the bachelor party

this saturday the 19th was the bachelor party for tim bates, matt's friend from college who is getting married on the 26th. matt sent me the pics so i could post them on the blog...so here they are!
the guys started the day with a round of golf, unfortunately matt wasn't able to attend. but he was able to go rock climbing and play soccer later that day with tim & eddie (both of whom he played with in college). matt said it was a lot of fun and he really enjoyed getting to hang out with a bunch of his friends from college.

pics from rock climbing:








pics from the soccer game:

T-5 and counting....

i'm still trying to find ways to distract myself while matt is out of town, and i only have 5 more days until i get to visit him! the concert was an excellent distraction, as are birthday parties and working full-time. but on my days off (when i know i shouldn't go back to work because i need a break from "swine flu" and everything else), it still gets lonely. i've completed most of my to-do projects: making quilts, working on scrapbooks, keeping the house spotless, fall-time decorating, reading books, etc. and while some of those projects are on-going, sometimes i just need some human interaction. on thursday i was supposed to go to the zoo with some work friends, but unfortunately, it has now been raining for a week with no end in sight. now, i'm not complaining, because i thoroughly enjoy the rain and the 70-ish degree temperatures it has brought with it, but for outdoor-type things, it's no bueno. so our plans turned from zoo, to dallas world aquarium, to movie, to everyone falling asleep at home in the afternoon and us not doing anything! since i ended up napping in the afternoon, i had lots of my usual night-time energy and no one to hang out with :/
until i texted ryan and he asked if i wanted to come over and watch movies at his & carrie's house. of course! so i picked out some movies and headed to dallas. carrie had to do some studying, so she couldn't watch the first movie with us, but she joined us for some tv time after she reached a stopping point. we also ended up having some drinks during our movie/tv watching: cosmos and a margarita...yum!

thanks, again, ryan & carrie!


cosmos!

september birthdays

the birthday girls!

time again for the annual september festivities: mom & shari's birthday celebrations! this year we celebrated on 9/13, sunday, with brisket, homemade rolls, broccoli salad, homemade mac & cheese, and homemade cinnamon rolls (using the cinnabon recipe!). it was all very tasty, and a lot of fun. you can tell from the last few birthday posts that we've continually moved away from traditional birthday cakes at our celebrations, and this party was no different. notice shari's "33" candles are in the cinnamon rolls, and mom's "52" candles are in a homemade flan, prepared by dana! as always, we had a great time, unfortunately, i had to go to work at 11pm :/ that tends to put a damper on a lot of my celebrating, but it pays the bills...
happy birthday, shari & mom!!!


preparing the feast in the kitchen


what our dinners look like now


mom & shari with their birthday desserts


shari first!


mom's turn (with maddie's help)




mom shows off the flowers i bought her :)

BRAD PAISLEY!

for those who don't know, i really like music. and there are lots of types of music that i like, a lot. i listen to a little bit of everything and my ipod collection is definitely eclectic. however, there is probably only one singer that i really ever cared to see in person (i haven't been to a concert since 1999 -- RHCP! that's Red Hot Chili Peppers!). i am a *huge* brad paisley fan because i think his music is happy, his lyrics are incredibly witty and he is an awesome singer/songwriter and can totally rock it on the guitar. if you've never heard of him....look him up :)
on thursday i got a text from my friend ryan schirato, that said he and his wife carrie had tickets to the brad paisley concert, would i like to go? OMG! yes! when's the concert? i texted back....the reply: saturday night. awwwww....that's a no go. i work every saturday night, and have for forever. well, ryan and carrie and i all work together at MCD, so ryan did his best to recruit some charge nurse coverage for me for saturday night (he was at work when he texted me). no luck :(
i called the remaining charge nurses that i knew might be able to cover saturday, or at least the first half of the shift. no luck, again! i had pretty much given up around 0430 on friday morning until one of the nurses, andrea, called me back at 0730 and said she decided she could in fact work 1/2 of my shift and would be willing to do so. after many, many thank you's i called ryan to tell him i was going with them to see brad in concert.
i went to ryan & carrie's house and we drove one car to the "superpages.com center" (horrible, horrible name) . imagine my surprise when ryan told me that not only did we have tickets -- that weren't on the lawn, remember it's been raining for a week here -- but that we have VIP passes, too! we got to go in the back entrance, and got special blue bracelets to show we were VIPs. neat! the best part, though? our seats! we were about 10 feet away from brad when he walked on the catwalk that went directly in front of the stage. i was just expecting to get to hear him sing...not actually *see* him! the whole concert was amazing, not to mention dierks bently was a guest star, and he's great in conert too! the only problem with the whole night was that i had to leave and go to work right afterwards :/
at least i went to work with a smile on my face and some songs in my heart!



