christmas break!

i miss having a Christmas break. This year, the company I work for gave us Friday and Monday off. Friday was the bake-a-thon with Rhea. We made TONS of holiday treats. It was really fun. Then Friday night, we got together with the Irby family and opened our Christmas presents. It was really fun, and by the end of the evening, I was falling asleep on the couch... then the floor...

Today, I've been working all morning on websites. I decided to take a break to update my blog. I may head over to Java Jae's this afternoon to do some work there and grab some lunch. Nothing too exciting, but I'm not at work!!!

I haven't said anything about our trip to Minneapolis, which was GREAT. We had so much fun and got to see so many of friends. We hope that ALL of you can make it out to Wyoming and see us sometime. It was a really good weekend and we even got to make some new friends. We spent all day Saturday with some friends of Andi & Jesse's and really enjoyed hanging out with them and their adorable kids. It was a great trip, but went too fast!

Ok, I better get back to work. I'll try to post some pics soon.

5 interesting things about me....

I got tagged by Angela, so here are 5 interesting things about me:

1. I have lots of jobs - I have my full-time job as a SCADA administrator, and I am the web design coordinator for Visionary, I do part time web design work for my own company too.
2. I LOVE cereal, and I usually eat cereal for lunch. My current favorite - Honeycomb.
3. I have a very large family, 4 brothers, 3 sisters and one soon-to-be step-sister. My dad recently got engaged.
4. I LOVE reading and once I pick up a book, I pretty much don't do anything else until I'm done.
5. I don't like to cook, but I love to bake. As a result, Kyle doesn't get home-cooked suppers very often, but there is never a shortage of cookies, cakes, and brownies :)

I tag:
Duck
Michelle
Tera
Heidi & Tim

stress!

Last Wednesday, we upgraded our SCADA servers at work. As the SCADA Administrator, this was my responsiblity to oversee and make sure everything was working. We had someone from the company that built our software there to do the actual upgrade, but I had to make sure all of our data made it into the system correctly and that everything was working. So much stress. I ended up staying late every day last week and worked some this weekend and then put in a 12 hour day today. I love my job, but I'm ready for everything to be perfect again. Tomorrow we're driving over to Rapid City to catch a flight to Minneapolis on Wednesday. VACATION! I'm SO ready to get away for a while and just relax and shop and sit in the hot tub and relax and relax and shop. I think Kyle is starting to get excited too. I've gotten to the point this past week (and even as early as this morning) that I was so stressed out that anything said with the wrong tone brought me to the brink of tears. I hate being that emotional. But, I staying late (and going in early) today helped and I think I'll be ready to take off tomorrow..... let's hope. Here's how I'm relaxing tonight:























Staring at the Christmas Tree.

christmas tree success!

How do you spell success? G-R-E-E-N-H-O-U-S-E! We went to the local greenhouse and got our Christmas tree tonight!!!! Yay! It's up in our living room and the furniture has been rearranged. We're letting it fall and get used to our house before we decorate it. But, I did decorate the mantle and I think it looks pretty cute. I'll post some pics once we get the tree done - hopefully tomorrow night!

Christmas Tree Hunting

Last Saturday, Kyle and I ventured out to hunt for a Christmas tree. We drove over to Buffalo, bought a tree permit, and headed up into the mountains. We were so excited, having visions of finding the perfect tree in the middle of a field with the sun shining down on out and hearing an angelic chorus in the background. Instead, we left three hours later, covered in snow, with no tree. It was harder that you'd think. There are all these crazy rules that take all of the perfect trees out of consideration. We basically drove throught all these trails and then we'd get out and walk when we saw some that might work. The tricky trees, though, have learned to grow in twos, so there is only one side of the tree that actually has branches. It was much harder than you'd think. There were several times when we were actually walking through the forest asking each other "where are all the freaking trees?!!" Then it started snowing and I was thinking "Oh, a light snow, how perfect." Then, lots and lots of snow. We could barely see out the window to find a tree. We were a little nervous about coming down the mountain in crappy weather, so we decided to head down. But, it was still lots of fun and we had a good time on our unsucessfull hunting trip. Of course, I took some pics:


Kyle being optimistic.


Thinking we have time to find a tree... notice the ominous clouds coming over the mountains in the background.


Kyle trying to look sad that we didn't find a tree. I think he was secretly happy that he didn't have to chop one down.


I look more pissed than sad, and that's pretty much how I felt.

I guess the Boy Scouts are going to get our money after all.....

