4th of July Weekend - Part One - Friday through Saturday

Yes, I am aware that it is Thursday and I am just now returning to update from the past weekend. Things were crazy over the weekend and we have been desperately trying to get things back to normal since Tuesday night when all of the company finally left. And becuase the weekend was so eventful, I will post in 2 separate posts.

So, I guess that I will start with Friday night. Most of our company arrived Friday night. Maggie was down from Columbia. (We have pretty much adopted her into our family) Kris, Mandy (cousin) and their three kids were in from Colorado Springs. Chris (brother), Doris and two of their boys were in from Whiteman AFB. My mother had taken off Friday and made dinner for all of us. It was a great dinner. It was similar to a thanksgiving dinner with no turkey. We had ham and all sorts of veggies, many fresh ones from the garden. After dinner we sat around and talked. We also started getting things together for Saturday.

Saturday, we were up early for a big day. We finished gettings things ready for the day and loaded up the cars. Yes, cars. We had stuff piled in 4 vehicles, I think. Chris, Maggie and I had a few errands to run before leaving town, but was on the road before 11. The entire family headed to Mountain Home. This is where my parents and I usually go on the 4th. My dad's aunt lives there. We usually have good food all day and enjoy the company of family. This year we just had about 20 additional people. We had a great lunch of brisket, ribs, corn, salad and tons of fresh veggies. It was a great lunch. To make things even better, we had homemade ice cream for dessert. After lunch we went down to the lake. Uncle Terry got out the boat. We had to take turns on the boat. The rest of us just went swimming.

We got off of the lake around 4:00 p.m. Chris, Maggie and I decided that we didn't want to wait another 5 hours to see fireworks, so we headed back to Missouri. We showered off the lake water and played with the pups for a while. Turns out, everyone got wore out on the lake and everyone came back before seeing the fireworks. We had dinner together. Even the leftovers of that meal were great. We then headed to the store for us to get groceries needed for our baking for the next family get together. Once we got back, Maggie and I got started on preparation. We made up the meatballs (just didn't bake them) and made our strawberry jello cake so it would set over night. We crashed after that. It was an exhausting day.

5 Question Friday

I was so anxious for today (Friday) to get here all week and now that it is here, I am almost too tired to enjoy it. I was up late last night cleaning the house and giving the pups a bath. Chris and I wanted everything and everyone clean for the holida weekend and lots of company.

Anyway, it is Friday and it is time for Five Question Friday once again sponsored by My Little Life.

1. What is one thing you miss the most about childhood? Not that I hate where I am now, but one of the greatest thing about being a kid is the carefree life with no responsibilities. You have no bills; you don't have to go to work; school was more fun; you are encouraged to take naps. Friends are easier to make and keep. Childhood is a great life.

2. Are you still friends with your friends from high school? A few. There are some people that I was friends with in high school that are just at a different part in their life right now than me and our friendship isn't as compatible as it once was. But there are still people even from elementary school and junior high that I am still friends with
3. Is there a catch phrase, cliche, or word that just drives you bonkers every time you hear it? I hate the cliche that women aren't supposed to work but stay at home and make and raise babies. Chris and I do maintain pretty traditional roles in our home, but we would never get along if he told me that I shouldn't work but should stay at home full time. NO WAY. This is not for me. Not that I think there is anything wrong with stay at home moms. I think they are great and I have a lot of respect for all that they do, it is just not a role for me. I want to be independent and be able to take care of myself. I don't want to have to rely on someone else to bring me money or take care of me financially. There have been people who make comments to Chris about how I will make more money than him or how I shouldn't work in legal profession because it is for males. Yeah, right!! Have you met me? Chris supports my career goals and I am very happy for that.

