect for Zach while he is in school and it comes with full benefits (Praise God!).

In May, we moved a few miles Southeast to Lees Summit. We are now in a two story townhouse.  We are closer to friends and church, which has made our time here much more enjoyable.  We have made great friendships that we know will last a lifetime.

This summer was the summer of guests.  From late June to early August, we had a full house!  Whitney (Bri's sister) visited for a week in June while Zach was at a wedding in CA.  Zach's parents came in July and spent 18 days (but who's counting?) with us.  During this time we saw our first of many Sporting KC games.  This was the highlight of Zach's life, as he tells Bri on a regular basis.  Bri's parents and grandparents came one week later.  In their week here, Don visited EVERY BBQ place in town!  In six hours, they ate three full bbq meals!  

In August, Bri was offered a first grade teaching position at a charter school in KC, MO.  This has been quite an adventure for her, but it is a great opportunity to gain experience while out here.  She loves her kids and is learning a lot.  And like everybody tells her: if she can teach there, she can teach anywhere!

In October we saw Sporting KC in a playoff game. (This was the place when Bri mentioned our 2nd anniversary and our trip to Branson. However Zach is typing.) Sporting won 2-0, but fell short in the next game.

For our second anniversary, we spent the weekend in Branson, MO.  If you want to read about this, click here.  

We were very fortunate that Zach's parents and brother/sister-in-law were able to visit us for Thanksgiving.  The eight of us (with Alec and Kelcey) rented a cabin on the lake a couple hours south.  We had a great time eating, playing games, and enjoying each other's company.  It was hard to say goodbye as the end of the week came all too soon.

It is hard to believe that this is our third Christmas together!  Time sure does fly.  We are excited to head to CA this week and visit Bri's family for Christmas.  We can't wait to feel the warmth, eat In-N-Out, and enjoy some real Mexican food.  We miss everyone and hope to see you soon.  Thank you for your prayers and we love you all.

Last night we went to Californos to hear our friend Mindy sing. We have been trying to get there for a while now, but Zach always gets out so late from work on Fridays to make it. Luckily, yesterday was Veteran's Day. Zach had the day off so we were able to make it there. We were so happy to finally hear her play. She is a wonderful musician. 

Our friends Ben and Kimbre came to hear her as well and enjoy a nice little date night. Well, after Mindy was done singing, she and Jon were ready to go home. We went to find Ben and Kimbre and decided to crash their date. Our plan was just to crash for only a little while, but then the plans changed.

At the Crown Center (Hallmark Headquarters) in downtown KC, there is a Hyatt. At the top of the hotel is a rotating restaurant. This is the same hotel where about thirty years ago the balcony colapsed, killing all those people. Anyway, The Skies Restaurant sits at the top of this hotel. The hotel is closing on Nov 30th becase it is changing owners, so we are not sure if they will be reopening the restaurant. Ben and Kimbre were planning on heading over there to get some dessert, so we decided to tag along.

That was a great idea. We had a great time talking to Ben and Kimbre and enjoying the wonderful view of Kansas City. Kansas City really does have some wonderful little places to go to and things to do. We can't believe how much we love this city. 

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Life . . . has been crazy. Between all my time at school, Zach working and going to school, church, Kona, and friends, we barely have anytime to try to catch up on life together. I feel like the last month just flew by and now it is already the 9th of November?!?! Everytime we do something blog worthy, I am always telling Zach that I wish I had time to come home and write all about it. Then, reality sets in and I have lesson plans to write, crafts to make (more on that in a later blog), and places we promised people we would be at. 

So, I have decided to write a quick update blog on our lives. As you all know, I am now teaching first grade at a charter school in inner-city Kansas City. And, yes, it is as exhasuting as it sounds, but I am loving evey second of it . . . well almost every second. Zach is busy with class and work. He is over half-way now and we are excited to finally be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Although, I am not sure we are going to be ready for it when it comes. We really are having a wonderful time here in Missouri. 

Here are some things that we have been doing the last couple of weeks:

Trunk or treat. This year we decided on a Dr. Suess theme: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. The kids got to "fish" for their treats.

Sporting Kansas City Playoff game: Standing in the pouring rain in 30 degree weather. An experience I will never forget, and neither will my freezing toes. 

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Our next week will be filled with getting the house and our lives ready for the Ellis's visit for Thanksgiving. We can't wait for everyone to get here and to go to the cabin we rented by the lake to enjoy Thanksgiving/Christmas as a family.

We can't wait!

This weekend we celebrated our two years of being married. We went down to Branson, MO for the weekend. 

