Awesome Husband

I'm sure a lot of people think they have awesome husbands, but I really do have one. 

Yesterday, I came home to a super clean house!  Floors swept and mopped, ceiling fan cleaned, garage organized and some things cleaned up outside. 

Thanks Babe, I love you!!!!

Babe The Bug Guy

With our party on Saturday night, we also had a lot of uninvited flies.  Chad tried to suck them up with the sweeper, but it didn't have enough suction... so he whipped out the shop vac.  That did the trick!!

Two Car Garage

One Car Garage

Quick Trip to Tucson

Last Saturday morning, Chad and I met with a bunch of people that are in his car club and we all drove down to Tucson for a VW show. Not too long after we left the house, I realized that we forgot sunscreen. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal since we live in ARIZONA and you can GET SUNBURNT ON CHRISTMAS DAY here, they had to have some at Kmart (where we met). WRONG. I couldn't find any.

We had a lot of fun and we got to hang out with some of Chad's friends that I hadn't seen for a while. It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get there because there were 12 cars total that drove together. On the way there, a few of the cars broke down and we ended up stopping about four times so that they could get them running again. This is where the sunscreen would have came in handy. I looked like an idiot because I was only burnt on the right side of my neck and face. Oh well, it's feeling much better now.

The actual car show was on Sunday and several people from Chad's club got up SUPER EARLY and were there at 4:00AM!! I told Chad he was nuts if he wanted me to get up at early. We got there at 6:15 or so.

I was guessing that there were around 90 cars or so but we found out that at the last count, there were 176!! That is a lot of VW's!!

Our friend Zach brought his grill down with him, so of course, I took over collecting the money for food and Zach and I went shopping. He and Chad did the GRILLING.

They gave out a bunch of awards at the show and D3 (Chad's club) gave out a few as well. The members of D3 all gave Chad an award for this year's show because his car had gone through so much work in the last year! We thought that was pretty cool.

We had to hurry to get home because Chad's mom flew in for the weekend (she watched Brynn) and we had to get her back to the airport (I'll post on that soon!!). We felt bad because we weren't able to drive back with the rest of the group and were crossing our fingers that we didn't break down!! Luckily, we made it home ok.

Here are a few pictures from our quick trip (Jenn - Chad took a picture of the U of A Bug just for you!!):

Happy 2nd Anniversary!!

Chad, you are the best husband (and Daddy!) ever. I love you so much and I don't know what I would do without you. Happy 2nd Anniversary Babe!!

Looking Back

This week, it will be a year ago that Chad lost his job, I went back to work, and Brynn started daycare at the Caudill's house!! I can't believe how fast time has flown by and how completely different our lives are than they were a year ago.

If he wouldn't have lost his job, he wouldn't have found the company that gave him the opportunity to learn a different trade. That experience got him to the amazing company that he works for now.

For all of these crazy things that have happened in the last year, I am completely grateful.

Maroon 5 ROCKS!

So, yeah. I'm still annoyed with hyperlinking. Thanks for trying Heidi but I think I'm just a dumbass at this.

Anyway... Last night, Brynn stayed the night at the Caudill's house. Brenda watches Brynn during the day so we figured it would probably be easier for Brynn just to stay there. (Thanks for the offer though Jenn!!) Brenda said that she did pretty good, she woke up once in the middle of the night and got up at her usual time this morning. I think that was a little rough on Chad and I... it's only the second night that she's been away from us!! We weren't worried about her, it was just a weird feeling not having her at home with us!!

Back to the subject of this post... Maroon 5 ROCKS!! Chad bought perfect seats, Cricket was packed and it was a lot of fun!! Augustana opened up, Maroon 5 was the second band and then the Counting Crows closed the show. We didn't end up sticking around for the Counting Crows... Chad isn't a big fan, we were exhausted, and the Counting Crows WAY too long to set up.

Our friend Rosey was exactly two rows behind us!! (Um, yeah, I would hyperlink that but I can't figure it out... so you can click on her name on my blog list instead.) I knew she was going to be there but I didn't think she'd be so close to us!! How cool is that?!

Unfortunately, we didn't bring our camera. It was supposed to rain last night and we didn't want to deal with it, so we left it at home. Since we knew we weren't going to take the camera with us, we took a pre-concert picture!! Here is my Hottie Husband Who Buys Me Awesome Birthday Presents and I:

Superman!

Brynn has taught me many things in her first year of life. She's pretty predictable and today she did something that I should have known that she would have done but I thought I was fast enough for her not to notice.

I started to take some clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer but then I was like "Hmph, I need to take the lint out of the lint catcher thingy". So, I did and then I threw it away in the trash can which is right next to the washer. I started to turn back around and I heard a loud "THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!". I was like "OH CRAP, THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN!!". Want to know what happened?!

Brynn had my cell phone (LESSON LEARNED RIGHT THERE...) and because she likes to take things out and put them back, SHE DROPPED MY PHONE INTO THE LINT CATCHER HOLE!! At first, I was like "Ok, maybe I got super lucky and she threw it into the dryer." I don't have that kind of luck. I looked down the dirty hole and there it was... CRAP!

