"Is It Somebody's Birthday?"

Well the best day of the year has come and it has gone. =) My Birthday was awesome this year! I was excited to turn 23 and was expecting to just open presents, go out for dinner and hang out on the actual day. To my HUGE surprise, Dave had a birthday get-away planned. We went down to Chicago Friday night and stayed at the Marriott down there (thanks Christoph for the hookup!). It was so much fun! I love big cities- well I love to visit them I should say. It's a totally different feel and everything seems so exciting. We didn't get down there until about 7:30 so we walked around downtown on Michigan Ave for a little bit and then ate dinner. I didn't take any pictures of Friday night because it was cold and rainy and I didn't feel like getting wet. It was a blast though. We shopped all day on Saturday- it's amazing how much money I could've spent. I found some cute things with my birthday money and could've spent ALOT more! Thanks sweetie for one of the best birthdays ever! Here are a few pics to capture it all:

Oh, it felt so good to step foot into that store again!

Dave was such a trooper while I went in and out of all the stores. Not one bit of complaining for him! He made a Lego friend while he waited.

A glimpse of the city. We both loved downtown Chicago and thought it was so pretty.

They had these huge statues of that famous couple in the painting. I can't remember what it's called right now. You know what I mean right? Right! =)

Yeah this is it! We tried to imitate them. Dave did a pretty good job.

We went inside the Hershey's store and they had this 5 pound candy bar! It had over 10, 000 calories in it. Yumm....

I was in heaven with all the Reese's candy (it's my favorite). I wanted to eat it all.

We went into the Lamborghini store- it is ridiculous how much these cars cost. Dave had fun though.

I told Dave I want this for my next birthday. Riiiiiiiiiiiiggghhht.

Dave really wanted me to take a picture of this gas station that's near our house. Pretty sweet.

Dinner with my Girls!!

So the tradition continues. Jill, Haley, and Tiffany took me out to California Pizza Kitchen (AKA CPK). I love this place. We had a great time but we were really struggling with pictures that night. NONE of them were turning out cute. What is happening to us? So as promised, I posted them in a smaller version. Thanks girls for taking me out and for the funny memories, and Haley thank you for the now infamous quote. =)

Tiff and Haley

Me & Jill

So after dinner we got a little goofy. We sat in Tiffany's car and took funny pictures, well to us at least. We took all sorts of them. It was like being in high school again. We were laughing so hard. Loved it.

Tiff & I- we should be models =)

Our "Pretend that you're scared" faces

Yeah, we look scary.

Numero DOS!!

So as some of you may remember I ran my first Half Marathon last summer. I thought I would probably do another one sometime again, and I did. My friend Jill talked me into doing one with her and I'm glad I did. We ran the Lake Country half marathon in Oconomowoc. It was only 30 minutes away and such a BEAUTIFUL run! It made it go by so much faster. I was very nervous the night before the race because I contracted a cold a couple days earlier and the night before I was not feeling too hot. But I woke up and felt pretty good. The day after the race was a diferent story. We had a great run, but I am glad it's over!

Stats:

Time: 1:49:16 (my goal was to break 2 hours)

Ranking: 8th Place (my age group)

Pictures:

Before the race- one last trip to the outhouse =)

The nerves started getting the best of us, we got a little goofy.
FINISH!!! We finished our race with great times.

Dave was so kind to be our chauffeur. He opted out on this race and every race to come. Last year's race was his max.

And these ladies made the race AWESOME! Tiffany and Haley were there to cheer us on. They came bright and early at 7am with these AMAZING and CUTE signs. They are so great. They followed us at different points throughout the race and gave us motivation to keep going.

They blew up pictures of our heads and glued them to sticks. It was hilarious.

Thanks for coming girls! I just have the best friends out here. Love them so much!

Good job Jill! We finished and celebrated at the Original Pancake House. I have had zero desire to run since the race. I might pick it up again one of these days.

Quick Trip

So in the middle of August I made a quick weekend trip home to see my whole family (Except for nicholas and Courtney who couldn't make it! ) But Melissa and her whole fam came up from Texas so I decided to make a quick jaunt home. It was so much fun, but it was FREEZING! And of course the one weekend I leave Milwaukee, it is one of the first nice weekends they had all summer. Oh well- I still loved being able to go home.

