Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Where are we? Texas or something?!

One of the things that I love about this time of year is the bitterly cold weather. I'm a strange one that enjoys having to put on double-layers of clothes, gloves, hats and scarves just to go outside for five minutes. It is also something that Matt likes since he is used to spending Christmas in Illinois, where it is almost always snowing and atleast in single digits.

We kept watching the forecast all week. The meteorologists were expecting unusually high temperatures for this time of year, but I kept blowing it off, saying that you can never really trust a weather forecast, especially in Kansas where the weather changes every 10 minutes.

Well... this time, they got it right.

It was literally NOT COLD out Christmas day and ridiculously warm the day after Christmas. We all received an e-mail on Christmas day from my uncle Steve, who lives in Houston, who said that it felt like the tropics down there so my aunt Sherron was going to turn the air conditioning to 68 to make it feel a little more Christmasy! I only mention this because it felt like the tropics here as well! It was 71 out last night!!

Ofcourse, today the weather has done its normal switcharoo -- it's cold out. Not as cold as I like, but it's in the 30's... and there is an ice/snow storm making its way towards Wichita as I type.

So... another year passes and my hopes of a white Christmas have failed. Apparently Mother Nature and Old Man Winter decided to really screw with our minds this year!

Welcome to Kansas -- Land of Dorothy, Toto and really f'd up weather!

Christmas time is here...

Today is my last day of work since I'm taking tomorrow off... and I am so happy! I've decided I'm fine with coming to work on a Monday as long as it means I don't have to come back the next day! :)

Matt and I leave for Sedan tomorrow afternoon. Luckily, I was in Sedan this weekend so I was able to take almost all of of our gifts home. If I hadn't made the trip, it would be a tight squeeze trying to get everything in the car to go home, including our dog and his kennel!

Why was I home this weekend when I was only a few days away from being there for longer than 24 hours? Well, I made the 1.75 hour drive home to a) get my hair highlighted and trimmed - which hadn't been done in months - and b) to go to the Nutcracker ballet on Sunday.

The Nutcracker used to be an annual trip for my mom and I. In fact, because of The Nutcracker and Ms. Shoup (a former teacher at Sedan), I met Natalie Shoup, who had come to down to visit her sister for the weekend. Natalie went with us to the ballet and then about 10 years later, she became a Kappa! Fun (and true) story!

I hadn't been to the ballet since I was in 4th or 5th grade... but I'm not sure why I stayed away for so long. I LOVE the ballet! I think its because I really just want to be as poised and graceful as the ballerinas are rather than a very loud cheerleader (though my personality was not meant for the ballerina world!). I find myself mesmerized by the dancing though and am determined to have one of my children be a dancer... and have her teach me everything so we can dance together. Can't you picture that? My poor children are going to be embarassed their entire lives by their parents.

Anywho, the ballet was a good time. And any time spent with both my mom and sister is always an entertaining time so I'm glad I made the 1.75 hour drive... even though I'm doing it again in 24 hours. :)

If I don't see or talk to any of you before then, have a very Merry Christmas and a happy, happy New Year!!!

Out of Hand

I apologize for my incessant amount of blogging today, but I couldn't keep this one away.

Someone posted this website on their facebook status -- www.makemebabies.com. You upload pictures of you and your signifigant other to see what your future child will look like. I thought, "Oh, why not! Might be fun!"

Boy, was I wrong!

Just look at the kid's picture... doesn't he look like a little shit?!! Seriously, the first thing I thought of when I saw the picture was, "What a little shit!"

So... To those that thought I might get on the baby track any time soon, you can kiss that thought buh-bye. All because of this little shit's picture!

PS. It doesn't help to change up the pictures of myself or Matt -- I tried it!

PPS. I also did not pick out the duck outfit... it might be cute if it was on a baby, but not a 3-year-old -- he reminds me of a pissed off Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" when he has to put on the bunny outfit his aunt made him!

`Twilight' sequel speeds ahead for November 2009

Let's hope Kristen Stewart's (who plays Bella) attitude changes in the next movie...


`Twilight' sequel speeds ahead for November 2009

LOS ANGELES — "Twilight" fans have a short wait for the next installment of the vampire saga.

Summit Entertainment spokesman Paul Pflug says "New Moon" is following just 12 months after the first movie, opening Nov. 20, 2009, over the same weekend as "Twilight" this year.

Summit has tapped Chris Weitz ("The Golden Compass") to direct "New Moon," based on the second book in Stephenie Meyer's best-selling series about the dangerous romance between a teen (Kristen Stewart) and a vampire (Robert Pattinson) fighting his bloodsucking instincts.

Weitz is taking over the franchise from "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke. "Twilight" has shot to $150 million at the box office since debuting Nov. 21.

Cold as...

Well, I don't know what is this cold (maybe Edward Cullen's hands... anyone read it yet?!). But it's cold... And I'm one of the strange ones that absolutely LOVES it! And to top it all off, it started snowing last night and today, I woke up to an couple of inches of it everywhere!

Yes, it means a longer commute to work due to the slow driving and yes, it can lead to accidents... but it's Christmas! There is suppose to be snow! I love it...

And if at any point in the day I feel like I need a boost, I will head to the front door and stare at the snow! This is why I can never live in a place there is only one season ... hot.

Last night, I ventured out into the wild that is anywhere revolved around Christmas gifts. It was atleast five below outside at times, but I was in the stores sweating my face off! I walked into Forever 21 and just started throwing things over my shoulder (that place needs CARTS!) and almost asked the cashiers if I could leave my stuff on the counter!! :) But I accomplished alot in 3.5 hours... I have a few more things to get and I will be done. Today though, I must get my cousin Connor's gift in the mail so it gets to Virginia in time. The real question here is why am I doing this when Matt was the one that drew Connor's name for our cousin Christmas??? Who knows...

Anywho, I hope everyone is staying warm and if you are getting snow, that you are enjoying it!

Lastly, welcome Stephanie Siders to the blogging world! I have complete faith in your ability to produce great reading material! :)

Wrong...

But VERY funny!

It's Santa's Gmail Inbox...

Click on the picture next to the blog entry. Make sure you read all of the e-mail subjects and who they are from!

Baby's First...

Pictures of Addison's first Turkey Day and encounter with Santa...

Love!

Christmas Shopping

I absolutely love to do it! I could care less if I get any gifts in return, but I LOVE shopping for other people! Matt and I found a few things last weekend when we were in Tulsa, but I ventured out by myself this weekend (no offense, but alot more can be accomplished when you don't have a guy on your tail all day long).

Last year, I found myself doing alot of online shopping because 1) Tulsa at Christmas time is hell (not right, I know, but true) 2) there are great deals to be found on the Web and 3) Tulsa at Christmas time is hell! I recall sitting in traffic for nearly 30 minutes one night just trying to get from one city block to the next. That is not my definition of fun Christmas shopping!

In Wichita, you don't really have to deal with traffic on the roads as much as you do the traffic in the stores - it's like someone posted a sign that said 'EVERYONE GO TO THIS STORE TODAY!!!!!". Holy cow -- walked into Gordman's and turned right back around to go to my car! The lines were ridiculous!

I did find some good stuff though... I have knocked out a few people on the list. Next weekend, I will tackle even more. I did do some more online shopping for things for Matt, but other than that... I've stuck to the stores this year. Only because it's possible to accomplish things in Wichita.... and Tulsa was hell (did I mention that yet?!).

