Brandon's Birthday

Brandon's birthday was Nov 1st, and it happened to fall on a Sunday. So the Friday before I started thinking. I thought I should try and surprise him and get a couple friends to meet us for after church lunch. So I started calling. Nobody answered so I had to leave messages. Well Saturday afternoon while we were home one of our friends called. I didn't answer because Brandon was in the room, he said aren't you going to answer your phone. I was laying on the couch so I said I am trying to take a nap. Later that night Brandon had to head to the grocery store. So I called her back. He didn't know. Sunday morning we were getting ready for church, and my cell phone is ringing. It our other friend who I invited making sure we were still on for lunch, and wanting to know if we wanted to go to church with them. Brandon was in the shower, but he heard my phone ringing. He asked who it was I told him, he said why did she call. I said to see if we wanted to go to church with them. Than I spoiled it. I just couldn't hold the lie in, I started laughing. I am terrible at trying to keep things secret, especially when I am so excited about it. He said why are you laughing, I said nothing and left the room. A couple min later, Brandon starts putting two and two together. He said why did Ashley and Christie call? What is going on? Why are you laughing? I said nothing, and still laughing. So he knew something was going on. After church we met them all at dinner, and it was a good time even though he wasn't surprised!

A weekend in Cincinnati Oct. 3 of 3

Ali eating breakfast in bed!





One of the last weekends in October, and the last traveling weekend for us until Thanksgiving we headed to Cincinnati to stay at the Wolf Lodge. The Wolf Lodge is an indoor water park/resort. This place is the thing to do if you have kids. The Waterpark is huge, and the slides were a lot of fun. We went with my in-laws, along with my brother-in-law's family. We got there late Friday night, and Saturday morning we headed to the pool. Ali was brave to go down a slide, but the next step up she wasn't so brave. Maybe next time she will. Than we headed to the Mall, and the mall we went to was great. It was a nice mall. Walked around a bit, and than went to dinner. Since Brandon's birthday coming up he got to choose. Since we didn't make any reservations, we headed to Red Lobster. Always a good meal, can't pass up the bread!
Sunday we got up and got ready. This was the big day. Brandon's team is the bears, and Jonathan's team is the bengals. So this year they actually got to play each other, so this was a must see for them. It only happens every couple of years since they aren't in the same league. So we went out to lunch at one of our favorite spots called chammps. We don't have one here in TN, so anytime we are in a place that does we try and go. Then headed to the game. I got some pictures before the game actually started. We had great seats. And the weather was perfect. I was kind of scared about committing to going to the game, because I would of hated for it to rain. God must have heard my thoughts, because it was really nice.
The game was a disaster on our end. The bears played awful. Jonathan and the rest of the stadium were happy with the outcome. We were ready to leave at the half, but we stayed until the end of the 3rd quarter. We had a long drive to make. It was a great weekend even though the Bears were terrible.

Bellagio Light Show

While we were in Vegas we went to the water show in front of the Bellagio. This is a must thing to see while in Vegas. If you have never been enjoy, but remember the video doesn't do it justice. We took this video with our little video camera!!

October 2 of 3 Las Vegas Trip

Here we are waiting for the O Show to start!


All the guys in the sports book area, watching all their teams on the screen.


Brandon and I at dinner, we ate at the Grand Lux Cafe!! So good.


Here we all are on our date night!


The boys in the lazy river, minus Josh who was in the poker room.


Eating at one of the great places In and Out Burger!!


Lindsey, Kellie, and I at the pool!!



Tim, Brandon and I in the back of a cab! We have another picture just like this but we were in New York.


First dinner together!


Flying over the grand canyon, we were lucky on our flight our Pilot was chatty and he informed us all of the landmarks to watch. We were suppose to drive there, but when we found out the weather was great! We pooled it.

Once I got back from seeing my parents which was a Monday evening, Brandon got home Tuesday evening from Orlando. Than come early Friday morning we were heading to Las Vegas. It was kind of like a college reunion. We went about 6 years ago to see our friends get married, and we wanted to go back. We thought now was a great time, since it seems like next year kids might come into the picture. (no I am not pregnant) Las Vegas isn't a place where you are going to take the kids, so we thought now was the perfect time to go. We arrived around 9am Vegas time on Friday, and our friend Lindsey was waiting for us. Than we headed to baggage claim and waited for everyone else to show. When the majority of us had arrived, we all hopped in a Escalade and headed to the MGM! The weather was perfect while we were there. Since the weather in TN, hasn't been that great we were excited to see sunny and high of 90! So the ladies headed to the pool every day we were there! We had a great time. Eat great food, and we caught the O Show! We got last minute tickets and we were glad we did.

October 1 of 3

So this past month has been a crazy one for us. We were only home one weekend out of the 5. The first weekend we went to Ohio, because Brandon had his 10 year high school reunion. We also went to the county fair. Now some of you maybe reading this and think its just a county fair, but in Coshocton its big time. Kids get out of school for 3 days because they are involved so much in the 4H or something like that. We didn't take any pictures that weekend, I know some of you are thinking Rachel not take any pictures?? Well it just didn't happen. I wish I did though. Than the next weekend Brandon went to Orlando, FL for a business conference. So I decided to head home for the weekend. It was a long drive by myself, and 2 dogs but we made it and had a nice weekend. We were very busy this time when I went home. We went to the outlets where we saw some good buys, and the Pottery Barn Outlet, Coach, and North Face! Then we headed to the apple orchard! In Middle Tennessee where we live, there are NO Apple orchards. So when it come fall time, I am greatly disappointed. We went to one, got the cider donuts...If you have never had one! They are amazing, we also got some apple cider, and kettle popcorn. Every fall I have to go back to MI just for the apple orchard!

MJ...This is IT

This weekend I was talking to some kids, and neighbors of mine about the Micheal Jackson movie. They all said it was really good, and so I wanted to see it. I knew that Brandon wouldn't really care to see it, so I went at 12:45 this afternoon. It was so good. No matter what you thought of him, he was a very talented man. Watching the movie is like going to his concert. Glad I went to see it on the big screen. If you get a chance before it leaves you should go see it. I will make you want to get up and dance!