What a weekend!

It's been a while since I've updated, being as I haven't had much access to a computer lately! Well, this weekend was a blasty. It started with driving up to No. VA on Saturday to see the brand new house that belongs to my bro-in-law and sis-in-law, Carter and Liz. They just got in about mid June and it's very exciting! They had a house warming/July 4th party in which there were about 10-15 people who rolled through, including baby Eliza!

There was also a cornhole tournament, in which Carter and I DOMINATED Wes and Ryan. I've never been so good! And probably never will again...

Late Saturday night I got some FANTASTIC news. After hours and hours of labor, my sister, Lindsay, gave birth to baby Benjamin Matthew Graham! I am an aunt again! This time blood related! I can't wait to meet him in person, though I don't know when that will be...

We left the Reeves' house relatively early Sunday morning, in hopes of not hitting too much Independence Day traffic, and were lucky to see that we made great time! Didn't hit too much traffic, got home and relaxed a bit. Dusty was pooped!

Sunday night we went to Alex's house for a cook out, drinks, bocce, lots of fun times! The whole gang was there, and I got to know Becca a lot better! She and I did the slip 'n slide together a million times, got super dirty and now I am UNBELIEVABLY sore. It's ridiculous.

We spent the night at Alex's house, woke up early Monday and headed home to take care of the animals. Monday was a day of naps and TV. So much fun crammed in to one weekend!

Baby Eliza!

So we met Baby Eliza this weekend! It was wonderful. Wes and I were both so nervous about holding/being around such a tiny baby and so newly born. It's our first niece/nephew on either side for us! But by the time we spent a few hours with her we felt much more comfortable and prepared.





One thing I was interested in observing was how the new parents felt! I mean, of course they were super happy and excited, but were they nervous like us? I knew Casey would just take to it so easily-- she has plenty of experience with babies having two nieces and a nephew-- and I was wondering how Ryan would feel. I am happy to say that I was surprised at how easy he made everything look! The phrase I use when I describe his attitude is, "Ain't no thang" because that's really how it looked! He looked like it was just another day in life, born to be a dad it seems. Awesome!

(Ryan burping Eliza after her lunch, carrying on a conversation like it's nothin')

Casey is still hurting from her c-section, but in wonderful spirits. I'm so excited to know this little baby all of her life!

Yesterday was a fantastic day. I've got the sunburn to prove it. I love my job, though at times-- man I can really lose my cool. But yesterday was an overall good day! Here is a rundown of how it went:

First we made a crown because we were feeling like royalty. Jackson promptly shouted, "I'm the queen!" which I immediately corrected that he was the king which brought on the subject of kings and presidents and I taught him that President Obama lives in the White House in Washington D.C. All that learning from a construction paper crown!

Next, I went to my trunk looking for some shorts because it became way hotter outside than I was expecting. And what did I find but Charles! OK, in college I used this bag to carry EVERYTHING. I carried books, beer, sunscreen, you name it. It was my "alter-ego". Whenever I was wearing him and I said something mean, don't blame me, I'm Charles. I don't even know where this theme came from but oh man, I couldn't believe he was just laying in my trunk this whole time! And I promised Hanz I'd blog about him...

Pool time! Look at this kid and tell me he's not adorable. Because you can't. Because he is. I love this kid!

That giraffe is spitting out water through his nose.

All in all, a great day sitting outside, getting a sunburn, and enjoying life. Summer is here!

One final thing-- I also changed cell phone carriers and bought a new phone that I should get this week: Super excited!!! And I decided on what to do/buy for Wes for our 1 year anniversary, I can't believe it's almost here! It really flew by.

Tata!

Coolant Libbie!

I'm an Auntie! I don't know much about my little niece yet EXCEPT that she's adorable and her name is Eliza Ann and she was born at 3:54pm yesterday at 6 lbs. 12 oz. I'm SO excited to see her this weekend!





I think she already looks mischievous...

Also! I'm supposed to be "Coolant Libbie" now because I say Aunt pronounced "ant" and apparently everyone else in my life says it "awnt" so Wes said if I wanna be a bug I can be Ant Libbie, so I should be Cool Ant Libbie AKA Coolant Libbie!

My precious Lexi!

Last night was a ca-razy storm. Wes and I went to see a play in Petersburg, some 45 minutes away, and the whole way there the rain held out... literally until we parked. Then it pounded us and turned our umbrella inside out. The way home was the opposite! No rain until we got in the car, then a downpour. Anway, the point is this moron here decided to spend $10 yesterday to get a carwash. I should really check the weather before making these kind of decisions.

The carwash not only cost $10, but it sucked! My tires were pretty much the only thing that got clean, and that's because they had scrub brushes to use before you pull in to the car wash. This is the towel I used when I got home to wipe down the outside of the Lexi:

Nice, right?

Remember the story of the deer and it miraculously not causing any damage to the car? Well upon closer and cleaner examination, I discovered she in fact had caused some minimal damage:

It's kinda hard to see with the bright sun shining on it, but it's there. It got the hood a little too, and the passenger mirror. Sucks.

So now my car was clean for about 2 hours, dirty again now, and beat up. Bummer!

Eat Fresh.

I just wrote this blog, only to accidentally delete it. This is my best recreation.


So I love Subway. It's convenient, tasty, and you can get all different kinds of flavors. Lately I've been putting jalapeno's on it. Hot! OK so the best part of Subway is it's easy. So if I choose to go to Subway instead of the grocery store for dinner, I expect I will be getting a better experience.

This is not always the case.