TONS of cute baby pics.

More Macy goodness. Click here.

weekend update...

This weekend was really chill. kyle and i just stayed home and relaxed - for the most part. friday night we went out to eat with Rhea & Harley and had the worst waiter EVER. Harley asked how much the special was and the waiter said "I'm not sure, probably around $12.99". Then waited for Harley to make a decision. No "Let me check" or anything like that. The item in the menu was $11.99 and after he left, we went and checked the special board and it was $7.99. That's just one example, I could go on all night. We had to ask for straws and silverware. We had to get our own ketchup. He just couldn't care less. It was horrible, but in a funny way.

After that, we all went back to our house and watched "Christmas with the Kranks". It's pretty cute. I love Christmas movies. Love them.

Saturday, we slept in then went to Java Jae's - our favorite. Then we ran some errands and started stripping, sanding, and re-staining our handrails. They look really nice, but we haven't put them up yet.

Saturday night, we had a chuch Thanksgiving. It was really fun. We had a really good time talking with some of our friends that we haven't spent much time with lately.

Sunday, church and football and Rhea & Harleys. It was a really good weekend. So relaxing. Looking forward to more of it this (long!!!!!) weekend!

two more pics...

Same night. More pics.



Nash Potatoes. In matching outfits.


Amber & I. So totally cute.

oklahoma!

More pics from my super fun week in Oklahoma. I got to see lots of old friends - The Pooh, Amber, Nathan, Mark & Kylie, Emily, Jessica, all kinds of people. It was a riot. These pics are from the night at the Olive Garden:


Amber & I


Amos, Andrew, Nathan, and Jesse

hho1/2k

i'm sorta tired, but i told amber & nathan that i'd do a post for them tonight. so, this one is dedicated to them. i had the funnest night in a really long time hanging out at the olive garden for nathan's birthday (happy birthday, nathan!). here's a pic:



If it looks like i've been crying, it's because I was. All night. I laughed so hard that night, I was beyond crying. It was the laughing equivalent to sobbing. So much fun!

i'm in oklahoma!

Posting from my hotel room... I love having a laptop. So, I just left my room to go to the vending machines, but was stopped by a killer kitty. There was a cat (what?!) at the end of the hall and the closer I got, the more it's back arched. It's gave me a hiss and I turned around and went back to my room. Killer Kitty or Diet Help? I'm not sure, but I was scared. Training starts tomorrow - 8:30am.

Funny because it's true....

You Are Italian Food

Comforting yet overwhelming. People love you, but sometimes you're just too much.

What Kind of Food Are You?

kelly's in iraq...and blogging

Hey everyone - you gotta check out Kelly's blog from Iraq....he's a soldier that's over there fighting the war. Send him a message of support and read what he's been up to.

happy halloween

We had a pretty fun night tonight. Rhea (Kyle's sister) invited us over to hand out candy and have supper with her and her husband. Kyle's mom & dad came too. Kyle got off work a little late, so most of the trick or treaters had come and gone by the time we got there. But, there were two teenage boys that had a pretty good KISS costume. (Am, remember? - My roomies Kris, Am, and Am's brother and I all dressed up as KISS for Halloween one year in college. It was an awesome costume). I used to love dressing up. This year, I didn't really care if I did or if I didn't. Hopefully next year, I'll have a little more excitement.

We watched "Fever Pitch" tonight. It's a cute movie. You should definitely rent it.

Ok, I'm tired. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

whoa, where have i been?

I really didn't realize it had been this long since I posted. Lots of fun new stuff has been happening, so sorry for that. Oct 19-20, I got to fly in the corporate plane to our headquarters in New Mexico for a little training and to meet some of the people I speak with daily on the phone. It was really fun. In fact, I even go to co-pilot the plane. Well, they wouldn't let me touch anything but an inconsequential altimeter setting. But, it was better for everyone that way. I did get to wear the headphones at least. I even have a picture:

More posts to come...

