Rest of the weekend (sorry this is so long)

We didn't go to bed early by any means on Friday. One, it was my birthday. Two, we were child free. My parents were wonderful and took Jake overnight. It sounded like he had a lot of fun. After we got home from dinner and being out and about, I put together a little surprise for my bestie. She was participating in the Red Flannel Run. I have to give her kudos because it's winter (cold) and because she can run! Haha. I put together a little blow pop bouquet for her first. It was a challenge at the beginning. Just trying to figure out how to wrap ribbon around the foam cone. The ribbon we picked out was a little thick and wasn't very easy to maneuver. Michael once again pulled out the electrical tape. (EH OH!) Worked like a charm! Here is what the finished product looked like:

 

I also thought she needed a medal. Even though this wasn't an actual race, she needed one. I couldn't find one I liked. Once again, why not just make a ghetto fab embarrassing one! I made it in Packer and ISU colors. That kind of made my heart break. Haha. (EH OH!) I only have one photo and it's with the bouquet also:

We got up bright and early! It wasn't all that cold. Yes, it was still only 26 degrees but that is a heat wave! My mom would probably get angry with me but I didn't wear a coat. I had gloves and about 4 layers on! We met up at the Trimbles house and headed downtown together. I believe Jana and I sang "We are the Champions" while trying to find a parking spot. (EH OH!) Jana got ready:

 

We headed down to the start. Let me tell you what. It may have been in the upper 20's but some of these costumes....W O W. Many people had little clothing on, were in shorts, a few bare feet, shirtless, body paint and the costumes, they were spectacular! (EH OH!) I have a few photos of some that we caught while running. After the race started we headed to on our own 5K. Not really but here are a few sights we saw before watching Jana finish!

We refueled!

Nationwide (EH OH!)

 

 It looks like it's falling on Jeffery

Here are some photos of people running or some of the costumes we saw. There were so many! It was fantastic!

Before the race...

 

It didn't stay so well once he was running...haha

These boys needed a little more fabric in their "man" area. Kudos for the body paint in the freezing cold.

 

Hawkeye Pride!

Capt America!

  

This is not a sweater!

  

There were also some very encouraging and uplifting moments of the race. Watching parents run with their kids. Just watching some 10 year olds run the race and finish.

One thing the brought a tear to my eye was seeing an elderly man running while pushing a friend in a wheelchair. It still gets to me.

There was also the Flintstones mobile!

I loved the expression on peoples face as they finished the race. Some were exhaustion but most of the was accomplishment, excitement and "I actually did it" expressions!

They ran in the full military gear

This guy had a fantastic costume and he ran in moccasin boots!

Finished!

I was most excited to see my Jana!! She finished the race and did it at a great time!! I am so very proud of her! Here are some shots of her finish!!

Woot Woot!! (EH OH!)

I love running face!

 With her medal!

  

Cheese face

Again, I am super proud of her and I can't wait till the next one!!!!

After the morning, we headed over to my parents house to get our little Jake! We went out and I got a guitar hard case for my new beauty and then we went out to lunch! After a short lesson from my dad, we headed home. Jake got his normal 12:30 nap at 3 and Michael took a quick snooze on the couch. We then headed over to a friends house for dinner! I love these folks! They are fantastic friends! After a delicious dinner we watched a Red Box. It as one of those movies that left you "that is it?!" It needed about 5-10 more minutes. Maybe show a few days later or even 1 year later. Oh well. It was still nice spending time with good friends. Jake was very good for being up so late. He even brought Norah and Mary roses. It was precious. Almost as adorable as listening to him talk to Norah when she was crying after she was put to bed. It was so sweet! Our trip home was an adventure. It had once again, started snowing. I have decided how to tell when it's going to snow. Every time the roads get perfectly clear on Meredith and our street, it snows the very next day. For the 6th time, it did. Oh the joys of Iowa winters!

Today is Valentines Day! In a way, I don't really like celebrating it because I love my family and friends the same about today and any other day. I don't think one day needs to be were I define my love for someone. We always agree never to buy each other gifts. I just got Michael a very heartfelt card and made him some coupons for massages and all that fun stuff. Michael, well he for once in his life, threw out the rule. He got me the most adorable card I think he has ever gotten me. I got teary eyed just reading it. It was beautiful. He handed my some amazing chocolates. Actually they were ice cream. It was a Cold Stone sampler, bite sized ice cream covered in chocolate samples. It was adorable. I said "Thank You" and then he told me to open them up and try one. It was 8am! I guess it's never too early for ice cream. I opened the box and there was a new camera!!!! What?! Are you kidding me? We have our larger camera for certain events but I love having a small one for parks, keep in the car, concerts, all that. Our old one finally got put to sleep after an incident involving the cat. It was 3 years old anyways. I am so excited to have it and use it!!! I felt so special that he remembered how badly I wanted on. I felt bad because I didn't get him anything. 

