Happy Birthday Griffin!

Today is Griffin's 31st birthday!   I thought I would post a couple of baby picture of him in honor of his day.   (He was an adorable child!)

This first picture is one of my favorites.   This one picture says so much about who Griffin is as a person.   This picture expresses how smart, creative, thoughtful, independent, fun and adorable Griffin is.

These next couple of pictures are ones that I thought were really cute too..........

This last picture isn't a baby picture, but it is one of my most favorite pictures of Griffin that I just had to post it.      

Happy Birthday Griffin.   You are my best friend and the best husband I could have ever hoped for.....I hope you have a great day!    I love you

The Dells

Everyday I thank God for Griffin, so when occasions like his birthday come around, I can't help but celebrate.   So this past weekend we went to The Dells to start the celebration.   We had a great time relaxing and even got the chance to go skiing.   The Dells aren't as glamorous as Colorado (of course) but considering my novice skiing status and the shorter travel time - it was the perfect alternative for us.   

Sadly we didn't take one picture all weekend.....but it is probably better that way considering skiing left us with wind-chapped faces.

Our Valentine's Day Date

This weekend Kathleen and I had a great date....with our niece Sydney!   We started the day off taking her to My Gym and watching her run around and doing activities that aren't a part of our normal Saturday mornings.  She was all smiles and made for a great warm up to the day.

We moved on to the children's museum next and spent a couple of hours watching Sydney explore music, lights, balls, and wind.  We kept her away from the water activities because we had a lunch date and we didn't want her soaking wet.

Just when we were feeling good about ourselves, our friends Doug and Molly met us with their three kids at Portillo's and showed us how real parents do lunch out.  By the time we had Sydney out of her coat and in a high chair, Doug and his son Drew were picking up their order for the family.  Lucky for us, Drew was nice enough to share some fries with Sydney to keep her happy while Kathleen and I figured out what was going on.

Thanks be to naps.  Sydney going down gave us a reprieve and allowed us to regroup before Marcus and Kathy headed out for their birthday/Valentine dinner.  The night was much less uneventful and Sydney went to bed easily after we wore her out all day (plus Grandma was visiting this week for extra excitement).  She was so tired she slept right through the smoke detector that went off when we put in the frozen pizza after she went to bed.  

We hope our next big date like this will be with our nephews Jack and Matt.

Sydney playing at My Gym

Learning to play music

Playing in the wind tunnel at the museum

Not a Very Good Night of Sleep

We went to bed Saturday night looking for a good night sleep but got quite the opposite instead.  At 1 o'clock in the morning I was awaken by the smell of smoke (or something similar).  Confused and somewhat still asleep I woke up Griffin and explained that it smelled like smoke even though I hadn't lit anything (like I said - I was still somewhat asleep).  We began to run around the house looking for the source and trying to determine where the scent was the strongest.   After calming down a little and realizing that we weren't in any serious danger we turned to the internet for some answers.  We found an answer to satisfy us enough to go back to sleep (basically our furnace isn't working properly and it is emitting a burning rubber smell throughout the vents of our house).

Still a little nervous we decide it would be smart to put the battery back in the smoke detector in the downstairs hallway (this has been apart for some time and I can't really remember why.   Not to worry, it isn't our only fire detector).   We went back to bed hoping to sleep peacefully the rest of the night.   Instead, Griffin woke up a little while later claiming that he heard a beeping noise.  Not knowing what it was we went back to bed.   Shortly thereafter we were awoken a THIRD time by the fire alarm going off.   This time we both hopped out of bed and ran downstairs to check out the fire detector.  No fire.   (This must be why we disconnected it last time).

Stupidly we decided to hit the "silence" button on the detector and go back to bed.  After we just finally began to fall asleep - the alarm starts to beep again! waking us up for the FOURTH time.   This time we were smarter and took the fire detector apart.   Thankfully that was the last time we woke up that night.   Not a very good night of sleep though.

After church on Sunday we stopped at Target to pick up a new fire detector.....now we just need a new furnace.

Here is a short video clip from a FRIENDS episode.  Griffin and I felt a little like Phoebe from this episode.

the Wii

This Christmas Griffin and I received the Wii game system and we have been having alot of fun with our new toy.   Since it has been too cold to play outside we have been enjoying the chance to play tennis, golf, and baseball in the comfort of our family room.   Here are some pictures of Griffin playing Wii golf......

David Crowder Band

This past Friday night Griffin and I went to go see the David Crowder Band in concert.   It was such a great show!   I really like this band and it was so fun to see them in concert.   (Actually this was my second time seeing them live but my first time seeing them with Griffin).   We were able to go to dinner first (thanks to a gift card from the Weilers!) and then the concert.   It was the perfect date!

Here is a video of the David Crowder Band that I found on YouTube:

My New Job!

Jan. 5th was the first day at my new job!   I left my old job in Chicago a couple of months ago to move to Milwaukee.   I thought I would have a job pretty soon after the wedding, but these past couple of months proved to be a terrible time to search for a new job.   Thankfully, just before Christmas I was offered a job as a private banker downtown Milwaukee.  This job was an answer to prayer and I am very excited about it.

The first week was great.   I have so much to learn but everyone seems very willing to help me out and answer any of my questions.   Plus, I was sent beautiful flowers by my sweet husband my first day to decorate my desk all week long.   

 

Just to be funny...Griff took a picture of me on my first day....kinda like the first day of school.  (I have to wear a suit everyday to work).