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2009...

Well, 2009 is well underway so I guess I probably should update my xanga!    Not a whole lot has been going on recently, but I'll update you on the latest. 

1) Christmas was fun with the family.  We celebrated the day after since I had to work on the actual holiday this year.  It was fun watching Lily open presents...she was 13 months and just starting to grasp the concept of opening presents. Such a cutie!  All of us kids got Dad a spunky little Christmas present...a Saint Bernard puppy!    Sadie is a very large puppy, but so friendly and adorable!  I love her floppy little ears and that sweet little puppy face she can use to get what she wants.  It's so cute!  Dad has been enjoying having a new pet around even though she's already torn up a lot of stuff in the garage!    He'll have to work on training her...

2)  Tammy is now 23 weeks pregnant...over halfway there!  She and Chris are expecting a little girl and we can't wait to meet her!!  I got to help Tammy finish registering for things at Babies-R-Us this weekend and I was getting so excited just seeing all the cute baby things that they're going to need.  I can't wait to be an aunt again!

3) I bought a new car in December...a Honda CRV.  I never thought I'd get one of those since they're considered a 'wimpy' car in my book.  But I have thoroughly enjoyed it!  I've been so thankful for the 4 wheel drive as there has been quite a bit of snow here in Ohio over the past month.  It makes driving to work in 8 inches of snow a little more bearable.

4) Hmm...I think that's about it.  (I told you there isn't really too much going on around here!)  I've been enjoying spending time with my family and friends this year as much as I can.  I wish my CU friends lived closer so I could see them more often!    But I love being able to see my sisters whenever I want and to spend time with Lily Ann!  It's a blast!!

Skull Session

So yesterday was a momentous occasion for me...I attended my first OSU Skull Session ever!    It was a blast!  There was a group of girls from church that were going down, so I decided to join in the fun!  We left Wooster at 5am (WAY early...or late, depending on how you look at it...I had worked until 3am, so technically it was kinda late for me), stopped for breakfast at the Waffle House and then went straight to the Skull Session.  We were 2 hours early (to avoid traffic and such) so we sat and played cards in the gym while we waited for it to begin.  We were entertained by a high school band from Pickerington, OH that played Billy Joel songs while we waited and by a proud band parent from Pickerington, OH who sat behind us and joked around with us the whole time.    Anyway, after 2 hours of waiting, the OSU band finally came marching in!  It was SO cool!!  They're so good!!  It was the first time I had ever seen them live...so awesome!!  The OSU football team came walking in led by Coach Jim Tressel and he said a few words at the beginning.  Then, they left and the band played for about an hour.  They played all kinds of stuff...I won't be able to remember everything, but it was very entertaining.  At one point, a bunch of band members were doing the can can!  It was definitely a lot of fun!  I was sitting by Jill, who had actually been in the OSU band a few years ago.  So she explained a lot of things about the band while we were there...it was like getting the inside scoop!!  So fun!  Anyway, after the Skull Session, we hiked back to the car in the FREEZING cold through scads of crazy Buckeye's fans and drove to one of Jill's friends' apartments and we watched the game there.  (Well, some of us watched it...some of us slept through it.) 

We were, of course, thrilled that OSU won!  O-H...I-O!  It was a ton of fun...the girls were a hoot to hang out with...we laughed so hard all day!  Definitely a great experience!!  I'll leave you with a picture of the whole gang (from the left back...Sandy, Heidi, Steph, Sheri, Renee, Jessica and then me and Jill in the front).  Go Buckeyes!!! 

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Summer Fun!

The summer has flown by, as usual!  It has been filled with lots of fun activities with family and friends...I'll hit the highlights. 

Bailey is a big kitty now and is full of energy.  She definitely has a LOT of personality!  She likes to always be in the same room as me, but she often gets bored when I spend a lot of time on the computer.  This picture demonstrates what happens when she gives up on trying to stay awake while I work at my desk.  This cat sleeps in the strangest places and positions!  Lately, she's been trying to escape out the back door when I get home from work.  So one day I just left her in the garage while I went to bed just to see what would happen.  Turns out, she kinda likes it out there.  When I woke up several hours later, she had perched herself on top of my car and seemed to be quite content.  I might have to send her out there more often!  :)

In July, my wonderful brother offered to take me to a Rascal Flatts concert in Cleveland!  I definitely took him up on that offer!  We had such a good time!  It was my first country concert ever and it was fantastic!  Taylor Swift opened the concert and did a great job.  And of course, Rascal Flatts was awesome!  I love those guys!  That was definitely one of the highlights of my summer!  :)

Just last week I got to travel to Indianapolis to see Lindsey and her new baby, Scott.  It was SO much fun to catch up with her again!  And of course, it was great to get to cuddle with little Scott, too!  He is such a sweetie...a very good baby!  He got his 2 month immunizations while I was there and he was such a brave little boy!  He even took a nap while his mommy and I treated ourselves to a lunch at Subway after his doctor's appointment.  What a good little guy!  :)

Lily Ann has been a lot of fun this summer, too!  She is now crawling everywhere and just today she learned to clap her hands all by herself!  The other day Teri and Lily were visiting me while I was getting ready to go to work.  Lily Ann decided she wanted to be a part of the action, so she joined me in the bathroom.  Here are a few pics...   

She's growing up so fast!  She's even starting to say "mama" and "dada."  We're still working on "Auntie M!" 

All in all, it's been a good summer for me and I'm hoping there are still a few weeks of this summer weather left!  I'm not ready for it to end, but I'm looking forward to football season, apple dumplings, and the changing of the leaves in the fall! 

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Florida was a BLAST!!!!!  Amy and I had so much fun!!  We left last Sunday (May 25) and drove to Amy's Mom's house in GA to spend the night.  Then, on Monday we drove the rest of the way to Florida.  It was definitely a long drive, but it really helped to break it up in the middle so it didn't seem too bad at all.  As soon as we got to our condo, we unloaded the car as fast as we could and hit the beach!    I had never seen a beach that was so nice and clean!  The sand was white and the water was absolutely beautiful!  Almost like an emerald green color (that could be why they call this stretch of Florida the 'Emerald Coast'). Absolutely gorgeous!!  Every time we went to the beach all week, I was amazed at how pretty it was!  Amy and I spent a big portion of every day at the beach just hangin' out, reading books, and getting tan (or sunburned...).  We went and bought boogie boards the second day we were there and used those in the water.  That was a lot of fun, too!  We rode the waves in, or rather, attempted to...boogie boarding seems to be a sport we haven't quite mastered yet.  It was a lot of fun trying, though!  Eventually, we gave up and just used the boards as flotation devices and floated over the waves while we enjoyed the cool, clear water.  It was funny though because one afternoon we had been in the water for quite awhile when I started feeling a little queasy.    I told Amy I was going to head in for a little while and she said she was right behind me...she didn't feel very good either!  We had actually gotten seasick while floating on our boogie boards in the ocean!  I had no idea that could happen!  Guess I should take some dramamine next time! 

On Wednesday, we decided to try something new...we went on a dolphin sightseeing excursion on JET SKIS!!!  Talk about fun!  It was totally awesome!  We were both a little nervous about it since we had never really operated jet skis before, but we had nothin' to worry about.  It was easy and we had a blast!  We went with a tour guide who took us back in this little cove where we saw three dolphins that were swimming around in there.  Then, we headed out to another little shallow area and we saw a shark!  The guide circled around it and we were able to get really close to it.  It was a bull shark and it was all black and about 6 feet long.  Very cool!!  Amy and I had a good laugh about seeing that because we had been joking all week about how we didn't really want to meet up with a shark in the water.  And then we did!  But we obviously survived. 

We also did some biking in the area, which was fun, too.  We went to this one town called Seaside where there are lots of REALLY expensive houses!  They're beautiful and HUGE!  So much fun to look at.  Amy has all of those pics on her camera, so I can't post any pics of those on here...you'll just have to take my word for it. 

On Thursday, it was my birthday so we went out to eat at this restaurant called McGuires Irish Pub.  We got to eat on their patio which sits on the second level of the restaurant.  We had a great view of the ocean and the sunset, but unfortunately, it was too cloudy to actually see the sunset that night.  But we still enjoyed the view AND the food!  We ordered HUGE hamburgers...mine was BBQ cheddar and Amy had a Hawaiian burger.  Definitely very good, but definitely way more meat than I could eat at one sitting!  It was a great way to celebrate my birthday.  Thank you, Amy! 

Of course, we also spent a lot of time laughing with each other...and occasionally AT each other.    It was really good to get to spend a whole week together...we had so much to catch up on!  I think we could've easily spent a few more weeks together on the beach, but unfortunately, our jobs wouldn't allow it.    We'll just treasure all the memories we made on this trip. 

We had a long, but safe trip back to Dayton this past Saturday.  We drove 14 hours all in one day, which was a lot.  But surprisingly enough, we both did really well with that!  We took turns driving and we stopped every now and then for food and bathroom breaks.  It didn't really hit me until we got to Amy's apartment, but once we got there, I realized how tired I actually was.  I guess sitting that long in a car can really wear ya out!  I spent the night at Amy's apartment and went to church with her the next day.  I was able to have lunch with a bunch of Amy's friends after church, which was fun, too!  After that, I drove the last three hours to my house!  It was definitely a lot of driving, but it was so worth it!!  I'll definitely be going back to Destin in the future!!  I'll leave you with a picture of the sunset in Destin.  On our last night of the trip, we drove to a little park in Destin just so we could watch the sun set...it was well worth it!! 

Currently Listening Declaration By Steven Curtis Chapman see related

In just a little over a week I will be on the road to Florida!!!!  I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to be going to the beach!  I already started packing my bags!  I'm REALLY looking forward to hanging out with Amy and enjoying all the fun things that you can do at the beach.  It should be a great time!

There really isn't too much new going on right now.  I'm still working 3p-3a at the hospital and it's going pretty good.  There are good days and bad days and I've had a lot of trouble with scheduling issues recently, but aside from all that it's a good job. 

Baily is growing into a big kitty, but she's still ornery as ever!  Just today she discovered my contact case sitting on the bathroom countertop.  She jumped up and started batting it around...I found it on the floor in the living room.  Ugh.  Goofy cat!  She's a lot of fun despite having to constantly pick up after her! 

Lily Ann is also growing!  She is so adorable!  This past Sunday we were all at Mom's for Mother's Day and Lily was being so interactive.  She smiles and laughs and just last week rolled over for the first time!  She also loves to take walks in her stroller.  Here's a picture of her happy to be in the stroller.  :)

Well, this isn't really much of an update...I'll be sure to post about the Florida trip when Amy and I get back.  Hope you all are enjoying spring!