We went to Omaha last night to see Brandi Carlile show and it was amazing. She played at the Whiskey Roadhouse inside the Horseshoe Casino, which was a great small venue to see someone with such a huge voice. Eric and I met up with Valerie and her friend Erin around 7:30 before the opener (Katie Herzig) started. She was pretty good, just wasn't all that exciting. When Brandi came on, Valerie and I headed up to the stage where we stood/jumped/danced for her set. It was pretty much the best concert I've been to. I was able to take a few great videos, even though it was supposed to be a video-free venue...whoops  ;)

{youtube}Ti4txYDJpWo{/youtube} {youtube}w8PVlLTVOTY{/youtube}

I spent most of this weekend in Omaha with some of my favorite peeps; mom, sister, aunts and cousins. My cousin, Beth, is getting married on October 1st, so we had her wedding shower at the Upstream Brewing Company in the Old Market. Then it was off to the hotel downtown for some bachelorette fun and games. We hitched a ride with the hotel shuttle to the casino because they had a band and a dance floor. Those of you who know me well, know I don't dance. That being said, I danced all night. It was hilarious and so much fun. I can't wait for the wedding, I always have so much fun at our family get togethers. Here are a couple pics from the night...

I know this post might get certain people all riled up, but it's not my intention. I just have to rant about bicyclists for a little bit. I'm not gonna lie, I've always had a slight (read: major) problem with bikers that ride along streets as if they were in a car. The issue is not that I don't want to share the road with them, or what have you. The issue is the safety of the bikers, as well as people driving. How many times have you been stuck on a two lane street waiting to pass a biker because they are in the middle of the road? If your answer is "not many"...you're lucky, or maybe I'm unlucky.

Something else sparked this post idea though, and that would be bike lanes! Ok, so if bikers must use the same streets as cars, I guess bike lanes are a pretty good idea. That way, you have a better idea of where they are at all times and they aren't in your way...as much. So there is a bike lane right where I enter/exit my parking garage downtown, and every time I pull out of there, bikers are in the lane that I want to turn into...NOT the one that says BIKE LANE. I don't get it. It makes me think that they don't necessarily want something designated for them to use for biking so much as they feel that they deserve to use every inch of road that a car uses...just to make a statement. Any cyclists out there care to fill me in?

We spent the past few days in Okoboji for an end of summer vacation. We left on Saturday (the 14th) and got back tonight around 6pm; it was a very relaxing and fun couple of days. We went with my parents and my sister's family this time around. Ivy and Ada had a blast swimming and playing on the beach with their cousins. Eric and I had fun on the jetski that we decided to bring up this time. It ran like a champ and was definitely worth hauling up there. Here are a few pictures of the week..

I've been meaning to blog about all of the projects we've been working on at our house. I finally took the camera outside and took pictures yesterday. For starters, Eric put stairs off our deck so we could access the backyard without walking all the way around the front of the house. I'm not sure why the builder wouldn't have just done that, any way to save a buck I suppose. After that, he got to work on a new patio right off the deck steps. We had the concrete stained brown and then stamped to look like pavers rather than a plain concrete slab. I think it turned out awesome and hopefully someday we'll actually get to enjoy it without sweating. It was also nice to finally get the hot tub out from under the deck, I'm sure the neighbors were sick of looking at that eyesore. At the same time, we had some concrete edging put down. There's some in the backyard around the house, some in front of the house, and a berm in the front yard for future foliage. We planted a couple things, but the dead of summer isn't exactly the best time to pick out plants and trees, so we'll wait until fall to pick out the rest. Next we've been wanting a fence to keep our critters in the backyard and it's almost done now. It took the fence company like 2 months to finally "get the materials in". Oh, we also finally bought some blinds for the windows...not that I didn't love those temporary paper shades. But I don't think the manufacturer meant for them to be used for ten days, let alone ten months! Here are some pictures for your enjoyment...

Eric and I went to Chicago by ourselves for a mini-vacation this last weekend and had a blast. We dropped the girls off at grandma Margie's house on Thursday morning, and then ventured out on the open road. It was about an eight hour drive and I had forgotten how EASY a car ride can be...without children. It was actually kind of relaxing. Eight hours of Eric getting to listen to the music of my choosing...over and over again.

