Merry Christmas Eve!

So yesterday I finally got all the presents we bought wrapped. That was good! So it finally feels like Christmas! Today I am just waiting until Ben gets off work at 5 (who is going to get an oil change on Christmas Eve???) and then we are going to see Aunt Cathie and Bobo to give them their presents, go see his Grandma and Grandpa Boyd, then off to Grandpa Blankenships for the night. I'm extremely sad that we don't get to go to church this year because Ben has to work so late. We were going to when we thought he was only working until 1. Then tomorrow we will head to PA to spend the day with my family. I don't think we have ot be there until 3 or 4 so me and Ben will spend the morning together and open our presents to each other. I'm very excited (although ben is just buying my presents tonight - last minute much??). So I probably won't post until this weekend so

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Getting ready for Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is almost here. I feel bad, I still haven't sent out Christmas cards yet. Maybe tomorrow....they might be late though. Oh well! At least I will have sent them.

We did get our tree up, I need to post a pic of that soon. We switched colors this year. We had been doing blue and gold and this year we switched to purple and gold. We haven't had any Christmas bulb ordeals yet with the animals which has been nice. I figured we would lose a few but none so far!

Our plans for Christmas will be slightly different this year, we will go visit Aunt Cathie and Uncle Jimmy who live up the street and then go see Ben's grandparents on his dad's side who live two streets over. Then we will go spend Christmas Eve with his mom's side of the family. We are not really spending time as a whole with his dad's side which is where we normally are. Then Christmas Day we will go to PA as usual to see my family. I'm excited for Christmas this year, but only in the last few days did I get that way since it finally started snowing. Although I don't think it will for Christmas from what the weather forecast says! Only rain.

Work has been slowing down which kind of sucks but oh well. Maybe after the holidays it will pick back up again so I am not so bored! I am working this week today, tomorrow and Weds. Then I will be off until next Tuesday! It will be a long weekend...I have no clue what I am going to do to occupy my time but I'm sure I will clean and relax.

Thanksgiving 2009

Well we spent most of yesterday at Ben's Grandpa's house with his mom and Grandpa. His mom's cousin Danny and his friend Larry came over along with Ben's uncle Don. We had a wonderful feast - his Grandpa really out did himself! We had turkey, mashed potatoes, butter noodles, stuffing, corn, green beans, gravy, coleslaw and rolls. It was all so delicious! I don't know how I stopped eating it because it was all so good. Then we went and visited his Aunt Irene's sister's that lived close by. We stayed there for a little while and visited. Then I came home and fell asleep around 9! I was so tired from eating all that food that I just crashed. Ben wasn't far behind me either!

Today we went out to my parents, they had to put a part on Ben's car. We went to lunch at Golden Corral which was not busy at all. Then we took my stepdad and Ben back to my parents house to work on the car while me and my mom went out shopping. We just went to JC Penneys and Best Buy. Both places were pretty crowded but not absolutely horrible which was nice. Now I'm just home and Ben and his mom are both sleeping. Not much else planned for this weekend off besides putting up the Christmas tree Sunday. I'm excited to decorate for the holidays :) We need to get everything out of the basement and put up.

No pictures from Thanksgiving though...well there was one of Ben's grandpa cooking but no other ones, not even of me and Ben :( I was really sad that we didn't get a picture together! We always do :(

Thanksgiving Plans

So for Thanksgiving we are going to Ben's Grandpa's house. Normally we would go to his other side of the family but too much drama lately and I don't think anyone is really having it. His aunt that lives across the street is having his grandparents over so we might go up there for a minute and say hi. I'm very excited for Turkey though...I don't make Turkey at I think. Ever. So having Turkey now is even better! :) It was a quick week though because I only work two days then I'm off for five! Very nice and everyone is jealous. I have little doubt that I will actually accomplish anything. I might try to get our Christmas Tree up but see as I have no idea where we are putting it since we rearranged our living room, I don't know what's going to happen. I might get it up, I might not. I really would like to. I am hoping Ben's mom doesn't bring out any of her Christmas stuff though because I really don't need any more stuff in the house nor do I want it. I know she has a bunch of stuff but I really don't want it out. So we will see!

As for other updates, not much else going on. Just working. I worked a little over the weekend and I might come in on Saturday to try to catch up on a few things. We will see. It would be so much easier if I could work from home on the things I needed to do. I could but of course I don't have a lap top so it's not that easy.

