Geraldine "Gerry" Baehr

October 27, 1926 - May 16th, 2010.

Jeremy's Great Grandma Baehr passed away last Sunday night right after we landed in MN from our trip to Daytona Beach.

"Gerry was a very active person over the years and had many hobbies and things she enjoyed doing. She loved doing crosswords, Sudoku, and bingo. She bowled for many years. The best thing in her life was spending time with family and friends, and fishing at her cottage in Chetek, Wis. Her time spent with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren was priceless. Gerry had a great sense of humor and quick wit."

Grandma Baehr was a wonderful lady and she will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

Fun in the sun!

Last weekend Jeremy and I took a long weekend and went to Daytona Beach, FL with his parents. It was such a nice break from work and everything else - it was a much needed vacation!!

We had a late flight out on Wednesday night and after sitting on the runway for about an hour we finally took off getting into Orlando around 12:30 am. We got up early on Thursday morning and headed to Daytona Beach for our vacation! We stayed at the Ocean Walk Resort right on the ocean and it was amazing! Thursday night we had a nice dinner at the resort and walked around the shops by the resort.

Friday we spent almost all day at Daytona International Speedway. We had a VIP tour where we got to go to Gatorade Victory Lane, Daytona 500 Champions Club, Press Box above the main grandstand and the Fox Sports booth above the main grandstand. Not only did we have a VIP tour, but we participated in the Richard Petty Driving Experience. The four of us rode in a race car for 3 laps at 170 mph! Not gonna lie, I was a little freaked out about riding at 170 mph in a race car, but what a rush! It was an amazing experience and I would do it all over again!

Saurday we spent the day relaixing by the pool and by the ocean. The lazy river was great and it was fun swimming in the ocean! Saturday night we went to dinner at Hooters and walked around the boardwalk when we got back to the hotel. We even went for a ride on the ferris wheel right by our hotel.

Sunday we flew back home so we had a little bit of time to lay by the pool in the morning and then we headed back to Orlando to catch our flight Sunday night.

Our trip was great and we had so much fun! We all got a little bit of a sun tan to start out the summer as well!

Here are a few pictures from our trip --

The view from our hotel room!

On the VIP tour bus at Daytona International Speedway.

In front of Mark Martin's car.

Dave, Julie, Jeremy and I at Gatorade Victory Lane.

All dressed up and ready to ride in a race car!

Just before we rode.

Jeremy climbing into the car.

The ferris wheel next to our resort.

Jeremy and I on the ferris wheel.

Dave and Julie on the ferris wheel.

Opening Fishing

This past weekend was opening fishing in WI so we made the drive up to the cabin in Chetek for the opener! Saturday was a little bit of a bummer due to the cold/windy weather, so Jeremy didn't get a ton of fishing in. As for me, I didn't fish once. I spent the weekend in the cabin catching up on work and my reports and studying for my next CPCU test which is on the 24th of this month!

Sunday was a little better for fishing and Jeremy got up early to go fishing with his cousins Derek and Trevor and his uncle Jeff. Sounds like they had some decent fishing, but hopefully the weather is nicer this upcoming weekend so it's a little more enjoyable for them!

Maple didn't mind the cold and the wind - she jumped right off the dock, not sure what she went after, but she got a little swimming in!

Texas

As you can may be able to tell from how belated my last post was, I am extremely busy right now! As soon I was done planning Alyssa's shower/bachelorette party I had to prepare for my work field trip to Texas that I was going on the next weekend. I flew into Houston, TX on Sunday, April 18th and was there until Friday, April, 23rd.

I stayed in The Woodlands on Sunday and Monday night, was in Beaumont on Tuesday night and then went back to The Woodlands on Wednesday and Thursday night.

The reason I've been so busy is because I wanted to get ahead on as much work as I could so it didn't pile up during the week I was gone. Although I did get ahead a little bit, I still came home to a ton of work and last week was just crazy! This week I still have finish my reports from my field trip, I gave a presentation this morning, and I'm giving the presentation again next Monday! Work is busy but good. I love my job so I don't mind being busy.

As timing would have it, by the time I get caught back up on my work this week, I have training for a 1/2 day next week and we're going to FL so I'll be off on Thursday and Friday. I guess that's what happens when you take vacation, so it's worth it!

This will probably be my only trip to Texas for work as I will be getting a new territory sometime in the next 6-8 months due to some realignment at work. Guess I'll get to go somewhere else next time, hopefully it's somewhere warm :)

Alyssa's Bridal Shower & Bachelorette Party

Three weeks ago I threw my cousin Alyssa's Bridal Shower & Bachelorette Party with the help of my aunt Becky, cousin Kailey and Kelly, Alyssa's other bridesmaid. I really enjoyed planning this day for my cousin and found myself being very creative with the different things I decided to do for the shower.

Here are the invitations I made and sent out to about 50 guests. In each invitation was a recipe card for everyone to bring for Alyssa out of a really cute recipe box I bought from Stampin' Up!





My cousin registered for 10 packs of toilet paper at Target so I thought it would be funny to buy her a pack of the registry but wanted to do something fun with it. Here is what I came up with!







Not only did I make 50+ invitations, but I thought it would be really neat if Alyssa had handmade thank-you cards in her wedding colors to send to everyone from the shower! Here are a couple of my favorite cards that I made. I think I made 35 cards total and of course I had to make them all different which created way more work, but I love making the cards so I didn't mind!











At this point, it was the weekend before and I was pretty much done planning and preparing stuff for the shower, other than a few cards I had left to make. While shopping in Eau Claire for bachelorette party supplies I thought wouldn't it be cool to make little favors for everyone coming to the shower? So that's what I did. I made cookies shaped as a wedding dress, hearts, bells and a cake and frosted them in her wedding colors. Thank god for my wonderful husband who helped me frost them :)





I was very ambitious and I loved doing all of it but I'm glad I don't have to throw them all the time because it takes a lot out of you! Her shower was Saturday morning at 11:00. We played a couple of games, one of with was of a bubble gum game where Alyssa had to eat a piece of bubbilicious gum for every question about Bryson she got wrong (see picture below). For food we had Subway sandwiches, veggies and dip, cheese dip, other chips etc. Here are a few pictures from the shower.




Alyssa and all of her bridesmaids!

After the shower we started the bachelorette party and went to the Beauty School in Wausau and got pedicures! There were 9 girls all together which was a great turn out! I don't have any pictures from this part, but I've put quite a few pictures up so that's probably ok!

As soon as we were done at the Beauty School I went back to the hotel to set up the hotel room for the rest of the bachelorette party. I didn't do a lot, but I did put up a couple of banners and balloons and set up some food and drinks! Being that Alyssa isn't 21 yet, we didn't do the bar scene, but we had a blast hanging out at the hotel and playing games! I did make cosmo slush, which was quite a hit!

We played a game with a pin-up guy poster that I had bought and everyone put lipstick on, was blind-folded, spun about 10 times and then had to kiss the pin-up as close to his manhood as possible. It was quite hilarious!



All in all, everything went as planned and I think everyone had a good time! Next is the wedding on June 19th - I can't wait!!