Ahh ... A Weekend Away (again!) for Graden and Tiffany

While we still have an "in house" sitter Graden and I took the opportunity to go away for the weekend ** ALONE **.

Graden's friend, Adam, turned 30 so his girlfriend (Adam's - not Graden's!) threw him a surprise birthday party - and gave us a reason to head to the Waterloo area!

Graden and I headed to Waterloo on Thursday night and stayed at my dad's house (and also delivered a day bed they bought when they were here a few weeks prior).

On Friday Graden had made arrangements to meet with a few buddies from high school at The Other Place for dinner and a few beverages .... mostly the later. Gretchen and I hung out with Graden and the boys for a little bit, then met Trista and Bryan for dinner at Amigos (yummy!). Afterwards, Gretchen and I headed back to The OP to hang out with the boys ... and I ran into a couple girls I used to work with at Affina! It was so great to see them! We closed down The OP and ended up staying the night at Chad's (one of Graden's friends) house.

Saturday morning we got up and watched TJ play his last basketball game of the season ... then headed to lunch with my dad, Susan and her son Tyler. Dad's birthday was the next day, so we wanted to treat him to lunch!

After lunch we headed back to Chad's house for a nap (important to mention that Chad's room mate is still very youthful and was up partying until after 6am the night before ... causing less than restful sleep for Graden and I!). Then we headed to Marion to meet another friend of Graden's, Brad, for dinner ... then to the Surprise Birthday Party!

Chris and Jen (Graden's BFF who is engaged to my BFF) also met us at the party ... so I was so happy to get to see Jen!! We partied at Adam's til about 11 ... then met a friend from high school at one of the local bars. We hung out with Lisa when we first started dating (she was dating one of Graden's buddies) ... and hadn't seen her in over 16 years! It was great to see her and catch up a bit!

After hanging with Lisa for a bit we headed back to Adam's house .... where it was still plenty happenin'! Finally around 2:00 we headed to bed!

We headed home Sunday late morning ... ready (or not!) to start the work week the next day!

What a great weekend!

Springfield Weekend Getaway

Graden and I got a weekend away - just the 2 of us!

Graden's friend and fishing buddy got married a while back in Jamaica, and had a reception near their home in Springfield, MO so we headed thataway after Dayne's basketball game Saturday morning!

I had asked around to see if there was anything to do in Springfield (besides visit Bass Pro Shops - a staple for any visit to Springfield!) and it was suggested to have lunch at Lambert's Cafe - home of the "throwed rolls." After waiting for about 30 minutes (usually a no-no for Graden) we sat down and enjoyed a home style cookin' meal! It was very good and a different atmostphere! They really do throw rolls! They also come around with big buckets of various foods and ask if you'd like some. We sampled mac-n-cheese, fried taters, okra and of course the rolls! One of the oddest things about Lambert's was that they didn't accept credit/debit cards -- only cash and checks. Luckily I happen to have checks with me! I really don't know the last time I wrote a check!

After lunch we went shopping for a new sweater for me to wear to the wedding. Now that I think about it ... that may have been the first time Graden and I have ever been clothes shopping together (for me!). After a bit of shopping we headed to Bass Pro Shops ... a 'must do' when you're that close, right!

The wedding reception was entertaining. Since we really only knew each other (and Graden knows the groom, obviously!) we kind of kept to ourselves and did a lot of people watching. The highlight of the night might have been when a girl got down on the floor and did the worm! Ha!

Sunday we laid around a bit and then headed home ... a nice, relaxing getaway!