Sex and Vino

ooh, risque title there, eh? Saw the new Sex and the City movie last night. Loved the series, loved the movie.

Last weekend we had date night and went to Vino in the Valley with friends, which was awesome. The location is perfect and it's a beautiful drive down there. There was a bit of a wait for a table so we sipped wine (and beer) while listening to some folk singers. We had a fabulous meal, a little rain, and then a power outage, so we finished our dessert in the dark by candle light (is that planned romance?). I would highly recommend this place for a nice casual dinner night with friends.

Lucy was sick earlier this week. She woke up with a little fever on Sunday and we assumed it was a part of the never-ending teething symptoms, but Monday morning she got sick all over mom so I made an appointment for her. Just a virus that needed to pass and she's feeling better but I can tell the teeth are still really bothering her (they haven't erupted yet, come on with it!) but she loooooves to chew on ice chips for relief.

For my birthday last week I got the fabulous Cricut machine I've been ogling for some time now, courtesy of Troy and Lucy, and a little digital camera from my parents (as a couple, Troy and I have a big Canon camera, zoom lens, the works). I had wanted a small camera I could put in my purse to take shots of Lucy or whatever when we're out and about. The pictures above are from that camera. Troy and Lucy were lounging in the craft room while I was sewing last weekend.

I also decided that in addition to blogging about Lucy I would start taking pictures and posting the crafts I work on. I am hooked on a couple other blogs of people I don't know, but simply because I love their crafting styles they blog about. So stay tuned for photos on those! The current project is beanbag chairs....will I figure out the zipper?

We're back!

Nearly 9 days up at the cabin without a computer or email or work to check on - heaven! We arrived early Saturday afternoon with Paul, Vicky and Eric following behind us to a gorgeous sunny day up at Big Pine Lake. Already up at the cabin were my parents, sister and niece, and my aunt Kathy and uncle Keith, who own the cabin with my parents (the cabin next door is owned by my grandparents and that is where everyone else stayed).

We started the vacation out with some ladder golf and for dinner Kathy made mojitos from scratch (they go down too easy!) and her "mexican goulash" which was fantastic.

On Sunday, and every morning, the guys went out fishing. We took Lucy on her first boat ride. She didn't much care for the life jacket so it was a quick ride. Then the guys went out again and this time slaughtered the crappies. No pictures of them here, they're on someone else's camera, but they estimated they caught about 600 fish this week, throwing 2/3 away. We had fried fish for 3 dinners, mmm!

Sunday afternoon the rest of our party arrived - Vicky's brother Duff's family (wife Pam and their 2 boys Zach, and Alex). Our week was a series of fishing, eating, fishing, games, eating, sleeping, and so on. I did not get a fishing license this year but went out to relax one evening for a little bit. Instead I was working on some cross-stitching projects (Santas). My sister had rented the first series of the X-Files and it's surprisingly addicting.

The weather was mostly sunny but never really warm enough to just lounge around on the deck all day. On Wednesday my grandma and Arnie came for the afternoon and we had a meal of fried fish and learned the game "Farkel" while it rained and poured all day. Thursday cleared up to a beautiful day of shopping in Nisswa (Lisa, Val, Pam and Vicky) while the guys stayed back with the kids and played games. I think it was Thursday or Friday night we got a horrible storm come through a little after bed time where the wind was so bad and thunder so loud it shook the cabin. It was also a day of no fishing because the wind was so terrible.

On Saturday we bid goodbye to Duff's family. Zach was playing in his last basketball tournament in the cities they had to get to. We had our third and final fish fry of the week and everyone went to bed early. Today (Sunday) Mark, Troy and Paul took the boat over to Mille Lacs in the early morning for a few hours but were unsuccessful. We cleaned the cabins and headed home and are tackling the laundry pile!

Here are a few miscellaneous photos from the week:

Paul relaxing on the dock:Lucy grabbed Troy's hat and wore it around:

Alex and Lucy reading:Nana Vicky and Lucy reading:Troy and the crappie he's going to have mounted (insert my excitement here):

Lucy goin' fishin':

Just chillin' in her chair:Hanging out with Zach:Abby takes a nap:My first and only nap of the week:Lucy and Uncle Eric:
Mama and Lucy in the hammock:

Vacation

Wow, it's been a while since I posted AND I have no new pictures to share! Last Friday Lucy had her first haircut at Kids Hair in Woodbury. I didn't have my camera with but they took a Polaroid of her so we do have a souvenier, unfortunately I can't post the polaroid here! But it was so cute and she was a trooper. They kept her busy with a sucker and Dora on the TV and the stylist was great at cutting a moving target :)

We've been busy getting things packed and ready for our week up at the cabin. We are also having an Open House this Saturday so we have to leave the house in clean shape for that (but it will be nice to come back from vacation to a clean house!) I'm curious if anyone will come to the open house too.

