My Blissful Corner

30 Day blog challenge catch up

2011-08-30T11:18:00.000-05:00

Day 15 - your dream house
I've always said my dream house is a big two story farmhouse with a wrap around porch on a few acres so we can have horses and goats and whatever other animals we want in our menagerie. :) However, after living in this darn townhouse and having to go up two flights of stairs every day I may just want a one level house.

Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Brad Paisley & Dolly Parton When I get Where I'm going

Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
I'm skipping this one becasue well I just can. :)

Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
My wedding was beautiful and amazing and the second best day of my life! :)

Day 19 - a talent of yours
Hmm I am pretty good at a number of things but not really exceptional at any one specific thing... I'm pretty good at getting under Ben's skin though. ;) lol But really I would say cooking... when I really want to and have the time I make some pretty exceptional things.

Day 20 - a hobby of yours
I enjoy blogging, obviously. I also enjoy running but don't seem to get the chance to much these days with C demanding my attention 24/7.
Day 21 - a recipe
This is my all time favorite pancake recipe. Sometimes I will get fancy and add cinnamon or apples or other fruit but it is pretty darn good just as is.

Old Fashioned Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon white sugar

• 1 1/4 cups milk

• 1 egg

• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

*Optional use is to decrease salt by ¼ tsp and add 1 tsp vanilla.

Day 22 - a website
http://www.klove.com/ I love to listen to their music when I'm at the computer and can't get to a radio.

Day 23 - a youtube video
I am just going to give you the link because this post is going to be long enough without me embedding the video into it. Here is the dog tease video that Ben and I have already shared with pretty much everyone. It is hilarious... at least to us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw
Day 24 - where I live
Presently we live in the little apple (manhattan ks) but in about a month we will be moving to the Tulsa area... exactly where is yet to be determined.

Day 25 - your day, in great detail
C usually wakes up for the day between 7 and 9. We go downstairs and I feed her, get myself some coffee maybe eat breakfast depending on how fussy/demanding she is being. I watch tv/blog while she eats and then I play with her for a while then she goes down for a nap. If it is a good day she will sleep 1 1/2 hours, if it's a bad day it is about 30 minutes. The bad days outnumber the good on this front. Then we lather rinse repeat until about 1 when Ben comes home for lunch. I make him lunch while he gets a little C time then she goes down for her afternoon nap. Much the same as the morning nap... good day it is 1-2 hours, bad day 30 minutes to an hour. Then she eats we play, we play some more. If she isn't super fussy I can leave her in her swing or on her play mat and get some laundry/cleaning/exercising done. Ben gets home between 7 and 8 and I get a shower and get to eat dinner. Then Ben gives C a bath starting at about 9 or 9:30 and then he gives her a bottle and puts her to sleep while we both watch a tv show or just talk. After she goes to bed we usually have an hour or so together to spend on couple time and then we go to sleep and pray she gives us at least 5 hours of sleep.

Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Ummm pretty much a repeat of the last one, except for 2 or 3 days a week Ben is home and totally throws off the routine. ;) JK love you babe.

Day 27 - my worst habit
I would say worrying. I am great at worrying. I'm also great at expecting the worst... is that kind of the same thing as worrying? I don't know.

Day 28 - what's in my handbag/purse
Oh lordy... about 20 different chapsticks and lip glosses, my migraine medicine, my ~~magic pills~~ anti-nausea medicine, my wallet, calendar, pens, gum, brush, hand sanitizer, dental floss. I can't really think of anything else.

Day 29 - hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
I hope that someday C starts sleeping through the night... :). Seriously though I hope that we raise her well the next 365 days and she gets enough attention and develops on track and is happy and healthy. I hope that we can find a great house to rent/buy in Tulsa and that we can finally settle down and feel like real grownups. I really really hope I can find a great job that I love and enjoy and that I won't have to work too many hours so that I can still enjoy my little bug as much as possible.

Day 30 - a dream for the future
I dream that in a few years we will have four kids, a great house, maybe a couple of horses, we will both love our jobs but know that they are just jobs and we will still have a ton of time for our family and eachother.

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 14

2011-08-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

Day 14: A non-fictional book

The Bible. Ever heard of it? You should read it sometime. It will change your life.

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 13

2011-08-13T21:51:00.000-05:00

Day 13: A fictional book

Well this is kind of a vague directive. My favorie fictional book? Any fictional book at all? The first one that comes to my mind... what exactly is being asked of me here.

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen because that is the book I just bought on my kindle ap for my smart phone to read. I can't wait to get started.

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 12

2011-08-12T17:47:00.000-05:00

Day 12: Something you are OCD about

Hmm... there are probably several things that I am slightly OCD about and don't really even think about. I'm sure Ben could tell you though because it's probably something that I make him annoyed/pissed off with. :)

For instance:

The dishwasher has to be loaded a certain way and if Ben happens to have loaded it and it isn't the way it should be, which is pretty much every time, I will have to re-load it with everything in the right spots.
Also I have the exact same routine every single time I take a shower. Shampoo, shave, wash body, conditioner, and while the conditioner is soaking in wash my face. I also always start with my left arm when I'm washing and end on my left leg. I'm a strange one I know.
Actually come to think of it I have a pretty specific way I want everything done. Don't know if that makes me OCD or just anal. :)

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 11

2011-08-11T11:46:00.000-05:00

Day 11: A photo of you recently

Because you don't see enough of these on here... lol

Here is Ben and I after we played soccer the other day... or rather kicked the ball around with me chasing down all the balls Ben couldn't kick straight. ;) love ya babe.

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 10

2011-08-10T18:35:00.001-05:00

Day 10: A photo taken over 10 years ago of you

Yikes... over ten years ago that's back when I was a young whippersnapper. :) JK Pretty much the only digital copies I have of old photos are from really old photos so I guess you get to see what I looked like as a bratty little kid. :)

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 9

2011-08-09T09:45:00.000-05:00

Day 9: A photo you took

I <3 the beach. :)

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 8

2011-08-08T23:07:00.001-05:00

Day 8: A photo that makes you angry/sad

I don't have any pictures of anyone kicking puppies or anything like that so I had to improvise. *kidding*

I don't really have any pictures that make me angry so I went with ones that make me sad. I don't have any pics of Reese on this computer but I do of Joe Joe. I miss him, and Reese, and Annie girl. I love doggies. :( I also miss Grandma Stewart so much. I wish so badly that she would have been here to meet Caroline and hold her.

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 7

2011-08-07T16:20:00.000-05:00

Day 7: A photo that makes you happy

<3 2nd Best day of my life

and now for the BEST day

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 6

2011-08-06T22:44:00.000-05:00

Day 6: 20 of my Favorite Things

1. God
2. Caroline
3. Ben Sorry babe, I know you're supposed to come before Caroline but she's like a shiny new penny. :) I'll get my priorites straight again soon. I promise.
4. Okay how about just family or this list could get really long. :)
5. Ice Cream. Too bad it goes straight to my butt & thighs.
6. Kimber & Nolan... and animals in general.
7. Coffee. Oh man do I love coffee.
8. Sports, mainly softball/baseball, soccer, golf.
9. The library. Seriously anyplace where you can rent as many books as you want for pretty much as long as you want is pretty awesome.
10. Sleep. And I love it so much more now that I rarely get any. Man, maybe I should move this up to number two. :)
11. Vacations. Seriously, I should have gone into some other kind of occupation where Ben and I would be able to travel around the world whenever we want. I guess there is still the lottery.
12. Shopping. I just can't get enough... probably why we can't take too many of those vacations above. ;)
13. Taking pictures. Oh man, if only I had endless cash I would buy a really nice camera and take some lessons and become an amatuer photographer. I love taking pictures.
14. The internet. Thanks Al Gore. ;) B would actually probably say I like this more than him.
15. My new cell phone. It's pretty awesome. Plus how did we ever live without cell phones. Seriously.
16. Baking. I would also be a proffesional chef or baker if I could. How fun would it be to own a pastry/bakery shop. Man, all these things I could have done instead of going to vet school.
17. Autumn. It's my favorite season and my favorite time of year. Everything is so fresh and crisp and it always reminds me of going back to school which was always one of my favorite things. I know, I know, I already told you I am weird. :)
18. The DVR. It has really come in handy the last two months since I have been a slave to C's eating schedule. Which has been ALL THE TIME. :) Also handy since there is crap for daytime television and it gives me the ability to watch pretty much whatever I want whenever I want. Genius.
19. Friends. I guess I should add that one in there, although they have pretty much gone by the wayside now that we're graduated and I have C. Maybe I should make some new friends, with babies, so we actually have something to talk about. :)
20. My life. This is pretty much all encompasing but honestly I think I have it pretty good. :) Best husband, best daughter, best doggies (haha yeah right). But still I wouldn't change a thing.

Man.. that was a lot harder to do than I thought it would be. I kept thinking of 20 of my least favorite things...maybe that should be on the 30 day challenge.

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 5

2011-08-05T21:41:00.003-05:00

Day 5: Your favorite quote

Gah this one is going to be hard for me. There are WAY too many to pick just one so I will have to share a bunch of them. I love reading quotes. When I was in high school, or maybe it was in college, I would read through a book of quotations that I had, or search the internet for them, and then write all the ones out I liked into a notebook. Yeah I am was weird.

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple. Barry Switzer

Those who know, don't ever say much. Those who don't, talk all of the time. -Mike McClure

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (NIV) John 14:6

Cause it's the trials and tribulations, all the awkward situations that the livin' brings. And it's the trying and believing there'll be flying after greiving. And in the end we all must earn our wings. I got a good ole sould, it's just got a few dings. Mike McClure.

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."-- Abraham Lincoln

Common sense is not so common. -Voltaire

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. ~Andy Rooney

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. -Leo Tolstoy

And that is probably more than enough for now. :)

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 4

2011-08-04T21:40:00.000-05:00

Day 4 - your favorite book

I love to read. A lot. I used to say that if I could be in school for the rest of my life so that I could just read all the time I would. Although now I get migraines when I read too much so it's a little bit less enjoyable for me. :( During school my favorite book I had to read was probably either The Giver or The Grapes of Wrath. I really like Steinbeck, although I'm only halfway through East of Eden and have been for about 2 years. Man I should really start that back up again. Coincidentally I'm also halfway, oh who am I kidding more like 1/8 of the way through Gone With The Wind. That book is big. I mean really big. I want to finish it though. I shouldn't have any problems doing it now that I'm a stay at home ~~doctor~~ mom and all but it's just so much more fun to stare at C. However another of my favorites is the Harry Potter series. I read them a lot. All time though I'll probably stick with The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

Ben's favorite book is Contact Carl Sagan. I need to read it I guess. :)

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 3

2011-08-03T22:15:00.001-05:00

Day 3 - your favorite television program

Argh... if you haven't figured it out yet I have problems making decisions... and this whole picking only one thing is really killing me.

Of all time I would probably say that Charmed is my favorite tv show... seeing as how I re-watch every episode in order about once a year on TNT. I'm doing this right now actually, although I've switched to netflix because they finally put all the episodes on there.

Of shows that are currently on television the one I can't miss is probably Bones. It actually may be my all time favorite too, I don't know.