Hunting

Last night, I went with Kyle and his co-worker, Jeff, to go hunting. We went out on Kyle's grandparents' land. It was actually more fun that I expected, although nothing was shot. We went out and found a place to sit, where we could see the deer down in the field below us (there were two small bucks in that group). We also were on the deer trail, so we could easily see if any deer came down from either side. Three deer appeared on the spot that Jeff was sure none would, so they were directly behind us. So, we had to be really still so they would walk down. At this point, my feet are falling asleep and being still is getting impossible. Finally, the deer must've seen or smelled us, and they turned around. So, we went walking up the hill to see if there were any deer in the canyon. There were SO MANY back there. They just kept coming, too, it was really funny. There were at least 15 deer back there. But, we couldn't find a buck from where we were. And by the time we moved to a good shooting position, it was getting dark, and you can't hunt after dark. So, they're going back Wed. while I'm in New Mexico. It was an anti-climatic hunting trip, but it was a great hike! :)

girl fest - last chapter

Sunday I went to church, went shopping, and then cleaned the house :(

Not really a girl fest....

girl fest...continued

Last night was fun. I started with Princess Diaries 2, which was only worth a few tears... Is it bad that I wanted her to end up with the nice prince, not the playboy? Then, I headed to a coffee shop to try to tackle a few more chapters of Anna Karenina. It's taking me way to long to get through this book. Even the library thinks so. Then, a little shopping... at K-mart... for make up. Then back for round 2 of movie mania. I started Prozac nation and hated it, so didn't finish. Fell asleep on the couch instead. Woke up this morning at 8 with a phone call. Tasha needed a babysitter. So I babysat this morning for her 3 boys, then went to a movie with Rhea. We saw In Her Shoes. It was really good, I cried a lot. That's basically how I rate movies. I actually needed napkins for this movie. Sometimes, my hand will suffice, I can just wipe away a few tears. Other times, I leave with a wet sleeve. When I have to use the popcorn-butter stained napkins, you know it was a good movie. Anyway, I've been doing some website work, and now I need to go dig up my wrecked garden (remember the snow storm?) and then I'm going out to eat with Rhea & Harley. Looking forward to round 3 of movie mania after that. So far, a very good day!

a very girly weekend....

Kyle is leaving me this weekend for hunting. He's leaving this morning and won't be home until sometime Sunday. So, I'm anticipating a very girly weekend. I'm going to rent all the girly movies he doesn't want to see, get a pedicure, bake goodies, go to a girly movie with the in-laws and NOT cook. I'm very excited to sleep in and just have a good, relaxing weekend.

shoot. where'd I put my keys?

I've noticed a stupid quirk that I have lately. Every time I leave my car, I throw my keys into my purse. Except when I get home, then I leave them in the car. But all, other times, I throw them in purse. And then before I get out of the car, I have to double check to make sure they're in my purse. I haven't locked my keys in my car for a really long time. Why do I do this?

Snow sucks. 

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Snow already. Lots of it. Totally sucky.

weekend adventure

This weekend, we headed over to Sundance to try out a mountain biking trail we had heard about. Kyle was really excited and I was sort of excited. We found the trail and it looked promising. So, we started up the trail and continued uphill. I didn't realize we were going uphill, just thought that it was really hard. I was really hating it. It was really rocky and I kept getting stopped going up a hill by a rock and ended up having to walk my bike more than I would have liked. I was complaining like crazy and sweating like a pig. I'm sure Kyle was ready to kill me and leave me out there. Then, we turned around. It was so much fun going down the mountain. I went from totally hating it to totally loving it in basically 4 seconds. I pretty much didn't have to pedal at all the whole way back to the car. At one point, we stopped and I said to Kyle "I didn't realize we were riding uphill that whole way. " Which, of course, he knew and couldn't believe that I couldn't tell. Anyway, after the ride, went drove around and "explored" the area (we haven't spent any time there previous to this) and found lots of cool things and beautiful scenery. The pics are posted below.

A pretty lake we found.

The view from the fire watch tower.

Me on the bridge we found.

Kyle on a bridge we found.

Some deer that we kept seeing all day.

In the Hills near Sundance

woo hoo!

Last night, I was finally able to order a new laptop. Kyle and I had been waiting to order one (well, he kept postponing the order) until we had paid off a few more bills. Well, he finally decided that we were ready to order one. This is what I am getting. A 15" Power Book. I'm entering the world of Mac's. Yikes! I'm super excited to get a new laptop. It won't ship for 2-3 weeks, though. That sucks, I'm too impatient. Why can't they just deliver it to me in an hour? Anyway, I'm really looking forward to spending the weekends on the couch instead of stuck in the office. And getting work done while we're travelling. Watching movies ANYWHERE. There's so much fun to be had/work to be done/etc. Yay!

movin' on up...

