Weekend Rewind

Well, we're only halfway to the next weekend, but better late than never, right? And I actually have a few pictures to share, plus some unplanned (and definitely not needed) "excitement" from the weekend, so I figured I might as well write my recap even if it is a few days late.

In short, Saturday was packed. I felt like Darrell and I spent the majority of the day tag-team parenting. We headed to Luverne, MN early Saturday morning so Darrell could march in a parade, which left me (and my nine-month pregnant sister) on duty with the boys. They did pretty well watching the parade, although William wasn't too fond of the fire trucks and motorcycles because they were too loud (the amount of candy he got probably made up for that, though!). We had lunch in Luverne (another adventure in tag-team parenting: one of us eats while the other helps the boys with their food, and then switch!), then got the boys home for their naps. Shortly after they went down my mom came to pick me up so we could go out to Mitchell for my cousin's high school graduation open house. We were only there for about an hour before we had to turn around to get back home--my brother was pitching in a baseball game that evening that we wanted to get back for. Darrell took the boys over there after their naps (it was a tournament and there was a game before the one my brother pitched), and after watching a few innings he handed them off to my dad and sister because we weren't back yet and he had to get to an event where he was taking pictures for the Shriners. My mom and I made it to the fields shortly after he left, and we stayed to watch my brother pitch four innings before I took the boys home (quite a bit past their bedtimes, I might add). Darrell got home late, we crashed, and looked forward to having a much more relaxing Sunday.

And relaxing it was--at least to start. Church, lunch, naps, a run to the store for me to get a few plants for my garden (some of my tomato plants that I started from seed didn't fair too well being transplanted), and pretty soon we were settling in to enjoy some homemade pizza for dinner. We had a chance to Skype with Darrell's parents after dinner (and it even worked for us to take the iPad outside--win!), and then off to bed for the boys. And that's when the fun started. While I was finishing getting William to bed, Darrell sat down on the couch and started getting ready to watch NCIS (because you know, we never do that in this house). I told him that there were a few things I wanted to get done before we checked out for the night, because I knew if the stuff didn't get done Sunday night Monday would end up being way more chaotic. So I asked Darrell to cut up the watermelon and cantaloupe that had been sitting on our counter for a few days and were nearly overripe. A few minutes later, as I'm helping William use the potty, I hear a "shit" from the kitchen--and I get out there to find Darrell standing over the sink, running water on his massively bleeding thumb. Awesome. Thank goodness for parents who live nearby. They came over and took Darrell to the ER (I would have gone with him if it had been major, but William still hadn't settled down and we knew that if Grandma and Grandpa showed up it would have taken even longer for him to get to bed). Four stitches (and as many hours) later, he finally came home. And we could finally get to bed so we could get ready to enjoy our Monday... Or something like that. I don't know if it was the busy Saturday, the somewhat poor sleep (did I mention Garrett is STILL teething and decided over the weekend he needed to wake up nearly every two hours at night?), my lingering cold, or Darrell's knife incident, but between everything we got this week started on the wrong foot and it just hasn't gotten much better. Granted, it hasn't exactly gotten worse (although it would take at least another ER visit for me to deem it "worse" than a weekend where we already had one ER visit), but it's just been riding at this unpleasant level of yuckiness (and yes, that's the technical term, I looked). I suppose on the bright side it's practically another weekend already, so here's to hoping we hit an upswing coming into the weekend and can carry that momentum into next week!

Update: Story of my week. I specifically mention that part of the reason I'm not going to skip over this weekend recap is that I actually remembered to take a few pictures. And then I completely forgot to share them. Sounds about right.

Behind the Lens

I had a very eye-opening experience happen to me earlier this week. We were up in Minneapolis for a Shriner's event, and although Darrell often does photography work for the Shrine, as of late he has been marching in the parades and is therefore unable to take pictures. My mom and sister were going to be at the parade and could help watch William, so I decided to take his camera and take a few pictures of his unit and the other units from the El Riad temple for the El Riad's monthly newsletter. Not that I am skilled in the least with Darrell's camera, but I figured something was better than nothing and he could always edit the pictures to make them better.

