Out with the old, In with the new

And by that I mean...holy crapness! It's March on Tuesday! Where the heck did February go!? Tomorrow is my absolute last Monday off...I am now on a 5-day per week schedule again. Yuck! The one good thing is that I will be done a lot earlier in my days now...no more getting home at 6pm!

We're trying to plan out a trip to visit Ryan's parents in Avondale...we're thinking the end of March we'll travel down there, that way Ryan for sure will be off still (hoping he gets in a full year again this year). The girls and I will have to take a week off, my new boss is going to think I'm a vacation-a-holic...even though I barely take time off which explains the 500 hours of personal time I have! Hopefully he looks at that huh?

Today we made a delicious batch of Sour Cream Enchiladas for lunch...it was delicious! Apparently I thought I had to make a pecan cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert...also delicious...as you'd be able to tell by the half empty pan!

Though Ryan and I have been fairly lazy (with a short break to do dishes, cook, and pick up the house), the girls have been pretty busy...they've painted, read, and played outside most the day! I can't wait for nicer weather to feel more motivated to play outside too!!

Off to watch some CSI and maybe have a piece of cake??

XOXO,

Erinn

AnNoYeD!

This has been my mood this week. I go to the store....I am annoyed. I go to work....I am annoyed. I listen to the radio....I am annoyed. My guess is this is probably my problem...not the worlds (although I'd like to think it's the world...and NOT me). I even stopped to get a coffee today, thinking this would brighten my day. FAIL. After waiting at the window for a few minutes the friendly guy finally peeks his head out to tell me apparently the machine just broke and it'll be just a minute...5 minutes later...I get my coffee. It was NOT worth it. It made me even more annoyed, I wasn't even aware that was possible at this point.

Maybe I need a massage. Eh, that'd probably annoy me too right now. A pedi maybe? A visit to Tina to get my hair done??

Ryan did make a pretty good dinner tonight...he grilled up some Mahi Mahi we got at Trader Joe's...yum! I am not a fish eater, but this was pretty tasty!

I'm trying to come up with creative ideas to cure my case of the crabby's. It could have something to do with all the crappy slush and snow everywhere again too. I'm so sick of my pants getting wet on the bottom! I WANT SPRING!! AND I WANT IT NOW!! (kicking and screaming on floor). That works...right?

Okay...I'm going to start my positive thinking right now...or maybe tomorrow.  I am a major procrastinator, so that'd be fitting. Speaking of procrastinating...I have decided that with Ryan home I need to get working on the stuff we need to get done before he goes back to work (paint in dining, living room...girls rooms finished...our room finished...our closet...pantry finished...I'm sure there's more).

Off to watch Modern Family and get in some laughs before bed! Tomorrow during lunch break we are beading...my new fave thing (of the month..heehee), maybe I'll work on my pink necklace I've been looking forward to starting, or the girls bracelets?

Nitey-nite!

XOXO,

Erinn

Snow dayz!

So as of last night about 9 it hadn't even started snowing yet...the forcast said it would begin Saturday morning and get worse throughout the day building up to a foot + of snow. We went to bed at about 10:30 and there was about a half of a dusting....whoo it was really coming now!! ;) As of this morning it was blown and thrown all over the place...I should have gotten a picture of Miley trying to barrel through it. I've been horrible with my camera lately.

We braved our way down to Coon Rapids for round number two of car shopping. We thought we had decided on Saturday the one we were going to get...not any on our list however, when we started looking we veered our attention to the minivan. Now I have never EVER thought I'd be a minivan driver...but we stopped to look, just out of curiosity. We found one with all the options we wanted sunroof, leather, dvd, power goodies for cheaper than the cars we were looking at and it had sooo much more room! So then that started the debate...I really wanted a car again. But this was so conventional! Road trips would be a breeze! We could haul Miley without worrying about seats getting tore up (something we started thinking about as we were looking at cars)...and this thing was loaded with a better price than the cars we wanted that we'd have to settle, because they didn't have all of the options we wanted. So after going back and forth and test driving we decided on the minivan....however we did decide since we hadn't ever even thought about minivans we better go  home and think it out for a day or two and come back Monday...

While we were researching other minivans online we saw this one at the same Coon Rapids dealer:

Take Me Home!

