Mini High School Reunion

Last night I went to Wokano with a bunch of my friends from LACHSA. Yesenia was in town (she moved to Pennsylvania a few months ago) so she invited us all out to dinner to catch up. Even Christy came! We had such a fun night reminiscing about high school and it seems weird to think that I graduated almost ten years ago. Where has the time gone? I am so glad that after all these years we are all still friends. Oh, and we even got to catch up with Christy's ex John, who we all love, through text. It was definitely a fun, laughter-filled night.

Overwhelmed

So I have started working out again and I must admit it is hard to squeeze in.

On Monday after work I got my allergy shots and came home to run, but instead spent hours with a ladder and scissors harvesting our grapes. The grapes did not do as well this year (I'm assuming it has something to do with our water being off for a while when the sprinkles broke and flooded the backyard) and sort of crumbled all over the ground as I cut them off. So I had to also sweep up the huge mess afterwards. After that, I cleaned out the fridge of all our expired products, took out the trash, accidently dropped a carton of eggs which were kind of a pain to clean up and made dinner.

On Tuesday, I took Body Works at the gym. By the time I left it was already getting dark out. I raced home to put the trash cans away and start dinner.

On Wednesday, I struggled through a cardio kickboxing class, then went grocery shopping. By the time I got home it was about 8:30 and I still had to make dinner. I made a Dream Dinner and Nic and I ate by about 9pm (I honestly don't know what I would do without Dream Dinners). While I was making dinner I put away all the groceries and grabbed the mail. After dinner I did the dishes. By this point I was feeling pretty stressed out. 

I will admit that it has been more difficult this week because I am trying to cover all of my responsibilities and Nic's, but I always feel a bit overwhelmed. I kept thinking about single moms who have to do everything I'm currently doing and simultaneously raise kids! I also kept thinking about all these blogs I read about people who have these perfectly organized lives, while I constantly feel like 20 things get added to my to do list before I complete 1 old item. The scariest thing is that I normally do have a husband to help me and we don't even have kids yet!! How are we going to handle that? Our house is currently a disaster, my to do list is a mile long and I never get enough sleep....Sometimes being an adult seems SO overwhelming! I guess the one positive is that this week has made me appreciate all the help I normally get from my hubby.

Ankle Update

Nic finally went to the doctor on Tuesday. His ankle was still pretty swollen and very badly bruised so we figured we better make sure it wasn't broken. The doctor was shocked when the x-ray showed no broken or chipped bones. He couldn't believe how bad the bruising was considering nothing was broken. (Nic had bruising on the outside and inside of his leg up to his knee!) He said Nic could have either torn the tendon from the bone, which would require surgery or very badly tore the ligaments. Since Nic did so well on the strength and movement tests the doctor thinks he just badly tore the ligaments. He advised Nic to stay off it for at least another week and recommended an MRI to find out if it is ligament or tendon damage. I guess we will have to see how he is doing next week and go from there.

2 Year House Anniversary

Tuesday, September 27th, marked two years since we have been living in our house. Can you believe it? Two years! That flew by. If you look at our house when we moved in and compare it to today, sadly, it looks exactly the same. Actually, I take that back. It actually looks worse thanks to the flood! :(

We have made a few updates though and plan to make many more very soon. Here is what we, and by we, I mostly mean Nic, have done since last year:

-removed our wedding bouquet frame from the wall behind our bed so it doesn't kill us during an earthquake and painted the wall blue.

-painted the game room (turned scrapbooking room) turqoise

-bought a painting for our room (it still needs to be hung up)

-bought a painting for the scrapbooking room (it still needs to be hung up)

-Got a really cool scrapbooking table (thanks Mom)

-Finally bought a coffee table

We didn't do much this year, so here is to hoping that by this time next year we have made some major improvements on our house!

Inspiration Unlimited

On September 22nd, I flew to Vegas for a weekend of shopping, scrapbooking and eating with my mom and Tomi. They picked me up from the airport and we went to the Burger Bar for lunch, then we went to the Vegas outlets for some shopping. Then we drove to State Line so we could explore the Williams-Sonoma outlet. We went to a few other outlets before heading to the hotel to check in. All the shopping was exchausting and we couldn't help but laugh at the jam-packed car. We checked into the hotel, grabbed some dinner, then went to bed.

The next day, we had our first day of classes. We got SO much done and learned a lot too. That night we went to the steak house for dinner before heading back for the evening crop.

On Saturday, we had another full day of classes. That night we grabbed dinner at the sushi restaurant before going to the closing presentation. They had an inspirational speaker, she was a young girl who had gastric bypass surgery because she was overweight and spent years suffering (and almost died) because her surgery had been done incorrectly. She was on Opera numerous times and was even on her final season as one of Oprah's most memorable guests) and gave out prizes. The whole experience was really fun. We definitely left feeling inspired. We met a lot of wonderful people, learned a ton, and had a fabulous time.

On Sunday, we had breakfast at the Pancake House, then spent the morning at the spa before heading back home. It was a great end to a wonderful weekend. We can't wait to come back next year. :)

Nic's Ankle Injury

On Tuesday, September 20th, on my way to the gym, I got a phone call from Nic and immediately knew something was wrong. As my mind raced with all the horrible thigns that could have happened, he explained to me that he had fallen while playing basketball, hurt his ankle and it was pretty bad. He didn't think it was broken, but he had heard a loud pop and suspected that he had torn the ligaments. He asked me to buy some ice, a bucket, and tape and meet him at home ASAP. I raced to our grocery store and home. His ankle was pretty swollen and starting to bruise slightly, but Nic said he wasn't in too much pain. The bucket I bought was too small and the one we already had was the wrong shape, so I improvised and used the ice chest Nic had won at last year's Mailer's Haven auction for his ice bath. He said the ice bath was worse than the injury itself. I am definitely relieved that the injury didn't even compare to all the horrible ideas that filled my head when Nic first called and I'm hoping for a speedy recovery.

Dinner with Friends

My friend, Amy, from Acton, who I haven't seen in years just moved back to Valencia so we went out to dinner with her and her husband. Sabrina actually re-connected with Amy about a year ago and visited Amy in Chicago. Nic met up with Amy on his Chicago trip, but I haven't seen Amy in forever. It was so fun to see her and meet her husband, plus it was nice for Nic and I to have friends to go out with in Valencia. First we went to Sake, which Nic and I have been wanting to try. On-line it says it isn't open on Mondays, but Amy's friend who is a regular there, said they do a special thing for Monday night football. It was so awesome! It must be a bit of a secret because there weren't that many people there for what they offered. We had an entire couch to ourselves in front of a massive tv screen, they gave us free chilli with chips (which is a cute idea for parties), free pastry things, and free pizza! All we paid for were our drinks.How cool is that?!! I'm thinking we should go there every Monday night. :) From there we went to Sabor. We got margaritas and delicious Mexican food. It was a gorgeous night, so we sat outside. We had a really great night and can't wait to get together with Amy and Angel again soon.

Rachelle's Birthday and Housewarming Party

On Sunday, September 18th, Nic and I went to a birthday/housewarming party at Rachelle and Brandon's new place. First of all, let m ejust say that their new place is amazing. It is so cute and the backyard is to die for! It is honestly incredible...it looks like a garden at an estate. They have a fountain and all these cool little areas. It is really amazing. I told her, they should be hosting monthly parties with a backyard like that. :) In addition to getting to see the new pad (or Bungalow as Rachelle called it), we also got to see Tyler, Laura, my mom, my dad, Ryan, Alli, Judy, Ashley, Whitney, Stacy, Jenny, and tons more of Rachelle's family and friends. The food and drinks were delicious (Rachelle is a fabulous host!) and the desserts were so adorable! Rachelle had a fancy s'mores bar with all different marshmallows including salted caramel, my favorite, and all different kinds of chocolate. They were delicious!! It was such a great evening and hopefully the first of many wonderful evenings we will spend and the Bell Bungalow.

Lauren's 25th Birthday

On Saturday, September 17th, Nic and I went down to Aliso Viejo to see Lauren's new place and celebrate her birthday. It was so great to see her and see her house. We both loved it! I'm so happy we are still friends eventhough we don't get to see each other nearly enough. She is such a great person and I just love her! Happy Birthday Lauren!

Jazz Class

On Friday, September 16th, I took a jazz class with Celena and Lindsay. First of all, I went back to the gym last week and have been trying really hard to get back into shape. My first day back I took a turbo kick boxing class and almost died. I had to stop so many times and felt the most out of shape I have ever felt in my life! It was so depressing. This week I took a zumba class, which was lame. It was definitely a confidence booster, but it was too easy for me.

