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

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

Week 25 - Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Today (6/25) is one of those days were everything seems to go wrong. Our air conditioner busted and this week the heat index has been over 100. Our repair guy can't come over until next Wednesday to look at it... when I got home after work it was 92-degrees in our house! Luckily the basement is staying fairly cool. I finally got into my dentist to look at a tooth where a filling came lose, turns out that I have a new cavity where the old was one and it could potentially need a root canal. They can't get me in for a new filling until mid-August and I can't get in for a filling until September! Plus she thinks I need my wisdom teeth pulled, soooo yaaaaaay. Ugh.

I also just got word that both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away today. Farrah's death was expected b/c of her public battle with cancer but MJ completely shocked me! Ironically earlier in the day I had been discussing with a coworker who was going to be the "third" celebrity death since they come in three's and was completely silent when I got into my car about an hour later and started hearing the reports. No one saw this coming! At least, I didn't...

On a lighter note, on Saturday my friend Stacy and I went downtown to the Summer Arts Festival. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time catching up and browsing all the artist's work... and even getting yelled at by one of them!

























I borrowed my uncle's digital SLR for tomorrow's trip to the zoo and decided to take it to Standing Bear after the Summer Arts Festival. Every time I go running I see so much I want to take pictures of so I figured this was a perfect opportunity! You can see all the photos here.













6.21.09 - 6.27.09

Week 18 - Girl's & Guy's Day Out

I worked a lot of overtime this week and Dean did more yard work. On Saturday I spent some time with my cousin Megan and Aunt Mary at Village Pointe in the late morning/early afternoon, which was wonderful... We browsed through the Farmer's Market, had lunch at Paradise Bakery, and then did some shopping--I got some great bargains! Dean went to Lincoln in the morning to golf with some friends for Luke's bachelor party. Other than that, a pretty tame week. :-)


Village Pointe Farmer's Market


Village Pointe Mall


Luke's Bachelor Party Golf Outing

5.3.09 - 5.9.09

Week 17 - Bring On The Rain

Since last night (4/26), April showers have officially arrived. Woke up this morning to a thunderstorm and it has pretty much continued all day long. I actually enjoy the sounds of thunderstorms and rain, however today we visited 6 stores looking for a patio dining set so the rain wasn't exactly fun. And to make matters worse when we got home we noticed that the skylight in our main bathroom is leaking (so much that the ceiling material is bubbling) and we're just waiting for water all over our floors. Rain is expected throughout the night and tomorrow, so hopefully we can get the roofing guys over and get it fixed soon.

The rest of the week consisted of us both working overtime at our jobs and a little yardwork whenever the rain ceased. On Thursday (30th) the weather was beautiful after work so we got to some more of our gardening projects. I planted some snapdragons, Dean finally got one of our dead shurbs uprooted, and we also planted strawberries and jalepeno peppers in our new Topsy Turvy planter!!




On Friday, May 1st my department at work exchanged May Day Basket favors. For my favor, I gave out lil' bags of (divided) Wildflower seed and printed a poem about April Showers bringing May Flowers. :-) LOL, I thought I had the creative gift but turns out three other ppl had the same idea too!! Regardless, it was a fun thing to do and definitely cheered up this gloomy morning. Now onto the 200+ profile launches I have before I can leave for the day... Ugh.



On Saturday (5/2) we went down to Lincoln and for a dinner 'party' at Keith & Amy's house. Dean's friends Jay & Marci (plus kids) came over as well. The evening was a lot of fun, and at one point all the boys took a ride in Jay & Marci's new convertible, and of course Dean (in the back) put his hood up to not ruin his hair. Keith doesn't need to worry too much about that issue, but did it anyway. ;-)



4.26.09 - 5.2.09

Week 15 - Easter

This week began with an Easter celebration at our home with Dean's family. We hosted dinner and an Easter egg hunt for his nephews. We didn't take too many pictures, but here is one of Dean playing horseshoes with Kobe.



On Thursday, April 16th we met up with Dean's friends Julie at BW3s. She lives in Chicago but was in Omaha for work. We had a great time, which of course resulted in some photos. :-) Dean can't handle spice as well as I can so he had to document that he took a bite of my Blazin' wings, which a BW3 symbol to prove where he was. He sent this to a friend, who responded with "I'd rather see your wife chomping down on something..." without your mind going somewhere nasty, we improvised where we could since we were out of wings. ;-)



4.12.09 - 4.18.09

Week 14 - Sweeps Galore

We have been rather blessed with winning prizes in our sweepstakes lately. Although these aren't big prizes, early Sunday (4/5) morning (12:45am) we won two sweeps in a row! Dean won a t-shirt from GTX and minutes later I won a $10 Visa gift card from Century 21. We're very good at winning these smaller prizes, so hopefully soon we'll be even more blessed and win a big sweepstake!

Later Sunday morning we awoke to lots of blowing snow and no power! The snow covered the grass but melted on the sidewalks since it's been so warm. Dean and I hung out for awhile w/o power but decided to get out and run some errands since we couldn't do anything at home. We had lunch at Chipotle, made a quick stop to Verizon to exchange some accessories, and then went to SuperTarget to buy Easter goodies for Dean's nephews. We're hosting Easter this coming Sunday and always plan an egg hunt for his nephews Kobe and Zack. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. The good news is that as of 7:30pm most of the snow has melted, so it's looking like it will hopefully be good a week out.



On Tuesday, April 7th I joined Stacy, Kathleen (+ Cole), and Ember for lunch at Valentino's. Kathleen is on maternity leave and Stacy is on Spring Break so it was a perfect week for us all to get together for lunch and catch up. I didn't want to bug the girls with yet another group picture so I snuck in a picture with lil' Cole!




When I arrived home today (4/7) there was a big box on our front porch and I knew it had to be our most recent 'big' sweep win, the year's supply of baby wipes and diaper rash cream. :) The sent it very nicely boxed up so I only took out a few for a picture. All together we got 24 packages for 70-count wipes and 12 diaper rash creams. Luckily none of this expires until 2011!



4.5.09 - 4.11.09

Week 13 - Crackberries

Hopefully I can remember all that happened last week since it flew by and I'm now (on Sunday the 5th) writing the entry for last week. (I am labeling this post for the 4th though to avoid confusion on the weeks).

The girls went home on Sunday so we spent the rest of that evening relaxing. On Monday we went to Verizon and got ourselves the new Blackberry Storms. This model has gotten some bad reviews (especially in comparison to the iPhone), but we love it so far. Verizon had a great 2-for-1 deal, plus with Dean's work discount and the portion they cover for work in general it's a great deal for us to switch our plans there. Plus Dean and I can talk free to each other, and they have this instant messenger just for Blackberry users, which Dean and I find ourselves using a lot.

On Tuesday, we won another small prize in our sweepstakes adventures. We won a year's subscription to Country Living Magazine. Nothing major, be we appreciate the prize for what it is. :-) These little wins help keep up the motivation.

The rest of the week consisted of playing with our phones, Dean had several fantasy baseball drafts, and overall busy times at work.

Saturday we had dinner with Dean's friend Keith and his wife Amy and then went over to their house for drinks. It was a great time and nice to catch up since we hadn't seen each other in a very long time. Right when we got to their house their kids were running around like crazy and we just had to have them pose for a picture after somehow one of the girl's hats ended up on Dean's head. :)




3.29.09 - 4.4.09

Week 10 - Happy Hours = Happy Week

I'm a little late in adding last week's details and it went by so fast that I'm having difficulty remembering what happened! We had chillier weather so I didn't get out to run at all last week, but I was in a major spring cleaning mode, which I'm sure Dean appreciated! The time changed on Sunday the 8th so I was a bit groggy all week but I feel adjusted now.

On Thursday (3/12) I met Ember, Kathleen & Stacy for happy hour at Kona--oh how I've missed their calamari and sushi!!! And the best part is that overall I'd say we ordered about 8 drinks, 4 sushi rolls, a pizza, Maui tacos, and calamari--for a grand total of $12 a person! You can't beat all that for only $12! It was great catching up with Kathleen about Cole and Stacy about Andy. Sounds like some great things are in everyone's future!! ;-)

And since apparently I go out when I can't go running, it seems fitting that on Friday the 13th I went out for happy hour at Genji w/ coworkers for Adrian's birthday and Toni's last day at work. The pictures for this week are from this day. On Saturday Dean and I went out to do some shopping and I ended up with some new running shoes (from him for my bday) so of course I hit the trails on a beautiful 60-degree day!


Adrian, Jennie, Autumn, Toni, Janel, Alexis, Me, Emily & Sheryl


The March Bday Girls: Me (3/1), Adrian (3/13) & Jennie (3/24)


Adrian in Mai Tai Heaven

3.8.09 - 3.14.09

Week 6 - New Life, New Snow & New Prize!!

This was an eventful week to say the least...

