What I’m Loving Wednesday

It’s time again to link up with Jamie for What I’m loving Wednesday!

I’m loving restarting morning workouts with Dave. We are trying very hard to do some sort of exercise on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The only hard part is getting up when that alarm clock goes off!

I’m loving being back from vacation and spending more time with this sweet little guy.

I’m loving that my sister, Kelly, turns 21 on Friday! We have some fun things planned to help her celebrate this milestone!

I’m loving that July 4th is on Monday! It is my favorite holiday of the year because there is no pressure to spend time with certain people and it is basically a free day to hang out with whoever is available, have a picnic with yummy food and enjoy the night-time fireworks! There is nothing better!

I’m loving that we already got out tickets to see the final Harry Potter movie at 12:03 a.m. on July 15th! Dave and I really like the Harry otter movies and we’re excited to see the finale on the big screen. Have you seen the previews yet? It looks pretty awesome…

I’m loving the fun summer blog swap I’m hosting along with Jenn and Malisa! Have you signed up yet? You have until July 5th to sign up, so do it soon! Just click the button below to get more info.

<center><a href="http://dandelion-chronicles.blogspot.com/2011/06/midsummer-nights-swap.html " title="A Midsummer Night’s Swap"><img src="http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac293/munchkin_land_designs/Buttons/SummerSwap2.png" alt="A Midsummer Night’s Swap"></a>

And I’m loving my super smart and super sweet husband!

What are you loving on this beautiful Wednesday? Have a great day!

Summer 2011 Road Trip - the rest of the trip

Ok, so my idea of posting every night went down in flames when we started doing evening activities which we got us back to the hotel at 11:00 p.m. or later and then we were to meet the rest of the family for the next day’s activities at 8:30 a.m. We ended up being really tired but we had a great time in St. Louis!

Monday

On Monday we headed down to St Louis with Dave’s extended family - 12 people in all. We got a bit of a late start (getting 12 people packed, organized and ready to go is quite a feat) so it was decided to have a lazy afternoon at the hotel. Since we had some down time, Dave and I decided to venture out alone to eat at White Castle. Neither of us had ever been before and we were anxious to see how the burgers tasted. The verdict? They were pretty good, but not something that we would crave all of the time.

Later that night everyone took a trip to the arch - a St. Louis must do activity. We paid our $10 to take the ‘pods’ to the top and look out of the windows. We think it was more fun to do at night because we got fun pictures of the city with all of the lights.

 

Tuesday

On Tuesday we went to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Practically the entire inside is covered in mosaic. We were able to take the tour and were given the explanations and meanings behind man of the pieces of art inside. It was a really interesting and beautiful place.

After the cathedral we headed to the St. Louis Science Center to look around. We had a lot of fun looking at all of the exhibits at the center, but our favorite thing was the Life Science Lab where we got to dress up in lab coats and goggles and do science experiments. Dave and I had a lot of fun extracting wheat DNA and solving a crime using fingerprint patterns!

That evening we went to a Cardinals baseball game at Busch Stadium. The humidity was so high that we were sweating just sitting in our seats! EW!! We still had a good time even though the Cardinals lost the game… and it was an embarrassing loss.

Wednesday

We spent most of the day on Wednesday at the St. Louis Zoo. Our favorite parts were the Penguin exhibit where you were so close to the penguins and puffins that you could almost touch them (and it was super cold in the exhibit - a welcome break from the heat and humidity) and the sting ray exhibit where we got to touch sting rays and sharks.

 

In the afternoon we all took a trip the the Anheiser-Busch Brewery where we took a tour and got to sample beer for free. And in the evening we went to see Legally Blonde, the musical, at the Muny which is an outdoor theatre. Even when it started to rain a little bit the show went on. It was another fun day!

Thursday and Friday

We had a great trip but it was time to head home. We stopped over in Nebraska on Thursday night to visit our friends Laura & Kyle who we haven’t seen since their wedding last year. It was so nice to be able to catch up in person!

We picked up Gromit from my parents’ house on Friday and headed home. We had a great trip, made some great memories, visited with many of the people we love, but it is so nice to be home.

Here’s to our 2011 road trip!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

Sorry I stopped posting every day during my trip, but we have been so busy and out doing activities so late at night that I haven’t had the time or energy to catch up! I promise to catch you up soon. But until then, here’s what I’m loving this Wednesday!

