Sunday, December 27, 2009

Week 52 - The End

It's amazing to see how fast 2009 went, especially now that we're at week 52! To commemerate this project, after the final picture is taken this week we will be printing the blog into a book to remember all our experiences in 2009.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Week 49

This week we had our first official snow storm of the 2009 winter. Dean and I made it into work both days, but it wasn't the best of drives. My office closed early on Tuesday (12/8) but I didn't want to make Dean come get me so I hung out at my friend Stacy's apt until he got off work. We made crafts for one of her classes, it was a blast. :-) Snowblowing and shoveling once we got home sure wasn't!



12.6.09-12.12.09

Friday, December 4, 2009

Week 48

This week was a sad one for us. On Tuesday (12.1) we found out that Kendra's cousin Tammy passed away. The rest of the week consisted of helping make arrangements, creating a dedication video, etc. In honor of Tammy, this week's photo will be one of Kendra and Tammy instead.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Week 46

This week was busy with work for both of us. Dean is still in Lindsey, Nebraska and I've been busy finishing the magazine at work. Dean did make it home in time for the Husker game though--ha ha, just in time to see I stole his Husker jersey!



11.15.09 - 11.21.09

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Week 45

Dean is still out of town and I took a day off work to go bridesmaids dress shopping for my friend Stacy's wedding, and had lunch at La Peep afterwards. Going out with this group of friends is always a great time.




11.8.09 - 11.14.09

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Week 43

This week's obvious event was Halloween. At Kendra's work they decorated Halloween-themed cakes and dressed up on Friday. On Halloween itself, we went to our favorite Greek restaurant and went to see District 9. Dean leaves for another work trip tomorrow, so we wanted one more date night before he left.




10.25.09 - 10.31.09

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Week 42

This week we visited more with Kendra's cousins Laura and Ron. We had a campout dinner at Mahoney with Kendra's Aunt Peggy & Uncle Glenn, Laura, Ron and Tristan. We enjoyed brats and banana boats by the campfire! Afterwards they stayed with us on Sunday before their flight to wine country in California to celebrate their anniversary.

The rest of the week was fairly normal. Kendra went to happy hour with some friends on Thursday but that was pretty much for the week.



10.18.09 - 10.24.09

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Week 41

We made a quick trip to Lincoln this week and had breakfast with Kendra's dad and spend some time at her Aunt Peggy & Uncle Glenn's house since her cousins Laura, Ron, and Tristan were in town for the NU vs Texas Tech game. Tristan had to show off his Husker uniform!

[Photo to come]

10.11.09 - 10.17.09

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Week 40

This week sure has been interesting... On Tuesday (10.6) Kendra got into a car accident when a woman pulled out of a parking lot onto the street and somehow missed the fact that Kendra clearly was driving in the lane! But no real damage was done and everyone is okay. On a positive note, on Wednesday (10.7) Kendra got an email from one of her sweepstakes and found out she won a Wii and a Wii Fit!!! Sooooo excited!

On Friday (10.9) we went over to our friends Ember & Kris' house for game night with Kathleen and Dave. It was an entertaining evening to say the least. For instance, did you know the Boston Celtics home arena is Madison Square garden? ;-)



On Saturday (10.10) we awoke to snow! Lots and lots of snow! Ugh, I fear this is a preview of a very long winter.












10.4.09 - 10.10.09

Monday, September 28, 2009

Week 39

This week Dean went to Minnesota with his friends Luke and Dustin for the Vikings vs 49ers game. They had great seats but unfortunately Dean's team (49ers) lost.



The other highlight of this week in our lives was a night out bowling with Dean's coworkers. Kendra bowled five frames of either a spare or strike, and Dean finished his game with 5 strikes! We're thinking of starting our own bowling team. ;-)



9.27.09 - 10.3.09

Week 38

This week we attended a engagement/bon voyage party (9/25) for our friends Emily and Danny before they head off to Mexico for their destination wedding. It was a fun night at a venue we've never been to (Nomad Lounge) and had lots of coworkers to hang out with.

[Picture to come]

9.20.09 - 9.26.09

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Week 37

This week started with our last two days of vacation. Sunday (Sept 13th) we left South Dakota and headed back towards Western Nebraska to see Toadstool Park, Car Henge, and Chimney Rock.















9.13.09 - 9.19.09

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Week 36

This week had a lot of excitement! On Sunday (7th) I went the Nebraska State Fair with my BFF Megan and her Aunt Marilyn, cousins Alison, Addy & Skylar. I haven't been there in years and it was very entertaining to say the least. Glad we went since this is the last year it will be in Lincoln.

On Friday (11th) Dean and I began our Black Hills Trip (belated anniversary trip). We started off by driving up to Valentine, Nebraska. We also passed through Ainsworth, where my Mom grew up so I got a few pictures as we passed on through. We got into Valentine mid-afternoon and decided to drive through the Niobrara Park area. We stopped by Smith Falls (Nebraska's largest waterfall) and took some pictures. We got back to Valentine around dinnertime so we checked into our hotel and went straight to dinner. We called it an early night since we knew we had a lot of driving ahead of us the next day.




