Life with Gling

Ok, so we had an awesome weekend. Friday night was yummy cookout with lots of fun people. (And Jared made the yummiest brats ever!) Saturday morning we slept in a bit and then got ready to go to Emden/Bloomington for the rest of the weekend. We showered and got packed up and hit the road shortly after lunch. We spend Saturday evening with my parents. My mom took us to Cracker Barrel….yummmm. Then we played games the rest of the night. Sunday morning we went to church at Vale and then spent the day with Jared’s family. We stopped to see his mom for a bit, made a quick trip to Best Buy and Sam’s Club, and then we spent the rest of the day over at Steven and Norma’s house. The night ended with yummy Steak n’ Shake and a late drive back to Emden. This morning we got up decent time so we could go to a cook out at my uncle Matt’s house in Peoria. We had a pretty good time…lots of yummy food. We stopped back through Emden for a bit and then we hit the road for home. Now we’re here in Greenville. I’ve just finished packing and Jared’s finishing up the dishes. Very soon we’ll hit the road for an AWESOME week of vacation. We’re headed down to Gatlingburg, Tennessee for a week of relaxation in the same chalet we spent our honeymoon in. This coming Sunday (June 5th) will be our one year wedding anniversary. Where does the time go?! We dug the top of our wedding cake out of my parent’s freezer, so we’ll be taking that with us as well. Well…I better get going so I can get a little bit of sleep before we hit the road. More updates when we get back. Adios!

Ok, so we had an awesome weekend. Friday night was yummy cookout with lots of fun people. (And Jared made the yummiest brats ever!) Saturday morning we slept in a bit and then got ready to go to Emden/Bloomington for the rest of the weekend. We showered and got packed up and hit the road shortly after lunch. We spend Saturday evening with my parents. My mom took us to Cracker Barrel….yummmm. Then we played games the rest of the night. Sunday morning we went to church at Vale and then spent the day with Jared’s family. We stopped to see his mom for a bit, made a quick trip to Best Buy and Sam’s Club, and then we spent the rest of the day over at Steven and Norma’s house. The night ended with yummy Steak n’ Shake and a late drive back to Emden. This morning we got up decent time so we could go to a cook out at my uncle Matt’s house in Peoria. We had a pretty good time…lots of yummy food. We stopped back through Emden for a bit and then we hit the road for home. Now we’re here in Greenville. I’ve just finished packing and Jared’s finishing up the dishes. Very soon we’ll hit the road for an AWESOME week of vacation. We’re headed down to Gatlingburg, Tennessee for a week of relaxation in the same chalet we spent our honeymoon in. This coming Sunday (June 5th) will be our one year wedding anniversary. Where does the time go?! We dug the top of our wedding cake out of my parent’s freezer, so we’ll be taking that with us as well. Well…I better get going so I can get a little bit of sleep before we hit the road. More updates when we get back. Adios!

Seriously…this week is going super fast. Not too much has really happened. We’ve finally come down off the high from the crazy graduation weekend. Work has been super hectic, just because I have to get a ton done before we take off on vacation next week. I think I’m almost caught up with everything though…so I should be ok. I’ve been working with our graphic designer at the college to make an ad for a transfer magazine. That’s been pretty cool and I’ve also learned a lot. That’s what I love about my job…that I get to do the whole counselor thing, but I also get to do lots of management stuff too. I love it that my boss trusts me and gives me freedom…makes me enjoy my job that much more. Jared and I are big Alias fans, and tonight was the season finale. WHAT THE HECK?! That’s all I have to say. If you watch the show, then you know what I’m talking about…if not, then start watching cause life is better with Alias! We also watched the American Idol finale. I must say, Jared and I wanted Bo to win, but Carrie took the title. That’s ok though…I think we all know that Bo’s going to get his own record deal all in good time. (And you better believe I’ll be paying good money to go see him in concert!) Friday we’re having a cookout for a few of our friends here in Greenville. It’ll be a nice way to start the weekend. We’re also planning on heading up to Emden/Bloomington on Saturday. We haven’t been back home in quite awhile. Monday starts our vacation…which I am super pumped about! For our annversary gift to each other, we’re going back to the same chalet in Gatlinburg, that we spent our honeymoon at. It’ll be a nice week to get away. Anyway…that’s my update and I’m stickin’ to it!

It’s been crazy busy around here lately…hence my lack of updates. I’ve been working butt off at work…trying to make sure everything I need done is done before we leave on vacation next week. The most exciting even as of late was Jared’s graduation from Greenville today. I’m so darn proud of him! We spent a good portion of the week completely cleaning and straightening up the house. We even cleaned the porch! It’s not like it wasn’t clean before, we just did a total overhaul before the family got here. Saturday Jared had the Ivy cutting ceremony and then we got back to cleaning. The house seriously looked amazing! Today the family came down to help Jared celebrate his graduation. My mom, dad, Grandma Cox, Greg, Doug, Jared’s mom, Steven and Norma all came down. Jared looked so cute in his cap and gown…and it was a really nice day for graduation. We had a small party at the house one the ceremony was over. Lots of cake and punch for all! It was just nice to have family over at our house. Since we’re close to 2 hours away from anyone in our family, most of them don’t get down to visit much. We went to Smokey Bones for some yummy celebratory BBQ after the party. Yummmmmm! Anywho…I’m about ready to get to bed now. Jared’s next to me looking up new computers and playing with his new digital camera that my parents got him for graduation. (Which I’m very excited about as well!) But yeah…time for bed. Hopefully I’ll get some more updates this week!

