A (Major) Brain Dump

I would call this a weekend wrap-up but since I haven't really blogged about "life" lately it is probably a more of a major brain dump...oops!

• We have really been enjoying the cool down that has been happening in our area.  It has been nice to be outside and have impromptu porch gatherings with our neighbors.  We also have taken walks and visited the farmers market without sweating.  I think it is pretty obvious this guy has been enjoying our outings, too!

• We re-planted our front flower bed a few weeks ago.  Our local garden center had all of their plants 50% off so we took advantage of the sale and risked planting the new plants in the extreme heat.  But, thanks to a little good luck and the above mentioned cool down, the plants are doing pretty darn good! 

• We went out do a belated birthday dinner on Saturday (thanks to the worst summer cold ever, we had to cancel our original plans) and I tried a new dish, grilled shrimp risotto, and I can't quit thinking about it.  It was SO good!  The risotto had grilled shrimp, snap peas, leaks, fresh corn and roasted tomatoes.  YUM!  We also had fun catching up with our good friends, which was an extra bonus :)
• We had to move our offices at work to the second floor of our building.  My department was the only department on the main floor, other than our receptionist and our production guy.  While we weren't really excited to move, I sort of like my new office better.  I was able to arrange it how I wanted it and it forced me to organize a little better.  Plus, we have a little better view of the parking lot because we are one floor up and can actually see the sky now...you have to look for the positive in things, people!
• Brandon was chosen as the project manager for the new airport terminal.  He is both excited and anxious -- excited because it was an honor to be chosen and he gets to be a part of a great team working on the largest project in their company's history, but anxious because it is the biggest project in the company's history and because it is a pretty high profile job.  This will be his only job for the next two and a half years so needless to say, he will be pretty focused for a while.
• I made peanut butter rice krispie treats this weekend.  I don't know why, but they sounded good and they were/are so yummy!! 
• I CAN'T WAIT for Fall.  Like absolutely can't wait.  I love the weather, I love the clothes, I love KSU football, I love baking and crock pot meals.  I just can't wait!
• Speaking of Fall and the cool weather as of late, it makes me want to clean out and organize our house.  So much so that one of my coworkers, who aspires to be a professional organizer, is coming over next weekend to help me get started!  
• As Mason is getting older (a whole four months!), he is getting more toys and more toys means less floor space in our living room.  So, I think we have come to the conclusion that it is time to turn our dining room into a play room.  I knew this day would come and I'm actually kind of excited to get started.  I've found a few shelving units that I like and I'm searching for kid friendly art that still meshes with the rest of our house because the dining room is basically part of our entryway.  So far, I have not come up with anything...but I will keep looking.
• We had sermon today that talked about spiritual discipline.  It really struck a cord with me and made me realize that I need to get focused on listening to God and spending quality time with him rather than just running to him when we need something.  Okay, point taken.

Well, that is about all for now.  Time to get ready for a new week!

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had an awesome weekend!  Lots of down time, lots of Mason time, got a few things accomplished and also spent time with some friends -- can't beat that!

Friday night we ordered take-out and just hung around the house, watching TV.  We had had a long week so it was nice to just unwind as a little family of three.

Saturday morning we got up and spent time with the little man.  After breakfast Brandon headed out to work on the deck a little more while I made a grocery list and piddled around the house.  Right before lunch Brandon headed to the lake with some friends.  Mason is too little to be out in the sun so we opted out of the lake adventure.  Instead, we ran errands and I made food for our bbq with the same friends that evening.  Mason is a good sous chef and great company in the kitchen!  We made:

Raspberry Black Bean Dip a la So Long Saloon in Manhattan
1 block cream cheese
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion, chopped and sauteed
1/2 bottle Bronco Bob's Raspberry Chipotle sauce
1 c. shredded cheese

Spread cream cheese on the bottom of a 8x8 baking dish.  Top with beans, onions and raspberry sauce. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.  Top with cheese and bake another five minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Stuffed Jalapenos
22 jalapenos
1 lb. pork sausage
1 block cream cheese
1/3 c. Parmesan cheese

Cut jalapenos in half and remove ribs and seeds.  If you want the peppers to be less spicy, soak in water for several hours.  Meanwhile, brown sausage in a skillet.  Drain fat.  In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese and Parmesan cheese.  Add sausage and mix well.  Spread about one tablespoon of sausage mixture in each pepper half.  Arrange on a baking sheet and bake at 475 degrees for 15 minutes.

