Birthdays, Burgers, & Babies

Well, it's been a while! It's be a crazy couple of weeks. I'll try to hit the high points! We celebrated Izzy's first birthday last Friday! She has survived a whole year in this great big world, and 10 months with us! I can't believe how much she's changed!
Here she is on the day we got her, she was 10 weeks old!

















Here are a few pictures from Friday, her birthday! We spoiled her with her own burger, Cheetos, & chips! It was all gone in a matter of seconds! I think this is a good tradition we started!

Going!













Going!














Gone!













She really enjoyed her treat!

Saturday, Brent, Buffye, & the kids came to spend the night at our place on their way back home to Colorado Springs! We had a full house, but it was a lot of fun! We went to the Morrill Hall museum on Saturday afternoon. Considering I have lived in Lincoln for seven years and never been, it was good to go and see it! The kids had a pretty good time too! We came home, the kids napped, and then we grilled out. We ended the evening with s'mores from our fire pit! It was a great time!

They left Sunday morning, and we were spent! We decided to see the new Harry Potter flick on Sunday afternoon. I thought it was really good! I love all those books and the movies are just as good!

Monday night we went out with all our friends for and early birthday celebration for Craig. He chose Shogun's. It was a great time, and our chef got a kick out of picking on Craig! His really birthday is the 28th, so we'll be celebrating in Okoboji! YAY!

It the midst of dinner, a couple of friends had a big announcement...they're having a baby! They are due Febuary 8th and our other really good friends are due Febuary 1st. This means I am now throwing a double baby shower! I'm super excited for all of them!

Our Okoboji vacation is next week, less than 3 days and we'll be there! I'm beyond excited! I can't wait for some R&R and fun in the sun! It's been a while...like since our honeymoon!

1 Down, 2 To Go!

Well, we survived the trip to Colorado Springs over the 4th! It was a lot of fun, we got to hang out with the kids, go to a movie (Ice Age 3...funny!), go on a hike in the mountains (BEAUTIFUL!), eat yummy food, and go boating on a gorgeous lake! That's not too shabby for a four day trip! The trip didn't not help my "baby itch". I got to be reminded how great Craig is with kids...he's going to be a great Daddy whenever the time comes. We also got to see how Izzy handles kids. She did sooo good! They hugged her, pulled her tail, messed with her ears, screamed at her, etc...and she didn't growl, nip, or hardly react at all! She LOVES kids, so I'm sure she'll be excited whenever the time comes!

We had an engagement party for Jess & Nick this past Saturday! It was so much fun! The weather couldn't have been better, and we spent the night on the patio drinking, singing, and laughing with friends & family! Brent & Buffye are back in Nebraska this week, so they came to the party...it was a great opportunity to kick back and have fun with them too! Craig got volunteered to bartend for the party...yikes! Over the course of the evening, he thought it would be a good idea to experiment with Scotch. He also smoked about 8 cigars...gross! I was sure he'd be getting sick by the end of the night, but somehow he maintained and actually felt better than I did yesterday (I only had 3 drinks and woke up with a headache!) This was the official kick off to the next 5ish months of wedding festivities! It's going to be a crazy, fun ride! I can't wait!

We are t-minus 12 days to Okoboji! We are all so excited about this trip. I'm not sure why this trip is different from any other we've taken up there, but we are all super excited. I don't remember all of us looking forward to it like this! It's probably because we had to skip last year! The only thing I'm sad about it leaving Izzy behind at the Kennel for 7 nights...that makes me sad!

Speaking of Izzy, she turns the big #1 this Friday! I can't believe she's already a year old! We are going to celebrate, but making a trip to the pet store to let her pick out a new toy and some treats! We are also going to get her a harness to make walks a little more pleasureable for all of us! She's a tugger! We are also planning to grill her a special "Izzy size" hamburger to mark the occassion!

Sometime later this week, Brent, Buffye, & the kids are going to come stay at our place on their way back to Colorado! It should be a lot of fun to have them all at our house (and not have to share them with anyone else!) That means we have some serious cleaning, yard work, organizing, and grocery shopping to do! It should be crazy, fun, busy week!

Dog Park, Road Trips, & More!

Yikes, it's been a while! Let's see, what's happened since my last post. Well, I guess the biggest news is that Jess & Nick have picked New Year's Eve 2009 as their wedding date! It wasn't their first choice because of all our December birthdays, but due to some conflicts with Nick's family next summer it was the next best option. It should be a lot of fun, and one hell of a way to end 2009! We went dress shopping last Friday, and she picked the first dress she tried on! (Of course, she tried on many others, but nothing topped that first one!) It is absolutely gorgeous on her! We also got lucky and found bridesmaid's dresses for us (She asked me to be her Maid of Honor...I'm so excited!). The dresses for us are tea length & black! I love them!

We spend the rest of the weekend hanging with friends we don't see too often. We got the chance to go to the Melting Pot in Omaha to celebrate Amanda & Scott's anniversary with them. OMG, that restaurant is sooooo good but man is it expensive! I will definitely go back, but it's going to have to be a special occasion! After dinner, we headed over to Travis's house for a backyard concert. It was pretty fun, the music was good, the friends were good, but the drive home after midnight kinda sucked!

Sunday was a lazy day up until we decided to take Izzy to the Dog Park for the first time! She was a little overwhelmed by the big dogs that ran up to her to say "Hi!", but overall I think she had a good time! Here are some pics of the experience!






Here she is just warming up to the place! Notice her tail is down...not typical!










Craig wanted to see what she would do in the water...of course, she was too scared to go in on her own, so he threw her in! Awesome! She didn't like that too much, and found her way to land as quick as she could!





Sunday evening, the Community Church had a children's carnival and fireworks. We walked up with our neighbors to watch the show. I must admit I was impressed by the fireworks display! It lasted quite a while and the fireworks were pretty cool! It definitely pumped me up for this weekend!

Monday, we had our usual grill night with our friends. As normal, the food was great and the conversation better! Last night, we exposed our favorite neighbors, Tim & Alli (and their 4-year-old Greyson) to our favorite Chinese take-out Zhangs! It was so yummy, and we had a great time hanging out with him. Izzy & Greyson wore each other out, so that was entertaining to watch!

Now, we trying to get organized for our trip out to Colorado Springs. We are leaving tomorrow afternoon as soon as we can get out of work. I have the house cleaned, and I'm working on the laundry. I hope to be packed by 9! I better get moving!

Wow! This was long, and I have pictures in my post...I'm getting better at this blog thing I think. Now, if only people would read it! Ha!

Well, if any of you are reading this, I hope you have a great 4th of July! It is definitely my favorite holiday!