Me and Ashley outside our hotel, downtown Minneapolis.
I love this picture of us!
Ashley getting the mint out of her Mojito and me laughing in the back ground.C'mon, take a nibble of it.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Vikings Game
We all head into the game after being searched and head off in the directions to our seats. Jeff and I stop a beer guy and grab a couple of Miller Lites. (I wasn't sure about beer just yet and wanted a Mike's Cranberry, but didn't see one of those guys, so beer it was).
Jeff and I get to our seats and are chatting away with people and each other before the game. We had seats 3 and 4 which I like just fine! I would rather stand up for people then be scrunched in the middle. Jeff was talking to another season ticket holder and he had his daughter with him and Jeff leans over to me and whispers "Landon really likes that girl!" Yep, she was a cutie and around his age. As people are filing into their seats one guy comes through wearing a ton of purple and gold beads and then has bags of beads he's carrying with him. Jeff gives him a high five and tells me that he is "The Bead Guy" and he brings beads to every game and hands them out to the women during the game. Sweet! He started tossing beads out at the start of the game - what a fun fan to be around!
As the game starts we are cheering and watching and Jeff already has to use the rest room and runs down and comes back with a Mike's Cranberry for me and another beer for him. He sits down and leans over to me and says "OMG, the lady next to me is knitting?!" I nonchalantly lean forward and sure enough she is knitting, wow, was all I could think. She was knitting the entire game and was fast, Jeff and I probably watched her half the game because we couldn't believe it! (But she did get beads from the bead guy and had them on the entire game, Jeff even got her to sing the Vikings song after a touchdown).
Jeff and I first quarter.
After the first quarter is was time for a bathroom and smoke break so we head down the stairs. I still had some of my Cranberry drink left and took it along, of course. Well, if you have ever been to the stadium you know that the stairs are steep and small, at every game I always think that I am going to fall or just wait for someone else to fall down them. I am trotting down the steps after my brother and sure enough I step wrong on a step and stutter, my drink juggles and I am splashed with Mike's Cranberry right in my eye. I am now trying to catch my footing and I am blind, could I look anymore ridiculous? I didn't fall and my stupid black strips actually stayed on, I couldn't believe it, of course Jeff just laughs at me.
Yeah! Vikes win, we got to sing the Vikings song numerous times. Here is a picture of us after the game with the stadium in the back.
After the game we were supposed to meet people at Humphrey's (or Hubert's?) whichever bar is right outside the stadium. Jeff and I hung out in the stadium for awhile to let the crowd rush past and see a line outside the bar and it's cold outside, man, it was cold that day, so we decide we probably won't get in and decide to head back to the hotel. On our little jaunt back we end up getting lost and walk numerous blocks out of way, yes, still freezing in the cold. We finally figure out we have detoured and make it back to the hotel and nobody is around. Pam was coming to meet us after the game so I sent her a text and said we were back at the hotel. Eventually, Jamie and Jess make their way back and come to find out they waited in line to get into the bar and only waited 11 minutes, our loss. They end up calling Pam and asking her to bring us supper, so McDonald's it was! She brought a ton of cheeseburgers and Apple pies for her nieces and nephews that needed some nourishment! Thank you Pam!
Pam stayed for a few beers and we had a great time filling her in on the weekend activities. Ashley eventually made it to our room as well to visit with Pam. She also brought me a gift for Junior, it was a cute little outfit and a beautiful picture frame with his full name and birth stats, something we will treasure.
Ashley was staying in our room that night and brought in an air mattress to sleep on and we had a few more beers. Ashley and I went down to the bar and I bought her, her first Mojito (although the bartender really didn't make them correctly). We ended up ordering some more pizza that night and staying up late again. Everyone was leaving in the morning and with our lovely executive rooms came no breakfast on Monday's, what the heck?!
Everyone was on there way and that left Jeff and I to hang out for his birthday and we had a late check-out. We walked around the mall that was attached to our hotel and I bought him some lunch. We thought about heading out to the Mall of America for some shopping, but didn't get our stuff together in time. Jeff dropped me off at the airport and headed home. I was at the airport pretty early for my flight, but I wasn't worried, I had my laptop to keep me company and thought that it was probably standard practice to have fee wi-fi since DIA had it. Well, I was wrong about that - you have to pay at MSP airport to get on the internet, that wasn't going to happen. I took out my book and grabbed some more to eat and hung out. Finally time to board the plane and it was a full plane back to Denver. I was so tired at this point that I think I got on the plane, buckled up and fell asleep. I have no idea how long I was sleeping for, but the next thing I know I wake-up and we still haven't taken off and then we are being told there is a hydraulic leak and we need to get off the plane. People around me are mumbling who knows what and I say right out loud "Let me off, I would rather wait for another plane than die". Of course I get a few looks, but I don't care, let me off this plane that has a problem and a couple other passengers actually give a head nod and think about it and decide, yep, better to get off the plane. I assume that most of us are aware that United has another flight leaving to Denver at the next gate over and all run over there to see if we can get lucky enough to get on it. They ended up booking anyone that had a connection flight in Denver on or found them another flight and the 30 of us that were just heading home or to our final destination had to wait for another plane to come in from Chicago and they brought in another pilot and crew to take us home. We left around 8:30pm that night and I got home around midnight. Man was I ever tired.
It was a fabulous trip and I wouldn't have changed a thing about it, I can't wait until next year!
Jeff and I get to our seats and are chatting away with people and each other before the game. We had seats 3 and 4 which I like just fine! I would rather stand up for people then be scrunched in the middle. Jeff was talking to another season ticket holder and he had his daughter with him and Jeff leans over to me and whispers "Landon really likes that girl!" Yep, she was a cutie and around his age. As people are filing into their seats one guy comes through wearing a ton of purple and gold beads and then has bags of beads he's carrying with him. Jeff gives him a high five and tells me that he is "The Bead Guy" and he brings beads to every game and hands them out to the women during the game. Sweet! He started tossing beads out at the start of the game - what a fun fan to be around!
