What's the Score? 34?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TURNER!!!

Cancun Trip

We are safe and sound back from Cancun. We had fun. We got to catch up with some friends from law school and relax.

The rehersal dinner was in town and we had the best authentic Mexican dinner--don't forget the margaritas! If you look at this picture you can see the waiter carrying the drinks on his head. The whole group really got a kick out of it so he did it with every drink--even water.

The wedding ceremony was in a beautiful church. It was a bilingual Catholic ceremony. The mariachi band was so good it made the hair on your arm stand up! Sean was a groomsmen and a reader!

The reception was a blast. The bride's family can sure party! They never quit dancing! The DJ's choice of American music was about 8 years old but we danced anyway. Ethel, the bride, would often bring out different masks and hats for all of us to wear for fun.

We were sad to come home because it meant "real life" again. It was nice to not worry for a few days. Back to reality!

Bunn Family Photo Shoot

HEY!!! Check out the preview of pics that our photographer took of us for Christmas, et al. She ROCKS!!! This is her BLOG: BGW Photography!

Just Jogging Along...

Well, here it is...a very tiny photo of me running the ATL half marathon...I could have uploaded a bigger pic - but it would have had PROOF across - so, all you get is a thumbnail...

Speaking of thumbnails - I think 3 of my toenails are going to fall off because of that race!!! But it was still ALOT of fun. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with some old friends.

Not a whole lot of news to report on here. We're still working on the bus and all that is involved with that. I'm looking into getting it wrapped (check it out, here) - have you heard of this? They can do it to your car, too. It's advertising that looks like it's painted on but really it's like vinyl wrap...WEIRD. So far I don't think it's going to be cheaper than painting, but we'll see.

I got my hair cut and it looks NORMAL and boring - and I'm a little sad, but it was a necessary evil. I had to look respectable for a photo for the new job. You can see my profile on the company website here!

Plus this do, did for a photo shoot we did for Christmas cards - which you may or may not get on time...

I'm actually on pins and needles waiting to see the pics because we had so much fun having them done. I'll post some as soon as we get them.

We've decided that we're not going anywhere Christmas day since last year all we did was drive back and forth between our parents houses. So, we're hosting a very casual Christmas Open House at our home. No formal dinner, but lots of food and fun. This way our families can come and go as they please! I'm excited. Plus it's our first Christmas in our first home with our first born! So many FIRSTS!!!!

We hope that all of you enjoy a bountiful holiday season!!!

Let me clarify...

I may have made it seem like my family were leaving me for Christmas when really them "booking their flights home" means they're all booked to come HERE. We sort of have a new pet and it's not by choice. His name is Ollie and he likes to come 'round at night and pretend he is a sixth cat. Except he doesn't share well. He eats ALL of the food and very much slobbers in the bowl. He is very ugly but Elena won't let me have the neighbor shoot him because it is inhumane. Inhumane is starving the other 5, in my opinion.



Elena is finally feeling all better as of yesterday. Today we are hanging our Christmas lights, etc. although a bit windy to be on the roof. Yesterday my mom had a yard sale and Angelina was there with her and my mom was conversing with a black man about how times have changed and it's about time we have a black president and Angelina says to the guy, "We need a white one too". Ha ha, my brother nearly fell off his chair my mom said. Oh boy that kid is too much. And she said something else that was really funny and 2 ladies that were there started laughing and Angelina pointed to them and said, "It's not funny!" She's at the stage where she thinks when you laugh at something funny she says she thinks you're laughing at her. We do this throughout Sunday dinner and she screams at us. I wish I could remember all the funny things she says.

Okay, I'm going to get all the lights down from the attic and get to work so I can watch the Giants game at 1. And yes, go Gators, yahooeey blah!

Have a nice day!!!

Seasons

Thought I would share this...I am sure we can all relate to this for different reasons in our lives.
Love you! Krame

Seasons
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly, so he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second son in the spring, the third son in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.When they had all gone and returned, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season.

