how do you measure...

measure a year...in daylights, in sunsets...in midnights, in cups of coffee...in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife...in five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...measure in love...

I tried to sum up the past year in a just few words but this song kept popping into my head.  There are too many words to describe the past 12 months. It was a year of many ups and downs...thankfully it had many more ups than downs, we are so blessed.

In January, I flew down to Milwaukee for girls weekend in Kenosha at Caitlen and Jon’s house. We watched movies, drank wine and stayed up late catching up on each others lives. C&J’s son, Jackson, is such an entertaining little boy...he had learned how to say “hey ladies” before we got there...it was about the cutest thing ever.

The next few months were busy with planning, finalizing, and stressing about the soon approaching wedding! I really enjoyed most of the planning process...but it is definitely something you only do once. You couldn't pay me to do that part over again.

In March, Joe decided it was time to sell his beloved boat. Even though we enjoyed it, we just didn't use it enough...all of our parents have places on lakes and they all have boats, we just never took it out and it wasn't worth the cost of insurance and winterizing each year when it was only used once or twice each summer.

March also brought fun...showers and bachelorette parties! My first shower was hosted by my fabulous friends AJ & Kristin at Kiln Kreations in Woodbury, where my family and friends painted plates, bowls, platters and dog dishes for us. It was so much fun and something unique and different, which was what I wanted.

Here are the two fabulous hosts and their moms:

And being the bride to be, I got to put my hand on the wall and sign it...mine is the purple one.

My other shower was held in Stanley by my other fabulous friend, Krista, and her mom, Julie. It was a traditional shower with great food and games...I have some of the most generous people in my life, I'm so grateful. We got some really great things for our house. After the shower, we headed into EC to stay at Kristin's house and hit the big bar scene of EC. It was actually pretty low key and just the way I like it. We grabbed dinner at Mona Lisa's and made sure to get spuds o' plenty at Mogie's. Here are the besties who helped me celebrate my last night out as a single lady: Jessica, Debbie, me, AJ, Kristin and Krista.

The Elton John glasses my sister got for me to wear:

In April, after months and months of planning, the big day FINALLY arrived and I became a BRIDE...

And then became a MRS...
The day was picture perfect. Yes, like everyone, there were a few minor hiccups (pouring rain, people who had declined show up, hurting my leg) but I wouldn't have changed a thing. Everything worked out perfectly and I had the most perfect and happiest day of my life. I wish I could live that day over and over again. And at the end of it all, I got the greatest man in the world.

One of the hiccups left more than just a memory...when I was walking to my chair on the head table, my leg fell through the riser and the wall. There was about a 4 inch gap between the two and of course I managed to step right on the gap. It hurt like hell the rest of the night (and for months after) but I didn't let it stop me and ruin my night...as they say, the show must go on. And I had a blast. There was lots of drinking, dancing and laughter with all of our favorite people in the world...and that's all I could have asked for.

The following week, we headed to VEGAS! Joe had never been there before and we stayed at the New York, New York Hotel:

We had a week full of gambling and food. We saw the Cirque du Soleil show "KA" at MGM. We also spent one evening in the old part of the strip. We loved the Golden Nugget and Binion's, they had way better slot payouts. However, I still managed to lose all of my money in my gambling envelope. Joe, on the other hand, had beginners luck at the craps tables and won back all of the money we had brought to gamble and then some. It was a success!

We also headed to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop (aka Pawn Stars) one morning. Joe got his picture taken with the old man, a rare occurrence that he was actually there and willing to take pics with fans:
In May, we went to our first Twins game together at Target Field. It was a VERY hot afternoon in May, well over 90 degrees.  Our friends Jason and Lisa took us, it was great to hang out with them.