S'mores Bars
1 12 oz. box Golden Graham cereal
1 bag small marshmallows
5 T. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. mini chocolate chips

Pour cereal in a large bowl and set aside.  In a microwaveable safe bowl, combine the marshmallows and butter.  Microwave on high for two to three minutes.  Remove from microwave and stir in vanilla extract.  Pour over the cereal and stir to cover cereal.  Pour in chocolate chips and mix well.  Spread in a greased 9x12 baking dish and put in the refrigerator to set up.  Cut into squares before serving.

After the crew got back from the lake (they had quite an adventure that involved two boats breaking down, people getting stranded and hitching rides on other boats, etc. etc. etc. -- lots of fun!), we headed to our friends' house for the bbq.  We had a fun time hanging out and laughing and eating a lot of yummy food.  Mason did great as well, until about 9:00 when he was just ready to be done.  So, we headed home and got him ready for bed and we followed shortly behind him.

Mason's sleep schedule was a little off on Saturday night so we didn't make it to church on Sunday morning :(  We laid low and got a few things done around the house.  After lunch, I headed to run errands -- Target and the grocery store -- and then came home and took a little nap.  Brandon and Mason got in some good guy time while I did my thing.  Later in the evening we went to visit our friends the Wendlers.  We gave them some formula that we aren't using and they are lending us their Bumbo chair.  Here is a pic of the boys hanging out.  It's not the best pic because it was taken on my phone, but it was too cute not to share!

After we left the Wendler's house we went to Baskin Robins to celebrate National Ice Cream Day :)  I got a scoop of chocolate almond in a sugar cone, Brandon got a scoop of chocolate chip in a cake cone, and Mason wished he could have had a scoop of strawberry ice cream ;)  After our ice cream treat, we made our way home and got Mason ready for bed.  And that concludes another weekend.

Resuming Life

Well it seems we are back to our (new) normal.  Life has resumed, but in a different way.  We have settled into a decent schedule (I almost hate typing that because the little one might throw us a curve ball tomorrow) and everyone is happy and healthy.

I am about to start my third week back at work.  It was/has been a tough transition.  The night before my first day back I found myself not wanting to go to sleep so I could put off the inevitable...it didn't work.  I woke up Monday morning with a huge lump in my throat.  I pushed back the tears until I took Mason upstairs to change his diaper one last time before we loaded up.  And then I lost it.  I just stood at the top of the stairs and cried.  The day had come whether I liked it or not.  I pulled myself together and got in the car and drove a new route to work via the babysitter's house.  Thankfully Brandon followed me so we could drop Mason off together.  I told myself all the way to her house that I wasn't going to cry while we were there and I probably got half of my right foot in the doorway and the tears just started pouring out.  I couldn't even tell our babysitter what was in Mason's bag so Brandon had to step in and do the talking.  She obviously realized we were having a hard time and she wrapped her arms around us and told us that it wouldn't be normal if we weren't sad and that the tears just meant we were good parents.  That made me feel so much better, but leaving him was still so hard and the tears just kept flowing.  As I kissed him goodbye, he gave me a little half smile as if he was saying "I'm going to be okay, Mom," and that made me feel so good!

I only called once during the day to check on him and I left work early to go pick him up.  When I arrived, he seemed very content which put me at ease.  Our babysitter told me he was the 'talk of the town' that day since they had not had a baby around in a while.  The next few days got a little easier, but I still dread Sunday evenings.  Weekday mornings are actually pretty relaxed.  Brandon does the 5-6 a.m. feeding while I get up and get ready for work.  I take Mason to the babysitter's house and I generally pick him up.  Once we get home, we hang out for a bit before I start dinner (I've been making some really easy meals that I will post about later).  Mason hangs out in his bouncy seat while we eat dinner and then we get in a few more snuggles before it is time for bed.  I bathe him and Brandon is in charge of putting him to bed while I try to pick up the house or wash bottles.  We usually turn in about 10:00 p.m. and then it is time to start it all over again.  We have learned to make the most of the weekends with our little man and the weekend days have not gone by as fast as we expected them to.  We are so grateful to have found a wonderful babysitter who puts our minds at ease.

This weekend Mason's Auntie Tara came to visit since her crew was out of town.  He got to go shopping with her and his Nana on Friday afternoon while we were still at work.  On Saturday we went to the farmer's market and to get coffee while Brandon worked on our deck.  That afternoon Mason and Brandon hung out while Tara and I went to lunch and did a little Target browsing.  Then, on Saturday night we had some friends over for our first bbq of the summer!  Mason was a trooper with all of the chaos and we had a great time.  We got up for church this morning and then came back to hang out with Tara a little more before she headed home to greet her family.  Brandon's mom and aunt also stopped by to say hello to Mason as they were passing through town.  And, now we find ourselves  ready to resume a new week.