As the game starts we are cheering and watching and Jeff already has to use the rest room and runs down and comes back with a Mike's Cranberry for me and another beer for him. He sits down and leans over to me and says "OMG, the lady next to me is knitting?!" I nonchalantly lean forward and sure enough she is knitting, wow, was all I could think. She was knitting the entire game and was fast, Jeff and I probably watched her half the game because we couldn't believe it! (But she did get beads from the bead guy and had them on the entire game, Jeff even got her to sing the Vikings song after a touchdown).
The view from our seats.
Jeff and I first quarter.
After the first quarter is was time for a bathroom and smoke break so we head down the stairs. I still had some of my Cranberry drink left and took it along, of course. Well, if you have ever been to the stadium you know that the stairs are steep and small, at every game I always think that I am going to fall or just wait for someone else to fall down them. I am trotting down the steps after my brother and sure enough I step wrong on a step and stutter, my drink juggles and I am splashed with Mike's Cranberry right in my eye. I am now trying to catch my footing and I am blind, could I look anymore ridiculous? I didn't fall and my stupid black strips actually stayed on, I couldn't believe it, of course Jeff just laughs at me.Throughout the rest of the game we are sitting and going down to meet our peeps for a break and we shopped a little bit as well. I found a cute pair of horns for $10.00 for Katelynn and of course I had to wear them for the rest of the game. Every time we head down the stairs Jeff asks people along the way if they are ready to catch me if I fall this time, ha ha, everyone gets a good laugh.
3rd Quarter
(look at the picture before, Jeff hasn't moved? Ha ha)
Yeah! Vikes win, we got to sing the Vikings song numerous times. Here is a picture of us after the game with the stadium in the back.
After the game we were supposed to meet people at Humphrey's (or Hubert's?) whichever bar is right outside the stadium. Jeff and I hung out in the stadium for awhile to let the crowd rush past and see a line outside the bar and it's cold outside, man, it was cold that day, so we decide we probably won't get in and decide to head back to the hotel. On our little jaunt back we end up getting lost and walk numerous blocks out of way, yes, still freezing in the cold. We finally figure out we have detoured and make it back to the hotel and nobody is around. Pam was coming to meet us after the game so I sent her a text and said we were back at the hotel. Eventually, Jamie and Jess make their way back and come to find out they waited in line to get into the bar and only waited 11 minutes, our loss. They end up calling Pam and asking her to bring us supper, so McDonald's it was! She brought a ton of cheeseburgers and Apple pies for her nieces and nephews that needed some nourishment! Thank you Pam! Pam stayed for a few beers and we had a great time filling her in on the weekend activities. Ashley eventually made it to our room as well to visit with Pam. She also brought me a gift for Junior, it was a cute little outfit and a beautiful picture frame with his full name and birth stats, something we will treasure.
Ashley was staying in our room that night and brought in an air mattress to sleep on and we had a few more beers. Ashley and I went down to the bar and I bought her, her first Mojito (although the bartender really didn't make them correctly). We ended up ordering some more pizza that night and staying up late again. Everyone was leaving in the morning and with our lovely executive rooms came no breakfast on Monday's, what the heck?!
Everyone was on there way and that left Jeff and I to hang out for his birthday and we had a late check-out. We walked around the mall that was attached to our hotel and I bought him some lunch. We thought about heading out to the Mall of America for some shopping, but didn't get our stuff together in time. Jeff dropped me off at the airport and headed home. I was at the airport pretty early for my flight, but I wasn't worried, I had my laptop to keep me company and thought that it was probably standard practice to have fee wi-fi since DIA had it. Well, I was wrong about that - you have to pay at MSP airport to get on the internet, that wasn't going to happen. I took out my book and grabbed some more to eat and hung out. Finally time to board the plane and it was a full plane back to Denver. I was so tired at this point that I think I got on the plane, buckled up and fell asleep. I have no idea how long I was sleeping for, but the next thing I know I wake-up and we still haven't taken off and then we are being told there is a hydraulic leak and we need to get off the plane. People around me are mumbling who knows what and I say right out loud "Let me off, I would rather wait for another plane than die". Of course I get a few looks, but I don't care, let me off this plane that has a problem and a couple other passengers actually give a head nod and think about it and decide, yep, better to get off the plane. I assume that most of us are aware that United has another flight leaving to Denver at the next gate over and all run over there to see if we can get lucky enough to get on it. They ended up booking anyone that had a connection flight in Denver on or found them another flight and the 30 of us that were just heading home or to our final destination had to wait for another plane to come in from Chicago and they brought in another pilot and crew to take us home. We left around 8:30pm that night and I got home around midnight. Man was I ever tired.
It was a fabulous trip and I wouldn't have changed a thing about it, I can't wait until next year!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Game Day! Vikings vs. Bengals
The morning of the game we all kind of rolled out of bed and tried to decide who was going to shower first. Jeff and Jamie were the first up because they wanted to make sure that they got their money's worth from the hotel and our "executive breakfast". After they got up and left the room it was my turn and then I made Jess finally get up and get moving.
The boys come back down from breakfast and pretty much just start laughing.
Here is what happened to them with breakfast:
They go up to the small room that is for those of us that booked the exclusive "executive rooms" and it's the same room that is the "executive bar" at night (which we found out closes at 10pm and is not open on Sunday's). They are expecting a grand ole breakfast to start out their day and come to find out they have missed the Egg bake that was there. There is still an hour and half of breakfast left so they ask the staff person if they can bring up some more eggs and she says "yes" they will be bringing up some more eggs and calls downstairs and tells the guys that it will be about 20 - 25 minutes.
