Kentucky Bound! (Uncle Mike, Aunt Kathy)

November 8-9th, 2014

Luke had to be in Kentucky for a week for work purposes so the weekend before his shifts started the four of us decided to stay with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy who live in a 5 bedroom log cabin near Lexington. There house is beautiful and so was the Sunday morning that we woke up to. We decided to all go for a walk nearby and introduce them both to the hobby of geocaching that Luke and I have grown to love. 

It was a matter of minutes before Mike found his first cache! We then went on to find three more that day. After geocaching the kids were able to play in Uncle Mikey's play room. They soon discovered that he is a collector and has more toys than they do! (I'm not exaggerating) I have never seen more beanie babies in one room. He is also a fan of Tigger and has a huge Winnie the Pooh collection. The kids didn't understand why there were so many boxes they couldn't open and check out but they had fun looking at it all. 

The next morning, Luke and I were able to take the kids to my Uncle's work for a tour of the facility. He works with chicken research on the University of Kentucky's campus. If there is anything anyone ever wanted to know about a chicken my Uncle is the person who would know the answer. He knows chickens inside and out down to the molecular level. He has been working with poultry for over 20 years. While we were there we were able to see four different rooms that had different research projects happening. The first room was a controlled environment with various coops of chickens that were all contained under the same environment (coop size, light, temperatures, all males etc) the only different variable for the chickens was the type of food they were each being fed. This research would later help in knowing what type of feed produces the best tasting chicken.

The second room of chickens were all breeder chickens that were in holding awaiting maturity so that they could lay eggs/fertilize within the next few weeks.

The third room of chickens were egg laying chickens. Mineral replacement was being researched in order to see the different qualities of the eggs being laid.  We were seconds late on seeing a chicken actually lay an egg. We got to touch it while it was still warm. We learned that the egg laying chickens are sold to the public once the research has been conducted and University chickens are a hot commodity because the public knows that they are well taken care of and will make great meals. 

The fourth room is where the roosters were kept. They were some loud cocks. Artificial insemination took place in this room. We didn't stay in there too long because we had the kids and it was hard to ask questions and talk in there. 

During our visit I felt like we learned so much about chickens. I haven't ever sat back and thought too much about all the work that goes into the eggs that I eat or the chicken that I cook. Its good to know that so much work is being done in order to make sure that our meat is safe and high quality.  I think the funniest thing that Mike told us was that if you see a label on a package of chicken at the store that says, "No Hormones Added" it's because there is absolutely no farm in the United States adds hormones to their chicken. Its a marketing ploy. Every single piece of chicken that is sold in any store that we shop at could have this on their label and it would be a correct statement. This just made me laugh. 

Mike and Kathy thanks so much for letting us come visit with you. The kids enjoy you both. We hope you enjoyed geocaching with us. We thank you so much for the tour of the chicken facility. It was fun to take the kids to a new place and to learn a thing or two:)

Auction! (Mary and Rene Gordon)

November 8, 2014

Luke and I know Mary and Rene because we were in a life group through our church together several years ago. We have kept in contact with them through various church events and Mary has been able to attend the craft weekends that I arrange through my in laws bed and breakfast. We don't get to hang out a lot but the time we have spent together has been fun and memorable. I am so happy we got to spend this particular Saturday together and I think we will both agree that it was indeed memorable. :)

It all began when I was looking through the newspaper, as usual, on a Thursday morning and I happened upon an ad for a huge pallet auction that was being held locally. Mary and I already had plans for that day and time  because she had gotten word of my thrifting/couponing and wanted to see some of the treasures that I could find. We had originally planned to go to Kroger and some other shops but this looked more fun! I figured that this would be something new and adventurous for us both when I found out that neither of us had ever been to an auction like this. 

I started by gathering all the info I could about the auction online and found out that there was a preview of the 300 pallets the day before. So Luke, Susan and I went and checked it out. (Mary couldn't make it because she was out of town for work until later that night). WOW! The warehouse where this is held is huge! The variety and randomness of items was insane. This particular auction seemed to be all Amazon overstock/returns and Walmart returns. I don't easily get overwhelmed when shopping is involved but I was close going to the preview.We didn't have much time and I wanted to look at everything!

