Our First Date

of 2011. Seriously folks! The weekend before last the hubby and I got to go on a date! And since our lives have been so hectic, it was our first date since October. Do the math. That's ten months! I could have grown an entire human being in my belly since the last time Greg and I were able to leave Parker with someone we trust so we could enjoy a date night! Or, in this case, a date morning. What did we do?

Drum roll please....

We went on a Poker Run!

What's a poker run you may ask? Well, let me try to explain. Poker Runs are public events that are usually used to earn money for a charity. They can be done in cars, boats, or in this case, by motorcycle! Basically each contestant pays the entry fee. Then you are given a map of different places to "draw a card" kind of like playing a game of poker. I've only been on two poker runs. The first everyone left as a big group to the next place. This particular poker run was a little different in that everyone left at different times. While there were about thirty bikes in this poker run, we arrived with our "group" of six and they are who we rode with the entire time.

We had five stops and at each stop we drew a card (Or in this case we drew poker chips with numbers written on them). At the end of the poker run they added up the numbers we drew from each stop. Then, the person with the highest and lowest hand won some money. Now that I have thoroughly confused you (and myself) I'll move on. Sadly, we didn't win any money. But, the poker run was to raise money for two of the local schools. And although we didn't win money, both winners actually turned their money back over and donated it to the school as well which was really awesome of them to do.

However, we did win a trophy. Why? Well, the organizers of the poker run were giving away two trophies. One went to the best bike and the other went to the best bike group. Both trophies were dedicated to two men in the community who had passed away but who were both bikers. One of those said bikers was my father in law (I would like to note that neither men had deaths that were caused by being on their motorcycle). There were several people down in the neighborhood that our lake house is at and they were the group of six that we rode around on. We were voted the "Best Group" and that happened to be the trophy with my father in laws name on it. I think the voting was a little rigged, but needless to say our group won and they gave the trophy to Greg.

After the poker run our little group wanted to go to a bar and have a drink in my father in laws memory. We stayed there about an hour and enjoyed some cool beverages before heading back to the house.

I have to give a huge shout out to my mom for driving down to the lake house the night before to spend the night with us so she could watch Parker since we left at the crack of dawn. I know she was more than happy to spend the morning with him and I was more than happy to have a small break.

Since I've obviously slacked off when it comes to blogging, y'all should not be surprised when I say I forgot to take my camera on the poker run. Luckily I asked my mom to take a quick snap shot of us before we left!



Although I'm not going to hold my breath, I hope I'll be able to blog about another date with my hubby pretty soon!

A Review of my 2010 Goals

Last year around this time I posted (what has become an almost "annual" blog tradition) my goals for 2010. Thankfully I did post them, because knowing that I would have to give my readers my year-end review is sometimes the only thing that kept me on track! So, here we go:

1. To be a better blogger. Well, if you're one of my faithful readers, you probably know that goal went right out the window. In fact, you're probably not even reading this because you pretty much gave up on logging in each week to see a new post by yours truly. Sorry! It's safe to say that taking care of the baby, keeping a clean and tidy house (my husband will laugh if he reads that), and making jewelry pretty much consumes most of my free time. Don't get me wrong! I still love blogging and reading all the comments, so have no fear, you can still read my "thoughts" from time to time!

2. To grow an herb garden. Hmmm....apparently when I made these goals I forgot that I would be giving birth in the spring, which I'm sure was the ideal time for me to plant that cute herb garden I daydreamed about. It's safe to say that idea went right out the window as well!

3. To call my mom more often. I do feel like I'm a lot better at this. However, that came at a price. I think I was calling her once a month until around August. Then, my step-dad was involved in a bad accident that left him being hospitalized for over two months, and eventually landed him in a nursing home. During that time, my phone calls increased to a few times a week. Now, I'm trying to call once a week. Sadly, sometimes an unexpected accident is what it takes for one to realize what's important in life.

4. To complete Parker's baby book. Thank God I posted this as a goal for the whole world to see! Do you want to know what I obsessively worked on last week? You guessed it! Parker's baby book. In fact, one evening I was working on it and my husband asked what I was doing and when I said, "working on Parker's baby book" his response was, "Why?" I didn't bother to tell him it was because I had exactly twenty-seven hours to get caught up because I knew he would think I had gone off the deep end!