The guys question her on what they are bringing up - "what kind of eggs?"
She says, Cooked eggs, ya know.
Guys: Like the egg bake.
Staff: yes, like a quiche
Guys: great, like a quiche
The guys wait around for the 20 minutes. What else takes 20 minutes to cook an egg? Hard Boiled Eggs. They end up bringing up a huge bowl full of hard boiled eggs. Too Funny.
The rest of the breakfast was nothing spectacular either. Bagels, cereal, yogurt, and some fruit. We were at least able to each get 2 bottled waters to bring down to the room.
It was at least a laughing ordeal to start out our morning.
Our plan of course was to get to the stadium and do some tailgating and walk around, but of course we didn't get up in time and all of us were drinking water and sunkist that morning. Jamie and Jeff in true Minnesota spirit did bring a beer for the walk to the stadium.
Here are a few pictures of us getting ready to head to the game.
The boys come back down from breakfast and pretty much just start laughing.
Here is what happened to them with breakfast:
They go up to the small room that is for those of us that booked the exclusive "executive rooms" and it's the same room that is the "executive bar" at night (which we found out closes at 10pm and is not open on Sunday's). They are expecting a grand ole breakfast to start out their day and come to find out they have missed the Egg bake that was there. There is still an hour and half of breakfast left so they ask the staff person if they can bring up some more eggs and she says "yes" they will be bringing up some more eggs and calls downstairs and tells the guys that it will be about 20 - 25 minutes.
The guys question her on what they are bringing up - "what kind of eggs?"
She says, Cooked eggs, ya know.
Guys: Like the egg bake.
Staff: yes, like a quiche
Guys: great, like a quiche
The guys wait around for the 20 minutes. What else takes 20 minutes to cook an egg? Hard Boiled Eggs. They end up bringing up a huge bowl full of hard boiled eggs. Too Funny.
The rest of the breakfast was nothing spectacular either. Bagels, cereal, yogurt, and some fruit. We were at least able to each get 2 bottled waters to bring down to the room.
It was at least a laughing ordeal to start out our morning.
Our plan of course was to get to the stadium and do some tailgating and walk around, but of course we didn't get up in time and all of us were drinking water and sunkist that morning. Jamie and Jeff in true Minnesota spirit did bring a beer for the walk to the stadium.
Here are a few pictures of us getting ready to head to the game.
This is the shirt Jeffrey thought he was wearing to the game.
Jess and Jamie
Jeff after I made him put on his old jersey!
We got to the stadium and immediately ran into Josh and Ashley - what are the odds of that! Of course the youngin's made it to the tailgating.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Trip to the Cities & Vikings Game
My trip started on Friday morning by heading to work for a couple of meetings and then I was leaving to the airport from there. I got to DIA a little earlier than I really wanted to, but no worries, I checked my bags and headed to the Smoker's Lounge for a beer, why not start the trip now! Once I got into the bar I realized that I had thrown my book into my bag in the morning and then accidentally checked it - bummer. I saw a bunch of people had their laptops out in the bar and thought - hmmm... I wonder, so I unpacked the computer and scanned for some wireless and YES - DIA has free wireless connection - sweet. I ordered another beer and sat around for awhile.
The flight out was pretty good, the nerves weren't too bad after a few beers. We got to Minneapolis airport 20 minutes earlier than expected, good thing that my cousin lives close so he could come and get me right away.
Jayce picked me up at the airport and we went to house so I could check it out. He gave me the grand tour and then we sat down for a beer and told each other about our jobs and such. At around 9:30/10 we headed out for some cheeseburgers and a little bar a mile from his house to meet a couple of his buddies. We had a few drinks and then headed back to his house. I decided that we should keep on talking and open a bottle of wine, so we did. We ended up staying up until 3:30am - ugh. I woke up at around 8:30am and stirred him awake and we started getting ready to go see where he worked and then to the Mall of America (you can imagine his joy! -ha ha). After driving around and around looking for a place to park at the mall we finally ended up on the top level in Alaska parking and made our way to have some lunch. We shopped for 5 hours before we left and went back to his house to pack my bags because I had more cousins waiting for me at the hotel that had started calling and texting.
I had a great time with Jayce and he was a generous host driving me to and from and keeping me company.
Jayce and I
Day 2 - Downtown Minneapolis time with the Dickhaus crew.
Jayce and I pulled up to the hotel in downtown Minneapolis and I see my cousin Josh standing outside the front doors, so I yell "Josh, Josh" and he looks up at the windows of the hotel to see who may be yelling at him from the inside?! We park along the street and I jump out of the car and start unloading and yell at Josh again "Come and help me with my bags" and he looks at me (granted I had my hat on and my glasses, but still?!) and says "I'm not a Bell Boy". I think that he is joking with me until he hasn't moved an inch closer to the car and I am now getting out my laptop and gifts along with my big bag and yell again "Josh, come and help me, I wasn't kidding" - at this point he gives me a strange look and then you see this flicker of recognition and he starts laughing at himself and he says he didn't know that it was me and that he thought I was some stranger that wanted help into the hotel with my bags. So, we have a good laugh outside and I say "Thank you, and Good Bye to Jayce" and into the hotel we go.
I check into the hotel and head up to my room and take all my stuff in and tell the others I will catch up with them in a bit I want to unwind and call Jeff and Jamie and see what time they expect to be getting there.
As I am checking out my room I notice the beds for the first time and really start looking at them. I look and look and look. What the hell, these beds are made for kids. I have already been a little weirded out that we are all cheap and want to pack people into rooms and that I am 31 years old and have to share a bed with my brother, but these beds are small, super small. I call up my other cousins and Ashley and Amy come down for a beer and I ask them what size their beds are? They are the same. At this point it is pretty funny so I jump on the bed and we send Jeff a picture message and show me taking up the entire bed.