I was pretty nervous and excited for the jazz class and even though I knew I was out of shape, I as still figuring it would be like every other time I've gone back to dance...I would do awesome the first day when the adrenaline is going, then be really sore for a few days, then just bounce right back. Well, that is not what happened at all. First of all, I looked so heavy next to Celena and Lindsay who are both moms and both tiny! I don't even havce an excuse for being out of shape! Secondly, I struggled! I was already struggling five minutes into the warm up. I have lost so much felxibility and strength and about 15 minutes in, it was apparent that I would not be bouncing back this time. By the end of warm up my legs were already shaking. When we went across the floor, I felt tight and weak, but a few things were starting to improve. When we did the turns across the floor I felt all awkward as if I had never done turns before, but I was at least still able to do them so that was a confidence boost. The routine was really exhausting, but so fun. At one point we had to do three different jumps back to back, which was quite challenging for me. Overall though, it was so much fun. We all laughed a ton and had a great time and it felt really good to dance again.

BUNCO

On Thursday night I went to my mom's house to play Bunco. I ended up winning 2nd place! I got a beautiful pumpkin candle and pumpkin candle holder. :) I meant to take some pictures, but completely forgot....they added me to the sub list so maybe I will get to go again.

Dinner with Friends

On Saturday, September 11th, Nic and I went out to dinner with some of my LACHSA friends. Lauren was in town, giving us the perfect excuse to all get together. Jordan, Jeff, Conner, Madie, Sunde and Joziah all came! It was great to see everyone.

September 11th~10 years later

On Friday night Nic and I watched the Dateline 9-11 special which was a total tear jerker. Then on September 11th, while Nic was at his basketball tournament, I watched the 9-11 specials on tv. The service in New York included a dedication of a new memorial and the reading of all the names of those who died that day. Each time a person reading the names talked about the person they lost I cried. In fact I spent most of the morning in tears and in disbelief. I can't believe it has been 10 years. I still remember that morning so well. I still feel so much raw pain every time I see the images from that horrible day and I still feel devastation when I hear personal stories from that day. Many of the people personally affected by 9-11 say that every day since September 11, 2001 feels like Sept. 12 and I believe them because every anniversary feels just as painful as the first.

Here are some pictures from around the web:

Basketball, Datr Night, and AFL

On September 10th, Nic had his tournament for his travel team. His team had two close wins so he was pretty excited. That night, we decided to try a new restaurant so we went to Chi Chi's for a date night. It was pretty good. Straightforward pastas and pizzas. It was nice to spend some quality time together~just the two of us, especially since life has been pretty hectic sine we got back from Australia. After dinner, Nic's friend Nick came over to watch the footy with Nic. I scrap booked while watching with them. Nic's team the Essendon Bombers lost, but it was nice for him to have a beer with his mate and watch Australian footy. :)

USU Basketball Final

One of the teams Nic coaches made it to the Finals at USU. I went to the game on Friday, September 9th, to watch and they won! They were so cute and the little girl on his team (his favorite player) Vanessa was awesome. It was so cute to see how all the kids look up to Nic. They really admire and respect him. :) I was one proud wife.

Candy Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have become obsessed with stuffed cookies. I was really craving something sweet, so I picked up a couple bags of snack size candy at Target for my latest cookie adventure. I put milky ways, twix, and reeses peanut butter cups in the middle of chocolate chip cookies. Yum! The milky way oens were my favorite! They were all goey and caramely and just plain delicious! These would be perfect to make after Halloween with all those mini candies left lying around the house. Enjoy!

Candy Bar Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches

www.picky-palate.com

2 sticks softened butter

1 Cup granulated sugar

3/4 Cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla

3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

10 oz bag chocolate chips

Variety of snack size Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers and Kit Kat

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until well combined.  Add eggs and vanilla until well combined.

2.  Place flour, baking soda and salt in large bowl; mix then slowly add to wet ingredients.  Add chocolate chips to combine.  Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of snack size candy bar.  Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of candy bar.  Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until candy bar is enclosed with dough.  Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking.  Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.  Serve with a tall glass of milk, enjoy!

