Monday, August 30, 2010

SMS


There is a cause important enough that I had to take a moment to let you in on. I adore Ryan and his blog Pacing the Panic Room - he speaks from the heart and his pictures are amazing. His son, The Littlest Buddy, has a condition called Smith Magenis Syndrome that we need to learn more about. Hence, the new charity album to benefit the study and research of SMS! You can listen to the tracks in the widget and buy the album from iTunes which is linked to above! Please help if you can!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Graduation SURPRISE Getaway


Still trying to get caught up - the weekend after I graduated (July 30th - August 1) my sweet husband surprised me with a weekend getaway! We had so much fun and I loved not knowing what to expect next! Friday night he drove me to Hermann, Missouri, an old little town settled by Germans with lots of little shops and wineries. We spent the night in a cute bed and breakfast and enjoyed wine tasting and dinner at a local winery. Really what we enjoyed about it was each other...the food/wine wasn't so impressive. The next morning I was treated to a massage and breakfast before we headed off to our next destination! 





A few hours later I woke up (I ALWAYS sleep in the car) to find myself in St. Louis and we were pulling into a mall parking lot. I was so confused. Grant just told me to follow him and we walked to the food court to find Lainey and Dan waiting for us! We ate at Obama's favorite pizza place and enjoyed delicious pizza and Oregon beer




we loved this restaurant and really want to go back soon! (those earrings were handcrafted by the one and only Jenni McCord! I wear them all the time and everyone LOVES them!)
Next we headed to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery - apparently St. Louis has made beer for a LOOOONG time. It was really fun and interesting to see how the beer is made and to learn about all the history. That place is HUGE and has been around forever! 




it is crazy...they make SOOO many bottles every minute and there were only like 2 or 3 human workers...kind of sad, really...



we like videos - i know they are dorky, but they make me laugh.... 


we spent the rest of the night at one of our favorite restaurants enjoying delicious food and company. can you believe i didn't take ONE picture while the four of us were there?? i was kind of annoyed so G and I had a little photo shoot when we got back to our room. 


the next morning we headed over to the St. Louis Zoo which is surprisingly FREE to get into - I love seeing all the animals, but it also makes me kind of sad that they are in captivity. It was an extremely hot day! 


We ended our weekend with a stop at the Arch - it is such a huge structure! we considered going up but the line was like a million people long and I'm not all that into heights so we passed. We were thinking about going to the cardinals game that afternoon, but honestly it was SOOOO hot we couldn't bear the thought. 

Thanks for an awesome celebratory weekend, babe! I keep thinking our life is going to calm down...hopefully in a few months we will be able to take a deep breath and relax! 

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Finally Done!

July 28th was my LAST DAY of NURSING SCHOOL EVER! It was a very good day for a lot of reasons, but one of the best was that we got to go out to pizza with friends and my sweet hubby surprised me with this awesome cake! Isn't it impressive?? It was only like $30! His co-worker makes them for a hobby - I was uber impressed! 


Me & Lainey SO happy to be done and ready for a sugary band-aid to celebrate! We were lucky to have even more surprises later that week...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Camping Round 2!


About a month ago we went on our second camping trip of the summer. The first time we went to the lake with Lainey & Dan. This time two other couples joined us and one even brought a boat! Isn't Olive so cute all hot in her crate? We dropped her off at the doggie resort on the way down so that she didn't have to be left alone while we were on the water all day. It was also over 100 degrees (like it always is in Missouri..) and she doesn't like that so much.


We were the first to arrive so we enjoyed a smooch and the view... 



That night we all got settled, made some burgers and hung out around the campfire. SO.MUCH.FUN!



Saturday we spent all day on the boat in the water. It was awesome - I got a little sea sick (as usual), but everyone else loved it! This is Grant trying his hardest to get up on those darn ski's. 

We stopped and parked the boat to get some lunch - this is the whole gang! 

Later in the day Grant was able to successfully knee board - looks fun, huh?? I'm not one for water sports so I opted out! 

The rest of the weekend we spent doing more of the same - grilling, campfire chats, and some more boating - although it rained on sunday making the latter a bit difficult. We are REALLY hoping to get at least one more camping trip in this year so we can bring Olive with us...we'll keep you posted!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

baby bird


remember these little guys?? isn't he cute?? they were around for just about 10 days after they hatched and then one day we came home and they had abandoned us. i was sad to see them leave! in the end only two ended up hatching, but i don't think any more could have fit in the little nest!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

more of this





it has been a while. how are you all? i'm so out of touch with my little space on the internets. life has thrown some seriously heavy blows and required lots of deep breaths the past few weeks. you may have noticed that the blog went private for a time, but i decided that wasn't necessary and opened it back up. i like you all too much not to have you share our life!


it has been seriously rough and those two over there have been a huge support, along with my friends and family (don't know what i'd do without you all!). the tears and frustration keep coming, but i'm feeling a little better all the time. the positives are: i am DONE with nursing school, i have a job, and did i mention... I AM DONE WITH NURSING SCHOOL??

i really am so ready to have a 'regular' life where there is some sense of financial stability and lots of time to spend as i wish. the next few months will be spent transitioning into that life. I.CAN.NOT.WAIT.




i will be back over the next few days with updates about the past few weeks, but i will leave you with a sweet video of my loves. can you get over how sweet and cuddly she is?? her life is complete if she has one of us close and we are indulging her in a belly rub. love her.