Our new normal is pretty awesome.  We have learned to slow down a little bit and enjoy the down time.  We don't get as much done around the house, but that is okay for this season of life.

What a Weekend

We had a super productive and super fun weekend!

Saturday morning we got up (without an alarm!) and got a few things done around the house.  Then, I got cleaned up and headed out to meet my good friend from Pratt for lunch.  We have been friends since I was like two or three and she was like four or five.  It is always so nice to catch up with her and it seems like we never have enough time.  Oh, did I mention that she just lives in Derby -- it is not like we love many miles away.  Yeah, we need to see each other way more often!!

After I stuffed myself at lunch, I ran a million errands.  I had to return a few things and then make my weekly trip to Target.  Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE going to Target all by myself??  It's a sickness, really.  I just browse and browse and browse.  On this particular trip, I picked up a couple of doormats and an interior rug to put at our front door.  One thing about a new house and learning all of the new "things" that occur in and around the new house, and one of those new things are these nasty, sticky little pods that fall from the trees and stick to EVERYTHING!!  Needless to say, the little pods have been drug all through our house so the doormats are meant to cut down on the pods making their way into our house.  We'll see...

Once I got home (and delivered my sweet husband a cherry limeade) we went to the garden store and to Menard's.  At the garden store, we picked up a nice fern for our front porch and a six-pack of impatients and then we got a few motion-activated lights for the back of our house at Menard's.  After we returned, we planted the fern and the impatients and Brandon worked on the lights.  I also played with Koby in the back yard and wore him out.  Would you look at that tongue?!?!

That evening, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and had dinner on our front porch.  Our house faces the east so it is pretty sunny and hot on our back porch, plus we have an awesome front porch!  We grilled burgers and just enjoyed the evening.  One thing Koby likes is that he is able to hang out with us in front of the house without his cord and so he hung out while we ate dinner.  That was until a couple walked by out house with a GIANT German Shepard that Koby thought he could take.  Ummm...can you say someone is suffering from "little man's" disease!!  We finished the day just hanging out watching TV and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the couch...oops!

This morning, we got up early - I had a volunteer event for church and Brandon had a makeup baseball game.  Our church partnered with Numana for a food packaging event.  If you don't know about Numana, I encourage you to take a look at their website.  It is a pretty amazing concept and I was excited that I got to volunteer with my small group gals (and really, my good friends) Ali and Christy.

Here are Ali and Christy hard at work!!  Yes, we all looked pretty awesome in our hair nets and aprons :)

And, here we are at the conclusion of our shift.  And, we were all very thankful that we do not do line work for a living...

Oh yeah!!  I also did not get the memo to wear a KSU shirt for the event.  Can you believe they didn't call me...ha ha!  Just kidding.

After I got home I made a menu and grocery list and waited for Brandon to get home from his game.  After he got home, we prepared to paint the kitchen.  Brandon started to cut in around the doorway and window and I realized I didn't really like the color!  It looked to me like it was the same color as the cabinets, which is why I was not comfortable with it.  So, he stopped painting and was very nice about having to go get a new paint color -- just another shade lighter -- while I went to the grocery store.  The new paint is much lighter and to some may look white, but I know that it is a super duper light shade of gray!  I put away dishes and made dinner while he painted (he did not want my help).  I made bbq beef sandwiches, waffle fries and fruit salad and it was yummy.

After dinner we settled in for the ACM awards and a little dessert :)  Edwards Key Lime pie is so good and they sell it in these little two-slice boxes.  Totally dangerous!!

I'd say this was a pretty "sweet" ending to a pretty awesome weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up and an Admission of Defeat

We had a very busy, but productive weekend.  And, as always it came to a close far too soon!  The past couple of Mondays I have woken up to my alarm going off totally thinking it was Sunday.  Talk about a terrible way to start a week. 

Our weekend started off with Koby having a swollen jaw.  Brandon got home from work before I did and called me because it looked like he was hiding a small golf ball in his cheek.  He sent me this picture, which did not do it justice because I was shocked when I got home and saw it for myself.  We called the vet and they said it could be a bug bite or it could be an absessed tooth but to give him some Benadryl and bring him in first thing in the morning.  So, we gave him two doses of Benadryl and saw a little improvement.  Brandon took him to the vet first thing Saturday morning and she confirmed that it was a bug bite and gave him a shot of cortizone and he was good to go.  We were a little worried we were going to have to pay for surgery to remove an absessed tooth, so needless to say we were very pleased it was only a bug bite.  Now, we just need to figure out how he got bit because he was inside all day...