Happy Shopping everyone!

PS. Matt and I got our tree up on Thursday, somehow ended up in a fight over something and didn't get to decorate until Saturday afternoon -- but we are very pleased with it! We also got our first stockings... I love Pottery Barn! :) Pictures will follow when I get my camera back from the antique store -- accidentally took it out to take pictures of a cool cabinet and then went off and left it! Oops! Thank goodness the lady knows me and my mom really well (we frequent her store!).

BCS Rule Change

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

"Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking."

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event."

German Chancellor Adolph Hitler said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces."

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented "
France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2."

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.

Interesting take... :)

Update

Matt and I went and saw 'Twilight' tonight.

Warning: Do NOT go see the movie until you finish the book. The book is 50 times better (as they always are) than the movie and you might think I'm insane if you go and watch it, wondering why I would like the series so much!

Though I did get a great laugh when, on the car ride home, Matt told me he could take Edward down. I tried to remind him that Edward - a vampire, remind you - has the strength of 100 grizzly bears and can kill in an instant... he couldn't believe that I thought Edward would be able to snap him in two.

Poor guy.... :)

New Obsession

I guess I easily fall into obsessions. Way back in the day, it was New Kids on the Block, followed by Hanson. I was (and still am) a huge Harry Potter fan. My obsessions usually involve heavy internet stalking, blog reading, bio reading, etc. It's a full-on obsession.

And I officially have a new one.

Twilight.

Yes, you've probably heard about it. The movie came out a few weeks ago. I for one knew very little about the four-book series until a radio DJ was talking about it on his morning show, saying that he was really into it and was comparing it to Harry Potter (my ears perked up because like I said, HP is one of my obsessions!).

I didn't really think anything else about it until I went to lunch with two of my coworkers. One of them, for some reason (which I understand completely now) was talking about the books and I was asking her questions about it and all she could tell me was that it was incredible! She said that she bought the first one and couldn't put it down. And with that, I asked her if I could borrow the first book, 'Twilight', from her. She brought it to me the next week. And from there... I'm a believer.

I started book one on Tuesday and finished it Thursday, during Thanksgiving at my aunt's. I got into a very deep conversation with my 13 & 14-year-old cousins (don't judge!) about the book and the movie. Abby has the entire series and it took all of her not to give me every detail of the other three books... I had to shush her many times and do earmuffs to myself so I didn't hear of any details that would kill the final books for me!

She asked if I wanted to borrow the second book, 'Eclipse'... and while trying to make sure Matt didn't see (apparently since my new obsession began, I have talked very little to him because I have been doing nothing but reading!), I shook my head yes and ran away with book two!

Well... I started book two on Thursday and finished it early this morning.

I know, I know. You're thinking I'm insane. You can't believe that I would spend so much time reading a silly book series.

But you cannot dog on me until you go and read the first three chapters of 'Twilight'. If after that, you still think I'm insane, it will be fine to let me know! But not until then!

I'm going to the movie tomorrow night and cannot wait... though I'm worried for my husband. I have a huge crush on a certain vampire (yep, the books deal with vampires -- again, hold your tongue!) who is perfect and beautiful... only problem with him is that he likes to drink blood. But really, can I really hold that against him?! :)

SO.... when you get a chance, buy the book. You can get it for $5 in paperback almost anywhere. I personally will reimburse you $5 if you don't like the book and don't fall in love with Edward Cullen (in the movie, the Edward characte also played Cedric in Harry Potter... for those HP fans).

Now go find your nearest bookstore. Happy reading!

(PS. Meg, I know you have a secret passion for teenage love dramas -- Friday Night Lights, Gossip Girl. You must go get this book and read when Stella is napping!)

Pic 1: 'Twilight' poster
Pic 2: I have a crush on a vampire. Do you see why?! :)

I'm so thankful for...

My husband of 3 months, but BF for almost 8 years (WOAH), my wonderful family, Coke products, Wrigley, the Clark's, Internet, antique stores, smart-ass humor, Harry Potter, cold weather, agenda planners, Christmas smells, paychecks (that I was just handed!), babies and two-year-olds, Manhattan, Sex & the City, cute coats, the Doty clan, cheap gasoline, online banking, wedding dress preservation, pilgrims, Fatcatrocks.com, text messages, phone calls from Annie, routines, Christmas music, paid-off credit cards!, Dillon's, work holidays, a clean house, 320 and our little mascot baby, Kappa's young and old (meaning my friends and Lauren's friends!), my little Grand Am that made it through four years of hell, memories, Hanson, snow, Sedan, hot tubs, Facebook, the Muppets, traditions, K-State, lake houses, Bob, Sports Daily, Mac computers, Aunt Sherron's goolash and on time flights.

I didn't even go back and look at my list from last year!

I am very blessed and very thankful for the life that I have... I should probably pinch myself every day! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tis the Season...

Yes, it is still November... I know. And I also know that we still haven't celebrated Thanksgiving. But I decided that today would be the day I dig out all of my Christmas decorations and get to work. Matt and I are leaving on Wednesday to go home and won't be come back to Wichita until Sunday. For that reason, I feel that it was OK to start putting up the Christmas deco's!

It was quite the productive weekend... We cleaned the basement yesterday afternoon (because we decided that we should really start to make an attempt to finish it sometime in the near future!), which entailed LOTS of sweeping and cleaning of all the dust and 'extra stuff' that fell to the floor while the ceiling and walls were worked on in August. We decided we are not the smartest human beings in the world when we came upstairs to see our entire house coated in white dust (we had the shop vac on in the basement and it stirred everything up which traveled upstairs!). I was trying to not have a nervous breakdown (since I'm a CLEAN FREAK and I had just cleaned that morning!). I waited until this morning to get out the wet vac and get to work!

Once I got the floors cleaned, I decided to rearrange the furniture so we'd have a good spot for our Christmas tree ... after some careful planning, I started moving! Rearranging furniture, decorating and cleaning are my versions of f-u-n!!! :) I spent the majority of the morning and early afternoon doing those three things and in the end, I think it turned out pretty well! I have some things I still want to do to the outside to spice it up - looks a bit drab! But I'm pretty content with the inside. I have a few of the cylinder vases to get from mom's next weekend to bring back and fill with ornaments and after that, I should be done!

Next up, Christmas tree shopping. Matt asked if I'd just like to cut one down. I said, "You mean from a Christmas tree farm? FUN!" He replied with, "Uh... it would be from a farm!" I'm not sure I want to make an attempt at searching for a tree at Hillcrest Farms... that's why God invented Christmas tree farms... or Lowe's (that is now conveniently located about a block from our house).

Happy decorating!

I Know... It's bad...

I do realize that my obsession with reality TV is a bit ridiculous. I have already confessed my love for 'The Bachelor' & 'The Bachelorette' (sidenote: did you all see that Jesse and DeAnna broke up? GO FIGURE!) and I'm an avid 'Hills' watcher (why, I have NO idea, other than that the show is my maiden name!). I have a love for Bravo TV, especially when it comes to 'Project Runway', which unfortunately is moving to Lifetime and I'm just not sure if it will be the same. But I have also been one to flip channels and land on 'The Real Housewives of...'.

I think I'm just intrigued (and envious) of these people who have so much money that they don't really know what to do with it, except brag about it and exploit it on national television. The latest version of 'The Real Housewives' was set in Atlanta, which is why I found the article below so fascinating... seems as if the housewives aren't as friendly or have as much money as they make us believe. I know... lying on reality TV?! :)

http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/how-real-are-the-real-housewives--40

Enjoy, you secret reality TV lovers!