We also held our 3rd annual family garage sale in May. We were able to sell most of our stuff (we had to clean house to make room for all of our wonderful gifts we received) and we even had a few kiddos who liked playing with the old fax machine Joe's mom was trying to sell, it was pretty cute. We also had our first encounter with a fake $20. By the time we realized it was fake, they were of course long gone. We called the cops and gave them the 20, along with descriptions of the thieves and their car. Unfortunately we weren't the only ones hit...the cops told us they had been hitting quite a few in the area over the weekend. A month later, Joe was called in for a photo lineup and he believes he identified the right woman...we haven't heard back since or got our money back. Lesson learned...buy a counterfeit pen!

June brought a huge milestone for me, I rolled over 100,000 miles on my car. And with that, it seems to have brought huge expenses with it. It has been a year of maintenance flushes and a few somewhat minor repairs...even though in total, the expenses have been cheaper than having a new car with payments, I'm hoping the few grand we had to fork over this year is not a regular expense to come. I guess that is what happens with an older car you drive 70 miles a day on...but the mechanics assure me that since I take such great care of it, it should no doubt last another 7. (fingers & toes are crossed!)

The summer came and went with the blink of an eye. We were able to head up to my parents lake place over the Fourth and enjoy the wonderful summers we have here. Shiloh loves to go on the pontoon with us:

I celebrated my final birthday of my 20's in July. I had a little too much to drink that day but I enjoyed my last celebration before the big 3-0! They say your 30s are way better than your 20s...so hopefully that will make it more bearable when the big day comes.

I spent many hours over the summer changing my name on all of my accounts and switching everything over to our joint account. To this day, I'm still finding random things I forgot to update...will it EVER end?!?

The summer of 2010 also brought the news of Wells Fargo Financial being closed. It was over a month that we had no idea if Joe was going to have a job or not. It was the first time the recession had hit so close to home...it was eye opening and scary. But we made it through and Joe was thankfully moved to the bank. Although not his choice of career, it's a paycheck and health insurance until he can find something better.

In August, we finished the updates to our kitchen. And after 2 years of being without, I finally got my dishwasher, yay! It is seriously heaven on earth. We also had to replace our furnace and air conditioner this fall. Although that was a hefty bill to pay, we had put it off long enough...it was way over due and needed to be done...I'm looking forward to having central air next summer, after 2 summers of using window units.

September brought Shiloh's 3rd birthday...I can't believe how fast the time goes. Besides her occasional outbursts of chewing random things (for example, Joe's lunch bag...seriously, that looked good enough to eat?!?), she is such a great dog and we love her so much. I just want to slow down time...we don't get enough years with our beloved pets!

I also ran my first 5K EVER in September. I ran the whole way and raised $50 for Special Olympics. It was such an awesome feeling to cross the finish line. Although I've fallen off the wagon since, I'm hoping the new year motivates me (not to mention my pants feeling tighter after the holidays) to get back on track.

Joe also got his new toy this fall...his 4 wheeler. It's actually more than just a toy, he uses it to plow our driveway, along with hunting and ice fishing. Although he lost his boat, it was replaced with a more practical toy ;)  See, not all married men lose their toys once they get hitched, LOL.

In October, I headed to the Madison area to celebrate Krista and Holly turning 30. It happened to fall on the weekend of Halloween, so we dressed up and celebrated in style at Krista and Kyle's house. It was a fun weekend, I wish we all lived closer so we could do this more than once or twice a year.

I also gave up the job search in October. After months of searching, I got tired of looking and will stay with GD for now. There just wasn't anything worth leaving my current job for. Maybe after things turn around some, I can start looking for something closer to home.

In November, I experienced my first TRUE Black Friday shopping. The night before, we went out about 9:30pm to see if anyone was camped out...and sure enough, in single digit temps, people were already out and had set up ice houses to stay warm. Only in Minnesota! I didn't go to those extremes but I did roll out of bed at 2:30am to be at Kohl's when they opened at 3am!

