Going to the Chapel....

...and Mark & Catherine got married...

It was a beautiful day, the couple was stunning, and the party was a blast. Guess what they had a lot of vino...for good measure. I have said it before and I will say it again we Gadient's throw a good party and Mark & Catherine's wedding definitely lived up to it! There are so many great pictures from the weekend that I could not possibly post them all. I will try and get my photo's uploaded tomorrow night and create a link so you can check them out. Beware, they get a little scary as the night progressed (that darn vino will catch up with you).

I will say that weddings do bring out the "love" in all couples attending and I definitely enjoyed my time with the Mr. It's hard to believe that we had our own wedding weekend almost 8 years ago, but you know what they say...times flies when you have kids, I mean having fun. Mark & Catherine are now blissfully married and enjoying their honeymoon and the rest of us are back home recouping. Only 12 months until the next big Gadient soiree....Ben & Tiffany's wedding, can't wait!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

The blushing Bride...

The happy Groom...The first dance...

Simone & Phoebe...

The Best In Laws ever...

Simone & Ross...

Jack aka Donald Trump & Ross...

Ben & Tiffany...
Me & The Mr at the rehersal dinner...

Jaime & her beau Dave...

The Mr and Rossman...

Riddle Me This....

...why is "Virginia for Lovers"? I don't get it, I saw the bumper sticker on my way to work, I called the only person I know who I figured lived closest to Virginia and frankly after our discussion and a little Wikipedia, I still have know idea. Something to ponder....

Below is a little more Jack Johnson a sort of Jack Johnson Part Deux...in case any of you are wondering why Mark seems to be performing surgery in his pictures, it is because he somehow found the one shard of plastic in our mini, stepped on it and bled...a lot. Fortunately we had some new Mommies at the concert with us who happen to carry a little first aid kit. Thank goodness, no gangrenous foot for Mark on his wedding day.

Catherine (not the Mommy for those who are confused) & Matthew...
Surgical Resident Mark, prepping the wound, with a little Neosporin to boot...

Completing the surgery after a good beer...

Ross & Jaime...if there are any parental units reading this, no that is not her beer, it is Ben's and I just happened to capture the moment...she prefers vino blanco anyways...

Crazy times with Ross & Mark....

Next post...."Going to the Chapel"

I'm back!

Please let me apologize to all my loyal readers (I know Lance said he has 2, I think I might be up to 5 people). I surely did not mean to have waited this long to post....but Oi Vey what a freakin' week! As the infamous ZZ Top song states..."I've been up, I've been down..."

So for starters last week's sailing trip was fantastic, the kids had a great time the weather was good, and of course we had a little vino for good measure. Only bad part was starting out so late on Wednesday due to a snafu at Brian's work, which lead to Jack SCREAMING his head off for about 40 minutes at the end of our 4 hour car ride, because he wanted milk. Unfortunately nothing was open, oh wait I mean there was nothing around, northern WI is a vast area of nothing. So he screamed until we reached Bayfield and prayed that my folks had bought milk and had it on board....did I forget to mention he screamed for 40 minutes which lead him to get so upset that he threw up on himself? Yeah, those of you who don't have children, beware.

So getting back to the trip it was great and below are some pics from the trip.

Bampa & Ross

The Mr & Ross
My Boys

We got home late on Saturday night so that we could be home for Jaime's Graduation Open House the next day...hence the beginning of the crazy week that we are living. For those who don't know who Jaime is, she is the Mr's little sister, the "baby" of the family...hard to believe she had just turned 5 when we met. After the Open House many of the Gadient siblings (again, for those who don't know, let me enlighten you...Brian=5 siblings, Jen=0 siblings...crazy I know, but how I do love the uber large family I married into) headed on over to Rivers Edge in Somerset, WI for an outdoor Jack Johnson concert. Jack put on an awesome concert as always and everyone had a great time. Got home around 12:30 AM Sunday night (aka Monday morning) for a little shut eye before I started training my new group of eager learners.

Jaime & Ben

Ross & Mark

Me & My Rossman

Jack Johnson lovin'

Sent the trainees home today, trying to recoup a little before the big wedding of Mark & Catherine this weekend. Phew....finally caught up and more to come tomorrow. Until then...

