Adam's Home

Adam was gone on a business trip for 1 whole week.  And I was bored out of my mind.  My favorite part about him being gone is catching up with movies, he would never watch in a million years.  And so, for the 6 people who read my blog.  Here are my reviews:

Something Borrowed

Staring Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin, John Krasinski, and Colin Egglesfield (who played Erica Kane's super handsome son in All My Children).  Basically Ginnifer *weird spelling right?* and Colin are good friends in college, they like each other but don't come out and say it, Colin ends up with Ginnifer's best friend, played by Kate Hudson and they are set to be married.  Ginnifer and Colin basically end up making out in a cab, and then Colin has this small dilemma thru the rest of the movie.  Kate or Ginnifer?  John is just thrown in there to be the conscious of Ginnifer.  And there you have it... a movie Adam would never watch.  

Then She Found Me

Staring Helen Hunt, Colin Firth, Bette Midler, and Matthew Broderick.  It's about Helen Hunt finding out that Bette Midler is her biological famous mother.  She is also in some sort of desperate need to have a baby.  She's married to Matthew Broderick.  Upon finding out that Matthew is leaving her, she also finds out that she's finally pregnant with his baby too.  Helen Hunt moves fast and is already with Colin Firth by this time. I dunno, 2 months I guess.  And the 3 of them start attending all doctors appointments and such.  It's full of emotion and funniness all at once.  

*on a side note... I explained this movie to Bea at work, she is 23.  I tell her that Bette Midler is in it... she reply's, WHO'S THAT?  I am just dumbfounded.  I go on to say... Beaches, Wind Beneath My Wings, From A Distance, Hocus Pocus, First Wives Club.... Nothing, she looked at me with a blank stare.  And at that moment, I felt really OLD.

Remember Me

Starring Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Raven.  It's about this kid who is just misunderstood and feeling low and sad, and he meets this girl who you know, really UNDERSTANDS him.  And they hang.  And it all circulates around 9/11.  In the end, he feels better and they are really in love and then of course the 9/11 tragedy ruins it all.  Tear jerker.  I loved it.  Although, I can not look at Robert Pattinson as anyone other than Edward Cullen.  Another impressive fact.  Robert is English, and Emilie is Australian, and they both spoke in American tongue you might say.  I am always amazed by those kinds of things.  

Conviction

I watched about 30 minutes and got bored.  Probably cause I needed someone to explain a few things to me.

One Day

Starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.  It's your basic tragic love story, friends for 20 years, and have been through all these horrible relationships with others, when what they don't realize is that the best one is their own.  They get together after 20 years and whattya know... tragedy.  Without giving it away, let's just say I was angry about this one.  I mean I watch a whole hour and a half movie and they pull the whole NO HAPPY ENDING.  Come on.  Still loved it though.

Soul Surfer

Starring Anna Sophia Robb and Dennis Quaid.  This is the true story of surfer about to turn pro Bethany Hamilton who in an instance gets her arm bitten off by a shark while paddling on her boat in Hawaii.  She never gives up and keeps on riding the waves, and it shows her ambition and drive.  I really loved everything about this movie.  By far my favorite!   

And there you have it 6 people who read my blog.

Watch any of them, you are sure to like them.

Except Conviction.  If you watch that one, tell me what happens.

Morgen's Visit

 Morgen came to visit Chicago as her last stop in her travels to the 

"Lower 48."  I worked the entire week, but was able to spend some time with her.  We traveled up 103 floors to the Sky Deck on the Sears Tower, ehem, Willis Tower, and enjoyed spectacular views.  I haven't been up there since they built the clear ledges.  I made a B line to it.  It was so interesting looking straight down.  Some people were jumping in the glass rooms, that however, I did not do. 

 

 As you can tell it was a beautiful clear day.  January and 50 degrees.  Not too shabby.

 Two days later it was 7 degrees... and we went to the Chicago Wolves Game.  Adam was very excited to meet Skates.

 While Morgen was very excited to eat cotton candy!  

