THANK YOU

I just wanted to thank My Wonderful Mother and Father and my wonderful Sisters Laura and Jamie and My wonderful brother and his wife Matt and Amie and my wonderful Cousin for calling or writing to me wishing me a happy Birthday! It really made my day really good. I appreciate it so much!

Happy Birthday Sam

We just wanted to share a few pictures from Sam's birthday. It was so fun to see everyone!

Mike Week

This past week we had Mike come up and visit. Hip Hip Hurray! We had such a good time! Most of the activities we did, Amie posted on our family home page so I'll let you check out the pics and funny stories there in your spare time. These are just a few pics from Mike and I building the bathroom and going out to Amie's work to celebrate Mike's birthday early since he wouldn't be here on the actual day.

Amie and I have been so impressed with seeing Mike this visit. He is different. In a very good way. He is grown up I guess which sounds kinda funny to say since thats what naturally happens with most normal people and time. Mike has matured by leaps and bounds though. He was a very well rounded pleasent person before he left for his mission but he carries himself with a different sense of self confidance and direction now. You can tell that he knows where he is going and what he wants out of life. He helped magnify the Sprit in our home and we realized again how much we really enjoy his company.

The next morning after Mike left, Amie and I were eating breakfast and the first conversation of the day went something like this:

Matt: "Will you pass the salt?"
Amie: "Yup, here ya go."
Matt: "....I miss Mike."
Amie: "Me too honey... me to."

We bought a house

We got the house Mark put an offer in os last Thursday night before he came home on Friday. We got word yesterday that they excepted our offer. (yeah! i think....I haven't seen it...I had an audio tour with the realtor while she was waiting for Mark to get there. She was great, she told me all the room colors, how many shelves in the storage areas, what kind of plants are in the yard etc.) It is a foreclosure, but it is cute in the pictures.....we have to have the whole house painted and the carpet taken out and new stuff put in, before we move in) The timetable is looking like we will leave here on the 10th of Nov. with our stuff getting there on the 15 or 16th. Yeah, I know...Happy Thanksgiving.......I think we'll not be cooking dinner!

continued

for some reason I couldn't get any photos to download with what I just typed!? so I'm trying again. ok its not working......I'll do it later!!!

The last Day

Since yesterday was Mom and Dads last day here at the slave labor camp, I took them down to the Arch, and riverfront Lecledes Landing. We had lunch at Jakes' Steaks and on the way home we stopped at the Lewis and Clark boathouse museum and old town St. Charles. It was a quick trip, mom doesn't like to walk around much. I hope they know how much I love and appreciate all their hard work while they were here. Things have settled down a lot since we listed the house on Friday evening and all the inspections are done. They flyer pictures have been taken and the sign goes up today, and it should be on the coldwell banker/gundaker listings on the net.
Mark is in Portland again this week and isn't coming home until Saturday afternoon :( We put in an offer on a house on Thursday night before Mark came home last week....no news yet.

The Mac Grill

Most of you know that I started training at Macaroni Grill a while back. My first week went alright. The only thing I don’t like is having to share my nights with all my coworkers and not with Matt and the boys. It really didn’t bother me THAT much until I invited Matt and the boys, Laura, Darrin, Gabe and Jared to come into the restaurant for our first opening days (which you could only come to by invitation only). It was fun. Matt brought me flowers and I got to show off my handsome husband and 2 adorable kids to all my coworkers.

They hired me as a waitress and a singer so I get to run food all night and stop every once in a while and sing people songs in Italian. I told my manager though that the very first song I sung in the restaurant would be to my husband. They gave me permission to bring in my guitar and I sung part of an Andrea Brocelli song. It was surprisingly romantic despite the noisy kitchen in the background and the clanging of plates and silverware. As the night went on though I found myself getting more and more frustrated that I was too busy to go spend time with my family. I wanted to be sitting WITH them enjoying their company, not stopping by for 2 second intervals. I came home bawling that night cause I missed them so much. I spent a good while in Jake and Sam’s room rocking them while they slept and the rest of it snuggling with Matt. We decided that it wasn’t a good idea for them to come into the restaurant while I was working but we could go in together when I wasn’t on. As long as I don’t have to see what I’m missing while I’m working then I really enjoy being there. It’s nice to get time out of the house and enjoy adult conversation and make some extra money. It's a great diet plan too by the way. If anybody wants to lose weight...be a waitress! You spend so much of the night looking at dinners that by the time you eat, you are repulsed by food. Plus it's extremely high paced so you are constantly moving.

I start week two today and we’ll see how that goes. I wrote about one of my first week horror stories on my page (www.halabalou.blogspot.com) and would love to hear some work horror stories of your own on there too!