The month also brought the end of my lease agreement on my town house. We really lucked out, he took such great care of it. Unfortunately it was time for him to move on but we have a new renter that moved in this week. We went through a rental company this time and I got to meet the new tenant. She seems really promising and looking to stay long term...time will tell, I guess.

And as we neared the end of 2010, we had the "2010 Blizzard" on December 11th that brought well over 1.5 feet of snow to the metro. The entire metro had practically shut down, it was pretty crazy. I hope that is the worst we will see for a very long time. For Joe's 29th birthday, we headed to the Vikings game...which ended up being the very last Vikings game of the season (and possibly ever??) in the Metrodome, since it ended up collapsing the weekend after we were there. Here we are during the game:

And exactly one week later...

We had a wonderful Christmas in Wisconsin with my family. My sister flew home, it makes me wish MN and AZ weren't so far apart. But it makes us cherish the time we do get together, makes it that more special.

I also chopped my hair again last week (very much needed)...please excuse the high school cell phone picture and my favorite goodwill find of a sweatshirt...I was too lazy to put my sweater back on after I'd changed into my sweats :)

All in all, we had one HECK of a year. We are blessed with such wonderful family and friends and can't wait to see what 2011 brings our way.

Hope you all have a safe and happy new year! We wish you and yours a blessed and healthy 2011!!

xoxo

merry christmas...

Merry Christmas friends & family! Hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones...we headed back to Wisconsin yesterday and have pretty much been eating nonstop ever since. It's just so nice to be home. We opened gifts this morning and had our big meal around noon, ham and cheesy potatoes. YUM! Then we watched "Meet the Fockers", in preparation for our traditional Christmas movie. This year's selection was "Little Fockers" which was cute and pretty funny. There weren't nearly as many uncomfortable typical Ben Stiller moments like movies past (which I appreciated since I tend to get embarrassed for people rather easily) but the ones they did have were still good :) Weather had prevented us from going last year and it was a vast improvement from our movie from 2 years ago, Marley & Me. At that time, it had been 6 months since we had lost Eddy, so that movie didn't go well for the D family. There were no tears or sad dog scenes this years, thank goodness.

Tomorrow, I think we'll head in for a little after Christmas shopping and then we'll head home on Monday morning. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and safe travels home!

ready for the holidays...

I'm ready for the holidays...bought the last gift yesterday and everything is now wrapped and ready to go! I made my famous sugar cookies and they are in the freezer, ready to be enjoyed next weekend. And I've started the list for our trip to WI, I'm so excited to go home. I haven't been home, in what feels like forever...I'm just really looking forward to some R&R with my family :)

We survived the blizzard of 2010...the Thursday before, Joe had the day off and was in the backyard plowing the area where Shiloh goes. As he was plowing, the wench broke on our 4 wheeler. He calls me at work, letting me know he was dropping it off to be fixed. At that point, I had heard we could see 2-4 inches over the weekend...not a big deal, we could handle shoveling that. But on my drive home that afternoon, they had updated the weather report and were predicting at least a foot of snow....crap was my first thought. Because of Joe's work schedule, he wasn't able to pick it back up until the following Wednesday. That Saturday morning when it started to roll in, we shoveled a good 4 inches to keep up with the snow but dreaded what the storm was going to bring by the time he got home from work...but thankfully we have some AWESOME family members, Mark & Melinda drove to the shop (3o minutes north of us) in the blizzard, to pick it up so Joe could plow us out when he got home. When it was all said and done we probably got 15-17 inches. The malls closed early, plows were taken off the road, the airport was shut down, the buses and light rail closed...even Wells Fargo closed their doors early. Some schools were still closed on Monday. It was quite the snowstorm and I really hope it's the worst we'll see this winter.

The 2010 blizzard also brought the Metrodome down, just ONE week after we had been there. It's pretty incredible...thankfully it went down about 5am and it wasn't during the game when it collapsed. We also witnessed the last game of the season in the dome (and possibly the last ever??). And if Favre doesn't return, we'll have also witnessed his last pass EVER in the NFL. Many lasts may have occurred that day and we were there to witness it all.