I’m loving this vacation! I am having so much fun visiting St Louis with Dave’s extended family. This is just what I needed!


Even though I’m loving this trip, I’m loving that I get to see Gromit on Friday. He’s staying with my parents back in Colorado while we’re away. I know he’s well taken care of, but I miss seeing his little face every day.

I’m loving my Amazon Kindle - it is the perfect compact travel accessory! I am finally catching up on some reading.

I’m loving our fun summer swap! Have you signed up yet? You should! It is going to be so much fun! Be sure to sign up before July 5. Click below for details:





Of course, I’m loving spending so much time with my wonderful husband!



What are you loving on this beautiful Wednesday? Link up with Jamie and let us know!

A Midsummer Night's Swap!

Jenn, Malisa, and I have put our heads together to come up with a fun summer pick-me-up. After some brainstorming and numerous email exchanges we have come up with A Midsummer Night’s Swap! We think it would be a lot of fun to swap things that we would use on a summer night among all of the fun bloggers out there.

Here's how it works...

1. Become a follower of one of our blogs that you are not already a follower of (if you don’t already follow all of us):
Jenn – Knee-Deep in Munchkin Land
Malisa – Sanity in Small Doses
Sarah – The Dandelion Chronicles

2. Fill out the form on the blog you choose to follow and submit! You must submit the form by July 5.

3. Leave a comment below to let everyone know you are participating.

4. Grab our A Midsummer Night’s Swap button below, and tell your friends / fellow bloggers about this fun summer swap! Blog about it, tweet about it, put it on Facebook and even put the button on your side bar! The more the merrier!

<a href="http://dandelion-chronicles.blogspot.com/2011/06/midsummer-nights-swap.html" title="A Midsummer Night’s Swap"><img src="http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac293/munchkin_land_designs/Buttons/SummerSwap2.png" alt="A Midsummer Night’s Swap"></a>

After July 5th-

1. By July 9th you will get an email from one of us giving you information on your swap partner. We will mix and match people from all of our blogs. Get to know your partner by going to their blog and emailing one another.

2. Go shopping to find an item that you would use on a summer evening! We have come up with some examples to get you started:

Grilling sauces
Corn on the cob handle things
Citronella candles
Small tiki torches
Outdoor lights
Napkin rings
Fun plastic or disposable plates
Picnic blanket
Ice cream scoop
Ice cream bowls
Tablecloth/placemats
CDs with songs that remind you of summer
Kabob sticks
Marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers for s’mores
Scents that remind you of summer

Please, don’t spend more than $20 on your swap item.

3. Mail out your swap package by July 18th.

4. When you get your package, blog about it! Be sure to link back your partner and show us a picture of your fun gift. Also - come back to our blogs on July 25th to link back up and show others what you got in the swap.

We hope you'll join up and share some fun summer items!


REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.
Be sure to check back for future swaps!

Summer 2011 Road Trip - Day 3

Today has been a long day, but a good one! There were no group plans this morning and we ended up sleeping in until 9:00!!! That is unheard of for both of us, but clearly we needed the rest. We got ready for the day and headed over to Grandma & Grandpa’s house to meet up with the rest of the family who is staying there. To clarify, while we love everyone in Dave’s family and very much enjoy spending time with them, we are staying in a hotel and not with the group because 13+ people in a two bedroom house with 1.5 bathrooms and no air conditioning is a little beyond my comfort zone. Nuff’ said.

We got the opportunity to catch up with aunts, uncles and cousins in the morning before heading over to a local restaurant to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa’s 60th wedding anniversary. 60 years of marriage, can you imagine!?! They are truly an example of what marriage is for Dave and his family (and me) and I am so lucky to be able to celebrate this special occasion with them! It was a very nice party and many of their friends in the area were able to come and give their well wishes and it was nice to be able to meet these people and get to know Dave’s grandparents in a different way, through their stories.

