Fun Weekend

I'm sure you're tired of hearing me say this but it's so nice having Rob home! We dreaded his travel schedule when going back to his old crew but, knock on wood, the out of town jobs have been short and bearable....for now. Which means we get to spend time as a family on the weekends. Add to that my parents coming to town spur of the moment to watch P so Rob and I could have a date night and it was a perfect weekend in my book. Yesterday we started the day at one of our favorite breakfast places and then went to the local pumpkin patch. After a lazy afternoon Rob and I met up with some friends for the NRA banquet. (To hear more about that look at last night's blog) This morning we went to church as a family and then grabbed a bite to eat before saying goodbye to my parents. I don't ever take for granted Rob being home or my parents coming for a visit but I do take advantage of it! :)

A Rock and a Gun

Tonight we went to the NRA banquet. I enjoy these types of dinners but the auctions always make me nervous because Rob always goes over the budget we've discussed beforehand. During the live auction tonight I was playing on my phone (It was a rather boring auction) when I noticed he raised his hand for a bid. I asked what he had won and he replied, "Oh nothing" just as the auctioneer announced that he was the winner....of a rock. When I found out what he had paid for it I was beyond mad. I was livid! In fact you probably could've seen fumes coming from my head if you looked close enough. The rest of the table razzed him while I kept still....as a rock. He informed me that with the rock he had a chance to win the dinner gun, the prize of all prizes. Since we never win anything all I could think about was the money we had thrown away. The rest of the auction went on and the razzing never slowed down from our friends. I continued to fume as I realized we were going to walk away with a stupid rock and travel mug as our "winnings". The announcer said they'd be calling the winning ticket for the dinner gun so Rob pulled out his ticket. The announcer got down to the last three numbers: 1....4...................5. We looked down and saw those numbers matched the ticket in Rob's hand. He let out a holler and I breathed a sigh of relief. He graciously donated his rock back, not wanting to see it anymore, while he proudly claimed his new Benelli. A few minutes later as everyone was laughing about the situation his name was called again to claim another prize......the stupid rock. He had won it again! Maybe it was meant to be in our house but he said no thank you and exchanged it for a gift certificate instead. A minute later our friend that was razzing him the most about the rock ended up winning it and she was thrilled beyond belief. So in the long run, the stupid rock that costs us $200 ended up getting Rob a $2,000 gun with a great story behind it. Needless to say, I appreciated the rock by the end of the night and will enjoy sharing this story over many years to come!

the gun is the N.R.A. gun of the year. it's a benelli ultra light 12 guage, 3" chamber. it has the national rifle association enscribed in the metal. it is one of the most beautiful guns ive ever seen. i am happy beyond belief to have that gun, and even more happy that winning it got me off the couch and back into the bedroom!

Geocaching Anyone?

Yesterday I learned a new phrase and took part in a fun activity....geocaching. If you're not familiar with it let me fill you in. It's a national (if not worldwide thing) where you use the GPS on your phone to go for a treasure hunt. You can go to geocaching.com to get info for your area. You can specify whether you want it easy, medium or hard and if you want it for kids or not. A new Moms Club that I joined held this activity and both P and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We hiked through the beautiful forest with some friends (new and old) while following a "treasure map" to find hidden treats. Unfortunately the kid's geocaching that the lady had signed up for was longer than anticipated and the kiddos were getting tired. So we distracted them while she hid some treasures for them to find. P thought it was just like "Alvin and the Chipmunks" when he found his Scooby Doo notepad. He was so excited that he kept running around, showing his treasure to the rest of the group. If you haven't tried this and are up for a fun, physical challenge I urge you to look into it. The only downfall of the entire thing?? I forgot my camera in the car and didn't get a single picture of the fun. :( Oh well! I definitely plan to do it again....at which time I'll be sure to remember my camera!!

Fall is in the Air!

Fall is by far my most favorite season of the year for many reasons. The main one is because of the beauty it beholds. I have never seen a place that doesn't look pretty in the Fall, including the Walmart parking lot. Last night we took a family drive to the lake so I was able to capture some Fall wildlife pictures. This morning P wanted to go to one of his favorite local places, "Borrow's Mansion". I used the opportunity to take some more Fall pictures while he played. Enjoy the Fall scenery...........

 

Not Much to Say

I know I haven't blogged in about a week but it's because there hasn't been much to say I guess. Last weekend some girlfriends came to town for our annual Girls' Night Out. A group of local girlfriends met us for dinner and then, while my married friends went home, my single friends were more than willing to go out and hit the town. Don't get me wrong. It was a lot of fun but I'm not meant for late nights anymore. I've been having a problem with my feet and ankles severely getting swollen by the end of the day and being in heels, walking around, sure didn't help last Saturday night. Finally, after midnight, I asked if we could go back to our room because my feet hurt so bad.
Monday I started back to work. It's such a mess there that I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about the craziness I've endured this year so I didn't feel like blogging about it anymore.
Today I'm off work (Hallelujah!) and the morning started with a battle of the wills. P is such an easy going, well mannered, well behaved lil guy that it kills me when we have to seriously get on him. But lately he's made huge messes with his toys but won't clean them up. We've tried bribes, rewards, positive praise, consequences, taking his toys away, spankings...... This morning I finally told him that I'd lock him in his room until it was clean. Although he screamed the whole time, he did finally clean up his room in record time. That and eating dinner are our only battles so I can't complain. I just hate to get on him when 98% of the time he's an angel.
This weekend my parents are coming to town so we'll do something Halloweenish. Then Rob and I are going to a benefit dinner with some friends Saturday night. Hopefully then I'll have more to blog. But as of now I think you're all caught up on our lives.

Birthday Blah :)

If you know me well you know that birthdays are a week long celebration for me. But, not this year. There are some birthdays I'm just not excited about, like when I turned 26, and this year was one of them. Rob about fell over when I told him I didn't want to do anything more than to go out for a nice dinner. Because I respect his (weird) birthday wishes, he respected mine. I did enjoy a morning of pampering with some alone time at Starbucks and then a pedi while P was at school. But other than that it was a normal day. I'm in nesting mode so I got a lot of stuff ready for Easton's arrival. Don't get me wrong.....I enjoyed the day and people went above and beyond to make the day special for me. From FB posts to texts to phone calls to extravagant gifts, my friends and family showed me all kinds of love. The nicest part of the day was dinner at a local Japanese steakhouse. Not only do I love the food, but I love the process used to cook in front of us. And I thoroughly enjoy watching the process through P's eyes. His excitement is contagious! Although it wasn't a big birthday celebration, it was a very nice day that I enjoyed. Sometimes it's more enjoyable to have mellow than over the top. Not every year but once a decade is good!

Conspiracy Theory

I think the house-dog included-have a conspiracy theory against me getting any sleep! I'm used to it now, functioning on 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Plus, I know it's getting me ready for when baby Easton enters our lives. Last night was almost comical. The night before I hadn't gotten any sleep so I was pretty tired last night despite taking a 2 hour nap. (I'm fighting a cold or something which doesn't help) Anyway, I was laying in bed watching TV when out of nowhere Rob started snoring. Now Rob is not a snorer, which is great since I can't sleep with any noise or light (The new freeway that opened by our house wreaks havoc on my sleep!). After a few minutes he stopped snoring....and then he started clucking like a hen. I couldn't mimic it if my life depended on it but it was hilarious. He alternated between clucking and snoring for over an hour. I moved down to the guest room, hoping to get some shut eye but that wasn't in the cards for me either. P kept coughing then the dog got out of his room and started drinking out of the toilet. I got her back in P's room and then she started thumping her tail against something hard. I finally fell asleep when P woke up because he had soaked through his pull-up. By that time I gave up on getting any decent sleep. At this point I enjoy the occasional night where I sleep 6-8 hours but I now find the rest of the nights rather comical. I'm learning that sleep is so overrated!!