Christmas Memories

Most people know that my two favorite holidays are Christmas and my birthday... celebrating Jesus and celebrating me! :)

Christmas time has always held a special place in my heart, though. Growing up, every year was the same... the Texas crew would roll into town a few days before Christmas. We'd wait at grandma's door all day long until they actually pulled up and from that point on, we only left grandma's to sleep, shower and change clothes. The rest of the time was spent together with the family. We'd do a cousins outing (which meant trying to squeeze 10 bodies into one suburban ... poor Neil was always sent to the trunk!) to Tulsa usually on the 23rd and on the 24th, everyone (Barnes and Hills clans) would come to our house for soup and sandwiches before we went to Christmas Eve mass. Christmas morning we would wake up early, open gifts with the parents and siblings, wait for the Hills side of the family to arrive, eat breakfast and open gifts, then off to grandma's for the rest of the day.

It was a tradition.

That tradition has evolved a bit since those wonderful days. Our Texas crew no longer makes the 11-hour car ride up for Christmas and there is no more waiting at grandma's door. Our Tulsa trip has been downsized to a Bartlesville trip that usually consists of me, Jordan, Lauren, Daniel, Will and Neil (always the trooper!). Christmas day has found us going to a movie in Bartlesville in the afternoon because we don't know what to do with ourselves!

Now, it may sound like I'm complaining about the change. Yes, I do get sad sometimes thinking about the transformation of our tradition, but when I think about why I have enjoyed the tradition so much, it all goes back to family. I am blessed to be apart of such a large, loving and happy family.

I do hate that we are not all able to be together around the holidays like in the past and do get sad thinking that my precious baby cousins - Annie, Luke and Stella - probably won't come to Sedan for a Christmas, but we are still able to carry out most of our traditions such as Christmas Eve dinner and the cousin trip. I will continue to call Seth when we take our Bartlesville trip and whine about how he needs to be there to be the head honcho -- I don't like being in charge and I'm only dealing with about 5 people. Him and Meg had double that and never lost their minds when ordering seven Happy Meals, three quarter pounders - one with cheese, one without onion and ketchup and eight cokes, one orange juice and one Dr. Pepper.

So... whatever your traditions are around the holidays, cherish them. They might not be around forever, but the memories will be!

Merry Christmas... a little early! :)

PS. This all stems from Wichita radio stations beginning their Christmas music playing yesterday! Don't tell Jenna, though -- she is very against Christmas anything pre Thanksgiving!

Check 'er out!

My mom is famous!

'Faith at a Crossroads'

http://www.ksn.com/news/extra/34463879.html

One Great Night...

When I heard they were coming to town, the first person I alerted was Jenna, since her birthday was on Monday and I thought this would be a great way to celebrate! Unfortunately, Jenna was unable to attend. But then Lauren stepped in and decided to come down so I'd have someone to go with. She was also a big fan back in the day so it wasn't like she was being forced. Yes folks... we saw Hanson last night!

First, I must say this: I definitely reverted back to my 14-15 year old days when they actually came on stage last night. I've been to many concerts in my lifetime and have never been one to have a freakout moment... but when it is your favorite boy band from a time in your life when your heart would melt whenever you heard them, you are allowed a freakout moment (mine involved high knee kicks and prancing around Lauren while screaming!).

BUT... I also must say that there are people in this world that are MORE freakish than I when it comes to Hanson. Some girls decked their car out in Hanson symbol drawings, others wore very little clothing on their overweight bods and jumped up and down, while pumping their fists in the air and jumping on Lauren's feet the entire night! I can officially say I was not one of those girls! But I do appreciate their love for them and am happy that Hanson still has a following ... might be strange girls, but hey, it's a following!

Lauren and I got there a little early and listened to the opening acts. One band was a bunch of major tools that actually brought up the election and asked who voted for Obama (seriously, do they not know where they are?!!!) and the next group was pretty fantastic! His name is Matt Wertz ( in case you want to check him out) and he played acoustic with a buddy... seriously had goose bumps through every song he played, which to me always signals 'good singer'!

Finally, Lauren and I finished our drinks (very strange to be able to drink at a Hanson concert -- the last time I saw them, I was about 6 years away from the legal drinking age and now I'm about 6 years past the legal drinking age)! We moved to the side so I could try and get picture of them when they walked from their dressing room to the stage. Once they walked out, I was jumping up and down too much to get a shot of them walking on! :)

In the end, we had an awesome time! They played alot of their new stuff, but also alot of their oldies -- Mmmbop, Where's the Love, I Will Come to You, Penny and Me, If Only ... such a good time! Taylor (who officially does NOT look like a 14-year-old girl anymore ... PS. I NEVER thought he looked like a girl!) thanked everyone for sticking with them for 10 years ... Almost made me shed a tear for a few reasons: I can't believe it was that long ago that I was carrying my discman all around Hawaii listening to only Hanson all day every day , I can't believe that I'm married to Matt and not Taylor Hanson and I hope that 10 years from now, I'm still jumping up and down for them (and trying not to break a hip!).

Another Update

Update 1: I have a job! :) I accepted the communications manager position with Wichita Festivals and start on Monday. I'm really excited to a) have a job b) return to the working world c) still only have to be at work by 9! d) be working towards a project I actually care about! I think it will be a great place to be!

Update 2: I successfully helped out with the Clark family cattle sale! I can honestly tell you I had no idea what was going on, but was proud to be apart of it. Though I'm not sure if I was cut out to be a farmer's wife, I do know that Matt and I were ready to go back to the farm once we got back home. Life is not fast-paced there. It's a nice break from the real world!

Update 3: Apparently as of 45 minutes ago, K-State's head football coach announced that he is resigning from his position. I'm not quite sure my thoughts on this. On one hand, he has been here for only three years and is losing only three seniors from this year's team so next year could be a breakout season. On the other hand, I have not seen anything that shows improvement week to week. I'm not a big fan of change, but I am atleast big enough to say when something isn't working and try to improve, switch up or adjust to become better. I haven't felt that coach Prince has really done that ... he just says, "We played badly and it's my fault." It will be hard to find anyone to replace Bill Snyder and I feel badly that Prince had to be the man to try and follow in his footsteps. Hopefully, we can finish the season on a high note for his sake and look to the future to find the best fit to bring K-State football back!

Update 4: I did cast my ballot for the second time in my life yesterday afternoon. Luckily, I went after the lunch crowd and did not wait in line. I had sent in for an advance voting ballot and it arrived in my mail yesterday, which was not helpful! So, I voted ... and though the election of the president did not go as I had hoped, listening to Obama's speech last night gave me hope. It also just reminded me of what an amazing speech writer he must have --- that was me being a pessimist I suppose, but anyone can talk the talk (especially him since he is such a wonderful speaker). I just hope he can walk the walk! I will say this though ... I do believe in the power of the vote. I don't think I would have said it ever before, but I get it now. It was very cool to be apart of that election yesterday!

That is all for now! Everyone enjoy the rest of their week!

Girls Just Wanna Eat Fo-od

I'm stealing both of these pictures, but look at what big girls Stella and Addison both are! According to both moms, they are loving their cereal! :) And who wouldn't?! One can only take so much milk, right?! PS. I love bragging about them, can you tell?!

Meg also sent pictures of Stella in her Halloween costume -- obviously she wins cutest baby in a fruit category!

