Independence Day

I was somewhat trapped in my own head this Independence Day, celebrating an internal anniversary between God and myself. But we did have a great weekend with Ryan's family in Eau Claire, celebrating together. Here are some pictures to share!

We decided to try grilling a turkey. We brined it first because we were concerned it would dry out in the grill.

Stay tuned for pictures of the end result!

Miss Ava

Ryan havin' a beer...

We had some fun with fire crackers in the driveway before dinner.

Eric's kids: Zennon (7) and Ava (5)

Dinner time!!

It was worth every minute of effort. Let me know if you want the details of technique. I don't care if I eat an oven roasted turkey ever again!

Ava wanted the turkey leg. It might be the best picture of the weekend!

After we just hung around until dark, when the Fireworks and S'mores came out!

We grilled s'mores on the patio... light off "s'more" fireworks... and watched a huge fireworks display in a neighboring yard! What a great and relaxing evening!

Uncle Ryan wanted to play too!

  

MaryBeth and Ryan toasting...

Ryan: Maxin' and relaxin'...

Zennon: Two-fisted s'mores...

Pizza Jackass

Yesterday McClain and I were headed north on Lexington to Erin's house. We were approaching University and saw a minivan stopped with it's hazards on in the southbound lane, driver's door open. Not too far behind the van was a pudgy white guy holding his pants up, running north, away from the car. We both stared out the window as the guy scurried up the street to salvage the Papa Murphy's Pizza that had apparently fallen off the top of his van when he drove away. The pizza was laying unscathed in the left lane.

This scene made me think 3 things:
1. If his pants fit, he could run a lot faster!
2. Are we on Candid Camera?
3. Remember that episode of Jackass where they put the [empty] carseat on top of the car and drive away just to watch people freak out?

Home, sweet home...

We signed on our new house today!!

Ours as of October 1, 2010

Updated address info coming soon!!

Love is Cool

Even though I'm establishing myself in my new job with the Credit Union, I still have been serving part time on the side for a little extra spending money. Last night we had a 50th birthday party for a gentleman, and they went all out. There was a fully catered dinner and dessert buffet, with an open bar, a live band that was pretty good, and a Scotch and cigar bar. They rented full linens and a tent for their back yard with hanging candle lanterns and everything. It was pretty cool.

For those of you who don't know what we do when we say "off-premise catering," we show up with a truck full of equipment and food and set up the party from start to finish, and haul all of our mess back to our HQ.

The party was set up behind their beautiful house in North Oaks... down a huge hill.We had to push our carts and our food and our liquor from the truck down the 2-story grassy hill, without tipping anything, and then push everything back up. It took 2 people on every cart going down, and it took 3 people on most carts, and 4 people on some, to get them back up the hill.

Here's Mona and Paul pushing a cart of glassware back up the hill in the dark...

So the whole day was spent sweating from 3:00 until about 12:15am when we finally clocked out. The 6 of us drank almost 2 cases of bottled water, and all we could think about was going home to a cold shower.

By the time I got home at 1:00 am, Ryan was already in bed and I was going to take my cold shower before I got into bed. When I opened the bedroom door to let him know I was home, what did he have waiting for me??

Oh, yes... timing is everything. What a perfect day for the perfect surprise!

Hello, walk-in-cooler-bedroom.

An Anniversary

This week is special to me because it is the one year anniversary of the days in which God recaptured my heart and mind and began the final preparations of them for my husband.  He gently stitched my torn and tattered heart back together, weaving in all of the love lessons I'd painfully learned up to that point. He decidely redefined words like "love" and "forever" for me as my mutated definitions had let me down time and time again.  He rebuilt me into the woman I was designed to be, instead of the shell I  had defected into. 

There was a time where I thought I would never recover from my broken heart, and I thought I was in the depths of despair. I now see how God orcestrated the situation of a broken heart to bring me down to zero so that through lifting me up He would be glorified. My heart is still scarred, but finally it is being gently held by the only man that truly deserves it.

To the damaged woman inside of me, I remind: God is good, all the time.
To my husband: I will follow you into the darkness.

Road Rage

Since posting about staying in Eau Claire during my training I've started commuting daily to and from. The days are longer, but they're not as lonely. Plus it gives me some time alone in the car to think. Here's some of the things I've found myself thinking in the last 2 weeks...

--"Next car: Cruise Control."
--"I wish I could just crash my car into other cars sometimes..."
--"Man, I never use my horn, but when I do why do I always find myself in the same situation as the person I just honked at a few minutes ago?"
--"GPS could only get better if it followed up directional statements with affirming statements. 'In point 2 miles turn left, Beautiful.' or 'In point 9 miles exit right, if that D-Bag would get out of your blind spot.'"
--"Wow, Dad was right: Pricks From Illinois..."
--"Seriously State Troopers? Is there so little crime to fight you need to set up 2 speed traps outside of Eau Claire before 9am??"
--"Did Tom Shane just say 'Synthetic man-made boobies'?? Oh! Rubies!"
--"Lady Gaga's new song sounds just like Ace of Bass."
--"It's nice to know I've still got it..."
--"I love seeing guys singing along to the radio alone in their car."
--"I wish when you gave somebody the Stink Eye they could feel it on their body like lasers."

I'm sure none of you have ever felt the same way...

Dear Man-Giant in the blue Geo Metro,

It's hard for me to take you and your angry face seriously in that tiny car, with the tiny "meep meep" horn, even when you lean out of your driver's side window to give me the Stink Eye. I guess I don't know where you thought I should have gone this morning when coming onto the highway with an on-ramp that had no merge area because of the construction. I would like to point out that the lack of merge area was well marked with giant orange barrels and signage for no less than 1/4 mile before. I realize when merging it's my responsibility to come up to speed before coming into your lane, but that just wasn't an option today, and I don't think our situation was the same as the typical "cutting off" scenario. However, thanks for letting me know how I was wrong to encroach on your driving space.

I hope you have a great day, but you should know that next time I will hit you.

Yours Truly,
Lauren