Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving Kelsey and Dave invited us to their house with their family! We had a really good time. Wait a minute, who's that guy in the black shirt standing at the sink? Is that Judd? It's Judd! Doing dishes! I know, I know, I couldn't believe my eyes either. The boys were so great to help clean up.






























While the guys played a few hundred rounds of cards, the girls watched "Miracle on 34th St.".




















I made the rolls for our dinner, which was a lofty goal for me! Don't worry, I had a back-up just in case. To my surprise, I didn't need it! There were no tears, there were no four letter words spoken, and there was not one fire alarm that went off! That is a success to me!

New Moon!

Yes we went to New Moon when it came out. Yes we purchased custom-made t-shirts for the event, and yes, as usual, we had ridiculous amounts of fun!




















Please notice the Tiffany has two cups of icecream and they are BOTH hers!




















Jill taught me this new technique for taking photos. It's called "put your friends behind you and take a self-portrait while making a some sort of stupid face."



















This is me waiting for Jill to get out of the bathroom before the show was supposed to start...

Few things in life are this much fun! Can't wait to do it again June 30, 2010!!!

Goodbye Cornerstone Financial Group

Many of you know that I recently quit my job at Northwestern Mutual to do what I really love! I will be graduating in May with my Masters degree in Social Work and decided to get a job within my field. I am currently a Foster Placement Specialist with the Children's Service Society of Wisconsin and I love it. The only problem is that I miss my Northwestern Mutual friends! I loved everyone there so much, it was so hard to leave! They had a little goodbye party for me and gave me some beautiful flowers. Here are a few pictures of my last day...

This is a picture of my boss, Tom, who for the longest time called me "Heidi" and at one point called someone "frumpy" thinking it was a compliment, thinking he was hip and cool for using that term, but clearly did not know what it meant until we relentlessly mocked him for the next several weeks. With Tom around, there is never a dull moment!

I had a few great friends that I am going to miss like crazy! Below on the left is Joan. Yes rich friend Joan. I love the fact that I would throw any item across the room at her head and the only thing she would do is laugh. She would eat the other half of my Oreos that didn't have any frosting on them, and laughed at every single one of my jokes even when they weren't funny (but let's be honest, they are ALL funny!) Would you like to know what someone in your office, (possibly that wierd cat lady) would look like while they are dancing? Joan will show you, and I promise, you will not be disappointed!

This is Sarah. I love Sarah mostly because of the fact that she wore this Japanese shirt to work when we had visitors from Japan come to the office to make them feel more at home.

Now there has to be someone else... am I forgetting someone? Hmmm....oh yes, there is this girl Jamie. Jamie and I would drive to work together everyday, sit next to eachother all day in the office, go to church together, and would often hang out on the weekends. She could be my other half. There are no words that need to be spoken with her. There were times when I didn't even have to look at her to know exactly what she was thinking or laughing at. I don't care who you are, that's impressive! Jamie and I also both believe we are very funny, whether anyone else thinks so or not, per the example below:

One of our co-workers saw the movie "Paranormal Activity" and came to work the next day completely freaked out. Apparently there is a part in the movie where the characters put powder on the ground so they can see footprints of ghosts, and a ghost of some sort made a footprint in the powder that looked like a "size 14 bird foot". So the next day we decided to cut a "size 14 bird foot" out of paper and sprinkle some powder over it to make it look like there had been a scary ghost-bird-monster on his desk, and then turned out the lights so that when he went into his office, he would get a surprise, and we could all laugh at his expense!

Mission accomplished.

No words can express the love I have for these people and I am eternally grateful for having met them! Now on to a new adventure!

Boys...

Okay, so here is the game. Whoever can take the mini golf-club and hit the mini golf ball into the mini half-deflated alligator swimming pool, wins 25 cents from everyone else who is playing the game. This proceeds for several hours with exclaimations of "OH MAN!", and "DANG IT!" and "YESSSSSSSS!!!!" (with a low fist-pump), not to be outdone by an "IN YOUR FACE!!!" while jumping up and down with a finger pointed at your opponent. At the end of all of this, pretty much everybody has won and lost enough times that nobody actually wins any money, but at least it makes you look cool!

August Vacation

I was able to go home last August for Judd's brother's wedding and spend some time with my family. Since it is almost Christmas, I thought I should post them before I go home again! Here is just a glimpse of my trip...

Air and Water Show

We went to the Milwaukee Air and Water show down at the Lakefront, and loved every minute of it! I didn't get very good pictures of the fighter jets because they were too fast! What I DID get was some free chocolate milk and ice cream sandwich, so I was okay with that. Judd got to hang out with some awesome Army dudes and play with their guns.

WE LOVE DANNY GOKEY!!! (and Kool and the Gang I guess)

For Northwestern Mutual's Annual Meeting concert this year Danny Gokey opened up for Kool and the Gang, and we had the best time!!! We were total groupies as we were screaming and grabbing the band's hands. Judd almost fainted from over excitement. Here are a few pictures of the event...

