Home Again...Hallelujah!

Hubby & I rolled into our driveway about 6:30 last night and I was never so excited to see our house! Bogey was more than thrilled to see us walk through the door. He spent the week at home as I had my cousin housesit & dogsit for us & I was so glad that he was able to stay in his regular environment while we were gone.

We had such a great time with Hubby's parents and we saw lots of neat things & took tons of photos. Between the wedding, Niagara Falls, & other cute little Michigan towns it will take a bit to sort through all of the photos, but I certainly promise to have a full recap later this week.

We're both back to reality today and trying to get caught up at work which is a whole separate job by itself! I better get back to work so I can try and keep my head above water!

On the Road....Forever!!!

Tomorrow morning at 6 am, Hubby & I are embarking on our sorta annual trip to Michigan to visit his parents. However, this trip may be like no other. See back in June, my cousin got engaged and began planning a wedding to be held in just a few short months on Labor Day Weekend! The wedding is being held at a beautiful location between Nashville & Knoxville, TN--Whitestone Country Inn which is about 9 1/2 hours from our home. So...we're leaving tomorrow in time to be at the rehearsal that starts at 5:30 on Friday night. We'll hang around on Saturday, head to the wedding & reception, & then our plans are to hit the road and drive part way to Michigan. The wedding location is about 8 hours from Hubby's parents' house so we would like to get a head start. We'll arrive in Michigan on Sunday at around noon or early afternoon.

This might all sound like a piece of cake, but we had also already made plans to do a little bit of traveling once we get to Michigan. There are just so many things that we can see in Michigan that we hate to just sit around! So our plans also include leaving Monday at noon to head to Niagara Falls (which is 4 hours from their parents' house)...spend Monday night, all day Tuesday, & Wednesday morning enjoying the sights...some shopping for the girls & some golf for the guys. We'll get home on Wednesday afternoon to relax (or simply repack our bags) and then Thursday late morning we're heading out again...this time for a cute little town Up North where there is this golf course that Hubby has been dying to play ever since his dad had the chance to play it a few years ago. We'll spend the night up there...I'll enjoy some more shopping in some adorable little Michigan towns and we'll head home on Friday to relax for the evening and during the day on Saturday. Sunday morning we will head out for the 11 hour drive home....WHEW!!!

3,104 miles, 5 different beds, & countless outfits & meals later...we'll arrive at home!!

ARE WE CRAZY!?!? Yes...but I'm sure it promises to be a road trip full of fun times, lots of memories, & certainly lots of pictures.

Confession Time

Last night at my parents' house, a group of 6 men & 3 women met to do something that I never thought I would do. Yes, this is hard for me to confess...but I must tell the truth & so here it is...we held a Fantasy Football Draft. Whew...there it is, my confession. Hubby decided that I might enjoy participating last year so I obliged because we needed an extra team. I have always been a huge sports fan & football is probably my favorite. I do have quite an extensive knowledge of sports in general from nightly updates on Sportscenter with my Hubby to following my older cousins and then my brother through many years of high school and college athletics.

However, I think that playing Fantasty Football might have crossed the line...I mean what am I doing participating in what has become a time-honored tradition for many men in our lives?!? You pick a team based on nothing but pre-season rankings & then cheer for those players individually each week on Thursday night, Sunday (ALL DAY), and then again on Monday night hoping that they perform good enough as individuals to help your own personal team. CONFUSED?!?...yes, so am I! But I participate because as much as I hate to admit it, it is kind of fun...and I will certainly take it seriously because since we're being honest...there's a cash prize involved!!

Weekend Rewind

Friday night we enjoyed a relaxing night at home with burgers on the grill & homemade french fries!! YUM!!! We ran a few errands and then enjoyed the night at home with Bogey.

Saturday we got up bright and early for a very full day. As I've mentioned previously, my brother recently moved to KC to start law school. He & his wife had moved last weekend with the help of both sets of parents; however, early in the week they realized that the location they had chosen was less than desirable! So...Saturday my parents & Hubby & I headed back up to KC for a full day of moving from the scary, ghetto townhome to the lovely, country club like apartment! The new place is quite a bit smaller but so much better & it's super close to a really nice area of shopping & restaurants. We were actually finished moving about 2:00 so we grabbed a late lunch and then relaxed in their apartment for a little while. We had planned on eating a nice dinner in KC so we went shopping for a bit to kill some time and then grabbed a great dinner at Abuelo's--this was my first Abuelo's experience and it was sooo good! We were definitely ready to head home & my parents dropped us off about 10:15--it was definitely time for bed!

