If you haven't already seen this...

This little boy is too cute...especially when he says: Wedgie Wayne, shouts Addai, gives correct pronounciation of Pierre Garcon, Wawas Clark, Peydon, etc...You'll get a kick out of it! Just click on the link below!

Go Colts!

Indianapolis Colts Roster...stated by a 3 year old!

Here she is...

The most precious baby ever! She is absolutely perfect.

Picture Update!

The cute buffet where breakfast was

Walking in the snow!

Different night, more snow!

Morning of...snow!

Jeep covered in snow...24 inches!!

Skiing at Purgatory!

Kari & I after we made our 90 minute trip down the hill. Shes running a franchise of our company up in Detroit, MI and was there for training as well!

Cheese! Behind me there was some serious partying going on-never though it would be like that!

Pretty scenery

My sister at the baby shower I threw on Sunday! She's due Thursday!! YIkes

Heading Home Today

I'm sitting at breakfast at the B&B I stayed at all week hoping that my flight goes out today. We had more snow here last night-on top of the rest we've had each day/night I've been here! It's absolutely beautiful when it snows here...the scenery makes it that way. I'll post some pictures when I get home.

Yesterday my flight was supposed to be out at 9:50 am Mtn time...After driving all the way to the airport my flight (45 minutes) my flight was delayed and was 'hopefully' going out at 11:30 am. But, the lady informed me that the flight that was headed to Denver and then here was rerouted to Colorado Springs because of fog & that they would have to get the plane to Denver to drop of their passengers then head to Durango. Through my decision making process I decided to just reschedule for this morning. Two reasons why: 1. The flight was 'hopefully' going out at 11:30 in which case I would miss my connecting flight in Denver, but eventually get to Indy around 8 pm. and 2. It was snowing cats and dogs and I knew it wasn't going to stop just by the way it was coming down.

Instead of flying home last night we went skiiing at Pergatory Mountain! It was my first skiiing experience EVER! I was a little nervous and scared and excited at the same time, but we didnt have any gear. We gathered all our suitcases together and mixed and matched layers upon layers to be fit for cold weather for a while. We fell short a pair of gloves, ski goggles, and hats. The people at the front desk of our hotel were kind enough to loan us their gear since they were working! So it all worked out!

Up the mountain we went-arrived around 12 which by then the locals had been skiiing since 9 am. Kari (from Michigan and a ski-goer up there) gave me some pointers then we headed up the lift. This particular lift everyone was telling us was the easy trails happened to go to the top of the mountain!! I was thinking in the back of my head how long it took us to get up there and how long it was going to take us to get back down!! 1 hour and 45 minutes later we reached the bottom of this snow packed mountain. Did I mention lots of steep hills that we had to side step down-Kari had never seen anything like it and later determined that skiiing in MI was a lot easier than in CO. The part that was more difficult was the 'powder' everyone talked about or loose snow! It was supposed to be so cool, but to a first-timer it was evil! We would fall in the powder waist deep and have to dig our skis and ourselves out of the mess!

She said I was a natural and that I caught on pretty quick (dont know if she was stroking my ego or not!?). But I only fell maybe 7 times the whole way down and some were because I wanted to steer away from other beginners who were having the same troubles! We ate lunch and went back out where we actually found the 'bunny hills'!! After several runs down them I decided I was a pro at the bunny hill based on my experience at the huge mtn.

As I sit here at breakfast I was talking to two of the girls who work here (who went out skiing yesterday) and they couldnt believe I was out on the big mtn with all the powder-they said that it was a 'difficult' day for them too! I feel proud like I accomplished something, even though at times I felt like a morbidly obese person trapped in the snow who couldnt get up to save their life! Its challenging to get up once you fall, but luckily that didnt happen to much!

Its a great place to ski if you're looking for an adventure and only cost me $59 for the day for rentals and lift tickets! Pergatory Mountain or Durango Mountain Resort is what its called. After all that I think Jake wants to take a chance on the mountain too! Maybe our next vacation spot? Who knows!

Leland House, Durango, CO

The Rochester Hotel-across the street from the Leland House (where I'm staying)

The bikes that are available to ride...too bad theres a ton of snow on the ground! They even have a basket!

