To Paris we go

After the dreadful drive we finally made it to Salina Christmas Eve and waiting for us was dinner with Mike, Mom, Amy, and the kids. Bryan and I stayed up until midnight and then I crashed, that drive was a killer and wore me out!  Now it's Christmas morning, Bryan is still sleep, so much for him saying he was going to not sleep much today so that he could sleep on the plane....but, it's Bryan and he can fall asleep in a plane, train, car, humvee or bus in about 1 minute flat so he will have no problem at all. 

We are set to arrive in Paris at 9:30a.m. which is 2:00ish a.m. our time so we are going to have to pull an all day-er tomorrow!  I'll try to keep up but I do like my sleep.  Alex (Mike's son) booked our hotel for us and we are staying at the Hotel Perreyve  right next to the Luxembourg Gardens and I'm sure we have a day full of sightseeing when we get there....I am going to try to resist the pastries!  We will see how that goes though :)

Well we are off to Paris, see you all back in a week! I'm sure we will have plenty of news and pictures to share!

Soon to be a Horned Frog!

Ashley found out today that she was accepted into Texas Christian University's (TCU) Nurse of Anesthesia Program!  Soon she will be putting people to sleep for a living!

Congratulation Ashley!

The countdown has Begun!

In just 9 days Bryan and I will be heading to Wichita, KS to get on a plane and start our Christmas trip to PARIS! That's right, Paris! Mike asked us at Thanksgiving if we would be interested in going to Paris for Christmas but as a workaholic  (I know I laughed at that statement too) I said "No, I don't think I will be able to get off work with this short of a notice" .  I  quickly retracted my initial answer and said "Yes"....I mean what was I thinking saying No to begin with????

Our plane leaves Wichita Christmas Day around 2:00pm and we arrive in Paris in the morning hours. We have a long list of places we would like to visit, but with the time constraints and spending time with Alex (step-brother who lives in Paris) and his family we probably won't get to all the places, but we will hopefully get to see our top choices. We tried to think of places to visit other than museums and architecture type attractions, which lead us to The Catacombs and Jim Morrison’s Grave. Those two options are really absurd sounding for places to visit, but it should be interesting. Of course the other places on our list are: Notre Dame, The Louvre, Pompidou, Eifel tower, Versailles, La Conciergerie, and Moulin Rouge to name a few.

We are also going to be celebrating the New Year in Paris, which will definitely top our list of New Year celebrations!

Happy Holidays! 

Joyeuses fêtes!

December Snowfall

It's December 8th and we finally have snowfall and I still have a rose blooming on my rosebush! Bryan and I both love the snow and so does  Zoey.  Sammy on the other hand hates snow, cold, rain, wind...he pretty much hates any kind of weather other than warm and sunny.

Just call me the 'Blue Eyed Baker'

Since it is the season of baking, I attempted to bake Bryan's grandma Katie's chocolate chip cookies.  I am not a baker and because I don't like to make things with exact measurements I stay away from baking and leave that for Ashley to do.  But, I decided to give the cookies a try since I was craving them and Ashley was at work! To my surprise they were some chewy chocolaty goodness....not as good as Bryan's moms, but maybe with some practice I'll get there.  

We are in the middle of decorating for Christmas so the furniture arrangement is not ideal, especially with the dogs who think that if we leave the room they can walk onto the counter to get whatever food is near!  Sammy is just waiting for the right moment to snag a cookie...

Temptation got the better of him!

Because I was in the baking mood I decided to make some cookies for our babies... (Sammy, Zoey, Bailey, and Ayla).  I found a recipe on the Brown Eyed Bakers website and decided to give it a try.  The recipe was really easy, but it instructed the baker to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness....Like I said above I am not a baker and I have never owned a rolling pin!  I know that seems crazy since I cook all the time, but like I said I never bake.  I improvised by rolling the dough into little balls and flattening them out to the correct thickness.  Needless to say the dogs loved them!

Christmas Decorating!

It's finally time to start decorating for Christmas....our favorite time of the year!  Over the past couple of days we have unpacked some of the Santas, we have boxes full of them! We have unpacked maybe 15 Santas with at least 40 more to go, I don't know where we are going to put them all!  We have  decked out the tree, decorated the mantle, decorated the 'nook', and started decorating the kitchen.  Below are pictures of our christmas decorating work in progress.

Once we are finally done, I'll take some better photos with my camera instead of my phone! :)

From Christmas Past (2008):

 Christmas Plans!

Bryan and I might spend Christmas in Paris this year....I have the time off, now time for the planning!

Thanksgiving

Over the last week we had 3 Thanksgivings.  The week before Thanksgiving we had a Pre-Thanksgiving celebration with: Lance, Stacey, Emily, Josh, Randy, Alex, Bryan and me!  It was work!  I attempted for the first time to smoke a turkey (8 hours on the smoker), it was pretty good and so was all the rest of our fixins!  I was exhausted needless to say the next day and slept while Bryan watched the football games.
This week Bryan and I went to Salina Wednesday night and were up early Thursday morning to head to Russell to have Thanksgiving with Dads' family....then back to Salina at 5:00 to celebrate with Mom.

