31...

Well, it might just be another Columbus Day for everyone else, but today is my birthday. My birthday which started with a doctors visit, a glucose test (blood draw and sugary sweet orange drink), and a flu shot. Great way to start off, right? Well it only got better from there.

In lieu of working, I decided to take some vacation time so I could run errands and get some stuff done around the house. I went to the grocery store, Home Depot, Kohl's, and TJ Maxx all by 1:00. After that I worked on some projects around the house and now I'm going to put away some clean clothes. Very exciting birthday! Isn't it funny that birthdays used to be so exciting - the party, the gifts, the friends and now it seems like they just aren't the same.

Tonight, Natalie and I will be heading back to my parents house for dinner and dessert. Hopefully Phil will be home later this week or next, hopefully!

Relax

Last week (after I returned from Minnesota) we were lucky enough to have dinner at Stella with one of our favorite families. After a good dinner and great conversation, Phil basically invited us over to their house for a drink (sparkling water for me, beer for him). They graciously agreed and we drove straight to their house, quickly so they couldn't call and change their minds.

When we got there they broke out the game Singstar. Now, Melinda has been talking about how much fun this game is for a while, but it is essentially a karaoke game and that freaks me out. I mean, I can't drink and EVERYONE knows that karaoke is more fun when you are drinking. Well, I can admit I was wrong, because it was SO SO SO much fun and I can't wait for the next time we invite ourselves over for another Singstar battle. Oh, just for the record, Melinda and I beat the boys.

While we were there, Kai changed into his pjs and Melinda offered a pair of pjs to Natalie so they could both be more comfortable. The pair Natalie got were blue and had fire trucks all over them. She LOVES them, which might be an understatement of her feelings. We washed them and I had them by my purse so I could return them to Melinda, Natalie saw them and all she wanted to do was wear them! She starts making the fire truck noise and tries to put them on. It is so cute! So cute, in fact, that I've let her wear them a few more times.

Here is a photo of her relaxing the other morning, in her favorite pjs, on mom's bed.

Happy Birthday to my Hunny

Happy Birthday Phil!

This year there will be no celebrating together, remember last year - what a gift, Phil is stuck in Colorado for his birthday. He was able to get out and golf today and although he said he missed having the "regulars" with him to play, it was still a nice treat all the same.

Selfishly, I'm hoping he will be home for my birthday (or tomorrow?? please...) and I told him that if he made if home for my birthday we could share the celebration and he can pick what is for dinner. I'm a good wife :)

Recent Adventures

First, I'll start with wine...as any good story should. About two weeks ago Natalie and I decided to take a walk to the new liquor store in our neighborhood. So, yes, I loaded my toddler into her stroller, gave her a cup of milk and water and my pregnant belly and I walked her to the liquor store. At least I wasn't drinking while I was doing it, so that makes it better, right?

It is a really nice store with a great selection of wines and we ended up buying so much (over two boxes) that Phil had to come and pick us up...which I predicted and arranged in advance :) When we got home Natalie helped me put all the bottles away and then proceeded to have a great time playing in the box.

Next subject is Minnesota...

I just returned from another trip to Minnesota, and although it was a short two-night trip, it is still a pain to leave my babies. Some of the good things about Minnesota are, the group of friends I get to hang out with while I'm there, dinner out at nice places (Bar La Grassa was tasty), working out after work (weird that I would put that as a good thing...), fancy water waiting for me in my hotel room, and the wake up coffee I get every morning (it is decaf, but still a nice way to greet the morning).

Just when I returned from my business trip, Phil had to go out of town on his own business trip. He is stuck in Colorado for who knows how long (even missing his birthday today...booo hooo). Because he is out of town, Natalie and I have been spending a LOT of time with my parents. It is nice to have two extra people to help entertain her and let's be honest, no one beats Grandma. We traveled to the cabin last weekend and had a great time. The only exception to the great time we were having was when I fell up the stairs! I scrapped up my arm, wrist and bruised my shin pretty good (still have a welt and it HURTS!).

With my arm in a gauze wrap most of the weekend I was set to still have a good time.

We went on a walk at night with Natalie leading the way with her flashlight. (Side bar - Phil taught her the Flash Light game, where she has to find one of us with the flashlight and then kiss whoever she finds - when she is 15 and playing this game, I'll remind him it was his idea). We played with the old Safari toys and race cars and Natalie spent a lot of quality porch time cleaning her dishes (yes these are all toys my brothers and I played with growing up and Natalie LOVES them).

On our way home on Sunday we stopped at the outlet stores to check out the deals on baby boy outfits (nothing great), but while there we couldn't pass up the opportunity to play on the swings, slides and 50 cent rides. Natalie had a blast and her favorites were the "ride little pony", merry-go-round and tonka truck.