Update

Got a phone call today from Wichita Festivals. They offered me the job! YAY! :)

I did tell them about my interview with Sullivan, Higdon and Sink tomorrow ... so, I won't be able to give them an answer until after tomorrow.

We shall see... good news is that atleast I got a job!!!

Seems strange...

How is it that I have been on the job hunt since July and had no nibbles and in the span of a week, I've had two (hopefully three) big bites?!! Everything happens all at once for me when it comes to jobs... so strange.

I have my second interview with Wichita Festivals on Friday. I had "homework" from them that I had to have completed by today at noon so I finished those up last night. I wanted so badly to have them in by Sunday, but even though it was just two questions, I wanted the answers to be perfect. I was about to email my responses back last night, but right before I sent them, I changed my mind on one of my answers and had to rework it. So I think that's a good sign ... I want the answers to be great because I'm really interested in this job.

Last night, I got an email from Tessa (Kappa sister!) about a job opportunity with Sullivan, Higdon and Sink (http://www.wehatesheep.com -- great website -- pretty funny and smart ass'ish, which is my kind of humor!) as a Team Coordinator. She gave me the email of one of the women at the company and I sent her my resume. I just got off the phone with her about 10 minutes ago and it went great! In the first three minutes of the conversation, after explaining how Tessa and I know each other, I discovered that she is a Kappa! She went to Texas Tech (which I won't hold that against her, no one is perfect!) and said she has forgotten how to do our 'secret handshake' and I said I've never been able to do it correctly so we can re-learn together (hello corny Allyson!). Anyway, she talked about the open position, the skills for the position (extremely high-level of organization -- me to a T, right?!) and the atmosphere of the company. I'm going to meet with her next Wednesday to tour the offices and meet with staff. We'll see how it goes!

So, like I said last week, things are starting to look up. I just hope that something works out so I can get back into the working world!

PS. Did I mention that the job at Sullivan, Higdon and Sink (otherwise known as SHS ----- Go Blue Devils!) is a 'jeans environment'... meaning very rarely will you see them in suits! My kind of place!

This is not a Joke.

Because I could have sworn on my life that she was lying to me! But after five different shots of "You're lying to me!" thrown at her, she even threw an actual due date at me!

Who am I talking about, you ask?

None other than the beautiful, the wonderful, the magnificent .... Megan Little! Yes folks .... Stella's gonna be a big sister! :)

Meg said she is eight weeks along and is due May 31, four days before Stella's first birthday! I, ofcourse, am ecstatic that our large family just continues to grow!

Before the wedding, Meg told me that Matt and I should start trying for a baby next summer because that's when they were going to start trying for baby no. 2... looks like baby no. 2 will BE here by next summer, instead!

Congrats to my cousins... I am so happy for you! And can't wait to hear some new baby names .... Shamus, anyone?! :)

Things are starting to look up... question mark?

The day started off lovely ... a phone call at 6:52 a.m. from the Andale school district asking me to sub for high school social studies... and school starts at 8:15 ... and Andale is 15-20 minutes away.

OK.

So this means no washing of the hair, no fixing of the hair. Straight pony tail. This also means try to find suitable attire that doesn't require any ironing. Hard to find when you've been out of 'work clothes' environment for 3 months! I eventually found something that did need some slight ironing, but it was OK because I took a 2-minute shower, fixed my hair in 30 seconds, had my makeup on, lunch made and was out the door by 7:18. What substitute teacher shows up 30 minutes before school starts? And for that matter, what real teacher shows up 30 minutes before school starts? The answer is I do! But that was the question the first block students were asking me when they walked in ... apparently their real teacher doesn't show up until after the bell has rung. My guess is this must just be a social studies/government teacher persona because guess what we did today -- watched movies! That's exactly what we did when I was in high school social studies every day ... then filled out work sheets!

I digress.

The day went very well... I'm a big fan of Andale High School. Every time I walked out a door, one of the kids held the door open for me. I was pleasantly surprised ... and just happy that they were not holding up to what the typical high schooler is like nowadays -- stoners, with no classroom manners or respect, and could care less about why they are really in school.

So I left school around 3:20 p.m. and had a new voicemail. It was from the president of Wichita Festivals. She was calling me about a job I had applied for and wanted me to call her back about setting up an interview. YES!

I returned her phone call once I got home and I have an interview on Friday at 9 a.m. The other good job possibility is the director of biddy basketball for the Salvation Army-- Matt's good pal Ted has the hook-ups for me so I have already sent in my resume to the director and will be hearing from them next week!

I can only hope that the tide is turning (when it comes to the job front). I've been starting to become a major Debbie Downer and pessimist about it all... which is very uncharacteristic of me! So ... I beg of all of you who read this blog. Please cross your fingers for me! Ally needs job ASAP.

So this is why I think things are starting to look up .... but I will leave it as a question mark until further notice. :)

One week later...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom! She turns the big 5-1 today, but doesn't look a day over 38! :)

Mom, I wish I could reminisce about the day you were born, like you do when its my birthday, but instead, I will leave you with this:

On this day in 1957, Sputnik was launched into orbit (recall the 'Friends' episode where Ross dresses up as a potato spud and called himself 'Spudnik' - one of my all time favorites!).

On this day in 1963, the first prototype Learjet a mass produced business jet takes off in Wichita, Kansas on it's maiden test flight. (Hey, hey! Who knew your oldest daughter would end up living in this famous city!)

On this day in 1982 (only seven days after the birth of your first born): following it's success in London ( 1981 ) , The Musical "Cats" Opens at the Winter Garden Theatre On Broadway with Betty Buckley as Grizabella. The show runs for a total of 7,485 performances in New York ending it's run on September 10 2000. (What a day!)

On this day in 2001: Following the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon a U.S.-led coalition begins attacks on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by American and British forces hoping to locate and destroy the terrorist Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida organization. (WOW! I didn't even realize... )

On this day in 2003: the Governor of California Gray Davis becomes the second governor to be recalled ( mismanagement of the state budget ) in American history first was ( North Dakota's Lynn J. Frazier 1921 ). On November 17 after the recall election Republican Arnold A. Schwarzenegger is elected. (Also another historic day for our nation!)

So mom, if you are wondering if anything of real relevance ever happened on Oct. 7, you can see that you being born is 100 times more relevant than any of the other things that have occurred on your birthday (even the launching of 'Cats'!).

Happy Birthday!

Life is not fair...

And I know, I know .... who ever said that life was fair? But I mean... COME ON! This guy left his girlfriend stuck to a toilet seat... and he wins $20,000! UNBELIEVABLE!

Boyfriend of woman stuck to toilet wins $20,000

GREAT BEND, Kan. - A Kansas man whose girlfriend was physically stuck to the toilet in their home wins $20,000 in the state Lottery - for the second time this year.

Kory McFarren of Ness City cashed in his winning $2 Bonus Crossword ticket in Great Bend Monday. On July 29, the 37-year-old McFarren received six months of probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor mistreatment of a dependent adult.

McFarren called Ness County deputies in February to report that his girlfriend, Pam Babcock, had refused to come out of the bathroom for two years. Authorities found her stuck to the toilet.

Medical personnel estimated Babcock had been on the toilet for at least a month and said the seat had adhered to sores on her body. She was released from a Wichita hospital after several months of treatment.

They Say it's My Birthday .....