While Brandon took Koby to the vet bright and early Saturday morning, I headed to the RUN2BELIEVE race.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful tribute to Kylie and Kyle.  Last I heard they had more than 1,000 runners (amazing turn out for a first annual event) and raised close to $20,000!  The Chamber had a great turnout of participants and my co-worker, Pat, even won a medal!!  Brandon also ran in the race and placed 7th in his age division.  Pretty good considering he hadn't run in quite some time.

After the race, I headed to lunch with my good friend and her little girl.  We had a fun time just visiting and browsing Target!  After my lunch date, I headed home to join Brandon doing yard work.  We pulled up a bunch of random weeds/plants that were growing under out deck.  We also pulled out a HUGE ivy plant that was growing into the house.  The back side of our house looks pretty bare now which has got us itching to get plants to fill it up again :)

We spent a nice evening out on Saturday night.  We had dinner at PF Changs, quickly browsed in the new Cabela's, and ended our night with frozen yogurt.  The weather on Saturday could not have been prettier so it was fun to spend a lot of the day outside!

Sunday was pretty low-key.  After church Brandon finished up working in the yard while I painted the stair case, cleaned a little bit and hit up the grocery story.  We ended the day having dinner with my cousin and his family and then it was time to get ready for the week.  I'm hosting Bunco at my house tonight so I did a little bit to get ready for that before I really shut it off for the night.  We slept with the windows open and unfortunately neither of us got much sleep because the darn geese who hang out in the lake behind our house were sqawking ALL. NIGHT. LONG.  So annoying!!! 

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And now it is confession time....

I've obviously not been very good at keeping up with posting the daily devotionals so I am going to try to figure out how to post the pdf as a link and share the whole devotional with you. 

Monday Monday...

It's raining here today.  The nice gentle kind of rain that isn't violent and doesn't cause you to run your wipers on full blast all the way to work.  I apparently was not ready to get up this morning because when the alarm went off I remember mumbling something like "Oh...it's Monday and we have to get up," and then I heard the rain lightly hitting the windows which caused me to want to stay in bed even more.  Koby must have had a case of the Mondays as well because he didn't crawl in bed with us at all (he usually jumps in about an hour before the alarm goes off).  Needless to say, I'm wishing I was home in my sweat pants cuddled up on the couch.

We had a bit of a crazy weekend!  Between the kitchen re-do and all of the other projects we were trying to accomplish at the same time, a slight stomach bug, KSU losing in the tournament, a birthday party, and spending time with Brooklyn and her parents, we were certainly ready for some down time.  But, it is so nice to have some major projects behind us and we could not have done it all without the help of Brandon's parents.  We are taking the week off from house projects this week to rest up and get rejuvenated and then we'll be back at it to finish up painting our staircase (yes, Craig and Brandon rebuilt the staircase this weekend too) and buttoning up a few other miscellaneous projects and then we are DONE for a while! 

Speaking of the kitchen, it is looking so good!  I actually got chills once the tile went up on the backsplash.  I just LOVE it.  However, we have not put the cabinet doors back on yet because they need to cure a little more (a hard lesson learned!).  Once we have those back on and everything is back in its place I'll post pictures, but here is a sneak peek to hold you over :)

One perk of today being a Monday is that the new season of Dancing with the Stars begins tonight!!  I'm so excited to see Laura Ingalls Wilder (aka Melissa Gilbert) shake her bootie with my favorite dancer, Maks! This show really is one of my favorite shows on TV -- sad but true.



{photo courtesy of usmagazine.com}


I'm also planning to do a lot of cooking and baking this week since I will have a mostly functioning kitchen again.  I bet I have 20 frozen bananas in our freezer just waiting to be transformed into banana bread.  And, if I'm feeling crazy, I might even add chocolate chips! 

Hope your Monday is off to a great start!

A Normal Weekend

It is so nice to be able to say we had a "normal" weekend.  We've been so busy lately and have been spending so much time on the house that we haven't really had one of those sleep-in-on-Saturday-clean-the-house-run-errands-piddle-around-the-yard-play-with-the-dog-have-no-major-plans weekends.

Friday night we had our neighbors over for dinner.  We made fajitas and all the fixings.  Since we have lived in the new house, we've gotten to know the neighbors a little bit, but have not done many social things with them, so we thought it was time get to know them better.  We had a fun evening with them and hope to become better friends as time goes on.