Nutella Cookies

In my baking frenzy, I also decided to make Nutella cookies. I wanted to do something Australian to honor Pop, so when I saw this recipe I thought I would try it. These were pretty easy to make and tasted delicious. They were almost like brownies pretending to be cookies. Nic didn't think the Nutella flavor was strong enough, but either way they were a very indulgent chocolaty treat!

Chocolate Nutella Cookies

www.twopeasandtheirpod.com

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup dutch-process cocoa
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon hazelnut extract
1/3 cup Nutella
1/3 cup milk

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugars. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about two minutes. Add the vanilla and hazelnut extract and beat until extracts disappear. Add the Nutella and mix until batter is smooth.

2. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternately with the milk in one batch, mixing well. Chill dough for at least 15 minutes before baking. You can make the dough a few days in advance, just wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

3. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Take a tablespoon of cookie dough and roll it into a ball. Place on lined baking sheets and gently press down on the dough ball. Continue making dough balls until the cookie sheets are filled-leave two inches in between cookies.

4. Bake cookies for 10-11 minutes or until soft, but starting to set. Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

S'more Bars

On Friday, September 2nd, I came home in a baking craze mood. I spend all my breaks and lunch at work reading blog after blog of delicous recipes and always seem to have a million that I can't wait to try! I picked this one because it sounded like a perfect end of summer treat, it sounded ideal for the lake, and it sounded really quick and easy to make. It exceeded all my expectations. First of all, it was SO easy to make. It only took about 15 minutes! Second, it was absolutely delicious! Everyone loved them. They tasted exactly like s'mores without needing a fire. They also definitely hit the mark on an end of summer treat...they were perfect!

Golden Graham S'more Bars

www.twopeasandtheirpod.com

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows, plus 2 cups mini marshmallows for topping (4 1/2 cups total)
4 cups Golden Grahams cereal
4 (1.55 ounce) Hershey's Milk Chocolate Candy Bars

Directions:

1. Grease a 8x8 pan and set aside. In a large pan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in 2 1/2 cups mini marshmallows. Stir until marshmallows are melted and smooth. Stir in the Golden Grahams cereal. Press mixture into prepared pan.

2. Place Hershey's candy bars on top of the Golden Grahams treat and gently press them down. Sprinkle the remaining marshmallows evenly over the chocolate bars. Place under the broiler for about 2 minutes, or until marshmallows are slightly golden brown. Watch them closely so you don't burn the marshmallows. Let the bars cool completely. Cut into squares and serve. 

Dinner and Dessert

On Tuesday, August 30th, Nic and I went to Kisho for dinner with Aunt Susannah and Will. We don't get to see them very much so it was fun to catch up. After dinner, Nic had to race off to basketball, but Aunt Susannah, Will and I went to Coldstones for dessert. It was a gorgeous night, I had a great time getting out on a work night, and it was especially nice to catch up with my Aunt.

Book Club Movie Date

So my mom, Rachelle, Judy and I have sort of created this make-shift book club where we read books that are being made into movies then we go together to see the movie. Rachelle, my mom and I went to dinner to discuss the book Something Borrowed a while back and then went to see the movie. This time we planned to see The Help. Unfortunatly, after we planned the date, Rachelle found out it was her move in date for her new house. So, Judy, Judy's mom Dorothy, my mom, Sabrina and I all went to see The Help together on Sunday, August 28th. The movie was sooo good! I absolutely loved the book, but in some ways I enjoyed the movie more, which never happens! I really thought they did a great job and was so moved by the movie. Afterwards, we met Sabrina's friend Kelly and her mom Laura for lunch at Gourmet 88. It was such a fun day and hopefully something we will continue to do. Any suggestions for our next book/movie?

Hogan Wedding Reception

That night, Nic and I went with Lindsay and Tim to Jocelyn and Chris' wedding reception. They got married in Texas a few weeks earlier and were having a second reception to celebrate with all their Acton friends. They had the most amazing margarita machine that puts Margaritaville to shame and delicious bbq food. It was so fun to wear cowboy boots and do a little line dancing...it's been years! It was also really fun to see all my old Acton friends....it was like old times. :) Jocelyn wore her weading dress and looked gorgeous! She was my little sis at dance and now she is all grown up and married. I'm so happy and excited for her!