The one we were looking at before was a Dodge Caravan (not that I cared), but Ryan felt a little better going from a Ford to a Chrysler, than a Ford to a Dodge...silly boy. The Dodge was silver, this one is a cream/white...I love it! I still feel a little weird being the owner of a minivan...grrr! But with all the room and options and for the kids...it is way too nice!

So there you  have it. I'm the proud new owner of a minivan. I fought my way through a blizzard to get a minivan. Yikes!

On to another week!

XOXO,

Erinn

car shopping....

Tomorrow's the day we go car shopping! It's funny cuz Ryan is so, so, so excited...he's been marking favorites (of my new car) and looking day after day on the internet...he LOVES this stuff. I on the other hand, do not. I can't stand salesmen, not all, but the pushy ones, and I hate playing the nicey-nicey fakey-fakey all day...bleh. So hopefully we can find one and do a few errands and get home! The nice thing is that we can trade in my explorer for what we still owe on it and get something with better gas mileage. And our credit union is offering super good financing deals right now...really low rates! I'm kind of excited to be in a car again! Here's some of the cars we are looking at:



Ford Fusion (Ryan's least favorite)

Ford Taurus (Ryan's most favorite)

Ford Edge

So here's our line-up. To be honest...I have no favorites. I like the edge because it's roomy. I would like a sunroof again (because they're AWE-some!). I like the Fusion because they get the best gas mileage. Who knows! I really have no idea what we'll end up with!

I do know I want to wrap it up because I want to make a stop at Trader Joe's and Whole Food's. There's a few things I want to pick up...I really want to find some coconut butter! And a list of other things....that may or may not include Trader Joe's super-duper cheap wine! So that's what we'll be doing tomorrow. Jake will be watching the girls for us, so we'll get to spend the day by ourselves....whoo! We're even going to make a stop at Texas Roadhouse for some delish din-din rolls! Yum!

Well I'll let ya know how it goes!!

XOXO,

Erinn

Spring Fev-ah!

The weather in Minnesota has been LOVELY! Although I am still working my 10 hour days until the end of the month so most of the loveliness is spent indoors, it is still absolutely awesome to see melting snow and actual water running down the streets! We've been trying to soak it in all we can with family walks! Miley also loves our walks! She has been one happy puppy!!

Walk with me! Talk with me!

I'm wanting to make some healthy adjustments in my lifestyle....eating and exercising...I think the spring-thing has me a little more motivated to work-it-out! Hopefully I can get into a routine! I love food and know that I can't cut things out...so my goal is to eat better, less, healthier, etc....but not cut anything out because that's when I fail and give up. But I need to get better at exercising too. I am the worlds worst exerciser! I love walking....that's about it. So I need to find some fun things to do. I have about 900 workout vids...I could easily run after work now that Ryan's home (and above crazy dog would LOVE me if I chose this one with her!)...it's so much easier to think of all the things I should do and not actually do them...then pretty soon it's June and nothings happened! So...get with the program Erinn! :) That's what I'll tell my self!

So off to enjoy me some lovely MN thaw! However...I'm not a naive Minnesotan, it is only February...there's many cold possibilities ahead before summer!! Enjoy it while we can!

XOXO,

Erinn

Vasaloppet adventures!

Yesterday we got up super early and got ready to go to the local consignment auction as Ryan had spotted a little snowmobile there that he was really interested in. We got the girls all bundled up and we headed to our first auction in a LONG time. Of course the snowmobiles were toward the end...it went for higher than what we wanted to pay and higher than what we've seen them for on ebay/ craigslist...especially not knowing any history on it. So from there we had two starving girls so we swung through a drive thru and headed to St Cloud to hit up Target and Sams Club and paruse a few car lots. We are thinking of trading in our Explorer soon for something a little easier on gas. I'm thinking maybe the new Ford Taurus, or Ford Edge, or Ryan really likes the MKS's. We'll see what happens... We did manage to hit up Sam's at sample time...the girls love that...the go from sample to sample, taste-testing all the goodies. If you time it right, you can skip dinner!

The girls were both curious about the Vasaloppet (the big Mora ski race) this year. They had both learned about it at school and had "King Vasa" visit their schools...with the beautiful 45 degree temps when we were leaving the house it was bound to be enjoyable! We were just getting up there when the first finishers of the 58K finished, it was fun to hear all the excitement on little main st, mora. Ages ranged from 10 to 70's...some do it for fun, some do it for competition. There was one couple who were racing that once they finished the race they were going to be married at the end of the finish line...they had a flower arch set up at the end of main st...oh the excitement.. :) The girls liked learning which color bibs were which race...and I think seeing all the different funky ski outfits. Apparently when you ski you can where whatever colors you want...all mixed together...

