some more summer fun

Here are a few pics from some of our fun summer days...

Josh and I at the Dave concert:

Grandpa came over one day and had to try out our hammock. I hear he didn't like it very much but this picture is too funny!Griff and Linc both asked to spend the night with us ALONE this summer. We have so much fun with them and here is a pic of us watching Madagascar 2 and getting ready for bed. Kowe loves when the boys come over but she thinks she needs to watch over them when they're sleeping.Josh and I finally got to check out Wildcat Creek Winery during Labor Day weekend and we were so glad we did! They did our tasting outside and it was such a beautiful day! Here's my handsome guy enjoying the afternoon:Then we kicked off the Boilermaker Football season with Shell & Dan. Yay!!Finally, a bunch of sneaks surprised me with a birthday party! It was so fantastic! Ivan from Main St. Cheese came and did a private wine tasting for us and it was such a fun night! But I am now able to state for all that I do NOT want a surprise party (or ANY party for that matter!) for my 30th birthday next year! I had a fantastic time, but that is enough attention for me! I don't need another celebration when I turn 30! (Thank you very much!) Summer was just busy busy busy. Fall doesn't look to be letting up, either. We have football, a trip from Jeremy & Lisa, I have lots of work trips and a trip planned for the famed "Sista Girl Weekend" with Jessi, Jenn & Mom Jaye. Not to mention the holidays, birthdays, events, etc. Looking forward to a great fall and hope you are, too!

so far behind!

Pardon me, but where the heck did summer go?!?! I am thrilled beyond belief for fall since it's my favorite season, but it's just crazy how quickly things went this year. Since most everyone who reads this also is on facebook, I am not going to post all of the pics from our cruise. Frankly, I don't have the TIME!! And I want to get caught back up.

But what I am including is a video that I shot while at the Tulum Mayan Ruins during our cruise. We had such a fantastic time. We spent most of our days doing some serious relaxing up near the Carnival fin. It is so loud up there and the wind blows, so it's hot but so relaxing because you always have the wind and the sound of the fin drowns out much of the other silly noises that happen on a cruiseship. We had a great time with Jeff and Laura. Many funny times and great memories with fantastic friends...doesn't get much better than that!

Highlights of our trip included swimming with a dolphin (oh.my.good.ness. they are fascinating! and soft as can be! i can't wait to do it again one day...), swimming with the stingrays in their natural habitat (we kissed them which is they Cayman Islands' form of good luck, let them ride on our backs, held them and even fed them which was the absolute weirdest feeling in the universe!), and the Mayan Ruins at Tulum (this was probably our favorite day. The history was so interesting and the view...as you can see in the shaky video...is beyond breathtaking! Plus on that day, we had the most amazing food and beer!)

Enjoy the video and check out our pics on facebook if you want to see more!

a couple of work trips

Earlier this summer, I had a couple of fantastic trips for work. First I went to Colorado (my first time...I'm in loooove!!). Here are a couple pics that I took while driving. I missed the turn-off for the Pike's Peak lookout point but I tried to snap one while driving. (I believe that is the second one below.)

Then the next week I went to Washington State...also my first time, also in looove!

First I was up in Bellingham and had dinner right on the bay. SO gorgeous!

Here are some pics from the drive back down to Seattle. I love the trees!

Then I ended my trip down near Tacoma. We had lunch at the Chambers Bay Golf Course which will be the site of the 2015 US Open. It definitely looks different than any course I've ever seen but that is intentional, or so I'm told.Finally, before I had to catch my flight I was able to tour around Seattle for a bit. I headed straight to Pike's Place Fish Market. I was so excited for the fresh fruit and veggies and all of the gorgeous flowers. It smelled so good (at least as you walked directly past the flowers...not so much as you got nearer to the fish).

Of course I had to stand and watch the famous fish throwers for a while. I, along with the rest of Amercia, read the book FISH! so I couldn't miss out on seeing these guys!

Bonus points to anyone who can spot the fish in mid air below! And I had to see the original Starbucks! I had to step foot in but didn't want to stand in the long line so I didn't buy anything!

Finally, I drove to the Space Needle. I almost decided to go in but then didn't want to have to deal with paying to park and walking in heels after my trip to the fish market. So instead, I took a picture on my way and decided I'd visit the next time I was in Seattle.

Have I said before that I love my job?!?!

More from the garden

Remember earlier this summer when we had babies all over the place? Well, we had more late in the summer! Josh was in the garden one afternoon and heard some rustling, only to be surprised by 4 new baby bunnies! Their mama was such a good mama and had made them a great nest in the corner of the garden. We poked around a bit (never getting too close) to show the boys and check in on them and every night, she was sure to cover them up really well and put lots of her own fur in there to keep them warm. It was the cutest thing ever.

Here's one of their little noses poking out. Don't mind our brown beans...we didn't like them very well so we let them go bad. :( No beans next year! And here you can see a couple of them all cuddled in their nest:

Our garden did really well this year! Here is one crazy plant that produced EVERYTHING at once and then putzed out. All of the others have produced all along, but this old guy gave us everything he had all at once and then just tuckered out.