We all had the best time drinking too many margaritas and by the end of the night we had a pretty good dance party going (we all became friends through Dancin' in Acton). Lindsay found a giant rock by the pool to make her "box" and we were all having a drunkin' good time. Lindsay had mentioned to Nic and I on the way to the party that she and Tim had brought bathing suits just in case. The Teno's have a gorgeous pool and they wanted to be prepared for a spontaneous pool party. Well, by the end of the night after all the margaritas I could tell Lindsay was itching to jump in the pool. We were up on her rock dancing when Roger and Carlie suddenly lept into the pool. Lindsay gave me one telling glance (I imagine she was thinking "Finally") before leaping in boots and all. Moments later Tim jumped up on the rock and began a strip dance. Mid clothes-removal Roger Teno knocked him into the pool. I got off that rock pretty quickly after that because I was drunk, but not jump in the pool with my cowboy boots on drunk. After swimming around in their clothes Tim and Lindsay went and changed into their bathing suits for the drive home! haha. Nic said he had the pleasure of taking the three drunkest people at the party home! I'm sure the car ride was pretty entertaining for him. It was such a fun night and one that Nic and I definitely needed after the week we had had. 

The Leak

On Saturday, August 27th, we had another issue with our house. I was sitting on the stairs talking to Nic downstairs when I noticed a rather large crack in the ceiling. Nic had mentioned it a few days earlier, but it looked way worse. We discussed it for a few minutes, shook our heads at the the realization that our house was fallign apart and then he went to take out the trash. I walked downstairs and suddenly stepped in a puddle of water. I yelled for Nic, but he was already outside. I stood there for a moment looking up when suddenly drops of water started falling to the ground! We had another water issue on our hands! Just then the doorbell rang (my dad was coming over to look at the flood damage). I answered the door with a frantic "We have another leak!" My dad came in and immediately determined that it was the upstairs air conditioner. We turned the air off and Nic and my dad spent the next few hours, on one of the hottest days of the year, up in the attic trying to fix the leak. Sabrina and my mom stopped by as well and we all tried to laugh at my nightmare of a house.

Taylor Swift

On August 24th, Sheri, my mom, Justin and I went to the Taylor Swift concert. We went to one of my fave restaurants Katsu for dinner first. Justin got back from New Zealand that day, so it was good to see him. Seemed like forever since I last saw him and he was all grown up. The waiter joked about Justin wanting to admit he was going to a Taylor Swift concert and my mom said, "Are you kidding? Taylor's hot! All the kids his age love her!" To which I added, "Yeah, its not like he is going to a Justin Bieber concert, that would be embarassing!"

After dinner we went over to Staples to see the opening acts. The first opener was Josh Kelley, who was really good. The second opener was Need to Breath, who were also really good. Sheri bought their cd and so after the concert we got their autographs! ;)

Taylor Swift was awesome as always. She is gracious and slightly awkward, which just makes her so likeable. At one point Sheri got up to go to the bathroom, and moments later Justin Beiber joined Taylor on stage. I have never heard screams so loud in my entire life! We were in an upper section and people were rushing the stage! It was hilarious! We kept teasing Justin about it and taking pictures of Justin (Wallasch) with Justin (Beiber) in the background. Our Justin totally has the bieb haircut and we of course had the best time teasing him. Sheri returned shortly after and missed the whole thing! Talk about picking a bad time to go to the bathroom!

Mammoth Music Festival

On Saturday, August 20th, Nic, Tyler, Laura and I went to the Mammoth Music Festival. Nic and I sampled the wines, while Laura and Tyler pigged out on food. It was a gorgeous day and we were thouroughly enjoying ourselves. All day, they had performers, including Parachute and Michelle Branch. Nic and I got some hot dogs and my favorite thing were these pulled pork nachos with bbq sauce. They were amazing!! By dusk, the wine tasting had ended so we grabbed a bottle of wine and sat down to watch Michelle Branch perform. For the grand finale the Goo Goo Dolls performed! It was so cool! I was drinking away and dancing in the middle of the forest, watching the sun set behind the stage, while the Goo Goo Dolls rocked it! It was such a cool setting and a really fun night. After the show, our chaperones (Tyler and Laura) dropped us off at the Village and we went and had a few more drinks and danced the night away at Hyde Lounge.

The next morning, we got to listen to acoustic guitar while enjoyign a delicious brnch at Hyde Lounge to wrap up the festival. It was really fun to spend some time with Laura and Tyler and just a fun weekend in general!