Update soon...

I am long overdue for an update but as usual life is crazier than crazy since we have been back from sailing. A post with a bountiful amount of pictures will be posted tonight....

Sailing....

...takes me away,

To where I've always heard it could be,

Just a dream and the wind to carry me,

And soon I will be free.

Ahh, Christopher Cross...love those lyrics and love sailing. I must say adios for a few days as we will be cruising the beautiful waters of the Apostle Islands. A perfect vacation in every way...no cell phones, no tv, no hustle and bustle. Just me the Mr, the kiddos, my folks and last but not least the open water.

I feel pretty, oh so pretty...

Ta-da! So what do you think of my blog "makeover"? I love it!!! Let me tell you it was less painful than Botox (not that I would really know, but I am guessing) and definitely less expensive than Botox. :)

The Mr thought it was slightly crazy, but after he saw the finished product, he gave me the thumbs up. I have to give major props to Christi at Be Design who made this blog the beauty it is today. Thank you, thank you!!!

So tonight I am at home feeling like total crap, a cold is a brewin' and I am not a happy camper. There is a no good reason that anyone should get a cold during the summer, it's just plain mean.

Other than that we are getting ready for our first sailing excursion of the year which I am really excited for...with the exception of the cold that is settling in my body. We'll be sailing until Saturday and then it is back for the real craziness that is about to ensue. In the matter of a week we have Jaime's Graduation Open House, I am conducting 3 days of training and we last but not least we have Mark & Catherine's Wedding. Yikes!

Time to get some rest...hoping tomorrow is a little less "stuffy".

Summer Loving Had Me a Blast...

Ahh summer lovin' or am I just lovin' summer...whatever it is I'll take it!

Mom's birthday was a blast, Dad and Grandma made the BEST dinner ever and like I said the vino was a flowing. :) The rest of the weekend was spent having visitors and a BBQ. Lance, Stacy, Alison and Dustin aka Rudy came for an overnight on Friday and then Saturday we hung around and played outside. Sunday brought Father's Day where I detailed Brian's SUV as a present and did some pruning of the flowers. The afternoon brought a bit of softball watching and then off to my Aunt Lori's for a yummy turkey dinner. It was a GREAT weekend!

Tonight I went to a little impromptu girls night, even though I feel a cold coming on (seriously why do we get colds in June!!!!????), it was great to sit out on the patio of my favorite restaurant with the sun shining, throwing back some scrumptious vino with my girls.


Here's some pictures from the weekend, I could seriously post a ton! The weather was more than cooperative and the kiddos were so dang cute I became snap happy with the camera. First off, Miss Alison...

Ross & Simone....

Ross, Simone, & Alison
Simone & her new dress and shades...

Mr Jack...

Happy Birthday Mom!

...A big shout out to my Mom as she is celebrating her momentous 50th Birthday! Looking forward to tonight's festivities....I bet there'll be vino flowing......

A Four Year Old's Humor...

...something similar to a 15 year old boy or 30 year old man...

"Hey Mom, look, our butts are touching, isn't that funny?"

Missing Home and Crabby....

I miss these guys bad...

Some trips are just harder than others, this one is hard. I am badly missing my family, work has been "difficult", and I feel like a load just sitting in my room. I am not trying to create a pity party for myself, it's just one of those days. Oh yeah and there is NOTHING good to watch on tv.

Smells like Java....

...why does it smell like Java you ask? Because when you get up at the butt crack of dawn to catch a flight you drink coffee and when you drink coffee and fall asleep while holding said cup of coffee on an airplane you wake up to the coffee cup spilled all over your lap. The end. Wasn't exactly how I wanted to start the day, but what do you do.

So enough about my coffee laden morning, onto the weekend. It was great! Started with a trip to the McNab's to see Miss Alison as well as her Mommy & Daddy. We had a nice dinner with L&S and Carey. Some good food, good wine and good friends to boot! Below is a couple pictures from our overnight.


We then left St Cloud and it was off to the Lake to see Great Grandma and to our surprise we were able to see one of the other new munchkins, Matthew.
It was an all round great weekend of baby lovin' (no I am not getting any "baby fever"), boating, and a wine dinner thrown in for good measure (yeah, Angel you missed a good weekend at the lake). It doesn't get much better than that. (insert smile here)

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

...will post the weekends highlights tomorrow night, until then I will be making another early morning flight to Indianapolis. Till then...