So, I was waiting to post this until I had all the details, but I couldn't wait any longer. I'm getting a promotion!!!! And a raise, but those are the sketchy details (dang it!). I am moving from Office Tech to SCADA Administrator. Woo Hoo! Basically this means that I will have control over the SCADA System and will get a new office and not a cubby. I'm way excited. I was hoping to know some $$ details before the weekend, but no word yet. My boss said "When you work here, you learn patience." Great. So, we'll see what happens, but any raise is a good raise! I've known that the possibility was there since Monday, but things are being confirmed now. And we might be hiring someone to take over some of my current duties, which would be great, then I could take a vacation without worrying about things getting done. I'm really, really, really, really excited.

baby pics

Here are the "pro" pics of Macy.

christmas in september

This weekend, we made another trek to Tera's house (6.5 hours away) to visit and attend Macy's dedication (we are her "sponsors"). It was a fun weekend, with WAY too much driving. We ended up making a loop of 1/2 of South Dakota, I swear. Saturday, we got to go with them to Macy's baby pictures, which turned out SO cute. I'll post a link once there's one to post. They are so adorable, though.

On Wednesday night, our washing machine decided to break. Well, it still worked, but 1/2 of the water ended up in the bathroom... on the floor. Kyle and his dad tried to fix it Thursday night, to no avail. Kyle's dad and brother-in-law were going to come over and fix it while we were gone. Kyle kept calling them to see how things were going and we finally found out that it was fixed. But, we had stopped at Sears on Saturday to see that we couldn't really afford new ones right now.

We got home late tonight, and Kyle saw that there was some dryer vent duct stuff in the trash, so we went down there to see what they had done and this is what we found:

Merry Christmas to us!!!!

We are so excited, grateful, relieved, overwhelmed, excited, and excited! Mom & Dad Irby got us a new washer and dryer! I wish I could explain how nasty and old our old stuff was. You'll never know, they hauled it to the dump. But, now we have BRAND SPANKIN NEW ones! I love early Christmas presents! This one was the BEST!

fun new "neighbors"

Kyle's sister and her husband moved back to town this weekend. I'm blaming my lack of posts on that and the fact that I've had a bad cold all week. Is that a good excuse? Hope so....

Anyway, we spent the weekend (Fri & Sat) moving them in and unpacking, which was fun. We're really excited to have them in town now. I can already see us spending weekends (fri night movies or sun football) at each others' house. Fun.

Sunday, I was feeling really crappy, so after church, we slept most of the day away. It was a much needed nap. I can't remember the last time I had a nap. SO GOOD.

This weekend (tomorrow, actually), we're driving 7 hours to my sister's house for the dedication of little Macy. Kyle & I are the "Godparents". Kyle's pretty excited to be the GODFATHER. We're going to watch Mike (Tera's hubby) coach a football game, head to Sioux Falls for a 5 generation picture with Great-Grandma, then back to Wagner for the dedication. It should be a fun weekend. Lots of driving, though.

That's it for now. Tonight I'm doing voice recordings for the internet company I work for... more info on that later.

last weekend's wedding fun...

Here are some pics from Ben & Carissa Enns' wedding last saturday. Some of them are really cute, so I thought you'd want to see them.

 

 

 

 

 

the space station

Tonight, the space station passed through the sky in our neck of the woods. We had to be outside at 7:57 in order to see it for 3 minutes and 56 seconds. We left the house at 7:53 or so after deciding to drive to the outskirts of town so we could see it better or at least increase our chances of seeing it at all. I thought I saw it, so I had Kyle pull over and WE TOTALLY FOUND IT!! We saw most of it's flight across our sky. It was really cool. It supposed to be in the sky again tomorrow at 8:23. Maybe we'll try to see it again....

nothing better

Last night, we were invited to the birthday party of our friends' kid. He was turning 4. It was such a good time. The party got rained out, so we were all inside. Kids crack me up. I had such a good time. The highlight of the party was when they were opening presents and Tasha (the birthday boy's mom) asked her husband for a knife to cut open a box. Another little 4 year old excitedly says, "I've got one!" and proceeds to pull out a pocket knife to the complete embarrassment of his mother. Everyone was laughing and his mom said, "Well, I guess I'm glad he didn't pull that out on the trampoline." Crack me up. Such a funny kid. This same kid was seen outside jumping in front of the window trying to get everyone's attention. FOR 30 MINUTES, I swear. I looked out the window and said to Kyle, "THAT doesn't make you want to have kids?" I can't wait for the next party!

Living Room & Kitchen 

Kitchen 

Kitchen 

Living Room from Upstairs 

Living Room 

Living Room/Hallway