The 'what I call mountains' next to the hotel...but I was informed by my driver last night that they are just hills, and that I havent seen mountains yet! From a Hoosier...those are mountains!

Another view of the mountains...the entrance to the Leland House was just cut off here on the right where the tree is cut off.

The Leland House

Living area

Awesome shampoo/conditioner/bath wash in shower!

My nice comfy bed

Another view of the living room, awesome gas fireplace that I have cranked up since its 'free' and since Jake isnt here telling me hes sweating!

Durango...here I come!

I'm sitting in the airport waiting on my departing flight to Durango, CO! I'll be training out there on Wednesday and Thursday for work which means all expenses paid. I'm excited to check out Colorado for a few days. Its snowing and should be snowing the whole trip with temps in the 30's-not far from temps here in Indy. I'll be staying at a Bed and Breakfast-one that our company frequents on trips out west. I guess there are good things when you have a boss who likes nice/different experiences! Our view is of the mountains I'm told, but in a day or two I'll post pictures of how things went.

I am a bit nervous to be flying by myself as it's the first time I've ever flown by myself before. If Jake wrote on here he would be laughing hard at that (in a good way) because he knows how I am when we hit a little turbulance! Did I mention we are flying into Denver for my connecting flight...last time we flew in there I almost had a heart attack! And, one of my patients said to me last night, "Oh yeah dont read (something that tells about birds and flying) today because this time of the year there have/are alot more bird strikings happneing!!! Yikes! She didnt have to tell me that.

Oh well, I feel very well taken care of in His hands...you should be excited for pictures to come! & if you get bored-call Jake he'll be lonely with out me, but he sleeps from 8am to 5-6 pm usually-so dont interupt that!

Its a Colts Saturday

This afternoon I made chili and we just finished up with dinner with Jakes mom and dad. Waiting for Bean & Courtney and baby Griffin, Jessica & Zane, and Zack to watch the Colts tonight...Bean dip, brownies and other appetizers too! Should be a great night...GO HORSE!

P.S. Ellen & Ryan and my brother and his girlfriend are enjoying the game first hand-you guys stink!

Keep your blog pictures from being stolen!

Check out what happened to a bloggers uploaded photos of her family on this post from Extraordinary Mommy! Who would've thought that would happen & someone would see it?! If you want to fix your photos to keep them from being used on signs in Prague..visit this blog (sneaky momma) for details for resizing the images so they can not be copied and used as posters!

Round #2: House Hunting

This morning we went out on our second trip house hunting and it was a little bit better than the first time...in other words, no Pilsbury Doughboy (Whoo hoo!). We looked at mostly newer homes and one built in the 70's.

• The 70's home was nice, had a large fenced back yard with screened in porch, BUT...It had a very, very, very small kitchen with white cabinets and off white/white/cream appliances (not so attractive). It had a basement, which was appealing, but in the end it would have needed a lot of work-after seeing what it looked like! The only thing I really liked was the master bathroom vanity/sink/cabinet thingy they had replaced...that's too bad!
• We really liked one of the first houses we saw-cute ranch built in 2006, 3 bd 2ba. It was very nicely 'staged' unlike our first round out house hunting which definately made our interests peak a lot, but the master bedrm was HUGE and the master bath was soo tiny! We couldnt get 2 people in there if we wanted to-and I dont want to be doing the whole-spare-bathroom-getting-ready-in-the-morning-type-thing when we can afford a home! So, we figured we'd keep looking.
• The very next 2 houses were in that same neighborhood (which is close to the bike trails-a plus) were so unlike that first one it was ridiculous..sure tells a story of the homeowners. One of them was definately a grandma -we could tell by the smell & light pink curtains and the other had kids that were not easy on the carpet which would have to be completely replaced. Oh yeah, and the 30 gallons of Kilz that we would have to put on the red, orange, and yellow walls in the living/kitchen area and the bright pink/royal blue/yellow walls in the little girls room. Needless to say they had a mural too-a beach scene that seemed like a pain to get off! Next house please...
• After looking at several more, we found one that we are particularly interested in more! It has 4 bedrooms, a den, 2 1/2 bath and is 2300ish sq ft (a huge house for 2 people), but is listed at a nice price. It backs up to a corn/whatever field so that means privacy/resale is good. They have a nice deck on the back that isnt just a 10 x 10 platform like some of the other 'decks' out there! From the garage you enter into the laundry room & then the kitchen, which our realitor explained to us is a huge bonus-because how many times do you carry groceries in your house clear in to the kitchen...we had never thought about that before. Nice non oak cabinets with lots of them, wood fireplace, gigantic master and master bath with 2 sinks and a huge master closet-the list of positives could go on and on. The only thing we were trying to figure out is if the house is cheaply built. For the price and sq. ft. we arent sure. It's a KB home and we havent really heard much about it-want to make sure its not a CP Morgan home or close to it! If you know anything about KB homes, please let us know-if we dont hear anything we may seriously consider becuase they are PURDUE grads too! Meant to be?? I dont know :)

