Monday, December 29, 2008

Counting Down!

In 18 days we will be shacked up in a wonderfully cozy cabin in the Smoky mountains with our dear friends, the Johnsons, Sabelhauses and Mayers. It's our second annual trip to get some serious R&R, catch up with good friends and do whatever we feel like for a few days. Last year was our first trip, hopefully the beginning of many to come, where we can all get away sans-children for a weekend of fun. This year will be slightly different with two babies on the way... probably no zorbing or hot tubbing (for two of us) and less of Jason's margaritas to be consumed, but it's going to be fabulous! And the outlet malls will definitely be glad to see us!

As I sit here post-Christmas no more rested than last week, I am oh-so-anxious for our getaway!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving this year was celebrated St. Louis-style! My Uncle Brett and family invited the whole Campbell family out to St. Louis for a weekend of fun and family celebration. It was a quick car ride with my parents and Abby, which was much needed. With so much busyness in our life and even more in my parents', we were finally able to catch up and get excited about their new granddaughter!


Brett and Lisa were incredible hosts with an abundance of food for all 27 of us day and night -- for FOUR days. My baby belly was stuffed with constant deliciousness. Of the 27, 20 of the family stayed the weekend at their beautiful home. I just couldn't get over how generous and thoughtful they were with hosting. We had such a fun weekend!


The day after Thanksgiving, all 27 of us took a trip to the St. Louis zoo in the morning. That afternoon we went our own ways, going shopping, swimming (the kiddos) and the guys visited Jim Weddle, managing partner, at the home office of Edward Jones. But we were given strict instructions to be back at the house and ready to leave at 4:30 for a surprise.


Shortly after 4:30, Molly the Trolley pulled up in front of their house, ready to take us all on an adventure! Brett had packed coolers full of soda, beer, wine, and my favorite: Jack, as well as pretzels, goldfish, etc etc. We drove through two different parks that had beautiful light displays. It was beautiful! And even more enjoyable to watch the little kids get excited. After a few hours of driving, laughing, snacking and drinking, we ended up at a pub downtown Kirkwood for dinner and more family time. Brett and Lisa outdid themselves once again!


We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and can't wait to do it again in 2010!

Brett & Robin carving the turkeys...
Rachie & Shaun...
Mike and one of his biggest fans, my (2nd) cousin Morgan...
Me and my adorable cousin, Isabel...
Molly the Trolley!
The whole gang on the trolley...
Bretty carefully mixing drinks on the trolley...
My sweet hubby and me...
My scary hubby and me (in Brett's halloween costume)...
Mike and his 3 biggest fans of the weekend (Morgan, Emma & Hannah)...
Molly and Carter - Go BSU!!
At Jim Weddle's car warehouse. Like I mentioned before, Jim is the managing partner of Edward Jones. He also is one of my dad's good friends (and his best man from his wedding). Jim has always been an avid car collector and recently upgraded warehouses for working on and showing off his collection. The cars were unbelievable, some of them were limited editions, and a few were the ONLY ones made like it. He even has a car made from an airplane body from the WWII era. Needless to say, the guys were drooling as Jim explained each of the vehicles to us.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Trip to Cali

My big event for work, The Winner's Circle, is going to be in Newport Coast, California. Last November, I took a hard hat tour through dirt, rocks and a few beams to try to envision what The Resort at Pelican Hill might someday be. They promised an opening date of November 2008, and I figured it would be perfect for our event in Feb 2009!

This November, I went on a site visit to see the finished product. It wasn't quite ready for opening, but they were within 8 days. The property was AMAZING! Rooms begin at $700/night, and I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.
My mom was able to squeeze a trip into her schedule to get to go with me on my site visit, and we had an incredible time! I met with people and took tours during the days, and she and I went shopping, site seeing and out to restaurants in the evenings. We managed to get a ton of R&R in, plus one of my clients met us for a whirlwind tour of Beverly Hills and Hollywood. SO FUN!

Me on the steps of the Kodiak Theatre...


Mom and me in front of Grauman's Chinese theatre where all of the handprints are...
'Ahnold's' feet prints...
My favorite, mom and me in front of the Hollywood sign. (If you look very closely, it's there!)


Monday, December 22, 2008

Happy Birthday, Sarah Land!

It seems like everyone has "I'm sorry for not posting for a while" on their blog... Well, I'm sorry, too! Life has been crazy, the holidays have compounded that, and baby thrown on top makes blogging impossible these days.
What I've forgotten to show you are some of the fun we've had this past month! On Nov 22, our sweet little friend, Sarah, turned 1 year old! Katie and Cam had a birthday party for her, which was precious. Sarah had all sorts of new experiences: opening presents, eating as much cake as she wanted and then one not so new: being the center of attention. She was quite the little lady! We know she's going to be a great "big sister" for our little girl.

She was a very patient present opener!
One of her favorite gifts: a cell phone, from the Hughes! Mike made sure to program his voice into it so the Lands could get to hear from him every day. :)
Happy big O-N-E, Sarah!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The verdict is in!!!



In case you can't tell, she's a GIRL!!!! Mackaveli is a girl!!! We are THRILLED :) Now we are celebrating... details later.

Waiting!!!

No, we don't know yet!! I love how excited everyone is -- I am sitting at my desk staring at the clock waiting for 3:00 to appear so I can leave work and drive south. Our appointment is at 4:00, so until then, we wait!!


Monday, December 15, 2008

Jack or Jill??

I have a few weeks' worth of posts to bring me up-to-date, but who knows when I'll have time for that. Between our usual social life, Christmas, and the baby, life has been hectic! We enjoyed some down time this weekend and simply vegged. It was wonderful!!

While I have 30 seconds, I wanted to make sure you know that we find out if baby Mack is a boy or girl on WEDNESDAY!!! Just two more days of suspense!

I thought I'd throw that out there so you can get your guesses in, too. :) I'd love to hear your best guess prior to the big announcement. We are SO anxious to find out. Every day, we remind eachother of the current countdown. Today I got a text from Mike that just said "2 days!" It's going to begin yet another whirlwind of planning/shopping/excitement that we are so ready for!

Will keep you posted....