The rest of the day consisted of us just spending time as a family. We played with Jake and his trains and cars for about 2 hours! He loves them! When he went down for a nap, Michael and cuddled and watched Love Actually! I love that Michael will sit there, arm around me, watching a movie. Even if it's not his favorite. For dinner Michael made us some heart shaped blueberry pancakes! They were amazing. After we put our mini valentine to bed, Michael and I had a lovely evening. He presented me with another gift. This may not sound that exciting to the rest of you, but I know how much time and love went into this. He gave me a double CD set. He said since I loved music so much, he went through a ton of songs and picked out ones that expressed as many as his feelings as they could. This means so much to me. I know he had to of spent hours listening to songs to pick out the right ones. I will share the list. Some are corny but I fell even more in love with the man. It's a long list since it was 2 CDs.

1) On Bended Knee by Boyz II Men

2) That's How Strong My Love is by Alicia Keys

3) I Do - 98 Degrees

4) I Wanna Grow Old With You by Westlife

5) A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton

6) Hold My Heart by Tenth Ave North

7) You're Still The One by Shania Twain

8) 1234 Plain White T's

9) Bless The Broken Road by Rascal Flatts

10) When God Made You by Natalie Grant

11) God Must Have Spent A Little More Time on Your by NSYNC

12) Come What May Moulin Rouge

13) Hold On by Michael Buble

14) Amazing by Lonestar

15) You and Me by Lifehouse

16) The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face by Leona Lewis

17) You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban

18) Beautiful Disaster by Jon McLaughlin

19) For Your Love by Jessica Simpson

20) We Can by LeAnn Rimes

21) I'm Yours by Jason Mraz

22) Everytime I Look At You by Il Divo

23) The Reason by Hoobastank

24) 100 Years by Five for Fighting

25) Devoted to You by Everly Brothers

26) You & Me by Dave Matthews Band

27) When You Love Someone by Bryan Adams

28) Always by Bon Jovi

29) The Luckiest by Ben Folds

30) More Than A Love Song by Augustana

31) I Swear by All 4 One

32) I Don't Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith

33) Sarah by Jefferson Starship

I said this list was long. But very sweet. I made this as a playlist on my iPod as a reminder that I am very lucky!

That pretty much wraps up the weekend! It was busy and I loved it!

***If you are wondering about all the EH OH's! It's our new expression we are over using! I'm going to get Jeffery to use is!!! Haha

Birfday!

Today marks my 27th Birthday! In the words of Andy Bernard "Eh Oh!" What's in a number? I have never been one to take the number of years as a factor. I am extremely happy! A number is just a number. I still can't get over how fast a year goes. I don't even remember being 26, hence why I thought I was this year. Oh well. Old age I guess! (Eh oh!) I am very thankful for where I am at and for the people in the my life. God has truly blessed me with an amazing, supportive, beautiful and loving family. Friends, I can't even express my gratitude and love for them!

I woke up bright and early. 4:15am to be exact to a lovely phone call! After a lovely song, at the top of his lungs, I was wide awake! I got ready for work and headed downstairs to finish up. What is that? A guitar? No way! (EH OH!) I turned the corner and there stood a brand new guitar in a stand with my name on it! At first, I didn't know how to react. Them a think squealing and a few "Seriously's" popped out. A long time ago, I had told Michael I wanted a guitar. Once we had Jake and just life happened, I sort of put it on the back burner. We had talked about it a few months ago but not very much. Well, the hubby got me! I was totally shocked! I am so excited!! Now, I just have to pin my dad down to teach me!! Work was good. I only had to work till 12:15! (Eh Oh!) I received some beautiful flowers from my hubby that had a very heartfelt card with them and another from a friend! Some might not understand this but my dad picked out a flower for me. He picked a pink orchid. He said because it was beautifully unique and a little crazy, like me. It still brings a tear to my eye knowing he said that. We had an evening planned with good friends, good food and a good time. Unfortunately that didn't happen. We had over half cancel and we just decided to postpone the whole thing. Most of the food is salvageable. The candy bags will still be there next week! =) We ended up having a good night anyways!! (EH OH!) Spent the night with some of our favorite people. You know those two people you can just always be yourself around and always have a great time with no matter what and they love you no matter what you talk about, what you do, what you say, or what come back you have? Well we have two of them for sure. They are amazing and I couldn't imagine my life without them!! (EH OH!)

Thank you to everyone for the birthdays wishes, texts, calls, and cards. I am extremely blessed to have all of you in my life and I thank God for you everyday!! I am truly blessed!! Thank you all! Much love to you all!!!!

Here are some photos of my surprises!!! They are all cell phone pics! Haha

How my guitar was set up in the morning!

Yay for Snuggie Parties!!!

My flowers and candy from my hubby, my daddy and friends!

