Heather Turns 30!

On Saturday night we threw a surprise 30th birthday party for our friend Woods. She was so surprised! Love it! Heather has always sacrificed her birthday for other friends (my wedding, ginny's wedding, etc... so we wanted to do something special for her 30th.) We weren't sure how we were going to pull it off and her boyfriend Mike had to come home from Indy early so that he wouldn't tell her! We started out with dinner at the Oaken Bucket on a beautiful night. Each of the guests brought Heather 30 things. Thirty suckeres, thirty pairs of panties, thirty lottery tickets, thirty cupcakes, thirty recipes...am I forgetting anything?! The "thirty things" theme made it really fun! We also hired the Ditty Gram guy to come and sing to Heather...hilarious! He decided to flash Heather as part of his routine and it was hysterical. I'm sure she was really grossed out but it gave us all a good laugh for sure. Here are some photos of the fun night! Happy Birthday, Woods! We love ya!

Happy It's Friday

After what seems to have been the longest week ever, I am so excited and ready for a fun filled weekend! Looking forward to spending time with friends on Saturday and hopefully doing something fun to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday! Six years - I can't believe how fast its gone and how much has happened! In the past six years, we got married, quit our jobs, moved to illinois, got new jobs, quit our jobs again, moved back to south bend, bought a house, got pregnant, had our amazing baby boy, etc... Along the way our friends and family have been married, having babies, etc! We are so lucky.

On Saturday, we had Jackson's 1st birthday party. It was a success! I think Jackson had fun playing with his friends Cameron and Vienne in his little swimming pool. He also loved his cake! As you can see he dove right in. :) Thanks to all of our friends and family for coming out to celebrate with us. Jackson is luck to have so many people to love him. Happy Birthday, Buddy! Thank you for giving us the most wonderful year of our lives. We love you!

One Year Old!

Jackson turned one last Friday on June 11! What a crazy wonderful awesome year! We are so lucky to have our little Buddy and we love him more every day. Here are pictures of Jack each month. Happy Birthday Buddy!

1 Month Old

Sorry ... can't find a pic at 2 months right now. :)

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months
6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

The joys of work travel

So I'm sitting in the Chili's at the O'Hare airport TRYING to get home from a work trip to Little Rock, Arkansas. What a day. I arrived at the Little Rock airport around noon, only to find out that due to weather, my flight was delayed several hours therefore preventing me from catching my connecting flight to South Bend. Aye yih yih. I hope to be home by 12:30 a.m. So, because I've been traveling alone, I've had plenty of time to people watch (one of my favorite things to do) and think. Here are some of the obervations I've made today in the airport:

• You know those motion detected toilet seat plastic thingy's? The ones that when you wave your hand in front of the black dot, new plastic spins out onto the toilet seat for you? Are we SURE that we're sitting on "fresh" plastic? I mean, how do we know that we're not just sitting on plastic that's been previously used? Ew. I think I'll keep squatting.
• People show their true colors during delays in airports. On the plane in Little Rock, the flight attendent announced that we'd have to sit on the runway for an hour before we were released for takeoff. She apologized profusely, came around and offered water, and told us she valued our business. The guy behind me said, "My HAIRY @$*!" Nice. Hey cranky guy, the stewardess can't control the weather! One guy got so upset that she wouldn't serve booze while we were waiting I thought he was going to get kicked off the plane. My opinion...i would rather be SAFE and waiting, then flying and CRASHING!
• Shouldn't soldiers get to fly first class and bypass ALL lines?
• An airport quesadill and a Diet Coke costs 20 bucks.
• I. Miss. Jackson. I have been staring at his picture all day.
• Never watch a chick flick on your laptop in an airport...People give you really weird looks when they see you bawling and looking at your computer screen.
• My husband is amazing. He totally took control of taking care of Jackson and our house while I was gone. He always puts Jackson first and I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband who's an incredible Daddy.
• I'm drinking a margarita. Alone. At a chili's airport. ... Nuff said.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

DJ has a cold that's been keeping him feeling under the weather for over a week now. I told him I'd make him some homemade chicken soup to make him feel better. It turned out pretty well! Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth
1/2 pound chopped cooked chicken breast
1 1/2 cups egg noodles
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook onion and celery in butter until just tender, 5 minutes. Pour in chicken and vegetable broths and stir in chicken, noodles, carrots, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes before serving.

Happy Mom's Day!