Thank you to all those who serve and who have served. Your dedication to this country has made it a difference to all who call it home.

Thank you to my wonderful Husband for his service, I love you so much and am so proud of you!!

Here is one of my favorite quotes, I think it is just perfect for Veteran's Day ~

I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot. - Gary Hart

Happy 4th of July!!

I love the 4th of July, it's definitely one of my favorite holidays - it's a great time to reflect on how thankful I am for our wonderful country and it's freedoms. I'd like to thank all of the men & women who protect us, our freedoms and our way of life. I'd especially like to thank my amazing husband and wonderful brother for their service. We are all so blessed to live in the amazing country

Have a happy 4th of July!!

The Great Date Experiment

A while ago, Kevin and I heard about The Great Date Experiment and thought it would be fun to try! Have you heard of it?!? Well, if not, please click here to learn about it. Kevin and I love it and have had so much fun! We can't wait to do the next one!! We are just so happy there are so many to do!!

....There are kinda of some secrets that go along with this experiment that I don't want to give away so I will just post some of our pictures....if you decide to do the experiment yourself or if you have done this experiment, the pictures will, of course, make more sense. ;) Here's some pics of us on date #2

Location #1

Location #2

Location #3

Location #4

It was kinda raining on and off during our date, what a blessing that we saw this rainbow on our way home

Not the best picture, but still, very pretty

I highly recommend these dates!! Kevin and I had a great time and are looking forward to the other dates in this experiment!!

Bad Blogger....with a small announcement

Oh my goodness!!! I don't even know where to begin...sooooo much has happened lately....nothing really blog worthy though....just been busy with lots of everyday things....

Ok, maybe that much hasn't really happened but man, time sure has just flown by!! I guess the main thing that has taken up most of my time is work. I'll tell ya, I LOVE my job - LOVE being a nurse but, the hours aren't exactly "bankers hours" if ya know what I mean. ;) Ha!! Luckily, next week my schedule is suppose to change....I'm hoping it makes a HUGE difference. Right now I'm working about 10 hours a day....plus a 30-45 min commute (depending on traffic)...so by the time I get home I'm just d-o-n-e!! Lol!! Ha ha!! OH!

Love this place though!!

Also, I've started a running routine....I go to my a-mazing gym in the mornings - before my crazy day beings, I find it easier that way. Plus, I for sure know that I will go....'cause if I wait to go after work it's pretty darn easy for me to talk myself out of going...do you know what I mean?!? Ha!!

ps - if your area has one...I highly recommend Lifetime Fitness

So...yeah, by the time I get home at night I'm just so busy getting ready for the next day that I don't have time to think about blogging....*tear* Like I said though, I do totally LOVE my job.

About my little announcement, it's probably not a big deal to anyone but me but I'd thought I'd share anyway - I had Lasik (actually intraLasik - totally bladeless, so so so cool!!) done on Tuesday!!!! I've had a pretty strong contact/glasses prescription since I was a 7 years old so I was beyond READY to have it done. The funny thing is I honestly don't know why it's taken me so long to have it done. It was one of the most bizarre things I've even been through. I can't say that I was in any pain - it was just weird. My husband has had PRK (since he is in Aviation it's the only one that they can have) so it was kinda neat to compare and contrast our experiences. Luckily, I have had MUCH LESS recovery time than he did.....I had the surgery Tuesday afternoon and was back to work Wednesday morning! Pretty awesome, huh?!?! Walked in legally blind and walked out with a pretty hazy 20/15 vision!!! Ok, so maybe only a medical geek like me will appreciate how neat this is but, just thought I'd share.

Well, I'm gonna get back to work....

Happy Good Friday Everyone!!

Relaxing Weekend

What a wonderful and relaxing weekend! Sadly, Kevin was on out-of-town until late Saturday evening....so, Molly & I decided to turn lemon into lemonade!!!

Friday after work I grabbed a Papa John's pizza, Starbucks coffee ice cream and a super girl movie (Love Happens - pretty girlie, in case you're wondering - ha!)....headed home and had a great evening in.

Saturday morning, I slept in...which was a-mazing!!! If you haven't slept-in in a while I highly recommend it!! Super relaxing!!! Then I headed to Omaha's downtown, the Old Market, and took Molly for a loooonnnnggggg walk....of course we went by a few of my downtown favs.....

After a extremely cold winter, it's pretty neat to finally be out and about again. Then, I headed off to get a mani/pedi. In case you were wondering, I chose this soft pink color - it's OPI's Sweetheart.

