Hilarious!

For some reason - I think this picture is so hilarous. Our friend Keith took it at the wedding the other weekend. Anyway - it will be good for laughs one day and shows the great humor of Jeff.

B&B Wedding Weekend

During Memorial Day weekend, Jeff and I, along with several Florida friends (Keith & Tammy, Marlis & Bob, Bryan & Keri-Ann, Helen, and Bonnie), went up to DC to see Brennan and Beth get married. It was great to see the B&B since they moved away from our street and their wedding was incredible - beautiful, fun, and full of good people. The other great thing about visiting DC was that we got to see some other friends in the area which we haven't seen in a long time - Jason from Peace Corps and Danny (and Diane) from our Michigan Tech days. When we arrived in DC Friday night, Jason picked us up at the airport and we got to hang out a bit before going to our hotel. The next morning, Danny picked us up and we had breakfast in downtown Bethesda, MD, and walked around before the wedding that night. Brennan and Beth looked amazing and their ceremony was perfect for them - very romantic and at sunset at Congressional Country Club. The band, food, cake (hello - the best I've ever had!), and dancing was a good time. The next day we visited the monuments and downtown Alexandria, VA (Jeff reminisced with Marlis and Helen on schnooner sized beers!) and then on Memorial Day, we went hiking at Great Falls before our flights left. We got to stay with Marlis' gracious parents, who live in the area, and hang out with them for a bit as well. It was a great and beautiful weekend! We miss you B&B but congratulations!

The Decision Making Room

Before we had the going away party at our house - we figured it was a great time to do some home improvements. It worked out well b/c Jeff gave me some new, fun furniture for our anniversary back in April, and along with the painting my parents sent, some new houseplants, and a coat of paint - voila! We have the "decision making room!" Here Jasmine models before the party begins...our house is officially very green. We can't seem to pick out any paint colors other than green. Oh well - it's Florida - you can get away with lime green walls.

Goodbye Good Friends!

A couple of weekends ago, we had to say some goodbyes to good friends, Wayne & Danielle, and Annette & Jeffrey - both very cool couples that we know through Jeff's work. We threw a party for them and the office to spend some time with everyone before they moved off. We had a great time chilling outside (we even had a bounce house for the kids!) and eating lots and lots, including Dave Hagar's famous rice krispie treat mold! We'll miss you guys! Hope you are enjoying Ann Arbor and Portland!

Just another day...

At work! This is me and Tessie, one of the other staff at the construction site I work at, just hanging out in my office. The electricians like to take pictures all the time so this is one they sent me, so I thought it was cute enough to post.

The Other Ahrens' and Their Chicks

Our cousin's family have been fostering some chicks! I couldn't resist posting these super cute pictures...how cool!

HDR did the Corporate 5K!

South Florida has several "Corporate 5K" events in which companies from all around compete against each other - it's pretty big for consultants and lawyers. Anyway - our office, West Palm Beach, teamed with our Miami Lakes office to participate in Ft. Lauderdale one a few weeks ago. I stole these pictures that someone took!

Anniversary Memories

So Jeff and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary this past weekend! It's amazing how time flies - but it's really fun to look back at all the good times we've had together. Well - we got a big suprise in the mail this week (well - there were several - but this is one that some of you that might have gone to our wedding will relate to) - my parents got our family friend, Cher, to paint where Jeff and I had our wedding! I've always wanted one of her paintings and it's even better that it is a landscape that is so personal to us. Thanks Mom and Dad! We love it! The cool thing is that we found out when we visited Sky Valley, GA last winter that the ski lodge where our reception was held is going to be torn down - so now we have the whole scene captured before it goes away. They aren't going to tear down the chapel though - thank goodness! One of the other suprises is that Jeff got me/us some furniture to go in an empty space in our house and the painting goes with it perfectly! We call it our decision making/chess playing/reading nook. I FINALLY suprised Jeff with a present too - probably the first time I've been able to do that - and gave him a custom made dulcimer! Of course he was playing it like a pro within 30 minutes.

Anyway - it's been great to be married for 5 years - good memories. It's the joy of my life for sure.

Nerdy Update

I realize that I haven't been updating much the past month - the truth is that I ran out of batteries and I'm too forgetful to get more or to recharge the ones we have. It's too bad - there's been a few fun things that have happened over the last few weeks - our youth pastor at church got married, the landscape island is still alive, the dogs are well, Mom and Dad Tyndell visited this past weekend, and we went out a boat with some friends - but I have no photos of any of it to share so you'll have to use your imagination. The other reason there haven't been updates is that I pretty much spend all my time out at this construction site lately for work. Here's a cool photo from last week showing the progress. I have nightmares about this project and it takes up most of my week. So despite any fun things going on in life - I only have this nerdy update to share. Eat your hearts out biosolids (hence the delicious brown color of the text).

The Long Road to the Tropical Island

Well - it's been a long road to the landscape island but it was finally finished this past weekend! The weekend before last, we pulled tons of weeds, added fill to the area of the front yard where the tree used to be, and picked out all the plants at the nursery. Jeff gave me a lesson in landscape planning - and I quote him as he rode the golfcart around the garden center - "yeah -what's that? Cool - I'll take 15 of those. Yeah - 2 of those, 7 of those, throw in about 10 of those...do you deliver? Nice - let's do that!" This past weekend, the plants were delivered and Jeff planted them (sadly I had to work all weekend and couldn't be of any help except withthe mulching and watering)! Surprisingly, after the random planning process, we had gotten just the right amount of plants to allow room to grow and fill the space. It's hard to capture it all in one picture, but in general, the island has a big Royal Poincientta on the right, a Starburst on the left, and an Agave and 2 Queen Emma Lilys in the middle. Then it's all surrounded by grasses, foxtail ferns, xanadu, small olive bushes, junipers, and garlic. We also took out a small Live Oak that was beside the driveway before and replaced it with a Screw Pine. We've been assured that most of the plants are drought tolerant so hopefully after they get established, it won't be too much maintenance. Regardless, it looks a lot better than the big dirty hole it's been for a year or with the big "I want to topple over your house" olive tree that used to be there. We got some ferns and bromeliads for the backyard but haven't finished that area yet - more to come....

A Letter to Karma and Zen

Just in case you don't read 5-year oldese, the card says, "Hi Karma and Zen. It's me - Kaitlyn and Matthew. I love you." I love how you can't tell how many legs they have - this is pretty much the best picture I have ever seen! Karma and Zen definitely love their personal letter from our niece and nephew, which was given to them before our vacation. It made the fridge with the Elvis magnets!

The ULTIMATE Family Vacation in Review

Jeff and I just got back from the ultimate family vacation - both our families (let's count us all - me, Jeff, Dave, Judy, Brandon, his friend - Carter, Gail, Jim, Chris, Debbie, Kaitlyn, and Matthew - that's right - 12 of us!) went on a cruise to the western caribbean together this past week and had a great time. The ship was ridiculously fun - plenty of activities, good food (and more food and more food and...), and time with everyone. We had two days on the boat at sea and also stopped in Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. We rode jet skiis in Haiti, did the classic Dunn's River Falls climb in Jamaica, shopping in Grand Cayman, and checked out some Mayan ruins in Cozumel. Everyone pretty much did their own thing during the day, then we all met in the dining room for dinner to compare stories and then headed for the night shows onboard. This was actually my first cruise and it is definitely a great vacation idea for a family so that everyone can do exactly what they want and eat what they want - it pleases all. So anyway - it was impressive. Thanks family - we had a great time and miss you already!