2 Turkey Dinners a few books and A Kicking Avocado and Almost Zero Exercise

The past week was another quick one. Monday and Tuesday flew by and it was suddenly 6:30 on Weds and we had the dog in the car and were heading to hoisington for Thanksgiving. Got into Ho-Town later that night and after some xbox and mythbusters i was passed out on the couch.

We used thanksgiving as an excuse to sleep in until 9:30 and then after a little bit of laying around the day started to pick up momentum. Visited with Kelcis grandmother for a while then it was off to Great Bend for Turkey Dinner #1 in the Best Western Activity Room. It was a huge delicious meal spent with A side of Kelcis family we dont see much so it was a great time. After eating and a few hours of converstation it was back to hosington to grab the dog and all of our stuff, then back to great bend to my parents house. My Sister and Mother are very particular about their family pictures so i had multiple outfit changes Kelci had packed for me and i wasnt to happy about it. We put on outfit 1 and headed to the Local Convent to take advantage of their scenery. Unfortunatly it was below freezing and windy which made for less than ideal photo conditions. But we braved the elements and got the pics. Then it was a mad dash back to the Heated cars. Fast forward back home and a change of clothes and pics round 2 were done and it was time to sit down for turkey dinner #2. Another huge delicious meal that i know my mom put alot of work into so the least i could do was load myself up with 2 full plates!

Then it was back in the car for the 2 hour ride home, since I had work at 7:30 Friday morning and Kelci worked at 9.

Friday was a long tired day but we got through it and then looked forward to a lazy weekend.

Saturday we both worked the half day and then headed home and relaxed around the house. In the evening i headed down to OK to hit a couple of Casinos with a buddy. Unfortunately i wasnt too lucky and came home with lighter pockets. It was my friends first time at a Casino and aside from getting handled on the Blackjack Table he cleaned up on the Slots. And was nice enough to use his winnings for several rounds of drinks. But after 5 hours between the 2 Casinos we grabbed some food and then headed back to KS

Sunday we slept in and Kelci woke up feeling pretty horrible. Saturday i had taken the tree out and put it together so her plan for the day was to get the tree decorated and she did a great job. Growing up I always had a tree with a crazy hodgepodge mix of decorations, and Kelcis parents had a string of lighted shotgun shells so i think she decided we need to have a pretty tree. So our tree is decorated in fancy ribbons and fancy decorations and looks much nicer than anything i could have ever come up with.

Sunday was also the Steelers-Bills game and after a quick start the steelers let the bills back into the game and it went into overtime. Luckily they were able to pull off the win with their 4th field goal and the team went to 8-3. We watched a pirated tv channel on our computer so we didnt even have to leave the house for game.

After that I headed out for chinese food and the new Harry Potter movie with a bud while Kelci got to work on her tree.

Monday after work I headed to the Y and after half a mile on the treadmill the 8 day old blister on my foot was still keeping me from running. So out of frustration i ended up on the exercise bike with the old guys in the back of the Y. Not exactly getting any sort of base training in for the winter but hopefully i'll get my butt in gear here pretty soon. Last year I didnt work out much from Oct to Dec and i know it hurt me when i upped the mileage last February.

Not working out let to lots of down time and im sure Kelci is regretting buying me the Kindle. I just finished my first book on it. The reason its taken me so long to read on it has to do with the fact that I was reading a Stephen King Tome known as "Under the Dome" The physical book version is 1100 pages and it was a great read. My favorite book by him is "The Stand" and that book itself is no lightweight at over 1000 pages.

I also finished reading "The Maze Runner" which is a young adult novel about a post apocalyptic world where some of the worlds brightest kids are being tested to help save the world. It was easy to get lost in so it was a quick read. Now i'm onto its sequel "the Scorch Trials"

I also finished a good nonfiction book "Jarhead" which the Jake Gylenhaal Movie is based on. And its a hardcore in depth look at the Marines from the First Gulf War. Seems pretty crazy to believe we'd send thousands of marines to war to protect the interest of the Oil Companies. It was a pretty vulgar book with a few parts that could be taken as offensive but i believe he was just being Realistic


Oh Yeah... the little boy or girl (max) doing what Kelci calls "backflips" in her tummy, was kind enough to give me a high five the other day.... which turns out was pretty darn amazing

Max sure is a mover!

Wow this week has flown by! I feel like I say that every week lately but seriously...it just whizzed past!

Last Saturday and Sunday we went to the Cheifs game with the ^WHOLE^ Boxberger family. We had a lot of fun and had awesome seats! Oh and the Chiefs Dominated!!! And I am letting my novis blogging skills show by telling you all that I forgot to take my camera! :( I can assure you however, that it was a GOOD time!

Monday and Tuesday weren't very extraordinary.