Fast forward to after the parade--Darrell was asking how his unit had sounded, and although my gut reaction was (and always is) to answer "You sounded great", I hesitated because I realized I couldn't actually answer the question. You see, I'd been so focused on taking pictures and trying to get good angles and lighting and everything else that I hadn't actually paid attention to what they were doing. I couldn't have even told you what song they were playing. I didn't wave and blow a kiss to Darrell, and he couldn't find me to wink at me because I was too busy running around with the camera. And it made me sad. The one part of the parade that I was most excited for--the whole reason I was at the parade--I had essentially missed because I'd been too busy behind the camera lens. Maybe if I had gotten a good picture (and/or if I was more comfortable with his camera) I'd feel differently about my time behind the lens, but in retrospect I regret having the camera with me.

When I shared my feelings with Darrell, he reaffirmed my thoughts, admitting that that very reason is why he hasn't taken as many pictures of William as people thought that he would. Sure, he has a nice camera, and sure, our son is super photogenic (don't worry, we're not biased), but experiences behind the lens pale in comparison to those that go on in front of it. Maybe someday we'll regret the pictures that we don't have, but for right now we're too busy creating memories and enjoying the experiences to care.

Dance Party!

(Yes, Valentine's Day was nearly two weeks ago. Yes, this dance was nearly two weeks ago. Yes, I'm just now getting the pictures posted. Do you expect anything less?)

As I've mentioned many times, Darrell and I don't really get into Valentine's Day (although I do love me some Russell Stover chocolates!) But that doesn't stop us from getting into a Valentine's Day bash at the Shriner's Mosque. Friends, family, drinks, and a great band? Sign us up. Of course, now that Darrell is a Shriner, he usually has to work for a few hours (aka most of the night because he always likes to be helpful), which typically makes the night not quite as fun for me. But that was not quite the case this year--I happened to run into this girl at the dance and we had some good fun at the shot bar on the dance floor.

My good friend Brooke--one of the girls I coach soccer with, and new mother to Gavin, one of William's future best friends

But, as always, the highlight of my night was spending some time with this guy!

While we love our lives now as a family of three, it's still great to have some nights to just the two of us. And I even managed to stay out until midnight--go me!

Marching On...

The good news about this weekend? We didn't get the 30+ inches of snow that fell in Western South Dakota. The bad news? We still had pretty miserable weather (highs in the 40s, wind, misting rain) and obligations to fulfill that required us to be outside. But, since this is South Dakota and it's only going to get worse, we bundled up and made the best of it. Like I told Darrell, if we balked at taking William out this weekend because of the crappy weather, we wouldn't be leaving the house at all from November to March. And I think we managed just fine.

All bundled up and snuggled close with Mommy thanks to our Ergo carrier!

And our reason for being outside and all bundled up (at 8:00 on a Saturday morning, no less)? To watch Daddy do some marching!



I suppose I should be more accurate and say marching and fife-playing, but I don't know how much Darrell actually plays and how much he just marches with the fife at his mouth.

After the parade we warmed up with a delicious breakfast (compliments of one of the other Shrine units--love me some Shriners!), and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snag a picture of Darrell with his number one fan.

Because the unit dresses like Revolutionary War era patriots, the wives--and children--show their support by donning red, white, and blue. So of course I had to buy those pajamas for William when they went on clearance after the 4th of July!

Fun at the Speakeasy

Who is the cutest little mafia man?

Don't worry, we aren't actually encouraging illicit behavior for our little man; we just got him dressed up for a little party a few weeks ago down at the Shriner's Mosque. Every year the Potentate (kind of like the President) hosts a big party, and this year it was a murder-mystery dinner event set in the roaring twenties (you may remember the party from a few years ago with a prom theme, and last year was a hillbilly/Western theme, although apparently I never actually blogged about it. Fail). We were originally not planning to attend because our primary babysitters (aka my parents) were also going to be in attendance and I'm still a little too chicken to leave him with any one but family for more than a few hours. But, my parents insisted that we should bring William (because he's such a good baby, of course) and at least come for dinner--their treat. And who are we to say no to a free meal (and drinks)? Plus, I'll totally admit that I love a good costume party--and thanks to some simple crafting (post on that soon!), a few thrift store finds, and gracious friends, we were able to throw together some pretty awesome outfits.

