Bananas & Christmas Trees

What could these two items possibly have in common?!  Allergies...That's what!  Over this past month Kevin and I have both had allergic reactions.  Earlier in the month Kevin had an allergic reaction to a banana that I sent him to work with and insisted on him eating :/  Oops!  Little did we know he would immediately have a reaction which ended with him having to be picked up from work and head to the Allergist office the same day.  After an hour long allergy test/appt we found out that Kev is allergic to all but one tree pollen, many grass & weed pollens, horse hair, cats, pork, peas & bananas.  The doctor was wonderful and sent us on our way to think about 3 options to help with such allergies; shots, nose spray & oral medication. 

You may be thinking that Kevin's allergies are related to the Christmas tree topic but no such luck.  It's actually ME the Christmas fanatic.  For over 3 weeks now I have been off and on sick...sinus, coughing, headaches, and sore/scratchy throat.  It would get to a point when I would think okay I am going to have to make a doctors appt and get on some antibiotic and then I would start feeling better.  On Christmas eve and Christmas day my symptoms were particularly intensified and I was especially bummed to be sick over Christmas break for the 2nd year in a row!  Last Christmas break I was sick for pretty much the entire break.  I refused this year to be sick for my ten day break again!  I may have started to feel just a little sorry for myself...or as my Mom would say throw myself a pity party.  It just wasn't fair that I could possibly be sick 2 years in a row when I could count how many times I have ever been sick on Christmas before!  And then I had a light bulb moment and realized what has been the one thing that has changed...REAL Christmas Tree!  I grew up with an artificial tree all my life and then when we got married we decided to start the tradition of cutting down a real tree each year.  I did a little research and believe that all of my symptoms were allergies to tree mold that are generally found on live trees and affect some people.  I decided when I woke up today I would undecorate my house and get the tree out of my house.  I have felt amazing all afternoon and totally believe the real tree was creating my sickness for the past 3 weeks.  Kevin is super bummed that we will be investing in an artificial tree but hey I would like to be able to enjoy my Christmas without being sick :)

Birthday Girls

We are so lucky to be the bestest of friends and to also share our birthday month & week.  Since we were little we have celebrated our birthday together.  I truly look forward to celebrating with this girl every year.  The past 2 years prior to our birthdays I didn't think we would be able to celebrate with each other and was a little bummed.  And in the end both have been the opposite!  Last year we celebrated the weekend before our birthdays after my cookie party.  This year Megan was in for a surprise and we celebrated the weekend after our birthdays by meeting up in Baltimore.  We had an awesome time in Baltimore; going to dinner and then to Howl at the Moon dualing piano bar.  

Here's to a wonderful 26th & 25th year of life as bestest friends :) 

Christmas Tree

After my parents pre-lit tree stopped working last year we have been trying to convince my Mom to get a real tree this year.  I never remember cutting down a real tree as a child and Noah & Joey have only ever known a fake tree.  Well after several months of preparing my Mom she agreed and off we went to Gaver Tree Farm.  It was pretty cold the day after Thanksgiving but we love to decorate for Christmas so we went anyway!

My Dad is always such a goofball :)

Kevin and my Dad loading up our tree.  It was nice not to have to do all the work with Kevin this year :)

The sun was setting just as we finished cutting down our tree which we had to take advantage of and ended up using the picture as one for our Christmas card this year!

'One Less'

I just heard this song from a friends facebook the other day and love it!  We hope that one day we are part of joining the "One Less" cause.  There are many ways that you can join the effort to have One Less broken heart.   

Billboards

I saw a billboard with this same saying on it today as I was driving to work.  It caught my eye and I was excited to see something like this on a billboard where I live. 

oh how I love Frederick!

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Carving Pumpkins

It's the Most Wonderful Time of Year!

yes, I am that girl who already has 3 Christmas cds loaded into my cd player in the car!  I would like to say I wanted till the day after halloween but I have been jammin' out to these cds 2 days BEFORE halloween.  sorry meghan :) Now that halloween is over I am super pumped about Thanksgiving & Christmas.  I love both of these holidays and of course my birthday right in the middle makes it even more fun!  Christmas concerts are selling tickets, decorations are on the store shelves, commercials are on the tv so the time must be near!  Thanks to a wonderful friend (and blogger) I found out about some great deals on christmas cards through Shutterfly.  We are looking forward to sending out Christmas cards together for the first time as a married couple :) The possibilities are endless; look at this and this and this.  Go check them out and if you are a blogger you can make get an even better deal...Click here to find out the details.  PS go put a christmas cd in your radio, don't listen to want your friends say about waiting till after Thanksgiving...they don't know what they are missing out on :)

That's right...

