Happy Birthday to JOSH!

I spent Saturday and Sunday helping Josh celebrate his birthday. Today is his actual birthday!! Saturday we went shopping. He bought himself a new birthday outfit. From head to toe he was decked out. I provided a watch as one of the new items and birthday gift. And of course, I bought myself a thing or two while we were at the mall to celebrate his birthday.

We had dinner at Fedora. A local fondue place in Springfield. It was Yummy. This was my first time to eat there and his first time at a fondue restaurant. I must say it was a bit different from the Melting Pot. I need to take him there so he can see the difference. Most of the fondue at Fedora is cheese and you don't really get to cook any of your meal, it's precooked. That's good and bad. Bad because the experience is not AS fun and good because you don't the steam facial. But all in all still a good meal.

Then we met up with some friends to watch some of their friends in their band. We enjoyed...the company. I'm pretty sure Josh will appreciate this picture. ACTION SHOT!

Sunday we celebrated by spending the day inside watching TV. Since it was a rainy day, it was perfect for that. How was watch TV celebrating Josh's birthday? Well, we spent most of the day watching football. 4 different football games to be exact!! YIKES!! That was more football than I've watched in a whole season!!! I actually fell asleep quickly after the 4th game started, and yes that was about 8:30!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

NO - you know why I don't love football season? Because people get SO obsessed with football. I, for one, never get obsessed with anything. However, seriously, I never hear guys talk so much until football season. All the guys at work talk about is football. So many posts on Facebook about football. I went to a baby shower and the WOMEN were talking about football. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Friday (in prep for the weekend) it is football. Football, Football, Football.

AND - football tickets are so expensive. Who can afford to go to these games. For me, it would require a 3 hour drive, an overnight stay, and about $600!!! WHAT? Ridiculous. Cody can go to an NFL game, when he is an adult and he can pay for his own ticket and drag his wife to a game! Since I have 2 sons, I do have to indulge them in some football talk. I will here and there try to know a little about football and talk a little football for their sake, but that's enough for me.

I have friends that are so determined to turn me into a football fan. I keep saying that I will resist. One friend is determined to wear me down and prove me wrong. Josh tries the argument, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's not going to work either. I will dig in my heels and stand firm. I don't HAVE to be a football fan!

The Hang Up

You know how you have those dreams that seem SOOO real, you can't shake the dream for like the whole day. The other night I had a dream, not one that FELT so real, I REALLY thought it happened.

Basically, I thought Josh called me at 6 AM and when I answered he was singing to me (which I typically enjoy him singing to me) and I say something like, really singing? And he's like yeah, why you don't like singing. I respond by saying not when I'm trying to sleep and I hang up on him. Then he sends me a text and I just ignore it.
When I woke up, I decided to look at the text and there is one from Josh that says Good morning, I can't wait to hear about your night. I thought to myself, wow he seems very understanding about me hanging up on him. So, I text him and I'm like I'm so sorry for hanging up on you. I only vaguely remember our conversation but I should have just not answered the phone. He responds back, what? I didn't call you. I didn't believe him, I still had no idea that it could have been a dream, so I look at my call log on my phone, and no calls from Josh...

I actually believe that had happened and I even told one of my friends about the whole situation before I realized it was a dream!

Here Fishy Fishy

One of our nights in FL, Emmanuel and Jodi got Emmanuel's sister to watch the kids and we headed to a nice restaurant called the FISH House. As we are waiting for a table, there is one table right on the way to the restrooms. At one point, Jodi says, "I hope we don't get that table." Guess what?

So, the nice thing about this table is that it is right by the fish tank and I can watch the pretty little fishes. I look over ater a few minutes at the table and see this fish laying on the rocks. I may have freaked out a little bit... we mentioned it to the waiter, and he's like oh no it's sleeping (I may have believed him for a second or two). Apparently the fish died earlier in the day and they just left it there. AND I may have continued to obsess about this dead fish for several more minutes. ok, ok I know you all are shocked that I was a bit dramatic about it. But seriously, it was disturbing. Finally, Jodi thought of the brilliant idea to put a menu up against the tank to block the fish. Thankfully, I was able to move on...

