a swingin good time

i'm actually in the office this week! but yesterday, misse & the girls picked me up and we went over to the park for lunch. the girls were so happy to be swinging ... i just had to share some pictures.

{zoe would only let me push her ... and isn't that armband adorable?!?}

{harper was so happy!}

{avery loved this big swing ... she was going pretty high too!}

surprise!

i was totally surprised. aaron had planned a top-secret "birthday adventure" for saturday and i was a lot excited and a little nervous. the clue for birthday adventure #1 was a bunch of yummy theater candy ... which led to watching eat, pray, love at the theater. afterwards, he asked if he could blindfold me for the drive to the next birthday adventure.

so blindfolded, aaron drove in circles (literally) so i wouldn't know where we were going. at the point of me about to get sick, he pulled over and told me i could get out for some fresh air. and then he led me, blindfolded, back to my own house ... where family & friends were waiting to surprise me. i can't believe i didn't guess at the surprise party at all. apparently i have a bunch of secret-keepers and liars for friends and family!

but it was awesome. thanks all for sending memories of me (did we really pee our pants and throw up that often?). i laughed, and cried, and reminisced. and a huge thank you to my family, for planning the best surprise party ever. consider yourselves warned though ... i'm a better secret-keeper than the rest of you ... and i like to plan parties.

the best part of summer

last week i came home from traveling on thursday (yay!) and it was afternoon (yay!) and it was sunny (yay!) and hot (yay! - if you have a pool, which we do). so we went swimming, and i looked over and saw the huge tomato plants, with bright red tomatoes on them (big yay!).

so i picked them. and then we had BLTs for dinner. (yay!)

BLTs are my very favorite thing about summer. are you jealous? you should be. they were delicious.

just a lazy sunday afternoon

yesterday after church the girls were playing on their scooter. (side note: i bought that scooter for avery for her birthday and they love it!) funny stuff.

zoe turns 2!

i failed again. zoe's birthday was last weekend and i forgot to blog. but yay ... she turned 2 on july 16! so dang cute!

country music brings out the best ...

we bought tickets to the tim mcgraw/lady antebellum concert for a couple months and i could not wait to go. the last time we saw tim mcgraw was fantastic (though we were in the 4th row and what concert wouldn't be fantastic from there?). but this time we bought lawn tickets. the music was awesome. the trashy people around us, not so much. oh well. it was good times. enjoy some photos.

{i wouldn't have thought it'd be too hard to get a good picture of 5 people, but i've been proven wrong. jamison, sharla, mia, terri, and joe}

{apparently terri didn't think i was serious when i told them i wanted a nice picture. good job to the rest of you, though}

{you might not be able to see this very well ... but the lawn was full! lots and lots of country-lovin drunkards}

{as if mother nature knew that we were at a country concert ... a cloud shaped like a guitar. do ya see it?}

nauvoo or bust

last week i had some work to do in quincy, il (i know, you're jealous). so I scheduled my work for friday and made mia go with me. we left thursday after work. drove to quincy. and after i finished my work on friday, we drove up to nauvoo. primarily to buy some fudge, but there are always some sites you don't want to miss!

{the obligatory "self-portrait" in the car}

{mia eating caramels from the fudge factory. delish}

{mia and her new boyfriend}

{i know i probably have a bunch of pictures that look like this, but it's like the statue was made for someone to get inside like this!}

{next time we go to the visitor's center in nauvoo we're going to be prepared ... lots of props to adorn the statues with. this time, we outfitted the pioneer woman with a purse. i like it.}

{we were driving down by the river and drove through this swarm of nasty bugs. i tried to get a good picture, but there was no way i was rolling down my window. as it was, a bunch of them landed on the car and it took forever for them to get off}

{we stopped a bunch of times on the side of the road to take weird pictures like this. mia thought we were in peru}

{of course we had to take a picture in the corn fields of some tiny town ... my shirt matched!}

beach bash

{the kids at the beach party}

for three years we've been talking about throwing a beach party ... real invitations in the mail, rent a pavilion on lake michigan, food, decorations, etc. so we did it. last saturday was perfect weather ... 83 degrees and sunny! good friends, good food, and a good party!

when i got home though, i realized i should have taken pictures of other people who were there, not just my nieces & nephews. oh well ... if everyone was as cute as these kids, maybe i would have.

{my fave picture of these 3 ... i have adorable nieces & nephews!}

{it's my party & i'll cry if i want to ...}

{just a girl & her balloons}

{make that two girls and their balloons}

{harper, chillin with sharla}

{misse, terri & aaron}

{julez}

{sharla with harper & avery ... don't you love sharla's beach attire?}

{zoe}

time flies ... (or not, when you're sitting at the airport)

i had a couple meetings with contractors in nebraska this week, so i flew out on tuesday and am sitting at the airport today waiting to fly back.

headed out of chicago on tuesday, i arrived at the gate just in time to hear "we're offering a $400 voucher for anyone willing to give up their seat on this flight". count me in. so i gave up my seat, took my 4 $100 vouchers, and settled in for a 4 hour wait. no problem. imagine my surprise when my 4 hour wait turned into a 5 hour wait in the airport, and then another 2 hours sitting on the plane waiting for take-off, and then an extended flight time (2.5 hours instead of 1.5) due to major thunderstorms in the omaha area. arriving in omaha after 9pm, then renting a car and driving 2+ hours to grand island, i thought to myself "i'm not doing that again".

