Alicia's FINALLY 21!!!

Hey all! Nicole and I had some fun with Alicia on her 21st birthday! We started off by taking her to Granite City for lunch and her first legal beverage. We had some nasty concoction margarita... YUCK! Nicole liked that though... so Alicia and I ordered the all time wonderful, best drink in the world, strawberry dacquiri! we LOVED them! So we finished up there and met everyone at BWW for more drinking! After that we went to Kouris - this was a blast! Alicia and Mat were both getting very drunk. It was a great time had by all though!! Pictures are below!
They are kind of out of order... sorry about that!

Here is the group at Kouris!

Granite City - Alicia chuggin her Strawberry Dacquiri!
Our Muscles!!!
Alicia getting tipsy...
Cheers! Mango Margaritas at BWW!
Me and my baby before he got drunk!
haha and the two drukest people of the night...
I love this picture!! This was towards the end of the night!

Well.... it's here again...

That's right everyone, School is back in session. But you know what, this semester I am NOT having the horrible attitude I have had in the past. This semester is different. This semester I am starting as a junior at the University of Illinois at Springfield. This is nice because I am able to take classes at our local community college and online.

I have to say I am impressed with myself to start Junior year as a college student. I am the only child in my family that has gotten this far! Go me!! I am excited because these classes are more focused on my major... and with only one week of classes down, I can already see that is true!! I am taking 2 night classes and 1 online class and just hoping I do well. I have already spent over 5 hours in the library studying!!! Just call me mini Jeff!!

I am noticing all my tests for Junior Year college are different too. I only have 2 tests in all my classes. One at Midterm and one at the final. Luckily there are some attendance points, and group work points, but still... only 2 tests!! That means I have to stay caught up and remember everything.... not try to memorize everything the night before a HUGE test!

So hopefully this semester goes great, I have all the drive I need now... done in 2 years then GETTING MARRIED!!! :-) Wish me luck!!

It is finally FRIDAY! Yay!!

So the week was just a normal one. Nothing to crazy. I have been busy at nights babysitting a lot lately. Tuesdays and Thursdays and this weekend and last weekend... it's crazy!

Mat and I went and talked with Fr Larry for the first time last week! It was so much fun! We are going back today to continue our classes. I am really excited!! We are supposed to be taking this "not test" thing that asks us all kinds of questions and we are supposed to answer if we have discussed that or not yet. So we are both pretty excited to see the results because we really think we talk about a lot. But I guess we will see!

I had lunch today with Nicole and Jeff and Nicole's mom! It was very good! I went downtown to meet up with them all. We ate at the carts and it is so nice out! It was really hard to come back to work. I think I totally want a job downtown! It was just so much fun. There were so many people and different things going on. Plus you are by the river, and just in the heart of downtown! I guess we will see!

Nicole is getting a brand new car tomorrow!! She is really excited! I am happy for her too! It is a Nissan Rogue in Red. I am excited to see it! Good Luck Nen!

Wedding planning is coming right along. We have the church reserved, the civic center reserved for the reception, we know the colors, trying to figure out gifts for the guests and centerpieces! But I like doing everything early so we can be done with it in time for the wedding and not cram!!

Well, that is just a quick catch up of what's been going on lately! Check back later!

New Pics of the zoo and Minocqua

At the zoo!

He was biting my arm!!
Mat thinks he can match up to the gorilla!
Cute!

My sister and Luke in Wisconsin!

Mat and me!
The really cool stone "zoo" thing at the entrance of the St Louis Zoo.

Busy Weekend

Well this weekend was pretty fun. Mat and I went to Six Flags in St Louis. It was awesome. We drove down there early Saturday morning and we went to our hotel to check in at 11, which is what it said on the internet.... Well, come to find out, check in was not until 3:00pm. So we went to Six Flags and it was AWESOME!

We started off in the water park and went down a ride called the tornado...it was so scary - but very cool too. I love water parks! We were going to go down some awesome slides, but the lines were just too long for 10 seconds of fun. So we went back into the roller coaster and other area. Mat bought us the FLASH PASS and it was so worht the money! We got to skip every 3 hour line and enter thru the exit, and we got on the next ride! it was AWESOME!!!

Oh, One thing you should know about me, I am deathly scared of roller coasters... Roller coasters are a HUGE part of six flags. So I told Mat I would try it... and the first one I went on, because I knew I would be so scared and not go on another, was Batman. SCARY!!!! It went up, down, circle, side ways, oh man was it bad! I am so glad we did not wait in the long line for that! We were able to use our flash pass and just walk right up the back way and we were on it in about 5 mins. And I did not go on any other roller coasters the whole time! haha

Mat was a good sport though. He didnt want to leave me alone, so he said he wouldn't go on anymore, but I told him yes! So he went on Mr Freeze and maybe another one?? But we did go on the log ride together, the white water rafting one, Tony Hawk mini roller coaster, and that Tornado water one. -Oh the coolest thing ever now they have is a video of you on the ride... rather than just a picture! We bought the video of us on the Tony Hawk one - it was soooo coool! I love it!