We have heard a lot about Branson, so we thought it would be a fun little weekend adventure. So, after dropping Kona off at the farm, we headed down to Branson. We had a wonderful time walking around the Landing and Downtown Branson. We had deep dish pizza overlooking the lake, went antiquing, walked around downtown and ate dinner at an Irish Pub.

At the Pub there was a handout that we really enjoyed. Here's a little taste of what it said:

What it means to be Irish:

9. You have never hit your head on the ceiling.

10. You spent a lot of your childhood kneeling.

16. Many of your sisters are Catherine, Elizabeth, or Mary . . . and one is Mary Catherine Elizabeth.

18. You may not know the words, but that doesn't stop you from singing.

The next morning we got up, ate a wonderful continental breakfast at our hotel and went to visit the Shrine of the Holy Spirit. 

After that we headed over to Branson Ziplining Adventures.

We really enjoyed this experience. This was my first time ziplining. I had really wanted to do it when we were in Maui, but we never got around to it. So, when we found out that there was ziplinging in Branson, and the courses were really cool looking, we couldn't resist. 

As I focused on the technique of doing the correct ziplinging form, Zach took another approach. He chose to spin, get a running start, and hang upside down. We definitely had fun though. We can't wait for our next ziplinging experience.

We spent a lot of the weekend reflecting on our last two years together. We have never been happier and can't wait to see what the next 50 years will bring us. 

I can't believe 2 years ago today, we were here.

 we are still loving every second of it!!!!!!

Our friend Sarah ran the KC half marathon this morning. My very clever friend Kelly thought it would be a brilliant idea to create inspirational signs and cheer Sarah on as she ran through downtown KC. So, after picking up Starbucks, we all caravaned down to KC to wait on the corner of 39th and Main St, where we knew she would be running by early this morning. 

We were surprised at how fun it was to be standing out in the cold, holding signs, and cheering on the wave of runners running down the street. It really was an awesome experience. As the runners passed, they seemed appreciative of our cheers and many cheered us on as well.

We were a little worried that we wouldn't be able to find Sarah in the sea of all those runners. We even joked about it being like Where's Waldo . . . or better yet, Where's Sarah?! 

After a lot of worried thoughts that we missed her, there on the other side of the street was a girl in a pink shirt waving at us. Yay, Sarah!!!! We found her at last. 

We are so proud of Sarah for acheiving such a huge accomplishment.

Sarah, you rock!

We would also like to give a shout out to Ashley and James who we saw running the marathon as well. Great Job!

Yesterday we went to a wonderful little Ethiopian restaurant named Elsa's.

I need to begin by thanking two people for this yummy experience. First of all to Uncle Gary Keeler. Thank you for the nice date night money you gave so that the four of us could enjoy this lovely evening out. We have been waiting for a special night and special time when we could really appreciate a nice night out. So thanks.

The second thanks must go to Angela. My friend Angela sent me a link to this blog a couple of months ago. I have been wanting to try it, and we finally got the chance. Thank you Angela. It was a great suggestion. When you and Jeff come out to visit again, we will have to take you there. 

It is a wonderful little authentic Ethiopian restaurant with amazing food and great service. The chef, Elsa herself, even came out to see that we loved our meals. We sure did! We even had tons of leftovers that we couldn't wait to enjoy this evening. 

So if anyone wants some great food, we know where to take you!

On September 5th we went to our second Sporting KC soccer game.  After attending two games and purchasing our first Sporting jersey (Zach's birthday present!) we have officially become fans and can finally knock that off our bucket list.  

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Sitting in the stands, waiting for the game to begin.

This time around, they were playing LA Galaxy.  For those of you who are not on the up and up with the MLS, both Landon Donovan and David Beckham play for Galaxy. So we were just as excited to see these two players compete. Bri has a lot of family that are big Galaxy fans, so it was fun texting them and sending them picture texts of us at the game. 

We are also excited that we were shown on TV a couple of times. Alec and Kelcey texted us each time we were shown. And if you go onto the MLS website and watch the recap you can see us as well. We're pretty proud! 

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Beckham from the back. We were pretty close, too bad I don't have a better camera. 

We are very proud of Sporting. They really held their own and played a good game against the best team in the nation, and really unfair reffing. Believe me, the ref was bad. We heard all the songs/cheers to prove it. 

Zach in his new jersey. Happy Birthday!

The game ended as a tie, 2-2. Which really should have been 3-1 Sporting winning. We are glad to see that Sporting was able to do so well against a team that has completely dominated the competition. We'll have to see how well they do for the rest of the season and at our next game. This is just the beginning.