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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.

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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!

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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. 

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

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

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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!

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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!

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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. 

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We have been trying to get our friends, Chris and Kelly, to go camping with us for a while now. Our Texan friends are, as they like to say, "whooses". Well, after much debate, a couple of weekend changes, and two cots later; they agreed. So Yesterday we packed up our two cars and two dogs and were on our way. 

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We chose a nice little state park that Zach and I had gone to a few weeks earlier. It is nice and shady, not a lot of people, and only about 50 minutes away. After being there the last time we knew it would be perfect for Chris and Kelly's first ever camping trip. We had heard on the news that there were some slight chances for Thunderstorms, but knowing Missouri weather, you can never be sure what that means. We weren't too worried. The last time we went camping it had said that too and we had wonderful weather. 

We arrived at Knob Noster State Park around 4:00 p.m.. We quickly began our work of getting the campsite ready. As I was busy helping the Branigans set up their tent our next door neighbor came over to see if he could help us out. Apparently the rain decided that it would head directly for us. Sure enough, as he began to show us the forecast on his iphone at the edge of the horizon I could see the clouds begin to roll in. We quickly put up the tents and moved all the food and chairs back inside the cars for safe keeping.

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We still had a little while before the rain came in, so we decided to hang outside and play a game of Trivial Pursuit while we waited. About a half-hour later little drops of water began to fall on the board. We quickly grabbed the game, snacks, and dogs and ran into the Van Drunens MASSIVE tent. We had four people two big dogs, two cots and plenty of room to spare. We spent the next few hours enjoying each others company. The dogs are always a main topic when the four of us our together and Bear and Kona didn't disappoint! These two best buds lounged around and at one point fell asleep holding paws. They are very funny together. 

After a couple of hours the rain still wasn't letting up. We all began to look at our watches and listened to our bellies. It was time to eat. There was no way we were going to get a fire started in that rain, and who would want to try?! So, we all loaded up and drove a mile outside the park to McDonalds; that's right mom and dad, we went to McDonalds  . . . again! (For those of you who don't know, when we had gone camping a couple of weeks ago to this exact place we had trouble starting a fire after a series of unfortunate events and ended up eating at McDonalds then too) 

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When it got dark the rain had let up and we were able to start a fire and enjoy some nice smores for a little while before having to pack up and hurry into the tent once again. The rain did eventually stop, sometime in the middle of the night, and we woke up to a nice cool chill in the morning. However, it was still cloudy and we were ready to go. So, we quickly packed up and headed to our house where we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our nice DRY home. 

When asking Chris and Kelly if they would ever go with us again, they promptly said, "We had a good time; but, been there, done that!"

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Over the summer I didn't have as much time as I thought I would for all the different craft plans I had. I did, however, complete my embroidered map that I have been working on since the Blizzard. We are excited to have it framed and sitting on our mantel. Eventually, I will add the places we have lived, but for now I am pretty happy with the way it is. 

Also, when I was in San Diego, Rachel and I had fun making sun prints. She had ordered this special paper online and we went around her apartment to find some different types of plants and flowers to use. We placed the plants on the paper, ran outside and let the sun capture the silhouette of the flower. 

Hopefully, as I settle into a routine at school I will be able to tackle some more projects. 

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Sorry, I have been really behind on posts lately. It feels as though this summer has been whizzing by, and I have just been trying to keep up with all the crazy fun things that have been happening. So, let's recap this summer, shall we?

Summer started the first week of June. Two weeks into June I started summer school. My sister came to visit a week later. Then, four days later Zach's parents arrived. They stayed for the first two weeks of July, and we enjoyed every second of it! We had a week before my parents and grandparents came. They were here for a week, during which we traveled to St Louis. They left that Tuesday and on Wednesday I flew to San Diego and got to spend time with Austin and Rachel until Sunday. Finally, I began work on Monday. Just thinking about this summer makes me want to take a nap. Oh, and during all of this there was the stress of job hunting, interviewing, and finally having the relief of finding a teaching job!!!! 

So, this really hasn't left me with a lot of time to blog about what has been happening. And to think, usually I have a lot of time and struggle to find things to blog about, now I have an abundance, and no time. Life is funny sometimes. I wish I had the time and energy to sit down and write out all the great things we did, and tell all the funny little anecdotes about our life, but sadly I don't . But, I don't want to leave everybody out in the dark about Zach and my's life, so here are some of my favorite pictures of our summer:

My sister visiting, the mst fun we had was hanging out with Kona.

When Zach's parents came we went to our first Sporting KC game. Now we can't get enough.

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St. Louis Arch. 

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Grant's Farm, St. Louis.

I really wish my eyes weren't closed, but this was too funny not to post. 

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I want to wish my mom a very special birthday. Thanks for being a great mom. I hope you have a wonderful day full of lots of laughter and love. 

This is us in one of the pods we took up to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

I really hope you like the wreath I made for you. I am pretty excited about how it came out. I am going to have to make one for myself now. 

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On Saturday night we went over to our friends Jon and Mindy's for dinner and fun. They made a wonderful dinner, we had wonderful conversation, and tons of laughs. After dinner Jon was eager to tell us of an urban legend of which he had heard. It went a little something like this:

Many years ago, on a cold, frosty morning, a school bus full of kids was across railroad tracks (railroad tracks are an important part of many urban legends it seems).  As it crossed, it stalled on the tracks.  A train was coming and all the bus needed was a little momentum to cross the tracks and continue downhill, clear of the train.  However, before it could, the train hit the bus, killing everybody inside.  Now, legend has it, if you stop just after the tracks and put your car in neutral, then, instead of going downhill, the children will drag you back up the hill onto the tracks.  If you put baby powder on your trunk you can even see their hands grabbing your car!

