Where The Grass Is Greener...

what. a. weekend.

i'm not quite sure how the weekend flew by like it did, but it feels like it should only be saturday night.  but that's what happens when grandmama, grandpops, and our little nephews come down for a quick trip to enjoy the birthday festivities.  we had an absolute blast and winkerbeaner made out like a bandit with her mother-lode of gifts.  oh, and daddy will be eating cold cut sandwiches for lunch for the next two weeks ;)  haha.  so anyways, on to the party details. 

we ended up having a pretty good turnout.  in addition to my folks coming down with trenton and jace, miranda's entire family from cincinatti/kentucky came up, too.  and we had some friends from around this area including the MC from our wedding (who is now married with an adorable little daughter whom aubriee can't wait to play with).  I have to put a couple pictures in of them just so you can see what i'm talking about.

but anyways, i'll let aubriee tell you about the rest of her part/weekend...

hi!  can you believe that i'm 2???  time flies when you do nothing but eat, sleep, and play.  i'm so glad i finally turned 2 because it's my favorite number.  just ask mommy or daddy.  whenever i count, i say 2, 2, 2, GO!!!  for some reason they keep trying to teach me the rest of the numbers...but what's the point??  anyway, i had a blast at my party.  there were so many people there i couldn't believe it.  daddy tried to get a few pictures of everybody so here is one that shows the most people and has a glimpse of my gift stack :)

we started out filling our bellies.  i made sure all the girls (including grandmama G) were wearing their princess tieras.

after that, we got to fill up on cake!  i sure wish my favorite jess could've made my cake, too, but alas, sam's club had to foot the bill :)  i even helped mommy cut the cake ;)

after cake, i got to start opening my presents.  luckily my cousin trenton was here to help me...some of them were pretty tough! :)

i made sure to write down everything that everyone got me so i could send out thank you's ;)

when it was all said and done we were pretty wiped, but we still managed to get a few "family photos" in and grandpops and daddy put together my new kitchen for us to play with (past my bedtime...shhhhh).

thank you to everyone for all the great gifts and the birthday wishes!!  for those of you who were at the party i hope you had a great time and for those who couldn't make it...you've been put on notice...363 days until the next one ;)

wuv,

"aubiee"  (haven't quite gotten my r's down yet :) haha)   

Tough job...

Daddy: it's a tough job...but somebody's got to do it.

Well winkerbeaner...what can i say...i hope you had a wonderful birthday.  I'll post more pictures tomorrow or monday, but I just want to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and mommy and daddy (and lil' gomper) love you!!!

six word story.

a few days ago jenny tagged me to do this and i'm fiiiiiiinally getting to it :)  as much as i want to put "happy wife, happy life...true, true" i'll resist and try to come up with something else haha.  hmmmm...how about this:

grateful for health, happiness, and love :)

Slacker

Yes, i know i've been slacking lately :(  what can i say?  i'm trying to improve the GPA this quarter ;)  anyways, i think i'll finally check the "where did that blog name come from" box off the list.  but before that happens, i will pre-emptively strike with a couple pictures to make sure this post isn't a complete failure.  and just so you know...yes, i do believe i have the cutest lil' grill on the block :)

and since i know how much you loved her clogs from an earlier post, i decided to get a close-up of them just so you can see what 5 bucks will get you at the outlets :)

ok, now to bore you with another post.  where the grass is greener.  it comes from a saying i heard a few years back, but before i get to that, i'll set the stage a little bit.  i think it's safe to say that i was a pretty smiley kid back in the day.  there wasn't a whole lot that got me down from as far back as i can remember and even through the "dreaded high school years."  i don't mean to toot my own horn, but i think i was a pretty happy go lucky kind of guy (feel free to disagree and let me know how far off i am).  :)  so anyways, graduation day came and off i went to YOUR united states air force academy.  i was lucky enough to spend 5 wonderful years in gorgeous colorado springs, co.  (5 instead of 4 since i "wasn't good enough to get in the first time" and spent a year at the prep school).  now i'd like to say i did a pretty good job at not letting "the man get me down" but looking back i think i couldn't be more off.  it's like i got sucked into the cynicism that abounds at the "blue zoo."  maybe it was all the pointless rules we had to follow.  maybe it was living day in and day out with 4,000 other cadets who had nothing better to do than complain about how much life sucked.  maybe it was the fact that we weren't allowed to leave campus during the week until we were seniors.  or maybe, just maybe, these are all terrible excuses and there really was no reason to complain at all.  sure, the saturday morning room/uniform inspections sucked, but honestly, we were done by noon.  how bad could it have been?  i mean, who else gets paid to go to school???  sure, 80 bucks a month as freshmen wasn't exactly a lucrative nba contract, but it sure beats seeing 20 grand in the negative doesn't it??  ok, so anyways.  after graduation i really noticed how great i had it.  gorgeous campus.  rocky mountains.  all the basketball my knees could handle.  and those beautiful academy women.  haha, just threw that last one in there to see if you were still reading ;)  so right then and there i began to see just how bitter i had become and how much it changed my personality.  maybe that's just what happens when you grow older and the academy was just a small part of it.  but even so, is that really an excuse?  i can't say that it is for me.  so sloooooooowly but surely i've tried to get back to the easy going, laughing, smiling, grateful kid i used to be.  about a year or so after graduation i heard a quote that i absolutely fell in love with: "when the grass looks greener on the other side...water your own grass."  i had it on the bottom of my email for the longest time until the air force decided they didn't want personal quotes as footers in our emails and i got more responses about that quote than i did to my emails.  :)  but the bottom line is that it is soooooo true.  life isn't about how bad i have it or how much i wish i had something or sitting here being a pessimistic dirt bag.  there are always things to be thankful for and always things to make you smile (especially when you have a beautiful family :)  so find the good in life and the bad days will soon be forgotten.  i guess i need to wrap this up since it's already too long.  the reason i named my blog what i did was to remind me not to you this as a place to gripe (yes, i know i've already vented a few times...my bad).  i also think, though, that venting is different than complaining and everybody needs to vent every now and then to get a load off and get back to their normal self right??  so make sure you hold me to it and yell at me if i'm getting whiney and i'll gladly thank you for it.  oh, and i promise i'll try and blog a little more often :)   