Then to top it off we just happened to get the fortunate pleasure of sitting under the leaky a/c something or other. So, Josh and I had some serious water dripping on us. Luckily, we had a large booth and we just moved down. Believe it or not and despite the above unfortunate events we had a really nice dinner. Good food and good company. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know Josh's family a little better.

And look at them being willing to pose next to the dead fish for a photo op!

Labor Day - FL

For the Labor Day weekend, I am with Josh in Pensacola, FL visiting his sister and her family. Jodi is Josh's sister and her husband Emmanuel have 2 adorable sons Ian and Dominic. The trip started out not awesome when the air conditioning in my car went out on the way to Tulsa. So I drove for about an hour in 100 degrees. I was a gross sweaty mess when I got to Tulsa. But the drive to FL was pretty uneventful. We took the puppies and they were great travelers.

We stopped at the Louisiana boarder to use the restroom, let the puppies out, and of course take pictures. We missed the Alabama rest stop... :( And I figured we would take enough pictures of Florida.This is Dominic the baby. He is about 9 months old. He is soooooo sweet. He almost let me rock him to sleep. He loved the puppies.

This is Ian. He really loves having his Uncle Josh here to play with. And Ian REALLY LOVES Neo. Neo has been really patient with the boys.

We did actually make it to the beach even though it rained most of our first day here. It was super windy so we did not get into the water nor did we stay on the beach long. We shopped on the Boardwalk for awhile, had lunch, then went back to Emmanuel and Jodi's. We all just took it easy the rest of day. It was the perfect rainy day for naps and movies.

We shall try the beach again...

Kindness...

We ended our day Saturday with a Drillers game. It worked out for us because the Drillers played the Springfield Cardinals. The Drillers beat the Cardinals, I used to go for the Drillers but I was conflicted this game, my loyalties get stronger and stronger for the Cardinals.



Jill and Elle had never been to a baseball game, so it was interesting to watch them. Even though I am a girl, boys sure are a lot different than girls... Brayden got a ball from one of the Cardinals players and he gave it to Elle. Elle had a good time getting player's signatures.

Tuesday, Brayden was honored at school during the monthly Character Parade. The character word for May was kindness. This was the 2nd time this year that he had been honored at school for one of the character words of the month. At the beginning of the year he was honored for responsibility. I don't think that he really appreciated that one, he asked me if responsibility was that important, lol.

Tulsa Time Part 2 – Blue Dome

After we met the girls and we all had a chance to get to know each other, then we all headed down town to Blue Dome Art Festival. My sister-in-law was the administrator of the event and their ship the Sea Wolf was part of the festival. The benefit of being the sister of the Captain is that you get on the ship for free and get to say that you are the Captain’s sister. The downfall of being the “annoying little sister” of the Captain is that you get pointed out and hauled off to the brig for public humiliation. I got “arrested” and got to sing and dance my way out of the jail. I sang I’m a Little Tea Pot. I’m sure it was a great experience for the kids and Josh and that they enjoyed seeing me. I know the experience gave my brother great joy!!

We also met up with my high school youth Minister Mark and his wife Sandy. We had dinner with them after we walked around Blue Dome. It was great catching up with them as well.

The kids had a fun time at the Art Festival. They had their face painted (except Cody, we asked Cody if he wanted you, but he declined). It was funny the 2 dark headed boys running around with the blonde girls and everyone thinking or calling them brothers & sisters.

Somehow, Brayden got poison Ivy on his face and really started getting irritated that day. It was awful. I felt so bad for him, but he worked through the day like a champ.

Tulsa Time

The boys and I headed to Tulsa on Saturday to spend a couple of days with some friends and family. Saturday was a pretty full day with TONS of pictures (I got a new camera!!! So picture taking resumes). So each event from Saturday will have its own blog posting. Today, I will start with the beginning and end of our trip. The main purpose of my trip was to meet Josh’s daughters Jill and Elle. Jill is 9 and Elle is 7. Saturday we had lunch with 2 of my childhood friends Ericka and Stefanie. I met Stefanie’s husband Greg for the first time. I have known these girls since 4th grade and they lived in my neighborhood so I saw them almost every day til 8th grade. I really enjoyed visiting with them again, and we had a good time.