Luckily, I did do a pretty decent job of updating a few things here and there each month. But the biggest thing I was dreading involved all those pages about the gifts he received after he was born, along with the gifts I received for him at my baby showers. I have been extremely blessed with awesome family and amazing friends who showered their generosity on our family. Which, meant I didn't want to write all those wonderful items down because I knew it would be time consuming. Luckily for gifts I got in the mail I would write down on a piece of paper and so that really helped! Now, I know what you're thinking; why didn't I just write them down in the baby book as I received them instead of on a piece of paper. Here's why: I want the baby book to be filled out using the same pen. I don't want blue ink mixed with black ink or ball point mixed with uniball gel. Yes, I am a freak of nature. One thing that really helped me whenever I did make time to add to the book was the awesome "baby's first year" calendar that one of my aunts sent me. It came with all kinds of stickers for things such as "clapped hands", "rolled over", "gave kisses", "doctor's appointment", you get the idea. That calendar has been so great in allowing me to keep track of things! And, in case you're wondering why I've been so diligent about my monthly Parker posts, it's because I am supposed to add a picture of him each month. (Yes, I am also a little bit anal about the calendar as well. I always use the same blue pen to fill out his monthly stats!)

There are a few parts of Parker's baby book that make me sad. One of which is the section where I'm supposed to clip a newspaper clipping announcing his birth. The hospital was pretty on top of things, having me fill out a form that they submit to the newspaper for the announcement. Now, this may sound silly, but after I brought Parker home from the hospital, I had anxiety about leaving the house. The idea of having to go to the gas station to buy a paper completely stressed me out. In the town I live in, the newspaper is only printed three times a week. I asked my husband numerous times to stop by the gas station to buy a paper in case Parker's birth announcement was in it, but apparently that was not high on his priority list. I also asked friends to let me know if they saw it in the paper. Sadly, no one told me. I even called the newspaper to see if it had been printed two months after he had been born, but no one could tell me a concrete answer. Our library doesn't keep newspapers on file. The newspaper website is of no help. Needless to say, there is no newspaper clipping in Parker's baby book announcing his birth and that breaks my heart.

5. To host a Christmas Cookie/Ornament Exchange party.Instead, I had my first Bling On A String trunk show at the beginning of December. I figured hosting two parties back to back would be a little too much to handle. But, I would love to do this next year!

6. To be a good Mommy. This is a tough one. I try really hard to be a good mom. And some days I really feel like I am doing a pretty good job at parenting. I read books and websites about parenting. I take care of Parker's essential needs. I make an effort to play with him each day. I give him lots of kisses. But, then I have a moment. And at those moments, I always think, "Oh gosh, I am the worst parent in the world. How could I have done ______. Like the time we were out and about and I suddenly realized I hadn't changed his diaper in five hours. Or the time we were at The Elks and it dawned on me that (duh!) I had forgot to feed him his dinner! (Just so you don't call DHS on me, I had nursed him...just forgot to feed him his solids an hour later. And, he was in such a happy mood I had no reason to think that there was something "wrong" with him). Or like last night when I placed him in the bath tub and the water was too hot (first time that happened in eight months, so I guess I shouldn't be beating myself up. Parker paid me back by peeing all over me as soon as I lifted him out of the water). All I can say is; I try. But, I don't think I'll be winning a "Mom of the Year" award any time soon.

7. To print, label, and organize all the photos that are on my laptop and place them in photo albums.I have a really good excuse as to why this goal wasn't accomplished for the second year in a row: it takes money to print off pictures. For some reason when I made these goals I forgot about the teeny tiny fact that we have a whole house to remodel, along with another person to feed, clothe, and diaper. However, I did make a lot of progress this year! I did get two whole photo albums filled! One of which has all of the photos labeled (It's the type of album where you label to the side of the picture). I even printed off a lot more of the pictures that were taking up space on my laptop. However, I haven't quite got everything printed off. On the bright side, ever since Parker has been born, I've been printing off pictures at Wal-Mart once a month. And, up until November, I was great about immediately labeling and dating the back of the pictures. See: Progress!!!

8. To pay off the hospital bill after having the baby. Well, this didn't happen either, because of the reason listed on #7. Luckily, the hospital gave us an interest free payment plan which allows the balance to be paid off in a year. Trust me, we will be doing a happy dance once it's paid off!