The essence of who they are, and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life, can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, and the fulfillment of your fall.

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by one difficult season. Persevere through the difficult patches, and better times are sure to come in time.

So sweet

These are some pics I took of Reagan for her 2nd birthday (which is a Strawberry Shortcake theme). We had a great Thanksgiving, but it was busy, as usual. I am really looking foward to getting both studios fully staffed so I can work less. I am getting tired in my old age!

Love you all and miss you bunches

Ho Ho Ho

Hello and Happy Holidays!!! I just love the Christmas spirit and it's in full swing at work every morning. They have Christmas songs blaring and I love it. I especially love the old grumpy guys who have been at this for 25 years and HATE IT!!! Ha ha. So everything here is chill. My family had a great Thanksgiving Day at Brian and Laura's house. We had 3 turkeys(I mean really people) and all the fixins. It was a very nice day all in all.

Elena is sick, yet again. I feel like every time I write in this blogger she is not feeling well. I have managed to escape catching whatever it is she has so far. So I had to venture out solo Friday morning in the Black Friday madness to get us a new tv for our bedroom. I gave our old one to Michelle since hers broke and got us a great deal on a beauty. Perfect timing since Elena is not feeling well. I've pretty much locked her in there except to eat(turkey leftovers, day and night).

So besides that just working and working. My family has all booked their flights home for Christmas and Elena is leaving again too. She goes home at night on the 22nd and home at night on the 26th. So she'll have 1 day with my family all here I think. Good enough for her probably. Sunday dinners are about all we can handle with the kids going crazy. Sunday dinner is very good practice for those of us maybe wanting children. Those kids are non-stop madness, but the good outweighs the bad I suppose. Especially if they're your own.

Anyway, hope you all have a great Sunday. K.I.T. TTFN

Happy Thanksgiving Buds!

Make a Smilebox greeting

And NOW..for a QUICK run down...

OK - now that all of the fun pictures have been posted - I figured I would toss in a quick little play by play in the Bunn hacienda...

Right before Jeremiah showed up to help us out with Da Bus - TourCorp - laid me off...big BUMMER but rather serendipitous since it freed me up to work on the bus...

In the mean time, I got a job selling website optimization for a company called Server Side Design...YAY - another work from home position for a company based in Houston...that was LUCKY!!!

Well, that leaves WB jobless - so he has been unsuccessfully trying to career shift into the IT field - well, unsuccessfully, until Friday - when his dad offered him a job trying to help him develop a website for his brain child. He wants to build a virtual shopping mall.

The concept is that you will save 10-20% on all of your purchases if you shop THROUGH his shopping mall (it all has to do with affiliate marketing). Actually, you don't exactly SAVE the money - but you get that amount back in the form of shopping dollars that you can use to shop more, contribute to your favorite charity or cash out. Whatsmore is that if you convince your friends to sign up - you get a percentage back on everything THEY buy, too. It's not a BAD idea - but I'm a little skeptical.

Anyway, amongst all of that our sweet little boy got to attend his FIRST ever roller derby - that was a HOOT. And he FINALLY got his first tooth!!!

So, it's been a WHIRLWIND, here!!

We'd like to wish EVERYONE a super happy, YUMMY holiday!!! We're going to Atlanta so that I can run a half marathon! I'm STOKED! I ran 12 miles yesterday (so I know I'll be able to the finish the half - but boy is my body SORE!

Love to all - sorry for the lengthy delay between postings!

Howie :)

Da Bus

At the end of October - on Halloween, as a matter of fact, our friend Jeremiah came out to help us get going on the bus. I just wanted to share some of the pics with you. She still needs quite a bit of work - but we made A TON of progress during his visit!!! Check it out:


Isn't she a Bute!!!

This is a picture of the "Before" - but technically it took ALOT of work to get it to this point - those seats were a nightmare to rip out - we had to sand down the bolts - SHEESH...

