Wisonsin...Land of Cheese...Mmmm

Nick and I went on our first vacation of the year....to....wait for it...Wisconsin. So romantic I know. My brother is leaving for Iraq at the end of August, it was my aunt's birthday, and it was Forth of July weekend. So most of the Louderback clan decided to get together in Wisconsin to celebrate. Everyone got there the week before but I don't think we missed out on much. Come on we are the life of the party. j/k. On our first day, we all drove to Madison to hang out for the day. It was really cold, there were a lot of hippies (not unusual in a college town), and lots of brats and burgers. We went to this restaurant/bar that served a meal with two brats on top of two hamburgers. Talk about a heart attack. I decided to go for the safe route and go with a turkey sandwich, while Nick went with a brat quesadilla (no joke). Here are some of our pictures from Madison.




In that last picture I look a little fat. I am not pregnant I swear. I have just packed on a few pounds. Going to Wisconsin didn't help much either. Anyway. The rest of the trip was spent in and around Milwaukee.




We went to Summerfest. Ate and saw a lot of cool bands play.
We went to downtown Milwaukee. Shopped, ate, went to the river.
We went to Lake Michigan. Watched an amazing fireworks show that lasted over an hour.
We went to Lake Pewaukee. Watched some more fireworks, saw a cool band, and were eaten alive by mosquitoes.
However, I think Nick will have to agree that the best part of our trip was our morning runs. Farms and more farms. Beautiful country. Lots of hills. Lots of trees. Just gorgeous. Nick even got chased by a wild turkey. It was a great trip. For those of you who have never been to Wisconsin, you are missing out on some of the most beautiful country in the US.

Molly!

Molly, our new dog, is doing good. She still is a little afraid of Nick but other than that she is adjusting better than I had expected. Maybe the herbal prozac we are giving her has helped. Who knows. Below are some pictures of her. (I don't know why she always cocks her head)


Here is one of Molly and Mason. They are bestest buds. They love eating my stuff and destroying my house. At least by the time Nick and I finally decide to have kids, our house will be baby proofed thanks to the dogs.

We got a new dog!

Yes, I know what you all are thinking. What are Nick and Lisa doing? I don't know. But she is so cute! Her name is Molly. As soon as I find my camera, I will post some pictures of her. She is a white Lab, like Mason. We got her from Desert Lab Rescue. They think she was abused and possibly one of those puppy mill dogs. She is only two and has had five litters of puppies (at least that's what the vet thinks). She is very very shy and afraid of people. She won't look at us when we pet her and she tenses up anytime something touches her. It is very sad. But hopefully with lots of love and time she will come out of her shell. Mason loves her and always brings her his toys. He doesn't understand why she doesn't want to play with him. She did finally wag her tail today so we are making progress. She is a very cute dog who needs lots of love. Hopefully Nick will learn to be nice. JK :)

Nick and his dream to be a cheerleader

Really, he was just trying to strech and Mason wouldn't leave him alone.

80% sure and other random stories

I can't believe its been over a month since I last posted anything. A lot has happened. Well not really but some stuff. I went to Kentucky and Ohio for work last month. Two places I never really thought about going and it was really fun. Here are a few pictures from that trip.

Apparently, black barns and fences mean purebred whereas white fences and red barns just means you suck and you aren't rich.





This is an old glass factory somewhere between Cincinnati and Columbus. It's pretty run down and there is a sign that says abandoned, but if you look close you can see a truck in the back. I think something illegal was going down.



This is Harriet Beecher Stowe's (wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin) house in Columbus...in a very scary neighbor hood...sad.



If you see Nick, you should ask why he was only 80% sure I didn't leave him and take all our money on that trip.


Two weeks ago our kitchen was attacked by some fierce ants


Luckily we finally defeated them after three days of cleaning and spraying ant killer everywhere. I hate ants. We don't know where they came from but we haven't seen them since.

Obama

Obama (3/22/09)
I just heard that Obama is giving the commencement speak at ASU in May. Too bad I have to go and cheer for Nick. Maybe I all take some extra shoes.

