And they're off!

As most of you know, my brother is famous for his crazy backpacking trips he always takes and they're off on another one right now! Nick & Win have gone to Thailand, Honduras, Bolgaria and now they are tackling Costa Rica, Nicaragua & Panama with some help, Dale & Kevin. The 4 guys arrived in Atlanta around 9:30 on Saturday night, and it was great catching up with all of them. Within 3 hours we had all eaten bagel bites, a large pizza and a whole batch of chocolate chip cookies. Sunday morning we had planned to take them all rafting down the river. Kyle & I did it last summer with some friends and it seemed like a great adventure to get their vacation started. Chris, Kathleen & Kathleen's sister, Rachael, came and met us as well and we all had a ball.

Here we all are getting our life jackets & kayaks:

It's along the Chattahoochee River and they drop you in about 5 miles up the river from where you park. And then you just float and float and float :) It's about the most relaxing thing you could ever do, especially when you have a big group of people and you all tie your kayaks together so it's one big "flotilla" as Nick liked to call it. They are all 1 person kayaks where you basically just sit on top, your legs don't go under anything. There is even a comfortable backrest! It's a great way to get sun and relax from a busy week. I had packed PB&J and chips for everyone so we stopped half way and ate... which was good b/c it took about 5 1/2 hours to kayak down! The guys had a great time throwing tennis balls back and forth and trying to stand on top of their kayaks. Win gets the award for hurting himself the most, as the river was SO low and he would fall on rocks a lot. Dale & Kevin actually kayaked some of the time so they got way ahead of us and we finished probably 25 minutes before us b/c we chose to float the whole way! We had a great time.

We had cheeseburgers & chips back at the house for dinner and it hit the spot, we were all so hungry and tired. We got out the scale and weighed them all (since they lost so much weight last summer from throwing up trying to get used to the food & water!). We also weighed their packs and good thing for them they were all in the 20-28 lb range which is great! We all went to bed early, but of course got some last minute shots of them.

We had a great time and are so glad you guys stopped by... can't wait to see you when you return in late July!

Pinch Me... Is this real?

Finally something that I believed was totally intangible for me in Georgia has come true... I have found a fantastic job with a profitable, organized and most importantly, ethical company. The work environment is UNREAL and the people are all so wonderful. The amount of work that this company puts into making their employees happy is unlike any other I've faced in Georgia.

I wanted to take a moment to share some things that I feel like need to be said and I'm sorry if this comes out blunt, but I've never been known for my "patience" or "thought out words" when I'm upset. Unfortunately in the near future Kyle and I might need to add security to our blog, and try to block out a certain person from reading. I think it's absolutely absurd that we'll have to do this just so one person cannot read about us, but if we have to do it then we have to do it. Our blog is not search-able through blogger or google, but once someone finds/obtains the link they can immediately read our posts and continue to visit back whenever.

There are so many stories to prove how insane my old company was, I mean you really would be blown away. I'm trying my hardest to stay professional even though this is our PERSONAL blog, which means we can write whatever we want for our FRIENDS and FAMILY to read. I know this shouldn't shock me, but my old boss not only reads our blog to keep up with me, but reads my posts about my new job and she seems to be making changes at G. M. that seem to be very similar to what I blog about. She admitted to me that she read my blog before I left G. M. and unfortunately the things she's implemented there since I've left are just too similar. (Why do I have to spell the company name like that you might be wondering? B/c she has a tracker set on those two words and gets an email linking to whatever website/blogger has used them) You know what is the funniest part though? She never would write back to any of our emails or make time for any of the employees who worked for her b/c she "didn't have enough time in the day". But yet she gets copies of & reads all the employees emails and tracks what we all write on our personal blogs.

Last week, G. M. contacted me to take away my CS3 (graphic design software). I thought they would gladly give me rights to this software since I used my own personal computer there for a year... But why in the world would I think that? I have a tendency to think the best of people, that's why I continuously kept getting hurt working for G. M. I was upset at first that they would take it away, but then I realized that was the last thing tying me to that company and it was such a relief to give it over and them not have anything to upset or disappoint me with anymore. Well I was wrong.