So that makes this the "After" - but again there is obviously ALOT more to still be done - IE - where do the pretty people sit?

This is a view from the Back of the bus - while the seats are still out!

Here is what one half of the booths will look like - WB's mom helped us recover all of the seats - we couldn't have done it without her!

And here is what the table tops will look like - we're going to cover them with some sort of FANCY table cloth!!!

Just another view...

There's still ALOT of work to be done - but I figured you needed an update! We'll keep you posted. I'm still working on all of the permits and licensing - it sounds like our insurance ALONE is going to run about $850/mo - is that NUTTY?!!!

The Beach

Whew - OK - so I'm going to have to time travel a little bit here, since I'm so behind on my postings - bear with me - and come along for the RIDE!!!

It's early October and the Bunn family hit the beach - my parents - WB's parents - his sisters & my Grandma! It was WILD!!!

The main reason for this post, though is to FEATURE the BEAUTIFUL beach side home we stayed at - it WAS AWESOME - 8 Bed Rooms - 8.5 Baths - 2 Kitchens - a Home Theatre - a swimming pool - a jacuzzi - a pool table AND a foosball table!!! Check it out (click here) - A Sandy Ridge in Emerald Isle, NC!!!

This could be our next Stetson Family Vacation spot - LOTS of space to spread out! Everybody gets a BED!!!

FYI - the tub pic - is Loki & his mermaid cousin Aleaa in ONE of the indoor bathtub jacuzzis in the house - there are TWO indoor bathtub ones & one outdoor one beside the pool!! We were spoiled!!!

Ultrasound Appointment

As I texted all of you--I am cystless!! YEAH! I am really excited.

I had my ultrasound on Saturday at Doctors' Hospital. My OB/GYN's office is attached to the hospital and I had my surgery there. It is on UM's campus and they are nothing but professional and friendly. We have come here for Sean's ankle and they were great! If I ever have a baby, I will have it here!

Anyway. I had the same ultrasound technician from last August. He remembered me! We got started and he turned the screen to show me. He was very nice about pointing out what was what on the screen. Very cool. I kept pestering him about my left ovary--is there a cyst? Is there? IS THERE? He said he didn't see one. I had brought my report from the radiologist and he reviewed it. He said, nope, no cyst--at least not one that big (it was 4cm x 4cm x 4cm). I was so excited I almost hugged him. I actually thought about it!

I am pretty sure this means that I won't need another surgery. I was really worried about that. I was so relieved that I took a huge nap on Saturday after I got home. I actually slept because I wasn't worried--novel concept, I know! The next step is to get Sean tested again and pray for better results. I go back to my Dr. Dec 3rd. If Sean's results are better I expect to get fertility drugs. If his results are bad--I don't know what to expect. So there is the potential for bad news. I am trying to stay positive.

Did I tell you that I have started acupuncture to regulate my cycle? I have had two appointments so far. It is pretty relaxing and cool. I got some interesting herbs too. I am scheduled for 12 appointments and my guy is optimistic that this well help.

TMI? I hope not!

Changing the subject, Sean actually got a vacation day approved (praise the Lord) and we are going to Charleston for Thanksgiving. We are leaving Wednesday and coming back Sunday. We are both pretty excited. We will get to see Elizabeth and Grandmother. It will be so great to see them. Plus Sean said we can find a good wing place for the UF vs. FSU game. Nothing like yelling at the TV in public!

You've been waiting

Here are the pictures you have been waiting for. There are like 100, so sorry, but I had to catch up.

Strawberry in all her glory.

Daddy and his girl

She looks a little drunk, but you can see her face, isn't she something?!?!?!

Katie and Chuck walking

Katee won't make a big deal about it, but her team was one of the top money raising teams. She and Grandmom were also in the top for raising the most money as an individual.

The walkers

The whole team (at least the Florida part)

Yes, that is a gator painted on her face. Her first face painting just had to be a gator since it was Florida/Georgia game day.

