On the Road Again...

I can definitely wait to be on the road again. I feel that when I was in Kansas all I ever did was drive. I drove home, I drove to games, I road buses, I drove home again, week in and week out. Now, since I have moved I try to drive as little as possible.

Keith was in a wedding in Frankfort, Kentucky. He doesn't do a good job of really planning things and so he decided we would leave Thursday after work to head North. What neither one of us realized however, was that this was an eleven hour trip.  He promised we would stop and stay somewhere when we got tired, so I loaded up the car and we began. We both decided it would be easier to just rent a car from Enterprise. We thought for this long trip, it would be nice to not worry about taking our own.  We get to Enterprise and it was like the busiest place in Monroe. The lobby was packed with people returning and picking up cars.  It came to our turn and they didn't have the car that we had ordered. They apologize and said we will give you whatever we have left and handed us the keys to this..

A brand new Mercedes Benz. We both laughed, got in the car, and have never driven so cautiously as we did this last weekend.  He started driving and we switched back and forth. When we pulled into Nashville at 2:00 am, I thought I had him convinced to stop. He got in the driver's seat and said he was awake and we were going the whole way. Of course, I couldn't sleep and we arrived in Frankfort at 5:00 am, going on no sleep.  We got to sleep for about 2 hours before we met up with everyone to head to Keeneland Horse Races. It was awesome. It was a little nicer than any of the other race tracks I had been to. We took it all in and enjoyed company and the box seats we got.

After the races we met up with the entire wedding party as well as family and friends.  We all had supper together and the boys headed out on a party bus for the Bachelor party. The girls all stayed together and enjoyed downtown Lexington.  I met a lot of new people who all welcomed me right away. Saturday was low key for the most part. We enjoyed sleeping in and just hanging out. Rehearsal was at 2:00 and I got in a nice nap. I met up with everyone at a vineyard for the rehearsal dinner. It was such a cute little mom and pop place. We had great BBQ and wine.

Sunday was wedding day! Keith was a groomsmen for his college roommate Ben and he loved getting to see him again. They all loaded up around noon to head to Midway, KY where the wedding was located, they had lots of pictures ahead of them and had to start thinking of a back up plan due to rain and an outside wedding not mixing well. The wedding began at 4:30 and the rain had stopped, everyone was so thankful they could start with no rain..

Once all of the wedding party were in place, the rain hit..

As the bride began to walk down the aisle, and the rain got harder, there was a QUICK move!!

Allison did a great job and would not stop smiling! She looked beautiful and her and Ben pulled off a great wedding! We enjoyed supper and headed back to Monroe. Of course, Keith decided it would be good to leave around 6:30 and head back to be at work at 8:00 for work the next morning. Funny that this is where the idea went..

Yup! Him sleeping and me taking the wheel. On the way back there was no staying awake for either of us, if we weren't driving we were sleeping. We made it back to Monroe at 5:00am. Even though it was a quick weekend with long drives, we had a great time. We enjoyed getting out for the weekend had a great time celebrating the wedding with Ben and Allison!

Burnt toast..

Not exactly toast, but definitely burnt. Taking after Pinterest and my awesome sister in law, Jana..I decided I would try planning out meals for the week and go shopping every Sunday to have everything I need for the week. I thought I would start with something basic today and made Tator tot casserole. It is very easy so I mixed my ingredients and put it in the oven. I decided I would FaceTime back home and see how things were going, I got a little distracted and forgot about the time..which led me to my burnt supper..damn! But don't worry, I still ate it, I didn't want to waste food, or money!! Hope everyone has a great week!!

Family Time

I just returned back to Monroe after a trip home for mulitple events! I am so thankful I was able to take this trip home to get to be apart of so many family memories. It started on Good Friday where my mom picked me up in Wichita and we headed back to good ol Great Bend. My trip immediately started when I returned and headed to the zoo with my nephew Lukas. He loves the zoo and all the animals that he gets to see and imitate their animal noise. I loved getting to see how excited he got every time we saw a new animal or when he told them that he would be back tomorrow and to sleep tight. Lukas is non stop and always getting into something, Lawson has grown so much and is starting to smile all the time.

When we returned, my sister Christy and her fiance Mitch were arriving. It was so good to see them, and I got to see her beautiful ring for the first time since her engagement on New Years. We enjoyed hanging out, catching up, and planning (or trying to help) their wedding that is coming up. Saturday started with Christy's bridal shower that was given by all of our aunts. They did a great job! I got to see many close friends and cousins. After the shower, we all got ready for little Reese's 1st birthday party. Matt and Jana had a great party and her parent's house that involved cupcakes, presents, and an Easter egg hunt! The little ones are starting to really understand what is going on as long as the eggs are rather easy to find. After the birthday party, we all headed back to dad and mom's house for our family Easter dinner. It was so much fun having everyone together.

