Running errands can be a full time job

It was another hot weekend but we found things to do inside in the AC. With Greg's classes and working full time, we rarely see each other during the week. So even though he had to work Saturday and studied all evening it was still nice to know he was home.
I have been wanting to put all of our wedding and Mexico photos in an album. The pictures have been sitting out for the last 3 months now and I was determined to make sure it was completed this last weekend. Saturday I went to about 3 Sams Clubs to find the photo albums I like to use weren't in stock. So I went home and decided to just call a few other Sams Clubs in the area. I received a few different responses one being "we only carry photo albums at Christmas time" interesting. This conversation was the best though,
Nico " Do you happen to have the 3pk photo albums in stock?"
Employee " I don't understand what you mean by photo album."
Nico "A book that you put photos in? I don't know how else to explain it"
Employee "I'm sorry I'm not really sure what your asking for but I don't think we have anything like that".
I thought maybe I had just dated myself. Of course I keep my photos on DVDs and the computer but I still feel you need print outs to share:)This weekend alone I sorted thru well over 1000 printed photos.

I ended up just getting online and found that they did have them in stock and just drove to that location. I had to laugh the conversation off though.
The photo album 3pk really is a great deal and is a very nice album.
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=362642
Gotta love Sams Club:) They even have coupons at Sams Club for specific items you purchase now. Very nice.
Greg spent Sunday Rock climbing with friends while I finished my projects. Grocery shopping, house work and little projects seem to be a full time job anymore. Not to mention working full time and always taking your work home with you:)


I was also able to hang a lot of our wedding/engagement portraits around the house. I found I need to invest in a laser level! Hanging one frame, no big deal, but when your hanging a collage it can be a headache:)
Sunday was also our 3 month mark as Husband and Wife. I love him more and more everyday.
Greg is planning for his upcoming camping/hiking trip with a friend as well as celebrating his Bday. I may get to see him for five minutes before then:)
I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Project weekend

This last weekend Greg and I decided we had a few things we wanted to get accomplished before our schedules got too busy.
We added to our drip system since we added new flowers.
Then we finished patching up the holes on the patio ceiling and headed to Lowes to purchase our new fan.
Of course a trip to Lowes leads to several new house projects:) We could easily spend a few thousand dollars in one day there:) Eventually we got back to the task at hand and purchased our new patio ceiling fan. We figured it was the perfect time to add an accent color to our back patio as well. We also painted the patio Ceiling to hide our patch work. We originally thought we could match the color but nothing is ever that easy:)
Mike Mara and Rohan stopped over a little later in the day Saturday and Mike helped Greg put up the ceiling fan.
Never thought I would be so excited to paint and put up a fan. I have to say that fan feels great especially while the misters are going!!! After a long hot 100 degree day of painting and patching we needed to cool off!!
Mara grilled some chicken and corn for us and Greg and I fell asleep on the couch watching Mall Cop (not that interesting of a movie).
We hope everyone had a safe weekend!!

Always an Adventure

We've really had a fun and busy summer. The last couple weekends we have been lucky enough to spend with friends and family. A day after returning home from sailing the dark seas with the river rats my parents flew into Phoenix AZ to visit with us.
I have to say they are the best house guests, they keep the chocolate chip cookies and jalapenos Cheetos stocked and they clean clean clean:) They are two very motivated people, when they put their mind to something they stick with it:) Two great role models.
Aside from visiting us they were out checking out local properties. Hmmm maybe we will have some new neighbors:) It would be great to have them close by.
My parents celebrated their 27th anniversary August 14th. Greg and I took them out to Westgate where we had dinner at the Yard House and enjoyed the music. Then we headed over for a cocktail at the Saddle Ranch. I couldn't get dad to get on the mechanical bull, maybe next time ha
Greg and Dad had a lot of bonding time. They found projects around the house to work on. Greg pretty much got schooled in Electricians 101. We now have a new ceiling fan in the computer room and we are all set up for ceiling fans on the back patio!! They will sure come in handy on those 115 degree days:) So awesome:)
We also now have a nice misting system around our back patio. Dad and I went to lowes and bought a couple of the kits and some PVC piping and it was up and ready to go by the time I got home from work the next day!
Sunday we took a short drive up to Lake Pleasant. Since my parents are big boaters we thought it would be nice to give them a tour of the area. You can boat, fish, ski and the list goes on. The lake is a lot deeper and wider than I originally thought. Plus I was impressed with how blue and clear the water was!
With my parents help we planted some new flowers in the backyard. Im so excited for fall to see if my mums come back this year.
My parents had their share of wild critters this trip. Though the scorpion was dead it was still neat to see. Even if a scorpion is dead it still has the ability to sting you! Crazy!
Mom was casually picking up her towel on the patio and I happend to see something that looked like it was slithering over her head! It turns out it was just a lizard but its the largest one Ive seen in our backyard!!! Usually they are tiny! He was really friendly though:)
As usual I took a million pictures. I love to capture the moment. It really was great to have them out to visit and we look forward to the next:)
Enjoy