and i didn't. not for 2 days. my return flight today was set for 1:00pm. arriving at the gate this morning i heard "we're offering a $400 voucher for anyone willing to give up their seat on this flight".

and so here i sit, again. in the airport for 6 extra hours. at least i have my phone, my computer, and my book. and now 8 $100 vouchers, an impending free vacation, and a first class seat on the flight home.

hooray.

have passport (almost), will travel (internationally)

i finally did it. i applied for a passport. i couldn't justify the cost without a trip that required it in the works. so, now that a cruise is in the planning stages, i applied. here's my (slightly fuzzy) passport pics. woo hoo!

happy birthday jay & avery

this year (2010, that is) i had full intentions of blog-wishing everyone in the fam happy birthday, on or before their birthday. i missed. jay and avery turned 28 and 3 on monday and i totally missed the blogging. it was a good day though.

{check out these cute girls from sunday morning ... avery & harper}

we had cake too. after the baseball game, when my dad went down to the basement to check out the furnace, avery got so excited that he went down to get the birthday cake (it was down there cuz we ran out of room in the kitchen). after that, we had to have cake. so we lit some candles, sang happy birthday, and cut into the cake ... all at 11:45pm. love it!

travelblog ... houston, tx

i had two texan site visits this week, one in houston and one in dallas. and, rather than fly between the two cities (and have to pack up my suitcase 60 times in 4 days), i flew into houston yesterday and drove to (and from) dallas today. on the way to dallas, i saw a "break" in the trees and as i got closer i realized it was not a break after all, but a giant statue of sam houston. strange.

{this is what you call a "just in time" photo ... out the car window}

i have recently discovered my love for the new marriott hotels. this week i'm staying in a springhill suites and i could get used to it!

{this pic is off the website, but it really does look like this. exactly. so nice & bright!}

{this was a pic from my phone ... these doorways are the toilet/sink on the right, closet in the middle, and shower/sink on the left. a nice concept, especially if you have more than 1 person in the room}

other discoveries ...

1. i don't like the chevy hhr ... when i got to the airport i had my choice of 7 cars ... or rather, 7 different colors of the hhr. boo.

2. i'm bored with eating dinner alone. i should probably get over that quickly. i decided i should start eating at new restaurants or start ordering new things at restaurants i know.

3. i went to a place called cafe adobe for dinner tonight and tried something new ... half an avocado, "stuffed" with chicken, then battered and "lightly" fried. it was actually pretty good.

4. i'm loving the tv guide app on my phone. it's now much easier to find channels i want to watch in the hotel room.

5. i just saw a commercial for disneyworld and i want to go back. must be time to start planning the next vacation.

6. i'm watching a show on tlc about a girl who eats chalk ... daily ... multiple pieces. sick.

happy birthday to thomas!

thomas turned 26 (i think) yesterday, so we went over for a little visit and some delish desserts! and boy, were they good! a giant cookie, german chocolate cupcakes, and chocolate andes mint cookies ... i was in a sugar coma.

we also thought it'd be a good time to try to get a picture to fill up a multi-photo frame for the house. i guess i should have taken my camera instead of using my phone. oh well, they're cute kids and cute pics, even if they're a little fuzzy ...

{i think this one should go in the frame at home}

{a funny face picture is WAY easier to get than a simple smiling one!}

{julez is afraid of this dinosaur, but avery was not ... she convinced julez it'd be ok}

check out these stars

on friday we took the kids to chuck e cheese for some game-playin fun. how's this for some cuteness?

{avery, zoe and julez sportin their new star specs}

a little bit o' hawks action

for 90 consecutive games, the united center has been sold out for the blackhawks. and i got a ticket to go last night. and not just any ticket, a box seat. yay for me. and yay for dad who gets them from work occasionally.

even better, they were playing the blues. and what makes it better is that mia is a blues fan. and that the hawks are excellent this year. and that i can rub it in her face when the blues lose.

{this is mia, sad after the hawks scored their 6th goal in a row}

{the parents ... and i think julez took this picture}

{me & julez - a self portrait}

{one of many fights. no blood, but a few punches thrown}

{most of the group ... dad, mom, julez, thomas, and mia up top}




{thomas, julez, and steph}

we had a great time and the hawks won! now on to the stanley cup!

in no particular order

i decided that i don't need to write a whole big post in order to throw some pictures on my blog, so forgive me if this seems a bit disjointed ...


a couple weeks ago mia's family was in town, so we took her niece mini-golfing at the indoor "glow in the dark" place. too bad she's not looking at the camera. but it was kinda fun.


i was in tulsa this week looking for some new property for work and i stopped in at hobby lobby. i was on the hunt for some specific lavender ribbon, which i couldn't find at any of the craft stores near me. anyway, this guy was in front of me in line. he totally creeped me out! just thought i'd share.


while i was in tulsa, kim's family and i went to the zoo. this jaguar was right next to the glass so i took his picture. check out those monster paws! the only thing i'm bummed about is that this is the only picture i have from my tulsa trips ... and i've been there 3 or 4 times. next time i'm definitely taking my camera and i WILL take some pics of me & kim ... i have to!

and then i thought i'd share this picture from last night. avery & zoe in their new piggy pajamas. super cute girls!