Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Our life lately...

It seems like I have started a lot of my posts with "I haven't updated lately". Ugh. Life is so crazy busy, and I don't even know what I have done. Luckily, I have pictures!! :)

Poor Husband! Travis' allergies are killing him! This year is one of the worst years for allergies (they say). Here is what is getting him! There is so much pollen floating around. This was actually about a week and a half ago, but Travis is still suffering with sneezing fits, stuffy head and puffy eyes. My poor honey. The one good thing is that EVERYTHING is green now. I love the LOOKS of VA in the summer. I hate the humidity, but the trees and all the different shades of green are so beautiful. It really is a beautiful place. :)














I got to see one of my dear friends from SB a couple of weeks ago. Lori came with a group of exchange students and I got to visit with her for a few hours. It was fun to get to see her! :)














For Mother's day weekend, we all (yes, all 4 of us) went to Richmond, VA to explore (Travis had earned 2 free nights at Holiday Inn Express on one of his CG trips and they were getting ready to expire, so we had to use them). It's the state capital, and we want to see everything we can while we're here out east. We went car shopping (but didn't find anything) and regular shopping (there is a huge outdoor mall there, Short Pump Plaza or something like that..very cool), eating (I had my first Reuben sandwich at a cute little deli) and exploring...we went to the Edgar Allen Poe museum, the capital building and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. We wanted to see the Picaso exhibit, but decided it wasn't that important at $20 a person! We did a drive-by to see the Richmond International Speedway where Nascar races happen. Travis is a Formula 1 fan, so this wasn't super thrilling, but cool to see anyway. :) heehee We also walked around on the waterfront, over a river to a little island (Belle Isle) and saw a hawk and some kayakers. Luckily, we had great weather and even saw some squirrels. Oh, we saw a dude with a sign that said "Family killed by ninjas...need $$$ for karate lessons". That was hilarious! On the way home, we stopped in Spotsylvania to get Sonic. It was Travis' first time. :) Then we saw Renee, Syd and Ava coming home from the grocery store! bonus!!!



























So, if you caught that sentence above, we have been car shopping. We need something that we can run around town in that gets better gas mileage, since we're filling up at $4.25 a gallon right now. Plus, Sara will need a car soon, and just like with the Element, we wanted to get something that WE can use, then pass on to her when she leaves the nest. While we were in Richmond, Travis and Sara sat in and played with a Scion xD. We have been looking at Civics and Corollas mostly, but they both really liked that little xD. So, like usual, Travis came home and did ALL KINDS OF research on the little car. Safety ratings, mileage, customer satisfaction.... well, on Saturday, we told the kids we were running to Walmart and Target. They were both just waking up at noon, so they accepted that and we left on our way up to Fairfax to look at cars. ;) We got to the dealer and found 2 xpressos, 1 black and 1 black currant (purple) xDs. Travis saw online that they had a Magnetic Gray Metallic one, so we asked. They had one, but it was at their sister lot. Sooo, we drove the little purple one and decided to have the Gray one brought over and went inside to start with the 4 hour process to buy a car. We are the new proud owners of a 2011 Scion xD. She is precious and fun to drive and SMELLS DELISH! I love new car smell. We are still in the process of finding a name for her. Some options are Ellie, Bear, Chanel, Coco, & Phiphi (pronounced feefee). Here is Sara with the little girl. It reminds me of when we bought Foxy girl, and how happy Nisa was. Silly girls. SPOILED girls. :)































This past Friday night/Saturday morning, Sara and I were at the Relay for Life. We were supposed to stay up all night, but ended up NOT. It was amazing and cool to see the cancer survivors there and their families/loved ones. Stupid cancer. But to see that many people supporting a cure was very nice. $141,419 was raised! :) And we saw Elvis!














I've been painting the inside of the house. I got all the walls and trim downstairs done. There were/are some places I needed to fix since they had been "fixed" by someone in the past, but weren't done right and they drove me crazy. You can't really tell that it's just been painted, but I can tell cuz it's fresh, clean and some of the drips and patches are now GONE! :) I'm happy, and after all, that's what counts, right?? heehee I will work my way upstairs after next week....

We have company coming (so the painting is stopped for now) TOMORROW! :) Our friends, the Arnold's from Sturgeon Bay are coming out to visit/see DC. We are SO excited. Randall, was Travis' chiropractor in SB, and we've known them from church there. They also are bringing their 2 girls. Olivia is friends with my girls, and Emily, who lives in Chicago is 30. We haven't met Emily, but are looking forward to getting to know her. Randall and Mary are incredibly cool people, and I know this weekend will be a total blast! :)

Oh, something I don't think I've posted was a quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago. It was for a friend's new grandson in SB. My friend's daughter was a friend of Anisa's in school there. She's now a Coastie Wife and they have just added a son to their new family. I have a hard time making boy quilts since I love working with pinks and purples and the more GIRLIE colors, but I'm pretty happy with this little quilt. it has frogs, lizards and bugs on it.