The falling of the leaves...

Three months later, and here I am, still perplexed by the speed at which time has passed. The fall is here and is quickly turning to winter. The leaves have deserted our little tree out front, and we officially turned the heater on last weekend! We had our first snow this past Friday, though it didn't stick on the ground at all. It sure was a beautiful sight as I drove into work! And Delainey insisted on running outside to catch a snowflake on her tongue as soon as the first few flakes began to fall. She is pretty cute, if I do say so!
So far, the natural beauty of Indiana is still amazing me. People here laugh at my excitement for all of the changes that come this way, but I genuinely hope that I never loose this thrill! I love it as the leaves change and start dropping from their branches, leaving golden blankets of leaves everywhere. I find myself in awe when I open the curtains in the mornings and see a sheet of ice crystals across every surface on the frosty mornings. I don't even mind scraping a few of them off my car windshield in the mornings after work. And the snow.....the falling snow made me smile ear to ear and really made me sad that I had to go to work. Not because I wanted to be at home cuddled up, but because I actually just wanted to be outside in it. I must have sat in my car for 20 minutes before heading into work. I sat there until the absolute last possible moment so that I could just watch every last flake fall. And then I took my sweet time on the short walk into the building. I just wanted to make it last as long as possible. Once inside, I took every opportunity that I could to look out the window to check on the snowy status. To my dismay, the snow stopped as quickly as it had started and now I must wait for the next snowy day! Who knows when that will be however, since this first snowy day came almost a full month sooner than last years! I don't wish to be barricaded in by snow, but I just love watching it fall and seeing everything enveloped in it! I know, I know.....you snowy weather regulars think that I am nuts! I will keep my crazy though, if it lets me keep enjoying the snow!
And I suppose I should give other updates, as well, since we do have more than just weather here!The last few months have been packed full of activity. In September, we went apple picking at a local orchard, which was a lot of fun. Did you know that there is such a thing as apple cider slushies....they are fabulous! Of course, I am sure a lot of you know how partial I am to slushies, but I think even non-slushie lovers would agree that they are pretty good! Delainey and her little friend, Abbie were excellent apple pickers and I already cannot wait until next year. Though I think I will go sooner and visit a couple times to get all the varieties of apples they have. They were so fresh and delicious! We also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary at the end of September. I cannot believe that it has been 7 years since we went to Maui....I think we need to plan a return soon!!! Abbie's mom and dad were going to keep Delainey for us so Ryan and I could actually have a date....but we ended up asking for a rain check. I think we were sharing one of our many colds at the time, but the details escape me at the moment! Delainey also started taking a ballet/tap class in Septemeber. She is loving it! She prefers ballet to tap, but is so adorable either way! Some classes are better than others, since she is such a little social butterfly and is easily distracted, but she seems to fit right in with the rest of the girls! She will be having 2 recitals next year, and I am both excited and nervous to see how she and the other little gals do! Oh, and how could I forget that she got her "big girl bed" in September as well. She looked so big in her crib/toddler bed, so we converted her crib into a full sized bed and now she just gets swallowed up by the shear size of it. Last night when I went to check on her, she was scrunched down under all of the covers and barely looked like a little bump on the bed. Another night when I went to check on her, I really thought she was gone because she has squished between the pillow as much as she could and was so tight against her safety rail, that it just looked like her blanket was bunched up without anyone underneath! She still occasionally asks for her other bed back, but I think that she likes the little changes that we made! That month just flew by!
October raced by just as fast as the months before. And was equally packed with fun, if I do say so! It seemed like it was a bit warmer this year than last, so we were able to do some more outdoor activities than I expected. We spent one day at the zoo with Abbie and her mom, and really enjoyed it! The zoo lost one of the Walruses a few days later, so it was kind of nice that we were able to go when we did! We were also able to go on the Pumpkin train with Abbie and both of her parents, Stephanie and Dave. It is a real train that takes off from our local train museum in town and heads north to a private pumpkin patch. It is a tradition for a lot of people in the area and the girls loved it. The train experience was better than the actual pumpkin patch, since most of the pumpkins were picked over and it was a hot day. But it was still fun! I would love to do it again next year....but maybe a bit earlier in the season. They have a ton of other train trips that I think we will have to plan on, as well! It was pretty neat! Made me miss my Choo-Choo Milt, though! I know that it would have been something that he would have taken me on as a little girl, if we had it near us back in HB. Choo-Choo Milt.....maybe next year you can head out here and take Delainey...lol!Delainey also got to spend a day at her friend Tyler's birthday! You have all heard about Tyler, and Delainey's crush on him is still going pretty strong! She is talking marriage and her daddy and I are trying to get her to just slow down...lol!
And the highlight of the month....a visit from Grammy and Papa! We were able to spend a week with them, which of course was just not long enough! Delainey wore them out....that's for sure! They were able to come to one of Delainey's dance classes and even witness the effects of some straight line winds. Our neighbors big trampoline was picked up and taken two houses down and landed on a fence! I worked my normal shifts while they were here, so I didn't spend as much time with them as I would've liked to. It was a good visit though, and hopefully not to long before they come back for another one!!! They left on Saturday and then Sunday was Halloween. Delainey was Tinkerbell and Abbie was Snow White! They were adorable! They would head up to the houses, get their candy, and then just stand there like they were waiting for more! It was adorable! We only did our street and then we brought the girls inside for some hot cocoa and let them hand out the candy. Our town has set hours for trick or treating so it was a pretty early night! A fun time for Delainey and her little best friend!! Too cute! That is pretty much it for our last few months! Hopefully we will be able to pack as much fun into the rest of 2010! I hope you have enjoyed our update and pictures, as well! Love you all!