Saturday I got up and cleaned the house while Brandon went and picked up our beef.  Then, I had the privilege of babysitting my good friend's little girl.  We read books, played with her kitchen, chased each other with her pretend vacuum, and ate lunch together.  We had a great time!  After I got home, Brandon and I ran a few more errands and then came home to hang curtain rods, curtains and blinds.  It is so nice to finally have some privacy (all of our blinds have been down for about a month -- can you say neighborhood entertainment?!?).  My mom came to town Saturday evening and stayed the night with us because she was leaving for a road trip with her high school friends Sunday morning.

As for Sunday, I got up and took Mom to her friend's house and Brandon went to batting practice for the Blue Sox (yep, it is about that time again).  I also did our bi-weekly grocery shopping and we ran a few more errands.  Brandon spent some time outside working on the sprinkler system and then we settled in and watched the Oscars.  I love the red carpet shows more than the awards because I love looking at all of the dresses.  I really thought Emma Stone looked beautiful, but she's my favorite actress at the moment so it might be a biased opinion.  I just thought she looked very classy and very appropriate for the Oscars.

I also envied Cameron Diaz's body and hair cut and her dress wasn't too bad either.

While I was watching the Oscars, I made a new recipe courtesy of Pinterest.  I cheated a bit and used the Rhoades dinner rolls rather than making my own dough and I omitted the eggs.  We each ate one for dinner and they were pretty good.  We saved one for each of us for breakfast today and I froze the rest.  I thought they would be good to grab and heat up before heading to work.

We are definitely thankful for the down time this weekend and now we are ready for another work week!

Weekend Wrap-Up + 2 Recipes

We had a busy and eventful weekend and the time flew by, but I suppose that is just how it goes!

• We spent Friday evening hanging out at Mel Hambelton Ford.  Why you ask?  Well, we traded in the Fusion for a "new-to-us" Explorer.  The car buying process is not my favorite past time, but the people at Mel Hambelton made it as pleasant as possible.  And now, we have extra room, a lower car payment, and I'm not driving a car anymore.
• Once we got home we spent the rest of the night cleaning house so we could focus on other projects the rest of the weekend.  I must say, it was a really nice to go to bed on Friday night knowing I didn't have to get up and do chores in the morning!
• We got up leisurely on Saturday morning and headed out to run a few errands.  I left my garage door opener in the old car so we had to go back to the dealership to pick it up.  Then, we went to Kohl's so Brandon could get a new pair of jeans to wear with his birthday cowboy boots.  He got Levi's and not Wranglers so I've decided to call him an "urban cowboy" since he's not sporting the true cowboy jeans :)
• We also hit up every home improvement store on our side of town pricing paint for our walls.  We are looking at the paint and primer in one and locally Lowe's had the best price.  We bought one quart to test out in our bathroom to see if we like it.  We probably won't get to painting the bathroom until later in the week, though.
• Saturday afternoon I made a new cookie recipe and I must say, they lived up to the recipe title!!

 

• On Saturday night we attended our first Wichita Thunder hockey game with a friend and her husband.  She got tickets from her office and invited us to sit with them in a loge box.  None of us had attended a hockey game before so we were all pretty entertained!

• Sunday we got up and went to church, did our grocery shopping and went up to the hospital to see little Brooklyn.  Let me tell you, this little girl is quite the over-achiever!  She was born 11 weeks early and has been in the hospital exactly two weeks and while we were there, they received word that she was ready to move upstairs to the special care unit and out of the NICU!!  She will still be in the hospital for a little while, but she's progressing so well!  I would post a picture, but I haven't asked permission from her parents so you will have to trust me when I say she's a cutie!!
• After our visit at the hospital we headed home and painted a little more trim and dare I say, we are like 95% finished!!  We still have the staircase and the kitchen cabinets to do but those projects require a little more time so we are not going to rush getting those started. 
• For dinner, I made one of my mom's recipes that I had forgotten about until I found it tucked in my recipe binder.  It is a good Sunday evening meal because it does take an hour to bake, but it was so good and Brandon gave it the thumbs up, which is even better:
  
  Steak Mozzarella3/4 c. flour
  3/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
  Garlic Salt
  Pepper
  Paprika
  1 egg, beaten
  1 1/2 lb.s cube steak (I used round steak cut into pieces and then pounded a little)
  Vegetable Oil
  6 oz. tomato paste
  3 cloves garlic
  2 c. chicken broth
  Salt and pepper to taste
  Mozzarella cheese slices
  
  Combine the first five ingredients in a shallow dish.  Heat oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Dip the meat in the egg and then in the flour mixture and brown on both sides in heated skillet.  Cook about 3-4 minutes per side.  Transfer meat to a 9x13 baking dish.  Repeat until all the meat has been browned.
  