Dylan is a big brother now!  We were excited to get the phone call yesterday night saying Kristy was in labor.  Off we went to go spend the night with Dylan.  When I got him up this morning I found him in these pajamas.  I had to take a picture because I was sure that it was unplanned.  After dropping Dylan off to daycare I was excited to hear that Kristy and Matt were up for a visitor.  Baby #2 was a BOY!  Parker was born on the perfect day...The Graves siblings along with Mom & Dad picked the date we thought the baby would be born along with gender.  And guess who picked today...Thats right...ME!  I did not pick the right gender but thats okay.  He is adorable and looks so much like Dylan did when he was born.  Can't wait to go visit again soon! 

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Visitors :)

As I was fixing dinner the other night for the 4 of us, I realized just how much I love having family/friends stop over for dinner.  Our brother Paul and his friend came over for dinner this past week.  It was nice to have company and catch up with each other.  Paul is such an awesome brother/friend.  He really would drop anything to help someone out.  I love that he makes the time and effort to see everyone even if it means he has to drive an hour to our house for dinner (i mean i make mexican food for him...of course its worth the drive :) ).

On a similar note we found out some exciting news this week... It is a strong possibility that we will have family moving close by this coming summer!  Kevin is super pumped and can't wait to have some Graves' live about ten minutes from us. 

Girls Weekend

We decided it was the first annual girls weekend with many more to come!  It was quite a long flight considering the longest flight I had ever been on was 2 hours.  But I made it through.  On Thursday B and I got checked into the airport, found food and crashed.  It was a long day of traveling.  Meghan didn't get to the hotel till close to midnight.  We of course stayed up for an hour or two chatting.  Then Friday morning the adventure began!  We got our trolley tickets for the next 3 days and were so excited to get on these things to conquer the city. 

On more than one occasions we said we could right the hills of San Francisco on the trolleys all day long :) It doesn't take much to entertain us.  First stop was Fisherman's Wharf area.  Things we did & saw included... shopping, street vendors, Sea lions at Pier 39, sail boats, ferry ride around Alcatraz & under the Golden Gate bridge. 

On Saturday we tackled some BIG hills in search of the houses Mrs. Doubtfire and Full house were filmed.  Okay they weren't BIG hills, they were HUGE hills.  But we found both houses and then were smart and took a taxi cab back to where we could catch the trolley. 

San Francisco, CA

First glimpse of the west coast!

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6 Months of Planning...

And FINALLY our trip has arrived!  Its been 9 months since us 3 girls have been together and now we are just 2.5 days away from a long weekend TOGETHER in San Francisco CA!  We are all pumped for our 4 day vacation.  I expect it to be nothing less of ... lots of talking, shopping, laughing, very little sleep, late nights, Memories, pictures, food, and exploring!

First Week!

We did it!  Everyone survived the first week back to school!  A few hairy moments, excited moments, frazzled/frustrated moments but Friday evening ended in smiles :)  Oh how happy I am to be back in the SACC department at the Y.  I have great staff at both sites and am looking forward to the year ahead!   

I wasn't able to see both of the boys leave for school on the first day but I managed to catch the bus as it dropped Joey off.  He was so excited about his first day as a BIG kindergartener.  We asked him how his day was and his description of the day was "AWESOME"! 

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Blonnie! 

Enjoy your day Hawaii style :) 

Creature of Old Habits

Thats exactly what I am...A creature of old habits.  I am not a huge fan of change although in the past few years I have gone with the flow a little better.  So I used to have this "RULE" that I made up.  Maybe I should first say I don't know how I came up with this rule because my mom & dad do not live by it nor have they ever!  Here goes the rule... The weekend before the school year starts back I make NO plans and vow to spend my time at home to prepare my anxiety ridden self about whatever changes are about to take place and the newness of the upcoming year.  Yes I am still like this :)  BUT I have had a couple people give me a hard time about this rule although only ONE person (megan :) ) has really tried to tell me just how crazy it is.  Well I am here to tell you today that this year my LAST weekend before the school year begins has plans both Saturday and Sunday.  And to top it off Sunday we are having our home group from church to OUR house the one that needs its laundry done, dishes done, picked up and all of my 80 childrens files and other wonderful paper work that needs to be done by Monday at  6:30 am are covering my family room floor!  Yikes looks like I will be pulling some late nights.  Have it be known that while this year I stepped way outside of my box and allowed for plans to be made AGAINST my rule, next year we are going back to the "rule"!!  Sorry Megan I just can't do it :) 

Happy Anniversary!

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Together

It has been a weekend of celebrating our first anniversary this weekend! 