Well, this story was intriguing. We had a good laugh, then Jon asked if we wanted to go to Gravity Hill and try it out. Jon and Mindy had gone a little while back and said that it really did happen. So, we all jumped into the car and headed out to the middle of the country to find this "gravity hill." After about 30 minutes Jon pulls onto this litte dirt road out in the middle of nowhere and right in front of us were train tracks. Well the legend was a little off because you have to go about 1/4 mile past the train tracks to actually reach the hill. 

Once we reached the "bottom" of this hill, we put the car in neutral and coasted "up" the hill.  If one were to use logic, one would know that you are actually going downhill; however, some sort of optical illusion is at work and it looks like you are coasting uphill at a pretty impressive speed.  It even works if you get out and run.  Your feet can telling that you are running downhill, but it looks as if you are running uphill. It was a really cool experience. To the people in the farmhouse across the field, we probably looked ridiculous. There we were driving a little while, putting the car in neutral and backing it up again. It went on for about 15-20 minutes, driving back and forth. We can't wait to go on our next adventure with Jon and Mindy. 

Here is another take on the urban legend. 

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We have been looking forward to this year's 4th for a while now. Not because Zach gets to blow things up, or we get to eat until our heart's content, but because Mom and Dad Ellis were here to celebrate with us.

This year we started the celebration a little early. On Sunday Alec and Kelcey came over for a night of eating and games. After dinner the boys decided to go to the store to get the items necessary for Oreo Milkshakes. Of course when they came back, they had a little more than that with them. Anyone who knows Tim knows that the white plastic bag they brought back didn't just contain oreos, but tons of fireworks too. So, once it got dark we journeyed to the front yard to begin the fun of blowing things up. What a lovely American tradition!

Kelcey's first time lighting fireworks.

On the fourth, we all gathered at Tony and Diane's house for an All-American Celebration. We had more food than we could possibly eat (enter blueberries), great weather, and of course wonderful fireworks. The experience was overall a lot better than last year. If you remember I blogged about the pouring rain and standing out in the middle of the storm with only Tony by my side (everyone else chickened out). The fireworks were fabulous and we even had our own fun setting off some in the front yard. All in all, I'd say it was a great 4th!

P.S. There were two things we learned this year about 4th of July:

1. It is crazy that all the fireworks that are illegal in California are not in Missouri, although it is still crazier in LA than here.

2. That the firework titled "Flaming Balls" is definitely our favorite.

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Sisters, sisters. Never were there such devoted sisters. Sharing, caring  . . . Just kidding. Although if you ask me, we put those two sisters to shame!

This past week I have been lucky enough to have my beautiful sister come out to visit. It has been a great week full of lots of laughs and fun. It has been great to spend some quality time with her. Whenever I go home to visit, my time is always split with family and every moment is scheduled. There is never enough time to spend with just one person. So this week has been devoted to Bri and Whit time (Oh, and Kona too. We can't forget her).

We spent our time walking around the plaza (making sure we hit the two-story Forever 21), going to the zoo, antiquing with Kelcey, BBQ with the boys, and lots and lots of games. When I asked Whit what she wanted to do when she came out, the one thing I heard over and over again was to play Settlers with Alec and Kelcey. Well, so much for sisterly love! Just kidding. You have never experienced a truly great game of settlers unless you have played with Alec and Kelcey, so I understood her interest. Luckily, Alec and Kelcey came over last night so we had a great time playing Settlers and Whit even learned the newest version Rails and Trails.

It was also great that someone from our family finally met Kona. I feel like we having been talking about her forever, but no one has ever seen the funny things we tell them. And of course, Whit quickly fell for the Kona charm. They cuddled together, played together, and quickly became best buds. Every morning I would hear Kona whining at Whit's door, waiting for her to get up to play.

I have enjoyed every moment with my sister and was sad to see her go. Now I can't wait for Christmas. We have already started making plans for our next adventure together.

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Well. I wouldn't say famous, but we were officially interviewed for a local Kansas City magazine about our blog and KC bucket list.

Sara Gish from Ink Magazine got a hold of us and asked if she could interview us about an article she was writing about Bucket Lists. She had come across our blog and loved all the fun KC things to do on our bucket list. So, she and I had a phone interview where I got to talk about the bucket list, blog, and our life in Kansas City. It was a really fun experience and I'm glad to hear that people are interested and reading our blog.

Although the article in its entirety is about a woman about to turn 30 and all the things she wants to accomplish before then, there is a nice little paragraph about us and our bucket list. We are excited just to have been mentioned.

Here is the little exerpt about us:

"Taking a dream vacation before having kids is also on Bri and Zach Ellis's bucket list. The 23-year-old newlyweds, who moved from San Diego to Lee's Summit last summer, say they want to backpack across southern Europe after Zach finishes his master's degree. But the couple isn't putting their bucket list on hold until then: Last year tehy wrote down all the things they wanted to do while living in Kansas City. They wanted to get a dog, find the city's best barbecue, dance in a fountain, camp in the Ozarks and play in fresh snow. They still haven't danced in a fountain or found the best barbecue (but Oklahoma Joe's is in the lead)."

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