The Tierney's

Where has the time gone???

I must have blinked at some point over the last year because the time has just flown by.

I have heard people say that time seems to speed up as we age, and I am finally experiencing it, firsthand.

It was one year ago, now, that we were celebrating Ryan's 30th birthday with some great friends in Vegas. And on that same day I was pacing impatiently waiting to hear how the closing of our house went.

And here we are one full year later. Ryan is now an older, wiser, 31! We have been homeowners for one full year and in two weeks, we will celebrate the one year anniversary of our actual move to Indiana!

The past year has gone better than I expected it to, to be honest! We definitely love it here and I know that we made the right choice in our big move!

There are definitely moments of homesickness....for those we've moved away from, not really for California, itself. It's been hard missing out on birthday and holiday celebrations. I miss lunches and playdates with friends. Ryan misses his partners in crime! We miss the security and comfort of having our families and wonderful friends so close. I miss Wahoo's, Del Taco and Las Barcas. Ryan misses In N Out! There have been one or two days that I thought "this would be a good beach day" or a great afternoon to walk around Fashion Island. I have definitely missed my Target trips with Steph and Delainey is having severe withdrawls from Shae!!! It has been hard being away when our loved ones have been under the weather and was very hard this week to be so far away for the birth of our niece, Makenzie Correne Tierney. It's been rough to watch our friends "virtual pregnancies" since we can't watch those tummies grow in person....or rub the little budha bellies!

We do find comfort in knowing everyone is just a phone call, facebook and Skype away, and I do not know what we would do without technology!

Nothing can replace all of those things and people that we miss from "back home" but we are very fortunate to have gained so much here in our new home!

We have great friends and neighbors, amazing activites and places to go and seasons....4 real seasons!!! Now that we have officially experienced them all, I cannot wait for fall to come and Delainey has already been asking for snow!

It has been a blast making our house our own and although we still aren't close to exactly how we want it, it's ours and it feels like home. By the way, by we....Ryan would say I mean...me! He thinks I have too many projects that I want to do....but oh well....I am having fun!!!

I really cannot believe that it has been a year! One amazing year!

Summer Kick Off!

What a blast the last week has been! If this is a preview to what the summer will be like....BRING IT ON!

We are looking forward to our first full summer in Indiana and also looking forward to celebrating the culmination of surviving our first year in Indiana!!! More on all of that later...back to the last week!