Excuse the quality--it's a picture of a picture. The digital file is probably buried somewhere on Darrell's SD card, and any complaints about my life being busy mean that Darrell's life is usually twice as busy. So on the SD card they remain.

Despite plenty of a few concerns on my part, we all ended up having a good time, and no one thought we were too crazy for bringing a five-month old to the party (at least not that they said to our faces). Hopefully by next year I'll be able to leave him with a sitter so we can actually stay for the whole night... Hopefully  :-)

Okoboji

One of these days I'll actually post stuff sooner than a month after it happens, but that day just isn't here yet (and between my lack of free time and Darrell's ability to find time to edit photos, that day may be a ways into the future). But oh well; there are worse things that could happen I suppose.

Back toward the end of July the three of us headed down to Okoboji with Darrell's Shrine unit, the Fife and Drum. This is an annual trip for them, as a few of the members of the unit have cabins down there and like to host the group for a fun day of drinking and socializing. And because they seem to think that drinking and playing musical instruments is a good combination, they always do a little bit of bally-hooing: riding around on a large boat and playing patriotic songs for other people out on the lake and at the restaurants on the shore. A little something like this:

Bally-hooingo on the boat

Playing for the crowd at The Barefoot Bar

William, of course, was the star of the show and got all sorts of attention throughout the day.

AJ wanted to use William to help him pick up chicks, but William wasn't too keen on the idea

Family photo!

One of the big highlights of the trip was that it was William's first bus ride; he handled the trip like a pro, and I don't think the other people minded having an infant on board (or, at least by the time he started fussing on the way home they were too drunk to care).

Unsure about this bus thing...

Okay, I think I can handle this

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Despite being eight months pregnant, I made it my mission to still have a fun and enjoyable St. Patrick's Day--just, you know, with significantly less green beer than I would have otherwise consumed (and really, that's not such a terrible tradeoff--definitely healthier and no hangover the next day!). Part of the festivities that I was determined to take part in was the annual beer pong tournament that my brother organizes at the El Riad Shrine Mosque. His girlfriend Macy and I have been partners for the past three years, and I wasn't about to let a massive little baby bump split up team "Bigger Cups Please" for this year's tournament. Thankfully, my brother gave the official ruling that it was acceptable for a pregnant (and subsequently totally sober) person to participate--with the ruling that if my belly happened to knock any of the cups over that we wouldn't be allowed to set them back up. Which seemed fair enough.

For the second time in three years, Macy and I came out on top of our pool, securing our first-place finish with a win over a team that we were definite underdogs against. Darrell even managed to capture a picture of the winning shot!

Yes, my belly has gotten quite ginormous. And yes, I have a bow tied around it. And yes, I'm wearing a tank top even though it was only thirty degrees outside. Whatevs. 

And, for the second time in three years, Macy and I choked when we got to the first round of the tournament. According to my brother, it's my fault that we lost; apparently being sober prevented me from achieving the "ideal" state of lightly buzzed that optimizes a person's beer pong abilities. Of course, his team didn't even make it out of the pool play round, so I'm not so sure I can trust his logic.

Regardless, we had a blast (plus I got major props from a lot of the guys for being willing to play at eight months pregnant--one guy even offered to deliver the baby for me, although he was, shall we say, a little ways past "lightly buzzed"), and we're already looking forward to next year!

My Patriot!

So I finally got a chance to catch Darrell in his uniform for one of the Shrine units he is in (for those of you unfamiliar with Shriners, it's like an adult male fraternity that is divided into a lot of different "units" so that members can join groups that interest them. Darrell is in the photography unit, and also in the Fife and Drum unit--which is a unit my dad has been in since I was a kid). Darrell doesn't usually march with the Fife and Drum unit because he is usually busy taking pictures for the Shutterbug unit, but this past weekend marked the second time he stepped into uniform. And unfortunately, I still haven't actually seen him march (carrying the flag--no way he can play either a fife or a drum), but I did meet up with him after the parade last Saturday and snagged a picture before he changed (we'll say the weather was to blame for us missing the parade; nothing to do with the fact that my mom and I were running late).

Isn't he so cute?!?

Happy Friday and have a good weekend!