 The weekend was a fun one spent in Madison with old family friends Judy, Stan, and their daughter Kate.  Ann and Mike couldn't be there!  : ( 

We made a stop at Adam and Morgen's old home, their first home, the home their parents brought them too for the first time ever.  It was really neat hearing Morgen and Adam reminisce.  I have lived in the same place my whole life really, so I can not really relate.  If I want to hang in my old bedroom.  I still can.

 Here we are at University of Madison, standing in front of the ice cold lake.

Kate took the picture.

After an afternoon of shopping, eating brats, and doing Wisconsin things, we sat down to a wonderful feast of fried chicken, mashed potatos, green beans, salad, and a chocolate chip cheesecake, made by the hands of Judy.  It was such a nice day, and we can't wait to visit again!!!

We wish Morgen would move back to the lower 48.  It's always hard to say good bye to her as we never know when we will see her.  It's a long trip from Alaska.  But we were glad to have spent a week with her.  She's easy to please... Gene and Judes, Hockey, Portillos, Five Guys, Bowling, Chipolte, Grand Lux Cafe, BW3, Beer, the Zoo, and Coffee.  Gotta love her.

A Baby Is Born

 Our family was blessed AgAIn with a new life.

Alexander Daniel was born December 29th, 2010

to Rachael and Ryan.

He made his arrival 4 weeks early.  After many sleepless nights in the NICU at UIC, Rachael and Ryan were able to bring him home.  So, he was able to attend his own baby shower the first weekend of January.

 My gift to Baby A was his Baby Tree.  I transformed our Christmas tree into a tree of BLUE.

It turned out totally cute, and all the guests were impressed.  Including Alex's mommy.

I even made the tree skirt!  Crafty, I know.

All the guests placed their gifts for Alex under the tree.

Alex's first picture on Great Auntie Erica's camera!

Cupcakes from GPM

No party would be complete without Mr. BIG sitting in the dog's bed.

"This is so great.  I thought I would be worried at my baby shower, because you get all this stuff and then you have to  have the baby... but guess what, I already had the baby!"

Mother and Son

Congratulations Rachael and Ryan!!!!

Resolutions 2012

1.  I want to exercise more.  I don't do it nearly enough.  My measurable goal is to take every single class that LA Fitness has to offer.  I have been shying away from particular classes.  Shy away no more.  By the end of this year I will take every single one.
2.  Not only do I want to continue my volunteering with the American Cancer Society, I also want to start volunteering with my church.  This will force me to meet a few more people at church, which lets face it, what church should be about.  It shouldn't be about sitting in the back, and getting in and getting out as fast as possible.
3.  I want to send a birthday card to all my friends, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, young and old.  This may not be a big deal to them, but to me it just is.  Last year, I was so lax, forgetting some birthdays and remembering others.  This year I'd like to be on time for all of them.  After all, who doesn't love getting a little snail mail.  I am sorry to those of you who's birthday falls before this date.  You will get a surprise card later in the year.
4. I want to go to a new city, state, or country.  I don't know which yet.
5. I want to shop less and get rid of more.  I want to stop buying things just because they are on sale and more because I will use them to the fullest.  While I know it would be impossible for me to stop shopping the clearance racks all together, I want to be more aware of the fact that I might not necessarily need things because they are on sale.  There is never anything I just NEED to have.  And I NEED to remember that.

Resolutions in Review

Well it's that time again to make new years resolutions... well, actually I am 6 days late:

However, I can't make new ones without looking at the old ones and seeing how those turned out.

So I dug thru the blog files and found my post from January 2, 2011.  

Drum roll please:

#1.  I am going to start jump roping. I rarely exercise, I hate it. It just annoys me. I get bored. I get hot. My head hurts. It doesn't make me feel better. So I have bought myself a jump rope and will try to get my heart pumping somewhat. I do not know why I think this is a good idea, but it's worth a try.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: 

Umm, I used that jump rope about 4 times.  Jump roping while fun was not successful.  I wasn't able to jump rope in the basement as the ceiling was too low, and jumping in the garage was just too darn cold.  When it comes to exercising I will find an excuse to not do it.  However, towards the end of summer hubs went to LA Fitness looking to get himself a gym membership, and in his craziness, decided to sign me up as well.   I have taken yoga, mat pilates, latin heat, and zumba.   When there is a class involved I am in, but when I have to do it by myself, I find myself cheating like you would not believe.