Wednesday our Credit Union was robbed. It wasn't at either of the branches Kevin or I work at but it was a very scary/"real-life" event for us all. The girls at the branch were shaken up but nobody was hurt and we all said a big prayer for that!

Thursday was Turkey Day! We slept in, went to see Grandma-B, and then headed to GB for the first feast of the day. We always celebrate with the [very] extended Kaiser side for lunch. It's fun to see family that you wouldn't normally see but we usually end up in our "family pods" anyway. And there were a few people missing (Uncle Ty, Aunt Kim and families) that I really would have loved to be there. :) Next we went to the Burkey's for family photos. Let's just say we are super lucky to have such an awesome photographer! We put on our cute clothes, braved the {slight} chill, and smiled until our lips went numb. But it was totally worth it...the unedited shots turned out great so I can't wait to see the finished products. After pictures I got to spend a ton of time with Lyla while Darlene finished up with dinner. What a cute niece we have...I'm pretty sure she loves us. :) Dinner was very tasty and the company was even better.

We sure do have a LOT to be Thankful for!

Friday was NOT Black Friday in this household as we both had to work. :(

Saturday we also worked in the morning but I spent the WHOLE afternoon finding leftover sale items. I ~LOVE~ shopping...especially for others! Kevin brought the Christmas stuff up from the basement and then went gambling with a friend for the evening.

*** A highlight in the life of Max***

Kevin got to feel him/her move for the first time!!!! Max is such a mover! It feels like he/she is just doing flips in there all day. I was so excited when I first "thought" I felt it but this is a whole new, exciting experience now that Kevin can share it with me! Keep on moving little Maxter...I bet he/she is just practicing for the swimming lessons Kevin will undoubtedly enroll them in. :)

And today--Sunday...well it's still dragging on. I am sick. Blah! I hate being sick...with a passion. Between my dates with the bed I have managed to do 2 loads of laundry, clean up the room, watch the Steelers squeak out a victory, and decorate the Christmas tree. Not too bad considering I've went through at least a box of Kleenex doing so.

Here's to hoping this cold goes away and my presents magically wrap themselves! Oh and Happy Week 21 Max!

Kelci says the Kid Looks Just Like Me…..Mostly the Nose

The past few weeks have been just absolutely flying by, last weekend was a hectic one, Kelci and I both worked Saturday then immediately headed home to Hoisington for a couple of b-day parties. 1 for our amazing cousin Gracie who turned 9, and then another for Kelci's grandmother who turned 80 something. So it was an eventful Saturday. Then Sunday it was church, some video games with the brother-in-law and a game of Pollyanna and then back in the car for the drive back to Wichita. My Mom and Sister were at the house waiting for us because they had come to town for a 3 day shopping binge. So we headed out to Brooklyn's Chophouse (players) to watch the Steelers game that night. So we all got dressed up in our Steelers clothes including our niece Lyla. Watched the Steelers get pretty much handled by the Patriots but it was still nice to spend the game with family. Then Monday we had a birthday dinner of Little Caesars and Kelci and I got to spend a ton of time playing with Lyla who is a walking machine now. Also I finally persuaded Kelci to give me my present a much anticipated Kindle E-Reader. An absolutely amazing present and while I know she doesn't get the point of reading books on "digital ink" I still love her for indulging me.

 

Tues was my birthday and after a few hours of work I headed to chipotle to eat a delicious bday lunch with Kelci, her mom, aunt and grandmother. Then the group of us met Andi, Mom, and Lyla at the Dr's office. We filled up the waiting room full of excitement. Kelci's sonogram ended up being scheduled for my bday which was pretty much the most amazing present ever. I've seen Kelci getting a little bit of a baby bump and of course knew we were having a kid, but actually seeing legs arms toes eyes a nose and everything was just absolutely amazing. It was thrilling and scary and awesome and just tons of emotions in a 10 minute sonogram session. We still aren't going to find out if it's a Maxwell or a Maxine so we'll just stick with max for now. After that it was a solid midday run, a nap and then London Broil and a Stout at Granite City. One of the best days of the Year.

 

Weds Thurs Friday were back to normal chill days with a little bit of running and a lot of reading, I borrowed my brother in laws Call of Duty game so between that and the wondrous kindle very little of anything else went down on my part other than a few runs getting ready for the turkey trot.

 

Saturday we were up fairly early so we could head over to Cowtown for the 35^th annual Turkey Trot 10 mile run. At 9:00 after pretty much no warm up I lined up in the mid-back of the 800+ runners and the gun went off. First mile was pretty crowded running around people but after a couple it started to spread out and I was able to slowly pick people off. I love starting towards the back and then working my way forward from there. Maybe I'm just a jerk but I'd rather pass people than get passed. Unfortunately right at the 3 mile mark I got a hot spot on the inside of my left foot, which 7 miles later turned out to be a pretty huge blister with a matching buddy on the other foot. I didn't wear my race shoes and just my trainers and like the idiot I usually am I didn't tighten them and that led to my mediocre battle wounds. Luckily the pain didn't slow me down and I was able to finish the race more than 10 min faster than when I did the same race in 2008. I averaged 7:22 per mile which for me and my total lack of running lately was amazing. I was shooting for a time under 1 hour 20 min and ran it in 1 hour 13.

