Memorial Day

I couldn't sleep on Tuesday night so I made myself a very long to-do list, although I was exhausted I managed to get it all done! One thing on my list was to NOT have coffee on Wednesday. I don't think I drink too much coffee but the numbers don't lie - I spend roughly $1,500 + a year in coffee. When I was working at the bank I spent much much more a year on coffee but I had disposable income at that time. In an attempt to save some money I plan to only have coffee every other day and eventually work my way down to once a week. Wednesday was my first day of no coffee in a very long time, it was awful! I didn't realize how reliant on coffee I was - I was exhausted all day! I tried to keep myself busy to stave off the cravings. I took Avery to the kids' room of our community club house, she had fun playing with 'new' toys and they have a wall mounted flat screen so I could catch up on day time TV since we only have Netflix. When Avery was done playing I faxed off some paperwork to Steven's college so he can start his classes this summer :) I also went to the bank which was tough since I had to drive by a Starbucks, I wanted coffee so badly! That evening I went to my Total Tone class at the gym - I was still so sore from the personal trainer but it was a great workout.

Week 1

My mom picked up Avery after work on Thursday, she asked if they could have a sleepover :) Steven and I had nothing planned so we went to get shaved ice. Their card machine was down and I had deposited all of our cash into the bank the day before - long story short, we didn't get any shaved ice :/ We went home, ate dinner, and watched a movie before Steven went to bed. Insomnia kept me up for an additional 3 hours.
I had planned to sleep in nice and late but Yvette woke me up with a phone call - she wanted to see Avery. I turned off my alarm to get up since I was already awake but ended up falling asleep again and waking up later than I wanted. I quickly went through Avery's old clothes (keeping the really cute ones in case we have another girl in the future) and boxed them up for the consignment store. My mom and I had planned to go to lunch but by the time I got to her house Avery was napping, we were starving! When Avery woke up we went to Red Robin's, Quinn met us there and we enjoyed a mellow lunch.

The four of us went to AT&T after lunch to help Quinn upgrade his phone, in the process I shaved my phone bill by $16 a month :) Quinn went home while my mom and I went to Kidz Again, the children's consignment store. I had only been in there once with my friend Ari but it was years ago. The store is actually very nice and has a ton of stuff!! I tried very hard not to buy everything in sight. I did end up buying a $4 dress for Avery to wear at my grandparents' 50th anniversary/vow renewal ceremony. We dropped off the baby clothes and went back to my mom's house. I gathered Avery's belongings and went over to Kristen's house for a little play date. The kids played outside on the jungle gym, it was a blast!

Saturday started out a little rocky. I had been up until nearly 3 am the night before and Avery woke up at 6 am. I felt absolutely horrible and asked Steven to stay home but he had to work. A few hours later I put Avery down for a nap and went back to bed myself. Steven woke me up 3 hours later, he had come home while I was sleeping :) He made me lunch and entertained Avery, I was finally starting to feel better. We went to Meridian so I could pick up the money I made at the children's consignment store.

Afterwards we went to my parents' house, I dropped off Steven and picked up my parents. Steven and Quinn hung out at the house while my parents, Avery, and I went to a graduation BBQ. Avery was the life of the party and made friends with everyone. She played in a dog house and splashed around in the dog's water bowl. We had a great time.

My trainer at the gym suggested that I exercise at least 6 times a week to reach my fitness goal. On the nights that I don't have a workout class I take walks around the neighborhood instead. Saturday night I had no class so I took my walk as usual, about halfway through my walk I realized that a car was following me very slowly. The guy pulled over and tried to lure me into his car. I had a few choice words for him and he sped off. I was worried he would follow me home so I quickly got back onto the main road and went into the Jacksons food store by our house. I told the clerks that some guy was following me and described the guy to them. I had used the restroom at the Jacksons during my walk and the creepy guy had been in line to check out, I'm assuming he followed me from there. The clerks offered to let me stay inside the food store for as long as I wanted so I waited about 5 minutes before taking the main road home instead of my normal route. I kept looking over my shoulder during the walk home and had my hand on my knife the entire time. I can't wait to move back to Meridian. I looked up guns and concealed weapons classes when I got home.

My parents celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary on Sunday. Quinn, Ashley, Steven and I had planned to make them dinner since it was also Sunday which is family dinner night. On the menu was rib eye steaks, corn on the cob, mashed garlic red potatoes, and shrimp. It was one of the most amazing dinners I've had. The steak was cooked to perfections, the potatoes were creamy, the corn was sweet, and the shrimp were HUGE and tasted like mini lobsters. Everyone ate until they were in pain because the food was so delicious.

After dinner I took Avery outside to run around, the new neighbors were outside with their 12 month old son. They offered to show us the house they were renting, I had been in there plenty of times since I used to baby sit for a family that lived there years ago. I was curious to see the house though because the previous tenants left the home in deplorable condition - I guess 4 dogs, several cats, and 6 kids in a small 4 bedroom home wasn't a good combination. The house was disgusting! I barely made it 2 feet into the house before choking on the smell of dog piss - every inch of the carpet had urine stains. The carpet desperately needed to be ripped up and replaced. The new tenants said that the urine had soaked through the carpet, padding, and into the floor boards!! The new tenants currently have all of their furniture in the garage because the house is too disgusting. The company renting out the house replaced a small area of carpet and replaced the light bulbs (since the old tenants stole them all!!) and replaced all the window screens that were shredded by the dogs. The living room, upstairs, and master bedroom carpets weren't replaced so the new tenants were sleeping in the tiny front office and using lawn chairs as furniture. The poor new tenants had lived out of state when they agreed to rent the home based off of pictures taken in 2005 when the house was built. I feel awful for them, they have been trying to get a hold of the owner (who also lives out of state) but the rental company won't release any of his information. I really hope it works out for them because they are so nice - plus it would be great to have a friend Avery's age living next door to my parents. 

Monday was Memorial day and Steven's usual day off. I found that many people do not know the difference between Memorial day and Veteran's day - I found that even more people assume its national 'have a BBQ day'. Steven lost a friend 2 months ago, he went to AIT with him and he was also stationed in Korea with us. He was only 21 and lost his life when his Black Hawk went down just outside of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Its so sad.

Steven took the Durango to get its oil changed and came home with a cool Starbucks tumbler and a frappuchino for me :) That afternoon Steven took Avery to his grandparents' house for dinner which allowed me to stay home and enjoy some alone time - a rare treat. I did several loads of laundry which probably doesn't sound relaxing but it excellent considering I didn't have a toddler unfolding everything the second I fold it.

On Tuesday Steven woke me up to say that he and Avery were going to breakfast with his mom and grandparents, I went to the gym while they were gone. I hadn't gone on my nightly walk since the creeper incident so the workout was desperately needed. I like going to the gym during the day when there are less people but its usually impossible since Avery freaks out every time I put her in the gym day care. After my workout I went home, showered, and (mostly) got ready before Steven and Avery returned. We went to Cabelas to see if they had a gun for me and then went to my dad's house so he could train Steven for the new job. We had dinner with my parents and Ashley before heading to Hooters for a mini skydive meet up. We were only able to socialize for 20 minutes before leaving to make sure Avery got to bed on time.

Avery Quinn - 16 months