Happy Father's Day!

Daddy's Girl Always

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!  A special Happy Father's Day goes out to my Dad and my brother, Dustin.  My Dad taught me how to camp, fish, hike, shoot a gun (yes folks, I used to do all of these things) and mostly how to go for your dreams.  I am very lucky to have him in my life.  I also want to send a Happy Father's Day wish out to my little brother, Dustin.  I have to admit, when I heard that he was becoming a father it was strange for me.  I grew up with him so the idea of my little brother becoming a daddy was foreign to me.  Dustin happily surprised me though with what a great Daddy he is.  So today and always, I hope the two special dad's in my life know just how much they're loved.

How is everyone doing?  Things have been great in our neck of the woods.  Last weekend was spent with a much overdue visit with our friends, James and Nicole, and their two wonderful children, Ruby and Wyatt.  We sat and caught up about what we have all been up to.  Matt and I learned just what it means to divide and conquer when it comes to kids.  Ruby and Wyatt love talking and showing all of their neat artwork and throwing skills.  They are truly a joy.  After an afternoon of visiting we all went to New Paltz to check out the new Grimaldi's.  For those of you who are unaware of what Grimaldi's is, it is quite possibly the best pizza I have ever had, and until recently the only way to satisfy a Grimaldi's fix was to go to Brooklyn, NY.  Grimaldi's is great in so many ways; the fact that you will inevitably have to stand outside and wait in line to get a table and you won't care, that you are squeezed in so tight you feel like you are sitting at the same table as everyone else, the Brick Oven that the pizza is made in, and the amazingly fresh ingredients they use on their pizzas (i.e. fresh mozzarella, basil, etc).  It is heaven in a pizza.  So naturally Matt and I were pumped to hear that a Grimaldi's had traveled to New Paltz, a much quicker trip than going all the way to Brooklyn.  We didn't have to stand in line and we weren't squeezed in next to the rest of the patrons but the pizza was still pretty darn good.  Ruby and Wyatt LOVED the fact that they got to watch the pizza dough being made.  As they ate their pizza they watched and squealed in amazement each time one of the chefs would toss the dough into the air.  There is nothing better than catching up with friends over some great food.

Yesterday Matt and I spent the afternoon fishing.  Matt generally realizes right away why he does not ask me to go with him very often.  I enjoy catching the fish, after that I'm pretty useless.  Once I reel the fish in Matt has to release the fish, because I can't bring myself to touch them.  Matt is also responsible for any fishing rod malfunction I may have.  This translates into, Matt doesn't get to fish much.  We still had a great time though.  It was nice to sit on the boat and feel the breeze as we leisurely cast out and occasionally caught some fish. 

That's a prize winning fish right there.

I think mine is a little bigger. ;-)

 Just a side note, even SPF 50 every 30 min didn't keep me from burning a little.  lol

He's so happy. :-)

Not a bad place to spend a Saturday Afternoon.

After our wonderful afternoon fishing and relaxing we went home and relaxed for the rest of the day.





I love this guy.

Today was the usual.  The sun is shining and all is calm.  Luke and I took a much needed walk after the rainy week, I cleaned and now intend to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing and finally reading the new book I got.  Tonight we are having dinner with Matt's parents to celebrate Father's Day with Erwin.  It doesn't get much better than that. 

                                 This is a rough life our animals live.  Have a Great Week!!!

Ready, Set, Barbeque!

Hello!  I hope you're all doing well since the last time I posted.  The past few weeks have been busy for us.  The first couple of weeks after my surgery I spent trying to get my body back into the swing of things.  The first week back to work was a little rough, as my body was still using most of it's energy to repair itself.  After about two weeks of taking it easy I decided that I was going to try and get back into my workout routine.  It is amazing what two weeks of inactivity can do for a workout routine.  I felt like I hadn't worked out in months!  Slowly I was able to get back into the swing of things and am now moving around as normal.  My doctor said that I have healed nicely and I am feeling great! 

We've had a couple of decent storms around here in May as well.  One that took a tree down across the road to get off our mountain and knocked out the power in the town that I work in.  I had caught a pretty bad cold so the Nyquil successfully helped me sleep through the entire thing.  I didn't even realize we had a storm until I tried to get down the mountain for work and met the fallen tree.  Memorial Day Weekend we also got a Thunderstorm.  I love thunderstorms and the ones here in New York aren't as good as the one's in Iowa so it was nice to hear a good one for a change.  Odd I know, but thunderstorms are calming to me.

Matt and I had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.  It was spent eating a lot of barbeque food.  We had a nice time at a friend, Joe's barbeque and he kindly let us crash at his house for the night.  The next day we invited Joe and his girlfriend up for a barbeque.  Matt got the fire pit going and we sat around it all afternoon/night visiting and eating great food.  The next morning I made breakfast for everyone.  And Luke and his friend Mason had a great time running around and swimming in the pond.  On the last day of the weekend we went to Joe's parent's house for a small barbeque.  We sat on their porch, visited and had a relaxing end to a great weekend. 

I just have to say, even though Memorial Day Weekend is usually marked as the unofficial start to Summer and most people spend the weekend at barbeques and getting together with friends I hope that we all remember the true meaning of Memorial Day.  As the sister of two military men I find it important to make sure that no one forgets just how much our soldiers sacrifice, some making the ultimate sacrifice.  Their selflessness keeps our freedoms safe and gives us the luxuries we all enjoy.  Always remember the importance of our military men and women.  I love you Duddy and Aaron!

This weekend Matt and I had our friend's Abby and Derrick, and their little girl Alex up for a barbeque.  Just a side note, Spring and Summer are Matt's seasons.  He loves to barbeque and the man can barbeque.  Again, we sat around the fire pit, visiting and eating LOTS of great food.  Matt makes some amazing chicken wings and ribs.  I've eaten so much food the last couple of weekends it's amazing I still have room for food.  It was a relaxing Saturday spent with friends.  Alex was just amazed and thrilled to see our pets.  She was just in love with all of them and got so excited when she saw the cats or the dog.  It was fun to watch her reaction to all of them.   Derrick tried to convince Abby that they should move up here, which she quickly said she would never do.  It's peaceful, but I don't blame her. ;-)

Matt and I are looking forward to many more barbeque's and great times with friends this Summer!  I love this time of year. :-)

Today Luke and I took a leisurely walk and I did some gardening while he ran around.  A perfect end to a great weekend.  I hope that you all had a great weekend and have a great week!  Until next time!

These are my favorite flowers in the garden.



Me and my Love



These smell great!









Matt found this little guy in the shed.

We love watching him fly around our yard.