I just love how versatile this color it!! Plus, I've been wearing a lot of reds lately so I thought it was time to soften things a bit....perfect color for Spring!! ...Can you tell I'm ready for Spring!! Ha!! :)

After the mani/pedi??? Well, it was time for a nap, of course!! Ha!! I know, I was aaallll about relaxing this weekend!! Hands down, the highlight to my day was having my husband & best friend home.

Sunday was a little more productive....kinda. ;) We saw Alice in Wonderland - such a cute movie!! If you like Alice in Wonderland I totally think you should see this one! Plus, I'm just a sucker for 3D movies!!

We were also able to go by out home - it looks pretty great! We are really excited and can't wait to move in!! The only *problem* is that whenever we go to see it there is MUD....EVERYWHERE. No kidding! It's crazy!! Here's a pic of me, in my mud boots.....I'm posing by the doors to our bedroom - and then there is Molly's backside - lol!!

Paint!!! Yay!! I have been soooo anxious to see how this color (muddy river) looks in our home and I'm super pleased with it!!! ....Pretty hard to get a feel for the color in this pic but, I promise it's lookin' great!! And...there will be more pics to come -

Here's the front of the house....in case you thought I was kidding about all the mud.....it's pretty out of control!!! Ha!!!

Have a good week blog friends!!!

Weekend in OKC

Last weekend Kevin and I headed down to OKC for a very special occasion....it was my best friend's son's 1st birthday!!! Yay! Yay! Yay!!! Needless to say, I was beyond excited to celebrate this amazing milestone!!

Since Kevin didn't get home from his business trip until Saturday morning, we hit the road as soon as he got home. Even though it's a pretty long drive it was so nice to have some time to catch up with each other, chat about each other's week...ya know stuff "normal" couples do during the week - ha!!

Usually when we spend the weekend in OKC, we spend so much time driving around to visit everyone that by the end we are just so so so super exhausted.....so, this weekend we chose to not really tell anyone that we were going....is that bad? I kinda felt guilty..... Anyways, it was such wonderful and relaxing weekend that it might just make-up for my guilt - lol!! ;)

We stayed in Bricktown (Okc's downtown area) and LOVED every minute of our stay!! I love being a tourist in my hometown! ;)

Our Hotel

Saturday night we headed out for what was suppose to be a triple date...but, the other guys couldn't make it....poor Kevin!! He is such a trooper for hanging out with me and my girls!!

We had sushi & martini's at in the raw....perfect dinner combo!

Me with my gorgeous besties!! OMG I miss these girls!!!

Sunday morning we slept in...yup, that's right slept in - haven't done that in a while!! It was glorious!!! Before heading out to the birthday party, Kevin and I took a little stroll around Bricktown and, of course, grabbed some coffee from Starbucks. ;)

After our little stroll around OKC we headed to Shawnee (my home town) for Eli's Birthday Party!! I think 1st birthdays are soooo fun and very exciting!!

Here's the big man walking...sooooo precious!! Still can't believe he is walking!! They grow up so fast!!

The cake!

The birthday boy eating his cake!!

Present time - yippee!!!

us at the birthday!!

Busy, busy weekend!!

This weekend was soooo busy !!! In fact, it was one of those weekends that made me realize we are definitely gonna have to schedule some down time asap!! Ha!

Friday night I kicked off the weekend with an fabulous, delicious & hilarious (great combo, huh?!?) Girls Night Out! We met up at Omaha's Classy Gourmet for an Italian cooking class. It was such a blast!! I arrived at 7pm and seriously I laughed the entire time!!!

Love, love these ladies!!!

Katie, me & Laura...picture taken my the talented & fabulous Katie Jo

Of course, Katie Jo took a-mazing pics all night!!

Laughing and cooking...doesn't get much better!!!

Cookin' in my little black apron

Laura making the sauce (our group's assigned project) - she was a rock star with this sauce!!!

Enjoying our wine....and yeah, kinda blurry....this picture was from my camera - notice the difference between my camera and Katie Jo's?!?! Yeah....

When I went home, I spent the rest of the night laughing at my wonderful husband and my adorable dog!!! It was a beyond perfect day!! ;)

Saturday morning we ran lots and lots of errands....and I do mean lots! Lol!! We spent the majority of the day here....

We went back and forth from the Mart to our house....measuring, re-measuring, back to the Mart to look at more couches...and then, the cycle started all over. It was a pretty cr-azy afternoon that turned into evening that turned into 10pm. Isn't it funny how time can just absolutely FLY sometimes!! I'm happy to report that we have found a great couch that we think will be perfect for our little house!! Yay!!

