Easter, Chicago, and the Hamburgular

Hey friends and family,

April has been full of highs and lows. We'll start with the highs...

First up, Easter

Here's a shot of our bunny door and rose bush.

We spent the majority of Easter in Dothan. Most of the weekend was spent checking up on my grandparents who are having health issues. Friday, my mom, sister and I went to visit my dad's mom and then we went to see my cousin Stacey's baby, Anna Beth. I had not met her yet and I was dying to get my hands on her. She is precious. I think she looks JUST like Stacey did when she was a baby. Anna Beth slept most of our visit and only opened her eyes a couple of times (probably to see who the crazy lady poking and prodding at her was) but I really enjoyed holding such a sweet baby. After visiting Anna Beth, we went to my mom's parents house and spent the afternoon with them. It had been a long time since I had spent an afternoon with them. It was nice chatting with them. Where was Kyle the whole day? Fishing with my dad.

Saturday we chilled out by the pool and did a bunch of nothing. Sunday, the Easter bunny came and made a visit right before we headed to church with my parents then lunch in Montgomery with Kyle's parents.

The weekend after Easter, Virginia and I went to Chicago to celebrate Megan's upcoming wedding. What was supposed to be a small trip with just the three of us catching up in Chicago turned into a full-fledged bachelorette weekend complete with a lingerie shower and a Derby-style around the house shower. We had a really fun weekend hanging out with Megan, her mom, new sister-in-law, some college friends and new friends from Chicago.

Friday Virginia and I got into Chicago and were greeted by the MOST beautiful tulips around the city. Seriously ya'll, I have never seen so many tulips with a variety of colors. You would have thought we were in Holland. They were everywhere. None of the native Chi-town peeps could tell me any history or reasoning behind the tulips so I did some online investigation myself. Check it out.

Friday night we met up with everyone and caught up before our long day on Saturday.

Here's some of the group with our scarfs Megan bought us as a thank you for coming to Chicago. Each person got their own unique scarf and cute label. Megan is such a friend who would do something like that. So sweet.

Saturday we went to a Derby bridal shower hosted by Megan's female relatives. With Megan living so far away it was nice to be able to jam-pack the weekend with as many wedding related activities as possible. I enjoyed getting to visit with some of her relatives and watching her open wedding gifts. The derby theme shower was inspired by the fact the Megan got engaged Derby weekend at the races and will be getting married in Lexington this June.

Saturday evening we partied. The night started out with a lingerie shower where we gave Megan her bachelorette duds and played some bachelorette related games. On a fashion note, we had a black and pearl theme for the evening.

Megan's mom got us a limo after the lingerie shower for us to continue the party in. We all agreed it was our favorite part of the party. We stopped around several spots in Chicago for photos.

After our limo ride we went to dinner at a place called Paris Club. Megan was pretty excited we had reservations there because it is apparently the new trendy restaurant in Chicago. I tried to calm my inner redneck. The place had a cool "city vibe" and we just so happened to spot a celebrity...Chad Michael Murry from the tv show One Tree Hill.

Megan with her new sister in law Meg and her mom Marilee

I enjoyed spending the weekend with my wonderful friend and hate that she lives so far away. I'm trying to convince her she should move south but I'm thinking she will be in Chicago for life.

I got back from Chicago tired and really needing some rest. Monday was a full day at work for me. I had to work until 8. I kept telling myself all day that if I could just make it home I would eat dinner, have a glass of wine and go to bed. Instead I went home to find Kyle out in the front yard informing me that our house had been broken into.

Yep...we got robbed. Sparing all the details I've shared over 100 times, it was a classic robbery. They kicked in our back door, took some electronics and ransacked our house looking for hidden cash (which we don't keep around). I've heard people say being rob is the most invading feeling and trust me people...it is. It has been a very tiring week emotionally. Kyle has been really supportive because as you can imagine I've been a huge spaz. It just feels weird knowing strangers were in our home. With that low being shared, I'll bring it back to a high...we bought a HOUSE and will hopefully be moving soon. Ha, no we didn't buy the house after we got robbed. It was just a coincidence that two months before we were supposed to move we got robbed. I really had grown fond of our first little house but after the robbery I'm ready to move on and move out.

Good bye house in the hole. It's been real. I'll do a whole post on the new house once we sign the papers and get ready for some small renovations. Yahoo! We are really excited.

This weekend we laid low. I have a small break from school (1 week) until I start studying for my comps so I took full advantage of the weekend and completely relaxed...not. Duh! I have the shakes when I don't have school work so instead of watching t.v. and eating candy I decided to clean out closets and drawers. Very therapeutic. We did get out of the house and went to the zoo after church on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day spent with the animals.