Reagan and her KK, she loves her, but I think she almost loves Kirk more! HAHAHA

Reagan in the bouncy house, she had so much fun!

Reagan at the fair. Actually her 2nd time at the fair, but last year she was just too tiny to remember.

Gotta take a picture on a tractor, it just wouldn't be the fair without it.

Reagan's first ride all by herself. I wasn't with them, Brian took her while I was working. I guess it's better that way so I wasn't there to freak out.

Her second ride all by herself. She loves motorcycles.

And, she's out! I just love pictures of her sleeping, she looks so peaceful (a really rare event these days)

She put this outfit on all by herself. Well, just the accessories, she had on the clothes. But, what a hoot she is. She loves to dress up.

Reagan waving her flag at the Veteran's Day Parade. She liked watching the "men marching" and listening to the "bands with drums"

Reagan, this Monday, at the Hands on Children's Museum. She had so much fun and there were so many things for her to play with. I don't know who was more tired, her or me because I was running after her the whole time.

Reagan with the play food at the museum, they had a whole kitchen, grocery store, bank, post office, boat, ball pit, puppet theater, dress up area, stage for plays, toddler area, basketball court with wheelchairs to play with, train station and lunch room. It was crazy. We bought a year membership, I have a feeling we will get our money's worth out of that!

Reagan and momma making brownies. I look at this picture and I can't believe my baby is about to be 2 and can help me cook. Granted, she is stading on a stool, but still, she is getting so big I can't stand it.

That's all I have for now. We are going to O-town for an early Thanksgiving with Brian's folks over the weekend. Then, back to work and hopefully making lots of money this holiday season.

Cheers

Lucky for me...

I fill in for a guy that doesn't like to go to work. I think I worked 8 of the 7 days of last week. :-) No complaints...except I'm leaving Elena with all of the books and she's ready for a vacation. I think I'm going to ask my boss if I can get a long weekend early next year for a cruise for her and I. That's my decision for her Christmas present, a cruise or a new crock pot(the handle of ours broke off).

Due to this icy cold weather we've had the cats(except Morpheus) inside with us and we're both stopped up or as we like to say, our sniffers are out of order. Why not Morpheus you ask? Well I personally think that he feels that he could easily be confused for the turkey in these coming weeks and so he won't budge from his favorite spot outside. My mom bought the cats an electric blanket and Morph just spends his evenings rolled up on that. The woman is a genius.

Let's see besides work and work and blowing our noses I can't think of much else we have going on. Sales are up due to the holidays quickly approaching so that's good. But it only makes our house even more messy. It's slightly inconvenient to have to go to my old garage to pull the orders, especially on these cold mornings. However, Elena is doing a fantastic job and well I think talking this out just made up my mind. Screw the crock pot, she deserves a cruise!!!!

Thanks guys!!

I have so much to report

and so many pictures to upload, I just don't know where the time goes these days! Oh - wait, I think it goes to running 2 studios (both of which are understaffed (not that I have the money to pay them or anything)), raising a VERY active/crazy/smart/adorable/part monkey/2 year old, trying to keep Brian happy, making sure that DCF doesn't come take Reagan for my dirty house and having a life (wait, what's a life)???

I miss you all so much. I was so looking forward to Allison and Sean coming to O-town so we could all have a get together. Maybe soon we can all do something. One thing I really miss in my day to day life is having friends here to hang out with. I know I'm so busy all the time, but I still would love to just hang out with someone who knows me for me and is my friend.

Love you all, pictures to be posted as soon as I slow down.

I have heard the call....ring ring!

I am here to give an update. Nothing is really new! HA HA!