Mason !

Daycare (3/6/09)
Mason had his first day of daycare last week. It’s kinda of silly to think that we are the type of people who take their dog to daycare. It reminds me of that lady I met when I worked at Biltmore Fashion Square who put braces on her dog. I swore I would never be like “those people”. But here we are sending are dog off to daycare, not as bad as braces I guess. However I am pretty sure I know people who think Nick and I are “those people”. I can just hear people saying “why don’t you just have a kid already?” That’s another subject, moving on. Mason was pretty excited to go to daycare. He pretty much ran in the door with his leash dangling by his side and didn’t even look back at me. The people at the daycare said Mason played really well with all the other dogs all day long, but that he has a problem barking at dogs when they don’t want to play with him anymore. I can see that, he barks at me in the morning when I am getting ready and not paying attention to him. Why have kids when I already have a dog?

My broken toe

I really did break it. I swear

San Jose

San Jose (3/5/2009)
I never thought I would be in San Jose twice in less than I week. But here I am. Last week, I was here making the sales call rounds, which means I just take people out to eat and drink. Our sales rep. from the area took me around and introduced me to some of his clients. He is super smart, PhD and all, but very ignorant. Luckily, he had a bad hang over one day and I got to enjoy San Jose all by myself. So on my day off, so to speak, I decided to go on a run. Below are some of the pictures from the trail I ran.





It was so pretty. I now have a new goal: one day live in the foothill in the San Jose area on a huge plot of land with lots of cows and horses.
Anyway today I am here for the day, a quick day trip to learn about electronics and semiconductors. Very exciting stuff let me tell you. I had to get up at four am this morning to catch a six o’clock flight. Of course the plane was pretty empty, probably only 50 or so people. More than enough room for every person to have their own row, but no someone always has to sit next to me. I swear I have a sign that says “please sit next to me, please”. Ridiculous. So I didn’t get my own row and I didn’t get to stretch out and sleep. Tonight after I fly in I have to go to my sister in law’s house for a get together with all the girls in the Fuller family, Nick’s youngest sister is getting married next weekend. It’s gonna be a long day. I just hope I am not to crabby tonight.

old blogs unpublished - Ragnar

March 1, 2009


This weekend, Nick and I ran in the Ragnar Relay along with our ten other teammates. The Ragnar Relay, for those of you who don’t know, is in its third year in Arizona. This was my second time running this race. It’s a relay race from Prescott to Mesa, covering about 204 miles. There are 12 people to a team and each member runs three different legs. We started the race at 10 am on Friday morning; the race is staggered (start times vary from 8 am to 2 pm depending on how fast your team is). And it ended at 8 pm Saturday night. I ran 22.4 miles total and slept for maybe 2 hours. Below is a picture of my first leg.

I must say by my third leg, I thought I was going to die. I’m not sure if it was because I was running in the middle of the desert at 1:30pm with the outside temp in the high 80’s with no clouds or if it was because my body and mind were so tired. Maybe a combination of both?
Of course what would be story without drama? Let me tell you, we had drama. Nick’s dad got lost on his first leg and ran a lot longer than he was supposed to. Nick and his sisters were freaking out and had to go try and find him in downtown Prescott. So that put us about an hour behind. Then our second van (we had 2 vans each with 6 people) got lost right before they were supposed to meet Nick at his first exchange. It is important to note that they had six hours to get to where they were supposed to be. So all of us we pretty pissed at them and we lost another hour and a half. We were supposed to finish on Saturday at 5pm….but no we finished at 8pm. And we were the fifth from last (there were about 220 teams) to cross the finish line. But whatever, we survived and we all can still walk. It was fun, probably because we were all delirious. Next year, I am going to try and start my own team or join a team that is more um better at time management. Just Kidding :)

TV

I am not a big tv watcher...mostly because we have one tv and apparently it only gets sporting games (basketball, football, ect.). However, the best most amazing show is back on tv. Oh how I love Jack Bauer! Yeah for 24!!! Monday nights now belong to me and my boyfriend Jack.