Oakland A's Game

This past weekend while I was anxiously awaiting Jake's return home, I was doing everything I could to keep busy and pack my schedule full to try and make the time go by faster. I had a few girls nights, went to the movies twice, and cleaned every inch of the house. By Monday I was more than ready for him to be home and knew it would be a long 24 hours, so I was really excited when Heather told me that her husband had gotten 4 free tickets to the Oakland A's vs Anaheim Angels game for that night and invited me to join them.

We rode the BART to the stadium and pretty much had our pick of seats being that it was a Monday night game. The other person that was supposed to join us ended up not being able to come last minute so we kept joking that the Vaughn's were taking me on a date (see the picture below with me in the middle of them haha). As long as they didn't mind me being a third wheel, I didn't mind at all either :)

Heather and I both admitted once we got there that we don't really go to the games to watch baseball but more for the social aspect of it (surprise, surprise) - Sad to say that most of the time we didn't really even know what was going on, haha. We were just dancing to the music, taking pictures, and enjoying some very healthy stadium food :) Salted pretzel with nacho cheese? Yes please, we'll take two!

Another fun thing that happened at the game is that I ran into a familiar face in the crowd! Tyler, my best friend Allison's hubby, happened to be there with some of his friends. That was a fun surprise and we had a a good time catching up.

It was a great first game of the year for me! Next, I've got to get me to the Giants stadium for some Garlic Fries :)

Where did this last week go?

Since I last wrote the time has just flown by and now I can't believe it's been almost a week since I've posted anything - Oops! Well I guess this post will have to just be a "catch-up" blog of randomness :) Let's go back to last weekend where I left off...

Last Saturday I went to a "couple's bridal shower" for my friends who are getting married at the end of June.

The funny thing was that all the guys invited to the shower were pilots so none of them were in town to come. Dan embraced it well being around about 20 women haha! I'm really excited for them to be getting married so soon and wish Jake and I could make it out to their Wisconsin wedding but timing just didn't work. Dan is Jake's best friend out here and Megan was the first good friend I made right after getting to Travis. The four of us always have an awesome time together. I kind of feel like Jake should've been photoshopped into the photo :)

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So remember how I wrote a little bit ago about line dancing being my new hobby? Well that hasn't changed at all. Actually I'm borderline obsessed now that I've learned a good majority of the dances. On Monday night I went dancing with a group of friends and as always we had a blast! I just love how awesome of a workout it is too. It's basically 2-3 hours of straight cardio and my legs are always so sore for the days following.

Here's a picture of me and my favorite line dancing partners :) But in all seriousness, these girls are two of the best, most fun girlfriends I could ever ask for. So thankful for them!

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And now for a little bit of doggie cuteness! I was getting ready for bed the other night and walked out of the bathroom to see this...

Badger was just sitting there like that waiting for me and the look on his face made me laugh so hard! It's like he didn't even realize the curtains were on his head. Wish I could've grabbed my good camera to get this picture but I know he would've followed me. So stinking cute!

Here's a couple more pup pictures just because I love them...

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Yesterday I made a day trip to Turlock and got to spend some good time with the fam. I also had a long-awaited hair appointment which felt amazing (Gotta look good for the hubby coming home in 5 DAYS!!). While I loved every little part of the day - lunch with dad, coffee and shopping with Allison, dinner with Mama and Kenny - I'd have to say my favorite part was getting to see my brother. He had no idea that I was coming into town and he was so excited to see me and show me some of his new toys. Well, you can't really even call them toys because since turning the ripe ol' age of 9 he is now into shooting airsoft guns, making exploding volcanos, and installing surround sound electronics in his bedroom, haha! Little boys are sooo different than little girls... my sister and I were happily playing Barbies at that age :)

Seth and I had a great time hanging out and I'm so thankful that my dad snapped these candid photos of us together. I love seeing how our relationship grows and changes as he is growing up and I love that we can always have fun together. What an awesome kid he is!

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To close out this random post, there's one last thing to talk about - JAKE'S COMING HOME ON TUESDAY!!!!!! I'm so excited and nervous and anxious and want him home NOW :) These days leading up to his homecoming are torture! The first month of the deployment went by sooo slow and it felt like he was never coming home but surprisingly the last two months have really flown by and now the time is already here! Keep him in your prayers for safe travels and NO delays as he heads home next week.

And one more cute story & picture... When I was skyping with Jake last week I asked him if he wanted to say hi to the dogs and of course he did :) It was hilarious because the dogs were totally captivated by hearing his voice. They sat there and stared at the screen, cocking their heads back and forth trying to figure out where Jake was. I just love my little family! Look how cute they are...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Thanks for reading :)

The Tough Call Mom

This is the card I gave my mama for Mother's Day this year... and it's so true! It doesn't seem to matter how old I get or what "life accomplishments" I've made, mom always has the answers and knows the right thing to say.

 My mom came with me to Sacramento for my medical test on Thursday (which went really good - totally easy) and we decided that afterwards we'd celebrate Mom's Day a little bit early. We went out to lunch, followed by coffee, dessert, and shopping... Perfect!

