Father's Day in Ohio

I left for Ohio on June 16th. On my way there I stopped at Marilyn's Bakery in Indiana. They have the BEST pies and my dad had requested that I pick some up.

[YUM!]

I arrived at my parents house, unpacked, and then went to the fridge to get a drink. When I opened the fridge I saw this:

My mom only uses this old orange container for one thing: My Grandma Stringam's Homemade Cookie Dough!

I got out a spoon and went to town! I also sent a picture to my little brother, Luke, to taunt him :-)

I was so excited to see baby Cole again! Last time he was just a newborn (and kinda boring) and he has grown so much!

My parents have this awesome bike trail that is only a mile from their house. It is built over an old railroad track so it is pretty flat and very shaded. We went on numerous bike rides while I was there visiting. It was so much fun and such a great way to get in a little cardio!

One day we went on a ride and there was a crazy triathlon going on. We saw people riding bikes, doing different challenges, running through town, and floating down the river! Looks like fun!

I went on a bike ride by myself one day. I wanted to ride from my parents house to Loveland but I got there in under 30 minutes so I decided to go on. I made it all the way to Milford (15 miles) in just over an hour. It was a great ride!

On my way back I stopped in Loveland and got some Hawaiian shave ice! I know it's cheating BUT (according to my Fitbit) I ended up burning over 1900 calories on my 30 mile ride. So I earned it!

I loved hanging out with my family and it's really cute to see my dad playing with his grandkids.

[Brady and dad playing legos]

[Dane and dad playing "there's a quarter in your ear!"]




One day Ryan, Brady and Dane joined me and my parents at a family fun center! We played mini golf and video games!

[Every time Dane would hit the ball in the hole he would throw up his hands and yell, "I did it!"]

We tried to find fun games for the boys but I think they were a little small for most of them. They struggled on the skee-ball but it was funny to watch them try!

[My dad's face says it all! :-D]

[Everyone helping!]

For Fathers Day we decided to go to downtown Cincinnati and have a picnic with some good ole fried chicken from The Eagle.

 [My parents talking to Luke and Andie. Wish they could have been there with us but Utah is a little far.]

[Picnic at the park]

[My dad and brother, Ryan]

[Papa and his grandkids]

[Ryan, Papa, and the boys]

[Grandma and baby Cole!]

After lunch we went to the carousel. The boys loved it!

[Of course my mom would choose the cheetah!]

[I think baby Cole had fun :-)]

[Dane and Ryan]

[Brady]

For Father's Day we got my dad a knife set with a travel bag. My dad wanted it while my parents were in Europe, so we bought it early and I took it to them when I went to Portugal. 

While I was in Spain with my parents I found out that my dad really likes Don Quixote. We found this cute statue of Don Quixote in Toledo and these windmills on the road home from Madrid. I took these photos and put them in a frame for my dad along with a copy of Picasso's drawing. It was a big hit!

On June 22nd there was a huge storm that hit Chicago. I was on the phone with Josh during most of it. I was super scared because there were multiple tornados spotted near where he and the Raptor were.

While I was watching the news on my phone a touchdown was confirmed just a few miles from Josh! I was so scared! Luckily, he was fine. Phew!

But then we realized that the storm was heading towards Ohio and it was going to hit Cincinnati in a few hours. I wasn't as scared since my parents have a basement, but I never thought I would be so worried about the same storm twice in one night!

On my last night in town my mom, dad and I went to a Reds game. Since the Reds are terrible, we were able to get super great and cheap seats! While we were driving to the game and walking to the stadium it was pouring rain! We went to a local restaurant and had dinner and by the time the game started the rain was gone!

Of course, the Reds lost, but the game was a lot of fun!

Heat Wave, Working out, Fixing Jeeps and Saving Babies

The Raptor's AC decided to break. And, of course, it broke right before a crazy, humid heatwave! I did all I could to keep our home cool, but the heat just keeps coming! The hard thing about the Raptor is that it has these huge black windows that don't open all the way. So, it tends to get hotter in the Raptor then it is outside and even if I open all the windows I can't cool it down.

[Plenty of ice packs to keep me cool]

[Inside temperature]

[Outside temps... "feels like" is REAL people!]

[Totally!]

I continue to go to the gym six days a week. I really try and get 15,000 steps a day and if I am a little short I'll do one of my Insanity videos to get that extra 2500 steps :-) 

[Calluses are holding strong and I can see the top of my socks through my shoes]

In my spare time I like to plan vacations :-) 

Josh is stilling working hard on the pipeline. In his spare time he works on his Jeep (recently fixing the broken AC) and saves baby birds!