My latest obsession? Street Corner Symphony! I've been watching "The Sing-Off" this year and have adored SCS since the first night...the finale is tomorrow night, I sure hope they win...although I have a feeling they will be around, regardless if they win or lose...they are so freaking good :) HEART them!

Over the weekend, we went to Phalen Park in St Paul for "Holiday Lights In The Park" with Mark, Melinda, and Brandy. It's a light show put together by electricians....you pay by the carload and drive through....and all the lights in the park were LED too. It was pretty cool and it definitely got me in the holiday spirit. Here is just a sampling of what we saw...

Because a holiday celebration is not complete without a pirate ship...

Looks like a Pooh Bear, rocking it out...

Come on ride the train...choo choo...

It's hard to believe christmas is only 6 days away! Hope you all have a merry christmas...

birthday weekend...

It was Joe’s 29^th birthday on Saturday and he celebrated in style by working. Yeah, he requested off but unfortunately still had to work. Luckily, a co-worker switched shifts with him and he got done early at 2pm instead of 4pm. I know people who have a December birthday generally don’t like the combining of birthdays and Christmas because they are two very separate occasions but I had to combine them this year so I could get Joe tickets to the Vikings! He was pretty excited when he found out that was what he was getting! So I ran some errands while Joe was working. When he got home from work, I made the dinner he requested, grilled chicken with pesto and noodles…so good! I had also found a slice of chocolate cake at Target that reminded me of the free dessert we got at Granite City when we got engaged. Joe is not a cake person and rarely eats it (seriously wish I had that problem :) so I can’t justify making/buying a cake because I will end up eating the entire thing…so this was perfect amount. It was delicious and we both polished that slice off in no time!

On Sunday, we headed to the game with Mark & Melinda. They had randomly got free tickets from Melinda’s co-worker for the same game, so it was nice to split parking and hang out before the game. And what a game to buy for Joe, they crushed the Bills, which was exciting for him. I could have cared less…I spent most of the game trying to get the internet on my phone to work so I could check the stats of the Packer/49er game. Unfortunately, that was a large fail and had to wait for the scoreboard updates instead.

Being married to a die-hard Viking fan has taught me how to keep my cheering and comments to myself. Contrary to what most people would think...when the Pack & Vikes play, it's pretty dang quiet in the house. We've learned it's just not worth the arguments and hurt feelings that come with it. I love the Packers but I love my husband & marriage more, so my mouth is usually shut during any of their games. No worries fellow packer backers, I'm NOT transforming into one of them...there are PLENTY of things I would love to say and make fun of...they are just never spoken aloud ;)

So the entire game, I didn’t cheer for the Bills or say one negative thing…I just sat, minding my own business, while everyone else jumped up and cheered. Just before half time, I had gone to the bathroom and during that time, Joe apparently chatted with the couple next to us and told them I was a Packer fan. When I got back, she said she heard I was a Packer fan, we talked about how we both disliked Favre and she even showed me the family members she brought to the game a few weeks before, dressed in Packer attire on her phone. Her niece lives in Eau Claire and we talked about how I grew up in the area and went to school in EC. Pretty nice lady, right? Yeah...well, during the last touchdown by AP, everyone was standing up and cheering, the crowd went wild…she then leaned down and told me “suck it lady!” I about died, I couldn’t believe she said that…even if she was joking, it was WAY out of line and completely inappropriate (plus, she was at least in her mid 60's and knew better). I had done nothing but be polite and respectful the entire game. Had I been making comment(s) before, hers would have been well deserved. Thankfully I had a witty moment and said, “don’t worry, I’ll have the last laugh in the playoffs.” Ugh. Seriously, why do these people find me? (see previous post about Target cashier). I didn’t tell Joe about it until after we had left, I didn’t feel like topping the day off by being escorted out by security, LOL!