After the party we found out that Grandma had scheduled a family portrait session with a local photography studio. Overall the photo session went well, but we did feel a little pressured to buy the photos afterward because we were told we had to select and buy the pictures today and if we came back later we would not have the option of purchasing photo packages, just single sheets at $15 each. Ugh. So everyone in the family chose the poses we liked and combined our order into one big package which were to include all of the images from the day on a CD. We got the CD home to take a look and there are only really low res photos on there, when we were led to believe we were getting full size images (which is why we made sure to purchase so many prints so that the CD would be free to everyone). Despite the disappointment of the CD we got some good pictures and some nice prints which we hope to frame when we get home. Here are a couple photos of just Dave and me from the shoot:

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out back at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I have tried to get some pictures of the fireflies around here, but they are proving hard to photograph. The more a lengthen the exposure time on the camera, the more of the surrounding light illuminates my photo which washes out the fireflies in the picture. So, here is the best one that I have so far.

Well, we’re off to bed. Tomorrow we’re getting up early and heading to St. Louis with the family for a few days. Grandma and Aunt Jan have come up with activities for all of us to do so it should be a fun trip!

Summer 2011 Road Trip - Day 2

Today’s journey was much more exciting than yesterday’s! We got up, got ready for the day and headed down to the free hotel breakfast. To our surprise there was a Belgian Waffle Bar set up - Yummy! They had four waffle stations set up and then a toppings bar of syrup, peaches and strawberries. It was quite a treat! The only picture I got of the waffle bar was on my phone, so I apologize for the quality.

I was also able to get a picture of the hot tub this morning since nobody was in it. Doesn’t that look cool?

After breakfast we continued on our journey to Illinois. On the way we stopped at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and Library. Dave and I really like going to museums and finding out interesting things about historic people. We’re nerds, I know. We did learn some interesting things today, for example, Hoover did a lot of hunger/famine relief in Europe after World War I and Lou Hoover (his wife) is credited with starting the sales of Girl Scout Cookies. See, it is interesting, right?

We finally arrived at Dave’s grandparents house this afternoon and were greeted by family and food, tons and tons of food… and pie. Seriously. There are soups, stews, salads, bread and home-made pies out on the counters and everyone just sits around and chats and eats all afternoon. Ahhhhh, this is living!

Other family members are still arriving, but everyone should be here by tomorrow for Dave’s grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary party. It will be fun!

Summer 2011 Road Trip - Day 1

Well, there’s not much to report from today. We left Colorado early this morning and drove through Nebraska and on into Iowa and are spending the night in a little town outside of Des Moines. This was my view for most of the day:

Dave did most of the driving today but I took over for the the last 3 1/2 hours of the 10 hour drive. The weather was nice for most of the drive and we really enjoyed having a lot of time to talk and enjoy the scenery.

We are staying at this super cute hotel in Iowa that is themed like a lodge with “woodsy” decor. Here are a couple of pictures form the lobby:

It just feels so homey here and I love it! And, it is not expensive. I wish they had these hotels in more places where we travel. There is a pool area where the hot tub looks like it is in a rock, but I couldn’t get a picture of it without looking creepy since there were tons on people in the pool area. Maybe I’ll be able to snap a picture before we leave tomorrow.

Sorry today wasn’t more eventful. Tomorrow we plan to stop by the Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum and we will arrive at Dave’s grandparents’ house along with most of his extended family - that should certainly be an adventure!

What I'm loving Wednesday

I'm a little late getting started today, but here's what I'm loving on this beautiful Wednesday!

I'm loving that Dave and I leave Friday morning for our family reunion/vacation! I am ready for some time off of work and ready to spend more quality time with Dave! We're going to Illinois for his grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary party then headed to St. Louis with his extended family to do some touristy things. I'm going to do my best to blog every night, but no promises :-)

I'm loving that on our way home from the family reunion trip we are going to stop by Laura and Kyle's house in Nebraska! We haven't seen them since their wedding in California last year and we have soooo much to catch up on.

I'm loving this necklace that I totally splurged on and bought at a Silpada fundraiser last night. Sorry the picture kinda stinks, but it is from the online catalog. I will take a better picture when it arrives in the mail!

I'm loving that the horrible sunburn I got on Saturday is finally getting better. The sunburn was so bad on my shoulders that it blistered! Then yesterday some of the blisters popped (ew!) and it is starting to heal. Hooray!

I'm loving that some blogger/real life friends and I are cooking up a fun summer idea for the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

And I'm loving this cute duo who make my life so wonderful!

What are you loving this week? Link up with Jamie and let us know. Happy Wednesday!