Here is a picture of the European size beds that Jeff and I are supposed to share. It didn't happen; when Jeff got there and we tried to fit in it he went to the front desk and asked them what was up with the size of the beds and said he had to share with his sister and they gave us a free roll away bed for him. (which was roughly the same size as our beds).
Don't we look cozy!
The night continues on and eventually the entire crew is there and at the hotel. We continue to visit from room to room and get ready for an evening out. My girlfriend Lezlee and her new boyfriend were also staying downtown and heading to the game so we had decided to meet up with them as well. In one of the rooms they ordered the UFC fight and had made BBQ's (crock pot and all) so we headed up there until my Lezlee met up with us. We headed downtown with me, Lezlee & bf, Jamie and Jess and Ashley and found an Irish bar to grab a beer. I did some chatting with my girlfriend and my crew decided to find another bar to hit.
The night continues on and eventually the entire crew is there and at the hotel. We continue to visit from room to room and get ready for an evening out. My girlfriend Lezlee and her new boyfriend were also staying downtown and heading to the game so we had decided to meet up with them as well. In one of the rooms they ordered the UFC fight and had made BBQ's (crock pot and all) so we headed up there until my Lezlee met up with us. We headed downtown with me, Lezlee & bf, Jamie and Jess and Ashley and found an Irish bar to grab a beer. I did some chatting with my girlfriend and my crew decided to find another bar to hit. After going here and there and left and right and heading down this street and that we finally stopped at another place. Jeff was finally done watching the fight and started texting us to see how to find us. I get nervous every time we are out places because it always seems that Jeff will wander around on his own with not a care in the world. He did eventually find us and we ended up heading back towards the hotel. Jamie had taken off a little earlier to head back and order pizza and when we walked out of the bar Ashley and Jess crossed the street and Jeff and I did not. Of course you can't catch up or find people after that so Jeff and I started to head back to the hotel because we had to go meet up with Amy. We talked to her later and she ended up with Jess somehow and told them to meet us at Gameworks. Go figure that we end up in a video arcade with Jeff, you should have seen his eyes, oh the extreme joy of it, but at least they had a bar in the middle of the place. We got some drinks and put some money on a card and ended up with Jamie, me, Jeff, Jess (who at this point had definitely had her fill), Amy and her bf's brother. It was fun, we played some games and headed back to the hotel for pizza and everyone stopped into our room.
Ashley and I at The Loon Cafe
The big joke of the night/weekend was that Jeff, Jamie, Jess and I were the old one's (which we were), but somehow I think that both nights we stayed up later than the rest of them (maybe we just didn't drink as much?) So, we ate our pizza and visited, laughing the night away. Poor Jess just couldn't hang anymore and passed out, this was really a big weekend for her away from the baby for the first time. And what happens when you are with my family and fall asleep when others are still awake:Yep, you become the victim.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Sneak Peak of our Christmas Picture
For those who look at my blog and are on my Christmas list you are seeing what you are getting this year, sorry if that ruins it for you?!Another Christmas time is here, wow, hard to believe when I look at this picture how old Katelynn has gotten and that I have a new little one that is 10 months old already. I look at our last year Christmas picture that is hung up and think, this was really a year ago, just Dan, Katelynn and me.
Of course another year of photos also brings another date of headache and a very impatient husband. Why, oh why must it be like this every year? I am still boycotting Portrait Innovations after the debacle of last years photos, so I finally procrastinated long enough and called Sears Photo Studio and was surprised to be able to get in last Sunday (the Vikings had a Sunday night game, ha ha). We got there early and were able to get in to take our photos on time and our photographer was very good with the kids. We took our family Christmas picture together and then I had them take one of the kids together and one of each of them. Already at this point Dan was ready to be done, seriously, it had only been a short period of time, but he should have known better, I had an outfit change for each kiddo. We did a clothing change for both kids. Katelynn went first and we took her "4" year old photos, she was a little cheese with the posing and the lady really got her laughing and smiling, her photos turned out awesome, what a little beauty she is (am I bias?) Junior was next and we got some really cute one's of him as well. We had a little trouble with the pose that Grandma Davids wanted for her wall, which is the babies on their tummy's looking up to the camera, we could hardly keep the little turkey that way. Every time we positioned him he would look at us laugh and then start army crawling as fast as he could away, we did the best we could Grandma! At this point you can imagine Dan, but I asked that she also take a picture of just me and Dan together and he said, "really, why?", men! Then I asked that we take another family picture in a fun pose that I could hang on my wall even after Christmas and Dan is wondering why can't we just hang the picture one up if that's the best one, again I say "Men"?! That was our last picture and then we had to wait for the pictures to load to their computer and make our decisions. I sent them walking around Sears and they did, but Dan still got very impatient and I hadn't realized that it would take that long afterward and they also have the set-up there to make changes to the pictures and create collages, he about had a heart attack on me in the photo studio. I got my pictures ordered and had them print out the Christmas one for me to take home.
Mental Note to Self: No matter where the pictures are being taken we will always take two vehicles so Dan and the kids can leave immediately after the photo shoot.
Side note: Is it bad that I straightened my 4 year-olds hair so it was "picture perfect"?
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Turkey Day - Weekend
Ah the joy of having 4 days off in a row and not having to use any vacation time, what could be better? Oh wait, a huge meal, football all day, shopping the next day, and just hanging out, yes that about makes it right!
