Congrats to Nicole and Josh!

So much fun last weekend getting to celebrate my dear friend Nicole's marriage to Josh!  I couldn't be happier for her and the wedding was lovely! The reception was a blast and I loved getting to see my Valley girls! These ladies are the best and I miss them all so much!

Congrats you love birds! 

Xoxo ~ Kellie

Happy birthday to my 2 favorite people!

A day late a dollar short on this one but happy late birthday to my wonderful hubby!  We celebrated by having the neighbors over for ice cream cake.  I know.  Lame.  But when you turn 33 on a Tuesday it's not that big of a deal.  I know this first hand since I just turned 33 on a Tuesday in May.  Anyway, Happy Birthday Wade!  Love you!

And today is my lil peanut's 2nd birthday!  Happy birthday, Charlie!  I can't believe she's 2 already!  Time flies when you're having fun so we've obviously been having a blast b/c it feels like I just had her yesterday!  Ah!

We celebrated a little bit the other weekend down in Des Moines w/ caterpillar cupcakes and friends.  Then this last weekend she had her big hurrah at home w/ lots of friends and family here to celebrate.  She had a blast and got even more spoiled than she already is.  Although I didn't know that was possible.  Ha!

So happy birthday to the 2 most important people in my life!  I love you both so, so much!

Xoxo~
Kel/Mama

Fun Summertime Outings!

Charlie and I had a very busy weekend!  While Wade was off riding in the MS150 she and I kept ourselves entertained!  Luckily we had great, but hot weather! 

We started out the weekend Friday morning at the zoo with the Muellers.  Charlie really seemed to enjoy it a lot this time around.  Although she still hates goats for some reason and wouldn't even let me attempt to bring her into the cow barn.  She screamed bloody murder!  But she LOVED the aquarium and all the monkeys.  And Greyson and her are just too cute together!

Turtles!

Saturday we packed up a picnic lunch and headed to Lake Calhoun beach to hang out in the gorgeous weather w/ the Mohs and Muellers (minus Travis who was riding w/ Wade).  It was perfect weather for the beach!  Charlie only got into the water twice and that was because I picked her up and made her try it out.  Each time she'd say "no, no, no" over and over and walk right back out of the water.  Oh well, maybe next time.  She still enjoyed herself digging in the sand and playing w/ sticks (what is it w/ sticks? Those and rocks are the worlds coolest things according to Charlie!).

Beach babe

Charlie & Greyson

After the beach Charlie was beat and so we headed home for a nap and then went to a nearby park once she woke up.  It was a busy and fun day!

What a ham!

Sunday we kept things around home.  It was SUPER hot and windy out and the wind did not cool you down.  It just made it feel like you were getting blasted by a heater.  So we went to Old Navy and had some lunch and then played out back waiting for Wade to get home from the ride.  We started out w/ bubbles which she loves but they didn't last long.  Charlie has been enthralled by this dirt patch we have in our back yard for quite some time now and once again she ventured towards it to play.  So I coated her in sunscreen and a hat and diaper and nothing else.  It was so hot and I knew she was going to get super dirty so why cause myself the extra laundry?  She dug right into the dirt and next thing you know she is COATED.  Wade came home and after laughing at her appearance we set up a sprinkler that she walked through a bit before finally bringing her in and cleaning her up for dinner.  She had a blast in that dirt.  Who'd have thought?  It's basically like a small sandbox so it seems Wade will have to look into building her one soon b/c we're eventually going to seed the dirt patch.

BUBBLES!!!!

WOW!!!  Cool!!!

My little dirt ball!

Her new favorite activity: diving over the side of the couch. We have to be ready to catch her!

Then we went to dinner at Roat Osha w/ Bob, Amy and Steve (some other friends who completed the 150 mile bike ride with Wade).  A great way to end the weekend: superb Thai food and tasty drinks.  No room for complaints here!

Anyone else do anything fun over the weekend?  Gotta love summer time!

Cheers~
Kel

Want to help a mutha out?