Happy 28th Birthday Nic

On August 19th, Nic turned 28. After work, I raced to Bev Mo to get Nic some Boags, then to the grocery store and home to bake cupcakes. While the cupcakes were coolign I raced out to grab the pizzas I ordered from Dominos and squeezed packing and decorating a few cupcakes in before Nic got home from basketball. I took a few pics, then we packed the cupcakes up, grabbed some pizza and hopped in the car to drive up to Mammoth. Not the ideal birthday celebration, but we were looking forward to a fun weekend in Mammoth. Happy Birthday Baby!

The Flood

After an exhausting day of traveling and waiting for Nic to be released from immigration we finally made it out of LAX and towards home. Tyler pulled up to our house almost 24 hours after we had left Tassie and I couldn't wait to spend the day with Sabrina  and Tyler having lunch and seeing  a movie, doing laundry, uploading pictures an updating the blog. Unfortunately, our house had other plans...as I approached our front door, I turned to Nic and asked why the sprinklers were on. He looked back confused and as I opened the door and stepped into a puddle of water, my fears were confirmed. I had been having visions of coming home to water pouring out of our house before I left, but didn't really think it was going to happen. I leapt to a dry patch of carpet, ripped off my shoes, and began crying hysterically. Nic immediately ran to the downstairs bathroom, where water was shooting out everywhere, and turned the water off. Then he moved the tv (which thankfully for me didn't get ruined because Nic wanted to move it upstairs before we left and I didn't~so I never would have heard the end of it) and began to asses the damage. I was still a mess on the floor and Tyler just kept hugging me and telling me it was going to be ok. After the boys put towles down to stop the water from creeeping onto the carpet, Tyler began to push water out the door with a broom, Nic used a vacuum from the neighbors to vacuum up the water, while I left messages for our insurance company and called a water cleaning company. Sabrina showed up looking pretty shocked and immediately began to help. This was obviously not the fun day she or Tyler had imagined, but I am so thankful they were there; they both helped out a ton!

A few hours after Tyler and Nic had cleaned up all the water, Service Master showed up. Sabrina, Tyler and I decided we needed to get out of the house for a bit so we went to Islands for lunch, while Nic stayed behind to watch our house get torn apart. We returned back home to a shocking site: all our carpet was torn up, our furniture was all over the place, all the downstairs base molding had been removed, the bottoms of all our cabinets had been torn off and holes had been drilled in them, and blowers and de-humidifiers were everywhere! It was very overwhelming. Nic and I retreated to our room to take a quick nap (we were exhausted!) while the clean-up crew worked. Once they left for the day, we realized it was going to be a long week. Our house was so loud and hot from the blowers, we couldn't really use our kitchen or really anything downstairs. So we basically stayed in our bedroom.

The Journey Back Home

On Sunday, August 14th, Nic and I got up very early to finish saying goodbye. We said bye to Stu and had one more tearful goodbye with Susan before Rob dropped us off at the airport.

Once we got to Melbourne, we met up with our friends Hayley and Sam at the airport McDonalds. They drove in from Bendigo to see us! It was so great to catch up with them and we felt very special that they would make such a long trip so early in the morning to spend only one short hour with us.

After catching up and saying goodbye, we went through security, then got in line for immigration. While in line, Nic noticed a board flashing what he thought said "Final Call" next to our flight. We thought we still had quite a bit of time to get to our gate, but immediately got in the VIP line. Even when we spoke to the guy at the counter he said we were cutting it close, but as long as we walked fast, we should be fine. We hurried off, nervously, towards our gate, which of course, was the furthest gate. We heard over the loud speaker a last call announcement for the following passengers....when we heard our names we felt so guilty. Hayley and I had just talked about people needing to be paged for their flight and how we couldn't believe people weren't more responsible and considerate. Then there we were, we had turned into those people. :/. We ran all the way to our gate where all the crew was waiting for us. One lady said, "The ENTIRE plane is waiting for you." We felt horrible. Luckily, the one other guy who they paged arrived after us so we didn't have to feel like we were entirely at fault for holding up our flight. Then as we were taxing, we got stuck in a stand-off with another plane and had to be moved back by a truck to clear the path. When we finally took off, it was at our normal departure time and the flight information screen listed a much earlier arrival time than I had on my flight information. The only thing Nic and I can come up with is that our flight time had changed. Even Tyler said that our flight was listed on the board with a much earlier arrival time than we told him, so I guess now we  know to always double check flight information the night before traveling. Needless to say our experience at the Melbourne airport both coming and going were stressful. We definitely cut it close.