Part of the reason we went was to see my friends, Courtney and Susan, who live there now. We got to Court's house and had dinner and drinks. Susie came over to hang out for a while as well. It was a fun night and we very much appreciated the Miller's hospitality. On Friday we took the Miller kids to the pool, and Eric and I got to sit back and watch Courtney chase them around, while we lounged. Although, I'd like to think we helped her out in some way. That night we took the train downtown for dinner and drinks with Courtney and Luke. We found an adorable little restaurant with an outside table for plenty of people watching. Then we headed out in search of  a place to have a couple drinks. It was $9 beer night at most of the spots we hit, so we didn't get too crazy. The Millers got back on the train home and we stayed at an old, but somewhat fancy hotel just north of the loop. The neighborhood reminded me of those streets in New York City they're always showing in the movies.

Saturday morning we took a Segway tour around Chicago and that was super fun. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it. I have some videos of us on the Segways that I need to screen and see if they're blog-worthy. We didn't take many pictures, but I'll see what I can come up with..so this post isn't so naked ;)

After the Segway tour, we went down to Navy Pier and practically melted as it was about 95 degrees with 100% humidity. We had a couple beers to whet our whistles and then went on a little boat ride on Lake Michigan. We ate dinner and then headed back to our hotel to freshen up. We found a little strip of nice, but cheaper bars, and hung out like we were in college again. We got up early and decided to try to make the 8:50 train back to Courtney's house, where we left our car. We grabbed a taxi, and made it to the station with time to spare (so we thought). But once we got inside the station, we had no idea where to go. Finally we heard someone say something about a train leaving in 2 minutes, which made that departure 8:40. So we were literally running to catch the train, and it took off just as we stepped inside. For some reason, the metra website was 10 minutes off, go figure.

We made it back to Lincoln around 6pm and picked up the girls, who I was missing like CRAZY. I was so ready for a little break, but by the second night, I was ready to see them again. Thanks to grandma and grandpa for watching the girls, they had a blast!

We went to Kearney this weekend for Jenny Hamilton's wedding, she's Eric's former co-worker. Their reception was at the Minden Opera House, which was beautiful. Well after the reception (which consisted of Ivy bouncing a balloon in people's food and faces, and Ada running onto the stage) we headed back to Kearney to stay with our good friends, the Townsends. Ada went to sleep when we got there, but Ivy stayed up with Evan and Gage and played for a while. They let her drive their motorized car, which about gave me a heart attack. She loved it, but I was more excited when the battery ran out. The next morning, we awoke to a yummy breakfast casserole and a charged car battery. Ivy didn't waste any time until she was dragging Evan around the backyard while he held onto the tailgate. It's all fun and games until someone gets backed over. I don't have a video of that, but I will post one of Ivy driving as soon as I can.

{youtube}hEnKDFiAim0{/youtube} {youtube}8SCRoUxI4yc{/youtube}

We spent the 4th of July in Okoboji again this year and had a great time. We stayed at Crescent Beach again, and they got a new water trampoline this year, which was fun for all. The weather was beautiful the whole weekend, and we only got rained on for about 5 minutes on Sunday night. The girls played in the sand and water most of the time and loved it. We went to my aunt Luann's cabin on Saturday for dinner and to check out the new place, it's lovely. I went to the Barefoot Bar with the cousins later that night. We watched the fireworks in front of our room Sunday night and that was very fun. Ivy met some friends that she was able to play on the beach with, so she had a great time the whole weekend. Here are a few pictures and a video from the weekend.

{youtube}ThUiFLY8tv4{/youtube}

Just thought I'd make myself a quick note that I got a job offer tonight for a job that I had applied for a couple months ago. I was really interested in it, so I'm excited to get started. I will be a network engineer for Cost Effective Technologies (CET), which is an IT outsourcing company in Lincoln that supports small to medium sized businesses. My first day will be Tuesday, July 20th!

So any time we go to Menard's, it turns into more of a play date, rather than a shopping trip. Usually someone watches the kids play while the other one shops. This time the girls loved the little play house there and I got this cute video of them playing peek a boo in the windows.

{youtube}VAgZiT2Ofi4{/youtube}