Fun times!

Class last night went well.  It was very short and we were done by 8:30!  It was very nice!  I went to dinner with 4 of my 5 team project members to celebrate.  We have gotten to know each other very quickly and they are fun people.  We all consider ourselves very lucky to be project team mates and we learn a lot from each other.  We had a nice dinner.  We are also having a class bonfire on Friday night so we can meet each other's families.  This is (from left to right) Kayla, Michelle, myself, and Dustin.

Today is my Dad's birthday and I hope he is having a wonderful day!  He had a fall at work last week and broke most of the ribs on his left side.  He's recovering, but it's a slow and painful process, so I hope he's enjoying his day as much as possible.

Celebrations!

I have a few celebrations this week!  Last night was my Dear Mother In Law, Kathy's, birthday celebration.  She likes a local Chinese resteraunt called Lotus Gardens, so we went there for dinner.  It was so yummy!  Always a fun time with them! 

I am also celebrating tonight as it's the final Comm II class I have!  Communications 1 and 2 have been intense, so I am glad to put them behind me.  My teammates and I are going to dinner after class tonight to celebrate!  I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to hold on to my 4.0 GPA after this class.  YAY!  I have one week off class, then I start Intro to American Business on Nov 1.  Weeeeeeeee! 

Great weekend... And HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHY!

First and foremost, today is my wonderful Mother-in-Law's birthday!!  Happy Birthday, Kathy!!  I am so blessed to have amazing in-laws.  They have truely welcomed me into their lives and into their hearts.  I could not have hoped for more supportive, loving, and open people in my life.  Kathy is one of the most honest, loyal, devoted, generous and supportive women I have ever known.  She is an amazing mother and I strive to be more like her as a woman and a person.  Love you, Kath! 

I had a wonderful weekend!  My mom and I got to go to Time Out For Women.  We have made the trip an annual tradition and I needed the time with my mom so badly.  TOFW lifts my spirits and refreshes my mind and heart.  I always have so much fun with my Mom and it's so fun to get away with her.  We enjoyed uplifiting talks and music.  We had a gorgous drive over to Cincinnati.  The leaves were awesome!
Here are some photos from the weekend:

I enjoy this time of year so much!  The colors are beautiful!  The air is so crisp!  Saturday night we went to the annual Doty family Bonfire with Kathy's family. It was a wonderful night for a campfire.  I snapped a few photos on my way to work this morning.  I love my morning drive!

Family pictures

Hey!!  Here I am again with another "Long time, no post" post.  I have been keeping super busy and trying to have some fun!
Last weekend, DMIL, DFIL, DH and I did family pictures.  It was a PERFECT day and we had a blast having fun and posing for the camera.  Even DFIL posed and played along!  LOL!
Here are a few from the day!  They turned out GREAT and I can't wait to see the rest!

Whew! What a week!

TGIF!!  I am so glad this week is over!  Whew!! It's been a rough week.  It came to a head last night when Nick and I got rear ended it my brand new car!  Booo!  What a bummer.  I know it will be fine, but the timing stinks! (I guess there isn't really a good time for this, but ya know...)

The girl that hit us has insurance and her company already has things moving.  Because the car is brand new and because it's having computer issues, I want to have the repairs done at the dealership.  Unfortunately, the dealership is booked up and can't start the work for 2 weeks!  The repairs will take about 2 weeks, so my pretty car won't be pretty again for at least 5 weeks!  Double bummer!

Here's hoping for a better week next week!

Happy Anniversary!!

8 years ago today, I married my best friend and my soul mate.  Nick has been the greatest blessing in my life.  The moment I met him, I knew there was something special about him.  He is the most supportive and wonderful husband and I don't think I could have crafted a more perfect fit for myself.  I truly believe that we wished on the same star for each other years and years before we met and our destiny's were linked from the beginning.  My life is amazing and I thank God for all that Nick is. 

Being Nick's wife has brought so many other blessings into my life as well.  I inherited his family and I love them like my own.  John and Kathy have been an amazing source of support and love and I cherish them.  Not to mention all of Nick's extended family.  They are so awesome!

Nick is one of those people that is sincerely good to his core.  His parents should be awarded some kind of Nobel Peace Prize or something.  They should certainly teach classes!  People can't help but be drawn to Nick.  Animals love him.  Kids adore him.  He is genuine and sincere and honest. 

I am not sure what I did to deserve him.  In fact, I am sure most days I don't deserve him, but I am so thankful that he loves me just the same way I love him.  8 years and each day gets better. 

I got some very nice anniversary gifts...

Beautiful Flowers:

And a new car.  Yes, really.  It's a 2011 Outlander Sport.  I love it!  I will post pictures soon!

What a great weekend!

Our weekend was everything I was hoping for!  We left right after work on Friday and drove to Bloomington, IL.  It was a beautiful drive and we made great time!  It look us about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  We found the hotel, unloaded our stuff and went for an adventure. 
First, we wanted to find the location of the MOD.  We knew we were meeting up with people early Saturday morning and wanted to have some idea where we were going.  We drive around town for a while with the help of "Ella" (our navigation system).  Once we felt comfortable with where we were going, we had dinner and headed to bed.
The next morning, we got up early and went to meet the "guys".  Nick has been talking with a lot of these guys online and was looking forward to meeting them.  We all met up and "oooh'd" and "ahhh'd" over the cars for a while.  There was another couple there that we hit it off with quickly and we spent most of the day with them. 
MOD itself was really cool!  Some of the cars were amazing and you could tell that people put a lot of love into their cars.  There were door prizes and Nick ended up winning a $350 cold air intake filtration system.  That was really cool!  They served lunch and we took a factory tour.  We got to see the assembly lines and got to see a real robot work.  It was neat! 
After MOD, we went to a local mall and walked around and then had Japanese for dinner.  We went and saw Money Ball.  Good movie! 
Sunday we slept in, had breakfast and hung out until check out time.  The drive home was uneventful.  Last night, we watched the Colts game and had dinner with Matt and Trina.
It was just the kind of weekend I needed!  Relaxing!  No stress.  Just nice.  I was able to get my homework done before we left, so that was really nice to not have to think about!
Today, back to the grind...  :-)  I did move desks at work and now I have a much bigger cube.  I love it!