Shower & New Truck

Yesterday Alison and I hosted Lisa's baby shower at my house. It was a lot of fun and I think everything went nicely. Lisa made out like a bandit with a car-full of gifts! As always, it was great to see the girls (minus Jenny):In other news, we bought a new truck yesterday and my little Mitsubishi went bye-bye. Jason needed towing capabilities for his new lawn care business. He also got a new mower. All that's left is a trailer and he'll be on his way to entrepreneurship bliss!Anyone in need of lawn care or other outdoor maintenance projects, please give my hubby your business!

It's Finished!!

Well, mostly anyway. Jason stayed home this weekend while I went to the lake (more about that later) and he & Greg cut all the last bricks that needed to be cut. Then tonight Greg, Jason and I swept the sand block (sand that turns to concrete when moistened) into the cracks. Jason used yet another rental power tool - this time a plate compactor, which stamped down all the pavers ensuring they were all securely and evenly in place. Then we swept some more sand, and finally Jason sprayed the patio off to solidify the sand. All that's left is the steps and the landscaping surrounding the patio. It looks so awesome!! Can't wait to go get patio furniture so we can sit back and enjoy it!

So that was Jason's weekend. Mine was much more relaxing. I had a work field trip to Monmouth, IL on Thursday night and Friday. We have a 400-acre research farm in Monmouth and they provide tours showing what technologies we are currently marketing and what is in the pipeline. It is very interesting!We got back to St. Louis at about 5:00 Friday night, and I picked Melissa up for a trip to the lake. It was my annual trip with my family and friends, and this time my friends from San Francisco AND my friends from Chicago were there - it was fun times! Saturday was a perfect day at the lake: got up early and went to the huge outlet mall (110 outlet stores!) while it was overcast outside, piled onto the boats at about noon, right as it got sunny and hot for the day, anchored the boats in a cove, lazed around in the water whilst drinking some adult beverages, at about 4:00 piled back in the boats and headed to a bar for their famous Pain in the Ass frozen drinks, and then headed back to the condos for dinner followed by the left-right-center dice game (bonus: Melissa won $54!). I mean, what more can you ask for on a lake trip? Maybe more than just one day's worth of that, but other than that, I can't think of anything.

My oldest friends in the world - Jules, Laura & Steve:

Neighbors! Melissa & me:

Hangin' out:

The San Franciscans, Laura & Paul:

Jeff & Jenn:

The Chicagoans (2 of 4), Adam & Jules:

The big winnings!

Sunday Jason and I went to the Cardinals game and sat in the Monsanto suite with my coworkers. It was about 100 degrees out, so we were very lucky to be in the air condition. It also happened to be one of the most exciting games of the season! To top it off, a few colleagues from Brazil were there, and though they don't have baseball in Brazil, they made a trip to the mall the day before and were all fully decked-out in Cards gear. It was cute. Plus, they were making it a point to learn the rules of the game and were super-excited when Troy Glaus hit a home run to take the lead and later (after Izzie tried to blow yet another game) when Aaron Miles hit a walk-off grand slam. High fives all around!

Wedding Weekend

Last night my friend Sarah (Alison's sister) got married. The wedding and reception were at the Sheldon Concert Hall, which is a really cool venue! I had fun, and it's always great to catch up with my girls.I made Lisa take a pregnant belly picture - she's getting bigger and bigger every day - September 3 is not too far away!Sadly, poor Sarah had a migraine all day, which caused her to vomit in the bathroom during part of the reception. What a way to spend the happiest day of your life. That poor thing. Hopefully the week of relaxation on her honeymoon will cure the migraine!

Today Melissa, Shea and I took Sloan and my niece Paige to the pool. It was a perfect pool day with not a cloud in the sky and a light breeze.

Long Weekend, But Not Long Enough

We had a nice holiday weekend, but I wish it wasn't Sunday night already. Thursday night we hung out with a bunch of neighbors who were shooting off fireworks. It was a lot of fun, and we met quite a few new neighbors. Friday we hung around at Greg & Melissa's house, played wiffle ball and yard golf, and BBQed. In the evening we went to O'Fallon's Heritage & Freedom Fest (i.e., carnival), which included free concerts by Candlebox and the Gin Blossoms. It was kind of fun to hear the one song from each of those bands that I loved back in the 90s. After the concerts there was a big fireworks display. It would have been a perfect night if they hadn't had about 30 porta-potties for about 25,000 people. The lines were like an hour long!!Saturday we took yet another day off from laboring on the patio and just lazed around. When we finally got moving, we went with Greg & Melissa to Hooters to watch the Cards game, which was a very exciting win against the rival Cubs. After that, we met up with some neighbors and went to McGurk's, which is a bar with a really nice patio. I can't believe how perfect the weather was this weekend!

It certainly is fun that we have good neighbors. There are two couples that we really enjoy hanging out with (in addition to Greg & Mel, of course), and I have a feeling we'll get to know a few others that we met Friday night. I definitely think having fun neighbors will come in handy when we have babies and just hang out at home a lot.

Today we finally bit the bullet and got back to work on the patio. We made some good progress, but we still have to finish off the last part, which involves a wide step leading to the yard. We are certainly going to sleep well tonight!

Here are some funny pictures - sometimes I think these guys might share one brain. And apparently that night their brain was saying "make a stupid face in the picture."