KU v Mizzu

Saturday we headed to Arrowhead Stadium at 10:00am and tailgated until the game started at 2:30pm!  Unfortunately the Jayhawks lost, but we had a good time tailgating with some Jack Stack BBQ and lots of liquor!

After all that excitement we all passed out by 9:30, except Bryan he was still going strong!

Time for a Masters!

I found out today that I was accepted into the Masters of Science in Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution program  at Baker University!  I am a little nervous since I haven't been in school for almost 4 1/2 years, but it's only an 18 month program so it shouldn't be too bad :)

KSU v KU 2009

  It was an early morning, Brent, Stacy, Bryan, and I headed to the field around 8:00 am , played a couple games of Polish horse shoes (Brent and I were of course the champions) we drank  some Mimosas and beers, and then were off to see the Wildcats beat the Jayhawks.  I had a little incident with the port-a-potty since I was in such a hurry to get the hell out of it the door hit my arm on the way out of it and gave me a nice welt...The game ended well for KSU 17-10.  Hopefully they are able to win 1 more and then we are off to Arlington, TX home of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium!

Ashley was able to get Alex to wear KU apparel

The port-a-potty injury (I don't know how I manage to do the things I do to myself!)

You betta Belize it!

I am some what behind on posting about our vacation to Belize, in May...better late than never! Ashley, Bryan, Mike, Mom, and I took a scuba trip to Belize.  Ashley, Bryan, and I departed Kansas City early Saturday morning and arrived in Belize in the afternoon,  unfortunately our luggage did not!  After a minor freak out we made it to our hotel and walked the beach, in our jeans, which was not very fun!  After a couple of hours of drinking and eating our luggage finally arrived.  This was Bryan's first scuba trip and he was ready to dive.  Unfortunately he ran out of air too quick and had to come back up and missed out on seeing the sharks!  And, then of course he thought we were lying about seeing them, good thing we had our underwater cameras so we could show him proof...Besides seeing sharks, I was stalked by a grouper and attacked by a jellyfish!  The jellyfish stings were awful and they have left scars (see the photo below, click on it to see the full effect of the jellyfish)!

Wildcats

I have been a very fair weathered fan the past couple of years, mainly because I am LAZY and came up with every excuse that I could so I didn't have to drive all the way to Manhattan...I know it is less than a two hour drive, but it is so boring!  But, since Bill is back I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and of course I couldn't pass up a chance to see K-State whoop KU!  So on Friday Bryan and I are driving to Manhattan and staying with my cousins and then going to tailgate with them at 8:00am!  Mimosa & Bloody Mary Time! 


And, when K-State wins the Big 12 North we are planning on taking a road trip to Arlington, TX, hometown of the Dallas Cowboys stadium.  

GO CATS!

More photoshopping

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Still Practicing...

Kitchen Redo So far

So far I have painted over the shiny oak cabinets, replaced the gold hardware with aged bronze and replaced the white appliances with stainless steel.  Next on the list replace backsplash and countertops....

After:

Before:

Elton John & Billy Joel

Elton John & Billy Joel are coming to town for their Face 2 Face tour! I went to Elton John's show when we were in Las Vegas and it was great.  So, when I heard that he was coming to town I made sure to get online and get tickets before they sold out.  Unfortunately, at the beginning I couldn't get all the tickets together so I bought tickets in pairs and got enough.  But, then after awhile groupings became available so I got those as well.  Needless to say I have some extras, but I'm sure they won't be hard to get rid of. The first pair I was able to get and the only ones I thought I would be able to get were 2 FLOOR level @ $177 a ticket(but now I have been refunded on these tickets since the show was rescheduled)! Then,  I was finally  able to get 2 @ $52 and the others at $97.  I haven't decided which I will sell yet and Emily and Josh haven't decided it they want to go yet either.  But, as of now these are the ones that are going:  Ashley, Alex, Laura, Luke, Mom, Bryan, and me.  Dad might go if he can have the 4 tickets that are together and only the 4. 

And the tickets are:

Section 103, Row 21 Seats 1-4 - Dad, June, Mahoney's

Section 232, Row 2 Seats 9-13 - Bryan, Emily, Josh, Me, ?

Section 231, Row 7 Seats 13-14 - Laura and Luke

Section 228, Row 6 Seats  7-9 - Ashley, Alex, ?

If anyone is interested in some tickets let me know!

H1N1

Well it's official someone I know has H1N1.  Alex was diagnosed today so he is staying far far away from our house.  Yuck!

Photoshopping

During my mono week off I worked on my photoshop skills.  I have had the program for about a year now and had yet to really work with it.  So, here is a picture of Zoey before and after. At least photoshop can make my grass look good!  Next spring I plan a tackling our lawn issues, but for now photoshop will suffice.

Before:

After:

Bryan Before:

Bryan After:

                                                                                  Before:                                    

     After:

Baby steps, eventually I will become a pro! :)  But, I think I will have to buy a mouse for my Apple Laptop because trying to edit without one is rather difficult.