5 Year Anniversary Getaway

It was pretty cold last weekend and I was starting to think hell might have frozen over because my husband, yes John Hamra, planned a weekend getaway for our 5 year wedding anniversary. If you know him, you know this never happens! His strength is not in planning. Nevertheless, he not only set up his Mom and Derrick to come watch our boys but booked us a room at Big Cedar Lodge, a couples massage , and organized the day with a visit to Copper Run Distillery (a tradition of ours) and a golf cart tour at Top of the Rock complete with a bottle of the cider we had been saving from our trip to Dallas. I was very impressed! While it was cold, we packed warm clothes and snuggled on our outside tour, it was very romantic. I gotta say, I sure did snag a keeper!

Copper Run stop

I think we deserve this!

Ready to brave the cold

Maybe this will keep me warm

The frozen waterfalls were gorgeous!

I'm a rule breaker, ha!

This stuff is Yummy!

4 years ago today we said I DO!

Today, John and I celebrate 4 years of marriage. Instead of gushing on what an extraordinary husband and father my guy is (he totally is!), I want to go back and remember all the awesome, crazy, good times we have shared over these past four years as husband and wife.  While we only have been married less than five years, we have already spent more than 14 together. Time flies when you get to spend it with your best friend. I look forward to many more years, especially this year with the arrival of our new little one.

4 Years of Marriage in Review

(with the help of my instagram account) 

Year One (2011 - 2012)

• Got hitched
• Elton John concert
• Bought some bikes and explored Springfield
• Honeymoon (3 month later) to Cabo San Lucas
• Found out we were going to be parents!!!
• Float trip
• Chicago Trip for Cards vs. Cubs  with the family and Trina
• Baby Hamra is a BOY, found out on John’s 29^th birthday
• Mizzou’s 100^th year Homecoming with the Johnson’s
•  Nursery painting party with the Johnson’s (Wowzers, that was work!)
• New Year’s Eve celebration at Touch with all our besties!

Year Two (2012 - 2013)

• Amazing couples baby shower at Parlor 88 hosted by Trina, Megan, and Anna…followed by a fun night out party bus style for Tim’s 30^th birthday!
• Met our new best friend, Sawyer Farris Hamra!
• Incubus concert (I forget now how many we have been to!)
• Lake party for my sister’s 18^th birthday
• Sawyer got baptized
• 30^th birthday trip to Las Vegas, followed by party back home with friends & family
•  St. Louis trip with little man to visit the Champlin’s (zoo, grant’s farm)
• Helped organized the 1^st Annual Lost & Found Game Day
• Another Mizzou homecoming trip, sans little man.
• Sawyer’s first Christmas and we made sure to take him to all sides of the family
• Frankly….the majority of this year was all about Little Man
• New Year’s Eve celebration with Megan & Tim at Galloway

Year Three (2013 - 2014)

• Anniversary weekend in Branson
• Sawyer’s first Mizzou basketball game with the Tarwater clan
• Our sweet Sawyer turned 1
• A lot of support and training hours as I trained and competed in my first Urban Challenge race. John and Sawyer were there every step of the way!
• St. Louis trip for Sawyer’s first Blues vs. Blackhawks game
• Lots more bike rides adding a bike seat for Sawyer
• We became and Aunt & Uncle with the birth of our nephew Kaiden
• Family Reunion and Father’s Day in Hot Springs
• Lake getaway with the family, Sawyer’s first train ride on the Branson Scenic Railway.
• Celebrated our bestie Trina’s birthday in St. Louis with a Cards game and a trip to the City Museum
•  Let loose at the Cattle Baron’s Ball
• Sawyer’s first time on an airplane to Chicago for the Cubs game, Wrigley Tour, and Shed’s Aquarium.
• Glow Run fundraiser for Sawyer’s School. Also his first 5K.
• Sawyer’s first Mizzou Homecoming
• Welcomed Elliot Johnson, our bestie’s little girl.
•  New Year’s Eve celebrating my Springfield Cares Nomination for Rising Star

Year Four (2014 - 2015)

• 3^rd Anniversary weekend getaway to Copper Run distillery & Branson wineries.
• Sawyer’s 2^nd birthday party at Dynamics Gymnastics
• Annual Tarwater/Hamra Mizzou game trip (sans kids this round)
• Kings of Leon concert in KC
• St. Louis zoo trip with Sawyer with an adult evening to the Arcade Fire concert (thanks to the grandparents)
• Rented our first home together to our tenants, bittersweet to say the least
• Purchased our first home together!
•  Celebrated Megan’s 31^st birthday in St. Louis with a Cardinals game
• Welcomed all our friends & family into our new home with a Housewarming party
• Erntefest fun in Freistatt with the Boyce’s and Terry’s
• Sawyer’s first St. Louis cardinals game (versus the cubs)
• First family (of 3) vacation to St. Pete, Florida
• Quickly after discovered we were now a family of 4!!!!
• Los, Angeles trip to see Justin Timberlake
• Hosted our first annual Friendsgiving and first ever family Thanksgiving at our new house
• Family-style New Year’s celebration at the Johnson’s
• Mizzou Basketball game for our annual Tarwater/Hamra Mizzou trip 

3rd Anniversary Weekend

The print I had made for John -
our wedding song (Adele To Make you feel my love)

John and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary all weekend long with some family time and a quick overnight trip to Branson. Sawyer had gymnastic Saturday morning and John hadn't gotten to see him participate yet, so we started our weekend at his class. He did even better than last week and John loved  getting to see him do the obstacle course and flips.
We have been dying to check out Copper Run Distillery and thought this would be a perfect opportunity. After Sawyer's class, we headed to Copper Run for the tour, tasting and cocktails. We ended up meeting some awesome new friends who invited us to sit with them and try some specialty drinks. We invited them to join us at Stone Hill Winery for their tour and tasting and then to finish the evening at Cantina Laredo for dinner. John and I had reservations at Chateau on the Lake for the night. We decided to head back after dinner for a mean game of Uno at the bar hotel. Thanks to John's mom and step dad (and Cindie) for staying with Sawyer, he had such a fun time!

Sawyer at gymnastics 

getting his sticker

First stop...Copper Run, whiskey tasting

signing the guest book 

The Moonrise was amazing (made with Moonshine)

on to the Tour of the Distillery

Copper Still

Owner and Master Distiller showing us the process

different stages of aging

met a furry friend, or maybe he wanted my Moonrise

Our new friends 

Second stop....Stone Hill Winery

Third stop.....Cantina Laredo on the Landing 

Our home sweet home for the weekend...Chateau on the Lake

such a cool place, will definitely have to bring Sawyer back

Final Stop....some champagne and a game of Uno

We almost got kicked out of the hotel bar for bringing our own Champagne

MEANWHILE AT HOME...... 

Sawyer was being a very helpful older cousin

He even got to see the Turtles at Bass Pro