Great Long Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you got to enjoy a long weekend like I did.  This weekend was another great one.

Friday night was pretty low keyed- it was my dad's birthday, so we took both him and my mom out for dinner.

Saturday was the most eventful day of our weekend. We started it off by continuing to work on the landscaping in front of our house.

Our project this week... getting the rocks out of our landscaping. The last people who own the house had river rocks in front of the house. Then they decided to expand the landscaping and they just put dirt and mulch over the rock. Let me tell you this has made digging holes for our new bushes very difficult. So Sam decided we needed to pick the rocks out of the dirt- we only got half way done.

I was excited I got to get out of the rock picking project early because I was going to the Sox's game with the girls.

 

We got to the game early to do some tailgating! This is my first time tailgating for any sport game, and it was a great time. The food and drinks is a lot cheaper when you bring your own, and it held off the need to snack when we got inside.

Just like last year- we went to the game because it was Jen's birthday. We got free tickets, we had the same great seats, and the Sox won! You can't ask for much more.

After the game, we made our way downtown to meet up with our friends Joel and Casey because they we're in town from California. These two were doing some wedding planning, and it was great to see them again.

 

It was great night. Sam was excited to hang out with his boys-

 And I'm proud to say I lived it up like a true 20-something and we didn't make it home until 4:00am.

When you're hanging out with great people you don't get to see often, going home and sleeping just seems lame.

The rest of the weekend has been more laid back- hanging out at home, having a few friends over, and making some good food. All and all- its been a great long weekend.

Child Birth = Cookie Cake

You know that expression "You want a cookie?". I used to use it all the time in reference to when someone did something that wasn't expressive, you ask them "you want a cookie?" because they're acting like they should get rewarded for some reason. Well my friends have taken it a step further and we have given our friends "cookies"- well cookie cakes when they done something either funny, dumb, or both.

Well, last night Sam and I planned to visit Mike, Ashley, and baby Brooklyn in the hospital, and I thought it would be a nice idea to bring them something so I suggested a cookie cake.  Originally, Sam didn't think child birth was "cookie cake worthy", but after a bit more discussion on the wording and cookie cake was bought...

Just in case you can't read it- it says "Congrats on the tiny human that just fell out of you!" Ashley was pretty amused, but she said " I wouldn't say "fell out" is quite right...".





Brooklyn is a prefect baby (so far at least), she didn't cry at all. We spent most of the evening visiting...

 

(Sam holding lil Slav)

holding the baby...

(Sam holding big Slav)

and having a little fun! It was a great night!

Baby Brooklyn!

It's Tuesday- so what would be better then picture of a cute baby! World meet Brooklyn. I'm excited to meet this little girl!

I totally took these picture from her auntie's Facebook because I don't have any of my own, yet. However, I'm hoping that will change in by the end of the night.

Even though I'm not blood family, I'm excited like I was. Our group of friends are very close, and so when our friends are have exciting things happening in their lives, I can't help be excited with them.

Congrats Mike and Ashley! You make pretty cute babies!

Weekend- Friends, Family, and Front Lawn

Hello everyone! Sorry about being MIA, but life has been crazy (in the too much work and no fun kind of way). And this weekend was no expectation. This weekend we had one big goal- to work on the landscaping in the front of our house. However, then in the middle of the week, Sam decided we need to have a party on Saturday, so we did both. Needless to say I want a weekend from my weekend. Here is some pictures!

Here are the pictures on our yards before we did any planting but after we cut down 7 rose bushes.





We didn't finish everything, so I'll wait to put up the "after" pictures once everything is final done.



As Sam was working on the yard stuff, I was cleaning the inside of the house for the party we had on Saturday night. As I was cleaning the bathroom I found this...

I guess my cat was really hungry and/ or really board and took it out on our towel paper. I was worried because that's a big chunk of toilet paper that is missing, but I've kept an eye on him and he's fine.

On top of just having our friends over on Saturday night, we also had Sam's family come over because it was Sam's dad's birthday!

We grilled ribs, corn on the cob, and had some side dishes. It was a prefect night to sit outside and enjoy some family time.



Speaking of birthdays- I have many important people in my life who are having birthdays this week. There is my grandma...

my dad...

 my friend Jen...

and the Mike and Ashley are having their baby.

She got induced this morning, so I'm just waiting to hear the news! I can't wait to meet the newest member of our little friends group.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Family Vacation Recap! (Better late than never!)

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. I know I did! This weekend I went down to my old college stomping ground to visit some friends and go to a wedding shower. However, this post isn't about last weekend, it's about my trip to Seattle which was the weekend before last (4/24 - 4/28). The whole reason for the trip was to celebrate as my uncle's promotion in the Army.

Being that no one other than my uncle's family lives in Washington, we had a lot of family make it out for the celebration. Here's a group picture of all of us (minus my mom and sister- they came in the next day for the party).

The promotion ceremony only lasted about 15 minutes, but all the pictures took 3x times longer than the ceremony itself.

Saturday was party day, but I started it by going with one of my other uncle's to pick up my mom and sister from the airport. It was nice that my part of the family had finally made it.

Can you tell we're related? I think this is one of my favorite pictures of us!

The party had some really good food. I got my cooking on by making the ribs. They turned out pretty good. I just should have boiled them longer, but other things needed to get cooked, so I didn't want to hog the stove.

However, I think my favorite thing on the menu was....

The "Frogmore Stew" was all cooked together in a huge trashcan, and then dumped on a camping table for all to enjoy. The flavoring used was really tasty and it was just fun having a bunch of people around the table picking from the pile. The corn was my favorite part of the whole stew.

After dinner, the games were on! For some it was sitting inside watching the Red Wings game...

Can you tell my uncle is a huge Red Wing fan?

While some of us played cards games...

 

Cousins + Apples to Apples + Drinks = Many Laughs Had

My trip to Washington was short, but I think it was a great little gateway. I got I visit with family I don't see very often and we created new memories that will last a lifetime!