Legal

Odd post. I don't care though.

Today some of us ladies (and gentelmen) can now dream about this "man" without consequence! I may not like Jacob Black, but I can stare at him when he looks like this! So Happy 18th Birthday Taylor. You make Jacob Black so much enjoyable and desirable for me! That is something I never thought I would say.

I forgot!

I am done with that wonderful Rater Curiosity class! They rushed through everything so we could be done today. I am thankful for that. I survived. Now back to work where there seems to be an overflow! =)

I want your love......love, love, love

My Valentines cards and treats are done for work tomorrow. All the bags for Fridays shindig are filled to the top too! That was a fun hour tonight! That is all for today! 

This should surprise no one

Josie's even though she isn't here! Rater Love.

 

All the candy for work and the Par-tay

 

Side note: I couldn't find any that were just Edward. Made me a little sad to buy some with Jacob Black on them. What a waste!

Raise the Roof for the Raters!!!!!

**Disclaimer**

If you are not in the "Rater" joke. I am sorry. I apologize if you have no idea what I am talking about.

This week I get to partake in a lovely class. It's three and a half days of complete and utter boredom. The minutes seem to be going backwards and I want my iPod. I can feel it calling my name in my purse. I want to put my purse on the other side of the room so the feeling of neglect will disappear. We spent an hour and 15 minutes on a website. A website. One that we use everyday, and that I have used for the past 3 years. I think I know it inside and out. Our trainers have us do all these exercises and then are shocked when a few of us know what we are doing. No offense to anyone, but coming from DMRO, we were given leeway to think for ourselves! Also, no offense to our field underwriters but they send quite a few applications over blank. So us "raters" get the opportunity to think outside the box. Being the professional "rater" I am, I take pride in being able to practically underwrite a policy from start to finish without blinking an eyelash! I can't speak for all of us "raters" but I feel that I know everything they are going over. I looked on to see what the next 2 and a half days have in store and snooze fest. We also don't have a very vocal bunch! For a while "rater" Billy Joel and myself were answering all the questions in a monotone voice. I need a caffeine drip! I kept emailing people on my cell. I had to. I wouldn't have survived otherwise. My day brightened when I saw that green blinking light on my phone. I woke up at one point when Billy sneezed. Another when AJ (CJ, BJ, ZJ, etc) moved suddenly, and when I almost poked my eye out on my pen because I had slowly fallen into day dream land. Watching paint dry would have been far more entertaining. Having a professor speak in Latin for a 4 hour lecture would have been more beneficial. I know I should complain, but honestly. I would so be better off just working. Being the outstanding "rater" that I am! During the most exciting training experience in my life, the weather was surely keeping everyone on their toes.

I really need to pay attention to the news. I never do. It snowed all day. It seems to be an occurrence on Mondays. Not fun. Mondays = Snow and Tiredness. In all honestly, the roads were not as bad as I thought they would be. I went about 50mph on the interstate and the average mph on the side streets. Only bad part for me is Meredith. Ugh. That road. It's my downfall in the snow. It was a complete white out. Luckily I am only on it for 2 miles. I am going officially say that I am tired of the snow. I don't usually mind it, but I am so over it. I just wish people would learn to turn on their lights. Especially if they are driving white cars! Seriously, I want to be able to see you when you cut me off!  Oh the days of the sun and flowers. I am ready for Spring. Bring it on!! Of course it is going to snow some more tonight. Think positive Sarah! 

I have written this on every page of our binder so far. I had to take a photo and send it to my fellow "raters". I'll have to remember to send it to B tomorrow morning! =)

Weekend Round Up

Here is a brief rundown of our weekend. Nothing too exciting. Just the life of being a Janzen! =)

Friday. We needed Friday. Michael was home for the first time in 2 weeks. He was so tired so we didn't go out. We had planned a date night but all he wanted to do was make pizza and watch Smallville. I am totally game for that. We cuddled on the couch and had a date night in!

The alarm went off nice and early for another Saturday. Once again, Michael left before the sun came up. He thought it would only take about 4 hours to get the house done. Not! The ground was frozen solid and he didn't get home till like almost 6! Jake and I spent the day reading, playing games, doing laundry, coloring and cleaning up the house. We were suppose to go to HOB to listen to our friends band, but Michael was exhausted. He needed a night to just veg and not even thing about anything that is going on!

Sunday (today) was our insane day. We went to run errands and ended up having car troubles, all to be fixed by a new tank of gas. We were running extremely late and finally got home just in time to babysit. While baking and cooking, we were entertained by 4 kids! We had some detours and eventually made it to the Trimbles house! Sorry to say this, but the Superbowl and commercials were extremely lame. I made it an adventure searching for Kardashians! Kept me on the edge of my seat! After great company and amazing food we made it home to crash.

We are suppose to get snow...how much? I have no clue! Once again, another Monday with snow!