Josh’s daughters are super adorable and a lot of fun. We had a really good time, and I had really enjoyed having girls around. It took the boys a little bit to get used to having girls around, but they all got along really great. The girls are so loving and sweet and that I think I would literally have to be the Wicked Witch for them not to like me. But apparently I got the seal of approval from them. Sunday, after lunch and a trip to Cherry Berry, we played family Twister, and then I headed home through the storm.

Before we played Twister, my friend Morganne called me to see if I was on the road yet because the terrible tornado that hit Joplin, luckily I had not left yet. We decide to hang out a little bit before heading home to make sure that I was not driving into the storm. Once I got through Tulsa, Matt informed me that 44 was closed by Joplin. So between Matt and mom, they directed me another way to get home. They had 44 blocked off about Afton and I missed my 60 turn off so I was able to get back on 44 at mile marker 18. There were dozens of police on the highway. At one point I saw 15 emergency cars in a caravan headed to Joplin and then later 6 ambulances in a row headed that way. I had SEVERAL people checking on me on my drive home and it was SO super nice to have such caring thoughtful people in my life! Our campus is off to give blood for the people in Joplin today.

Bray Bray

Brayden had his first baseball game this week. They only played 3 innings. He pitched 2 of those innings and played 3rd base the last inning. Of course he did a great job the whole game!!! He did hit a boy one time, but the 3rd inning that same boy got hit by the next pitcher!!

At 3rd base he stopped the ball and had a good throw to first, but first base dropped the ball and the kid made it on base, but it was still a good play.

Aunt Mo and Uncle Shawn came to watch him play!!!

Then on Wednesday I went to have lunch with Brayden at school. I had a VERY proud mom moment. When I got to the school, his teacher pulled me aside to tell me how much she loves Brayden. All year she has told me that his a really good and that she is happy to have him in her class, and every conference she has told me what a great kid he is in class. But that day she was so sincere about what a great kid he is. She went on about how caring he is and what a great example he is in the classroom. She said that he has so much integrity and is just a natural leader. She was like he is a fine young man and you are doing a great job raising him. I started to cry! That made me feel so awesome that she had such great things to say about him. I was so proud of him, I hugged him like 100 time during lunch.

Florida

Last weekend I took mom to Orlando. The last time she and I went on a trip together was about 6 years ago, she went with me to LA for work. But this trip was purely for pleasure. The resort we stayed at was beautiful and the weather was fabulous. We got into FL on Friday and mom realized that she left her ipad on the plane! We realized it before we left the airport but when we went to the ticket counter, the flight attendants could not find it!!! It WAS found. They called us on Sunday to say that they had it. So the trip was not ruined or hindered by that ONE negative occurance!!! Friday evening we went to Downtown Disney and ate some really good crab legs. I have not had crab legs in a long time and they were delicious.
On Saturday, we spent the day at Universal Studios. And the weather was great. It did rain in the afternoon but by that point, we were ready to leave. We had a late lunch/early at Hard Rock Cafe.While at Universal, we did this ride that was like a pretend casting call/movie shoot. Mom got to be one of the "actors" in the movie. They really wanted a little old lady but they asked for a grandma, so I volunteered her. In the little clip she gets hit by lightening while gardening.
Us outside of the Mummy ride.

Sunday we got up and headed to Daytona beach (by way of the airport to pick up the ipad).

When we first got there it was cool but the sun came out and ended up being a great day!!!! Mom got sunburned and I got a little red.

On our way home we stopped by the Space Center. They were preparing for the last shuttle launch that happened on Monday. Monday morning we went back home to a cold 60 degrees!!

Josh

Since I started my blog about 5 years ago, I have not typically writen about my quote/unquote love life. But I have been dating a guy for a couple of months now. Being with him has led to several interesting/good situations in my life, so I guess I will share some of those. His name is Josh and he has numerous great qualities, some of which include being really good with the boys, being able to read me and "manage" me, being a peacemaker, and the list could go on and on. So, the other day (the day that Cody got his new car), Cody had a minor car incident while driving, that really upset me. And Josh called me and advised me that I should probably not make a big deal out of it and let it go. He said that the fact that Cody knows that I saw what happened was probably bad enough. So when we got home, Josh asked Cody, so what do did you think about that guy honking at you, and Cody was like well I was more afraid of my mom's reaction. I guess I did not need to say anything after all and it saved me some frustration and stress.