 

After the race we dropped bax off at the Vet so he could attend camp for 2 days…aka a kennel, and then we headed to KC for the Sunday Chiefs game. Met up at the Hotel with Kelci's extended family…think 60 people... and then headed to the Ameristar casino for some KC BBQ. Then it was to bed early after the long day and long drive. Up early Sunday to head to Arrowhead for some SERIOUS tailgating. I tried not to let the blisters limit me and played some tackle football and devoured some delicious burgers, dogs and brats…at 10 am… then into the stadium and our lower level end zone seats which were absolutely amazing. From the great vantage we watched the Chiefs handle the pretty lackluster Cardinals. Then it was back out for post-game tailgating. After another rowdy game of Tackle football and another huge helping of food it was back in the car for the 3 hour drive home. Which traffic and road work were nice enough to turn into a 4 hour drive.

 

Pretty solid couple of weeks, now we have the turkey day right around the corner and Kelci keeps talking about how great our Christmas tree would look in the living room, so here comes the hectic season

 

Not sure about this all...

I'm going to admit it...I've been a little "grinchy" lately. And my attitude probably needs an adjustment. [Physically] I've been feeling great but [mentally] I'm stressed and agitated. And I don't want to be. I love this time of year...family, friends, and lots of togetherness. But it seems like this year everything is going so fast. I can't wait to see our families but at the same time we are "budgeting" the time we can spend at both places. Totally not relaxing! I want to put our tree up but can't "find" the time or energy. I get stressed about finding the *perfect* Christmas presents for everyone and I'm behind schedule! I wish we had more TIME! :)


From tonight on I'm going to make a conscious effort to be a little more cheerful! I'm going to remember:

that we are {LUCKY} to have so many people who {love} us
that we have jobs that allow us time off
that we don't have to worry about where our Thanksgiving meal will come from that we have a beautiful HOME to put our Christmas tree in
that we have the budget to be able to give to others

So here's to THANKSGIVING and to all we have to be THANKFUL for!

This is picture to put me in the "Spirit". Our first Christmas together. What a wonderful year it has been. :)

A bit of Randomness...

This week has just flown by!

I don't really remember Monday since I was so excited about Tuesday. And on Wednesday I vounteered at Catholic Charaties so that made the day a lot better. Today was a bit slow but I got home to supper in the oven (ham and potatoes), we watched a little How I Met Your Mother, and then I hit the treadmill! It's amazing how 30 solid minutes of hard walking can get this pregnant ladies heart a pumpin! But I just remember that I'm working out for more than just me now and it makes the whole 30 minutes better... well that and Kevin is right beside me playing video games so I'm really not alone. :)

Another random bit of info: That "strange" feeling I've been having for the last 2 weeks was definetily Max! Yep...he/she's a mover! I guess I've known it was Max but I couldn't be sure so I just put the thought aside. Now I ABSOLUTELY know it's Max. He/She is most active right before bed and right before lunch while I'm sitting at my desk. Oh what a great feeling!

And since I didn't post them earlier, here are a few pictures of our "2nd Honeymoon" as Kevin likes to call it.

Have a super fun weekend and Go Chiefs!

The Best Tuesday Ever!

OK so I don't really remember too many Tuesdays being very relevant so I'm going to say that this one definitely ranked in the top three ever!

First of all, it was my wonderful hubby's birthday! Happy 25 Bug! I got him a Kindle for his birthday and he pretty much loves it!

Also because I had the whole entire day off...and for good reason! You wanna know why? We got to see our amazing creation live and in action! Yep that's right! Max, at 19 weeks starred in his/her very own sonogram!

So here's how the day went:

I woke up to make a quick breakfast for the birthday boy and Darlene, Andi and Lyla (who were here for their quarterly shopping trip).

I did a few loads of laundry, took a bath and waited for my Mom, Aunt Kim, and G-ma to get here.

We met Kevin for lunch at Chipotle...which he {loves}

We all met at the Dr.'s for our appointment...let's just say there are already quite a few people who love baby Max!

Here is a group shot of the fam hanging out in the lobby:

Next was the sonogram:
Everything went fantastic! The sono tech said that Max measured great, had functioning internal parts, and was all-together just fine! That's exactly what we needed to hear and there might have been a few tears shed! :) P.S. We didn't find out the gender...so Max it will continue to be!

After the sonogram I had my regular appointment. I gained 2 pounds and again everything was fine.