  In the same skillet, saute the garlic for about a minute (you can also use onion, but I did not).  Add in the tomato paste, chicken broth, salt and pepper.  Simmer mixture for 5-10 minutes and then pour over the meat.  Top with mozzarella cheese slices.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  Serve over hot egg noodles or with mashed potatoes.
• After dinner we were stuffed and happy, but Brandon continued to change door hardware and hinges so we could put the house back together.  We finally crashed in bed for a little mindless TV watching before we drifted off to sleep. 



Weekend Wrap-Up

• We went out to dinner on Friday night with some friends to celebrate Brandon's birthday.  We endured a 1.5 hour wait, but it was well worth it.  And we were in good company so the time went by fast.
• We spent the majority of the day Saturday working around the house.  I tried to get things organized, buy groceries, help with laundry (yes, I have a wonderful husband who does most of the laundry), etc. and Brandon worked on getting the old tile off of both fireplaces and continued to prime our wood trim.  
• We watched Moneyball on Saturday night.  I was browsing online in order to stay awake but I enjoyed the parts that I paid attention to :)  Brandon was engrossed in the movie because he remembers when the movie took place and because he knows so much about baseball in general. 
• Sunday was a bit different than we had planned.  Please keep Brandon's sister, her husband and their new baby in your prayers.  She ended up having an emergency c-section yesterday morning.  She was 11 weeks early, but thankfully mom and baby are both doing remarkably well given the circumstances.  We are now a proud aunt and uncle of Brooklyn Nicole!
• We got Koby outside late yesterday afternoon to get some fresh air (I think it was like 60 degrees or something crazy).  The back of our house backs-up to a lake and we generally have geese that mill around.  Thankfully we have a fence so they don't get into our yard but they do congregate in the common area just outside of our fence.  While we were out there yesterday several were hanging around so Brandon let Koby out the gate to chase them off and boy did he do his job well!  They all went running/flying away as he chased them and barked at them.  I was sort of afraid he was going to chase them all the way into the water, but he atleast had the common sense to not jump in.  We got a good laugh out of the commotion!
• Our goal for the week is to finish priming all of the trim on the main floor so we can paint next weekend.  We also hope to get our wood floor picked out so I can start picking wall colors.  I'm going to be pretty tired of living in a house with white walls and white trim!!  I will be posting some before and in-progress pictures soon. 

 

Weekend Wrap Up

Our last weekend of 2011 ended up being quite eventful:

• I had the day off on Friday so I picked up the house in the morning and then ran a bunch of errands in the afternoon.  I realized that I really like running errands during the middle of a work day because there are not as many people to deal with, check-out lanes are shorter and it is just a more pleasant experience over all.  
• Friday night we went to Newton for a gender reveal party at Brandon's sister's house.  I had never been to a party like this before but it was pretty fun.  They had sonogram a few weeks ago and they told the tech to write down the gender and put it in an envelope.  Then, his sister took the envelope to a baker and told them to open it and to make the inside of the cake either pink or blue, depending on what the tech had written down and then frost it in white.  Once all of the party guests arrived, they cut open the cake to reveal what whether or not they were having a girl or a boy.  And, this is what they saw:
  
  
  
  
  Needless to say, we'll have a new niece sometime in late March or early April and we definitely know how to be an aunt and uncle to little girls!
• On Saturday, Brandon and his dad decided to mount the TV we got for Christmas.  However, it was not just any TV mounting project.  It required removing mirrors and a built-in book case, cutting out sheet rock, poking holes in the wall and fishing cables in and out, but it turned out perfect!  Here is a little "action shot":
  
  
  