Trip to Okoboji

Before I tell you about our trip to Okoboji this past weekend, you should understand a little something about what the weather has been like around here. For the past three or four weeks, we've had days with temperatures consistently in the nineties, lots (and lots) of sun, and no rain. So, when a trip to Lake Okoboji was looming on our horizon, we were looking forward to spending some time out on the water to make the sun and heat a little bit more bearable. However, we weren't on the bus but ten minutes before it started to drizzle--and it never really let up the whole trip.

Now, truthfully, no one was terribly upset that we were finally getting some badly needed rain, and the overcast skies were a nice change from having the sun beating down on you, but it was just one of those "of all the days to have this weather" kind of moments.

We went on the trip with one of Darrell's unit in the the Shrine, the Fife and Drum. Usually, this unit dresses up in Revolutionary War Era uniforms and plays patriotic songs on (not surprisingly) fifes and drums in local parades. A few of the members have property at the lake, so for many years the unit has been making the trip down to Okoboji. It used to be that they would go down for a parade in the morning, then hang out on the boat through the afternoon. Lately, though, they've just been going down more or less for fun, but still taking their instruments and "parading" through some of the lake-front bars (and off the boat). This was our first year on the trip, and the whole ordeal was quite entertaining, although they modified their uniform slightly to account for the heat. Darrell doesn't actually play an instrument; he is sort of the unofficial photographer of the unit, and he captured quite a few good shots of the day.

"Parading" around one of the dock areas

The Fife wives on the trip

Hanging out at the well-known Barefoot Bar

Ballyhooing off the boat

The whole crew getting ready to head home

I'm not sure how much the lake-goers enjoy the antics of our group (especially the song that has a gun-shot halfway through), but we certainly had a good time!

Just Another Day

Valentine's Day is what I would consider a low-priority holiday around our house. Which really means we don't do anything for it (Christmas is the only holiday we decorate for, and while we hand out candy on Halloween and try to have a mini-"just us" Thanksgiving dinner, we don't really do anything else at our house to recognize the passing holidays). We didn't even bother with planning a "special" meal (although we did plan something delicious--Panko Crusted Pork--yum!).

However, we do always do one thing to commemorate Valentine's Day. For the past fifteen years (although we've only been attending for five--see last year's post here), the fabulous Johnny Holm's band comes to Sioux Falls to put on a show at the El Riad Shriner's Mosque, hosted by the Fife and Drum Unit. Darrell was again obligated to work since he is a member of the unit (and actually co-won Rookie of the Year with my brother at the Christmas party in January!), plus he is also in a photography unit so during his work "breaks" he pulled out his camera to get some shots of the band. While I miss getting to spend most of the night on the dance floor with him, I do enjoy the opportunity to hang out with some of the other "Fife wives" and do some quality people watching (or, as was the case Saturday night, get people-watched by some creepers a few tables over). I may not ever get into the hearts and pinks and plastering the word "Love" everywhere, but I certainly enjoy having this dance as a part of our holiday celebration!

Enjoying a little bit of time together

Johnny rocking a little Jimmy Buffett

Johnny's daughter singing a tune with a seriously old guy busting some moves (that guy is like ninety. No joke)

Cupid making an appearance onstage 

Johnny showing the crowd some love--and vice versa

PS Didn't my husband take some great shots?!? Love him!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's Celebration! Darrell and I celebrated down at the Shrine Mosque again this year; the Dance Unit always hosts a formal NYE Event with plenty of food, drinks, and big band music. While it's certainly a different style of dancing than what you would find most people our age doing, we really enjoy it. And since Darrell and I took dance lessons for our wedding, we've actually gotten pretty good at watching other people and mirroring their (basic) steps so we can now hold our own on a variety of dances (cha-cha, waltz, swing, etc). I've got a few pictures from the night to share, and then it's off to enjoy the day since both Darrell and I have the day off work!

Prom 2011

Yes, you read that right. Darrell and I totally rocked out at Prom last weekend. And no--we didn't crash any boring high school dance--it was a legit adult prom (I'd say that the availability of booze set it apart from a high school prom, but let's be real. I was a high school student once. I work in a high school. There's booze to be had if you know who to talk to). Every year the Potentate (head honcho) of the Shrine throws a themed ball, and this year was a Prom theme. But it was even a little bit more awesome than that; the exact theme was "We pick the date, you pick the decade". So Darrell and I rocked a little old-school apparel for the event.

