Bachelorette weekend

Greg and friends, Ryan and Chris, have left the warm Texas weather and headed to brave the chilly temperatures in Keystone, Colorado. Today's forecast...snow with a high of 10 degrees! Yikes! It took a little longer to get there then they expected given that their GPS left out a crucial connection between two highways. They were expecting to get in around 4 or 5 this morning. Fortunately, Keystone has night skiing, so they can still get in plenty of snowboarding when they wake up today!

As for myself, I've got a nice relaxing weekend planned. I'm going to hopefully finish Christmas shopping and get the house cleaned before we head to St. Louis next week.

Greg brought the digital camera and his new video camera to Keystone, so hopefully there will be awesome pictures and videos when they return. Really, I'm just praying that no one gets hurt and that Greg gets back in time to leave for St. Louis on Wednesday! I know they'll have a great time and it's going to warm them up for another snowboarding trip in March. Hopefully I'll actually get to go to that one!

We're PREGNANT!!!!!

Or as Greg likes to say, "Lisa's pregnant, I'm just eating for two!" Here are our first pictures. We're so excited! Our first sonogram was at 6 weeks (I thought I was 8...oops! Long cycle!) and we were not really able to see very much. Just a yolk sack or something. We went for our second sonogram today. I'm about 9 weeks along and the baby is looking good. The heart rate was 172 bpm and he/she/it is measuring at a whopping 2.64 cm! Today we were actually able to see the baby moving their hand. I can't wait until I can actually feel all that moving! And it was much easier than I thought to figure out what things were on the sonogram. Very fun!

So far I've been feeling pretty good. Initially I was just getting a little nauseous at 11p.m., so I just went to bed and woke up feeling much better! More recently I've been having a little "morning sickness", but I just eat a little breakfast and I'm good for a few hours! Mostly my "sickness" is just annoying, so I'm very blessed with that. Lately I've been super hungry and have the strongest cravings! About 3 hours after I eat, I'm ready for a snack! And until a couple days ago all I wanted to eat was fast food and anything salty. Now I can actually stand the thought of vegetables and fruit. But I'd take something salty over anything else right now.

Other fun pregnancy things that I've noticed...My sense of smell is out of control! I was at Mass the other day and I could not figure out what I was smelling. Then I realized that I could smell the wine that was sitting about 20' away! I thought I was going to have to move. And at work the baby's bands reek! One of the good things that I've found about my new heightened sense is that if I'm feeling nauseous, I can just smell the Black Jasmine Vanilla candle from Bath and Body Works and I'm instantly better! Another thing I've realized is that my emotions are a little on edge lately. I think I've been pretty good so far (no tantrums or crying fits yet!) But at Mass the other day (I wonder why am I figuring all these things out at Mass?) there was a little girl playing the violin with the band and I nearly lost it! I don't even know why! And then they had three kids dressed up as the three Wise Men this Sunday and I about lost it again! I'm worried about having more of these hormones flowing later in pregnancy! The only other thing that's been heightened is my gag reflex. When I brush the back of my tongue I swear I could throw up if I brush too long! That's nasty, I know. But just another thing I've noticed!

Weddings and early morning shopping

This past Friday my best friend from high school got married! I was honored to be a part of their big day and the wedding was wonderful! Katie is so creative and you saw that in every aspect of their special day. The church was beautiful. I thought this picture that Greg took was neat.

Here is a picture of the gorgeous bride and groom.

Me and two of the other bridesmaids, Julie and Kayte, talking with Kelly after the wedding. Kelly just had her baby, Mason, 2 weeks ago! He was so sweet! They are all good friends from high school. I love that even though we all live in different cities now, we have a great time together on those special occasions we do get to hand out! I'm so lucky to have such great friends!

Greg and I at the reception and Mike, who was Greg's table mate and took our picture so we didn't have another arms length picture of the two of us!

The rest of the weekend was great. We did lots of shopping...well, mostly browsing because there wasn't any room in our suitcases to bring things home. I did get up at 4:45 Friday morning to go online to buy something for my sister who was outside waiting in long lines at the stores. Unfortunately the website crashed and when it came back up at 6am the item was sold out online. I felt bad that I wasn't able to get what she wanted, so I got in the car and drove to the store at 6:30! They were so busy! I had to park at the back of the lot and when I got in the store things were madness! There were people waiting in lines that started at the registers and wove through aisles to the back of the store! Needless to say, they were sold out at the store too. So I hopped in the car and went home, just to get dressed so I could go help set up for Katie and Erik's reception!