9. To be a MILF. I actually think I've done pretty well about keeping up with this goal! Being a mommy proved to be the best diet for me. Along with finally having a "normal" lifestyle and not living in a fifth wheel where I basically sat around all day. I'm happy to say that I am finally back down to the size I was trying to achieve by dieting. However, my new found look does come with a price. Most of my friends are dieting, so when they see me, they say things like, "gosh, you're looking too skinny" or "I can't wait until I have a baby so I can loose weight", all of which are said with a tone of disgust. As if how dare I be skinny after becoming a mother. Although I would love to whip out a copy of the charts that show what a normal, healthy weight is for someone who is 5'2" (I fall right in the middle, thankyouverymuch) I just smile and hold my tongue. At least one person is truly happy for me: my husband! Along the same lines, I also have limited myself to wearing sweat pants twice a week. It honestly doesn't take any more effort to put on jeans and a cute top than to walk around all week looking like I rolled out of bed. I may not wear make up every day, but I do feel like I've been pretty good about trying to be a MILF! ;)

10. To bring the balance of our Harley down to a certain amount I have in my head. Refer to #7. Sadly, I was the queen of minimum payments this year.

11. Not to be such a control freak. That depends. According to #4, I guess some reading would take that to mean a big, fat, NO! However, I am pretty lax about other things. I made reference to spilt milk in my original goal list. And, since Parker spits up ALL THE TIME, it's pretty safe to say that I'm completely over having clean carpets. If he spits up, I pretty much just dab the spot with a burp cloth and call it good. Unless it's green. Or orange. Gross, I know. I'm sure if I had nice, brand new carpet, I would be signing a different tune!

12. To breast feed Parker for his first year. So far, so good!!!

13. To be more frugal. Well, this didn't happen. I would love to say we bought a membership to Sams Club, but we didn't (in our defense, it is two hours away), and I tried scouring the internet for coupons, but it was so time consuming and always for products that I didn't necessarily use to begin with. Luckily, Huggies and Pampers occasionally sends coupons for diapers and wipes, and I happily use those!

How did all of you do with your 2010 goals?

Biker Tales

Last week the hubby and I ventured "home" to Oklahoma for a little over a week. For the hubs, it was a much needed break. If you're a faithful reader, then you know we've been enjoying life as bikers for a couple months now. Weeks after we bought our Harley, two of Greg's guy friends back in OK bought Harleys as well. He has been dying for a chance to go home and ride with the guys. So the Thursday before last, we did just that! Funny thing is, apparently we are not "real bikers". Why do I say this? Because instead of taking the bike on a long ride to our destination, we pull it behind the car on a bike trailer! I cannot tell you the flack we get when we happen to stop at a gas station or a fast food restaurant and a fellow biker sees it on the trailer! I think it's kind of funny!

We didn't get to Norman until 2:00 A.M. on Friday so we slept in. Later that afternoon while I met some great friends of mine at one of my favorite places, The Warren Theatre, to take in the newest Harry Potter movie, Greg went off to meet our friends Dave and Kevin for some riding in OKC. I joined them later and we had a blast cruising through Bricktown, Midwest City, and then back to Norman.


Saturday was another riding day for us! We met up with our friends Jason and Christy for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. From there it was off to the amazing Fort Thunder Harley Davidson Dealership in Moore. We cannot make a trip back home without stopping there; even before we owned a Harley! It seems that every time we go there, they are having an event so we hung out there for a few hours looking at the bikes, having some cold drinks, and visiting with friends. From there we cruised to visit two different sets of friends who both live in Moore. I think Greg was pretty proud to be able to show the bike off to them in person!

Sunday morning we hooked the bike up to the trailer again, this time because there was rain in the forecast (which I never saw!) and headed down to my father in laws house. We made a pit stop along the way to say "Hi" to my sister and her family. And, of course, we had to show them our bike! Even one of their neighbors came out of his house to check it out!

The cool thing about hubby's dad is that he has a Harley, too! That evening we took a bike ride into Texas (only about a thirty minute drive) to a restaurant/marina that none of us had ever been too before that overlooked Lake Texoma (post on that coming soon!). The weather was perfect and our day could not have been any better!

