Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to lots of family visiting visiting this weekend: parents, Jessi, grandma and aunt Maria from Austria.

Creep that Michael is out of town when everyone is visiting. He's going to Seattle for a concert with friends.

Sunshine to the Hoigaard's (local sporting good store) yearly "Tent Sale" being next weekend. I thought it was this weekend and since Michael is gone, I wasn't planning to go. But since it's next weekend, we can! They have amazing markdowns on last year's stuff and I got my skis there last year.

Sunshine to getting my ring fixed this week.

Sunshine to yummy Indian food this week. I love Indian food!

Sunshine to Winnie's playdate with our neighbor's 95 lbs golden retriever. Creep  hat he might be moving soon. They had so much fun!

Creep to Winnie peeing on the couch last night. I was literally 6 inches from her while we were playing and she just squatted. Little rascal!

Sunshine to all the wedding anniversaries this week: Ours on the 8th; Jami and Chris on the 11th; and Chad and Michelle today.

Sunshine to the BOGO sale at Lund's and Byerly's this week. My favorite dessert indulgence was BOGO. YUM!

Sunshine to getting Winnie a new kennel. I think (and hope) she will love it once we get it set up.

Creep to lots of late nights for Michael this week. I feel like I hardly got to see him.

Sunshine to my annual Miss America party on Sunday. My Girls Night friends and their hubbys/soon-to-be-hubbies are coming over for it. I appreciate that they humor me in my obsession every year.

Family Weekend at the cabin

A few weeks ago, my whole family joined us for a weekend at the cabin. Originally, Michael and I had invited Jami and her family down for a weekend. We had decided the third weekend in July back in February. We invited the others as well, but Jessi had a wedding and my parents didn't think they'd make it. Well, turns out Jessi's wedding was Friday so she came Saturday and Sunday and my parents were able to make it for Saturday as well. We had a great time with everyone there!

Michael, Molly and I met the S family on Thursday night and we went on a boat ride right after dinner. The kiddos loved it and wanted to go in the water, but we were not that prepared. Michael, Molly, and Chris ended up going in with two skinny-dipping kiddos - and they LOVED it! We had a bonfire that night with smores and a cigar.

Friday morning, we ate breakfast and then it was back on the boat. We =took the kids tubing, which was fun, and then swam for a good 30 minutes. The kids were in heaven and by the time we were back to the cabin, they were so tired and ready for naps. They each took 3 hour naps, which allowed us adults to do some swimming ourselves. I am trying to convince Jami to do a tri with us in the future but like me, she's not much of a swimmer, so we had swim practice. In 10 minutes, she looked great - she's so naturally athletic - and I definitely could see her doing on in the future. She has the athleticism for it.

Jami also went jet skiing, which was so funny. She wanted to go and then she kept screaming "I'm a weenie. I'm a mom. This is going to fast." It was idling. Michael went out with her and helped her get some courage to at least use the gas. I don't judge her at all because I am the same way, and I'm not even a mom. She went again Saturday and felt much more comfortable.

We took more boat rides and swims with the kids later in the day, and that night, the adults had a good time with dinner, drinking, and ping-pong. It was our Ski Trip group + Molly and we loved having Molly with us. Molly and Jami are so similar and get along great - there were so many laughs. We missed Amy, who is in Chicago for the summer.

Saturday, we repeated the previous morning: breakfast, boating, swimming. The guys and Molly ran to the local flea market for some Crocks (greatest shoe EVER at the cabin) and Jessi arrived while they were gone. Michael's parents were there by lunch, and my parents arrived shortly there after. It was a cooler day but we still enjoyed the water and sitting by the lake. Michael and I made a big dinner for everyone. After dinner, we took everyone on a boat ride/swim and my parents left around 9. Jami, Chris, Jessi, Molly, Michael, and I had a bonfire and ate smores.

On Sunday, it was a quick breakfast in the morning before the S family hit the road for a 7 hour road trip. Jessi left shortly after (her drive is only 2.5 hours) and once we cleaned up, we left around noon.

We had a blast and will definitely be making this a yearly thing. The cabin is such a great place to be with those you love!

Here's a few pics from the weekend - I wish I had more!

She poses just like her auntie :-)

Cutest. Swimsuit. Ever.

Jami getting ready to jet ski.

Kaden was all smiles every time we were in/near the water. He loves it!

Kynleigh ate Grandpa's corn. It was hysterical.

Auntie and Kynni

Where was Winnie in all of this? She was there, but thought the kiddos were dogs like her because she kept chasing them and jumping on them (they were just the right height for her). We tried to keep her busy and away from the kids but it wasn't always easy. Kaden mostly ignored her but Kynleigh would run to the nearest adult and say "Up. Up. UP!" to get away. I'm hoping they all like each other more next time they are together :-)

I'm trying to show Kynleigh that Winnie is not evil :-)

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to our first triathlon last weekend. You can read a full recap here.

