I can't believe my week of vacation is over already. It's back to work tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it in a way. It's been one heck of a week... in good ways of course, but going non-stop for all these days in a row has finally drained me. I need to get back to work to relax. Ha-ha. At least I'm only working for one week and then I get another week off. I'm heading out to Minnesota one week from today. At this time I'll already be there. YAY!

Yesterday was fun. My brother hosted everyone at his (HUGE) house. Good food, fun family and Nintendo Wii on a BIGGGGGGGGER than life flat-screen TV! Does it get any better than that? I took some video clips of everyone playing the Wii bowling game. My grandma was so funny!

Yesterday was my first time at my brother's new place. I cannot believe how HUGE that house is! My entire house could fit in his bedroom and still have room left over. It's an amazing place. I feel like my house is so piddly in comparison! And my brother's "toys", man, don't get me started on that. He has a flat screen TV in his bedroom that is 5 times the size of my normal TV in my living room! Then his flat screen one in his living room is ten times the size of the one in his bedroom! Unbelievable. Yes, I'm a tad jealous. I wish I could afford all the stuff that he has. His DVD collection puts mine to shame.

It was a great day and Nicky loved his books and movie. (When I got home last night, guess what? The Amazon order was here. Ughhhhhhhh!) I shall have to return the movie to Borders and get credited for it.

Today was the party here at our house. I was a little nervous about having so many people here at once and worried that it would rain. There's no way we could fit so many people inside the house. Fortunately the rain this morning stopped early and then the sun came out. There was way too much food! Ron made 24 hot dogs and 24 hamburgers (he dropped one of each and so Rogue had a feast). Plus Jeff made a mondo sized bowl of macaroni salad. My grandma brought HUGE containers of potato salad and coleslaw. My mom brought tons of fruits and her famous fruit dip. Ron's parents brought a regular salad plus to veggies & dip platters, plus cheese dips and other stuff. Ron and I had picked up chips, Chex Mix and another chip mix thingy. Oh and then there was the gigantic graduation cake that my mom brought. We had sodas up the wazoo. Plus Capri Sun drinks that the kids never even drank one. Plus water. Plus beer. Plus 2 flavors of those Smirnoff Ice things (Wild Grape and Wild Berry... I think berry). Man, the leftovers alone could feed us for years to come!

It was a nice day. Everyone got along great. Sami wasn't able to come today (that's a story in itself, but I'll discuss that tomorrow maybe) and Dave and Steph didn't get back in time to join the main party but Dave stopped by later on. I think it was a success.

I'm so full that I don't even want to think about food!

I also made quite the haul! My mom and Gary of course are giving me the trip to Minnesota and a rental car while there, PLUS they gave me $500 for spending money! My grandma gave me $100 plus this really awesome flamingo wind chime thing. Ron's parents gave me $100. Jeff and Jen gave me a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card. Bill and Terry gave me a nice bottle of Korbel champagne and a $50 Borders gift card. Sherri and family gave me the most awesome blanket that I've ever seen. I can't even describe it. I guess it's more like a throw but it has weird thingies and is soooo soft. Oh and they also gave me a soy candle that has 3 scents in it. Very pretty! Sherri also brought Rogue a bag of like 10 dog toys! Spoiled pup!

I have to say that Rogue was soooo good today. She did her little biting bit, but the kids were playing with her and ran her ragged. Right now Ron and Rogue are both sound asleep on the couch next to me. I could easily join them in their slumber but I want to be able to go to bed somewhat early tonight since I have to get up for work tomorrow. I do look forward to rejoining my coworkers, but don't look forward to getting up in the morning. Ah well.

I am beat. What a good day and what a lovely end to a fun-filled week! I can't wait to hit B&N and Borders to buy more books! Plus I still have the gift card Corey sent me for Amazon. Man oh man am I going to have some fun shopping ahead of me. Woo hoo. ooh, with all my cash, I'm thinking that I might want to get a Nintendo Wii for myself! Although my living room is a bit on the small side to be able to fully enjoy the game. Hmm. What can I spend all my moolah on?

It's been an interesting weekend. Friday night Ron and I went to the diner for dinner and then came home and bummed around. It was rainy and blah so it was a night that wasn't good for much of anything but sitting around, doing nothing. Saturday we slept in a bit. Well I slept in a bit, Ron slept in a lot. He never sleeps that late but he was so tired. It was another rainy, ishy day. We cleaned around the house during the day and relaxed at night.

Today we got up fairly early and we were both happy to find that the weather was much nicer than it has been lately. The sun was out and it was a little on the cool side. Loved it. We picked up a ton of branches that were down in the yard from all the storms and heavy winds. Then we put the ceiling fan up in the back porch. That room's really starting to come together.

Ron's mom and dad came out today to pick up the pet carrier and to bring back Ron's sander. Ron decided to make a barbecue out of it and invited his brother and family too. It was especially interesting because Ron's mom had brought their new kitten with them and then Jeff showed up with his new dog. Yeah, that was interesting trying to keep the two away from one another.

Food was delicious and it was a nice day. Everyone got shoved out early-ish though because Ron and I had plans to hit the drive-in tonight. We went and saw "Barnyard" and "Invincible". "Barnyard" was so cute. Predictable but what do you expect from a cartoon? It was funny and even Ron enjoyed it. "Invincible" was good too. Also very predictable but how can it not be when it's based on a real person? It was so worth seeing though because heck, it's Mark Wahlberg! Yum. Those arms of his... *swoon*. Hehehe. The only bad thing about the drive in was toward the end of "Invincible" I had to pee so badly! I couldn't sit still and we were at the furthest screen from the regular restroom so the port-a-potties were much closer. Yeah that was a fun experience in the dark! Ha-ha. I'm sure you all just really needed to know about that, right?

Now I'm home and almost ready to go to bed. Although I'm really not that tired yet. I'm so glad that tomorrow is a holiday so that I dont' have to work. I can't believe that Tuesday starts the new semester at WPU. Ugh. Too soon. Too darn soon!