Snow Fun

Today is a holiday for me (MLK Jr. Day) and Doug's last day of winter break.  So this morning since the temperatures got above freezing we decided to take Katie out to play in the week old snow.  I guess it's a good thing it's been so cold this past week so that there was still snow on the ground.  She wasn't sure what to think of it at first.  Plus, her snow boots are a little big, so she was having a hard time walking, but I think she had a good time after all.  Here was my picture of the day.

And a couple of more...

The Much Anticipated, Weekend Recap!

Alright, here it is, finally!

Let's see, we left bright and early on Friday morning. Angela picked me up at 5:50 a.m. We had my stuff loaded into her car and our coffee in hand and were driving down my driveway by 5:59. We headed to Desire's, but knew that she was not going to be ready, Angela told her 6:30. We were right, she wasn't ready when we got there, but managed to get ready and we had all her stuff loaded by 6:30. We stopped for a quick breakfast at McDonald's and got on the highway. We stopped early on in our trip at a Convention & Visitor's Bureau in Iowa. There, we got directions for an "easier" route. (Yeah, easier, maybe, definitely LONGER!) So we headed out with our new directions. Probably a bad idea, to ever change routes like that, but it worked out okay for us. We made it to our destination.

We made many pit stops and were debating where to stop for lunch. Finally we saw signs in Waterloo for Subway. That sounded pretty good, and we headed for the exit. Well, we couldn't find a Subway. McDonald's, BK, Arby's, Wendy's, all kinds of stuff, but no Subway. So we settled for Quizno's. Normally, I like Quizno's, but we really had our hearts set on Subway and so it just wasn't the same. :(

After that we were more than halfway to our destination, Madison, WI. Our ride was really uneventful. We were all pretty excited, so the book I brought to read and the crossword puzzles Desire brought to do pretty much stayed in our bags. We made it to Madison just after 4, I think. Checked into our hotel, where the locals seemed to think we were crazy for complaining about the cold. Seriously, Madison and St. Joe have similar weather, but they are definitely more cold tolerant than we are.

As soon as we got into our room, Carmen called. I told her we were there and she came to pick us up. First we went back to her house to visit with Josh and to meet Hazel!

Misty & Hazel

Angela & Hazel

Desire & Hazel

After we got our baby fix, we headed to State Street. We had dinner at Noodle's & Co. A place where Carmen took me when I visited a couple years ago. It did not disappoint. I think there is one in KC, and I'm really going to have to be on the lookout for it. Then we walked around and shopped. We went into a few really neat stores and we all bought a couple of trinkety things. It was fun. By 9, everything on State Street was closed so we decided to go have some dessert and warm up. Carmen took us to Bluephies and it was sooo good! Desire and Angela had some kind of fruit crisp desserts and Carmen & I split cookie dough egg rolls and butterfinger wontons. YUM!

After that we decided to pick up some drinks and head back to our hotel. We played this girls' night in question game that Desire picked up and then headed to the bar next door to our hotel. Carmen stayed for a little bit, but she had to head home to Josh & Hazel. We missed her, but we had a good time there. In Wisconsin the bars don't close until 2 or 2:30. Here they close at 1:30. That extra hour really wore us out. We got back to our room and ready for bed. Angela was out and soon as her head hit the pillow and Desire & I soon discovered that she can snore louder than either of our husbands! ;)

None of us got much sleep that night and even though we didn't meet Carmen until 10, we were still so exhausted! Not too exhausted to shop though. Carmen took us to 2 of her favorite malls and we also had a nice lunch, but I can't remember where. I had a super yummy grilled cheese and some french onion soup though.

Here we are at the mall, with a Wisconsin Cow.

We shopped till we dropped (literally!) and then picked up some Subway (finally!) and went back to Carmen's to watch a movie. I'm pretty sure that if we had had pillows the three of us would have been asleep in no time. I know we were in bed as soon as we got back to the hotel.

We left our hotel about 7:30 Sunday morning and then had breakfast with Carmen, Josh & Hazel at IHOP. We had to cram in every last bit of baby hugging and kissing as we could!

Saying Goodbye. :(

We were on the road by 9 and fortunately decided to go with our original route and that cut about an hour from our travel time. Of course we didn't stop nearly as much and we all really just wanted to be home. It was a much quieter trip, that's for sure. We all had a good time though and meeting Hazel was definitely the highlight. Thanks again to Carmen for showing us such a fun weekend! Thanks to Josh and all the rest of our husbands for giving up their wives for a weekend of baby lust! :)

Unplanned Evening

I find myself with no plans this evening. I had originally thought I was going to my mom's to work on some crafts, but that kind of fell through. So now I'm home with a whole evening ahead of me. What to do? What to do??

Right now I'm boiling water for mac & cheese. I should probably have something else with my dinner, but I'm not sure what. At least a veggie, right? Maybe some broccoli...yum!

As for the rest of the evening, well, I could clean the house, or watch a movie, or read a book, or...the list could go on and on. Which means I'll probably spend the evening flipping channels trying to find something decent on TV on a Friday night. Let's hope I manage to do something a little more substantial. :)

At least it is finally the weekend! One week from now I'll be in Wisconsin holding the newest addition to Carmen & Josh's family. I can't wait!!!

I Caught a Fish!

Another fishing outing, but this time I had the big catch. Okay, so it's not that big, but it was bigger than any of Doug's. He did out fish me though. He caught 3 to my 1. Nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

Gone Fishin'

Doug's discovered a new hobby...fishing. We've spent a couple of evenings at a lake with my parents and have done some night fishing. So far, I only fished one time. The other times I get to be the person with the "cleanest hands", but Doug has really gotten into it. I forgot my camera the other times, but this is what he caught over the weekend.

Bullhead

Big Catfish

Thankful

We had a busy Thanksgiving this year, but it was wonderful all the same. We visited lots of family, ate way too much food, and just enjoyed having the time to spend together. We were able to thank my aunt & uncle once again for putting in our new furnace. Our whole house is warm now! I can't begin to tell you how much we appreciate that. We played with the kids...Doug taught my cousins a thing for two about bowling on the Wii. And last night after our final Thanksgiving dinner we rented a few movies and put up our Christmas tree. It was a nice evening together even if we both fell asleep before the movie was over.

It's Just Me

Sorry, no we post today. I think I'm going to stop posting wedding pictures for awhile. I've pretty much posted everything that doesn't include people that may not want their picture posted on the web and the rest are just pictures of us with our eyes closed. Besides, even I'm sick of looking at them!

We've had some craziness these first few weeks of our marriage, but it's nothing we can't deal with. Mostly we're just stressed. Doug's working lots of OT, which means great paychecks, but that's about it. We have precious little time to spend together as it is, so it sucks when work takes even more of it. We know that we just have to make the most of the time we do have together. Like last Sunday when we were supposed to paint the living room, but decided that spending the day watching TV and cuddling with our kitties was a better idea. We only left the house to get some food. It was a good day. :)

Carmen convinced me to try NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writing Month, which begins Nov. 1st, 50,000 words in 30 days!) again this year. She talked me into it several years ago and there was just too much craziness for me that one November. I think I did a pitiful 2500 words. This year, I'll be happy if I make it to 10,000 words. Writing is not something I do often, unless you count my blogs, so this might be a good exercise for me. If nothing else it will keep my evenings occupied for the month of November. So I may post some excerpts, or I may not depending on how extroverted I'm feeling. ;)

Anyway, I'm going to be late for work if I don't stop now.

Happy Halloween!!!