Mom's here!!! And a brief recap...

Tucker came to visit (our friends' cockapoo)

Jenna's getting married Sat, Nov. 22

And Wiley is as cute as ever.Yay, my Mom and her beau Howard are here visiting. I can't wait until she moves here for real.

Sorry for the blog absence. I think I blog like I return phone calls, not timely and not regularly...oops. Laura, I got your messages and I love you! We'll talk soon, okay?!

Yep, life has been full, but good. Work still has a lot of ups and downs. Today I was a "piece of shit"...next week I may be referred to by another cuss word. Of course, working with these kids has it's rewards, but sometimes I want to say..."Shut up and put a bar of soap in your mouth, for the love of Pete!"

Right on. I'm way excited because my sister, brother-in-law, and new niece will be here next week for Thanksgiving. It's going to be great to see them and hold my favorite baby.

The next couple of weeks will include: two weddings, Thanksgiving, time with family, and traveling to Grand Rapids and Chicago.

The Zoo!!

Mike and I went on a fun zoo trip with Lily, Troy, Isabella, and Victoria. I love the zoo! We're thinking about getting a zoo pass. We really liked it.

Victoria and I taking in the sites.

I think Isabella enjoyed the bears the most...oh wait, that's Mike! Ha. Isabella confuses the two : ) Zebras!!

The baby giraffe! The baby animals were my favorite, go figure..
My hand compared to a polar bear's paw.
Isaboo..."Can I get out and walk yet??" She was a little peeved that she couldn't walk around after it rained.

Roar.


The rest of the zoo crew: Lily with Victoria and Troy with Isabella.This was my first time to the zoo in our town. It was soo much fun! I hadn't been to the zoo since I was a kid. It was zootastic.

YAR aka: Young Adult Retreat

Mike and I had a blast on our YAM (Young Adult Ministry) retreat this weekend. We got to stay in a beautiful home owned by a family at church. 30 people were on the retreat and everybody had a bed...this place was definitely spacious. We went to Fairplay, which is 2 hours West of Denver. The Aspens have turned and were quite a site. Here follows a picture tour:

During the weekend we played foosball, went on walks, played wiffle ball, had family style meals, got little sleep, played poker, some of the boys watched the Broncos game, we played Apples to Apples, and we had group devotional time. It was a wonderful weekend filled with quality time with new friends.

A Golden Birthday!

Michael turned 25 on September 25th, 2008. Obviously, this is not a timely post...

We had a long day at work but made sure to celebrate in style! Pictured above is one of Mike's presents, a 'crown of thorns' ring from James Avery. Wiley was of course part of the celebration. We had Maggiano's for dinner and ended the night by watching Run Fat Boy Run, which was very good. I think Mike would agree that he had a great Birthday!

It must be love.

You may be thinking.."What is he doing?" Well. In this picture, Michael is doing what he loathes the most: picking up dog poop. "Why?" You may ask. Long story short...I strained my back a few weeks back and he didn't want me to do it. So, he's in MY backyard picking up poop. Wiley is basically half his, BUT STILL. When I'm at my Mom's house and she tries to persuade me to pick up Suzy's poop, I say without hesitation.."She's your dog." Yeah, I'm a punk.

If Mike were to be cursed, I'm pretty sure the worst possible punishment would be for him to pick up dog poop for eternity. He hates it mainly because it kicks up his gag reflex. I know I gush about him a lot and about the things he does for me..but seriously, he's great.

This is what we call, the cutest Isabella moment ever...well, so far. She snuck away to the entry way and proceeded to put on my Ugg boots and parade around in them. It was AWESOME.

She also found Mike's sandals. She even knew to put her little toes around the thong part. Oh man, priceless. She's also wearing the very expensive necklace Mike made her. This all happened after her other Birthday party guests left. Footloose and fancy free!

In other news, my sore throat sucks.

My family is coming for Thanksgiving and I can't wait!!

I'm currently trying to think of ways to make my house appear to be clean and mice-free...hot, I know.

And on Wednesday nights I've been volunteering at church, being a leader for the kindergartners. I thought it would be a good way to balance out the many hours I spend with teenagers..sometimes very cranky teenagers. The kindergartners are wonderful and lovey, but wouldn't you know, I got placed in the "behavior management" classroom. Ha, how ironic. Anywhoo, I'm enjoying singing songs about Jesus complete with hand gestures and a big goofy grin.

A nice welcome home.

I was greeted by a smiley man with flowers at the airport. Yes, I knew this man. He also had a Pumpkin Spice Latte waiting for me in the car AND a present!

And THEN, when we got back to my house, he proceeded to make me dinner. I am one lucky girl!

It was hard to leave my new niece, but it's nice to be home again.

The Baby Chronicles continues...

This is the new object of my affection:Besides these two, of course:

But, SERIOUSLY, look at her face: