Barking Frog Birthday Celebration

A fabulous birthday full of tons of surprises...starting with balloons from Max the Wonder Dawg at work...to lunch at my favorite spot Ooba's with my Mom and Aunt Roxy...to wine and crab with Rich at the house after work ...ending with a wonderful night out with my love.

Self-portait in the front yard before dinner Arrival at The Barking Frog for Dinner
Our fabulous dinner

Halibut with rice noodles and an heirloom tomato glaze

Beef tenderloin with a gorgonzola and demi glaze

DELICIOUS!

The night is coming to an end... Thanks for making my 29th birthday amazing.

They say it's your birthday...

well, it's my birthday too (in 2 days)! Tonight we had the fam over for a birthday dinner celebration...thanks Mom and Dad for supplying the food, Aunt Roxy for the cake, Rich for cooking, Grandma for looking pretty and Jenn and Danny for the mojitos! The birthday celebration was great. As everyone likes to remind me, 29 and holding. Hey, I say...the best is yet to come!

My sexy man working his magic on the BBQ.

Here I am trying to think what I need to wish for...
I already have everything I want and more!

Alright, I made a wish!

Yeah, it came true.
Happily Ever After!

Thanks to my great family for making my birthday so special.
I love you all so much!

Dinner is Served.

We've been in our house for over 2 weeks and tonight was the first time we were able to actually cook dinner together and enjoy ourselves. After a long day of furniture shopping, errand running and a fantastic birthday shopping spree for me courtesy of my finance, I mean fiance'...we made it home to cook dinner together.

Here I am pretending that I'm the cook in the house...

Rich opening a bottle of Champagne (real, not the sparkling stuff) from Dan and Jessa. Thank you so much. It was delicious!

Our make-shift dinning room table (ours to arrive mid-August)

Our new front room leather chairs...ahh, so comfy.

Can you believe it...it actually feels like we live here now?!?!

Of course, we are still playing house...but we are so thankful for our new home. Each day something new and exciting happens. We love it!

Come and Knock on our Door!

We've been waiting for you!

Thanks to Aunt Tammy, Julia and Allison,
we have a beautiful new door knocker.

Rich and I took it to get engraved tonight and it looks great...the pictures do not do it justice. We put Meyer on the top and then our mongram RMS on the bottom.

No, I'm not a Meyer yet, I just play one on TV.

Classy Ladies

We started with some lovely pictures of the ladies and the little ones...oh, how precious!

Jenn, Stacie and Kelby

The Des Moines Crew

Did I say Des Moines Crew...I meant Classy Ladies!

1. Mix 4 lovely ladies 2. Add a little bit of adult beverages3. Add a lack of balance
Results in a disaster of fun!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

Better yet, Drink, Drink More and Eat Later...Merry is up to you! Saturday afternoon Rich and I had a "small" BBQ with about 60 of our closest friends and family...and any other strays that were on our cul-de-sac that night. The day turned into night, and sober people turned into...well, you can figure it out.

Rich and Stacie's 1st picture in their backyard!
The day has begun...

Rich opening a housewarming gift from Steph and Andy...
nope, it's not a potato gun.

Rich, Stacie, Rene' and Avea
Our little ring bearer and flower girl.

Dad Meyer and Dad Boness looking handsome for the camera.

Stacie and Chris enjoying in some of the festivities...
yeah, I'm going to inherit some brothers next summer!

Rich, Chris, Shawn and Alex...getting the party started.

The bridal party
Kelby, Jenn, Stacie and Heather

Heather watching a little Corn Hole with Amanda, Suzanne and Dan.

Ryan and Kelby enjoying the backyard (and each other).

Alex ..the keg is right behind you, don't worry!

The Tri-Delta Ladies
Kim, Amanda, Suzanne, Heather, Erin and Stacie

Chris giving Grandma G a welcoming hug to the party!

Rich and Stacie finally breaking in the new house with a Busch Light 40 oz!
Alright! Hot Dog! Giggity Goo!

The Brothers
Shawn, Rich and Chris

The Meyer Family minus Becky
Dick, Shawn, Denise, Rich and Chris

The party went all night and we had a blast. Thanks to the moms (Joni and Denise) for helping keep everything organized, clean and put away...and for doing the late night beer run! Thanks to Dan and his head lamp for picking up garbage at 1 in the morning and making a late night round of burgers and dogs. Thanks to Aaron for not "paying" Rich back for any of the gifts he has left at your house. And a very special thank you for everyone who took the time to make our Housewarming memorable! We love each one of you and are lucky to have friends and family who love us so much.

Put it in a closet!

The motto for today was..."if it's out in the open, put it in a closet"...

We are a few steps closer to having things moved in...but still a ways away from having the house "together". The last few nights have been spent painting, putting things in their new homes, and putting things away in their temporary homes.

Rich and Mike rolling the front room!

Joni making our yard beautiful!

Rich putting the finishing touches on the front room.

We can't believe that it has almost been a week since we closed on our home. It has been a whirlwind these last few days, but we're happy to say "IT FEELS LIKE HOME".

The real fun comes on Saturday when the guests arrive. Until then...

Done?

Well, we are out of time this weekend...but not out of jobs to do. We finished our Master Bedroom and are on our way with the Guest Room. The living room will get finished this week...and the garage, well, it's full of boxes (for the time being).

Mike and Joni were ROCKSTARS again today...and picked up the slack where sickie (me) was lacking. Hopefully a good night sleep in our new room will be the trick.

Hooray for today and this weekend. Only a few more days until the guests arrive.... ut oh! I better get back to work. More tomorrow.

Clean, Tape, Paint...Repeat!

DAY ONE, CHECK!

Friday started with a trip to Sherwin-Williams and Fred Meyer (two of my favorite men recently)...and then off to the house. Rich immediately started covering up our "Crimson" wall with some primer. Next, he moved on to the guest bedroom and started edging the wall. Look at how much fun he is having?!?! My dad (Mike) got there early afternoon and immediately got to work cleaning the carpets. Go Mike! My mom went to work cleaning the guest bathroom and kitchen. Woo hoo!

After edging the guest bedroom, Rich moved down to the dining area and started his magic down there. I think that the boys (Rich and my dad) were sick of the paparazzi stalking them...so I got put to work with my dad edging the living room.

After a long day on Friday, we finally called it quits at about 11:30pm and crashed for the night (only after the spare bedroom was done). My mom and I had ran and got our sleeping bags...so Rich and I spent our first night at the house.

DAY TWO, CHECK!

Saturday started a little rockier than Friday...with a 7:30am alarm. Rich and I headed to our new favorite coffee joint (Cafe' Ladro on Bothell Way) and were working by 8:30am. We continued on our painting adventure with Rich and Mike painting the ceilings in the master bedroom and living area. Mom and I started on the back yard...here is Joni loading up some Azaleas to put in the flowerbeds.

Finally, after a long day, a much deserved break was to be had by all. My grandma, Aunt Roxy, Jenn and Danny came over to enjoy a little relaxation in the back yard...

Aunt Roxy made us a cute card ...yep, that's a Husky on top of a Cougar (talk amongst yourselves).

Then, we opened the present that my Grandma and Aunt Roxy had brought...and it was an Air Conditioner for our Bedroom. How awesome!!! There is going to be some cool nights in the house.

Then, we were spoiled again from Jenn and Danny with a cool chip and salsa container (loaded with supplies) for entertaining.

The guests were gone...and it was back to work for 4 more hours! Max was a trooper all weekend, but finally had enough and decided that it was time for bed (on the counter of all things).

The group ended the night by finishing the master bedroom. Nice rolling Mike! Awesome edging Rich! Fantastic touch ups Joni!

We were officially done by 11:50pm on Saturday night...and went to my parents for the night. We can't express how lucky we are to have had Mike and Joni (my awesome parents) help us all weekend. Rich and I would not have been able to get as much done without all of your help.

Go Team! One more day of hard labor...off to get the UHAUL! We're movin' on up today!