Today I turn the big 2-6. Because I have turned another year older (none the wiser), I feel I should reminisce over the year-o-25 and the great happenings that occurred so I can move on and prepare for the year ahead!

Great Happenings in Allyson's Life (Sept. 30, 2007 - Sept. 30, 2008)

1) I got married! One of those things I always was hoping to check off on the "List of Life Accomplishments" and I finally did it! It was by far the best day of my life (followed by a tie for getting engaged and K-State beating OU in the Big 12 Championship game).

2) I got engaged! :) I'm still proud of Matt, to this day, that he was able to pull off something so big and so important without me knowing anything! I'm the nosiest and sneakiest person I know, too... :)

3) My family gained two more beautiful babies .... Luke Vincent Barnes graced the world with his presence on May 15 while Stella Rose Little arrived to a crowded room full of people on June 3. I love my huge family!

4) K-State beat KU in basketball at Bramlage after 24 years of losses at home ... My buddy Cliff was my partner in crime that night as we sped all over Tulsa trying to find a place to watch the game. We ended up at his place with his roommate ... they lived on the third floor and probably got turned in by their neighbors underneath them due to the extremely loud screams and the continuous jumping off of furniture on to the floor that I did that night after the win! :)

5) Matt and I made our first trip over the big pond for our honeymoon! We spent eight days in London and Paris ... and I recently watched "The Devil Wears Prada" and was actually really wanting to go back to Paris after watching it!

6) Matt spent his first Christmas with the Hills' clan in Sedan. He now knows why I'm a freak about Christmas and wasn't sure if he really wanted to go back to Illinois for Christmas ever again! :)

7) I got the heck out of Oklahoma (bad drivers, bad roads) and got back to Kansas!

8) I traveled ALOT ... women's basketball at ORU took me to many places I had never been (and most likely will never go back to): Boise, Idaho, Shreveport, Louisiana, Edinburg, Texas (hell), Fort Wayne, Indiana, Lubbock, Texas, etc. But I was very fortunate (though prior to actually going I was none too excited) to travel with the team to the NCAA National Tournament where they played the evenutal national champions, Tennessee. I was up close and personal with the best women's basketball coach ever, Pat Summit, and also was around some of the biggest jackasses in my business.

9) My good friend Jenny gave birth to beautiful Addison Taylor Cross on June 15 ... she is precious and the official mascot of the 320 house!

10) Aunt Sherron beat the sh*t out of cancer!

11) I met a lot of good people over the course of a year and that is something I will always treasure!

I will stop there though I know I have about 50 other things to list ... it's been a fantastic year and I was asked by my cousin how to top this year. She suggested having a baby ... I think for now, I will just continue to enjoy hers :) and enjoy being 26!

Life at NASCAR

I spent the weekend in Manhattan with my family and friends, while Matthew went to the NASCAR race in Kansas City for work. Camping World, a company Matt works with, was hosting the race and gave a group of Coleman employees tickets.

Around noon today, Matt texts me to tell me that him and his boss, Tim, were going to be on the field, next to the main stage while they were introducing drivers and to watch for him. So... Lauren and I bunked up in front of the TV to watch ABC for Matt -- nothing! PS. It was boring!

Then on the way home, he texts me again to say that him and Tim were giving the winning driver the trophy on the main stage and to DVR it. Hmmm... OK. We'll see if he actually is on TV. Well .... he got some air time! He was on the screen for about 5 seconds!

In the pic, he's on the front row, looking cool in a NASCAR hat ...

How cool is he?! :)

Bad Blogger

What you would think is that since I still don't have a full time job, that I would have all the time in the world to blog. Well, that's partly true. I do have ehh.... some time in the world to blog. The problem is I have NOTHING to blog about! You'd think my life was over after the wedding, but that is far from true!

For instance, our photographer just posted our pictures online ... all 1,303 of them! Holy cow! Yes, it's alot of pictures, but I'd take a million of that day! I'll settle for over a thousand though! (If you want to see our pics, go to www.siebsphoto.com - click on events - go to the second page and click on Hills/Clark - event password is allyson)

Let me come up with some things to talk about...

I have been on the job hunt ... I've been on the job hunt since July but I'm really hunkering down now since I don't have a fun-filled wedding to plan. The job at the top of my list is at Bradley Paper - it's a sweet paper store (I'm a huge nerd) in Wichita. The job description is questionable, meaning I'm not quite sure how many people they are hiring, what all I would be doing,etc. But I went in and talked to the owner and then took in some of my work samples today. He said he will call by Wednesday -- so everyone cross your fingers! I'm not getting my hopes up because I know better than, but.... we shall see!

Umm... right this second, Matt is passed out on the couch and has not felt good all day. I also was not feeling especially well today, but he is worried that he has flu-like symptoms. Ick!!! But because he wanted to make himself think he was OK, we went to Best Buy to get surround sound speakers (SUCH a guy thing because he asked me what I liked and the one I liked was the cute one - other than that, I do note care!) and he had to go out to the car and sit because he was feeling like crap. Guess who got to carry the surround sound out????!

This weekend is Jolly's bachelorette party which should be a grand time! There will be a great group of us there so I'm excited! This is also the Sigma Nu reunion weekend so my mom wants me, Jord and Lauren to meet alot of dad's buddies in college as well as her buddies. And to top that, we are celebrating Josh graduating from K-State! So it will be a packed, fun weekend!

Last but not least ... we are getting REAL TV Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, we cannot wait! All channels, movie channels, AND all of the great shows start this week: Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy and next week, Private Practice. Life is good!

Have a good week before my birthday! :)

Raining Cats and Dogs

You'd think that we were living on the coast of Texas right now ... The rain is ridiculous! I took Matt to the airport at 6:30 this morning and was lucky not to flood my car out on the way home.

I decided that since I had nothing to do at the house today, I would drive over to Matt's mom's to watch some TV, feed our dog, etc. Holy cow, the roads are crazy! They've closed some down already, but the areas around our house that are open fields are completely flooded and the water is up to the road.

Sure hope I can get home ...

If not though, atleast I have a place to stay and watch TV! :) I'll try and get pictures up later!

PS. Our photographer emailed me this morning and said our wedding photos would be up this weekend -- yay! I'll be sure to post the link to them when they are up!

It's here!

The prequel from our wedding day has finally arrived! YAY! Click on the link below - it will take you to our videographer's blog, then scroll down to the blog post about our wedding and it will be under the post.

I have yet to watch it ... somehow I am holding in my inner demon and waiting until Matt gets home so we can watch it together (insert the 'Ahhhh....')!

http://fatcatrocks.blogspot.com/

Alright ... now only seven more months until the entire video is done (insert 'wah wah wahhhhhh....')!!

PS. My birthday is in 20 days -- the big 2-6! Has anyone been placing bets on how long it would take to bring up my birthday?!!! :)

No News...

Well... it appears that after returning from our wonderful honeymoon, that my life has returned to its natural state of boredom! I do apologize for not posting Part 2 of The Honeymoon, I will get to that one soon!

But really... I have been doing nothing! I am going to start some part-time work for the YMCA this next week, but its nothing very demanding. My substitute teaching license is sitting in limbo right now and probably won't arrive until the middle of the month. And my husband continues to flip-flop on if I should get a full-time job or just sub all year long ... I love him dearly, but his constant changing of the mind or just happening to forget what he had originally said gets kind of old!