On Saturday (12th) we headed to Keystone, SD to see Mount Rushmore. Neither of us have seen it in 20 years so we were excited to see how it has changed. As we left Nebraska's beautiful weather we crept closer and closer to South Dakota's stormy weather. We were nervous that all our outdoor plans would be ruined. We counted each and every Wall Drug sign we saw along the way (47 to be exact) and ended up in Wall, SD around lunch time so we decided to stop at the infamous Wall Drug for a visit and grab some lunch while in town. We found a bench where I remember my Dad took a picture on our visit 20 years ago so I'm anxious to compare the pictures! After leaving Wall, SD we were back on track for Mount Rushmore. It rained up to the second we were in the parking garage at the monument and then it suddenly stopped and we got to spend an 1-1/2 hours enjoying the monument in beautiful weather. We were extremely impressed with the renovations done to the area. There is a new walking trail that gets you very close to the mountain.



After leaving Mount Rushmore we headed to Crazy Horse monument. We weren't as impressed with it. It didn't seem like much had changed since we both saw it last, and cost us twice the amount that Mt Rushmore did! But overall we're glad we stopped.



Now it was onto a scenic drive through Custer State Park. We saw some gorgeous landscapes along the Needles Hwy and some wildlife!






After the drive we began our journey to our destination city for the night, Deadwood. We got into Deadwood pretty late and by the time we showered and got ready for the evening it was 8pm and we hopped the trolley into town and ended up at Kevin Costner's casino Midnight Star. We had dinner on the 3rd floor at Jake's. Very delicious dinner! We visited a few casinos and called it a night because we had another big drive ahead of us on Sunday.

9.7.09 - 9.12.09

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Week 35

This week my BFF in California came back to Omaha for a visit! We had a blast tailgating and at the Huskers season opener!



8.30.09 - 9.5.09

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Week 34

This week we drove down to Lincoln and spent some time with my Dad after his 2nd knee surgery and also spent some time at Dean's brother's house celebrating his Mom's birthday with family.

[Pictures to come]

8.23.09 - 8.29.09

Friday, August 28, 2009

Week 33

Nothing too exciting happened this week (which was a welcome change!). We were both busy at work and also had a lot of projects to do at home.

Dean had a softball tournament with work on Friday (8/21) so that is what this week's pictures consist of.





8.16.09 - 8.22.09

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Week 32

On Thursday (8/13) I enjoyed Jazz on the Green with Dean's mom Kathy (and friends) and with Megan and Mary. It was the 25th anniversary of Jazz on the Green and an overall great time. Hope to be able to enjoy more of them next year.



On Saturday (8/15) Mary, Russ, and I threw Megan a surprise 30th birthday at Roja Mexican Grill! She was tricked into Girls Night with some friends and went to Roja for "happy hour"... well certianly think she was happy when she arrived, and hopefully for more than an hour. ;-)

[pictures to come]

8.9.09 - 8.15.09

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Week 31 - Happy Annivesary!

One year ago today we said 'I Do' on the white sandy beach of Waimanalo Bay. It's amazing to think it's been an entire year... where did the time go!?! Everyone says the first year of marriage is the toughest, and while we had our typical little quarrel's our first year has been wonderful so hopefully that's a great sign of our future.

Dean is gone on a work trip but he did spoil me today with an edible Arrangement bouquet and a necklace from Tiffany & Co! I'm very lucky. :-)













On Saturday (8/8) we volunteered our afternoon to Habitat for Humanity. We worked on installing fire blocks and flooring in a house with some of Kendra's coworkers.




8.2.09 - 8.8.09



Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Week 30

This week's excitement was going to the zoo with Dean's mother and nephews! We wished we could have stayed longer but we had a wedding to attend to that night. I braved the Skyfari again and we got some great pictures of the group. :-)












7.23.09 - 7.29.09

Monday, July 20, 2009

Week 29

Dean heads back this week for yet another stint in G.I. Because of this we decided to go out for breakfast Sunday (7/19) morning since before headed off. We tried a new restuarant (to us) and loved it! LePeep is pretty close to our house and very reasonable and delicous! Dean had a french toast scramble and I had homemade oatmeal and these very interesting (yet scrumptious) english muffin "gooey buns".



The excitement this week was finding out that our good friend Stacy is engaged! Can't wait for the wedding next June!! Congrats Stacy! :)














7.19.09 - 7.25.09

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Week 28 - Green Monster

For those who know me well, know I love to cook and especially try new recipes. I've been on a health kick lately (officially down 10lbs as of yesterday, thank you very much!) and I've heard a lot about Green Monster Smoothies lately. I did a Google search about them and found lots of recipes, but the great thing about these smoothies is that you can pretty much take any smoothie you usually drink and add a handful of spinach (or kale). I know, it sounds gross but I swear you cannot taste the spinach at all! So for lunch today (7/12) I made myself my first Green Monster with one cup of fresh (raw) spinach, one cup skim milk, one tbsp all natural peanut butter, one sugar-free fudgsicle, and one cup of crushed ice (from our ice maker). And below was my result! Sooooooo delicious!