• After a lot of work on Saturday, we headed out to dinner with Brandon's parents.  We tried a new restaurant on our side of town and it was delicious!  After dinner, we headed to a friend's house about 30 minutes away.  We joked that we had not gone "out" for New Years Eve in so long and then the time we do we have to drive 30 minutes!  We had  fun and low key evening playing Farkle and hanging out and we were home by 11:00.  We actually rang in the new year as we were on the verge of falling asleep.  Ha!  This is a sure sign that we are getting old!!
• On Sunday we headed up to my grandpa's house for my dad's family's Christmas celebration.  We ate a big lunch and played a couple of new games - Left Center Right and then a name game that my aunt introduced us to.  All 28 of us were able to play both games and we had a really fun time!  It isn't often we all get together so it is always nice to catch up with my cousins and aunts and uncles.
• Monday, we finally got to sleep in (we have not been able to do much of that during our holiday weekends)!!  Once we got up and around we got busy doing chores around the house.  Brandon finished up mudding the wall and mounting the TV while I cleaned out the fridge.  My sister-in-law's fridge was soooo clean when we were at her house on Friday that I got inspired to give mine a good scrub down.  After I got done with the fridge, I went to lunch with a friend and we did a little house project shopping.  After I got home, Brandon and I took down our Christmas decorations, cleaned up the house, did laundry and he started calking our trim to prepare it to be painted (I can't wait to have this project completed and it has barely started...we've got a LONG way to go!).
• I ended my night with "The Bachelor" and a little blogging while Brandon watched football (it is Bowl season, after all).  It's hard to accept that Christmas is over and we are in our third day of 2012.  I guess we should start getting used to the routine again.

A couple of things.

I have so much to blog about right now and have had a hard time finding time to write it all down but here are a couple of things I want to share for now.  I will be back soon with part two of my trip to Asheville as well, but I need to finish downloading the pics.

• No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you.  The sign really does say SOLD and it really is in our front yard!!  Thanks to much prayer and turning the situation over to God, our house sold last week.  The buyers looked at it at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon and we signed the contract at 6:40 p.m. that same evening.  After more than a week of not having any showings, we were feeling pretty down, but that feeling quickly turned to a feeling of huge relief!  So, now we have a lot of packing and moving in our future, but at least we can be excited about it (as excited as we can be about the process of moving).
• Along with selling our house this week, I also had another huge stress relief that came on Thursday.  My many months of planning came to fruition on Thursday night when President George W. Bush spoke at the Chamber's Annual Meeting.  We had a sold out crowd of 5,000 people who were all very excited to hear the President and from what I hear (I didn't exactly get to listen to the presentation because I was trying to get photos approved for the media) he did a fantastic job!  My family decided to come to the event and they were all very pleased and I heard a lot of positive comments from other people as they were leaving the event.  While it was a lot of work for a lot of people, the event was a huge success! 
• Since my family was in town for the Bush event, I talked them in to spending the weekend with us.  My siblings and their spouses stayed the weekend while my parents took the grand kids home with them for the weekend.  I think everyone had a great weekend and I know my siblings enjoyed a little grown-up time :)  Us girls went to lunch on Friday, got pedicures and shopped at Target for two hours (ha!) while the guys played golf.  Then, we capped off the day with a sushi dinner and a little night out.  Saturday we watched a lot of football and hung out with other family members who live in town.  Today ended a little abruptly when my mom called to say one of the girls had the stomach flu so they all left earlier than planned to get the kids and head home.  We spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house and running errands.  Now, we are sitting in the couch and letting our bodies catch up from a crazy week!

I hope you had the time of your life

{A handful of classmates at our 10 year reunion...the boys weren't so much into taking pictures!}

I spent this past weekend catching up with my high school classmates at our ten year reunion!  I honestly can't believe it has been ten years since we graduated, but at the same time it really does seem like it was just yesterday we were walking the halls of Pratt High School. 

I had to really talk myself into going to our reunion.  With the invention of Facebook, most of us keep up with each other on a pretty consistent basis anyway and I also keep in personal touch with a handful of people who I was closest to.  However, it was great to get together in person and catch up.  So much has changed for everyone (jobs, becoming parents, etc.), but so much is the same.  

My mom is currently on a mini-vacation with some of her high school friends and she was telling me how they can go years without seeing each other and still get together and have a good time as if no time has passed.  She attributes this to the deepness of her friendship with her high school friends.  And she's right.  Friends from home know your family, have known you since you were a little child, have seen you through many years of changes, and you all share a place called "home". 

All in all, I'm so glad I attended the reunion.  We had a great time playing a high school trivia game, reminiscing over old pictures, telling stories to our spouses, and laughing just like old times!  And yes, Brandon did hear a few stories and saw a few pictues that gave him a chuckle!
 

 

Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a pretty low key weekend, which was just fine with us because once September comes, our weekends become pretty busy with trips to Manhattan for football games.  So, this weekend was kind of our last "free weekend" for quite some time and we took advantage of the down time.

