Thanksgiving in Ohio

 It was a miracle and the pipeline shut down for a few days so that we could all spend Thanksgiving with our families!

My brother Ryan and his family moved to Ohio a few months ago and my parents decided it would be fun to fly out to Ohio from California to spend Thanksgiving with them. Since we are only 4 hours north we figured we would join everyone in Ohio.

Josh and I arrived in Ohio with our six pies (Yes, six! Do you think we went a bit overboard?!) Wednesday night.



Thursday morning we had crepes and then spent some time preparing for our HUGE Thanksgiving lunch. We made mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean caserole, and my sister-in-law made amazing rolls. Dinner was so delicious!

[Breakfast]

[Brady helping Missy with the rolls]

[Thanksgiving dinner group shot]

[Being silly]

 [Group shot with the kids]

During the rest of the weekend we spent time with the family (especially my cute nephews), celebrated Dane's 1st birthday, went to Jungle Jim's, went to downtown Lebanon, ate at the best BBQ place (I can't remember the name of it!), played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (I won!), Skyped with Luke and Andie, celebrated my dads birthday, and went to Loveland Castle.

[Ryan and Josh with their manly beards]

[My nephews LOVE their Grandma]

[My nephew with the sweater I got him for his birthday]

[Making popcorn]

[Getting treats from Grandma]

[The boys crawling over Grandma]

[Playing with Papa]

[Watching kid shows]

[Such a cutie!]

[Josh browsing at Jungle Jim's for the hottest sauce]

[Josh making delicious Deviled Eggs]

[Loveland Castle]

[Downtown Lebanon]

I'm so glad that we were able to spend Thanksgiving with my family. It was a lot of fun but it would have been more fun if Luke and Andie were there too!

Halloween 2014: "I'm Batman!" & Update on Brodee

Josh and I didn't do anything very Halloween-y for Haloween but we did get some pictures of Brodee in his cute costume!

He was very excited to be Batman!

We also got these photos from Brodee's mom. He is growing up so fast and looks more and more like Josh every day!

Not "VEGAS BABY!", But "VEGAS WITH BABIES!"

One of my best friends, Emily, lives just outside Vegas with her amazing husband, Kenny.

On of my other best friends, Katey, lives in Arizona with her husband, Paul, and their cute kid.

Right now both Katey and Emily are pregnant! AT THE SAME TIME! How fun is that?! I am so excited for both of them!

A few months ago I got a call from Katey who told me that she was going to be in the Vegas area in October visiting family and that I needed to come out so we can throw Emily a baby shower and we can all hang out! 

I decided to take a long weekend off of work, fly out to Vegas, stay at the Bellagio (it was kinda a mini get away for me), rent a car, and hang out with my girls!

I left work Thursday, October 23, after our morning meeting and headed to the airport. Of course, their was an accident on the freeway heading through Chicago so my GPS rerouted me... rerouted me THROUGH downtown Chicago! It was fun to see some more of the city but I was a little worried that my GPS was acting up a bit. 

[Downtown Chicago]


After that adventure I arrived at the airport, caught my flight to Vegas, arrived safely, got my rental car, and headed to In-n-Out for dinner! 

[My sweet ride for the weekend]


Yes, I am a true California girl! I love my In-n-Out. 

[Hamburger, add pickles, no onions, fry well, and a chocolate shake!]


After dinner I headed to the Bellagio, checked in, got cleaned up, and went to see O!

I have been wanting to see O for a LONG time and I finally got my chance!

The show was super cool and I'm glad I got to go. I do have to say that my favorite Cirque du Soleil show so far has been Ka. But O was great too!

The next day, October 24, I went and met Katey and her first born at Emily's house. We decided to do a little shopping for Emily before we had to pick her up from work. We went to Babies R Us and I got her a lot of things that were on her Wishlist (don't ask me what exactly... all this baby stuff confuses me). Then we went to Target to get a few things for her shower. While we were driving, the baby attempted to eat a few M&Ms and then fell asleep so Katey ran into the store and left me in the car to babysit. 

Next, we headed over to Emily's work to pick her up. It was a glorious reunion!

We then had lunch at Zupas (a place we LOVED to eat at in college) and then went back to Emily's where we just hung out and caught up.

Saturday, October 25, was Emily's babyshower. We didn't do anything too fancy. We just had a nice lunch with a few of Emily's friends at the Cheesecake Factory. Can't go wrong there! She got a lot of great stuff and we are all so happy for her!

[Delicious cheesecake]

After the shower we did a little shopping and then dropped of the baby with Katey's in-laws so we could have a girls-night-out! We first went and got pedicures and then headed to the Vegas Strip! We went to Margaritaville to get some nachos and margaritas (of course they were virgin margaritas for my girls). After dinner we went to the Bellagio Fountains, which we love, and watched a couple of shows.

[Getting pedicures]

[Best nachos EVER]

The next day we just hung out and spent some good ole quality time together. I'm sad I couldn't stay longer but I had to get back to work. I know it was a quick trip but seeing my girls was well worth it! They are so amazing and I am so happy for the both of them!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I can see it! I really can!

This last month has been a little crazy here on the pipeline. Things are wrapping up and I have been extremely busy with work and all that goes with it!

I was in charge of putting together a huge list (we call it a "punch list") of things that still need to be done before we can all get out of here. I've been working with the other departments and after days of pouring my heart and soul into it I am ready for it to be presented to the Contractor. Once the Contractor finishes the list we can all go home. 

But there's an elephant in the room. A big one. What if they don't finish before the snow comes? We don't want to talk about that! We don't even want to think about that!

While I was in a meeting last Saturday it started snowing. Like HUGE flakes, real snow snowing! It was wild! Turns out it was just a freak Fall storm and NOT the start of winter!

I told my boss that we need to by in Sydney on December 5th so we can catch a cruise to New Zealand and Fiji. Some days he just laughs and says that it's not gonna happen and then other times he says that it is doable. I don't know what to believe! But in all honesty, he doesn't know when this project will end just like everyone else. So I guess we will have to wait and see!

In non-work related things:

The NFL Season kicked off,

we found a delicious breakfast place where they make this amazing raspberry coffee cake, 

I saw the lunar eclipse this morning,

[picture taken by my coworker]

and Josh and I went to a Dodgers game at the Historic Wrigley Field!

[Getting breakfast before the game]

[Taking the train to Chicago]

[Fall is here]

[Wrigley Field]

I was warned before hand that it would be cold at the game so I brought my jacked and beanie but I was still cold! We sat in the first row of the nose bleed section which was nice because it rained a few times before and during the game and we were protected by the roof.

Overall it was a very fun experience. I was glad that we were able to go to Wrigley Field during it's 100th year, get some hot dogs, and watch the Dodgers beat the Cubs!

I got a little too cold during the game so after the 5th we left and headed over to a local BBQ joint. We hung out there and got some great BBQ and watched the rest of the game on their large TVs. After the game was over we headed back over to downtown Chicago and jumped on the south-bound train.

[My mountain man!]