Mel and Brian and I went to the doctor on Monday and they are having a boy. Mel was pretty upset because her heart was so set on a girl but she seemed to get better with it as time went on. Brian was very excited that it was a boy (which we all knew he would be). But I think it doesn't really matter to them as long as the baby is healthy - Mel just wanted to buy dresses and bows :). But congrats to them!

Also, we found out this week that Ben's cousin Carmie Jo is pregnant. They leave in Kenmore so congrats to them also!

Well

I ended up going to see New Moon last night :) Me and Ben meet my sister, Amy, and her husband Matt at the movie theater in Macedonia which is a 30 minute drive for us! I went home and crashed for a bit then woke up and went up there. Total I got maybe 5 hours of sleep, I'm dragging already today. I wish I would have taken half a day! Oh well. It was worth it :) I'm glad I got to go and I think it was better then Twilight.

This weekend I hope will be relaxing...we are going to that seminar tonight at our church from 7-9:30 and then I will probably come home and go straight to bed. I might do some cleaning and laundry this weekend. I have a few books to read so hopefully I will get through those and all my DVR'd shows that I Haven't gotten to! I might have to come in to work for a while but we will see!

Monday is Mel and Brian's appt to find out what they are having, she asked me last night if I wanted to go. Well she kind of said that she already thought I was. Which confused me because she didn't really want me to go last time we talked about it, she wanted it to just be her and Brian. Oh well. So I guess I'm going. One of them will be upset though because she wants a girl and he wants a boy.

New Moon

I am really tempted to go see this tonight at midnight. I'm sure everywhere is sold out by now though or else I probably would try to go see it. We are going to an "Investing in Your Marriage" thing at our church tomorrow night and then we might go see it after that. Or we will go Saturday night. Not sure yet. I'm very excited about it though and can't wait to see it :)

Ben's mom didn't hear anything back on the jobs she applied for yet. She called a few places yesterday that she applied at but still nothing. Keeping my fingers crossed for her! We will see what happens.

Melanie and Brian find out what they are having on Monday. We will see what happens with this. She wants a girl and he wants a boy.

It's been a long time

Well It's been a long time since I've written. Things have just been so crazy!

My parents finally made it home from Mexico. A lot happened. My stepdad brought my grandma home from Mexico (on a Thurs night). We saw her Friday at the hospital. She looked very dehydrated and malnoursished but mentally she was all there. She knew who we were. Early Sunday morning she took a turn for the worse and she passed away Sunday night (Nov. 25). RIP Grandma Joan :( It was just too sad, she never should have been taken advantage of the way she was. Hopefully we will get our revenge...if not one day those people will have to answer for what they did to her.

Ben's mom is in town now for good. She is staying with us until their house in Arizona sells. Who knows when that will be. But she is working on finding a job right now. We thought she may have gotten one yesterday but it turns out they didn't evne have any jobs openings they just wanted her to fill out paperwork. Weird. She is calling a few places today that she put applications in to and she went some more places yesterday and filled applications out. So hopefully soon she will get something. We could use the financial help and I don't know that she will be able to help us all that much until she gets something permanent. She is driving me slightly crazy though, she is doing my laundry which bugs me. I don't want anyone doing my laundry. She can do towels and stuff but not everything else. But she continues to do it. I keep telling Ben to tell her not to do our laundry but he won't of course. And she is burning all my candles! Those things aren't cheap because they are Yankee Candles and she's already gone through 2 of them! I am not happy about that at all. I usually save them for when we have people over but she burns them all night long grrrr....

In other news, still busy at work. Things are crazy here and still working a good amount of overtime!

Please pray

Please pray for my parents...they are in Mexico right now and there is a lot going on. I don't want to go in to a lot of detail right now because I don't know anything but I am VERY worried about their and my grandmothers health and safety. I am a wreck. I dont know how I am going to sleep tonight...I just want everything to be ok...

Olivia's 2nd birthday - Sept. 20, 2009

One last post - my god daughter Olivia's birthday party was Sept 20, her birthday was Sept 18th. It was elmo themed and of course a good time. Danielle loves to throw a good party! Olivia is just too adorable!

She looked so cute in her tutu and cowboy boots!