On Friday night, we redeemed a gift card to a local brewery for dinner.  We laughed because we went directly there after work since we were already downtown and we ended up eating with the "blue haired crowd" as we like to call it.  However, I did have an excellent drink called Hard Strawberry Lemonade.  Basically, it was lemonade with some kind of berry flavored vodka and fresh strawberries.  It was delicious!  I also had yummy macaroni and cheese for dinner but I'm still trying to pretend that never happened.  After dinner, we headed back home to clean house.  Yep, you read that right.  We spent our Friday night cleaning house.  We are a wild couple, I tell ya!  I chose to do this on Friday because Brandon was golfing all day on Saturday and I wanted to use that time to work on a couple of projects around the house.  After we finished cleaning, we crashed on the couch to catch up on our DVR.  And this guy had such a rough day, he thought he needed some peace and quiet as well...

Saturday morning we got up and headed to the Farmer's Market before Brandon's tee time, but we were extremely disappointed with the selection and there was only one stand that was selling tomatoes.  ONE STAND!  Needless to say, we left empty handed.  Shortly after we got home, Brandon was off to the golf course and I got ready for the day.  As I sat down to make my list of errands, I caught The Pioneer Woman's new show on Food Network, so my errands were delayed for 30 minutes.  Can I just say, I love The Pioneer Woman.  She is so great and so is her show!  I also made sure to set the DVR to record her show since we won't be home at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings very much this fall. 

After I got my fill of PW, I headed out to run errands and to pick up a few things for a project I had planned.  I hit up Target, Michaels, Pier 1 and Hobby Lobby and by the time I got home, I had all I needed to create these lovely pieces for our mantle.

I already had the painting, which my sister and I painted over a year ago, and I originally had some purple vases on the mantle, but it seemed so "hard" so I thought I should create something to soften that area a little bit.  After perusing Pinterest, I found some inspiration for these vases.  I already had the green leafy twigs, so I had to purchase the curly willow, the vases and the rocks.  Thankfully, I found the vases 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so the project didn't cost all that much.  While I still need some candles and other accessories on the mantle, I think this was a great addition and a good start to making that area look better.

I spent the rest of the afternoon just lounging around waiting for Brandon to come home.  We had intended to go test drive a car, but found out that particular car sold the day before so we had to scrap those plans.  Luckily, my parents were in town running errands so we met them for dinner instead.  After we filled our tummies, Brandon and I came home and watched "Something Borrowed" on OnDemand.  It was a good movie, but anything with John Krasinski and Kate Hudson should be good, right?! 

Sunday, we got up for church, had lunch with some friends and then spent the rest of the day at our friends' parents house, which sits on a lake.  We had a great time relaxing in the water and just taking it easy.  I even got a little bit of sun, which was nice!  We came home, showered, and scrounged around for dinner.  Then, I decided to do some baking (I know...Weight Watchers played no part in my weekend).  Of course, the recipe came from Pinterest and while the cookies were good, they weren't to-die-for.  I couldn't get them baked properly - if I baked them according to the alotted time, they were still too gooey, but if I baked them longer they got too brown.  I brought them in to work today so I'll see what my co-workers have to say. 

After the cookie baking expedition, I started to get the Sunday night blues as I realized the weekend was coming to an end and I would have to start the work week again.  However, I have an extra long weekend coming up, so at least I have that to look forward to :)

Toto, Are We Still in Kansas?

Does anyone recognize this place?  If I didn't know any better, I would think it was anywhere but the plains of Kansas, let alone Southwest Kansas!

This past weekend, we went to Brandon's home town to visit his parents.  His mom had told us a week or so ago that we were going on a field trip when we visited, but she would not tell us where we were going.  Needless to say, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at our destination to find the Chalk Pyramids.  I had no idea this place even existed, so I was definitely excited to shocked to see these massive Earth formations towering over the landscape!

I thought this picture with the truck really showed the scale of these formations.

 
And yes, Koby (and Samson - not pictured) got to go along on the trip and absolutely loved running around!

We couldn't have asked for a better day to be outside.  The weather was beautiful and there was no wind, which is an exception in Southwest Kansas!

Aww!  Our cute little family :)

Yep!  That's Brandon's head.  He crawled up a set of "steps" and was peeking through the crevice.

And then it was Craig's turn!

 

After we finished crawling around the Chalk Pyramids, we headed back towards town and had a picnic lunch at Scott Park, one of Brandon's childhood summer hang out spots.  Again, the weather was perfect so we just relaxed by the water and enjoyed our lunch!

This was definitely a great way to spend a Saturday!  Now, I've decided we need to take more day trips to see more of our state's hidden treasures.