Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Return

I know, it's been a while... and this post isn't about the inauguration. Someday I may post about that day, but today is not that day.

The last six months have been crazy, with lots of changes and fun. In hopes of quickly capturing all (or most) of it, I've come up with the following top 10 highlights. Some of which I may elaborate on in future posts. No promises though.

10. Fabulous Hat Brunch
A bunch of my girlfriends got together this spring for a Fabulous Hat Brunch. It was so fun to get dressed up and go out with the ladies.




9. Adventures with the Tingey's

The Mud Sale: Every year the Amish community puts on a large auction that is usually very muddy. Luckily for us we stayed quite dry. We're excited to go back next year to get in on the bidding action.


Homemade Strawberry Jam: In a marathon weekend, we joined Shiloh's cousins to pick fresh strawberries and make more strawberry jam than I could have imagined. By the end, we had the process down to a science. It was so fun and have completely enjoyed our delicious jam ever since.


Kite Festival: Panda, Nate and the kids came to the District for the annual kite festival. In spite of some cold, wet weather, we had a great time and loved having the Tingey's in town.


8. NY Ladies Trip

In early April two carloads of girls spent a weekend running around NY. We went to see Wicked, visited a local flea market, did a lot of shopping and got very little sleep. It was a weekend full of memorable moments.





7. Back Surgery

In a less than fun time of the year, Shiloh had back surgery to relieve some severe back pain that had developed over the past couple of years. Recovery has been a long process, but he is finally starting to feel the benefits of the operation.



6. MT Allen Visit & AT&T National Golf Tournament
We were lucky enough to welcome Shiloh's family to the area for the Fourth of July. Shiloh's mom had given his father tickets to see Tiger Woods and several great golfers play at the AT&T National Golf Tournament. My parents thought it sounded like such a good time, that they came down to join us. We had a great time with everyone! Thanks again Jan & Lyle!



5. Virginia Beach with Adi

We took a quick weekend trip to visit our friend Garret at Virginia Beach, where he was stationed. He showed us some excellent beaches where we were able to bring Adi in the water with us. She didn't love it at first, but by the end of the trip was jumping the waves and swimming around like a pro.





4. Landmark Birthdays
2009 brought several significant birthdays. It was great to celebrate them!
My Mom turned 50 (July 27th) - We were able to drive up and surprise my mom the weekend before her birthday. It was a great weekend. Love you mom!
Shiloh turned 30 (August 17th) - Keeping with the surprising theme, I sent Shiloh out shooting with some friends while I pulled together a surprise birthday BBQ/party, with the help of our friends, Eric and Krysta (Thanks again guys!). He was totally surprised and had a great time!
Ben turns 18 (August 28th) - We weren't able to celebrate with Ben, but are super excited that he's finally exited the "kid" stage. Happy Birthday Ben!


3. Cancun
Shiloh and I took our first solo vacation since our honeymoon at the beginning of August. It was such a great trip - better than we expected, and we didn't want to leave. We went to an all-inclusive resort and enjoyed a week of no responsibilities and lots of fun.


2. Buying a House
In March, we decided we were ready to buy a house. We started looking at properties every weekend and by the end of May found the home we wanted to buy. We put an offer on the home, and unbelievably are still waiting to hear back from their bank. Fingers crossed!

1. Page Family Reunion
My mom's immediate family got together recently for a family reunion. My mom is the oldest of seven children, and all of her siblings were able to make it to the reunion. I hadn't seen all of the family for a couple of years, it was great to catch up with everyone!


** Just one more thing... **

In case you hadn't heard,



we're expecting a little girl on November 29th. We're so excited and can't believe how fast the pregnancy has gone. With just a few months to go, look forward to more updates soon!