Valentine's Day Coffee

Ashley and I(more Ashley than me) had a Valentine's Day coffee at her house for all of our friends. It all began with some heart shaped valentine's cookies that Elsa had and didn't need. I was glad she did! It was great to get everyone together! It was even better because Margaret was there and did all the set up and clean-up which allowed Ashley and I to mingle the entire time.

If Amy hasn't noticed this on Facebook yet, she will probably kill me that I put this picture on my blog as well. However, I don't think she ever takes a bad picture!

Candice doesn't like her picture taken either but she doesn't have Facebook and it doesn't sound like she's on the computer a lot, so I'm good! :-)

Ash's cousin Georgia said she needed some new cute jeans after being around everyone at the coffee. Too cute! I thought her jeans looked just fine!

Haley had just gotten back from Florida!

Katie and Carmella, Katie made this awesome salmon egg salad things! Not sure what all was in them(well obviously salmon and egg salad), but they were good!

Kate was loving the fact that Holly was totally washing her out!

The pink was totally planned, but the picture of the girls in pink was not. They were just all coincidentally all standing talking together!

Allison is showing off the cookies that inspired the whole coffee.

Haley waited as long as she could before she had to leave to go feed the baby!

Old buds

Ashley said that if you can see the skin between your eyebrows then you know the picture is too close, and I think that is a good rule of thumb to live by! :-)

Yes, Heidi, you do look like Sarah Palin with the bangs and glasses, but I still like the bangs! :-)

How is it that I was wearing flats, Ash is on heels and I'm still a foot taller than everyone?! I think Holly was slauching! :-)

An Evening with the Van Hoofs!

Holly has fallen off the face of the Earth since she got married, so it was nice to be able to catch up with her, Tim and the girls. Al was cheering so we went to the Epiphany 8th grade boys sectional game. It was a close game and they ended up winning by 6 I believe it was. Very close until the last couple of minutes!

Funny how things change since we were 8th graders. First, no one seems to care what they wear. I remember being so particular about what I wore to a game. You HAD to be decked! Come on, you had to impress the boys! These girls were as Hols called it "in the hoodie club". North Face, Uggs, ponytails and hooded sweatshirts flooded the gym.

After the game, they all rushed the floor to cheer and scream with the team for the win! 8th grade boys apparently don't shower after a game because the cute cheerleaders awaiting them outside their locker room was more important! :-)

After dinner we headed to our favorite new mexican restaurant in town, El Toro. I just wish it wasn't on the COMPLETE opposite corner of town from my house. I might as well drive to Morton for dinner! :-)

Tim didn't even bauk at having his picture taken! He usually tells me that they don't look any different since the last time I took their picture!

The girls were filling me in on their first Hollywood experience where they got to meet Selena Gomez from Disney Channel. Sadly, I know who she is! I had to confess that I watch Disney Channel occasionally! Don't judge! :-)

Hols, for the record.....a Chalupa is a crunchy taco with beans, lettuce and cheese. Make a mental note to self so you don't have to ask the next time we go there! She asks EVERYTIME and we go there A LOT! :-)

Rascal Flatts Concert

Rascal Flatts were in town last night and Brandon's sister got us tickets. Jessica Simpson opened for them which was a little odd since you think of her as being a powerhouse on her own rather than an opening act. She did well. She definitely can pull off country. Not sure why the media has been all over her about her weight either. She looked great. I think they just take the worst picture they can find and say it looks like she's gained 20 pounds. I mean seriously.....who looks good in high waisted jeans?! They give you a butt a mile long, a pooch for a stomach and make you look like you have huge hips!

Rascal Flatts were great in concert! Probably one of the few bands that I could sit and listen to every song and like it and not be bored at their concert. They are good entertainers as well. Very entertaining concert. We had a lot of fun. I met Darren, Erika and Brandon in Champaign and had a quick dinner and then headed to the concert.

If you can truly gain 20 pounds when you're 5'3" and still wear daisy duke shorts, then I would say you look pretty good!

A little dark but close up of her on the jumbotron. She didn't look like she tried very hard on her hair. It was kind of stringy! She did say she was nervous which I was surprised by. However, she apparently had a meltdown the night before forgetting some of the words to her songs, so maybe that was it.

Darren and Erika, Erika told Darren she'd let him wear flannel shirts and cowboy boots if he'd spike his hair rather than as she calls it, "the combover"!