Our Thanksgiving weekend started on Wednesday as soon as we all were home and in festive moods already. Dan had already prepared our entire meal and had everything in the refrigerator ready to be cooked the following morning. Dan had also stopped by the liquor store and bought a few bottles of wine for the weekend and for some reason also bought a thing of box wine. Well, being in good moods and not having to work the next day we turned on the music and danced around with the kids and I told him to "Crack open the box wine!" and we did and did we ever. We had such a blast with the kids that night dancing around and playing after they went to bed Dan and I continued to drink the box wine and had a pretty good time ourselves until 11pm. It may have been too good of a time and we knew it when we crawled into bed and thought about the box wine headaches we were both going to have the next day - ugh. Thanksgiving day was very low key at our house (for various reasons!). We enjoyed watching the Macy's Day Parade with Katelynn and the smells in our home with all the fixing's cooking. The meal was delicious followed up with Pumpkin Pie. We watched a ton of football and we all took naps! I of course also went through the shopping ads to see where I would hit first this year and get ideas for Christmas shopping. I also just found out by chance (because nobody had bothered to tell me) that when I work at our other office location for work we are not allowed to wear jeans. I have been working at the county for 7 years and have been able to wear jeans the entire time which means I don't have many dress slacks or pants or anything, so this made the top of my list as well and yes, I am always happy to go and shop for me!
Friday -
I had decided the day before that I would set the alarm for 5am and leave the house by 6am. I didn't want to be in the mix with the crazies who wait outside the store, besides I wasn't looking for a laptop or TV that they might run out of. Well, I didn't sleep well that night (yes, strange considering the night before and the box wine) and ended up getting up at 3:45am and left my house at 4:35am. I drove into Loveland and what did I see: tons of people waiting outside of Target for it to open. Decided I wasn't going to Target first, good thing Old Navy opened at 3am. I bought a few items at Old Navy and then headed over to Target. I got a few things that I had wanted and found a couple of other ideas and then got into a line that I thought was headed to the electronics department. Later, after waiting in that line for awhile discovered that it was the checkout line - Shit!@ I got out of line and went into the electronics dept. and grabbed a few of the things that were on my list and one thing was gone and of course that was the one item I had really wanted to buy there, of course! I then had to get back into the long checkout line again and wait. Other than a few items I really wasn't impressed with the sale items at Target once I got there and saw they were really only selling them for $5.00 cheaper than the regular price. After Target I headed to the outlet mall and then headed to Centerra. I did find a couple of items for me that included pants and of course then I had to have dress shoes to go with those new pants and there my money was spent and off to home I went.
We finished out Friday by getting the X-mas tree out and starting to decorate and kind of did that the rest of the weekend, slow but sure.
Saturday -
Another lazy day at home with the kids. Dan and Katelynn decided to head out of the house for a little shopping and came home with an inflatable Santa Claus for the front yard. Dan also worked on our bar area downstairs and built some shelves in the back which was nice and helped clean it up a little bit. It was funny, one of the comments that Dan made that day was "I think we just keep moving things from upstairs to downstairs and downstairs to upstairs" - these have been my exact thoughts for the past 2 months every time I pick up and clean.
Sunday -
Of course is Vikings football day.
We had a great Thanksgiving weekend and have so much to be thankful for. Thankful for our family of four that feels complete. Thankful that Dan and I have work and jobs to do and paychecks. Thankful that our kids have been healthy. Thankful for the good time to come.
Our Thanksgiving weekend started on Wednesday as soon as we all were home and in festive moods already. Dan had already prepared our entire meal and had everything in the refrigerator ready to be cooked the following morning. Dan had also stopped by the liquor store and bought a few bottles of wine for the weekend and for some reason also bought a thing of box wine. Well, being in good moods and not having to work the next day we turned on the music and danced around with the kids and I told him to "Crack open the box wine!" and we did and did we ever. We had such a blast with the kids that night dancing around and playing after they went to bed Dan and I continued to drink the box wine and had a pretty good time ourselves until 11pm. It may have been too good of a time and we knew it when we crawled into bed and thought about the box wine headaches we were both going to have the next day - ugh. Thanksgiving day was very low key at our house (for various reasons!). We enjoyed watching the Macy's Day Parade with Katelynn and the smells in our home with all the fixing's cooking. The meal was delicious followed up with Pumpkin Pie. We watched a ton of football and we all took naps! I of course also went through the shopping ads to see where I would hit first this year and get ideas for Christmas shopping. I also just found out by chance (because nobody had bothered to tell me) that when I work at our other office location for work we are not allowed to wear jeans. I have been working at the county for 7 years and have been able to wear jeans the entire time which means I don't have many dress slacks or pants or anything, so this made the top of my list as well and yes, I am always happy to go and shop for me!
Friday -
I had decided the day before that I would set the alarm for 5am and leave the house by 6am. I didn't want to be in the mix with the crazies who wait outside the store, besides I wasn't looking for a laptop or TV that they might run out of. Well, I didn't sleep well that night (yes, strange considering the night before and the box wine) and ended up getting up at 3:45am and left my house at 4:35am. I drove into Loveland and what did I see: tons of people waiting outside of Target for it to open. Decided I wasn't going to Target first, good thing Old Navy opened at 3am. I bought a few items at Old Navy and then headed over to Target. I got a few things that I had wanted and found a couple of other ideas and then got into a line that I thought was headed to the electronics department. Later, after waiting in that line for awhile discovered that it was the checkout line - Shit!@ I got out of line and went into the electronics dept. and grabbed a few of the things that were on my list and one thing was gone and of course that was the one item I had really wanted to buy there, of course! I then had to get back into the long checkout line again and wait. Other than a few items I really wasn't impressed with the sale items at Target once I got there and saw they were really only selling them for $5.00 cheaper than the regular price. After Target I headed to the outlet mall and then headed to Centerra. I did find a couple of items for me that included pants and of course then I had to have dress shoes to go with those new pants and there my money was spent and off to home I went.
We finished out Friday by getting the X-mas tree out and starting to decorate and kind of did that the rest of the weekend, slow but sure.