Here are some recent pics of the house

Soooo...I know it's kinda hard to tell what this is - it's our Master Bathroom. Our tub and shower were delivered and installed!!!! Yay, yay, yay!!!! The shower/tubs were installed in the other bathrooms too but, I won't bore you with more random bath pics... ;)

Ok, probably a SUPER boring pic BUT, it's our siding!!!!! I never, ever thought I'm be excited to see siding but I am!!!! Ha ha!!!! ;-) .....This is totally one of those, "you know your old when...." moments!!

Ok, probably the most excited part about this house visit - our FIREPLACE!!!!!!!!

EEEeeeekkkkk!!!!! I was jumping up and down shouting when I saw this bad boy!!! Ha!!! I think Molly thought I was going crazy - lol!!! And since Kevin already knows I'm nuts....it was no big deal - ha!!!

On Sunday, we headed to meet Ellie, a young & oooooo so sweet Lab!! Since it was our first time meeting her I didn't want to stress her out any more than necessary sooooo....I thought no pics would be best. She is just a doll!! We think she will make a great addition to our family and I'm really, really hoping things work out! Since we are in a very small apartment now, the family said they'd hold on to her until we move - but if someone else comes along that can take her sooner then of course (and understandably) they will give her to them. I know it's in God's hands and that He will bless us with the "perfect for us" dog - just as He did with our little Molly.

Yup, so that was our weekend! Pretty busy!

This week has been pretty busy as well and next weekend I'm heading to Kansas City to meet my Aunt for a weekend of fun! I *heart* KC!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just love Valentine's Day!! I think it's such a sweet holiday - perfect opportunity to celebrate love and life!

I feel so blessed to have had such a fantastic Valentine’s celebrations – my husband really went above and beyond this year – everything was just really amazing and very romantic! I have loved every minute of this weekend.

Friday evening Kevin and I headed out to our favorite little vineyard for our official Valentine’s Date – how cute is this place?!?

Just so adorable!! If you are ever in the area I highly recommend SVE Vineyards

And….it doesn’t hurt that their daughter is in culinary school – she and a few of her friends made this delicious 4 course meal……

Menu

Lobster Bisque

Main Course

Dessert

On Saturday, we took a quick trip to our house and hung out for a bit

And, of course, we brought our little Molly!!

It's so neat to see it being built - it's really starting to take shape and looking more and more like the home we imagined!! Pretty exciting stuff for us!!

Then we made an even quicker trip to Nebraska Furniture Mart (btw, fabulous place to get furniture) we met up with some of our friends for dinner….they, their 3 kiddos & 2 dogs are preparing for their upcoming move to the Netherlands!! Isn’t that so exciting!!! We can’t wait to visit!! ….What’s that you ask??? Where did we go? ….Um, would you believe me if I said Kona?!?!!! I know!! So….right about now, anyone who isn’t from Omaha is probably thinking that Kona Grill must be the ONLY place to eat in Omaha…since it seems to be the ONLY place I EVER eat!! I can absolutely see why one would assume such. BUT….BUT I PROMISE we have SOOOOO many (many, many, many) other a-mazing restaurants – I promise! Back to my personal Kona ordeal…..I do love Kona but, this is getting mildly embarrassing. And sadly, I didn’t take any pictures…we were wrapped up in “OMG!!! You are moving to the Netherlands ”talk though. ;)

And today….*sigh* has been so relaxing. We started off our day with a delicious French toast & mimosa breakfast – yum! Then I was off for a manicure – woo hoo! It was kinda nice to have some pampering. ;) We did a little more furniture shopping – I think we pretty much have our bedroom stuff picked out!! Yay for small victories!! Ha!! Now, if we can just figure out living room stuff!! Have any ideas??? Send ‘em our way!! Ha!! No, but seriously....

….And we ended everything with a pasta and crab dinner!!!

Lately, Kevin and I have been doing a lot of reflecting on God’s love and how we can best represent that love – not only to each other but, to everyone…..So, I thought I’d share 2 of my favorite verses on Love….

A NEW COMMAND I GIVE YOU: LOVE ONE ANOTHER. AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, SO YOU MUST LOVE ONE ANOTHER. PY THIS ALL MEN WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTEHR.

JOHN 13:34-35

THREE THINGS WILL LAST FOREVER: FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE - AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:13