Alanna was here a few weeks ago and we went to the NKOTB concert. We had so much fun. We originally had crappy seats but since I bought them early through AMEX we got upgrades. The whole venue was filled with women our age and a few husbands! Alanna and I sang along to the songs and felt 13 again! The "Kids" were very entertaining and played for 2.5 hours! Honestly, it was one of the best nights I have had in a while. It was nice to forget about being an adult and all that comes with it. I was hoarse for 3 days. Sean finally told me to stop talking! :P

Sean and I celebrated our anniversary yesterday. We are going out to dinner this weekend. I picked this cool little Italian place on Miami Beach. I am looking forward to it. We decided not to give each other gifts as we are now going to Cancun for our friend's wedding. Yes, since Sean doesn't need knee surgery (yea!) we are going to Cancun. I am trying to swallow the fact that we are putting the flight and hotel on a credit card. We haven't used our credit card in a little over a year. AHH..... Did I mention this was our Christmas and Valentines gifts to each other--:)

Work is fine. Same ol same ol.

MIA

Oh my - I believe our lack of updates just might be a direct reflection of the current economic situation? OR have we all just gotten caught up in our own little worlds...

This BLOG serves as a CALL to ACTION (and will hopefully motivate & inspire the author, as well)!

Come on ladies - we need to get on the gravy train of communication!!! Mmmmm....GRAVY...

More to come this weekend!!!

Love,
Howie

Away for a few days...

Hey there...I am off to chilly Milwaukee for a few days to attend some meetings. I leave early this afternoon and return home Thursday afternoon. I will have my cell if you feel like chatting in evenings. Talk to you soon! Hope it won't be too cold. Weather says high is in 40's and low will be in 30's. BRRR!! Have a great day buds! love, krame :o)

Congratulations to the Doing Dishes Family!

A big CONGRATS to Katie, Brian, and Reagan on opening store #2 of Doing Dishes! What an amazing accomplishment in just a couple weeks. I know you are all so excited about today. You should be VERY proud of yourselves. YOU DID IT! We are sorry that we are not there to help...hope you have some things for us to do when we come up soon. Wishing you the best today and everyday! :o)

~Love, K & K

Last Sunday dinner was rather spooky as you can see. We all wrote characters and put them in a hat and whoever you picked you had to dress up as. So Scott was Frankenstein(he won the $40 jackpot), Elena was a fairy, Laura was Richard Simmons, Brian a Pirate, me as a scarecrow(may I tell you that I MADE my own costume on my sewing machine), Michael was an Elf and Angelina decided at the last minute she just wanted to be herself. :-) It was really fun and it came down to me and Scotty but everyone chose Scott. DAMN!!!

So everything is going fine here. Tomorrow is Elena's birthday so we're going for a sushi dinner. Then the next day is big voting day. We've already voted but my fellow Floridians if you haven't already voted...could you please vote NO on 2. It's the amendment that allows domestic partnerships to become legal in that we could share benefits and make decisions for each other the same way that you can make them with your husbands. Thank you for your time and Elena approves this message too.

I'm up to 2 days a week now at the post office, Monday and Saturday. The route that I deliver on Mondays is so beautiful. You would never imagine that these homes are in Tavares. It's actually called Deer Island but it's Tavares. Anyone ever been? It really is a real island and the homes are just magnificent.

Oh I have great news, Genie ran away again and this time he hasn't come back yet. Really we're not "thrilled" but it does make for peaceful sleep times. Usually every morning around 4:30 he and Morpheus would start howling in each other's face and Elena or I would have to get up and break them up. Not the last 2 nights. He's gone missing and we're just not ready to throw out the search party just yet.

Hope all is well with everyone. Katie I keep complaining to Elena that I want to come to Elf on a Shelf night but I have to work the next morning, etc. But you might just have 2 more reservations, if you have the room of course...

Knee/Ankle update

No knee surgery!! YIPEE! Also no ankle surgery--however this might change--still YIPEE!!
Sean saw the ortho and he did not tear any knee ligaments but did tear an ankle ligament. He is in a walking boot for his ankle and a knee brace. He was told to be on crutches for at least 3 weeks--no weight on it!
We are just thrilled that he doesn't need surgery--you know how I live to worry! We might actually get to go to Cancun. Now our budget is the issue!