On the bright side, I get to go work a volleyball match this afternoon! WSU is hosting a tournament so I'm going to go do stats for a match today and then two on Saturday morning. Back to my realm ... it will be a nice change! I believe we are also off to Manhattan again this weekend for the football game. My uncle Blish is coming down from Minnesota with a buddy for it so I think we'll be making an appearance. If he wasn't going to be there, I'm not so sure I really want to go sit through another boring game! Forgive me, I love my alma mater and the football team. But Montana State? Seriously? Last week was brutal enough!

Anywho ... I hope you are all leading exciting lives. If you are, please write to me about them so I can live my life vicariously through you! :)

Couple of Things

First off, I got my first lecture from my husband about money and how it does not grow on trees last night. That was real fun! And quite a shocker since I really did think that it grew on trees!

Secondly, I heard on the radio yesterday that Hanson will be in Wichita on Nov. 7!! Jenna, pack you and Josh a bag and come up that night. You and I will celebrate your birthday with a Hanson concert, while Josh and Matt can sit at home and drink and discuss how they are sad they couldn't go to the concert!

Lastly, why is it that Tulsa becomes cool AFTER I leave? I was just reading the Tulsa World newspaper online and saw that Janet Jackson will be performing at the new BOK center in October ... can you believe it?!

Promise to post part 2 of our honeymoon soon. This weekend we are off to Manhattan on Saturday for the football game and first tailgate of the year - I can't wait!

The Honeymoon: Part 1

Foggy London Town - Days 1-3
(Written during the trip!)

It is Saturday afternoon in London and Matt and I are in the hotel - Matt is asleep (he takes LOTS of naps!) and I am typing up some blogs and writing in my journal. I would love to actually post this on my blog, but internet for a day in our hotel is $30 so Matt said no! This means I have been without internet for a week!

I do realize that you are suppose to relax on your honeymoon, but I would be able to relax alot more if I could look at pictures from the wedding and check my email! :) And since we have done anything but relax (yesterday was our first day of any kind of relaxation), I feel that internet access is not too much to ask for!

Don't get me wrong... this trip has been amazing! The top three moments in my life have all occurred in a week's time - 1) I got married! 2) I stood on the second level of the Eiffel Tower and 3) I actually got around Paris without knowing ANY of the language (at first when we got there, I was pretty sure we would be sitting in the train station all day long because we were clueless!!!).

We got to London around 10:30 pm Monday night (its a 6-hour time difference from here to home), went through customs and got to our hotel at midnight. We checked into our room and just laughed -- everything in London is small. The rooms, the bathrooms, the trash cans, the toilet paper... it was just entertaining! We decided if we could make it through eight days in a tiny room together, we could make it through anything!

Since we didn't go to bed until 2 am (and took some sleeping pills to actually get some sleep!), we didn't wake up until 10:30 am, which was not how we wanted to start our first day! We got up and around and out the door by noon and found a double-decker tour bus and hopped on. It took us all around London and was great because you could hop on and off as you pleased to visit the different sites. It was also great because it gave us a good idea of places we wanted to visit. We saw Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the garden where they filmed parts of Notting Hill and the exact spot where a part of Mary Poppins was filmed (those are the things I enjoyed hearing about!), St. Paul's Cathedral where Princess Di and Prince Charles were married, and hopped off at the London Tower and took a boat cruise down the Thames River. From there, we could see the Globe Theatre, the Millenium Bridge (which you can see in Love Actually), and the school where Harry Potter (not Hogwarts) went to school! :)

Day two found us at St. Paul's Cathedral where we toured the inside - it was pretty incredible! This is the same place that Princess Di and Prince Charles got married so I felt pretty regal that day .... ha! There are three tiers to the church and you can take stairs up to one of the tiers of the dome and/or you can take the stairs ALL the way to the top (some 500+ steps), which Matt did. I did not... I sat on the second level and waited for him! It actually took him outside of the dome, way up high and he got some great pictures!

After our tour, we walked back out and grabbed lunch (more Italian food for moi!) and then walked across the Millenium Bridge to a museum - we lasted about 5 minutes before we were bored and left! :) Even though we were in London, a very historical and old city, I still could not get into the museum thing... sue me! We hopped on the tube, after yet another hike, to Westminster Abbey, where we were going to try to go to mass. Unfortunately, the only service that was left on the docket that day was not a real service... and had no music, which was the reason I wanted to go in! So... more hiking came and eventually we ended back up at the hotel. Abby had gotten us tickets to Spamelot as our wedding gift, so we changed and went down to Leicester (pronounced Lester, which really annoyed me) Square to eat and go to the show. It was hysterical! It was such a good choice, Abs! :)

Part two of 'The Honeymoon' will include our trip to Paris, our only days of relaxation and Matt's new found love for the word' Cheers!' - he said it to EVERYONE! :)

Pic 1: On the plane at 5:30 a.m. to embark on our honeymoon!
Pic 2: Our small room in London!
Pic 3: The ads promoting the London Olympics in 2012
Pic 4: Harry Potter's school
Pic 5: Us on Millenium Bridge
Pic 6: Big Ben!
Pic 7: Matt and I getting our drinks in before Spamelot
Pic 8: Our seats at Spamelot - I was almost scared to look down! :)

Wedding Day Adventure

Two weeks! Two weeks since I last posted... I must point out that this was not because I didn't WANT to blog, but there was no time during week one and during week two, I had no internet in London (which was my version of hell - no lie!).

So first off... I am a married woman! Just call me Allyson Clark! Woohoo! The wedding weekend was more than amazing... it went off without a hitch (only a few small pauses along the way, but nothing that couldn't be fixed).

I only wish I could relive the entire day again and go back to talk to people I missed at the reception - that is my biggest regret! The night went by SO fast that I missed talking to family that came from far away, friends that came from far away, etc.

I send a huge shout out to my wonderful, wonderful, wonderful bridesmaids who kept me calm all day long (I shed NO tears the entire day, can you believe it?!! I still can't!), but looked awesome in their cute brown dresses! Thanks to my wonderful family for traveling from various places across the country to spend the weekend in Kansas - I am so lucky to have you all in my life! And also major thanks to all of our wonderful friends that came from all over (or basically Kansas City!) for the wedding - I keep saying that we needed like two separate receptions - one for family, one for friends. That way, we could see and talk to everyone!

But the day was wonderful. I have so many pictures to go through from facebook, from my cousin aka Photographer for the weekend Megan Little ( I just love you so much!). Our videographer also posted about our wedding on their blog (www.fatcatrocks.com - click on 'Blog'!). They will have a four-minute prequel up in a few weeks about the wedding. They were also wonderful, as was our photographer, and our DJ who kicked ass - I just can't say enough great things about everyone!

And last but not least... thank you to my groom! He was so calm and at ease that day, I wasn't sure if it was really Matt! But what a hunk in his tux, right?! :)

So for now, I will stop and just say that I love you all.... thank you for helping make August 16 the best day of our lives!

More pics to come... as well as a post about the trip to Foggy London Town!

The Week Of...

I am again at Panera... probably for the third or fourth time this week, but this time, I am accompanied by my handsome fiance, who is sitting across from me actually doing work work, unaware that I am typing on my blog about him (I don't really think he knows my blog really exists!).

Some good news came yesterday when Matt got us signed up for TV and internet --- Alleluiah and Amen! And we're getting all for only $11 a month - Matt is a finagler so I'm glad that he was the one to go and get it set up. I am officially out of the stone age on Wednesday and I can't wait! I will be coming to you from the comforts of my home again after the honeymoon ...