Um, my arm doesn't fit in there... Brynn's arm might fit in there but it's definately not long enough to reach it... what the heck am I going to do?! I just kind of stood there for a second shocked and then I called Chad (from the home phone, of course!). He was on his way home from helping his friend with his car. I told him not to call me on my cell because um, it was kind of stuck in the lint dryer hole. He didn't know what to say but I think he thought it was pretty funny!! I wasn't mad, I couldn't have been... it was my own fault for letting her play with my phone in the first place. UGH.

So anyway, Chad was on his way home and I was like ok, I'm going to try and be smart about this and try to get it out myself. About two minutes later, Chad got home. While he was out in the garage getting some tools, I tried to get it out with a spatula and some tongs... that didn't work. I just about dropped the spatula down there too, that really would have sucked.

Here's Superman Chad assessing the situation:



This is what he had to do to get it out (FLIP THE DRYER ON IT'S SIDE!!):



Whew. What a relief! Thank you Superman Hottie Husband of mine! I love you!!

Time to go finish the laundry...

Exciting News!!

Chad started a new job today!! CONGRATULATIONS BABE!! That's an awesome birthday present! It seems like a great opportunity and we're really excited about it!! He's still going to be working on air compressors and dryers but now he'll get to drive a company truck...



YAY! This means that I'll be driving the car that he was driving to and from work and we'll just be taking the van at night and on weekends. The car that he drives costs approximately $46.00 to fill up... and the van costs $72.00 to fill up. EVERY WEEK! I'm guessing we'll end up saving close to $250.00 a month. Ah. Finally, some good news for us! Just after I typed that, Chad told me that the check engine light came on in the van. Nice. There goes that $250.00 for this month.

Also, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes... I had a pretty good day today. Brenda and Kelsey took a picture of Brynn, blew it up and framed it for me! I walked in the door and Chad was like "LOOK!" I was super impressed and thought that he did it! ;o) They also sent some cupcakes home with him!! THANKS CAUDILLS!!



I also had a box that was addressed to "Manda West" so I knew it had to be from Bri... she sent a "Lucky Bamboo Plant". So, maybe this plant will be lucky and stay alive for a while!! ;o) THANKS BRI!!



Thanks again to everyone who sent birthday messages!!

Here's another picture of my two favorite people!!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I can't believe I'm going to be 27 tomorrow. I feel old. Because Chad and I aren't patient people, we tend to celebrate our birthdays a day early. So today, we went to lunch, went to get the van washed and Chad picked up a birthday card for me. (I usually buy birthday cards for everyone at this particular car wash, they have a great selection!!) Shortly after we got home, Chad gave me my card and inside were two tickets for...



Sweet! If you know me, you know this story... but I'm going to tell you anyway. I've been a HUGE fan of Maroon 5 since 2001, I got to see them when no one knew who they were, they opened up for O.A.R. at a little dive place in Tempe called Nita's Hideaway (Remember Tiff and TJ??). The next time I saw them, I actually went to see them by myself and Josh Broussard and Gavin DeGraw opened up for them. I stood right up in front of the stage, 5' away from everyone. It was awesome. Since then, I've seen them about three times. It frustrates me that they've got so many fans now, the seats are way more expensive and a whole lot farther away than what they used to be!!

Chad had told me about a month ago that he had wanted to get us (me) tickets but they were sold out. (I double checked just to make sure...) I was super bummed because this was the first time that they were going to be in town and I was going to miss the show. However, I did find out that they were going to be in Irvine, CA so I told Chad that we could drive to CA to visit his family and we could have a date night. ;o) Luckily, we won't have to drive that far... only over to the west side.

Chad found tickets to the Phoenix show on eBay and they're actually really good seats! YAY!! WOO HOO!!



Thanks Babe, I love you!! You're awesome!!

Here's a cute picture that I took at lunch (they were looking through that at each other... Brynn thought her Daddy looked funny)!!

What a keeper!!

First, Happy Valentines Day to everyone!!

Second, Chad is awesome... the best husband ever. He sent me a dozen roses today at work and totally caught me off guard. They're really pretty and you can smell them when you walk into my office and they came with this really cool red vase that he picked out. (Right Brenda? Oh, and Timmy... Brenda's were awesome too!! We were wondering if you and Chad planned this together? We think they came from the same florist!!)

Third, I get home and we exchange cards then Chad gives me another envelope... it's a gift certificate for one of those 4-D ultrasounds!! For those of you that don't know what it is, it's an ultrasound that makes it seem like you are looking at the real thing. It doesn't look like the "blob" on the ultrasound picture at the bottom of this screen, you can actually see the baby's face (and other things) VERY clearly!! I think he said that we have to do that one when I'm between 22-24 weeks so it will be a little while before we can do it but how cool is that? Totally beats that Taco Bell dinner I brought home for him tonight!!

What a keeper. Way to go match.com!! ;o)

Love you babe!!