I Love Family, Friends, and Fall!

What a great weekend I had! It was filled with a bunch of "F's"! It consisted of lots of much needed Family time, amazing Friends, and beautiful Fall weather! Can you believe that it actually got up to 90 degrees in NW Iowa on 10/8!? That has to be a record ;)

Mark and I left for Fort Dodge when I got off work on Thursday afternoon and made it up there in pretty good time. We met up with my parents and chatted with them awhile before I made my depart from Mark(my parents "kidnapped" me and brought me back "home, home" while Mark stayed in Fort Dodge as he was in a wedding on Saturday!)

Friday my mom, dad, and I spent some quality time together just enjoying the beautiful day. My mom and I did our walk in the morning, then got ready for the day and was off to run some errands! We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon shopping and getting in on some good bargains on such a nice afternoon. Friday night we grilled out and enjoyed the outdoors. I just love Fall :)

Before we knew it, it was Saturday and that meant time for them to bring me back to Fort Dodge to hang out with some of my favorite friends! When we got to Fort Dodge, we went to the Apple Orchard since it was such a gorgeous day and got some good apples!

 But more importantly, that is where I met Hayden James!!

Isn't he such a sweetie! He couldn't keep his eyes open! Ya know, the life of a baby is pretty rough, after all! :) We enjoyed hanging out with him for the afternoon/night!
We all met up at the Sports Page for supper and refreshments :)

Minus Mama Wendi and Hayden (Hayden was sleeping in his carrier and Wendi took the picture!)
After Mom and Dad made their departure to head back home, we just had to hit up the Darriette for some PUMPKIN ICE CREAM!!! (I don't care how full we were from supper, it was worth every minute of it!)

Darc and I shared a medium cone, we ate most of it! :)
We ended up spending our evening at a local bar/restaurant where we met up with many of our great, long lost, friends!

Here you have Me and my Bestie!!! I heart this girl. She is such a great role model and inspiration in my life.

Mark with some of his best guy friends! Jason, Kyle, Jason, and Loren

And last but not least, me and my Handsome Hunny after the wedding he was in that night.

All in all, it was a great weekend with family and friends!!! As always though, time just slips away way too fast :( We are already looking forward to our next trip up to Iowa!

In TWENTY DAYS..............

In 20 months, I mean weeks, I MEAN DAYS(!!!!) we will be saying....

ADIOS KANSAS:

AND ALOHA HAWAII!!!!!!!!!

Meeting Lauryn!

Yep! You read that right.... I finally got to meet Lauryn Jane! I fell in love the second I had her in my arms! She is one of the most beautiful babies that I have met. Oh those big blue eyes and that big smile of hers...*sigh

Here are a few pictures of that sweet little girl!

Ohh you just wait til those big, blue eyes open up..............

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There they are! :)

Me and Mama Kendra and Lauryn

So precious! I miss her already =(

I think it has finally hit me that, one of my best friends, is a Mommy... I still remember all the talks we had about the fears of having a child(pregnancy in general, labor, ect!) Now she is living it! I can't wait until my day comes now, especially after seeing her and her husband, Lucas, with their sweet little girl!

Labor Day Weekend

My Labor Day weekend seemed to have started just a little bit early(minus the fact of having to work on Friday). My long lost friend, Jen, came to KC Thursday afternoon to see me as she was planning on being in the city that weekend for a friend's wedding! We went out to eat at one of my favs; Texas Roadhouse(!) and enjoyed a night in watching a movie and catching up on life!

I went to work on Friday, hit up the gym with Mark when I got off, and then we were off to a couple friend of ours house that night!
Saturday morning consisted of deep cleaning our apartment! It took me literally most all of the morning! I had to conclude my cleaning to watch our Hawkeyes play at 11 though! :)

After the Hawkeye's game, we ventured out to do some shopping, dining, and baseball game! We purchased a discounted mini grill to get us by until we actually get a house and can use our gas grill that Kyle and Darci gave us as a going away/birthday gift last year!

After an afternoon of shopping down at Legends, we hit up Granite City for some food and refreshments before the baseball game! After we got done stuffing ourselves, we ventured on over to the baseball game where we were planning to see the KC T-Bones play. Well, not without stopping to see these that were being displayed in the parking lot of the game first!!!!!!!!!!