Friday evening we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Frederick; The Dungeon at Dutch's Daughter.  This is where we had our rehearsal dinner last year and also had a gift certificate thanks to Mom & Dad Graves! Tonight we went over to my parents house and had steak for dinner.  They gave us this Willow Tree figurine called "Together".  It was nice just to hang out with family for the evening.  Tomorrow for our actual anniversary the plan is to enjoy the day together.   We are going to have dinner at home and attempt to eat the top layer of our cake.  We will be sure to let you know how that goes.  I am sad to say it will be my first piece of our cake and I had to wait a whole year for it!

yes that would be a picture of a dumpster on our blog post!

Atleast its a quite decorative dumpster!  Why the dumpster?!?!  Because I have finally come to the conclusion that this is what my summer camp should have been called instead of Market Street Camp.  The Y has many different camps available for kids to join in on during the summer one of which I was in charge of this summer and very excited about the potential of this camp.  I quickly realized (and the kids told me) that the children in Market Street Camp were there because they didnt want to take part in Sign language camp, Sports Unlimited, Flag Football, Teen Trek, West Mar, Art Camp...and the list could go on.  So if they wanted to do sports they would have went to sports camp, if they wanted to do crafts they would have went to Art Camp, if they wanted to spend all day outside they would have went to West mar.  You get the point and where does that leave my camp?! With children that would rather have FREE time inside then go outside for 45 minutes MAX for FREE time Lunch then do it all over again.  The saddest part of it all in my eyes is that the parents were completely okay with this idea of FREE time.  When the children complained the parents complained as well.  I tried to stick to my guns and keep a pretty structured day NOT full of FREE time all day but 10 weeks of the complaining takes a toll on the camp staff...ME specifically!  I do have to say that I was blessed to have a few awesome campers each week who were up for some group games/sports & arts and crafts each day :)

MIA X 1000000

It has been one HOT summer so far!  Not only is it a really hot summer for many days in a row, I am outside this summer everyday with camp.  The first couple weeks of summer it was nice in the morning time to be outside with the big trees providing shade and then mother nature decided to turn up the heat and well even the mornings are hot to be outside.  But we survived last week doing Olympic events outside and have hopes to a more comfortable next couple of weeks.  We are embarking on the halfway point of summer.  Well for me it is halfway through the summer.  6 more weeks of camp!   Woo hoo.  I miss my kids in my program.  I went to visit them yesterday, it was so fun to see them and their excitement in return to see me :) 

Work has not been the only thing we have been up too!  I know you might have thought that since I have been nonexistent in the blogging world. 

Orioles Game

4th of July annual Cookout

PA for the favorite friends engagement party

Weddings (1 so far...2 more to go)

Little projects around our house

Hanging out with some new friends :)

Dinner & Catching up with old friends

Kevin's 27th Birthday

Carnival

Fireworks

Now if you think I have pictures from all of this you are asking a little much & should know me better than that ;) 

Here are a few of the pictures I do have...

my favorite lil nephew...okay he maybe the only one for the next few months but he was first and you know about those first children born in the family...the favorites :)  I maybe just a little biased considering I am the first born in my family!

My littlest brother after bath time let me give him a fo-hawk :)  He is growing his hair out...we will see how long my mom lets this go on.

For Kevin's birthday we went out for all you can eat crabs and then 2 days later had crabs at Mom & Dad Graves house to celebrate his birthday and fathers day.  I wrapped all of his gifts in brown paper and wrote a clue on the outside... "something you need" "something to eat" "something you want" 

And finally us at the O's game

Busy Little Bees

We have been a little more productive than this bee!

It's only noon on Saturday and we have been PRODUCTIVE :)

re-arranged our family room

painted a shelf

painted our tv stand

cleaned the house

mowed the grass

had breakfast with my parents

hung some pictures on the wall

cut down flowers

kevin got a haircut

Whew!  go us and being able to get some things accomplished and still having the rest of the weekend to hang out and enjoy with these two people...

and of course I am enjoying spending time with Kevin :)

a wonderful evening...

A wonderful evening spent with my husband :)  The rain FINALLY stopped and the sun warmed up the day so what better way to spend the evening then to have dinner outside.  We don't have patio furniture set so we had to do a little improvising but hey if I say so myself I think it turned out pretty much awesome along with some Pioneer Women Chicken Spaghetti & Roasted Red Potatoes for dinner.

Productive Saturday

yes it's true we had a very productive Saturday that didn't involve a track meet!  Which means our house got some extra t.l.c.  And trust me when I say MUCH NEEDED tlc.  I have recently had a few occasions were a friend stopped by without time for me to pick up and I was embarrassed at the way my house looked!

The conversation went a little different than this one but Kevin gets all the credit for the dishes being done today!  I may or may not have pointed out the fact that my Dad did the dishes after dinner last night :)

And he can keep on dreaming that I would be this happy about cleaning our house and better yet dressed in pumps, dress or apron while doing it!