Here is the loot after one jaunt to the garden. We've done picks like this a good half dozen times throughout the summer. And we're still not sick of tomatoes!!

In addition to the tomatoes and the cukes, we finally got an eggplant!! 2, actually! We haven't picked them yet but we're excited...3rd year's a charm!

Storm Shelter

So everyone knows that Kowe and I share a certain (well founded, I might add) fear of tornados. It really is hilarious because Kowe can sense a storm coming from miles away. She starts acting weird and then as it approaches and I start freaking out with her (only when there is a chance of tornados...I'm not scared of most thunderstorms, but she sure is), she knows exactly what to do to keep safe. We have our storm shelter all set up in the kitchen closet, so we have all of our pillows and blankets ready and we start our little routine of getting the vacuum out, getting the weather radio and flashlight ready, etc. She just knows. Sometimes if I know it's going to storm while I'm at work, I'll leave the storm shelter open for her because I know it makes her feel much more secure. She also loves to be behind the toilet, so we'll turn the fan on and let her hang out in there so that she can't hear the small rumbles as easily.

Well, on this particular day, I was gone and Josh was home with the dogs as a scary storm approached. I guess he forgot to open Kowe's storm shelter but had left the cupboard open so she plowed through and made her own safe haven. I am so sad by the worry in her little eyes! But doesn't her path of destruction kind of remind you of a tornado?!Josh cleaned out some of the cans so she could get nice and cozy. I feel so bad.

She is just so cute!

Mama's 80th Birthday

So where did we leave off? Oh, yes...the morning after our celebration in Cincinnati. Josh had to get up and going because he was headed to Southern IN for his Mamaw's (or Mama as they spell it, but it's hard for me to spell it that way) 80th Surprise Birthday Party!

Josh forgot the camera (we'll assume it was because he forgot, not because of his condition.) SO I stole a few pics from Jeremy since I asked Josh to get me some and that hasn't happened. I was sad to have to miss the party (and the visit from Jeremy, Lisa & Alex) but I had to work. I hear it was a beautiful day!

Here are a few cute pics:

Josh and Patty helping get everything ready for the big surprise:

I hear Mamaw was really surprised! Here she is, cute as can be in her birthday hat:

Nothing like a little help from your favorite son:

Here is a pic of all of the Wright men with Grandpa:

And here is a pic of Uncle Josh with Alex. (J & Lisa-hopefully you don't mind that Alex is in these.) Is there anything cuter than this?:

Finally, one of all of the Wrights:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA(W)!!!

Garden

We started our garden during our first full year in the house and it has grown and grown and grown each year! We are really excited about it this year! We added the composter, the cucumber climbing fence and the herb garden outside, so we are really enjoying it! :)

It's turning out to be our best one yet in terms of growth, too! One tomato plant is almost as tall as me! Here are some pics:

Overview of the entire thing: Herb garden:

First tomatoes of the year, cheers!

Two cute garden helpers:

First of the bell peppers:
Lots of green beans and peppers:
Another overview...look at all of those yellow blooms!:

First of the cherry tomatoes:

The cucumber climbing fence that Josh masterfully created...they're climbing it perfectly!:

And they drop through the bottom! He's a genius!

Now if only our tomatoes would be ready!

Josh's Birthday Celebration

We decided to celebrate Josh's birthday with a trip to Cincinnati to watch the Cubbies along with Shell, Dan, Laura and Jeff. We had such a fantastic time!! First, we stopped off at IKEA for some bargain shopping, then we headed to our hotel room and got the celebration started!

Nothing starts off a Wright celebration like some vajunka! Then we headed to a fun little bar near the ballpark for some (aka MANY) drinks.
Danny got the entire bar to sing happy birthday to Josh. He was pretty embarrassed but it was really neat to have all those people singing to him.
Shell did a little "Brown Chicken Brown Cow" dance with some random guys...

We were so excited to get to spend the weekend with Shell and Dan. We don't get to hang out with just them very often! And they don't get a weekend away from the boys together very often, so I think they had a great time too!
And our trip would not have been the same without Jeff & Laura! Laura, our little fair weather fan... :)
This picture cracks me up!

I have to say, by this time we weren't noticing much around us. However, Josh spotted Big Easy and I had to chase him down and get a picture! I don't think he knew. ;) If you have ever watched Real World/Road Rules challenges, you'll be well aware of who Big Easy is. If not, you wouldn't care, but we were really excited! However, he quickly walked upstairs to the VIP section so this was the best I could get...

The girls checked in a little earlier than the guys. They somehow managed to come back to the room, decide they weren't tired yet, go back out to some bars, return to the hotel, steal some guys pizza and breadsticks and then make it back to the hotel room in the wee hours of the morning.

Then...they STOLE our bed! Dan and Josh cuddled all night long!
...while Shell andLaura had to cuddle up on the floor to try to keep warm!

Okay. Truth be told, Josh and Dan had to take the floor. But trust me, they had no idea where they were.