Bath time for Gromit

Gromit is not a fan of baths. But, being a white dog of short stature, he tends to get dirty quickly. So I end up giving him a bath every few weeks - and he does NOT enjoy it. He has learned to tolerate it over the years but you can see in his eyes that he is not a happy camper. For his most recent bath we decided to take some pictures him before, during and after his bath to capture just how grumpy he looks at bath time. Silly dog!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

It's that time of the week to link up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm loving babies. Ok, I know loving babies sounds a little crazy but what I mean to say is that I have a serious case of baby fever. I watch all of the baby themed shows on TLC, I tear up when the Disneyland commercials come on (because I want to take my family there some day and watch my kids' faces light up with excitement) and I am super interested in all of the people in my world who have or will be having babies. I just can't get enough!

I'm loving that my work volunteer appreciation picnic is this Saturday. I have met so many awesome people who volunteer for my organization over the last year and I am so excited to be able to relax with them and get to know them on another level.

I'm loving that I get to see my Grandma and many of my aunts and cousins at my cousin Allie's bridal shower on Sunday. We are all supposed to wear hats and I'm excited to see what everyone is wearing!

I'm loving that Dave and I are leaving to go to Illinois for his family reunion/grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary party next weekend. We don't see these folks very often so it is always nice to visit and spend time with them.

I'm loving my cute dog in his duck towel.

And, of course, I’m loving my wonderful husband!

What are you loving today?

Weekend wrap up

We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend - and the weather was beautiful! Ahhhhh… I love weekends like this!

On Friday night we went to the drive-in theater which is one of our very favorite summer activities. We LOVE being able to pack our picnic dinner, bring Gromit and just hang out in the comfort of our car and watch two movies for only $6 each! We have a Honda Element and the front seats lay down to match up with the rear seats and if you sit in the back it is like sitting on lounge chairs while watching the movie out the windshield. I would go every weekend if I could (and if the movies changed that frequently).

On Saturday Dave had to work and I went to Bible study in the morning then went home to get some cleaning and laundry done. We weren’t home last weekend so it was nice to get some of those pesky chores accomplished. In between loads of laundry, vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms I managed to find this super cute headband to wear to my cousin’s bridal shower next weekend. We are supposed to wear hats and I couldn’t find a hat locally that I might actually wear again, so I decided to get this. I think it will look cute with my turquoise dress. What do you think?

My other cousin, Malisa, was also out hat shopping for the same bridal shower and she told me about this awesome phone app called GeoQpons. Have you heard of it? It pulls up coupons and deals for stores near you and there was a coupon for an extra 15% off of your purchase at Kohl’s, where she got her hat. I went in to Kohl’s to check out the hats but didn’t find any that I fell in love with. I did, however, fall in love with two shirts and bought those with my 15% off coupon. Score!

On Sunday we slept in, took a nice walk to get a newspaper and enjoyed a lovely breakfast of  muffins and mimosas. After some coupon clipping we headed out for our weekly shopping trip to get groceries (super exciting, I know). BUT there is a new King Soopers Marketplace (Kroger) that just opened up in our town so Dave and I went to go check it out. All I can say is holy cow. This grocery store is super fancy! They have a sushi bar, wing bar, cooking demos, furniture section, home decor, baby gear and more! We were even able to grind our own ‘honey roasted’ peanut butter! I hear that these marketplace stores may not be so new in other parts of the country, but we are certainly impressed with our ‘new’ store.  I think we’ll be shopping there from now on…

The rest of tonight will be spent watching the MTV Movie Awards and possibly giving Gromit a bath. It has been a pleasant and relaxing weekend! What did you do this weekend?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Welcome to another edition of What I'm Loving Wednesday! Be sure to link up with Jamie and tell us what YOU are loving today!

I'm loving the beautiful weather we have been having! It sure beats the gloomy days of the past few weeks.

I'm loving the gals (and guy) I have been working with for a whole year now and I love that they got me the most beautiful flowers to celebrate my one year anniversary working here! And no, I didn't remember to take a picture of the flowers. Sorry.

I'm loving that this is a three day work week for me! After being away from home all last weekend I need that extra day to catch up on laundry and cleaning and naps.

I'm loving that Dave and I were able to take my youngest sister, Erin, and her boyfriend, Zach, to a club for the very first time on Sunday night. They seemed to have a good time!

And, as always, I'm loving my sweet husband!