Like the cliche prom pose?

Darrell is sporting a three-piece suit that we found at a second-hand store literally six hours before the event, and I'm wearing a bridesmaid dress that my mom wore in my aunt's wedding back in the early eighties. I felt pretty awesome rocking the off-the-shoulder sleeves.

As a part of the "entertainment" for the night they organized a "name that tune" competition, with the winners of each era (fifties through nineties) competing in an additional challenge to win free drinks for their table. My mom correctly named a tune, so three members from our table had to go up to the front for the "Ball Catch" competition. Here's the rundown--my mom has a bucket of ping-pong balls, I have an ice cream bucket on my head, and our third team member is chasing down strays. I wasn't expecting it to be too bad--until they announced the catch: the balls had to bounce at least once before being caught. Now, I love my mom and all, but bouncing a ping-pong ball to the top of someone's head is no easy task. So, being the young, agile person that I am, I dropped to my knees. And, much to my mom's disbelief, caught the first five balls she bounced. BAM!

And of course, as there always is at Prom, there was plenty of dancing to be had. But, unlike my actual high school prom (which, ironically, was held at the same venue), the music was actually good, and I didn't have to watch people grinding all over each other on the dance floor. Ah, maturity. It's a wonderful thing.

Jitterbugging it up with my dad

They also had a few cool "staged" picture areas complete with props....

and uber-cliche romantic backdrops.

I'm not so good at being romantic--I'm much better at being goofy

We had such a blast, and it was great just to spend some time together after the crazy work hours we've been putting in lately. Now if only we had something like this to look forward to every weekend!

Story of My Life

Actually, that would take way too long to cover. Let's focus instead on the story of my weekend. Which can pretty well be summed up by this:

That, my friends, is our patio chair, blown off our deck and wedged into our staircase. This weekend was crazy windy--it was gusting up to 40 mph and was pretty constant at 30 mph otherwise. Conditions which these light patio chairs do not fair well in. During a severe storm last year we had one blow all the way up to the neighbors fence--and there's no telling how far it would have gone if the fence hadn't been there!

Of course, I didn't simply spend my weekend sitting inside and bemoaning the crappy weather. I had other things to do. Like work at the circus.

Since Darrell (and my dad) are Shriners, we had a busy weekend out at the Sioux Falls Arena. The circus puts on nine shows in four days, and its run primarily by volunteers--most of whom are Shriners and their families. Darrell was with the group that did pop sales, so for three shows (Friday night and two Saturday) he spent two hours walking up and down the stairs at the Arena selling pop. And like any supportive wife, I spent my two hours making sure he had pop to sell. Although let me warn you--filling pop isn't as glamorous as it may seem. I was insanely sticky by the time I was done, and had been sprayed on at least five times. My clothes were super gross. But at least I got my cotton candy. And the miserable weather was actually fortuitous for the circus--they had great crowds all weekend because no one wanted to be outside with their kids.

Because we were at the circus all night Friday and all day Saturday, all of our errands and other weekend chores got pushed to Sunday. We made a solid effort at them, but just ran out of steam by the end of the day. So now our house looks like this:

I'm a little grossed out to even share that picture of our kitchen with you, but it pretty well epitomizes the weekend we had. We got started on dishes--the dishwasher is clean, the dish drainer is full of dishes we washed, and the pots on the stove are soaking--but we just ran out of time to finish it all. Same with the laundry--trying to squeeze in three loads on a Sunday evening was brutal. We made sure to get everything laid out because wrinkly clothes drive me crazy (and I hate ironing), but we just didn't have enough time to put them all away. And we couldn't have picked a better week to carry a super messy house into (not). I'm scheduled to work fifty hours, and Darrell will likely put in over sixty. Ugh.

In other news, I am not a morning runner. I got up early today so I had time to get a run it, and it was not enjoyable. The quiet, the sunrise, the chirping birds all just reminded me that I was up Too. Early. And of course, part of my dislike was because it was May 2nd and there were cars outside that were covered in frost. Seriously? I always complain about the oppressive heat and humidity in the summer, but this drug-out winter just sucks. I'm so ready to be done with it--even if it means spending half of my day melting because of the heat.

I'll do my best to keep on top of posting this week, but with all of our work I can't promise that we'll be doing anything worth talking about. This week just might end up being inundated with food and book posts!