On Saturday night we got a little bit of snow in St. Louis! It melted by the afternoon, but it was pretty while it lasted!

And on top of all the celebrating, visiting with friends and family and shopping, Greg was able to get all of his hours billed! Woohoo! He has been working so hard and I'm so proud of him! And he came home and ate lunch with me today! What more could I ask for?!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We hope everyone had a relaxing day and plenty to eat! We're up in St. Louis this weekend and had Thanksgiving at my parent's house. It was delicious as always! I can't wait for leftovers the rest of the weekend! Because today always reminds us to focus on the things we're grateful for, I made a quick list I'm thankful for this year...

- our wonderful family and friends that we love

- being able to SEE and VISIT those family and friends

- an amazing husband that works so hard every day and NEVER complains

- that same husband who is allowing us to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas in chilly St. Louis this year

- our (family and friends included) good health

- the delicious Starbucks hot chocolate I got at the airport this morning

- the Shout and washer/dryer that took the hot chocolate stain out of my jeans when we arrived in St. Louis (I was pretty clumsy this morning!)

- a FIVE DAY weekend (including Monday!)

- talking with my brother in Italy on the video phone and his safety overseas

- our freedom and safety

- being able to celebrate with Katie and Erik at their BIG DAY tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the leftovers!

Christmas Survey

Usually I don't take the time to fill these out. But I was cracking up with some of the answers my friend Leah sent. So I thought I'd do my own!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Absolutely wrapping paper! I love having nice 45 degree angles and sharp corners on my presents. I look forward to spending hours on end getting them just right!

2. Real tree or Artificial? That's a no brainer for me! Real!

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually sometime soon after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Typically the end of January unless it has become a fire hazard from not getting enough water!

5. Do you like eggnog? Not so much.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I'm not sure. The only thing that comes to mind is an air hockey table. It was very fun!

7. Hardest person to buy for? Probably Greg...I honestly don't know that I've ever gotten him anything that he's really liked! What can I say, I like practical gifts...Greg, not so much!

8. Easiest person to buy for? Mom and Dad. They always like what we get them (or at least pretend to!)

9. Do you have a Nativity scene? No, but maybe that's what I'll ask for this year!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. Unfortunately sometimes they are more like New Years card! Oops!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I think I'm pretty easy to please and I've liked everything I've ever gotten!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Hands down...A Muppet's Christmas Carol! Love it! And I just got the special edition on DVD last year! I could watch that movie 100 times each year!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Throughout the year, but mostly after Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I doubt it. I tend to like the gifts I get and want to keep them for myself!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I'll agree with Leah on this one and say "everything"...except cheesecake.

16. Lights on the tree? Absolutely!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? In order to see my family travel is required.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph! (I took that from Leah too!)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angels

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both with my family!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? I don't know. I can't think of anything right now. Ask me December 26th!

23. What theme or color are you using? Again, no clue! Let's go with..random!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey and lasagna!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I already got it! A lateral file and a scanner for receipts! So excited! I'm going to be so organized!

Oh Happy Day!

Hopefully you all won't have that song stuck in your head like I do! Anyways, I'm so happy because we got my car back yesterday! It looks great! They replaced both bumpers, both back lights and a front light along with something called a rear end panel. And they washed and vacuumed it! Oohhh! Very nice! And the trunk closes! What a luxury, I know! It's so nice to drive my own car again. But I did go ahead and double the mileage on the rental car in the 3 weeks that we had it! Off to start the weekend! Have a great one!

Eagles, all-you-can eat sushi, babies and veterans!

We had awesome fall weather in Dallas this weekend. It was in the low 70's and sunny! Perfect weather for being outside. Greg and I went up to Plantation Golf Course in Frisco, which was a pretty nice course. On two of the holes you literally drive through the middle of a pond! Good thing Greg was driving! I would have turned around because I thought we were going the wrong way!


This is the view right before you drive across the pond. I was a little frightened because there was moving water on one bridge we drove over! I thought we were going to get swept away!

Greg played really well. Look at that perfect form. He made several birdies and an eagle throughout the day! Very nice!Greg multitasking...it's hard to see, but he's talking on the phone while chipping the ball left-handed onto the green. Don't worry that he's so close to the fence! I think the previous shot went a little too far to the right!

After golf, we met up with friends at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. Fortunately no records were broken this time! The last time we went Ryan ate 49 pieces of sushi! He tried for 50, but all the rice expanded in his stomach and he couldn't fit another one in! This time we all left full, but not too stuffed!

