Wife/Mommy fail and weekend plans

I got so completely wrapped up in Adam's Baptism and brunch this weekend that I didn't even stop to take a picture of Adam and Hubby on Hubby's first fathers day!!!  Major Fail.......  Sorry Hubby.... better luck next year! :-)

In other news, I can redeem myself for Hubby's b-day on July 2nd.... any suggestions for a cute inexpensive homemade gift?  He already got his big gift.

We've got big plans this weekend.  It's suppose to be pretty nice (mid 70's and no rain) for a chance, so we're going to take full advantage.  Hubby's big thing is cars and he wanted to go to a car show for his b-day but the closest one he could find around his b-day is this weekend, so we'll be spending the majority of Saturday at said show.  After we return home, we have a BBQ lunch/dinner thing at a friends house.  I'm so excited for Adam to get to "play" with other little kids.  Our friends have a 1 year old and their friends have a couple kids as well.  I'm hoping nap time goes well tomorrow so that he can have some fun!

Sunday we will probably go out for breakfast and attend church.  So it's a pretty relaxing day and we're excited about that.  Hubby's been super busy with homework for his masters and with work, so we haven't gotten to see him much this past week.  He's definitely working hard and we're so proud of him, but we also cannot wait until he's finished with classes! Come on May 2012! :-)

Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 28th Birthday to my wonderful Husband!  

I am so lucky to be able to spend birthdays and other holidays with this man!

He is hardworking, kind, generous and we have so much fun together!

Here's to celebrating many more years together!!  

I cannot wait to see the amazing father you will be in December!  I'm sure I will fall even more in love with you then!

Happy Birthday from Mommy & Baby! :-)

My 25th Birthday

It happened.  I turned 25 on Tuesday.  I can hardly believe it.  It seems like just yesterday I was turning 16 and getting my license. Or 18 and feeling the accomplishment of becoming an adult.  Then there was the 21st birthday, O what a birthday it was.  And now, I'm 25.  No longer closer to my 20's than 30's.  After all, I'm 25 and 2 days old now.  Hard to believe I am at my MID twenty's, a quarter of a century, 1/2 way to being over the hill!

What did I do to celebrate this momentous occasion?  Guys, I'm 25, it was a Tuesday and we both work.  We were pretty lame.  I felt like I was turning more like 35 or 45 because we were pooped out by 9:00 and in bed by 9:30.

Anyway, the morning of, I didn't say anything to hubby because I figured he would spring the Happy Birthday on me at any time.  Well as the morning wore on (a whole 30 minutes) he said nothing of the sorts.  Then, he left for work.  Just like that.  Without a word.  I figured, O, he's just in a hurry, he'll call me when he gets to work because he'll remember.  Then he called!  I figured He's calling me to tell me Happy Birthday! Only, he wasn't.  He was calling me about signing up for a masters class.  I waited and waited, as patient as I could before I said Um.... MR!  Do you know what the date its??? And then it came. Oooooo it's your Birthday!!!  I said YOU FORGOT MY BIRTHDAY!?!?  He said no, I remembered yesterday during work and then forgot by the time I left work.  (Now remember, he didn't Actually forget my birthday... I received my present a few days prior because he just couldn't wait to surprise  give it to me.)  So, hubby sorta-kinda forgot my birthday, but not really.  I said you're lucky my feelings don't get that hurt about stuff like this, but you sooooo owe me!

I came home from work, and there were flowers on the front porch (pictures to come), I figured they were from Hubby, but they were from my dear friend Katie and her hubby Scott.  Then hubby arrived home with beautiful lilies and a sweet card.  (I have a funny story about the card, but he made me swear I wouldn't tell.... But I'll probably tell you next week!)

After he apologized for "forgetting" (but not really forgetting), he wisked me off to enjoy a fantastically delicious Japanese steakhouse dinner.  Mmmm it was delish!  Afterwards, we headed home to watch a movie.  Hubby picked the movie, and it was awful.  Sorry Jesse.  Apparently he "thought" it was in the theaters, but after about 16 minutes of watching it, I could clearly tell it had never made it to the theaters because it was so bad!  We finished watching it anyway and enjoyed spending the time together.

Then, it was bed time, because I'm that cool on my 25th Birthday :-)

How did you spend your 25th or if you aren't to the dead center of your 20's-30's yet, how do you in vision you'll spend it? 

On another note, how weird is it that the next big birthday I'll celebrate will be 30? Holy cow!  Come on babies, you need to get here before mama turns 30! :-)

Happy Thursday!