After watching for awhile and then walking around the racers area for a little bit...we went to have some lunch and then stopped at Ace to pick up a ice chipper and a sled for the girls. Now we are getting a few things done and the girls are cleaning their rooms after we had to drag them in from playing with their new sled... We have a parmesan ranch turkey roast in the crock pot and its startin to smell good! Mileys nose is even starting to go!

Off to get some more things done and relax a bit...maybe watch a movie tonight! Temps are suppose to be in the 40's this week...woohoo!

XOXO,

Erinn

My hubby's gone....again.

Yep...I'm bummed! It's only for 2 day's though for his yearly safety/certification meetings...he'll be back Friday, so that's good! I can't wait to have him back and he honestly just walked out the door!

Ooh, in other news...remember these babies?

ooo-lah-lah!

They are mine! The mail lady delivered them to me today! I was like a giddy school girl when I found out!!

Breaking News Update: Hannah is no longer a Justin Bieber fan...for 3 reasons:
                1. She does not like his hair
                2. He is NOT cute (good girl...no boys are cute...gross!)
                3. He is not a good singer

Brooklyn has finished her "valentimes" for school...it took her about 3 days to write her name and her classmates names on about 25 valentines (she'd get bored with it after awhile)...but we finished them up tonight!

Okay...that's enough completely pointless blogging for the night!

P.S. good news! It's suppose to be like 37 degrees on Saturday! Break out the flip-flops and shorts!

XOXO,

Erinn

We've gone arctic!

Apparently we have been abducted by aliens and moved to the arctic in the middle of the night.... Brrr! It got up to a steamy 7 degrees today in the great MN. Why do I live here again?? Why, oh why?? It's days like this I think...hmmm...I don't like the cold, I don't like the snow, I really don't like the mosquitos...but...for some reason we stay...we're suckers I guess! Maybe someday we'll smarten up and move south where Ryan could actually work all year 'round and we could be millionaires!! Oh wait, that still wouldn't happen...maybe thousandaires...maybe not... What would we do if Ryan worked all year round! We wouldn't have to save half his checks in the summertime...we've gotten so good at it...or we could continue to save and retire at 42...right?? Haha...okay...maybe not.

So today at work I got a call from Ryan to cancel all plans because we were spending our evening in the hospital. Of course by the lack of urgency I figured it was nothing life threatening, Ryan's grandpa wasn't feeling well and they wanted to watch him overnight and into tomorrow so instead of making Ryan's grandma brave the bitter cold we went up with the girls to help grandpa blow some time.

When we first got there he was very upset, the nurses were all bad, he would call them in and ask them why they were so bad. They were all so good and understanding (I think they were happy to have us there to keep him occupied for awhile). We got him settled down enough to take the pill that would help calm him down even more and help his aggitation....pretty soon nurses were coming in and he was telling everyone Ryan was his wife, I was his mom, we were his kids....we, including grandpa, were all able to smile and laugh about it. A nice change from how tense and upset he was at first...I know it's not good to laugh at these things, but in stressful situations I think you need to take what you can from it! We were able to calm him down and get him tucked in...by the time we left he was ready to doze off into la-la land...he was even excited about the menu we helped him pick..(with grandma's help over the phone, just so the food wouldn't come in the morning and he'd hate it all!). Hopefully he'll be able to rest well and recover fast and be back at home with grandma where he is comfortable.

I am so thankful for our health and happiness...there really is so much to be thankful for! Even in some not-so-good situations, it could always be worse!

Have a good night...hopefully you are all bundled up with a nice warm cup of tea!

XOXO,

Erinn

Beads, beads, and more beads...

So I don't know if beading is the new thing everywhere...or just in our little office. But apparently it got huge while I was in Hawaii, and me, having to be in everything...I can't be left out. So some gals from work and I have been planning a date for a week or so to a cute little place in Anoka.

Usually everyone goes to the wellbridge center to do there beading after work, I guess the lady is super reasonable and she lets us come and use all her tools (I really didn't realize it was that technical!).

