6 Months in Green Bay!

Man-o-man... how time flys!

I have to say it's hard to believe that we've almost been in Green Bay for 6 months! The first of May will be the mark. I thought it would be fun to see all the "firsts" we've experienced since the beginning of November... here it goes:

1. First time to see the GREEN BAY sign on Nov. 8th

2. First day in our new house was Nov. 9th

3. First Packer Game was Nov 14th with Julie and Chris

4. First Snow was Nov. 21st

5. First Thanksgiving as a married couple - we spent it at The Brown's house. Kevin and I cooked: Sausage Stuffing, Macaroni Special and a Pumpkin Cheesecake

6. First time the Williams visited was Nov. 30th

7. First time friends visited - Jason, Chad and Brittney on Dec. 9th

8. First Gamblers Hockey Game with Chris Brown!

9. First Christmas as a married couple

10. First day of my new job - The Boys and Girls Club of Green Bay on Jan. 30th

11. Jason visited again - Kevin and Jason's first fishing trip on the Fox River for Walleye

11. First bike ride on my new bike along the Fox River with Amy Baeten! 

Fun Facts!

We've been to 2 Packer Games and 2 Hockey Games.

We saw Buddy Guy in March in Green Bay.

We saw Jim Gaffigan in April outside Chicago.
I've flown home 4 times in 6 months.
Kevin has flown home with me a few times and a bunch because of work!
We celebrated April 10th, which was TWO years to the day Kevin proposed!

Whew - we've done a lot in 6 months! Can't wait for the next 6 months!

Until next time, Lauren

Happy Birthday Macy!

Kevin and I flew down to Tunica, MS to help her celebrate around the first of March! And boy did we ever!

We had such a great time celebrating Macy's 21st birthday. A few of Macy's friends came with her and Jason (Kevin's best friend) came too! Mom, dad, Buddy, Jerry and Ms. Patti also came! We all stayed at Harrah's Casino. Our first night was Macy's first casino experience! Then the next day, we all split up a little: the boys did a little gambling, Macy and her friends took it easy and Mom, Patti, Buddy and myself did a little shopping. This is where the brilliant idea of wine and a patio came into the picture. That Saturday afternoon was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! And, it became my favorite part of the trip. Later that night, we went out to eat, did a little gambling and us "kids" went to a club :) Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend!

First night - on the way to the casino!

The "Boys"

Beautiful girls! LOVE the wine glass Ms. Patti gave you! Just perfect! 

The "Girls"

Please ignore my outfit... it was chilly and someone should have told me to unbutton the cardigan.

Jason won on the second day!! Woo Whoo! 

Second night outside the casino

Jason is one lucky man!

Go Birthday Gurl Go!

My favorite picture from the weekend! Love it! 

Macy - thank you for letting us share your birthday! Enjoy being 21!

Love, sis

HOME SHOW Child

A month ago I received an unexpected phone call from the Home Builders Association... It was Shannon asking if I would be interested to come down to work the HOME SHOW. She was so nervous that I would say no... I don't know what she was thinking! I jumped at the chance!! The HOME SHOW was my favorite event to work. It was definitely the hardest to work but still my favorite. I love being able to interact with so many people at one time...many being my good friends! I just wish I had worn a pedometer... I swear I walked a marathon each day!

The northern winter did throw me a curve ball... Kevin took me to the airport on thursday night to find out that my flight was canceled due to snow in Chicago. Ugh... Lucky for me, they were able to re-route my flight... To 5:30am Friday morning!!!!

My sweet (and sleepy) husband took me to the airport at 4:30am for my flight. I arrived in Little Rock around 2:00pm. Needless to say, Friday was a long day at the show. But, I had a lot of caffeine, red bull and 5 hour energy shots to help!

I was also super excited about seeing my friends!! The Boys and Girls Club of Central Arkansas hosted a Mardi Gras Benefit on Friday night, so all my friends were in one place!! It was a perfect night except for my sleep deprivation!

Mom and grandma also came to see me on Saturday! It was truly a great night! Mom, grandma, Myself and Shannon all went to dinner after the show on Saturday! It was so nice to sit back, relax, enjoy great conversation and food!! Mom, gmaw and I all stayed at a hotel that night!

Overall, it was a perfect and tiring weekend! You don't realize how special your friends and family are until you move away! We miss you all so much!! Come visit! It's almost summer... And PS, if you don't know, it's absolutely beautiful here in the summer!

Special thanks to Chad Launius for picking me up at the airport on Friday and Betsy for putting me up on Friday night, loaning me your car on Saturday and for taking me to the airport on Sunday!!

PSS- Shannon I'm game in 2013!

With love, Lauren

Lauren's New Job!

Hooray! Let's celebrate! 

I start my new job at The Boys and Girls Club of Green Bay next week (Jan 30) in their Resource Development Dept! I was very fortunate to find a position quickly. It's a funny story... here's how it all happened.