SUMMERFEST 2009!

At Summerfest this year, Judd and I really wanted to see The Offspring. This was the craziest concert I have ever been to! Judd loves to be my personal bouncer, and as I learned at this concert, apparently he likes to be a part of the Mosh Pits too! Here is a picture of my first view of the band....

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

5 years and counting...

A Few Utah Pics...

I think I have made it pretty clear that I love my family (many of you may recall the "I Love My Dad" 7 month post), this will be an extension of that.

Superwoman!

Judd's mother is amazing, and quite the inspiration! Here she is running a 10k in the mountains while we comfortably sat on the side lines eating pizza and icecream. We sure love her and are so proud of her and all of her accomplishments! Thanks to Lawson and his adorable fiance Tressa (the couple featured below) for hanging out with us and putting up with our craziness!

Birthday

This year I turned 25, (and no that is not a joke as to why this cake with a 25 on it is turned sideways, I just cannot for the life of me figure out how to get it to go the right way).

Why Not?

What do you do when you receive a large chocolate cross and sugar-free peeps in your Easter Basket?

JUDD KICKED A FIREFLY

You heard me, Judd kicked a Firefly...straight up dropped kicked it out of the sky like a soccer ball. The Firefly was quite taken aback having never been kicked out of the air mid-flight before.The poor thing lay there dazed and confused at what had just taken place with its little dimming light starting to blink slower and slower....I'm calling PETA. First I'm going to laugh really hard about what just happened, and then I'm going to call PETA.

Door County

The Barbers invited us on a little weekend vacation to Door County. We had such a great time eating out, old school bowling (with push ups for the losers) hanging out by the frozen lake (Judd loved it so much he wanted me dive in to get the full experience) and a campfire. Thanks to the Barbers for letting us tag along!

Birthday Boy

We went to Judd's favorite restaraunt FUGIYAMA for his 27th birthday. He was not feeling so well this night but that was not going to stop us from having quite the party! I told the waitress it was Judd's birthday thinking that she would give him a little birthday treat, but about 10 minutes later she came back apologizing for the delay because they were not finished with the balloons! A few minutes later, down came the disco ball, on came loud Japanese crazy music, and out came this beautiful birthday hat. Judd never knew what hit him.

BAKE SALE!

At my office we decided to have a "Beat Cancer Bake Sale" with all of the money going towards the American Cancer Society. Everyone in the office made something to sell and we had a super fun time!

Bowling Alleys Smell like Pot...

Here we are bowling with some friends. There was quite the interesting crowd there "Puffing the Magic Dragon" if you will. Once we were there for a while we were having a GREAT time!!!!

I LOVE MY DAD

So Kent. How do you feel about the snow?

Come on... Give us a smile...

WHY I LOVE MY HOUSE

It's always fun to see what kind of animals pop up behind my parent's house. Porcupines, mountain lions, and deer! I just happened to get some photos of these deer in the backyard, there was like eight of them, and the most interesting thing was that one of them was two headed! It should be in Ripley's Believe or Not museum.

JUDD LOVES THE LADIES

Many of you may be under the impression that Judd is anti-children. I am here to say that as a matter of fact, he is quite the opposite. He LOVES kids, especially little Raegan and Macy, and from the looks of the last trip we had home, they sure think he's pretty awesome! The girls were always asking me where uncle Judd was, and when he was going to come hang out with them. I had so many cute pictures of them that I just decided to post a few. I just hope that he ends up liking our own children as much as he loves these girls!

I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON

So the other day I get home from the grocery store at about 9:30, and out comes our downstairs neighbor. We both say hello, how's it goin', and thats usually the end of it. We were standing a good distance away from eachother, but our conversation went as follows:

Neighbor: "Kathy had the baby!"

Me (frantically thinking inside my head)...(Kathy? Who's Kathy? I'm pretty sure that's his wife's name. Kathy, yeah, that's it. Wait a second....Kathy was pregnant??!!! Oh wow. The last time I saw her she didn't look pregnant which means that the baby could have been pre-mature. Maybe it means that the baby didn't make it because it was so small. Is that was he is telling me? That Kathy was pregnant and had a premature baby that didn't end up living? That's so sad! But wait, he seems happy. He seems excited. Even if his wife's name isn't Kathy, there was a baby born, and he is happy about it).

Me (out loud): "CONGRATULATIONS!!! Wow, that's really great!"


I need to bring them a dinner.

CHRISTMAS

These are a few random photos of our Christmas morning. This is only one of several outfit changes for Macey. Terri Jo as you can see loved her new kitchen play set. Since Judd is going to be a Surgeon, I decided to get him an operation game so that he could start practicing! We've already played the game, and to tell you the truth, I think I should go into surgery myself. It must be the stitches I learned to do.

WE LOVE AMOS LEE!

