The Holiday Buzz

The Holidays have almost disappeared and left us with quite a bit to savor. Aside from the many losses we have experienced in past Decembers, we were once again faced with a personal loss this year. Though we are grateful for the many friends and family we have near us to help us through the difficult times, we are also reminded of the incredible bond we share as Husband and Wife. We didn't necessarily have a Christmas that was Merry and Bright, but we did learn to love and appreciate each other just that much more.

As another year winds to a close, we find ourselves grateful for the many Blessings we received in 2008 and look forward to the year of new beginnings in 2009.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all... and to all, a Good Night.

We're Stuffed!

Thanksgiving came way too fast for us this year. It seems just yesterday we were enjoying the Fourth of July. We were grateful to spend the day with the Grimes side of the family and enjoyed Mom's cooking! It was also really exciting to see how big those girls have gotten. We played "Littlest Pet Shop" Guess Who game, watched Happy Feet, and Chris even got a chance to do some cuddling with Mallory after a big turkey dinner!!! We are so thankful for our families, our friends, and our health. We have had a very amazing 2008 and can't wait for many more exciting things to come.

Twenty WHAT degrees!?

We are buried in LEAVES at our house.. and with the temps in the 30's we are not at all interested in raking. Especially when there are still leaves on the trees.. some still green. How can that happen?!?!?! Not lovin' it. When is our trip to the VI again!?!?!?!?!?!

An Average Weekend....??

The average weekend for us includes maybe a meal out, a good flick, some laundry, housework.. and if we're lucky spending times with our friends or family. I guess we might have had some of that covered this weekend.

Sharin left Saturday morning for a whirlwind 24 hour trip to Phoenix to see Kathy. It was exhausting, but felt SO great to see her, and feel the warm sun. OK, hot sun. It was in the 90's during the day and the evenings just cooled right down -- felt wonderful and with the beautiful terrain it made me wonder why the hell I still live in Michigan. The non-smoking bars sure made for an enjoyable evening, too.

Meanwhile, Chris and Casey took advantage of the lottery we won for UofM tickets. That's right.. UofM vs. MSU! They spent the day with Sharin's parents and tailgated then went to the game. After an exhausting day Chris returned to the couch on Sunday while Sharin types this blog from the Phoenix airport while she listens to the most annoying chirping coming from the airport vent. Airport? Why... to spend the week in Mexico, of course ;)

Cancun... Puerta Vallarta... RIIIGHT. How about Hermosillo, Toluca, Monterrey and Saltillo. In five days.

Yup. Just an average weekend.....

A Long Weekend!

We are so excited to finally have a long weekend. Crazy weeks.

Sharin spent the last week in North Carolina for work. It rained. And Rained. And Rained. And Rained. And even thunderstormed with Tornado watches. It was really frustrating. Add a sore throat, fever, and headache, and it was even better.

Jen, Dennis, and Dion came over to share a few cocktails on the back deck on Thursday. It was really nice to see Jen again, and felt great to enjoy the summer while it lasted with friends.

Finally... a long weekend, but as always it's a busy one.. weddings and travels are filling our days. Dean & Dana got married yesterday, and today we're headed to the LeMessurier cottage in Metamora. Tomorrow we are headed back to Jackson to visit Jen... and pick up Baxter's new baby sister. Yes, we're getting another cat. We are not sure about this yet, but we'll try to see how it goes -- seems like a lot of stress... but this little girl was wandering the neighborhood and is declawed, so it made sense to take her in and get her checked out to give Bax a playmate. But then again, do we really want to deal with that? Not really, to be honest. We figure we'll see how it goes for a couple of weeks and go from there.

So... you want a cat?

What day is it again? A mish-mash of happenings....

It's almost the last week of August already, and we can't even believe it! A year ago we were anxiously preparing details for our wedding, and now it's come and gone in the blink of an eye.

We are both traveling fools lately. We went to Jackson for our annual, "Get out of town -- It's Dream Cruise!" weekend. It was nice to relax and do not much of anything. We visited Jen and the kids and learned that one of Sharin's high school friends lives right across the street! Plus we got to meet the kitty that Chris wanted to smuggle home. (oh boy.)

Jen came home from Paris -- it was so nice to see her even if it was only for a little while.

Chris took a trip to Virginia with his friend John to do some kayak fishing for a long weekend, while Sharin completed some retail therapy over missing her hubby. (HA HA HA!) Thanks to Facebook, Sharin also got to connect with another High School friend, Susanna, and they had the most awesome Mojitos ever. It was really cool to connect and re-live the past. And now, the week ahead, Sharin will spend in North Carolina for work while Chris catches up on all of the nonsense that he came back to from being gone for a few days.

