The Holidays are over......

Christmas and New Year's were celebrated with all of our family and friends.

Christmas is always a hard time for me. My sister died in a car accident on December 15, 2000. There is not a day goes by that I don't think of her but it is especially difficult through the whole month of December. I do my best to keep busy to keep a positive attitude for everyone else's sake.

Chago was able to come home for a full two weeks over the holidays. That always means that I will be busy. Chago's kids were all at the house for Christmas. Chago's parents and sister came for Christmas day dinner, which Chago and I cooked. We had a fabulous day. The food and the company was great.

My mom also was able to come back to Missouri for Christmas. If any of you don't know she lives full time in an RV and it is and was parked in Texas, where it is warm. She stayed at the house for a few days and headed to Roby. We shopped, she taught Amillya how to knit and she wrapped Christmas presents which I was not motivated enough to do. I am very thankful that she and Nolan were able to come back for Christmas.

That Saturday we traveled to Roby, MO to have lunch with my Mom's side of the family. We ate, didn't drink and played the Wii. We then traveled to Houston, MO to spend time with my dad's side of the family. We ate, drank and played the Wii until we couldn't take it anymore. It was a long day but we had a really good time at both places.

For New Year's we had a party at the house. Everyone was invited but the usuals came. We always have a great time when we get together and this was no exception. We drank, ate, laughed and played games until 4 am.

We had an outstanding time over the holidays with all of our friends and family.Chago had to return to Baltimore that weekend. It is always hard when he has to leave, for the both of us.

The Holidays are over and we are back to normal, whatever that is!

Wedding Planning

Well the wedding expos and open houses are over for the fall and I am soooo happy about that. I attended two wedding expos a reception tour and a bridal shop open house. I was confused and indecisive before but after those four events I was even more confused which made me more indecisive. There are so many different options and ways to do things.

I am of course working on a budget, well my parent's budget. I have a lot of ideas but then pricing those ideas sometimes doesn't turn out the way I had hoped.

I have chosen a dress and it has been ordered. I would post a picture of it but just in the very slim chance that Chago may read my blog I am not going to. He has been pretty clear that he doesn't want to know anything about it. If you would like to see it let me know and I can show you where to find it online.

I have also picked a venue for the ceremony and reception. Chago did help with this decision. I narrowed the options to two. We visited both places and he made the final decision. It will be at the Tower Club in Springfield MO. There are some layout issues that my mom and I are working out but I think it is going to be awesome.

I think that we are going to have cupcakes instead of a cake. Chago is not a really big sweets fan so I thought we could do something different and hopefully a little cheaper. Does anyone know the meaning behind that or do we just do it because we think we have to? I don't think we are going to do it.

My dad's family loves scratch off lottery tickets. My uncle actually just won $10,000 from a $5 ticket. It is a Friday night ritual with my family. So I thought it would be fun to buy scratch off lottery tickets for my favors with a little card or something with a cheesy saying about lucky in lover or ???

Right now I am trying to get my two bridesmaids to look at some dresses. They are both very different and I would like to give them some freedom in choosing their dress. I would like for it to be something that they could potentially wear again. I don't know how well that is going to work out but I hope that they will pick something soon. It is one more thing checked off my list.

There are a few other details that I have in mind but we still have a ton to do. I did corner my mom into helping me with a spreadsheet to help us know what we have to do when and how much it will cost. It took a few hours to compile the spreadsheet but I think it is going to be well worth our time. It is all so organized! Have I mentioned how much I like lists??

I am looking forward to some more planning but hopefully Chago will be able to help me a little more after December when he returns to Springfield. I just hope he doesn't turn into a Groomzilla!! He has it in him.

Another update coming soon!!

Catching Up

I know it has been a while since my last post. This one is coming to you by request of my dearly missed friend Carrie so she can properly stalk me from Michigan.

Since my last post there have been a lot of late nights at Relay For Life meetings and 5 Relay events. I have been working on logistics for a brand new event to Springfield, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. I also volunteered to help with Corporate Sponsorship for our Bike to Battle Cancer event. I am also the staff lead for the training workgroup for Relay Regional Council which means I, along with volunteers, will be planning our big volunteer trainings. Work is going along great. I am excited that we have brought 3 new staff on board and they fit in well.

What little personal time I have it has been slowly planning the wedding. I HAVE managed to find my dress, which wasn't as fun as I had imagined. I do very much love the dress but the process was stressful. Chago has come home once since my last post to visit. He was home for about 12 days and it was definetely not long enough. I miss him and do not like being by myself. He is coming home to visit for the Labor Day weekend. Again will not be long enough but it is better than nothing. I have made two trips to Silver Dollar City which are always a great Ozarks time!

Chago and I, while he was home in July, had engagment pictures taken.

Kassi at Vivid Impressions did an amazing job.

These are just a few of my favorites.

I know that this post is not the most amazing. There are not any great stories, I have not done anything fantastic to share with you. This is my life right now.......

I do promise to post on a more regular basis so hopefully I will have better posts in the future.

To look forward to.......

Bridal Expo on Sunday

Bike to Battle Cancer event on Saturday

Cattle Baron's Ball on Saturday

Chago's visit Labor Day Weekend

What a Weekend!!!!

I had grand plans of miles and miles boths and booths of amazing antiques in Round Top Texas. My friend Jessica, her friend Tracy and I made plans several weeks ago to road trip to the antique show that happens twice a year. Once in the fall and again in the spring.

We made it there relatively uneventfully. We were following a GPS that took us on a route that was not the ordinary. Jessica had traveled to Texas several time and had never been the way we went. It was senic and nice. I do think it took us a little longer to get there but not according to the might GPS.

My mom has been in Texas for several months and when I decided that I was going we made plans to meet up there. I hadn't seen her or Nolan since early December. I was very excited about that.