House of Blues & Messed Up Movies

Just another night at the House of Blues....

So I have lost all thought for tonight's post as Brian and I are drinking wine and watching "The Fan"...what a freakin messed up movie. Seriously Robert DeNiero is one crazy mother... He plays some of the freakiest characters ever, which brings me to my Father. He has an amazing ability to watch a movie and somehow emulate one of the characters and his favorite actor/character to role play is Bobby D. He watched Cape Fear once and well lets just say we had to start monitoring the movies he watched from that point on (either that or invest in a good therapist). His current character he likes to act out is a primary color wearing, Gay Aussie, that sings...confused yet, he is playing a Wiggles character. Until next time...

Mamma Said There'd Be Days Like This....

Today was a "trying" day at work for me...made the decision to not elaborate as I do enjoy my job and more than that I need my job. However I did manage to rip every single finger nail off, which then all needed to be replaced (you will understand as we get further down the story).

On a happy note the kids are better and I donated blood, me just doing my part to save a life (or get a free Diet Coke and pack of Oreos). Which brings me to funny part of the day....after my lovely day at work I went to get all my nails put back on at my favorite local "nail salon" and my guy who does my nails, Andy aka Jackie Chan, asked me if I had donated blood at the "Criss Cross". Ahh yes, language barriers, I explained to him that it is actually called the "Red Cross". Made me laugh.

Tomorrow's a new day and God willing a better day....

New Realm of Parenting....

I entered a new stage in my life as a parent, I was thrown up on by my sweet boy Ross in Home Depot tonight. Yummo! The best part was Brian was off hunting down some tool so I stood there with vomit running down my shoulder and arm while trying to console Ross and make sure Jack didn't jump out of the cart...it was beautiful. Oh yeah and trying to flag down some 15 year old clerk to get me some paper towels so no one slipped in the puke and try and clean Ross and myself off. It's not that our kids haven't been sick before, but it was the first time I had "big kid barf" on me.

I think I should get some kind of patch for my "Mom Vest". After Brian returned I made him take his shirt off (he had 2 on, calm down ladies) so I could put it on in the bathroom, we looked like quite the couple when we left. Ross seemed to be better until we turned into the neighborhood and the puke party began all over again. Good thing the smart Mom in me grabbed a couple plastic bags from the Depot. So now we are home, cleaned up the big boy and put him to bed, got the little boy bathed and put to bed...and me feeling pretty proud that I actually made it through something I never thought I could do. I say it again, ahh the joys of parenting.

I did manage to snap a picture of Jack tonight, looking as cute & mischievous as ever.

Sick Kids & Little Richard

Our weekend was filled with sick kids, yard work, a bachelorette party and a run in with Little Richard.

Jack and Ross were both hit with some odd, fever/strep that comes on like a freight train. Seriously we were on such a good run with no illness. Argh! Kids=Germs. Good news is both are on the mend and they are getting back to their rambunctious selves. Bad news was we were not able to go see the McNab’s since we didn’t want to chance anything with Miss Alison. All worked out though since she is confined to her “tanning bed” (jaundice and in her bili bed) and L&S needed some rest. Ahh, the joys of a newborn, no rest for the weary! We are planning on heading up on Friday to make some dinner and help out as Lance will attempt to work on Saturday and I will attempt to help Stacy stay sane. BTW stole this picture from my Brother, I just think it captures how freakin adorable Alison is….

The rest of the weekend was spent doing yard work as we are eagerly preparing ourselves for a landscaping over haul. Then Saturday night brought Catherine’s bachelorette party, fun, fun, fun! We met at her house had some cocktails while she opened her “honeymoon paraphernalia”...Mark will be happy. Then it was off to Chino Latino for dinner, Nicole our official Chauffer and party planner drove the crew in my Mini (that’s right we ride in style) and the cocktails continued to ensue….we even ran into Little Richard or at least some guy who looked a lot like him (or maybe it was the “wine goggles” I had on when we saw him….you tell me). It was a great night and I found myself having my first sleepover at Mark & Catherine’s…the futon surprisingly comfortable.