Much better this time I think! Not as frustrating, but there arent many homes in Plainfield that fit our budget so we are sort of looking hard to find a good buy and possibly squeeze in for the tax credit! If you have any advice...feel free to provide & comment!

A Typical Monday

Nothing new here, just a typical Monday night. Jake got home this morning around 7 am and went straight to bed while I was still sleeping. I stumbled out of bed around 9:35 and went straight to doing my morning routine-cleaning a little, shower, getting ready for work, you know checking facebook, the blog, email, etc. Packing up for work and heading out for work at 12:30. I just got home from work-we had a great clinic tonight, full for the first time in a long time because of the holidays! I started a new class in Carmel too. Its always exciting to see the new class come in excited to lose weight :) After a long night, Christina (my co-worker) and I drove home and discussed all the fun & exciting things that happened throughout the night. One of my new patients was talking to an older patient & the new patient ended up saying that she thought I was a bit sturn! LOL I love it...I'm not your best friend people I'm your health coach, so if you are doing something that is getting in the way of your health and weight goals then I'm going to say something to you!

Anyway, I'm home in my pajamas getting ready to watch part of the Bachelor before I read and go to bed. Jake has been at work since 9pm and I'll see/feel him get in bed in the morning. And the cycle repeats tomorrow! That's a pretty typical Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday for us.

Round #1: House Hunting

Yesterday evening we took our first trip out house hunting with our Realitor. Needless to say after visiting 8 houses we learned ALOT!

I want to preface the rest of this blog post by saying that we are avid HGTV people and love to watch shows like House Hunters, Get It Sold, My House is Worth What?, First Time Home Buyers, and any other buying/selling house show on that channel.

We are upgraded 'gu-rus' for Goodwill prices kind of people. There were 2 huge things that stuck out in my mind from our trip out: 1) When we went to some of the houses the only thing in my head was...'this is what our money can buy us?' (sadly). Even though the housing market is apparently good for buyers, it is not great for buyers! 2) House hunting is NOT as much fun as everyone leads on to believe!! (see huge thing #1). Now, if we had $300,000 it would be ALOT of fun in this area!

The first two homes that we toured were older 2 story homes built in the early 90's, which our realitor said were better built that the 'mass produced homes' today. That statement might have been true, but unlike us, the sellers had not watched one episode of Get It Sold! Let me explain. . .

We called on a for sale by owner house on Friday and set up a time on Saturday morning to see it-the seller requested not to bring our realitor (something about fees, etc) so we went and didnt bring our realitor... which ended up being OK. Its a huge sign that the house you are looking at isnt the one you want to buy when you walk in the front door and it smells like smoke..not cigarette smoke! I think he was trying to relax before we got there.

-House #1: nice layout, but the kitchen was too small, there was too much furniture (chunky furniture) in the living room which made it seem entirely too small, they decided not to paint the mint green walls and beat up scratched white walls. The master was apart of the master bathroom & there were no overhead lights (which apparently is a common thing in houses, not the one we will buy, but the ones we looked at). Ok, decent I give it a 5 for functionality. NEXT!

-House #2: nice sitting/formal living area right as you walk in, but was cluttered with 2 computer desks and a bunch of junk, small living room with, again, over sized furniture, horrible paint colors..and wait for it...THE PILSBURY DOUGHBOY muraled on the kitchen wall!!! What? You have to be kidding me, did no one tell you that neutral was a good way to go? Nope..the dining room was apple red with the most hidious* furniture ever & did I mention 3 types of hardwood/laminate/etc floors throughout the house and a very specificly built master bath (which from my HGTV experience) was pretty costly for the horribly digusting taste they put in it. Along with many other things...NEXT!