I'm torn because the changes that she's implementing at G. M. are efforts in making the employee morale go up, with being able to bring in dogs to work, more flexible hours, etc. I'm thrilled for all my friends who still work there and I know that makes it tolerable for sure. So on that side I'm happy that I've had an impact in helping their work environment be a little better. On the other hand, I really don't want G. M. to profit and grow knowing how corrupt and unethical every decision is. I don't want her rude actions to be rewarded by having faithful employees or a booming business. She doesn't deserve that or half the people that work there. She didn't deserve me.

Clearly you know who you are, please STOP READING OUR BLOG.

Risking the fact that she'll copy the things I say in the paragraphs below, I'm writing this for our FRIENDS and FAMILY to read. I want you all to know how happy I've been for the past 3 weeks and why and I can't hold it in any longer!

It's amazing the difference here with the ABC!!! Not only do we get an hour for lunch, we (the graphic designers and product designers) actually all eat together everyday- whether we got out or stay in! EVERY email I have gotten from my boss has said "thank you" "please" "great job" "gorgeous" "wonderful job" "so glad you are here" and other wonderful things. I've been here 3 weeks. I was at G. M. for a year and never heard those. We have a "traffic coordinator" (her name is Jen and she's so sweet), who's main responsibility is to manage the designers projects in order of priority, arrange meetings and take in requests from the company for us. It's amazing how much work I can get done when not everyone from the company is contacting me for things and telling me it's top priority. There is no fowl language used here (unbelievable right?). We have "girls night out" where all the ladies in the marketing and product design departments go out for dinner & a movie after work. Last week we went to Twist for dinner and then saw the Sex and the City movie... the company paid! The hours are really so flexible. My boss, Donna, found out that we were driving home to Raleigh for fathers day Friday after work, came up to me at 2 pm and told me to leave for the day, no questions asked.

Plus they bought a new 15" Mac Book Pro for me with all the programs on it that I need, along with a 22" monitor so I can double screen it when I'm working!

And I'll cut off at this one: We have company wide meetings on the 3rd Friday of every month. They broke everyone up last month into 5 teams, taking a person from every department and making teams to we can all get to know one another. Our group had a Chic-Fil-A catered lunch and had to come up with a team name & color to make t-shirts. Our team was called the "smart aspens" haha creative right? There were other names like "Kick Aspens" "Got Aspen?" & "Aspen Idols". So last Friday was the company wide meeting. They told everyone to bring tennis shoes and pack up our stuff around 1:30. We all met at the new office (where we are moving in September) and had a catered lunch. The room was all decorated for the teams, so we could all sit together while we ate.

Even Jackson (one of our office dogs who is always there) was dressed for his team... It said "Got Aspen Jackson" on it... Haha

Gina, Holly, Shirley (one of the owners) and myself... all from the SmartAspens

Our team:

Once we had all eaten, the meeting started. This is my first time being in a company meeting and I was just in awe of everything that they do. Not only did they show a powerpoint of the sales & budget of the company, they actually gave dollar amounts to how the company is doing/profiting. It was unreal and I was shocked that they would be so open about money. I can't explain how awesome it was and to see how well this company is doing. After that was finished there was another slideshow, only this time it was recapping their Race for the Cure Walk that they had last month. About 40 employees participated and they raised a ton of money. Our product director, Kim, has battled breast cancer twice so we actually have a whole new line of breast cancer favors coming out this year. It was a really neat slideshow. A couple weeks after I started, they sent out an email asking if any of us knew people who had battled against breast cancer and asked us to give a picture and how we know them. Turns out all of our pictures we turned in were put into the slideshow and it was awesome to see how many people have fought and won against breast cancer in the company & their families.

Last but not least was time for fish. They have these fish that they hand out every month just as an encouragement from other employees. It's to reward an employee for going above and beyond their line of work. You can fill out as many as you want and give them to anyone who you've noticed doing a great job. SUCH a cool idea.
After the meeting ended we all got the chance to walk around the new building and see where all of our departments are going. Then it was time for relay races! Each team had to dress up their co-captain as one of our owners. We have 4 owners, 2 Chinese people (Shirley and DJ) and then Jennifer & Brad. It was absolutely hilarious and really fun.

Cheering teams on:

I'm sorry this post has been so long, we will keep you all posted on the status, if we decide to put a block up on our blog or not. I just hate the idea of not being able to put up what we really want to say on here... so tonight I disregarded those rules and put everything I wanted to say :)

Wonderful Father's Day Weekend!