For Ben's answer we have All in the family. He's pretty old school.

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 2

2011-08-02T18:11:00.001-05:00

What is your favorite movie?

Once again.. it's so hard for me to pick just one movie. There are so many great ones out there and it depends on what I'm in the mood for. Take The Proposal for example, I have watched it 4 times in the last week. It's always a good one and I love me some Sandra Bullock. Then scary movies I think Signs is by far the best one ever.... well maybe that or The Sixth Sense. But that was really only good the first time you watched it.

Let's be honest though if I'm going to pick only one it's going to be A League of Their Own... it's a classic. Although it's ruined the name Evelyn for me for future daughters, and I really kind of likee the nickname Evie.

Ben's answer is Bull Durham.

30 Day Blog Challenge- Day 1

2011-08-01T20:13:00.001-05:00

What is your favorite song?

Well honestly this probably changes daily. I love music so much and depending on what my mood is my favorite song will change, sometimes daily or hourly. :)

However I have to pick one and today it's probably
Francesca Battistelli Free to Be Me

I love all her music really.

Ben agrees that this is incredibly difficult! His favorite song of right now is Hold Us Together by Matt Mahr but all time favorite would have to be Why Me Lord by Kris Kristofferson.

30 day blog challenge

2011-08-01T20:02:00.002-05:00

I read about the 30 day blog challenge on another blog I was browsing and thought it would be a fun new thing to do. Plus the posts have been pretty sparse lately so it will add some content. :) Some days I will have two posts so I can continue blogging about the usual. Oh and for most of them I will try to include Ben's answer as well. :) Should get intersting.

Here’s the rundown:

Day 1 - your favorite song
Day 2 - your favorite movie
Day 3 - your favorite television program
Day 4 - your favorite book
Day 5 - your favorite quote
Day 6 - 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 - a photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - a photo you took
Day 10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - a photo of you recently
Day 12 - something you are OCD about
Day 13 - a fictional book
Day 14 - a non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - my wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - a talent of yours
Day 20 - a hobby of yours
Day 21 - a recipe
Day 22 - a website
Day 23 - a youtube video
Day 24 - where I live
Day 25 - your day, in great detail
Day 26 - your week, in great detail
Day 27 - my worst habit
Day 28 - what's in my handbag/purse
Day 29 - hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - a dream for the future

Date night

2011-07-31T22:30:00.000-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa came up this weekend to help Uncle Al move and to babysit little miss so B and I could go on our first date night since our baby bug arrived. I was a little bit nervous, not becuase I thought anything would go wrong or I was worried about C but because I was afraid she would scream and cry and be awful all night for Grandma and Grandpa. Thankfully they said she was a little angel, except for during her bath, and she still slept pretty well that night!

Ben and I had a lot of fun as well. He took me to 4 olives which was amazingly good and then we went and watched the new Transformers movie which was pretty good, definitely better than the second one. Anywho here are our pictures... I still have a long way to go to get back in shape. :)

Oh gotta get a pic of the shoes... I love them!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2011-07-26T21:55:00.000-05:00

We went up to KC this last weekend to celebrate Grandpa Kris's birthday and so that bug could meet the rest of her family. Unfortunately Aunt Tanya & Uncle Denny were sick so we didn't get to do our annual day at the lake and they didn't get to meet her but hopefully we'll get back to KC soon and they can meet the cutie pie. It was an awesome extended weekend and CK did very good! She didn't make a peep the entire car ride home... so she might be a better dark time traveler than during the light. So whenever we finally get to make it down to NM we're just going to have to make our long drive in the middle of the night and then Gma Janice and Gpa Mark can watch her all the next day while mom & dad sleep. :)

We got dad a gift certificate to do the Richard Petty driving deal... makes me a little bit nervous but hopefully he will have fun. :) Plus you know... we gave him his first granddaughter. I think we should be good on gifts for awhile with that one. ;-)

Meeting Great Grandpa George for the first time

4 generations

Great Grandma

Heid's first time holing her :)

Holiday weekend

2011-07-05T17:37:00.001-05:00

Happy Fourth of July!!!

We had a great weekend visiting with Ben's family!! Baby C got to meet her Aunt Aubrey & Uncle Dan and cousin Hailey for the first time!! It was soo hot we didn't get to do a whole lot, plus there isn't very much you can do with a 3 week old in tow but the boys got to go out golfing and the girls got to enjoy hanging out wth baby C. :) It was a great visit and it was nice to have everyone here together, we even got a great family picture with the newest addition to the family!

She's here!

2011-06-16T05:30:00.014-05:00

Our sweet Caroline has arrived....

and she is perfect.

She's beautiful and perfect and we couldn't be more in love with her. It was such a wonderful experience giving birth to this little miracle and it is something I will never forget. We're enjoying every minute of her!

Katie's wedding

2011-06-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

Katie & I before the ceremony

Taking pictures outside after the wedding

Bustling the dress

Off center... but still pretty

Big Belly....

Kate, Katie and I

Cutting the cake

Well we made it through the wedding without a baby! Thank goodness! :) For two or three days before the wedding I was having more frequent contractions than I normally have so I was starting to get a little worried I wasn't going to make it but everything worked out great and the wedding was a wonderful success!! It was really beautiful and I am so happy for Katie and Greg! It was a blast as well! :) Even though I was 39 weeks pregnant Ben and I were dancing all night and enjoying ourselves. I even had two sips of champagne to celebrate during the toasts *gasp*!!! :) By the end of the night I was definitely exausted and slept really well from 12 to 5... but then I was up with my now normal pregnancy insomnia. Now that we have gotten through the wedding there is really NO REASON why this little girl shouldn't show up!! So hurry up and start things going baby girl!

5 Year Anniversary

2011-06-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

Toasting 5 years together, don't worry mine was Club soda with pomegranete juice

Yummy Italian Creme Cake (from Walmart) :)

My BEAUTIFUL graduation/anniversary/we're having a baby present!

I can't believe that we have already been married for 5 years... it seems like just the other day I met Ben that first day of college. :) It's been a long journey with plenty of trials and hard times but with many many more wonderful times. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life... he is truly my best friend and I couldn't have asked for a better partner to spend the rest of my life with. I can NOT wait until I finally make him a father and I can see him interacting with our daughter. He is going to be amazing and I wish she would hurry up and get here so I can see him with her. :) A lot has happened in 5 years... 3 graduations (my undergrad and both of us from vet school), moving to Beloit and back again, spending two years living apart, the loss of family members and pets, getting both our stupid dogs (that we love dearly and will always be our first "children"), and many other day to day things that have only strengthened our relationship and made me fall more in love with him every day. He spoils me more than he should and he would walk through fire for me and I'm so glad I've got to spend the last 5 years with him and hope there are 50+ more to come. I love you baby! Happy Anniversary!!

We spent the day together because he was thankfully off work so we went to the park with the dogs and watched them run around and then we walked a couple miles trying to get this little girl to come on out. No such luck. :( Then Ben made my favorite, Chile Verde for dinner and we got a delicious Italian Creme cake from Walmart to celebrate. We watched a couple of movies and just spent the day together. It was really nice because I know that quality alone time will be hard to come by here in a couple of weeks. We are anxiously awaiting her arrival and the next step in our relationship! :)

Graduation

2011-06-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

Waiting to get hooded

Extreme close up of the hooding

<3 My Hubby!

My graduation from Vet school was May 13th and it was an absolutely amazing weekend!! I had so much fun and enjoyed getting to visit with all of our family and Justin. I was so suprised and thankful for everyone to show up who did. Thank you all for coming!! We really enjoyed getting to see you all and spend time with you all. I can't believe that after 4 years it is finally all over and I am a doctor! Holy smokes. :) I had to sign DVM after my name the other day for my license renewal and it totally threw me for a loop... I didn't know how to sign it! :) Guess I better start practicing.

Going private...

2011-05-03T09:03:00.003-05:00

So I have decided to make this blog invitatin only like JuneBug's blog... that will mean that I will need to get your e-mail address if you read this blog and want to continue reading it so that I can send you an e-mail with an invite from blogger or whatever. So just leave me a comment and let me know if you would liketo be added to the list! ;)

Senior Awards banquet

2011-05-01T21:27:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the senior awards banquet... and I completely forgot to take any pictures of Ben and I dressed up together. I know, so out of character for me right! Oh well. It was an alright evening... I didn't expect to win any awards but I wound up winning one of the ones that Ben won his senior year... the Dr. Wayne and Drucecillia Burch Memorial Award. It was a nice suprise... although I looked like a fat cow up on stage! ;) I can't wait until this little girl is out and I can feel like myself again!

Baby Shower

2011-04-23T10:21:00.000-05:00

My baby shower was last weekend and it was absolutely amazing!! I feel so blessed to have such an amazing and generous family! I couldn't believe how many people showed up to help celebrate this new little one who will be coming in just a few short weeks! I also can't believe how generous everyone was and how spoiled this little girl is already! She is definitely going to be one of the best dressed girls becasue she got so many cute and gorgeous outfits! I think she may already have more clothes than her momma. :) Right now all of her stuff is still just sitting in our living room... I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with it all to be honest. I really need to start working on getting her room organized and put together and Ben needs to get her crib put together so we can at least pile some stuff in there since we plan on just using the pack and play in our room for the first couple months of her life. I want to give a big thanks to Teresa and Amber for hosting, and my mom and Grandma and aunts for all the hard work they put into the shower and making it a great time for everyone. I really appreciate it and I can't wait for everyone to meet this little girl. The shower just made me that much more anxious for her to get here so I can put her in all the cute outfits and use all of the great things that we were gifted. So thanks to everyone that came out and made the day so special for me and this baby girl!

My awesome Husband

2011-04-16T21:59:00.002-05:00

Last week Ben had two days off in a row and decided to build this beautiful pergola in our backyard. He even went out and bought all the plants and flowers and hung them up. He also bought new woodchips and got it all beautiful back there. I'm so excited to have people over and to enjoy our backyard now. I'm so glad I have such a wonderful and handy husband! Love you baby!

Babymoon

2011-03-27T16:45:00.009-05:00

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go on an extended weekend vacation to TanTarA resort in the ozarks as our last vacation alone together before this little girl gets here and completely chanes our lives. It was absolutely amazing. I love getting away just the two of us and not having to worry about the dogs, or cleaning, or schedules or anything other than just enjoying spending time with each other. The first day we got there was absolutely GORGEOUS! It was sunny and 70-something degrees. It was beautiful. Unfortunately on the way down there we ran into a little hiccup when a turkey ran out infront of us while I was driving down windy 7 highway. At first we thought we'd be okay but it turns out that the monster (he had to be 30 pounds!) broke our headlight mounting thing. Thankfully, other than Ben making several jokes about my driving for the rest of the trip, we didn't let it put a damper on our mood or vacation. The first day we went to the outlet mall and shopped around since it was so gorgeous out. This was one thing I was really looking forward to since they have the coach factory store there! :) So we purchased a couple of things....

First of all I got another purse... it's really pretty and I love it!! Thanks hunny!

Then we got this diaper bag for the little girl. That's right... she's getting spoiled already!