We had all kinds of time to take this picture when Brandon went to find the restroom. He was gone 20 minutes! Apparently they shut down one of the men's bathrooms for the girls to use and shut it down right as he walked up. The next one was on the opposite end of the arena!

I told him I was wearing navy as a joke, but I noticed once I saw the pictures later that he had actually worn navy too! A boy that likes to match, I tell ya! :-)

The stage and graphics were pretty cool! You can tell from this picture that our seats were not that close. Darren kept complaining of nose bleeds!

Thankfully my camera zooms in pretty decent

This guitar player was from Kankakee. It looks like Gary is grabbing his butt but I don't think that was actually the case!

He was an amazing violinist!

One of the few that I was able to get of all three of them without it being blurry!

Zooming in on the jumbotron again!

Made it feel like we were so close! :-)

One of the few times that having two first names works: Joe Don! :-)

I think that Joe Don looks like Kate's boyfriend, Phil. Whit and Kate don't agree!

I was trying to get my arm behind Brandon's shoulder, but the girl took it before I accomplished that, so instead I decided to just show off my chest! :-)

Superbowl

Ben and Marissa had us over for Superbowl again this year. Good game but disappointed that the Cardinals didn't win. You can always count on Superbowl to be good food, good company and you hope some good commercials. My favorite were the E-trade commercials. I think that little baby is hilarious!

Andy is now home after his season ended with Kansas City. He still supports his Wheaton Thunder! Avery decided to pee all over her changing table so she got a last minute bath before bed!

Becky Reese holding Mark and Becky's little guy Caleb. Such a cutie. He came about a month early, but Becky was glad to get off of bed rest.

Oh Daniel! Always such a character! He called on one of my old clients from BSC and dropped my name as a reference to get a quote! :-)


You may ask why I was wearing a Rams jersey. Well you see.....I have two of them and I never get to wear them except for Superbowl, so I figure I would show my support for Kurt Warner's old team and wear it. However, I didn't know that Kurt Warner was an old Rams player until about 2pm yesterday! :-)

Yet Another Wedding Reception!

So one of Brandon's co-workers got married and their wedding reception was this past weekend. Brandon forgot about it and didn't say anything to me till late Thursday night. That left me with a day to figure out what to wear! Boys! Always waiting till the last minute! :-) So Whit and I did an overhaul on my closet and found a dress that I already owned so I didn't have to go and buy something. I love it when that happens. We had a lot of fun and I got to meet all of Brandon's co-workers. We felt a little overdressed with some people at the reception in a jeans!

I'm loving hte fact that I actually look sort of tan in this picture and it's JANUARY! That never happens!

John works with Brandon at the dealership and this is his girlfriend Randi

John and Randi were cracking us up all night. John can eat like no one else. He went back for seconds on the wings and it was either the spiciness of the wings or the fact that we were all watcihng him that made him start sweating!

RJ had had quite a bit to drink and would make his rounds around our table multiple times throughout the evening. His glass of beer was always almost full and he didn't have a very steady hand. I was sure I was going to get beer dumped on me as he passed by. However, one time he would walk through because my purse was in the way. Guess he couldn't just step over it! :-)

These are all the guys Brandon works with minus Terry, the other F&I manager.

Julie is their sales manager and RJ thought he'd be funny and act like he was touching her boob.....

Julie had no clue!

Randi and I had almost the same dress on just in different patterns and she's like the same height as me! Not very often that I meet girls that stand eye level with me! :-)

The boys! Brandon kept calling John the St. Bernard all night and he's the Chihuahua that yaps at the big dog! Funny that guys would refer to themselves as dogs especially a chihuahua.

Trying to look all big and tough. John showing off what he calls his "ridiculous jaw line" and Brandon trying to be a Spartan and he calls himself "301"!

Breakfast with Grandma T

We had breakfast with Grandma Tillie Saturday morning. She didn't stand us up! :-) However, I did call to confirm with her that morning, so she didn't have a lot of time to forget! We went to Le Peep. It's been fun to do regular outings with grandma. She always has funny stories and keeps us entertained the whole time.

I thought she had leaned in for the picture. Apparently, I was mistaken!

She leaned in for Whit!

We look a little tired. I'm not sure why. I only got like 12 hours of sleep the night before!

They were showing how they had dressed alike, not showing off their chests! :-)

We ran into Elsa and Eve at Le Peep. Eve showing us her break dancing moves! :-)

And her bouncing skills!