Whirlwind

It is a goal of mine to be better about updating the blog. I really enjoy being able to look back on posts and take a moment to remember things that have passed and maybe revisit a memory that I have forgotten. 

That  being said, there are many things that have happened the past few months!

1. Barry Manilow came to Cedar Rapids on April 8th! Mom and I attended his concert and it was fantastic! We were given glow sticks upon entrance. Ha.

2. April 23rd we leased a 2016 Chevy Equinox. Our Mountaineer required about $2,500-$3,000 worth of work, and we decided instead of putting that money into an older vehicle, we would prefer to trade in for something we could rely on. We did a two year lease, so if we find we are drowning my 1st year in law school, we will be able to cut it loose. Let's hope that isn't the case! 

I named her Shelly.

3.   On April 30th, Ben and I went to a Garth Brooks concert. It was AMAZING. I have loved Garth since I was a little girl and have always dreamt of seeing him live! Garth was actually my first ever cassette tape. :)  If at any time Garth is within reasonable distance to my location, I will be going again. Ben thought it was really good and was a great sport in putting up with my obnoxious self. The tickets were randomly selected for you, so we ended up in one of the back balconies. No one around was standing/dancing/singing, but that didn't stop me! While I didn't stand, I danced from my seat and sang until I was blue in the face!

Waiting for Garth to start!

4.  Graduation. Did a post here. Here is a nice post did Ben on my last day of classes:

5.  May 27-30th Ben and I traveled to Lanesboro, MN to camp, kayak, bike, and enjoy the outdoors! It was our 2nd time to Lanesboro. We stopped at Aroma Pie Shoppe in Whalan, MN and enjoyed a couple slices of pie (BJ - raspberry cream; LJ - chocolate cashew) and coffee. 

1st time out on the new kayaks!!!

6. June 10th we took the puppies to a 5k Doggy Dash that raised money for the local animal shelter. It turned out to be a fairly warm day and both dogs were ready for naps after the event!

7. We spent Father's Day down in Ft. Madison with some of Ben's family.

8. June 24-26th we traveled to Omaha for a visit with our friends Joe and Julia. We got to meet their new cutie, Leo, and enjoy some time catching up. 

9. On July 2nd we traveled to Wisconsin to the Alpine Valley amphitheater with Johnna and Danny to go to our first Dave Matthews Band concert. Alpine Valley can hold 37,000 people and the concert was SOLD OUT. It was such a fun experience!! 

Johnna, Danny, Ben & me. 

That catches us up to this weekend, for the most part. 

Ben and I decided to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary this weekend because he will be leaving for Andy's bachelor party on our actual anniversary (July 14). Yesterday we decided to take the kayaks out to Lake Macbride and to try bringing the puppies. We've been wanting to take them camping with us, but we always worry about what we would do with them if we took the kayaks out or went on a bike ride. So we hit up Petco for a couple of doggie life vests and went to the lake! We packed a lunch and had a nice picnic prior to our voyage. 

After a nice picnic lunch, we unloaded the kayaks, got the dogs fitted for their life vests, and pushed off. Grover was completely fine in the kayak. He didn't appear to be nervous, but actually seemed to enjoy it! I think that in his seven years with me he has learned that I will fiercely protect him and not let any harm come his way. 

My sweet little copilot!

Odie was not quite as fond of the kayaks. Ben struggled to get him into the cockpit initially, but finally got pushed out into the lake. It wasn't very long before Odie jumped ship and tested out his personal flotation device! He swam around for about 20 seconds before he made his was close enough to be to grab the handle of his life vest and pull him back into the kayak. He then refused to move from Ben's lap and chest for at least 45 minutes. 

Calming down a bit, but still not totally impressed, I think.

I'm so glad we decided to try the dogs in the kayaks out on the lake instead of a river the first time. I think we will take them out a few more times on the lake before attempting a river. Side note: at some point Odie peed the boat. On Ben's lap. Once Ben dried I said my usual, "Something smells like piss."  It was Ben. Bahaha. 