Birthday Treats

Guys, I'm 25.... Really?  How did this happen?  I remember turning 10 and thinking it was so cool to be double digits! Then 13, because I was a teenager..... then 18 & 21.  Why do we wish our lives away when we are younger?  I guess I'll just stop aging at 25, I'd be ok with that! :-)

Do you ever take birthday treats to work with you?  I like to, just for fun.  Since I took the day off yesterday, I was able to make this yummy yummy dessert!  It doesn't look very professional, but trust me, it tasted delicious!  I call it Smores Brownies.

What you need:

1 box of brownies (I didn't have that much extra time, but if you want, you can make brownies from scratch!)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
marshmallows (I like the mini's)
Graham Crackers

Cook the brownies as directed on the box.  Take out a couple minutes before they are done.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over top of brownies, put back in oven for about a minute.  Then take out, add marshmallow's put back in until marshmallows "raise".  Then take out and place graham crackers on top.

Birthday Survey

In light of my birthday rolling around the corner, I stole this Pre-birthday survey from Rasha, head on over and check her out! She’s celebrating her 21st birthday in just a couple short days… O what it was like to turn 21! Haha:-) Happy Birthday Rasha!!

How many birthdays have you celebrated so far? – Well… So far I’ve celebrated 24, but I’m about to celebrate my 25th!

When is your next one coming up? – 6 days after today! (April 6th!)

If you could get anything, realistically speaking, what would you ask for? – A road bike so that I could do Ragbrai!

If you could ask for something magic or like superpowers, which kind? - To be invisible whenever I want! It’d be pretty sneaky, that’s for sure!

Who do you want to be with during your birthdays? – Family and Friends

How do you plan to celebrate your upcoming birthday? – Well it’s on a Tuesday, so nothing too crazy. We’re going out to eat the weekend before to celebrate.

What was the worst present you ever got on a birthday? – Ya know.. I’ve never really gotten any bad presents because people usually ask what I want.

What was the worst birthday fiasco you ever had? – Was suppose to celebrate my 21st with tons of friends on a Bar Crawl…. Ended up getting laryngitis the night before/day of…. Not cool. Needless to say, I couldn’t go!

Did you ever purposely give someone a crappy gift? – Hmm….. I don’t think so.

Who would you never ever ever want to attend your birthday? – I have a few names in mind…. But it would be so very odd if they wanted to spend my birthday with me too, so it all works out.

What was the best birthday present you’ve ever received? - $50 on my 10th Birthday. It was like I won the lottery!

What was the best birthday you’ve ever had? – Hmmm…. Probably my 16th. Mom and Dad let me have a huge party at our house with tons of friends and it was great to see that many people want to celebrate with me! Plus, I could finally drive!!

Why was it so great? – My long lost friend came to the party and I hadn’t seen him in years. Plus, tons of upperclassmen came to my party! Haha

What is your fave birthday activity, even if you havent done it (yet)? – Riding in a hot air balloon!

Who would you love to come to your birthday to celebrate with you? All of my family.

What did your family do to celebrate your birth? – Um…. I can’t say that I remember… I think there were “It’s a girl” cigars, but beyond that I have no idea.

What happened for your sweet 16th birthday? – See above, for best birthday ever.

Would you be okay with dying on your birthday? – Well, I suppose it would be an easy way for people to tell how old I was…. And it would make my life come complete circle, but it’s kind of weird to think about. I suppose however/whenever God wants it to happen, it will happen.

The one with the Birthday present

Given it's a week until my birthday, I figure I would share the conversation I had with hubby yesterday regarding my birthday present.

Hubby: So, I ordered your birthday present
Me: Great, can't wait to see it.
Hubby: I got you a blue tooth that you'll really like. It only weighs 8 grams but if you don't like it, you can return it.
Me: Wow, thanks for ruining the surprise, my birthdays not for another week!
Hubby; O, yeah sorry.

Well at least I will know I like it i suppose! Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

A Happy Bithday..... LONG overdue

My Mother-in-Law celebrated a birthday on March 13th!  Yes, I'm posting this about about 10 days late, Sorry Margaret!!  Happy belated Birthday!!!

At our Wedding 10/4/08

Mother and Son dance

Christmas 2009

So anyway, Happy Birthday to my wonderful, amazing Mother-in-Law.  God knows I could have been stuck with "crazy" in-laws and been miserable, but he blessed me with a second family with whom I've come to love!  They are so very nice and kind.  I'm not sure what I would do without them anymore!  So, thanks Margaret, for being such a wonderful person and for accepting me as your daughter-in-law with lots of love!  I hope you had a wonderful and I'm sorry this is so late!