We spent a lot of Friday at the waterpark. It was a lot of fun but it was also a little tiring for me. They had four water slides... which apparently I wasn't supposed to ride since I'm pregnant but I did anyways and it was a lot of fun. I also sat with my legs in the hot tub... uh oh! :) I think Ben would have like to ride them a few more times but oh well. It was still a lot of fun... even if it was more geared towards kids. Maybe one day when this little girl is a little older we can o back and she can enjoy it.

We also went miniature golfing and bowling. I kicked Ben's butt at both! :) I got three hole in ones and Ben only got one! Then I beat him soundly in all three games of bowling we played... even while 6.5 months pregnant! I'm pretty proud of myself I know. lol

The moon, Ben thought was so interesting at 5am when a crazy racoon was tapping on or windows and trying to get into our room!The morning we left... it was gorgeous again!

Our room was the one at the very top

Stickin out the baby bump

It was a wonderful trip and I had so much fun with Ben and am sad that I am back here going to the clinic all day for hours and hours on end. :( I hate it. Friday I was on my feet and running around the clinic for 17 hours... I only got about 2 hours total to sit down the entire day and it usually came in about 3-5 minute stretches. Oh well. 6 more weeks and then I never have to step foot in that place again and I have a vacation of undetermined amount of time. (yes I realize taking care of a newborn is not going to be much of a vacation)

Getting Closer

2011-03-13T16:22:00.003-05:00

The days are counting down until Graduation and until this little girl gets here. I can't believe there are only 2 months until graduation and 3 months until baby's due date!! I feel like it's taken forever to get to this point and that I still have loads of time to get everything ready and then I think about all I have to do still and I panic a little.

We still need to: register at places, pick out her name, put her crib together, decorate her nursery, purchase so many things for her, sign up for and attend baby classes(if we can even still get into them or find a time we both can), pre-register at the hospital, make some cute hair bows and onesies for the baby girl, work on her scrapbook, find bedding for the guest bed that will be staying in her room, magically turn Kimber and Nolan into better dogs who won't bark or lick her or jump on her (haha I know), clean our entire house REALLY REALLY well, find a job (not completely baby related but still), install our car seat correctly, pack our hospital bag, and I'm sure there are millions and millions of others I am not even thinking of.

The few things that we have done are get the furniture purchased(except for a rocker/glider), get her carseat, and get Nolan neutered. That's right... the poor little baby got his testicles chopped off yesterday. :) I was a little bit nervous about it and made Ben do it because I didn't want to do it just in case something bad happened. He did great though, no complications or problems... he slept all night last night when he got home and has for most of the day today as well. He did get mad at Kimber when he first got home and was growling at her but we gave her a little bit of Ace to calm her down/knock her out and after that they were both perfect little angels. I kind of wish that was their natural demeanor instead of the crazy hyperness they always exibit. I really hope that this will help Nolan to not be quite so obsessed with humping everyone and everything and I'm also hoping it will help him settle down a little bit. Who knows though... it pretty much did nothing for Kimber except make her fat. Speaking of getting fat... you should see my belly lately! I'm dreading my doctor's appointment on Wednesday when I have to drink my nasty sugar drink for the gestational diabetes test... that and finding out how much weight I've gained since my last appointment. I have a feeling it's going to be quite a lot even though it's only been 4 weeks. Oh well. I'm sure it will just melt right off after I have the baby right. Right? Please God let it just melt right off. ;)

Nolan after he was pre-meded before I took him to the clinicA little dopey and unsure on his feet

After we got him home... he was just a little sleepy!

Weekend wedding

2011-03-06T10:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday one of Ben's good friends from undergrad, Scott, got married. It was a beautiful ceremony and it was a good time. It was also nice to get dressed up again and go out! Although I was pretty tired and we didn't even make it to the dancing before we left to go home. The reception was almost an hour and a half away... There were A LOT of babies and little kids there and it made me so excited for this little girl to get here. :) Not too much longer. Anyways, I don't know if it's just because it's a dress or because I really got huge this week but I look pretty big in the above pics! 25weeks5days and counting!

100 days

2011-03-05T12:59:00.006-06:00

HOLY SMOKES!!!

There are only 100 days left until this little girl gets here (or sooner hopefuly!). Tomorrow we are in the double digits... time is certainly going by fast! I also only have 8 weeks left of rotations, 1 week of cow calf, 3 weeks of Pet Health and 4 weeks of Food Animal. INSANE!

This little girly is going to be here before we know it.

Today is also Grandpa Brooks' Birthday! So...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!

Hope you have a wonderful day!! We miss you... I wish we were able to get home more often... or that it was easier to see family and they were just 15-30 minutes away instead of 2 and 12 hours! :(

Today also marks 3 years since Grandma Stewart died. I can't believe it's been that long... this year is especially sad for me since we are expecting this beautiful little girl. It makes me so sad that she won't be able to meet her and hold her when she gets here... I'm also sad for my little girl that she will never get to know the wonderful person that she was. And that goes for all of our relatives who have left us... I know Ben wishes his grandpa's would have the chance to meet and love on this precious baby. I know they are all watching over us though and they know the love we have for them and one day our baby girl will get to meet them and know them.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2011-02-14T19:15:00.004-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day, this year Ben and I are celebrating by watching the K-State/KU game and hopefully we will get the gift of a Wildcat victory!! :) It's strange to think that next valentine's day we won't be just a couple anymore... we will be a family of three!

Ben's Valentine's Day Present

My Birthday/Valentine's Day Present!!

It's a.......

2011-01-18T21:48:00.001-06:00

Baby girl parts

We got to see our baby girl for the second time tonight! It was absolutely amazing. Words can not describe the feeling of getting to see her squirm all around inside there and kick me and just be adorable! I can't wait for the next 20 weeks to fly by so I can hold this beautiful little girl in my arms for the first time! She is going to be so spoiled! Ben recorded the ultrasound on his phone and we've already watched it again just so we could see her moving around again... she is so precious! Based on the measurements during this ultrasound my due date is still exactly the same which is good, she weighed 11 ounces and her heart beat was 160 beats per minute. At one point she kicked me and it was amazing to see her kick on the screen and feel it at the same time... and she really didn't like all of the pushing around on her in there because she has been moving around like crazy all night. We never did get a really good image of her girly parts because she was wiggling around and flipping over like crazy but the ultrasound tech is pretty much positive she's a little girl! :) We're going to have a daughter... I don't know how long it's going to take for that to set in! Hopefully she won't do half of the stupid things I did as a child but she probably will. We may have to pay for the elective 3-D ultrasound just so we can see her again because I don't know if I can wait 20 whole weeks until we get to see her beautiful face again!

Anyways we're super excited and now we just have to agree on a name for this pretty little girl... that may take awhile!

New Mexico Trip

2011-01-17T21:34:00.001-06:00

Birthday dinner at La Posta, yummy!!The beautiful Organ mountains!

Janice and I in the clubhouse

We went down to New Mexico to visit Ben's family and celebrate Christmas this January. It was really nice we got to get some time off to go do it even though it was a pretty quick trip. It was nice to get to see everyone and I got to eat at La Posta for my birthday so I was pretty excited! :) We spent the day on Friday in Las Cruces and Janice and I shopped a little for the baby, although we didn't buy anything since we didn't know whether the little bug is a he or a she... but we did find a lot of cute things to buy once we do know! :) The boys went golfing and Ben took some really beautiful pics of the mountains! On Saturday the boys went hog hunting but didn't find anything unfortunately and then we all made our way over to Portales to visit the Grandmas. It was a really nice visit and we were glad to get to see everyone! The doggies were glad to get back home though and have spent the entire night lounging on the couch and basking in the joy of no longer being locked in their kennels outside!

Oh happy day!

2011-01-11T17:06:00.001-06:00

I passed my board exam!!!! WOOOOOO HOOOOOO

For some reason I thought for sure I was going to fail... I know I should have just listened to everyone else and not worried about it but I didn't. It's such a relief and feels amazing to know that now all I have to worry about is passing the last 5 rotations I have... I don't even care that I get A's in them anymore as long as I pass and get my diploma! Woot Woot!!

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T09:33:00.001-06:00

I can't believe that it is already 2011. The last year was a good one for Ben and I, it brought many changes to our lives but it will pale in comparison to the changes coming this year to our lives. I can't believe that in the span of a month I will graduate from veterinary school, something I have been working towards pretty much for the last 20 years of my life, celebrate 5 years of, mostly, wedded bliss ;), and welcome our new baby into our family! Talk about a big year coming up! I don't know that I am really ready to enter the "real world" since I have known nothing but school for the last 20 years but for the first few months at least I will only have to focus on being a stay at home mommy... which will be an even bigger adjustment I'm sure! We're so excited for all the changes that are coming to our lives this year though and wouldn't change anything at all. Well, maybe it would be nice to move out of this townhouse but if not we can still make it work I suppose. As fast as I want the next 5 months to go I'm going to try and enjoy the last few months of my veterinary school as much as I can and just enjoy being pregnant with this little blessing and hopefully preparing for his/her arrival. We hope 2011 brings as many blessings to your family as it is going to for ours!

60 degrees in December

2010-12-30T17:04:00.003-06:00

It was a beautiful day here in Manhattan today! Ben had the day off so we took the doggies to the park to let them run around and hopefully wear them out so they're good for the rest of the night! It was a great way to spend the last free day of 2010! Now we're watching the bowl game and rooting on the Cats!

Christmas in Kansas City

2010-12-29T22:19:00.000-06:00

This year we were able to spend Christmas in Kansas City with my family which is really nice because we haven't been there for Christmas since 2007! It was great to get to see everyone and visit with everyone! We really appreciate all our family and all they do for us! Baby G even got a few presents! lol I'm sure next year it will be all about him/her! :) It was especially nice because Uncle Randy & Aunt Karen came up and we were able to see them for the first time in awhile. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and hopefully next year we'll be able to make it down to New Mexico cause it's been awhile since we've seen extended family down there now as well!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T21:27:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Gardner Family!!!

Love: Ben, Mary, Kimber, Nolan and Baby G

Second Trimester

2010-12-21T12:18:00.006-06:00

Well we're officially well into the second trimester. 15 weeks 1 day today to be exact. It seems like it has gone by quickly but at the same time it seems like it is taking forever. I'm still waiting for it to really sink in and feel real. Hopefully that will come within a couple more weeks and I will start to feel the baby move, start to actually look like I'm pregnant and know whether we are expecting a little boy or a little girl. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and everything looks good. The baby's heartbeat was nice and strong at 150 although she kept having to readjust the doppler because the baby was moving around so much in there. Hopefully I will start to feel something in the next couple of weeks... I can't wait!

I have still been really sick... a lot. I no longer think it is morning sickness though and I am pretty sure it's just nausea/vomiting associated with my migraines which I have now been getting about once a week. It's wonderful. Oh well... in the end it will be worth it when I hold that little baby in my arms. I CAN NOT WAIT! June 13th needs to hurry up and get here already!

4 days until Christmas

23 days until we're in New Mexico

28 days until we find out if Baby G is a boy or girl!!!!

142 days until Graduation

174 days until Baby Gardner gets here! (or at least until he/she is due)

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-10T11:44:00.001-06:00

.The beautiful Thanksgiving Table. .Me & Hailey right after we got there.
.such a cutie pie.
.she made us give her kisses.