Judd and I had the opportunity to go to the Amos Lee concert when he came to Wisconsin. We traveled to a little theater in Madison to see him. Pricilla Ahn opened for him, and she was great! We got to stand right in front, and we loved every minute of it!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN HALLOWEEN WAS MONTHS AGO??

Because I have not posted anything on our blog for so long, I still have a few things to catch up on, so things may be out of order! These are a few pictures of our Halloween party at fancy Joan's house. Joan loves the holidays and spends hours decorating her house perfectly. It was like we were in a haunted house! Judd went at a Referee, and I went as a Pirate (although I was mistaken for a Gypsy a few times). In the pictures below you can see Joan was Glinda the good witch from The Wizard of Oz, and Joan's brother went as Little Bo Peep. Underneath his skirt was a black pair of underwear, and on his blow up sheep was a red pair of women's panties. Um....is anybody else a little uncomfortable? Joan's husband went as FLAVA FLAVE! Very funny. We had a great time!

APPLE PICKING, FRESH APPLE PIE AND TRAIN RIDES!

Wisconsin has a cute little farm where you can pick apples off the trees, as well as pick your own pumpkins! I thought this sounded like fun for us, especially because I had heard about all the great food you can buy there (like their famous apple pie!), and they have a little train ride you can take! As we pulled up to this cute little place, I was so excited about our little adventure we were about to have! I hate to say it, but our little adventure was not as exciting as I had hoped it to be. There were millions (yes millions) of people there that day. It must have been "go to the cute apple picking place at the same time as Judd and Haley day". We were really hungry when we got there so we went inside the little barn where you can order lunch and buy your homemade baked goods. The line was miles long and it was CRAZY! We needed to be pretty aggressive to get ourselves out of there. I'm surprised we werent trampled and made it out of the barn alive! After we were out, I decided to get a carmel apple they were selling outside. At this place you can pick out an apple and they will pour carmel on it, and you can put whatever toppings you would like on it. Turns out these apples were pretty dirty and lots of other people had their hands on them, so I was hesitant to eat one, but I wanted to have the full experience of the Elegant Farmer (thats the name of this place). So I ate it anyway. After lunch we walked through crowds across the street and instantly ran into a gigantic swarm of these lady bug looking things. I HATE BUGS. One more time for emphasis, I HATE BUGS. So of course I was running and screaming and looking like an idiot. I ran to where I thought I was safe and waited for Judd to catch up. As I was standing there, one of these lovely bugs decided to fly right into my eye. I almost passed out and after wildly thrashing around I frantically realized that it was still there! My last hope was to (gulp) use my fingers and pull it out of my eye. And so I did. I hate bugs. I was done after that. I told Judd we were going to hurry and go pick some apples so we could get out of there! The line for a basket to pick the apples was miles long, and the price of the apples was like 100 dollars a pound, so we decided to just walk through the orchard for fun. When there are that many people, there are not that many apples to be picked! We found one apple on the ground and we ate it in the orchard. We justified not paying for it because it was going to rot on the ground anyway, and the Elegant Farmer owed us for some serious emotional damage. Don't judge us! In summary, we love the Elegant Farmer. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

NEED AN IDEA FOR A HOT DATE?

What could this be? My husband called me to come home as soon as I could one night because he had this really awesome game for us to play. To my complete surprise, Judd had brought home a gigantic pig's foot for us to practice doing stitches on. He was SO excited! Seeing how excited he was, I couldn't not participate. I learned all kinds of stitches, and I didn't do too bad if I say so myself! If this is what doctors do for fun, I am in for an interesting ride! Have you recently cut yourself with a sharp object? Come on over, I think I can help you out ;)

A CHECK OFF THE BUCKET LIST...

Last Spring Judd and I made a decision to do something I never thought possible. One day Judd came home and said "I think I'm going to run a marathon". Although I thought he was crazy and the idea was shocking, my response was "uh, yeah, me too!" After months of exhausting training, we finally did it! I ran the Foxcities marathon in Appleton, and Judd ran the Lakefront marathon in Wisconsin. I am so glad we were able to accomplish our goals and do something I personally never thought I would be able to do. Judd says he might be up for running another one in the future, but as for me, I think I'm good.

Yes I know it's not summer anymore

Did you know that Milwaukee has an awesome beach? Neither did we! Judd and I discovered this beach on lake Michigan (10 minutes from our house) all too late in the summer. On Labor day weekend a few of us decided to go down to the lake before it got too cold. The boys LOVED it and they played in the water all day long until it was time to go home, so with tears in their eyes, they longingly said goodbye to the lake until next summer.

FIESTA!!

Judd and I are on the activities committee at church, and we recently had a ward fiesta. Everyone in the ward brought anything you can dip a chip in, and we had all kinds of exciting things going on, including football shaped Pinatas, the Limbo (courtesy of the local missionaries), and "Pin the mustache on the Cactus". It doesn't get much more fun than that! Poor Judd was left to mop the icecream sandwiches and leftover nametag stickers stuck to the floor. It was a mess, but we had a great time!