Bring on Summer!

I know it's technically still spring but May means that summer is fast approaching. And it's been so nice out lately (besides the off and on rain) that we've had some really good weekends. Two weekends ago, I went out for my friend, Toni's, bachelorette party. I wasn't feeling too good but it was still a fun time. First we hit a winery in Grafton, then some bars in that area and then we met up with the groom (Andy) and his bachelor party at Fast Eddies. It was a beautiful day - even though it was a bit windy.

Jaime, the Pirate!

Me and my Chicken Wing man

Toni, the Bachelorette

Me and Sheila (and Amy in the background)

Kristen, me and Janet

As you can tell from the pictures, I got my hair chopped. It's growing on me. At first, I wasn't too sure if I liked it even though everyone else said they did. But I'm beginning to adjust and even kind of like it. I think it gives me some style and when I look at pictures, it looks better than how it was before.

This past weekend, me, Nathan, Graham, my mom and Josh went to Chicago. We really had a great time. The weather was fabulous and got warmer each day we were there. We walked around the city, had dinner with Nathan's Aunt Ruth and Uncle Carl, went to Milennium Park, walked along the lake front, went to the Planetarium, shopped a little on the Miracle Mile and went to Navy Pier.

Chicago

Millennium Park

Millennium Park - The Bean

Mom and Josh

Me and Graham

Nathan, me and Graham

me, mom and Josh

Nathan and me

me and Graham

Josh, mom, Graham, me and Nathan at Navy Pier

This upcoming weekend is pretty busy for us. We have lunch on Sunday with my dad, stepmom, G-ma and G-pa, Graham's first baseball game of the season and celebratory drinks for my friend, Amanda's, new job (congrats to her!). Sunday we are hosting a Mother's Day BBQ. Should be fun!

Dawn

Pictures - Finally

So it's been quite a while since I posted any pictures on this thing. I finally have some. Here are a few from when some of my grade school friends went out for Amanda and Emily's 32nd bday at the end of January.

Emily, Amanda and me

David and Emily

me and Nathan

Kurt and Danny

Here's a picture from my friend Toni's bridal shower in March. She's getting married in Jamaica next month! Too bad I don't have Toni in any of the pictures. I didn't do a good job this day because I couldn't stay long since I had to get home to study for my final.

Amy and Allison

Amy, Chrissy, Amy and Becky

Here is a picture or two from Chrissy's 32nd bday at Fast Eddies on Feb. 21st. I know I should have posted Feb. pictures before March pictures but oh well!

Better sound the "Dawn Patrol Alarm!" She's in the building!

Tim

Nathan and Kristen

There's Toni!

Beth, Chrissy and me

Friday we went out to Bottlebeck Blues Bar to celebrate my 32nd birthday (which is tomorrow!). It was a good time. Thanks to everyone who came out. I appreciate it. And thanks for the cards and gifts. Here are a few pics from that.

Nathan & me

Janet & Nathan

Kelly & Seth

Chrissy, Kelly, Janet & me

Me, Emily & Amanda

Saturday Nathan was sick so he missed out on my bday lunch with my dad, stepmom and brother. We went to Lewis and Clarks on Main St. in St. Charles. Later I went grocery shopping and clothes shopping. I felt a little guilty about leaving Nathan on the couch all day but he was having sinus issues and there wasn't much I could do to help him. That night we just watched a movie.

Today we went to my brother's house for Easter. We ate breakfast and just hung out. I played Guitar Hero for the first time and it was pretty fun! Then we went to Nathan's parents' house. It was a good Easter. Here are some pictures from today.

Josh in his fancy "Easter Outfit" with Kitty

Addelyn & Nathan

Lexie and Kalei

Chantel with her bday presents (her bday is the day after mine!)

Elaina

Oh and on Monday, me, Nathan, Graham and Josh went to the Cardinals home opener. It was COLD and we lost but it was still a good time. Here are some pictures from that!

Graham and Josh

Nathan, me and Graham

Chrissy, cow, me

Mr. Graham

me and Josh

I think that about does it for now. That should hold you over for a while! Hope everyone had a nice Easter and a good weekend!

Love,
Dawn

Busy/Lazy

So I was a bit of a slacker this weekend and didn't take any pictures during a our busy day on Sat. I apologize for that because I know it's been quite a while since I've posted any visuals! :)

We had a busy/lazy weekend. Friday night me, Nathan and Graham went to dinner at Red Robin and then to the movies to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. I think it was the first movie I have ever seen in 3D if you can believe that. It was good and Graham really enjoyed it. He's been wanting to see if for months!

Saturday we had to wake up early for Graham's baseball fundraiser at Applebees. The kids had to sell tickets ahead of time and then greet, seat, serve and bus the tables just like they worked in the restaurant. Graham liked serving the best. Maybe he will get a job as a server when he's in high school! :) We got home from that at 11:00 am and then left again around 12:00 pm to go to a surprise 60th birthday party for Nathan's Aunt Kathy. I'm not too sure she was all that surprised but it was a nice time. Nathan and I left Graham with my father-in-law at the party and we headed back home to get ready for the next event (Ray and Graham went to a trivia night with the rest of the people from the bday party). We went to dinner at Las Fuentas with a bunch of people for our friend, Jim's, birthday. Then we all headed over to Deavers to hang out. Nathan and I were supposed to go to a bachelor/bachelorette party in Soulard also that night but we never made it there. I think between the rainy weather and our busy day, we'd had enough driving for one day. We were all exhausted by the time we picked up Graham and got home around 1 am.