Once we got home, Natalie had a snack and convinced me that the twenty minute nap she had in the car would be a long enough nap for the day. So, we vacuumed and mopped the kitchen, put some toys away, dug through the boxes of her clothes looking for anything white the baby boy can wear, got the Halloween decorations out of storage and did a load of laundry, all before packing up the car and heading to Grandpa's house for dinner. Natalie lost the sleep battle and was asleep in her car seat before we left our street. She even slept through a trip into Target for milk.

We've been keeping busy and tonight will be no exception. We are planning a trip to either the library or to Home Depot, both of which are on the way to Grandma's house...guess we will go there too :)

Here are some photos I snagged from my mom's camera, just because

Enjoying the swings - which she loves

In her pretty dress (a steal for $3)

With daddy

Wearing one of my old dresses - so sweet!!

It wasn't Sizzler...

But is was still REALLY good :)

Phil and I decided to choose another location for dinner tonight and no, they didn't have an all you can eat salad bar, but they did have an amazing selection of fresh garden produce and wonderful meats and fish!

We went to Tiburon, in Sandy and it was tasty, if just a little expensive. I had the halibut and Phil had a steak - both of which came with a salad (with fresh garden heirloom tomatoes from the garden in the back of the building) and sorbet. It was VERY good!

Thanks to the hubby for such a great anniversary treat!

How time flies

When you are having such a good time! Which is exactly what I've been having for the last 4 years of my life. More fun that should be allowed to one person, really, but that is what I signed up for what I said "I do" to Phil. Which was one of the best decisions I've made in my life and one that keeps making me more and more happy as the days, weeks, months and years pass us by.

Natalie and I look through old photo albums all the time, it is one of her favorite things to do. She especially loves looking through the biggest book, our wedding album. She loves seeing all the photos of mommy and daddy and all our friends. It is one of my favorites as well. I love that day, it was such a fun time and I hope that everyone who attended had as much fun as I did. I often tell Phil (and anyone else who will listen) that I would host our wedding over and over again because it was so much fun. Plus, I got a great prize at the end - a fantastic husband!

Enough with the gushing...tonight we are going to dinner and this year I don't have to run home to breastfeed a baby...so although I won't be drinking, we can stay out a little later and Phil is taking me to one of my (while pregnant) favorite places, Sizzler. Don't laugh, I CRAVE their salad bar while pregnant. I can't seem to get the thought of diving in to it out of my head!

August Recap

With all the travel I've been doing, I forgot to post a few photos...

Having a swim in the backyard

Enjoying a delicious breakfast of bear, Garfield, and water

Having a fun ride in the wheelbarrow

Building a snake out of cans and other pantry items

Sunglasses + Grandma = Smiles

Chicago trip

Last week I made a quick one-night trip to Chicago. While there my colleague and I went out to dinner and couldn't believe the traffic. Well it was because there was a cubs game and we were eating down the street from Wrigley Field.

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Hi Ho, Hi Ho, a Camping we will go (or we went)

**I started typing this post as soon as we returned from our trip, but then...well, time and life got in the way **

I love camping. I don't like going without a shower and sleeping in a tent when it is VERY cold, but I do love camping. We have been talking about taking a short camping trip since Natalie was born and we FINALLY got around to it this past weekend!

Friday, after a quick trip to the store and (over) packing the car, we put Natalie in her chair at 3:00 and started the hour and a half drive to our camp site. It was a relatively quick drive and when we arrived at the camping site we were able to set up our tents, go for a few walks, chop some wood and get the fire going.

Godfather and Auntie were able to join us and overall, it was a great first camping trip for Natalie. She absolutely loved playing in the dirt and exploring the camp. There was even a small stream running by our camping site that we let her play in the next morning. She loved throwing rocks in the water and getting splashed - for the record, I did not like getting splashed with muddy water, but it was still fun.

I can't wait for our next trip - which might be sooner rather than later, we are hoping to tag along with my parents in a few weeks...

Getting the marshmallows ready. Natalie is wearing her new favorite sweatshirt, the same sweatshirt my brothers and I all wore camping when we were her age.

Enjoying fire time and roasting marshmallows

Eating dinner - brats and salad

roasting a 'morning' marshmallow - that Natalie wouldn't eat, but insisted that we roast

Hanging Lantern

Back in August I hosted a shower for my friend, Julie. Well fast forward about a month and I'm just getting around to recapping on of the coolest things we had at the shower. As any good party designer would tell you, lighting is important. Well, I had seen in a magazine how pretty hanging a candle from the umbrellas could be. So, I described to my dad what I was looking for, and like the wizard he is, he whipped up this:

My mom donated very cute old mason jars and he affixed wire to each of them so I could hang them from the umbrellas. They were VERY cute and I can't wait to use them again!