Day 168

Well look who stopped by the office again today for a visit. It's Baby Dean! He's grown so much since the last time I saw him, getting to be such a big boy. He's pulling himself up on things, scooting all over the place. I'm sure he will be walking in no time! And he's still just the happiest boy...flirting with the ladies.  You don't realize just how much he's changing until you look at other pictures - like when he visited the office back in February. Hope his mom brings him in a little more often...every four months is just too long to go between visits!

Day 167

Rob bought the most beautiful bouquet of flowers for me, for our 2nd anniversary. With everything else that has been going on the last couple days, I am just now snapping a picture of them - but they are truly the prettiest flowers he has given me yet.

And to his credit, he remembered that my bouquet from our wedding had peonies in it, so he made sure the one he brought me this weekend had some too...and roses, and carnations, and beautiful big spider mums...all in varying hues of pink. Thanks Bean...and Happy Anniversary!

Day 163

Poor Rob. This is pretty much what dinner looks like for him most nights of the week. With him working swing shift, he doesn't get home until around 11:00 p.m. So most of the time he comes home to find whatever was for dinner, waiting for him in the microwave.

If I'm home and cook dinner, then he will usually find a plate made up for him. But if I happen to spend the evening with Mom, like tonight, he will find some containers filled with leftovers she has sent home for him. Tonight's menu? Pork loin, macaroni and cheese and green beans.

Day 160

The Brady's are home...the Brady's are home! The thing is, they are all here, but Pat was the only one who would let me take his picture.

They flew in pretty late last night, and swung by Mom's just to pick up a couple essentials...like fans. And now tonight, they are back over to Mom's to pick up another essential item for their stay here in town...a coffee pot! A must have for sure...fans for sleeping, coffee for rising!

Tonight was just a quick hello, hopefully we'll be seeing them more while they are here.

Day 151

This is what I spent most of my Saturday doing. Giving our guest bath a bit of a face lift.

I had been wanting to get rid of the dragonfly themed stuff for some time now. I mean I put it in there when I moved in 10 years ago! I finally settled on wanting to do a gray/yellow theme to both the bath and the guest bedroom. I have yet to find the perfect set for the bedroom, but found this Spring Garden shower curtain and towels for the bathroom at Kohl's a couple weeks back.

I've been picking up the pieces, parts and accessories since, and finally felt I had enough to put it all together. So I spent the day tearing down the old, scrubbing the bathroom from top to bottom, and then putting up the cheery new stuff. I think it looks awesome. Rob seemed to like it so much, he was a bit disappointed it was for the guest bathroom and not ours!

Day 137

There were just too many to pick one. That girl, I swear she can steal your heart, and tickle your funny bone! As you can see, today was Kennedy's Baptism Day. Or as she said - today she was gettin' Catholic!

Rob and I got up and hit the road this morning and headed to Fred and Christy's. We got there in time to have a snack, and do a little catching up. Then it was time to change our clothes (as she was getting ready in her fancy dress, Kennedy proclaimed that she, in fact, looked ADORABLE!) and get over to the church for 5:30 Mass. Kennedy and another boy were the only two receiving the Rite of Baptism. They were both so cute all dressed in white, standing in front of everyone. Kennedy was a bit of ham and a clam...standing like a tea pot, giving one, then two thumbs up, and nearly starting a fire with her candle and the Father's vestment - and for the most part not uttering a word. Even the Father commented that she was a tough nut to crack. Rob and I couldn't have been a prouder Godmudder or Godfadder!

After Mass ended we all headed back to Fred and Christy's and had a wonderful homemade lasagna dinner...and of course cupcakes!!

It was a wonderful, joyous, tearful, whirlwind of a day, and I feel so blessed to have been a part of it!

Day 123

Tonight was Andrew's First Holy Communion, and I was honored to be invited and to attend his special day. Of course Rob was invited too, but unfortunately he was working.

Katie and Ryan had everyone over to the house before...kind of a casual meet and greet, then we all headed over to the church. All the kids looked so adorable in their pretty dresses, and nicely pressed suits. Katie and another mom had been asked to light a candle...she was a bit nervous but it went off without a hitch, no tripping or stumbling. It was a really nice First Communion Mass, and I'm so glad I went. After it was over, we all headed back to the house for a bite to eat, a few drinks, gifts for Andrew and plenty of catching up.

Day 113

Happy Administrative Professionals Day! In my little world, today is the day we get to celebrate, and to be celebrated.

Each of us 'admin gals' started off the day with a group card and some sweet chocolates from one of our Battalion Chiefs and his wife...very thoughtful. To show my appreciate for Shauna, I brought her a small bouquet of spring flowers...and to show my appreciate to all my other 'peeps', I brought Starbucks!!

Later in the day, Billie's group of firefighters had a cookie bouquet delivered...it's a tradition and they never forget, and they are kind enough to include a 'Thanks a Buzzilion' Bee for all the office gals.  Yum...love those Cookies by Design! It was a very nice day, nice to feel appreciated, and any excuse to celebrate, right?!?