#2. I want to read more. There used to be a time where I could have 3 books going at once, pick them up, and know exactly where I was when I stopped reading the day before. Now I find myself re-reading pages and falling asleep finding the book on my chest hours later. To try and fix this issue we are buying more lighting. I blame the no reading thing on poor lighting in our home so we will see what we can do to get this resolution going.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:

Although I didn't read a much as I would like too, I did okay, averaging about 1 book a month I would say.  We haven't added any extra lighting as of yet.  But we are working on it.  Kind of.

#3. I want to be more up to date on current events in this country and world. I know nothing about nothing. And I want to know something. I have made my home page CNN and have been trying to force myself to glance at it for 2-3 minutes to see if anything strikes my fancy, before heading to Facebook.com. I have also subscribed to TIME magazine. So far 0 of 3 issues have been read, to be honest, but they all came before 2011. Just saying.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:

Didn't happen!  It is just so sad.  This world is a very depressing place.  I much rather read about good things, and news is never good.  I do have CNN as my home page still, but TIME magazine has been cancelled.

4. I want to start volunteering for something. After careful consideration, I have chosen what I will do. I will join a literacy team. I will teach an adult to read. Not the same reading I would do in Resolutions 2 and 3, much simpler, I am sure. Much more gratifying.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:

I joined the Literacy Team and went through the entire training.  I was excited, I was pumped.  I was placed with Juanita, an English as a Second Language student.  Her and I hit it off, I met her every Wednesday at 1pm for an hour for about 3 months.  As the months went on, we decided to end our sessions due to the fact that she never had time to do the homework I gave her or to practice.  When we met she would be on her phone more than she would be talking with me.  Not the point, so that ended.

I also started volunteering with the American Cancer Society.  I have done a few events with them, and have met some pretty fun people.  My favorite is Beth, who lets me know of events that I might want to be apart of.  

5. I would like to start sampling some different churches in our area. It's hard to find a new church, one you fit in, and one that fits you. I would like to try.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:

I sampled one.  And I love it.  Westridge Community Church won me over with my first visit.  I started going in the beginning of the summer, and by the end of summer I convinced Adam to come with me.  He was hesitant, but he did it.  And I couldn't be happier.  He comes with me on his own will, it's not something I have to force him to do, and for that I am thankful.

And there you have it my Resolutions in Review.

Happy New Year 2012!!!

New Years Day we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family.  It was nice to have everyone over at our house.  I always love having a full house.  And Adam and I are getting better on hosting, I think.

 Our nephews, and soon to be niece one day.

 Here's my trooper of a niece Rachael.  She just had a baby.  More about that in another post!  

And then I had to include this totally cute picture of Adam and his great nephew Marshal.  He just couldn't keep his hands off that beer.

A Colorado Christmas

We spent Christmas in Denver, Colorado this year.  It was a ton of fun.  Adam's brother Brenden lives there with his girlfriend Lynzee and their beautiful little newborn Kaiis.  It was my first time meeting both Lynzee and Kaiis, so I was excited.  

Morgen and Linda were there for Christmas as well, so it was a full house.  

Christmas Eve we did the J tradition of appetizers.

Christmas Day we did the J tradition of fried turkey and sides.

Needless to say I over ate.  It was so delicious.

Kai and Uncle Adam

I also had the pleasure of meeting the smartest dog I know, Choco.  She was such a sweetie!

Auntie Erica & Kai

I mean come on, isn't he just darling?

 One big thing I looked forward too while in Colorado is getting to see my brother Chris.  Here is proof that he came to Christmas.  I haven't seen him since our wedding 2 1/2 years ago, so it was pretty nice having him around.  It was his first fried turkey.  He was in love.

You can't beat this view everyday.

We went to this restaurant that had the best margaritas ever.  I am no longer the biggest fan of tequila, but in these you couldn't even taste it.  You just knew it was in there!  : )

 Thank you so much to Brenden and Lynzee for putting up with all of us!

You have a wonderful home and a wonderful family and we were glad to be a part of it!