Otherwise, we had a really great time (despite the fact I was at a Vikings game & the rude lady) and birthday weekend for Joe. We splurged a little on goodies at the game, which we never do anymore but you only live once, right? I got the dome dog I've been craving...which is now called "quarterback dog." It wasn't quite the same but still good.

And now we’re back to Monday, at least it’s a short week for me. I sure love my Fridays off on weeks like this one :)

holiday weekend updates...

So I experienced something for the first time last week...TRUE Black Friday shopping. We spent Thanksgiving with Joe's mom and family, which includes the tradition of going through all the ads and making christmas lists (which most of you know is one of my favorite things on this earth to do :) I saw something at Kohl's that I really wanted to purchase for someone, so I decided to go buy it at 3AM when they opened!!! It was a steal-of-a-deal that I just couldn't pass up. Yep, I rolled out of bed at 2:30am (even though I had gone to bed at 11pm), got dressed and was in the Kohl's parking lot at 2:55...and talk about a rookie mistake. I thought it would be a fairly short line and wait (who was going to get up that early, in single digit temps, right??), so I didn't even bother bringing my winter jacket. HA! There was a line wrapped around the building...so I waited in my car until the line started moving. After a minute or so, I was in the store, walking very briskly to the department my item would be located....only to find the shelf completely empty!! Talk about about complete disappointment. So I grabbed a few other items I wanted and got in line. While standing in line, I asked one of the employees if they were really out of the item and she said everywhere sold out on WEDNESDAY. That irritated me even more...I was so annoyed and wondered how many others rolled out of their nice, warms beds in the middle of the night like me to buy that exact item, ugh! But I still waited the 45 minutes to get through the line and then headed back home for a quick cat nap. Joe was set to get up at 5:30 to hit some of the man store sales. When he woke up, he didn't even know I had left. We were out the door by 6:00 and didn't get back home until 12:30. Most of our morning was spent in lines but we got some great deals and finished most of our shopping, so overall it was a success :)

Saturday we spent the afternoon/evening with Joe's dad and family, everyone came over to our house. We had 13 people this year, so it was by far the largest thanksgiving meal I've ever prepared but it turned out well and I think everyone had a good time.

This week has been a short one for me, I took Monday off since I had worked the Wednesday before and ended up working from home on Tuesday. I tried driving in but it was really scary so I turned around. I'm very lucky I have a great boss, who is understanding and is NOT a micro-manager. I measured 4.5 inches on our back deck, plus all the rain that froze the night before. I hear we could see another 5 by Saturday morning, ugh!

But at least it's almost friday and the weekend is finally here!

happy thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving! It's a day of reflecting and being thankful for all of your many blessings. I have so much to be thankful for today and I want to start focusing on the "good stuff." I think many people, myself included, tend to focus on what's NOT happening or what's NOT going right. I'm know I'm completely guilty of that and I want to improve. So, in true thanksgiving tradition...

I am thankful for my husband. I am far from perfect and not always the easiest person to love and somehow he loves me more everyday. He's my rock and I love him with all my heart.

I am thankful for my dog. She tests our patience at times but she fills my heart with so much love. She is always faithful and always has lots of wet kisses and butt wags waiting for me whenever I walk in the door. She is my "first born" and "practice round" and has taught me more than she'll ever know. She is preparing us for parenthood, if and when we are ever blessed with little ones someday.

I am thankful for my family. I love my family and don't know what I would do without them. I was also blessed enough to become part of a new family this year and I couldn't ask for a better one. Family is one of the most important things in life and I know mine will always be there for me, no matter what.

I am thankful for my awesome friends. Even though some of us lives miles apart, I'm so thankful we're still able to get together a few times a year. I'm grateful that I still have my friends from both high school and college...I think that is very rare and I'm so thankful for each and every one of them. They've helped me to become who I am and where I am today and I'm forever grateful.