River Run 2009

Wow can the River Rats party or what!!? We had a blast hanging out with Family and Friends this last weekend on the Mississippi River.
It was Gregs first year on the River Run but we can proudly say he is no longer a River Run virgin:)
All of the River pirates gathered at Teenie and Al's for Teenies famous spicy bloody marys. Id say we had roughly 40-45 pirates traveling the dark seas.
Mad Sam Rackham (AKA Jay McCool) showed off his fine pirate gear as we were going thru the lock and dam. I have to say the tat on the bum was a nice touch. Dirty Thom Flint did a mighty fine job not crashing the boat from being blinded by the silver thong;)
We traditionally stop at a couple sand bars and mingle. We were lucky to have such beautiful weather so the sandbars were a little packed. We managed to find a spot and threw our anchors down. There were some good attempts at sand sliding. Next year we need new slides though;) I think Im still finding sand particles in my mouth. We enjoyed many of the drink concoctions and watched Cassie and Austin walk the plank (Party boat diving board).
We docked a little later than usual but it was only because we were having so much fun. We stayed at the Best Western Midway hotel in Lacrosse. After we freshened up, since Pirates do get a little stinky we headed out for dinner at Buzzard Billys. My best friend/maid of honor Tessa and her husband Aaron came up from Waterloo to enjoy dinner and paint the town red with us. Luckily they fit right in with the crew;)
We relaxed in the lounge above Buzzard Billys before dinner and Pruddy and Dirty Thom (AKA my parents) danced to a sweet love song, so cute.
After Greg violated a statue of a crane we headed out to enjoy the bar scene in Lacrosse. Of course there were soooo many spots to choose from and so little time. Our first stop was Bodega's, with 400 beers on tap you can not go wrong there. Then we headed to a grunge bar called Yesterdays. This bar had an interesting choice for wallpaper. Lets just say no one had any clothes on in the drawings. Tons of fun though, tvs in the ceiling and great music!
The next morning was spent slowly heading out for breakfast and packing our gear to head back to Prarie Du Chein. We fed the ducks, dealt with the killswitch and set sail.
The weather wasnt as favorable this day but we managed. We found some stowaways but figured we would keep them around and put them to work (aka Lana and Al). Captain Dirty Ethel kept the boat a float and we found our way to land.
We stopped at the Tiki Lounge in Lansing. I have to say this is one of my favorite memories. We were all together in one small confined area sharing stories, drinking and laughing so hard we were crying. The entertainment was priceless. It ranged from buttdarts to blowing up condoms with your nostrils. Lana had a great idea to buy a t-shirt and I think within 20 minutes the coozies were sold out and the T-shirts were close to being gonners. Teenie and I choose a color that could be seen for miles;) Very obnoxious and fun, just like us:)
It was awesome visiting with everyone and we look forward to our future adventures together!
There were only a couple items from our vessel that were surrendered to the river gods. Greg and Lana's bandanna. Tessa lost her camera somewhere at buzzard billys. So let those items rest in peace. Greg finally was able to get his rub on tattoo's to come off!
Our drive back to Des Moines to catch our flight was interesting. We missed the hail but we listened to constant sever weather storm/tornado warnings in the area. It really was awesome to witness it though.
I hope you all enjoy the pictures and keep safe!!!

Two second visit

We were in Iowa for less than 24 hours. We flew in to head up to Wisconsin for the 10th annual River Run our friends and family put together each year.
In our two second visit to Iowa we met up with Geiken and had a big beer with him.
We also visited with the Peets. We were excited to finally get to meet Tim and Allison's son Cameron. He is adorable and really is developing quite the personality! He loves to giggle and smile for sure:) He is a fast little bug too! He was crawling all over the place! Thanks All-is-on for the tour of your new home, it was very cozy!I loved your flowers out front!!!
We had a great time and were happy to have visited even if it was the fastest visit ever.

Cheery Rainbows

It was a nice start to our day when Greg and I went out and saw our neighborhood covered by a giant rainbow. It was so peaceful and you could smell it was about to rain. It only rained for maybe five minutes and within that time there were 3 accidents that I saw, but it sure was a beautiful rainbow.
Did you know that rainbows are actually complete circles? I learn something new everyday thanks Greg. I read that the water droplets act like prisms. Sunlight is reflected off the droplets and different colors are sent out at different angles. The center of the circle lines up with you and the sun, so if the big ol earth wasn't in the way you would see the complete circle. But if you were up flying a jet its possible that you would see the whole circle.
Have a wonderful day!

Yellow Yellow Yellow

I love Orange, Yellow, Greens etc but sometimes you can have too much of those colors. This was a situation we ran into this past weekend:)
We have been working on some home projects lately. We only have a few rooms left to paint. So after a relaxing Friday evening watching fast and furious (good movie by the way) we decided to take a trip to Lowes on Saturday to start painting the guest bedroom.
We found the colors we liked and to our surprise when we got home one of the colors we picked is more of a canary yellow. Not cool. On the sample it looks like a slight hint of yellow but on a larger scale its not just a hint:) Greg had other choice words for the color;)
We went back to Lowes to see if there was anything they suggested since we can not return custom colors. We added some white which muted the color slightly but in the end we had to give up and go with a totally different color:)Plus I think the yellow room was making us feel angry or like we were at a fast food joint.
We are happy with the changes, we just wish it didn't take two days to do a small project.