Our busy day led to Sunday, our lazy day. The three of us stayed in our PJ's all day long! I don't know the last time we've done that. We watched TV, played on the computer and just vegged out. It was nice but I also felt a little guilty. Between the busyness of Sat. and the laziness of Sunday, I never worked out this weekend like I had hoped. And I ate bad so I probably gained some lbs. Have to do better this week!

-Dawn

FINISHED! FINITO! DUNZO!

As you ALL already know, I am officially done with graduate school! Last night was my last class!!! I'm not sure if I am going to walk in the graduation ceremony in May. Probably not. I don't receive my actual diploma until June but I am officially putting Masters of Human Resources Management on my resume now! :) Nathan and Graham surprised me with a nice graduation gift this week - a pink iPod nano! I love it. I wanted a new MP3 player for my bday so it was nice to get it now when I wasn't expecting anything. Nathan already put some music on it for me but I need to add some more. Hopefully I will get time to do that this weekend but we do have a lot going on so we'll see.

Speaking of the weekend, Graham has a baseball fundraiser on Sat. morning at Applebees on the Rock Rd. in St. John. It's a breakfast from 8 - 10 am. We are supposed to sell tickets. We haven't really asked anyone to buy one because it's $10 a person and we think it's kind of ridiculous to pay $40 for some pancakes for a family of four. BUT if anyone IS interested, let me know! (But I'm not holding my breath!) The other bad part is we have to be there at 7:30 to work the darn thing! Graham will be serving people though so that will be interesting to see! haha!

Nathan and Graham are in Macon, MO right now at one of Nathan's friend's land. It's spring break and Nathan is not working this week so it worked out nice. It's a little weird having the house to myself for a few days but it's also kind of nice. I miss them but how often do I get the whole house to myself for a couple of days. They left yesterday and should be back tomorrow. I think they were going to fish, ride four wheelers and just take it easy.

Last weekend we saw the movie, I LOVE YOU, MAN. I highly suggest it. It was the funniest movie I've seen in a long time and I laughed so hard at one part that I cried. We will definitely buy it when it comes out on video. On Sunday, I went to my friend, Toni's, bridal shower. I couldn't stay long since I had to study for my final but it was a nice shower. I hope she got a lot of nice stuff. Later that night, we went to dinner to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday at Mimi's Cafe. That was a good time, as usual.

I'll try to take some pictures again in the near future since I haven't posted any in a while. I'm sure with the nicer weather and no school, we will be doing a lot more activities that will allow me to do that.

Dawn

This ain't your Grandma's sauce

So Nathan and I ordered the Rocco Cookbook a couple months ago. It has normal receipes submitted by family members but it also has these little gold gems - receipes from the great aunts and uncles that have sporatically been passed down. On Sunday, I decided we'd try to make the homemade sauce and meatballs. Everything turned out good but the sauce did not taste like my grandma's. I think we may have put too much garlic. Does anyone know if a clove of garlic is one of the pieces inside the garlic bulb or is it all of the pieces inside the bulb? Nathan helped me with the sauce but he pointed out that I did the meatballs all by myself. Again, they weren't quite as good as my grandma's but they were still pretty tasty. I was happy we finally attempted something from the cookbook.

Besides the good food, we had a pretty nice weekend. We watched a couple of movies and got some stuff accomplished at our house. Nathan worked on Sat. and I finished some homework. We also bought a storm door for the front door. I've wanted to get one of these since I bought the house 3 years ago. It looks great. I also picked up some of the gazillion sticks in our yard.

We were supposed to have Graham this weekend but we switched with his mom so it's just the two of us again. I have a final to study for and Nathan is helping his sister and brother-in-law put a new floor in their kitchen. So, it won't be the most exciting weekend! :)

Dawn

ALMOST FINISHED!

Well, I presented my 3 year strategic plan with my group on Monday for my Capstone class and it went well. I can't wait to see what we got. Yesterday I was home from work and I completed my 10 page paper for my other class. So, I only have to go to two more class periods for each class and I only have one final left to study for. Granted it will be a lot of studying. The teacher gives us 17 essay questions to answer ahead of time. Then 10 of the 17 will be on the final and we have to answer 6 of those 10. But I still have to prepare 17 answers and memorize them. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

As mentioned on my last post, Nathan and I planned on going out on March 28th to celebrate me being done with school. However, we are going to have to cancel that. We switched weekends with Cathy and will have Graham that weekend. Also, our friend, Jim, may be celebrating his bday that night. If so, we will try to get a sitter that night and will celebrate with him.

Other than that, not too much has been going on. We did get our awesome tax refund but half of it is already gone (it went toward the last of our wedding debt!). Hopefully, we can use the rest to finish the basement. We'll see.

Dawn

Nothing New

This past weekend was pretty busy but tame. Friday I did homework and then Nathan and I caught up with our DVR. Saturday I met my school group from about 9 am - 12:30 pm. Then I went to lunch with Kelly and Jennifer. It was nice to see them and catch up. Then Nathan and I went to the mall from about 3 pm - 5:45 pm. Then we went to Graham's 6:15 pm basketball game. Then we went to dinner at Red Robin. Afterwards, he watched TV and I wrote a 4 page paper.
Sunday we chilled until I went to meet my school group at 2 pm. He went to the grocery store. We met my mom and brother for dinner at 5:15 and then went back to my mom's house. That's about it. I can't wait to have a weekend with no school involved. 4 more weeks!

On that note, Nathan and I are planning on going out somewhere on Sat., March 28th. It will be the first weekend after I am finished with school and I won't have a care in the world. I'll send an email but if anyone is interested in going out with us, let us know. It's not really to celebrate me graduating but more just a scheduled date to go out and have some fun.

Dawn