We've been busy

I know it has been so long since we have updated our blog...we've just been that busy!

At the end of October we were able to take 5 days and head down to Southern Illinois to visit some of Susan's family. Her aunt, uncle and cousins live down there and it worked perfectly for her parents and sisters to all gather that week at her aunt and uncle's house. We had a very packed 5 days down there, traveling into St. Louis to pick her family up from the airport, spending 1/2 a day traveling around wine country down there. We were able to stop at 5 different wineries and sample their wines before purchasing a few bottles. Then we headed down to Nashville for a night. We toured the country music hall of fame, Andrew Jackson's house The Hermitage, and wandered around the Opryland Hotel. it was a great trip and wonderful to see Susan's family. It gave us a chance to relax and have some fun before the craziness of the Holidays hit the retail world!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Susan had her annual girls weekend at the Wisconsin Dells. This year the group tried a new resort...the Chula Vista. The adults only hottub was a huge appeal for the group because who really likes to fight little kids for a spot in the hottub?!?! The group decided to not wait a whole year before we get together again and planned a night in Chicago in February after the rush of the Holidays are over and we need something to look forward too!

Thanksgiving was quiet for us again this year. Dave's brother Joel joined us for church Wednesday night and then the 3 of us went to go see the movie Blindside that night. (we all highly recommend it to anyone who is wondering about it!) Thanksgiving Day the boys enjoyed a day of football and basketball while the Thanksgiving ham cooked away (yes...we did have ham instead of turkey this year). It was an early night for us Thursday night as Dave had to be to work by 3 (the joys of working retail on Black Friday) and since Susan was up already she headed down to Target to wait inline to get in on some of the deals they had. The rest of the weekedn passed rather uneventfully as both of us had to work the whole weekend.

Now we are looking forward to Christmas. We plan to set up our decorations later this week and maybe make it to see the Nutcracker this year at the Milwaukee Ballet. Susan is still looking for the first snow fall of the year...which might come later this week if the weather forcast doesn't change :)

pictures from our trip to IL can be found at this link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011095&id=125600011&l=2d6e54f610

Wedding and Fall Activities

I know i'm late in posting this entry, but it has been a busy couple of weeks! But better late then never right? :)

The first weekend of October was Dave's best friend Ben's wedding! Many of you know that Ben and his new wife Kate are living in Dubai for the next 3 years while Ben is teaching over there. So their wedding weekend was the big party before they left. All of our activities that weekend started on friday night with the Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner! Friends were coming in from all over the country for the wedding and the rehearsal dinner was a great chance to sit and visit with friends that we had not seen in a long time! After staying up late friday night talking with Ben and Jeremy and Dave's brother Andrew and our nephew Luke....Dave and I were able to sleep in a bit the next morning at the hotel and enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the hotel restaurant before we parted ways for the day. Dave was going to be busy with groosman bonding and wedding preparations and I was headed to WLC's Homecoming football game.

This is the 2nd year in a row that Dave and I have had a wedding to be at on the same day as WLC's homecoming....but all of my girlfriends get together and go to the game so I wanted to be there...espeically since the wedding wasn't until later in the afternoon that day. I met up with Erin and Landon from IL for lunch before the game and then we bundled up and prepared to sit in the cold for the rest of the afternoon. Chelsie and Andy were there, and then Josie and her husband Brian and their daughter Emily who is and their 2 month old little boy Joseph came. We had a wonderful time passing the baby around. Right before I left another friend, Jess and her husband and 11 month old Jonathan came...so i'm glad i got ot see them before i left at half time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

Their wedding was beautiful! Dave looked so nice in his tux and he was so happy to be able to stand up next at Ben's wedding. The reception was so much fun! Wonderful food, drinks, friends and dancing filled the evening. we stayed till just after the bride and groom left and then we headed back up to our room. the next morning we went to the 'gift opening brunch' which really wasn't a gift opening because Ben and Kate wouldn't have been able to take any gifts with them. But it was a good chance to sit and chat for a few more minutes till we had to say goodbye to them.