A Fail and a b-day wish list

As I was writing up two exciting posts for you all, I headed to my camera to upload some photos.. Only to discover there was no memory card inside because hubby took it out and put it in our mini camera which has been borrowed until next Wednesday...

Needless to say, it was a huge failure and I will not be able to share our fabulous find or my other surprise for you.  I know it'll be hard, but you'll just have to wait and find out.

So since I am not able to post what I originally wanted to post, your stuck with a birthday list, given my birthday is two weeks away! (cough Hubby cough)

1.  Blue Tooth

Credit:

2. No, it's not a pager, though it sure looks like one!  It's a Bluetooth for your car

Credit:

3.  Wine rack (obviously)

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4. Another wine rack, I just love the color of this one.

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5.  I've always wanted one of these.  

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There are a few other things I want, but I cannot think of them right now.  I'm pretty sure I know what I'm getting already from the hubby, but I could still be surprised.  :-)  Have a great Tuesday tomorrow!!

Wow with some odds and ends.....

I just realized it's been almost a week since my last post!  I'm so very sorry!  School and work have taken over my life and I'm trying to climb out of a big hole filled with papers, quizzes, assignments and such.

Is it odd that I've been in bed by 9:30 the last two nights because I've been so exhausted and just didn't feel like keeping my eyes open?  Only to sleep until 7:00am, yes a total of 9.5 hours of sleep...... Guys, I'm so ready for spring/summer when I have more energy and get to enjoy the lovely fresh air! Maybe I've fallin into a sea of seasonal depression because we've been graced with 49" of snow so far this year... Or maybe it's the freezing cold temps that we just can't seem to break out of!

Either way, I'm going to get through it! :-) I just entered a class that is 9 weeks long where I have 14 quizzes, 28 short activities to do and a 10-12 page paper to write.  I've since (in one week) completed 7 of those quizzes and 14 of those activities!  Guys, I'm pretty much 1/2 way there!  There is sooooooo light at the end of the tunnel!

In other news, there are going to be some positions opening up sometime soon in my field (School counseling at the middle & high school levels).  I'm not technically qualified yet, as I do not have my license (I graduate May 2011), but I will be able to get my Class G license this Summer which would qualify me to be a counselor for one year before gaining my actual license.  So, please say a prayer for me, I really really need/want one of these jobs!

It's less than 2 months until my big 25th birthday!  I can hardly believe it.  Isn't this some sort of milestone? No?  Eh well we'll make it one!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and I hope to be back to my regular scheduled postings soon!

Happy Belated Birthday to the best Dad in the world!!

Happy 54th Birthday Dad! 

You have been an amazing father throughout my 24 (almost 25) years of life.  I cannot thank him enough for the number of things he's done for me and our entire family.  He is such a hardworking person and I hope someday to be as great of a parent to my children as he was to my brother and I.  So, even though I'm a date late in posting, I just wanted to wish the most amazing father a Happy Birthday and I cannot wait to share many more memories with you!!!

One of the many pictures we take together where he has to have a funny face or something goofy.  He definitely is very fun and entertaining! :-) I love you Dad!!

Friends

Today is my friend, Amber's 24th Birthday!!!!  We went out to celebrate with a BUNCH of margaritas..... I had to ask hubby, after a super long day, to come pick us up :-) He is wonderful!  I actually just switched cars with him which was fantastic! Don't worry, it was safe!! :-)

Anyway, here is a picture of Katie, Amber & I!

This wasn't tonight, but it was another night that all of us went out!  It was so fun and I can't to hang out with these girls again!

Love you girls!!!

Happy 24th Birthday Amber!!!! :-)

Happy 50th Birthday Mom!!!

So, yesterday this was suppose to post, but apparently didn't!  So, without further adue! 

Happy 50th Birthday to my lovely mother

She is an amazing person and I do not know what I would do without her.  We are so much alike it's great.  She has a great sense of style, AND I can fit into her clothes, so that's a + :-)  

She goes out of her way to make other people happier, even if it means doing something other than what she wants sometimes.

People love her for her kindness and for how genuine she is.  

I could not have asked for a better mother.  I think I am the luckiest person in the world :-) 

Thanks Mom, for everything you have done for Brandon and I. 

