Easter 2009

So this year we decided to stay home for once for a holiday! We got up and went to church and my mom met up there. Then I came home and napped :) I woke up and got to work on the Easter feast! We had ham, butter noodles, homemade mashed potatoes (courtesy of my loving husband!), chessy green beans (a tradition) and rolls. It was so good and I'm glad we finally got to stay home for once for a holiday! It was nice to be able to stay in my sweats.

The Easter Feast!

Ben getting his food

My step dad getting his food

In other news...well there's not much. Still workin, Ben's still not working. We are still hopin' and prayin' for something REAL soon. We need it - Bad...but he's trying. It's just a bad world out there right now. We are lucky he has unemployment or it could be much much worse. Other then this...just waitin for it to get warm outside for good. It keeps teasin' us then getting cold again! I can't stand it much longer.

One Year Ago...

Me and my hubby were getting married :) This first year has certainly had it's ups and downs but we survived. I love you honey!

Today we are going to Golden Corral to celebrate our anniversary and it's also Ben's Grandpa Blankenship's 74th birthday. Should be a good time :)

Chrissy and Waynes Baby Shower and Dinner for Anniversary

So today was a very busy day for us! First up, we had Chrissy and Wayne's baby shower. She is due May 14th. It was a very cute baby shower - their room is jungle themed so their were jungle decorations everywhere! They also had tons of games - guess when the baby will be born, finding hidden eggs, guess the number of diapers in the bowl, the women got to match baby socks for prizes (which I won!) and lots of other fun things. It was mostly her family but there were some friends there too that we know so it made for a good time. We are wishing them both good luck!

Mom to be - Chrissy

Cake

Mom and dad to be

Ben with Chrissy

Me with Chrissy

Next up, we had dinner reservations with my parents at 5 pm for our anniversary dinner. Our anniversary isn't really until tomorrow but my mom is leaving for out of town so we did it tonight. It is a very fancy restaurant out by my parents house called Lannings. The food was pretty good and the service was wonderful. It was pricey but my parents had gift certificates so it wasn't that bad. We had a good time!

Ben and I outside the restaurant

Mom and Eric after dinner

And last but not least my wonderful anniversary present, my anniversary band that matches my wedding band :) I love it! I wasn't sure if I was going to get it but I did. I love my hubby!

Welcome Trent Robert!

Our friends Robert and Rachelle welcomed their son, Trent Robert, on March 27th at 1:30 am. 7lbs 13 oz and 20 in long! He's absolutely wonderful! Rachelle was induced Thursday morning (March 26) - she dialated well throughout the night. But the baby was turned the incorrect way and she tried for 2 hours to push him out but it just didn't work. So she ended up having a c-section. Everyone is doing well :) Here are a few pictures from that night!

Robert going into the room for the c-section

Right after he was born Rob brought him out

Uncles with Rob and Trent

Too cute!

Proud daddy

Not too much else new going on in our world. Ben is still looking for a job...but as bad as the job market is right now I'm starting to get worried! Next weekend we have a baby shower to go to for Wayne and Chrissy. Still waiting for summer to appear!

Olivias Dedication - March 15, 2009

I forgot to post this last time....my god daughter got dedicated at church back on March 15th. See pictures below!! She's too cute :)

Danielle and Olivia during the dedication

Afterwards

She's too cute!

Me and my god daughter

Short Update

So I haven't written in a while. Not sure what is wrong with me. I can't wait for the weather to warm up around here so I get out of this always tired phase!

Ben is still on the hunt for another job - he lost his about 2 weeks ago now. Long story but it wasn't his fault. He's had 3 interviews but no luck yet. Until then he's mister susie homemaker.

This past weekend I went to a "Slumber Party", kind of like Pure Romance, at my friend Danielle's house. It was good to see her. I didn't know many people there but my mom came. Most people would think it was embarassing but I don't think so :) I love my mom!

Other then that I have just been working...and sleeping. Like I said at the beginning, I don't know what's wrong with me but I just get so tired by the time I get home! I just want to do nothing but sleep, sleep and more sleep. I am working on a few things that are keeping me up until at least 10 but then I just crash. Summer...summer...where are you?!?!