Yesterday we went to church, grabbed a quick lunch and then I spent the afternoon at home doing a little bit of laundry, cleaning & mainly just relaxing. The weather was absolutely beautiful & very fall-like so Hubby took advantage of the nice afternoon and was able to get in a quick 18 holes of golf. We started back up with small group last night & just spent the evening catching up on the happenings of the summer & getting to know a couple of new people who are joining our group! I can't wait to dive into the study--it's about parenting & while Hubby & I dont' have kids (& probably won't for awhile), I know the study will be tons of fun & hopefully we'll learn a lot!

This week promises to be a crazy one--Hubby & I have plans tonight & tomorrow night, Wed. is a night for laundry & other household chores, & Thurs. is packing night for our big trip. More details to come on that later in the week...let's just say that lots and lots of driving is going to be involved!

Unanswered Prayers

So for all you country music lovers (or haters) I'm sure that Garth Brooks' old classic "Unanswered Prayers" is now running through your head. As I've mentioned in at least one previous post, we have been studying prayer & how to effectively pray on Wednesday nights at church. It was just a 3 week study, but I think it's changed my life and my prayer life forever. We've learned lots of things, from finding that one place at that one time to focus on prayer, to proclaiming God's glory--submitting to his will--then asking for our needs and wants, to praying with such persistence that God finds it honorable.

This week has been an eye-opening week for us...I can't reveal a whole lot on here, but let's just say that this week my husband & I had a huge burden lifted from our shoulders in a way that we never thought it would happen. In many ways, it was an unanswered prayer because God certainly didn't answer our prayers in the way we initially desired. God has revealed so many things to us and brought us to the place he wants us to be...and not the other way around.

We realized this week that that one big thing we were praying for so diligently would in all reality actually bring us more frustration, boredom, & disgust than true joy, peace or happiness. As we've all learned in our Sunday school classes from the time we could walk, unanswered prayers aren't unanswered at all--God just takes us in a different direction than the one that our simple human mind can comprehend.

Even though you've heard it all your life, pray diligently and God just might give you all the desires of your heart--even if it's not the answer you might have asked for in the first place.

Weekend Rewind!

Whew! What a fabulously, busy weekend! Friday night we stayed at home so Hubby could mow the yard & we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside! I actually cooked dinner for us at home all 5 nights last week! I was very proud of us as we normally always have something going on to cause us to grab something out or by Friday I'm sick and tired of cooking so I'm begging to go out! But not last week!

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and met our friends' to head to STL. We grabbed a quick lunch at Panera Bread (which is still called St. Louis Bread Company in the city) and then the boys dropped us off at the Fox Theater for the 2:00 production of Mary Poppins. The show was phenomenal! The actress who played Mary Poppins had an incredible vocal range & the show was just so fun! I would have to say that Wicked is still my favorite but simply because it is much more dramatic and the musical numbers are more powerful than they are in Mary Poppins. It was still definitely worth seeing & I would highly recommend it!

While we were at the show, the boys headed to Busch Stadium for a stadium tour. Hubby thoroughly enjoyed himself and learned a lot of history about his favorite team! He was much better at taking pictures than I was!

The St. Louis Cardinals dugout!

View from on the field, right behind homeplate--Hubby was in Cardinals Heaven!

On Sunday we went to church and then headed to the lake with some friends from church. We had a great time & the weather was absolutely beautiful. We practically had the lake to ourselves! Dana & I spent our time in the boat but the boys enjoyed some tubing and I even managed to get quite a bit of sun. Here's the blue sky & sunshine we got to experience all afternoon!

In one other bit of exciting news, we got a new piece of furniture on Friday! Hubby's dad works for a furniture company so we have a good connection. We ordered it as an accent piece and to have another chair when we have lots of company! I absolutely love it! I still have some work to do to make it all tie in with the room decor but that will have to wait a bit!

Our beautiful, comfy new chair!

Here's how it looks with the room--excuse the lighting as I was in a hurry this morning!

I have plans to at least change the area rug since the patterns definitely clash...everything else should still work with just a few minor adjustments!

This week is another fairly normal week--we've got some personal office drama going on so that always tends to make things a lot more stressful. Of course in some situations all you can do is pray that God's will be done.

Spoon Full of Sugar

Tomorrow Hubby & I are hopping in the car with another couple and roadtripping up to St. Louis. The girls are headed to a matinee showing of Mary Poppins at the unbelieveably gorgeous Fox theater & I think the boys are headed to the casinos for a little bit of gambling. Then we'll head out for a nice dinner before driving back home.

I'm super excited to see Mary Poppins as I've never seen this production on stage and it's been YEARS since I've watched the show at all! I just love all the songs in the musical! I'm just sure it's going to be Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!! (sorry, couldn't help myself)

Sunday after church we are also headed down to the lake with some friends! It's not supposed to be super warm, but it will be a great afternoon for a boat ride & good company!

Have a great weekend!!!