Saturday -
Another lazy day at home with the kids. Dan and Katelynn decided to head out of the house for a little shopping and came home with an inflatable Santa Claus for the front yard. Dan also worked on our bar area downstairs and built some shelves in the back which was nice and helped clean it up a little bit. It was funny, one of the comments that Dan made that day was "I think we just keep moving things from upstairs to downstairs and downstairs to upstairs" - these have been my exact thoughts for the past 2 months every time I pick up and clean.
Sunday -
Of course is Vikings football day.
We had a great Thanksgiving weekend and have so much to be thankful for. Thankful for our family of four that feels complete. Thankful that Dan and I have work and jobs to do and paychecks. Thankful that our kids have been healthy. Thankful for the good time to come.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Training, Training and some me time
This last week I was scheduled for training classes of writing Crystal reports I, II, & III in Denver, since they would have to pay me for mileage to drive every day back and forth and maybe they were being extremely nice by not making me get up early every day and home late they set me up in a hotel for the week.
Monday morning I got up and got ready and finished packing and off to Denver I went. There were 7 people in class the first 2 days. As usual with any training class you always have to state your name, your company and then we had to tell them our experience / knowledge of Crystal Reports. As all of us went around I realized at that point that I was the only person in the class that was not a "computer geek" for lack of a better term. Every other person there was a computer programmer and all I could think of was "great, what the hell am I doing in this class?" and "I can't wait for these people to get frustrated with me slowing them up". Surprisingly though the class that I have taken before and the studying at home on Thursday's (yes, during work hours!) paid off and I was able to keep up with everyone and learned a few new skills. The first day of training we breezed through and actually got out of class by 3pm instead of 4:30. I took a little detour on my way to the hotel (because I programmed my navigation system to 100 Grant St. instead of 1000 Grant St.) and found a liquor store, so of course I stopped and grabbed a six pack for my room, I did have a full kitchen so I thought what the hell! I unpacked all of my stuff once I got there and then pulled out my laptop for a little work, by the time Monday night Football was starting and the Broncos were playing I was already getting antsy for something to do and headed down for happy hour and some appetizers. I stayed there until about half time and headed back to the room and chatted with my mom after her trip to China and then with my brother for awhile and off to bed I went.
Day 2 -
Training was good again that day and I was able to keep up and we got out at 3pm again. One of my co-workers was at a meeting in Denver a few blocks from my hotel and called me up to see what I was up to. So I met him for a couple of drinks and we talked about my class since he is our current/actual Crystal Report Writer. So that was fun and gave me someone to hang out with for awhile. That night I talked to a few of my girlfriends back home and it was so nice to be able to just sit and talk to a friend and really catch up without being interrupted by the kiddos or having ten million other things to do.
Day 3 -
Class started to get a little harder with the intermediate class and also brought in 5 new people all from RTD and more computer people (which were all foreign and I had a very hard time understanding them when they would ask questions, I tried the best I could). That night I definitely needed a beer as my brain was fried! I met the instructors (one was a girl and one was a guy, Dan would have probably had a fit if they were both guys!) from my class for happy hour since they were staying at the same hotel around 5:30pm. We ate supper and I picked at their brains for awhile and then we just chatted it up until around 8:30pm. One of them was from Arkansas and the other from Minneapolis. It was a fun way to kill another night.
Day 4 -
Ugh, the chapters get harder and harder and there are more and more formulas and functions to learn and where the hell do you put this or that and memorize all of this?! Thursday night I went back to my room and laid in bed for an our to decompress and then I actually got out my laptop and went back through a bunch of exercises and activities of building reports to go back over what I had learned the last 2 days. I definitely figured out that I can do these things, but not in a classroom setting where 10 other people are doing it as well, this may be the one thing that I do not have any desire to be competitive with! After I did that I watched some TV and then read a few chapters ahead hoping this would help me on Friday and packed up my bags.
Day 5 -
Are you kiddin me?! I was pre-warned that Friday's class was going to get very technical. I basically made some notes in my book, didn't attempt hardly any of the activities and chalked it up to I will learn it later and I least I had my first overlook at these pieces. With that I got my 3 certificates and was on my way home back to my family and made it out before the snow really started coming down, which I was grateful for. I surprised the kids and picked them up at daycare and Dan had a nice meal cooking for us when we got home. After supper I threw both kids into the bathtub and then I did bedtime for both kiddos tonight. Dan was fast asleep before I even put Katelynn to bed at 8pm.
Just some extras.
My hotel room was amazing. I basically did have a 1 bedroom apartment to myself. It had a living room, dining room, kitchen, patio that overlooked downtown, bathroom and huge bedroom with a California King size bed (I think that's what they are called). I had the government rate for the room which also included free breakfast by room service every morning. Let me tell you - that made my day start out so nice every day. I would wake up and jump in the shower and then order breakfast, had plenty of time to get ready for work (with no kids it's amazing how fast you get ready and don't feel stressed) and have a cup of coffee, eat some breakfast and watch some of the Today show. Class started at 8:30am everyday and the class was literally a 5 minute drive from my hotel. After the first day I started to feel like I got a little piece of me back, the pre-mommy, like the Dr. told Katelynn that day, your mommy used to be Taryn before she was mommy, how true. It makes me want to live in both worlds so if anyone out there knows how to do this please let me know! I think it was really good for Dan to be with the kids for an entire week by himself, it sounds like they had a good time and Katelynn definitely has a better attitude (at least for this first night, we'll see how long it lasts). Dan and I were happy to see each other, although I was hoping to spend some time with him instead of my computer, but it'll have to wait for tomorrow night as the daddy is whooped. Wednesday was Veteran's Day so as a government employee I was supposed to have a holiday, but was at training so I get to take Monday off instead - yeah, some more me time or time to get down and dirty and clean the house!