I am thankful we both have jobs. As much I as complain and how much it makes me crabby, I am very thankful that I'm still there. Without our jobs, we would not have many of the possessions we have. We don't have many extravagant things, go on expensive vacations, or have thousands in the bank to spend foolishily but we have a home that is worth coming home to. It's not the biggest or prettiest in the world but it's a home filled with love...and I couldn't have asked for anything better.

I am thankful for our health and the health of our family and friends. There are so many people that aren't as fortunate.

I am thankful for my renters. So far, my house has been taken care extremely well and without them, we would be facing a foreclosure on it. We can't afford two mortgages every month and can't sell it since it's unfortunately a number we don't have the money to lose.

I have so much to be thankful for, I've been truly blessed. I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving with your family and loved ones!!

christmas cards...

With all the snow starting to fall and seeing our neighbor's outside Christmas decor being lit for the past few weeks now, I'm finally allowing myself to get excited about Christmas! And if Joe lets me, I want to put the decorations out tonight! :) Another yearly tradition for us is putting together our Christmas cards to send out to our friends and families. After browsing many of the options out there...Shutterfly, hands down, has the best selection (in my humble opinion, of course :). We used them last year for our holiday cards and I was super impressed and happy with the final product. They arrived very quickly, envelopes were included and they were very high quality. They are also very reasonably priced and always have great sales/deals. I can't wait to pick out this year's design!

We used the 4x8 photo cards last year but they have some great 5x7 cards available too! They come in both flat and card styles like this adorable one:


To check out their holiday cards, go here:
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/photo-christmas-cards

Calendars also make great gifts that are easy to make and are very personal and special. My sister made these last year for us for Christmas using our engagement pictures and we have one hanging in our kitchen.
http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

And with the colder weather arriving, we are drinking a lot more coffee and hot chocolate, another great gift idea for the coffee lovers in your life:
http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/photo-mugs

Happy Shopping Friends, hope you have a blessed holiday season!!

one more thing...

I forgot to mention in my post from yesterday that we have a renter! Philip was supposed to move out by the end of October. About a week after I received his notice, he told me he might have jumped the gun in giving his notice and hoped he could stay at least another month. My new renter can't move in until Jan 1, so it's worked out perfect. November is covered and hopefully most of December will be. I told Philip he could move out mid-month or whatever day he needed to and we'd figure out the apportioned rent. Fingers crossed he stays most of December!!

updates...

I can't believe how much Christmas stuff is out already. Last week, our neighbors replaced their outside lights with green and red light bulbs, along with their other Christmas decor. I would not be surprised if their tree was up too. These are the same neighbors who continued to turn their lights on every night well into March. I "get" that they love Christmas but it's just nauseating...it's hard to put out that decor when it's still in the 50s outside. I'm just getting my thanksgiving decor out and looking forward to turkey and apple pie, Christmas does NOT come out until AFTER Thanksgiving (and I absolutely LOVE Christmas, it's my by far my favorite time of the year). I also stocked up on coke products today at Target, the Santa coke packs are already on the shelf.

Speaking of Target, I stopped by after work tonight to pick up a few groceries...as my teenage cashier started to scan my items, I asked very politely "can I have paper, please?"...he responded with "may you?" I just about died, I could NOT believe he just said that to me! I gave him the meanest glare I've given in ages and said "it's been a long day"...I wanted to go off on him and it took everything in me not to make a scene. I wanted to say I'm sorry but did some punk kid who doesn't have a high school diploma just think he had the right to correct MY grammar?? I was so FREAKING pissed...after I got in my car, I wanted to call back and talk to the manager but after cooling off, I realized it's quite petty and not worth the effort. I think he realized he was out of line after I snapped at him, he apologized and that it just came out. He wasn't really sorry but he at least made an effort to backpedal. STILL, the nerve of kids these days...if I wanted a grammar lesson, I would have asked for one. UGH!!!