I guess this might be "thoughts for thursday"??

wow, evidently pops is quite the hit with his inaugural celebrity clause.  although i shouldn't be surprised about him being a hit.  as i recall correctly, i think every other girl in my h.s. class told me he was a hottie...and i think that's a conservative estimate.  anyway, on to other subjects.

gas stations.  smoking.  common sense would tell you that these two generally don't mix.  oh crap...there i go again throwing that "common sense" term around loosely.  ok, so i know there are signs posted practically on all sides of every single pump, but apparently people can't read.  normally it bugs me while i'm pumping and maybe for another 2 minutes afterwards and then i'm over it.  and it really wouldn't be that big of a deal except that this happens roughly 2 out of 3 times i fill up at the local kroger.  well, today sent me over the edge.  before anybody jumps to any conclusions, no i didn't rip somebody a new one about the whole "combustion of a flameable gas" concept...although sometimes i really really want to.  i can just picture it, me screaming at the top of my lungs so that everybody in the entire parking lot can hear me.  anyways, here's what sent me over the edge...it's probably human nature not to confront somebody about this so i can't fault anybody for not confronting somebody who does this when i haven't done it either.  but you would think that the person running the register that's located at the pumps would at least mention it to somebody who is standing there talking to them with their cigarette hanging out of their mouth while they check out.  maybe i'm just crazy.  does this bother anybody else???  or is ohio the only state that has stupid enough people to do this???  or maybe i'm off my rocker and this really isn't a very stupid idea.  hmmm.  anyways, before i close this post i want to make it clear that i have no ill feelings towards people who smoke by any stretch of the imagination.  it's their decision and it's not like i haven't done things that are detrimental to my health.  however, i do have ill feelings to those who are completely retarded and decide it's ok if it's my life they play with just because that can't wait another 6 MINUTES to light up.  ok i'm out.

random thoughts...

so i'm sitting here while miranda is watching the CMT music awards and i'm thinking...

a) does martina mcbride have the most gorgeous eyes you've ever seen?

b) i think 90% of the ladies in my "celebrity clause" are from country music

c) do any of you guys have "celebrity clauses" in your marriage?

  --on a side note, i did not think of the "celebrity clause" on my own...nor did i come up with mine after everybody else started one.  i have to admit that my pops was the one who was the original inventer of the clause...and i quote: "i told your mother if barbara mandrel ever comes along to sweep me off my feet, i'm allowed to go" :)

d) i think taylor swift would be perfect for my brother-in-law :)

e) i love country music.  i hate listening to country music videos/radio.  it's simple, all music stations these days have a habit of playing the same 7 songs over and over all day long.  country music is notorious for this.  that's why i switch between espn radio and Fly 92.9.  It only took 80 thousand years for somebody to come up with a radio station like this...but it was worth the wait.  i think i can go an entire week not hearing the same song and never wanting to change the station at the same time.

f) i still haven't given the background behind the blog name.  i need to get to that.  i don't mean to create great anticipation because it's pretty simple really.  maybe i'll do it tomorrow.

g) i bought a new suit.  i haven't owned a suit since i was like 15 and that one was a deep deep purple so i don't think it counts...how in the world did i ever wear that????  i don't mean to brag, but this new one is "big pimpin" as my sophomore year roommate would say (a few of you might remember him as the MC from our wedding)

h) and i'll close with a favorite pic of mine of my nephews, trenton and jace (a.k.a. lil' willy and mikey)...