.Ben and I's gingerbread men.

.workin on the Gingerbread men.

.Beautiful day with my love.

.she didn't want to let go of my leg...

. me and Hailey.
.she loves her doggies.

.me and mark.

. Ben and I at the lake.

We were fortunate enough this year to get to go to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving and visit with Dan & Aubrey and Mark and Janice... and of course miss Hailey! She is getting sooo big and she's the cutest little 3 year old I know! She has changed so much since the last time we got to see her, a year and a half ago!!! She's incredibly smart, and loves to read and wants to play alllll the time! lol She's a handful... but completely adorable! I'm so glad that we got to go spend time with Ben's family. It was a pretty quick trip, and we had to drive Thanksgiving morning after I had been on ICU overnight from 12am until 7:30 but it was definitely worth it to see everyone. We had a blast, other than the fact that Dan tore his ACL when we were at the playground and the boys were playing basketball. :( yikes He will have surgery sometime soon to fix that and he has to be off work for quite awhile but hopefully he will get to feeling better soon.

It was fun because everyone got to see the ultrasound picture of little baby Gardner and hear his/her heartbeat that I recorded during my last doctor's appointment. They were pretty excited. Luckily I didn't get too sick while we were there but I did have a migraine for the first couple of days. :( It was still great to see everyone and we had a blast! Hopefully you enjoy all the pictures!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T22:23:00.000-05:00

Cutest Jessie from Toy Story ever!! At the lake
We spent most of Halloween day driving around looking at houses for sale in Manhattan and then playing at the lake with the doggies. Nolan was pretty darn cute and wanted to do nothing but play in the water. A couple of times he got pretty far out there though and we were a little worried Ben was going to have to jump in after him and save him since he still doesn't quite swim like a normal dog. Kimber was less interested in the water and more interested in running through the brush... I think she was being a sissy and didn't like the cold water that much. It was a LOT of fun and the dogs really enjoyed it! I'm glad we went... we're thinking about maybe doing my Graduation party or celebration out there so that the dogs can come and maybe we could rent a boat or something. Who knows... that's a long ways away. Although it is getting closer every single day. Almost one month until I take my board exam... and pretty much 6 months until we graduate! I can't believe this incredibly long journey is almost over!

Officially not homeowners

2010-10-09T21:30:00.003-05:00

So I kind of forgot to post that Monday was a momentous occasion for us. We *finally* sold the house in Beloit. We are completely out from under the house and everything to do with that town. It's kind of bittersweet for me. I am super glad to have Ben back home with me, and I'm glad that the house finally sold and we aren't just sitting on a mortgage payment on an empty house every month but I LOVED that house. We both, and our parents, put a lot of hard work and energy into that house... I really tried to make it our home not just a house and now it's someone else's. It makes me sad to think someone else will be enjoying the new bathroom and the new bedroom that we never even got to sleep in. Oh well. I know that someday we will own another house that we can make our own... although I'm kind of dreading that because dealing with this whole situation was not exactly a picnic. It was nice to get a big check (even though we probably just maybe broke even) to put in the back though and know that we never have to go back to Beloit again. :)

Happy Fall

2010-10-03T12:41:00.004-05:00

This is my favorite time of year. I love Autumn. I love waking up to the chill in the air, the leaves changing colors and falling to the ground. I love the bold colors associated with fall, the pumpkin spice lattes and apple pies and sweatshirts. I love curling up under a blanket with my husband and sipping some hot tea or coffee or cider. I look forward to fall all year long. It's also my favorite season to decorate for and you could say I went a little overboard this year. The problem was I have all the decorations I used for BOTH houses last year and they all found there way into nooks and crannies of just this ONE house this year. :) Oh well, it makes me happy to look at and that is all that matters.

Another thing that always seems to happen in the fall is my desire to color my hair. It seems like clockwork that every year I want to dye my hair darker or redder during this time... or anytime really because I seem to get bored fairly quickly with my hairstyle and color. In fact, almost a year ago to the dayI dyed my hair dark dark brown again. This year I branched out and my hair is now red. Like really red. It's not exactly the color I was going for but it's growing on me... the bad part is I used a non-permanent wash out color so by the time I actually start loving it it's probably going to be faded back to normal color a week after that. Oh well. Maybe one of these times I will splurge and go to the salon and actually have my hair dyed. Wouldn't that be fun.

I really need to spend the rest of the weekend studying up. I start a new rotation on Monday, internal medicine, and it is probably the most time consuming of all the rotations I will take this year. That being said, if you don't hear from me for the next three weeks don't worry, don't call the cops, I'm sure I'm fine. I will just be in a zombie like state from working 16 hour days at the school and only getting 4 hours of sleep a night when I get home. No. Big. Deal.

Weekend fun

2010-09-30T02:28:00.002-05:00

The title of this post is a little misleading... it might lead you to believe that I had a ton of fun this weekend, that it was jam packed with good times. While in actuality I was stuck in the hospital pretty much the ENTIRE weekend!! Other than Friday night when we went on a date to the new Cox Brother's Barbeque place... which incidentally is kind of a like a fast food place which I had no idea of. But I digress, we also got to watch pieces of the football game since it was delayed... why was it delayed you may ask, oh just take a look at that picture up there that doesn't even begin to do justice to that awesome storm cloud. It was amazing!! We drove out on one of the country roads for about 5 minutes before I chickened out and made us drive back home where there were televisions and radars and basements. :) I really wish we would have had our real camera and not just my crappy phone camera. The sky was sooo beautiful and awesome. God has some pretty magnificent powers that is for sure. Anywho I am having another very busy week which is fun... my next three weeks will probably only be busier. I start internal medicine on Monday and I am vastly unprepared for it so I will likely have my head in a book, or computer I suppose I should say, all weekend.

Hoorah.

50th birthdays, State Fairs and Wildcats

2010-09-19T22:22:00.002-05:00

One of the bull calves born earlier in the week before we got there.Laurin bottle feeding the heifer calf we pulled.

**Piglets!! So cute!**How Kimber slept the whole ride back from KC

This year since I'm a senior, which is synonomous with free labor, I got to go and work and the state fair birthing center on Friday. It was actually a lot of fun... I definitely saw some VERY interesting people and had some interesting questions asked. We wound up having to pull a calf in front of a huge crowd of people because one of the dairy heifer's went into labor while we were there. It was a fun experience! I was just really tired because as soon as I got back to Manhattan at 9pm at night I got all my stuff and the dogs together and drove to KC to visit dad and go to the K-State game!!! It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to hang out with dad and Al! I just wish mom would have been there since it was her 50th birthday!!!! Yeah... you read that right. Both of my wonderful parents are now over the hill... although I kind of feel like I'm getting to the point where I don't want to make too much fun of them for being older because that means that I am getting older.

Oh well. Hope you had a wonderful birthday mommy!!! Sorry I only got to see you for about 30 minutes. :( And that's for taking me to the game daddy!

KSU Wildcats

2010-09-13T21:46:00.004-05:00

Go Wildcats!!
cheering on the cats

7th row

Justin came up to visit this weekend and we went to the K-State game on Saturday. We sat on the 40th yard line in the seventh row... I think it's the closest I've ever sat at a game before. :) We won and there were fireworks after the game that were actually pretty cool. They set them in time to the music and they played 3 or 4 songs... it was a good time. The boys went fishing on Sunday and caught about 150 fish I think... no joke. :) We had a nice grilled bass dinner and sent Justin back on his way. ;) It was a good fun weekend, and a great way to celebrate Ben turning 30 years old! That's right... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!! I have been giving him a hard time telling him he's an old man now. I don't think that he particularly appreciates it. Oh well.

Date Night

2010-09-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

There have been some pretty good storms lately, but none of them have really hit Manhattan hard. This is the beautiful sight we saw when we drove home from dinner the other night. I love driving around with my hubby with the windows down on a beautiful fall night.

I always make him take pictures when we go out on dates....

over....

and over. :)

We have fun and that's all that matters. :) I'm done with yet another rotation... my supplemental food animal is over and done with. This year is really flying by. I scheduled my date to take my board exam earlier today. Thursday November 18th is my own personal D-day. I can't believe I have a date set in stone and it's only 2 months away... I am not prepared for this at all. Here's hoping I can learn something in the next 68 days.

Dumb Dog

2010-09-06T11:06:00.002-05:00

This is Kimber, completely knocked out from sedation the other night. Why was she knocked out you ask? Oh no big deal... she just decided to try and swallow a fishing lure and got it caught in her lip. Stupid, stupid girl. I had to call Ben home from work, luckily it was like 6:15 so he only missed a half an hour or so... Nolan was really freaking out he didn't know what was wrong with her but he knew something was wrong and every time I let her go she tried to swallow the rest of the lure so I had to hold onto it and her at all times. I'd say she learned her lesson, except for the fact that yesterday when I was down in the basement doing laundry I saw her get up on the work bench nosing around again. I don't think she'll ever learn... oh well. At least she's a source of entertainment.

Loss

2010-09-04T21:19:00.000-05:00

The last month or so has been a sad one for our family. It seems like deaths come in bunches uncle Mark, Del, and Joe Joe all left us during the last month. It's weird, you start to forget... you forget how short life is, how precious it is, how easily it can be taken away from you and you get complacent. You don't worry about calling more often just to let someone know you care, you don't worry about making the extra time to visit someone not knowing it could be the last time you see them again on this earth, it doesn't cross your mind that you didn't say "I love you" when you walked out the door or hung up the phone, and then something happens and it brings it all back to the forefront of your mind. I'm very glad and fortunate that I got to see Uncle Mark at the Memorial day barbeque. We weren't going to go... it's a long drive and we didn't have a lot of time that weekend, there were parties going on in Manhattan, other things I could be doing, but we made the time and we went and I'm glad I did. It was the last time I saw uncle Mark. I'm glad I got that chance, to see him one more time, hear him laugh one more time, give him one last hug... I regret that I didn't have that opportunity with Del. I don't even know the last time I saw Del, talked to him, gave him a hug. Like I said, you get complacent, life gets busy, you think there will be another chance, a next time... and then there isn't one. I loved Del, he was really like an extra Grandfather to us growing up. I will always carry fond memories of Christmas Eve get togethers, barbeques at their house, meatballs. :) I wish I could have seen him one more time, told him how much I cared about him and appreciated him and all the times we spent together while I was growing up. Now I don't have that opportunity, but I hope he knows.

And then there's Joe Joe. Yes Joe is a dog, but I will still miss him. He was a good dog, a great dog even. He was always so happy to see us when we came to visit and was so full of life. I'm glad we got to see him again in May, one last time before he needed to be put down. I wish we could have been there with Mark and Janice, said goodbye, but it some ways it's easier not to be. We'll miss him, and uncle Mark, and Delbert. So much loss, in such a short amount of time. At least it has a way of centering you again, reminding you what's important in life, what really matters.

So for all you out there reading this, in case you didn't know, I love you, I appreicate you, I miss you.

My girls are growing up!!

2010-09-01T22:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Heidi & Hailey!!