First, we wanted to wait until the holidays were over before I started looking, so we would be able to come home for the holidays. I started my search right before Christmas and had an interview scheduled for the first of January. This position was with The Boys and Girls Club of Green Bay (BGCGB), although it was for their After School Program. I thought this would be a fun job (part-time) and give me some flexibility. I went in for my interview and it went GREAT! They offered me the position... although recommended I apply for a different position in their Resource Development Dept.

After thinking long and hard, I decided to go for it! This also meant another round of interviews... ugh! I feel like interviews are a lot like first dates and I'm actually weird because I like first dates, so interviews aren't that bad. I feel like you always have a lot to talk about because everything is new information! Well, this interview had a kicker... a writing sample! After I went through two panels of interviewers, I had to write a sample grant and this was totally new for me... so I dreaded this part! I thought the interview portion went GREAT, but I wasn't sure how the writing sample went - I tend to ramble sometimes :)

Well, I must have done alright because I was their first choice!! Yippy! I'm very excited about this position because it will be similar to my position at the Home Builders Assn of Greater Little Rock, although there are a few new twists and turns - grant writing specifically. I'm also excited because it's a larger office environment than I've had in the past (3 at Building AR and 3 at HBA). There will be 5 of us in the Resource Development Dept. and I'm guessing around 15-20 in the whole office. It also seems like a very close-knit environment, which I LOVE. The HBA had a great environment, which felt like family many times.

Here are a few of my tasks: grant writing for projects $5,000 and under, research for future grants, maintain positive relationships with current grant holders/funders, event coordination, press releases, etc.

I don't think I could have found a more perfect position than the BGCGB! I love the non-profit world and I'm excited about working to help better the lives of Green Bay kids.

Here's the funny/ironic part - The Executive Director is from ARKANSAS... specifically
EL DORADO, ARKANSAS!!!! How crazy is that! We are practically from the same home town and now, we're all the up here in Green Bay, Wisconsin! Talk about a small world!

Stay tuned - Lauren

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!! 

I hope you all had a great Christmas! Kevin and I had the best time over the holiday, mainly because we got to see our friends and family! We flew home on Dec. 22 and spent the night in Little Rock with our friends. We know how hectic it can get during the holidays, so we planned one special night just for our friends! Betsy was so sweet to plan dinner and drinks for us and let us stay at Hotel Betsy. We had a group of around 15 that went to Loca Luna for dinner and then we hit our favorite watering hole, La Fountain! It's amazing how much you miss the "old normal"! It was such a great night! And, I just realized that I didn't take ANY pictures... shame on me! But, I guess it's because we were having such a good time! 

We drove down to Camden (AR) on Dec. 23 to spend Christmas with my family. It was a perfect trip, although I could of taken a few extra days. Since we were only there for three nights, it was busy! Our first night we stayed home and played cards (go figure!). Slade, Ms. Patti, Grandma, Aunt Pam and Uncle Art also came over! It was a fun night filled with Neighborly, Music and Good Company. As a tradition, I work with mom all day on Christmas Eve and wrap, wrap and wrap! Kevin was our little elf that day and did a little shopping for us... he actually survived Wal-Mart TWICE! Such a saint! We spent Christmas Eve at my grandma Laney's house and then did our family Christmas at the house that night. We were blessed with some really great gifts! On Christmas day, we had a big breakfast prepared by dad and then were off to an even bigger lunch at grandma's house. That night, we had our Blount Family Christmas at our house. It was so great to see the family! It was sad to leave on Dec 26 but we were also very excited to see the Williams Family! 

We didn't take too many pictures, but I thought this was a good one! My grandpa Blount (aka The Possum), Ms. Patti and mom. We're playing our favorite game - neighborly! 

Kevin and I are very lucky to have such great families and it also works out perfectly during the holidays - we get to spend Christmas with my family and then go skiing with his family over New Years! We're very fortunate! I know a lot of couples that have to split holidays between their families. We flew to Telluride (CO) with the Williams to spend New Years in the mountains. It is such a beautiful place! I have several pictures that I've included from the trip:

Happy 7th Birthday Grant! We celebrated Grant's birthday in style! He requested fish and hot dogs for his birthday. He had hot dogs for lunch and then a mix of fresh fish for dinner! We also had the best of both worlds for dessert - vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cake (plus ice cream!)! We did not follow our diet that night :) 

LOVE Downtown Telluride! Such a neat area - filled with great shops and restaurants! 

Here's one of us skiing! It was unseasonable warm (30s-40s) and Telluride actually had the most snow in ALL of Colorado and they were still below average. 

Our favorite day of skiing was our last day (first day comes in at a close second) where we all got to ski with Grant and Ella for the first time ever! They are both still in ski school, but we all took them out on our last day.  They are both doing so good! Here's Ella (and Tony) making her way down the mountain with some good "S" turns.

