And so it begins...

Ugh! My 4 day weekend of call-hell has begun!

It seems the older I get, the more I hate to take call! Unfortunately, Memorial Weekend is my holiday to take at work :( It is Friday afternoon at 4:30 pm and my call-weekend has begun and doesn't end until 8am Tuesday morning! I SO hope the call-ins are kept to a minimum and I don't get killed these next few days!

Plans for the 3-day weekend consist of: laying out by the pool, shopping, painting the master bathroom, planting a few last minute flowers/herbs and relaxing with the hubby!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend :)

5 years today

WOW - I can't believe that it was 5 years ago today that I married my best friend! Where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday I was being introduced to this handsome guy and that was well over 8 years ago! Time sure flies when you are having fun - and so much fun it has been!

May all the happiness we've known

Through years that now have passed

Continue through the years ahead

Each happier than the last!

Happy 5th Anniversary to us :)

Tan Man

Just thought I would share with you a few more pics of my favorite little Tan Man :)

Who are you calling a loser?!?

Millie & Tanner became fast friends...

Looking "cool" in his shades - how cute is he?

Tanner loves his snack cup....and climbing the stairs :)

The Graduate

My brother's graduation wasn't until this evening so we decided to head down to Union Station & kill some time in the afternoon. It was extremely warm & uncomfortably humid today and you could tell that there was something "brewing" in the air. We just hoped the weather would cooperate until AFTER the graduation.

Union Station was fun to see and we all enjoyed walking around the building taking in the history. The highlight of our trip was watching Tanner enjoy the sites around him - especially the coal train that went underneath us on the bridge and the fire-station booth where he got to sit on a "toy replica" fire-truck!

My dad, brother Chris & Tanner walking across the bridge.

After our tour of Union Station, we headed home and later left for dinner & Steve's graduation. We weren't fortunate enough to miss the storm that was developing all day & after driving our way through a torrential downpour of rain & some pretty severe lightning, we enjoyed some awesome KC BBQ at Jack Stack in the old freight house in downtown KC. After we all stuffed ourselves silly, we made our way over to the church where the graduation ceremony was being held. It was a beautiful church and the graduation ceremony was really nice. It was awesome to see my brother graduate magna cum laude & get his Nursing degree and we are all very excited for him as he starts his new job at Truman Medical Center in a few weeks. Here is a pic of the happy grad with Caleb (his fiance's son) and with my parents:

Big Brother

This weekend my brother Steve is graduating from Nursing school so my entire family is coming to KC for the graduation festivities. I picked up my sister Jen and nephew Tanner at the airport this morning and my parents and other brother Chris drove from SD and arrived around dinner time. As everyone got to our house, Tanner was wearing this cute little shirt to deliver a message to us all:

If you can't read it, it says "I'm going to be a big brother"!

Looks like there will be another addition to the family first week of December :) We are all very excited for my sister & her husband & I am looking forward to having another niece or nephew to spoil rotten!

What Can Brown Do 4 U?

Goodbye YRC, HELLO UPS!

Guess who starts his new job at UPS today? That would be Shane! He is very excited to be working on the docks and driving in the city delivering freight for them. He will work the day shift Mon-Fri and home every night & weekend! It will be quite the adjustment for us with him not traveling but nice to have him home and not on the road!

Good thing Shane looks good in Brown :)

Mother's Day

Pictured: Me and my mom on my wedding day :)

Today is Mother's Day - a very special day where we honor our Mother's!

I would like to take a moment to honor my mother and say "thank you" for always being there for me and for all that you have done to help shape and mold me into the woman I am today! I just hope one day that I am half the mother to my child as you have been to me! I love you mom...

It takes a mother's love to make a house a home,

A place to be remembered, no matter where we roam.

It takes a mother's patience, to bring a child up right,

And her courage and her cheerfulness to make a dark day bright.

It takes a mother's thoughtfulness to mend the heart's deep "hurts,"

And her skill and her endurance to mend little socks and shirts.

It takes a mother's kindness to forgive us when we err,

To sympathize in trouble and bow her head in prayer.

It takes a mother's wisdom to recognize our needs

And to give us reassurance by her loving words and deeds.

It takes a mother's endless faith, her confidence and trust

To guide us through the pitfalls of selfishness and lust.

And that is why in all this world there could not be another

Who could fulfill God's purpose as completely as a MOTHER!

Manny's

Tonight our neighbors Brian & Julie wandered over to our house to invite us to dinner with them at Manny's in downtown KC. I had been there before & it is not my favorite but none of the others had & everyone was curious to check this place out since it is voted one of thee top authentic mexican restaurants in KC to eat!