Luke and I decided which pallets we would bid on and what our high bids would be. At the end of the preview we had almost 40 pallets that we wanted! We went home and got online and put in our absentee bids. We were giddy that we had high bids on over 20 at that point. The real fun was going to start the next morning when I got to meet both Susan and Mary at the live auction. 

Mary and I got there after the auction had started and registered and got our bid numbers. This was the first time Mary had seen the place and she hadn't yet seen all the goodies on all the pallets. She got registered on their website and started looking ahead at the unsold pallets to see what she wanted. It was frantic with the auctioneer talking a mile a minute and people yelling putting in bids. She had not yet seen anything and was in a rush to see what she could bid on. Meanwhile, Susan and I went to  where the auctioneer was and started looking at how our absentee bids were holding up against the competition. There were so many people there! We were so glad that we got a look at all the things the night before because we were both thinking it would be too overwhelming to try to see what was for sale with all the chaos going on. There was probably 100 or so people cramped into a 10 ft space in between the pallets. 

I could tell that all the pallets that I had bid on were going for WAY more than what my high bid was and I was not about to pay retail for some returned items. For example if my bid was $50 the pallet would sell for $500. There was one pallet Luke told me to put $300 on well it sold for $1200. I was beginning to think I was way out of my league. There were several people there that we talked to that said they hadn't ever seen it so busy and that all the advertising for this particular sale had definitely worked on bringing in new people. This was making all the pallets go for way over what they typically would go for. Well, we waited and waited and didn't realized how long it actually takes to get through 300 pallets. We were there probably 3.5 or 4 hours when Mary decided to leave. I wanted to double check my last few pallets to see if there was anything I wanted to raise my bids on. After Mary leaves I get a text from Susan that Mary had won a pallet!! What?!? Susan was at home watching the auction live from her computer. Susan and Mary had talked about a specific one that they were both interested in. I called Mary and she didn't even know that she had won yet! I was leaving at this point so we all decided to meet up when the auction was complete to help Mary and Rene load up the stuff.  

I called her to let her know that I was on my way and she informs me that she actually won two pallets. WHAT!?! How exciting! So Susan and I get there and the Gordon's are all waiting in line to pay for their goodies. Susan and I go to their stuff to dig and see what they won. HAHA. As you can see those boxes are huge. I am only 5'2 so I about fell in several times trying to grab things from the bottom of that box. I was pulling out random items and I saw a bag with a zipper at the bottom. I made Susan help me pull it out. It was a 3 room, 10 person tent! This was the best treasure among all the goodies. They had a big fan, 2 radio controlled cars, a huge rolling shoe rack, 2 patio umbrellas, a weather alert radio, a bar stool and a ton of curtain rods/blinds. I think the whole family was happy about the win! 

Her second score was all holiday decor. This box was as big as the other one but it was packed with small items: Ornaments, face paint, costumes, wrapping paper, wreaths, Santas and snowmen you name it! We were waiting on the pallet grabbing staff to come pick it up and we were digging through the loot. How fun!

Things weren't planned very well as to how all this was getting into their vehicle. HA. Here we all were just grabbing stuff and throwing it into their suv. We managed to find a couple of smaller boxes and a plastic bag to put stuff in but for the most part things were all over the place. Here's some pics of the girls loading up treasures!

And the after math of the car!

Rene and Mary I had so much fun that day. I can't believe that even with all my prep work of finding the perfect pallets and analyzing what I would pay and second guessing all my work the Lomax's didn't win anything but Mary went in unprepped and unsure and got two pallets! Goes to show that organized isn't always the best policy :) I still find this so funny. She is a natural at the auction. I hope you can sell some of that stuff and recoup some of the money and that you can also think of our fun time at the auction when you use your tent and shoe rack haha! 

As for next time we hang out maybe we can be more low key and go to Kroger. LOL! 