Although I know summer officially began today....my summer began last Thursday! That was the night of our concert!!! I was lucky enough to join Holly and Tari from work, along with Tari's hubby Glen, for a great concert! We saw Love and Theft, Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw at the local outdoor ampetheater! It was a great concert, with great company! It was Tari and Glen's 4th wedding anniversary and I was so glad that they spent the special occasion with us! Tari, Holly and I celebrated with yummy frozen drinks!!! I have to say the whole concert experience was much different in Indiana that those I am used to in Cali. Don't get me wrong, the music was the same, but generally just a different atmosphere. I have to say one of my favorite things...lightning bugs at the concert. I mean how awesome is it to be sitting under the stars watching a hot Tim McGraw up on stage and have lightening bugs everywhere! I loved it! There was not a shortage of drunken morons....but they were entertaining to us, none the less!

I must say I definitely learned one important thing....I was wrong! Yeah....there it is in plain writing....I said it....I was wrong!

So what, you ask was I wrong about....well this is a biggy! I am sure that most of you know that I have a "thing" for cowboy hats. I have been known to say that any guy in a cowboy hat is sexy.

Indiana has proven me wrong....and not by a small margin either....I am talking horribly, utterly and unmistakably WRONG. There is NOTHING sexy about a 500 pound, shirtless, toothless, tattooed and sweaty guy in a cowboy hat.....ok I may have exaggerated on the toothless part...but the rest is true.

And NOOOOOOO.....there was not only one such example, but a few that made me come to this disheartening realization. I learned a few things from this situation....1. Obviously...not any man in a cowboy hat is sexy....2. There was not enough alcohol at the concert venue to make them sexy and 3. There should be a list of qualifications required to both purchase a cowboy hat and wear one!!!!
Despite this visual unpleasantries....it was a good time.

Here are a few pics from our evening!Glen and Tari

Tari, Me and Holly (with our frozen beverages, of course!!)


The next morning....it was off to Chicago!!!

After dropping Sheba off at her doggy hotel, we picked up my coworker, Adam, and hit the road. Although Adam is a Cubs fan, we thought we would take him along for good karma :)

After a small detour through the neighborhoods of Hammond, Indiana and South Chicago...which I do not recommend....we made it to our hotel! Jim and Madi flew in from Cali to join us and met us at our hotel lobby.....then we were off to Wrigley!

We met "Maa-Maw", Ryan's mom, who had also flown in...and watched the Angels take the Cubs in their house! It was great!!!! Hot and humid, but great!

Delainey enjoyed her cousin Madi and Torii Hunter, of course!!!

About 20 minutes before the game ended, they announced that there was a storm approaching and that there was a thunderstorm watch....then a few minutes later they upgraded it to a warning. As the game ended....the sky opened up! We were trying to snap a last few pictures from inside the stadium when they kicked us out.

We looked at the radar on our cell phones and decided that we would wait it out since it looked like a break was coming our way. We congregated in the lobby area just outside one of the tunnels and quickly found ourselves grouped together with the other Angel fans that were connected to Maa-Maw. We watched the wind, rain and hail blow in the tunnel and just stood there enjoying ourselves.

Pretty soon we realized that we had accidentally camped outside the exit to the Angels locker room.....talk about dumb luck. We were able to watch most of the Angels exit after the game and got quite a few pictures. To tell you the truth....I don't even know half of the pictures I got cause those boys look different in street clothes.

We waited eagerly for Hunter....but never got a glimpse of him :( They eventually kicked us out of the stadium and we took shelter at McDonald's.....yeah that's right....McDonald's! Not the most interesting spot to visit in Chicago....but with two kiddos...our choices were limited in that area!

We eventually made it back to the redline and headed back to our hotels to clean up.

Delainey intently watching her Angels

Madi and Delainey
Daddy and his girl!
Even the rally cap couldn't help Adam!!!
Woods and Rivera

Napoli

Hideki Matsui.....about 20 Japanese media members followed him out....it was like watching to see how many people would pile out of a clown car....pretty funny!
I think this is Bulger....and Madi!!

Kazmir and Madi....he was a hottie....probably a baby, too! Oh well!

Shields....he walked by a few times....this time no one else saw him though, cause they were following Scocia!
Howie!!!

Scocia....even Delainey recognized him....it was cute!
Gotta get the official sign!!

Delainey and Madi at McDonald's.....such a cute picture!