Monday morning I got up and got ready and finished packing and off to Denver I went. There were 7 people in class the first 2 days. As usual with any training class you always have to state your name, your company and then we had to tell them our experience / knowledge of Crystal Reports. As all of us went around I realized at that point that I was the only person in the class that was not a "computer geek" for lack of a better term. Every other person there was a computer programmer and all I could think of was "great, what the hell am I doing in this class?" and "I can't wait for these people to get frustrated with me slowing them up". Surprisingly though the class that I have taken before and the studying at home on Thursday's (yes, during work hours!) paid off and I was able to keep up with everyone and learned a few new skills. The first day of training we breezed through and actually got out of class by 3pm instead of 4:30. I took a little detour on my way to the hotel (because I programmed my navigation system to 100 Grant St. instead of 1000 Grant St.) and found a liquor store, so of course I stopped and grabbed a six pack for my room, I did have a full kitchen so I thought what the hell! I unpacked all of my stuff once I got there and then pulled out my laptop for a little work, by the time Monday night Football was starting and the Broncos were playing I was already getting antsy for something to do and headed down for happy hour and some appetizers. I stayed there until about half time and headed back to the room and chatted with my mom after her trip to China and then with my brother for awhile and off to bed I went.
Day 2 -
Training was good again that day and I was able to keep up and we got out at 3pm again. One of my co-workers was at a meeting in Denver a few blocks from my hotel and called me up to see what I was up to. So I met him for a couple of drinks and we talked about my class since he is our current/actual Crystal Report Writer. So that was fun and gave me someone to hang out with for awhile. That night I talked to a few of my girlfriends back home and it was so nice to be able to just sit and talk to a friend and really catch up without being interrupted by the kiddos or having ten million other things to do.
Day 3 -
Class started to get a little harder with the intermediate class and also brought in 5 new people all from RTD and more computer people (which were all foreign and I had a very hard time understanding them when they would ask questions, I tried the best I could). That night I definitely needed a beer as my brain was fried! I met the instructors (one was a girl and one was a guy, Dan would have probably had a fit if they were both guys!) from my class for happy hour since they were staying at the same hotel around 5:30pm. We ate supper and I picked at their brains for awhile and then we just chatted it up until around 8:30pm. One of them was from Arkansas and the other from Minneapolis. It was a fun way to kill another night.
Day 4 -
Ugh, the chapters get harder and harder and there are more and more formulas and functions to learn and where the hell do you put this or that and memorize all of this?! Thursday night I went back to my room and laid in bed for an our to decompress and then I actually got out my laptop and went back through a bunch of exercises and activities of building reports to go back over what I had learned the last 2 days. I definitely figured out that I can do these things, but not in a classroom setting where 10 other people are doing it as well, this may be the one thing that I do not have any desire to be competitive with! After I did that I watched some TV and then read a few chapters ahead hoping this would help me on Friday and packed up my bags.
Day 5 -
Are you kiddin me?! I was pre-warned that Friday's class was going to get very technical. I basically made some notes in my book, didn't attempt hardly any of the activities and chalked it up to I will learn it later and I least I had my first overlook at these pieces. With that I got my 3 certificates and was on my way home back to my family and made it out before the snow really started coming down, which I was grateful for. I surprised the kids and picked them up at daycare and Dan had a nice meal cooking for us when we got home. After supper I threw both kids into the bathtub and then I did bedtime for both kiddos tonight. Dan was fast asleep before I even put Katelynn to bed at 8pm.
Just some extras.
My hotel room was amazing. I basically did have a 1 bedroom apartment to myself. It had a living room, dining room, kitchen, patio that overlooked downtown, bathroom and huge bedroom with a California King size bed (I think that's what they are called). I had the government rate for the room which also included free breakfast by room service every morning. Let me tell you - that made my day start out so nice every day. I would wake up and jump in the shower and then order breakfast, had plenty of time to get ready for work (with no kids it's amazing how fast you get ready and don't feel stressed) and have a cup of coffee, eat some breakfast and watch some of the Today show. Class started at 8:30am everyday and the class was literally a 5 minute drive from my hotel. After the first day I started to feel like I got a little piece of me back, the pre-mommy, like the Dr. told Katelynn that day, your mommy used to be Taryn before she was mommy, how true. It makes me want to live in both worlds so if anyone out there knows how to do this please let me know! I think it was really good for Dan to be with the kids for an entire week by himself, it sounds like they had a good time and Katelynn definitely has a better attitude (at least for this first night, we'll see how long it lasts). Dan and I were happy to see each other, although I was hoping to spend some time with him instead of my computer, but it'll have to wait for tomorrow night as the daddy is whooped. Wednesday was Veteran's Day so as a government employee I was supposed to have a holiday, but was at training so I get to take Monday off instead - yeah, some more me time or time to get down and dirty and clean the house!
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Mom's Trip to China
Things are going good here.
China is a beautiful – even along the main roads it is like a garden – they love trees, plants, flowers and they love to light them up at night in many different colors. You can go down a main road and they have pots of small trees in them for miles down the center of the roads. Last night at supper we had 15 different dishes- all very good, and today at lunch we drove to a small Taiwan place to eat with two VP’s from I-Shen – we had 10 different dishes than two deserts, coffee and than tea. We met and toured I-Shen and than ate, we were with them for 3 1\2 hours – I was very impressed with the place.
I have tried every dish so far and have done very good with it – even the big, big chicken foot yesterday for lunch and the pig intestine last night!!! Most of the food has been very good. Jorson’s group took us out last night, tonight Edward’s group takes us out. We are going to try to get some shopping in afterward – there are blocks of shops right next to our hotel. Our hotel is in a garden, many of the trees are 100 years old – Suzhou is 2500 years old! The first president Bush stayed at our hotel.
The bathrooms in the restaurant last night and I-Shen today were squatters for the women – not good for old people!!!
