Unexpected, wonderful moments

This week I was feeling a little down.  I graduated college in three years, rushing through so that "real life" could begin.  I was tired of being two hours apart from Josh and just wanted to get done.  I wish I would have known then what I know now. 

Not only did I leave college behind, I left my friends behind.  I left them to continue forming bonds with each other, making new memories that I would not be a part of.  New inside jokes, things that I would miss out on.  As much as we make efforts to get together our busy schedules just seem to constantly conflict, time passes and before you know it its been a month since you've seen or talked to any of your friends. 

So, in hopes of getting some friends together I sent out an invite for a girls' night in.  It was very short notice and I knew most of the girls wouldn't be able to make it, but I just felt that an effort needed to be made.  In the end it turned out to be a family girls' night in.  Mom, Athena and Melanie came over tonight and it ended up being one of the best nights I've had in a while.

We made dinner and ate some Delicious brownies that Melanie baked up for desert.  Then we played a game of Settlers of Catan (in which I kicked some serious tail, surprise, surprise).

Deciding to switch things up we opened up Taboo and formed teams. 

 The first pairing was Mom and Athena VS. Melanie and myself.  We decided to play by points, first team to 40 points won.  Melanie and I destroyed that game.  My favorite turn between us got this quote:

Melanie:  Its a pastime that you do with a small human!

Nicki: Midget tossing?!

Insert lots of laughter and confused faces....

Don't know how we managed but I guessed correctly next, " Peek-a-boo!"

Switching up the teams I joined forces with Athena and Melanie teamed up with Mom.  We had some very frustrating brain farts and were defeated by the mother-daughter-in-law duo.  Athena couldn't get the word GRANOLA!!!!!  "A type of bar that you eat in the mornings, made with grains."  "Breakfast bar?"  Grrrrrr............................. She may never live that one down. 

After that game we had to switch it up one last time to figure out who the weak link was.  Nicki and Mom VS. Melanie and Athena.  This game was much better matched as it took a lot longer to get to 40.  Or maybe it was the fact that it was 11:00 at night by this point.  Either way, Mom and I pulled out the win, we can read each other's brain waves pretty well:

Mom: "Something your dad does a lot..."

Nicki: "Farts..... Snores"

Mom: "SNORES!"

In the end I looked at Athena, her face was slowly realizing the reality of the situation.  We all called her the weakest link and said, "goodbye." Then we reminded her that she is the youngest, at 14 years old, and that she actually played a pretty killer game.  She guessed the word CURRY!  Guess that redeems her missing granola.  Maybe.

Tonight turned out to be a fantastic night, just what I needed; to be surrounded by strong, beautiful, confident women who love me fully.  I feel truly blessed to have such incredible women in my family and am so thankful that not only are they family, but they are my friends.  I cannot wait for our next girls' night together. 

There simply aren't enough hours in the day.

The crazy whirlwind that we call our life has continued to spin despite my desperate pleading for it to slow down.

Last week I was crazy busy with work as we were vendors at a convention in Grapevine.  I would spend part of the day in the office and the other part manning the booth and talking to complete strangers.  I'd come home just in time for Josh to leave for one of his games, it was a very, very busy week.

Thursday night, however, turned out to be a lot of fun.  My sister in law had a sonogram that day and they found out the sex of their baby.  I begged my brother through text messages to tell me what it was but he held firm and said he'd let us know that night at dinner.  Josh and I invited the family over for dinner and games, Tony and Melanie showed up with cupcakes, blue, white and pink ones. :)

Dad and Tony wrestled as the rest of us helped prepare dinner. Ahh, the memories of childhood.

Mom succeeded in burning off the fingerprint from her middle finger while cooking.  And you wonder where I get my gracefulness. :)

Dinner was delicious.  But we were all so consumed with the impending news that we just stuffed our faces as fast as we could.

When we had finally finished and gotten the table cleaned up Tony and Mel grabbed the gender coded cupcakes and tried their best to throw us all off.  I captured the big news in the video below:

We were all so excited to hear that the little Koch peanut is going to be a baby BOY!!!

He should be here by mid-October.  Just in time to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary!  Here's a picture of the little guy courtesy of Melanie's facebook page. :)

We finished the night off with a game of Settlers in which my brother finally took it to us Morgans.  We both have excuses though, Josh wasn't able to be his normal color because Melanie stole it from under him and I was distracted by mom's whining about her poor blistered finger (tee hee) and Dad's jaw dropping comments about what pain pills can do for a whiny woman. :)  It was a fantastic night though.

That following Saturday, May 15th, or as Melanie and Athena call it, the most bestest day of the year, we celebrated Athena's 14th and Melanie's 25th Birthdays.  Bug-a-boo had a Luau birthday party and God was gracious enough to clear the skies and bring out some sunshine for the poolside fiesta.  It was originally supposed to be a boy girl party but surprise, surprise, none of the boys showed up.  :)  Ah, to be 14 again.  

It was so much fun getting to watch her interact with her friends and to spend time with my family.  Here are a few pictures from her party.  You can find more on my dad's photography website.

That night the entire family went out to celebrate Melanie's birthday at Uncle Julios.  Not surprisingly, I forgot my camera, so I stole this picture from Mel's facebook page once again. :)

Oh - and I completely forgot to add Friday night's festivities in there!  Kellie and Cameron had a little get together with insanely good fajitas and yummy drinks, it was really great getting to spend some time with friends we hadn't seen in a while.  Thanks again for having us over guys!

I know that things are only going to continue to get busier for us as the summer months approach.  Jamie's wedding is less than two months away and I'm preparing for showers, parties and wedding festivities as I write this.  Little baby Matthew will continue to grow inside of Melanie and soon enough I'll be writing about his arrival!  We continue to be thankful for every single blessing given to us and love being able to share our lives with you all.  We hope that you'll keep checking back for more updates!

It's May already???

I cannot get over how quickly this year is passing.  It's already May!

Surgery Update:  I realize that it's been 10 days since surgery and I haven't updated y'all on the results.  I found myself unusually calm leading up to surgery that Friday morning.  Before I knew it I was waking up in recovery.  The doctor found NO SIGN of endometriosis, praise the LORD!  He did however find an adhesion that could have been causing me some pain and had it removed.  We were so happy with that news.  Recovery wasn't too terrible.  Friday I was out of it most of the day, Saturday was miserable spent throwing up and feeling like death, Sunday I finally felt a little more human, still very sore and tired.  I was back to work Monday, though, thanks to my mom who graciously lended me her laptop so I could work from bed.  It's now been over a week and I feel like I'm 95% back to normal.  I still have the steri-strip on my belly button that will come off either today or tomorrow, and I cannot workout or do any heavy lifting yet.  But after this week I should be back to 100%!  So thankful.

My sister in law will be here soon.  Just a few more days until she's in Texas for good.  I'm so eager for her to get here!

We finally recieved our wedding pictures and I couldn't have been more excited.  There are so many beautiful images and I am very thankful to Miss Kay Turner for all of her hard work and for taking the time to shoot our big day.  Flowers were complements of Miss Tami Winn and the cake was made for us by Mr. and Mrs. Milam.  Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.  You can find these and more on my facebook albums. Here and Here. 

Other than that things are pretty much the same.  Josh and I are both busy working during the week and relaxing/playing on the weekends.  We're looking forward to our sister, Jamie's wedding, in July and all of the events that are leading up to it. 

More posts as life rolls on...