This weekend we also found out that some of our friends welcomed their new baby girl into the world! We can't wait to see pictures! We're so happy and excited for them! And tonight I'm going to visit a friend from Pate whose baby is a couple months old! I'm so excited! I haven't seen her since I left.
Enjoy Veterans Day tomorrow! Click here for a brief explanation of Veterans Day.

2nd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party!

We had friends over Saturday night to carve pumpkins. It was so nice catching up with friends we haven't seen in a while. Everyone's kiddos are getting so big! We had a great time visiting and the pumpkins looked awesome! Hopefully they'll last until Halloween! There was some pretty intricate detailing going on!

I think the trampoline was a big hit!

One of Greg's co-workers jumping and Desiree and me trying not to double bounce each other. I think everyone agreed that jumping on a trampoline is a good workout!

And in more exciting news...I got the rental car today while my car is being fixed! We were upgraded to a Chevy Impala. Ooooh! It's fun to drive. It feels really big and it's really quiet. And you can start the car with the clicker! Fun, fun! Here's the nice, new car sitting in the driveway with only 600 miles on it.

Addendum to the last post

Since the last post ended with a little bitterness, I wanted to share some funny things that I've noticed since the accident...

1. Last night I attempted to get things out of the trunk by reaching through the small opening in the back seat. I was only able to get our toothbrushes out last night. (I was tired and that's all I had the energy to do!) So this morning Greg needed the rest of his stuff out so he could go to work. So I started by reaching through the hole again, but then I decided to try to open the trunk again. Apparently you have to push the trunk down while you push the clicker and the trunk pops right open! What a nice feature! So that made it a lot easier to get things out!

2. The radio controls on the steering wheel change the station no matter what button you press! That was fun trying to turn the volume up or down and the radio switched to another preset station! Interesting!

3. I've been the safest and slowest driver in Dallas today! 35 is the new 40! And there can't be enough room between me and the next car! Especially when I'm stopped at a light!

4. I have switched my seat setting to be just barely within reach of the pedals. I may need to get pedal extensions, but there is no way my face is getting close to those airbags!

OK, well I just thought I'd share my new insights and car features! Have a good day everyone!

Weekend Adventures

Greg and I started the weekend having separate adventures of our own and then ended the weekend together with a bang...literally unfortunately!

On Friday I flew up to St. Louis for a wedding shower while Greg drove up to Oklahoma City for a fun, wedding weekend. I was exhausted when I got into St. Louis at 11:30, but apparently Greg and the guys stayed up until about 5 am the next morning! At a more traditional time for the general public to be up, I went shopping with my mom before the shower...I'm sure Greg was still sleeping! Then we went home and raked leaves! I miss raking leaves! Isn't weird how you miss things you never thought you would when you aren't able to do them any more? While raking leaving I spotted a preying mantis! OK, I'm not sure that's really what it was, but it was big and ugly! And it kept turning its head to look at us!

I'm sure Greg was still sleeping at this point!

The shower I went to was great! There was tons of yummy food, lots of good presents and I was able to see some of my high school friends' babies. They are all so big now! I wish I would have taken pictures, but I completely forgot! Meanwhile in Oklahoma...Greg was playing sand volleyball with the guys in the wedding.

I had to leave the shower early to get to Mass and dinner with my parents and nephew, Sammy. He did awesome at Mass! He didn't make a peep and he was all smiles! Then we went out to dinner at PF Changs. Here is Sammy and my Mom waiting to be seated.

Look at those chubby cheeks!

On Sunday morning I flew down to OK for Matt and Amanda's wedding. It was an absolutely beautiful day for a wedding! They had the ceremony and reception on the OU campus. Which, despite Greg's UT bias, is a very pretty campus. They had the wedding in a courtyard on the campus.

Here is the ring bearer, Michael, who is Andy and Alisa's son.
He did a wonderful job walking down the aisle and ringing his little bell!

This is the view that I had initially of the wedding.

Then Greg switched places with me and I had this view.

Much better!

Michael with Alisa after the wedding.

This is the groom's cookie cake! Not only was delicious, it was a great picture of the Dallas skyline!

This was my other favorite food at the wedding! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Mmmm!!! What a great idea! I had to restrain myself from eating too many! They were so good!

Here's what Greg thinks of arms length pictures!

The gorgeous couple cutting the cake.

They didn't end up as messy as I did at our wedding. Greg was too good at dodging my attempts! This is a before and after at our wedding...

What a nice husband!