I can't believe that Heidi is six years old now and Hailey is already three!! Where is the time going to?? They are growing up too fast, I don't get to see them enough, they're going to be graduating high school and getting married before you know it... well maybe not that soon but still! I can't believe miss Heidi Cheyenne started kindergarten this year. She's too young for that isn't she! :) I remember the day she was born, the first time I got to hold her in the hospital, how excited Hunter was to be a big brother, and all that hair she had!! She was a gorgeous baby and now she's a gorgeous little girl. And then little Hailey, she was such a doll the day she was born! So tiny and cute... and now she's three years old! It's insane... I can't believe we haven't seen her since she was 1! They're growing up too fast!

Happy Birthday to the two cutest little girls we know!!! We hope you had wonderful days and got everything you wanted and know that we love you and miss you lots and lots!!

exausting week

2010-08-20T02:13:00.004-05:00

This week has been exausting to say the least. While I am no longer on Equine medicine, so I don't have any in house patients I have to take care of at 7 and 7, on Monday I had one heck of an emergency shift. Normally we are in house emergency from 5pm to 10pm and are then on call until 8 the next morning. So Monday night everything was fine, it was quiet no problems and all of a sudden at 9:45 a client just shows up with a horse that was colicking. They didn't call ahead or anything so none of the veterinarians were there just us lowly students. So we did a physical exam and once the clinicans got there we assessed him further and decided he needed surgery. So at 12:30AM on the dot we started cutting, finished at 2:30 but then had to wait for the horse to recover.... so I finally left here at 4am. Then I had to be back at 7am to "Soap" him. On occasion they will let you leave early on days after you have really late emergencies but this was not the case for me. Sadly. By the time I finally went to sleep at 6pm the following day I had been awake for 34 of 36 hours. It was insane.

You may notice that this post is being written at 2:30 in the morning, that's because for the second night this week I'm basically pulling an all nighter. I am on ICU duty tonight, so I have to be in house from 10pm to 10am tomorrow morning. And while I should be able to go home and sleep all day tomorrow to recover, I won't be able to because I have to give tours to the incoming freshman from 2-5. All I can say is I am greatly looking forward to this weekend to sit around and do nothing and just recover! :) I feel bad for Ben though, he had to move all of the things out of our beloit house the last two days by himself... but he got it all done and we officially have nothing left in the house that is ours! Woo Hoo. The downside is half of our junk is in the storage unit so I still can't find half the things that have been missing for the last 6 months. Oh the joys of the real world.

Happy Birthday little brother

2010-08-13T23:11:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my little, bigger brother.

No matter how old he gets he will always be my baby brother! :)

Hope you had a wonderful day Al!

Birthday

2010-08-08T13:20:00.003-05:00

Kimber's fourth birthday is today!!! I can't believe we've already had her for that long. She still gets into the trash, and karate chops you when you walk in the door, and barks, and hides under the bed... but we love her anyways! :) I'm on emergency tonight so I will be in the hospital from 3pm-10pm and then on call until 8 tomorrow morning... wish me a quiet night!

Good Times

2010-07-26T10:03:00.004-05:00

Mark and Janice got here last Wednesday to visit for a couple of days and we had a really great time! Well they did at least, I spent almost the whole time working and sleeping and studying for Anesthesia. This rotation is so much fun! :) I have actually enjoyed it quite a bit but the sleep deprivation is starting to get to me.

While I was slaving away at school on Thursday and Friday everyone else went out and played Golf at Stagg Hill and Colbert. I think they had a pretty good time and did fairly decent. I felt really bad because when I got home on Friday night I was just going to take a little nap and wound up waking up at 1am... so I didn't get to hang out much on Friday night. We went out to breakfast at Early Edition and Janice and I went shopping on Saturday which was a LOT of fun! Then we FINALLY got to eat at Olive Garden!! I was so excited and sooooo happy! It's amazing! I love their bruscetta. It's amazingly delicious. I don't think Mark and Ben were too impressed but Janice and I enjoyed it. Then we decided to go play the par 3 course right after we got done eating... I played horribly but oh well. That's what happens when you only play golf twice a year I guess. :) The one picture above is for real by the way, my ball actually landed right on that little rock shelf and didn't bounce off or roll off or anything. It was kind of annoying, albeit funny.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day of church and Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii. I think that we pretty much have Mark hooked on it. :) We also went out to eat at The Pub which is my new favorite place in Manhattan to eat. It's delicious and amazing. I will have to take Mom and Dad if they ever come to visit me. *hint hint*

Anywho it was a quick trip and we were sad to see them go this morning but it was a lot of fun and it's always nice to get to visit with family! Especially now that Ben has a job that he can actually take four straight days off. It makes it a lot more enjoyable for everyone.

Songs On Sunday

2010-07-25T14:21:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile but here is the song that spoke to me today that I felt like posting.

Before The Morning

Do you wonder why you have to,

feel the things that hurt you,

if there's a God who loves you,

where is He now?

Maybe, there are things you can't see

and all those things are happening

to bring a better ending

some day, some how, you'll see, you'll see

Would you dare, would you dare, to believe,

that you still have a reason to sing,

'cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's coming

so hold on, you got to wait for the light

press on, just fight the good fight

because the pain you've been feeling,

it's just the dark before the morning.

My friend, you know how this all ends

and you know where you're going,

you just don't know how you get there

so just say a prayer.

and hold on, cause there's good

for those who love God,

life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time,

but you'll see the bigger picture

Would you dare, would you dare, to believe,

that you still have a reason to sing,

'cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's coming

so hold on, you got to wait for the light

press on, just fight the good fight

because the pain you've been feeling,

it's just the dark before the morning

yeah, yeah,

before the morning,

yeah, yeah

Once you feel the way of glory,

all your pain will fade to memory

once you feel the way of glory,

all your pain will fade to memory

memory, memory, yeah

Would you dare, would you dare, to believe,

that you still have a reason to sing,

'cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's coming

Would you dare, would you dare, to believe,

that you still have a reason to sing,

'cause the pain you've been feeling,

can't compare to the joy that's coming

com'n you got to wait for the light

press on, just fight the good fight

because the pain you've been feeling,

it's just the hurt before the healing

the pain you've been feeling,

just the dark before the morning

before the morning, yeah, yeah

before the morning

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2010-07-24T10:50:00.002-05:00

Today is dad's 50th birthday! Old Man! :) I have to miss seeing everyone at Aunt Tanya's this year because I am on call and Mark and Janice are here visiting. It's been a very busy couple of weeks on Anesthesia but I only have one week left and then I will be free! Maybe then I'll be able to get back up to Kansas City to celebrate daddy's birthday a little late.

Love you dad! Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Happy 4th of July-Beth Anne's wedding

2010-07-05T11:06:00.001-05:00

We had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend! We headed down to Fowler, KS to watch Beth Anne and Jeremy get married! It was sooo beautiful and she was gorgeous and I am so very hapy for both of them! I can't believe she's finally married! ;) I wish I would have gotten some better pics of the ceremony or reception but it was a lot of fun. We spent the night in Dodge City and then drove back to Manhattan on the 4th. We didn't watch any fireworks or anything... I don't even know if they had them anywhere since it was so rainy. Sad to say I actually fell asleep at about 8pm so I really have no idea if there were fireworks or not. I'm getting to be such an old lady.

Anywho, congrats to Beth and Jeremy and Happy Fourth of July to everyone else!

Happy Father's Day!!

2010-06-20T22:05:00.004-05:00

*Happy Father's Day to both our wonderful dads!! We love you guys and hope you had wonderful days!**

Date night

2010-06-19T23:22:00.001-05:00

Well mom keeps telling me I need to update this deal and I finally got a chance to tonight I guess. Ben and I went and saw the A-Team tonight. It was pretty good. I think he enjoyed it more than I did since he actually remembers the show from his childhood but I still thought it was pretty entertaining.

Not much new in our lives... just a lot of work and school. I just got done with my feedlot rotation which was great. It was pretty laid back, we got to go and tour a couple of feedlots and had a lot of good discussions... one of which occured in a bar! :)

This is probably the only post you'll be seeing for the next six weeks... I'm getting ready to start soft tissue surgery tomorrow which has pretty much consisted of 12+ hour days for most people so far and then I go to anesthesia after that. I probably won't be in the hospital quite as much for that once since we don't have patients to take care of per se, but I will be spending a heck of a lot more time studying and learning in my "free time" for that rotation. Here's hoping the next 6 weeks fly by!

catch up post

2010-05-15T13:02:00.002-05:00

Well my first week of clinics are over with. One more year from yesterday and I will be graduating! I'm so excited! The first week went by really fast and it was awesome! My first rotation is Equine Theriogenology and it has been great so far! It's very laid back and relaxed and interesting. So far we've mainly been doing rectal palpation and ultrasounds to check estrus and pregnancy but we did have one dog with puppies come in! One more week to go of this rotaiton and then I'm off to the small animal side for my Oncology rotation. I'm a little worried about that one but hopefully it will go great as well. I did a whole bunch of catch up posts today on the things that have been going on the last few weeks or so. Pretty much after white coat I got really busy with the end of the school year and didn't get a chance to do much more than breathe, eat and sleep! :)

Ben had a really interesting surgery yesterday and it went really well so I'm very excited for him. Hopefully it heals well and everything goes good for it in the next few weeks while it recovers. I'm excited to finally spend some time with him tonight and tomorrow! It's been a bit of an adjustment for both of us this week while we've been dealing with both of us working. I don't think the dogs are appreciating it very much either. The other day they didn't get let out at all for about 10 hours because we were both really busy and didn't get a chance to take a lunch break. :( poor babies. Hopefully we'll get to go out fishing tonight or something and get them some exercise.

So one week down, 51 more to go.

puppies

2010-05-15T12:58:00.002-05:00

For the last couple of weeks Dan has been calling Ben worried about Belle because she has been close to due with her puppies. They were expecting them for about a week before they finally came on Saturday afternoon! Hailey was sleeping while she had them but they said that when she woke up she was soooo excited! Aubrey said she has to tell each of the puppies goodbye every morning before she goes to daycare! Soooo cute! :) Makes me a little sad that we had Kimber spayed so that we don't get puppies anymore... but then I remember how much of a mess they were and how much of a pain in the butt it was taking care of them for eight weeks and I don't miss it too much! :)

Hailey's first fish

2010-05-15T12:56:00.001-05:00

Last week we got a text from Dan with the fish of Hailey and the 2 pound drum fish! It was her first fish she reeled in all by herself! :) Aubrey sent the other pictures of her fishing as well. She is such a cutie! I think her dad is pretty proud of her too! :)

New baby

2010-05-15T12:41:00.003-05:00

Ben's cousin Kalith and his wife Abie had a new baby last week right before we got down to New Mexico to visit! We didn't get to see him but we did see pictures and he sure is a cutie! And the big sister seems adorable with him! :) So congratulations to them on their newest addition, Knox Pritchard!

New Mexico Trip

2010-05-10T19:17:00.001-05:00

After I finished my last set of finals ever(hooray!) we headed down to New Mexico for a quick trip to see Ben's family. We haven't gotten to see the grandma's since Christmas 2008 so we were really excited to get to see everyone again! It was a quick trip but we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed our visit with everyone. We were really lucky was well because Alex agreed to stay in our house and watch the doggies for us. Thank you sooo much Al, we really appreciate it! We got to go golfing, which I sucked at ;) but it was still a blast, except for me turning into a lobster because I forgot to put on sunscreen. When will I learn... :) Then on our way to Portales Mark and Janice's car broke down! lol Thankfully we were still really close to home and it wasn't anything big so we got back on the road fairly quickly. We decided to try a new way home which was beautiful! It was a wonderful trip and hopefully we will get back down there again soon. :)

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T21:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother and mother-in-law!

I'm really glad we got to see Janice this year for Mother's day and I hope that mom and dad are having a good time in Costa Rica! I hope that all the other mother's out there have a great day as well and get to spend some quality time with their families!

Done forever

2010-05-05T12:50:00.001-05:00

I am done with the didactic, i.e. sitting on my butt all day, part of my schoolwork forever! I am soooo excited and a little nervous to start clinics on Monday. I can't believe that after seven years of college I am finally done. Thank goodness. Now for a quick trip to New Mexico and then one year of being everyone's lacky in the hospital. I can't wait! Oh and the picture is of our women's softball team this year. We once again made it to the playoffs but didnt win. :) It was still a fun time.

WHITE COAT! (:

2010-04-17T04:15:00.007-05:00

*Godsey, Becky & I before the ceremony*

*My old lab group from Freshman year!*
*walkin across the stage, bad pic but only one of the ceremony*

*Hugs from my baby*

Thank you to all my family who came to celebrate with me today!! I probably wouldn't be here right now without all of you! (: And if you couldn't make it I know you were thinking about me and I love you all and was thinking about you too! Also, if you weren't here I'm sorry you missed out on the most amazing cake ever! haha

Shooting

2010-04-12T15:56:00.001-05:00

We had a pretty good time this weekend. Friday night we rented a couple of movies to watch, The Box which was just plain creepy and 2012 which was entertaining but far fetched in my opinion. Then Justin suprised us this weekend and showed up in Manhattan on Saturday! Saturday I worked a little on getting the house ready for all our company that is coming next weekend! Then Sunday the boys went out shooting in the morning while I worked on the backyard and frontyard. They had so much fun in the morning that when they came back for lunch we decided to go out shooting some more. It's amazing how much fun you can have with one gun and two cases of pop. (:

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T20:49:00.005-05:00

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:11

-----------------------------------------------

Hopefully you all had a wonderful Easter holiday with your families! We were lucky enough to get to go to Kansas City and spend time with most, but not all, of our families. We missed getting to see Heidi and Hunter! It's been so long since we've seen them. :o( It was nice to visit with everyone else though. Ben and I went to church with Gma & Gpa Brooks, and it was a really quick service since Grandma told us the wrong time for the start of the service and we walked in 15 mintues late. Whoops. Then we went back home and dyed some eggs. I think they turned out pretty amazing if I do say so myself. Especially the K-State one. It was a good day. :o)

*THE BEST OF OUR EGGS* *K-State, basketball and football!*
*Mommy and Grandma*
*The boys watching Golf*

*Me and Al-pal*
*Not happy to be riding in the bed of the truck AT ALL*

remodeling done-finally

2010-03-31T12:51:00.003-05:00

*New downstairs bathroom vanity* * New bathroom light fixture, they put the same one upstairs too*
* Still need to paint another coat above the sink*
*The new kitchen! More cabinet space too*

They are finally done with the inside remodeling of our Manhattan townhouse! Thank goodness! :o) In addition to the things in the pictures they put in a new front door and sliding glass door in the back. They're still going to be banging away on the outside for the rest of the week which is not so conducive to me studying for my two tests this week but I'm glad that it's almost over. I think the doggies are as well... they didn't appreciate being in their kennels all day. I'm also glad we got more kitchen cabinets, I guess, but now we don't really have anywhere to put the dishwasher so we have to figure out what to do with it. Can't wait to get all of our stuff moved back where it belongs and in the cabients and for everyone to see it when they come up for white coat!

Projects semi-done

2010-03-28T21:33:00.004-05:00

So as I informed you, I decided to take a couple of projects on for my last Spring Break ever. Why? I don't really know... you know me, always have to be working on something I guess. Idle hands and the devil's tools and all that. Anyways, the first project(painting the hall and living room) went well. It was easy I got it over with fairly quickly... well except for the four foot ring around the top that isn't painted yet on the stairs. Whoops. Anyhow... the second project(the bathroom) has been an epic fail. It was hard taking down the wallpaper, it stripped all the way down past sheet rock paper in some spots, and then I got horribly sick in the middle of it and had to study for my medicine test. So this weekend I finally got it all finished. Yesterday I primed the bathroom in the afternoon, while still feeling like I was on my death bed, and then today I got the first coat of paint on the walls. I'm hoping it doesn't need another coat but we'll see. Mainly I had to get it finished by tomorrow because they're starting on the remodeling deal of our house tomorrow.

So now that it's dry and the texture is on and it's all said and done... I really actually kind of like it. I thought it was going to be a horrible disaster and almost started crying while I was in the middle or ripping the paper off, but in the end it looks pretty dang good. The color is actually very similar to the one we used in the Beloit bathroom, maybe just a little bit lighter and a little bit more blue in it. I think it will look really amazing once we get the new vanity in there and everything hung back up and decorated. So I'm going to go ahead and say I wound up 2 for 2 on my spring break projects... with just a teensy bit of help from Ben. Which I greatly appreciate.

my horrible attempt at skim coating
* The new paint!*
*You can't really appreciate the texture from here but Ben did a good job!*

Also, today is Janice's birthday! Happy Birthday Janice! They're stuck in Weatherford Oklahoma tonight coming home from spending their spring break with Dan and Aubrey... Hopefully they'll get everything all straightened out tomorrow and get back home safe.

House For Sale

2010-03-27T12:27:00.002-05:00

http://1400NCampbell.blogspot.com

We are currently in the process of trying to sell our house in Beloit, KS. I made a special website just so we could put up pictures and information on the house to try and help get the word out. I also posted to craigslist and the waconda trader online so hopefully we will get some more hits since the one offer we've had backed out. Take a look at the website though, I think I did an okay job. :)

Also, Ben gave me his deathly illness so I have been sleeping non stop for the last 48 hours... sorry if you've tried to get ahold of me.

Weekend in K.C.

2010-03-24T19:13:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Ben and I went to Kansas City to visit my family. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we finally made it back there to see everyone! Dad and I went and visited Grandpa George and then hit up some Goodwill stores to find a mirror to replace the one I broke... 7 years bad luck coming my way. Then we had the pleasure of watching KU choke once again in the NCAA tourney and watching our Cats advance to the Sweet 16! While I wish we would have been able to knock them out of the tournament ourselves, I'm excited to see how far we will make it now! Sunday morning we met Granmda & Grandpa for breakfast and then I got to see Kila again! She's gotten a lot bigger since we gave her as a present to Grandma & Grandpa! She is a little fireball of energy as well, possibly even more than Kimber and Nolan which is saying something. :) It was a good end to my last ever Spring Break... can you believe it. Now I don't have another break until December. Hello real world.

More crafts

2010-03-14T21:36:00.003-05:00

I made this sign and this wreath today after I got done painting. I really really love the wreath! I think it is so adorable! And it was really easy to make. I might get some pretty easter ribbon to hang it by or I may just leave the wire hanger I have on it. I have a bunch of other ideas and crafts to do this week, hopefully I will get enough time to get them all done. It's been awhile since I've really gotten anything done. Plus I'm itching to do a bunch of new things on my Cricut Ben got me for Christmas. I'm so excited! Hopefully I'll have more updates soon!

A work in progress

2010-03-14T21:26:00.004-05:00

The last three spring breaks Ben and I have taken on some kind of a project. Three years ago we put up the fence in our backyard here in Manhattan and fixed up the whole backyard, the year after that we painted our living room the awesome tan color, last year we put up the fence in Beloit, and this year I decided to paint again! :o) Ben's not very happy with me, and doesn't plan on helping me with it at all which is okay since he worked and finished the Beloit house all by himself. I decided that I wanted to paint the one wall in our living room that we didn't paint two years ago as well as the hallway. I'm pretty much halfway done right now... it's going to be pretty difficult for me to get the really high part of the hallway where the stairs are painted so maybe Ben will help me out with that one. :o) Or I may just break my neck trying to do it myself... you never know. I've gotten one coat on almost all of it and two coats on the wall in the living room so it's finished. I think it looks GREAT! I'm really excited. We just picked a color that was two shades lighter on the same color swatch as our other color in the living room. They look amazing together and I'm really excited I decided to go ahead and do it. Now I'm contemplating whether I'm going to paint the trim white since they're going to be replacing the door with a white door and white trim. I'll probably wait and see until after they get our unit remodeled. Let me know what you think!

Oh and I'm also planning on taking down the wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom over Spring Break... we'll see if I get to it or not. I'd like to get it done before they remodel because they're putting in a new vanity in the bathroom and then I won't be able to reach the wall. So I'm probably going to be pretty busy for the next few days, especially since I'm spending the next three nights in Salina working at the emergency clinic to get my stupid mentorship deal out of the way.... I just love how the vet school makes us jump through hoops all the time.

More New Necklaces

2010-03-13T21:00:00.002-06:00

I've really been enjoying this not having to worry about school thing. I've gotten a lot more crafts done and more things around the house in general done. I made two more new necklaces. The pink one may be one of my favorites ever... I filled the cross in with a patterened felt that is really nice. The bottom one is just a picture of the three new ones I've made in the last week. I'm really pleased with all of them. :o)

On another note, I'm pretty upset we lost to KU again. Maybe we'll get another match up in the NCAA tourney. ;o)

Happy B-day Aubrey!!

2010-03-10T13:14:00.000-06:00

**Happy Birthday Aubrey!**

Today is the birthday of the mommy of my favorite niece!!! ;o) Sucks that we don't ever get to see them... we miss our little girly!! The pics are of her wearing the tu-tu I made her... definitely too big. :) Oh well, she still looks adorable! I don't know if you read this at all Aub, but if you do Happy Birthday!!

new necklaces

2010-03-09T21:18:00.003-06:00

I finally have a break from tests again for a little while which is very nice. I should be keeping up with my studying and stuff but that's probably not going to happen. Like tonight, when I could have been studying but instead I made a couple of necklaces. One of them is Aubrey's birthday present... which is going to get there late as usual. Her birthday is tomorrow, which is when I will be getting it in the mail. :o) Oh well. They should be used to my procrastination in sending presents by now considering it was almost February before I got them their Christmas presents.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

2010-03-05T15:07:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday Grandpa Brooks!!

Today is grandpa's birthday, I think he's 76! Crazy. It's been a long time since we've made it back to Kansas City to visit everyone... it makes me kind of sad. It's not so easy getting time away when you're in Vet school and Ben is working at two different jobs!! Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll get back up to visit and wish Grandpa a happy birthday in person!! Love you Grandpa! Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Today is also the 2 year anniversary of Grandma Stewart's death. I still miss her like crazy and can't believe she's gone sometimes. It still makes me sad, but a lot of times I think about how wonderful she was and how wonderful and full her life was and I remember all the fun times we had together... and it makes me smile. :) I miss her but I'll get to see her one day again!

