GGW 2011

GGW- or Gutwein Girls Weekend- is now a 5 year old tradition for myself, my sister and sister-in-laws, and 5 of my girl cousins. We get together every year at my Mom's house up in Winamac and enjoy great food, even better company, and lots of girl time.

It's hard for me to accurately describe what this weekend does for me and the girls. First of all, it's a very rare chance for the 9 of us to really catch up on what is going on in each others lives. Work, spouses, kids, school, relationships- we cover it all. Second, we eat ourselves silly with all of the delicious goodies that we all pitch in to bring (and mooch off of Mom too!). Last, but not least, we get to use one another as a network of Christian women, which is truly priceless.

Thanks girls for such a great weekend- love you all!!

Here is a pic of me and the girls with our moms and Grandma G- the woman at the head of our family who inspires us all.

Back, L to R: Jennifer, Allison, Molly, Emily, Laura, Me, Carrie

Front, L to R: My Mom, Grandma Gutwein, Aunt Linda, and Sara

**We missed you this year Bets!!! It wasn't the same without you...

On this Day in History...

The weekly newspaper from my little hometown of Francesville always has a section referring back to articles that ran in the paper 5, 10, 25, even 50 years ago. Well if it had a section that ran back 4 years from today, it would be talking about the Gutwein/Vollmer nuptuals. That's right, Nick and I have been married 4 very happy years today!

Happy Anniversary sweetie!!

A picture from summer of 2006, soon after we got engaged. And no, I have no idea what made me want to wear that shirt:)

Buddies

Ben's best friend Owen came over for a play date Sunday afternoon. The boys played and played outside in the heat. They were in the pool, on the slide, scared of the sprinkler, swinging, pushing around cars and anything else on wheels... you name it. Let's just say by they end of the afternoon they were toast! Here they are cooling off inside eating a little snack of blueberries and watermelon...

Owen was double fisting his blueberries, while Ben was being his true picky self.

You Can Do It!!!

One of his most famous one-liners. Yes, I'm talking about Rob Schneider. He's the guy from Deuce Bigalow, Water Boy, Big Daddy, and a host of other Adam Sandler movies. And we got to see him live at Cracker's in Broadripple last Saturday! Al and Daryl came down for the night so the four of us could cash in on a very belated date night to the comedy club. My generous sister in law Caity was nice enough to watch Ben as well as Allison's 2 girls, Anna and Alexa, for the evening.

We had a great dinner at Brugge Brasserie, a Belgium pub, and then dessert at Red Mango. Afterwards we were off to Cracker's, which happens to be one of my favorite things to do! We laughed and laughed and had just a great time- can't wait to do it again soon!

Here are just a couple of snapshots from the night...

Here he is- we had great seats... needless to say I was a little star-struck. It's weird to see someone in person that you have seen in so many movies!

My sista and her hubby

Me and my sweetie

Sick Boy

I couldn't resist taking this picture!! Ben was such a poor little guy last week. He had a nasty case of the flu, and a double ear infection to go with it, so he was down and out. Literally he just slept for 3 days straight, couldn't eat... it was so sad. Luckily he is back to 100% after 4 missed days of day-care and a lot of help from his aunts and grandmas!!

Weekend Madness

From the time my work day ended on Friday to this moment right now on Sunday evening as I am finally sitting down on my couch (ahhh) we have been going non-stop! Here's how the last 48 hours have played out for us...

Ben's Grandma and Grandpa Vollmer wanted to have Ben to their house this summer, so we agreed to let them take him for the weekend. I'm a little selfish with my time with Ben on the weekends being a full time working Mom. Saturdays and Sundays are the precious few days that I get Ben all to myself, so it was very hard to give him up. Nonetheless, Ben had such a great time with his Grandma and Grandpa, and it was good for Nick and I to have some time to be "Nick and Ade" vs. "Mommy and Daddy" for a little while;) SO- Scott and Cathy came after work Friday, we played with Ben for a while and gave him dinner, then they were off to Francesville until we would go to pick Ben up on Sunday. Here are a few photos of Ben having a blast and playing hard all weekend...

Ben sitting on the lawnmower with Grandpa- I'm pretty sure they didn't really drive anywhere, just sat on it. At least that's what they told me so I didn't have a heart attack!

Ben sitting in his "beep-beep", which used to belong to his Daddy

He must have played hard- he was HUNGRY! I don't think he could get the food in fast enough!

Just chillin' in the swing

This is what pure joy looks like on a 1 year old's face

So while Ben played and played in Francesville for the weekend, Nick and I were busy here in Indy. Friday night after they left we went on a dinner date to one of our favorite restaurants, Kona Grill, for some good drinks and sushi. Saturday morning, Nick golfed with some work coworkers while I got a pedicure. After his golf game, we met up at Nick's boss's house for an afternoon by the pool with all of the SYSCO salesmen that make up Nick's district and their spouses.

Saturday evening we headed to Erin and Mike's house for some delicious kabob's and just an evening with good food and good company. They had also invited our friends Kristen and Andy, who were trying to take their minds off the fact that Kristen was 39 weeks pregnant and a little more than ready have that baby! We had a great evening- the six of us just sat around and chatted and drank some wine- it was perfect. Well Erin's spicy buffalo chicken dip must have done the trick for Kristen- we were notified this morning that she was up all night Saturday night with contractions, went to the hospital Sunday morning early, and today they welcomed their little boy Charlie into the world! (More on this to come- I hope to be visiting them soon!)

By Sunday morning I couldn't wait to get my hands on Ben!! Nick and I headed up to Francesville to pick him up and spent most of the day up there. I had a wedding shower to go to a little further north, so it worked out well. By the time I got back from the shower and we hit the road to return to Indy again, it was almost 7:00.

Needless to say, I'm glad to be home, and I think I need an extra day off to recuperate from my weekend!! I guess there is a reason why Monday's are so hard...

Gone Fishin'

Nick took Ben to a little pond in our neighborhood yesterday evening to go fishing. After only a few casts, he reeled in a nice little bass. Ben LOVED it! He was so excited to look, point, touch, and yes, even get right in there to pucker up:)