On Monday my husband found out he didn't have to be at work again until the following week so we were able to relax at his dad's house until Thursday. Wednesday night we took one last bike ride into Texas, this time our ultimate destination was a biker bar. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home. Opps! And that was just the beginning. We pulled up to the bar, only to discover that it was closed. From the outside it looked really neat. There were tons of outdoor picnic tables and a stage for bands, along with cool old cars and motorcycle sculptures decorating the outside. Undefeated, we went and ate at Cheddars instead!

On Thursday we loaded up to return back to Norman, but made a by-pass through Ada. Ada is my hometown and honestly whenever I visit that city now I get butterflies in my stomach and I'm always so excited to see what the town looks like. I went to college in Ada and the little town has exploded since I moved away. There are so many new franchise restaurants and new stores. Also, the university I attended is building a brand new performance arts theatre. It is still unfinished, but the outside is AMAZING!!! My minor was in theatre and I also danced in a few of the recitals while I attended college and I am so insanely jealous that the massive theatre that is being constructed was not there while I was attending school. After checking the town out, we met my parents at my favorite "local" bbq restaurant; and showed off our bike!

We finally got back to Norman that afternoon where we relaxed briefly before preparing for a night out on the bike! We stopped off at Fort Thunder so I could buy a pair of proper riding boots! We've had to buy "gear" slowly because we all know that if something says "Harley" it's not cheap! Luckily I get great deals on ebay, but I didn't want to buy shoes without trying them on first. From there we met our great friends Randy and Shannon for dinner. Their adorable baby Braxton was with them. He is one of the most even tempered babies I have ever met! Shannon was kind enough to take some pics of us before we headed off to Bike Nite!!! (Like the boots?)




This is the scene that we met when we arrived to Hooters Bike Nite:




Years ago when we had our Honda Shadow, we went to Hooters Bike Nite almost every week. It was nothing like this! Back then, there may have been fifty bikes that showed up. Now, Bike Nite is on a whole other level! Once it got dark, everyone cruised over to The Cross-Eyed Moose and Bike Nite continued there. I made plans for my friend Deidra to meet us there!
She is best friends with Robert, who is the owner of Fort Thunder, and after we told her we couldn't get over how big Bike Nite was now, she told us that Robert has really promoted Bike Nite and has helped it grow to what it has now become. We had a great time checking out the bikes and then listening to Greg sing karaoke.

We took a break from the bike on Friday and on Saturday drove back to Lamar, Colorado, which is where hubby is working once again. Stay tuned! I'm sure there will be more Biker Tales in the future!

Sights from Sidney

This town may be small, but it has some neat places that I thought I'd share with you! This first pic is from the downtown area. This is my favorite place! It's a coffee shop that's connected to a book store. Heaven!!! Personally, I like the coffee at the other coffee shop better (and by coffee, I mean latte), but the ambiance is so nice at this one that I go here instead. This is where I hung out a couple of times before I got our new wireless modem!



This is the Catholic church. I am such a sucker for a beautiful church and this does not disappoint!




This is a house I'm in love with. I'm so glad someone didn't come tearing out of it asking why I was taking pictures of their house! Trust me, it looks much better without the truck and fifth wheel sitting in front of it.



Have any of you heard of the store called Cabela's? Well, I had not until I moved here, but it's basically like a Bass Pro Shop. And the very first Cabela's is here in Sidney, along with their corporate office. I think that store is the reason why this little town is so well-kept. There are so many big, nice houses here, I told Greg that I was pretty sure there are some big money people here. He didn't believe me. I even wondered aloud if the CEO of the company lived here in little ole' Sidney. Since day one, this building has intrigued me:



Beautiful, isn't it? Today at Pilates class I finally remembered to ask my instructor if she knew what it was. I wasn't sure if it was someones home or a business, or what. She told me that the founders of Cabela's live there. She said that they travel to Africa a lot and that the home is actually five stories tall. Three of the stories are underground. Apparently they have a full size replica of a giraffe in there. So, I was right! There is big money in this town! I would kill for a chance to walk through it!

Now, technically this isn't Sidney, but it is pretty cool that we were able to take our bike past the state line! Like our new pipes?