This weekend Kyle and I decided to drive to Raleigh and spend time with both of our fathers. We got into Kyle's parents house in Apex late Friday night. On Saturday we got the chance to spend a lot of time with Pop (Kyle's 95 year old grandfather), which was one of the main reasons we came home. A couple months ago Pop went to Kyle's cousin's bed and breakfast up in VA that used to be a Plantation home. During that time Pop's condition deteriorated and the doctors believe that he had a stroke at some point. Anyways he's back at the Guenthers now and he's happy to be with family and the dogs, but he is just having more difficulty than he was before he went to the plantation. We wanted to come spend some time with him this weekend to see how he was doing ourselves and see if there was anyway we could help. The Guenthers are trying to decide what the next step is for him as he is requiring more care. I'll keep you posted on what they decided, but your prayers for Pop would definitely be appreciated.

Pop, Kyle and I... Pop said he would only take the picture if we gave him a dollar (We only had a $5).

Last week Kyle decided that he wanted a new road bike, since triathlon season is picking back up and he has spent so much maintaining his old bike. He found one in Raleigh that he was interested in and immediately put his bike on Craigslist and got 25 calls in one day about it. He ended up selling it for $425! and got the other bike for $700, and it was SUCH a great deal (the bike brand new is around $2400). Kyle is stoked about his awesome triathlon bike!

Kyle & Mr. G looking at the new bike... thank you Kerry & Brad for picking it up!

We also got to go out to breakfast/lunch at I-Hop with Pop, and Mr. & Mrs. G. It was delicious and fun hanging out. Kerry & Brad were out of town, but we got to see their puppy Eli... man how he's growing!

Saturday night I headed over to Raleigh to surprise my family. Kyle's family knew that we were coming in town, but mine didn't! They were all having dinner over at Tara's and it was hilarious when I walked through the door. Grandma and Mom didn't know what to do! I made it just in time to see the twins before they went to bed too! We had a wonderful steak dinner and then played a couple rounds of Cranium. It was absolutely hilarious and a wonderful night.

Grandpa was cracking us up the entire time. There is one section of the game called "humdinger" where you have to hum a song for your whole team to guess what it is. Somehow Grandpa thought it was a good idea if he tried it. Well his card said "Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round". So what did he do? Hummed the actual sound that tires make going round and round. He kept saying "Look at my head I'm giving you clues" hahaha... not getting that he was supposed to be humming A SONG!

Nick acting out a humdinger of someone who can't sing on tune... this was so funny:

The other team though it was a good idea to "group roll" everytime... whatever!

We also had to go around the room and collect certain items that the card said like "something yellow, some kind of clothing, and something alive". I grabbed a yellow napkin, then Tara & I ran into the kitchen to find something alive and only thought of "yogurt" since it has yeast in it. When we came back in the other room Grandpa had taken off his shirt as the clothing like no big deal. It's so great to see him feeling better, even though he's still going through chemo. He changed to once a week instead of once a month, and we heard a couple weeks ago that it's actually working and getting rid of some of his cancer. Yeah!!

On Sunday my whole family and I went to church together then had lunch reservations at a Brazilian Steak House to celebrate Father's Day. Kyle met my family over there and we had a great time.

The Dew Family:
Kyle, Nick & I: Dad with all the kids & grandkids:
Dad with all the kids:

We both had a great weekend, and are glad we made the trip home!

Chris' Bachelor Weekend at Tate

Another late post from Kyle. Chris is already married if you read our blog regularly, but a few weeks ago we headed up to Tate in the North Georgia mountains for Chris' bachelor party. Our friend, Taylor, and his family have a house on a small lake in a gated community where 14 guys (and Tyson... so 15) went up to celebrate Chris' last real weekend of freedom. We spent most of our time playing basketball, baseball, volleyball, and fishing. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Chris acting like a super hero in his wetsuit

The rope swing

Me on the rope swing Tyson even did the rope swing Home Run Derby Fishing
Toast to Chris

Campfire

Basketball
A good time was had by all, and it was very generous of Tay's family to open their home to all of us.