Alanna is coming to visit on Saturday. We are going to the New Kids on the Block concert and she will be here until Tuesday. So excited. I haven't seen her in a while. I really miss her.

Anybody doing anything fun for Halloween? I hope to see some pictures of our little ones in costume (hint, hint!)

ALOHA Buds!!

Hi there...I am back and starting to catch up on sleep, work, my Mom's upcoming walk this saturday 11/1 and craft show next weekend 11/8 etc. I am sending all of you big hugs! :o) Kate - Thanks for the fun videos of sweet Reagan and your shop updates. I can't wait to come up soon and help you! It was great to get your update Stace! Michael is getting so big...I can't believe he will be 1 in a few days. He is a cutie pie. Keep us posted. Turn I am so sorry to hear about Sean and his leg...we are keeping him in our prayers. I am sorry that you have to cancel your trips. Hang in there and please keep up that smile. Cris I am glad you are a busy bee with work...don't work too hard! How is wk going? Hows - would love an update...hope the Bunns are doing well!

Our trip to see Blain and Loretta was great but, way too short. Hawaii was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! I will do my best to give you a recap and send a few pics but, I will email you more pics later. We enjoyed seeing where Blain and Loretta live...they have a cute place. We arrived there and they had all the fixings ready for a fabulous little picnic. We enjoyed our picnic at Griffith park which is just beautiful. Then we hiked up to the Griffith Observatory and enjoyed the view. It was great being together and hanging out. The rest of our trip consisted of eating and visiting...just what I wanted. We also enjoyed some fun on their Wii...that was a lot of fun. It was definitely hard to say goodbye. We all miss each other so much! Here is a pic of us on top of the Griffith Observatory...it was quite windy.
Then off to Oahu for 7 days. We were busy bees on this trip. We certainly tried to cover the island. We were greeted with leis at the airport and during our time in Oahu we enjoyed a tour day visiting Pearl Harbor, beautiful beaches, Dole Plantation (yummy pineapple whip dessert!), great views from the island, lunch and much more. Also, during our stay in Oahu we enjoyed snorkeling, beach time, great restaurants and food, a luau, shaved ice desserts, hiking to top of Diamond Head (volcanic crater), sunsets and much more. The city of Honolulu where we stayed was very touristy so we ventured out quite a bit on the island. Here are pics of us at the luau and of sunset at "sunset beach".

Then we flew to Maui for 4 days. Between the 2 islands I think that we like Maui best mainly because it is more laid back and relaxed and doesn't have the city atmosphere like Honolulu but, we did enjoy both. In Maui we enjoyed a 4 hour snorkel trip and saw beautiful fish and sea turtles! We also drove and hiked Haleakala National Park...huge volcanic crater and we reached 10,000 feet at top....it was like we were in the clouds. We treated ourselves to a spa treatment...I used the fab spafinder gift cert and our Marriott hotel was right next to a Waldorf Astoria resort and for the heck of it I picked up a service menu for their Spa. Well, it was not much different than Marriott. So we enjoyed a couples massage...and we got to enjoy all the spa amenities for an hour before our treatment...special aromatherapy pools and massage showers etc. It was the most incredible spa I have ever been too....love it! So, thank you again for the gift cert. We enjoyed the massage! We also drove the Road to Hana and saw beautiful sites and waterfalls. It was just breathtaking! :o) Kirk was also able to do a night dive which he really enjoyed. The beaches and food in Maui were also amazing. Here are a couple of pretty pics from Maui - the first is from Haleakala crater and the other is from the Road to Hana.

It was certainly a trip of a lifetime! Who knows when we will ever be able to go back? But, it was totally worth it and I am so glad we did it. It was great to getaway and it felt really good to experience this amazing trip! Hawaii is beautiful...even more beautiful than I imagined! :o) It is nice to be home though. I missed you guys!

love ya,
Krame