In other news, Baxter has been getting to enjoy the outdoors a couple days a week. He is only allowed in the back yard and seems to be content... at least for now because he doesn't realize he can jump the fences. That will not be a good day.. at all.

And then.. it's Labor Day Weekend with a wedding... followed by a quick (and busy) jaunt to Portland for another wedding... another wedding and a baby shower when we return, and hopefully then... NOTHING BUT PEACE AND QUIET.

Until all those babies start being borne............

Kids Everywhere!

What a busy week. Last weekend was Kids Day with the Duhaimes. A weekend packed of fun stuff for all the kids to celebrate their birthdays. There were games, pinatas, prizes, cookies, a scavenger hunt, a coin scramble in the beach...... and for the adults, no shortage of good food and drinks. It seemed a bit quieter this year, though we were missing a few folks. The kids are all growing up so quickly!

This weekend we had Kennedy spend the night on Friday. Even though her Birthday was in April, we still owed her a night at our house to celebrate. She got to go to the batting cages, play mini golf, go to Chili's, Target, get slurpees, and sleep in without getting bugged. After we took her home we had just a 45 minute break before Alex came over! We had big plans to take him to the park and to get ice cream, but it rained. Imagine that; no rain for how many weeks and then the ONE day you don't want it to, it does? He had fun with all of his cars and chasing "Vaxter" around, but Aunt Sharin and Uncle Chris would have felt better if they would have gotten their walk in......

What you Want, But don't really want.....

... isn't it funny how you know you don't really want something, but just think that you should at least be given an opportunity to have it so that you can at least feel special for have been given a chance?

Baxters Great Escape, Part II

Baxter has an incredible passion for the outside. Probably because we never let him out there. His first great escape was the day (morning.. 5am pitch black outside) we were leaving for our wedding. Cab driver waiting; bags on the front porch... all that was left was to say goodbye to our little peanut. Except he was nowhere to be found. After frantically turning the house upside down, The cab driver finally found him dancing about in the driveway. But of course, Baxter is way too elusive for human hands. He darted off into the dark of the neighborhood, through the bushes and three houses later, we finally coaxed him out of the bushes. (Momma was so mad, she didn't even say goodbye.)

Today Baxter found a way to pry open the screen sliding door and make his way outside before his Daddy woke up. Who knows how long he was outside for, but we thought he was MIA for sure. After patrolling the neighborhood, he was found laying in the back yard on the driveway... dirty and covered in cobwebs. He sure had fun playing under the deck...

Meeeeee yooooowwwwwwwww!!!!

Being Smashed by a Semi

It's been nonstop all spring and summer, and it's finally catching up to us. By 8pm we are both exhausted to the point of feeling like we've been run over by a semi. Getting up at 5:30am is a killer.... especially when Baxter wakes up at 3:30am and turns on the TV. He doesn't even watch TV, how the hell....? Apparently HE's not feeling smashed by a semi.

While the hubby is away.....

... the women shall play. Chris looks forward to his fishing weekends but SO DO I!!!! While he's out camping and doing manly stuff, I go shopping, go to the spa, and watch chick flicks. It's always great to have him home, but sometimes being home alone is a vacation in itself!!!

Our Sixish Week Anniversary

We can't believe it either. After meeting six years ago, we are finally married. And it's been six and a half weeks and we are still going strong!!! Truthfully we couldn't be happier and are thrilled to be starting our lives together as husband and wife. For today, anyhow.

Our wedding was one of the most beautiful, magical, and just plain FUN times we've ever experienced. We traveled to St. John, USVI, with 31 of our closest friends and family for a week long wedding extravaganza. We beached it, drank, swam in the pools, ate, drank, sailed, fished, drank, snorkeled, parasailed, drank, shopped, hiked, drank, and napped. Oh, and we drank a little bit, too. OH YEAH, and, we got married! Really, that was the whole point of the trip, the other stuff was just extra.

After our wedding week in St. John, we spent a week alone on the island of Dominica. (Doh-Min-EEE-ka) What a cool place! We stayed for a week in a cabin in the side of a cliff overlooking the rocky Atlantic. We returned to our pirate roots -- Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here. But we struggled a bit as we had no TV, Radio, Phone, or internet and the Wings were in the finals. 'Doh! We had a completely relaxing week and enjoyed the beauty and simplicity of life in the "nature isle."

Returning back home was really pretty depressing; Michigan isn't the greatest of places right now. Not to mention the construction sucks and the people are rude. But now we are hitched, and Baxter Wejebe is glad we're officially his 'momma and daddy!'