Father's Day Recap

On Father's Day a couple of weekends ago, my mom's side of the family came down to my parents house for food and fun!  We ate burgers and cheesy potatoes and fruit and candy (thank you Grandma!).  The day was gorgeous, if not a little toasty.  We spent most of the day outside playing yard games and then coming in to cool off and catching up on the US Open standings.

I love my family, I was so happy to see them all in one place again, it's been awhile.  Now I"m really looking forward to my sister's shower in July so I can see all of them again!  At least the women anyway :)

I'm Back...

...and I have so much to update you on!  But I'm not sure I'll get to all today.  I need to use our other computer to add pictures, but here are some things you can look forward to in the coming posts:
     1. Father's Day Fun
     2. My new job
     3. Family visits
     4. Weekend adventures
     5. Flater visit weekend recap!

First thing is first...my best friend, Brooke, is pregnant!! And I've been waiting to post this picture because her bump is showing.  Yeah, she's in the green and she's glowing!! :)  Our friend Nicole, in the middle, was here last weekend visiting from Nashville.  It was a wonderful reunion full of happy news. :)

I'll be back on here soon with plenty more updates.  Stay tuned and happy Monday! :)

Hiatus

I am taking a little break from the blog.  I just have a few other things in my life that I am focusing on and will happily bring back updates once things settle down a little bit.  Just wanted to update those of you waiting for new posts.  Happy Thursday!

Easter Weekend Recap: March 29-31

Easter Weekend was a blast!  It all started Friday night with Hannah.  We went out to dinner at a British themed restaurant called Governor's.  This was very exciting for Hannah, as she is interested in ALL things Britain (think Doctor Who, The Beatles, One Direction, the accent).  We followed this with an entertaining concert, a Beatles tribute band called The Return.  They sounded great singing, they should have kept their silly comments with their horrible fake accents to a minimum.  But it was a good night nevertheless!

Saturday morning, we packed our bags and headed up to Cedar Rapids for Easter with the family!  It was way fun as always.  We grilled out, shared stories, ate lots of candy...the usual.  After everyone left, Ryan and I and Brad and Emily headed out for dinner and drinks.  We went to an awesome bar in Cedar Rapids called, Parlor City.  The food was pretty good and there were 56 different beers on tap!  Of course, my first drink was a Captain and Diet (I can never start with beer), but then I got a flight to try some beers I never had before.  We ended the night with some monopoly...how we got talked into that I'll never know! :)

Sunday morning, we had a great breakfast (Thanks Em!) and headed home.  It was time for Easter with Ryan's family!  His grandma ended up not feeling well, but we had a wonderful meal, and adorable bunny cake, and played Trivial Pursuit for the Wii.  It was a great weekend.

Sorry for my delayed blog post, you'll be seeing another weekend recap in no time.  Happy Friday!

Weekend Recap: March 22-24

This past weekend seemed to fly by.  Is it really already Wednesday?  Thank goodness it is, I'm already ready for another weekend!

Last Friday, I took off early because "my twin"/"frover" was coming to visit!  We headed into town when she got here (because that's what you do when you don't live "in town") to run some errands and had a super chill night the rest of the Friday.  Brooke came over, we had some drinks, we had some laughs, it was wonderful...my favorite kind of night.

Saturday morning, I had an early morning wake-up call to get breakfast ready before our big event.  We ate some chow, got ready, and headed out to Donahue to Don's Pub around 10:15am.  It was the big day of our friend Kyle's benefit!

The benefit was a bags tournament to help raise money for Kyle, who is suffering from Wegner's disease and is need of a double lung and kidney transplant.  The cost of not only the transplant, but the post-transplant medication and therapy is mind-boggling.  You can read more about his condition and how to help on their website: Caring For Kyle.

It was phenomenal to see hundreds of people come out and support Kyle.  Lots of people played bags, but plenty others didn't.  There was a silent auction, a bake sale, a prize raffle, a 50/50 raffle, and a live auction.  Any of the bake sale, raffle, or auction items were 100% donated by friends and family, and it was TONS.  It was incredibly heart-warming to see all of the love in the community for a couple that I care so much about.  I did score a silent auction bid and a couple of raffle prizes (yay free oil change!), so that was fun!  But all in all, sharing the love for one amazingly humble and deserving person was the best prize of all.

Please consider keeping Kyle in your prayers and perhaps donating if you can.

The rest of the weekend was pretty chill.  Ashley ended up leaving on Saturday because of the expected snow, so Ryan and I pretty much did nothing.  But we relaxed, which was much needed, so it was just fine.

