ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Hiatus is over for now. I read a lot of blogs so I know it's not normal to disappear for weeks at a time but since it's my life I talk about here and saying "I worked a lot" would have been boring, I had nothing to say. After about 4-6 weeks of working ridiculous hours and feeling sick most of the time (I think I have a high tolerance for stress but I apparently reached it after such an extended time), I was gone for 5 days to get away, have fun, relax. Miraculously, I no longer feel sick or crazy. Well, maybe just not sick.

Drove down to Texas last weekend, spent the night with Kami on the way, drove to Amanda's house and did stuff with her for a few days.

Some random tidbits from the time away:
- ran into Abraham Lincoln
- accidentally ran two toll booths in two states
- fell on my face in a parking lot
- sushi, sushi, sushi (including Nobu which lived up to its name)
- standup comic that insulted everybody in the front row but called us "fashionable" (ha)
- saw the best lip synching pole dancer live
- Dunkin Donut appetizer
- barking puppies
- a spin in a sports car
- naked time at the spa
- renewed appreciation for my family. Time away was good for us all I think but it's good to be back together again.

We went to KC for 5 days for Thanksgiving weekend. We ate and ate and ate some more.

Thanksgiving dinner on my mom's pretty winter dishes.


Followed by some video games including my grandpa playing Guitar Hero. Sadly, he got 0%.


Friday after Thanksgiving, my mom and Payton and I went shopping. The number of people wasn't bad and we got some stuff accomplished.

Saturday, my mom took her 3 granddaughters for a mod-style photo shoot that I can't wait to post pics of soon.

Sunday, we drove home and as I was making some potato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for our dinner, the doorbell rang and the kids found Elf on the Shelf at our door.


Blake filled out the information in the book including what the kids decided to name him - Fredy.


Silly elf was found today sitting on the wreath above our fireplace. Who knows where he'll be tomorrow?

Overall, a great weekend and we're looking forward to Christmas festivities including putting up decorations this weekend. From this Saturday through Christmas, we have something planned nearly everyday so there should be plenty to post about.

I wrote recently about how we had visited Parkville, Missouri, with my parents but didn't have any photos. I was able to recover some of them.



My mom and Nathan on a stroll.


My brother, Nathan and my dad.

We went to KC for the weekend and I took pics but my memory card once again got messed up. Not sure what's up there but maybe time to get a new memory card.

On Friday evening, Dan had a party at his house to celebrate signing the papers for his restaurant. There were a lot of people there including some people we haven't seen in years. So excited for Dan.

On Saturday, we went with my parents to Parkville, Missouri, to meet up with my brother, his wife and their son for some pizza and shopping. I can't believe I've never been to Parkville. It looks like a New England town with lots of quaint shops and restaurants and has a university there. It was voted one of the top ten coolest small towns in the US. I haven't been to the other 9 but I think I agree.

Today we drove to Oklahoma City for Reaghan's birthday party, a.k.a., Presentpalooza, which was at Unpluggits, the same place that Payton and I visited w/Kami and Reaghan a couple of weeks ago. It's even more fun when it's filled with a bunch of kids who are all having a lot of fun.

In the play structure room....

Reaghan and Ethan...

Elyse, the fearless not-quite-2-year-old...



In the party room for craft time...





Cake and present time...







We got Reaghan a few sets of Little MissMatched socks because she liked the last set I got her so much. So cute. I always love buying for her.

Elsewhere, the men were hanging out in the living room type area watching the Olympics and chatting.


Nice little day trip to OKC and it was good to see Kam's family again. Next time it's Kam's turn to come to Wichita. :)

On Saturday, we spent the morning being lazy and then headed out for a late lunch and then some time at Unpluggits for some arts and crafts time.






Reaghan made a jewelry box thingie and some paintings. Payton made some wire figures in the shape of band members to add to her collection. Reaghan's birthday party is being held here in a couple of weeks so we'll be back soon!

Payton and I got to OKC Friday evening in time to get some Italian food and then head to the mall. Wouldn't be a trip to OKC if we didn't go to the mall! In this case, it was because Payton wanted some new jeans because....she forgot to pack pants in her suitcase. She also forgot to pack pajamas. This explains why her suitcase was so light when I was carrying it out to the car - it only had 2 shirts in it!

We'd never been in an Apple store before so we stopped by while we were there...



I have a feeling Payton will be spending much money in the Apple store someday.

After we all got some ice cream, Reaghan wanted to ride in one of the little rides.


When we got to OKC, Kam gave me this:


I hope I'm saying this right but I think it's called a "tag book" of our trip to Mexico where Kam took our photos, created layouts and had them printed on these tags. Then she took some embellishments which makes it a hybrid project (combining digital and traditional scrapbooking). It's so beautiful and I can't believe what good work she does.




More of Kam's work (and this pic doesn't do it justice) but this is the invite she did for Reaghan's birthday party. It's printed on thick pearlesence paper and so cute. I suggested to Kam that the RSVP email address be at her own domain name and she did. Such a nerd pimp Kam is!

Sunday was a bit more laid back. Andy and I got up and ran and the temps being in the 60s plus having 3 tracks/trails near my parents' house made it fun to do as we ran loops around each one. After a shower, Andy and I headed to get stuff for our trip - tiny toiletries (we aren't checking our bags this time), gifts to leave for the kids, etc.

After lunch at my parents', we headed over to Andy's mom's house to spend the afternoon with Maria and her family. It wasn't even 80 degrees so there was no way I was getting in the pool.




We left so I could go start dinner at my parents' house. We had a lot of produce at home when we left so I packed it in a cooler and brought it with us so we could make use of it.

Tonight's dinner was marinated chicken breasts, chicken kabobs, deviled eggs, fresh corn on the cob, celery with peanut butter and Crash Hot Potatoes (recipe I've been wanting to try for a couple of weeks - delicious!).

Some time playing the yard including some baseball practice...

(I took a picture of our dinner and the baseball playing but my memory stick got messed up and had to be reformatted.)

Once again, we all got to bed early. Monday is our last day before our trip so it's all of the last minute things and then we're off!

On Saturday, we headed over to Dan and Katrina's house (except Dan wasn't there) to spend most of the day with them. The kids played Wii for a while and then we headed to the Crown Center area that we visit quite often except this time, I wanted to make sure we went to Union Station which is within walking distance of Crown Center but we'd never been.

We started with lunch at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant where we've been a few times. It was fun as usual and we were so hungry that we ate our food up very quickly.

After lunch, we walked to Union Station using the tunnels that connect the buildings. After walking around Union Station for a bit, we got tickets to Science City (located inside Union Station) and headed there.














We really loved Science City and are generally big fans of children's museums since they are so interactive and fun. I wish I had taken more pics of Union Station outside of Science City because it's so beautiful. I'll get the pics on our next visit.

We headed back toward Crown Center where were parked, stopping in the Westin Crown Center hotel to throw coins in the waterfall.




Compare that photo of the 4 of them w/this one taken in June 2005.


One last stop by the candy store where Joey got a lollipop the size of his head. His face color matched the lollipop by the time we got home.



After grabbing some dinner on the way back to Tonganoxie, we stopped by Andy's mom's house so the boys could get their hair trimmed. Payton and Blake went out to snip some flowers to take with us.



After all of that, we were exhausted and headed back to my parents house to wind down and headed to bed early. Although I love doing stuff and staying busy, it's been pretty exhausting lately so the trip to Mexico will be nice where we won't be running around and wearing ourselves out everyday. Can't wait!