Danielle and Olivia

Elmo made a special appearence

Danielle, Olvia and Matt while singing happy birthday

Liz's 24th Birthday

For Liz's birthday, Mel, Brian, Kyle and Liz went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Then everyone meet them back at their house to drink and hang out. It was a good time mostly, there was some drama involving one of Liz's friends from high school but I won't say what that was here. Liz also got a cake from Reeve's that Mel bought her.

Liz's Cake

Trent wanted cake too!

Me and the birthday girl

Me and Mel

Rob, Rachelle and Trent

Ben and me, he never looks happy to take a picture with me!

Brian being goofy with Mel!

Ben and Mel

Liz and Mel

Being silly

Ryan and Kelly's Wedding - Sept 12, 2009

My cousin Ryan got married on Sept 12. Most of my family is from PA and so are he and his now wife so we had to go to Newcastle PA to get to their church. I hate to say this but the church was in the ghetto. So much so a domestic violence dispute broke out right outside of the church and the cops were there. We could hear everything because the church windows were open! Overall it was a nice ceremony though - she is Lebanese so it was cool to see those traditions in the ceremony. There was a good amount of time between the ceremony and receptions so we decided to take Ben to the original Quaker Steak and Lube in Sharon, PA. He had never been and he doesn't really like the ones here in Ohio. But I knew he would like the one in Sharon. So we sat there and ate and drank while we watched football on the big screens. It was a good time. Then we headed to the reception - it was strange because they wouldn't let us into the reception hall because the bridal party was eating along with the parents! It was weird to be standing their watching them eat while we sat outside and watched them. Oh well - to each their own. It was a good reception and everyone had a good time! I took a ton of pictures so below is just a small amount of what I had actually taken!

Bride and her father

The new Mr. and Mrs.

Mom and Eric

Me and Ben

My Grandpa and Aunt Betty

First Dance

The Cake

All of the kids with my grandparents

My 24th Birthday

Well my birthday this year was probably better then my more recent birthdays. I did go to work on birthday. Sam at work made me a cake which was sooo delicious! We also went to lunch at Metro Burger in Highland Square. It was a good time. Then I came home and got ready because we had reservations for dinner at 8 pm at Wasabi, which is in Montrose on the hill. I love that place! We had to wait a bit though becuase Rob and Rachelle weren't there yet but then they ended up not eating! We had a great time at Wasabi. They sang happy birthday to me during the flaming onion thing and then again at the end of the night with a cool desert that had a sparkler in it. After that we went back to Mel and Brian's and they had gotten me a cake too! It was good - it was from Reeve's which is right by their house. I was kind of mad though becuase I wanted everyone to come back to our house and I spent all week clenaing for it! We weren't at their house long and it seemed like I was the only one drinking and I got pretty buzzed. It was a great birthday though and I love my friends for making it so special. As far as gifts - Mel got me a bunch of things, Rachelle got me a party lite candle sampler pack with 3 tea light holders. My mom got me a tanning pass becuase thats what I asked for. And Ben's Aunt Cathie got me a gift card for Macy's. Which was much needed becuase of my weight loss so I got a shirt, a pair of pants and a pair of shorts for hopefully next summer!

Cake from the people at work - YUM!

Me and Ben at Wasabi

Liz and Kyle

Brian and Mel

Drew and Ashley (Drew is Ben's boss at work)

Me and Trent - I love him so much!

Our chef

Me eating the yummy lava cake at Wasabi

Group Picture

Brian, Ben, Drew, Rob and Kyle

Rachelle, me, Mel, Liz andAshley

My cake from Reeve's!

How time flys!

Wow I can't believe it's been almost a month sinceI wrote on here...so many things have been going on!

Work is still insane. I'm working on my days off usually right now but the overtime is nice so I don't mind. Plus it's less of a mess that I come in to the next day.

My birthday was Sept 11, I will probably do another post about this. It was a great night and all of our friends were there! I was happy to have everyone around :) I will do another post with details and pictures!

Sept 12 my cousin Ryan got married to Kelly. That will probably be another post as well. It was a good wedding - but more on that later as well!

On Sept 18th we celebrated Liz's birthday. Probably another post also, or I will put it with my birthday post. They went to dinner but we didn't go because we don't have the money right now. Then it was an interesting night but it was a good time!

I've been going to all of Mel's appointments with her. She just had one this past Monday (I forgot to take a picture of her but I think I will get one tonight!). She was 12 weeks on Tuesday I believe. She is doing better, not as sick but feeling very tired.