This is the windfarm that is across the street from the farm that Greg works at. We're no longer in Nebraska, this is Peetz, Colorado. And this picture was taken as we drove up to Greeley, CO last weekend. A huge storm was coming and let me tell ya, I was scared to death! We were under a tornado watch and literally Greg and I made a game plan in case we had to pull over and run to a ditch for shelter. Not the way I like to spend my Friday evenings! And speaking of storms...it has stormed every evening since we arrived here three weeks ago. Apparently this part of the state has been in a drought for the past ten years and their prayers have finally been answered. Nice, but I don't like going to bed every night under a tornado watch when I live in a fifth wheel.



Once we arrived in Greeley, we stayed the night at one of Greg's co-workers house. He has alpaca's! They chased our dog around which was hilarious. Here's a picture of one of them!



I thought I'd share some pics of my new "home". Too bad I never took any pictures of Lamar, but it looks like I'll be able to because apparently we are moving back there next weekend! Hope everyone has a safe and HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Biker Blunder

Last Thursday Greg and I had plans to go out to dinner with two other couples who also own Harleys. The restaurant we were going to was in the town of Wiley, which is only about fifteen miles away from Lamar. I was looking forward to the trip, but I was also a little nervous. Why? Because I had yet to be on our bike on the highway. Which means the fastest speed I had endured on our bike was probably about 45 mph. Back when we had our Shadow, I was absolutely terrified to go 65 mph. Which meant that I preferred Greg to stay in the city if we were on a bike ride. Believe me, he was never really thrilled about that.

When Thursday finally rolled around, Greg got off work around 10:30 A.M. and the weather was perfect for riding. We cruised around town and ended up going on a highway for a short scenic drive. I kept looking over Greg's shoulder and I saw that we weren't going over 30 mph. That was fine with me, but I asked Greg why he was going so slow and he said it was so my hair wouldn't get too messed up. (No, I wasn't wearing a helmet or a bandana.)

We ended up cutting our ride short because it just got a little too hot outside and neither of us had sunscreen on. Once five o'clock rolled around, I was as physically and mentally prepared as I could be for my first "real" bike ride. I had my helmet on and was finally able to wear my awesome Harley shirt I won on ebay. I was honestly just ready to "get it over with". Sad, I know.

As we hit the road, Greg and I were in the middle of the pack of Harleys. We hit the highway and I thought it was awesome!!!! I literallly thought to myself, "Wow, I could ride at this pace all day long". Then, I looked over Greg's shoulder and saw that we were going a mere 35 mph. Why we were going so slow on the highway was beyond me. Once we finally got into Wiley and I could hear Greg, I asked why we were going so slow. He replied with, "I'm just following Jim". Well why was he going so slow I wondered. We pulled up to the restaurant and as I got off I kept saying that I was amazed by how fast we got there. (We had taken a route that I'd never been on before). Then, my eyes focused on the speedometer. Apparently everytime I had peeked over Greg's shoulder to see how fast we were going I had been looking at the RPM's! Wow! I felt like a huge idiot. So apparently we were going 65 mph and earlier that afternoon we had even got up to 75 mph.

Sometimes I can be such a blonde! But at least I know that I'm much more comfortable on this bike than I ever was on our Honda Shadow!

It only took four years

Way back in 2005 Greg and I had a motorcycle. It was a Honda Shadow that we bought off of a friend. From that moment on, my husband was bit by the Biker Bug. There was just one teeeny little problem. He didn't exactly have the bike he wanted. What he really wanted was a Harley Davidson. We would go to various bike nights that different bars and restaurants would have and he would practically drool all over the large assortment of Harleys that were always at said events. We lived less than ten minutes away from a Harley Davidson Dealership, so at least once every other week he would drag me there as well so he could continue dreaming and drooling over the gorgeous bikes.

After about a year he finally sold our Honda. There were many reasons why. One being that it was a distraction and he really needed to focus on remodeling our house. But the unspoken reason was because it wasn't a Harley. (For his thirtieth birthday a friend of his gave him a sign to hang up in the garage that read "Harley Parking ONLY". Maybe he felt a bit hypocritical!)