Trip to California

This is Kyle writing. This is a little late but I always say "better late than never". I went to California a couple weeks ago to train Home Depot Associates about our fans and while I was there I was able to spend some time with my uncle, Dave, and his family. I met Dave at a state park specifically dedicated for dirt bikes and ATV's. We spent the afternoon riding through the hills of California. We had a blast and man was I impressed by what Uncle Dave can do on a dirt bike!
After that I headed to Pleasanton to meet my cousins Drew & Kevin for dinner and had some California BBQ. It was great catching up with them, since we don't see eachother often, but when we do we really enjoy spending time together. Kevin and Drew both headed back to school and I headed back to Dave & Kathy's house to spend the night. I got to catch up with my Aunt Kathy and cousin Lauren, and soaked my sore muscles from dirt biking in their hot tub. The next morning I headed to San Jose for another training, but conveniently the house my grandparents used to live in was only 2 miles from the store where I was giving the training. I stopped by to take a look at the house where I've heard stories of my grandfather (Pop) getting the party started after work by jumping into the pool from the roof!
From there I headed up to Santa Clara where Kevin gave me a tour of Santa Clara University. We had dinner and killed some time while I waited for my red-eye flight home. Always great to see the Bayly family, I wish we could do it more often!

A Refreshing Get Together!

Tonight I had the chance to meet some of my co-workers from G. M. for dinner. Since I still work a mile away from them all, we met down the road at "Frontera" and had SUCH a great time. It was so nice to catch up with everyone, even though I've only been gone for 2 weeks! There was live music going on, so we all had a great time singing too :) I've realized how different life is when you get out of that office, so we are going to try to do more get togethers like these to let loose and have some fun!

Emily & I ... bless her heart all my work got dumped on her until the new graphic designer came... thanks em!

Jamie, Scott & Des... my pals :)

Nicole and Des... we had the best time venting to each other everyday! Nicole was my roomate in the office and she just left G. M. as well. She's moving to D.C. this weekend to start her Ph.D. in the fall!

These are great people and I'm lucky to have them all as friends! Thanks for such a fun night guys! (I told you all you would make the blog!)

Jamie's Wedding Photos!

Just wanted to post some of my friend Jamie's wedding pictures (I worked with her at G. M.!). Her and Josh just got married over Memorial Day in Mexico, and I'm just in awe of her wedding pictures. The colors are amazing and I love all the neat shots her photographer captured!

I love how parasols are in right now... it's such a neat touch for outdoor weddings!

They had a real donkey walking around with drinks in it's buckets... haha SO CUTE!!

51-75 Fun Facts

Alright here are the fun facts 51-75. This is really turning into the "Kyle & Leah" story since I'm going chronologically... hopefully it's not boring!

51) When our countdown till the wedding day from 100 started, I made & cut sheets of paper with numbers on them, punched holes in the top, and strung them from the wall in my apartment in Charlotte. Kyle and I had a blast pulling down all the numbers. (I can't find the picture right now so in the video underneath, just watch at the end and you'll see it behind Kyle)

52) On July 4th, Kyle and I had headed up to Lake Gaston in North Carolina for a family get together. We stopped by the grocery store to pick up last minute food necessities, and on the bulletin board at the entrance of the store was a "for sale" sign. It had an adorable picture of a pure bred black lab on top of a picnic table... only 1 left! Kyle and I looked at each other and said "well we can just go look at it". We drove into the country with Kyle's family and met Tyson. Well we named him that, but he was adorable and so laid back! (Turns out he had worms and other things that were making him really sick... once he got better as you all know he is NOT laid back! We just had to get him, so we did and the rest is history :)

All grown up and SO CUTE:

53) One night after we had cooked dinner I took out the camera & video taped Kyle. We think this video is so funny and a great memory.

54) Our wedding day was so much fun and we were both so anxious to see each other. The weather was perfect for being December 16th, 2006-- which also happens to be my sister, Tara and her husband, Jamie's wedding anniversary.
Unbelievably neither one of us cried during the vows, and all of our guests could hear us so clearly. We love the picture that was taken by our friend, Tiffin, when Jamie announced us as husband and wife.

55) Unfortunately most of our pictures were ruined by our photographer, Always Autumn Studios (yes I am DEFINITELY putting their name out there). Supposedly his flash malfunctioned for part of the night, but that doesn't even come close to explaining why he missed out on so many of our special moments. Hmm maybe watching him sitting in the pews during our ceremony on our video explains some of it... lazy piece of crap. (FYI we did get all of our money back & rights to all the images, and that helped a little :/ )

56) After leaving the reception, Kyle and I were on the way to our hotel, talking about the day and I yelled "PULL OVER". After I threw up everything I felt MUCH better and we headed to the hotel to actually eat our delicious food that was packed for us. It's a funny memory that only would happen to Leah Baker.

