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!

Five Years...a little late

So I should have posted this about a week ago, but you know life got in the way. On June 14th, I have been at my job for 5 years! 5 YEARS! I think that is insane. I'm 25 and have been at the same job for 5 years...that's pretty rare. Granted 2 of those years were part time while I was in college, but still 5 years is a long time. 20% of my life...ouch!

So much has changed in my life since I started here...I have graduated college, bought a car, got married, vacationed out of the country, bought a house, and gotten a dog. Also, my family has expanded with a niece & a nephew (on Craig's side), and lost two family members to cancer (great aunt & uncle). I have watched both siblings graduate high school and my sister graduate college too! I have moved twice and gone of various trips...Vegas, Colorado, Okoboji, Mexico, etc. I can't believe it's really been that long. It's been a wild ride!

I love my job. I like what I do, and I think I'm pretty good at it. Now, if I could only figure out a way to make more money...I'd be set for life!

It's a great day!

I got a call from my sister this morning...she's engaged! It's about time, no really we just have all knew this was coming for quite some time, so we've been waiting for what seems like forever. I am beyond excited for her and Nick. They are so great together! I couldn't have picked anyone better for her.

So...this means we have another year full of wedding planning, parties, and fun! I am so excited! I had so much fun with our wedding, so I know this will be fun too! Especially, since I'm not the one making all the decisions!

Oh, and Jess & Nick closed on their house this morning too, so it's been a HUGE day for them! Talk about timing!

It's official...

I have the ever-so-popular "baby itch" that inevitably hits most women at some point in their lives. My itch has been growing for months now (pretty much since the wedding), but the last few weeks have gotten pretty serious. Craig's not "there" yet, but I'm working on him!

It's probably not helping that yesterday I got to hold a newborn for the first time in a couple years. I also spend a lot of time reading other blogs about people with their new babies or the tales of pregnant women. It seems like there's a baby boom going on these days!

My thing is we're married, we have a house, we both have good jobs...why wait? Are we financially ready, probably not, but then again will we ever be? I doubt it! Do we have a good support system, I would like to think so? Are we ready to be parents...I think so! (OK maybe not so much yet for Craig, but I know he would be when the time came! I can't wait to see him as a Dad!)

In other news, not much going on! We're headed back home for the weekend. We're going to catch one of Chip's baseball games and hopefully get a tour of Jessica & Nick's new house. They should be closing hopefully tomorrow! We'll also visit the grandparents and hang with the 'rents! Should be a fun weekend!

Trips, Trips, & More Trips

Well, we now have 3 vacations to look forward in the next few months. Yay! I've been missing work alot for all the things that have been going on, but most of that wasn't really fun or vacation like...funerals, helping with graduation parties, etc. (The actual graduation parties were fun!)Now, we'll be going to fun places and doing fun things!

Our first trip is scheduled for the 4th of July weekend. We're going on a road trip out to Colorado Springs to visit Craig's brother & his family. We haven't seen the kids (or Brent & Buffye) since Christmas, so we're really looking forward to seeing them! It may also be Izzy's first road trip over 2 hours, so that will be interesting! She's a little crazy in the car sometimes! We always have a great time out there, it's so beautiful! What a great place to visit and what better excuse...to see our neices & nephew!

The next trip is at the end of July! We're going on the Annual Bryant Vacation to Okoboji! SWEET! I absolutely love it there...it's one of my favorite places! My whole immediate family is going, and this year we are renting out a lakefront condo versus staying at a resort like usual. It should be really fun! Oh, and Nick has a new boat for the trip, so we're all looking forward to breaking that in! We are seriously counting down the days to this one! Can't come soon enough! Last year, because of our wedding, nobody got to go to Okoboji...so we're all overdue for a trip up there!

The last trip (which we just planned last night) is to Las Vegas over Labor Day weekend! We went a few years ago during one of our college spring breaks, and we've been dying to go back ever since! This time we are going with some of our best friends, Ryan & Jill. We both have anniversaries in August, so we're calling it a "Joint-Anniversary" trip. We're staying at the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino. It wasn't even built the last time we were there, so it should be really nice considering it's brand new! We can't wait!

So while all this is super fun & exciting, this means I seriously need to figure out a way to lose weight & get in shape VERY fast! Yikes! If these trips aren't enough motivation for me, I don't know what will be! Wish me luck!

Sad, Sick Puppy!

We had a long night last night...Izzy was sick! Craig had spent the evening fishing with some friends, so it was just me and Izzy at home for most of the night. She was hanging out int he backyard as she does most nights. I was puttering around the house doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen. I noticed she was licking/digging at a spot in the yard. I tried to call her in the house and she wouldn't budge. (She usually comes when we call her!) So, I went out to check out what she was doing...it was a pretty gross site. I wasn't completely sure, but it sure looked like she had gotten sick.

So, I thought maybe the front yard would be a better place for us to hang out, as she wouldn't leave "the spot" alone. I took her out front, hooked her to her chain, and settled into the lawn chair on the porch for some magazine reading. Izzy started chowing down on grass like I've never seen her do. It was crazy. She would eat, then lay down, and then eat some more. She didn't get sick again outside for almost 2 hours, so I thought whatever it was had passed.

I brought her back inside and gave her a bath. It was the time of the month for her flea/tick treatment, so I thought I should give her a bath first since she wouldn't be able to have another one for a week. Shortly after the bath, Craig came home. She seemed her usual, excited self when he came in. We hung out in the leaving room for a little while, then Izzy got sick on the floor. We cleaned it up, she napped for a while, and then we headed to bed. She got sick at 12:15 a.m. and again at about 1 a.m. It was a long night!

I didn't sleep well. I was worried about her and afraid she was going to get sick again at any time. I can't imagine how it's going to be with babies. If they are ever sick, I might as well just stay up all night because sleeping is impossible when I'm worried/paranoid like that! It's almost worse to stay in bed and fight with sleep than to just stay up all night!

Izzy still seems "off" today. I hope she just got into something she shouldn't have in the yard or something. She's never been "sick" for so long. I hope it's not serious!

Garage Sale Newbie!

Last week, some of our neighbors and us were hanging out in one of the respective driveways when another neighbor stopped by to tell us about the Neighborhood Garage Sales happening in a couple weeks! We are pretty excited about this as we have plenty of things we need to get rid of...it's giving us an excuse to open some boxes that haven't been opened since we moved in!

I'm amazed how "full" our house has gotten in 9 short months...although it feels like we've lived there a lot longer than that! I can't imagine how fast the house will fill up when we have kids! Anyway, we have two weeks to prepare & organize for this garage sale event...any tips! I've never done this on my own before, so I'm shooting blind.

I know some friends of ours are going to be bringing some things over to sell as well...we'll have furniture, kitchen appliances, picture frames, yard items, and other random odds & ends! If you're in the neighborhood on June 6th or 7th, stop by and say "hi"!