Happy Mother's Day!

p.s. Kristy i hope you enjoy your mother's day gift from me...a blog post :)  i will miss you tomorrow

Easter Weekend

Lots of blogging to catch up on...  I will add pictures eventually
I survived the plane ride both to Kentucky and then again back home.  Going I was a super champ.  On the way home I might have been a little grouchy.  I was sick and traveling was not really what I would like to be doing that day.  Regardless it was pretty much smooth flying :) 

We had a wonderful visit in Kentucky.  Kevin and I stayed with my cousin and his wife Laura.  It was alot of fun being able to all spend time together.  On Friday we hung out with a bunch of family.  That evening Chad, Laura, Kevin & I went to a Japanese Steak House to eat and celebrate for Kyle.  (He was in Florida and ran a 4:13 mile...breaking the school record:) )  

On Saturday we spent the afternoon at Kentucky lake and went fishing.  We were competing to see who would catch the most fish.  I think that we all ended up tying with 5 fish.  After leaving the lake we made our way to a Bison & Elk reservation where the Elk and Bison roamed freely and you were able to drive in your vehicle to see the animals.  We went right around sunset and it was both beautiful and a peak time to see the Bison & Elk out in abundance.  

On Sunday we went to church together and then had Easter dinner at our families house.  It was nice to just hang out and spend the afternoon with the family before we left.  We can't wait to make plans for our next visit back to Kentucky :) 

random post :)

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

Today I saw this quote and loved it.  And then while watching tv tonight I saw American Idol on tv.  Never been much of an American Idol fan although when I live in the apt my lovely roommate religiously watched it.  Both the quote and tv show have reminded me of her today.  Looking forward to seeing her and the rest of the girls in September in San Francisco...yes I am counting down the months already!

 It seems like so long ago that Kevin and I decided that we were going to spend Easter in Kentucky this year.  Okay it really was a long time ago... 3 months to be exact!  We are going to be spending Easter with wonderful family in Kentucky and then spending 2 days in Nashville, TN before we fly back home.  The last time I flew was not the greatest experience and I had some anxiety while on the plane to & from Miami.  I would like to blame it on lots of things going on last summer and was experiencing just temporary anxiety due to stress.  haha Kevin would of course exagerate the story and act like I bruised his arm from how tight I was holding it....NOT the case at all :)  I do though still have anxiety over things beyond my control and no I am not medicated (maybe i should do that...haha) but I am hoping and praying for smooth flying come Thursday evening. 

F'real shakes...straight out of sheetz.  Atleast thats where I think you can buy f'real shakes.  Regardless the whole point of this picture is that it reminds me of living with B at the apt.  Meg and her would walk to sheetz to get a f'real shake or they would all walk to Rita's (kevin included) .  I am of course always opted out of getting anything...i would just love it if Freeze King was still open.  Tonight would be the perfect evening to go to freeze king after dinner. 

Back to the picture which made me think of B, Meghan & Jenn which is the whole reason for the post because I miss them lots :)  (is it september yet...bring it on San Fran,CA)

Random

I figured while I am sitting here uploading pictures off my camera I should blog and maybe even post a few pictures. 

Last night we went to my brother's ceremony for boyscouts.  He got First Class!  We are so proud of him and his hard work with boyscouts. 

trying to take a picture with these boys isnt always the easiest task

Stud Finder

no words are needed...

Don't let him trick you...he didnt think of using the stud finder on me.  When I went to take a picture Kristy & Mom said I needed to get in the picture too. 

Off to Boston we go...

Nike Indoor Nationals to watch Kyle do big things :) 

And hit up a few tourist spots as well. 

m.i.a

I have been m.i.a from the blogging world for the past few weeks.  Okay not completely missing because of course I have been reading your posts but have not caught you up on our lives recently. 

Often times when I read Blonnie's post I get the motivation to do one as well.  And it just so happens that she blogged today...so you can guess what made me decided to blog :)  I love that girl!  She is just an awesome friend even though we are a bajillion miles apart I can always count on her <3  

I am usually the person who checks the weather during the winter months with hopes of snow in the forecast but not after the last 2 big storms.  I check the weather all the time still but instead hoping to see warm enough weather to continue to melt this snow away.  Thankfully that continues to happen and from the upcoming forecast will continue.  Kevin & I are hoping to plant some bulbs we bought a few weeks ago.  Of course, I think Kevin is more excited about going out to get some tools for our spring/summer projects tomorrow evening. 

I have always wanted to be able to travel more often and to places that I have never been to before and well thanks to Kyle's amazing times from the track meet this past weekend we are headed to Boston in a week in a half!  Kyle and a few others from the track team Kevin coaches qualified for Nike Indoor Track Nationals this year.  We are looking forward to a fun weekend in Boston with the family. 

How did a year fly by so quickly?! 

Happy 22nd Birthday Jenn

&
Happy 25th Birthday Meghan!

Can't wait to celebrate with you all :)