One Quarter of A Century

First I want to say thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday--it really made my day! I woke up to Nate making me a tasty birthday breakfast, complete with our birthday place mat, plate, sign, and gold silverware (thanks grandma Naylor!). Then I had to work until 4pm and then had class until 9pm. After class Nate and I met up at Market Street Grill because instead of birthday cake I wanted one of their amazing creme brulee desserts--it was delicious, of course, and our server even put a little candle in mine!

I got home and Nate had all sorts of little presents for me to open (you gotta love his wrapping job) including a massage gift certificate, peppermint body wash, and all sorts of goodies he knows I like.

I was baffled by a large present on the table and when I opened it I was so excited! Let me explain:

I love listening to talk radio when I'm just hanging around the house. This is the radio I have been using for several years now (I can't even remember where it came from--D.I. I think)

This little fella, even with it's sharp broken antennae, has been a great little radio... Then I got this bad boy...

Sleek, slim, and oh so up-to-date it fits right under the cupboard and even has a clock! I think I heard the little black radio let out a defeated sigh. Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to my wonderful husband for much appreciated upgrade.

Since Nate had really wanted to take me out to dinner (I know, I'm spoiled--you only turn 25 once right?) and we couldn't go Friday (Lindsey's wedding) we planned on going out Saturday night. I knew it was going to be packed and envisioned us having to wait for hours, but Nate said he had a reservation. I thought that was odd since I knew they only offered reservations to parties of 8 or more but thought maybe he pulled some birthday strings. When we got there and the hostess led us back to our table I was shocked to see a bunch of my friends yell surprise! Of course I started crying!

Haley and Kyle

Amy, Levi and Taylor Ernest

Addison, Rebecca and Brad Dowdle

Adam, Elsa, and Nicole Paul

Ashley and Julia Miller

It was so fun to see everyone and enjoy some good food while catching up on each other's lives. When we finished eating our server brought me a bouquet of flowers from Nate. What a great birthday! I am so grateful for all the wonderful people in my life, especially for Nate and all the effort and love he put into making this such a special day for me.

Lindsey & Justin's Wedding

It was the perfect day for a wedding!

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Calder!

Flashback Friday

Go Wildcats!

JV Cheer Squad

Danielle, Aimee, Annie, Brooke, Haley, Heidi

Stephanie, Melanie, Megan,

Jess, Tahnie, Tillery

Echo Lake

We went to Echo Lake last weekend with the Tews. It was a little chilly but we had fun eating, talking, and playing on the wave runners. Once again, I can barely walk from doing so many 360s on the wake board. No really though, I did try to do a tiny jump over the wake but I crashed. My sister-in-law Jenna got some video of me on her camera so I will try to get that from her.
Nate and I finally forked out the dough and got some camp chairs. Mine is a recliner! It was so nice to be chillin' in my reclining camp chair listening to the water splash up on the shore. It made me miss the beach!

This could be a problem...

So one of my classes this semester is Family Economic Issues (a required class for Social Work majors). It's an online class, so tonight I was looking over the chapter outline (ordered my book from amazon and it hasn't come yet--boo) and I started to feel a little light headed, then a little afraid, then panic set in. I thought that the statistics class I took last semester was going to be the last time I had to do any Math besides trying to find out if buying skinny cow ice cream or creamies is a better deal ---little did I know that when I looked at the practice homework for this class it is all things like this:

Use the information below to answer the next three questions. For convenience, this information will be repeated again for each related question: The price of Cheerios is $4.00 per pound, the price of Raisin Bran is $2.20 per pound, and the price of Corn Flakes is $2.50 per pound. Convert these nominal prices to relative prices using Corn Flakes as the base. The relative price of Raisin Bran is _________

a. less than 0.60

b. between 0.60 and 0.70

c. between 0.71 and 0.80
d. more than 0.80

I don't know exactly what happens but about 1/3 of the way through the above problem my brain just turns off. It reads the words but really it is off hiding in a corner hoping that some smart person will answer the question for it. I admire people who enjoy math. I unfortunately am not one of them. I can add, subtract, multiply, divide--what more do they want from me!!????

What I am trying to say is that I will pay someone to take this class for me. No really, I'm serious.

P.S. Hey Winnie, Put a sock in it.

Look for us at the MTV Music Awards

Thanks to Ashley for introducing us to hairmixer.com!

Flashback Friday

South Summit Middle School

8th Grade

PJ, Jessica, Justin, Nicole, Cherise

Clifford, Tyler

Charlie's Adventure

Last night we couldn't find Charlie anywhere. They boys are usually outside most of the night during the summer but before we go to bed I like to call them to the door so I can see both of them and so I know they are together and alive. We called and called and Nate walked around the block with the clicker. The problem with Charlie is that he doesn't really have a typical meow--it's a strange crackling noise-- and when he does actually produce a meow it sounds like a tiny kitten. Last night the crickets were in full force and I knew it would be very hard to hear Charlie meowing if he was stuck somewhere. I was just hoping he was out frolicking and lost track of time.

We went to bed and I was thinking of all the worst case scenarios and didn't sleep very well. I got up several times (so did Nate) and went outside and called and called. Nothing. I kept getting the feeling to go into out neighbors yard--but being as it was 2:00 am I figured I should wait until morning to sneak around their house and go snooping. (they are the ones with all the sheds)

So finally at 7:00 this morning I got dressed walked around the block once to see if Charlie was out and about and then I got on one of our chairs so I could peer over the fence and look into the neighbor's yard. I looked over and called Charlie's name several times-----and then I heard it! The tiniest little meow! I called, and heard it again! Charlie was stuck inside one of their sheds! I took off in a sprint to go around the block so I could get into their yard.

Once I was near the sheds I kept hearing him meow and realized that one of the sheds wasn't locked. I opened it up and he came running out! My baby! When the shed was open yesterday he probably climbed in to explore and then hid when someone came in (because he is still so shy) and then they closed it up not knowing he was there.

I hugged him and snuggled him like he was the prodigal son--which was a little difficult because he was filthy and smelled like he had been laying under a lawnmower all night. I am so glad he is okay and safe and seems relatively unscathed. (he is sitting on my lap purring like crazy right now)