Creep to coming home to a flooded basement last weekend. We're planning to strip it down to the studs, based on the damage :-(

Creep to the insane humidity this week. I am looking forward to the relief the meteorologists are predicted this weekend.

Sunshine to a long weekend with the S family at the cabin. And Jessi and my parents are coming on Saturday. Should be lots of fun!

Sunshine to Winnie being a cutie this week. We just love her!

Sunshine to Winnie learning to use her potty bells. I think this weekend at the cabin might be challenging but she has the hang of it at home.

Sunshine to meeting so many of our neighbors now that we have a dog. Everyone wants to meet the new puppy :-)

Creep to being so busy at work. I have a ton to do next week before I'm out the week after for a week of vacation.

Sunshine to my new office being under construction. I've been relocated to our business office and I have to say, I kind of like it over here. I'm in the corner and everyone is pretty quiet. It's nice! I am so excited to have a space that is my own and I can shut the door. I haven't had my own office in 4 years (I shared an office at the NAA too) so this will be awesome!

Creep to being totally unmotivated to workout this week. We do plan to swim at the cabin this weekend though.

Creep to not having enough time in the day. This week felt so hectic and I just wish I had more time. I went grocery shopping last night at 9:15pm for Pete's sake!

Goals - July 2013

Well, June just FLEW by so my goals were hit and miss. Let’s hope for better success in July!

Professional Goals - June 2013

Meet our financial and participation goals. We’re close on all of them except one so we should be ok. We made them all!!!

Finalize thank you card. We need one more piece of data that won’t be done until next week, then it’s ready to go.

Meet with data researcher about what end-of-year reports I need. Done.

Start website overhaul. Not started yet. Next week!

Hand off my old job to the new “me.” Did I mention her name is Jen and she’s tall and blonde? :-) Done but I still get a lot of questions from people. I’m happy to redirect them to Jen.

Personal Goals - June 2013

Keep up with training schedule. We only missed one day all month!

Complete 30 day ab challenge. I stopped at day 22. 

Do one open water swim practice. Done. So. Unbelievably. Hard!

Eat healthier lunches. Yes, yay me!

Menu plan each week. We did pretty well on this.

Keep up on our gardening/yard work. Eh, we could have don better.

Go to the cabin the last weekend of the month. Yes! Cannot wait to go more in July.

Have a fun weekend with Jessi. Yes! But I forgot to take pictures :-(

Eat all of our favorite Chicago foods – deep dish pizza, Ann Sather’s cinnamon rolls, and a Chicago-style hotdog. Yes, yes, and yes!!!!!!!

Reschedule our meeting with financial planner. Rescheduled but not until this month.

Have a girls night. Yes. Winnie even joined us.

Go on walks in the evenings. Yes – thank you, Winnie 

Catch up on my magazine reading. Sort of – looking forward to doing that over the 4th!

Blog three times a week. I sucked at blogging this month. Shame on me!

And now for July’s goals!

Professional Goals - July 2013

Finalize and send thank you card. 

Start working on all my end-of-fiscal-year reports.

Start website overhaul.

Send volunteer thank yous.

Meet with graphic designer about next year’s projects.

Move into my new office (supposed to be done by the end of the month – I’ll believe it when I see it).

Celebrate two years at my school.

Take the last week of the month/first week of July off for a stay-cation :-)

Personal Goals - July 2013

Complete my first (and only?) triathlon!

Keep working out post-tri.

Eat healthy lunches. 

Menu plan each week using things from our garden – herbs and tomato recipes needed!

Enjoy our long-weekend at the cabin for the 4th of July.

Have a fun weekend with the S family.

Have a fun weekend in Minot for my cousin’s wedding.

Meet with financial planner.

Lunch with Michelle.

Start puppy kindergarten for Winnie.

Go out on a date night.

Check off at least two things on my summer to-do list.

Continue training Winnie – potty training, walking, no nipping, etc.

Blog three times a week.

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to Jessi coming to visit this weekend!

Sunshine to War Horse tomorrow night!

Sunshine to some good workouts this week.

Creep to TOTAL exhaustion. I cannot wait to sleep past 5:05 am tomorrow.

Creep to all the ants in my herb garden :-(

Sunshine to the person who is taking over my old job starting on Monday! That only took 6 months!

Sunshine to my hubby! We celebrated 9 months last weekend at a wedding and had a blast!

June - crazy-busy month!

We have a ton of stuff going on in June! Nearly all of it is really fun stuff but it will be a crazy-intense month.