Have a wonderful day and I can't wait to be celebrating you're 60th, 70th, 80th, 90th, and even 100th birthdays with you :-)

Weekend Recap

This weekend was a busy one!  Friday night was spent running errands and doing a bit of shopping.  We grilled out and had delicious chicken & pork kabobs and twice baked potatoes.  It was sooooo good.  We then settled in to watch a movie.  To tell you the truth, I can't even remember the names of the two movies we watched... haha We headed to bed quite early only to wake up at 7:00am the crack of dawn!  We drove the 3 hours to Mankato, Minnesota to go look at a car that Jesse has been eyeing for a week now.  We arrived after a stop to eat some delicious artery clogging breakfast.  We test drove the vehicle and decided that it was indeed in excellent shape and drove quite nice.  It was just what we were looking for and had all the options.  They wouldn't move more than $100 on price, but it was already a good deal.  So, we offered something different, they said no can do so we left.... Eventually they knew that they called our bluff and we arrived back after just 1.5 hours of thinking it through over lunch.  We bought the vehicle and I allowed hubby to drive the almost the whole way back until we stitched for an hour. 

This, my friends, is the new to us new car we purchased. It's a 2005 Dodge Magnum RT.  Yes, it is a wagon, but it has a hemi! haha It has soooooo much room, probably enough to fit a dead body whole lot of grocery's in it! 

Anyway, so we were exhausted because we didn't get home until about 7:00 pm.  We went to Panera for some dinner (LOVE their soup) and then headed home to plop fall asleep in front of the TV for an hour.  

Sunday we got to sleep in, make some delicious breakfast, do some house cleaning, and head to my hometown.  Our friends Nick & Katie had a beautiful, healthy Baby Girl named Neenah Noelle. We visited them for about an hour or so, went to lunch with my mom and did some shopping.

Sunday night we headed out for dinner and bowling with my family for my mom's 50th Birthday!!! (It's not actually until Thursday, so I'll post a b-day post then!)

We headed home on Monday and didn't do much of anything :-) It was great.  Actually I did work on some homework and hubby finished the trim in the hallway, but after that it was time to relax and cook some dinner.  

Weekends go far too fast no matter the number of days we have!  I hope you all had a great weekend as well!  Enjoy your week! (Starting on a Tuesday!)

Stupid me forgot my camera!!! UGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Bring on the weekend!

So, you all know that I love to post about my upcoming weekends!  I'm very excited about this one, why you might ask??  Well because it's a 3 day weekend! AND my boss decided to close our office at 1:00 instead of the usual 4:30!  So that's an extra plus side to an already amazing 3 day weekend!

Here it is my friends, the weekly Friday post of the weekend plans!  Come on, you know you're excited!

Friday:  

Off work at 1:00! (sorry, I had to rub it in just once more)

Doing a bit of shopping & a few errands

Cooking on the grill with Hubby

Saturday:

Waking up early in the am to drive 3 hours to look at a car

My husband is a car guy and if you're married to a car guy, you know what I mean when I say that it's never easy for us to find a car.  He does so much research before we can even go look at it!  (Honey, if you're reading this, I love you! even if you are a bit crazy)

Then we'll head back home, 3 hours, with or without a car.

We get to spend yet another night home which is amazing! 

Sunday:

Sleeping in, FINALLY!  

Leaving around noon to head back home to my parents house to help my mom celebrate her 50th birthday! 

I don't know about you, but I think she looks much younger than 50!

We will be going out for dinner and then bowling.  She requested NO huge party whatsoever, she only wants the 6 of us there.

Monday: 

Oh, how I love when Monday's are considered part of the weekend!

We will be sleeping in and probably going to breakfast with my family.

Then we'll head back home and gear up for another work week.

I dont' know about all of you, but I started my grad class last week and it drains the life out of me!  Please help me and pray that I make it through the semester.  It's going to be a long one with this dreaded research class.....

What do you have planned?  I will be MIA from blogging until Monday, but I can't wait to catch up on my google reader!  Have a wonderful LONG weekend!! :-)

September Goals

It's a good thing I have all of you to remind me to do this each month! I'm terrible at remembering things like that! Seriously, I might as well be 80 with the memory I have sometimes! So, here goes nothing!

September & October are my favorite months. I've decided to post my goals for the next two months instead of just one, that way I have more time to complete them! (yes, that is cheating, I know!)

1) Buy a new (to us) car

2) Continue to buy a few Christmas gifts just to get a head start

3) Celebrate my mom's 50th!!!

4) Celebrate my parents 31st Wedding Anniversary! (How cool is that??)

5) Prepare for my friend, Pammy's visit in Sept!

6) Bake a pie (I have NEVER EVER done this before)- Any suggestions??