Day 109

Rob has a very rare weekend off...both Saturday and Sunday...Easter weekend. How nice for us - I can hardly believe it. So this afternoon, the two of us goofy adults tried our hand at coloring Easter eggs. For really no reason other than for the fun of it. First, I tried a new method (thanks Pinterest) for cooking the eggs...I baked them in the oven. They turned out very nice, not one cracked, or damaged in any way...made for very nice coloring. The only thing that wasn't so great was the actual color itself - not like either Rob or I remember as kids. Not very dark, and trying to draw a design with a crayon...not so good. But oh, well, at least we can say we did partake in the age old tradition of dying eggs! And when all was send and done, they didn't look half bad.

Day 106

This afternoon the ladies in the office and I decided it was a good day for some frozen yogurt. So April and I headed up the street to try a fairly new place called Maui's Apple...only to discover it had already gone out of business?!?

Not to be detoured, we headed a little bit further up the street to another place I had yet to try - Finnegan's Frost...Farmstyle Frozen Yogurt. And it was just that - Farmstyle. They had about 6 basic flavors, all organic, and toppings mostly consisting of fresh fruits and nuts. All of these help-yourself frozen yogurt places that have sprouted up in recent years are awful spendy, and admittedly this one was no exception, however, it was pretty tasty. I, myself, made a 'banana split' of sorts with a little each of chocolate, strawberry and banana, sprinkled with some tasty granola on top! Minus the hit to your pocket book, I would recommend this place, and would definitely stop in here again!

Day 102

Our little backyard tree, all in bloom.  I realized today that our tree in the front has lost all its blooms, and they have given way to new leaves. But in the backyard, we still have three trees full of pretty pink blossoms, like this one! I wanted to hurry and take a photo while they were still around, because I'm sure they'll be gone in just a day or two. The sky was a funny mix of sun and clouds, making it difficult to capture a good photo - with my phone anyway. But thankfully, the pretty pink comes through.

Day 101

Today I spent the morning at our city's library in a Leadership Team meeting. Our city is divided into three groups; Executive Leadership (director level), Management Leadership (middle management), and Supervisory Leadership (supervisor level). Today, Cindy, our City Manager (that's her up front), called a meeting of all three groups to get together and discuss several topics, but mostly where the Leadership Team is and where it is going, in conjunction with our city's Strategic Plan.

It was a long morning, but I guess it was good for all of us to get into a room together - people from all different management levels from all different departments in the City, from garbage to fire, from library to police, and from finance to electrical.

Day 100

Oh my little Baylee girl...she's such a cutie patootie! Tonight we were over at Mom's and she was up on the couch sawing logs. I went to take a picture of her with her face smashed up against the pillow...always with her face up against something...and she rolled her up big ol' eye up at me. Now she has the doggie equivalent of red-eye. She's just still the bestest girl...love her so.

Day 91

So...last night I had my big, fun trip to Costco. Well, one of the things that I picked up that certain was NOT a necessity was Frozen. I'm not sure why, but like most people who have seen it, I just loved it. I haven't liked an animated movie like this in quite some time. So I picked it up last night, and tonight I made Rob watch it with me. And when I say 'with' me...he was beside me, but I'm not sure how much watching of it he did. I don't think he was quite as thrilled with watching an animated, romantic comedy, musical as I was! Oh well, I still enjoyed watching again...and I might just watch it again...and again...

Day 88

Nerd alert! There's a nerd in the house! Wait, it's just Emilee, who took the lenses out of her 3D glasses, and just enjoys wearing them around the house?!? Silly girl.

This afternoon we celebrated Granny at her memorial service. Afterwards about 15 of us headed to dinner at Sterling's, where we had a gab fest, a few drinks, and lots to eat. We all spent some time catching up with my brother, and his best friend from way back when Danny - it was an old school dinner, only with children. Afterwards, a few of us went back to Mom's for a bit to continue our chat session - which is where Emilee comes in...just hanging with the grown ups, but still being a kid.

Day 86

Home Sweet Home. It's been a grueling few days, and I am so excited to be back home. This is a shot outside my plane window just as we were preparing to land tonight...the Tri-Cities all lit up.

When Christie and I arrived at the airport in Las Vegas today, we weren't entirely sure we were even going to make it home tonight. Our flight was delayed, which pushed our landing at Salt Lake to the exact time our next flight was boarding.  We literally ran through the airport to make our flight...but thanks to God we did! It was the last flight of the day leaving Salt Lake, and the prospect of spending the night in the airport was causing me much distress.  Rob picked Christie and I up at the airport about 10:30, we headed home, gobbled down some dinner and fell into bed...thankful to be home again!

Day 78

Today is Trina's birthday! It's her 40th birthday as a matter of fact. Tonight Rob and I, and a few of Trina's friends went to 3 Margaritas to celebrate her special day. I'm really hoping she had a good time, and felt all the love...especially when they brought out her special dessert, a giant sombrero, and sang happy birthday to her.

Happy Birthday my friend...I wish you all the love and joy in the world, because you deserve it!

Day 70

Lookin' good girls! Today Rob was home with the girls and decided it was definitely bath day! Truth be told, it is waaaay past bath day. I don't think these girls have had a bath all winter...yikes! They were pretty dirty and pretty smelly...but not any more. Rob bathed them up, even dried and fluffed them with the blow dryer...a regular spa day. Then when I got home from work I washed up their little blankets so we can start fresh and clean. But I'm sure it won't be long before the dirty dog smell returns...they wouldn't have it any other way.

By the way, edited this pic with a free online tool I just learned about called PicMonkey...it's pretty awesome, check it out!