What a weekend!

This weekend has been a busy but wonderful weekend. I decided early in the week that I wanted to take a visit home. I hadn't been home in over a month due to the weather. I was a little unsure all week whether the weather was going to work in my favor this week. Final decision was made Friday morning about 5:30 that I would come home. Of course my dad was worried about my travels back to school on Sunday because there was a chance of rain/snow mix. But it worked out.

Friday morning, I went to work from 7:00 a.m. I left for Pomona around 10:00 a.m. As my usual trip home, I stopped at Steak and Shake in Rolla to pick up lunch for my parents. My dad always has to have Steak and Shake. I do not understand his obsession, but it is the least that I can do for my dad for all that he does for me. I stopped at my parents business in Willow Springs around one. We had lunch, visited with Chris and my parents. Just before five, we leaded to the house to get ready for Kolton's birthday. Kolton is my sister's oldest son. He will be 4 on Monday. Since I was coming down, we decided to have a little party for the immediate family. He was having a party with his friends on Saturday. We had pizza, ice cream cake, and Kolton got several presents. These are a few of the pictures that I took.

Kolton Posing for the Camera

Kolton diggin' into the cake

My sister's youngest, Brody and I, with Chris in the background

After the party was over, Chris and I sat around and visited with my parents. We talked about work and the house, making plans for the next day. I worked on some organization stuff for my mother. Hopefully she can keep up with it while I am gone. She isn't the greatest about keeping things organized and I am the queen organization.

Saturday morning started early for us. Chris and I knew we would have a good weather day and wanted to get as much done as possible. We were up at the house around 8:30. Several people had came up to help us. Chris's dad bought his special lawn mower to mow our yard. It had been overgrown for 2 years with zero attention. That alone made a huge improvement for the house. My dad came home and said that it actually looks like someone lives at the house now. My great uncle also showed up. He has been doing some landscaping work for us. He wants to make sure that we have a great outside look of the house. I just am worried about the plants dying while I am not there. Chris doesn't exactly have a greeen thumb nor does he even really want to take care of them. I just keep reminding him that it is the thought that counts. Chris and I worked outside most of the morning. We moved brush, cut trees, worked on the shop and picked up trash. My mother brought us lunch for a break. After lunch, Chris went to the back field to cut some more trees. My mother came up to help me take down the cabinet doors and drawers. We are saving money by just refinishing the cabinets. We then did a walk through of the house making a list for the contractor of projects that are needed. Once it got too dark to work, we headed into town. We went to see our puppy Kit-Kat. We took her to Wendy's and played outside. She is so spoiled. Then we just got take out for ourselves and went back to Chris's apartment. We were too wore out to go out for dinner. It was just a great day.

Sunday morning also started early for us. I had planned to leave around 10, so we wanted to get started as early as possible. We started by cutting up some trees. We took a break for breakfast and watched the weather. We postponted my departure time til around 11. We headed back up to our house to work a little more while the sun was out. On the short drive up there, we spotted a small little puppy on the side of the road. We both hopped out and tried to catch him. Becuase of fencing, the little guy got away. We finished our project then headed back to my mothers. I was worried about the little pup since he was so small and would have got eaten by some other animal in no time. Chris and I walked the field and woods for about 20 minutes. We had about given up and headed back to the house when I spotted a little black ball of fluff under some twigs alseep. We picked him up and took him back the the house. I guess Kit-Kat is getting a little brother. The pup is tiny but super adorable. Right now, he is at my mothers getting proper milk supplement since he is so tiny. Somehow the dumped puppies know exactly where to go. All of the animals my parents have adopted are dumped or stray animals. So, here is the new addition to our little family.

Dozer

I arrived back in Columbia around 3:30 after being sent on a detour by the Highway Patrol. I tooka drive on the worst road I have ever drove on. Since being back, things have been low key. I've been doing laundry, dishes and homework. I hope to get to bed early tonight due to the exhausting weekend. At least the weather was great and we got lots done.

Now, off to cook dinner.