7) Get our gutters/downspouts/soffits replaced (which means we'll be poor for the next year because of it)

8) Get plenty of quotes for said gutters/downspouts/soffits so that we aren't ripped off!

9) Keep up on classwork since this is the hardest class of my program. Research & Stats, yuck!

10) Go on a mini-vacation with my Hubby for our 1st Anniversary! We're actually (don't make fun), going to Chicago and we're going to go to 6 Flags when they have their fright fest. Our first official date was to a haunted house, so we thought what a better way to celebrate the last year! We're staying for 3-4 days and on our actual anniversary (Oct. 4th) we're going to have a romantic dinner at some restaurant in Chicago and rent a hotel suite :-) I'm pretty excited!

11) Participate and help at our Big Brothers Big Sisters Annual Bowl For Kids Sake

12) Visit my In-laws and take care of their pets so that they can go up to a bed & breakfast (that we purchased for them as a thank you at our Rehearsal dinner)

13) (Last but not least) Workout 4-5 times a week and take my multivitamins daily!! O, and take time to enjoy the leaves turning in our backyard, buy pumpkins to carve and drink hot apple cider from a local orchard!

Yeah, it's a long list, but I think it's pretty doable for these next two months. Maybe I'll make November & December a bit harder! What are your fall goals??

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is one of my best friend's birthdays!!

She is an amazing, fun, open-hearted, loyal, trustworthy, fun loving, brutally honest, non-neatfreak, caring, liberal, generous, hardworking, successful, someone you can always count on, sometimes too kind for her own good, wonderful old roommate, who is one of the greatest friends I could have ever asked for.

Thank you for everything Pammy! You are truly one of a kind and I love you!

Happy 25th Birthday!!!!!

Gone like the Wind

That is how my weekend felt! It was here and then gone in an instant.

This weekend was spent:

Friday:
Enjoing ourselves with friends at dinner and with drinks afterwards

Saturday:
*Slept in, packed and headed to Panera for some soup
before we got on the road
*Went to dinner and finally saw Harry Potter with my parents
(What a great movie, I can't wait for the next 2)

Sunday:
*Woke up fairly early to get ready for the river
*We got to spend about 4-5 hours on the river with some great friends
Then we went to dinner with my brother & future-sister-in-law for her birthday!

So, this is a little belated but.........

Happy Birthday Natalie!!!!

I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend!!!

~Kayla

Happy Birthday!!!!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life!

Here we are on our first date, getting ready to go eat Mexican food

And here we are just two short years later on our wedding day!
That was the best day of my life. I married my best friend!

And here is the man I love with all of my heart. He's fun, generous, nerdy (in a good way), hardworking and goofy.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect person to spend the rest of my life with!

I love you Jesse!! Happy 27th Birthday!!

Weekend recap

So, the news I have been waiting to share with you all weekend that I mentioned here is:


My brother & his girlfriend got engaged!! :-) Excited and so happy for them!




Here they are! The happy couple! :-)





So, Friday night was spent celebrating their engagement. We went to her parents house and then out to eat in Dubuque. It was a blast, we had champagne, drinks and food. What a great way to celebrate their happiness. So, I went to bed at 1:30 am only to get up at 6:45 am! uggg

Saturday I got up early to get ready for my best friend, Katie's, shower. It was a complete success and she got a lot of amazing gifts. After the shower, we cleaned up and I headed to get my hair cut & colored. It needed to be done for a very long time. Then my mom & I got pedis. We then went home to make chex-mix and cookies for her bachelorette party. The bachelorette party was themed "Wig Out" We all had to wear wigs and partied it up. It was a fun party, we spent a lot of time in the hotel room playing flippy cup, doing shots and drinking and then we went out to the bars. Lots of fun!

Sunday I slept in, got up at 10:00. (it was defiantly needed!!) We were all going to go to lunch at 12:00 at my favorite Mexican Resturant in Dubuque. Jesse was suppose to meet us there, but called about 2 hours before and told me that the roads where we live were really bad and he had only been driving for 10 minutes and say 3 accidents. Needless to say, I told him to stay home and we went to eat without him. It was a lot of fun and then I headed back home.

I got home and Jesse & I watched Marley & Me. Great great great movie!!! But ooooooooo so sad! I couldn't believe how sad it was. Mad me cry throughout the entire movie almost! haha..... Then we ordered Papa Murphy's pizza and relaxed.

Here we are on Monday, my 24th birthday! Uggg I can't believe it. This last year has flowen by so quickly! Hope you enjoy your day! We got 6" of snow/ice yesterday which was not very exciting, but I guess that's what happens when you live in the mid-west! :-)