Well I have a meeting now so I will talk to you later! Oh – it is 70 out today!
Renee Dickhaus
China is a beautiful – even along the main roads it is like a garden – they love trees, plants, flowers and they love to light them up at night in many different colors. You can go down a main road and they have pots of small trees in them for miles down the center of the roads. Last night at supper we had 15 different dishes- all very good, and today at lunch we drove to a small Taiwan place to eat with two VP’s from I-Shen – we had 10 different dishes than two deserts, coffee and than tea. We met and toured I-Shen and than ate, we were with them for 3 1\2 hours – I was very impressed with the place.
I have tried every dish so far and have done very good with it – even the big, big chicken foot yesterday for lunch and the pig intestine last night!!! Most of the food has been very good. Jorson’s group took us out last night, tonight Edward’s group takes us out. We are going to try to get some shopping in afterward – there are blocks of shops right next to our hotel. Our hotel is in a garden, many of the trees are 100 years old – Suzhou is 2500 years old! The first president Bush stayed at our hotel.
The bathrooms in the restaurant last night and I-Shen today were squatters for the women – not good for old people!!!
Well I have a meeting now so I will talk to you later! Oh – it is 70 out today!
Renee Dickhaus
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Happy Halloween
We had a blast trick or treatin' this year. My friend came over and went with us; she made her sponge bob costume (isn't great!). It was so fun walking around with Sponge Bob, all the kids looked and you could hear them say "Look, it's Sponge Bob"! Katelynn was great this year, she ran right up to the houses and knocked on the door and said "Trick or Treat" and always followed with a nice "Thank you". We ended up with our next door neighbors as well which made Katelynn's day to be with her little friends. The next morning Junior even slept in until 7:45 (6:45 with the fall back), Katelynn was up at 7am, but it was better than 6am!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Scooba Time!
So, I couldn't take it anymore! It was time to get a new Scooba and have cleans floors once again. Good thing they have an out of warranty program and I was able to get a new scooba for half off. It came the other night and we charged up the battery and let it does it job! Junior has been crazy over the vacuum cleaner and chases it around and when he saw this thing moving he about jumped out of our arms. We let him chase it around for a little while, but didn't want to break another Scooba so he had to be content watching it. Here is a little video of him and the "new" Scooba. My floors will once again get mopped now once or twice a week!
A picture of me and my excitement when I got my first Scooba, it didn't change, still extremely excited to have one running in my house again!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Pumpkin Patch Picture
Here is a funny picture that we had taken at the Harvest Farms Pumpkin Patch. It was a little spendy to get in, but there was a ton of stuff for the kids to do and lots of space to run around. We went on a hay ride and even watched the pig races. It was a nice set up that they had for the pictures and they were free and sent them by email, so pretty nice!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Game Time, A Little Purple in my Household
It's definitely that time of year again! We love Football in our house and we love the Vikings! Even though I know that it is way too expensive I can't help but order the NFL Ticket every year in order to ensure that I get to watch my Vikings team every Sunday.
Sunday mornings now consist of some breakfast, newspaper, coffee and preparing food for game time. Everyone is usually in a pretty good mood and by 11am the Davids' crew is downstairs chowing down on all the fixins. We've done pretzels, BBQ brats, southwestern egg rolls and pizza this year. Obviously this year has been awesome as well with a 6-0 start, yes even including the Broncos, we are watching them as well.
I joined a Fantasy Football League this year too, which has proven to be interesting and fun, although you really need to know all of the players from all of the other teams (I have recruited a guy from my work to help me with this part). I have won 2 games and last the others, but am starting to figure it out little, by little. Dan gets a little annoyed with me when I am constantly running to check the computer and look at my match-up score throughout the day. I also of course picked a lot of Vikings players for my team which may make it a little difficult Nov. 8th when we have our bye week and I am not willing to let anyone go. Any who - loving the football season and looking forward to flying to Minneapolis Dec. 12th to go to and watch the Vikes! Woohoo!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Friday, October 09, 2009
Fabulous!
Work has been going awesome lately! This last week has been busier than heck, but I am loving it. My report writing is going well and my status is starting to go into full swing. I've had a couple of great meetings with my soon to be boss and at the last meeting he said that they are now in the works of moving my FTE from my current county department to a new department - ya for me! They are looking at the change happening Jan. 1st, but it could be sooner just depending on what my department wants to do because they have budgeted to pay me for the rest of the calendar year. He also let me know that I have been doing a good job and he doesn't feel that there will be any problems with me being a Business Analyst. I have worked on a couple of projects and am doing well and I have also taken over some projects from a couple of people, one of them being loading workers computers with a Voice Recognition Software and then training them how to use it - I love this piece of the job and don't mind having spreadsheets to track everything either. One thing he did tell me though is that once the change happens I will need to move offices and be located at Health and Human Services. I kind of figured that this would happen, but will miss the daily contact with my friends where I have worked the last 7 years, although most of my projects will still be at that location so I will have a cubbie and docking station there for my laptop, so all will not be lost.
So things are looking good for me and I'm finishing up training some of the other clerical staff of the few duties I have left (of course they are the hardest pieces). Loving it, Loving it, Loving it!
Dan will have to get used to me working some days a little later, but he's been great about it so far. Tonight is a Friday night and I had a meeting in Golden that got over at 4:30pm and I didn't get home until 6:30pm (damn Denver traffic!), at least this meeting is only once a month!
So things are looking good for me and I'm finishing up training some of the other clerical staff of the few duties I have left (of course they are the hardest pieces). Loving it, Loving it, Loving it!
Dan will have to get used to me working some days a little later, but he's been great about it so far. Tonight is a Friday night and I had a meeting in Golden that got over at 4:30pm and I didn't get home until 6:30pm (damn Denver traffic!), at least this meeting is only once a month!
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