57) Our honeymoon was the best week of our lives, we both agree to that. We had so much fun just being together and doing exactly what we wanted to spend our time doing. We ended up getting bumped to an adult only boutique hotel, and man are we so grateful. We had our own pool on our balcony and loved doing adventures every other day!
We drove in a dune-buggy one afternoon and had a great time EXCEPT for when Kyle drove through a mud puddle and only seemed to get me soaking in the mud!

And how could I leave off this video... I was scared half to death b/c we didn't take trails the whole time... we drove stickshift ON THE HIGHWAY:

58) We came home and had a wonderful time living in our apartment in Charlotte. It was right in the middle of where we both worked so it worked out perfectly. Meanwhile, our house in Charlotte was almost done being built, and we were scheduled to move in around March. It was so neat walking around the lot full of dirt and imagining our first house together.

59) In the middle of February on a Monday morning, Kyle along with 12 other guys from Irwin lost their jobs. It came as a total shock to everyone, including the men who had to tell everyone the news. It wasn't anything any of the guys had done performance wise, unfortunately Irwin had not hit their numbers for the year and they had to downsize a whole department. Kyle immediately started looking for other jobs and by Wednesday he had been offered 2 new jobs... one with Rubbermaid Home (a sister company of Irwin) and one with Hunter Fan down in Atlanta, Georgia. We took a leap of faith and decided on Hunter Fan. Luckily our house in Charlotte let us out of the contract.

60) Kyle went ahead and moved down to Georgia. Hunter put him up in a Residence, while I stayed in North Carolina to finish up my work and help train the new graphic designers. We did long distance for 2 months.

62) Kyle & Chris actually found our home one day when they were wandering around Marietta. We had looked at dozens of homes but when Kyle saw this one he knew I would love it and knew it would be ours. We moved in April 16th, 2007.
We are the end unit of 6 cottages. We are the youngest couple living there, and were actually voted to be the president of our HOA... haha.

63) We both absolutely LOVE our house. We have the best time walking/skateboarding up to the square to go to restaurants, concerts or festivals. Tyson pulls Kyle on the skateboard... and I walk behind watching all the cars laugh & stare at them :) Sorry this video, I can't figure out how to flip it... so just turn your heads to the left!

64) Kyle loves his job and his boss. He is lucky enough to bring Tyson with him to work everyday! It's been so nice, and Tyson absolutely loves it.

65) Kyle & I are getting great experience with my sisters' twins, Natalie & Nathan.
66) We LOVE Guitar Hero.

67) We've been having lots of fun down here going to Thrashers & Braves Games.

68) Kyle started training for sprint triathlons last summer to get back in shape. It was fun going and watching all the events.

69) We've really enjoyed having the Kennesaw Battlefield so close. It's gorgeous there and we love taking hikes through all the trails.
70) Kyle took me to the Georgia fair since we couldn't make it home for the Raleigh fair. Unfortunately it didn't measure up, but we still had fun eating all of our favorite foods.

71) We've never dressed up for a Halloween party before until this past year. We had a great time and dressed up as Popeye and Olive Oyl.
72) We turned half of our garage into an office for Kyle. My parents came down and Kyle & Dad worked for a week straight. It looks so great!

73) For our 1 year anniversary, we went up to Chattanooga, TN for AppState's National Championship. We ended up winning the game and it was such a neat experience to be there. We spent the rest of the weekend in a bed & breakfast, walking around the quaint town & seeing what it was all about.

74) Valentines Day has turned into "Pamper Leah Day", and I look forward to it! Kyle totally spoils me by going grocery shopping for a fancy meal, cooking it and buying me flowers. He's the sweetest :)

75) In March we took a trip to Telluride, CO with Kyle's family. We hadn't been back there in a couple years, and had a ball snowboarding together again. The snow was better than Kyle had seen in 6 years and it was great ridin' down all the slopes!

Kyle will do the last 25 because I'm totally running out of things to say... haha who knows what he's going to come up with! Till next time :)