Mat won me a prize too! He did the game where you hit the spot with a hammer and the lights go all the way up the thing to ring the bell... and guess what, he got it all the way up there! surprised? not me! haha

So we were exhausted after that awesome day and just went to our hotel and fell dead asleep. We were soooo tired! We woke up around 9, got breakfast and we were going to just head home when we, at the last minute, decided to go to the Zoo! We both LOVE zoos so we said, "why not??" The zoo was really cool. I will post some pics once I have them uploaded. We bought a cheesy frame to put a pic of us in, and we bought my nephew Luke a stuffed animal too. It was really a good day at the zoo!

We finally were headed home around 1 or 2. We got home, and guess what - didnt stop there! We went and saw StepBrothers with Will Ferrel - its HILARIOUS!!!!

So that was my awesome weekend! More later!

Lil bit of everything

Happy Summer! This is me and my baby at a party! I love this picture!

I don't even know where to begin. . .

My summer has been awesome so far. It is almost over and I am not looking forward to that.

work:

I love where I work, but lately, I have not been too busy. I am getting annoyed at people in my office, and it is just not as fun as it used to be. I think I am ready for a change, but I need to talk to my supervisor about that before I start looking elsewhere. My main concern is "Am I going to find a job where I can work as little as I am going to be able to with my school schedule?" I am really in a bind on what to do. Oh well, I will figure it out... always do. :-)

School:

Oh man - do I even want to open this can of worms? All I am hearing about is school! I feel like it's me leaving highschool and entering college for the first time - ALL OVER AGAIN! I have the pressure of going to Bradley because that is such a great school. But the negative - it is so expensive! Yes I know that is what student loans are for, but seriously, I am not going to be a doctor so I dont want like $60,000 of debt waiting for me when I graduate. A few other optionns that have crossed my mind are University of Illinois thru ICC... That would be very convenient because I could work more and have classes in the afternoonn and evenings. Eureka College has also entered my mind because that is where my fiance is going this fall. Not sure how that would work with travel and work and study time... but if it was meant to be, I think i'd figure it out.

Work full time? Perhaps I want to try to get a full time job and school part time? But then school would not be done for me for a looong time. So REALLY I DONT KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO!!! And believe me - it's killing me! I am an organized person with a plan and love sticking to the plan. I think that's the steve coming out in me. :-)

Personal Life:

Well I have been going on a few vacations this summer, and fully enjoying not taking any summer classes. Mat start football on Aug 16 and I won't be seeing him half as much as I get to now. So I am taking full advantage of seeing my baby whenever I can!!! :-) We are going to Six Flags this weekend because it is one of our last full weekends together until about December or January.

I have not been hanging out with my friends as much as I should be. But it's not because I don't want to! A bunch of them were working the fair that was in town last week, and Courtney has like a zillion jobs, plus babysitting. So between me and cat and the gym and my babysitting, it is hard to meet up with everyone. I know they get frustrated with me and think all I do is hang out with Mat, but that's not true. So anyways...

What else is new... Oh - I remember. I babysit for my sister a lot for free... almost whenever she needs me. Last night she told me that if anything ever happened to her kids, she could probably never forgive me. wow! curve ball! And I got that little statement because I wanted to take them 5 blocks up the road to dinner with their grandma. I was thinking - are you kidding me?? Do you think I would ever want anything to happen to Awesome Luke or Em??? I dunno - that just really hurt my feelings. Almost like - betraying me?? I just could not belive it. But guess what - I am going over there again tonight. So... anyways - forgive and forget right?? Not quite.

Ohhh Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift are coming here in concert in Sept! I am soo excited!!! I was going to wait in line with Jeff on Sat morning at 5:00am, but now Mat and I are going to St Louis. I will def be getting tickets to that asap! :-)

Well I think that is all for now. I am really going to try to use this thing more often... not sure if I want to vent my feelings on here, or just post some random thoughts - and maybe that is all I will use it for. Either way - I like it. So check back later!

I'm Back!!

So Sorry I have not written in something like 3 months!! I just got really busy with life! Not too busy for this though!! This is something that I really like the idea of having to just let people know what is going on in my life!

Well - what has happened since March? I have a new niece, born March 1, 2008. Little Emily Elizabeth - She is so adorable! Her and Luke are a big part of my life!! They are below...

What Else - Oh yeah - I GOT ENGAGED!!! Mat asked me to be his wife on Saturday, May 31 at the top of the tower in Peoria Heights! We are both really excited and appreciate all the great things everyone is telling us! We know there are some people out there who think it's too early, but guess what - It's not your life... am I trying to rain on your parade when you are excited about something? I didn't think so...

The HAPPY COUPLE!! AND THE RING!!!

I am going to Michigan tomorrow with Mat's family to meet his extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) and I am really excited!! My family absolutely loves Mat and can't picture me with anyone else! It is awesome to have such a supportive family, both on my side, and his. His dad really likes me too... I THINK!! Ha-ha and that is just so nice when both families get along! We are planning on something to have at my house so his dad and siblings can come and meet my parents and everyone can get to know each other better!! I am excited and think that will be fun!

I also went to Mexico in May!!! That was really fun and it was nice to catch up with my brother on things. Courtney and Mike's friend, Joe, went with us. That was really, really fun. We went up to the top of the ruins again, went SCUBA diving in Cozumel, and ate at Coconuts - TWICE! Very good time!

Oh - and the Kenny Chesney concert - that Jeff talks about all the time - I was supposed to go, but I cant afford it anymore with my new car!!!
Oh yeah - I got a new car too since March!! It's an SUV and it’s awesome! That’s all for now!