The purpose of this weekly picture project is to capture 2009 since 2008 flew by... This made me realize that we had barely seen our friends since NYE and how it would be nice to get together one last time before Kathleen and Dave have their baby (due Feb 12th) and to get to know our new friend Andy better. So on February 8th, we had brunch at The Farmhouse Cafe with Kathleen & Dave, Ember & Kris (and Parker), and Stacy & Andy. We had a great time and agreed to make it a regular occasion since Sunday mornings are generally open. Stacy and I joked how it takes months to agree on a weekend for our Game Nights, but only took a few days o organize this Sunday brunch. :-) So below the picture we chose to represent Week 6 is of us at brunch with everyone.


Now, introducing Cole Matthew Peterson... Cole was born on February 9th at 7:32pm to Kathleen & Dave. He weighed 8lbs, 7oz and was 22" long. On February 10th we headed to Bergen Mercy to congulate the new parents and meet lil' Cole. We were joined by Ember & Kris and Stacy and her family. Here are a few pictures from the hospital (click to enlarge).



We also had our biggest snowfall of the season on Friday, the 13th (how fitting). Here are some pictures from that. The first shows the depth of the snow, the second is the puppies watching Dean snow blow, and the third is the view from the peep hole on our front door. :)


And I supposed I shouldn't end this week's post without mentioning the most popular day of week... Valentine's Day. We kept it really low-key this year and ordered take-out from one of our favorite restaurants Hiro and watched Burn After Reading on On Demand. The day was actually most exciting in the afternoon though! As I was making us lunch the doorbell rang and Dean went to get it and found a box the mailman left on our doorstep. Dean had just received his diabetes supplies the day before so we knew it wasn't that, which meant it could only be one other thing.... a prize from one of the hundreds of sweepstakes I enter!!! I was right and it is sooooooo cool! Since we are eventually hoping to have a baby I periodically enter sweeptakes for baby products. I saw this particular prize being offered and thought it was perfect for our situation. We won a MobiCam, which is a wireless audio/video monitoring system that has a color camera on the receiver. The part that intrigued me most is that it also hooks up to the internet and feeds live video onto a website so when Dean is gone on his trips he can see our baby sleeping in the crib, or wherever we might have the camera placed. Plus so can all our out-of-town friends and relatives!! I was literally jumping up and down when we opened the box. I love the sweeps that don't tell you that you've won ahead of time and you're suprised with a something on your doorstep!

2.8.09 - 2.14.09

Welcome 2009!!

We cannot believe that 2009 is here already! Life never seemed to rush by too quickly for us until 2008... that entire year is a blur! We obviously had a wonderful 2008 with our wedding and honeymoon, but also spending time with family and friends, and most importantly enjoying our newlywed life together. We're very grateful for everything 2008 brought us and hope that we'll be as blessed in 2009.

To wrap up 2008 we had a great time ringing in the New Year with our friends Ember & Kris, Kathleen & Dave, Stacy, and our new friend Andy. We enjoyed lasagna for dinner, chocolate fondue for dessert, and lots of games throughout the evening! Catch Phrase was probably our favorite, but watching everyone play American Idol and Dancing With The Stars on Wii provided some hilarious memories and great video! Favorite moments of the night include:
~ Question: "What Does Santa Say?" Answer: "Arggggggg"
~ Question: "Men have this but women don't".... (clue: He counted down to 2009)
~ Stacy & Ember's rendition of Livin' On a Prayer
~ Kris Raising the Roof
~ Dave's fishing skills

Our resolution for this year is to cherish every day together and make the most of 2009. Because of this we have a project we want to accomplish for 2009. A few years back I tried to take a picture every day of the year, but somedays there just wasn't anything exciting to take a picture of. I've been wanting to try this project again, so we're going to try it this year with a twist... We're going to take at least one photo a week and pick our favorite picture to represent that week of our life. We're also going to try and keep this blog updated weekly along with the photos.

So to start it off, here is our first picture of 2009. This was our New Year's kiss on January 1st, 2009.


1.1.09

First Full Day as Mr & Mrs

Today consisted of pure relaxation! We spent the majority of the morning/early afternoon hanging out poolside at the Hilton (where else?!) As you can tell, dean was obviously worn out from getting married!!

All but four of our guests departed today, so that evening we enjoyed dinner at Roy's (Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine) with Kathy & George and Megan & Isaac. Can't beat an evening of sushi, their killer signature Hawaiian martini (featuring pineapples soaked in vodka), and above all wonderful company! All together it was a perfect way to spend our last day on Oahu.

We're Married!!

We would say we're "Mauied" but that's the wrong island... LOL! The wedding went off without a hitch. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, the ceremony was beautiful, and we couldn't have asked for a better way to unify our lives! We haven't received all photos from our wedding yet, so here are some teasers.

Our guests and us at the Hale Koa Luau
for our "reception"

Mr & Mrs Converse

Da' Boys enjoying the moment