Prom Weekend!

The highlight of this weekend was prom!  Hunter looked "dapper" according to Ashley and Ashley was "stunning" according to Hunter.  What a great combo: Dapper & Stunning!

Hunter holding Grant while Brad & Zach look on.  These are Hunter's closest friends.

Hunter picked Ashley up at her house at 4:30 (I toted along to take pictures at her house) and from there they headed to the Plaza for pictures at the Nelson Atkins Art Museum.  (since I just had foot surgery, I couldn't tag along for that photo session and had to rely on other parents!).

After pictures they, along with 16 other couples, headed to Hereford House on the Plaza for dinner then headed to the dance!

After the dance they all headed over to a friends house to hang out for the night and into the wee hours of the morning.

Sounds like they had a great time!

Besides Prom ... a few other things kept us busy this weekend!

Saturday morning/afternoon Graden worked at Cabela's (part of his sponsorship arrangement) and Dayne had her final volleyball game of the season.  The SwagMasters won all three sets and played a really, really good game.  I think there was more volleying this game than all season!

That's Dayne at the very front, foot just across the white line.

After Graden got home we went to The Other Place in Overland Park, KS with The Boyd's -- Hunter's friend, Zach parents.  They loved the pizza (of course!) and we loved sharing the story of The Other Place and the other locations being so close to "home".

Graden and I sat down and put the finishing planning touches on Hunter's graduation party, taking place just two weeks from today - Sunday May 13th from 2-6 at our house.  I forget how much detail and planning goes into things like that!  It was like reliving wedding planning all over!  Well, probably not nearly as intense, but more so than I thought it would be!

Hunter's last day of school is a week from Wednesday.  So hard to believe.  I think he has mixed emotions about it, too.  He realizes that the easy life that he has known is no more.  After graduation, things get real and every decision is that much more important.  He wants to pick up additional hours at his work, or possibly find a new place of employment that will offer him more hours now and while he is in college as well.  His college, Avila University, is only 17 miles from home,but with the cost of gas these days he can't go back and forth between home and class and work so hopefully he can find something that will make the combination work!  His friend, Zach, is also going to Avila so hopefully they can carpool and save gas money!

We register Hunter for classes in June .... sorta anxious for that.  I have complete confidence in him, though.  He is such a smart kid and I look forward to celebrating all he will accomplish over the next 4-8 years of college.  Right now, he is planning to go to school to be a Pharmacist and the college is attending is well known for it's Pharmacy program.  It's a private university so we are quite thankful that 1) he was accepted (their acceptance rate is only 42%) and 2) they are offering him $11,000 / year in academic scholarships.  He is taking the ACTs again in June and if he can get one point higher (a 27) they will give him $1300 more per year.  They offered him a football scholarship of $4,000 / year, but after much consideration he declined the offer.  We looked forward to watching him play football for four more years, but at the end of the day had to respect his decision.

I head back to work tomorrow after a week off after my right foot surgery.  Right now I have two mummy-looking feet!  I go to the doctor on Tuesday and hope he clears me to resume regular activity and shoes for my left foot!  I can't wait to soak it in warm soapy water!

Here's to a great week full of blessings!

Tiffany

Oh! The torment of a Right Footed Austinbunionectomy!

Gaaah!

I spoke too soon and bragged too much about what "not a big deal" my bunion surgery was.  I firmly believe I am being punished for implying I was tough enough to handle *another* bunion surgery.

On the 6 week anniversary of my left foot bunion surgery, I had my right foot done.  It was supposed to simple -- a repeat of how smooth and (virtually) pain free the left foot surgery went.  I now can appreciate all the horrid comments and stories people felt so inclined to share with me about how awful their bunion surgeries went.  I do vow not to frighten people with mine, though!

Monday morning I checked into the surgical center at 8:30 ... ready as ever for my 10:30 appointment with Propofol - "milk of amnesia", as it's called.  This is the heavenly little concoction that allows one to sleep through scalpels and bone saws and such ...

Given that I was led to believe that the pin that was in my (left) foot could be removed at 6 weeks, I suggested (twice, after my doctor dismissed me the first time!) that he take the pin out of my left foot while he had me knocked out fixing my right foot.  He didn't give the impression that he agreed with my logic, so I was (pleasantly!) surprised when I awoke a little after 11:00 and Graden told me they took the pin out.  That pin had become a pain in my ... foot that was becoming intolerable and making me whiney!

