Still Jonesin’ for Sun

I have only been to Vegas once before. A few friends who shall remain nameless (Rachel and Brandon) and I decided to drive there one weekend from ORU. And yes, good ORU girls do go to Vegas…apparently. Rachel kept telling girls in our dorm that we were going to evangelize Sin City. I’m still not sure if she really thought we were going to go street witnessing or she was trying to delude other good ORU girls.

Anyway, we took off and drove 18 hours to Nevada from Tulsa and stayed one night, visited all of the casinos and drove all the way back. I still think I must have “addictive personality” written on my forehead because everything I touch in a casino throws money at me. They must think, “Let’s see if we can get her hooked.” I had no ever loving idea how to play black jack but never lost one hand. I didn’t make tons because, luckily, I’m a grab-it- and-run kind of girl, but I made enough to pay for my trip and then some!

Last week, the day we were leaving for North Carolina, I got one of those unfortunate sales calls. Since I belong to a big hotel points club, they always target me to “promote” their new properties. To make a long sales pitch short, they got me. I have been craving sun, particularly when I’m pregnant in winter…I get sooo blue!

So, Conrad and I will be heading off to very sunny and very warm Las Vegas Nevada in a few weeks! Yeah! He’s never been to the west coast and he, luckily, is also a grab-it-and-run kind of guy, so we should make it just find in Vegas. We are staying at a beautiful hotel and planning a fun trip of Shows, restauranting, and hiking in (or driving through, depending on how I feel) the canyons. And of course, visiting the outrageous casinos!

Sunshine and Belly Bops

We drove to NC this weekend to visit the Stenner’s. We had such a good time with Eli, Jayden, Ruth, and Gary! We decided we wanted to break in our new mini van, so we drove all the way to North Carolina! Isabelle did surprisingly well…thank you DVD player.

We spent the weekend relaxing and visiting with everyone and Jayden and Isabelle got to know each other a little better. Jayden is about a year older than Isabelle and is all boy. I honestly didn’t know our little girl was such a delicate flower until this trip! The first thing Jayden did was come up to Isabelle with a big grin on his face and said, “Hi Belle.” And gave her a big belly bop. Although he only outweighs Isabelle by about ten pounds, she promptly flew back and hit the ground. I don’t think she was expecting a belly bop. This really hacked her off and she threw her hands up in the air and screeched as loud as she could. This became their signature interaction throughout the weekend.

If Jayden didn’t want Isabelle playing with something he’d scoot in front of her and start pushing her out with his bum. These two only children had a weekend of hard knocks. Being the responsible parents that we are, we took lots of video and laughed a lot.

One of the best things about the trip was the 77 degree weather! Yes, I was basking in the sun and loving every minute of it! On the way home on Sunday, I slept for a while and when I woke up we were in West Virginia and the temperature had dropped over 25 degrees and it was snowing…urrrghhh. That was honestly depressing!


Since the Easter traffic was so bad on the way down we decided to leave a bit early and missed most of the festivities on Sunday. But we stopped and had a nice Easter lunch of North Carolina BBQ! Luckily we seemed to miss most of the traffic and arrived home late, but in time to get a good nights sleep.

Thank you Stenner's for having us this weekend! We had a wonderful relaxing time!

Cabin Fever

Many of you experienced this with us a couple of weeks ago, as we got the biggest snow storm in the midwest...at least the biggest in MY life time! We got over 20 inches of snow. We were snowed in all weekend long. This is how we kept ourselves occupied....

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

The Michaels, M.I.A.

Lately, my days consist of getting up before my family even wakes up, getting ready, leaving for my day. Traveling all over the state of ohio, eating eating eating all morning long. I’m starving in the mornings! By the time I get home in the evenings, I’m so spent and nausea begins to set in. I don’t want dinner, I don’t even want to SMELL dinner. After we swing some sorry excuse for food for Isabelle and Conrad, I give in and eat oatmeal around 7ish, before we get Isabelle ready for bed. I collapse into bed not long after her!

I feel like crap, BUT I’m not throwing up several times a day like I was when I was pregnant with Isabelle! Whoo hoo! I have to say that I am sooo thankful for my wonderful husband! He has more than taken up the slack for me while I’ve been out of commissions. Without a doubt, this is the man God had prepared me for! He was doing the dishes a few days ago after dinner and afterwards he sighed and said, “I love a clean kitchen.” I prayed for a clean husband, and God was faithful!

More often than not, he is the one taking care of Isabelle. He get’s her ready and off to daycare in the mornings. And when he comes home at night, he starts entertaining her and spending time with her because Mommy is usually totally tuckered out and at the end of her patience with Isabelle. And let’s be honest, I didn’t have much patience to start with, so it’s only gotten worse with pregnancy! I told Conrad that I asked God for more patience, but instead he gave me a patient husband. He thought that was a great big cop-out.

Guest Blogger

This is Isabelle. My mom is on the couch sleeping and my dad isn’t home from work, so I thought I’d blog today. Since my mom has been such a slacker lately, I feel like I need to tell you some important news…I’m going to be a big sister! My little brother/sister is due on October 16th and Mommy isn’t feeling that great, but I hear it isn’t as bad as when she was pregnant with me! So that’s good news!

So, I decided to celebrate by whipping up a big bowl of whip cream and eating it (while Mommy is sleeping, of course). It is my favorite!

Jona & Abigail's Celebration

This weekend we threw a baby shower for my sister Jona. Her baby girl is due on April 3 (tentatively named Abigail). It was so nice to see family and friends and Jona got a boatload of great baby stuff! We had the shower at a little coffee shop in Norwalk called Sheri’s, where they have a beautiful party room.

We wanted Jona to have a really nice shower…and we figured this will be the last party like this for our family so we went all out! Not to mention, I have really been thinking and praying about starting an event planning business, so I was hoping to get some great pic’s for a potential portfolio. The pictures didn’t turn out wonderful, but the party did!

I have also started to develop some party “theories.” Whether we are talking about a wedding or shower or birthday, the event may be to celebrate the person or couple, but it certainly is NOT all about the person of honor! It should perhaps reflect them, but the party or celebration should revolve around the guests attending.
Besides, if I, as a guest, took time out of my schedule to come to your event, and even spent money on a gift, the least you could do is serve good food, and maybe even give me a little gift to thank me for coming! And all of the guests who ever attended weddings with terrible food and inconsiderate hosts said “amen.”

But back to the baby shower: the party ended well with a really good time of prayer for Abigail and Jona. Thanks everyone who came and congratulations Jona!