I'm sure the extent of my crabbiness this week is from work. The days continue to be long and there is no end in sight. I'm still job searching with no luck. So is Joe. I've just come to realize that I'm just going to have to tough it out for longer than I had hoped...I'm not sure how I will survive another winter commute to Bloomington but I don't really have a choice at this point.

On a happier note, we carved pumpkins for Halloween and they turned out awesome. It's been quite a few years since I had carved one :) We also saved the seeds and I baked them. This was something I don't remember doing as a kid, so I was curious to see what they tasted like. They are one of Joe's favorite things...I could take or leave em. But Joe enjoyed them, so they were worth the saving and work to clean and bake them.



This past weekend, I headed to Madison to celebrate Krista and Holly's 30th birthday. I left bright and early Friday morning and got into town to have lunch with my grandparents. It was so great to see them. We went to Perkins and had a great afternoon chatting and looking at wedding pictures. My grandma also gave me a silver spoon that has been passed down from my great great grandma. She told me back in the day, when a woman was married, they would receive pieces of silver from their family/friend's collections as wedding gifts. Her mother had passed this down to her and told her she would know when the time was right for her to pass it down and told me the same, I would know when it was time to pass it down. Pretty emotional moment, it's a beautiful silver spoon that is from the early 1900's (my grandparents have a antique friend who looked at it). Now I'm on the hunt to find a nice box to store it in.

After lunch and spending the afternoon with them, I headed to Johnson Creek to meet up with Krista, Caitlen and Holly at Krista's house. We had a blast and had so much fun catching up with each other. Krista and her boyfriend, Kyle, hosted a Halloween party and we had fun dressing up and hitting the townie bar just down the road. Kyle and Krista also went ALL out with the decorations, their house was so awesome!


On Sunday, I met up with my friend Jessica and her family for breakfast on my way home. And I made it home just in time to catch the last few minutes of the Packer game, what a nail biter. I was also able to listen the whole way home too, which I was very happy about :)

holy smokes...

...I can't believe I haven't posted in 3 weeks, yikes! The weeks are just flying by WAY too fast! Life has been busy but good. There hasn't been too much that was noteworthy lately, I guess :) Which I guess is a good thing.

We are approaching our six month anniversary on Sunday, I can't believe it's been six months already! I wish I could live that day over again, I love looking at our photos and remembering how much fun it was...that day just came and went way too quickly.

Shiloh has been testing our patience over the past few weeks. She is great, except when we leave after we get home from work or on the weekends...that is when she gets into trouble. Our last straw was when she got up on the counter and ate a stick of butter I had in a pretty thick plastic container a few weekends ago. She not only ate all of the butter but ruined my plastic container, which was a relatively expensive one. Then I of course freaked out, dogs can't process that much fat...so I was worried about her but she barely got sick...she's a tough girl. However, we have pulled out the kennel again and she will be put in there for at least the next month when we leave. I don't know how a sweet girl like her still gets into trouble...or why after over a year of no incidents, she suddenly starts up again with her puppy tendencies. I've been walking her every night for a while now too...so the kennel is the only solution we've come up with. Thankfully she is great during the week days and nighttime, so her kennel time is really minimal.

you win some, you lose some...

It’s been quite busy the past few weeks. My sister flew home from Arizona last weekend and my parents and brother came over for the weekend. It was so much fun. We ended up going to the casino about an hour away in Hinckley Saturday night. The place was crazy busy, Alan Jackson was performing at the outdoor amphitheater. We waited an hour for the buffet before the AJ fans headed outside, so we gambled before we ate, had dinner and then gambled a little before we left. Everyone but Joe walked out with emptier pockets. He won close to $400 on the Monopoly slot machines!! It was much needed, our cell phone contract was up and we had both got new phones earlier that day so it paid for those and the rest will go towards a plow for the 4 wheeler. Seriously, that boy wins EVERY time he gambles. At least he makes up for the money I lose every time :)