We got there around 5:30pm & it was an hour long wait & trust me, it took all of 60 minutes to be seated in this joint. Once we were finally seated at our table they brought the chips & salsa. Now when it comes to chips & salsa we are somewhat of a connoisseur since we frequent many different mexican restaurants & these were NOT the best we have ever had. Their salsa tasted like it had way too much chili powder in it & the chips were cold & tasted stale. Bummer! Next up was our food. Shane & I both ordered the Monterrey Chix Chimi entree which we later find out did NOT come with rice OR beans on the side. You had to order that ala carte! WTH? What mexican entree doesn't come with rice & beans?!? We were already paying $8 for a chimi & now they wanted me to spend another $4 for rice & beans ala carte? Crazy! We were both not impressed by this point & after eating our chimi with tons of beans & hardly any chix, we decided that we would probably never eat here again. On The Border & Rudy's still remain a favorite in our hearts :) Sorry Manny's!

Girl's Game Night

It is once again time for our monthly girl's game night and this evening Michelle was our hostess with the mostest :) It ended up being a small gathering of girl's but much fun nonetheless!

The game Michelle picked to play for the evening was UNO Attack! It is very similar to the old-school version of the UNO card game but with many more twists and a fun little machine that will spit cards out at you when you least expect it!

There were many laughs during the evening...especially after we moved the party outside on the deck. Michelle's deck has two large bird feeders on them and anyone that knows me knows I have a HUGE phobia of birds. Well, while we were playing the game, birds kept coming and landing on the feeders to eat and I had my eye on them the entire time making sure they wouldn't attack! It was quite humorous for the girl's to watch my paranoid-self and I'm so glad I could entertain them! Later on, when the June bugs starting flying in for a landing in our hair, we moved the party back inside :)

Thanks girls for a much needed, fun evening and thanks Michelle for hosting!

Front L-R: Michelle, Heather, Melissa & Erinn

March for Babies - 2009

Thousands of walkers jammed Walnut Street in Kansas City's Power & Light District this morning for the KC March for Babies. I was honored to be one of them walking 3 miles to help support the March of Dimes mission to help mothers and babies begin healthy lives.

My morning started out by Keri picking me up and meeting our friend Melissa for breakfast at IHOP. After breakfast we made our way into downtown KC for the Walk festivities. The downtown area was packed with people and it was neat to think we were all gathered there for one reason - to help save a babies life! It was heartwarming to see all the babies in strollers with signs saying "born at 29 weeks" and all the team t-shirts everyone was wearing honoring a baby who either survived or who had passed away too soon. It was an event I was so very excited to be a part of and one I will be participating in for many years to come!

We of course took some pictures along the way so here are a few from our walk:

This one here is a "rare" picture - me wearing "K-State" purple. I do not own anything in this color nor will I ever purposely purchase anything in this color! Not because I don't like the color but because my husband would never let me hear the end of it! Melissa tried to tell me it wasn't a true K-State purple but Keri even agreed with me that it was.....sorry Melissa :) Anyway, it just so happened to be the color of the March of Dimes t-shirts this year so I had to put it on - just for a picture anyway! (you will notice I am not wearing it in any other pictures :)

L-R: Melissa, Keri and me :)

*All of us posing with the KC Chiefs mascot

On our walk, we passed by this restaurant! It seemed fitting to get a picture :)

Introducing: The Woodland Ridge Racers

Our team, the Woodland Ridge Racers, raised over $1000 for the cause and I wanted to give a heartfelt thank you to those of you who sponsered me and helped by making a donation! I appreciate it so very much!

Is that my pager again?

I am on call this weekend and was hoping that it would be quiet. I should have known I wouldn't be that lucky since I have been fortunate enough to escape all the busy weekends lately.

My Saturday morning started with the sound of my pager going off at 3am. In my opinion, anytime between 1-3am is the WORST time of the day to be called in. I rushed around to get dressed, brush my teeth & get out the door all in 5 minutes flat. I get there, do the procedure, save a life and make my way home. I crawl back into bed at 6am, managed to fall back asleep and 3 hours later - beep beep beep - I'm getting called in again! I fly out the door, make my way to the Plaza, do the procedure and back home I go. I jump in the shower, grab a bite to eat and beep beep beep - is that my pager AGAIN? For the 3rd time, I head back down to the Plaza, do the procedure and head back home. By now it is 2pm and not only am I exhausted but I have also gone through almost a whole tank of gas making 3 trips down to the plaza and back again. I managed to make dinner for Shane and prayed that the madness is over.

After we ate, I got settled in to the couch to watch TV. At 8:30pm I here it again - beep beep beep - are you F'n kidding me!?! I wanted to throw that pager against the wall. Made my way back to the Plaza for the 4th time today, did the procedure and got back home around 11pm. A co-worker was taking over my call for the rest of the night starting at 11pm so I was thrilled to know I would have an uninterrupted evening of sleep - the bed never felt so good!

Happy Hour

Tonight a few of us from work gathered at none other than Rudy's for Happy Hour. My friend HK joined us and shared with us her adventures from her new job this past week. It was great to get to see her and catch up! It was also nice to relax and unwind from the week over a margarita and good friends! We LOVE Rudy's!