Besides that I have one more new addiction...

I ended up watching the movie over at a friend's house and then decided that I needed to read the books. Thanks to my sister...I spent this past weekend reading all 4 (well 3, I read Twilight last week). It is a really good story and I can't wait to see the next movie. I just wish there were more books! I want to read more :)

Celebrating Brian's Birthday

So last Saturday we decided to go out and celebrate our friend Brian's 26th birthday! We weren't really planning on it because Ben was working and they said they were going out early (before he got off work) but then ended up going out around 8:30 to dinner so we went. For dinner we went to Texas Roadhouse. We had a good time and then we headed down to the Valley to Coopers. We hadn't been there in a long while so it was a really good time. The owner is super nice and remembered us! I got really really drunk. I don't think I've been that bad in about 6 months! It was a great time, me and Ben had a good time with our friends. :)

Melanie and Brian at dinner - he's a goof ball!

Me and Ben at dinner

Brian and Liz

Me and Tim at the bar

Me and Mel - we were pretty drunk at this point....LOL:)

We had matching chapstick, I guess it was funny at the time

Mandy (who's birthday we were also celebrating), Mel and Christina

I love kisses when I'm drunk :P

Mel's super long straw

It was a wonderful weekend! We didn't do much on Sunday because we slept in pretty late. I have been pretty tired this whole week because I was sick Mon/Tues/Weds and I'm still not feeling 100% today. And of course I got Ben sick and he's mad at me. Spent $35 on meds at the store though to try and make us better!

Work is going well - just pretty busy and just lots to do. I'm being part of more teams at work and trying to learn as much as I can! I love my new position and my new boss. So much better then where I was at :) I enjoy work so much now!

Only thing that sucks about work is that everyone is getting pregnant. There are so many people I know who are pregnant right now. Part of me wants a baby now but I soooo know we can't afford it. Hopefully by the end of the year we will be in a better position to start trying where I feel comfortable. Until then I can only hope :)

Valentine's 2009

Of course I'm a week behind again! Last weekend we went out to celebrate Valentine's Day. Normally we don't celebrate it because it's not really a holiday to us but our friends asked if we wanted to go so we went. It was quite a bit of a wait since we didn't have reservations and that sucked big time but it was really good so it was worth the wait! We went to Japanese Steakhouse in Montrose called Wasabi. It was delicious. Now Ben and our 2 friends Kyle and Liz have never been there before so they were pretty excited about it. I've been a few times but it's been at least 2 years. Afterwards we went to a bar called Brubaker's for a drink (and I will never go there again, the girls that were serving there were rude). Overall, a great night out! We will be going back - when we have reservations :)

Our cook - poor guy was so tired. I think we were his last table...

Me and Ben (I was pretty tired at this point)

Liz and Kyle

And of course Liz and me :)

This week and weekend have not been that exciting...worked a lot that's about it. I have started to go out to my stepdads house to help him clean up his shop a bit. I am trying to get out there a few nights a week and help him out. He's not a good one with organizing or keeping clean. And he has a really hard time throwing things out. So we are working on that :) He had a lot of invoices that needed filed. His computer also got wiped out last year so we are going to work on rebuilding his customers in the software. Fun fun! Ben has been working a lot also. He is off tomorrow so I don't know what we are going to do. Might go to church in the morning and then maybe go to Kyle and Liz's so Ben can get his haircut. I'm going to try to do better and keep this more up to date :)

Lydia's Bridal Shower

So this past weekend (Saturday) was Lydia's Bridal Shower. Lydia and I went to college together and were in an organization called NSCS together. She was also in my wedding. She is getting married July 11 and then moving to Michigan :(

Me before the shower

Lydia opening presents

Cute cake they made for here...can you see the color theme here :)

Opening more presents and pictures of the guests

Lydia and her friend Lara

All in all it was a good time. Lots of purple :) She got a lot of amazing gifts to help her start her life in Michigan.

Not too much else going on here! Ben is back to work (FINALLY :) and I am just working too. Loving my new position at work!