OK OK, back to the real world! So we're heading out of Norman and I decided that I would be nice and drive so Greg could get some sleep after his long weekend. Well, we were stopped at a red light no more than 2 minutes down the road and the car lunges forward! So I stomp on the brake harder because I thought for some strange reason that the car just started moving forward on its own. Well, it turns out that we were hit from behind by a teenage girl who was probably not paying very close attention! Why else would you run into someone who had been stopped at a red light for the past 30 seconds? We ended up bumping into the car in front of us, but luckily we didn't do any damage to his car.

It took 20 minutes for the police to get there and I was a nervous wreck the entire time! I was shaking from being scared so badly and because it was really cold! Fortunately no one was seriously injured. I'm sure Greg and I have whiplash and Greg had a headache last night. I made him take a nap in the car while I drove home so I could be awake while he slept in case he had a concussion and stopped breathing. I think that shows just a little bit of how paranoid and crazy I am! I was contemplating setting my alarm when we got home to wake us up every 2 hours. But Greg vetoed that idea and we went to sleep and woke up feeling better this morning.

Here are pictures of my once beautiful car...

Fortunately it's still drivable, even if it does look a little ghetto with the bumper hanging off! I've been calling the Norman police department all morning trying to get the case report faxed down here. Then I get to call the other person's insurance company and figure out how to get my car fixed. Note to the wise, apparently you should get the other individual's insurance information when you're in an accident. Who knew! This was my first (and hopefully last!) car accident! No more please!

So that's how our weekend went! Very eventful again!

New fence project and more!

Greg and I decided that we should finish building the fence at our house before it gets too cold to stain it. So this weekend Greg built the gate for the remaining section of fence. I wanted to help, but there was way too much math involved! So I just helped with the heavy lifting! Here is a picture of the gate so far.

I was very impressed with Greg's handy work! I've taught him well! Just kidding! Now we just have to fill in about a foot on each side of the gate and then make a hole in the ground for the gate to lock in place. And I'm sure I'll be the lucky one who gets to stain it next Monday!

On a completely unrelated note...I had a great time in Phoenix this past week! I learned a lot and got to pick the brain of the CEO. I was also able to meet all the other clinicians from around the country. It was definitely fun! The time change was awesome too. Their two hours later than Dallas. I know this is going to sound weird, but it was so fun waking up at 4:30 every morning and then looking at the clock and getting to go back to sleep for another hour! I also got up every morning and exercised and still had plenty of time to get ready before our meetings started! I guess the trade off was that I was ready to go to bed at 9! Oh well!

It was back to work today and I had two kiddos who were celebrating their last day...so their wonderful parents brought me presents! Woohoo! Now I remember why I love my job! Kidding! They were so nice though! One family brought a delicious smelling candle and cinnamon monkey bread mix and the other brought some festive mums! How fun is that?! I've never had monkey bread...until tonight when I got home and made the mix! It was goooood! Don't mind the stick and a half of butter that it calls for!



Hope everyone has a great week!

The rest of the weekend.

After the game we drove all the way back to Dallas just in time to miss the dinner that we paid for. Awesome! I guess we just got a really expensive name tag with Greg's senior picture on it. There really weren't that many people at the dinner. But Greg did get to catch up with a few more people from his school. Andy and Alisa were there, so I had someone to talk to as well! Unfortunately we were both exhausted from the drive, so we didn't take any pictures. If you want to see what a great time we had, you can go to

http://lhsclassof1998reunion.shutterfly.com.

Apparently they'll be uploading pictures of all the events. There may even be pictures of a young Greg in there somewhere!

Sunday afternoon we went to the FC Dallas game. They beat DC United 3 - nil. And they finally scored during the "Pizza Hut minute". So fans in a few of the sections got free personal pan pizzas! I thought it would never happen! I just wish we were in one of the lucky sections! Oh well!

So that's about all. This week I'm going to Phoenix for a clinician retreat. I'm excited to go out there, especially because I'll get to catch up on some sleep! Have a great week!

UT/Arkansas game

We headed down to Austin early Saturday morning so we could tailgate before the game. This was one of the set ups in the parking lot of the stadium.

I didn't think it was a real pig until I got up close enough! So I had to take a picture!

Then we went on to our own tailgate party.



Yep, that's a truck and the back raises up to reveal a flat screen tv, a playstation, three coolers, a tap for adult beverages and a grill! How crazy is that?! I love watching people's faces when they see it! It belongs to family friends of the Fuchs'. When the tailgating is finished, they just push everything back in the bed of the truck and head home. Unfortunatly there aren't any pictures of me in my "Tennessee orange". I can never figure out what exactly "burnt orange" is! I'll keep trying!

After tailgating it was time to go up to our seats. For the second year in a row we were invited to watch the game from the best suite in the stadium! It's huge and right next to the press box. Here's the awesome view we had!