Our Last Day in Tassie

After Oliver's Birthday Party, Nic and I went to the hospital to visit Pop. He was in good spirits, although we could tell he was disappointed that he had missed Oliver's birthday party. We spent a good amount of time catching up with him, before saying our goodbyes. We tried to keep positive, saying things like "We'll see you again soon," but in our hearts, Nic and I were both aware of the strong possibility that this would be our last goodbye to Pop. We both told him we love him, hugged him goodbye and I gave him a kiss.

When we got back home, I got to spend some more time with Oliver. I just couldn't get enough of him and it was very hard to say goodbye. The past two weeks with him were just amazing and I am sure gonna miss hugging and kissing him. After our goodbyes, we played a game with Stu, then Nic and I grabbed our favorite fish and chips for dinner. Rob, Susan, Nic, Stu and I ate the fish-n-chips as a celebratory dinner for Rob's birthday and as our farewell dinner. Somehow, we had managed to fit in all of our favorite meals in that one short week. The fish-n-chips meal is usually the meal Nic and I have with his Grandma and Pop, but since Pop had been in the hospital, this was the best we could do. After dinner, we ate a bit more cake, then packed for our early morning flight home. Susan and I said a tearful goodbye that night and Nic and I went to bed.

Oliver's 1st Birthday Party

On Saturday, August 13th, Oliver's family came over to Susan's house to celebrate him turning 1. It was great for Nic and I because we got to finally catch up with all our family members that we hadn't seen in over a year. One of the highlights of the day, was watching Oliver receive his present from his Granparents. They got him a stuffed Hoot. Oliver's eyes lit up as he extended his arms for Hoot and he smiled and giggled in excitemenet. I just love him so much and am so thankful we got to be there to share in his 1 year milestone. We ate all sorts of delicious food; burgers, sausage rolls, meat pies, and an assortment of cheeses. Then we watched Oliver open his presents. He did a really good job opening each present and playing with each item. Then we sang him Happy Birthday and watched him eat cake. It was such a fun celebration and I am so happy I could be a part of it.

Hoot Cake Pops

Oliver's favorite cartoon character is a blue owl called giggin' hoot. He loves him! So, I decided to attempt to make Hoot Cake Pops. I found a few images on-line of others who had made them for inspiration, searched for all the supplies (cake pops have not become a huge phenomenon there like they are here) and began to create Hoot. I made the cake on Friday and formed the balls Friday night after the bar event with Nic's friends. Since it was late, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. The next morning, I got up and got to work. I melted the candy melts, dipped the balls and while they dried and set to work making all the decorations. I made white hearts, wings, and eyes out of fondant. I definitely under-estimated how long it would take to make all the little accessories. I only ended up finishing about 5 Hoot Pops, but everyone loved them!

Baking~the Australia Edition

On August 11th, I decided it would be fun to do some baking. I made tim tam stuffed chocolate chip cookies, caramello stuffed chocolate chip cookies and crunchie cookies. They were delicious! The crunchie one lost a bit of the crunchie flavor once it was baked so I'm going to keep working on that one, but overall, they were all a success! When it comes to stuffing cookies, the possibilities are endless.

How much food can we eat in one week?

On Tuesday, August 9th, we went to the hospital to see Pop. Then we went to Burger Got Soul for lunch. It is another one of our favorite meals in Tassie. That afternoon, Stu took us on a tour of the Boags Brewery. After the tour we stopped by Lauren's so I could see my little Oliver some more. That night, Nic and I made another one of our Tassie favorites: pasta bake. It brought back so many memories of our first few months of married life in Bendigo.

On Wednesday, August 10th, Susan made meat pies for lunch. Her meat pies are the best!! I spent most of the day on the couch, by the fire, reading The Help, drinking wine. It was kind of nice to be in the cold weather because it allowed us to relax without feeling guilty. Nic went back to the hospital with Susan to see Pop again. That night she made a roast for dinner beacause that is one of Nic's favorite meals. She also made roast veggies and the most delisious gravy! After dinner, Nic and I went to watch Stu's basketball game. We caught up with tons of people at the game, but didn't get to see Stu play too much because he rolled his ankle in the first half.