As I was coming out of my *awesome!* nap, Graden sat patiently next to me ... doing his best to cope with the horrible noise coming from the recovery space next to mine.  I was still kind of sleeping when I asked (no one in particular) 'What the {"f"} is her deal?'  Graden tried to shhush me, explaining she was 99 years old and had been intubated and was trying to cough out the tube (that was no longer there).  Even Graden said she sounded like a goat.  I was probably too loud in my initial statement, as well as my follow up comment, "Well, making that noise isn't changing anything."   In hindsight it was kind of rude of me to say out loud, but in my defense ... it was the milk of amnesia talking.

After proving that I could keep my 7Up and Peanut Butter crackers down, I was given the go to go home, along with brief instructions on what to do, not to do, etc.  Namely: don't walk on my foot without my oh-so-sexy "ProCare" boot.

We got home a little after noon and I got settled into the LaZBoy for an afternoon of drifting in and out of naps ... basking in those last few hours of warm and fuzzies that doses of anesthesia brings!

I had planned to return to work on Thursday, but it quickly became evident that that was too aggressive and I would be an idiot if I pushed myself to do that.  Tuesday afternoon I sent my boss an email asking to extend my time off and come back on Monday.  He wished me well and assured me that'd be okay.  And I have such an awesome team of people working with & for me, that I have no doubts they can take care of my business while I am out!  That is priceless!

My friend Beth brought me flowers to brighten my day and I loved all the well wishes text messages and emails.  A girl can be made to feel lucky for all she has with this sort of treatment!

If you are in for a semi-gross, Frankenstein-esque photo of what my foot looks like, see below.  If not ... then politely close down this window!  I am hopeful that this heals quickly so that I am healthy and easily mobile for Hunter's graduation party on May 13th.  Wish me luck and send my foot good ju-ju vibes!

The green ball on my left foot is the top of the pin // The "V" shape will no longer be there after my right foot heals! (normal feet would offer more of an " | " shape).

Happy Birthday to my Besties Baby!

Seems not that long ago Jen and Chris' relationship started blooming ...

then becoming serious .... then a wedding date was set ... then the Big Day arrived ...

followed 16 months later by their best blessing yet: Johnathan James Aswegan!

This past weekend I traveled to Iowa to help Jen & Chris celebrate their 1 year anniversary of being parents, as marked by John's first birthday bash!

The theme, of course, was fish!  "John Caught the Big ONE!"

It was so much fun watching John's family adore him and ooh and aah over him and his reactions to his presents and his cake!  He was in a great mood for the party and managed all that attention very well!

The Birthday Boy is prepped for his cake!

 

John's best gift: a new fish pole and life jacket!  And of course, in Iowa Hawkeye colors!

________________________

After the party festivities, we cleaned up and headed back to the Aswegan home so John could settle in for a nap and Jen and I, along with Kayla "Fishy" Fish, got ready for an evening out!

Our evening started at a local wine bar in Mt Vernon.  A quaint little place called the Lincoln Wine Bar.  It is a very intimate little bar that offers a great selection of wine and unique foods.  We opted for the wild mushroom brick oven pizza with a nice bottle of malbec wine.

Kayla   - - -  Jen - - -  Tiffany

our bottle of malbec at The Lincoln Wine Bar in Mt. Vernon

After the wine bar we went to three local bars in Lisbon (just behind Jen's house, literally!).  We enjoyed fried pickles and interesting conversations at Whitey's before moving onto two different drinking establishments: The Three Finger Saloon and um, can't remember the name of the last one (things got fuzzy at that one!).

We were good girls and were home by midnight.  Chris had to work early Sunday morning, so Jen had to plan accordingly to be prepared to be up bright and early with John.  And bright and early it was!  6:30 seems to be his natural rising hour and Sunday morning offered no changes to that!  Thankfully, I got to sleep a bit longer than that and slept until about 8am.  I had plans to meet my dad and Susan at the Village Inn in Cedar Rapids for breakfast. I had been dreaming of my Ultimate Skillet since I rolled into town Friday afternoon!