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Recap(s): March 8-10 and 15-17

March 8-10
Sadly, I can barely remember anything that happened on this weekend!  Luckily, I have pictures to remind me. :)  Friday March 8th was our local fish fry, followed by some Cards Against Humanity, and martinis.  Super fun night!

Purple Nerds and White Gummy Bear

Ali lost her olive (left)

The rest of the weekend is kind of blur, but I think it's because Ryan and I decided to have a lazy day and do absolutely nothing on Saturday.  So we sat around in our pajamas watching Parks and Rec and it was so wonderful.  Sunday, we cleaned and organized our kitchen.

March 15-17

St. Patrick's Day weekend is always a lot of fun, and this year did not disappoint!  Friday night, Ryan and I were going to go to the hockey game, but we ended up choosing to stay home and watched Iowa State play bball instead.  It was a tough loss for ISU, but I'm glad we watched.

Saturday morning, I got up early, got ready with my sister and headed to Kelly's Irish Pub to meet Brooke for Lucky Charms and beer.  (P.S. Brooke has never had Lucky Charms before!!!)

Breakfast of Champions

Tailgating!

Pre-race fun

Race time!

Celebrating our accomplishments ;-)

After lunch and a couple of drinks downtown, we went home.  Ryan and I got some stuff for the house at Menards and then we spent the evening at my parents house for pizza and just general family time.

Actual St. Patrick's day was nothing special for us.  I worked on a blanket I was making for a benefit this coming weekend (only to have it come to a very depressing end last night, but that's another story...) and then we made some dinner and relaxed.

This coming weekend: ASHLEY COMES TO VISIT, bags benefit, Mallards game. Should be a good one!

Alcohol(ics) Connoisseurs

So with all of the this dumb sequester stuff, Ryan will not be working more than 32 hours a week for quite awhile, so that's a dent to our normal income.  We were in the process of remodeling the basement, which definitely has to be put on hold for now.  So we had a super important decision to make.  Where were we going to put all of our alcohol since we will not have a bar to use for quite awhile?

Answer: That fancy, sliding-door cabinet in the living room of course.

Close proximity to the kitchen, utilizes previously wasted space, looks cool, etc.  And I'm sad/proud to admit, that since this picture was taken, a brand new handle of Tanqueray was purchased and added to the collection.

Happy Friday friends!

Movie Time

So last weekend was a total movie weekend for me, and I really enjoyed it.  I actually saw a couple of movies worth mentioning, so I thought I'd share them with you.

1. Warm Bodies: Seriously awesome love story.  Once you look past the terrible CGI, you see a heart-felt story with clever voice-overs (which I normally get annoyed by), lots of humor, and a super sweet love story.  I recommend this movie.  There are barely any scary parts, so it was a zombie movie that I could actually handle! :)

2. The Master: An intriguing story that is basically about L. Ron Hubbard and the start of Scientology.  It isn't "technically" about that, but I researched a little more after, and it pretty much mirrors all of the craziness that is Scientology.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix do a stellar job in the movie.  It was really good.

3. Jeff Who Lives At Home: So this was my second time seeing this movie, but it's so darn good.  I love Jason Segal, so I may be a little biased.  But it's just one of those simple movies that wasn't "big budget," wasn't unrealistic, and focuses on the characters and their actions, not impossible situations.  Also, it's really short, like 1 hour 15 minutes, so it's totally not a waste of your time!

Next on my list, I really want to see Perks of Being a Wallflower, Silver Linings Playbook, and Wreck-It Ralph.  Have you seen any good movies lately?

Omaha Weekend Recap: Feb 22-24

I'm just a little late in this recap.  And it's so sad how quickly my memories flee, so I'm not even sure I can give you the regular breakdown.  Expect many more pictures than words this post :)

Friday: LONG drive, fun with dogs, fish fry, escaped parking ticket, Cards Against Humanity, good friends, and birthday treats!

Saturday: baked oatmeal, post-beerfest food prep, pretzel necklace assembly, bottle beer, lunch at Varsity, Extreme Beerfest, munchies, more Cards Against Humanity, funny games, good music, lots of laughs.

Rogue Dead Guy tattoos

Dancing to "Thrift Shop"

Playing "Three in the Hat"

Sunday: Slept in, bought the full set of Cards Against Humanity from Laura and Jason, lunch on the road, quick Trader Joe's stop, home!

It was a fun weekend...it always is in Omaha!  I can't wait for our next trip there, though it will probably be awhile.  Stupid gas prices!  Happy Monday!