Bovine surgery pics

2010-02-24T17:57:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of pictures from our bovine laparotomy. Technically we aren't supposed to post pictures of it online... so I didn't include any pictures of the actual surgery... just a couple of our cow and one of me and Becky all scrubbed in and ready to cut! I have more on my computer though and can show them to you when you see me! It was so much fun and I can't wait to start senior year and start to get doing even more hands on stuff. The whole getting there at 7 every morning to soap her, and then smelling like cow s**t all week wasn't that woderful but I still enjoyed it and can't wait to do it again!

Dodgeball!

2010-02-23T17:52:00.001-06:00

The vet school had their annual dodgeball tournament this last weekend and Ben and I played with two other couples from our class. It was so much fun, way more than I thought it would be! :o) And we did way better than I thought we would! We wound up in second place... we lost in the end to a team of second years which ticked me off but oh well. I was the last person out... all of our hopes rested on me and a girl on the other team caught my ball. By that point I was so tired it didn't matter much. :o) I must be getting old... especially since I hurt and ached for 3 days afterwards! It was actually kind of funny because the next morning when I tried to get out of bed I literally couldn't pick up my extremities, but pretty much everyone else I talked to was the same way so I don't feel too bad.

p.s. oh and our team name was the telechubbies, which is why we're all dressed in one color and sporting things on our heads. we were supposed to look like the Teletubbies I guess. Not really sure.

Bedroom DONE!

2010-02-17T16:52:00.004-06:00

The bedroom is finally finished! It's so amazing. Once Ben fills in the rest of the grout in the kitchen and puts up the rest of the trim in the kitchen we will be finished with the house completely! What a relief!

Also today I did my first surgery on a cow, we did an exploratory laparotomy on a cow. It was a lot of fun... I really enjoy the large animal surgery better thean small animal surgery.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T19:40:00.002-06:00

** Happy Valentine's Day!!**

We hope you had a wonderful day spending time with the person/persons that you love! Ben and I didn't do anything too special. We packed up some more stuff from Beloit and moved it to Manhattan. Then he made me dinner! :o) It was delicious. He also bought me a beautiful tulip plant. They're very pretty. I felt a little bad because I didn't get him anything... I was still riding the guitar present wave but I think that one has played out. I'm going to have to actually BUY him something for our anniversary! ;o) The horror.

It's coming along

2010-02-13T16:32:00.000-06:00

Ben worked REALLY hard this week and got all the walls and ceilings floated out and put texture on them and painted them! They look AH-mazing! I can't believe how great it looks. It makes me really excited and then I remember that we aren't going to be living there anymore. :o( It makes me a little sad. Oh well. At least we made something look prettier. :o) People are coming on Wednesday to lay down carpet in this bedroom and the bedroom we've been staying in... and then Ben will need to install all the trim and it will be finished. Crazy. We're getting close to being done though! I'm super excited. Plus only a few more weeks until Ben is back for good! Can't wait.

Celebrate Good Times!

2010-02-09T18:46:00.002-06:00

Ben is back in Manhattan March 1st!! I am so incredibly excited I can't even explain it. :o) He accepted a job with Little Apple Vet in Manhattan and starts March 1st. I will have my husband back with me all the time! I can't belive it. It's going to be so very amazing. I can't wait. :o) I baked him a cake to celebrate and it is the most delicious cake I have ever tasted in my entire life. It was a pain in the butt to make, meticulous and time consuming, but well worth it. Seriously. It's like a little piece of heaven. :o) I'm so excited and so grateful to God for blessing us with the opportunity to be together again. I'm so happy!

Fun weekend

2010-02-07T22:51:00.000-06:00

We had a really great weekend this weekend! I love getting to hang out with my baby in
Manhattan... so nice to have him around more often again. On Friday night there was a dinner thing for the junior class at one of the bars in Aggieville which we went to and hung out with people from class. Then Justin came up and stayed with us Friday night and went out to the bars with us then watched the game with us on Saturday. Go State! It was nice to hang out with him again, it seems like it's been forever since we've seen him! Then tonight Ben sort of made dinner.... he cooked the fish and I cooked the sides, which is typical. :o) It was yummy though! He made a cilantro lime topping for the fish that was amazing! We watched the Super Bowl and just hung out together. It was a perfect weekend. :o) Oh yeah, and Nolan got to make babies this weekend with a dog from K.C. Poor Kimber....

Ben's yummy dinner he made me take a picture of. :o) It was wonderful!
The new baker's rack! Glad to have some extra storage room in there! We'll have even more once they get our kitchen remodeled and add the new cabinets in! I can't wait, even though it's going to be a pain in the behind once they start construction.

Ben is working hard, or hardly working

2010-02-03T21:13:00.003-06:00

Ben is back in Beloit working on finishing up our house so we can put it on the market. He's only been working for a day and a half and already has the ceiling dropped and all the sheet rock up in the master bedroom! It's amazing how fast he's getting things done now that he's not working. :o) I'm really grateful and appreciative that he's working so hard... while I'm staying up til 2 in the morning studying and he's going to bed at 10 and waking up at 9. Must be nice. :o)

Thanks for all your hard work baby! I love you!

Moving, again.

2010-01-31T22:29:00.002-06:00

Freaking KU... I hate them. I can't believe that we lost! We went over to Chad and Sheila's house to watch the game with them and it was such a disapointment! Stupid referees. :o) But enough bitching, it was a good game... except for Clemente. We also packed a bunch of Ben's things up to move back to Manhattan because Saturday was officially his last day of work in Beloit. :o) I'm super excited that he's coming back!!! Not so much about the moving part though. Or the trying to sell the house in Beloit part. I know I haven't written about it yet because everything has been up in the air, and still is, but as of now Ben is not working. He may go back and work at SVVH through the Spring and there are a couple of opportunities here in Manhattan that we're hoping will work out so we will get to be together all the time! YES! :o) In the immediate future he will be working on finishing up the house in Beloit so we can get it on the market and get out from under it! That will be a great big load off of our shoulders! As for me, tests are starting this week and I will no longer be doing anything but eating, studying and sleeping. Go me.

Weekend Shenanigans

2010-01-25T13:01:00.004-06:00

.Me and momma, bad pic but the only one I got. .Me and pops.
.the little brother and I..At the restaurant for my bday dinner..And at the bars... doing Belfasts.

This last weekend mom and dad came up to visit and take us all out to dinner for my birthday. It was a fun time even though we didn't get to spend too much time together. We went out to lunch when they got in town and then headed back home to watch the K-State boys embarass themselves against OK state... really wish we wouldn't have lost that one. Then we went to Hibachi Hut, probably my favorite place in Manhattan until they get the Olive Garden finished, for dinner! It was yummy. I had a migraine all week and I still had it on Saturday when I woke up but it went away for the most part by the time everyone showed up. I mentioned that to explain why even though it was my birthday I did not participate in the Belfast Bomb drinking. I was just the official photographer. :)

I have the doggies for this week so Ben can work on the house without the distraction of them. This way he has NO excuse to not finish the tile this week! :o) I like having them here... it makes me feel less lonely and it gives me some entertainment when I get home from class. This is also my last week of 'freedom' per se... our tests start next and don't let up until Spring Break... when I will be spending my free time doing an externship. Oh joy.

Old pics

2010-01-20T22:38:00.002-06:00

Today I was looking at some old memory cards and I came across these pictures from SO LONG AGO! Kimber was such a cute little baby! It was right after we got her... just a couple of weeks old. Also, do you see how long my hair is!! I didn't know it was ever that long! crazy. I wish it was that long right now... it's taking forever and a day to grow out. Oh well. Patience. It's a virtue and all.

finished projects!

2010-01-20T14:36:00.003-06:00

These are my newest finished products... all Christmas presents. The first picture frame was the one I made for Teresa and Ben gave her for Christmas... the second one is Aubrey's Christmas present. Then the tutu is Hailey's that I finally got finished! I have no idea of her measurements so I'm not entirely sure if it's going to be big or small for her... and I forgot how long I cut the pieces for Heidi's tutu and I'm pretty sure I cut these ones a LOT longer. It looks way longer which makes no sense at all since Heid's about a foot taller than Hailey but oh well. Hopefully she'll like it... and if not it wasn't much work or money. :o) Now I just need to make the dreaded trip to the post office and get them sent off... only a month late!

3 day weekend!

2010-01-18T19:42:00.003-06:00

I love having three day weekends, it means I get to spend even more time with my wonderful hubby! I didn't get to Beloit until fairly late on Friday night because I had to wait around for dog food, which I didn't even wind up getting which is a long story I won't rehash because it pisses me off. It was a very creepy drive. It was dark and there were hardly any other cars on the road and it was so foggy I couldn't see but 5 or so feet in any direction... my imagination was in overdrive coming up with all kinds of creepy monsters and people that could be jumping out of nowhere to kill me. Lets just say I was very glad when I finally pulled into the driveway!

We had a pretty relaxed weekend... lots of hanging out and movie watching... and chores for Ben and laundry and cleaning for me! Man I love that. No, I don't, not really. We watched Angels and Demons which was pretty good... worth a rent but I'd recommend the book instead. Then we watched District 9 which was horrible and not worth the money or the time we spent on it and finally we watched Julie and Julia which made me want to buy the cookbook and make all sorts of wonderful and lovely dishes, which probably happens to more than half the women who watch it. I'm going to have to try one of the recipes for sure because Ben thought it looked yummy! :o)

Then today, while I was making our lunches (i.e. throwing leftovers in the microwave) the dogs killed a mouse. It was horrible. Normally I'm not a squeamish person, obviously since I'm in vet school, but this got to me. They found it, lord only knows where, and chased it around the living room and dining room until they got it cornered and then they bit it or crushed it or who knows what... but the horrible part were the sad little squeaking noises the mouse kept making. I felt so bad for it. Poor little guy was just looking for a warm place to hang out and the dogs killed it... brutally. Shortly after that I left and came back to Manhattan... getting ready to watch my boys kick some Longhorns butt! GO STATE!

Happy Birthday To Me!!

2010-01-15T16:48:00.003-06:00

I'm 25 years old!! Quarter of a century... and it feels just the same as 24 did. :o) Second year in a row that I celebrated with friends instead of my hubby... but at least I had someone to go out with. Some of my friends and I went out to eat at Famous Dave's then went back to one of their houses where they baked me a cake! However, while we were waiting on someone else to show up one of their dogs jumped up and ate half of the cake! It's nice to know that our dogs aren't the only ones who misbehave! I still had a bite of it and it was yummy.

I recieved many calls and cards and presents from loved ones wishing me a happy bithday! It's nice to have so many people who care about you and love you... and I got lots of great stuff! :o)

First of all Ben sent me flowers at school on my birthday! They're beautiful and I love them! It's sweet of him to send me them, wish I would have gotten to see him but the flowers were a nice substitute I guess. :o)

My mommy, and daddy, sent me lots of delicious girl scout cookies and an awesome new purse that I love!!!
Grandma sent me a really cute snowman candle holder and some bath and body works soap and yummy chocolate! Always a good thing! :o)

Janice and Mark sent me a cook book which I can't wait to try some recipes from and a tea set with some of the tea that I like! I'm drinking tea out of one of the cups right now!