My brother Michael is one of the most hard-core Republicans I have ever met, so as a little joke we placed this bumper sticker on his van. He didn't notice for over a day, and drove the van around town-even to church. It was hilarious. Maybe he's a secret Obama admirer....Yeah right.

What perfect timing! The Fair was going on at the weekend we were all together and if anybody knows my family, we LOVE the fair. It is a summer tradition and I'm so glad I was able to be there for it. But let me remind you how COLD it was. It was in the 50's in the middle of August. I cannot remember EVER going to the fair wearing winter coats and bringing blankets to watch the rodeo.

Dad was such a good sport holding all our coats and purses while we went on the Zipper. I went with my Mom and we had so much fun! I forget how much I love that ride.

I have always wondered what I might look like when I'm pregnant....

The fair was complete with a trip to the rodeo.

Alot of our cousins were in town as well so we had a big BBQ with everyone at my parents' house. It was so fun to see everyone.

I have the cutest nieces and nephews ever. Love 'em all.

Fourth of July Festivities

OKay I know these posts are a little delayed but what do you expect? =)

Fourth of July was so much fun this year. Bob and Alyse, Dave's brother and wife, came into town for the day and stayed the night with us. We went to Cheesecake Factory, went mini-golfing, had a BBQ with our neighbors and played games. It was so fun to have visitors and to hang out with them again! Here are a few pics of the weekend.

Chatting with the girls

A trip to Wisconsin would not be complete unless they tried on official Cheeseheads!

Mini Golf was awesome- I'm pretty sure I was the first one to get a hole in one.

Thanks for coming up Bob and Alyse!

Most Creative Shot

SummerFest

Summerfest is so much fun. It's the largest music festival in the world- tons of bands come and play- this year there was Kenny Chesney, No Doubt, and others but I can't remember them right now. =) We listened to Gavin DeGraw and it was lots of fun. This was on July 3rd and they had a huge fireworks show that lasted for one hour! It was a little long, but still fun to be down by the lake.

Trying to capture the fireworks-not such a good shot

Waiting for the concert to start

Aloha from Maui!!

We had the best trip to Hawaii! Everything was absolutely perfect. The weather, the activities, the food, the company, everything. The only bad part was when we had to leave. It was perfect timing because we left the day after Dave finished his boards. It was so fun to finally spend some time together- and I can think of a better place to do it! Here are some of the pictures from our trip!

After a long plane ride, we finally made it! Thanks Shannon and Lowell for the leis and making us feel so welcomed!

This was our first night in Maui and one of the many pretty sunsets we enjoyed.

Lowell didn't look like a tourist at all did he? I was laughing so hard- he is the greatest.

THank you so much Lowell and Shannon for the awesome vacation. We had the best time and will cherish the memories forever. We owe you big time! We love you!

Golfing Trip to Lanai

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and took a ferry over to the island Lanai where the boys golfed two courses. It was one of the highlights of the trip for everyone.

This is a tree that has like a million roots coming out of the ground but it's all one tree. It was pretty cool.

The Ferry ride over

What a handsome stud!

For the morning, Heather and I decided to let the boys golf 18 holes and to stay at the Four Seasons Resort beach. It was a good choice on our part. They thought we were guests so they set up our chairs, an umbrella, brought us towels, gave us pineapple and let us use their beautiful beach. It was such a fun morning- and we met some very interesting dolphin chasers. They literally sat on the beach and meditated for the dolphins to come to shore. It was hilarious, but it must have worked- like 20 dolphins came 40 feet from the shore. We wanted to go out and swim with them, but we had to head off to meet the boys for the 2nd round.

This is me with a bit more color~ The view from the resort was beautiful!

Heather was a great beach buddy-we had a blast.

This was such a beautiful course. It was called the Challenge at Lanai. Bill Gates had this whole course shut down and he got married on the 13th hole. It had the most amazing view. We couldn't take enough pictures.

Shannon was such a trooper- Even in the heat, she went and searched for lost golf balls.

Pictures really don't do the view justice- this is one of my favorite shots.

I think this is the place Bill Gates got married but I'm not positive. Either way it was beautiful!

Shannon finally taking a break!

I even gave it a shot- I was trying to get the ball in the ocean, but I'm not sure it quite made it- oh well! =)