4. What is one thing that you think symbolizes America...besides "Old Glory"? Statute of Liberty. Every time you think about it or see a picture, you are reminded of USA and how that statute came to be

5. What are your 4th of July weekend plans? Chris's family and mine always have huge shin-digs on the 4th weekend. Plans kick off tonight with a huge dinner at my mom's house. Company will begin arriving today around noon and will continue to dinner time. We have people coming in from as far away as Colorado. Tomorrow, my family is having a big barbeque down at the lake. We will be out on the boat, hanging out around the banks, have tons of good food and watch fireworks over the lake that night. Sunday, there is essentially a family reunion at Chris's aunt's house. There is always tons of people there too. Lots of good food and sitting around in a circle singing gospel and country songs. It is a great life. There will probably be a fireworks show here too. Monday we are taking a picnic and then going floating. Going to be a jammed packed weekend and I'm anxious to get off work and get the party started.

Well, it's time that I get off here and get back to work. I've got some research on punitive damages to get done. Interested in playing along? Head over to My Little Life and link up!!

Hope you have a great 4th of July weekend!!!

People Never Cease to Amaze Me

Last night around 8:45 p.m. Chris and I were working outside. I was watering our garden and Chris was raking some rock in the driveway that he couldn't get to with the loader.

A truck slowed on the county road near our house and then proceeded to speed off pretty quickly. Next thing Chris new, a little puppy was running through our field after the truck. Once the truck was out of sight, the pup slowed his pace a little bit. Chris called out to it and the pup came right over to him.

I am amazed how a person can do this to a dog. How do you have the nerve to load up your pet into the car and drive out a county road, open the door and push it out? What kind of person are you? Seriously, people probably think that I am nuts because of how much I love my pets, but I couldn't even do that to a pet that I didn't even know.

Needless to say, we gained a new pet. It is a boy and we believe that he is some sort of mix with a bird dog. We took him down to my parents. The pup had no less than 50 ticks all over him which we removed. We fed him and bathed him. He also got to play with the other doggies around my mom's house. Around 10:30, we took him back up to Chris's where the pup crashed on the couch and didn't move until 5:00 this morning. I went up this morning to sit with the pup while Chris showered and got ready for work.

So without further delay, here is the newest member of our little family Boots:

As much as I hate to see animals mistreated and dumped off, I honestly believe that God knows where to have dogs dumped. He knows that we will take them in and give them a good home. The Gabel/Upton bunch loves animals and treat them like natural members of the family. This new pup is no exception. Boots just doesn't know how lucky he got yesterday!

Weekend Recap

Normally I post about our weekends on Monday, but yesterday was a crazy day. It was busy at work. I had tons to do, but luckily most of my desk is cleaned off now. Then after work yesterday, Chris and I were working outside at the house. We didn't even get to eat until after 8:00 p.m.

This past weekend was a very busy one for us. We got tons done but there is still so much to do before Friday.

This past Friday, I headed into town after work to watch my nephew Kolton play his last game of t-ball. I love watching t-ball games. The little kiddos are so adorable. Kolt still gets distracted and plays in the dirt most of the time, but boy does he love to hit and run the bases. Here are a few pictures from the night.

After the game, mom and I took dinner to our boys. After dinner Chris and I tended to our garden. I'm anxious for all the fresh veggies. We are a little behind everyone else since our garden got planted so late. But so far, our family has been sharing with us and I'm sure when we have extras after their gardens are done producing, we can share too. We don't have a huge garden, but we have way more than we could eat. But it could be worse, Chris's brother planted 750 tomatoe plants. CRAZY!!! We just relaxed after that.

Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to town to get some errands out of the way. It happens that at least once a week, we have to go to Hirsch. This is a farm supply store. I'm pretty certain that this is Chris's favorite place to go. We got a few things for the farm. We then headed to get Chris a new pistol. We are taking our conceal and carry class in a couple of weeks and he wanted a new pistol to take the class. We got him a Taurus Millennium 9mm. It is a great little gun and has good safety features for the little ones who are at our house how and for our future children. We grabbed some snacks and headed back to Pomona.