After getting home from our kayaking adventure, we showered and went to supper at The Bluebird Cafe in North Liberty. We enjoyed breakfast for supper and then made our way to play putt putt. Ben thought up the idea for putt putt because I have mentioned several times that there is a neat course (neat for Iowa, that is) at one of the golf courses, but we have never gone. 

We also exchanged gifts yesterday. Ben gave me an absolutely gorgeous necklace and diamond earrings! He is awesome. I gifted him the complete series of Battlestar Gallactica  (which he happened to find earlier in the week in my secret hiding place - aka the back seat of the car. Oops) and a daily journal for a couple that spans 3 years. 

Now it is Sunday and while I initially had motivation to get things one, that has flown out the window. I wanted to pulls weeds around the house, but then it started raining at 10 a.m. and has been raining on and off since then. A day of reading, coffee, and laundry it is, then. 

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted!

(If interested, click to make large enough to read.)

Anyone who has the pleasure to speak with me on a regular basis is fully aware that in less than a week I will be in Hawaii! This has been a trip 3 years in the making, so needless to say I am pretty pumped. My sister-in-law suggested that we all go to Hawaii for my in-law's 40th wedding anniversary. A big thank you to her for that AMAZING idea!  

As you can image, a trip that includes 10 adults and 2 kids has a potential for chaos and stress. All parties involved have worked really well together in the planning and we enlisted the help of a Googledoc to organize ourselves. That has been such a wonderful thing - we are all able to contribute to this spreadsheet even though we are in 3 different states.

My purpose for this post is mostly to document our trip plans thus far. We have many adventures planned that include kayaking, snorkeling, zip lining, sky diving, etc. (Some with family, some just Ben and me.) 

The countdown has commenced!

New Year. New Goals.

I hate New Year resolutions.  They tend to be something we are passionate about for a week or two, maybe even a month, and then they fall by the wayside.  I am, however, a fan of goals.  Is there a difference?  Yes, in my opinion.  A resolution often times seems to be something that we expect instant gratification from (at least that's how I see it).  A goal requires work, determination and change.

In our first house as a married coupe.
Xmas 2013

That being said, I have a few goals for the year 2014.

1.  I have truly failed at maintaining this blog since our return from Dubai.  I want to remedy that.  My goal is to eventually be back to posting at least once a week.  There is no reason this goal cannot be met considering at some point during my weekends you can find my butt parked on the couch catching up on Grey's or watching some other movie/show that is taking away precious minutes of my life that I will never get back.  (Grey's is so worth it, though.)

2.  Ben and I have both agree to do the 52 week challenge this year.  This is where you have a money pot that you add to each week of the 52 week year.  Week 1 - you add $1.  Week 2 - $2.  Week 30 - $30.  So long as we remember to put the amount in each week, this is a completely reasonable goal and an easy and great way to save money.  Hawaii 2015 here we come!

3.  True to many peoples' New Year resolutions, I have a 'lose weight' want.  But this is a goal, remember?  Not a resolution.  My goal is to become more active, fit and healthy.  Since our return from Dubai we have struggled to find the room in our finances to cover the cost of the gym.  We have decided that this is something important to our health and happiness and a gym membership is a must.  We tried a couple gyms, made a decision and went with it.  Now we need to work on making going to the gym a habit as well as something we look forward to.  I'm excited to get back into shape, feel fit and sexy, and to be able to wear alllllllll of my jeans again!  

4.  As new home owners, Ben and I have man projects we want to complete.  A few that I would like to accomplish this year are as follows:

Organize the garage

Organize our storage closets

Organize our pantry

Paint our bedroom(s)

Print, frame, and hang wedding and engagement photos

Frame and hang prints/pictures we have purchased in our travels

New couch, area rug and TV stand for the living room

I'm sure the list could go on if I sat and thought about it, but these are where I would like to start.  I was able to pick up a few frames from Michael's during their 50% off frames sale AND I had an additional 15% off coupon, so I'm well on the way to completing that goal!

$180 worth of frames for $70!!!! O YEAH!