Delainey on the red line


That night we headed for some real Chicago pizza at Gino's East. We got a late start and the place was in high demand. The line to get in wasn't too bad....but the wait for the pizza was pretty long. Poor Delainey fell asleep at the table.....it was 11:30, her time....but she has never fell asleep like that before! It was pretty funny!! By the way...the pizza....phenomenal!

Adam and Delainey at the lobby of Jim's hotel.....before the dinner that Delainey slept thru!

Saturday, we headed to Navy Pier for some sightseeing. That was a cool place! Hard to believe that we were just at a lake, because it reminded me so much of San Diego! It was a beautiful day! We even took a water taxi from Navy Pier to the downtown area and walked down Millennium and Grant Parks. And yes we saw the giant bean! Everyone else wanted to go to Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) but the storm the night before had blown out some windows! Apparently it was a pretty bad storm with wind over 70 MPH! We hadn't noticed with all of the fun we were having!!!
Delainey in our hotel lobby
Navy Pier
The view from Navy Pier looking back at the city
The lighthouse at the end of Navy Pier
Madi and Delainey
From the water taxi
Maa-Maw, Delainey and Daddy at Harry Carry's restaurant....grumpy for the camera!
Family picture in the bean's reflection....everyone else was doing it!!
After all of the walking we headed back to the hotel, rested up and headed out for more Chicago pizza.....Ryan had his mind set on getting as much as possible. Saturday night it was Lou Malnati's, which happened to be a few steps from our hotel. Again....great pizza and a nice night out!

Sunday we woke up, exhausted, feet aching, skin sunburned and undoubtedly arteries clogged...and thrilled with the past few days! Home to Indiana we headed.....reluctant to leave, but reassured to know we are only 3 short hours away!

There is definitely a trip again in our near future....perhaps a mommy and daddy getaway...since Chicago with a 3 year old was challenging, to say the least!

All in all....a wonderful trip and a great start to the summer.....now....waiting on the current storm to settle down and the tracks to clear, since Jim and Madi are riding the Amtrak in from Chicago. They have already been delayed almost two hours and hopefully will make it here soon! Interesting way for them to start the Indiana leg of their adventure. More pictures to come, as they will be here all week and then Grammy comes!!!!

"Tails" of Hunter the dog...

Original huh!?!

As you all know, we added our newest dog, Hunter, to the family on Mother's Day....as Ryan would say (correctly, may I add)....another case of what Mommy wants....Mommy gets. Well....that was two weeks ago....and what a two weeks it has been.

Hunter is a sweet dog. Very loving with all of us and extremely patient with Delainey....his best trait, by far. He is very tolerant to Sheba's antics and fits right in with the family.....until the family is out of sight!!

Someone has a major case of separation anxiety....MAJOR!!!

With the way our schedule works out, he is rarely left alone. We only leave him for the time it takes to run quick trips to the store, etc. But, oh my....what damage he can do in that short period of time. Those of you on my facebook page already know that he has destroyed two crates this week....one of the standard plastic ones, which he pulverized, and a metal one, when he bent beyond recognition. The day he broke out of the metal one, he also completely shredded the cardboard box that it came it!

Let's see.....what else has he destroyed...
A small mermaid Barbie.....after he broke into Delainey's playroom
A small Barbie-like doll dressed as a ladybug....that he stole from inside a bucket that was sitting on one of my cube tables
A ladybug stuffed animal.....from inside Delainey's cradle in her bedroom
A box holding office supplies and a few empty CD cases
A plate and plastic fork that he helped himself to....off of the table
The kitchen sponge.....I swear it was in the sink
One of Delainey's flip flops....although I saved that one...so it just has a few bite marks
An old collar
etc...etc....etc!


Oh...I guess I should explain that since he has destroyed two crates.....when I HAVE to leave, I have been leaving him in the house and closing every door and putting everything I can away....I didn't know he could reach the kitchen counters!!!!!

And let me tell you.....he knows how to party when the parents are away!!!

Sunday, Delainey was invited to go swimming at her little friend, Tyler's, just across the street. I made sure that everything was away....or so I thought....and we headed over for about an hour.