Chris then went to take my dad to get his truck. While the boys were gone, I headed back to town with my mother. We had lunch with my grandmother, sister and her two boys. Soon there will be one more little boy too. After lunch, we did a little shopping. I got a few pairs of jeans (which is a rarity) and a new wrap for my swim suit. We are going to the lake saturday and the river on Monday, so I figured now would be a great time to get a coverup. We also went grocery shopping.

Once we got back to Pomona, Chris and I worked some ont he driveway. We are staking it out for new rock. Chris got frustrated with the ties we had as they bowed in the barn in just a couple of weeks. We gave that up pretty quick. His temper and tools aren't a good combination. Instead we worked on cleaning out the shop. We are hoping start closing that in soon. We will be making Chris a 3-bay shop and will have a 2 bay garage. Currently we have been storing junk out there. We loaded up all the scraps and trash from working on the house and finally after ensuring no one we knew wanted them, got rid of the kitchen cabinets. Goodbye trash and terrible cabinets!!!

We had barbeque chicken for dinner and picked up some around the house getting ready for the upcoming weekend. Chris also fixed the vacuum which was wonderful. It had gotten clogged from all the construction mess around the house.

Sunday we were back at the house projects again. We finished getting ties in the drive. Chris is taking rock down there this week so we will have a great driveway before the weekend. It really helps having a dad with a rock quarry, a dump truck driving fiance and a front end loader sitting at the house to help do the finishing work. I'm anxious to see it done.

We also worked some in the house which was a nice change in the heat. We finished putting up trim and baseboards in the new kitchen. It looks very nice and fairly easy once we got started. The kitchen is done now. It is just time now to get decorations out. I have been collecting red and white gingham decorations for about 4 years now. Chris is going to hate helping me dig all that stuff back out. Here is the kitchen:

 

We had dinner with my parents: charcole cheeseburgers with fresh tomatoes (yum) and homemade fresh peach cobbler (even more yum). We got a small storm and rain Sunday after dinner. It was such a blessing. It wasn't near enough rain, but we will be happy with anything that we can get.

We still have plenty of cleaning to do this week to get ready for Friday. I'm anxious to see how many visitors our new house gets. Plus we are very excited to see all the family this weekend! Hope your weekend was great!

A little Survey

I had a great weekend. There is a lot to post on about the weekend, so I will do that a little later today. Here before work starts, I will do a little survey that I took from Mallory's page.

A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: 74 degrees. Chris would love to have is lower, but I get cold enough in there as it is. Plus I'm cheap and won't let him run it too much
B- My BEDROOM theme is: At my mom's is yellow and blue. Chris and I haven't decided on anything for our bedroom yet. Guess we should probably look into that

C- The CAR in the driveway is: Currently there are no cars in our driveway as Chris and I are both at work. Typically there is a GMC Sierra and a Pontiac Grand Am. We also have a trailer loaded down with trash and a Cat 960 front end loader

D- My DESK looks: here at work has a couple piles on it. At least I will have a busy day
E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: 5:30 a.m.
F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: my legs

G- My GARAGE is filled with: Lots of things. Piles of wood, a pile of t-posts, landscape timbers, a freezer, old carpet, barbed wire and lots of tools

H- My HOUSE is: wonderful and we love our little piece of heaven in the country.

I- If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: At my moms - a bed, nightstand, chest of drawers, desk and Dozer toys all over the floor. At Chris's a bed, nightstand, dresser, tools and a box left to be unpacked

J- My favorite JUICE is: Berry punch

K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: everything. I love my new cabinets and appliances. I also love the floors and the countertops. I love that I picked it all out and that it is mine

L- The LAST person who visited my home was: Chris's dad, step mom and little brother
M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: a bill

N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: the greatest daughter ever. That's what I get for living next to my mom

O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: Tons of mountain dew. Chris is an addict. But the rest is typical food ready to be cooked for the week

P- My last house PARTY was: We haven't really had a party in our house yet. I will be throwing Chris a birthday party here soon. His birthday is one week from today

Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: pasta with spaghetti sauce and melted cheese

R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: the back porch. We spend so much time out there. We relax on the patio set and watch Dozer play in the yard

S- The SHAMPOO brand I use is: Pantene Pro-V

T- My largest TELEVISION is: I think it is 42 inches. We bought it from my uncle so I'm not exactly sure on that

U- UNDER my bed you will find: A huge picture of my grandma and grandpa about a year after they opened their cafe

V- The last time I VACUUMED was: last night. Chris finally got the vacuum fixed. It had gotten clogged with dust

W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: heaven. We are blessed to live in the country and there is nothing prettier than seeing open fields, trees and nature in the mornings.

