My New Friend Again

Since the world of facebook has opened their doors per se, I've been able to get in touch with so many people from my past that I hadn't talked to in years! Most recently, I've been in touch with Lydia (Krause) Crandall who went to high school with me. She just moved to the Queen City about 6 months ago and seriously, she lives minutes away. Facebook got us in touch and finally, after 6 months we met up. It was her birthday on Saturday and she invited us over for a grill out. Brent was still a little buzzed from our morning St. Paddy's Day Breakfast, but after a nap, he was good to go! We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot! I think my abs got their workout for a while. This is Lydia and her birthday cake. Strawberry Cake with Rainbow Icing. She has it every year. It was very good!

She licked every single one of those candles as she pulled them out. And I'm pretty sure we all ate some melted wax with our cake that night.

Demonstrating the seventh grade dance style. I think they're trying to look away, because of course, that'd be more true to seventh grade fashion!

And this is Shawn Chris-Pat. This darn chicken became the focal point of many of our laughs for the night. I would try to explain it to you, but I'd just get looks. So, let's just say that we laughed. A lot.

St. Paddy's Breakfast

Our friend hosts a St. Paddy's Day Breakfast. This year there was a potato bar, waffles, pancakes and all the toppings one could ever think of. I revisted the pancake table often.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Fun night out

Annemarie, Jon, Alysha, Brett, myself and Brent. We're out enjoying a beer as you can see. Jon is playing in a band (well, not at that moment, they were taking a break!) and we went to listen to them. Annemarie is Brent's cousin. Brett is Annemarie's husband and he is the one that turned Brent onto tennis. Jon is Brett's brother and also played tennis with Brent in high school. Alysha had a baby 10 weeks ago...doesn't she look fabulous?!
I remember laughing a lot that night. Never a dull moment with those folks!
aww...the cute newlyweds!

Rock Band Obsession Continuation

this is a video from rock band. so intent. so serious. so...sucking the life out of my husband! Seriously, it's not THAT bad. and everyone has gotten substantially better since this video. Megan and Kevin are now also the proud owners of Rock Band, so they can practice their skills too. Greg, on the other hand, has given up on his vocal skills to actually play in a real band. Traitor. just kidding!

Rock Band Obsession

So Brent is now the proud owner of Rock Band. He was able to purchase it thanks to a gift card to Best Buy from my parents (thanks?!). We hauled the loot up to Lima this past weekend for a fun family evening activity. There were some grudges heard in the crowd initially, but after a few songs, everyone was into it! I was on baby duty, so I didn't get into the mix until after Natalie went to bed. Kevin rocked it on the bass guitar.

You might notice that Brent is playing with a wooden spoon and a plastic spoon. You see, Brent forgot to pack the drumsticks that went with the set and so we had to improvise once we got to Lima. The next morning, I was playing the drums and I was rocking it out so hard that I broke the plastic spoon head right off. I yelped, but then kept right on playing without skipping a beat.

7th Annual Wine Party

So for seven years now, Lauren and I have hosted a "wine and cheese" party. The party has evolved as the years have passed, but we still have a good time each and every year. This year, the party just happened to fall on my (30th!) birthday. So it turned out to be a wine party/birthday party.

Happy Birthday to Me! :)

All the speechie girls together again!

Jen and Bryan Bueter joined us from Columbus. We were so glad that they were able to make arrangements and come down. We enjoy seeing them any chance we get!

Of course, I had to add a picture of Natalie (...and Megan and Kevin)! She's 7 months now and is cute as ever. She is such a delightful child to be around.

Missy, myself and Crystal. Both co-workers, well, sorta. Missy doesn't work for MRDD anymore, but she does work in our building, so we still see her often!

Surprise Christmas

This past Christmas, Brent and I got a little devious and decided to surprise my mom in KC for Christmas. Dad was in on the plan to help smooth things over. I had to make the phone call to mom saying that we were unable to come to KC this year because we couldn't get enough time off. I hung up the phone and I snickered. Little did she know that Brent and I were planning on driving to KC and then staying for 3 days.

We arrived on a Saturday evening. Dad answered the door and called Mom to come too. As she grumbled up the stairs from the basement, she rounded the corner and was completely shocked to see Brent and I standing in the entryway. She shreiked and cried and clapped her hands with glee knowing that she could spend a Christmas with us.

Thanksgiving 2008

Merry Christmas! so it's been a while since i've blogged and i thought it was time to catch up. here are the highlights:

THANKSGIVING 2008

Natalie on Thanksgiving at the Tirral household... she likes to strike a pose. work it girl! she's almost 6 months old in this picture...she's sitting up and scooting around.

and here is the full miller family. i think this is one of the few pictures of the whole family. ever since natalie came, no one wants pictures of mommy and daddy anymore. :)

here's grandma T with two of her grandchildren, natalie and elijah. holidays are definitely more busy than years before as there are more children!

Even Cheaper Gas

A gas update:

I heard of gas in the area being sold for $1.99 a gallon! I however was lucky enough to fill up for $2.08 a gallon. That ain't bad! That ain't bad at all! Keep falling gas prices!

On a side note, I'm relieved to know that my parents have landed safe and sound back on U.S. soil and are now back in their own beds for tonight. Whew. Can't wait to see pictures of their trip to China.

Pro Wedding Pics

We are so in love with our professional wedding pictures. They turned out so well and will look forward to looking at them... a lot! I know I posted recently with the website to view all these pictures, but I couldn't help but post some.

This one is one of my favorites. Kortnee just has this artistic eye that makes beautiful images.

Steph did my make up for the day. We had gone to Sephora earlier in the week to try out some new colors and got a trial done. Steph learned the techniques she needed to transform me to a beautiful bride. She did a fabulous job as I felt like a model.

This one was in the limo on the way to meet Brent for the first time. I was alone in there (besides the photographer) and...I had a moment.

I love this shot because it looks like we rolled in a background! With the perfect clouds and blue sky down to the steamboats in the river, it all looks fake...but it's not! We had a perfect day weather wise. Couldn't have asked for better weather for a wedding day.

I love this one not just for the jumping aspect (because that in itself is a really cool shot), but the fact that Brent is the calm, cool and collected one in the front and everyone behind him is acting out is so Brent. Sounds so mullet like. Ha!

The girls are giving a little 'tude. Well, I am anyway. And I have a waist!

Now this picture looks like it jumped out of a magazine or something. The colors are so perfect and surreal. Another favorite. Actually, I could probably say that about almost all the photos. "Perfect!"

This has our program, our cupcake (which I didn't eat any of...or even saw the cupcake table) and our rings.