Then Dar, Andi and Lyla headed out, and Kevin went home to catch some zzz's and do some running. We, on the other hand, went shopping for a "few" maternity items...let's just say I am one HOT MOMMA in my prego clothes! :)

We met back up for supper at Granite City (Yummy) and then Mom, Aunt Kim and G-ma headed home.

Kevin and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and talking about just how awesome it was to see our baby! Here is a picture of my baby bump at 19 weeks and a few days...It really just appeared out of nowhere!

Well I think that pretty much sums the day up! What a lucky girl you say? Don't worry...I already know!

A national tragedy, some expensive melted chocolate and a few good reads

I've heard how blogging is pretty addicting but apparently i'd make a bad alcoholic because we've already started slacking. But I think it was primarily because we had a really boring couple weeks. That changed Once the 2nd week of November rolled around. Our 1 Year Anniversary came and we went to OKC to celebrate. Went down last friday the 5th and stayed at Kelcis Aunt and Uncle Kims - both named kim - house. Then after a ridiculous long sleep we woke up and headed out for some shopping and then headed downtown OKC to check out the OKC Bombing memorial. It was beautifully designed. Its made to make you stop and think about how horrible the bombing was and it definitely gave us goosebumps. Then we went through the actual museum which turned out to be a pretty awesome way to spend 20 bucks. Neither of us knew a whole heck of a lot about the bombing and we learned alot in a few hours

After that we headed back to the Kims got spiffed up and headed to Bricktown. We had reservations at a fancy Ristorante known as Nonnas. It was delicious and while the prices werent the friendliest it was worth it to make it a special occasion. After that we strolled around bricktown checking out a few shops and the riverboats and then headed to reservation #2. It was at a fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot. We had a pretty awesome waiter who walked us through the Fondue dessert options and we had a great time. It was definitely new for us and while were not used to a 40 dollar desert it was still worth it.

After that we headed back to the Kims, slept in extra long again due to the time change, did a lil more shopping then headed out of town. But we detours 1 1/2 hours to Tulsa where we visited the Oklahoma Aquarium. Which turned out to be pretty much amazing. From petting the stingrays to the largest walk-through Bull Shark exhibit in the U.S. it was something awesome where you would least expect it. After a few hours there we headed across Tulsa in some of the slowest traffic we'd ever seen due to construction. Unfortunately for a car that hadn't been much further ahead of us, they must not have seen the fully stalled traffic and ran their F150 directly into the back of a stopped semi. Driving by it looked like the back of the Semi had flatted the truck all the way back to the rear seat. By the time we drove slowly past it numerous people were running around the vehicle. Later we would find out that the driver some how survived the wreck but was trapped in the vehicle for 2 hours. Unfortunately her passenger, another woman was killed and a 2 year old in the back seat is severely injured.

Once we got through the traffic we arrived at our final destination. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. I had never been to a hard rock and unlike Kelci i'm not a repeat visitor of Sin City so i was pretty excited. Got set up with a players card and got down to some gambling. I had wanted to play craps but the only option was poker and blackjack so i headed to the slot machines. Well 2 hours later i was 70 dollars richer and we headed out of the horribly smoky Casino. After a long 3 hour drive home we were able to call the weekend a success!

Monday was Monday Night Football for the Steelers. So we headed to Applebees to watch the game. Where Cody and I got pretty much wasted off of only 3 pitchers of beer and watched the Steelers pull out yet another close win.

Tuesday I had a pretty bad headache when i woke up but a gallon of water and some ibuprofen fixed that for me. Tuesday after work I had a interview with our marketing dept for a new job that they've created. (which as of fri night I havent heard back on yet) It went i thought extremely well, but they had quite a few applicants, both internal and external so i just have to wait and see

Weds was a lazy day and Thursday, which we had off work due to veterans day, was even lazier, but its what Kelci and I needed.

Somewhere this week i was able to finish a couple of pretty decent books. The first one was Kitchen Confidential - by Anthony Bourdain. Its basically a memoir about coming up in the food industry working in 3 and 4 star restaurants in big cities al l over the world. its kind of portrayed as a tell all of all the horrible things going on behind the scenes at obscenely expensive restaurants. A friend of mine whom i used to work at applebees with lent it to me and while i could relate to some of the smaller things, there was very little nudity, freebasing, and all around shenanigans that are profiled in the book. But overall it was a pretty worthwhile read.

Another book i finished was A Fighters Heart - by Sam Sheridan, it was a borders bargain book find and was very interesting. Its about a Harvard graduate broseph that decides he wants to test himself in the world of fighting. So he found people to train him and found himself in a few fights. Alot of the book is about getting into a fighting state of mind and alot of what I'll take away from the book is basically about how fights are fought in the thousands of hours of training and how once your in the ring its just about already decided. I can use that in regards to my triathlon training.