My mother in law will be here in about 4 or 5 weeks to stay with us. Her boyfriend will go back to Arizona and stay at the house there until it is sold. The only thing I am not happy about is her dog coming. I don't need another dog in this house, it's already bad enough. Plus she is a small dog so I'm afraid mine will trample her. We will see how she does with Duke. He doesn't do well with other dogs that he doesn't know. So we will see! I will be grateful for the help his mom will provide financially though. That will be a nice break! Plus she likes to cook and clean so that will help out also.

Work has been crazy and hasn't slowed down at all. I really think it's getting worse, which I expected but it's just insane. Plus it's the time of year when people are out sick so I'm constantly worrying about getting sick!

As far as my weight loss, I'm down about 22 lbs from where I started. But from my highest it's around 27 lbs. It sucks though becuase most of my clothes don't fit, well my pants for work at least, and we really don't have the money to buy any more. Maybe one day...

Other then that, not much else has been going on. I come home, make dinner, and go to sleep most nights. On the weekends I clean and do laundry. Not much time for anything else at this point!!

I will try to keep this thing better updated, at least for myself because I don't think anyone really reads this. I want to keep track of things better though so I will try!

I'm home!

Well I've been home for a few weeks now, I've just been really busy! The trip went really well, minus the traveling! It was a nightmare - 4 out of 4 flight delays and my exhaust fell off my car on the way home from the airport! I

It was really hot and humid while we were there but it was beautiful. We were just a few blocks from the Alamo so that was neat to go down and visit that. The Riverwalk was just below the hotel and had plenty to choose from for restaurants and shopping so we had a good time exploring that. We had dinner Wednesday night with one of the people from Cardinal who we work very close with and all of our sellers. Thursday night we had dinner with all of our sellers at The Fig Tree which was along the Riverwalk. It was wonderful! I tried foie gras for the first time - YUCK! But at least I tried it. So many good memories form that night. We all got pretty drunk and topped dinner off with a flaming desert. And we topped the night off with a night cap shot - Sex on the Beach! See my pictures on facebook or myspace from the trip!

In other news, I'm still around 20 lbs for my weight loss but I haven't really been working on it all that much. I've just kind of been slacking and eating whatever. I need to get back on board though because I would like to lose another 10-15. But at least I'm staying the same and not gaining.

I went to Melanie's first doctors appt with her last week on Weds. She is too funny! She was so scared about everything! But she got through it and I think she is much better now that she has seen the doctor. Next Monday is her first ultrasound too and since i'm off I get to go with her so I'm super excited for that. I know this sounds mean but I hope we are the only two who are going.I think that would be a fun thing for me and her to share together. But we will see. I know her mom is not able to make it but she did invite Liz. I don't know if she will have the day off but she has been having a lot of Mondays off lately so maybe.

Ben is gone this weekend at the farm. All four of the boys (Ben, Brian, Kyle and Rob) went down to Ben's grandpa's farm - the one we were at for fourth of July. I'm glad they were able to pull it together because I know they have been wanting to get down there for a while together. So me and Melanie hung out last night. We had a good time - went to dinner and then to the mall to look at the Motherhood store that has maternity clothes in it. She just wanted to look around to see what they had. She doesn't need anything quite yet but she does feel like she is busting out of the clothes she has. She told me last night that she really finally "feels" pregnant and not just has a slight pouch. I'm just working on cleaning around the house though and doing laundry while Ben is gone. I'm off tomorrow and Tuesday since I still get a day off from work becuase of my 4 ten's so it should be interesting. So this week at work should fly and then Friday is my birthday so I'm excited for that! I don't know what we are going to do but I want to at least go to dinner then maybe everyone can just come back here to hang out afterwards.

We did find out that Ben's mom, Sue, will be coming home the first week of Novemeber. That's what she says now but we will see when the time comes. I do think she will come back but I just don't know how everything will work. I think she will be fine if she gets a job and gets into a routine and just doens't sit around the house all day. I am worried though because she will be pretty much staying with us until the house sells in Arizona and what if me and Ben want to try to start having a abby. Not sure how possible that will be with her here. I know we can find ways but still. It's just not as simple. But who knows when that will be, I was hoping for the end of this year/beginning of next year but we will see! :)