The windows even go up so you can still be scared when they shoot the cannon after UT scores! Nice!

Here's UT's band at halftime. They were really good...mellophones and all!



Texas ended up beating Arkansas 52-10. Most people started leaving before the game was over. We wanted to stay so we could get pictures with the cheerleaders, but we also had to get back to Dallas for the rest of the reunion. So we left at the very end of the game, but we were still too early for the cheerleaders. Oh well, there's always next year! Here's Ryan's picture from last year so we can all reminisce.

Busy, busy, busy!

I had to split this post into several so I could fit all the pictures in! So keep reading after this one!

Things have pretty much been super busy around here lately. Last week we had random things going on each night. We did get to celebrate Chris's birthday! I won't say how old or young he is in fear of messing up his story for the ladies! Happy Birthday, Chris! We hope this is your best year yet!

This weekend we had Greg's 10 year high school reunion! It started on Friday with some Friday night lights. That was a first for me. I've never been to a high school football game. It was definitely interesting! I think I had the most fun just people watching. I can't believe how football crazy everyone is in Texas! This is what I was most excited to see in person...



MUMS!!!!! This is the only decent, incognito picture I got of a mum. It was definitely not the best one we saw, but it's tough to act like you're not taking a picture of someone when you clearly have the camera pointed at them! There were some mums that went all the way down to the girl's feet with huge bears and bells on them! And there were "garters", which apparently are the guy version of mums that go around your arm. They were just as big and extravagant as the girls. It was awesome! I've only heard about them through Greg and the girls at work, so I was really excited about seeing them in person. And I was not disappointed! For all of you non-Texans, these wonderful displays of school pride are worn for the homecoming football game and again at the dance! Nice! I feel like I missed out on so much going to an all-girl school. Oh wait, no I don't!

Here's a picture of the band. I was blown away by how many people there were. Greg says that there were many more people in band when he was there. I thought they sounded really good. Except for this...(warning: you may not want to have the volume up too high on this one!)



You could barely hear the band over the metronome. Apparently it's called "Dr. Beep" and it was VERY loud. We're not really sure why they used it while they were playing because they kept turning it off and on. At one point the fans started booing because it was so annoying. It did wonders for the ringing in my ear I've been experiencing lately! Here is a picture of the band spelling "LHS"! Very cool!



I also learned this weekend that in marching band you play the mellophone, not the French horn like I had been led to believe! So now when I go to games I'll know to look for the mellophone section and not the French horn one! And I also like that when you walk backwards, you do so on your toes! So funny!

Here's a picture of us at the game. Greg says we can never have too many pictures like this because they all look completely different. Wait...maybe what he said was exactly opposite of that! Oh well. I think they're fun and I'm getting good at them! This only took one shot!



We decided to leave after halftime and head to the restaurant/bar for the continuation of the festivities. We had a good time. There were lots of people there and it was fun to meet everyone and find out what they were up to these days. We finally got home around 2 and got a little sleep before we went down to Austin...

yIKEs!!

So apparently Hurricane Ike tricked just about everyone. The UT/Arkansas game was postponed for a couple weeks because they were worried about the weather in Austin. (It turned out to be a really nice day down there.) It rained off and on in Dallas all day. But from talking with my brother in Arkansas and my friend in Louisville it sounds like they got the brunt of the storm. A.J.'s dorm lost power several times during the night and several trees got uprooted. And in Louisville, Katie's car was smashed by a tree!!! (I would put the picture up that she sent me, but I can't figure out how to take texts off my phone and on to the computer.) On top of that, it sounds like most of the city is still without power! We're thinking of everyone. We're glad no one got hurt. Let us know if you guys need anything!

Greg's new toys

Since we weren't able to go to Austin this weekend, we ended up doing a little home improvement. The fan in the living room started making a very strange noise the other night. So Greg and I changed it today. This is what we have now.



Oh la la! It's much better than the brass and white fixture that we replaced. And it's very quiet!

I'm sure most people were holding their breath in anticipation of Rock Band 2 coming out for Xbox 360 this weekend. (OK, maybe not!) Greg, Ryan and I went to several Walmarts at midnight in search of the game, but no one had it. So this morning I went to the store by us and had the lady open the shipment from last night. Little did I know that also meant we would need the 120 gig hard drive to save the band's progress. Oh well. At least now I get to listen to different songs! And some that I've actually heard before!

Also, this week Greg decided that he needed a new grill. So we had Ryan and Chris over tonight to play some Rock Band 2 and grill out. And we made smores!!! Mmmmm!

Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe!