Back to Blogging

Hello!!!  Well a mommy group friend inspired me to restart the blog.  I figure with us being a way from all of our family this might be a way to keep everyone up to date.  I know Facebook really helps with that too!  Well in the past year we have had a baby (Chase) and moved to Georgia!  Casey got a new job working for Delta Dental in Alpharetta, GA.  He really seems to be enjoying himself.  With the move I was able to stay home with Chase which is time I will cherish for the rest of my life.  I will not get these years back and I am thankful for the opportunity to stay home with him!

We have now been in Georgia for 6 months and seem to be fitting in well. We are very lucky to have awesome neighbors!  They are our age and have made the move down here so much nicer.  It is nice to have that person/people right next door to help you out.  It is really pretty here and we live only about 30 minutes away from the airport.  So if anyone wants to visit it is a close drive to come get you!!!

Chase visited Grammy and Papa in Idaho in September and had a great time!  He has also visited Sacramento a few times.  Once for Kristen and Ryan's reception and the other time to travel with Casey to San Fran.  He seems to do well on the plane.  We spent new years in Gulf Shores with Gamma and Grandpa and Chase got to see the beach for the first time.  Yep.  Loved eating the sand.

Some of Chase's milestones...  He sat up on his own around 5 months of age.  Looked like he really wanted to perfect that because he did not crawl until after his 1st birthday.  Around that time he also started using a push walker.  He looks like little old man Chase.  He has gotten a lot faster crawling now to.   He got his first hair cut at 11 months.  Man he was really rocking a mullet for months!

Chase has met some very nice friends here.  I am sure they will make their debet soon!  They are all about his age and it is so fun to see them reach each milestone together.  We try to do a few play dates a month and today was Chase's first playdate at his house.  They seemed to have a fun time so I hope they come back!!!

Well I will try to do better and keep this updated more!!!

Life

Not much new has happened lately. Casey and I booked a flight to visit my Grandparents over Memorial Day. Looking forward to that. There seems to be a lot of fun outdoor stuff to do! Casey is continuing school. He seems to be busy all the time and I can't wait until he gets a bit of a break. He is trying to decide if he wants to take classes over the summer or take it off and enjoy it...

Mandi, Lindy and my two adorable nephews are moving to Brussels! I am super excited for them! They went out and visited and found a house to rent. I can't wait for the visits! Speaking of visit Mandi and the boys will be visiting us in the middle or April. She plans on driving from SD to IL with two boys and her father. I wish her the best of luck!!!

Well that is about all the exciting news I have...until next time!

IT'S BEEN SO LONG!!

Wow! So much has happened and I have been neglecting this blog! Well where to begin! The bathroom is for the most part done! Casey and I found a vanity that we really liked but did not like the color.. it was the last one Home Depot had so Casey did what he usually does.. bargained for the vanity. It was originally $500 but Casey got it for $200! Are you kidding me right! I love that he does this but I get nervous and walk away.. so if you ever see me walking aimlessly around a store it probably means that Casey is trying to get a deal! Anyways.. so we got the vanity and Casey did a great job gel staining it! All we need now is to find a bench or a table and we will be set!

JoDee, Kristen and Ashley visited us in November! It was so nice to see them! I took them to Amish country to show them the horse and buggies and we had a fun night out at Timbuktu! Ahh how I miss them so much! It makes me wish I lived closer or they lived closer! I miss the days in JoDee’s kitchen!

(Fun night at Timbuktu)
My Grandma and Grandpa also visited us in November. They drove from Durango! It was great to see them! We celebrated Thanksgiving together at Casey’s parent’s house. We played lots of dominos and I think my grandpa cheats! There is no way he can score on all my moves! They left on a Sunday and I was sad to see them go. We are going to try to visit them in Durango this Spring.

Casey and I made the trip home this year for Christmas. It had been I believe 3 years since I was home during the holidays. We got to join the fun festivities at my Aunt DeeAnn’s house for Christmas Eve. I miss that so much! Then we had Christmas out our house then went to my Aunt Yvonne’s house. It was just so nice to have 8 days at home with family and friends. We had a nice dinner at Bri’s house and I got to see little Hayden and Savannah for the first time. What beautiful babies! We played some games and had a great time! Just a note.. girls would have won but Bri and I wanted to keep going which made us lose.. A rematch is in order!
(My girls minus Leah who had to head back early to Mill Valley)
After our visit to Sacramento we headed off to San Diego. I got to visit Mandi and Lindy (Casey’s brother and wife) along with my two adorable nephews! What characters! It was a good thing we visited them too. They are headed off to Belgium!!! Lindy got a job there so they are heading out there in March. How exciting.. now it looks like we have a nice reason to visit.. and room and board free! I bet they will love it there and the boys will have so many cool opportunities! Plus Mandi no longer has to work and gets to be a stay at home Mommy! The best job in the world I would think!!
(The boys wrestling with Uncle Casey)
Now Casey and I are trying to get the house in order.. we bought all new interior doors and are in the process of putting those up and painting them (of course right after I finished painting all the old doors white!) We are trying to get in shape too. If we have the money and time we’d like to go to Yosemite with Kristen and Ryan and climb half Dome! Let’s hope we can do it!! Besides that we are just looking forward to hopefully a stress free year!!

Bathroom

We made some progress in the bathroom this weekend! Robert came over and helped out on Saturday which was much appreciated! Robert cut while Casey laid the tile! The shower surround took a long time but on Sunday Casey and I laid the floor in a few hours! This weekend we plan to have it all grouted and put back together. We still need to get a vanity for it but as long as there is a toilet and a tub to wash off in I will be one happy girl! Nothing like tripping down the stairs in the middle of the night to make it to the bathroom!!!

Photos will be up soon!!

Updates

Well Casey and I have gotten back in the grove of working on the house. We had a guy come out and put knock down in our upstairs bathroom. I painted it yesterday and we should be tiling it this weekend!! I sure hope it looks good!!!

Casey has started his started is MBA. He is taking two courses at UIS on Monday and Wednesday nights. We think that it will take him about 18 months to finish the program. Then he will be making the big bucks!!! Hey a girl can dream! I am finishing up the silly classes I need this semester before I head to UIS as well for teaching. I will also take the Basic skills test this fall. I sure hope I pass... reading comp in not my strong point!

We bought our tickets home for Christmas and are super excited about it. We will be spending Dec. 20th to 28th in Sac and the 28th to the 1st in SD! I can’t wait to see family! Speaking of family, my grandparents are coming down to visit over thanksgiving! This will be their first time seeing our house! I can’t wait!!

Well More to come later…I’ll post some pictures up of the bathroom!

We're Back!!

Well we survived Mexico with no sign of the Swine flu! Lol We had a GREAT time! We arrived Tuesday June 23rd to a nice sunny and a bit humid Cancun! We went through a travel agency this time so we had a non-stop flight and a Van ready to take us there. It was funny because our good friends Carrie and Greg in-laws were on the same plane as us but staying at a different resort. Anyways, the hotel was very beautiful, and in the heart of the hotel zone so things were in walking distance. The ocean was gorgeous! So blue that it looked like a pool!! We went in it a few times but boy it is salty! Our hotel RIU Cancun had 4 pools and a swim up bar. The pools were infinity pools so they have seats at the end of them and you can over look the ocean! We loved that spot! On Friday we took a catamaran to Las Mujeres for a little shopping which we hate. Same junk you can get everywhere.. But then we went snorkeling! It was a national park and there were fish every where!! They got so close you though it you tried hard enough you could catch one! After snorkeling they took us to another little place and we had lunch and relaxed… buy the end of the day we were pooped and burnt to a crisp! We coated ourselves with sunscreen but it still got us. We were sad and happy at the same time to be heading home. The trip was great but we are thinking next vacation has to be Europe! Who’s in?!?!

Cancun here were come!!

Casey and I are leaving tomorrow to head to Cancun!!! We will be spending our 1 year anniversary there!! I can't believe it has been a year already. We have been through a lot already but I wouldn't change it for anything. We are heading down to St. Louis tonight after dinner and fly out tomorrow morning at 7 am and will be in Cancun by 9:45! We will up date you all when we get back!!