5.  As I have discussed before, I have only completed an AA, not a BA.  I won't be able to accomplish the goal of obtaining a BA this year, but I could at least start the process.  Not only would having my bachelor's make me a more desirable hire, but it will make me feel more accomplished.

6.  Since we are living back in the States, and in Iowa for that matter, you have to be willing to seek out new adventures.  They don't just plop down at your feel like they do if you are abroad.  Therefore, it is my goal to explore our State and country more, look for new adventures in the familiar.

Those are a few of the goals that I (we) have for the year.  We have also made a few goals between us as a couple that we will be working to accomplish.  All of our goals are attainable. All of our goals will help to make us happier, healthier and more rounded.

 It should be a wonderful year!

Sweet Summertime - Part 5: Colorado

 It has become a tradition with Ben and his brothers to go to Steamboat Springs, CO each year for a soccer tournament/good time. We planned with Jon earlier in the year to go and so after MN, it was off to CO!

This was my driving buddy:

I made the 'Grrr' face on the drawing, but really I thought it was kind of hilarious.  Sometimes people ask how I refrain from reaching across and smacking him.  Honestly, I think people underestimate my level of annoyingness.  We both do things that normal people probably wouldn't be able to tolerate.  Be glad you don't live in our home.  :)

Our drive out to Colorado was long.  I forgot my knitting so by hour four I was bored.  Once we arrived, though, it was all worth it! Jon was at soccer practice, so we walked with Bri over to the fields to say hello.  None of us had eaten and it was getting to be fairly late, so we hopped on over to Chili's for a quick bite.  The next day Ben showed me his old stomping grounds and then we did a day date to Boulder.  I had never been and he knew I would love it, so we went for lunch!  It was beautiful!  We went down to the Pearl Street ped-mall and enjoyed the gorgeous day.

Holy bajeezes! Look at that handsome man! :)

Pearl Street!

Later that night we had supper with his Uncle Keith and Aunt Paula.  Since most of Ben's family lives in CO and he was in Dubai for most of the time we were dating and because we had such a small wedding, I have yet to meet much of his side of the family. It was nice to finally be able to put faces with the names.

Lovely Denver sunset.  Didn't Instagram this at all!

Andy and his gf, Tescia, arrived in Denver after us, and in the morning we were off to Steamboat.  We voted to take the long route to Steamboat so we could go through the mountains.  We were able to stop and get some pretty baller shots:

Meet Ginger Snap. (Name courtesy of Jon Jackson)

Here is Ginger Snap again.  

<3

Andy & Tescia

We are incognito.  (Because we're in tree pose.  Get it?)

This one is named Ginger Pop. (My idea)

Naturally, we had to stop and take a picture with the sign.
And Ginger Pop was like 20 yards away. . . 

The Jackson Clan
Me, Ben, Bri, Jon, Andy

A photo w/Rabbit Ears Pass in the background.

Tescia, Andy & Ginger Snap

Me, Ben, Ginger Snap

Is Ginger Snap a manly enough name?

We had a very chill weekend in Steamboat.  We attended Jon's girls' soccer games which were fun to watch. (Not only were they good and won their games, but they won the whole shebang!)  We also had relaxing mornings where we sipped coffee and read on the porch (an activity Tescia and I were especially fond of), we did a bit of hiking, we rode bikes around for a couple of hours, we grilled and enjoyed some company, we indulged in a bit of wine (or a lot bit of wine), and we ended the weekend with some delicious, authentic Mexican food.

View from the porch of the condo. AMAZING.

Hiking:

This waterfall was the inspiration of the Coors mountains.
Fun tid bit of information, for ya.

They are on the lookout for. . . bears? 

'Berry nice' 

Looky what Ben found!

Biking:

Kicking:

Awesome action photo by Tescia.

Eating:

BEAUTIFUL sunset!

Bri & Jon

Ben & me

Tescia & Andy

It was an amazing trip and I am already excited for our next trip out! I wish we lived closer so we could enjoy the company of Jon and Bri more often, as well as enjoying the outdoorsyness.  Sigh. . .