So we (Katie, Kristel, Beth, and I) planned to meet up at Kristel's in St. Franny (and play with baby Sofie) and head to Anoka to the Bead Garden...holy beads! I have never been so overwhelmed! I think I walked around the store about 18 times and still had absolutely NO direction! I did manage to find a string of beads I want to work around at our next adventure and some cute little charms for some bracelets for the girls...they had a huge table FULL of charms...adorable!

Finally, after we were all able to stop circling the store and get ideas on future goodies we headed over to Acupulco....YUM! Of course we got margaritas and chips and cheese dip right away, and ate very lady like I'm sure (we were starving!). I followed mine up with a chicken chimichanga...mmm, mmm, mmm! That is one thing I do like about that area is all the delicious food choices....I mean our 5 do get old after a while! :)

Now I'm home, trying to warm up...and get some time in with Ryan...he has his training later this week so he'll be headed up to Scott's on Wednesday until Friday (BOO!). I love having him home! I'll miss him!

XOXO,

Erinn

Sunday snowmobile fun!

So Brooke has been actually asking to go for a snowmobile ride lately...to those of you that know Brooklyn, this is AH-mazing! It could have something to do with the fact that she is super-duper competitive with Hannah and her and Ryan have been going quite a bit lately...either way Ryan was super excited she was actually asking!

At first she wanted to ride with me....main reason...I go slow, Ryan goes fast... Then I made the mistake of saying I wanted Ryan to take the snowmobile down to the lake, because I didn't know how to drive it on the road...all of a sudden Brooke wanted to ride with Ryan. Apparently she didn't trust my driving abilities anymore...

Don't ya just wanna pinch those cheekers??

And their off!

Hannah and I kept ourselves occupied with the sled...

And their back!

Oh, Miley wanted some sled action too!



My turn to bring Brooke for a ride...



Now me with Hannah....

Are these what you call puppy dog eyes?

Ryan starting after Hannah just couldn't do it...

Now she's ready to ride!

Guess dad better go too...

Brooke taking Mi for a walk...

Ryan taking both girls back to the house...

Close-up of the full load...

It was a great afternoon! Brooke decided she loves snowmobiling! Ryan's lovin it that both his girls love to ride!

Now we are sitting down to a relaxing evening of writing up Valentines, Munchin on food, and....oh yeah....FOOTBALL!!

GO STEELERS!! PACK'S ARE POO!

XOXO,

Erinn

Tax time = ??

Finished our taxes today...I always do our own, I mean, I went to school for Accounting and my job doesn't utilize it so I should be able to do our own taxes right?? It gets a little tricky since Ryan itemizes due to all his work expenses and mileage, and I had my little stint with Tupperware last year so I had to work through all the income/expenses of that... but I made it! We are just waiting on one more slip from a lady Ryan rented an apartment from in Paynesville last year so that we can add in that, then we are done! Yippee!

We can't submit it until after the 14th...apparently the IRS isn't taken itemized taxes until the 14th due to the updates they are doing on their systems.

Now the big question...what to do with all that money?? Ha! Just kidding...we won't be rolling in the dough! But we will be able to get a few things I've been wanting (like maybe boots, bag, and jacket??)...or maybe a few things for the house huh?

Enough tax talk...

Ryan and Hannah went snowmobiling today, they went on quite a ride and were able to put on some miles. Hannah's even been taking control while they go on the lake...Ryan says she's getting pretty good! She must have had fun...she looked a little rough when they got back...

How's my hair?

Soon hopefully we'll have another one so we can all go out together. Brooklyn refuses to go with Ryan...she says he goes too fast... My top speed is about 13mph...so I think she's good with me! Her and I are gonna go out around the lake tomorrow before the game. Brooke's been terrified of the snowmobile up until now, but Ryan talked her into going around the lake with me to see if she likes it...we'll see!

Oh, and Ryan found a 120 (child size for those of you who do not know snowmobile language like me) at an auction next Saturday...he's hoping it'll go for a reasonable amount...these things are crazy popular, and go for crazy amounts of money...they don't depreciate! I suppose they don't get the miles put on them like the big ones, but I'm kind of hoping we can get a deal on it...if nothing else, enjoy a nice auction?

Brooke and I went to Tangled while they were riding today....super cute movie!! I love it! I've been wanting to see it forever but it's never worked out... Can't wait for it to come out on DVD!

Talk to you later...on to some movie and snuggle time with Ryan!

XOXO,

Erinn

dinner and a movie!