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/babypage_view.asp?URLID=5Q3H1A0N7Y

Ok, if you go to that link you can see pictures of my most fabulous niece, Danielle Rose. If you click the next button you can see like 4 other pictures too. Yay!

Yeah, I haven’t posted in awhile. I figured I should…because lots of things have been going on. This past weekend was Agape music festival here at the college. Since the college hosts it, we here in Admissions had plenty to do. We had a booth all weekend and did lots of stage announcements and give-aways. It was an amazing weekend…full of lots of fun people and awesome weather. Not a drop of rain or cold weather the entire time. Lots of amazing bands as well. My favorite, by far, was Toby Mac. I haven’t seen him since the good ol’ DC Talk days. He was freaking awesome! Seriously…go see Toby Mac if you get the chance. You won’t be dissapointed.
Sunday was Mother’s Day, but we didn’t get to go home to see our mother’s. Instead, we slept a good portion of the day (due to the lack of sleep associated with Apage). We cleaned a little bit too. Monday morning around 11:30 we found out that our wonderful little niece (and goddaughter) was born! As soon as we finished up with work…we headed up to Springfield to see the little bundle of joy. Her name is Danielle Rose Phillips…and she’s absolutely beautiful! She’s such a pretty baby (and no…I’m not just saying that because I’m her aunt!). It was a fun night. We got to hang out with the nephews, Greg and Nora, Geof and Lauri, my mom and my grandma too. We hung out at the hospital for awhile and then mom took us out to eat at Steak n’ Shake. I had yummy chili mac and a turtle sippable sundae. Sooooo goooood…..droooooool. Anyway, we stopped to see the baby once more before we had to head back to Greenville. Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Jared’s been busy fishing everything up before graduation gets here…and I’ve been busy napping most of evening when I get back from work. Yes, I’ve been lazy…but I deserve it! And that brings us to today…and what a beautiful day it is!

I just got word…that Jared and I are officially godparents to our new niece, Danielle Rose! Yay! She was born at 11:28 this morning. Ok, I have to go, but I wanted to post that.

So the week’s starting to get better. After the crazy car happenings of Monday morning, things had to get better. We reported the keying to the cops and to our insurance company. Apparenty a bunch of vandalism happened close to where we live. (Stupid townie punks!) Our insurance will cover the repairs and our rates won’t go up, which is awesome! We just have to pay a $100 deductable and they’ll cover the rest. The appraiser from the insurance company came to look at the damage today, and he got the estimates from the Body Shop that we’re taking it to. $1,400 worth of damage….how crazy is that?! Yes…you heard me right…because some little punk keyed our car, it will now cost someone $1,400 to fix it. At least we’re only paying $100. Thank goodness for good insurance! We also got the car back from getting the brakes fixed yesterday. That was a good time as well. (Or not!) $200 to fix the break pads and something else (sorry…I’m car illiterate) quickly turned into $500 to totally replace the brakes. At least the Gling-Mobile is still with us. She runs quite nicely now…no scary grinding brake noises. And soon she’ll have a nice new coat of paint! So yeah…cars have been on the mind at the Smith household. In happier news…I baked yummy sugar cookies last night. I’m in charge of refreshments for Jared’s Digital Media Senior Portfolio. I must be turning into my mom or something. As soon as Jared mentioned refreshments, I started color coordinating everything. I’m making musical note and heart sugar cookies (which I’ve frosted) and homemade brownies and yummy punch in a punch bowl. I like being domestic though…makes me feel good. Well I’m going to wrap this up for now. I got to work an hour early today, so I should try to get some things done before everyone gets here. Adios!

So today just got sucky! As Jared left the house today to take my car to the Ford dealership to get the brake pads replaced, he noticed something not quite right. In fact…it was something craptastic. Somebody took it upon themself to key my precious Glingmobile. Not just one little scratch…but deep, hurtful cuts deep into its most precious paint. They also got Jared’s car…which wasn’t as big of a deal. But still! Luckily, Jared took the truck to Jame’s last night…so they didn’t get the truck. I would have FREAKED out if they got the new truck. Anyway…people are dumb…especially when they key your car. Lesson of the day…don’t key people’s cars…it’s not cool! And with that thought…off to call the insurance company and the cops. Yipee!

It’s Monday again…oh boy. It was a really good weekend, so I wasn’t looking foward to coming back to work. Friday night I caught up on our laundry. There was soooo much, but I got it all done and folded. It was about 10:3o by the time I finished up. Jared and I then settled in to watch American Splendor…which started off as a great movie! I’m sure it ended well too…but I fell asleep about 20 minutes into it, so I’m not quite sure. I woke up around 2 a.m. when Jared was carrying me to bed. He’s such a great husband! We both slept in until like noon on Saturday. Which was awesome! We didn’t set the alarm…we just slept and slept and slept. That afternoon Jared went to one of his friend’s senior recital while I chatted on the phone with my good buddy Nicole. She’s in Georgia now…and I miss her! It was good talking with her though. Saturday night we went to the Junior/Senior banquet because Jared’s a senior and I’m on staff at the college. It was so much fun. I love getting dressed up, especially when I get to wear a formal. Jared was all spiffy in his suit as well. This year they trolley rides out to the place the banquet was held….which was so much fun! It was just a really good night, with good friends and really good food. When we got back home we watched Finding Neverland….which was amazing! You should watch it! Sunday we went to church and Sunday School. I went to Wal-Mart after that to stock up on groceries. (Our fridge was barren!) Jared worked on homework most of the day while I cleaned the house. I got so much done! Anyway, I better get back to work. Plenty of things to do on this wonderful Monday!