After the brunch...I headed out to go apple picking with Erin, Landon, Rachel, chelsie, marie and Jen. I managed to pick a whole peck of apples and so far they have made a wonderful applesause and good apples for dipping in carmel! I plan to freeze most of the rest of them and save them for pies for the holidays that are quickly coming!

Next week we head on vacation down to southern IL to visit my aunt and uncle and cousins and also see my parents and sisters! I'm sure we will have plenty to write after that week of vacation!

you can see some pictures from these events at this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010976&id=125600011&l=06adbd5767

Wine Festival and Birthdays

This past weekend was a busy one for Dave and I. Each of us had to work a 1/2 day on Saturday but then we decided to travel over to Cedarburg Wi to check out their Wine and Harvest festival. It turned out to be quite the event! I love Cedarburg and have visited the town often during my years here in Wisconsin. They have winery there called the Cedar Creek Winery that offers tours and tastings and one of my favorite bottles of wine comes from their winery. The Wine and Harvest Festival is a two day event filled with craft vendor, a farmers market, tons of food and of course Wine and Beer. We quicky discovered that it is perfectly acceptable to make your way to the winery and purchase a bottle of wine and spend the rest of the afternoon wandering around the festival drinking your bottle with the glasses they provide! So much fun. Dave was very excited because we discovered that one of the food vendors was selling turkey legs. So he was able to enjoy his wine with a giant turkey leg! The weather was beautiful and we had a wonderful day.

The next day was my Goddaugher Julie's 3rd birthday party. I headed down to Cudhay where the Carters live and got to spend the afternoon with 3 three year olds and their parents! The girls were so cute and so excited to be at a birthday party. Julie spend the 1st 1/2 an hour I was there running throughout the house trying to show me every single toy she had! "Auntie Susan come see this toy" "Auntie Susan come play with this toy" But she was adorable and so very excited that it was her "birfday paty"! She is currently in a Thomas the Train phase and was thrilled with the Thomas dvds that we got her...Doug and Lauren on the other hand I'm sure will be sick of them with in a week!

This week is another busy week for us, and the weekend even busier with fun friend filled activities. Hopefully i will have time to update everyone with them sometime during the week next week!

Festivals and Softball

Last weekend was the Milwaukee Irish Fest...my (Susan's) personal favorite of all the heritage festivals in Milwaukee during the summer. So of course we had to go down there. We were able to go on Friday night and get in for free. We spent several hours wandering around looking at vendors, eating "traditional" Irish food (Irish stew in a baked potato and Potato pancakes), drinking non-traditional "Irish" beer (MGD for me and an Irish Lager for Dave), and watching the Irish dancers perform before we settled into our seats for the Gaelic Storm concert. Gaelic Storm is my favorite Irish band and they play some fun songs that Dave doesn't mind listening too either. The concert was great and afterward I got another one of their cd's and added a couple more to my wish list! After another quick beer we headed home and enjoyed a relaxing Saturday together. We had plans to go to the driving range for Dave to teach me how to hit a golf ball, but the weather that Saturday ended up being very hot and humid so we opted for a day inside with the airconditioner. Maybe one day when it's cooler we can try again!

Yesterday was Dave's last summer league softball game. He played for two leagues this summer, one playing on Wednesday nights for Paulie's Pub and the other on Thursday nights for Dickens Bar. The Paulie's Pub team played their last game 2 weeks ago and came in second place in their league...not bad! But last night his Dickens Bar team won the championship!!! :D They got a trophey and everything! Unfortunately I had to work last night so I missed the games, but i heard the play by play of each of them when Dave got home from celebrating! In a couple of weeks there is a Fall league that starts up that plays Tuesday and Thursday nights, but if Dave plays for that league he will only play on Tuesday nights...two nights a week during the fall is just too much for us...especially since he starts working more hours in October to get ready for the holidays already.

We are hoping to fit in a couple more Brewers game before the season is over...but for the most part our summer adventures are over :( We are looking forward to the fun times that come along with fall!

Greetings

Dave and I decided that it would be a good idea to start a blog for people to keep up with our comings and goings. We hope that this helps us to keep intouch with people and let them know what we have been up too! Enjoy :)