It was also a good opportunity for me to give her some fun gifts! I got her a nice teal/blue necklace that was super tempting not to keep for myself haha! And also a fun little wall quote to hang that reads "Mom, the older I get the smarter you become". I've actually had that wall quote since I worked at Papyrus and was saving it to give her for Mother's Day. She loved it and it made me happy to see her so happy :)

And I hate to turn this post into a bit of a downer but I'd be lying if I didn't say that Mother's Day this year wasn't affecting me emotionally since the miscarriage. It often crosses my mind that I would've been only 4 weeks away from my due date and Mother's Day would probably have had a totally different and very special meaning for me.

It started when I was looking at Mother's Day cards and there was a whole section of "mom to be" cards. It brought up feelings in me that I just wasn't expecting. I can't put my finger on how I exactly feel... I'm not really sad about it, I mean it doesn't make me tear up or anything; it's more of just a strange feeling of recognizing how different my life would've been right now and trying to find God's plan in all of it. I think I will feel a huge sense of relief once June 15th comes and goes and I am no longer thinking "I would've been this far along today..."

But I must say that I love having this blog, and being able to write knowing it's a safe place for me to work through these thoughts and feelings. So thanks for listening, friends and family, I love you all so much :)

Chapter Closed. Done & Done.

Tomorrow morning I have my last medical test in the quest to solve my stomach pain attacks. I say it's my last test because I am choosing for it to be my last test. I am choosing to be DONE. I really have exhausted my options and done more tests than I ever thought could be done on a person's stomach and I'm ready to just be through with going to see doctors, and getting constantly poked and examined like a lab rat.

Tomorrow's test is a pretty simple one and for that I am thankful. It's a Barium Swallow (aka small bowel test) and basically consists of drinking a milkshake-like substance and taking a long series of xrays. They are focusing on my small bowel because so far it has been the only thing in all of my tests that is possibly slightly abnormal in size/shape, which could mean absolutely nothing and it's a total long shot that it has anything to do with my pain, but like I said we have exhausted all our options.

Honestly, I am 100% prepared for them to not find anything and am seeing tomorrow as more of the close to this crazy medical chapter of my life. I had another stomach pain attack early Sunday morning and while it was just as bad as usual (sharp stabbing pain off the charts), I have totally learned how to handle the pain. I barely even cried during it and that is a HUGE improvement to the exorcist-style dramas that used to happen.

For some reason the pain just doesn't seem to affect me mentally anymore and I am able to push through it, pick myself up, and move on as if nothing happened. I realized how much it has stopped affecting me because I didn't even tell anyone that it happened; I literally just went about my day completely normal and totally happy.

So yes, tomorrow when the test is over and they tell me that everything looks healthy (because it always does) I am choosing to be done and *fingers crossed* stay away from the doctors office for awhile. I have too much awesome stuff to be excited about in life and am sick of wasting my time at pointless doctors appointments.

{Exhale} Okay, vent over. Time to go watch American Idol :)

Girls Weekend!

This past weekend my best friends from back home came to visit me for a fun girls weekend. We had an awesome time and I wish they never had to leave! It was so incredibly nice to have the house full of people for a few days. I'm so thankful to have my best girlfriends living so close to me again and I love how often we have been able to see eachother.

The weekend started on Friday morning when Allison drove up for a shopping day. The other girls were coming up later that night to stay for the whole weekend but because Al had to work the next morning she could only come up for the day. We had a great time catching up over lunch at The Olive Garden (yum!) and then shopped the outlets for a few hours. Afterwards, we picked up some coffee and headed back to my house where we relaxed, enjoyed our coffee and the amazing weather, and read some magazines.

Not long after Al had to leave, the others girls arrived and the fun continued! We stayed in that night to just chill and catch up with eachother and ended up playing some board games which were hilarious. One of the highlights was playing an intense game of "Finger Twister". What's that you might ask? Well it's the game "Twister" except it's only using your hands. And yes, it is just as ridiculous as it sounds, if not more. My dad got it for me as a funny stocking stuffer and, what can I say, we are easily entertained...

The next day we drove up to the wine country to Frog's Leap Vineyards. It's one of my favorite spots in Napa because it's very relaxed and charming. The view is incredible, the people are very friendly, plus there are animals, yard games, a pond, rocking chairs... it's a pretty awesome way to spend a warm Saturday afternoon!

I was bummed that I didn't have my new camera yet because the scenery was awesome... And I loved having little Audrey there to take pictures of! She's just too cute not to photograph :)  I think I probably have 50 pictures of her just from that day. I even managed to get her to strike a "Lindsay pose"...

She totally takes after her Auntie Lindsay :)

Saturday night Cassie and I decided to go out dancing. We were really not wanting to ditch Becca at home with Audrey but she insisted that we go. Becca put Audrey to bed right as we left and then had a relaxing evening with some wine and my overloaded DVR so it didn't end up being too shabby for her either haha.

Cass and I ended up going to a line dancing place in Davis that I'd been to once before and we had a blast! I must say, line dancing has kind of become my new hobby. It's such a fun time - good country music, great workout, nice people... I love it! I think I might end up back there every weekend :) Anyways, we had a great time on Saturday night and in honor of Cinco de Mayo we even sported some festive mustaches... Oh yeah...

So there's my quick recap of the weekend! It was really great having my friends here - Lots of laughs were had and tons of good memories made :) I love you girls and miss you already!!