Last night I had maybe the worst Subway experience ever. It started with the woman, in her thick accent, telling me "wea gno legus" and I was like ? Well I figured out she was saying they were out of lettuce and was that still ok. Well, I guess it has to be. So I order Wes' sandwich first (I like getting his out of the way so I can really concentrate on what choices I want to make) and then mine. She passes the subs over to the other guy, a burly old guy who never smiles at anything. So he fixes up the toppings for Weston (minus lettuce, oh and sorry we forgot to tell you, no banana peppers either!) and then proceeds to walk over to the phone and make a personal call. What?? What about my 'wich?? And the woman is helping a customer behind me already. So I expect she'll finish my sub first since I'm standing there. Not the case. She reaches around mine to do the sub for the customer behind me (totally screwing up his sub, too) before finally getting back around to me. Finally she rings me up, I pay, no receipt given, and I'm out the door.

If you think this is going to stop me from going back, you're sadly mistaken as this is a serious staple in my family meal plan. So I guess the employees of Subway can really be as crappy as they want cause I'll always come back.

I just wish there was a different store nearby my house so I could avoid those annoying people.

Zoozin it Up

So I went to the zoo yesterday! I haven't been to the Metro Richmond Zoo since I was a senior in HS. And when I went then it was basically to feed baby monkey's in the house behind the zoo because my friend was friends with them. So when I went yesterday and saw ALL the animals, I was totally excited.

I left my camera at Nate's wedding. Therefore the only pics I got were snapped with my phone, which takes pretty good pictures if I do say so myself.

"Watch out, they spit!"

All I have to say though, really, is that if you ever have a day off work and want an adventure (even though it's a far drive for us Richmond folk, as it's out in Chesterfield and like 50 min from my house-- but what zoo is closer??) you should definitely take a trip out there and you absolutely MUST spend the extra $2 to get the food to feed the camels, giraffes, elk, etc. It's fun!

Yawr.

Dream Weaver

I would not call my book a "scary" book. A "thriller"? Possibly. Of the Supernatural theme? Of course. Lately I've been having the hardest time falling asleep and staying asleep mixed with having various strange/scary dreams. I can't help but think these two may be related.

For a while now, I have given myself ample time to sleep (7-9 hrs.), with success only of about 3 total hours of actual sleep. I've been reading my book in bed until I've been too tired to keep my eyes open. Yet, when I lay falling asleep and am thinking of the story line- that's all it is! Simply thinking, "Where is this going?" So if I'm not afraid of it when I'm awake, well then of course my many, many sleepless nights cannot be related!

So what else can it be? Well, tonight I decided I would flip and rotate the mattress (all by myself!), change the sheets, and give the old room a good once over to make it feel super inviting.

It did not help.

In fact, the reason for this very blog is that I was so scared of my latest nightmare that I needed to turn on a light for a bit! So I grabbed a pen and paper from my night stand drawer (fighting the urge to pick up my book and continue where I left off) to blog on paper and transcribe to the computer later.

I guess the point is- what should I do? Blame the book? I'm on page 764 of a 945 page book so if you think I'm giving up on it now, you're crazy! But maybe I should consider some lighter bedside reading material.

2:42 AM

"Hooray!"

Wow what a weekend. This was the second wedding we've been involved in this year, but not the last. Nate and Katryn were happily married this weekend on May 22! We were so happy to be part of the big celebration.



The weekend started off smoothly; Wes and I both had Friday off so we slept in, dropped the Dusty pup off with Dawn and Matt and hit the road. We got to Nate's early and went for some margarita's with another of his groomsmen, Rob. The rehearsal dinner was fantabulous and I may have had a little too much wine...



The wedding day was beautiful outside. It was calling for rain but it held out! The church they were married in was really pretty, though I was sitting between the worst two people I could possibly expect to keep me quiet throughout a mass... you know who you are. Katryn looked gorgeous, of course, and the gents pulled off their tux looks as well. Devon and I both teared up during the ceremony.



The craziest thing ever happened on our way from the ceremony to the reception. As Weston and I were following Dev and Mike, I notice out of the corner of my eye something moving perpendicular to traffic. Yes, it was a deer bolting across the median and heading straight for my driver side door. I have never, ever, ever been in a situation like this. I've never even hit a squirrel! So I'm driving in NoVA and hesitate-- do I slam on the brakes? Am I really supposed to hit this creature like the driving instructors say?? I slammed on the brakes. This must have confused her (yes, it was a her) because just as she finally had a straight path across to the woods, she veered and jumped up all four hooves landing on the hood of our SUV before leaping off into the nearby woods. Wow. I'm so glad no one was behind us. So I'm FREAKING out that our hood is all dented with hoof marks so we all stop and put on hazards to look at the car. Totally fine! Best car ever.







The reception was great and getting to know Nate and Katryn's "other" friends, as we lovingly referred to them, was a blasty. The appetizers were my favorite part of the food. They had this super fresh fruit, the strawberries and pineapple slices were to die for! I just kept saying "hooray!" every time I took a new bite. Mmm. The speeches were also amazing-- I think you might know whose I liked the best. Then off to the hotel!



We shared a hotel with Alex and Shari, and somehow that room turned into the "after-party" room. We ended up pushing both beds all the way against the walls so we had plenty of room for card games as there were like a million of us. This is also where Shari ended up sleeping, though that story isn't appropriate for a blog.



All in all, fantabulous wedding and great weekend success!

Back in action

OK. I've discovered in the past couple weeks that every time something exciting or interesting happens to me, I don't have any way of letting people know except for a quick update on Facebook that no one ever looks at. So I'm deciding here and now that I'm going to start back up with this crazy thing called a blog.

But I don't have anything crazy exciting to write about yet today.

Maybe "yogurt cheerios". That's what the kid I babysit likes for breakfast. It's a fantastic invention.

P.S. I gave him 2 bowls of this just so I could take a picture.

Burn Notice might be the worst show ever. Hello again.