Soups for Megan (Tammy Wilkerson)

November 1, 2014

Soups for Megan is a fundraiser developed in order to raise awareness for childhood cancer. Megan was Tammy's daughter who recently lost her battle with cancer. The concept was that people within the community would donate a crock pot of soup and then others would come and eat and make a donation. This was started last year by Megan and this year the money was going to fund Tammy's trip to Japan to spread Megan's ashes. 

 

 Megan's Bucket List

The kids and I all went to the 2nd annual Soups for Megan fundraiser to help support Tammy. I know Tammy because we both have gone to Outlook church together for many years. We first met at the old building in Oaklandon and we greeted there together. There were many Sundays where we were on the same shifts. When I heard about the fundraiser I was happy to go to help. I ended up sampling each of the soups there and then buying 4 of my favorites to go. There were so many to choose from but I chose Pumpkin Black Bean, Bow tie chicken and noodle, Cheesy Potato and Southwest Chicken. They are all in the freezer and I cant wait to try them again. 

Tammy, I am so sorry for your loss. Death is heartbreaking enough but to lose a child has to be the deepest heartbreak of all. I have no doubt that you were the greatest caregiver up to the very end. You have such a good heart and your laugh is contagious. It has to be healing for you to be able to do this fundraiser in your daughter's name. I know in the future you will be able to help many kids in her honor. I plan on attending every year as long as we can make it. The soups were all fantastic. This was such a unique idea for a fundraiser and I definitely enjoyed it. 

Vacation Buddies! (Jeff and Amber Alexander)

October 26th, 2014

Jeff, Amber and their kiddos Elijah (Eli) and Oliver (Oli) stopped in our area after their first family vacation since adding a new baby. They live up in northern Indiana but they went to St. Louis for a quick trip before Amber's maternity leave came to an end. Of course, a family vacation wouldn't be complete with out stopping in and seeing the Lomax's on their way back home. They were only going to be in town for one night so as a last minute decision we decided to have a relaxing evening with four children under four at Chuck E. Cheese's. :) Aspen hadn't been in a year and the other three were first timers. Can you say overstimulization? (Apparently that's not a word, well it is now)

Amber and I have known each other for a long time. We first met in a social work class at Ball State. I think we became friends because she came in and she sat next me and she told me that we should be friends, so I said ok. That may not be exactly how it happened but its probably close. :) 

We didn't know each other long when she invited me to go on a camping trip to meet up with some of her other friends that had a camper.(There's no way I would have agreed to this trip if I knew I would have been sleeping on the ground). We loaded up my dog, a bottle of parrot bay rum, and a case of beer then we set out for our road trip. We get there and the guys are playing beer pong. I refused to play with beer because I have never liked it. They were nice enough to modify the game and let me play with my solo cups full of rum. Fast forward a couple of hours, Amber has drank most of her beer and is still sober. Her friend is trying to cuddle with my dog that he renamed, "Carl". I am vomiting by the camp post and she was holding my hair and tell me not to worry that I would do much better the next weekend. Next weekend!?! 

Little did I know that Amber was going to become my trip partner! By flipping through my scrapbooks I can look back on so many times that we have embarked on some adventures together. I have decided to take a different spin on this blog about her and use my scrapbook to help tell the story of our friendship. 

I think I got the drinking bug out of me after the camping trip because our next trip that was taken over our Fall Break I remember not drinking at all.  We decided one day that we were going to drive to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area over a four day weekend. We made some great memories on that trip! 

 Amber, Laura and myself set out on our adventure late in the evening and drove overnight. I think it took us about 15 hours. We arrived in the city during their rush hour and I was the one driving. The traffic was completely nuts compared to Indianapolis. There were 8 lanes of traffic with exits on each side and here we are trying to navigate how to get to our hotel. This was back in the day so there were no gps's or smart phones to help us. We just had a piece of paper that we had printed from mapquest! We somehow made it. We did so much in just the short amount of time that we were there. I think it was because we were young and didn't have children to suck the energy out of us yet. :)   We saw a rodeo and crashed a wedding reception at Billy Bob's, shopped at the Galleria (an awesome 4 story mall with an ice rink), spent a day at Trader's Village (the state's largest outdoor flea market), spent time at the stockyards where we saw Willie Nelson (or possibly a impersonator!), we went to several hole in the wall taverns, and last but not least (my favorite vacation activity) we crashed this wealthy guy's Halloween party. I don't remember how we heard about the party but we weren't about to miss out. Amber happened to even have packed a costume!------->