We arrived around 2 pm Saturday afternoon. We immediately went to shop with plans to meet up with my mom when they had gotten the RV parked and ready. I really don't know how to explain what this antique show looked like. It was actually in Warrenton which was only a few miles from Round Top. On both sides of the highway there were tents, booths and piles of antiques/crafts. It was amazing. We had only planned to be there until Monday morning and there was NO way I was going to have enough time to look at everything. It was very similar to the overload I experience at the FM store.

The show shuts down at 6:30 pm. I had about 4 good hours of shopping and visiting with my mom. Jessica, Tracy and I had an ok meal at a place in town and visited a wine bar but it was way too cold to sit outside. I decided to stay with my mom......cause I missed her.

Around 8 am my mom yelled to me to get up cause we had to take Nolan to the hospital. She said he is having a stroke. We quickly got dressed and Nolan in the truck. We had a tense few minutes trying to find a hospital in a town we didn't know and I was trying to figure out my mom's iphone to find directions. We were stopped at a stop sign and I finally opened my door and asked the people stopped behind us where the hospital was. They said follow us and they took us right to the door. I am very thankful that they helped us. It is nice to know that there are still decent people out there.

The doctor confirmed that Nolan had a stroke and that it wasn't his first. They did a scan at that hospital and decided that he needed an MRI. He had to be transfered to Temple Texas for that. My mom and I were trying to figure out if I needed to stay with her or to go on with Jessica. My mom decided that what would help her best would be if I could take Oscar and Lucy (her dogs) back to Missouri with me because the hospital where Nolan was is 100 miles one way and she couldn't drive back and forth to check on them. So.......I am at home now with three dogs and Nolan has been released with no signs of a stroke. I am very thankful that Nolan is feeling better.

What a Weekend!!!!

The Love of the Game

Last week I was asked if I wanted to play in a co-ed softball league. I quickly said yes.

My dad has played softball all of my 30 years. As soon as it was warm enough not to damage a bat we were traveling somewhere and everywhere for a tournament. My sister and I were the kids playing under the bleachers trying to avoid the inevitable sunburn. My sister and I also instinctively picked up our dad's love of the game. Until we were old enough to figure it out we were the ball fetchers at batting practice. We played in summer leagues until we were too old.

That begins to explain why I so quickly said yes to the invitation to play in the league. Once I said yes I realized that I didn't have a glove. The last good glove I had I had loaned to my sister and I never saw it again. Last Friday I had some time off from work and my dad had asked me to come to Waynesville for the day. I was glad to get to see him so I said I would make my way down there. I had told him that I had been asked to play in a co-ed league and about my glove dilema. There is one sporting goods store in Waynesville so I asked my dad if he would go with me to help me pick out a decent glove. He gladly said he would.

At the sporting goods store we went straight for the gloves. He went to one end and I went to the other. He was trying some on and found one that he liked. We looked over a few more and decided to get the one he found. I also wanted to get some oil to help me break in my glove. We had a choice of a can of something that you heat up in the oven and a spray bottle of Mink oil. After some jokes about possibly blowing up the house with the heat up can we decided on the spray Mink oil. While walking to the cashier my dad hands me some money to pay for the glove and oil. I didn't expect that but it made the glove that much more special.

We went back to my dad's house to work on our gloves. We sat in the living room watching some judge show working on our gloves. He also let me use his older bat which was great because I didn't have one yet and definetely couldn't afford to buy a good bat. They can get really pricey.

I think my dad was as excited as I was about me playing in the league. I had a great day with my dad that took me back to my childhood when we really lived softball. I loved it!

Thanks Dad!

Book Club

I don't remember in High School reading a book because I wanted to. In college I read because I had to, it was required for a class. While I was working in Iraq I read because I wanted to. I had the free time and I wanted to learn more about the culture and the people that surrounded me. So when I returned to the states I considered me to be a reader.....compared to what I was in High School. I think that I was mistaken.

Some of the girls at work, some of their friends and I have decided to try a book club. Four of us met initially to discuss what book we would start with. Of course we met somewhere that we could have a drink and some food. We don't do many things with out one or both of those. The four of us decided upon Kabul Beauty School. It is similar to the types of books I had been reading so I was excited about it. I actually read the whole thing and I liked it.

From there we found out that the library had duplicate copies of the same book for book clubs.....who knew! We were really excited that we might not have to purchase every book that we chose. We chose a book that I honestly can't remember the name of.....I think it is Light in August?????? That should give you some indication of how much I like this book. It is difficult to read. We were supposed to have read half of the book by tonight. That didn't happen.

Although I read the entire first book, during the discussion I did not feel as if I had anything intelligent to add to the conversation. I felt the same tonight but it might have been true because I didn't read as much as I should have.

I do hope that I feel more comfortable and confident during our future discussins but if not I know that I am going to have a fabulous drink or two and amazing food with great friends. Stay tuned for more updates on the book club!

By the way Carrie, I missed you tonight!

The loss of a friend

This morning at 8:15 a very good family friend passed away. Ken Irwin has been in my life for a long time. The earliest and strongest memory I have of Ken is riding in his van to Flippin AR to watch my dad and Kevin(Ken's brother) play softball. There were too many people in the van. I remember Teresa(his sister in law) sitting on a cooler between the captains chairs. I don't really remember specific details of the ride I just know it is a happy memory. I have many more memories of Ken all of his happy go lucky and caring personality. He tried to help so many kids in the area. His house was one that you could go to if you needed a place to stay or just get a way for a little while. Some of those kids took advantage of him but there are countless kids that he helped.

I am sad for his family. We lost a friend, Kevin and his siblings lost a brother, his parents lost their son and his children lost their father.

My thoughts are with his entire family. We will miss you Ken!