I'm participating in the MS Walk again this year.  This is a cause very near and dear to my heart.  A very close family friend, Katie, was diagnosed with MS at the young age of 28.  Thankfully she is one of the lucky ones and has found a drug combination that is working wonders for her!  Until she started these new drugs she had blindness is her eyes and her right leg was paralyzed.  She no longer takes walking or eyesight for granted!  Could you imagine having to go through this all at such a young age?!?!  The MS Society is to thank for her now being symptom free because due to their fundraising the world is getting closer to finding a cure for MS.  What a great moment that will be!

Charlie & Wade at last years MS Walk

Kara & I w/ our Arbor Mist drinks enjoying the walk!

So I ask you all, if you have a spare $1, please click the link below and donate.  The MS Society is doing wonderful things to put an end to MS and you can be a part of it.  Plus, it's tax deductible!  Who doesn't like that?!?!  :)  Thanks so much in advance!  I couldn't do this without you!

Cheers!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/MNMWalkEvents?px=3047773&pg=personal&fr_id=17886

Zoo play date

Watching the sea otters w/ Daddy

The other weekend we made a date w/ the Mueller's to hit up the zoo.  The weather has been so nice we thought it would be a fun little weekend play date!  We met there at 3:15 only to find out the zoo closes at 4:00!  Oops!  But after buying season passes (the entrance fee to the zoo is ridic!) we got to quickly enjoy one full portion of the zoo.  Charlie seemed to really like the otters and the fish.  She has an aquarium at her daycare that she loves so a giant tank full of big salmon was really cool to her!  :)

Wow!  That's a big aquarium!

Looking at the "kitty cat" (aka: Leopard)

After the 45 minutes we had at the zoo the Mueller's were nice enough to invite us back over to their house for some chicken fajitas (which were AWESOME) and some more play time for the kiddos.  Charlie and Greyson seemed to enjoy each other's company and played really well together.  They both loved the bubbles and both were saying "bubble, bubble" over and over.  They really are cute together!  And Greyson put the Puma pimping moves on Charlie. 

Check out Greyson's smooth moves!

Pushing toys all over the place

In awe of the bubbles

Thanks Mueller's for the fun play date!  We'll have to do it again soon (especially since we splurged on the season passes at the zoo!) and next time we'll host the dinner!

~Kel

Mexico!!!

Okay, I'm finally getting around to the recap of Mexico!  This is going to be a bit long so I don't plan on editing this post, I'll probably just type it up and hit publish.  We stayed at the Riu Palace Riviera Maya (which deceivingly is actually in Playa Del Carmen).  It was a great location!  Very close to Playa, right on the beach and close to the ferry that takes you to Cozumel!  The resort itself is an all inclusive which was great.  The food was hit or miss at the buffets for breakfast/lunch but the dinners were always superb in my opinion. 

The swim up bar is the best for obvious reasons.  You're in the water AND drinking!  :) 

The bartenders were always nice and prompt and would make you ANYTHING you asked for.  We drank countless amounts of pina coladas, miami vices, mudslides, margaritas, etc.  And they would whip up their own concoctions once you got bored of the above!  I think I lived the entire vacation in a constant haze of a buzz.  :)

We flew out there Sunday, March 18th, took a cab ride to the resort (about a 45 min drive from the Cancun airport) and immediately hit the beach.  Kyle lost his sunglasses 2 seconds after entering the ocean.  The waves were intense and I'm not sure we were prepared for that but we were drunk from our flight and van ride (the drivers will stop at the gas station and let you pick up beer if you ask and we totally asked) so we didn't care and jumped right in!

That night we had dinner at the resort's Japanese restaurant.  The sushi was just so-so but the shrimp tempura and chicken teriyaki I had was wonderful!  We ended up calling it an early night since it started raining and we were all a bit bushed from our flights in.