Here’s what’s going on:

June 7-9 – Chicago for our friends Corey and Brittany’s wedding
June 12 – dinner with friends Allie and Christian
June 14-16 – Jessi is coming to visit and we are seeing War Horse
June 16 – Father’s Day – don’t know what we’re doing yet but I’m assuming dinner with the M’s fam
June 20-22 – Chicago for Amy’s graduation, plus a special pit stop on the way home (more on that in a later blog post)
June 26 – Girls Night
June 28-30 – weekend at the cabin

Also, we train for the tri all month long, with a practice mini-tri on Sunday, June 30. And did I mention that it is also the last month of the fiscal year at my school? So I have to raise another $92K to reach our goal by June 30? NBD…

Sunshines and Creeps

Creep to two trips to the dentist this week. Numbness and soreness are not fun.

Sunshine to more basketball this weekend - love me some March Madness!

Sunshine to Jessi and my parents visiting this weekend. Miss the S family though.

Creep to cold weather. Where the heck is spring?!

Sunshine to getting my office cleaned up this week.

Sunshine to a much more organized guest room and guest room closet. Now if I could only get Michael to clean up his stuff in the basement...

Sunshine to a good swim yesterday. I swam 8 50s with 30 seconds rest. I thought I was going to drown on the last one but I did it!

Creep to one week of spring break already gone by.

One of my favorite days of the year

First off, a big happy birthday to both of my sisters. Jessi's birthday was yesterday and Jami's is today (yes, their birthdays are one day apart - interestingly, they have different astrological signs). I have the best sisters and love them both to pieces!

My sisters, me and my mom on my wedding day.

Ok, now on to why this is one of my favorite days of the year (other than the fact it's my sister's birthday and the first/second day of spring, depending on which sister you ask).

It's MARCH MADNESS, BABY!

I LOVE March Madness! I love the upsets, the Cinderellas, the buzzer-beaters. It's so much fun to me. And the best part is - this year, because it's Spring Break, I get to watch all of the games today! Not gonna lie, I'm one of those people who has it on my computer at work and I listen along - and occasionally watch - but it's just not the same as being able to watch at home.

Two years ago, I had a great year and went 15/16 in the first round, finishing 4th in my office pool. Michael and I are on our 4th year of picks and I have yet to beat him.

My Final Four are Louisville, Ohio State, Indiana, and Georgetown, and I have the Hoosiers winning it all.

So if you're looking for me today, I'll be glued to my couch, flipping between four channels and taking it all in. Here's to upsets!!!

Sunshines and Creeps

Sunshine to our delicious “red meal” for Valentine’s Day last night. Our tradition continues!

Creep to my total insomnia two nights ago. Waking up for the day at 2:36 am is not very fun.

Sunshine to not having to go to NYC this weekend. 3 day weekend at home with my hubby = happy me!

Sunshine to my good friend Steph, who’s due date for Baby Boy J is fast-approaching. So happy for her and her hubby Ross!

Creep to basically doing two jobs right now and no progress on finding someone to take over my old one. Overwhelmed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel.

Sunshine to Westminster this week. My pick didn’t win but I just love dogs. I really want one :-(

Sunshine to texting with Jessi about Westminster. She LOVES the show (it's her version of Miss America) and it's fun to get the scoop from her on who is supposed to do well, who she likes, etc.

Creep to being totally exhausted after our swimming workouts this week. I feel better after today’s practice than I did on Tuesday but holy cow, swimming is hard!

Creep to the starvation that comes with swimming in the morning. It’s currently 9:13 am and I’m ready for lunch…

Sunshine to trying a new recipe this weekend: Chicken Tikka Masala. I hope it's good b/c I love Indian food.

Wedding Wednesday - Reception Dance Part I

As I've said in past posts, our dance was AWESOME! It was full the entire time, our DJ played great music, and we have awesome family and friends. Our photographers spent the entire dance snapping photos and captured some really great moments.

There are SO many I want to share that I'm doing this in more than one post.

Enjoy part one!

Haley

Molly

Ed, McCall, and Pat

Love this picture of Srini and Ed 

Jen, Kristie, Caitlin and me (didn't know it was possible for me to have that many chins...)

Jacy and my Grandma

Grandma Verla

Jill and Connor

Lara

Don't ask me what I'm doing b/c I don't know

Peter 

Patty

Ryan and Laura were great dancers!

Ryan and Srini

Ed was all smiles

My sisters and me - love them!

Jami

Patty and Peter

Peter's dad 

Amy 

Kristie - what up?! :-)

John and Suzy

Haley and Amy

JB - he was a party animal

My parents

Tia

Srini

Ryan

Amy - her hair cracks me up in this photo

Oh Ed :-)

Ed and Patty

My parents

Me and Michelle

Kristie, Jen, Caitlin, me and Johanne

Tia

The Oothoudt cousins - Jordyn, Alec, Rayme, Jacy, me, Jami, Tia, and Jessi. Just missing Breann, who wasn't able to be there.

I love Ryan.

Jami and Chris

More next week!