We got the news we’ve been dreading and hoping would never come…my renter is moving out at the end of October. I’m thankful he’s stayed as long as he did. We’ve been month-to-month since February so I am looking forward to not having the suspense each month of whether his next rent check will include his move out notice…that extra stress and not knowing will be nice to not deal with anymore. But I’m not looking forward to two mortgage payments in November and beyond until it’s rented again. We’ve decided to go with a rental mgmt company this time around. We might end up losing a little more each month than we do now but I’m not in the mood (nor have the motivation or energy) to advertise and search for a new tenant. The ads should go up today, so hopefully we can get it filled soon! The company has been averaging 2-3 weeks of filling their openings but things will slow down quite a bit around mid-November so hopefully we got in just in the nick of time. Time will tell, I guess.

We both continue to job search and each have had a few interviews over the past few weeks and are waiting to hear back what the next steps will be. Really just hoping something comes along for us but I’m also very thankful for the jobs we do have…the next few months are going to be extremely tight for us and I don’t know how we’d make ends meet if we both weren’t still employed.

Otherwise, not much is new. I feel like I was just writing about my 5K, not realizing it’s been almost 2 weeks since my last post. I hope you all have wonderful weekends! Joe is heading north with his brother to put up their deer stands and have some male bonding time. I’m heading to Dick and Wanda’s on Friday night to celebrate Dick’s 60^th birthday. Then on Saturday, I’m attending a self defense class with Wanda in Oak Grove. I’m excited to see how it goes, I’ve always wanted to sign up for those classes but never knew where to look or go. I’ll let you know how it goes!

5K...check!

I ran my first 5K today and ran the whole time!! It was such an awesome experience, it was really hard at times to keep pushing on but it was completely worth it when you cross the finish line! It was insane, there were SO many people that showed up today, I know they raised thousands of dollars, which is awesome! (ETA--they had 969 participants and raised almost $37K!!! Way to go!!)

Here is a shot of the people before the race:


Here is me waiting in line at the for the bathrooms and freezing my butt off, it was so cold!


I had flashbacks to Country Fest when I saw these:


Dave Ryan & Lena Svenson from the KDWB Morning Show (the people who keep me sane on my long commutes):

The view of DT from Boom Island Park:


Off we go towards the starting line:


Here are the cheerleaders waiting for us just before the finish line, SO cute (even if they were in purple and gold)...also before you got here, just after the 3 mile marker, there were about 15 Special Olympic athletes waiting along the side of the road for us and giving high 5's and thanking us as we passed by....seriously, that was worth more than I can even put into words, just incredible.


And after 3.1 miles of running, I finally arrive at the finish line!!


In hind sight, I should have timed myself on my ipod...I know for next time! The number I did see was not the best of times but it really wasn't about that for me this time. It was only about finishing and running the whole time. I also wasn't able to see what time I actually started but I know for sure it wasn't 0:00 (due to the mobs of people funneling into a walking path where we started, it was insane). And then the people with strollers and the walkers were supposed to wait for the runners to start first...but of course they didn't, so it took quite a while to get onto the path and then have room to pass them. There were so many people out for the event, we ended up starting 30 minutes later than scheduled....the registration line was still super long at 9am, we didn't start until close to 9:30. There was no official time keeping done but Joe got this picture a few seconds after I was done, it said 42:01 when I crossed.

SO happy to be done!
(I hate the pic above of me but it was the best out of all the ones Joe took, I look chubbier than normal but I'll blame it on the two heavy t-shirts I'm wearing ;)


In other news this week, Shiloh turned 3 on Wednesday. She got her traditional pig toy I get her every year, along with a few new ones. Of course the $10 fox (and the most expensive one) lasted about 5 minutes before she chewed through to the squeakers...but she loved that toy while it lasted, she barely put it down! The pig and rope are still in tact, let's hope they last a while longer yet!