           
                                               

Of course, she found it necessary to "repair" the homeowners sink and towel ring. After that we found that it was necessary to make sure that body parts were also in working order. Ahh. Sweet Memories....I remember just sitting quietly and being a spectator to all the foolishness around me. All of a sudden, Salt n Pepa's "Shoop" starts playing. I snatch a candle stick off the mantle, jump up onto the coffee table and just start belting out the lyrics. Apparently, the drunk folks loved my entertainment because I got a round of applause at the end of the performance. Amber could not stop laughing and then we just up and left.

Our next trip together was the first time that I met Jeff. It was March of 2010, I invited Amber to join us in Las Vegas for my bachelorette party and she had just met the man she knew she was going to marry. I told her to go ahead and invite him too. They both showed up and Amber was being weird and not drinking because she didn't want to make a bad impression on the man she knew was her soul mate. His flight left before ours did and then she was able to find some Jack and become the great old Amber that I know. I am  glad that Jeff can now know her true colors and she doesn't have to try to sneak her shots anymore. :)

Since graduation we have managed to visit each other at least once a year. We usually rotate houses /cities since we live about two and a half hours apart. They did the first trip here for our wedding and then that summer I went up and stayed at their house for a weekend. The above pictures are from my first Chicago trip with her! I was 20ish weeks pregnant with Aspen. I got to go on my first train ride and we went to Gino's for some amazing pizza. I am now convinced that all pizza in Indiana sucks. 

The following summer, Luke and I were able to go to Jeff and Amber's wedding near their home. We made a weekend getaway out of it and were able to visit some of my family as well as stay in Chicago for two nights. This was Luke's first time in Chicago and we had a blast at the Museum of Science and Industry. 

The summer after that Jeff and Amber came to Indianapolis and we went to the History museum downtown. Amber was pregnant this time around:)

The summer after Amber had Elijah, Luke, Aspen and I went up for a visit. We took the kids to Shedd's Aquarium and Navy Pier. This time I had an announcement to make. I was just a few weeks pregnant. We had just found out but had not told our families yet. Jeff and Amber became the first to know! I had to tell them because we were staying at their house and I was soo sick! It seemed like the only thing that would calm my stomach in the morning was coffee. They don't drink coffee and didn't have a coffee maker so I made them stop at McDonalds on our way to the train. We were already running behind and Amber kept saying we are going to be late. I could tell she was getting impatient with me. We were hoping that we wouldn't have to wait for the next train. We were driving to the train stop and Luke was flooring it because we were side by side with the train. He goes to turn into the parking area and the cross arms come down because the train is stopped. All the traffic in front of us stops as well. He then swerves to the left past the stopped cars that are waiting and zig zags his way through the cross arms and the four of us dash out of the van. We are grabbing anything and everything strollers, diaper bags, purses, kids and we were running to get on that bad boy before it took off! All of this was not a calm cure for my morning sickness. At this point I still had not told them I was pregnant. I was trying to stop dry heaving and get some coffee in my stomach. Well then the train takes off and my motion sickness is even worse. Then we get there and we decide it will be a great idea to get on the water bus from the aquarium to the pier. I just had to break down and let them know what was going on because I was so sick! All the walking and train rides and busyness was not agreeing with me.

Last summer, Amber and Jeff were able to come and meet Hazel after she was born and we took the three kids to the Children's Museum. They had a great time. Technically, its our turn to make it back up to Chicago for another visit and I can't wait because I love trips. But recently, (very recently, like last night) Amber and I are talking about a girls trip instead of a family one. I can't wait to see how this pans out because I may be older and more mature but if I'm kid free, out of town and "Shoop" starts playing there's just no telling what I may be capable of. :)


Jeff and Amber, We love you and we hope to see you soon. Thanks for being great friends. It has been great to get to live through milestones side by side. I hope we have just touched the surface and there are many more to come.

(Oh to be 22 again)