Last week's stresses over car damage have been replaced with work stresses. My small team who supports and develops a tool that the entire company uses and relies on, still has no post-merger management to report or watch over us (an advocate at least), as well as half of us have been taken for THEE top priority project of the summer, leaving the other half of us to keep an ever-increasing customer base happy and the tool from breaking. Not good. But a girlfriend reminded me to just give all my stresses to Jesus, so when I want to complain I complain to Him, and for some reason it just puts me in a better mood!

I took a half day of vacation today to get things started early and I have to promise myself not to check email! There are father's day and birthday cards to be purchased, texas caviar and chex mix to be made, and a house to be cleaned.

My work conference trip to Vegas, which was June 16-20th, has been cancelled. Two of us were going and we have been pulled back for work and sending another in our place. I'm bummed to miss the shows we were going to see, and the luxury hotel we were staying at. But otherwise I'm ok with it. I would've missed Lucy too much (see December 2007 Boston trip!). I do have some fun things planned when I return, including a girls night at the Marx Wine Cafe in Stillwater, and seeing the Sex and the City movie!

Have a great week everyone, we'll have pictures to post when I return!

when it rains...

I couldn't sleep last night, all bothered and worried about anything and everything. We realized last night that while we thought nothing had been stolen out of our car, they had taken Troy's laptop. He didn't think about it until getting things ready for work last night. So that falls under homeowner's insurance but with our deductible we can't claim that either. So the broken window and laptop will all come out of our pocket. Why does this crap happen?

Speaking of 'crap'... the seal around our toilet is leaking so we need to pull that out and replace the new tiles we laid on Sunday.

What next?

I'm trying hard to remember what didn't happen over the weekend. We weren't hit with any storm damage. Our family is all safe and alive. Is this stupid stuff like broken windows and toilets what God helps us through? I mean, I'd rather use him for the really tough stuff, but I still hear me asking Him "Why?"

Despite all of that the weekend was nice. We attended a lovely wedding reception Friday night. Got flowers planted and porches painted on Saturday. Lucy has been sleeping through the night with no middle-of-the-night waking up and crying for about a week now. Got the bathroom nearly finished on Sunday. Yesterday we were invited to grill out over at friends for lunch. Got a nice nap in and had a great lasagna dinner over at Chef Paul's. The start of my 2-week work break is in 10 days (a week up at the cabin and then a week in Vegas for an HP convention). Amidst all of that I will be turning 34. What the heck kind of number is that?! I should still be in my 20's!

And they call it puppy love - Memorial Wknd 2008

It's only half-way thru this Memorial Weekend but a lot has happened and some cute pictures needed to be uploaded!

On a very windy Friday morning, Lucy and I made our first wagon ride down to the park. She got the wagon from grandma and grandpa Hill for her birthday and it's a pretty sweet ride!

Friday evening brought us to St. Paul to the Town & Country Club for high school girlfriend Emma's wedding reception. She married Barry Travis on the St. Thomas virgin island back in February. It was a beautiful reception. I love getting back to St. Paul and the country club overlooked the river. All the high school girlfriends and their spouses shared a big round table, drank lots of wine and laughed and danced the night away to the Rockin' Hollywoods.

Until 10 o'clock. When the band announced, "does anyone here have a new Toyota in the parking lot?" Yep! Emma's dad walked us out with the manager to see that someone/something had smashed in our rear window. Glass everywhere, nothing stolen. Nothing TO steal. So why? Because it's a new car? Because Troy's jacket was in there and you thought maybe a wallet too? Who knows, but what a hassle! Nothing we could do though so we went back in to enjoy the rest of the evening. Then a very cold ride home!

Today Troy and Vicky worked in the yard, planting all the annuals. I got the porch railings painted and kept Lucy busy. Finally around 1:30 we all crashed for a nice afternoon nap.

The rest of the weekend we'll be working on the master bathroom flooring and house cleaning. It's a gorgeous night out tonight but I'm hearing forecasts of rain, which I guess would be fine if we're going to be working indoors anyway.

Corn!

Walkin n Payin

Just a couple quick updates. We've got a walker on our hands now. There are still the times where she'll crawl to get someplace faster, but otherwise it's all about walking now. And her vocabulary is "Abby", "puppy" and when she gets in her high chair she folds her hands and tells us to "pay" (pray).

Last night I watched Abigail and Lucy was enthralled watching an older kid. They took a bath together and sang row your boat and then danced in the basement.

I think the molars are coming in although I'm unable to put a finger in her mouth. The only sign I have is diapers!