She's going to the Chapel!

That's right everyone! My baby sister is getting married! Good thing the guy is great. Congrats Jake and Erin! Tonight around 7:30 pm, after a crazy day of changing plans, Jake Reissig asked Erin to marry him. Of course, she said yes and they met a group of about 14 people at The Rusty Bucket for a congratulations dinner. I'm so happy for her and unfortunately didn't get a picture of the two of them, but here are the two that I did get. .....

Let's have a sleepover!

Saturday, Brad and I picked up JJ, our nephew, to keep over night while his parents went to a concert. We picked JJ up at about 3pm and ran a few errands. We took him to the apartment and after he ran around and checked everything out and said hello to Gaius and Neala, then we put him down for a nap. At 5 we had dinner and then cookie mania began. JJ was a wonderful helper with the rolling out of the dough. By the time we were finished he was an excellent cookie cutter. We made about 5 dozen cutout cookies. Of the 5 dozen, JJ probably decorated 8 cookies. Everyone was over and it was so nice to have a full apartment and have everyone together. JJ spent the night and we went to church Sunday morning with mom and then out to breakfast. It was a nice night with JJ but we were happy to give him back Sunday. I think Gaius and Neala were not sad to see him go either. :)Naptime.
Sleepy dinner, "I have to do what right after I was woken up from my nap?"
What a good helper!

Christmas Shopping!

We spent the evening last night running around to a few different stores and the mall. We are now officially done with our Christmas shopping. Now I just have to stay away from the stores or I will still find things. I'm really good at that. Brad is very happy that we're finnished and just have to wrap.

Our little family

So I thought I would introduce our kittens after talking about them in the last entry. We have two kittens. Gaius and Neala became a part of our family in early July of this year. They were both tiny when we got them and are now about 6 months old. Brad picked out and named Gaius and I picked out and named Neala. We are both unbelievably attached to them and I know I look forward to coming home each day and seeing Gaius meet us at the top of the stairs for head scratches. Neala is the brains of the duo, though she is the more quirky, cautious and skittish one. We have more pictures of Neala because she always seems to be doing something silly or weird. Gaius is a boys boy, laid back and cool. He will sleep under the blankets with you if you let him. They are both very lovey and sweet. And now for the pictures.Hello Neala!

Meet Gaius!

Christmas party and tree decorating

Friday was a busy day for Brad and I. After I got off work we met most of the people in my office for our office Christmas dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Afterwards Brad headed back to the apartment and I headed out to find the elusive Christmas tree stand that I had been searching for for three days. I found one and Target and headed back to drag my husband out into the cold night to purchase our first Christmas tree! It was freezing out. I felt horrible for the two guys manning the lot. We got the tree and in the house without too much kitten intrigue. Once those lights started going on however, they were all about the tree and the water in the base. Anyhow, it's up and decorated and beautiful. The wine we drank while decorating was decent and the music was actually pretty bad. But the apartment finally looks Christmas ready. :)

Doesn't he look excited about our tree?

It's so pretty!
This is Neala showing off the kittens stockings.

Congrats Katy and Matt!

Katy Hunter (one of my bridesmaids) is going to be a Gnann sometime in September 2009. That's right, he finally proposed! It sounded very sweet and just perfect for them. Back into the throws of wedding planning for me. Thank you Katy for choosing me as your MOH (that's Matron of Honor now that I'm married), I'm honored, even though I'll be wearing yellow. Here's a picture to go with this entry. :)

Dinner concert in Michigan.

Brad and I just got back from a wonderful time away in Michigan. We stayed with my Aunt Kay and Uncle Bill. Mom and Dad and Devin and Wendy also made the trip up with us. The dinner concert is a tradition of my mom and dads, that we have been involved in for the last few years. Mom and Dad have been going to this for the last 20-something years. It was a good weekend filled with shopping and hanging out with family. Plus, we got to get all dressed up and go out, which Brad and I don't do a lot. But let me tell you how excited the kittens were to have us back.

Now if our roof/ceiling would get repaired we could make our house look like normal before we get our Christmas tree.

Ceiling leaks abound

The leak that was just in a single place has now become many wet spots and three places that actually drip. We currently have to have two bowls and a measuring cup catching water in different places around out living room. Not to mention the towels under said bowls and the furniture moved all over. Also, with the furniture all willy-nilly everywhere we have no room for a Christmas tree. :(
Yes we now have two trash bags taped to the ceiling. Let me tell you how much I love our apartment.

Thank goodness for snow, sorta. At least with snow our roof isn't leaking right now. After the wind storm two months ago, our apartment complex didn't repair the roofs of the buildings. As of last week, during the rain our ceiling began to leak. we have a split in the ceiling that is about a foot long and other large spots that were very wet. I'll take a picture of the split and post it soon.This is a picture of the crack in the ceiling. The second picture is what Brad made to make sure that the water dripped right where we wanted it to. That would be a large trash bag and some tin foil held up with push pins and gaft tape. Good job Brad!

Corinne is a week old!

Brook and Brett had a beautiful baby girl one week ago. Corinne Michaela Rome, born 11-7-08, 12:01 am, 7lbs, 20 in. She's beautiful. I'm so happy for them. Congrats guys!

Starting out

I haven't really been a blogger in the past but I think it would be nice to let people check up on us this way. Plus, I really enjoy looking at everyone elses blogs. So I'm just starting out and hopefully Brad will blog too. Anyhow welcome to our blog. More to come soon.