After a pretty crappy Tuesday (not worth getting into), we got a good pick-me-up! We both won a 2nd place prize in one of my sweeps. We each won two sets of movie tickets! In today's economy and with current movie admissions, this is a great prize. Two free date nights! Now just gotta win some free dinner... ;-)


Thursday (7/16) my cousin Megan and I had an impromtu girl's night while Dean celebrated at a coworker's going away party. Megan and I ate our favorite fajita quesadilla's at LaMesa and were good girls and did a two-mile walk afterwards to burn some of it off! LOL



Friday night (7/17) we redeemed one set of the tickets to see 'Away We Go'. It ended up being an even better deal because the theatre was offering a $5 concession pass for $4 and when we handed them our voucher we asked for a concession pass, well the movie voucher is for $24 dollars and our movie total came to only $18, so they included the $4 in our voucher. So we ended up getting a movie and concessions for free! Anyway, the movie was soooooooo good. We highly recommend it.

Saturday Dean went golfing and I went running (4-miles, woot!). That evening we joined his mother Kathy and friends down at Lewis and Clark landing. We had dinner at Rick's Boatyard, walked the Pedistrian Bridge, and enjoyed the Playing with Fire concert series. Dean and I left a little early because it was such a beautiful night and our noisy neighbors are gone so we decided to enjoy a fire in our firepit and just have some us-time. :-) Very romantic, and very needed.




7.12.09 - 7.18.09

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Week 27

The reason being this entry technically belongs in last week's post but since I just discovered this envelope a few minutes ago, I'm counting it as excitement for Week 27! Dean got the mail last Friday (7.2) and had it sitting on our kitchen table under some other stuff. I just looked through it and saw something from UPS addressed to me. Of course anything from UPS gets me excited b/c it's generally from a sweepstake... and this was no different! I won $50 to Regis Salons from Glamour! I love my current stylist so I doubt I'll go there for a styling but maybe some new products or hold onto it to regift--so friends start sucking up! ;-)



We finished reinstalling the shutters today and Dean got started on our new storm door (hopefully will be installed when he's back home in 10 days). Below is a picture of the final result of all our exterior updates this weekend. Ignore all the mud on the 'after' picture... that's how messy Dean gets in GI and what mess he brings home too!



The rest of the was fairly uneventful. On Tuesday as all the tv stations advertised, "the world said goodbye to the King of Pop" as a two-hour live telecast of Michael Jackson's memorial aired. A group of my coworkers and I watched a portion of the memorial over our lunch hour and one coworker even made everyone stickers. :-)


Also, my Aunt Peggy had emailed earlier this week informing us that at 4:56am on 7/8/09... the only time this would ever happen. Ironically I slept horribly this week and was awake around that time so figured I'd take a picture of the official US time documenting this.



7.5.09 - 7.11.09

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Week 26 - Half Way There!

Wow, it's week 26 which means we're officially half-way through the year. How the heck did that happen?!

This is a cool week for it to be the half-way point! On Sunday (6.28) my work had it's Summer Outing at the zoo. Since Dean was out of town Stacy came with me and we went around with Ember, Kris & Parker. I got some great pictures! You can view all the photos here.













I'm hoping for better things this week. I just got a call from my dentist and they had a cancellation and got me in for tomorrow over lunch--now if I could just get in sooner for my filling!

Wednesday (7.1) has been going pretty good! I "get" to take a half-day and enjoy the gorgeous weather--although it's b/c I'm waiting for Service One to come fix our AC! I can't believe it has been a week since we've ran the AC in the house! Reminds me of living in the sorority. :-) While I was waiting for Service One, UPS dropped off an evelope for me and I found out that I won 2nd prize in a Teleflora sweepstake and won $50 to Macy's! And to make the day even better, Dean came back from his latest stint in GI today as well. Lucky him he came home to an air conditioned house!











On Thursday (7.2) We decided to do some more upgrades to the house over the long weekend. We painted our previous white shutters black and LOVE the new look! Here's a half-way progress photo (before we painted the upper windows.

On Friday (7.3) we drove down to Lincoln to have lunch with my brother (and family) from Mizzou, and my Dad and his wife. It was nice seeing them again. They're off to Walt Disney World in a few weeks and decided to make a quick trip up to Nebraska beforehand.

On Saturdays (7.4) we went over to Ember and Kris' house to watch the fireworks. Watching their lil' son Parker get so excited over fireworks (especially snaps) was so funny. We had a great time, enjoyed cocktails, smores, brownies, and chocolate fondue. Diet starts tomorrow!!

6.28.09 - 7.4.09