Then that same night, I was making a Taco Salad and I bought some chips for it and I see that the chips have been opened. I asked Cody if he ate the chips (when I say asked I mean started to get on to him for eating the chips) and he responded, "No, Josh..." I instantly, think that Josh ate some, so I yell, "JOSH." And Cody is like no, no. I started to eat them and Josh was like, "aren't those for dinner? You can eat them, I don't care, but I think your mom might get upset." Needless to say Cody did not eat them, I was then calmed down, I apologized and thanked Josh! Pretty sure we all like having Josh around!

New Wheels

Cody got a new CAR!!!!! (new to him) It is a 2002 Grand Am. I surprised him with it last night. He had NO idea that he was getting a car. So he is SUPER excited. The car is in pretty good shape, but he is already thinking about and considering the maintenance for it.

The funny thing is that the day before, Brayden and I went to look at it and pretty much make the deal, so Brayden knew the whole time. He kept it a secret too. Then that evening Cody was getting upset about not having a car and being able to get a job or work certan hours. I just let it go, but after he got his car, Brayden told him that he wanted to say stop getting mad at me because I was buying him a car!!!! Cody said that he felt bad but couldn't believe that Brayden kept it a secret. Such good boys.

Side note: I went to a Springfield Cardinals game on Saturday and left my camera at the stadium and they have not found it. So no camera, and I had to take the pics with my iphone, which takes great pics during the day but at dusk or at night, it takes bad pics. So, this is why the pics are not that good and why I need a new camera!

Cosette's Teeth

This post is dedicated to my mom:

So Cosette, did not have such good luck with her teeth. She had 3 abscessed teeth. She had to have them pulled and she needed a really good cleaning. Since they put her to sleep (not death as Brayden thought that meant) to pull teeth, I went ahead and had them cleaned. $280 later, she has pearly whites. Now I am supposed to brush her teeth weekly, uh, not really doing that... Now all she needs is doggy braces since she has an under bite and they are very crooked.

Pearly Whites

I had a dentist appointment today and it was the best one ever. I know that people are going to think that I am crazy, but other than getting sprayed in the face with the water the whole time, it was pain/discomfort free. The hygienist didn't even scrape on my teeth. It was pretty awesome. The last time that I was in, I asked about coming in for cleanings every 3 months! They said that I didn't need to come in that often, but she did give me one of their little scraper tools!!

So, I've been scraping on my own teeth & It's GREAT! So, I'm sure you are all very happy to know that my teeth are nice and clean.

25 Random Facts

I posted this 2 years ago on FB, recently read it again & there have been some changes. I decided to update: 1. I'm not sure there are 25 random facts - I'm an open book & not too random. Still an open book but I guess I forget that there is still a lot that people don't know about me... 2. I have been to Oprah 2 times. Also made it to 2nd round of Wheel of Fortune 3. I was born in Korea. Still true 4. I have lived in 7 states & 15 houses. 16 houses 5. I have been dating long distance for 3 years. I've been broken up for almost 2 years! 6. I won a hula hoop contest 2 times - once my senior year for hula hooping for something like 45 minutes and my second was when I was pregnant. Yep 7. Both of my boys were born premature. Yep now Cody is almost 7 inches taller than me. 8. I am a total tech geek - I love techology. On my 4th iPhone but won't get the iPad 9. I have never broken any bone in my body or been in the hospital besides to give birth. Thank fully still true 10. I am very type A personality - but I scrapbook - I can do like 20 pages in 1 hour. It drives my bff crazy. I get my ideas & throw them together. I took a personality quiz recently & it appears that I am loosening up in my old age... 11. I love to cook and think that I am pretty good at it. :) so do my co-workers 12. I am a total girly girly - love pink but hate hearts. I have only one hole in my ear - no other piercings and no tatoos. Surprisingly still true 13. I grew up with tons for animals but do not like animals/do not have any now. OHHHHH, so NOT true anymore. 14. I volunteer at the hospital 4-8 hours a week - I am the youngest volunteer in our group. Had to quit when we moved :( 15. One day I spent the whole day at home & did not talk to a single person. I enjoyed it. One and only day, need to do that again, maybe 16. I apparently have OCD traits, but I am not OCD. I like my carpet to have perfect vacuum lines & my lawn too. 17. I was adopted & found on the streets in Korea - so we do not know my real birthday - but they say it is today! This year I celebrated all January & seriously had 3 or 4 bday parties. It was AWESOME! 18. I love meat - steak & fried foods. But I also try to eat really healthy. 19. I try not to drink caffine so sometimes a soda will keep me up all night. Drink coffee every day now & a diet soda! 20. I am a work out junkie & little obsessed with it. 21. I don't have cable & haven't for 6 years but I love the food network. Have DishNetwork now 22. I wish I were closer with my siblings. 23. Everyone that I am close to is on facebook excpet my bff - she's on now, not very active but at least she is on. And so is my Grandma (I don't even think she checks it) 24. The majority of my cars have been white. 25. My family is like the show Brothers & Sisters but instead of all the brothers & sisters that would be my cousins and aunts. I LOVE that show and I LOVE my family.