i'm back...

sorry for the "vacation" i took from blogging the last few days...a combination of a pool party, visitors, and chemistry :(  so first here's a few pics from the week.

here is aubriee enjoying some "swimming lessons" from daddy.  well, daddy can't really swim that well so maybe he's not the best teacher :)

And here's a pic of aubriee and her friend layla

and last but not least, here i am enjoying my very first wii experience with bryan...i think i'm addicted to say the least...

ok.  on to today's subject.  i need ideas from you.  breakfast ideas.  back in school i started a "tradition" where every saturday morning i'd cook breakfast for some of my friends.  we were up on most saturday mornings in the fall anyway because it was "mandatory" that we attend the academy's home football games.  now, i understand that most people may not be as crazy about college football as i am, so i figured it would be a good start to their day and i didn't have much competition from our chow hall (sorry, Mitchell Hall...you were pretty bad).  so rather than end this after football season i kept it up pretty much every saturday morning throughout the year.  now, for the record...we weren't allowed to have any electric griddles, toasters, electric stovetops, etc. but for some reason the sink in my room managed to heat up enough every saturday morning to make omelletes, french toast, eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and toast...don't ask me how this "heatable sink" miracle took place, i'll deny everything.  anyway, it started out with just a few of my friends, but by the end of senior year it was a steady stream of guys and gals for a good hour or more...sometimes 25-30 orders being filled.  soooooooooooo anyways, all of that to tell you this....the tradition continues in our little household and i've managed to climb the totem pole and get approved for a sous-chef:

(yes, morning hair is allowed)

so as my mind is brewing with ideas for tomorrow's breakfast, i want to hear from you...what are some of your favorite things to eat for breakfast (feel free to email me recipes, too, if you'd like).  Obviously i'm not longer limited to my dorm room capabilities and my sous-chef and i have a full fledged kitchen to prepare mommy's breakfast with, so no recipe will be thrown out :)  that's all for today...HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!

If only...

Well, little winkerbeaner, if only I could have hired a camera crew to follow us around on our very first golf outing so I could show you some footage in another 16 years.  You were soooooo excited to go golfing with daddy.  We found your clubs (all three) in that mess you call your room and slid them into your little pull behind "club cart" along with your little plastic golf balls and headed out the door.  First obstacle, get daddy's clubs from the garage and pack them all in mommy's car.  Really, this shouldn't have been much of an obstacle, but you are extremely partial to daddy's little orange jelly bean, a.k.a. daddy's work car.  I can't say that I blame you...i mean, who would want to drive a volvo when you can ride in style in a "spicy orange" aveo hatchback???  so after switching the car seat around and loading you and the clubs up, we were off on our adventure.  i was a little worried that we might be more bothersome than "cute" to others who might be at the course, but man was i wrong.  we weren't even 20 feet from the car and all the guys were smiling and waving back to you saying "can't start 'em too young."  so down the path we went, one hand holding daddy's and the other pulling your little club cart.  you politely said "hi" to the two other guys on the putting green and pulled out your putter and apparently knew just what to do...well...almost.  you plopped your ball down and started pushing it hockey style around the green.

 

that lasted for a few minutes before daddy showed you that the object was to get the ball in the little hole.  what came next was pretty funny to watch.  you quickly learned that the most accurate club in your bag is your "hand" wedge...

and if that wasn't accurate enough, you decided rather than rolling the ball in the hole, you'd just revert to your well-groomed basketball skills and dunk it :)

all in all we had a great time together and i think you'll enjoy more golf outings with daddy in the future...especially if you get to play with those little flaggy thingys...

big day today, big day...

well, today's a pretty big day in the daddy/daughter world.  we're gonna give mommy a break and take a little trip over to the golf course.  no, we won't be actually playing on the course...that'll have to wait until next season i think...maybe the season after that :)  buuuuuuuut, i thought that since winkerbeaner LOVES playing with her putter, we'd just go have some fun on the putting green and daddy would get to try out his new putter, too.  i'm just hoping there won't be too many people on the practice green so we don't disturb anybody.  i'll let you know how it goes.  in the mean time, enjoy another pic of daddy's heartbreaker :)

don't you just love the shoes??  i'll get a close-up of them next time :)

Flygirl

For some reason these remind me of a "boogie woogie bugle boy of company b" rendition for about 10 years back...kudos to those of you who can give the initials of who did it ;)

Ok, so if any of you have any pointers/suggestions about how to play volleyball, just let me know.  We had our first practice today for intramurals and i think our team is gonna be pretty good to say the least.  I mean, who runs plays and what not during intramurals?  apparently our team.  so again, please give any pointers that you can think of.  more specifically...what do all the numbers mean?  I think i almost got the numbers down for who is going to hit the ball.  but, when you're about to spike the ball and they're screaming out numbers...what do those ones mean?  thanks :) :)