On Thursday, August 11th, Susan made her famous chicken burgers. One of my favorite meals! Nan, Lauren, Craig, Stu and Oliver came over too. :) That night Nic and I went out to dinner at black Cow. A friend of Nic's, James Welsh "welshie" co-owns the restaurant and it is one of the best in Tassie! We both got filet and delicious glasses of Tasmanian wine (the wine was courtesy of Welschie and Bianca~thanks guys!), with sides of mushrooms and potatoes. It was a delicious steak dinner.

On Friday, August 12th, we woke up to the smell of pumpkin soup filling the house. It is another one of our favorite meals Susan makes! It was delicious!! That night, we met up with all of Nic's friends at Mud Bar. We figured it would be easier to catch up with everyone all at once instead of running around the whole trip catching up with people. I had a great time catching up with everyone and I know Nic really enjoyed seeing all of his friends.

Happy 1st Birthday Oliver!

Can you believe Oliver is 1? The year went by so fast. Look how much he has changed in a year:

To celebrate we went to Lauren's house to eat pizza, watch Ollie open his presents, sing Happy Birthday, and eat cake. It was so fun to be there to celebrate a special occassion instead of just looking through pictures on Shutterfly. We had the best time watching Oliver open all his presents. It is weird to think I only met him in perosn one week earlier, I have loved him more than I thought possible since the second he was born and somehow meeting him made that love grow even more. He is seriously the cutest kid in the world! Happy Birthday Oliver!!

Our First Day in Tassie

Our first day back, we went straight to Wendys so I could get my favorite crunchie shake! Gosh, I love those! We also grabbed a few meat pies to eat at Grandma's house. Yum! I sure was enjoying all the delicious Aussie food I can't get back in the states. We went to visit Grandma and Nan. Pop ended up in the hospital the day before and we knew he wasn't quite ready for visitors. After cathing up with Nic's grandmas, we went back to the house to prepare for Oliver's Birthday Celebrations.

Back to Tassie

The next morning, we packed and went to the airport to begin the journey to Tassie. Goodbye sunshine, hello rain. We arrived back in Tassie that night and were greeted by freezing cold weather and rain. Despite the weather, though, it felt nice to be back in Tassie.

Jackson Wedding

On Saturday, August 6th, Nic and I got up at the crack of dawn to drive about an hour to Cairns to attempt to skydive again. We were both way more nervous this time and didn't speak the entire drive, excpet when Nic asked me if I was still breathing (I was breathing very shallow-nervous breaths). As soon as we walked into the store, the employees shook their heads no. Apparently it was raining over the jump site and didn't look like it was going to clean up. We took it as a sign, got a refund and left. I had been praying to God for weeks to not let me die skydiving and he apparently was answering my prayers, just in a different way than I had expected.

 

On our way back to Port Douglas, we decided to check out the hotel that Oprah stayed at during her tv show special. The grounds and beach were beautiful, especially that early in the day. From there, we decided to check out Mossman Gorge. It was absolutely gorgeous. We had been there before, but only stopped briefly. This time we walked all around and became entranced with how green and lush it was. It was a bit misty, which we decided made it even more beautiful.

Once we got back to the hotel, we caught up with a few members of the wedding party at the pool, then I met up with Nic's family in town, while he fulfilled his groomsman duties.

 

That evening, everyone took a sugar cane train to the wedding (we missed out becasue we somehow missed the memo). I guess on the way to the train, the mother of the bride fell and broke and dislocated her ankle!! Nic had to tell Hailey just before the ceremony began that her mom wasn't going to be there. Can you imagine? It breaks my heart everytime I think about it.

The wedding was so beautiful, but I couldn't stop thinking about how sad it was that the mother of the bride (the person who cares most about the wedding day after the bride and groom) had to miss it. The highlight of the night was watching the bride and groom do their first dance. It was so cute!! They also had an Australian candy bar, so I got to try all sorts of "lollies" I've never had before.

After the wedding we went to a bar in town and then to this really nice house that some of the guests were staying at. We had such a fabulous time and were so glad we could be there to share in Tim and Hailey's special day.