Speaking of honeymoon, that begins in a week and a day, but first comes my wedding which is in six days, which is preceded by my rehearsal dinner and bridesmaids luncheon in five days and a BBQ/Ice cream social in four days. Wow. It's all really here! I think now is the time to explain my giddyness for the upcoming weekend:

I am very giddy! :) I've been dreaming of this time in my life since I fell in love with my favorite movie 'Father of the Bride' -- which is the reason I am having a string quartet at the ceremony! (If only I could get them to play the quiet background music during the vows like they do in the movie... ) I think I just got very lucky that my 'Brian McKenzie' just happens to be my best friend.

Matt and I have been through alot in our seven years and seven months (to the date on our wedding day!)... many people get big eyes and drop the jaw when we say how long we have been together. Most days, it doesn't seem like it has been that long (but obviously, there are those days when it seems like 35 years!).

Sometimes I love to sit and daydream about our past (I have alot of time on my hands!) -- there was the time when we were forced to become friends in high school when we were placed in the same reading period, which later wasn't so forced... There was the semester that we were in Spanish class together and I despised him because he was such a smart ass and quite the charmer (just had to shine his pearly whites at anyone and most would drop!)... There was the day that he graduated high school and I wasn't sure how to exist without him (and a few special other people!) in my life... Then came the day when my pal Dusty and I visited him and Beckley in Wichita my senior year, which is when I realized that he could be more than a friend... Then there was the night that he was a home and a group of us went to see a movie in Bartlesville -- we talked the entire night, had the 'butterfly touches' (you know, those touches that are not suppose to mean much, but leave butterflies in your stomach!), and realized on the car ride home that something was happening ... and wondered what we were to tell Michael (Matt's brother -- who was also my good pal!).

Since then, we have stumbled and gotten back up. We have laughed until our stomachs hurt and cried until there were no more tears. Somedays, I just want to hug him and never let him go, other days he drives me crazy (he is a man!)... but the way that I know that we were meant for each other is this look that I get from him -- today at church, we were stuck in the VERY, VERY, VERY back of the church in seats that had to be brought in for us (we weren't even late, but seriously there were about 500 people at church!). I was just sitting there, going over everything that is happening this week and slightly stressing, when he taps me. I can feel him staring at me and I look up at him -- he is grinning (damn those blue eyes and that perfect smile!) and says, "We'll be married in six days!" Though I usually remind him daily about how many days until the 'Big Day', I hadn't reminded him today that in less than a week, we'll be a family.

All it took was the look and the smile... I guess that is all it has ever really took!

Nine Days..

Weird.

I cannot believe that our wedding is so close -- people keep reminding me of how close it is and I just am in shock! I keep thinking about next weekend and how I will be feeling... right now, it just seems as though it's all a bit unreal. I've been planning for nine months now and everything will finally come together in one day.

Though our lives haven't changed yet...

Matt is having major work stress (its lovely that the man is doing about three different jobs when he should be doing only one!) and will be traveling the week of our wedding. How brutal is that? I feel bad for him because I know how much he just wants to enjoy all of next week, but he will barely have time to! Boo to Coleman!

Anywho... a week from today the fun begins with all of my family getting into town and a few of my buddies. But before all of that can happen, we get to move Lauren into Kappa on Monday - not gonna lie, I'm super excited! I haven't been back to the house since I left my senior year... I'm excited for the smell. You know, the Kappa smell! :)

So, here's to hoping that everything goes smoothly from here on out.... I'm crossing fingers and toes!

Not a Fan...

When I first moved into the house, I was able to steal internet from someone in the neighborhood - it was glorious because I can live without TV, but I can't live without the internet or my e-mail.

So after I returned from my weekend in Austin, I found that I could no longer steal the internet!!! I kept trying (and keep trying), but nothing... This means that I either have to try and get to the east side to Matt's mom's to get on the internet (15 minute drive) or go to Panera, buy a drink and sit for a few hours and try to get caught up on everything, which is what I am doing now.

I am not a fan of this... I don't enjoy having to leave the comforts of my own home for my obsession. I don't like that I have to pay $1.99 just for the internet! And now is the time the internet is super important - emails from vendors about the wedding, facebook status game, etc.

I digress...

I made it to Lincoln this past weekend for Melissa Kletchka's (Kappa sister) wedding reception. I would love to post pictures... but since I let Matthew take the camera with him to Lincoln, I have not yet been able to take it back from him yet! She looked beautiful and as always, it was great to hang out with my friends!

Now, we are less than two weeks away from my own wedding. Most things are done, I just have a small list of small tasks left (most include the purchasing of gifts). I'm very ready and at this point, don't even care about the things that haven't been done. If they aren't here on my wedding day, oh well!

So one week and five days... maybe I'll get internet in between now and then and be able to post up to the day (which I would so do!). I'm just crossing my fingers that Matt keeps his promise and gets my internet and basic cable set up before I lose my mind!!!!

A Weekend at the Lake

>



The trip began around 1:45 pm on Friday afternoon. We had already started with a little drama because my dear father decided he wanted to take his truck on a nine-hour trek to Texas, rather than take the comfy Envoy.

This did not put him in any sort of distress because him and my mom would be the ones that had the nice leg room and seats that reclined in the front, while my poor sister and I were cramped in the back seats, trying to find a way to make it nine hours in a backseat the size of an ottoman.

About five minutes into the trip, we were all yelling at each other (yelling in a very funny way, not really a mad yell!), mainly because my dad drives at the pace of a turtle! And when you have a super long ride ahead of you, you want someone behind the wheel that wants to put the pedal to the metal!

The ride went pretty smoothly once we were 10 minutes away from Sedan (except my mom forgot the directions to the lakehouse in Austin - only a slight importance!) and 10 hours later, we walked into my aunt and uncle's lakehouse.

When we arrived, the only ones up were Meg, aunt Sherron and beautiful baby Stella! But then out came Seth and uncle Steve and cutie patootie baby luke was asleep in his crib in the family room. (Sidenote: Luke can sleep through anything! Its like he knew what kind of family he was being born into and came out with earplugs!)My mom immediately took over Stella, while the rest of us unpacked the car (surprise, surprise!).

The rest of the weekend was spent holding babies, being entertained by my 2-year-old cousin Annie (she loves to dance so friends, we will definitely have to bring out the dance party at my wedding for her!), holding babies, swimming, feeding babies, wakeboarding, breaking the boat, watching others change babies, and eating and drinking (and holding babies).

The 2-year-old and under crowd (and their parents!) left by Sunday evening, which left the 50-year-old and older crowd (plus Lauren and I) at the lake... it got alot more quiet, but it was definitely not a bore as my uncle Steve is a great story teller. Our dinner on Monday night consisted of listening to him and aunt Sherron talk about their kids - Seth and his challenge with directions; Meg and her challenge with keeping her cars in tact! :) God love em' both!

I know I say this quite alot, but I don't think it can ever really be said enough: I am the luckiest gal in the world. Not many people in this world have the type of relationship that my family (immediate and extended) has together. A laugh, a smile and a hug are always right around the corner when we're all together and many times I sit around and think that life can't get much better than this! I can't wait for Matt to become a legal part of this clan and someday, have and raise kids to be as happy and loving as my cousins are!

