Happy Birthday to Me!

For a long time I was dreading turning 30. It sounded so much older than I felt. Whenever I'd see a teenager I always felt closer to their age than to someone who was in their 30s or 40s. Luckily, I have come to terms with it. I've realized that my 20s was full of super fun times and it got to be all about me. I accomplished many significant miles stones and wouldn't change a thing about it. Here's a few of the highlights...

Had fun in college...A LOT of fun! :)


Met the guy of dreams


Adopted a beautiful green eye kitty



Graduated and got my first real job (guess it's still my first real job)


Got married


Adopted my favorite little monster


Built our house


Traveled all over the country









Made so many memories with friends and family that I can't even begin to show them all. Now I'm ready to begin the next chapter of my life and what a better way to do that than by starting a new decade to kick it off. So 30s here I come! I hope you are ready for me cause I am ready for you.

Seeing Stars

I was having a pretty crappy day yesterday. I won't go into all the details but lets just say it started off with little sleep and not feeling well and ended with me throwing a phone across the room. (note: I'm not usually like that but these hormones do crazy things! They seem to be hitting especially hard this week) Anyways, there was one little bright spot when I got the star award at work! They hand out a handful to people every quarter to recognize excellence. Put a smile on my face for at least a few minutes.

Arizona

It's finally official. After dealing with the bank for 7 months my parents finally got their vacation home in Arizona! It's a 2 bedroom, 1.5 (I think) bath, w/an office in a nice retirement community. I can't wait to go down and visit them. Now to everyone is wondering, no they aren't moving down there permanently. They'll just go for a few months out of the year and rent it out the other months. At least that's the plan for now. Congrats to both of them!!

Trivia

I was at the Swarm game last sat night - thanks to Angie and her annual suite game. At halftime they had all different mascots from MN come out and play lacrosse against each other. Victor the Viking, Goldie, Madonna from the Saints, TC Bear, and a whole bunch of others were there. First I have to say this was definitely the highlight of the night. There was one mascot called "Sporty" who was an inflatable man. He could move his arms but that's about it. He was tending goal on one end and must've gotten bored. When the ball came to him, he charged down to the other end of the field. Right as he took a shot into the other goal he tripped...causing his body to deflate. He stood up and his head was drooping to one side his body all saggy. The announcer kept calling for someone to help him out and "inflate Sporty!!!" It was great.

Anyways there was this mascot who was called "Cup". He was a white cup with a big M on the front. The whole time he was head banging causing the cup to appear to be tipping over. Must've been his signature move. No one there had any idea what he was a mascot for, so I was hoping someone could help me out! I tried to get a picture of him but camera phones really didn't work very well. Here's the one I got.



I tried to google it but I had no luck. Anyone have any ideas? I've heard of "Petey P Cup" but this was definitly not him. It looked more like white milk in this cup, not pee. :)

What a weekend...

My weekend was nothing like I expected it to be. I got home Friday night after seeing a movie with Angie and saw an envelope with my name on it sitting on the counter. I asked Justin what it was and if I could open it. Casually he said I could if I wanted to. This is what I found.



I was dumbfounded to say the least. I had a million questions, none of course that he would answer. I assumed my "closest friends" were Cran, Kristen & Jenny since we all had plans to go bowling the next night together. I also assumed we were going somewhere over night but that was about it. I couldn't stop smiling the rest of the night and spent a lot of my sleepless night dreaming of what we could possibly be doing.

Sat morning just as I expected Cran & Kristen showed up at my door. They looked as nervous as I felt. We are all such planners it was a little hard to let go...at first. After picking up Jenny and seeing our first envelope lead us to Starbucks we all started to relax.

Cran did a great job of blogging all that our day entailed, so instead of retyping it all I'm going to be lazy and throw up the links.

Part I
Part II

I also have my pictures of our day all uploaded and labeled. All in all it was a FABULOUS weekend. We had so many laughs and fun times. I can't thank all of our husbands enough for planning such a creative and relaxing weekend for us. And as a bonus I came home to a clean house with laundry done. Honey you get the best husband of the year award. Love you and thank you so so much!!!

Valentines Party

Today was my favorite day of the year at work - frost your own cookies and bingo day! Our building puts on parties for the tenants a few times a year and this was one of those days. I have yet to win at bingo but the cookies are so delicious they definitely make up for it.

Here's an aerial view of the frosting station.


My personally decorated cookies.

First Mickey

Disclaimer: Please ignore my outfit in this picture. Although I'm not gonna lie. If you come to my house past 6 pm on a weeknight and I'm home I will likely be wearing this exact getup.



Baby J's first present and first (I'm sure of many) Disney items from Grandpa Rick! Not sure where in the nursery this will go but I'm sure we'll find the perfect spot - and then the goal will be to keep Conner from dragging it around the house. Mickey is very spft and velvety. I'm sure Baby J will someday enjoy snuggling with him.

Olie

Tried to post this from my phone and it didn't work. Let's hope it doesn't get posted again later!



Olie's had a big year so far. She turned 6 years old and hit 100,000 miles! I thought to celebrate I'd take her and get a car wash...if it ever stops snowing.

The Dells

I had my first ever experience at the Dells this past weekend. We met Justin's family there for a belated X-mas gathering and stayed at the resort attached to the Wilderness - Glacier Canon Lodge. Overall it was fun and a pretty nice resort. We had 2 - 2 bedroom suites each with 2 bathrooms and their own kitchen, dining room, and living room. That part of it was great and I would definitely do again. I was a little disappointed with the water parks though. Not in terms of stuff to do but they were cold!! One had a lazy river where the water was nice and warm but you had to go by these indoor/outdoor hot tubs so the air was freezing! Then in the waterdome the air was nice and warm but the water was cold! I really thought being mid January they'd have everything cranked up.

So those were my complaints. I'd still go back and try again just maybe not in January if I could help it. It was great of course to see my niece and we also found out that my pregnant sis-in-law is having another girl! So exciting. Plus our babies will be 2 months apart. Very cool. Izzy is getting so big. She's 3 feet tall already (1.5 years old) Such a cutie but hard to capture on film. Here's a few of my favs.

Her favorite present from Grandpa.


Hiding behind her present.


Showing off in the play area.

Meet Baby J

Well cyber world, I'd like you to meet my baby. Baby J. Still feels so weird to me to even say that or to think that lil guy/girl is growing and moving all around inside of me! Ahhh! I'm 12 weeks pregnant and due Aug 14th. Been feeling pretty good lately. The first couple months were filled with nausea, sleepiness, and I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't very fun. But we're over the hump and ready to look forward and enjoy what is coming.

We had our first ultrasound today. I can't even describe how cool it was to see him (we're going to call it a him for now because that is what I am feeling) punching his arms, kicking his legs, arching his back. She let us listen to the heartbeat again (139 bpm) and also showed colors of red and blue that show the blood flowing through the body and brain. She even saw a little bit a fluid that was sitting in his stomach. I was in awe the whole time and couldn't stop smiling.

I think that's the details for now! Many more stories to share soon I'm sure. Thanks to everyone who had to keep my secret for so long and for all the support while I whined about my misery. :) It was much appreciated!

My fave pic from the ultrasound. Such tiny feet!


A belly pic has already been requested so here you go! Little bump showing, mostly just looks like fat. :)