I even got to drive sit in/start up/rev the engine in one! ;-)

It was hard for Mark to actually 'want' to go to the game after being on a viper-high, but I pulled him away and we went and enjoyed a beautiful night at the ball park! The T-Bones ended up losing but a good time was still had!

My 3rd Home...feels that way anyway :)

Back in April, I thought my world was going to "end"; & that was when my stationary bike took a crap on me! :( One day I was riding it and totally lost all resistance! *sigh* I not only rode my bike [most] every day to maintain my weight, but also to relieve stress [jam out to some good tunes and think, all while burning calories! ;)]
Well, thankfully the weather was getting nicer so my world wasn't completely ended cause I got to walk outside! Well that lasted for a couple months until one day I about got hit my a car while in the crosswalk! There are some crazy drivers out there people! Haha.
Well, in the mean time, there was a gym that recently opened in Lenexa, Lifetime Fitness, that Mark and I were very interested in.

One Saturday we just decided to go on in there for a tour! We were pretty much knocked off our feet... it was so nice, convenient, friendly people/staff, great equipment, spacious, luxurious, and may the list go on! The facility has a big huge, spacious cardio room with elipticals, cross ramps, stair climbers, treadmills, stationary bikes. The weightroom is also very spacious with free weights, machines, treadmills and an area designated for ab workouts, ect. Now here is where we get to the good luxurious part!--> indoor/outdoor pools, hottubs(!), dry saunas and a Cafe Court! There is also two basketball courts, rock climbing wall, child care center, and even a hair salon!

It was very hard for us to turn down joining "that" day, but Mark and I wanted to talk things over before committing to a membership.
A little more time passed, the weather started getting warmer hotter(to where it was almost unbearable to do my cardio outside, unless I wanted to have a heat stroke!) and we just decided, "you know what, let's do this, what do we got to lose?! We are going to join the gym!"
And we did just that!!! We joined the gym!

I have been very dedicated to going 5 days a week, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on what is going on that weekend! THIS is what keeps me going everyday when my "fuel" is running low:

Never want to look like THIS again!....

Also:

My Marky has kept me very motivated, dedicated, and everything else that runs along those lines! This picture was taken before he participated in the Body Building Competition in May of 2006. I know I can never be as 'big' as him, and I'm not trying to be, but his hard work and dedication helps me! Thanks babe!

And last but not least:

My dear Mother/friend--- She is actually the one who got me started on Weight Watchers and she has inspired me along my whole journey! My mom has also lost some alot of weight! She introduced me to alot of yummy, healthy recipes and always blesses me with her home cooking when I come "home"! Thanks Mama!!

Family Vacation.August.2010

The first week in August, I took a week off work and headed up North to spend quality time with the family!

Friday night when I got home, we were on the run to my cousin, Austin's, going away party before he took off for the Army! Austin's unit will be leaving for Fort Irwin on the 18th. Good luck Austin, you are in our thoughts and prayers!
After a weekend of R&R(rest and relaxation), we wasted away in Okoboji-ville all week long! It was great!

I heart Okoboji!

Mom and Dad out enjoying the beautiful night.

Me and Mama

Dad even let me drive the boat!! :)

...and this was the result after one afternoon out on the water...a bit crisp

Looky what we came across! Okay, for those of you who don't know, which I'm sure most every does know; but Mark's idol is Arnold Schwartzenegger. So yeah, I did a lil pose for him!

We went to the Dry Dock one of the nights to eat...view of the Lake

Thursday afternoon, our vacation in Okoboji came to an end :( but there was still more to look forward to! Something that almost everyone looks forward to!...... Family time!!! Okay, not only family time, but Wedding time! :-] My cousin Evan got hitched! Congrats Evan and Jenica!

Laura, Shayla, and I at the wedding

Mom with her two favorite girls :)

Laura, Shayla and I again

All in all, a fun time was had by all and went by way too fast, as always! Sunday morning came and this girl headed back down South!

#1 Fans of........

Our Iowa Hawkeyes!!

Iowa vs. Iowa State.... yep! Iowa won! :)

Me reppin' the Hawkeyes! My new shirt our besties, Kyle and Darci, got me for my Birthday!

Me with one of the biggest Hawkeyes fans EVER! Her and her hubby, Kyle, have season tickets and are their #1 fans at every home game! (they came down to visit last year when the Hawks were away)

Even Abby got to join in on watching a game with us!! Gooo Hawks!

Kansas City Chiefs!!! (fingers crossed for a good season! :))

& last but not least, Goo Royals!