I also got a card with some moolah from Aunt Ginny which I've added to my Christmas stash... haven't quite decided what I want to buy yet but we will see. All in all it was a pretty good birthday despite not seeing any of my family or Ben. I'm glad I had someone to celebrate with though!

Start of a New Semester

2010-01-11T19:04:00.003-06:00

Last week I started my LAST semester of didactic coursework. The last semester EVER!! I'm so excited and anxious to start clinics and be that much closer to being done forever. 4 more months and I will be in the clinics, then 1 year after that I will be graduated and done with school forever... unless for some crazy reason I decide to go back and do an internship and residency. :o) haha just kidding Ben would probably kill me if I did that.

We pretty much dove head first into things this semester already. Today I performed half of my first castration on a horse. :) It was a mini horse, who was old, and had huge balls. It's amazing how much more laid back and relaxed everything is on the other side of I-70(the dividing line between small and large animal practices at the school). It was super easy too, it'll probably be a little bit more scary when I'm doing it by myself in someone else's barn on their full sized horse but regradless at least I have one under my belt. It's exciting. I'm so excited to be closer to being a real veterinarian and not a student. Plus getting to live with my hubby again will be a nice change. :)

New Years Pics

2010-01-09T19:31:00.002-06:00

pop that champagne baby!"Happy New Year!"New Years KissesCheers!

We were old fuddy duddies for New Years and stayed up till midnight, watched Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest count it down, and then went to bed at about 12:10. :) Boring, old and married. Oh well, I enjoyed it.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T19:23:00.000-06:00

Happy 2010!

We hope that you had a wonderful 2009

and that God blesses your new year with

many wonderful things!

They've been referencing on the radio how it's a new decade and everything around this time is lists about the top "things" of the decade. That got Ben and I talking the other night about where we were ten years ago and what we were doing in our lives. Ben was a freshman in college, they were still living on the ranch (obviously) but were in the brick house because the house on the hill hadn't been built yet. He was pledging Farmhouse and was being the typical college freshman I suppose. :o) He still had his little Z, and it was the first year for Whitey(his truck) although he didn't own it yet... can't believe that thing is only 10 years old and pretty much has three wheels in the grave!

I was a freshman as well... only in high school not college. *way to rob the cradle baby* We had just moved into our house about 3 months prior to New Years. I spent New Years eve at a party at who know's house, and the big worry was that it was the new milenium and all the computers and everything were going to crash... I remember a bunch of the guys at the party killed the electricity at midnight for effect. I can hardly remember anything that I was doing at that time in my life anymore... and I wonder where I thought I'd be ten years from that day... almost 15 years old and my whole life still in front of me(not to say it's past me now), but you know what I mean. I know that I figured I'd be married in ten years, although at that point in time I wasn't really leaning towards Vet school. I think when I was a freshman I still wanted to be a doctor? maybe? Glad I gave up on that considering the whole health care business now... but thats a story for another post. I know I sure didn't figure we would have someone like President Obama in the White House at the time, and I could have never imagined the tradgedy that would happen less than two years later on September 11th. You can never really know what's in store for your future, and I guess at 14/15 years old I wasn't very concerned with where my life would be in 10 years.

I think about the future a lot more now, especially since I can't wait to get through my present, seeing as how I'm still in school and separated from my husband (which I'm sure you don't know because I never mention it! :o)) Where will I be ten years from now in 2020? I will be almost 35 years old... yikes. What's worse is Ben will be almost 40!! Haha, poor guy! I will FINALLY be a Veterinarian, thank goodness, but I have no idea where we'll be practicing. Most likely it will be somewhere in Kansas still but you never know. I've never really been out of the state much and the idea does appeal to me. God willing we will have children, 4 if I have my way, 2-3 if Ben has his. :o) Hmm, although now that I see it in print 4 kids in 9 years(because we won't start for another year at least) is going to be quite the strain on my body and career! Maybe we'll only have three of the four in ten years... although that would mean that Ben would be 60 before the youngest was in college! Crazy. Kimber and Nolan may or may not still be around, and if they aren't I'm sure we will have a couple of new Vizslas or maybe we'll get smart and go for a smaller calmer breed of dog next time. haha Aw, thats kind of sad to think they may not be here ten years from now... guess I'll just have to keep spoiling them so they can have the best time possible while they're here with us! That's where I see my life in ten years... although there are no guarantees in life. I hope that Ben and I are both still around, and are blessed with children, and that all of our family members are still alive and kickin' 10 years from now, afterall, who wants to predict bad things when looking towards their future.

2009-A Year in Review

2009-12-31T09:55:00.003-06:00

I can't believe that tomorrow it will be 2010. We are going to be in the double digits in the new century people! Crazy. This morning I was looking back at my blog posts over the last year... it's been eventful and yet very monotonous at the same time. We've had a couple of big things happen but the majority of my posts have been me missing my husband, me hating vet school, us working on the house... I guess I should really try and change it up in oh-ten huh?

At this very time a year ago we had the puppies, such cute little guys and such a huge amount of work at the same time! You can review pictures of their cuteness here The cutie pie puppies!

We got to go to New Mexico in May and October which was awesome! Plus we got to see our adorable niece in May, I can't believe that's the last time I've seen her! I also can't believe she's almost two and a half. Time sure does fly! Doesn't seem that long ago it was Christmas and Ben's uncle Ray was asking Aubrey and I who was going to be next... not knowing she had Hailey growing inside at that very instant, but it was three years ago. May New Mexico Trip! and October New Mexico Trip!

In June we were lucky enough to get to go to Cabo for vacation in celebration of our 3 year anniversary! It was beautiful, and amazing, and relaxing and I'm ready to go back anytime you are babe! :o) I can't believe that was my last summer vacation ever. From now on I will be a working girl during the summers... bummer! Our vacay in Cabo!

It feels as though nothing really happened during the second half of the year... this last semester FLEW by, or at least it seems that way looking back but it was definitely a pain in the a$$ while going through it. I honestly believe this semester was worse than second year. But a few big things were getting to do my very first spay and neuter (at least technically, at the vet school and all!). My first spay and My first neuter!

We were lucky enough to have all of our immediate family (excpet for Hailey & Aubrey who were GREATLY missed) here for Thanksgiving. It was the second time I've fixed a turkey and I think everything turned out amazing, even if Kimber ate one of the pumpkin pies and I had a migraine. :o) The Thanksgiving celebration!

Oh and we got our first REAL Christmas tree as a couple! That was definitely a highlight for me! I'm so glad it didn't bother Ben at all and he let us get one at all! There are pine needles all over the floor now and we will probably still find them in crazy places in February but I'm so glad we got one! It was beautiful and it made this Christmas that much better since we didn't get to spend it with our families! I really do have a pretty awesome hubby! Our Christmas Tree!

So there it is, our entire year reduced to one post. :o) Even though we're apart for most of the time it was still a pretty amazing year! I hope 2010 will be even more exciting, who knows what it will bring. :o)

We have fighting dogs, not fighting children

2009-12-30T22:10:00.000-06:00

It has been cold, very cold here, and there has been over 6 inches of snow on the ground for quite a few weeks in Beloit. All of this adds up to two very restless dogs who haven't gotten near enough exercise and are now going nuts inside the house. They don't usually get too aggressive with each other and it's usually just play fighting but Kimber has definitely been asserting her dominance over Nolan the last few days! These are a few pictures of them going nuts around the living room fighting over their Wubby. Then yesterday Kimber was pretty much playing King of The Mountain with Nolan. She was running around our bed and anytime Nolan would try to jump up on it she's lay into him... around and around they went for about fifteen minutes. It was pretty cute and highly entertaining. Another contributing factor in their restlessness is the fact that they did nothing but sleep all day Monday and Tuesday because I was seriously sick! I don't know if it was just a migraine, or the stomach bug, or a combination of the two but I felt pretty horrible and couldn't stop vomiting... something to the tune of 20 times on Monday night and another two or three on Tuesday. It wasn't pretty, and I wasn't pleasant to be around I know. I feel loads better now though! It all started, I believe at least if it WAS due to my migraines, by me drinking HALF of a Guinness on Sunday night. HALF. I can't even drink HALF a beer without getting ridiculously sick. It's horrible and I hate it. So that being said I will most certainly not be going out and drinking for New Years, seeing as I don't want to spend my last three days of my very short Christmas break in the bathroom. Ben is also sick right now, we're thinking he may have Cat Scratch Fever. He has some pretty severe lymphadenopathy and pretty much just feels like crap. So who knows what are plans for the New Year are... oh and his truck is currently in the shop because it won't start. Again. Oh the joy.

Our Christmas Day

2009-12-27T20:37:00.006-06:00

*Our delicious spread for Christmas breakfast* *Yeah, those are Christmas Tree shaped pancakes. I went all out*
*Ben playing his guitar while waiting for me to get ready, per usual*

*We look like giants, but I couldn't pile stuff high enough to take our picture with the timer*
*Our little family on Christmas day*
*Dad and his girl*
*Me and my buddy!*
*Presents!*

*It wasn't wrapped, but I was having some trouble with the fifteen pieces of tape Ben put on it to keep me from peeking!*
*pretty, pretty*
*What is it?*
*Ben's new shirt, lame I know but remember he got the guitar!*
*oh the anticipation*
*What's it going to be....?*

*Sportin' the new sunglasses*
*Stockings! And Ben made me keep wearing my awesome new shades!*
* All bundled up and ready to do evening chores on Christmas day*
We had a wonderful Christmas day together this year just the two of us! We were sad that we weren't getting to celebrate with our families but we managed to have a GREAT time all by our lonesome. :) Our day started bright and early at 7:30 when we got up and guzzled down some coffee before heading to the clinic to do the morning chores. We were actually pretty lucky as there wasn't a full house of dogs boarding this year, which we were reminded of multiple times by a certain someone. I'm pretty sure it was because the weather was so bad people just didn't travel much this Christmas. When we got home I made us a yummy Christmas breakfast, complete with Christmas tree shaped pancakes and sparkling grape juice! :o) After we cleaned ourselves up and got all beautiful and handsome we opened our presents. Well most of them... we had decided our new tradition, and once we have kids we'll continue it, is to open one present on Christmas Eve. Ben opened his present, which consisted of socks, two books(one from the goodwill and one from my high school history class, oh yeah I go all out!), and a magazine. I opened mine.... and got a CRICUT! I'm so excited! It's amazing. Since I'm sure none of you know what that is it's basically an electronic cutter for scrap booking and crafting. You can load cartridges or a computer program and cut out all kinds of fonts and shapes. I'm going to be busy next semester! :o) So, back to Christmas day, we opened our presents... Ben got two more shirts and I got a cute little lingerie set from Victoria's Secret and my Rayban wayfarers!!! I'm sooo excited, but a little peeved at the same time because Ben spent WAY too much money! But I guess I'm worth it! :o) They're so awesome and I've wanted them for awhile... and now I have them! The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out, we had a couple of movies we watched and played a little rock band, then went back to do chores again at 5. It was a great Christmas!