thanks ryan and carrie for the super-great night!!!



me with christy and carrie before the show

to see a crap-load (crap-load = 61) pics of brad paisly (and nothing else, really) click below:

brad paisley concert 09/12/09

a day with the proctors

on friday, the 11th, i went to sarah's house to visit for a while. "a while" turned into all day and we were able to catch up on all sorts of sisterly chatting while her two oldest kiddos were with their grammie proctor and ray was at work. when ray got home i was still at their home and we decided to venture out for dinner and eat at my house. for those who don't know, friday was the day that the torrential rain started in this area of texas. we got soaked trying to get into and out of taco bueno and stood under the shelter of the restaurant's patio/walkway area while thunder literally shook the building and lighting blazed in the sky! what a show! we eventually made it to my house for dinner and some more family time before we said our goodbyes. thanks for the visit, guys!

maddie dreams on my comfy chair


ready to go home


the abbreviated family!

soccer pro!

UHS soccer honors

on wednesday, the 9th, matt was honored at his old high school for holding season and career records during his time as a soccer player there. he was part of a ceremony during the high school game where they recognized him for his accomplishments at urbana high school, home of the hillclimbers! when i get the actual details from matt, i'll update this post! thanks to his mom, pat, for sending the wonderful pics for me to include in the blog :)

mom's birthday

she's wondered for a while, but now my mom can finally know what she would be doing when she celebrated her 52nd birthday. not so much because it was her 52nd birthday, but because it was on 09/09/09! even though our family had plans to celebrate on sunday, mom decided to invite everyone over for an impromptu dinner on wednesday for her birthday. amazingly, the whole family ended up being able to come at last-minute and celebrate. although, jared only counts physically, since he had been up for about 48 hours, he slept through almost the whole thing (see pics below). at least the effort was there, we know how much that boy loves his mommy ;)

happy birthday, mommy!!!!

mommy with her birthday dessert, a chocolate chip cookie crumble-thingy!


poor jared!


as always, known for our creative candle-ing
that's a 5 and a 2, in case you can't tell ;)

alex turns ten!

i can't believe i've been an aunt for a whole decade! my oldest nephew (on my side of the family) finally reached the double digits on august 31st! we celebrated on saturday the 29th with the family and enjoyed a tasty hot dog and hamburger dinner with birthday sugar cookies for dessert, per alex's request! unfortunately, i had to work that night so i only had a little bit of time to enjoy the birthday festivities, but i think everyone had fun!
happy 10th birthday, alex!


happy birthday, alex!


singing...


notice we added those "10" candles ;)

how to...

...survive your husband living in a different state for a semester:
monday: sleep, work
tuesday: sleep, work
wednesday: sleep, "slumber party" at natalie's with the girls (and our dogs!)
thursday: movie with friends, run errands, buy a new tire for your car
friday: coffee with eddie, bake cookies at mom's house, movie night at ryan and carrie's house
saturday: nephew's 10th birthday party, work
sunday: sleep, work

week three of my husband being in ohio proved to be very busy, which was definitely good because it provided lots of necessary distraction! i was able to get some stuff done around the house and spend lots of time with friends and family. everyone has been super supportive of this difficult situation and while there are some moments that are harder than others i can always remind myself that this is a very temporary situation. if that doesn't work i remind myself that this was something we chose to do and that even though matt is away from me, he's not sick and he's not somewhere in danger (i.e. fighting overseas in afghanistan or somewhere else). i have a whole new respect for military families and anyone in a long distance relationship! i can only imagine how much harder this would be if we had kids! fortunately, our dog seems to be adjusting well as long as i get home from work in time to feed her :)
thanks to everyone for being so supportive! i've included a few pics i took at the slumber party and some of lexi, just because.


driving to natalie's, with lexi in the back seat


christy and carrie, snuggled up for a movie


brandy and natalie


lexi enjoys some time outside, but looks for her daddy, always.