Memorial Day Weekend in Superior

Josh knew he was getting Memorial Day off so we decided to make the trek up to Superior to see his family. We talked to Jessi and Ally and they decided that we should come up and surprise Grandma and Grandpa Carlson and have a BBQ at their house. 

I got up Saturday morning and headed to the gym that is close to Josh's work site (that's another great thing about Anytime Fitness). I worked out for an hour or so before heading over to Target and then Starbucks (no frappuccino for me!). At noon I met Josh at his work and we headed north. It was a long drive but traffic wasn't bad.

When we arrived in Superior we headed over to the bar to meet up with Jessi and Ally for dinner. Jessi texted us to let us know they were running late so we patiently waited... no, that's a lie. I was WAY too excited to wait patiently! 

After a few minutes we saw Jessi and Ally enter the bar with Suzi and Clay! WHAA?! Last we heard Suzi and Clay were on a job in Pennsylvania! Apparently their job just ended so they made the trip up to Superior to surprise us! Yeah! We then also learned that Uncle Shorty (coming in from New York), Brandon (coming in from Colorado) and Rachel Lane (coming in from central WI), and Cassidy and Kennedy (Josh's cousins) would also be at the BBQ! Holy hell! I was so excited to see everyone! This will be the first time we were all together since our wedding! Pipeliners Unite! 

The next morning Josh and I went to the grocery store to get food for the party. We didn't know how many people were coming and if they were going to be bringing food (Jessi and Ally bought the meat), so we stocked up!

[Food! And flowers for Grandma]

While we were at the store I was approached by a man. He said, "Aren't you Josh's wife?" Um... yeah! Apparently he is Grandma and Grandpa's neighbor and he recognized me! It's always strange to be recognized in a place where you think you won't run into anyone you know!

After getting the food we headed to Grandma and Grandpas house. We met up with Suzi and Clay and Jessi and Ally on the driveway so we could all go into the house at the same time. Grandma and Grandpa were so surprised to see us all! They had no idea any of us were coming! 

Throughout the afternoon more and more people showed up. We had tons of food and ended up having a great time!

The next morning we all gathered at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Grandma's famous biscuits and gravy! It was so good! I had to have two servings! I just had too! 

After breakfast Josh and I headed south. I am so glad that we decided to go to Superior! It was so much fun to see everyone! When most of you family works in the pipeline business you don't ever know when you will all be able to get together. I am so thankful for this amazing family I married into and I wish I was able to see them more often. Love you all!

Josh's Birthday and Our Anniversary

"Courtney's Homemade Lunchables"

Lunches for Josh are hard. He is working on a pipeline that goes through a city. So he could leave the ROW at lunch time and go get a sandwich or fast food, but that can add up and end up costing a lot of money. He used to take a sandwich every day (along with a tuna pack, a healthy snack, and a granola bar), but he started getting heartburn from the bread. So we started brain storming and we came up with a lunchable-type-thing. Instead of buying lunchables I would just buy everything in bulk and make them at home. Brilliant! So I would cut up the cheese and put 2 oz in a bag and then put 4 oz of deli meat in another bag and then put some crackers in another bag. Done and done! Josh seems to like them, he doesn't get heartburn anymore, and we are saving money!

Josh's 31st Birthday

We had a nice night in for Josh's birthday. I got some cake, ice cream, and wine and Josh brought home some Chicago pizza. Happy birthday Josh! I hope you enjoyed all your presents!

Just funny!

This election season is out of control so when I find things like this it makes me very happy!

Our Anniversary

I received an email from Marriott Rewards informing me that all our points were about to expire. We had a bunch of them since I stayed at a Marriott during the week of our wedding. So I decided to book a Marriott up in Chicago (close to Josh's work) for the weekend. I drove up there Saturday night and met Josh at the White Chocolate Grill for dinner. YUM! I got the salmon with steamed broccoli and Josh got the ribs and then we got desserts! Amazing!

After dinner we went back to the hotel where I fell asleep watching the NBA while Josh worked on his reports. Party people!

The next day we got up and went to the Chicago Outlets to go shopping. We are not huge shoppers but we had a fun time anyways :-)

That night we went to The Melting Pot for dinner and dessert. 

It was so much fun and the food was delicious! Good thing I got 140 extra WW points this week!



For our 1 year anniversary Josh got me these beautiful paper earrings and necklace. Apparently "cotton" is the 2 year anniversary present. So Josh cut some lace off my wedding dress (with permission, of course) and had it made into these:

I love them! Happy Anniversary to us!