After we sold the bike, I didn't hear about Harley's for awhile. I thought we were in the clear, but apparently I underestimated my husbands obsession. He would drop hints at least once a month that he couldn't wait to one day own a Harley. Driving past a Harley dealership would cause his head to turn so fast it's a miracle he never received whip lash. I honestly cannot even begin to count the number of times that he has parked the car in a dealerships parking lot and practically ran to the front door as I'm bringing up the rear. Then I follow him around for at least an hour as he verrryyyy slllloooowwwwllllyyyyy makes the round, excitedly pointing out different features of this model versus that model as my eyes would eventually glaze over.

Yes, there have been several times when we have almost bought a Harley. But, we all know that they aren't exactly cheap. So the level-headed part of my husband would always prevail and he felt like we were always walking away empty-handed. And every time we would get back into the car, my husband would say, "We will have a Harley someday, you know that, right?" Yes, I did know. I knew that it was not a question of "if" it was always a question of "when".

Last Monday started off as any other Monday. Well, except for the fact that my husband was off work and we were spending a long weekend in Colorado Springs. We planned to visit the Pikes Peak Harley Davidson Dealership for the sole purpose of buying my husbands father a birthday present, since he actually owns a Harley. But of course, this is my husband we are talking about. We couldn't just walk in and go straight to the clothing. No. That would have been like laying a steak in front of a dog and telling the poor thing that he couldn't eat it. We were approached by a sales person and we told him we weren't buying and he didn't need to waste his time. But, of course, the sales person began to show Greg some of the different bikes. Since I knew that this was our usual trip to a Harley Dealership, I went ahead and wandered off to the apparel section of the store. By the time I had returned to my husbands side the damage had already been done.

As I was approaching Greg and Mark, the sales person, I could see the look on my husbands face. You have to know what I'm talking about. His eyes were the size of quarters. His face was a little red. He was shaking his head in disbelief. When I reached them, my husband proceeded to tell me all about the bells and whistles of this particular bike. It was a 2008 Screaming Eagle Dyna 105th Anniversary Edition with only 30 miles on it. Since it was an '08, and it was the last one, the price was drastically reduced so they could move it on out. I could tell by my husbands actions that he wanted it. But I was a little confused and figured he just appreciated the way the bike looked. Basically I was clueless. When I finally managed to drag him away to focus on the "real" task at hand (birthday present) he asked me what I thought. What I told him was that I was confused because all I have ever heard him talk about for the past four years was that he wanted a Road King. I have never heard him utter the word Dyna. That's when he informed me it was because he never thought we would be able to afford the particular bike he was looking at. What I also didn't know is that Screaming Eagle is a package that Harley can put on any bike. The package basically adds all the bells and whistles to a bike that usually Harley owners have to buy afterwards to deck their bike out. Basically it means a lot more chrome and a better paint job. (I'm pretty sure if my husband reads that last sentence I'll get a lecture that it's not just extra chrome and better paint, but you get the idea!)

Now, let me back up a little bit. Since we hadn't planned on buying a motorcycle when we left for our long weekend, we also didn't have means for getting it back to Lamar. Driving it was not an option because it was too cold. We were frantically trying to figure out if my car could have a receiver hitch added to it and if we could buy a trailer to haul it back on the next day. We did find out that my car is going to be able to pull it, but unfortunately we couldn't get it added to my car in time. A guy who also worked at the dealership had just happened to see a motorcycle trailer for sale in a residential area. He gave us directions and we drove there to check it out. It was perfect! Luckily, Greg happens to work with a guy who lives in Colorado Springs, so he agreed to switch us vehicles so we could borrow his truck to pull the bike back to Lamar. It's funny how everything seemed to line up for us and everything worked out. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Especially when I think about all the other times we were thisclose to buying a Harley before. Greg never had quite the twinkle in his eye as he does about this particular bike.

Obviously, we bought the bike! We weren't able to take it with us that night, so of course my husband was like a kid on Christmas Eve. He absolutely could not sleep because he was so excited to pick up the bike the following morning. The icing on the cake was that when we signed the paper work, it showed that the bike was worth way more than we are paying for it. Who would have thought one could buy a motorcycle and have instant equity! Now, I'm sure Suze Orman would not have "approved" us for such a purchase, but when the level headed part of my husband started to peer out from the shadows, he turned to me and said, "I'm leaving the decision up to you." He's done this many times before and I've said no. But I knew that if my husband passed this bike up he would regret it and remind me of it for who knows how long. He works so hard and has wanted one for so long. I knew that our "when" time had arrived.