Riding the lift with Ella and Tony. Grant was so fast, I couldn't get a picture of him :)

My super cool skis! 

This one is a little blurry... Kevin and I at our favorite spot - Giuseppe's (Elevation 11,885). Every year, we make a pit stop for a few special beverages before we head home! Great Memories! 

We had such a great trip! I already miss the mountains, although we were ready to get home. Being on the road for 12 days is a LONG time. Plus - we missed Pixie and Kaaba very much!

Arkansas Takes Wisconsin!

One. Wild. Weekend.

Chad, Jason and Brittany came to visit on Dec 9-12!! We had such a great time! It was fun showing our friends where we live and around DePere and Green Bay. I picked them up from the Appleton Airport and we met Kevin for lunch at Kroll's Pub, which is right beside Lambeau Stadium. This officially welcomed them to Green Bay! Kroll's is a really neat place; it seriously hasn't been updated since the 1970s - complete with vinyl booths and club seats! There is even a "service button" at each booth! Our first night we took everyone to our favorite little bar called Nicky's Lionshead Pub. It's a quaint little place! Chad experienced some of the best Gumbo (yes... great gumbo in the North!) he's ever had! Nicky's is also famous for their Apple Pie Shots - and we definitely enjoyed a few of these! They seriously taste like a slice of apple pie - yummy!

On our second day, we laid around the house for the most part but went out for a nice dinner that night. Can you guess where I took them?? Yep - that's right, Plae Bistro! We had a wonderful dinner! And ended the night a little earlier than Friday night so we would be well rested for our BIG PACKER SUNDAY!

On Sunday, we went the Packers vs. Raiders game at Lambeau! What a day!! We were smart and took at taxi to and from the game! Keeping it safe! We tailgated at the Stadium View Bar, which is beside the stadium (go figure!). We got there around 11:30 am and by 12:30 - Chad was riding the mechanical bull! He decided he was going to kick start the day! He was the very first person of the day to ride.. and might I add, he set the bar pretty high!

There is an Official Packer Tailgate in the Lambeau parking lot that we also decided to check out too! It was pretty fun and danced to a little country music! I don't know why I'm always so surprised to hear country music up here, but I am. For some reason, I only associate country music with the south, but we are in farm country up here - so I guess it makes sense!

We made it into the stadium around 2:30 for our 3:15 game! We had awesome seats on the 30 yard line! Plus the game was a complete blow out! I heard that Kevin and I made it on ESPN... but I didn't see it for myself so I'm not sure it was us. I wish I would have recorded the game!

Our taxi driver told us we needed to wait an hour to two hours after the game to avoid traffic - so that meant off to the bar for us! We decided to go back to Stadium View since it was close to the taxi pick up spot. It was nuts in there! Picture a bar with a capacity of 200 and cram 400 Packer fans in for a dance party! If you're claustrophobic - this was not the place for you! 

We finally decided to head home but made a quick stop at Chicago Street Pub. I have to share our waitress' comment to us "So, let me get this straight, you want to order: cheese curds, cheese sticks, french fries, onion rings, a sampler basket and an 18" pizza?" Oh yeah - she's lucky we didn't order more! 

Needless to say - Monday was a long day for everyone! And Chad, Jason & Brittany had to fly home! Ugh. Here are a few pics from the weekend! 



At Nicky's

At Stadium View before the game

At the game!

We had such a good time! Thank you guys so much for coming up to visit!! We love you and can't wait to see you for Christmas in Arkansas! 

PS - I'm still debating if Kevin and I can show our face anytime soon at Chicago Street.... Arkansas definitely took Wisconsin by storm!  

Happy Turkey Day

Our first Thanksgiving was a first in many ways... First as a married couple, First being away from our families and First to cook several recipes on our own.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Craig, Julie and Chris Brown at their house. They were wonderful hosts! Julie cooked a ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit salad and rolls. Kevin and I brought macaroni special (Grandma Laney's recipe), sausage stuffing (Ms. Terry's recipe) and pumpkin cheesecake (Mom's recipe). I cooked the macaroni dish, the cheesecake and started the stuffing. I have to hand it to Kevin, he almost cooked the stuffing by himself... and it was GOOD! Actually, all three dishes turned out perfect!

Here's the cheesecake! I meant to take pictures of all three dishes... 

It was truly a great day! We all ate until we were stuffed, watched the Packers reach their 11-0 record and took home lots of leftovers!

It was a little sad being away from our families, but we have only been in Wisconsin for 3 weeks or so. Plus, the Williams are coming to visit next week and we couldn't be more excited. We already have a few fun places to show them. Christmas is also right around the corner and we'll be coming home to Arkansas.

Before I leave, I thought I would share a few things I'm thankful for: my husband Kevin, my family, my new family, my sweet friends, our awesome dogs, my health and energy, and I'm also very thankful for this adventure. It's great to see and experience new things knowing we're coming back to our true home, Arkansas!

Until next time, Lauren