The Office Girls...And Ben!

As most of you know, during the summer I work in the office doing paperwork and scheduling and everything else!  Well this summer I got to work with some awesome people!  (Not that you girls in the past haven't been fun...I just don't have any pics of us all together!)  It is nice to be able to work while Brent is working as well.  It keeps the summers from being too boring!  

Ben was wonderful enough to take us all out to lunch before we started leaving to go home at the end of the summer.  We went to Red Robin and it was a blast!!! 

From Left to Right - Ben, Jenny, Bre, Amber, me, and Paula

The Day Angela Went to Work With Brent

I am going back in time just a little bit, but on August 9, I went knocking with Brent.  It was the day before Jack and I flew back to Utah.  Brent has been trying to get me to go knocking with him for the last four summers.  Sometimes I was too busy with work, the guys were working too far away, or (let's be honest) sometimes I just didn't want to go!  So finally I went.  

I knocked with Brent for about 3 or so hours.  My experience was not Brent's typical day at work.  We got two sales really quick.  One was a call back and one was someone we met.  However, we were in houses three times.  Nobody was rude or mean to us, which is not normal!  Sometimes these guys run into people that are terribly mean to them all day long!  Anyways, here are some pictures that were taken that day!  

Labor Day Fun

Ok, so I know there is a ton of things I haven't blogged about but want to.  However, instead of just doing old things, I figured I would add some more recent fun that we have had!  (Even though it was about two weeks ago still!)  Eventually maybe we will be totally caught up with posting everything!  

On Labor Day, we went to our friends' house, Cheryl and Spencer.  We enjoyed delicious BBQ and had tons of fun just catching up with everyone.  Then the fun really started when we started playing Rockband!  The following is some pictures from this adventure.  Now remember neither Brent nor I had ever played Rockband so we had to concentrate pretty hard when it was our turn!

Ben's Birthday (July 6) Part II - The Surprise Party

Everyone else continued on, after we went home.  We all got back together, and more of us came, for Ben's surprise party that Annie did an excellent job arranging.   We did a really good job keeping it a secret!  Ben was so surprised!  Here are some pictures from it.  

Ben is opening his presents! 

We all chipped in and got Ben a Playstation 3 and a game.  He loved the presents! 

Below are pictures of some of the guest at the party!

Matt and Steve just relaxing. 

Hangin' out on the couch are Devin, Emily, and Joe

Annie, the wonderful surprise party planner!  You did a wonderful job!

People just hanging out at the party.  There were quite a lot of people there.  Ben is one important person in our office!  

Overall I think Ben had a great time at his party!  We all had fun!

Ben's Birthday (July 6) Part I - Loch Raven Reservoir

Hello Everyone!  This time I have a really good excuse for not updating so much sooner!  I was without the computer for three weeks!!! Brent was still out East working and I flew back to Utah to get ready for this semester.  Then when Brent got back with the laptop, we were already in school!!! Jack just woke me up at 7:00 am to go to the bathroom and we don't have to be up for at least another two hours!  I figured I would use this time to add to my blog.  There is stuff from before the sixth that I want to add but I figure I should stay with the progression I have already started!  One day I will get back to the other stuff!

So I know Ben will kill me if he sees this, but oh well Ben! Ben's birthday is actually on July 5th, but we were under strict orders not to celebrate it on his birthday.....Ben forgot that he never said anything about not celebrating it on the day after his birthday!  He already had sworn several of us to secrecy on even the date of his birthday....it wasn't me that told!  

After church, several of us went to Loch Raven Reservoir.  It looked like it was going to rain, but we decided to venture out anyways.  Brent and I still were watching Rico, so we decided to take both Rico and Jack with us.  They love to be outside!  We were thinking that we would pull up to the lake and be right there.  We were picturing an open area with picnic tables and the such.  However, this is not the part of the Reservoir that we were going to.  We hiked in, and it was beautiful, and we kept hiking.  We were about halfway where we thought we needed to be when it started down pouring!  The rain was so cold!  We decided to continue on.  We stood under the trees for awhile waiting for the rain to slow down.  Than we turn around to start climbing the mountain behind us.  (They wanted to go cliff diving).  We started following, but it was really muddy and it was rather difficult with the two dogs.  We decided that we needed to turn around and go back.  It was nice having a walk with just Brent and I and the two dogs!  

This picture is of us when we first got on the bridge and started to cross it.  Jack was having so much fun!

Look how huge this place is!  The other side is just as big only it is more open.

Jack and Angela on the bridge! 

It got so dark right before it started to pour! This is from the other side of the bridge.  You can see it goes way back.  

This is some of the guys that came with us.  They are all techs that we worked with this summer.  (Left to Right) Matt S., Dusty, Ben, Joe, and Brady.  

Jack and Rico: Best buds

Becky and Brandon had family in town during the 4th of July holidays.  They went to NYC and so we watched Rico!  Rico is scared of fireworks so Jack decided he would lay next to Rico to comfort him while he was scared!  Jack loved having Rico over for the weekend!  Here are some of the pics of them laying on the couch together:

Jack giving Rico some love when he was really scared. 

Tired little doggies!  

July 4th!!

So as you probably guessed I am going back in time again!  Brent and I both had to work on the fourth but we were able to get off a little earlier.  So a few of us wives decided that we would meet the guys in Harrisburg, PA where they were working so we could go out to eat and see some fireworks!  For those of you who don't know, Harrisburg, PA is about an hour and a half away from where we live in Owings Mills, MD.  If the guys had come home, we would have missed all the fun!  

This first picture is of Alicia Jolley and I on the ride up there!  It is so much fun to spend time with the girls!  

This next picture is of the wives waiting for the guys to get there.  We ate at the delicious Texas Roadhouse!  The pic is of Tasha, Me, Steph, and Alicia!

So some single guys ended up coming and joining the fun too!  Here is all of us enjoying our meals!

After we ate we went to the river to enjoy the fireworks!  It was wonderful!  It was nice to be able to spend some time with our husbands!

Jack's First Swim - June 15, 2008

I know, I know, I am terrible at keeping this blog updated, but I am going to try harder.  

On June 15, we decided to go for a drive with the Brown's (Tasha and Ryan).  On this trip we were heading to the beach.....well the "beach" we went to you had to pay to go on and Jack couldn't come with us.  We didn't want to swim, but just walk along and enjoy the day.  After walking around the little boardwalk for a little while, we decided to just drive along the coast and find a free beach or a random private beach.  We ended up at a small resort type thing and enjoyed the beach there.  It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it.  

This picture is of Ryan and Tasha relaxing in the sun with us. 

Now at first, Jack was a little weary of the water because of the tide.  I think he thought it was alive!  But after he took his first step in, he LOVED it.  He jumped right in and went swimming.  Jack loves the beach!!! That is just perfect for us!

Of course, that was until he met a girl dog.....Brandy....Jack is such a little lover boy! Look at him fly through the air!  

Needless to say, our family loved the little day trip! 

Philadelphia

So today was our first trip to Philadelphia with our awesome friends the Madsens.  It was a beautiful day!  There are so many cool things to see there that Brent and I are going to go back again (hopefully) before we leave.  We spent quite a bit of time at the Philadelphia art museum which is totally awesome!!! I would recommend it.  It is a little bit different than most art museums in that it actually has rooms set up from different places and time periods.  Also, they have a section on medieval armor!  It is way cool where you can see the different swords and stuff that the guys would use during battles and jousts.  The picture is of us at the Rocky statue in front of the museum.  

Jack's First Bath