Finally Friday! Woo! About stinking time! I realized today at work that by the end of the day I had 50 hours of work in this week. Wowzer! Next week's 40 should be a cake walk right?

So tonight we are doing dinner and a movie night. For dinner I picked up Subway on the way home...Subway apparently had a busy night (or some kids who could not watch the bread oven properly) as they only had wheat and honey oat for bread choices. Fine for me, however, it forced Ryan to be a little more creative in his normal "white only" bread choices. I got my usual...turkey and ham w/cheddar, tomatoes, cucumbers, extra pickles, little bit of mayo...yummo!

Oh, by the way, Subway now has raspberry cheesecake cookies....delish. I had to try them. Subway told me I had to...literally...they had a sign!

Now for our movie....I'm all about a relaxing night after this week! Super excited to sleep in tomorrow also!

Update on my wishlist, Ryan did ask where is steak was...good sign??

Nite all!

XOXO,

Erinn

boots, bags, and jackets....



So while Ryan was catching up on some of his shows on TV tonight, I was parusing the internet for a few "personal interests".... I'm still deciding if they are really needs, or just really bad wants... Alright, alright...I know they are wants...I'm really just deciding if I want them that bad..

Item number one on my list:



Ugg Black/Metallic Cardy boots

These make my heart flutter! I've wanted these puppies for a long time, however now that I can't wear my flip-flops anymore...my feet will only settle with these...(think Ryan will buy that?)

Item number two:



My true love!

Item number three:

Warm and toasty!

I love the color, the look, the feel of this jacket! It'd be perfect for the in-between weather that I know is on it's way! I'm trying to decide how to sneak these through to Ryan...Maybe a nice steak dinner is in order!



XOXO,

Erinn

Erinn....Are you still there?

That's what I feel like lately! Ever since the new year we have been run, run, run! First getting ready for our vacation (busy, busy)...now since we are back from our vacation it seems as though we are trying to get back in our regular routine. Plus all the "catch up" stuff. At work my life is a mess right now! I have work piled to the ceilings, I've decided that going on vacation is a punishment to myself as far as work goes! Oh, and we have a new boss now who apparently decided we cannot work 4 10-hr days anymore...back to 5 days a week, down with office morale!

On a good note our vacation was wonderful!! We started off with some plane "malfunctions", while leaving MSP on our way to Chicago, Ryan and I decided it would be fun to listen to the pilot channel on the radio....We both pulled out our headphones and tuned in, as we are sitting tarmack for an unusual amount of time all of a sudden we hear over the radio our pilot call to the controllers that he's going to head back due to maintenance issues (this was the end of my listening the radio). Shortly after that the pilot came over the loud speaker to announce our plane had a hard start and they wanted to bring it back to have the mechanics take a look before we were in the air....great! So we sat there for way too long, Ryan and I impatiently watched our watches as we had our Honolulu plane in Chicago to catch....finally we were able to take off (after his announcement that the engine should be fine)...when we landed in Chicago we looked at the screen right away to find out where our gate was...all the way across the airport of course, and our plane was boarding! We ran the whole way (originally we were suppose to have all this time to get a sandwich, go potty, take our time!) But no...we were just like Home Alone! So we ended up having to buy an airplane sandwich....we split it a $9 piece of turkey between 2 pcs of wheat bread... but we made it at least, and we arrived in Honolulu and it was beautiful! 80 and beautiful!!
We had heard the weather the week before was unusually rainy, so we were a little bit skeptical...but we honestly had about 3 sprinkles the whole time, it was perfect!

Highlights:
Snorkeling (seeing a sea turtle!)
Luau (food and hula dancing, and boys in tiny towels)
Weather, Smells, Sandals!!
I'm tan (it may only be for another week, but hey, I'll take it!)
Chocolate Hurricane...worth the trip!
Lava Flow...yum!

About the tan thing...I'm actually brainstorming ways to keep my tan. It makes me feel so summery!! The beach was awesome! I've never swam in the ocean before...I was shocked how salty the water really is, and how you really just float, I mean I cannot swim at all...but I was all over that ocean (at least the waikiki beach part...)

I promise I will post some more pics...but here are a few at least!

Here fishy, fishy, fishy....

The sunset from our balcony.....wonderful!

Ryan and I at the USS Missouri Battleship

Can we go back now!? Please? It makes me so excited for our next vacation! I want to start planning it now! I better get caught up from this one first though...