My other major project that I have decided to embark upon is creating a family tree. I'm super excited about it. I am working on both my side of the family and Ben's. I already have a pretty good start but I'm hoping to get a pretty extensive amount done on it by the end of the year. Right now it's only really our grandparents and down. Just another thing to keep me busy :)

Excitement

So what's new with me you might be asking yourself (if anyone reads this?!). Well, work is going well but very busy and stressed. I have a lot going on, a lot more then anticipated. Luckily the new girl has started in my old position and it's such a relief to be able to pass things off to her now. She's great! But there's still a lot to do in my new position and it's getting to be interesting trying to get everything accomplished! But I love my new boss :) We did have our stakeholder's meeting and it's kind of scary to hear about all the cuts (not jobs per se but other things) they are doing to make it work without having to lay off people. Like no new hires, no promotions/pay increases, etc. Luckily they are still giving out our bonuses this month. Sometimes I forget that I work in a manufacturing world even though I am in an office!

Ben started his new job yesterday. He seems to be enjoying it so far but we will see. He will be training the next 2-3 months and then will move to his own store. What is nice is he will only be working 4 days, 12-14 hrs a day. He is used to working 12 hr days so I think he will be fine but I know I won't be up when he gets home! I am glad that he's back to work though, it's scary how high unemployment is!

Last night, I made a wonderful new recipe supplied to me by my co-worker! White Chicken Chili. I need to just say how yummy it was! Ben had some suggestions for the future and I learned a few things too but it was really good. Nice for a cold winter day. Check out my recipe blog for the recipe! It's easy even though it is a lot of ingredients.

Now to get to the excitement blog title...I filed our tax returns tonight (can we say early!). I always get mine done ASAP so I can get it back before the mad rush. What I'm excited about is that we got enough back to be able to cover our trip to Arizona in September (right after my birthday). I am so excited about this. I was kind of stressing about how we were going to save although I knew the return would be enough to cover the flights I just didn't realize it would leave enough for our rental car and spending money too. So I am moving the money to another account as soon as we receive it so we don't spend it. But it's a relief to not have to worry about that now.

So yeah I'm excited to go to Arizona in June and visit again with Ben's aunts and uncles and revisit our honeymoon spot :) It's so nice there and there's pools for me to lay out by with a good book so I'm ready and it's only February!

Well that's about all the updates I have for now. This weekend is Lydia's bridal shower so I will be back with pictures probably Saturday evening from that.

Happy Birthday Honey!

So my honey's birthday was this past Tuesday (Jan. 20, I'm a little late posting this!) and we didn't do a whole lot to celebrate this year.

On Tuesday we went to dinner with my parents at Bricco in Downtown Akron. I had been there before and so had my mom but my step-dad and Ben had never gone before. They both ended up loving it. It's a little bit pricey but well worth it and their food is so filling. Ben got their pork tenderloin with risotto and he loved it. I got the chicken with a mozzarella croquette and it was delicious! My mom got Ben a charger with rechargeable batteries since he was complaining about running out so often because of his Xbox! I didn't get him anything because we are low on money right now but eventually we will get him something. I will probably buy him an Xbox game that he has reserved coming out in March. (Side note: my mom found an awesome deal on a pot/pan set so she gave that to us Tuesday - but it's my Birthday/Christmas gift for this year because it was a really nice set and pricey :) )

Then Friday night to celebrate Ben's birthday again, we went out with our friend's Kyle and Liz to Hopocan Gardens (a chicken house) in Barberton and it was so good! They have the best hot rice :)

Then on Sunday the celebration continued at Ben's Grandpa Blankenship's house where his Aunt Bev, Grandpa, Ben's cousin's kid Nolan (2nd cousin??), Ben's cousin Bleu and me and Ben had Sunday dinner. It was yummy - cube steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, grean beans, cole slaw and biscuits. His grandpa is an awesome cook so it was so good!! Then they brought in a cake and sang happy birthday which was totally unexpected. And that finally ended the week long celebration we call Ben's birthday :)

Yummy dinner cookin on the stove

The Birthday Boy
Aunt Bev and Nolan

The Cake!

Haha....he's 26 :)

And of course he had the honor of cuttin' the cake

Ben's cousin Bleu is the one holding the cake,
he had Nolan help him blow out the candles!