A Wee Bit O'Luck to You

Well, since it's actually St. Patrick's Day I figured that it was about time that I update about our last weekend since that was when we celebrated the grand occasion! (Don't be fooled, that's really just a cover, it's taken me this long to get the update posted because I've been feeling downright miserable from my cold and haven't been in the mood. But I'm drug free and feeling fine today!)


Saturday morning started off with the 5K which was a little awful. The wind was gusting up to 30 mph, and air temps were below freezing--but the sun did decide to come out, as did plenty of people in their St. Patty's gear, so things at least seemed enjoyable and festive. The course itself wasn't terrible--a down and back course that (like any route in SD) was pretty well exposed so there was no hiding from the wind. It was also run along the bike trails for a portion of it, which wasn't terrible in theory, but the bottleneck didn't really get a chance to spread out before the course narrowed down to four people wide (at its narrowest), and with snow (and ice!) on both sides of the path passing was a little dicey at times. Not to mention the fact that once people starting making it past the halfway point there was traffic going in both directions. But, in spite of it all, I still came out with a time that I was happy with, especially considering the conditions (and the fact that I woke up with a cold that morning). I finished in 30:19, which was a solid three minute improvement from my last 5K. Not the sub-30 mark that I was hoping for, but I did manage to eek out an average pace of 9:48, so I was pretty pleased with that. 

Our whole clan pre race: My mom, myself, my sister, her boyfriend, Darrell, and my dad

Darrell and I post race

After the 5K we headed to the El Riad Shrine Mosque to partake in their festivities (Saturday was the "unofficial" St. Patty's Day party in Sioux Falls--following the road races there was a parade and other Irish events going on at area locations). My brother had organized a beer pong tournament, so his girlfriend and I decided to pair up and take on the competition. We ended up being the Cinderella team of pool play--we went undefeated for our three games, all of which were against teams of guys. Unfortunately we choked in the tournament bracket, but we still had fun and even managed to get a picture with one of the teams we beat (no hard feelings here!)

With Team Voltron--unfortunately (or maybe intentionally) our photographer didn't capture the full spectacularness of this team--they are definitely sporting what I can only assume is running shorts from the women's department. Talk about a distraction! 

Sadly enough for me, rehydrating after a 5K with green beer, plus having a cold, equals a massive headache and an early night. I had to leave the party shortly after six because my head was throbbing to the point where it literally hurt to stand. Next year I'll just have to remember to drink tons of water first before switching to beer!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Valentine's Day

Let's be honest. Valentine's Day was created by Hallmark. There is really no other explanation for it. And because I have a husband (and for five years prior to that, a boyfriend/fiance) who is very anti-Valentine's Day because of all the commercialism, we pretty much never celebrate (he argues that he doesn't like being told that he has to be romantic). Which is fine with me. Because by the time February 14th actually rolls around, I'm pretty sick of all the pink and red and love and gifts and articles that have been displayed ad nauseam for at least the month prior. In fact, for our first Valentine's Day, Darrell went out and bought one of the sappiest Hallmark cards he could find, crossed out all the romantic words, and replaced them with negatives and insults. Good thing we share a sense of humor. Although I do look forward to the post-Valentine's Day sales on all those delicious chocolates.


However, one thing that has become tradition around Valentine's Day is the Johnny Holm's Dance at the El Riad Mosque. We've gone the past four years (you have to be 21 to attend), and it's always a blast. Literally. They sell the place out weeks in advance (and capacity is around 1100), and everyone who is there is always out to have a good time (makes for some prime people-watching). This year was a little different because Darrell joined the Shrine unit (the Fife and Drum) that hosts the event, so he had to be there early, stay late (he didn't get home until 2:30 AM!), and work during the event, but he made sure to get away as often as he could to dance with me, especially when he knew one of my favorite songs was being played. Rather than narrate the whole night I figure I'll just post a couple pictures!

Macy (my brother's girlfriend), my sister Amanda, and myself

Cupid makes an appearance every year (and unfortunately--or maybe intentionally--the photographer cut off Cupid's diaper!)

I had to steal my busy worker away for at least one photo!

Everybody loves a little Johnny Holms--I know it's not the best picture, but that dance floor is PACKED!