Monday was beach/pool day!  The bars don't open until 10:00 am (gasp!) so the ladies lounged around on the beach soaking up the scenery and reading as the boys waded in the ocean.  Once 10:00 came we hit the pool bar!  We were in there the ENTIRE day.  Water logged, drunk and pruney, we eventually got out to clean up for dinner.  We ate at the resort's Brazilian steakhouse that night.  The best way to explain this place is to compare it to Fogo De Chow.  Endless meats on sticks coming at you (that's what she said).  Again, very tasty!  We enjoyed some of the resort's night time entertainment (80's night!) and went to bed fairly early again that night.  We were exhausted since we'd been drinking since 10 am and, who are we kidding, we aren't kids anymore.  Day drinking is great but it rarely leads to all night drinking anymore!  :)

Tuesday Wade and I met up with our friends, Bob and Amy, who just happened to be staying at a resort down the beach from us at the same time.  We took the ferry over to Cozumel and rented mopeds for the day!  SO fun!  Bob and Amy are Cozumel veterans and knew all the good places to stop so we circled the island, which is fairly small, only 9 miles by 12 miles, and made several pit stops. 

Cozumel

Rasta bar

The best place by far was the Rasta Bar.  The view from there was unbelievable, the drinks the tastiest and the fish tacos were the best I'd had.  We stayed there for quite a while before heading off to a couple more stops. 

The scooter gang

By the end of our loop I was feeling pretty dang good (they do not hold back on the drinks they make on the island!) and I got off our moped only to stagger backwards and fall into Bob and Amy's.  Um, yeah, ow.  Mega burn from the pipe is now on the back of my right calf.  Hurts like hell.  But, I was in Mexico and wasn't feeling the pain at that point so oh well! 

We finally made it back to our resort but not in time to join the rest of our group for dinner so Wade and I just hit up the buffet.  I should mention the guacamole and pico here were un-freaking-believable!  I think I ate my weight in that alone.  Could be the reason I came back 2-3 pounds heavier.  Well, that combined w/ a massive amount of drinking.  Ha!

This evening we decided to take a walk down to one of the other Riu resorts in the area, since we had access to all of them with our wrist bands, and go to their disco-tech.  We watched a bit of their evening entertainment before entering the club and then wore out our dancing shoes!  So fun!  We finally made it back to our resort around 2:00 am so we proved we weren't always lame early nighters!

That's a lot of alcohol.

Wednesday we decided to walk into Playa to do some shopping and eat lunch.  Of course being the typical tourists we ate at Senor Frogs.  However, only because we got a coupon for buy 1 round of drinks, get your 2nd round free!  This would be the end of me!  We ordered our drinks and were surprised to see they ended up being yards!  I had ordered a sex on the beach so by the time we started in on the 2nd one I was toast.  We walked the beach back to our resort where I ended up taking a much needed siesta.  One could say I passed out, however I like to say I fell asleep for a bit. 

Dinner Wednesday night was at the resort's steakhouse and we all ordered their surf and turf.  The turf was wonderful however my surf was a bit chewy.  Although everyone else's seemed to be good.  We ordered champagne to toast our last night there and the wait staff was very nice to promptly bring it out.  We chugged that down and then hit the entertainment area for the night which just happened to be a compilation of Michael Jackson songs.  AWESOME.  :)  We danced and drank and drank and danced.  So. Much. Fun.

The whole gang

Ang, Kyle, Andrea and Matt left early the next morning.  Luckily Wade and I's flight was later in the afternoon so we got to sleep in a bit b/c for the first time of the whole trip I was hung over.  We had laughed earlier that we didn't think it was possible to be hung over in Mexico since we were all waking up fine, however I proved that wrong on the last day!  I think it just meant it was time to head home.  I missed my little peanut and was so anxious to see her!

Modeling her new Mexican shirt!

My parents were nice enough to come up to our house to watch her for our entire trip and my dad picked us up from the airport while my mom kept Charlie up so she could see us when we got home.  Her face when she first saw me was priceless!  I loved it!  A complete look of surprise/shock/happiness!  She squealed and ran over to me and then followed me around the rest of the night before she finally went to bed.  I missed that girl so freaking much!  Mexico was/is awesome but nothing compares to my little peanut!

But we did decide that an annual (or at least every other year) trip is needed.  It doesn't always need to be Mexico, but it does need to be somewhere warm where the drinks are readily available.  Those are my only 2 requirements.  I'm easy like that.

Sorry for the long winded recap!  I want to be able to look back on this trip and remember it since so much of it is hazy from constant alcohol consumption.   It was so much freaking fun.  I also decided we have some of the greatest friends ever.  I love you bitches.  :)  xoxo

Kel