We came home to a kitchen that looked like a war zone. He pulled every dish that had been drying on the counter.....thank goodness there were no glass items.....but he managed to pull down a bunch of tupperware-like bowls, a frying pan, a big water bottle and lid, strainer...you name it....I found it on the floor. There it all was.....spread out on display.....next to the pot that had previously been on the stove. Apparently he likes macaroni and cheese as much as Delainey and wanted to lick the pot clean.....I guess I will not be leaving pots to cool on the stove anymore!!! That's when he took her plate and fork off of the table....and shredded them!!!

Did we learn our lesson.....well of course not!!!

After dinner on Sunday, Ryan and I were out working in the garden and had the whole family out there with us. As we were cleaning up, Ryan put the dogs in the house....for maybe 5 minutes alone. We hadn't cleared Delainey's plate from the table....so....Hunter helped himself to a bit of pasta salad, the remainder of a hamburger and bun....oh yeah...and an ear of corn. But let me say....when we walked in....Sheba had joined in on that one and was running around the house with the ear of corn in her mouth. Had I not been so mad.....it would have looked pretty funny, I must say! So I wrestled the corn away from Sheba and cleaned up the trail of kernels spread around the kitchen. That was the end of the story....NOT!!!

Literally 5 minutes later....Ryan was on the back deck putting some things away and Delainey and I headed out there with him. My intention was that we would be out there for a minute or two, but the neighbor was out back....and Delainey has a little crush on him....so we ended up out there for probably 15 minutes, at the most. Again....the pooches were inside!!! Well...needless to say, Hunter continued his wrath! This time, we found a broken plate on the floor and the hamburger that was sitting on it....mysteriously gone! Again....this plate had been on the counter....and not near the edge or anything. Considering he is a shorty....I have to give him credit for having a good reach!!

Well....I put him into the crate that we now have in the living room and I headed upstairs to clean up. I told Ryan to let him out when he came upstairs in a few minutes. A few minutes later Ryan calls out that Hunter is bleeding.....in his words....pretty bad! So I head back down stairs to find Hunter lying on the ground and Ryan is holding his front paw up and blood is dripping onto our floor. Poor dog! I guess as Ryan started cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, he noticed blood on the cabinet and lip of the counter, so he let Hunter out of the crate. Because of our very dark floors, we didn't notice the bloody footprints until afterwards. I held pressure on his little paw for awhile and when I was finally able to look at it, he had cut one pad slightly and had sliced another one almost in half. After a short lesson on what to do when someone is bleeding for Ryan....ie.....don't just sit there and let it drip.....HOLD PRESSURE, I cleaned and bandaged his little foot. Let me tell you.....Steri-strips our perfect and hold pretty well on a dogs paw.....just in case you ever find yourself in this situation! Hunter is currently sporting a pink and white toddler's athletic sock taped onto his paw.....just to pad and keep it covered, as well!

Crisis averted.....but what will the dog get himself into next!

He is definitely giving us a run for our money!

Oh and can I just add .....Sheba gave me a nice scare, too, on Saturday! Sheba's cable broke on Saturday when I had let the dogs out, and she ran away. I was inside and didn't realize it til I checked on them! Thankfully when I ran out front and yelled her name, she came waddling her way from down at the end of the street, but still gave me a heart-attack, none the less!

Apparently, not only do our dogs need some training, but we do, too!!! Looks like we just may have the most tidy house around in the near future, since we will not be able to leave anything out in plain sight!

We are working on crate training Hunter, bit by bit, and he is doing well, but I am nervous that he will go crazy as soon as we leave him in there. It is annoying that he is destroying so much...but I would hate for him to hurt himself trying to escape from the crate. One injured paw is enough for me! I have heard about DAP, dog appeasing pharamones, which is like doggie aroma therapy....and I am definitely going to invest in that! And besides that, I know that it will just take some work and dedication to get him back to being the calm and sweet dog that he is when we are all around. In the meanwhile....say a prayer that the dog, and all of our belongings will remain safe when we are out of sight!!!

A new day....a new blog!

Well....I was feeling left out. Seems like everybody who is anybody is on blogspot, rather than the nameless site I was blogging from.....so.....I changed! A woman can always change her mind! I will give a real update soon.....but just thought I would say hello and now I officially feel like I can get this blogging party started!!! Lol!