We got done with breakfast about 10:30 and I headed home!  That was a particularly long and boring drive ... compounded by my aching foot (I had been on it much more than I should have been, no doubt!).

I got home a little after 4:00 and got things all settled in for the work week to come!  Really enjoyed my weekend with my bestie and her family!

Preparation for Graduation Party!

Hunter's High School Graduation (and party!) is quickly approaching and thus, the planning shall begin!

We'd really like to have a fish fry with crappies, so the boys have set plans to do some fishing in the coming weekends!

This afternoon the boys set out early for an afternoon of fishing at Truman Lake!  Not as big of a fishing loot as they'd hoped, but ... it's a start!

Graden filets his catch!

The Loot!

The rig after it's Maiden Voyage!  The boat just arrived last weekend!

Here's to upcoming weekends with (larger!) fish loots!

Weekend in Branson

A few months back the Aswegan Family (my bestie from junior high, Jennifer, who is married to one of Graden's long time friends/fishing partner, Chris) planned a weekend family trip to Branson for the last weekend in March and invited us to stay with them!  This made for a great opportunity for the boys to get some fishin' done and the girls (and baby John!) to get some bonding in!

The Aswegans arrived at our house on Thursday evening about 10:30pm (otherwise it'd be a 9+ hour drive from their house in Iowa to Branson -- very hard to do with a little one!).  After their arrival, we visited for a while and then turned in for the evening since we had to work the next day and their alarm (John) goes off pretty early!

Only the finest hotel stemware for our wine!

They left Friday morning and we followed behind Friday after we got off work - getting to Branson around 9:30pm.  As soon as we arrived, we uncorked the wine and popped the tabs on a few Busch Light beers!  (vino for the ladies, beer for the boys!)

The next morning they had to attend a time share presentation so Graden and I had the honor of keeping an eye on John.  Of course, that largely meant *I* would keep an eye on John, but he was a doll!  He played a bit with his toys, then had some breakfast and took a goooood morning nap to make sure he was well rested for the day of shopping at Branson Landing with the girls!  The Aswegans got back from their presentation about noon so the boys went out to the lake to fish and the girls headed for lunch and shopping!

Our freshly-made-at-the-table guac!  Mmm, delicious!

Jennifer and John @ Branson Landing

The boys fished until dusk, then got back to the hotel in time to clean up and join us at the Shogun Japanese steak house - a first for Chris and John! They were both impressed!  One classic moment of the night was when the chef was flipping the egg around with his cooking utensils and flipped the egg high in the air and caught it in his tall chef hat.  In a just-as-serious-as-can-be tone, Chris says, "Where'd it go?"

The Aswegan Family

The Old Couple

After a wonderful dinner of sushi, Japanese beer, fresh veggies, shrimp, chicken and scallops ... we headed back to the room for some R&R!

 The boys had big plans of getting up early to get some extra fishing in before the journey home!  It worked out perfect ... they left about 6:30am for fishing until about noon, then head to Lee's Summit to break up the long drive for John.  Jen and I stayed behind while the boys fished and had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Lee's Summit a little after 8am ... arriving in time for lunch at Five Guys Burgers (one of the best homemade burger and fries known to man as Jennifer can now attest to!).  This arrangement gave us more girl time and the boys more boy time.  Win-Win!

Jen gave Hunter this very blanket when he was born.

You can almost hear his smile in this picture!!

The Aswegans headed back for home (Lisbon, Iowa) a little after 4.  It was great spending time with them and getting to see John.  It is next to impossible to think he is almost a year old already!

Since it was just the two of us who traveled to Branson for the weekend, the kids had their own fun while we were away!

Dayne with her Lake Winnebago Crew!

Dayne spent the weekend at her friends house (who live on a lake) so she went tubing for two days in a row!  We have taken full advantage of the 80 degree March days!  She also suckered one of the mom's into going to see The Hunger Games movie with them.  Not too shabby of a weekend for a 12 year old!

Hunter spent time with his friends & their girlfriends ... having a "couples night" (they sound old!) ... and working and attending an event at Avila (where he will be going to college this Fall).

All in all ... a pretty fun weekend.  Bring on the Funday Monday, right!?