X- I wish I had X-TRA: time in every day. There are never enough hours in the day to get done what needs to be done

Y- My YARD is: 28.5 acres
Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: 10:30 unless Dozer is wired and won't lay down which means I cannot sleep

5 Question Friday

I am so excited that it is Friday. I'm ready to get off work (yes, it hasn't even started yet) and get this weekend started. We have so much to do this weekend and during the week to get ready for all the company and events of next weekend. Well, here it goes.

1. Do you know how to play a musical instrument? You bet. I started on the trumpet and was quite good at it. Then I switched to the french horn and was even better at it. I tried the marching drums for a little bit, but it wasn't for me. Those things are HEAVY

2. What is your pet peeve while driving? I have so many, I don't even know where to begin.
People driving in the "hammer" lane below the speed limit
People pulling out in front of you on the highway and then don't drive the speed limit
People who don't use their blinkers
People who slam on their brakes for no reason
People who will wait til the last minute to get into the turning lane slowing down all other traffic
People who will drive in the farthest lane from where they need to be then cut across 4 lanes of traffic to turn
There are so many more, but basically I hate people and how they drive

3. Would you rather have a housekeeper or unlimited spa services? I would love to have a housekeeper. Granted I probably wouldn't be happy with them because they couldn't do everything exactly how I want it done, but the help around the house would be great. I feel like I have to vacuum evey day due to the crap that Chris brings into the house. Laundry is always piled up. It's so dusty everywhere since we live on a dirt road

4. Is there a song that you hear that will take you back to the moment, like a junior high or high school dance? Any NSync or Bankstreet Boys song takes me back to middle school. Those groups were big and they were played heavily on the radio and during our school dances. I remember dancing at school dances to "God Must have Spent a Little More Time on You"
5. What song best represents your life right now? I'm in the middle of wedding planning. With that, I am always looking back on Chris and I's relationship thinking about conversations we have had and the memories that we have made. We often look back at old pictures. In that, I think that "Then" by Brad Paisley describes that.
But for life in general, "In a Hurry" by Alabama describes the rest of my life. Things are so busy and we have so little time to just sit and relax.
There also should be a fight song thrown in there to represent how I feel about the company who sold us a bad motor.
 
Hope that the weekend treats you well! If you want to play along, head over to Five Crooked Halos and link up!

The bright spots in a day

I seriously believe with all my heart that I am in love with the greatest guy. He always can bring a smile to my face no matter what. When I stress about the little things, he is always there to make me laugh.

We have been looking at a monogram or other similar design to place on our invites, programs and anything else that we can find. My maid of honor, Maggie, has been faithfully working on these. She has designed several, all of which I love. She is way more creative about those things than I am.

Apparently, Chris cares more about those little things than I thought that he would. He kept picking things that he didn't like about every single one. He'd say things like "that looks like shit" (please excuse his mouth), "hell no", "that looks like a trampy tattoo" and even at one point fired Maggie. Please know Maggie that I love you and he was joking about his comments.

Well, after about 20 minutes of looking at designs, he finally tells me that he is just going to pick something because I couldn't do it. When I asked why, he just looks at me with this huge smile and says "I have good taste because I picked you. You have bad taste because you picked me"

Isn't he just precious? He threatened me about posting it to facebook, so I agreed. Too bad he didn't think about this. He wouldn't want anyone to know that he has a sweet side to him. I'm just glad to have him in my life. Despite all the other bad things going on, it is great to know that I have something amazing to go home to every night.