We take off tomorrow morning and then I'm back to Wichita tomorrow night - Matt just got back from his bachelor party in Vegas this afternoon, but takes off for a work trip on Wednesday. He had a good time on his trip... but I was very disappointed in the lack of text messages and voicemails declaring his undying love and devotion to me! All I got from him was "This club is tight...". Who cares! I want to know that you can't to marry me! :)

This weekend I'm off to Lincoln for my final wedding of the summer before my own - I love five-hour car rides by myself! Matt is staying back to work on the house... one can only hope that he has a fence put up, weeds pulled, the landscaping looking pristine and dinner cooked for me when I get home.

I think I might be asking for too much... :)

Picture 1: Annie sharing her friends, Plum and Blue Dog, with Stella - see her?!
Picture 2: The precious crew - Stella, Luke and Annie!
Picture 3: Me feeding Stella Rose!
Picture 4: Me attempting wakeboarding!
Picture 5: Lauren, Nate, Meg, Dad, Mom, Me and uncle Steve, in Luckenbach, Texas

Surprise, Surprise

And I ask... why, again, do I love this show???


Latest Bachelor Returns to, Well, Bachelorhood
By Natalie Finn
Thu Jul 24, 1:46 PM PDT

We...are...shocked!

Former Bachelor Matt Grant and the recipient of his most important rose, actress Shayne Lamas, have broken off their engagement after publicly pretending that they were meant to be for two whole months, People reports.

"We tried hard to make it work but we realized that we were both heading in different directions," the duo said in a statement. "We truly care about each other and will remain close friends."

The pair had been plagued by reports of trouble in paradise ever since Grant chose Lamas over Chelsea Wanstrath on the season finale of The Bachelor's 12th season, but each continued to deny that the fact that they were no longer living together or that they were never seen in the same place meant that they weren't still planning to tie the knot.

"This stuff makes us stronger," Grant, 27, said last month.

No word yet on whether Lamas, 22, returned the 2.85-carat sparkler her British beau used to seal the deal in May.

Anyway, that makes 10 out of 11 Bachelors (not including the not-ready-for-a-relationship Brad Womack) who have opted out of the matches they made during their stints on the ABC series.

What to do...

I am asked quite frequently where Matt and I will be going for our honeymoon. Upon my response (of London), the next question that follows is "what do you have planned when you are there?". I wish that I had all of the correct answers for this question, but usually my response is, "Well, I'm not quite sure."

Though it's not completely true, I am still a bit unsure of what we will be doing, which I am OK with. I know that our first order of business will be to hop on a double-decker tour bus to kind of figure out our surroundings! We will for sure take in a show and we will be making a train trip to Paris for a day-trip.

Other than that, we are up in the air! So, if you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them!

On another note, I think I'm in a rut. When I moved to Wichita almost a month ago, I was very gung-ho about getting things done. A month later, I've gotten alot done, but don't have alot of motivation to do anything else. I stare at my wedding programs every day, knowing that I need to work on them, but that's about as far as I get -- other than thinking to myself, "I'll work on those tomorrow."

I'm hoping that this rut ends soon... I mean, I realize I have a wedding coming up soon (can I just say that I wish the day was here already!) but I have a very small list of things to get done... which includes finishing the programs!

Anywho, I'm off to Austin this weekend with my mom, sister and dad (Jord will be in Vegas celebrating Matt's bachelorness!) to visit my family and beautiful baby cousins! I can't wait!

Maybe when I get back next Tuesday, the rut will be over...

One can only hope!

My Bachelorette Party...

was pretty fantastic! If I could describe it in just one word, I would say that word would be 'me'. I have never been one to jump at the chance to go to the bars or be the one to get totally plastered, so this weekend was right up my alley (no pun intended)!

First, I must give major kudo's to Jenna and Nicole for planning this great weekend. The Doty's lake house was wonderful as well as their boat that we spent much of Saturday on!

We arrived the lake house on Friday evening and the first thing we see is an unsightly and LARGE picture of me in the window - this was suppose to be the clue to all that this was the Doty's lake house! Scary! The rest of the crew arrived shortly after us and after getting situated and a brief tour, we immediately busted out the brew and began a fun night of games... or basically Allyson telling embarrassing stories about her and Matt.

We were interrupted by some visitors a few different times - first visitor was Paul Buck (please see above picture). He was as close to a stripper as we got all weekend! :) The second visitor was his father and one of his buddies... let's just say, "Like father, like son!" By 1:30 a.m., we were all a bit tired and were just drunk enough to hit the hay.

Everyone was up pretty early on Saturday morning. A handful of girls went out on the boat early to ski and wakeboard while the rest of us hung back at the pool. Chelsi was the last of the party crew to arrive that morning, and after the boaters returned and grabbed some lunch, we all jumped back on the boat with our skipper for afternoon - the lovely Trey Doty - and found a nice little cove where we parked and stayed the entire afternoon!

I must say that I did many things on this trip that I have never done before -- the first was to bong a beer... the second was to bong a beer via a noodle (see above picture). It was ... interesting to say the least. And though I know it is not something to brag about, I will brag that my 25-year-OLD self defeated my 19-year-old sister, who is in college and probably does this regularly! She couldn't hack it when it came to bonging against her sibling! :)

After three hours and many deep discussions about who knows what, we trekked back to the Doty's to drop off some girls to start getting ready for the evening part of our party. Though I was tired and in desperate need of a shower, I decided to stay on the boat... and then decided I would make an attempt at wakeboarding.

I have tried to ski in the past and usually after about 10 attempts of trying to get up on the ski's, I throw in the towel and call it a day. But not this time. I'd say it took me about six attempts to get up on the wakeboard... and once I did, I screamed -- partially because I had no idea what to do next and partially because I couldn't believe I had actually gotten up! I made myself get up twice before ending my run and I had to say I was pretty proud of my self! I must thank all of the boat riders that had to sit through the agony of waiting for me to get up, but also thanks for the encouragement! They all might have been more excited about me getting up on the wakeboard than I was! :) (Sidenote: my body is in complete agony STILL two days after wakeboarding - I think I used muscles I never knew existed!)

We finally made it back to land around 6:45, quickly took showers and were back on the road to eat dinner in Shell Knob. We closed the restaurant down (surprise, surprise!) and headed back to the lake house to open gifts. Can I just say that my plan of always buying my friends comfy PJs for their bachelorette parties in hopes that they would return the favor some day really worked! I received only one piece of langerie and many sets of boxers and T's... woohoo! :) We had a fun time opening up everything and then, though we were all exhausted, a dance party ensued.

As you can see from the above pictures, my back was really starting to kill me (all from wakeboarding!) so I look like a 95-year-old woman trying to hold my back, hold my beer and dance all at the same time! :) Somehow we lasted until 1 a.m. but decided to throw in the towel and hit the sack.

Everyone was back on the road by noon on Sunday, but not before a group photo in front of the house with our lovely t-shirts that Jenna had made specially for the weekend!

It was a pretty wonderful bachelorette party and I wouldn't have had it any other way! Though we were missing a few of my fabulous friends, I am so appreciative of everyone that made the trek to Table Rock for the weekend -- I am lucky to have such great people in my life that took time out of their busy schedules to spend a weekend celebrating my bacheloretteness!

This weekend, Matt and company travel to Vegas for his bachelor party. I told him yesterday that it will really hit him this weekend that we are getting married... and getting married soon! He's pretty excited, as he should be! I will be hitting the lake in Austin, Texas and visiting my family! I can't wait!

Here's to all the bachelorettes and former bachelorettes... Drink a beer in honor of your single life! :)

PS. More pics to come...