AZ

We returned to Arizona last week for the first time since we moved. Gosh we sure did miss it! The weather was perfect! The trip wasn't long enough and there's never enough time to see everyone or do everything we had planned to do. One of our main objectives was to check on my house. My tenant lost his wife earlier this summer and he is really struggling. There were some issues with the house that needed addressed so that consumed most of our time. I was disappointed in the condition of my house, yard, and pool, but nobody takes care of your home like you do. It's all fixable and he pays me good rent ON TIME every single month so I shouldn't complain, right?? Here are some more of the highlights:

My dear friend Genella had a baby in July. Here's me and little miss Mia. She's so precious and a little "diva" as her daddy says!!

Of couse we had to hit some of our favorite eating spots! In-N-Out Burger is the bomb!

The other main reason for visiting AZ was for the wedding of one of my former technicians from Walgreens. It was a beautiful day and is was so good to see some of my former co-workers. The pictures are in reverse order, but you get the idea!

They had sparklers at the end of the night which I thought were pretty neat.

Devin was lucky enough to catch the garder. They made him do a dance and put the garder on the girl that caught the bouquet. He was a good sport! It should have been me in that chair! I had the bouquet in my hand and then she came and robbed me of it! I was left with only a few petals in my hand......boo.

My Melissa and I

The bride and groom!

They had an outdoor wedding that was just beautiful!

Genella and I. We stayed with her and her husband Eric and they were great hosts! We miss them. They are awesome friends.

Kansas Wineries

This past Saturday a group of us toured some wineries in the Kansas City area. It definitely wasn't Napa Valley, but we all had a great time learning about Kansas wines. The wines were quite tasty and we all took bottles home to enjoy later.
Our first stop (and probably our favorite) was Bluejacket winery in Eudora. The people were great!

Their grapes were so pretty!

They use black flags to scare the birds away!

Our next stop in Eudora was Davenport winery (probably our least favorite). There's really not much to say about this one. I didn't find their wines tasty at all.

From there we headed up north of the Legends to the Wine Barn. This was a great winery to visit also. They are new, but had lots of wines to try and great snacks!

Our final stop was Holy-Field winery in Basehor.

My favorite things about this stop was their big huge dog on the floor!

I would definitely do this again! It was such a fun day and not many people think about wineries in Kansas!

31

I celebrated my Birthday this past weekend with the help of great friends and family. We had dinner at North and finished the night off at JP Wine Bar. Thanks to everyone for coming and making my night special!

Devin and I

Krista and Eugene
Jillian and Jonathan

Theresa

The whole group!

Krista suprised me with a HUGE cupcake she made!

Make a wish! I'm hoping for a great year!

Cut it out!

My sister scored some free tickets to Stanford & Sons comedy club to see Dave Coulier! My friend Krista joined us, as well as a couple of my sister's friends. It was a fun night of laughter!

Dave was a very funny guy and I like that it was "clean" comedy.......no cussing, vulgarity, etc.

Girls Night Out!

I've been quite absent from my blog. We've had a very uneventful summer.....work, house work, work, house work........boring. I think I made it to the pool once this summer which is very unusual for me! I'm excited for fall........our calendar is filling up with blog-worthy events! Stay tuned! It started last weekend. I've been looking forward to this weekend all summer! My dear friend Krista is getting married and we celebrated with a fun wedding shower and bachelorette party. We started the afternoon off with a nice lunch, opening of gifts, and the ever-so popular toilet paper bride!!!

Much like me Krista is a big fan of wine so we headed to the Cellar Rat in downtown KC for some wine tasting and appetizers. They had a nice spread set up for us!

The bride-to-be and I!!

Cheers to Krista!!

It was fun to taste new wines and pair them with meats and cheeses provided.

You can't have a bachelorette party without a penis pop!!

From there we headed down to the plaza to have dinner at Brio Tuscan Grille......yummm! If you haven't tried it you should!

We finished the evening off by dancing the night away at Power and Light.

Go Krista!!

Crazy girls!

This old guy was the cutest! He looked so familiar to me, but I couldn't figure it out. My good friend Kim reminded me that we have run into him before when we went out in pharmacy school. This guy knows how to have a good time! I can't believe how much he likes to get out and dance! Also, my friend Samantha does hair in a nursing home and he is one of her residents!! Too funny.

Krista gets married in October and I am so thrilled to be standing up there with her. She's a dear friend and we have so many great memories together!

Puppy Update

We recently took a trip to Manhattan to get the dogs groomed and the puppies came along to be with mommy. They did great! They are just over 3 weeks old and are starting to crawl around. They are all so cute and it will be hard to see them go. They are so fun to love on!

Catch up

I've been such a bad blogger! Here's an update of just a few things we've been up to!

Our first big project is complete! The fence is done and it looks great! The dogs are loving the back yard. My cousin Josh and Devin worked their tails off in the rain, snow, sun, late nights......you name it! They did whatever it took to get the job done and it looks great! It's the best on the block!

Next on the list: Landscaping! We started this weekend, and got quite a few plants in the ground, but then the rain came!

Our next adventure was Bella. She was pregnant (not planned!) and decided to deliver a week early. I was at home in Clay Center and I received a frantic call from Devin. He woke up and Bella had part of a puppy's sack hanging out of her. He had no idea how long she was like that and it was clear she was getting uncomfortable. He tried running her around, but nothing would move and she was so big she couldn't push. Not having a vet in KC he made a few calls and found a great vet in Gardner ready to see Bella. After pulling and stretching and a few drugs Bella had 4 pups! Three girls and one boy. Unfortunately the boy got fluid in his lungs and the vet couldn't save him. Bella was put thru a lot and we're glad she didn't have to go thru a C-section. She has been a great mom and the 3 girls are doing great! It's fun to watch the puppies grow.

The last exciting news is that I got a store!! I am no longer floating thank goodness! I don't know how much longer I would have made it. I did not enjoy it at all! I started last week and it is right up the street from my house. It couldn't have worked out better!