Grandpa

After 5 long years of fighting illness after illness, my grandfather passed away on March 25. We had his service last Friday and even though we are relieved that he is no longer suffering, it was a very hard day for me. I have lived close to him for the past 10 years and will miss seeing him as much as I did. Even typing this now, my eyes are tearing up just thinking about how much I will miss him.

My mom asked me to say something about him for the service, but it was really hard for me at that point to wrap my mind around my feelings. But I've thought about it a lot. My fondest memory will be of the doll house that he built for me. I still have it & will cherish it more now than ever before. He was such a talented man, I'm pretty sure my grandpa could build or fix anything in the whole wide world. He was more like the guys from Grumpy Old Men, but he always would sit at the table with Grandma & I and visit with us when I was over. He used to love to ask me about working at the bank. And even in his last days we discussed my job at UOP. He seemed to always want to learn about new things. That must be where I got it... :)

Not only did I live close to him recently, we actually lived with them for a couple of months and I just remember him always saying that he drove by the school and saw me kissing my boyfriend. I was in 3rd grade!! He loved to tease me. And as I got older, I loved to tease him back.

I have many more memories of him and I am happy that I have them. I spent a lot of time this past week looking at his pictures and having those memories, and I am happy to have them and happy to have had him in my life as long as I did.

Tea Tree Oil

After my brilliant idea to get a perm last fall, I got a the great gift of dandruff. I went to the beauty supply store and the lady there told me that tea tree oil would help with dandruff. I've been using it for about a month. I'm not really sure that it is helping, but the jury is still out. But researching the stuff, I found a ton of other uses for this stuff.

bedsores

mouthwash

plant spray

deodorizer

put in dishwasher

put in washing machine

helps with mood

put it in a humidifier

helps with memory

all purpose cleaner

And suposedly dandruff...

Penelope

Have you ever known anyone like Penelope? Someone that just is constantly one-upping you or trying to one-up you? I have known some people that once in awhile will be that one-upper. Well...I now work with Penelope. EVERY single thing that is brought up she has done, or knows, or experienced, or been. It drives me CRAZY!! AND today, she even stated, "I have one better than that." It was a story that she was one upping ME on about my son. 1/2 of my co-workers emailed me and said that her story was NOT better than mine. I guess it really bothered me today because I was trying to share a cute story about Brayden & she just could not let me/Bray have our moment, so I felt vindicated when her story was not better than mine. I will have to admit that today, I did subtly one up her a couple of times, but I'm sure she did not notice (and I may have exaggered a bit when I one-upped her).

Once Upon a Mattress

My mom, Cosette, and I took a break from hospital duty this weekend to run to Tulsa for the day. We had lunch with Richie and Theoden. Then we headed over to TCC Pace to see Sarah in a leading role in Once Upon a Mattress. This play is based off The Princess and the Pea. It was a really GREAT production. They did a good job and Sarah was AWESOME! Here are some pics and I will try to post some video clips, once I can size them down enough to go on here!