The rest of the houses were new or newer, we're talking past 3 years built. I would say 5/8 had kitchens that are smaller than our apartment (all of which were ugly cabinets) and the most frustrating feature of the houses...TBA at the end of the post, new construction on either both sides of the house and/or behind the house too (which is a huge no-no for resale & my sanity)! Each of those houses had their different and unique 'deal-breakers' for me like the fact that our living room furniture wouldnt fit in there or there was only a shower in the master or only 1 sink in the master-stuff like that and the whole kitchen-eesque stuff too.

Needless to say we did not find our first home and were only frustrated more with this process. A couple of the most frustrating things when house hunting:

1. EVERYTHING is an upgrade...oh you want space (upgrade), oh you want a door (upgrade), oh you don't want standard knobs on your bathroom sinks-the ones that look like crystal balls (upgrade), oh you want a sink that's actually deep enough to wash dishes in (the MOST frustrating thing EVER)...nope thats an upgrade too.

2. People who are selling their homes must not really want to sell as evidence by the nice brass light fixtures and crazy paint & decorations they still have in their houses..P.S. to the people trying to sell---no one wants a crazy persons house!

3. The sellers who showed us in a few houses (we were with our realitor) would act like their homes were so much better than everyone elses-nevermind they all look alike! One actually tried to tell me that the stove in this one house was an upgraded stove...he was taken back when it was the EXACT same one in our apartment & inserted his foot in his mouth when I told him and he said well, I doubt its the same one in your apt!! Well, how do you know?? You have never seen it! Wow..

The good thing is I can almost look at the outside and step into the front door and realize if I'm still interested in the house!

We will take Round #2 on Wednesday in Plainfield (of which I'm trying to be positive, but I've looked online and driving and havent seen much). On the positive note, if we dont find a house right now, thats OK! Because I like our kitchen/bathrooms/rooms better in the apartment we're in now than any of the houses we've seen so far. If you have a similiar experience share it-we'd love to laugh at it! More to come on our experience after our tours on Wednesday!

Side note: every time I used the word 'we' I really mean 'I'-Jake would be content with almost anything!

If only we would ask...

My Country Cabin: (pictures from NYE)

Our quaint cabin!

The ladies relaxing & playing Battle of the Sexes

The guys playing foosball after arriving at the cabin on NYE-Brian & Al took the trophy

The small hottub we had 8 people in! We lost so much water, Jake & Brian had to re-fill it with 4 tubs of hot water from the bath tub!

Ellen & Ryan

Jackie & Alex

Brian & Megan

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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Not that I didnt know this a long time ago, but it just became apparent again today when I got home from work...if I ask my husband or create a list for him to do it's more likely going to be done. Rather than just assuming that they will do something if we (ladies) think it needs to be done. When I got home from work the Christmas tree was down, the carpets were vacuumed, furniture rotated back to normal, and the list goes on! I will make a note to self to make more lists for me & him. If you would like your husband to do something maybe try this too! (Hi honey, I know you will be reading this sometime...THANK YOU!)

Happy New Year! It's 2010!

We rang in 2010 with the Burch's, Zeronik's, and soon to be Dimitts (1 m; 2 t's) this year in a cabin down in Southern Indiana...pictures to come soon! However, some words or phrases to remember from our celebration include:

1. Babaganoush (it must be sausage...no I think its eggplant)

2. saying 'ninos' after every sentence

3. "L'Oreal....because it makes me feel nice"

4. ....I'm just kidding...

5. I hate this game...I will never play it again!

We are looking forward to welcoming our first niece on my side of the family, purchasing our first house, and planning for our next vacation-a spring break cruise in 2011! Oh yeah, and completing my first mini-marathon...which I'm still nervous about!

~

Some reality that is related to this post (for Ellen only): The cabin wasnt the greatest..the hot tub was too small, the kitchen was too dark, it was freezing in J/A's room, it was too close to the road, there was a used you know what in M/B's room, the electricity went out on NYE, and a breaker blew in J/A's room...Oh well I guess you get what you pay for!