On actual Easter, we headed to church to enjoy mass together. All of the brothers and sisters headed their opposite ways to be with their other families. Dad, mom, and I headed to Larned where we got to enjoy another Easter dinner with the Schartz side!

My week continued and I enjoyed meeting up with friends I hadn't seen in awhile, as well as having a girls' day in Larned with some of my cousins. My next big event to prepare for was Christy's bachelorette party in Manhattan, KS. We were lucky enough to have one of Christy's good friends/bridesmaid offer up her house to us to use. She allowed us to use her entire place for a shower/pre party before going out on the Mr. Ks trolley around town and then heading out on the town in aggieville! It was such a good time celebrating her awesome upcoming marriage!

I headed on to Lawrence the next day, where I got to hang out with good friends. After the quick Lawrence stop, Olathe it was! I got to stay with Matt and Jana and their little ones. Cade is growing up so fast and Reese just smiles and lets life happen. I enjoyed a night with my brother, watching basketball, eating ice cream, and looking up dumb youtube videos. I got to eat at my favorite restuarant, Jose Peppers, that I have been craving for weeks! I love it!

After all this, it was time to head back. Due to all the thunderstorms, my flights were delayed, cancelled, and delayed some more. However, I have made it back and now dealing with unpacking and laundry. It was so nice to get to be apart of so many family memories. I have such amazing parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. I am so happy I got to see you, and sorry for the ones I missed out on.

March Madness

I know what most people are thinking, and March madness has not started quite yet, but that explains my first couple weeks of March perfectly. I have been very busy attending multiple get togethers and dinners!
It began with the Sun Belt conference tournament in Hot Springs, AR. We won our first round against Florida Atlantic which led us to play number 1 seeded Middle Tennessee. We played so hard and made it a great game, but we lost by 3 and ended our season. Middle Tennessee went on to win the conference tournament. We were able to stay Saturday night and enjoyed dinner with friends and walking around downtown Hot Springs.
This weekend I enjoyed a St Patricks Day/Selection Sunday get together at our good friends Cord and Kelly's. It was a beautiful day of 80 degrees as we got to grill, eat crawfish (no I didn't eat any), play corn holes, and watch as the 2013 March Madness bracket was set. With so many people from all over the country it was enjoyable to see everyone get excited for "their" team.
Last but not least, Cord and Kelly are expecting their second child in August. Last night we were all able to meet at Chili's for a great dinner. At the end of our meal, we all grabbed either a tiara or spider man mask, casting our vote for what Wright baby number two will be. Kelly handed out cupcakes to all and as we bit into it, baby number two is another boy!!
So far this month has been very exciting and so much fun! I am looking forward to the rest of this month!!

Unexpected Visitor..

I am a little late on this post, but last week I had an unexpected visitor. Fortunately, it was one I truly enjoyed! One of my good friends and college roommate, Hadleigh, called me last week and asked what I was up to for the upcoming weekend. I told her that I did not have much going on and was planning on just laying around. However, she had other plans, she said she was heading South to see me! As excited as I got, she had to work Friday until 7:00 pm, and with all the weather and snow problems going on in the Midwest, I figured that it would not end up being able to work out.  But again, I was wrong! Hadleigh and her boyfriend Andrew, arrived in Monroe at 6:10 am after driving through the entire night. I was so excited they were there! I went ahead and let them sleep until about 1:00, at that point, I made them get up and hang out with me! (I know, a great friend) Andrew had requests on multiple places that he wanted to go, but I insisted that he trust me and let me lead the way. I took them to the River Grill and we had a beautiful day on the patio as we ate crawfish and shrimp.

I enjoyed getting to show them around Monroe and West Monroe as we caught up and shared everything that has been going on since last time I saw her, which was a LONG time ago) We went out to eat later, as well as watched the Missouri Tigers play which was INSISTED by Andrew, unfortunately they fell short and he was devastated. We had a great time the rest of the night reminiscing and telling great memories to anyone who wanted to listen.

Sunday came around and Keith had gotten back from his week trip of games and he wanted to show them his favorite restaurant, so back onto the Bayou we went and had more crawfish (don't get me wrong, I do NOT eat crawfish, but I did try it) It was another beautiful day, as drove around and played games all day!

Monday came and they had to head back North, this was right about the time the second storm was supposed to hit. They made it back safely and I am so happy they did, I tried convincing them to stay longer just in case, but some people had to get back to work.  I had such a good time taking them around and being able to catch up with Hadleigh. I miss her and all of our crazy times together. Thank you both for coming down, and I can't wait to see you again!!